Inside Huddersfield Town's attempt to change the culture

Michael Duff has spent the season trying to instil a better culture and mentality in his players — but there is still some way to go

Huddersfield Town needed a cultural reset after their relegation last season.

Head coach Michael Duff has spoken passionately about the project since he took the job in the summer. This week, he delivered a talk to his players about what is required to purge any remaining bad habits and build the kind of culture he wants to see.

Here are some of the key points Duff has discussed with us lately — as well as a few trends we’ve noticed ourselves.

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Be up for every game and stick to the gameplan

Duff has felt on several occasions that his side have got ahead of themselves after positive results and allowed complacency to creep in. Previously he had called it a ‘Northampton moment’, in reference to his side following up their four-goal win away to Bolton with a 3-1 home defeat to Northampton. Now, of course, the FA Cup defeat to Tamworth is the big touchstone.

Though he took pains to say he didn’t want to pick on any individual, Duff highlighted Mickel Miller’s lack of effort in dealing with his man before Manchester United’s equaliser on Tuesday night as an example of what he wants to avoid.

Duff said: “If we were playing Man United’s first team at Wembley, he'd have taken the foul on the touchline. Don't pick and choose. It's either right or it's wrong.

“It does matter. Every pass matters, every day matters that you're in working. And that's where we're trying to get it to, because when they do it and they do run and they show more appetite for the game and give themselves a platform to play from, they look like quite a good team.”

The problem is that Town still have spells of games — sometimes entire games — when that goes out of the window.