Huddersfield 0 Reading 0 (4-3 pens): David Wagner’s men seal Premier League promotion and £200m jackpot
Tense Championship play-off final saw few chances created at Wembley but Terriers are in the big-time thanks to shoot-out
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THEY finished the regular season with a negative goal difference and have won two penalty shootouts to earn their £200million bounty.
Along with Reading, they bored the pants off a football-loving nation for two long hours as a fear of failure throttled the life out of this Championship Play-Off final.
Yet nobody in Huddersfield could give a stuff — and why on earth should they?
Theirs is an extraordinary story of success against the odds, achieved by outstanding management from the dugout to the boardroom and, yes, the enduring ability of Germans to win penalty shootouts.
Terriers boss David Wagner claims this is a miracle to rank alongside Leicester winning the Premier League title — given that his club have one of the smallest budgets in the Championship.
And if that was an exaggeration then it wasn’t a major one.
Huddersfield’s owner, and lifelong fan, Dean Hoyle earned his fortune through greetings cards rather than petrochemicals. Yesterday he must have felt as if all his Christmases had come at once.
But even after banking such an extraordinary figure by winning the richest match in world football, Hoyle is unlikely to invest stupid sums of money.
Wagner will believe Huddersfield are capable of staying up, even without huge investment. He will recognise that from seventh place down, the Premier League has been a sea of mediocrity this season.
The German, a close pal and former Borussia Dortmund colleague of Jurgen Klopp, has transformed the culture of this Yorkshire club over the past 18 months and he has now led them to the top flight for the first time in 45 years.
This is a club with a rich history — champions of England three times in a row back in the 1920s and now ready to join the elite again.
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The Terriers will offer adult season tickets which work out at less than six quid per match next season
That alone should make them most welcome in a league which has long since lost touch with the common man. The match itself was more tuppence halfpenny than £200m — but the shootout, the first one to settle promotion into the Premier League since Birmingham defeated Norwich in 2002, was suitably dramatic.
One of Wagner’s Germans, Michael Hefele, had a scuffed effort saved by Reading keeper Ali Al Habsi.
But after Reading had led 3-1, Liam Moore skied his effort as badly as his boss Jaap Stam once did for Holland against Italy in the Euro 2000 semi-finals.
Then Jordan Obita’s effort was saved by Liverpool and Wales keeper Danny Ward — generously loaned to Wagner by Klopp — and suddenly another German, Christopher Schindler had the opportunity to settle it.
When Schindler netted, 40,000 Town fans — who had been in fine voice all day — went absolutely berserk.
What a moment for those who followed the club down into the Football League basement in 2003 and all the way up again, via a hat-trick of play-off triumphs.
Reading, in contrast, hate these end of season nerve-shredders. They have entered the play-offs six times and never won, losing four finals.
The Royals have recently been taken over by billionaire Chinese brother and sister Dai Yongge and Dai Xiu Li, who were seen slumped in their posh seats, losers at the most expensive roulette table on the planet.
Somehow the Berkshire club, who have twice played in the Premier League before, were not the choice of the romantics, nor any neutrals.
Huddersfield had the tradition and the underdog factor in their favour.
They had also played some outstanding football this season – though sadly little of it here at Wembley.
Like Klopp’s Liverpool, Huddersfield are renowned for their frenzied high-pressing game – and for the opening ten minutes the boys in the hooped fluorescent shirts swarmed all over Reading like radioactive bees.
Twice, they should have grabbed an early lead.
Hefele headed wide from Aaron Mooy’s free-kick and Chelsea loanee Izzy Brown somehow failed to stab home at the far past when Elias Kachunga centred across the face of goal.
But what followed was not fitting testimony to the quality of football in the Championship, which has often been excellent this season.
Perhaps there is simply too much at stake in these matches. Indeed the Championship play-offs as a whole produced just five goals in eight and a half hours of football.
The EFL have been beaming on to Wembley’s big screens the heart-rates of four selected punters, fitted with monitors, during these tense affairs.
So dull was the fare on offer here that you were expecting them to register around 12 beats per minute.
Reading, in particular, lacked ambition - and it appeared both sides were happy to settle for penalties from a long way out.
Ward made the only meaningful save of the match from John Swift, Collin Quaner missed a decent chance for Huddersfield, then Reading’s Garath (corr) McCleary and Huddersfield’s Nahki Wells squandered late openings.
But it was all about the shoot-out drama and it was Huddersfield who had enough cool heads and Teutonic blood to prevail.
The last three winners of this showpiece have all suffered instant relegation from the top flight.
But even that fact wouldn’t have wiped the smiles from the faces of 40,000 Yorkshire folk last night.
FACTS, STATS, GOALS AND LOLS
- A minute’s silence before kick-off was impeccably observed and there was applause in the 22nd minute at Wembley to remember the victims of the Manchester terror attack.
- Huddersfield started brightly, and Michael Hefele should have scored after five minutes when Aaron Mooy swung in a free kick and the unmarked German defender somehow headed wide from five yards out.
- Latest possible contender for miss of the season: Elias Kachunga forced his way down the right and squared for Izzy Brown who missed an open goal from a yard out. Surely Izzier to score than miss.
- Manchester United fans knew all about the Dutch philosophy under Louis Van Gaal: lots of possession but going nowhere. That was Reading in the first half.
- Better from Swift at the start of the second half. He combined with George Evans and timed his run well to burst into the box, but his shot was straight at keeper Danny Ward.
- £200million or £20 at stake, there weren't any nerves shown by any of the players; it was simply a case of some real poor quality on show in the most lucrative game in world football.
- Reading pushed for the winner with Chris Gunther raiding down the right but Hefele was there with superb block just before Yann Kermogant could pounce.
- Referee Neil Swarbrick nearly had his Yorkshire pass revoked when he failed blow when Van La Parra was fouled. Gareth McCleary found Royals skipper Chris Gunther whose poor header sailed over the bar.
- The first period of extra time was as depressing as the Tiger Woods mugshot doing the rounds on social media.
- Nakhi Wells should have won it in the second period when sub Kasey Palmer found him in the box. A great turn and control, but the striker screwed a tame shot wide.
SunSport Player Ratings
Huddersfield: Ward 7, Smith 6 (Cranie 6), Hefele 6, Schindler 7, Lowe 7, Hogg 7, Mooy 7, Kachunga 6 (Quaner 6), Brown 5 (Palmer 6), Parra 5, Wells 5
Reading: Al Habsi 7, Moore 5, Ilori 7, Berg 5 (Obita 5), Gunter 7, Williams 7, Evans 7, Blackett 6, Grabban 6 (McCleary 6), Kermorgant 5, Swift 6 (Kelly 7)