[jjamez]

For the first time in over 20 years, Huddersfield Town will play in a stadium that is rightly theirs after almost a decade of various negotiations, Town will no longer be glorified tenants but now can shape it in their own image. Now for me, rightly or wrongly, whatever happens in the rest of Kevin Nagle's reign, his legacy will be as the man who brought the stadium back to its rightful owners. Yes there has been countless mistakes and a relegation, but the ground and the lands surrounding have long been what the club has wanted and needed. People forget that even Dean Hoyle made numerous mistakes, Chris Powell (nice man, not a Town manager), Mark Robins (good manager, wrong time) and Jan Siewert (wrong man, wrong time) were all duds, his legacy though is through that of Wagner, an unexpected rise to the top of the pyramid.

Now that we own the ground and the land nearby (yeah its a 300 year lease where we own the land rights but technically not the land itself, but we can develop it as we see fit is my understanding) the hard work with it effectively starts now, how are the club and the owner going to develop it, what are they going to do with it, there is some problem areas like the old driving range, how do they sort it? outdoor skii slope like HD1 and Hoyle planned? reopened as a driving range once again? or something completely different? I'm not going to say the world is our oyster, because it is far from it in this case, we are a proper northern town, with one of the lowest average incomes in the country along with the likes of Burnley, that in itself dictates the options available. Now it will be interesting to see if this deal includes the Rope Walk and whether Nagle is interested in taking places like the Zone on St Andrews, maybe the current training ground is next on the radar. That is the long game however, and we have the short game still at hand, football itself.



Stockport come to town hoping to ruin this 'homecoming', last season the Hatters just fell short of following Wrexham to back to back promotions, unlike Town who faceplanted it. They currently sit eighth in the table, the position they finished last season before losing on penalties to beaten finalists Leyton Orient. This time around they don't have the goals of Louie Barry to rely on, although they only had him for half a season last year anyway, he's since had loans in the Championship where he has struggled. They became reliant on goals from Kyle Wootton, Isaac Olaofe and Will Collar, it makes you wonder what would have happened had they been able to keep Barry, one would think that promotion would have been achieved.

They are still managed by Dave Challinor, the man who was appointed in 2021 and has guided them to where they are now, the Chester native is no stranger to Stockport having made 100 appearances for the club during his playing days, a career that saw him turn out mainly for local clubs like Bury and Tranmere, he finished his playing career at Colwyn Bay in 2011, moving into management there. He guided the Seagulls to runners-up in the Northern Premier League Premier Division and a place in the play-offs, where they beat North Ferriby and FC United of Manchester to secure a place in the Conference North, they also won the North Wales Coast Cup beating Flint Town in the final. In 2011 he dropped down a few divisions to join Fylde and guided them instantly to the Northern Premier Division, in their first season in that league he once again reached the playoff final, but lost out to Hednesford, Fylde did qualify for the FA Cup first round proper, eventually being defeated by Accrington Stanley and also were victorious in the Lancashire FA Challenge Trophy at The Reebok Stadium (which I think I may have been at, against Matt Jansen's Chorley, on further research, I was). The 2013-14 season saw Challinor once again guide Fylde to the playoffs, this time successfully as they beat Ashton United to reach the Conference North. By the end of the 16-17 season Challinor had reached the National League, marking a fifth promotion of his short career, they went up as Champions and in their first season in the National League they lost in the playoffs to Boreham Wood. The 2018–19 season saw Fylde reach both the play-off final and FA Trophy final. Having been defeated 3–0 by Salford City in the play-off final, Fylde returned to Wembley Stadium the following week to beat Leyton Orient 1–0 and lift the FA Trophy for the first time in the club's history, the next season Fylde would sack Challinor after 8 years, with the side in the relegation places. He spent less than a month unemployed before being snapped up by Hartlepool and in his first full season he guided the club to a 4th place finish and guided them through ties against Bromley, Stockport and eventually past Torquay to guide the Pools back into the football league after a 5 year absence, he signed a new deal, but only months after announced his intention to step down, dropping back out of the football league in order to take over at Stockport. He took over with the Hatters in 9th position, 10 points from top, by the end of the season he had lost one of his 23 games in charge as Stockport sealed the title. The next season in League Two, Stockport finished 4th and missed out on promotion to League One via the playoffs, losing to Carlisle in the final at Wembley. Challinor was rumoured to have interviewed for the Charlton job, but elected to stay closer to home, guiding Stockport to the league title and promotion to League One where they just missed out on back to back promotions.



