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Middlebrough FC travel to Huddersfield to the John Smith's Stadium on Saturday afternoon for what on paper should be three easy points as they look to overtake Sheffield United into the second automatic promotion spot. The Blades are away at Norwich and a win for Boro, coupled with a United defeat, would see Michael Carrick and his boys up to 2nd. Carrick was actually lined up to take the Huddersfield job before going to the Riverside. Huddersfield wisely deciding to go for the much safer option in Mark Fotheringham rather than gambling on a man who has five Premier League titles as a player in his cabinet.

The Teesiders are bouyed this week by the club captain Jonny Howson signing a new contract extension. He's 34 now but is signed up to the end of next season, by which time he could well be a Premier League player. This follows on from the news that ex Terrier, Tommy Smith has also extended his stay down by the Riverside. He's signed on for two more years after originally just being taken on for twelve months after leaving Stoke.

As for Huddersfield, they have new owners. Or they will have when all the checks for fit and proper usage have been done. So the players who take to the field on Leeds Road on Saturday, could all well be consigned to the dustbin when the US billionnaire Kevin M Nagle gets his cheque book out and buys a whole new team for whoever the Head Coach there will be in the summer. At the moment, it's ex Boro chief Neil Warnock who's picking the team and looking at the last team he picked for the win at Millwall, it's hard to believe that it's a League One side, never mind a Championship one. Ex Boro superstar Jordan Rhodes is the club's leading scorer this season, but he doesn't appear to be on Warnock's wish list and has been rarely seen.


Tickets: Boro have sold out their full allocation for this match.

A brief history of Huddersfield Town: formed in 1908 at a meeting at the Albert Pub in the town, they immediately were elected into the North Eastern League and played their first competitive match away at South Shields Adelaide, wearing salmon pink shirts.

They played their home games on a plot of land off Leeds Road and two years later in 1910, they turned the pitch around, built a 4,000 seater stand and applied for election into the Football League. With plans for a huge terracing in place to extend capacity to 34,000, the application to enter the FL was a success and so in 1910/11 they played their first League game away at Bradford Park Avenue, a 1-0 win with Henry Hamilton scoring the goal.

Huddersfield was a Rugby League town though and attendances at Leeds Road were poor. The club went into liquidation in 1912 and then after the war almost got taken over by the newly formed Leeds United, who had planned to move the whole club into Elland Road, lock, stock and barrell. The people of Huddersfield however were having none of that and rallied around the club, not only saving them off the pitch, but also on the pitch as fortunes turned around dramatically. That 1919/20 season not only saw them get promoted to Division One for the first time, but also reach the FA Cup Final, which they lost 1-0 to Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge.

That was under the management of Ambrose Langley, but after he stepped aside in 1921, ex Leeds City manager Herbert Chapman took the reigns. It would be the start of the gretaest era in the club's history as they became the first team ever to win the League three times in a row.


Chapman's first full season in charge saw his side win the FA Cup, returning to Stamford Bridge to beat Preston North End 1-0 with a Billy Smith goal from the penalty spot. Smith would go on to make a club record number of appearances with a total of 574. They followed that by winning the Charity Shield against Liverpool at Old Trafford, another single goal victory with centre half Tom Wilson getting the goal in this one.

They finished the next season in third place in the First Division, but the season after saw them winning the title for the first time. It was a close one, pipping Cardiff City to the top spot on Goal Average after the two sides finished the season on 57 points. They retained the title with a little more ease, beating West Brom by a massive two points.

But then the football world was rocked when Chapman was lured away from Leeds Road by the prospect of moving to London to manage under achieving, mid table mediocre club, Arsenal. His last act as Town boss was to sign football's Gay Cavalier, the Scottish international winger, Alex Jackson. With his trickery and the goals of George Brown, under the new management of Cecil Potter, they won the League for the third and to date, final time. Brown would go on to be the club's record goal scorer with a total of 159.


Success was close, but not quite there for the next few years. They finished the next couple of seasons as runners up to Newcastle and then Everton, also finishing as FA Cup runners up in 1928, losing 3-1 at Wembley against Blackburn Rovers.

Club captain Clem Stephenson became club manager in 1930 and took his side back to Wembley to face his old boss, Chapman in the FA Cup Final. It was Chapman's Gunners who came out winners, beating the Town 2-0.

They had a record club league victory later that year, beating Blackpool 10-1 at Leeds Road in December 1930 and for the rest of that decade they were a top side in the Football League, finishing once more as runners up in 1933/34, behind the Arsenal. In 1938 they made it to Wembley again, when Preston got revenge for the 1922 Final, beting Huddersfield 1-0.

