A football fan from Texas who won a free trip to any Premier League game chose a Huddersfield Town match.
Phil Luetchford won two golden tickets, flights and accommodation in the Premier League USA sweepstakes with a simple retweet on Twitter.
The family man chose to take his wife Lauren to the match and buy an extra ticket for their two-year-old daughter Tinley.
Asked why he chose our team, the 30-year-old. who pays $60 a year to stream Premier League matches to his iPad, said: “I’ve been watching the Premier League for 15 years, but never had a team I was loyal to, just players I liked to follow, who were typically American.
“I watched the Championship play-off in the summer.
“I learned David Wagner’s a German American then they signed Danny Williams so I got a jersey with his name on it and started watching their matches.
“In the opening weekend, they played against Crystal Palace and the atmosphere in the crowd seemed amazing so I’ve been watching them all season and rooting for them.”
But despite the 0-0 result in the match against Swansea City and the rain, Phil says it didn’t dampen his spirits.
He said: “It was exciting and the fans were loud, really into it and passionate. I was waiting for that goal which never came.
"Bit of a let-down but still really fun and exciting to the last minute.”
The computer engineer said that he found out he was a winner in December. He said: “I found out at work while I was in a meeting.
“I couldn’t jump up with excitement, I had to wait until the meeting was over. Then I told my co-worker ‘I think I’ve just won a trip to England’."
Phil and his family flew nearly 5,000 miles from Dallas to London before getting a train to Huddersfield.
And as it’s their first visit to England, they decided to extend their stay to 10 days.
They’ll stay in Huddersfield for three days to sightsee before visiting Skipton.
Then they’ll go to Manchester for a Manchester United match before heading back down to London for a Fulham match and their flight home on March 19.
Phil’s friend from Texas Sean Steffen tweeted: “I love that the Premier League told my boy Phil he could go anywhere on their dime.“London, Manchester, Liverpool? Nah. Send me to Huddersfield.”
