Huddersfield Town A.F.C. Reserves and Academy

Under 21s

The club first entered a reserve team into a competition in the 1910–11 season, taking the first team's place in the Midland Football League upon their election to the Football League. They later played one season in the Yorkshire Combination, before joining the Central League in 1913–14, a competition they have won four times.

History

Reserve team years

The Huddersfield Town reserves competed in The Central League Division One East until the 2009–10 season when Huddersfield Town manager Lee Clark chose not to enter a reserve team in the Central League during the 2010-11 season, instead planning a series of high-quality friendlies. Clark stated that "the idea of reserve team football is to bridge the gap between youth teams and first team football" and that "[we] have faced a lot of very young sides in the reserve league this season, and that will not provide our own young professionals with the test they need".

Whilst playing at reserve league level, the reserves split their home games between A.F.C. Emley's Welfare Ground and the Galpharm Stadium.

First team coach Paul Stephenson was the last serving reserve team manager.

Development squad (2009–2012)

Lee Clark saw through his idea to discontinue the reserve team and subsequently created the club's development squad, to be managed by development coach Steve Watson. Following a behind-closed-doors game at Doncaster Rovers, Watson described the team's games as "working very well" "from both perspectives – fitness for our first team squad members and as a way of integrating the younger players into a higher level of football."

When Lee Clark left as manager of the first team on 15 February 2012, his coaching staff (including Watson) also left the club. On 12 April 2012 the club appointed former Manchester City Elite Development Squad leader and Rochdale first team manager Steve Eyre as the club's senior professional development Coach.{{cite web |access-date=2012-04-12 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120414032652/http://www.htafc.com/page/NewsDetail/0%2C%2C10312~2732407%2C00.html |archive-date=2012-04-14

Most fixtures have so far been played at the club's training ground, Canalside, but occasionally the Galpharm Stadium has been used to host Development Squad games that are open to the public.

Professional Development League (2012–2020)

From the 2012–13 season, Huddersfield's development squad will compete in the newly formed Under-21 Professional Development League in the League 2 North Division. The league was set up as part of the wide-reaching Elite Player Performance Plan, and Town will be one of 12 clubs in the Category 2 Northern section along with Crewe Alexandra, Barnsley, Birmingham City, Coventry City, Derby County, Leeds United, Leicester City, Nottingham Forest, Sheffield United, Sheffield Wednesday and Wigan Athletic. The fixtures are set up to mirror those in the FA Premier Academy League for Under 18s.

In the 2019–20 season, a Huddersfield team entered a small league (under-21 plus three overage) along with Brentford and four Scottish clubs.

B Team (2020–2025)

In 2020 the club launched its B Team, effectively replacing the under-21 and under-23 age-level teams, and re-entered the Central League whilst continuing to take part in the Premier League Cup competition.

Under 21s (2025–)

Ahead of the 2025–26 season, the club announced their intention to rename the B Team to the Under 21s as part of the Academy upgrade to Category Two status, providing consistency across all Academy sides and mirroring the naming formats of other academy structures.

Current squad

Out on loan

Honours

• The Central League Champions: 4
  • 1914–15, 1924–25, 1925–26, 1930–31
• U21 Professional Development League 2 North, 1st Place:
  • 2013–14

Under 18s

The role of the Huddersfield Town Academy is to develop players and their abilities to their full potential for the club's first team. The academy has produced a number of players, including former England under-21 players Andy Booth and Jon Stead, former Irish Under 21 internationals Michael Collins and James Berrett as well as Nathan Clarke, who made 300 appearances for the first team. The current Academy Manager is former academy graduate Jon Worthington, with the under-18 team coached by Oliver Jeffries.

History

Future

After the arrival of chairman Dean Hoyle in the summer of 2009, there was an overall development in every aspect of Huddersfield Town, including the academy. The main development taking place with regards to the academy is the current redevelopment of the club's new training complex, Canalside. The project will conclude with the academy players training alongside their first-team counterparts for the first time at a high quality, purpose-built facility.

The 2024-25 season saw the return of the academy to Category Three status, seeing the reinstation of teams below the under-19 level.

Current squad

• U18 Professional Development League 2 Champions:
  • 2013–14

Current academy staff

Recent academy graduates

Academy graduates who still play for Huddersfield, including those that are currently out on loan to other clubs, are highlighted in green.

Appearances and goals are those in competitive fixtures for Huddersfield Town.

Information in the above table is correct as of 5 May 2022

References

References

1. "Academy Upgraded to Category Two Status".
2. "Football Club History Database - Huddersfield Town reserves".
3. (2010-05-31). "Reserves withdraw from Totesport.com League". htafc.com.
4. (2011-09-06). "Development Game Played In Donny". htafc.com.
5. (2012-02-15). "Lee Clark - A Club Statement". htafc.com.
6. (2011-08-31). "Open Development Game Today". htafc.com.
7. (14 August 2012). "Huddersfield Town keen to play new Under 21 League games at the John Smith's Stadium".
8. [https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/celtic-rangers-join-new-cross-20076813.amp Celtic and Rangers join new cross-border reserve competition along with Aberdeen and Hibs], Daily Record, 16 September 2019
9. (14 December 2022). "Huddersfield Town B team boss spells out club's long-term youth strategy".
10. (7 December 2025). "Academy: B team revert to U21s within expanded structure".
11. "B Team - Huddersfield Town FC". Huddersfield Town A.F.C..
12. "HTFC Academy – Our Ethos". htafcacademy.com.
13. "HTFC Academy – history".
14. "New Hires Complete Town Academy Coaching Structure". Huddersfield Town A.F.C..
15. "Under 18s – Huddersfield Town FC". Huddersfield Town A.F.C..