Huddersfield Town fell into the struggle in the lower leagues in 1972. It took a full 40 years, until 2012, for it to be promoted from the third-level English League One to the second-level English Championship. It was not until the 16/17 season that Huddersfield Town passed the promotion play-offs and was promoted to the Premier League for the first time in history.
Yes, they are not the founding team of the Premier League. Although they are the first generation to win three consecutive championships, their fame is far less than that of Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool, not even a fraction of it.
But no matter what, Huddersfield Town was once the big brother.
Huddersfield Town is also the only English football club with three gold stars embroidered on its team logo.
Of course, Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United have also done it, but later on, winning the championship became a routine for them. What's more, they were not the first team to win three consecutive league titles, and they felt embarrassed for not making any breakthroughs, so they changed it.
Only Huddersfield Town still retains the golden star that symbolizes their former glory of three consecutive championships, because it is really, really, really difficult for them to win the top league championship again.
There is also another magical English club. They have two stars embroidered on their team logo. Although it has one less than Huddersfield Town, the value of these two stars is even greater than Huddersfield Town’s three consecutive top league titles.
That club is Nottingham Forest.
The two stars on the Nottingham Forest team logo represent their two consecutive Champions League titles in 1978 and 1979.
There are also many teams that have won the Champions League consecutively. First is Real Madrid's five consecutive Champions League titles, followed by Bayern's three consecutive titles, Ajax's three consecutive titles (with Cruyff), AC Milan's two consecutive titles, Liverpool's two consecutive titles, Benfica's two consecutive titles, and Inter Milan also had two consecutive titles.
It is worth mentioning that the powerful Barcelona of the Dream 1, Dream 2 and Dream 3 dynasties has won the Champions League five times, but has never defended the title.
What does it mean to defend the title? It means that you won the title in the first year and continued to hold the title in the second year. It must be continuous. Even if there is one interruption in the middle, it cannot be called defending the title.
The magic of Nottingham Forest is that they are the only team in football history that has won more Champions League titles than league titles - they have only won the English top league title once in the league.
At 11:30 am, the Southampton team bus slowly drove into the Alfred McAlpine Stadium.
This stadium is also a magical one.
This stadium was put into use while it was being built.
The stadium can accommodate 25,000 people. Construction began in 1993. At that time, the stadium was called "Kirklees Stadium" because the stadium was built by the local Kirklees Council.
By 1994, the council had run out of money, so it brought in a builder to sponsor the stadium, and it was renamed the Alfred McAlpine Stadium.
When the stadium was put into use in 1995, there was insufficient funding. The most important south stand, the "doghouse", had just begun to be built, and there was no sign of the north stand.
However, this did not affect the game. Only the riverside stands on the east and west sides of the Alfred McAlpine Stadium and the Kilner Embankment stands were open to fans. Construction of the north stand did not begin until 1996 and was not completed until 1997.
In total, the stadium took four years to build.
Later, in 2012, after Huddersfield Town was promoted to the Championship, the famous beer company Heineken bought the naming rights of the stadium and renamed it "John Smith's" Stadium.
For now, the stadium is still called Alfred McAlpine, a name that is difficult to pronounce and has a lot of words.
As you enter the Alfred McAlpine Stadium, you will see a huge team logo right in front of you.
Huddersfield Town's team badge features a castle, a river, a white rose representing the House of York, and a Terrier standing at the top.
Terriers is the nickname of the Huddersfield Town team, because Huddersfield Town is rich in small dogs.
The scientific name of this dog is Yorkshire Terrier, and it was originally used to catch mice.
That's right, this is a puppy that can catch mice.
The people of Huddersfield Town like this energetic little dog that always loves to bark, so when Huddersfield Town Football Club was established, the club unanimously decided to embroider the Terrier on their team logo.
In the earliest version of Huddersfield Town's team logo, the Terrier was embroidered as majestically as a lion. After all, they were the strongest club in the world at that time. But later, as Huddersfield Town fell from the top league to the lower league, Huddersfield Town Club no longer had such an arrogant attitude, so the dog on their current team logo is completely the image of a cartoon pet.
It is worth mentioning that the die-hard fans of Huddersfield Town call themselves... puppies.
After lunch and a break, Coach Adkins took the players to conduct adaptive training on the field.
