Terriers winner Mark Hudson shares Wagner play-off secrets

The achievement of getting Huddersfield to the Premier League wrote Wagner's name in folklore at that club and created legends of the players who helped make it possible. 

Hudson was at the end of his career, having played nearly 400 Championship games, and Wagner has been a massive influence on the experienced defender as he has moved into coaching after retirement, such was his impact during their time together.

He watched Wagner in close quarters and was part of the dressing room he led at Huddersfield. In an interview with the Pink Un, he has discussed how the German will tackle the challenge of the play-offs as Norwich's head coach.

"I learned so much from him coming into a new country, not speaking his main language. He brought a playing philosophy, broke it down to the very beginning of how we were going to get into that, and used analysis and clips of the elite to show how it would suit us.

"On that journey, he got to understand each individual," Hudson said. "They will have their way to do it and then give the trust to the players to manage themselves.

"There was a testing and trusting environment. He gives the players trust and belief. You don't see him bawling on the sidelines; he is very calm. He and his staff will do everything to make the players secure and comfortable when they step over the white line. It's not suddenly changing something at the end.

"They will stick to the process. The changes they make later in games will be planned and thought of - there will be no stone left unturned."

Huddersfield beat Sheffield Wednesday over two legs and then won a penalty shootout against Reading to book their place in the Premier League. 

Hudson recalls how Wagner successfully managed to ease the pressure on the occasion ahead of the play-off semi final by relying on his experienced group of players in the Huddersfield squad. 

Mark Hudson played a key part in Huddersfield's run to the Premier League. (Image: PA Images)

"We were all in it together, definitely the senior group. Me, Deano [Whitehead], Hoggy, and that is what will happen at Norwich," Hudson said. 

"There is a group of players who have played a lot of football across the Championship and Premier League and know what pressure it brings. You have to take it all away, and David is very good at that.

"The constant message was on what we can do, how we can play, sticking to what we do in training and focusing on that. It will be a good, intense week where they focus on where they can hurt Leeds. I know the unit work that goes on. That is how a good group works."

Hudson identifies Wagner's ability to cultivate togetherness as his key attribute. That is something he worked hard to build over the course of the campaign at the John Smith's Stadium. 

He has done something similar at Norwich, achieving buy-in from a group of players who have stuck with him and his methods even amid adversity at Carrow Road this term. 

"It doesn't come from just the end of the season, it comes from a whole season," Hudson said.

"Even the pre-season is important for bonding the group, and we did a lot of out-there things at Huddersfield. We had a good group who could rely on each other.

"He came in and gave Huddersfield an identity to start with. We were a club that didn't have one, we weren't really united with the fans, and there was a lot of expectation that we needed to be better.

"He connected the playing style, the players, the fans and every part of the club. He aligned it. We did lots of little things throughout that season, had lots of meetings, and went to a pre-season camp in Sweden, where we disappeared for four days with boats and in tents, and we grew as a group.

"He is very good at understanding players individually, who needs whom to support them, and that it's not all about the staff support—the dressing room has to manage itself. He's very good at understanding how to connect groups."

Hudson identifies a key moment after their semi-final triumph against Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough on penalties that encapsulates his ability to bind a group together to create unity. 

David Wagner led Huddersfield through two penalty shootout successes. (Image: PA Images)

"We went away after the semi-final as a group because there is a wait until the final. We took our partners and children and staff members were the same. We were united and all on the same page.

"To have that and then go up, it was almost like it was the whole club achieving it. It was a magical moment," Hudson recalls.

"You go to two penalty shootouts and went behind in the play-offs, but we had the confidence to stay calm.

"Anyone who comes through the play-offs has to be together. You will have had moments where everything wasn't rosy and you have to come through a battle. Those experiences will be in the bank. I feel confident for them." 

Wagner will not be the only key player over the next few weeks; his backroom team will help prepare, motivate, and guide the City squad through some difficult challenges that lay ahead. 

Hudson has explained the role that assistant head coach Christoph Buhler and coaches Narcis Pelach and Andrew Hughes will play. 

"I go back to David, Christoph, Hughesy and Clem - they've all worked together before, and they've added Narcis, who is a really good coach, but they don't really overhype.

"They've all got specific roles, but it's a staffing unit that has an open environment to have input," he said. "Christoph sits further back from the bench, Narcis is a very good coach and an excellent motivator, and they are all aligned.

Narcis Pelach and City's backroom team have a major role to play in the coming weeks. (Image: Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd)

"It's on David's shoulders to pick the team, but they work together. They all have their own units that they focus on and their own experiences and knowledge to input. It's an open environment.

"They will have six or seven players each to focus on and get time with instead of a manager having to see 25 players and constantly have those conversations. That will be huge over the next 10 or 12 days.

"They always take into account [the opposition's] threats will be. Christoph will work with the analysts; Narcis and Clem will all be working on all of Leeds' threats and how they can nullify them."