Martin Drury
Katherine Hannah (BBC Radio Leeds): If you were going to sum up where it hasn’t worked this season, is it possible to come up with, say, two or three bullet points of, ‘well, that didn’t work, that didn’t work, and that’s why we are where we are?’
Yeah, definitely. That’s what’s keeping me up at night every night, looking at every single thing that we could have done better. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, around consistency — change of staff, change of players, big turnovers — very, very, very difficult to get success.
We’ve looked at Cardiff, we looked at Lincoln, we’ve looked at the other teams that are there…the stability that they’ve had, the way they’ve aligned recruitment to that, has been very, very good. We know there’s areas of that we can do better.
But at the same time, you look at the last three games in particular, and I appreciate, and naturally, people say, well, we’ve not managed those games well enough when we’ve been in winning positions because of late goals that have been conceded. And I’ll own that and accept that, and Jon will do the same. But it’s a much bigger piece than that.
If you look over 44 games this season, statistically we’re the worst in the league at conceding goals after 75 minutes, the worst team, [20 goals across] 17 occasions.
So if you’re going to look at the last three, I would say it needs to be a bigger piece than in-game management over three games. Fortunately, we’ve been in winning positions in all three of those games, which is good, but over the course of the season that stat is alarming.
That was shared this week with the players. I loved how they responded to it. I think some were shocked by it, and there are clear reasons as to why that is. I won’t go into too much, but it’s very, very clear, two or three things wrapped around that, why goals are conceded after 75 minutes. And that’s something that has been addressed and will need to be addressed more in the summer to ensure that next season that is not the case.
KH: And some quite difficult conversations are going to start happening pretty soon, if they haven’t already, in terms of where you go from here. Let’s start with the playing squad for starters. At what point do you and Jon and Liam — I don’t know what his input is at the moment — start to look at, right, who’s in the building, who do we want to keep in this building, and who maybe needs to be looking elsewhere?
Yeah, that started. That started before the last sort of five, six games. And that’s a process that takes place across your full season. You’re always looking to improve, whether that’s in January or the end of the season.
What I would say, as I said before, is I feel we’ve got a very, very good core group of players. And I think if you look in the last five games in particular, I’ve been hugely impressed, but not surprised, by the level of performance of individuals that potentially six or seven weeks ago people were looking at and saying, ‘well, maybe he needs to go, maybe he needs to go, he’s not lived up to this expectation’.
I think you’ve seen individual development across those players over the last few games. I think that’s galvanised them as a group, and they look more like a team, and that’s why they’ve been so competitive and played, in my opinion, really well in some of the games, and been the better team in, I’d say, four of the five games that we’ve had.
But of course Huddersfield Town can’t be where they are and accept that this group of staff, this group of players, is doing enough. It’s not. That needs to be addressed, and I’m sure it will be.
There was a massive overhaul of players last summer, so a huge number of new faces around. Is it likely to be the same this summer? Or, from what you’ve said there, if you feel you’ve got a good core, will it be more a question of tweaking it rather than a massive clear-out and start all over again?
Well, if you go back 12 months, that was the process that took place: massive turnover of players, new manager, new staff, all new staff.
So to do that again, I think it’d be a hell of a risk for the club. But also to stick with everybody that’s here would also be a hell of a risk.
So strategic planning, work out exactly who helps this football club move forwards, who doesn’t, who’s on board, who wants to go on that journey. Tough decisions will have to be made, of course.
But I do think heavy turnover year after year — I go back to it again — the clubs that have been successful this season in this league and the league above and the Premier League, consistency, quality and consistency, gives you a hell of a chance to succeed. That’s what this club needs, in my opinion.
KH: I appreciate this might not be an easy one to answer at the moment, but have difficult conversations started to take place about what happens with Liam and whether he comes back, and what the situation is with yourself and Jon? What more can you tell us about what the picture for the coaching staff looks like at Huddersfield Town going forwards into a summer which will arrive before we know it?
Yeah, I wish I could probably tell you more, but no.
Our remit is to take the last two games of the season.
As I said before, I’ve been in touch with Liam on a regular basis in terms of him and his health and how he is. The support we’ve had from above at the club has been outstanding.
