We Are Terriers

Below are selected highlights from Wednesday afternoon’s press conference. You can find the full audio above or in your We Are Terriers podcast feed.Jack Conlon (BBC Radio Leeds): I’ll start with the three extra additions on deadline day. I’ll start with Bobby Wales and Ryan Hardie first — just how pleased are you to get those over the line and what are they going to offer?Yeah, delighted with them, but also the business I think that was done in January with the additions that were made. Starting with Bobby, he’s one that we’ve been tracking a little while, to be fair, and done a decent amount of work on, so I had a decent understanding of him. So again, I think he’s a good addition for us.Then obviously Ryan as well, he’s someone that I’ve coached against numerous times, and I know what qualities he brings and how proven he is at the level. Obviously, with Bojan [Radulovic] getting injured, we knew it was an area of pitch that we needed to add to in terms of not just depth, but also quality as well, which I’m delighted we’ve been able to do. JC: On the flip side, Ruben Roosken and Herbie Kane leaving the club — what’s the rationale behind those decisions?I think there are two aspects. I think Herbie, when you look at it, obviously coming back from an injury…I had a good chat with Herbie. I like him, I like some of his qualities, but I was quite straight and honest with him, I think, in terms of game time might be quite tough to come by, just given the volume of players that we’ve got in there. Naturally, when you come in you go with people, and he’s working back to fitness, so there was people ahead of him. So for me, then the decision, do you keep him around for the final third of the season to be part of it, or actually, do we go right, ‘let’s get fit, let’s game some minutes, let’s have a good look at him playing games and and see how he does on that?’ So that was the decision there.And similarly, I think Ruben, when you look at it, he wasn’t making squads with Bali [Mumba] coming in, and [Mickel Miller back again].I think it was a terrific opportunity for the club as well, and that was ultimately the decision that we made in terms of us being really happy with what we’ve got, and at the same time, the deal was really, really good for us.JC: How do you rate the window overall and the squad you’ve been left with, albeit, I appreciate you were only here for half of it?Really pleased, really pleased, with first and foremost, what was here.I came here to work with a group that was here currently, and I’ve been really pleased with how the group we’ve got has responded. Then if you if you go through it and what we’ve managed to add in terms of slight differences in profile and physicality, which I think the group needed.So, yeah, I’ve been really pleased with the window, and the biggest bit is I’m pleased with the squad we’ve now got going into the final three months of the season.Steven Chicken (We Are Terriers): You’ve actually got two centre forwards this weekend, with Bobby in as well [as Dion Charles]. Is it a case for you now weighing up whether you want them both on from the start or you want one from the bench so you can switch them out?I can’t be telling you what I’m thinking before a game!No, of course. We obviously spoke last week around what I felt we needed, and that was obviously an area to pitch that we needed options. That’s why I quite like, if you look at the three that we’ve got, Ryan [Hardie] is obviously back [from injury] soon, but with Ryan, with Bobby, with Dion, I think you’ve got three different types, different profiles, which maybe we can cause the opposition, different problems in different ways.So whether it be one up, whether it be two up, I think we’ve already shown in games that we’re happy to change and we’re not fixed and set on it that it has to be one up top. You want elements of the players to be fluid. So I’m delighted that we’ve got a variety of profiles at that end of the pitch, and it gives me different options and different ways of using them. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.weareterriers.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.weareterriers.comLiam Manning’s winning start to life as Huddersfield Town head coach now stands at three games after victories over Luton and Peterborough, despite he Terriers having to fight back through adversity in both games.This week’s We Are Terriers podcast reflects on both victories, including our thoughts on Alfie May’s red card, Ryan Ledson’s sensational goal…

Below are selected highlights from Wednesday afternoon’s press conference. You can find the full audio above or in your We Are Terriers podcast feed.Liam Manning Adam Pope (BBC Radio Leeds): Alfie May is looking at a four game ban at the moment because of an early red card. Is there any thoughts of the appeal that was mentioned last night.Yeah, we’re going to appeal it, I think only on the grounds that there’s no intent. Speaking with Alfie and when you see it, we’re not questioning whether he pulled Kasey Palmer’s hair, but there was zero intent, it’s completely accidental. If you watch the video back, quite clearly, he’s trying to grab his shoulder and pull him back, which is part of football, the contact that comes with playing the game. But unfortunately, he’s grabbed it, he’s let go of it straight away, and then apologised afterwards, but I think he was put down with violent conduct. It was definitely not that. So for me, we’ve appealed it, and hopefully common sense prevails.AP: You also had an injury to Bojan Radulovic yesterday. How is he?Yeah, he’s a little bit sore this morning, he’ll have scans tomorrow.To know definitively what we’re dealing with, and the time frames on it, and everything that everybody want to know, we can’t really answer it until we know the outcome of that scan this tomorrow morning.AP: If you are to be without those two players at the weekend at Peterborough, have you seen enough to suggest that you can re-fashion the team in a way that can be as effective as it has been so far?I think you probably saw it for 70 minutes last night, right?I think that that’s what we have got. We have got depth. We have got options. We have got different profiles. We have got really high quality amongst the group. People forget it’s a 50-game season. You need the squad.I’m sure previously, other people were injured, and everyone’s asking same questions — ‘you’ve got this one missing’. But what we’ve got is people ready to step in.We trained this morning with the lads that didn’t play last night or weren’t involved, or some of the subs, and the session was top this morning. I thought the attitude, the behaviour, the competitiveness, the work this morning was excellent, and that then means people are ready to step in when called upon. I referenced David Kasumu Last night, someone that wasn’t involved at the weekend, then four days later, it’s on the bench because of how he applied himself in training on Monday. He comes on last night and does exactly what the team needs and puts in a really, really strong performance. That, for me, is the Football League. It can happen so quick when you’ve got so many games and injuries, suspensions, form, people hitting a hot streak…you need to put them in at the right time, the same as when someone’s having a dip, you might need to pull them out. And that’s why it’s it’s not the starting 11 always. It’s very much the depth for the 20-25 that you’ve got. Steven Chicken (We Are Terriers): The nature of the last couple of games you’ve not been able to use someone like Will Alves, who maybe in other circumstances you throw them on. Are you looking forward to getting the chance to play some of those players, if you can keep 11 men on the pitch? Yeah, I had a chat with will about it today, and he was excellent today in training. I thought his quality, as well as his attitude and application, were excellent.So, yeah, I’ve had that chat and it was pretty much what you just said there — you know, I really like some of the bits I’ve seen, be patient, stick at it, keep working hard and be ready when called upon.What I can’t do is tell him when that will be and again, I think that’s the kind of the same message for the whole group: be ready when you called upon, and then it’s on them to give me a headache.That’s what I liked across the last two games, even last night, with the subs coming on. Dion had such good impact and done exactly what we’ve needed in those moments, and that that’s what being a strong team is all about, having people that you know are ready when called upon.Bali MumbaAP: Liam’s managed to get off to a great start: two clean sheets, two wins. Where do you feel, after being with him for eight days now, he can improve you? What do you need to improve yourself?I feel like we’ve already started this morning, in fact. He pulled me in the office, we had a chat, just a general chat, just about life and stuff, how’s things going, and then we went into further details with the game and football and stuff. He’s one of the managers that’s willing to help you with your performance. He says it doesn’t really matter on whether it’s your strengths or your weakness, both of them — he’s willing to help you whether it’s something that you’re really quite good at, to get better at that and really hit a good level with that, or whether something that needs to be improved.He’s willing to do both jobs and help you improve as a player, which is always nice. So yeah, we did speak about that this morning in terms of just obviously positioning when defending and stuff like that, which is quite key. It’s something that we can obviously work on one at a time, and then before we move on to the next thing that we need to improve on. SC: Talking to Ryan Ledson the other day, said he feels like Liam has taken off a little bit under Lee. And do you feel like as an attacking player, he’s giving you that freedom?Yeah, 100%, every game. The last two games, in the team talks that we’ve had, the last thing he always says that sticks with me is he always says, ‘Be fearless’. He tells everyone you know, be fearless. That obviously goes a long way in terms of out of possession, in possession, just be fearless. Be you, express yourself. He’s not one of them that they will judge you by your mistakes or what you do, as long as it’s a positive action. That’s something that as a player, you want to hear — you want to go into the game knowing ‘I can try things, I can take a risk, because obviously the manager obviously wants me to play with that fearless mindset’. This is a public episode. 