After World War II, the club struggled and were relegated for the first time in 1952, ending a run of 32 years in the top flight. It was only one season in the Second Division as under the leadership of Andy Beattie, they came straight back up as runners up to Sheffield United.

They finished third in that first season back, but after three seasons they came back down again and it would be 14 seasons of Second Division football at Leeds Road that followed. That ended in 1970 when under the management of Ian Greaves, they won the Second Division title, winning promotion at Boro's Ayresome Park in a 1-1 draw that saw the newly name Terriers over the line.


They were only in the First Division for two years though, getting relegated in 1972 and being out of the top flight for the next 45 years. It got worse though. Much worse. Frank Worthington left the club on being relegated and four years later, they had fallen all the way down to Division Four.

The rebuild started with winning the Fourth Division title inder the management of Mick Buxton in 1980 and he got them up to the Second Division in 1983, becoming the only manager to get Huddersfield Town promoted twice.

They were back in Division Three in 1988 and moved into the McAlpine Stadium in 1994. Neil Warnock was manager then and he guided the team back up to the 2nd Div a year later, beating Bristol Rovers 2-1 in the Play Off Final at Wembley, with goals from Andy Booth and Chris Billy. That was the second trip to Wembley in twelve months, after they made the Autoglass Trophy Final in 1994, getting beaten on penalties by Swansea City.


Warnock walked out after the promotion party and Brian Horton took over, signing Marcus Stewart, who had scored against the Terriers for Bristol Rovers in that Play Off Final and he was an inspirational goal scorer over the next few seasons. One of those seasons started out terribly and Horton was sacked to be replaced by fans' favourite Peter Jackson, who along with assistant Terry Yorath oversaw what became known as the Great Escape.

New owner Barry Rubery however, sacked Jackson and replaced him with ex Manchester United player Steve Bruce. That started well with some notable wins, a 7-1 win at home to Crystal Palace and a 1-0 win at Chelsea in the League Cup, but things soon started to go wrong and after Stewart was sold to promotion rivals Ipswich Town, Huddersfield missed out on the Play Offs. Bruce was sacked after a few games of the next season and was replaced by another ex Man Utd player, Lou Macari.

He couldn't halt the slide and the club was relegated to the 3rd tier, now known as League One. They did manage to make the Play Offs in that first season back down, but lost in the semis to Brentford. The club then got relegated to League Two at which point, they went into administration.

Fortunately for Terriers fans, the local Rugby League team, Huddersfield Giants were shared tenants of the McAlpine Stadium and so to save their skin, chairman Ken Davy, saved the football club to save his rugby club. The first thing he did then was to bring back Peter Jackson as manager. Another fortunate thing was that the FL hadn't yet started sanctioning clubs for going into administration and so with no points deduction, they managed to win promotion from League 2 at the first attempt. This was through the Play Offs, beating Mansfield Town on penalties at the Millennium Stadium after a 0-0 draw.

Jackson almost became the second Terriers manager to win promotion twice for the club, but having reached the Play Offs, they got beaten by Barnsley at the semi final stage.

Davy then let the club go to concentrate on rugby matters and so local greetings card salesman, Dean Hoyle became the new owner. His first job was to bring in ex Newcastle and Sunderland hard man, Lee Clark. He steered the club to another two Play Off campaigns which both ended in failure, losing to Millwall in the semis and then Peterborough United in the following season's final at Old Trafford.

Clark was well on the way to reaching a third consecutive Play Off campaign when Hoyle sacked him and brought in ex Leeds manager Simon Grayson. He was in charge when the Terriers went to Wembley for the Final and this time they beat Sheffield United on penalties, once again after a 0-0 draw.


Grayson didn't last long in the Championship, getting replaced by Mark Robins, who in turn was replaced by Chris Powell, before in 2015 a little known German born USA international called David Wagner turned up as Head Coach. His first full season in charge saw the Terriers once again at Wembley and once again winning on penalties after a 0-0 draw, with Christopher Schindler scoring the winner. This one was against Reading and so after 45 years out of the top flight, the first club to win the league three times in a row were in the modern day Premier League for the first time.

It was an eventful first season in the PL culminating with a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea that saw them survive for a second season at the top. It wasn't to be this time around though and the club were relegated back to the Championship in 2019.

They made it back to Wembley last season, under the leadership of Carlos Corberán, but this time they failed, losing 1-0 to Nottingham Forest.

Following a terrible 2022/23 season so far, club owner Dean Hoyle, last week sold the club to American businessman Kevin M. Nagle.






Head to Head



Boro lead the head to head with 44 wins to Huddersfield's 34, with 21 draws.

