A look back at Huddersfield Town’s 2004/05 campaign
- Remind yourself of Town’s 2004/05 season
- Peter Jackson’s youthful side narrowly missed out on the Play-Off places
- Watch the Young Guns DVD below for free on #HTTV
The 2004/05 season that rings fond in the memory of Huddersfield Town supporters as a number of young Academy talents broke into the Club’s First Team and helped make a late charge towards to League 1 Play-Off places.
After the excellent work of Gerry Murphy in the Academy, combined with the belief of Manager Peter Jackson, six Academy players featured in the opening day win over Stockport County.
As the season continued, many graduates started to cement First Team places, such as Andy Holdsworth, David Mirfin, Nathan Clarke, Tom Clarke, Adnan Ahmed and Michael Collins.
One of those graduates, Jon Worthington, who starred in the middle of midfield of Jackson’s side was made the side’s captain during November.
“Sodje was my captain and I had certain problems with him on the field. In 36 games he missed 10 of them, so obviously he had a lot of disciplinary problems,” explained Jacko.
“I was looking for a new captain and it was a choice between Worthington and Nathan Clarke. I went for Worthy because he was one of my first names on the team sheet and he leads by example on the field. He took to the captaincy really well.”
Worthy acted as a lynchpin in the dressing room, setting the standard for the young Academy players and helping them integrate with the more experienced pros.
“There’s a lot of lads now who have grown up together and there’s good camaraderie. The experienced pros at the Club are a massive help and lift to the young boys. The mixture we have is excellent,” detailed the young Captain.
That combination in the dressing room worked wonders as Town moved themselves out of potential relegation danger to Play-Off hopefuls.
A terrific run at the end of the season that saw the youngsters win nine of their last 10 games, agonizingly missing out on the Play-Offs by just one point.
That was the best end to a season the Terriers have had since the 1920s.
“The players couldn’t have done or worked any harder than we asked; it’s been an excellent season. I don’t think I can find better young players than that,” smiled Town’s Manager.
“We weren’t a team from all over the country, most of them lived within 20 miles from the Stadium. The supporters related to that and there was homegrown talent coming though.”
And, yes, this was the season when our ‘Young Guns’ dressed up as Cowboys.
Watch the full season review below on #HTTV!