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Below are selected highlights from Monday afternoon’s press conference. You can find the full audio above or in your We Are Terriers podcast feed.Liam ManningLouis Reynolds (BBC Radio Leeds): You’ve almost set that bar now, haven’t you, for what fans can expect from your side?Yeah, and let’s be clear, I’ve used that with the lads. I think that’s the bit for me, is how do you make those behaviours into habit.It’s like how the FA Cup’s a great competition, and you can raise your game for the odd one, but if you want to achieve anything and sustain success over a period of time and win game after game, you have to make the behaviours that we showed on Saturday habit, and that’s the bit that we’ve spoken to the lads about: the desire to run, the intensity, the duels, the togetherness, the spirit, the emotion, but the control with the emotion. I think that that’s equally important.You saw so much of that on Saturday, and like I said, that’ll be my challenge. The players should be desperate to get out there tomorrow night, to go again, and we have to — win, lose or draw, play well, play poorly — what’s non-negotiable is showing the intent that we showed at the weekend.LR: When you talk about habits and non-negotiables, how difficult or easy is it, from a coaching point of view, to ingrain that into players?I think it depends on the group you work with, but I can’t speak highly enough of the lads since me, Martin and James have come in to work with them, I think they’ve been really receptive to the bits we’ve challenged them with.I think football’s analysed so much nowadays that there’s so much made around rotation and shapes and patterns, and of course, there’s huge parts of those that are important, but what has to always underpin it is the will to win and the desire to work. That’s what the lads have done since day one of us joining, and we have to push them to continually do that — and the second someone steps off it, it’s my job, it’s the staff’s job, but it’s also the [layers’ job to make sure that we hold each other to account, to what we expect in those behaviours. Saturday was a real, good example of what it has to look like.LR: Chatting to some fans after the weekend…there’s 18 games to go, and yes, there is a bit of a gap between yourselves and the top two, but a lot of the consensus was ‘our season starts today’. What is in your mind the next 18 games? What’s the remit? How are you envisaging it unfolding?We want to win as many as we can.Any fan, any player, any staff member should dream big. You have to, I think. No-one wants me to come in here and squash ambition and dreams — you’d be mad to do that. But we also have to understand, how do we do that? And that’s for me, where I chunk it up. 18 games is too far away to get targets and projections. We have to concentrate and get it right tomorrow, otherwise where we’re at in 18 games won’t be where we want it.So like I said, there’s a real skill, and we have to celebrate the wins, we have to enjoy it, the same as we have to hurt after the losses, but you have to bounce back quickly — and that’s everyone associated with the club, and that’s what we have to do.I said to the lads on Saturday, ‘enjoy it, go home, make sure then Sunday, you rest, you recover, and your head’s on Tuesday, then when we’re at the end of the season, look back and make sure we have no regrets on what we did in the 19 games that we had.’Ryan LedsonLouis Reynolds (BBC Radio Leeds): How have you found the first few days working under Liam?Good, positive. I’ve played against his teams for the past two years in the Championship. He and his coaching staff have come in with real energy, real intent, so yeah, positive start so far.LR: And on Saturday, it was the best start possible, wasn’t it? I mean, it was some atmosphere, some performance. Talk us through your reflections of that game. Brilliant. Absolutely loved it from start to finish. I thought the energy in the ground from the fans was top, and we really fed off that.I thought to a man, everyone was on top form, and we sort of we own them one. You look back at the game at their place, for the first half an hour, 35 minutes, we battered them, in all honesty, and that hurt us — it still did. So Saturday was about getting one back over on them, and really putting it to them, and I think we were unlucky not to be three up again at half time — we should have been. So, you know, it felt nice — but it’s just a start.LR: There is, of course, a gap between yourselves and the top two. Is that still a realistic target for you as players?Of course it is. But we’re not focusing on that at the minute, we’re focused on ourselves, focusing on game at a time, performances and points. If we get performances, we know in this league we’ll climb the table. So obviously, the aim is to win as many games as possible, including the cups.LR: What’s the message been from Liam on that front?It’s more positivity, more shackles off, just enjoy it. Like, obviously we’re all good players. It’s more the mental side of it and sort of us forgetting being us. It’s ‘be you, be what you come to the club for’, and that goes for everyone.LR: Did you feel you need Liam to come in to release those shackles?Yeah, listen, sometimes it’s a difficult one. If you can get yourself into a bit of a rut and getting the same messages, maybe just a little freshen up can kickstart people again, and hopefully that will be the case This is a public episode. 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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.weareterriers.comHuddersfield Town have a real opportunity to kickstart their season properly after claiming an important victory in the West Yorkshire derby over Bradford City.What did Liam Manning do differently to get that performance in a high-pressure game? Who were the key players who could play a big part under the new head coach? How do we expect Town to do from…

Below are selected highlights from Friday afternoon’s press conference with new Huddersfield Town head coach Liam Manning. You can find the full audio above or in your We Are Terriers podcast feed.There will be no weekly digest from us this week as we couldn’t even begin to do a meaningful predicted line-up and we’re not sure you need telling what this weekend’s game is all about.Injury news is that Herbie Kane has been back in training all week while Jack Whatmough and Antony Evans have been integrating back in with the rest of the side. Sean Roughan remains sidelined.We will also have an exclusive interview with Huddersfield Town sporting director Chris Markham for our paying subscribers at teatime today so keep your eyes peeled for that and get signed up if you aren’t already to make sure you get access.What do you make of the squad so far?Yeah, I think you can do all the video work, you can watch games, you can try and get up to speed with things, as we have at the start of this week — But there’s nothing like being on the grass with the lads and getting a real feel for them and physically what they’re like, understanding their connection, their relationship, the culture we’ve got see.I’ve been really pleased with how they applied themselves this week. It’s been a real buzz about the place, naturally, I think when you have a change, but I’ve been really pleased, looking forward to seeing what they can take into the game.Was that part of the attraction of taking the job, because it is a good squad with a lot of talented players who are perhaps underachieving?Anytime, I think it’s the group that you’re going to work with [that appeals]. I think when you look at it, there’s a huge amount of experience at this level, a huge amount of success. I think there’s some really exciting lads that I think can hit levels higher than what they might have shown so far this season.So I think that’ll be my job, to challenge them on that. I think there’s a lot of potential to achieve and still to come. So yeah, that was one of the biggest attractions, was the current playing group, and what I think we can get out of them.What sort of football does a Liam Manning side look like?I spoke about it the other day — because I just spent a few years working with City Group, this perception gets built up around possession, etc.But think if you look at the groups I work with, especially obviously at Bristol City, where we have a decent amount of success, it starts with the behaviours: people that are honest, people that are hard-working, people that show a level of intensity and aggression and a real purpose through all their actions. That doesn’t mean they’re always going to get things right, but I think in terms of a starting point, it’s that.Then after that, for me, it’s how to attack, and there’s different ways to do that. You can be direct, you can go behind, you can go through…it’s finding different ways to attack to hurt the opposition, and all about being hard to beat without the ball winning your duels, winning your battles, and being organised as a group.What’s the priority then: winning, or winning in a certain style?The position I’m in and the learnings I’ve had in the numerous games I’ve done so far, I think the priority is winning, and to be clear I want to win tomorrow, I think I’d take that over the performance.And then, of course, I think if you want to sustain winning, the performance then becomes equally important.So I think you can win the odd game by playing off the cuff or having no real identity, but I think in terms of if you want to consistently win, if you look at teams historically, that have gone on to have success and win over and over again, you have to be clear on what you’re doing, which in football is the biggest challenge.It’s like here, we’ve got some talented individual players so it’s how do you get a group to be aligned on the same page? I think that’s often the challenge in football, so that’s the bits that we’ve been trying to address and work on this week.You’ve talked about how you want to play forward, you want to be brave — would you say that’s a fair assessment of the style of football we can expect?Yeah, I hope so, that’s what I want. That’s what we’ll be pushing the lads to do. Naturally, will they always get it right? No, so again, I think there will be moments where they can play forward and maybe go square or back instead.But my job behind the scenes — and the staff that we have — is to coach them to be brave, to play forward, to ask questions, and naturally in the game, you can’t always do that — but it’s about not playing it square or back when we’ve got that opportunity to go and hurt the opposition.That’s the big bit for me. We want to create, we want to dominate games, but we want to do it in the right areas of the pitch, which is as close to their goal as possible. This is a public episode. 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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.weareterriers.comWe’ve seen Huddersfield Town in action twice this week, but most analysis of those games has gone out the window on the latest episode of the We Are Terriers podcast following Lee Grant’s dismissal as manager.So how come the manager was never able to get his side performing consistently? Is anything likely to be different under the new boss — whomever t…

