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As he entered the room before all the journalists present, Huddersfield Town Chairman Kevin Nagle was all smiles and thumbs up to the front row, getting himself ready to introduce the new bench boss.
Nagle : Today marks a new page of the Huddersfield Town story. It took a bit of convincing but not too much, we feel we’ve found someone fitting to stand behind our lads on the pitch. Please allow me to introduce our new manager, Guillaume Rousseau !
The new manager makes his way to his seat under the clicks and flashes of the cameras, while the reporters begin asking questions from all sides. Rousseau gets to the table and poses for the journalists in a firm handshake with the chairman.
KN : Now, now, you’ll all get your time to ask questions, but let him introduce himself first, right ?
Guillaume Rousseau : As Mr. Nagle just said, here I am before you, just a regular bloke who’s been given a great opportunity. I’m not as well-versed in football as most of you, coming from a place where the most-played sport is ice hockey, but I do have some experience managing football clubs in other leagues. I try to be as straightforward as possible, that has always served me well up to now and I believe it still will in the future. Please, let’s get on with your questions !
Reporter1 : With Huddersfield playing in the lower tier of the FFO FA this coming season, what made you decide that this job was the right one for you ?
GR : I actually didn’t want to be thrust into a spot with high pressure to win. Not to say that this is an easy place to be in, but I feel the club here at Huddersfield is more suited to my kind of approach; I try to get in a place where I feel the organization has faith in me, the players have a great relationship with their manager, and the fans know that we have a plan going. All of these I found at Huddersfield.
Reporter2 : You talk about having a plan going, can you go into more detail about it ?
GR : I’ve had some meetings with the organization, the staff, and the players already, and the bases are nice already, we have a good group of players and some of the younger lads in the academy will likely make the first team given some time and good development. Our first order of business will be to bring some stability, so the players and fans alike will know where we are going for the foreseeable future. There is a good vibe already going on about the club, and if we start going towards one common goal, I think we can achieve really good things here.
Reporter3 : There is quite a buzz going on currently, with many managers leaving good clubs for better ones and others manifesting their interest to leave their current job for another, what are your feelings about that situation ?
GR : Well, I can’t blame anyone for wanting a better job than what they have at the moment, now can I ? That being said, I can’t be expected to know all the reasoning behind each and every possible move from one club to another, but I think that Huddersfield is a great opportunity for myself to bring my trade to the game, and going up against some great managers is going to be a challenge that I can’t really turn my back on. Will there be an even better opportunity down the line ? I’d say probably, it always depends on the circumstances, sometimes a dream job happens to be available at exactly the right timing, and you can’t blame anyone for wanting it, but as I’ve been doing at every other place I’ve been, I won’t be leaving one job just for the sake of leaving, I’m the kind of person that tries to do it right by the people who gave me an opportunity.
Reporter2 : What are your objectives here at Huddersfield ?
GR : Well, first of all, we’ll try to bring the defense a bit up to speed. We have a young defensive core, so adding a piece or two to it will be a nice thing. Then it will be a matter of getting some younger midfielders and make our middle third a bit better. Hogg and Seguin are good players, but having them as mentors for a younger midfield corps would be even better for the club. After that it’ll be to better our results of last season. We barely missed out on the playoffs last time, so the main objective is firstly going to be a part of the promotion playoffs. If we achieve that, I’ll consider it a job well done, and we’ll be able to set bigger and better goals.
Reporter3 : What about the Cup fixtures your side will be playing in, is there a result you’re aiming for ?
GR : At the moment, we’ll concentrate on the league. Cup matches will be a place to experiment mostly, and good results there will be treated as a bonus. Obviously, there’s a financial aspect to these matches, so I won’t take these lightly, but sometimes those fixtures are looking so lopsided at first that trying things out for the sake of trying might make for some positively surprising results.
KN : Well, that’s all for today people, but you’ll be able to ask any other questions you want through our staff and I’m sure Guillaume will happily answer them whenever possible. I’d like to thank each and every one of you, and we’ll be seeing you shortly !
