David Wagner spoke of his own future, his part in the training ground plans and Huddersfield Town’s need to put a win on the board against Crystal Palace when he spoke to the press ahead of the game.
The head coach – looking for a first three-point haul of the Premier League season – talked too about the importance of the supporters, not just at this vital home match but also in staying close to the club moving forward.
TV, radio and the written press were present at PPG Canalside and, here, Examiner Sports Editor Mel Booth takes you through everything Wagner had to say:
Psychologically, how important is it to get that first Premier League win of the season?
This is very important and we will try everything and invest everything to try and get it – it is important for every team to get their first win as soon as possible.
We now have another opportunity in front of our home crowd to make it happen, and this is our aim.
We know we have a difficult task in front of us because we are all aware of the quality Palace have – we know we have to be on our best, and this is what we would like to be.
With our supporters right behind us, I hope the gap between us and Palace can be turned around.
We will try everything to make it as uncomfortable as possible for Palace, even if we know and respect their quality.
What I hope for is a top-level performance and a very good result as well.
We are well prepared and the internationals have come back healthy from their duties.
There are two small injuries for Quaner and Bacuna and Diakhaby wasn’t training yesterday. He can train today, but everybody else is fit and healthy to try and get us over the line.
Does three points put you on track?
It is still early days. We should be focused only on performing at the highest level we can do.
We’ve done good steps in the last two games, so we again have to make sure we are very solid defensively and that we have good togetherness and very good harmony and that we create our opportunities in the offence – invidually and collectively with quality.
For this we have to avoid the areas Palace love to be and use the areas instead where we can cause them some problems.
This is what we have prepared for, and hopefully we can bring it on the grass.
Do you have to make special plans for Wilfried Zaha if he starts for Palace?
No. I am pretty sure he will play, like (James) Tomkins will play as well.
I think they were on the grass when we met them on the first day of the last season and we were successful.
They were on the grass too when we lost here at home, so this doesn’t change the fact they are both top-quality players and top-quality Premier League players and, for sure, Crystal Palace are better with them rather than without them.
We are prepare that they will play and, even with them, our aim is the same – we want to perform on our best and we like to try to get this first win.
How important is it for Town to have a Premier League training ground?
This is crucial. It is a big, big step in the club’s future - to be consistently a part of the top teams in England we really need it.
Unfortunately, now, it will take 18 to 24 months until everything is done, but I am very happy everything is agreed and that work can now start, because this will be massive for this football club for the future.
To still improve and progress we have a lot of improvements to make, for sure, and this is a major step for the future of the club.
How involved were you in the plans for redevelopment?
I was involved. I shared my ideas.
Because, more or less from the first day I arrived, I said we should have been better here at the football club.
It has taken us nearly three years that we are able to start the progress in terms of the facility.
I think from the football side we have taken the steps so the football club was able to invest in this very important area.
Now I am very happy we can take these steps. It takes time but, when it is ready, this will be a proper Premier League football club facility.
It will be somewhere you really can try to get quality into your football club and where you can educate and build quality, not only for the first team but for the Academy.
This will be massive for the future of the club in producing and developing young football players – and maybe more Academy players can develop through to the first team as well.
Is the plan dependent on retaining Premier League status?
No. Everything is now agreed.
It depended on our survival last season. This was what Dean said to me.
And as soon as we stayed up last season, it was clear the football club would create this facility.
This does not mean it depends on Premier League survival in the next years – this building, this facility will come whatever happens in the future.
Of course, maybe we can improve it even further if we stay in the Premier League for some further seasons so, even in the new facilities, I think there is space to improve if necessary and if possible.
But it is up to us.
Like in the past, it is very important that we from the football side do our work before we ask for something more.
This is how it was in the last years. The football club is paying back in the knowledge that it helps for the future.
What does Dean’s support for you say about your relationship and planning at the club?
Every manager likes to hear this, even if it isn’t new – he said this last season.
Everybody knows our relationship is based on trues and belief in each other.
We know, all together, we can make mistakes and can judge a situation wrongly, this is part of life.
It is good if it doesn’t happen too often and it is good if you know what to do after you have done something wrong.
This is how we have worked for the last three years.
He knows he can trust and believe me that I will be here at this football club whatever rewards there will be or where we are in the path.
I will never leave this football club during a season, I respect my contract, and this is based on both sides.
We all together know what to do.