Below are selected highlights from Thursday afternoon’s press conference. You can find the full audio above or in your We Are Terriers podcast feed.Lee GrantKatherine Hannah (BBC Radio Leeds): The new arrival announced today, then — Bali Mumba. What can you tell us about him and what he will bring to Huddersfield Town? Firstly, we’re delighted he’s joined us, and I think it’s a really positive signing for the football club, I have to say. He’s a player I’ve liked for a long time, I told Bali this yesterday — it was three or four years ago down at Portman Road, and he cut in from the right and put one in top bins.That sticks in my memory, and he’s been in my radar since that moment, I have to be honest.But he’s a player that can play across several positions, so we’ve seen him ply his trade across the front line for Plymouth, we’ve seen him play his trade at both wing-back positions and full-backs not out of the question for him. And that is obviously a huge tick in the column for us in terms of where he can ply his trade.But the other part of it is his age, and think he’s a really good footballer as well, so we’re excited by that one, and we’re really pleased with how the windows open up so farKH: Will he be available to play this weekend?He will be, because he’s played a lot of minutes, if you look over the festive period, and I think his last 90 minutes was against Burton, in fact. He’s trained with us today, he’s in a good place, so of course, we’ve got to think about the big picture in the context of just being in the building. But yeah, he’ll be in a place where he’ll be available.Steven Chicken (We Are Terriers): I appreciate you may not want to give too much away ahead of potentially his debut, but where do you see Bali fitting into this side? We know that he’s a very versatile player…Yeah, and in all honesty, I would like to keep that up my sleeve and cards close to my chest on that one,Bali can play as a left wing-back, he can play as a right wing-back, he can play as a full-back on either side at a stretch. He can play as a right winger or a left winger. He can play in the pocket on the left side, on the right side, and he can play as a forward off the striker on either side of the pitch.So apart from central midfield, which I’m not sure I’ve seen him play, or with a pair of [goalie] gloves on either, he can probably play in most of the positions.Mine and Bali’s conversation this morning centred around probably keeping those options fewer, rather than keeping the scope hugely wide, just because he’s got a lot to take in at the moment: he’s got new surroundings, new training ground, new teammates, new everything, so we probably don’t want Bali to try to absorb seven different positions worth of information over the next few weeks.But, yeah, we also want to be able to utilise him, as and when, wherever we think he can be effective.KH: You said there you’re pleased with how the squad is shaping up this January window. Can you give us an idea of what the plan is? Where do you want to be by the end of January?Stronger than where we started, and that really is it in a nutshell, Katherine.We feel like we’ve made good strides on that already, and I think the January window for every club is tricky to navigate, sure, but if you can come out of it with a feeling of ‘we feel as though we’ve improved the squad picture’, then that’ll be a huge bonus for everybody. I think we’re taking great strides towards that already, and I’m pleased with what we’ve done, and that has to be the aim.KH: Still more to come, do we expect?Yeah, it’s tough to say. As I said right at the beginning, I think I said we have to be ready to adapt to any situation. We have to be able to assess and understand the needs of all of the players that are in the building.So do I see the picture changing? Probably yes, if I’m being really honest. I think the squad probably will look slightly different than what it looks today, but in reality, that’s by one or two players in either direction.So as I said, we’ve got to be ready to move and adapt and obviously, of course, see how things progress in terms of fitness, availability, injury and form across the next couple of weeks.KH: It’s a nice position to be in that you were getting, clearly, the backing from your owner and chairman. It doesn’t sound like you’ve had to fight too hard for him to open the chequebook?Well, I think if you look at the signings we brought in in the window, of course, we’re always trying to look at things from a business perspective and balance the books, so that’s important.We’ve taken strides to do that in this window as well, as we did in the window before, with [selling] Sorba [Thomas] and with Brodie [Spencer]. So that’s obviously important.But yes, without doubt, having a chairman that is prepared to react when a situation arises, as we’ve seen in Bali’s case — he’s one that will be important for the football club as well, it’s a sound piece of business, and for me personally, of course, it’s a positive without a doubt.KH: Any team news ahead of the weekend?No, nothing significant. Obviously, Alfie had his knock prior to Rotherham, so we’re delighted he came through the game OK and with no adverse reactions post-game either. The injured ones are the injured ones, and Sean [Roughan] and Jack [Whatmough] and Herbie [Kane] are pushing, and [Antony] Evans are all pushing really hard on the training ground and doing what they can. But of course, still a bit to go for most of those.But yeah, other than that, as we were.SC: So all good on Will Alves after his little kick on Tuesday?Yeah, he was sore coming off the pitch, and in some ways it was probably needed in that it was his first real whack on the injury, and to know that you can have that and come through it is obviously a positive sign.So, yeah, no ill effects from that. Obviously, he was recovering with the recovery group today…the lads that played the game on Tuesday are still sort of half-training, half-recovering. But no, he came through OK as well.Radinio BalkerSC: Admittedly, as you say, you’ve conceded some goals you wouldn’t have liked to concede recently. On the whole though, when you look at the xG, when you look at the number of goals conceded, it has been better over the past few weeks since this change of shape. Do you feel like this system suits you as a defence?If you look at the numbers, yes. I think because of the way we play, it’s taken away sometimes a little bit of the attacking. But, I mean, we’ve played the same way on Tuesday [against Rotherham], and it’s looked very attacking as well. So it’s difficult to say, but you would say yes, if you look at the stats, and it feels like that as well.Even against Stockport, we didn’t play well, we were defending a lot, but I feel like we didn’t really give up many chances against them. Yeah, they had some shots, they had some pressure on us, for sure, but I think that security in the back with an extra man saves us those big, big chances that we that other teams create against us. So you could say defensively, it actually works really well, yeah.SC: Speaking to the manager, he seems to think the difference in those games, like Stockport or Bradford, or plenty of other games against the big teams…is it a matter of self-belief, as the manager seems to think? Do you think you and your teammates need to find that extra level in those big games?Well, that speaks for itself. I think if you look at the record we have against the top teams, it doesn’t look good. So you could say maybe we need to show some more balls, because what we have done before hasn’t worked either.So I wouldn’t say it’s self-belief, but I feel like in a game, you have moments where you’re under pressure, and then it’s easy to kick the ball away because you don’t want to concede. And that’s something that you need to — again, the same word I used before — balance. You need to balance it out.Yes, sometimes kick the ball out. Sometimes keep the ball away because you’re in a dangerous area. But sometimes, you need to have the confidence to keep it and play out of that pressure from the other team.So yeah, I can’t really answer the question, I can only speak for myself, and for myself, I don’t think it’s a lack of confidence. It’s just knowing as a team what you need in that moment. I think that’s the best answer I can give. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.weareterriers.com/subscribe

