Skip to content

New Huddersfield boss to bring gegenpressing style to Yorkshire

Sascha Steinbach / Bongarts / Getty

Huddersfield Town's new head coach, David Wagner, is drawing on his roots in an effort to shake up the 19th-place Championship club.

The former Borussia Dortmund reserve-team coach and colleague of now-Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp officially succeeded Chris Powell at John Smith's Stadium on Monday, and would like to introduce Der BVB's famous gegenpressing style to West Yorkshire.

"We'd like to bring some German influence to English culture," Wagner said during his unveiling at the club's Canalside Sports Complex. "Everybody knows where we are from. We are from Dortmund and everybody knows what kind of football we play there and this is exactly what we would like to bring to Huddersfield."

The 44-year-old, who won the UEFA Cup as a player with Schalke, would not comment on whether he talked to Klopp before taking the job, preferring to discuss his project with the Terriers.

"I think it's not the day to speak about Liverpool. We'd like to speak about Huddersfield and our vision and our ideas and our plan," he said.

"So what I can say is, everybody knows I have a good relationship with Jurgen. He's a very good friend of mine. I wish him all the best for his work and I know that he wishes us all the best for our work here. We have a restart here at Huddersfield."

Wagner will oversee his first match at Sheffield Wednesday after the international break, and is hoping he can implement his "full-throttle" football as quickly as possible.

"I prefer passion in the game, I like speed. I like my teams to score goals."

Huddersfield's chief attacking threat currently consists of Bermudan Nahki Wells and ex-Manchester City youth teamers Emyr Huws and Harry Bunn.

Daily Newsletter

Get the latest trending sports news daily in your inbox