This season they have won 4, drawn 4 and lost 2, the defeats coming at the hands of Bradford and Plymouth. The Chickens pulling off an upset winning at Edgely Park 2-1, whilst Plymouth turned the corner slightly winning in style 4-2. Stockport begun the season with a derby win at home over Bolton 2-0 before following it up with a 2-1 win away at last seasons surprise package Wycombe. They put on a second half show to get past Crewe 3-1 in the League Cup, they then headed to the capital to face Leyton Orient as the sides played out a 2-2 draw, then came the upset defeat to Bradford, which they rectified by beating Burton 2-1, despite being reduced to 10 men in the first half. Another local side in Wigan would dump them out of the League Cup, not that it really matters, before playing each other the same weekend at the same venue, only this time they played out a 1-1 draw. Come September and the Tinpot Trophy begun and they started with a 5-3 win over Wolves' cub side, back in the league they would lose to Plymouth before conceding a late equaliser against early pace setters Cardiff. They would venture to South Yorkshire to beat Rotherham 1-0 and rounded the month off with a 1-1 draw at home to Reading. Kyle Wootton currently leads the goalscoring charts for the Hatters with 5, whilst former Terrier Ollie Norwood has notched 3. Rumoured Town target Nathan Lowe has one league goal for the club so far.

In terms of transfers the Hatters were another busy side, signing 11 new players. They snagged Lowe on loan and paid good money for Malik Mothersille from Peterborough and Brad Hills from Norwich. They signed 3 left sided defenders in Owen Dodgson on loan from Burnley, Tayo Edun from Peterborough and experienced defender Danny Andrew from Cambridge. They strengthened the centre of defence with the signings of Arttu Hoskonen from Cracovia and Joe Olowu from Doncaster, whilst right back Corey O'Keefe signed on loan from Barnsley. They strengthened their midfield with the loan signings of Tyler Onyango from Everton and experienced head Ben Osborne from Derby County. Leaving the club was Olaofe who joined Charlton, Will Collar dropped down to MK Dons, former Town academy played Fraser Horsfall joined Blackpool, whilst Bradford poached Ibou Toure and Nick Powell on free transfers.



With regards of who to watch, it probably comes as no surprise that Ollie Norwood, now ancient is one of those, still a keen set piece taker and adept at long searching passes still he will be able to make the pitch as wide as possible if given time and space. Wootton is another to be watched, also no spring chicken, he is a workhorse that will put his body on the line and try and get his head to any crosses that come into the box, something I wish Bojan would take note of. Captain Lewis Bate is another to watch, he came through the Chelsea academy and left to join Leeds, so is no stranger to West Yorkshire, he scored the own goal for us at our spot last season and at 22, is probably one of the younger captains in the football league. With regards to team news, I haven't seen anything about Stockport, it seems like they have a smallish squad that is relatively fit and healthy.



In terms of team news, town now have a fair number of absentees, Zeppy Redmond is out for a number of months with a knee injury picked up against Manchester city and has returned to Aston villa for treatment, Will Alves has returned to his parent club after having surgery on a foot injury picked up against burton, he too will be out for months. Herbie Kane is another who is out long term after picking up a groin injury against Bradford. Marcus mcGuane is AWOL at present going by recent press conferences, jack whatmough is close to a return, whilst Mikel Miller isn't far away either, Lyndon Gooch is returning and got minutes against Harrogate. Jacob Chapman is another who appears to have vanished as has our strikers goalscoring instinct. Any other injuries that I have missed?

