FORMER Huddersfield Town player Kieran O’Regan says Town already have a lot of quality in the squad as they begin planning for life in the Championship.

The respected pundit and ex-Republic of Ireland midfielder (pictured) – who played 199 games for the Leeds Road club – firmly believes Town are now back where they belong.

And he feels young stars such as Wembley heroes Alex Smithies, Jack Hunt, Calum Woods, Jordan Rhodes, Lee Novak and Danny Ward – plus others – can prosper at Championship level.

“Wembley was a great occasion and a great result for everyone associated with Huddersfield Town,” said O’Regan, who was part of BBC Radio Leeds’ commentary team along with Paul Ogden, new sports editor Gareth Jones and Adam Pope.

“We all felt the other side of it over at Old Trafford last year when everybody expected us to go up and the players and supporters ended up distraught.

“It’s great for them that it turned out so brilliantly this time, because no-one wanted to go through that again and no-one wanted to see Peter Clarke in floods of tears and struggling with his emotions.

“I see he’s described Saturday as the very top highlight of his career and that’s wonderful for Peter, who always wears his heart on his sleeve and gives it absolutely everything for the team.

“He’ll be ready for the Championship and I think we’ve got a good bunch of lads in the squad.

“They have got a lot of quality about them. I’m not saying we always see it on a weekly basis, but I’ll tell you what, they’ve got a lot of talent.”

While Smithies took the glory at Wembley with two saves in the shoot-out and the decisive kick before Steve Simonsen missed for Sheffield United, O’Regan believes Town owe a massive debt of thanks to 40-year-old keeper Ian Bennett.