Sometimes there are managers and clubs that were meant to be together, and that was certainly the case for David Wagner and Huddersfield.
The German took over at Huddersfield in 2015 and within two years had managed to get the Terriers promoted to the Premier League.
He then went one step further with the club, keeping them in the top flight against the odds until leaving midway through last season when the team had fallen to the bottom of the table.
Still, his time in Huddersfield is widely considered a success, and he says their strong relationship was because of the clubs roots.
“Huddersfield is a club that is very traditional, very rooted in the region, very emotional, very close,” he told SID, relayed by Westfälischer Anzeiger.
“That’s where I found myself, and that’s where I feel the same emotion, the openness that people have in Yorkshire.
“I think I fit into a region or a club where emotion and closeness are lived.”
Aside from a difference in culture and living and working in a different country, he also found himself doing more than he seems to have anticipated.
Unlike in Europe, where the coach deals with the team and little else, he discovered he was in charge of a lot more at Huddersfield, something he wasn’t comfortable with.
“You are entrusted with management tasks, squad planning, scouting, junior academy.
“I learned a great deal, and I know exactly how Jochen Schneider or Michael Reschke work, how they are developing ideas.
“I find the collaboration approach in Germany a more pleasant way of working because responsibility is shared more.”
Another factor Wagner had to learn to deal with was the increased publicity being a Premier League manager brought him.
England’s top-flight is one of the most-watched around the world, with the managers and players, regardless of the clubs, becoming global stars as a result.
That’s something the former Huddersfield boss experienced personally when on holiday with his wife in the Maldives.
“When I flew to the Maldives with my wife after the end in Huddersfield, the customs officer said: Hello, Mr Wagner, it’s great that you’re going on holiday with us,” he added.
“The pilot in the seaplane also greeted me by name – in the farthest corner of the world there was a small Premier League light.
“For the first time, I really felt what this league is all about for marketing and impact worldwide. It also generates huge revenues, all that money not only buys you players but know-how too.”