This is the 7th season that the two clubs have spent in the Championship together since Huddersfield were promoted in 2012, in which time we've both had spells in the Premier League, but not at the same time. Last season, the Terriers got their first ever win at the Riverside when they won 2-0 with goals from Naby Sarr and ex Boro striker Jordan Rhodes. Boro won at the John Smith's though earlier in the season when Duncan Watmore scored twice in a 2-1 win.

There haven't been any top flight fixtures between the two clubs since 1953/54 and the last match at that level finished with Huddersfield winning 3-0 at Ayresome Park in February 1954, with goals from Vic Metcalfe, Gerry Burrell and Jimmy Glazzard.

Before that though, in 1950 the Boro had a magnificent 8-0 win at Ayresome Park, which at the time was Huddersfield's record defeat. Wilf Mannion and Alex McRae both scored hat tricks in that one with Johnny Spuhler and Geoff Walker adding the others.




The first ever meeting of the two came in 1920 after Huddersfield had won promotion to the First Division. It was the game for the above programme image and Boro won it 2-0 with George Elliott scoring both goals.








So what's going on down Leeds Road? Managed nowadays by ex Boro boss, Neil Warnock, who came out of retirement to take on the Terriers' top job after the club sacked popular Scotsman Mark Fotheringham.

Ten months after retiring from the game after two years as Boro boss, Warnock came back for a second spell as manager of Huddersfield. In his first spell there he got the team to Wembley twice, losing to Swansea in the Autoglass Trophy in 1994 and then winning the League One Play Offs in 1995 against Bristol Rovers.

He then walked out after a dispute with the Chairman and was away for the next 28 years, in which time he won more promotions. He'd already won the Conference with Scarborough and won two Play Off campaigns with Notts County before the Huddersfield promotion. After that he went on to win promotion with Plymouth, Sheffield United, QPR and Cardiff, before landing the job as Boro manager in June 2020, during the Covid lockdown.

Boro were one place above the relegation zone when he took over the manager's job from Leeds thug Jonathan Woodgate, but by the end of the season, Warnock had got them well clear, finishing in 17th place, one above Huddersfield Town.

Despite only signing a short term contract, he stayed on for the next season steering the club to a tenth place finish. Then in November 2021 he left the club by mutual consent, shorthly after beating the record for games managed in English football.





Last line up at Millwall before the international break:

1 Tomáš Vaclík - Won Europa League with Sevilla, has 53 caps for Czech Republic.
4 Matty Pearson - Ex Rochdale, Halifax and Accrington centre back.
32 Tom Lees - Ex Accrington and Bury centre back.
39 Michał Helik - Polish international centre back
14 Josh Ruffels - Has lost the EFL trophy Final twice with Oxford.
23 Rarmani Edmonds-Green - Won the EFL Trophy with Rotherham.
6 Jonathan Hogg - Middlesbrough born, ex Darlington midfielder.
10 Josh Koroma - Leyton Orient legend.
22 Jack Rudoni - 21 year old midfielder, signed from Wimbledon in the summer.
30 Ben Jackson - 22 year old defender, spent most of his time away on loan.
49 Martyn Waghorn - Elderly striker on loan from Coventry.

Subs:
16 Joseph Hungbo - Ross County legend, on loan from Watford.
18 David Kasumu - Midfielder signed from MK Dons.
24 Etienne Camara - 19 year old French midfielder.
25 Danny Ward - Played for Warnock at Rotherham and Cardiff.
27 Tyreece Simpson - 21 year old striker signed from Ipswich.
35 Brahima Diarra - 19 year old French midfielder.
41 Nicholas Bilokapic - 20 year old Aussie goalkeeper.




Huddersfield in popular culture: The two most famous things about Huddersfield are the long running tv series Last Of The Summer Wine, filmed around the Holmfirth area. And the last ever Sex Pistols gig which was played in Huddersfield at Ivanhoe's Club in the town on Christmas Day 1977. Two gigs were played that day, the first one being played especially for the kids of the Firemen who were on strike at the time.






By far the most famous band to come from the town though were RedStar, who created this chart topping rock classic in 2014......




Huddersfield Town also has some celebrity supporters, none more famous than an ex Prime Minister. That was local born Harold Wilson, who it was said carried around a photo of the 1920s Town team in his wallet.

Patrick Stewart, an actor who once played a policeman in Coronation Street, is also supposedly a supporter of the club, but hasn't been seen anywhere near the stadium since relegation from the Premier League.

Talking of actors, Reece Dinsdale, son of Inspector Morse, follows the team. Before finding fame as a thespian though, Dinsdale was a notorious football hooligan.