We’ve not felt pressure, but we have felt expectation, which is what you want, but also real support from above.
We’ll take the last two games of the season. We’ll continue to work in the exact same vein that we have done over the last four or five weeks, and hopefully we’ll continue tomorrow at home, in front of our fans, where we’ve been strong, where the fans have been strong, where the players have been very, very strong.
Hopefully we finish strong tomorrow, and then we move into the last game of the season.
And as I said before, and I think Sean’s alluded to it, we won’t change. Nothing changes. We continue to work, whether it looks like you’re getting in the play-offs or not. We continue to work as hard as we possibly can. The players have done that themselves, which has been brilliant, and that’ll be the case over the next 10 days.
Steven Chicken (We Are Terriers): You’ve talked about the recruitment and stuff that needs to change, and I appreciate that’s Chris Markham’s area — but have you been involved in discussions with Chris about what direction you think that needs to take?
We’ve had good conversations with Chris. Chris is someone that is open to listening to people’s opinions. So we’ve had good conversations this week around that and in previous weeks before then, so those are ongoing.
But ultimately, decisions should be made by Chris and the owner in terms of what those decisions look like.
SC: Do you feel that this season is kind of a necessary learning experience for these players, getting to know each other and getting to know what they need to do to win games as a team? You look at the continuity that the clubs have had above you, particularly Lincoln, and you can see maybe player by player they don’t have the most talented squad in the division necessarily, but you can’t argue with their league position. They know their jobs and they do them really, really well.
I definitely agree with that. Player for player, on talent and ability, I would say we’ve got one of the best squads in the league, and that doesn’t win football matches. That will give you a chance to win football matches and to compete, but to win football matches there’s much more than talent.
There’s leadership, there’s selflessness, and there’s game intelligence, game understanding, winning mentality, and people who will not just do it, but actually love to do the ugly side of football, the dirty side of football, the dark arts of football.
Player for player, we’ve got a brilliant squad, brilliant squad. But I do feel that, as I touched on before, some of the stats that I’ve just given there give you an indication of what’s missing.
I think if you add that on top of the real quality that we’ve got and a real good core of good men — we’ve got a core of good men, these are good men, honest men — but we’re missing two or three things within that to make that stronger and to complement what we’ve already got.
Big changes I don’t feel are necessary, but certainly specific changes will be key in the summer.
SC: Is it all about getting the players who can knit it together and keep their heads and drag people along with them a little bit? When you talk about game management and things, it seems like that must be top of the list.
Look, from a coach’s perspective, you’d love 11 captains on the pitch every week. It’d be an easy job. That’d be lovely, and you can sit in the dugout and be calm. That’s not the case. So you need as many as possible.
And again, you need that consistency, so they’ve got a platform to feel like they can lead. Because I do think we have got some leaders in the group that maybe have not felt they’ve had the opportunity to lead or not felt they’ve had the platform to do that this season, and with so much change comes uncertainty. So again, people take a step back whenever they should be taking a step forward.
So they need that platform. They need that consistency and continuity across staff as well as players, and I think that will give them the leverage then to come forward and be the leaders that I know there are. There are some more leaders in there that we’ve probably not seen the best of this season.
But again, that’s something that is more of an off-season, pre-season piece. Very difficult when you’ve got seven games left to start going into real big detail around those types of things, very, very difficult, but very easy when you’ve got time.
SC: It sounds like you’re not making excuses for it, though. It sounds like you’re aware that, as you say, Huddersfield, with the ambitions and the budget and the squad that you’ve got, should have done better this season. Is that fair to say?
More than fair to say. More than fair to say. Excuses will land us in the exact same position in 12 months. Anyone that’s got an excuse needs to leave the club.
There needs to be accountability. We need to take responsibility for it — players, staff, everybody in the club. As a club, we’ve failed. The club’s failed this season to be where we are at this stage of the season. We’ve failed.
But within that failure has been a hell of a lot of learning, and you’re a step closer to success when you go through that. That’s how I feel at the minute, this moment in time. I think we’re a step closer to where we need to be, because there’s a lot more clarity on what needs to be done.
