Huddersfield Town AFC (HTAFC)

HTAFC was officially registered as a limited company on August 15, 1908 and began their first season with a friendly game against Bradford on September 2nd of the same year. A crowd of around 1000 saw Town beat Bradford by 2 goals to 1. Three days later they played their first ever competitive game against South Shields Adelaide, at South Shields. Wearing pink shirts Town were beaten by 2 goals to 0. So started the illustrious history of Huddersfield Town! 90 years down the line Town have won the English First Division (now the Premiership) 3 times in a row and have played in 5 FA Cup finals, winning just once against Preston at Chelsea's Stamford Bridge ground.

The highest ever attendance at a home match was 67,037 in a fixture against Arsenal in February 1932. This was at the old Leeds Road stadium which was replaced by the ultra-modern McAlpine Stadium in 1994. Such was the prestige of the team in the 1920's that they had a range of beers, a locomotive and a cargo ship named after them. Unfortunately the team has also plumbed the depths of mediocrity and, in the 1970's, were almost at the bottom of the fourth division of the Football League. As of this season they are playing in the English Football League's first division and have made a solid start which has seen them head the table at one point although recent form has seen them drop to tenth.

I personally have been a supporter of my home town team since I was about 8 although my memories of that time are rather limited. I can remember standing in the paddock at the foot of the main stand with my father when Town were in the old Second Division in the early to mid 1960's. My fanaticism really took off in the late 60's and what a time to be around "Town" for on April 14th 1970 Town were crowned champions of the division after winning their last match against Watford by three goals to one.
So Town were in the top division again and the next season was to prove to be an exciting one with several 40,000 plus crowds at Leeds Road (Leeds United and Manchester United in league matches and Stoke City in the FA Cup). I was at all of the home games plus travelled to several of the away game,. halcyon days indeed! But the bubble was about to burst as town spiralled down the leagues over the next few seasons. More of that at a later date.

Highest Attendance(Leeds Road): 67037 versus Arsenal, FA Cup Sixth Round (27/2/1932)
Best Gate Receipts: £155,149 versus Wimbledon, FA Cup Fifth Round (17/2/1996)
Best League Victory: 10 - 1 versus Blackpool, Division 2 (13/12/1930)
Worst League Defeat: 1 - 10 versus Manchester City, Division 2 (7/11/1987)
Most Goals Scored In A Season - 101 (1979/1980)
Least Goals Scored In A Season - 27 (1971/1972)
Best Cup Win: 11 - 0 versus Heckmondwike, FA Cup 4th Preliminary Round (18/9/1909)
Most Capped Player: 31 Jimmy Nicholson (Northern Ireland)
Most League Appearances: 521 W.H. Smith (1914 to 1934)
Most Consecutive League Appearances: 226 M. Brown (1978 to 1983)
Most League Goals: 142 G. Brown (1921 to 1929) & J. Glazzard (1946 to 1956)
Most Goals In A Season: 35 G. Brown (1925/1926)
Fastest Goal: 10 seconds by K. Willingham against Sunderland (14/12/1935)
Highest Transfer Fee Received: £2,700,000 from Sheffield Wed for Andy Booth (1996)
Highest Transfer Fee Paid: £1,200,000 to Bristol Rovers for Marcus Stewart (1996)

HUDDERSFIELD TOWN - A HISTORY