Look no further than chairman Dean Hoyle when handing out the bouquets for Huddersfield Town’s adventure in the Premier League.
That’s the message from Steve Kindon, a popular promotion-winning player with Town, who went on to become just as much a favourite as the club’s commercial manager.
Kindon, now 66 and working successfully as an after-dinner speaker, looked on with immense pride as Town clinched their place among the elite last May.
Having worked in both sides of football – playing and community – the former Burnley and Wolves frontman is ideally placed to judge the elements of such success.
And when asked how it feels for Town to be dining at the top table, Kindon wore a broad smile.
“I don’t want to be demeaning of Huddersfield Town in any way – but it’s unbelievable!” he beamed.
“I was absolutely thrilled when Town went up. No exaggeration, absolutely thrilled.
“I put 90% of the success down to the chairman, Dean Hoyle.
“The chairman has been absolutely phenomenal for this club.
“The head coach (David Wagner) has a big say, of course he does, but who brought in the head coach and who funds the players?
“The chairman, and he has been utterly fantastic for Huddersfield Town.”
Kindon is hoping all his old clubs will be in the Premier League next season, with Wolves currently powering along at the top in the Championship.
The focus for Town will be improving and making an impact in the second half of the campaign – and Kindon knows all about that as well.
Two hours after a 5-1 home win over Rochdale on December 21, 1979, Kindon signed for Town in a £50,000 deal from Burnley – the biggest fee paid out by manager Mick Buxton at the time.
He made his debut as a substitute in a 2-1 defeat at Halifax on Boxing Day that year – and then lost only once more that season (at Portsmouth) as Town powered to the Fourth Division title on the back of some magnificent performances and a record 101 league goals.
So why did he come to Town?
“I came for two reasons,” he answered.
“Firstly Mick Buxton, who I knew when I was a young lad at Burnley, and secondly they offered me a good pay rise when I was coming towards the end of my career!
“I had turned them down previously and I’d had offers from elsewhere, but I thought Town would be a good move for me, and that’s how it was.”
Kindon’s all-action, rampaging style made him an instant hit with the fans, so was that him or down to instructions from the manager about how he was to play?
“That was just me,” he said. “Mick Buxton knew my strengths, my weaknesses and my personality and he knew that’s what I would bring to the team.
“I remember the season after we won promotion in 1979/80, a young lad broke into the team called Mark Lillis, who was a big strong lad like me and used to rampage around like me.
“People thought we were the same but, while we are good friends, we had different personalities.
“I remember one match where Mark had had a particularly good first half and, during half-time, he got a right rollicking from Mick – a real roasting.
“It wasn’t until we were going down the tunnel for the second half that I noticed Mark rolling up his sleeves and saying ‘I’ll show him’ and I just chuckled to myself and thought ‘well done boss’.
“He thought the kid might have rested on his laurels after such a good first half and knew how to make sure that didn’t happen.
“That same season we played at Exeter and before the game, privately, Mick put his arm around me and told me I was playing ever so well.
“But he said I was being selfless, passing the ball, and he wanted me to be selfish.
“He simply said ‘go out and score a goal for me’, and I ended up with a hat trick!
“So one approach for the young kid, Mark Lillis, and a different approach for me. Mick understood we were different people.”
Kindon has been enjoying some reunions with his championship-winning teammates from 79/80, as featured in the book The 101 Club, written by fan and journalist Rob Stewart.
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“I played for three clubs and if I’m speaking near Wolverhampton, or Burnley or Huddersfield people always ask ‘do you stay in touch with your old teammates’ and I say no,” he commented.
“When they ask why, I tell them it’s because they were teammates, they weren’t always my pals.
“While people are teammates you don’t dislike them, but you might not be quite their cup of tea and they might not be yours - so you wouldn’t necessarily want to share a pint with them.
“I probably stay in touch with eight or nine lads at Wolves and the same at Burnley, and while I don’t keep in touch with everybody here, there wasn’t anyone at Huddersfield I didn’t like.
“They were all my pals and, even when we get together nowadays, we are all mates.”