The turf of the Alfred McAlpine Stadium is still very good, the home atmosphere is also good, almost all the residents in the town are fans, and the football culture and rugby culture are very developed here.
This stadium has also served as the venue for the World Rugby Championship three times.
But it is not difficult to see the playing style of Huddersfield Town from the fact that local fans not only like football but also rugby.
Today's game will inevitably involve fierce physical confrontation.
At 1:30 pm, fans began to enter the stadium.
The home team's die-hard fans filled the south kennel stands early in the morning, waving the blue and white team flags in their hands.
There were even some Saints fans who were unable to buy tickets and could only wait outside the stadium.
The last match in the third round of the English League Cup made the Saints fans celebrate. This time, it happened to be the weekend, and a large number of Saints fans drove to Huddersfield Town, wanting to witness Gu Ran's exciting goal scene with their own eyes.
Just like last time, the little diva Taylor Swift, after some disguise, came early to the box reserved for her by Gu Ran, accompanied by her female assistant.
Major news media also occupied advantageous positions early on and set up their cameras.
In the scouting area, Chelsea's Emenalo, Liverpool's Edwards and Manchester City's Pratt, the three big guys sat together with smiles on their faces.
Although they dislike each other, from a certain perspective, they can be considered "like-minded".
For today's match, William Hill's pre-match odds are: home win 2.62, draw 3.21, loss 2.65.
This handicap means that William Hill is still a little unsure.
Judging from the performance in previous games, Southampton had a fierce seven-game winning streak and should be stronger. However, the game three days ago was very intense and it is difficult for an average team to support continuous high-intensity games, not to mention that Huddersfield Town is not bad.
Huddersfield Town has just won three consecutive games, and they do not have the burden of fighting on multiple fronts in the League Cup. They have no problem with physical fitness, and they are playing at home.
Huddersfield Town is currently ranked fifth in League One, just three points behind second-placed Southampton and four points behind first-placed Peterborough United.
Therefore, in today's game, Huddersfield Town must go all out to strive for these precious 3 points.
Therefore, William Hill gave such a conservative handicap.
Of course, the more difficult it is to predict a game, the more money the bookmakers can make.
2pm.
The referee team entered to inspect the competition venue.
After the field inspection, the visiting team Southampton was the first to enter the field for pre-match warm-up training.
In today's game, Southampton's players wore their red and white jerseys - Huddersfield Town's home jersey is blue and white sword stripes, which does not conflict with Southampton.
When Gu Ran stood on the Alfred McAlpine Stadium, the Saints fans in the north stands cheered wildly!
Although it has been three days since the last game, the passion that Gu Ran brought to the Saints fans has not faded yet!
The fans of Huddersfield Town booed loudly and even barked at Gu Ran.
Gu Ran was calm and even felt like laughing.
Soon, Huddersfield Town players also came on the field to warm up.
The fans of the Pups cheered wildly for their home team, and the atmosphere in the Alfred McAlpine Stadium was on fire! After half an hour of warm-up training, the players of both sides left the field to make final preparations before the game.
At 2:50, players from both teams lined up in the tunnel, holding the hands of their caddies, ready to officially take the court.
As soon as Ran Live received the live signal, the live broadcast room was immediately flooded with comments, and the number of viewers in the live broadcast room quickly exceeded 250,000! The promotion of Resti Fute Agency, coupled with Gu Ran's impressive performance, began to make Ran Live popular in China.
At this time, under the guidance of the referees on duty, the starting players of both sides officially came on the court and lined up to shake hands.
Huddersfield captain, center back Peter Clark and Southampton captain Davis came to the referee to toss a coin.
Davies guessed correctly, winning the right to pick the ball first for Southampton, while Peter Clarke got the right to kick off first for Huddersfield Town.
Davis chose the south stand half where the doghouse was located as the starting position and attacked from south to north.
The captains of both teams shook hands and exchanged team flags. The players of both teams took photos in their respective half of the field, then formed their formations and waited for the referee's opening whistle.
In today's game, the away team Southampton still started with a 442 formation. The game tactics were the same as the high-pressure and physical confrontation tactics used against Sheffield United three days ago.
However, the starting lineup was significantly adjusted.
…
(End of this chapter)