Huddersfield have come a long way since David Wagner’s squad had to share a community gym, along with local croquet and bowls clubs at the training ground – but the German knows more tough challenges lie ahead.
Monday will mark exactly three years since Wagner’s appointment, when the Terriers host Fulham, another side scrapping for points at the wrong end of the Premier League table.
When former Borussia Dortmund II coach Wagner arrived in West Yorkshire, the club were 18th in the Sky Bet Championship and battling against relegation to the third tier.
At the end of the following season, the German had guided Huddersfield into the Premier League for the first time via the play-offs, and then went on to finish 16th.
Huddersfield, though, now find themselves bottom, having failed to produce a win from their first 10 Premier League games.
Wagner knows another testing journey awaits over the coming months, which could prove just as tough as the one which left him shocked by the background set-up when he first arrived.
“I love the idea of this football club, that we are tied with the community and we are together with them here, in the canteen, or wherever,” the Huddersfield manager said.
“But we have to make sure we have an environment where it’s all about professional football, and an environment where it’s all about community, and an environment where we mix it, because we had no environment of professional football.
“We had a gym which was used by the community as well. So if there was a lady on a bike and my player says ‘I have to make a pre-activation because I have training’ and she says ‘oh, I have 10 further minutes to go’ then he was not able to use it.
“In the summer, there were the old ladies playing croquet on our training pitch and the groundsman said to me we were not able to use this part of the training ground because they play croquet there, or the gentlemen were playing bowls on the ground as we walked through.
“This was anything but how I expected a professional club that had played since 2012 in the Championship, how it should look like.
“I was shocked, if that doesn’t sound too negative. My expectation was totally different.
“These small things we were able to change in the off-season, the summer before we got promoted. There was no longer croquet. We got our own gym. I think with the bowls, it took a little bit longer.”
Wagner has helped bring the renowned ‘gegenpressing’ Dortmund style to West Yorkshire, and there has been some positive performances this season to provide hope of again punching above their weight in the top flight.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp, who remains a close friend, had offered his fellow German some welcome words of encouragement following a somewhat unfortunate 1-0 home defeat.
Wagner said: “He could see that he was lucky to win that game and we were unlucky.
“He said ‘listen, only continue what you are doing. You are on the right way and you will turn it, but you have to be focused and continue’.”
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