2000–01 Huddersfield Town A.F.C. season explained

Huddersfield Town's 2000–01 campaign was their last competitive campaign in the second tier of English football, up until Town's return in the 2012–13 season. Huddersfield finished 22nd following a disastrous final day in which Town lost at home to Birmingham City, while their rivals Stockport County, Portsmouth & Crystal Palace all got their necessary results which sent Town down.

Review

The optimism that had surrounded the club just a year earlier had completely dissipated and manager Bruce's ability to turn the tide was seriously in doubt given the side's finish to the previous season. After some less than inspiring signings, among them Kevin Gallen, Huddersfield made a horrific start to the season, winning only one of their first 19 games, (a 3–2 win over Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough Stadium) which saw Steve Bruce lose his job in October after Town went to the bottom of the table following a 1–0 loss to Grimsby Town. Lou Macari, the former Stoke City, Birmingham City, West Ham United and Celtic manager, took over immediately, but results didn't improve. Then in December, a miracle occurred, the loan signing of Zimbabwean international Peter Ndlovu dramatically improved Town's fortunes. They won five out of seven games in December and drew the other two, which brought Macari the Manager of the Month award for December 2000 and helped push the Terriers out of the bottom three. Many thought that a repeat of "The Great Escape" three seasons ago was on the cards again.

However, Town's old manager Warnock (Crystal Palace) snapped Ndlovu up before a permanent deal could be agreed. Then a run of seven games without a win in January and February saw Town slide into trouble again, but Macari pulled a joker from the pack and signed the irreplaceable legend Andy Booth for £200,000 from Sheffield Wednesday. He scored on his debut in a 4–1 win against Portsmouth, but following defeats to promotion chasing Fulham and Blackburn Rovers, Town were in trouble again.

Their next game was against Queens Park Rangers. The Terriers won the game 2–1, which saw QPR relegated along with Tranmere Rovers, but then draws against Wimbledon and West Bromwich Albion saw Town in trouble on the final day. Town needed a win to guarantee 1st Division football, but a disputed goal for Crystal Palace combined with Town's 2–1 defeat by Birmingham City saw Town back down to Division 2.

Results

Division One

Date	Opponents	Home/ Away	Result F - A	Scorers	Attendance	Position
12 August 2000	Watford	H	1 - 2	Palmer [16 ([[Own goal|og]])]	13,018	17th
19 August 2000	Sheffield Wednesday	A	3 - 2	Smith [6, 39], Gallen [35]	22,704	10th
26 August 2000	Crystal Palace	H	1 - 2	Lucketti [25]	10,670	17th
28 August 2000	Stockport County	A	0 - 0		6,137	16th
9 September 2000	Bolton Wanderers	H	2 - 3	Smith [47], Dyson [76]	12,248	21st
12 September 2000	Wimbledon	H	0 - 2		7,592	23rd
16 September 2000	Gillingham	A	1 - 2	Gallen [26]	8,503	24th
23 September 2000	Burnley	H	0 - 1		14,016	24th
30 September 2000	Norwich City	A	1 - 1	Gallen [58]	14,499	22nd
6 October 2000	Barnsley	H	1 - 1	Smith [80]	13,556	22nd
14 October 2000	Grimsby Town	A	0 - 1		4,911	23rd
17 October 2000	Sheffield United	A	0 - 3		14,062	23rd
21 October 2000	Preston North End	H	0 - 0		13,161	23rd
24 October 2000	Crewe Alexandra	A	0 - 1		5,215	24th
28 October 2000	Blackburn Rovers	H	0 - 1		12,287	24th
4 November 2000	Fulham	A	0 - 3		13,108	24th
11 November 2000	West Bromwich Albion	H	0 - 2		11,801	24th
18 November 2000	Queens Park Rangers	A	1 - 1	Gallen [8]	11,543	24th
25 November 2000	Birmingham City	A	1 - 2	Armstrong [61]	22,120	24th
2 December 2000	Crewe Alexandra	H	3 - 1	Baldry [46], Smith [62], Gallen [68]	10,603	24th
9 December 2000	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	3 - 0	Ndlovu [49, 90], Facey [86]	11,506	24th
13 December 2000	Nottingham Forest	A	3 - 1	Ndlovu [57], Gallen [61, 65]	28,372	23rd
16 December 2000	Portsmouth	A	1 - 1	Dyson [40]	12,041	24th
23 December 2000	Watford	A	2 - 1	Ndlovu [29], Facey [60]	13,371	23rd
26 December 2000	Tranmere Rovers	H	3 - 0	Facey [44], Dyson [65], Gallen [71]	12,397	19th
30 December 2000	Sheffield Wednesday	H	0 - 0		18,931	19th
13 January 2001	Stockport County	H	0 - 0		10,988	19th
3 February 2001	Nottingham Forest	H	1 - 1	Facey [45]	13,838	21st
10 February 2001	Bolton Wanderers	A	2 - 2	Smith [6], Gallen [23]	14,866	21st
17 February 2001	Gillingham	H	2 - 3	Armstrong [16], Smith [45 (pen)]	10,576	23rd
24 February 2001	Burnley	A	0 - 1		16,191	23rd
27 February 2001	Tranmere Rovers	A	0 - 2		10,621	24th
3 March 2001	Norwich City	H	2 - 0	Armstrong [8], Facey [71]	11,122	23rd
6 March 2001	Grimsby Town	H	0 - 0		9,494	22nd
10 March 2001	Barnsley	A	1 - 3	Morris [10]	15,290	23rd
17 March 2001	Sheffield United	H	2 - 1	Smith [25], Facey [78]	13,918	22nd
31 March 2001	Portsmouth	H	4 - 1	Booth [56], Facey [71], Gorré [89 (pen)], Baldry [90]	13,199	22nd
3 April 2001	Crystal Palace	A	0 - 0		15,324	22nd
7 April 2001	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	1 - 0	Facey [10]	19,423	21st
10 April 2001	Preston North End	A	0 - 0		15,185	19th
14 April 2001	Fulham	H	1 - 2	Facey [78]	15,882	21st
16 April 2001	Blackburn Rovers	A	0 - 2		29,426	21st
21 April 2001	Queens Park Rangers	H	2 - 1	Gorré [33], Facey [90]	12,846	20th
28 April 2001	West Bromwich Albion	A	1 - 1	Booth [7]	17,542	20th
1 May 2001	Wimbledon	A	1 - 1	Gallen [74]	4,956	20th
6 May 2001	Birmingham City	H	1 - 2	Booth [45]	19,290	22nd