Nagle : Today marks a new page of the Huddersfield Town story. It took a bit of convincing but not too much, we feel we’ve found someone fitting to stand behind our lads on the pitch. Please allow me to introduce our new manager, Guillaume Rousseau !
The new manager makes his way to his seat under the clicks and flashes of the cameras, while the reporters begin asking questions from all sides. Rousseau gets to the table and poses for the journalists in a firm handshake with the chairman.
KN : Now, now, you’ll all get your time to ask questions, but let him introduce himself first, right ?
Guillaume Rousseau : As Mr. Nagle just said, here I am before you, just a regular bloke who’s been given a great opportunity. I’m not as well-versed in football as most of you, coming from a place where the most-played sport is ice hockey, but I do have some experience managing football clubs in other leagues. I try to be as straightforward as possible, that has always served me well up to now and I believe it still will in the future. Please, let’s get on with your questions !
Reporter1 : With Huddersfield playing in the lower tier of the FFO FA this coming season, what made you decide that this job was the right one for you ?
GR : I actually didn’t want to be thrust into a spot with high pressure to win. Not to say that this is an easy place to be in, but I feel the club here at Huddersfield is more suited to my kind of approach; I try to get in a place where I feel the organization has faith in me, the players have a great relationship with their manager, and the fans know that we have a plan going. All of these I found at Huddersfield.
Reporter2 : You talk about having a plan going, can you go into more detail about it ?
GR : I’ve had some meetings with the organization, the staff, and the players already, and the bases are nice already, we have a good group of players and some of the younger lads in the academy will likely make the first team given some time and good development. Our first order of business will be to bring some stability, so the players and fans alike will know where we are going for the foreseeable future. There is a good vibe already going on about the club, and if we start going towards one common goal, I think we can achieve really good things here.
Reporter3 : There is quite a buzz going on currently, with many managers leaving good clubs for better ones and others manifesting their interest to leave their current job for another, what are your feelings about that situation ?
GR : Well, I can’t blame anyone for wanting a better job than what they have at the moment, now can I ? That being said, I can’t be expected to know all the reasoning behind each and every possible move from one club to another, but I think that Huddersfield is a great opportunity for myself to bring my trade to the game, and going up against some great managers is going to be a challenge that I can’t really turn my back on. Will there be an even better opportunity down the line ? I’d say probably, it always depends on the circumstances, sometimes a dream job happens to be available at exactly the right timing, and you can’t blame anyone for wanting it, but as I’ve been doing at every other place I’ve been, I won’t be leaving one job just for the sake of leaving, I’m the kind of person that tries to do it right by the people who gave me an opportunity.
Reporter2 : What are your objectives here at Huddersfield ?
GR : Well, first of all, we’ll try to bring the defense a bit up to speed. We have a young defensive core, so adding a piece or two to it will be a nice thing. Then it will be a matter of getting some younger midfielders and make our middle third a bit better. Hogg and Seguin are good players, but having them as mentors for a younger midfield corps would be even better for the club. After that it’ll be to better our results of last season. We barely missed out on the playoffs last time, so the main objective is firstly going to be a part of the promotion playoffs. If we achieve that, I’ll consider it a job well done, and we’ll be able to set bigger and better goals.
Reporter3 : What about the Cup fixtures your side will be playing in, is there a result you’re aiming for ?
GR : At the moment, we’ll concentrate on the league. Cup matches will be a place to experiment mostly, and good results there will be treated as a bonus. Obviously, there’s a financial aspect to these matches, so I won’t take these lightly, but sometimes those fixtures are looking so lopsided at first that trying things out for the sake of trying might make for some positively surprising results.
KN : Well, that’s all for today people, but you’ll be able to ask any other questions you want through our staff and I’m sure Guillaume will happily answer them whenever possible. I’d like to thank each and every one of you, and we’ll be seeing you shortly !