Below are selected highlights from Tuesday afternoon’s press conference. You can find the full audio above or in your We Are Terriers podcast feed.Lee GrantChris Nee (We Are Terriers): Lee, we’ll start, if you don’t mind, with your reflections after Stockport, please.Yeah. So, difficult afternoon, difficult in many senses. Because not only do we not reach our level in terms of really going after the game and being successful in the things that we set out to do, but then having got the game to a stage where we, you know, look as though we’re coming away with a point and a clean sheet, we then, obviously, yeah, turn that into into no reward and zero points from the game. So, yeah, that’s tough to take, of course, but we know internally that we have to be better.And as it stood with the point and the clean sheet on offer, but 90+6 minutes or whatever it was, we still would have been wholly dissatisfied, I think, with how the game went.CN: Do you understand or even share the frustration of the supporters after a game like that?Without a doubt. Intrinsically, we understand it. I understand it. Share it, for sure. We’re living it. So we’re certainly, with regards to our level at the weekend, we’re not satisfied, and we certainly feel as though we’ve we’ve come up short, and I’ve come up short, in terms of the display that we put on show.CN: You’ve brought in a keeper and another keeper has gone in the other direction. Can I ask the thinking behind those two transactions?Pretty straightforward, in all honesty, in that we had to do what was right by Owen [Goodman] and of course, had to take into account Owen’s wishes and Crystal Palace’s wishes in the matter, and all of those things being considered, it was a very straightforward decision for all of us, and we did make that decision mutually, along with Owen and along with Crystal Palace.So, yeah, we came to the decision that that was best for all parties. And then, of course, finding the replacement and doing so in in good time was really important.CN: We saw Cameron [Humphreys] at the weekend. Do you expect to sort of see him in that deeper role more often, or is it a versatile player that you’ve brought in?Very much so, yeah, very much. So we can use Cammy in all of the positions centrally. My belief is that across the across the you know, five months or so that he’s going to be with us, we will get an opportunity to see Cam as a more aggressive central midfielder, as a deeper one, and perhaps at times, as a more attacking outlet for us. So yeah, we know he has that versatility and those attributes to his game, so we want to make sure we use them.CN: It’s clearly a blow to lose a player who was in the kind of form that Leo Castledine was in. Are you looking to bring in a pretty direct replacement for him, or is that somewhere where Will Alves and Zeppy Redmond can step in?Yeah, well, it’s difficult. I think it’s going to be difficult for us to replace Leo, that’s for sure. So Leo worked hard, and we worked really hard with Leo to get him into a position where we felt as though he could contribute significantly. And he was doing that. We found the right slot for him, and he was really consistent with his level.So yeah, that’s a blow that’s tough to take for all of us. We also feel as though we’ve got one or two that are ready to step up. So of course, they have to do that, and we want to help them to do that.So yeah, that’ll be the goal. Of course, if we have an opportunity to find another Leo Castledine, nobody’s going to turn their nose up at that. But as I said, I think that’s going to be very, very difficult.CN: Is the Vertu Trophy game a chance to maybe bring a few of those players back in and give them some minutes?Yeah, quite possibly so. We’ve got one or two now that are pushing hard to be back available and around it. You know, Mickel Miller, Marcus McGuane, Will Alves, people like those guys that we’ve not seen a great deal of recently, and then one or two that, you know would have liked to have had more minutes than perhaps they’ve had more recently, again, will get an opportunity.But as we’ve said before every single game, it’s a really important competition to us. So you know, we’ll pick a side that we feel as though can go out there and get the right result for us.CN: What’s the status of Alfie May at the moment?Yeah, look Alfie, it was disappointing one, I think for all of us concerned. We selected Alfie to play at the weekend. He didn’t feel as though he was able to do that, so yeah, we have to see if he’s if he makes the cup for for Tuesday. My hope is that it settles quickly and we can have him back around it.CN: Do you have a time frame on Sean Roughan as well?Yeah. Sean Roughan, I think we said at the time, initially four to six weeks, that hasn’t changed. So he’s progressing along nicely.Lynden GoochCN: Why do you think the the team falls a bit short against teams around you?I’m not too sure. Obviously, the results are there to see against the top sides. And unfortunately, for whatever reason, we haven’t managed to get those results and performances that we want.But yeah, look, I think if we finish the game 0-0 you go, ‘It’s a good point, we rolled our sleeves up and and dug in,’ which we did. And unfortunately, the last kick the game didn’t go our way. And that’s really disappointing.But like I say, we’ve been on a really good run. It doesn’t need to be doom and gloom. We need to get back to what we’ve done well over the last month or so to get back to those results.CN: One thing that will help that is avoiding conceding late goals. As you say, 0-0 would have been a very respectable outcome on Saturday. Is that down to concentration over the last couple of games?Maybe, yeah, you could put it that way, I think the goal on Saturday was obviously disappointing, and we should have defended it better. We know that. So that’s that’s on us to to see the game out and and obviously against Exeter as well, in the closing stages.So look, we, we are under no illusions how disappointing that is and how disappointing that is as a football club, as the fans would be disappointed, we’re just as much as disappointed.And yeah, look, we want to obviously stop that routine happening and but we can’t whinge about it or get down about it. We have to be grown men and face it and try and do better. CN: What is the mood like at the moment? Obviously, the results were fine for a while and then slightly disappointing on Saturday. But big games coming up, big month coming up, is there confidence and fire in the group?Yeah, of course, look, confidence is still high. We still believe we can beat anyone on our day and and we’re still in a really positive place in in the division, and there’s still a long, long way to go.When I got promoted at Sunderland, we were outside the play-off places at this stage. We fell down quite a bit and managed to get back in and go up through the play-offs. So there’s still so much to play for. It’s not over just because we got beat at the weekend.And look, we we want to go far in the Vertu Trophy as well because winning breeds confidence and and belief, and we want to go far in that tournament as well. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.weareterriers.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.weareterriers.comHuddersfield Town’s unbeaten run ended at seven matches thanks to their first loss of 2026. It was a late goal that turned one point into none at Stockport County and Dominic Howson joins David Hartrick to carry out the postmortem.With the January transfer window now well underway, we look at a busy week of business that saw Town add Jak Alnwick and Cam…

Below are selected highlights from Wednesday morning’s press conference. You can find the full audio above or in your We Are Terriers podcast feed.Louis Reynolds (BBC Radio Leeds): What can you learn from Exeter a few days on?Well, certainly we’ve got a way, I think, of making it easier for ourselves to take maximum points in that game, and that is by having more control and being the version of ourselves that we’ve shown many times this season, and being better with the football than what we were in the second half.And then, of course, there also comes a point where, when you get late in the game where we have to shut the door, and it has to be what it has to be, and the result has to stay as it is. Probably we didn’t quite change into that mindset, I don’t think, and again, I take my share of the responsibility in that as well.So again, myself, the group — we get to the bottom of that, we understand where we can all be better, and we look to apply those lessons.LR: It’s going to be a big month, isn’t it? I mean, it started with the big game away at Lincoln, and Stockport, Bradford, Luton, Peterborough who are in good form…how do you look ahead to the rest of this month?Just really excited. It’s a great month for us in terms of the sort of development we’ve had over the recent weeks and making sure we’ve fixed some of the things we wanted to fix. The group have done great on that, and I’m so pleased with how they’ve taken a lot of that information on and applied it in-game, so I’m excited to see that being really challenged now in big games away from home on a couple of occasions.LR: It’s January, there will be questions about the transfer window. Is there any update you can tell us in terms of incomings? Is there anything going on behind the scenes at all?Nothing quite yet, no. We’re just monitoring everything right now. We’re in a situation where I think, if I’m being really honest, I don’t think the squad will look exactly the same at the end of January to how it looks right now today, and if I was also being really honest, could I predict who, what, where and when? The answer would be no. So it would really be pointless to me, for me to sit here and say this has happened, because there isn’t anything in the offing right now, at this moment in time.We’re aware that everybody wants to play, so that will throw up things naturally. Of course, we’re aware that we might be an attractive option for people as well, so that might throw things up. And we’re also aware that we’re striving really hard to get to where we want to go. So if we feel like there’s something that could help us, I’m certain we’ve got a motivated football club and owner that would push to try and give us that opportunity. So, yeah, we have to be ready to adapt and move and change as and when necessary.LR: Forgive the persistent question from myself and my colleagues, has anything changed regarding Leo [Castledine]?I forgive you, don’t worry!The answer is, all of that is external to my control, so I don’t put a great deal of stress or emotion into that. What I do put my stress and energy into is working with everybody, of course Leo included, helping him, making sure that he retains his importance to the team, and that’s how I’ll continue to play it.LR: What about Owen [Goodman]’s situation? Because, obviously, you’ve been a goalkeeper yourself. He’s come here to play. Some people are talking, maybe he could return to Crystal Palace. What’s your view on that?Yeah, it’s going to be tough. I think it’s tough for Owen, because I love him and brought him in because our feeling is that he’s going to have a tremendous career and hope, of course, as well, that he’ll be incredibly important for what we’re trying to do this year now.Right now, I’ve got to say, I’ve been delighted with Lee [Nicholls], delighted, so that’s going to put Owen in a situation where he’s going to be frustrated and perhaps looking at ‘how can I affect my situation?’ — because you have to be selfish about your own career and situation. Me and Owen are in constant conversation, in all honesty, on how that looks and how that will play out, and I’ve got to be fair to Owen, and I’ve also got to be right by what’s right for us as a football club.So again, it probably falls into that category of a situation that I’m alive to and ready to react if and when necessary.RL: Team news wise, is everyone who was involved in Exeter fit to play? Can you welcome anyone back for the weekend?Yeah, it’s going to be difficult for Sean Roughan.Other than that, I think we’re in a good place. We’re pushing with one or two as well. So we’re pushing with Mickel Miller, Marcus McGuane, we’re pushing with Josh Feeney, so obviously that was pleasing. So yeah, we’re in a decent place.Steven Chicken (We Are Terriers): Is Joe Low any closer?Yeah, that’ll be right to the wire, I think, that one.SC: We’ve not seen Joe Taylor or Ruben Roosken in your squad recently. What do they need to do to get back into your thoughts at the moment?Ruben is another one having really good conversations — open, honest — and I think you’ve seen how much Ruben’s played for me across the course of this season. As with everybody, it’s a fight and a scrap, and there’s no guarantees.But for everybody that shows great application and work and dedication and wants to do the things that we think will help him and the team, whoever that may be, there’s always opportunity. So for Ruben, no stress, he’s played a lot and will continue to play.For Joe, it can be frustrating if you’ve got that chain above you of one, two and three and all playing in that position, and perhaps one or two playing really well in that position. So it can be really frustrating. Joe, again, has contributed significantly over the course of the first six months while I’ve been at the football club.I’m also aware that every situation is different, every context is different. So again, despite my own wishes, I have to be alive and fair and across what might be different from one individual to the next.Joe’s situation might be different to Ruben’s, for example, and again, we have to treat them specifically. We have to treat them like: ‘right, OK, what’s right for Joe in this moment’, and what’s right for Joe from all angles — for the football club, for his development, for us trying to achieve our goals.We have to weigh all those things up, and we will continue to do that across the course of January. I don’t have any worries about Joe and him being in a position to contribute, I really don’t, because he’s shown us that he can.SC: Is there a possibility he (Taylor) might leave during this transfer window?I don’t know. I don’t know. I really don’t.Like I said, I think there’s probably several obvious ones where you can look at and say ‘well, if he’s not playing, I don’t know how that situation continues to be as it is’.So that’s an obvious one, and there’s maybe one or two others like that, where you can look at and go, ‘well, that probably doesn’t work for the club or the player or the manager or anybody if that one’s not not going in the right direction’.So again, I’ll try to look at all of those ones individually as and when. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.weareterriers.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.weareterriers.comHuddersfield Town’s unbeaten streak now stands at seven games, but not everybody is entirely happy that the past two games both ended in stalemates.The reaction to the Lincoln game was decidedly mixed depending on who you asked, while everyone was left irritated by the Terriers dropping points late on against Exeter — including Lee Grant.So where do we …

Below are selected highlights from Wednesday morning’s press conference. You can find the full audio above or in your We Are Terriers podcast feed.Lee GrantBBC Radio Leeds: I’ll just start with the team news and on the injury situation with Joe Low first?We’re going to give Joe as much time as we can, I think that’s probably what we will do. Obviously, we haven’t got a great deal of time between games, but in terms of making sure we give Joe every chance possible, we’re going to do that. That’s where we’re at with Joe.Everybody else is as it was really.The same as everybody else at this stage of the season, with games thick and fast, we have a few tired bodies, of course, but we’ve just got to make sure we we get the training right and recovery right between games. But yeah, we’re OK.RL: What’s the nature of Joe’s injury?Fatigue, the same as everybody else, and he was tight leading into the game. So like I say, we’ve got to make smart decisions, and we got to see where we’re at with him. We’ve also got to try and take longer term view, as we do with everybody, as well as looking at the here and now. But the here and now for us is really important, so we’ve got to weight all those factors in.RL: Is there any you’re expecting to be back in the next month or so?I’d be disappointed if we don’t have within the next four weeks Mickel Miller fit, Marcus McGuane fit.I’ve said previously, Jack Whatmough’s situation is going to take him longer. It’s been a really challenging period for Jack, so we’re not expecting him back in the next few weeks. Josh Feeney, we should have available to us within the next week to ten days.So we’re heading in the right direction on a few. We’d like to have Herbie Kane ready within the four week period as well.So yeah, there’s a few pushing so we’re we’re doing okay, and there’s a few moving in the right direction.RL: The January transfer window is upon us, or just about upon us as well — are you expecting a busy month?I don’t know it’s probably the best answer, not that I don’t have an idea of what I want to do or where I want it to get to and how I want it to look at the end — I have a very clear idea of that.Myself, Chris [Markham] and Jake [Edwards], we’ve been in conversations for a good while now around how we would like that to play out.But of course, some of it is out of our control, and not all of it is straightforward. That’s probably the two bits I’m being realistic about. So I expect the squad to look slightly different by the time we get to the end of January , but not by loads.So that’s really where I’m at with it. I think there’s room for us to adapt — but I have to say, I’m just as excited about having the boys fit as I am about anything else. So my focus right now really is on everybody that we have in the building, and I’ve been really clear about since the day the window shut in the summer.Everybody that we had in the building is everybody that we wanted in the building. And my focus really is on those, those boys, and our opportunity to keep working and keep moving in the right direction.RL: So as you’re aware, are there any talks ongoing currently?No, no.RL: Outgoings-wise as well, do you expect any activity in that regard?I think we have to be open to it. So that’s that’s where I’m at, and I think we have to be open to it. We have to be open to the fact that with a squad the size that we have, if players aren’t getting the minutes that they want, we’ve got to 1) respect their wishes, and 2) also help those players continue their development, and that is one of the reasons that I’m here, which is to help players develop and be better for the football club.Now, not everyone is going to get the opportunity to do that here for us this season. So as we have done with young Tom Iorpenda…Tom’s best opportunity this year is to be elsewhere (on loan at Notts County), getting loads of minutes and helping his development for the football club and for him personally.So yeah, we have to look at that, and that’s a case by case basis.RL: Leo Castledine is still a player that’s in the forefront of a lot of people’s minds, and the situation regarding him, and speculation surrounding what Chelsea might want to do with him…have you had any more indication as to what the state of play is?No, none, none. And as I said before, I’m really relaxed about that. Anything that’s external to my control, I don’t spend any time worrying about.So it’s all very, very clear for me: Leo is with us, getting exactly what we set out to do, and he set out to do, at the start of the season. So there isn’t even a conversation to be had on that one.Is there a level of it? You’d rather know? Earlier than rather later, though, when it comes to him.… We Are Terriers: As much as you can see the performances have been a lot better and the commitment has been a lot better the past few games, it also looks like the players are enjoying their football a lot more the past few games. Obviously that’s easier when you’re winning but is it important to have in the squad?Yeah, and not just [celebrating goals]. I think if you’re watching really closely, you’re seeing players celebrate blocks. You’re seeing Lee Nicholls put demand on people and give them the respect that’s due when they do the right things in front of him.So all of those bits, they add up, they add up, and they’re adding up right now to what we’ve seen in the past three games for us in particular, which has been really good on both ends of the pitch. There’s a a real hunger and determination to protect and be there for each other on both sides of the coin again, so we’ve got to continue to see that, and that will be really tested up against Lincoln on New Year’s Day. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.weareterriers.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.weareterriers.comHuddersfield Town blew Port Vale away before passing an endurance test against Northampton. Are they now more ready for the bigger challenges ahead in January?There’s yet more love for Bojan Radulovic in particular, obviously, and we discuss how Town could possibly replaced Leo Castledine’s recent contribution if Chelsea decide to move him up a level in…