Recent form - last 6 matches:

Boro 4-0 PNE
Boro 1-1 Stoke
Swansea 1-3 Boro
Boro 5-0 Reading
WBA 2-0 Boro
Boro 3-1 QPR

Millwall 0-1 Huddersfield
Huddersfield 1-1 Norwich
WBA 1-0 Huddersfield
Huddersfield 0-0 Bristol C
Huddersfield 0-4 Coventry
Burnley 4-0 Huddersfield

Boro are 3rd in the Championship table with 67 points. Huddersfield are 22nd with 36.

Leading scorers:

Boro:
Chuba Akpom (25)
Marcus Forss (9)

Terriers:
Jordan Rhodes (6)
Danny Ward (4)




Huddersfield Anagrams: Some football related, some not, but all are mentioned in this article.

1. Panther Chamber
   
2. Jarrod Noshed
   
3. Ideal Screened
   
4. Soar Downhill
   
5. A Hot Gang John
   
6. Topless Six
   
7. Mad Grizzly Jam
   
8. View Grandad
   
9. Ron Fortnight Wank
   
10. Colin Wanker
    

I was fooled!

Quote:Ahead of our Sky Bet Championship fixture against Middlesbrough on Saturday 1 April, Manager Neil Warnock updated the press after the international break.

Discussing team news after the international break and the uplift in the atmosphere around the squad.

“Duane has trained on the grass the last few days, but it’ll be too soon for him on Saturday. We might have Duane back for Blackburn Rovers if not before - whereas Waghorn has surprised me and his injury was more cramp so he’ll be involved at the weekend.

"Anthony Knockaert is back with the group, but it might be asking a bit much for Saturday, I'm yet to speak to him.

"Lee Nicholls has been training, he's working hard, and he's been in the gym whenever I have been too so he might get two or three games this season. I've been joking with him about getting to play under me while I'm here this season!

"Nicholls has a real aura about him and there's not much better than him in the league, so it's nice to even have him back around the group.

"Rudoni and Koroma have been excellent in training this past week, so hopefully they get an opportunity at the weekend too.

"I think we bust a few coupons against Millwall and hopefully we can do that again on Saturday.

"You're not going to get any more difficult games in these next three games against Middlesbrough, Watford and Blackburn Rovers, but we'll be making it difficult for those teams too.

"You can sense things, and I felt it that week ahead of Millwall and I still do. When you get a win like that against a good side who don't usually drop points at home, it gives you real belief.”

Looking ahead to our next Sky Bet Championship fixture against Middlesbrough, Warnock said:

“Middlesbrough are the most form team in the league so it will be difficult, but we'll give it our best.

"We have to be strong; we have to be disciplined and stay in these games - we can't let ourselves be too open and get picked off where we are in the league.

"But we can improve on that Millwall performance, get better on the ball and keep it for longer, there's plenty more to come from us."

2 is Jordan Rhodes, 8 David Wagner, 9 frank Worthington and 10 our favourite manager Neil warnock

I'd like to say I'm looking forward to this game but I'm not really but having said that my expectation level is at zero so anything will be a bonus. What I want to see other than a result is a plan going forward, I know Colin is only here until the end of the season but I want to see some sort of a plan on the pitch other than hoof it and see

I think the plan is don't concede early, try to keep a clean sheet then attempt an attack in injury time.

Boro are a very good side tough game for you guys

Town’s team vs Middlesbrough
1. Tomáš Vaclík
4. Matty Pearson
6. Jonathan Hogg ©
10. Josh Koroma
14. Josh Ruffels
19. Duane Holmes
22. Jack Rudoni
23. Rarmani Edmonds-Green
25. Danny Ward
32. Tom Lees
39. Michał Helik

Substitutes
Nicholas Bilokapic; Jordan Rhodes, Joseph Hungbo, David Kasumu, Tyreece Simpson, Ben Jackson, Matthew Lowton

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The first switch sees Duane Holmes make a welcome return from his long injury absence, with the USA international replacing Ben Jackson to start today. It’s a first game in 12 for Duane, due to a calf injury.

Our second change sees Danny Ward, fresh from his match-winning goal at Millwall last time out, replace Martyn Waghorn, who misses out with the hamstring injury he sustained at the Den.

Jackson is among the substitutes today, where he is joined by Jordan Rhodes and Matthew Lowton. Alongside Waghorn, Etienne Camara and Brahima Diarra drop out of the match day squad.

This is a wee bit anti football isn't it... Sorry soccer

Not a very inspiring first half. Koroma shudda scored but it was cleared off the line.

Boro don't look good. But they look better than us.

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Second half is a bit livelier.