[Lord Snooty]

January 30th:

It's that man Dave Mangnall again. He scored a hat trick on this date in 1932 to take his tally to 13 in 6 consecutive games. This was in a 6-1 win at home to the Wednesday at Leeds Road. Roy Goodall (pen), George McClean and Austen Campbell got the others.

A few years before that, in 1926, the champions of England, Huddersfield Town went to Maine Road to play Manchester City in the FA Cup. Such was the pulling power of the greatest team ever to play in the Football League that 74,799 people turned up to watch it.

This wasn't a record for this ground though. It might have been at the time but a few years later they had a crowd over 80,000.

Oh, and we lost 0-4.

Another Cup defeat in 2011. It was away at a Premier League club, but all we need to say about this game is......

ALAN ALAN LEE. ALAN ALAN LEE.
ALAN ALAN LEE. ALAN ALAN LEE.

ALAN ALAN LEE. ALAN ALAN LEE.
ALAN ALAN LEE. ALAN ALAN LEE.

ALAN ALAN LEE. ALAN ALAN LEE.
ALAN ALAN LEE. ALAN ALAN LEE.

Arsenal 2-1 Huddersfield Town

[Lord Snooty]

January 31st:

Of the eleven matches played by Huddersfield Town on this date, three of them have been against Leeds United. We won twice and lost one. All of them have been home matches.

The first one was in 1925 at Leeds Road. It was only five years since Town had been saved from an unwelcome takeover bid from the newly formed Leeds United, after Leeds City had been disbanded. Since then of course, in such a short space of time, Town had become Champions of England. We duly thrashed the bastards 2-0. Legends of the club, Billy Smith and George Brown scored the goals.

Times were hard though. The General Strike was looming on the horizon and crowds at Leeds Road were still not brilliant and only 10,500 turned up to watch this one.

A few years later in 1931, we were still one of the top clubs in the country, but still only 13,044 spectators came to see us thrash our neighbours again. This time we beat them 3-0 with Bob Kelly scoring one and Joe Robson getting two.

Bob Kelly

Fast forward to 2015. We are now not the best team in the land anymore and most certainly them Beeston bums are definitely not, but we got a crowd of 20,029 into the John Smith's Stadium to watch them beat us 2-1. Harry Bunn scored our equaliser and as the game was running out as a 1-1 draw, Leeds sub Billy Sharp got his usual goal against us, deep into time added on.

Worse than that was the sickening sight of Tommy Smith being stretchered aff following a head injury whilst they were scoring and later, the Yorkshire Air Ambulance landed on the pitch to take him to the LGI.

[Lord Snooty]

February 1st:

It's a happy 33rd birthday today to our Premier League goalkeeper, Jonas Lössl. Born in 1989 in Kolding, Denmark, he is currently playing for the Danish national side at Brentford.

Back in 1922, we had another game on our road to the FA Cup Final. One hundred years ago today we beat Brighton & Hove Albion in a 2nd round replay (equivalent to the 4th round now) at Leeds Road, following on from the goal less draw a few days earlier. We won, obviously, 2-0 with goals from Clem Stephenson and George Richardson.

In 1933, we beat Sheffield United at Leeds Road, 1-0 in the First Division, with Charlie Luke getting the goal. But the remarkable thing here is the size of the crowd. Bearing in mind that we were still at this time, one of the top teams in the country, yet the crowd for this Yorkshire derby was just 2,218.

Why was this? Well the 1930s were a time of high unemployment and the Great Depression, which was a period of national economic downturn. The match was also played on a Wednesday afternoon due to Leeds Road not yet having floodlights. This wasn't a one off low crowd. Only four thousand and odd turned up for the Middlesbrough match and just over five thousand for the visit of Man City. Hard times.

Another FA Cup replay. This one was against Barnsley in 1961 and a whopping 44,761 came to see this one. This too was a midweek game, but we now had, following the sale of Denis Law to Man City for a British record fee, a set of floodlights. It was only the second time they'd been switched on for a Town match, with the first being that famous win over the Wolves.

Anyway, the match was a disappointing draw against our 3rd Division neighbours. John Coddington scored ours from the penalty spot. How will the replay go? It's on Feb the 6th at Oakwell.

[Lord Snooty]

February 2nd:

On this date in 2017, we had one of the best Town performances of recent memory, an iconic evening in the promotion season. This was the one where we beat the long time league leaders Brighton at home 3-1. We hit the post first through the lively Rajiv van La Parra, but then first to score was Tommy Smith, putting away the rebound from his own shot. A rare mistake from Aaron Mooy then allowed Tomer Hemed to run free and take the ball round Danny Ward before slotting in.

But Nahki Wells and Elias Kachunga combined well to set each other up. Nahki blasted an unstoppable shot past the Brighton keeper after a cute back flick. Then his cross set up Kacha for a header to make it 3-1 at half time. Lewis Dunk got sent off for a second yellow which should've been a straight red, in the 67th minute. The extra man helped, but we were so much in control anyway, it had no bearing on the match, which could've been more of a drubblig when Mooy hit the post in the final minute.

Way back in time now to 1924 and an FA Cup tie at Old Trafford. In a role reversal to what is now the biggest club in the world verses a mid table 2nd Division team, Town would win the League for the first time in this season, whereas Manchester United would finish 14th in the 2nd Division. Yes, kids, Man Utd were a mid table mediocre 2nd Divison team and we spanked them 3-0. They still got big crowds though and 66,678 turned up to see the best team in the land hammer the Red Devils, with two goals from Charlie Wilson and one from Clem Stephenson.