Below are selected highlights from Tuesday morning’s press conference. You can find the full audio above or in your We Are Terriers podcast feed.Lee GrantKatherine Hannah (BBC Radio Leeds): Really important to get the win at Rotherham Lee — now, equally, I guess, important to be able to follow that up with two games back at the Accu Stadium?Yeah, absolutely. We have to keep searching for our consistency and our level more often, and with such a strong display at the weekend, we want to make sure we back that up going into the next couple for sure.KH: What did you particularly enjoy about the performance at Rotherham that you want to see replicated again against Port Vale?Attention to detail around the defensive habits. We were there for each other, very often, good cover. The line work was excellent. Habits around our individual defending was really good. And I like the feel and the energy that I got from the group in terms of their desire to do all the horrible bits as well.KH: And of course, that’s something that you’ve been calling from from day one. What do you think it was that inspired that away at Rotherham, that perhaps they didn’t deliver for you in previous games?Well, certainly from the group, there’s a hunger and a desire every week. I think probably they’re at the point as a group where they really are putting a lot of demand on themselves as well, and that’s important. So as much as I can be demanding and challenging and ask a lot from them, it has to, once they cross the line, come from a real internal desire, individually, but most importantly collectively, for the group to strive for their for their maximum. I could see lots of that throughout the week, and I think I said it after the game, I was really pleased with how that translated into their work at the weekend.… KH: There’s a lot of talk inevitably about the current form of Leo Castledine being recognised as the talent that he is…inevitably that comes with the fear that, ‘oh no, are Chelsea going to recall him, or is somebody else going to put a bid in to try and take him on a permanent basis?’. Where are you at with Leo going forwards?I’m not anywhere with Leo, apart from I like having Leo here. I love selecting him when he’s fit and long may that continue.KH: Do you have to plan for the possibility that he might move elsewhere in January?No, no, that will be outside of our control if that happens.I would very much hope that Leo would see the value in everything we’re giving him here, in terms of the coaching, the opportunity, and the experience he’s having with us as a football club. So yeah, I feel pretty secure in that.Of course, like I say, everything outside of that is external to my control. So, you know, very difficult for me to have any impact on it.… KH: You may be aware of a video that’s been doing the rounds on social media over the last 24 hours. Marcus Harness and Herbie Kane seem to have some kind of interaction — I don’t know who with, whether it was a fan of Huddersfield or someone else — but what’s gone on there? Are you in a position to tell us any more about that? No, I’m not.KH: Not aware or not able to expand on it?No, I’m absolutely aware, of course.I speak with my players a lot, and conversations I have with the players are detailed, of course, and everything that happens that can affect the group, externally, internally, I always make sure that that’s dealt with very quickly, and those conversations always stay where they where they happen, so that will continue to be the case.We deal with all of that stuff in-house, and the players know my feelings, and the group know my feelings.KH: I appreciate player confidentiality and those conversations remain private, absolutely understandably. Bigger picture, is this the difficulties of doing a high-profile job that and everybody having camera phones these days…how hard is it as a professional footballer to have a life outside of football and for situations like this sometimes to occur?Yeah, I think, Katherine, you’re talking about something that’s wider than like socially now, for young people in general, it’s part of the landscape we live in.Whether you are a high profile athlete, whether you are John from around the corner, there’s always somebody ready and willing to make your life difficult and do that via any means necessary, and obviously, there’s quite a few avenues nowadays, as you mentioned there, with camera phones and photos and the social networks that are readily available to everybody.So yeah, things can escalate to points where perhaps they wouldn’t have done in the past, or perhaps become consumable in terms of things end up in in the spotlight when perhaps they wouldn’t have done [previously].That’s where that’s where the world is, and I think everybody has a responsibility to be able to understand that landscape and to work with within and around it, whatever constraints there are, and everybody has those responsibilities individually, like I say. With regards to our group, they will know my feelings on it really clearly, and they’re all aware of the responsibilities they have as custodians of our principles and everything that the football club stands for. So as I said, that’s all really, really clear in-house, and we’ve got to make sure that we are upholding all of those values and principles as much as we can every single day, regardless of on duty, off duty. That’s all really important for me.… Steven Chicken (We Are Terriers): How’s Leo doing after his his little kick on Saturday?It’s a bit of a difficult one in terms of where he gets it, so they’re always sore, but he’s going to be OK. That’s my feeling right now as we stand.Obviously, we’ve got a couple of days to see how that progresses, but it’s a sore one top of the foot, but nothing at this point where I’ll be really unduly concerned. My hope is that the next couple of days he manages to do the work that’s needed to keep himself in and around it.SC: Are there any other injury updates you can give us either way?We have Will Alves still pushing and working his way back in. Obviously we have some quite strict guidelines from his parent club (Leicester) in terms of how much and how soon we can push so we’ve got to make sure we tick those off.Because of the nature of the injury, it’s a bone injury that really, there is just a certain amount of time for us all to be really certain about that healing process being concluded. So we’re getting close to the end of that block now. These three days of work were really good for Will and after the next couple we should have him close getting him ready for selection.Zeppi [Redmond] is working his way back really well in terms of his fitness. He’s got a bit to do still, but he’s pushing, and he’s training hard, and again, these three days will be important for him.Other than that, Mickel Miller and Marcus McGuane are on the grass at the moment, so that’ll be a nice surprise, I think, for everybody today to have them back in and around it — but they’re right at the beginning of their sort of on-grass and with-team exposure, so we’ve still got a bit to go with them.Bojan RadulovicKH: Obviously, great assist and a really nice goal for you against Rotherham at the weekend. How pleased were you with your performance?Yeah, of course. So glad about the about the performance, not only mine, I think from the whole team, we have shown character. We have shown a lot of things that we are missing, probably, the last few games where we know getting that that win or the performance we we wanted. And I think this game sums everything up. And at the end, of course, we we get good result in a tough, tough game.KH: In terms of those couple of things that were perhaps missing in previous performances. Then can you give me a couple of examples of what you mean?Probably more, I would say, not only defensively, but also in the last third of the pitch. In this game, we were able to score three goals. Of course, we didn’t probably create a lot from from open play or playing the ball, but it was more like playing a simple and direct and of course, yeah, we could have scored probably one or two more goals.But also, I would say defensively, we look much better than the other games, a bit more solid. But yeah, of course, that kind of games, it gives you that mentality that you have to play if you want to get the win on this kind of of of pitch surfaces, or these sorts of games where we needed to get that win.So, yeah, the win was a positive one or for the team that is going to give us that energy and boost for for the upcoming games.KH: Obviously it’s a very busy time of year for you as footballers over the Christmas period, lots of games to contend with. But do you manage to enjoy a bit of Christmas spirit, a bit of Christmas downtime at all?Of course, we all want to to enjoy that, but we also know that we have to play, we have to still work, do our job. So yeah, it’s going to be a bit of both, but always with being smart.But yeah, it’s a nice time to spend with family and friends. Christmas Day, it’s going to be different this year again, because of course, you cannot do a lot of things, because the next day we play on the Boxing Day. So yeah, it’s going to still be special. But with being smart.KH: Have you got family, friends that you’d be able to spend time with, even for a short time on Christmas Day this year?Yeah, my family is coming from Spain, so we’ll be at home on the 25th here. So yeah, it’s going to be a bit busy! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.weareterriers.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.weareterriers.comPlaying with a lot more conviction did wonders for Huddersfield Town in their 3-1 victory away at Rotherham.We talk about where the difference was made, how better defending helped Town look more incisive in attack, and why Dave in particular is actually slightly irritated by them being good across the board.Plus, with two games to talk about on each of…

