For fans, the Christmas football fixture list is as traditional as the Christmas pud itself - we’re served up a festive feast, with fixtures stuffed into the calendar like sage and onion into the turkey’s nether regions.
On the other, it is a matter of practicality - when else would the games be played? But fans adore the tradition with a Boxing Day spent at the footie and a second fixture to bring in the New Year. Perfect.
Managers mutter about the strain on their squad with players grumbling about being torn away from families gathered for what should be an annual bout of gift-giving.
Christmas spent playing football is a strange proposition for Town’s foreign summer acquisitions and is only Head Coach David Wagner’s second taste of festive football, given the recent form I’m sure both are glad to be playing football matches.
This period has a reputation for goals, with fans expecting high-scoring games. The games themselves also feel that bit more raw.
David Wagner will no doubt continue to get the best out of his squad by freely rotating his players, confident that any team selected will be more than capable of succeeding.
With his workaholic approach to the job and so much emphasis placed on recovery, it is a guarantee Town's boss will have already have made plans for the next few weeks, ensuring the Terriers will be as fresh as physically possible.
As I write this before Christmas, Town enter the festivities in good cheer having won three on the bounce and unbeaten in four. On Boxing Day, Town welcome a struggling Nottingham Forest and will certainly be looking to keep up their recent momentum and capitalise on the visitor’s poor form, cementing their place in the play-offs leading into the New Year.
Games against Blackburn Rovers on Saturday December 31 (meaning Town have played Rovers twice in December) and Wigan Athletic on Monday January 2 have Town fans; myself included looking at this period hoping for a good haul of points.
It seems as though the recent dip is a now a thing of the past, and with rumours of Wolfsburg firmly put to bed by both Wagner and Dean Hoyle. Fans will be spending the festive period less concerned about presents under the tree or pigs in blankets, but on supporting their team and helping put points on the board, ready to push on into 2017.
Although this will be published after Christmas, I wanted to take this opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Let’s make it one to remember. Ooh to be a…
Born and raised in Ossett into a family of Huddersfield Town fans, 27-year-old Matt Beaumont is a season card holder in the Britannia Rescue Stand.
An account manager at an advertising agency based in Wakefield, Matt's spare time is also taken up writing the HTAFC fan blog Give Us An H.
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