Worthington Cup

Date	Round	Opponents	Home/ Away	Result F - A	Scorers	Attendance
22 August 2000	Round 1 1st Leg	Oldham Athletic	A	0 - 1		4,255
5 September 2000	Round 1 2nd Leg	Oldham Athletic	H	0 - 2		4,979 Huddersfield lose 3–0 on aggregate

Appearances and goals

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Squad No.	Name	Nation	Position	League Apps	League Goals	FA Cup Apps	FA Cup Goals	League Cup Apps	League Cup Goals	Total Apps	Total Goals
1	Nico Vaesen		GK	45	0	1	0	2	0	48	0
2	Steve Jenkins		DF	30	0	0	0	0	0	30	0
3	Jamie Vincent		DF	14 (2)	0	1	0	2	0	17 (2)	0
4	Craig Armstrong		MF	44	3	1	0	1	0	46	3
5	Chris Lucketti		DF	40	1	0	0	2	0	42	1
6	Ken Monkou		DF	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
7	Ben Thornley		MF	29 (7)	0	1	0	2	0	32 (7)	0
8	Kenny Irons		MF	18 (15)	0	0	0	1	0	19 (15)	0
9	Martin Smith		FW	27 (3)	8	0	0	1	0	28 (3)	8
10	Dean Gorré		MF	23 (11)	2	0 (1)	0	1	0	24 (12)	2
11	Clyde Wijnhard		FW	4	0	0	0	1	0	5	0
12	Kevin Gray		DF	13 (4)	0	1	0	0	0	14 (4)	0
13	Martyn Margetson		GK	1 (1)	0	0	0	0	0	1 (1)	0
14	Jim Brennan		MF	0 (2)	0	0	0	0	0	0 (2)	0
14	Scott Sellars		MF	6 (8)	0	0 (1)	0	0 (1)	0	6 (10)	0
15	Kevin Kyle		FW	0 (4)	0	0	0	0	0	0 (4)	0
15	Peter Ndlovu		MF	6	4	0	0	0	0	6	4
15	Lee Morris		FW	5	1	0	0	0	0	5	1
16	Delroy Facey		FW	22 (12)	10	1	0	1 (1)	0	24 (13)	10
17	Simon Baldry		MF	26 (9)	2	1	0	0 (2)	0	27 (11)	2
18	Chris Hay		FW	0 (4)	0	0	0	2	0	2 (4)	0
19	David Beresford		MF	0 (2)	0	0	0	1	0	1 (2)	0
20	Thomas Heary		DF	25 (3)	0	1	0	2	0	28 (3)	0
21	Jon Dyson		DF	25 (5)	3	1	0	1	0	27 (5)	3
22	Chris Beech		MF	10	0	0	0	1	0	11	0
23	Chris Holland		MF	29	0	1	0	1	0	31	0
24	Danny Schofield		MF	0 (1)	0	0	0	0	0	0 (1)	0
25	Kevin Gallen		FW	30 (8)	10	1	0	0	0	31 (8)	10
26	Rob Kozluk		DF	14	0	0	0	0	0	14	0
26	Adie Moses		DF	10 (2)	0	0	0	0	0	10 (2)	0
32	Andy Booth		FW	8	3	0	0	0	0	8	3
34	Michael Senior		MF	0 (4)	0	0	0	0	0	0 (4)	0