Below are selected highlights from Thursday afternoon’s press conference ahead of Town facing Rotherham on Saturday afternoon. You can find the full audio above or in your We Are Terriers podcast feed.Lee GrantKatherine Hannah (BBC Radio Leeds):to pick up on a couple of the things you talked about after the draw with Wigan. Yeah, one of them was talking, what about a bit of nervousness? And I wonder, how on earth do you start to address that? What can you do as a manager to stop that collective nervousness that you spoke about? You’ve got to be open as a group, that’s for sure, and you’ve got to acknowledge the things that impact the group’s demeanour, how they are. You’ve got to be up front with all those things, so you can’t shy away or shirk from whatever’s impacting the group, whether that be an internal or external source…you have to be able to front that up and acknowledge it before there’s any hope of getting to the other side of it.KH: So how do you affect that?It boils down to first and foremost, the work, and then beyond that, anything else really is just words. So as much as we can acknowledge and as much as we can try to address the things that we think can impact positively or negatively, you have to be able to try and function and work within whatever context or dynamic you’re in. So that has to be the focus.So as much as we can, we remove fog and we give clarity to the group and allow them to focus on their jobs specifically, which gives them the best chance of being able to perform them to the highest level. KH: In terms of that clarity, how do you ensure that it isn’t over complicated? Obviously, they’re intelligent human beings, but sometimes do you just have to go, right, ‘do this, don’t do that’, make it that simple?In some cases, yeah. In some cases you can be very prescriptive about the things you’re looking for, and you can be very prescriptive about the things that you really don’t want to see.So absolutely, that’s formed part of the work we’ve done this week, as it does every week. We always discuss the things and the elements which we want to see, and a lot of that will centre around our principles, and when we’ve been effective, how does it look and how does it feel?I’m really trying to help the help the lads feel the things that they feel when they’re playing well, and recreate the things when it’s looked how we want it to look, and it how it’s felt how they want it to feel. So we spent a lot of time this week making sure it’s that’s been the focus.… Steven Chicken (We Are Terriers): You said, you said, last week, you look back at all the goals you conceded this season. I did the same thing yesterday, and the most common factors, to my eye, seem to be less tactical — it’s more about soft defending — lack of conviction on 50/50s — or playing players switching off of their marking. Does that match your analysis?Yeah, it’s pretty good analysis, mate. I mean, it was really hard to to pinpoint big frailties in structure and shambolic moments of of shape and organisation. It was very much as you said, lots of errors, lots of things that felt preventable in that in the moment. I think some of our recent goals against very much fell into that column.So yeah, we have to be we have to be more resolute, I think, with some of our individual defending and the accountability has to be really high, and concentration has to be really high. And I think we’ve we’ve shown we can do that. So we’ve got to find that level, collectively and individually.SC: With that being the case, is it just part of the manager’s job that you’re the one that ends up taking the flak for it from the fans, or do you see it as part of your job to identify why that’s happening in the players’ minds and and put it right?Yeah, only the second part of that question is relevant — as in, yeah, that’s my job. That’s my job.It’s like, right, if that’s happening, what’s it a symptom of? Is it a symptom of that individual’s psychology? Is it a symptom of a group psychology? Is there a wider issue here? Is there something we’re doing in terms of preparation that’s allowing players to switch off in moments?So we look at all of it and we assess all of that, and take all those things into consideration before we just point a finger and hang somebody out to dry. So we try very much to help the players work through these issues.Of course, we have to highlight things. Of course, players have to understand when there needs to be accountability and responsibility taken, of course.So yeah, it’s all of that. It’s making sure that we, we put the working on the training ground and in the classroom to help the players.SC: Is there any injury news for this weekend?Yeah, we lost Josh Feeney prior to the last fixture with a groin injury. So yeah, that was a real shame for Josh. There’s a bit of a window, so it’s not perfectly clear whether that’s going to be a three week injury or or the upper scale around a five week injury — he’s already 10 days into that.Now, I think he’s progressing really well. He spent the first week or so back with Aston Villa and he was back with us today, so we’ll keep an eye on that and see how he progresses. But like I say, there’s a bit of a window to see how long that ones going to be.SC: Was that the one in first half against Northampton?That one, yeah. And I mean, look, Josh is such a great kid. You ask him every 10 minutes, we’re asking him how that feels, and is he okay? And he’s just constantly giving you a thumbs up, and he’s not looking for a way out, which is obviously credit to him. And thankfully, he didn’t make the injury any worse. But, yeah, it was a nasty action which overstretched his groin.SC: There was no Joe Taylor on Saturday either. Was that just a selection decision?Yeah, just a selection decision. SC: Is there any issue with Joe, or is it just that you had two strikers on plus one on the bench, tactical?Yeah, yeah, just that.SC: And where are we with players coming — Jack Whatmough, Marcus McGuane? Jack Whatmough is not a good cycle of not being able to overcome a certain stage of his recovery, and he’s hit the ceiling on that a few times, and has had to step back from his from his last phase.We seem to have hit the same hurdle again, where Jack gets to the right up to the last week, to four or five days away from being back with me and training, and he hits a similar hurdle. So yeah, not clear with Jack at all in terms of where he’s at, and not likely to be back training with me anytime soon unfortunately.Marcus is slightly different in that we are hoping to have Marcus McGuane back with us in the next couple of weeks. So that’s that’s more positive, but that’s again, been a hell of a lot longer than Marcus or I or anybody would have predicted or wanted, so that’s been a huge frustration. But, yeah, we’re getting closer on on that one.SC: I appreciate it’s probably been the last thing on your mind this week, but we are a couple of weeks away from the January transfer window. Are you able to tell us anything about the club’s intentions moving towards that?Just that we’re in dialogue all of the time, and that dialogue has been ongoing, obviously, for the last couple of months, and will continue to be the same over the next few weeks, heading into what’s going to be an important phase for the football club.It’s that Chris [Markham] now is is on hand to share some of the burden on that and help the club make some really, really good decisions, hopefully, moving forward. So, yeah, nothing to report other than that.Leo CastledineKH: You are top scorer at the moment. Is that a target you set for yourself?Yeah, definitely. I’ve always loved scoring, it’s the best thing in football apart from winning, you know. When I came here, I definitely it was in one of my aims to try to get up as high as possible.KH: As you say, winning is the most important thing. You’ve had these fantastic moments, but has that been slightly tempered by the fact that the overall result hasn’t necessarily come with it at the moment?Yeah, of course. You know, it is tough at times. Like I said, I love scoring and I love helping the team, so it is difficult when, when I try and get myself happy about those things, and results don’t quite go our way. It’s just about finding the balance really.KH: Can you put your finger on why things aren’t clicking at the moment?I think that’s the problem, I don’t think we can really.I think we’re doing the right things, we’re going through the right processes, training every day is good, even preparation going into games is good. I think it’s just…we can’t quite put our finger on on what it is this going wrong in the games.KH: That must be frustrating.Yeah, of course, especially as an attacking player, it is difficult, because I feel like at times we can be providing goals, but at the moment, it’s just we’re letting in too many, that’s our problem. So yeah, it can be frustrating.But then at the same time, we take that on as a team. We don’t just take that on as attack and defence. It starts from the top and then finishes at the end, so it’s a whole team thing.KH: You can’t fail to notice there is a bit of despondency at the moment amongst the fanbase. I think it’s just one of those things, isn’t it? You kind of feel like it’s back on track and then it’s two steps forward, one step back.Yeah, and look, that’s understandable. We get it, we get how that’s happening. The only thing we can say is to just stick with us. We know things aren’t perfect right now, but they never are in football. We know that the fans deserve more, so we can understand the frustration. It’s just sticking with us and and trusting that we’ll get it right.KH: Town fans have never been backwards in coming forwards, and the choice of substitutions with you and Alfie being brought off against Wigan, it can’t escape your notice there were boos at that decision. What’s going through your mind as you walking off the pitch, and you hear

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.weareterriers.comHuddersfield Town fans are not happy with how this season is going at all — and they are right not to be. But where does that leave Lee Grant after the boos and jeers rang down from the stands following Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Wigan?This week’s episode of the We Are Terriers podcast tries to answer that question. Is there any way back for the manager n…

Below are selected highlights from Thursday afternoon’s press conference ahead of Town facing Wigan on Saturday lunchtime. You can find the full audio above or in your We Are Terriers podcast feed.Lee GrantYour task was not made easier by the sickness bug in the camp. How are the few that had it and has anybody else got it?They seem to be okay, and we’ve had a couple of them back on the grass today, which is good. Touch wood, it doesn’t appear like we’ve got anybody else under the weather right now. But obviously we know these things aren’t linear, necessarily, and that, you know, the next 24 hours might change that picture. So let’s just see how we go. We’ve got Lynden [Gooch] back on the grass today. Ruben [Roosken] is a little bit behind Lynden in terms of where they’re both at and their trajectories of when and how long they’ve been ill for, but both moving in the right direction.Same for Rads (Radinio Balker) — he had probably maybe managed to miss out on some of it, because he managed to get himself to the hotel with us and on the trip for Northampton, but certainly wasn’t feeling great and wasn’t involved in a great deal of the preparations because of how he felt, but h’s on the grass today. So again, a positive, And rest of the squad, how are you looking?Yeah, we’re OK. We’re all right. It’s nice, actually, to welcome back a couple of faces as well that we’ve not had with us because they’ve been back with their parent clubs in terms of taking care of their rehab. So Will Alves is back in the building today, which was really good, and Zeppi Redmond the same — back in the building.So it’s great to have them back in and around it, but of course, it’s going to be a little while before we see them back and on the pitch, available for