[darbolina]

I'm not buying the leaked story to Percy as this is very likely dowling voicing his view and protecting his future job interests which I imagine are now very important to him.

Dowlings time is up so Wagner with  a new continent leaning (German?) Dof might work very well.  Wagners record is pretty similar to Wilder and better than Neil/ others who seemed to be in the frame.

I'm OK with it. Until Lai goes I cannot see the club really moving forward anyway.

All the managers/ coaches that got us promoted over the past 20 years  had drive, determination and united the players/ fans. Wagner did this at Huddersfield in a big way so knows what a promotion from the champ means / requires.

Wagner with dowling is a disaster waiting to happen but wagner with a supportive owner and Dof could work?

[smethwickw]

I just don't get our reluctance to pay compensation for a manager already in a job. The sums being mentioned are peanuts in this day and age. We waste more than that on poor players every summer.

[NJS]

I don’t understand the notion that Lai vetoed the appointment of Wilder because of his previous relationship with the board.

I’m not sure that would be such a problem here given the man is totally non existent. What Lai knows about Wilders time at Sheff United could be written on a postage stamp.

The Chinese obsession with authority and honour means that Wilder's insubordination would have woken Lai up with a start.  I think you should not make the assumption that Lai has no interent in his 'investment'.  He may be prepared to leave football matters to others  but as regards Wilder's antics - of which Ken would have no doubt appraised him - he would have very strong opinions.

What's more interesting is how Dowling and others can cling to their jobs after being overruled.  Honour is not so all-important here, but how can he stay on without embarrassment and shame? 

[Mister AT]

I'm not buying the leaked story to Percy as this is very likely dowling voicing his view and protecting his future job interests which I imagine are now very important to him.

Dowlings time is up so Wagner with  a new continent leaning (German?) Dof might work very well.  Wagners record is pretty similar to Wilder and better than Neil/ others who seemed to be in the frame.

I'm OK with it. Until Lai goes I cannot see the club really moving forward anyway.

All the managers/ coaches that got us promoted over the past 20 years  had drive, determination and united the players/ fans. Wagner did this at Huddersfield in a big way so knows what a promotion from the champ means / requires.

Wagner with dowling is a disaster waiting to happen but wagner with a supportive owner and Dof could work?

That’s my issue too, if they genuinely believed Wagner was the man for the job and everyone from the board down to the DoF believed that when I’d deal with it, but the fact it’s publicly known Dowling wanted Wilder, and if the rumours of him offering his resignation are true, then the relationship between Dowling and Wagner will be in bits before it’s even started and destined to clash.

[Albionic]

Todays Athletic article on the situation saying deal not yet done but Wagner strong favourite. The club were impressed by his promotion on shoestring budget. Wilder was set to be appointed last week as Bakeyface said by Dowling and Xu Ke but then Lai stepped in and said no way so they did more interviews and chose Wagner.

In fairness IF Lai said something like, ok you want to employ Wilder BUT I am not convinced you have thoroughly explored the market, go and take another look please, and thats where Wagner comes into play its not unreasonable, Its all conjecture though isnt it?

[gazberg]

Of course we can all sit here and say what we think all day long but none of us really know and even the journos don't know every detail.

Lai's stupidity in buying us has already put pressure on him back home though. His foray into football ownership has made him look bad. A total failure. He can't get out without losing lots of money. Last thing he wants is a bloke slating him in interviews for people around the world to see. He's laying low when it comes to us until he can sell. He's only interested in protecting his image and ego. The clubs welfare is less important.

[tambag]

I suspect we are going downhill fast now.  We will have a head coach that knows he is not no 1 choice, so will not get the correct support from the board.

We have an owner who doesn't want us and I suspect the budget will be on the very cheap this season, any monies brought in for sales will go to the owner's pockets to make up for the lack of being able to sell us at the price he wants.