Due to the rather close proximity of the two clubs, there has been quite a few head to heads, with the first meeting coming way back in 1910 on October 3rd when Town lost 1-0 away, they would meet a few months later down Leeds Road and Town would register a 4-1 victory. There would be some good back and forths between the two until the 1920 season where Town registered their first double over the Hatters, this would be the last meeting between the two clubs for some 55 years. From 1975 to 1980 Town would lose just the once before another rather long hiatus, 11 years this time rather than 55, now in 1991 Stockport would come to Yorkshire and win 1-0 and draw 0-0 back in Lancashire, the following season would see the Hatters put 5 past Town at Edgeley Park and the sides would maintain a back and forth, with Town winning 1-0 in the 1994 Autoglass Trophy Northern Semi Final, the rest of the 90's would see Town being the dominant side until the turn of the millenium when Town would struggle to score. Stockport would knock Peter Jackson's Terriers out of the FA Cup, but Town would gain revenge with a 5-3 victory towards the back end of the season, there would be a few scrappy games before Town thrashed Stockport away 6-0, with 6 different scorers, I'm not going to name them all, it would be another 14 years until the two sides met again last season with Town winning on boxing day 1-0 through Bates' own goal, whilst Jon Worthington's side lost 2-1 away, although it could easily have been worse.



With regards to played for both, I'll give you some, but I'll miss some people out and give you them as a little quiz. I've already mentioned Ollie Norwood, the Burnley native had two seasons at Town after joining from Manchester United making 80 appearances for the club before leaving for Reading, mentioning something about the set up not being professional enough. He would go on to play for the likes of Brighton, Fulham and had 5 seasons at Sheffield United before moving to Stockport. Fraser Horsfall has also been mentioned, he came through the set up here, but never made an actual appearance for the side, instead it would be a few years in the lower leagues, before a break out period at Northampton, he would drop down a division to join Stockport when they were promoted to League Two, causing a bit of animosity amongst his former team mates. A brief mention for Jordan Smith, he made a combined 0 appearances for both clubs, legendary. Aaron Rowe had a brief loan spell at Stockport where he made 3 appearances, he made his Town debut in the Premier league under Jan Siewert and had a brief run as a Championship player, scoring his one and only goal against Nottingham Forest, he is currently at Gillingham. One striker who could rival our current strike force output is Keigan Parker, he made one appearance for Stockport before moving to AFC Blackpool, he made 20 appearances for Town, scoring twice, the most memorable coming against Leicester. Speaking of stikers, you can add the nomadic Liam Dickinson to the list, he had a decent spell at the Hatters at the start of his career scoring 33 goals in 3 seasons before moving to Derby, it would be from the Rams that he would join Town on loan where he scored 6 times in 13 games before moving to Blackpool and Leeds on loan in the same season. He would then start his nomadic campaign turning out for the likes of Barnsley, Brighton, Peterborough and Plymouth, even making it back around to Stockport for a season in 2013 but failed to replicate his previous form. One of the notable transfers between the two sides is Anthony Pilkington, the winger was one of Lee Clark's first signings as he made the journey over the Pennines, he made 80 appearances for the Hatters over 3 seasons and his 2 seasons at Town caught the eye of Premier League Norwich, he ended with 92 appearances for Town scoring 19 goals, including a wonder strike against Sheffield Wednesday. Former Town goalkeeping coach Nick Colgan had a spell between the sticks for Stockport, he made 15 apperances whilst on loan, he had a short spell as third keeper at Town but transitioned quickly into coaching, he is currently goalkeeping coach at Stockport. The folically challenged defender Danny Adams joined Town from Stockport, he had one season over in Lancashire but was prised away to Yorkshire by Peter Jackson where he had 2 seasons before moving to Morecambe. Speaking of defenders, Damien Delaney had two short loan spells at both clubs during the same season, he would make his name at Hull City and laterly Crystal Palace before retiring in 2019. Current assistant manager Marc Bridge-Wilkinson had a spell as a player at Stockport in 2004 before moving to Bradford City. The clown Cartwright had three seasons doing nowt at Stockport as a player, something he pretty much replicated here. Strikers Alun Armstrong and Mike Cecere played for both clubs during their playing days. Midfielder Ian Craney finished his playing career at Stockport, he had a season at Town but found his face didn't fit once Lee Clark arrived, since he retired he hads been kitman at Wigan whilst studying for his coaching badges and followed then manager Paul Cook around, being first team coach for him at Ipswich. Goalkeeper Ian Gray was forced into retirement whilst at Town due to a hand injury, he had three seasons at Stockport before moving to Rotherham before joining Town.



