Royals’ manager and players pay heavy penalty against Huddersfield after latest play-off final defeat sends them back to the Championship drawing boardJaap Stam had a difficult job on his hands when he took over at Reading last summer, charged with lifting a squad after two poor seasons going in the wrong direction. But that task might have felt easy in comparison with the one he faced on Monday as he attempted to pull his deflated players up from the Wembley turf, one by one, after the Championship play-off final defeat by Huddersfield Town in a penalty shoot-out.There was not a lot he could say. Tiago Ilori, the Reading defender, said few words were exchanged between team-mates in the dressing room...
Manager uses unconventional methods to keep his squad’s minds firmly rooted in buildup to Monday’s Championship play-off final against ReadingLunchtime beckons at Huddersfield Town’s attractive, canalside, training ground, and a tableau capable of turning Arsène Wenger, José Mourinho, Pep Guardiola and company apoplectic is fast unfolding.David Wagner’s players are happily queuing up alongside members of the public as they wait to be served by cheerful cafeteria staff. Related: Huddersfield’s Christopher Schindler: The hardest season of my life Continue reading...
Manager has told his players before facing Sheffield Wednesday it is time the club found new legends after 45 years out of the top flight of English footballLocal knowledge is overrated. Two years ago Carlos Carvalhal and David Wagner were virtually unknown in England but now they are jousting for the right to lead one of the country’s former champions to Wembley and perhaps on to the Premier League. Huddersfield host Sheffield Wednesday on Sunday in the first leg of their Championship play-off semi-final and it has been a long time since fans of either club have been so excited.Both managers have excelled to guide their clubs this far. For Carvalhal it is the second impressive exploit in a row,...
The quick-witted German’s rigorous fitness regime and astute signings have a once great club overwhelming richer rivals in the race for the Premier LeagueIt is a quirk of history that the season in which one of English football’s greatest managers, Brian Clough, won his first major trophy also heralded the start of the long and graceless fall of a club that had been home to two of the game’s other most inspiring leaders, Herbert Chapman and Bill Shankly. While Clough was celebrating turning Derby County into English champions in 1971-72, Huddersfield Town, the first club to win that title three years on the trot, finished bottom of the old First Division. They have been exiled from the top flight ever...
Millwall and Lincoln are in the mood for further upsets, José Mourinho has a tactical teaser at Chelsea and Rangers at risk of Old Firm derby embarrassmentThe FA Cup quarter-final at Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday is a fitting way for Neil Harris to celebrate two years in charge of the club he loves. Regardless of the result, the club have been upwardly mobile under Harris, the club’s all-time record goalscorer. Harris initially took caretaker charge on 10 March 2015 before assuming the full-time position a month later. Their start to this season was tricky – at the end of September they had 12 points from 10 games – but now Harris’s side are only six points off the automatic promotion...