Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. The club competes in EFL League One, the third tier of English football.
Huddersfield Town were founded on 15 August 1908. They competed in the North Eastern League and Midland League, before gaining admittance to the Football League in 1910. They were promoted out of the Second Division in 1919–20 and went on to win the FA Cup in 1922, having been beaten finalists in 1920. Huddersfield were crowned league champions in three successive seasons: 1923–24, 1924–25 and 1925–26, the first two under the management of Herbert Chapman, the hat-trick completed under Cecil Potter. They also finished 2nd in the following two seasons. They played on the losing side in three more FA Cup finals: 1928, 1930 and 1938. They were relegated from the First Division after 32 years in 1952, though secured an immediate promotion the following season. Relegated again in 1956, they won the Second Division title at the end of the 1969–70 season, though were relegated three times in four years by 1975.
The club was founded in 1908. The founders bought a site on Leeds Road for £500, and joined the North Eastern League. The following season they joined the Midland Football League in order to reduce travelling costs. In an effort to gain entry into the Football League, the club invited Scottish architect Archibald Leitch to reconstruct Leeds Road. A 4,000-seat stand was to be constructed, and terracing was also planned, to provide an overall capacity of 34,000. After the plans went through, Huddersfield directors successfully applied to become members of the Football League in 1910, and development of Leeds Road began immediately. However, the development costs were too high, and attendances sunk below 7,000. Huddersfield went into liquidation in 1912, after which a new limited company was formed to take over the club's assets.
Huddersfield Town were reportedly £25,000 in debt in 1919, and attendances fell to around 3,000. Chairman John Hilton Crowther planned to merge Town with newly formed Leeds United and to relocate to Leeds. The reports galvanised supporters to start fundraising to stave off the move. Shares of £1 had been released, converting the club to a public ownership. After a month of acquiring funds and negotiations, the club stayed in Huddersfield. The team then reached the 1920 FA Cup final and won promotion to First Division for the first time.
During their first season in the top flight, former Leeds City manager Herbert Chapman was brought in (after Huddersfield helped him overturn his ban) as the new assistant to Ambrose Langley. Chapman replaced Langley in March 1921, and led the team to a 17th-place finish. In the off-season of 1921, playmaker Clem Stephenson and George Brown were acquired; Brown would later become Huddersfield's all-time top goal scorer. Chapman's tactics were based upon the principles of a strong defence and a fast, counter-attacking response, with the focus on quick, short passing and mazy runs from his wingers. He is regarded as the first manager to successfully employ the counter-attack. Other progressive ideas included a disciplined fitness regime for the players, and the practice of reserve and youth teams playing the same style as the senior team. He employed a wide-ranging scouting network to find the right players for his tactical system.
The team won their first major honour, the FA Cup, after Preston North End were beaten 1–0 in the 1922 FA Cup final. Huddersfield also won the 1922 Charity Shield, defeating Liverpool 1–0. Town finished in third place in 1922–23, before winning their first-ever First Division championship in 1923–24. The team fought off Cardiff City, although it was by the narrowest of margins. They both finished on 57 points, but Huddersfield won it by a difference of 0.024 on goal average. Huddersfield defeated Nottingham Forest 3–0 in the final match, while Cardiff only drew at Birmingham City, also missing a penalty.
