1973–74 Huddersfield Town A.F.C. season explained

Huddersfield Town's 1973–74 campaign was a season of new beginnings for Huddersfield Town as they experienced life in the 3rd Division for the first time. The season was not spectacular as Town finished in 10th place, behind fellow West Yorkshire club Halifax Town. At the end of the season, Ian Greaves resigned after 6 years as manager. The alarming slide down the Football League was temporarily halted, but the following season would see Town continue their perilous freefall to the basement of the Football League.

Review

Following Town's second relegation in 2 seasons, Town had reached a division not seen by any previous Town team in their history. Town would visit 13 grounds for the first time in league football, although 4 of them had hosted Town in cup matches before. Town's start to the season was pretty mediocre with Town drawing 6 of their opening 12 games, losing only 2 of them, but it was a far cry from 1st Division football they were playing just 2 seasons earlier. The previous season's top scorer, Alan Gowling, continued with his goalscoring form scoring 24 goals in the league campaign.

Town eventually finished the season in a disappointing 10th place with 47 points, 2 points behind local rivals Halifax Town. However, at the end of the season Ian Greaves resigned as manager of the side. He became Jimmy Armfield's assistant at Bolton Wanderers. The next season would see Town get even further down the league ladder, so even though Greaves had halted the slide, it was temporary, not permanent.

Results

Division Three

Date	Opponents	Home/ Away	Result F — A	Scorers	Attendance	Position
25 August 1973	Watford	A	1–1	Hoy	6,246	12th
1 September 1973	Cambridge United	H	2–1	Gowling, Hoy	5,559	8th
8 September 1973	Port Vale	A	2–4	Dolan, Gowling	5,003	12th
11 September 1973	Chesterfield	H	1–0	Fairclough	6,164	8th
15 September 1973	Aldershot	H	1–0	Gowling	5,849	7th
17 September 1973	Walsall	A	0–3		5,491	8th
22 September 1973	Wrexham	A	0–0		6,665	9th
29 September 1973	Bournemouth	H	1–1	Gowling (pen)	5,360	12th
6 October 1973	Rochdale	A	1–1	Arnold (og)	3,220	12th
9 October 1973	Walsall	H	2–2	S. Smith, Dolan	4,436	12th
13 October 1973	Plymouth Argyle	H	2–1	S. Smith, Summerill	4,927	8th
19 October 1973	Tranmere Rovers	A	1–1	Gowling (pen)	4,715	5th
24 October 1973	Chesterfield	A	2–0	Dolan, Gowling	6,589	6th
27 October 1973	Bristol Rovers	H	1–2	Dolan	9,532	9th
3 November 1973	Southend United	A	2–5	Gowling (2)	7,255	10th
10 November 1973	Brighton & Hove Albion	H	2–2	Dolan, Summerill	6,057	12th
13 November 1973	Shrewsbury Town	H	1–0	Summerill	4,154	6th
17 November 1973	Hereford United	A	1–0	Gowling	7,925	6th
1 December 1973	Southport	A	0–0		2,109	6th
8 December 1973	Oldham Athletic	H	2–1	Gowling (2)	8,074	5th
22 December 1973	Bournemouth	A	0–1		9,141	7th
26 December 1973	Halifax Town	H	4–0	Lawson, Dolan, Gowling (2)	11,514	6th
29 December 1973	Port Vale	H	3–0	Lawson (2), Gowling	7,702	6th
1 January 1974	Cambridge United	A	2–2	Chapman, Hoy	5,667	6th
12 January 1974	Aldershot	A	0–1		5,029	6th
19 January 1974	Watford	H	1–2	Gowling	6,301	6th
26 January 1974	Charlton Athletic	A	1–2	Lawson	5,391	7th
29 January 1974	Blackburn Rovers	H	1–0	Lawson	5,204	5th
2 February 1974	Grimsby Town	A	1–2	Gowling	7,188	6th
16 February 1974	Plymouth Argyle	A	1–1	Summerill	7,299	10th
23 February 1974	Rochdale	H	5–0	Lawson (2), Gowling (2), Summerill	5,679	7th
2 March 1974	Halifax Town	A	0–0		8,126	7th
8 March 1974	Bristol Rovers	A	1–2	Gowling	13,543	7th
16 March 1974	Tranmere Rovers	H	0–0		4,702	7th
20 March 1974	Grimsby Town	H	1–0	Gray	4,473	7th
23 March 1974	Brighton & Hove Albion	A	2–1	Gowling (2)	12,444	7th
27 March 1974	Blackburn Rovers	A	0–1		6,671	7th
30 March 1974	Southend United	H	0–1		4,453	7th
2 April 1974	Charlton Athletic	H	2–0	Gowling (2)	3,142	7th
6 April 1974	Shrewsbury Town	A	0–3		1,675	7th
12 April 1974	York City	A	1–2	Dolan	10,189	8th
13 April 1974	Hereford United	H	0–0		4,148	9th
16 April 1974	York City	H	0–1		7,737	11th
20 April 1974	Oldham Athletic	A	0–6		16,466	13th
24 April 1974	Wrexham	H	2–1	Dolan, Summerill	2,522	13th
27 April 1974	Southport	H	3–1	Summerill, Dolan, Gowling	3,320	9th