[WorcsWBA]

I've been looking at a current Huddersfield forum thread on Wagner here. It starts off with a post which is criticising Wagner for their current situation, but it's fair to say that the vast majority of the Huddersfield fans who've responded remain supportive of him to this day. See below for some comments I picked out that most struck me:

• "He performed a miracle 2 seasons running. He took a club which was dwindling at the bottom of the championship with no real hope or ambition and turned everything around - the atmosphere, the belief, the professionalism. The guy was a genius and I can't understand any Town fan who doesn't think he was a hero."
• "I've never come across a manager of HTFC (or very few others in fact) whereby I'd literally hang off his every word post match on the car journey home, often parking up at home and sat on the drive listening for 10-15 mins until he'd stopped. The guy was utter class and talked exactly as the fans could see it."
• "I’ve never been hit so hard (apart from family) as I was when I first heard that he was leaving. When I was sat in my seat just behind the dugouts and looked down to see Wagner stood there with his arms folded, I sat back and knew everything was ok."
• "Really don’t want [being appointed by Albion] to happen. But if it does, when he comes back for the game, I’ll clap him until my bloody hands fall off."
• "Seeing him in a West Brom baseball cap will kill me a bit inside. Legend is used too often in football but he truly is. I’ll clap my heart out for the bloke."

I think comments like those above illustrate that Wagner deserves more respect than quite a few people on here have been giving him thus far.

[WBAinDEVON]

I suspect we are going downhill fast now.  We will have a head coach that knows he is not no 1 choice, so will not get the correct support from the board.

We have an owner who doesn't want us and I suspect the budget will be on the very cheap this season, any monies brought in for sales will go to the owner's pockets to make up for the lack of being able to sell us at the price he wants.

the same Road has Birmingham City

lets hope Klop puts him off

[saml30]

One positive, he got some form out of Grant at PL level

[keithowba86]

One positive, he got some form out of Grant at PL level

Have a job... he left before grant arrived

[tommcneill]

Wagner isnt the worst of appointments if he comes in. I could think of worse.

I'll certainly support him though...

I admit though I dont know much about his managerial ability or his setup and style of play.

[Mister AT]

One positive, he got some form out of Grant at PL level

He wasn’t manager. Sacked before they signed Grant.

Like the post above states, we should give him a bit more respect, Huddersfield fans have nothing but nice things to say about him and how he pulled the club together and built a team spirit who ran more than anyone.

I’ve watched Leeds do similar for 2 years and then saw our bunch look like they never did a pre season. If he’s backed to bring in his own players and buy into his plan, then we might be pleasantly suprised.

Granted he was no ones choice and our owners and board are a mess, but we need to back the manager now, because hostility towards him will just lead to bad results and leave us in an even bigger mess.

If you want Lai to sell up and leave then we need to get promoted.

[skyclad99]

I've been looking at a current Huddersfield forum thread on Wagner here. It starts off with a post which is criticising Wagner for their current situation, but it's fair to say that the vast majority of the Huddersfield fans who've responded remain supportive of him to this day. See below for some comments I picked out that most struck me:

• "He performed a miracle 2 seasons running. He took a club which was dwindling at the bottom of the championship with no real hope or ambition and turned everything around - the atmosphere, the belief, the professionalism. The guy was a genius and I can't understand any Town fan who doesn't think he was a hero."
• "I've never come across a manager of HTFC (or very few others in fact) whereby I'd literally hang off his every word post match on the car journey home, often parking up at home and sat on the drive listening for 10-15 mins until he'd stopped. The guy was utter class and talked exactly as the fans could see it."
• "I’ve never been hit so hard (apart from family) as I was when I first heard that he was leaving. When I was sat in my seat just behind the dugouts and looked down to see Wagner stood there with his arms folded, I sat back and knew everything was ok."
• "Really don’t want [being appointed by Albion] to happen. But if it does, when he comes back for the game, I’ll clap him until my bloody hands fall off."
• "Seeing him in a West Brom baseball cap will kill me a bit inside. Legend is used too often in football but he truly is. I’ll clap my heart out for the bloke."