Our Welsh Wizard of the Wing from the 70s, Dick Krzywicki was born on this day in 1947, making him 75 today. He signed for Town in 1970 towards the back end of the 69/70 2nd division title winning season, from West Brom. He made 6 appearances that season, scoring four goals. Two of those goals came in the last game of the season, a 3-1 home win over Watford, when we received the trophy.

His good form continued into the next season, scoring in the second game of the season against Southampton when we won 3-1 to go top of the First Division. Before that though, he scored in the summer for Wales against England, who were still World Champions at the time, in a 1-1 draw at Ninian Park. And so he is the last Town player to score against England (I think).

A year after baby Krzywicki was born, Town legend Tom Wilson died, on this date in 1948. Tom played twelve seasons at Town and finished with 500 appearances, leaving him 2nd in our all time appearances list. He holds the club record for FA Cup appearances, with 52. He was captain of the team that won the League three times in a row, but strangely only ever won one cap for England. He was so famous that a waxwork figure of himself was created for the 1930 FA Cup Final and was displayed in Madame Tussauds.

After retiring from playing, he was trainer at Barnsley, which is where he died, aged just 51.

[WakeyTerrier]

Aldo on this day

2019
Chelsea 5-0 Town
2 goals by Higuain 2 by someone called Hazard(whatever happened to him)
and a goal by Sideshow bob....sorry i mean David Luiz put Town to the sword.
Luckily we left at half time (2-0) determined that the football wouldn't ruin our day


Unlucky for me I missed that  Brighton game in 2017, I got struck with Sepsis so had to watch on the telly at home.

[HerefordBull]

Remember Aaron Mooy from his St Mirren days.........liked him as a player. ( although I seem to remember him struggling with a back injury)

[Lord Snooty]

I think most Town fans would have Mooy down as one of our best players over the last few years. He certainly left us with some great memories.

[Lord Snooty]

February 3rd:

Yesterday, I mentioned Town winning at Old Trafford back in the 1920s in the FA Cup. Today, or rather, on this date in 2018, we lost 2-0 at Old Trafford against Manchester United in the Premier League.

It was an emotional day for United as it marked 60 years since the Munich Air Disaster and it looked like it could be a footballing disaster for them as well. Jose Mourinho was still their manager, as he was when we beat them at the John Smith's Stadium earlier in the season. It was 0-0 at half time and it looked like David Wagner could be capable of getting another one over old Jose.

Well it wasn't to be. Romelu Lukaku gave United the lead on 55 minutes with a close-range volley. Then Alexis Sanchez scored his first goal for United following his big money move from Arsenal. It was from the penalty spot after he had "won" it himself by getting Michael Hefele to "foul" him. Super keeper Jonas Lössl saved the spot kick, but the spawny get got to the rebound to score.

This defeat put us in the bottom three for the first time, on goal difference.

This date in 1999 saw the beginning of the Barry Rubery era at Huddersfield Town. It was launched with a firework display and a rather drab performance on the field as Town beat Wrexham in an FA Cup 4th round replay. A crowd of 15,427 turned up to see the man with the money, who had promised us big things, but ultimately delivered administration and the near death of our football club.

Anyway, we won the match on the night, 2-1 with goals from Marcus Stewart and Ben Thornley, with the prize of a home match against Premier League giants, Derby County in the next round.

Born on this date in 1922 was another Town legend, Vic Metcalfe. He was born in Barrow-in Furness, but lived in Ravensthorpe and travelled to Town every day on the same bus as my Auntie Lucy when she worked at the ICI.

Vic played firstly for Town's team in the Wartime League whilst he was a wireless operator in the RAF and then signed pro terms straight after the war had ended. He was an ever present in the 1952/53 season as Town won promotion to Division One and in that season he provided four crosses for Jimmy Glazzard to head four goals in an 8-2 thrashing of Everton at Leeds Road. Vic himself got one of the other goals.

He stands in 3rd place on our all time appearances chart with 452. And he's 6th in the goal scorers list with 90. Hopefully he will soon be down to 7th in that chart because Jordan Rhodes is now on 88 and he's back up and running again.

Vic died in Huddersfield in 2003, aged 81.

[WakeyTerrier]

15 years ago today

Town 3 v 1 Gillingham
Beckett(3) and Booth (8 & 83) scoring for Town

Crowd 9167
Town remained in 11th place in League One on the back of this result

[Lord Snooty]

February 4th:

On this date in 1995, we drew at the McAlpine Stadium with Bristol Rovers. the score was 1-1 and Andy Booth scored our goal. Not very interesting, I hear you say. Well maybe not. But later on in that season, we would meet the Gassy Headed Pirates at Wembley. How did that one finish up? Find out in May. 

They had a young player called Marcus Stewart in their line up. He would later sign for Town and achieve legendary status. But the bloke who signed him on has a birthday today. The Town manager of whom I speak is Brian Horton and he's celebrating his 73rd birthday today. Born in Hednesford in Staffordshire in 1949, he managed Town from June 95 to October 97, straddling the Warnock era and the Great Escape season.

We scored four goals in a match at Molineux in 1933. The goals were a hat trick from Charlie Luke and one from Jackie Williams. But in true Town cock up style, we lost the match 6-4.