David Wagner has reminded fans following the international break how important they are to Huddersfield Town’s prospects this season.
Sell-out numbers are flocking to the John Smith’s Stadium to enjoy the club’s first top-flight campaign in over 40 years.
And as Town prepare to tackle Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium as the Premier League kicks back into action, demand for away tickets is enormous as Wagner and his squad bid to build on an encouraging first seven games which have yielded nine points.
“Our fan base are so important to us and it’s important they stay behind us for the whole season, not just the first seven games,” said Wagner.
“If we like to be successful and if we like to reach our targets then we have to have this support which we had in the beginning, in the first seven games, over the whole season.
“This is the only chance we have, and supporters have said to me I can trust and believe them to be there.”
A total of 96,014 people have watched the first four home league games against Newcastle United, Southampton, Leicester City and Tottenham Hotspur – meaning Town will crash through 100,000 for the season in their fifth home match against Manchester United next weekend.
The last two attendances against Leicester and Spurs have been identical – 24,169.
When Town went up in 1970, the first four attendances at Leeds Road in the old First Division took them just into six figures as 101,909 watched the matches against Blackpool, Southampton, Derby County and Tottenham Hotspur (5,895 more than this season but, of course, the capacity at Leeds Road was much higher than the John Smith’s).
Danish international Mathias ‘Zanka’ Jorgensen agrees the blue and white faithful have a valuable role to play.
“Our fans, of course, always hope for us to come away with points, but I think we have a very realistic fan base - and that’s one of our strengths,” he said when looking forward to the trip to south Wales.
“That’s one of the reasons they can go out there and they can deliver how they deliver – whether it’s away or at home – and really make it a special atmosphere for us.
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“They’re very realistic, but again they’re very optimistic as well.
“They are hopeful and that’s all that we can hope for - that we can ask them to always stand behind us, always encourage us and we will do all that we can to repay them and show that they really do matter to us.”