squad selection, but it’s nice to have them back in and around the building.There was a lot of reaction this week, Lee after the draw against Northampton….Alfie May’s name comes up again. What does he need to do to be in contention from the start?Alfie’s doing everything he needs to do right now. The way Alfie’s trained over the last week or so, he’s been excellent, and of course…look, coming out of the team in the fashion he did (getting suspended), Alfie’s frustrated and all of us the same, missing an important player for three three games.That was not ideal, of course, but his response has been good in training. I’ve really enjoyed Alfie in the past week or so. Alfie’s doing the right things in terms of his attitude, in terms of his application, so I don’t have any worries about Alfie and his readiness to step in when required.Sometimes that could be late on in the game, kind of like with four minutes to go, and the criticism will be: ‘Lee, how would you affect a game in that in that time?’Well, it’s up for every player, regardless of whether they start the game, whether they finish the game, during the time they’re given, to give as much impact as they can. Now, I think for any player, having less minutes will always be frustrating. But of course, we always have to weigh up the opposition, the game dynamic, what we feel like we need on the pitch at that specific point in time, and that will always be the case. We’ll always make those calls in the moment with and in relation to who we’re playing and what’s happening at that specific time.Now, as I say, for Alfie specifically, would Alfie prefer more minutes to impact the game than 10 minutes? I’m pretty sure if you ask Alfie, the answer would be yes.Can my reflection be — especially if we don’t get the winner that I expect us to get — can my reflection be with Harry Hindsight, different? Of course, absolutely, absolutely, because we know the qualities Alfie May has.Now, it’s not just Alfie May. So whenever a result doesn’t end in the way that you want it to, or performance doesn’t quite get to the level that you want it to, of course, you have to reflect and always look and say, ‘well, perhaps if we we’ve made this adjustment, or perhaps if the adjustment that we made here at this specific time was was different, would that made a different impact?’ And the answer can be, well, possibly, maybe. But there’s always a reason and a justification for every decision we make in terms of substitution, on the pitch, off the pitch, start the game, finish the game. There’s always a really clear justification. We always make those justifications clear to the players as well.That will always be the case, and like I say, in terms of Alfie and his readiness and what he needs to do: keep working really hard, train the way he’s trained today, which is impeccable, and that leaves him in a great position of when that start comes around.Sean RoughanHave had to be patient for your chance in the side this season - frustrating?Yeah, it’s probably been the toughest part in my career — obviously, it’s still a short career — but it’s been very tough going in day in, day out, training and as a football you want to play games, and I’ve been able to do that over the last month.It’s been tough, but it was good to play against Lincoln, and then again on Tuesday, going forward and get the fitness back up.How do you how do you deal with that mentally if you are not in the side?Look, it’s tough, but you’ve got to look at the bigger picture. Obviously, the manager has a tough job, he has to pick 11 players, and I’m up against Ruben and Ruben has done well, so had to just bide my time a little bit.There’s days where you think you’re hard done by, but I think you’ve got to just remind yourself how lucky are in the position you’re in, because a lot of people would love to be in the position I am. So you’ve kind of just got to remind yourself and try and put a smile on your face and keep going, because there will be times when you’re out of team and times you’re going to be playing, so you’ve got to wait for your moment and jump on it when you can. How do you change what’s been happening, where you have been conceding quite a few goals? Just probably be more aggressive. I put it down to defending like your life depends on it. I think obviously you can’t stop some goals and some goals the opposition team score, sometimes you’ve just got to take your hat off to them.But I think we’ve just got to be more aggressive in and around our own box as a team, just blocking shots, everything that comes our way, that we’re trying to keep it out as much as we can, and we know deflections sometimes go in, but if you’re doing the best possible thing to stop the ball going in the net, then that’s all you can ask for.I think we just showed it against Lincoln when we kept a clean sheet, we showed it against Northampton. Obviously, they scored a decent enough goal, but we just got to probably take that stuff out of it, and just make it so that anything that comes into the box, it’s ours.We can do a lot in a lot of things better, but I thought there was a few things in there [against Northampton] that we can build on. Obviously, the goal we should do better — we defended well as a unit, but there’s a lapse in concentration for the goal, and or we had our chances to probably get the winner. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.weareterriers.com/subscribe

Below are selected highlights from Monday morning’s press conference ahead of Town facing Northampton on Tuesday evening. You can find the full audio above or in your We Are Terriers podcast feed.Lee GrantCan we just start with your team news? How is everyone who was involved in in Cardiff, and can you welcome anyone back for tomorrow? We’re OK. What I would say is that right now, we’re probably in the midst of a big bout of sickness going through the group. We had, obviously Lynden Gooch not able to travel with us and be with the team for the weekend against Cardiff — that was due to illness, and unfortunately, what we’re seeing is that now migrate throughout the rest of the squad. We’ve had two staff members unable to be with us for most of the week last week as well.So look, we’re going to be up against it in terms of the illness and the bug that’s traveling through the group, so we’ll have to really monitor that closely and be careful with how we travel down to Northampton.Is there anyone you can categorically rule out for tomorrow, or is it just let’s see where we’re at?What I would say probably on Lynden is it’s going to be really tough for him, having not eaten a great deal, not trained for a few days, still not feeling 100%, so it’s going to be difficult for Lynden, that’s for sure, for Tuesday.We’ve got a few to manage on that side of it.Between sickness bugs and injuries, it feels like you’ve had a lot thrown at you so far this season.Yeah, look, I can’t deny that we’ve had too many injuries, too many of our senior ones not available often enough, too large a portion of the group injured at one time. And then, of course, now to be hit with a bout of illness in the group is not ideal.But we can survive it. We’ve got a group that we believe in and trust, and we’ve shown that we can find a way through. So we will continue to do that.Just on Cam Ashia as well, he started against Wimbledon, and then he was back on the bench at the weekend. I know he’ll be in contention to start, but just on Cam, how impressed have you been with him this season? Cam’s doing great. He’s doing great. He’s obviously in the early stages of his own development, and what we know is that he can be exciting when given opportunity and time and space, and we want him to continue. I think the aggression he’s shown with his play and the energy and enthusiasm that he has when he comes on to the pitch — and now, we’ve obviously seen his first start — [he can] be really impressive, and even at points in the [Wimbledon] game where we were worried whether he was going to be able to continue, and if his energy or fitness levels might take their toll, but he managed to get through that game really well, and I was really pleased with him.We’ve obviously seen the other side, where it can be not as easy and be more difficult. We know that all of these games are going to be part of Cam’s development.So trying to manage that quite carefully, because what we want to do is keep pushing him, keep challenging him, keep giving him opportunity as well, importantly, because we do want to keep and have him around this first team squad more often than not. What he’s showed is he’s earned the right for that.So we’re really pleased with Cam. We obviously have to manage him carefully as well. When you say assessing where you’re at as a group, where do you feel you are at this stage of the season?The answer to that question is, if I’m being really blunt, we’re at probably where we should be at. (Ed: in the sense of ‘deserve to be at’)Now, what I mean by that, if it sounds a bit black and white — what I mean by that is the league table, which in some respects I try not to pay too much attention to. But it also gives us a good guide as to where we sit, and the balance of this division, what’s been successful in the league, and how we fared against opposition, above and below and around.I’m trying to take into context and into account all of those things right now, because we’re beyond the stage of 10 games, where we’re learning a lot about the group, and we’re trying to profile everybody correctly and understand who’s whose strengths are where. We’re at a point where we’re over a third in, and before you know it, we’ll blink and we’ll be halfway.We have to be really clear about what it is that’s going to help us achieve our goals this year, and I’ve got to be really crystal clear on that, because I’m certainly not willing to let this drift into sixth, seventh, eighth, fifth in the division if my belief is that we can be better. I don’t want to finish fifth in this division. I don’t want to be in and around sixth and fourth and fifth and seventh. I want us to be where I think we can be, what we’ve shown at periods and at points this year, which is really competing in the top four, challenging, pushing, establishing ourselves as a as a dominant force at the top end of this division.That’s my belief, and I want us to get there sooner rather than later. As I say, with halfway rapidly approaching, these are the things that are on my mind currently. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.weareterriers.com/subscribe