PHIL PARKINSON says he is far more concerned by the threat Town pose to his Charlton Athletic side than the hostile reception which awaits him at the Galpharm today.
The 42-year-old Lancastrian is set to be given a tough time by home fans, who haven’t forgotten his eleventh-hour U-turn on becoming manager three years ago.
Parkinson, then assistant to Alan Pardew at Charlton, elected to stay at The Valley, with Town going ahead with a press conference which featured an empty chair.
The former Colchester and Hull manager, who became Charlton chief after Pardew departed in November 2008, will be at the Galpharm for the first time since that controversy.
Asked about likely barracking during the big League I clash, Parkinson, whose side are fourth to Town’s seventh, said: “That is the furthest thing from my mind.
“Huddersfield are an open team and an attack-minded side. They’ve had a mixed bag of results of late but defensively we are going to have to be at our best against them because they’ve got two decent wide players and the young strikers have done well.
“We’ve got the utmost respect for Huddersfield and had a tremendous game at our place against them. I expect it to be no different this time around.
“When I came in the dressing room afterwards, I thought to myself ‘that was a decent game’. It was a real ding-dong battle right until the last minute and even though it was only 2-1, it was probably one of the most entertaining games the supporters have seen this season.”
Town boss Lee Clark, who sat alongside Parkinson at Elland Road as Millwall beat Leeds 2-0 last Monday, said: “The first game against Charlton was a great advert for this division, but with hindsight I felt we really should have got something out of it.
“Charlton’s current form is not my concern. My focus is on how we go about the job and that we keep up our attacking form and defend resolutely.”