That he (Dean) said this is maybe a little bit more important for everyone else rather than for me, because this will not change how desperate I am and how big my desire is to help this football club as well as I can to make some further steps.
This is even if though I know each further step in the future is more difficult and harder.
The steps maybe look smaller than the ones we have done before, but I know there are some further steps to go and I will be very happy if we can make them and very happy that I can be part of it.
Is it a shame the public won’t be part of the new training facility and will you lose contact with them?
This is one of the things we discussed, and I think we have found a very good solution.
On one side, we have to make sure we can produce and educate top professional football players to perform on the best level.
For this, we need better facilities, there is no doubt about it.
Of course, we are extra-ordinary with the connection we have here with the community and the public and we discussed how we are able to keep it, even if we have to keep it in another way.
I think we have found a good solution in that we will try to create another fan zone near to the stadium, where we will still be very close to the public.
This relationship does not change because of the facility.
If you feel it, and you have it as part of your identity and your character - this will always be the case.
It doesn’t depend on the facility and, as long as I am here, this football club will always be close to the public. We will always have their ear and we will always be tight with our public.
Do you expect to play differently against Palace than against Everton?
I think it’s very important that we can confirm what we have done in the last two games.
That means that we are very solid defensively, that we have exactly the same togetherness and concentration and that we have the same workrate.
On the other side, it’s important everyone feels the responsibility and shows it to create some opportunities as well.
The first part, in the last two games, we have done well – not perfect, but well.
And the second part, especially creating opportunities, more dangerous opportunities and putting more pressure on opponents, we have space to improve.
I have said this before. It is early days, but we know we have to do it better.
It is anything but perfect at the moment, but I think we have built something in the last two games performance-wise where we can progress.
We know that Palace lost their last three games and while we are aware of their situation, this is not something big in our heads.
Now it is up to us, along with our supporters.
They have to create an atmosphere the players can use to make the hard yards, to really go brave in every single battle and every single challenge on the pitch.
We have to create an atmosphere in the stands and on the pitch where everybody can see from our performance and the whole body language that we try everything and invest everthing.
Can the players you have been using create and take the chances you want?
I think we should all together be patient.
We have worked together for maybe five or six weeks. A few players came in very, very late and I think eight or nine players were away with their international teams.
We still need time to work together, to get a feeling together and to get a better harmony with each other.
But we are in a position and a status at the minute which I am absolutely fine with. Not perfect but something we can build on.
I am very happy with the players I have together and I am very happy with some individuals who really did some big, big steps.
If it is a case they are more mature now, or if they feel now more competition, but Phil Billing for example or Rajiv van La Parra – they are in good form.
They have shown that the competition which is in the building means they do some further steps in the right direction.
This is exactly what we wanted to have, but we know we can do better and we know we have to progress.
During the international break, did you have time off or do you never have time off?
We had some work to do, so we made our re-tests from the beginning of the pre-season, which were excellent.
So the fitness tests which we have done in the group were excellent – our fitness is at top, top, top level.
But, yes, I was able to spend a couple of days without football as well.
I spent some days in Cornwall - so I stayed with my wife and my dog in the south of England.
It was very nice, but it wasn’t England for me, it was a different place!
It was the first time I was able to spend some days in England apart from hotel, stadium, motorway.
This is where I was able to spend some days away from football.
How nice is it to have someone like Roy Hodgson praise your work?
It’s better than if he criticises me!
Roy is a living legend in English football and I can’t imagine how you can still be a manager at 71.
I am very happy for him that he is allowed to manage his football club at Crystal Palace – I understand this is something very special for him.
Last season, he turned a poor start into a very decent finish, very comfortable without any fear of relegation for the last four or five weeks.
This speaks for itself and it will be very nice to meet him again.
But it doesn’t change that I would really like to win against him.
What do you think you will be doing when you are 71?
For sure, I will not be manager of any football club on this planet.
That is what I can say for sure.
Hopefully I will be very healthy and my family will be very healthy, enjoying life and fresh air.
Maybe Cornwall, if the weather is nice!
I have no idea, but I won’t be managing a football club.
The last 60 West Ham team line-ups have been leaked early on Twitter. Have you ever had any issues?
If I can decide before if I can know who will play for the opposition, then I would prefer to know it, of course.
But I can’t imagine that will happen here, at this football club – because even I don’t know who will be playing for us tomorrow!
So how can they leak it, there is no chance!
