Huddersfield hope history repeats itself in Championship playoff final

It is five years since Huddersfield Town’s last visit to Wembley, for a Championship playoff final shrink-wrapped in nerves that ended with a penalty shootout victory. After the victory the then captain and match-winner, Christopher Schindler, held court in the tunnel and elaborated on the team bond built by David Wagner, whose no-limits motto was plastered on personalised wristbands given to each player, fit with their initials and squad number.

On Sunday another tightknit Huddersfield side, this one led by the methodical Carlos Corberán, stand one game from returning to the Premier League. “The togetherness has been one of the keys to the highly competitive level of the squad,” the Spanish head coach says.

Huddersfield’s players and staff spent last week on the Algarve accompanied by their families. Dean Hoyle, the chief executive and part-owner who was chairman when the club last won promotion, was keen to reward their efforts, regardless of whether they returned to Wembley, by mirroring a similar trip to Portugal before that triumph over Reading.

The only player who remains from that squad is the current captain, Jonathan Hogg, known as “the general” to his teammates, a moniker given to him by an avid supporter. “Because we got through [to the final] it ended up being a training camp,” says Huddersfield’s head of football operations, Leigh Bromby. “If we hadn’t, it would have been a holiday and a thank you to all of the staff, players and their families. It is probably unique in football.”

Huddersfield have made a mockery of the notion that financial clout is the only way to compete with clubs fattened by parachute payments. The starting XI for their playoff semi-final victory against Luton cost little more than