FA Cup

Date	Round	Opponents	Home/ Away	Result F — A	Scorers	Attendance
24 November 1973	Round 1	Wigan Athletic	H	2–0	Newton (2)	9,557
15 December 1973	Round 2	Chester	A	2–3	Saunders, Gowling	3,296

Football League Cup

Appearances and goals

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Name	Nation	Position	League Apps	League Goals	FA Cup Apps	FA Cup Goals	League Cup Apps	League Cup Goals	Total Apps	Total Goals
Les Chapman		MF	31 (2)	1	1	0	1	0	33 (2)	1
Dennis Clarke		DF	4	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
Terry Dolan		MF	43	8	2	0	1	0	46	8
John Dungworth		FW	1 (2)	0	0	0	0	0	1 (2)	0
Mick Fairclough		FW	3	1	0	0	0	0	3	1
Franny Firth		FW	1 (1)	0	0	0	0	0	1 (1)	0
Martin Fowler		MF	1 (1)	0	0	0	0	0	1 (1)	0
Paul Garner		DF	43	0	2	0	1	0	46	0
Alan Gowling		FW	45	24	2	1	1	0	48	25
Terry Gray		FW	9 (4)	1	2	0	0	0	11 (4)	1
Peter Hart		MF	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Bobby Hoy		MF	26 (1)	3	2	0	1	0	29 (1)	3
Geoff Hutt		DF	26	0	2	0	0	0	28	0
Dick Krzywicki		MF	2 (1)	0	0	0	0	0	2 (1)	0
Jimmy Lawson		MF	31 (1)	7	0	0	0 (1)	0	31 (2)	7
Dave Lyon		DF	2 (1)	0	0	0	0	0	2 (1)	0
Brian Marshall		DF	24 (2)	0	0	0	0	0	24 (2)	0
Grahame McGifford		DF	16	0	0	0	1	0	17	0
Bob Mountain		MF	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Bob Newton		FW	4	0	1	2	0	0	5	2
Jimmy Nicholson		MF	3 (1)	0	0	0	0	0	3 (1)	0
Terry Poole		GK	41	0	2	0	1	0	44	0
Graham Pugh		MF	28	0	2	0	0	0	30	0
John Saunders		DF	43	0	2	1	1	0	46	1
Dave Smith		MF	1 (1)	0	0	0	1	0	2 (1)	0
Paul Smith		MF	1	0	0 (1)	0	0	0	1 (1)	0
Steve Smith		MF	41	3	1	0	1	0	43	3
Phil Summerill		FW	29 (1)	7	1	0	1	0	31 (1)	7
Dick Taylor		GK	5	0	0	0	0	0	5	0