Financial impact of Huddersfield Town’s relegation laid bare as Kevin Nagle makes Terriers vow
Huddersfield Town owner Kevin Nagle has vowed to continue to invest across the board as the Terriers prepare for life in League One
The Terriers, who finished second from last in the Championship, are starting to get ready for their first third-tier season since 2012.
Notwithstanding the harsh financial reality of relegation, Nagle has promised to keep making “all-around investments” to position the team for a return to the second division.
In his season-ending journal on X, the Terriers owner stated, “We knew whether they were relegated last year or this year, we were going to take it and invest in it, and we have.”
“That component, in my opinion, has persisted even though the team did not play very well on the pitch. In actuality, we kept making investments.
We didn’t have a chief operating officer, chief financial officer, chief revenue officer, or chief executive when I came here, and a lot of the infrastructure underneath that has been replaced. That has all been completed, they are prepared to proceed, and they are currently functioning. That pertains to both the present and the upcoming year, as well as any further years that may come.
That excludes the actual work we’ve done for the club. We’re starting to make significant investments in the training area. We are constructing on the past, present and future of our academy, as evidenced by the remarkable changes that are taking place there today. Pitch modifications, infrastructure upgrades and building relocations and replacements are all happening.
“There are a lot of other factors as well that don’t show up on the pitch right now, but they will in the future. Right or wrong, I’ve always said that having an infrastructure in place is necessary if you want to advance, and that’s what we’re building.”
When asked how relegation would affect the club’s finances, Nagle responded, “There’s no question about it—we’ll lose millions of pounds because the Championship league funding is going to stop.”
The truth is that changes also take place at the same time, with lower salaries and other benefits for coaches, players, and other staff members.
“After that, there is a portion that I will just absorb, and we are dedicated to it. That’s not our issues, as I said before, we’re investing, we’re going to invest across the board as we have right now, and I feel we’re going to field a really strong club this next year.”
Town had a difficult season overall, and the Terriers only managed to stay out of the relegation zone until late in the game before falling to the bottom.
In 46 games, the Terriers managed just nine victories and eighteen draws. Nagle recognised the detrimental effects of draws on his team’s season.
Town drew 11 of those games under Darren Moore, and Nagle stated that he should have replaced the manager sooner in hindsight to give his side a higher chance of avoiding the bottom.
Asked whether there was anything he wished he’d done differently in his first year at the helm, the owner replied: “I would say on our second coach, we probably waited a little bit too long (to make a change).
“You may remember, without rationalising too much, we got a lot of injuries during that time. Frankly, when we talked to Darren, who’s a fantastic human being by the way, we talked about tying a lot.
“The real point that we talked about was moving those ties to wins, and that’s what he said his goal was, and he said it will happen. Unfortunately, it just didn’t happen.
“As it turns out, we got relegated by [six] points, those are two matches that either you would win if you lost them, or you can figure it out [by other means]. We finished first place when it comes to ties, first place in ties gets you relegated. I’m not joking about that, but I don’t like ties. I maybe prefer ties on the road, but we need to win.
“We had some bad luck, and you frequently hear people talk about [us having] a series of bad events that occurred, I don’t want to hide behind that. The fact of it is that we didn’t make it, so let’s go on from here, and I’m ready to go.
GET MORE NEWS HERE
Leave a Reply