Huddersfield Town hero makes 'expectations' claim ahead of Nottingham Forest play-off final

Former Huddersfield Town captain Tommy Smith says "expectations have changed" at the Yorkshire club ahead of Sunday's Championship play-off final.

Forest take on the Terriers at Wembley Stadium on Sunday (May 29) with a place in the Premier League up for grabs for the victors. Huddersfield Town were in the Premier League as recently as 2019 and have tasted play-off success at Wembley once before after beating Reading on penalties back in 2016/17.

Smith was part of the side that won promotion to the top-flight five years ago but has since become a free agent following his release by Stoke City. The now-30-year-old featured against his old side in a 2-1 win at the bet365 Stadium back in September and is not surprised at all to see his former employers within 90 minutes of a return to the Premier League.

Speaking on the Radio 5 Live podcast Football Daily 72+, he said: "To be fair to Huddersfield, the way they’ve gone about this season, the way they’ve played, you have to say they thoroughly deserve to be in the play-off mix.

"They’re a very well-drilled side, they’ve got a good manager, and yeah, they probably have surprised a lot of people based on last season's finish, but as I’ve just said they thoroughly deserve to be in the play-offs and they’ve got an unbelievable chance now to go back to the Premier League."

He added: "I think a lot of things have changed, notably the manager; a lot of players have changed; I would probably say expectations have changed. It’s definitely a different club to the one I was at. There’s probably two or three players who are there now [who were there] when I was there.

"So a lot of changes have gone on but I think it’s great to see that they’re still in and around it and they’ve got a