LONDON: In the summer the club spent around £50 million on transfers, more than it had spent in its entire previous history, but still only enough for a Kyle Walker or two thirds of a Romelu Lukaku. That they reached the Premier League was astonishing; that they might still be in it next season is borderline miraculous.
Their story is the positive one of battling for Premier League survival. This season has been hard for them. They have lost more than half the games they have played. They have only scored 27 goals, but there is little doubt Huddersfield fans have had fun. They have been able to see their side at some of the great theaters of world football. They have welcomed glamorous clubs and world-class players to the John Smith’s Stadium. They have even beaten Manchester United. These are memories that will stay in the local consciousness for years.
And they may still stay up. They are fifth bottom and three points clear of the relegation zone. But their problem is twofold. Firstly, the side below them, Swansea City, have to play the two sides below them — Southampton and Stoke City — meaning at least one of their rivals is going to pick up points. And secondly, Huddersfield’s run-in sees them face Manchester City and Chelsea away, then Arsenal at home.
Perhaps that is not as bad as it looks at first glance: Chelsea may have nothing to play for and have half an eye on the FA Cup final. Arsenal still have not taken an away point this year and could respond to the emotion of Arsene Wenger’s last game in charge in any number of ways. Three points from those three games would probably be enough; no points may also be.
But what is intriguing is what happens next. Huddersfield fans, obviously, want to stay up. They want to celebrate on the final day. Another year in the Premier League is another year of television revenue, another year of exposure for the club and the town. Provided expenditure is kept within sensible limits, it should help secure a certain status for the club (which, after all, was in League One as recently as 2012) for another decade or so. Perhaps they can stay up again, finish mid-table, record a couple more memorable wins against giants. But at some point the thought is going to kick in: Is this it?
The identity of the four teams below Huddersfield is revealing. All four are relatively established Premier League sides. West Brom came up in 2010, Stoke in 2008, Southampton in 2012, Swansea in 2011. All but Stoke have undergone a recent change of ownership that has, perhaps, corroded core principles. With all, there has been an underlying sense of dissatisfaction that has rumbled beneath the surface.
And the reason, in all four cases, is boredom. Cut through all the marketing glitz, ignore the glamor that
attends the very elite, and for the vast majority of match-going fans, football is about fun. It is about going to games, being emotionally invested in something that essentially does not really matter, and enjoying yourself. Yes, football can have a symbolic resonance and can come to have profound political and emotional significance but once match-going ceases to be pleasurable, what is it for?
Season after season of struggle, of winning — at best — a dozen games, of scrapping to survive, takes its toll. Fans begin to demand more. West Brom and Stoke offloaded Tony Pulis in part because fans, no longer satisfied by just staying in the Premier League, wanted more entertaining football. The eventual upshot of that may be relegation but although it is easy to sneer at the sense of entitlement some fans demonstrate that does not mean the fans were wrong. What, after all, is the point of surviving for no greater purpose than to survive?
That is not a concern yet for Huddersfield, revelling in their first top-flight season since 1971-72. If they stay up they should celebrate an astonishing achievement. But it is a question football must face: With the present distribution of wealth, a lot of clubs find themselves drifting without a purpose. For them, what
is the point?
Huddersfield hopes could turn to dust as monotonous reality of the Premier League sets in
Huddersfield hopes could turn to dust as monotonous reality of the Premier League sets in
- Huddersfield just three games away from beating the dropping and staying in the Premier League.
- But experiences of Stoke and West Brom illustrate beating the drop could be just the start of the side's problems.
