Real Madrid, Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain etc. may well be stronger than any clubs in the Premier League. However, what the Premier League does offer is drama and it has provided that in the opening weekend with champions Chelsea going down at home to Burnley; Arsenal’s narrow 4-3 victory over Leicester City; unfancied debutantes Huddersfield Town winning 3-0 at Selhurst Park; and a rejuvenated Manchester United beating West Ham United 4-0. Not to mention Wayne Rooney’s winning goal at Everton.
Real Madrid, Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain etc. may well be stronger than any clubs in the Premier League. However, what the Premier League does offer is drama and it has provided that in the opening weekend with champions Chelsea going down at home to Burnley; Arsenal’s narrow 4-3 victory over Leicester City; unfancied debutantes Huddersfield Town winning 3-0 at Selhurst Park; and a rejuvenated Manchester United beating West Ham United 4-0. Not to mention Wayne Rooney’s winning goal at Everton.
It is going to be difficult for detractors to put together this week’s attack narrative. Admittedly, my son-in-law, a season ticket holder at Southampton, witnessed a dreary 0-0 draw against Swansea City. But with Jonjo Shelvey’s sending off against Spurs, there was plenty of controversy for pundit Alan Shearer to sink his teeth into.
Huddersfield Town have understandably attracted a lot of attention and the FT Weekend Magazine ran a special feature on them written by the perceptive journalist Simon Kuper. When the football club was founded in 1908, Huddersfield had a prosperous textile industry. In 1924 to 1926 they won three straight league titles.
As Kuper points out, the town’s post-industrial decline infected the club and over the last 61 seasons it was in the top division only from 1970 to 1972. However since the early 1990s there has been a modest revival with Huddersfield University named British university of the year in 2013.
The support is almost entirely local. Club ambassador Andy Booth admitted in an interview, ‘As a footballer it was an easy place to play. There wasn’t much pressure on you. There’s three generations turning up every week, and never any trouble.’
Booth points out the club’s small catchment area with Leeds 20 miles or so away and then Sheffield and Manchester. There is probably 20 miles either way to attract Huddersfield fans.
Chairman Dean Hoyle was offered some good advice by an anonymous Premier League chairman: ‘The first two seasons are not a problem; the club can make some profit and be competitive. The problem comes after. You survive for three or four seasons, then you spend because some fans are no longer happy with you just being a Premiership club – they want you to push on.’
‘Then things maybe go wrong, maybe there’s a change of ownership, change of manager, you lose your best player, and you fall through the trap-door and you’re over financed. Then you have a fire sale, you overspend to get back [to the Premier League] and it ends in tears.’