1) Sheffield born striker, who began his formative years in Barnsley's academy, made his name at Chester but had a goal laden spell at Stockport. Signed for Town on two occasions scoring nearly 30 goals for the club

2) Had two spells at Stockport once as a youngster on loan and once further on in his career. Joined Town from north of the border and spent 4 years at the club. Embarked on a mini tour de Yorkshire, with one club getting 6 years and 160 odd appearances out of him.

3) Rotund defender who saw his early career hampered by serious injuries, originally a left sided defender he made 77 appearances for Town over 3 years, before leaving for a season at Stockport, he found a home at Home Park with Plymouth but found his happy place in Limerick where he can still be found.

4) Another defender, Town signed him after over a century of appearances for Mansfield, he would nearly double that in an 8 year stay at Huddersfield, which included a loan spell to Stockport, he still managed 130 appearances after leaving Town during a 4 year stay at Carlisle.

5) Some would say one of the best goalkeepers to play for Town, but it is a small sample size, he only played 24 times whilst on loan, the same year before joining Town he had a brief loan at Stockport, he is probably unfortunate for not having more Premier League appearances due to who was in the squad with him, but still managed 150 appearances for his boyhood club, for whom he is currently a coach.

6) Begun his career over in Lancashire where he had a season with Stockport, he made his name at Halifax and Bury before becoming a mainstay at Town for two seasons before being sold back over to Lancashire. His new Lancastrian side saw the best out of him with nearly 200 appearances over a 5 year spell. When he returned to Town he was a shadow of his former self and age had caught up with him. He is now a loyal assistant who follows a certain Scotsman around

7) Another Sheffieldite who played some of his best football at Town where he made 120 appearances in 6 years, he left for a midlands club but couldn't really get going and wound up back north at Stockport. He had one and a bit seasons there before going back to the midlands for a couple of seasons, but a spell on the south coast saw him become a Premier League midfielder, before heading abroad to Korea to effectively end his career.

8)Scottish defender who begun his career in London before heading back home. he made 99 appearances for Stockport in 3 years, before going back to Scotland for a short spell. Moved to south Yorkshire for a few seasons before heading to Town. This was at the back end of his career and appearances dried up as it ended and his coaching career started, although it is based in the proper non league etchelons

9) Probably one of the greatest footballers to play for Town should be enough to sort this for you. He had 6 years at Town before embarking on a career as adventurous as his lifestyle, his clubs include Leicester, Stockport, Bolton, Weymouth, plus trips to South Africa and Sweden.

10) Often ridiculed whilst at Town, a midfielder by trade that begun at Celtic and made his name at Stockport, Town signed him from over Lincolnshire way and he played usually out of position at right back. His best times came back north of the border where he is currently managing his 4th team, his clubs generally match his own demeanor.

[theo_luddite]

Nice HD One update jjamez

Update on the Yorksha League after last nights Milling of The Chickens

[theo_luddite]

To be Frank, I think I worked out 9 quite quickly. Shirley there's a Pilks in there somewhere?

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Meanwhile 6 has to be a really Lucketti guess to get that one, right?

[jjamez]

Pilks isn't an answer to the quiz

[theo_luddite]

Couldn't line him up with one to be fair.

[Lord Snooty]

1. Luke Beckett

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3. Robbie Williams

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5. Steve Harper

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6. Chris Lucketti

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7. Chris Marsden

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10. Jim Goodwin

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BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

[theo_luddite]

Yes Smogport have been been better than Town, but really, how do refs like this one get beyond their local Sunday League 4th Division? U11's.

[Lord Snooty]

Well he's sort of levelled it up by giving Stockport a red card. I'd much rather have a penalty though.

So let's see if we can finally come from behind to beat a ten man team.

The manager brings on Radulovic. Going for it.

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BOOOOOOOO

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Hold on. Bojangles has scored.

[jjamez]

Well I watched on my phone and it was awful. Am I in the grant out camp, on the fence, nowt changed from last season arguably worse with better players. He's not getting the best out of any of them. But it looks bad if he goes and honestly I don't know who would be an option, would have to be expensive (again) or someone desperate

[WakeyTerrier]

Well that was shit.

Should've lost by 5 or 6.

Grant is clueless, gone by Xmas ...if he lasts that long.

We brand it as Northern Football, turns out we've been playing that style since the New Year