I think comments like those above illustrate that Wagner deserves more respect than quite a few people on here have been giving him thus far.

We dont want him Worc, he had a couple of dodgy results with Schalke

[dangerman]

Good morning all! Hope we are all well

I'm still hoping Mr Wagner will read this forum and Twitter and decide the job isn't for him.

Plain and simple this appointment will be down to saving money. The club don't want to spend money on releasing Wilder from his gardening leave and they won't want to spend it on Appleton either.

It has absolutely nothing to do with Wilder's falling out at Sheffield Utd as if it did, they wouldn't have interviewed him in the first place!

Spoke to a colleague of mine from Leeds and he said he'd be pretty upset if Wagner rocked up there and that says it all.

We are in for a long hard slog of a season and its hard not to see the worst.

I guess in the long run it matters not who we appoint whilst we have who we have running the club.

[Baggies]

We dont want him Worc, he had a couple of dodgy results with Schalke

First time i've seen 18 straight losses described as a couple of bad results 

"It's only a scratch"

[Standaman]

Two days ago we didn't know for sure who the club had spoken to there was informed speculation that Wilder was a strong favourite  we knew we hadn't approached Lincoln to seek Appleton's release and there was nothing of significance linking Lampard to the job. That is it.

Now all the journalists closest to the club Percy, Madeley and Masi have the blow by blow. That the board wanted Wilder and Lai overruled them. That might have been "I want Wagner or I don't want Wilder come back with an alternative"  which now is Wagner. This does not happen by accident the only parties privy to the inner workings of this process are the UK board and Lai. Let's discount Lai as the source of the information therefore for whatever reason someone on the UK board have decided to inform the media.

That is wrong and it undermines whoever eventually is appointed. Lai is always the villain in the eyes of the fans but in this particular instance he is not. If it is Dowling (he seems to be the most likely culprit here) leaking to the press then he has to go. 

[phbaggies]

Good morning all! Hope we are all well

I'm still hoping Mr Wagner will read this forum and Twitter and decide the job isn't for him.

Plain and simple this appointment will be down to saving money. The club don't want to spend money on releasing Wilder from his gardening leave and they won't want to spend it on Appleton either.

It has absolutely nothing to do with Wilder's falling out at Sheffield Utd as if it did, they wouldn't have interviewed him in the first place!

Spoke to a colleague of mine from Leeds and he said he'd be pretty upset if Wagner rocked up there and that says it all.

We are in for a long hard slog of a season and its hard not to see the worst.

I guess in the long run it matters not who we appoint whilst we have who we have running the club.

Doesnt really say a lot does it, no fan in the world would be happy going from Bielsa to Wagner!!

[seteefeet]

To add a bit of perspective to the 18 game winless streak, it actually continued up to 30 games and encompassed a further 3 head coaches after Wagner. So, whilst it sounds horrific, a lot of it can be attributed to the financial and structural collapse of the club, with no money available for transfers, salary caps on players and disarray at board level.
Contrast this to Wilder's record last season, despite spending mega bucks and it doesn't compare so badly.
The two main boxes that needed ticking were promotion and survival and, of the candidates, only Wagner and Wilder, did both. Lai obviously didn't fancy the latter's attitude so stamped his authority, rightly or wrongly, but that's his right. What we shouldn't do is take out our anger and resentment for Lai on Wagner, who seems, dignified, committed and intelligent.
Now the dust has settled, I'm happy to get behind him and look forward to what he has to say. He is Huddersfield's Megson after all!
If Dowling falls on his sword as a consequence, then so be it, he will hardly go down in club history.

[timdon]

Assuming it is going to be Wagner (and we were all assuming it was going to be Wilder not so very long ago), I think there are quite a few positives:
1 He got a previously very poor Huddersfield side promoted on a shoestring budget. This was no mean achievement to be honest.
2 He managed to get a very very good team spirit going, and his team (I'm talking about Huddersfield here) always looked like they were giving everything for him
3 He seems to have high standards when it comes to fitness.
4 He comes across as intelligent and his post match interviews were always interesting.

He gained a cult like status with Huddersfield fans. Maybe, just maybe, he will win our fans over too and will be a success. Maybe he will be a horrible failure and a disastrous appointment as some on here already believe. Who knows? I'm going to go into it as positively as I can and enjoy the next season. I'm not wildly confident (more because of my lack of confidence in the board/owner than Wagner) but I will confidently predict that we won't get relegated as some of the posters last night seemed to believe - this is just nonsense in my opinion.

One final thought. We judge every potential manager by their previous performance, which is natural because we have nothing else to go on. But good managers (in all walks of life) improve with experience, learn from their mistakes, and develop their skills along the way. Bad managers , conversely, stick with what their methods come what may and are incapable of change. I'm hopeful that Wagner may be the former.

[Groovephil]

I'm sorry but this will be the appointment that sees us drift into obscurity without a shadow of a doubt.

Nothing good will happen to us with this board and ownership so we have to hope we are in discussions to be sold VERY soon or we are going to be a Stoke, Sunderland etc.

If the talk is true that Lai didn't want Wilder because he has a go at owners that tells you everything you need to know.

This club is getting more of a joke by the week. There is no defence to this appointment.

In football you do not appoint people who impress in bloody interviews, its not a manger's job at a petrol station. Wilder was the stand out by a mile. only a idiot wouldn't see this.

[SmethDan]

I've read through some (but not all) of the links provided which explain Wagner's tactical approach to games. Whilst I can understand the logic surrounding it there's one thing that bugs me.

While I didn't watch a lot of Huddersfield's performances under Wagner, I saw enough to know he didn't employ those tactics in any of the games I attended or watched in the pub on TV.

I'm going to keep an open mind should he be appointed. He'd be working with a squad of a generally higher quality than the one that bored me to tears in their playoff final for instance.

An interesting summer of recruitment lies ahead for whomever gets the gig. But if it's to be Wagner he's going to need to pull a Mooy out of his hat from somewhere. Either that or Sawyers needs to be aiming for Player of the Season status.......

[OhBilics]

I am not sure gegenpressing will work with our current midfield

Since when has that kind of thing bothered the people hiring our manager?!

In both video's there is reference to his teams progressing the ball through long balls on occasion which is not wholly unheard of among pressing teams particularly if counter pressed. Barnsley under Valérien Ismaël combine a high press and a long ball style.

How the whole thing becomes Pulis like is if the defence drops deep under pressure and the gap between back and front grows and the long ball becomes the sole means of ball progression and the defence and midfield can't get forward to form an effective press then all you are left with is a low block and long ball progression.

Oh goody, long ball and Pulis-like "football". I so look forward to us lumping it out onto (over) Pereira's head next season.

[skyclad99]

To add a bit of perspective to the 18 game winless streak, it actually continued up to 30 games and encompassed a further 3 head coaches after Wagner. So, whilst it sounds horrific, a lot of it can be attributed to the financial and structural collapse of the club, with no money available for transfers, salary caps on players and disarray at board level.
Contrast this to Wilder's record last season, despite spending mega bucks and it doesn't compare so badly.
The two main boxes that needed ticking were promotion and survival and, of the candidates, only Wagner and Wilder, did both. Lai obviously didn't fancy the latter's attitude so stamped his authority, rightly or wrongly, but that's his right. What we shouldn't do is take out our anger and resentment for Lai on Wagner, who seems, dignified, committed and intelligent.
Now the dust has settled, I'm happy to get behind him and look forward to what he has to say. He is Huddersfield's Megson after all!
If Dowling falls on his sword as a consequence, then so be it, he will hardly go down in club history.

Actually I think he will seteefeet!

[baggie38]

I was planning on getting a season ticket this year. Not anymore though I wouldn't line lais pockets with cash if my life depended on it.