Nigel Clibbens On Deadline Day Collapse Of Beckford Loan

Huddersfield Town strengthened their squad on the final day of the transfer window on Friday with the addition of Adam Hammill but the board at the terriers were left unhappy with the last moment collapse on a loan deal which would of seen Jermaine Beckford join from Leicester City. The highly rated striker has found himself having to sit regularly on the bench at Leicester & reports suggested that he had agreed a deal with Town to join them on loan for the rest of the season.

The loan deal was indeed true and both clubs had met an agreement but with just five minutes of transfer deadline day left, Leicester pulled out due to unknown reasons. Nigel Clibbens gave his thoughts & opinions about the whole Beckford situation;

"We appreciate we've got to replace the goals and we've tried to do that, but we won't rush to bring somebody in just because somebody has gone out. It's important we use the money from Jordan's sale wisely because we are not bereft of talent. We have got a lot of talent in the squad, Simon Grayson is quite comfortable with that, and we will keep on going."

"The loan window is an option for us and we'll see what it brings. I'm sure there will be lots of movement on deals which didn't quite happen, both for us and for other clubs, and anything can happen. We will just keep on looking to strengthen our squad all over the pitch. We will simply continue to do the things which have stood us in good stead throughout Dean Hoyle's chairmanship. That won't change, our plans haven't changed and we will keep sticking to what we know we are good at."

Clibbens then gave his answer to how the Beckford loan deal had come about & how things had happened on Friday;

"We spent a lot of last Thursday and all of Friday negotiating with Leicester and we moved close to a deal, agreeing terms for a season-long loan. Jermaine travelled to Huddersfield to sign the paperwork and once it got past 10pm we started filling it in. We signed, Jermaine signed and then Leicester decided they didn't want to do the deal, so we didn't get it completed."

"That's part and parcel of football and business and it can be frustrating. Maybe it will come back in the loan window, I don't know at this stage. We got very close and we would have been glad to have Jermaine here, but the squad we have got we are quite comfortable with."

Clibbens reiterated that everyone understands that Huddersfield have got money to spend due to Rhodes' £8m departure but the club will not be bullied into paying over the odds for any player;

"It might change the emphasis for other clubs because they think we have funds available to do the deals. They might feel they can be stronger in demanding what they want, but it's for us to remain strong and stick to paying what we think is fair value. It's all under our control from that point of view. If someone holds us to ransom we don't have to agree to their terms. It is a colossal amount of money for Jordan because he is a special talent, but when he says he wants to go and we are offered that amount of money, there's only one outcome really."

"It is as Dean said, if Jordan had wanted to stay he would have turned down the cash, so it shows how focused we are not on short-term financial gain but on the long-term picture. Simon sets his teams up as teams, for the collective effort, and anyone who has watched Jordan will know that a huge proportion of his goals came from the collective effort."

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone

Huddersfield Town Wembley Ticket Dispute

A lot of Huddersfield Town fans have been dissapointed as well as annoyed with the inability to purchase tickets to Wembley at the official stadium ticket office. Being forced to purchase online or via telephone with TicketMaster. Today, the Chief Executive of Huddersfield Town Nigel Clibbens explained why this was the situation;

"The trip to Wembley looks to have created real excitement with the fans and tickets are selling really quickly. Everything looks set for a massive Town following and a great occasion.

"To sell upwards of 30,000 tickets with travel, including coaches and trains, in less than 10 days is a real logistical challenge. Put simply, our own Ticket Office isn't capable of doing that and we have to be realistic; whilst we could have taken a brave decision and tried to manage the process ourselves, it would not have been right and we were not prepared to risk operational problems in selling the tickets and serving our fans.

"Also, as well as dealing with Wembley, the Ticket Office has to deal with a big Huddersfield Giants game at the Stadium tonight.

"Like last year, we made a very early decision to contract out to Ticketmaster, who are experts in dealing with huge demand in a short period. This means booking fees have to be paid by fans, which is not ideal.

"I'm sure some fans would have preferred to buy directly from the Ticket Office and avoid the booking fee, but this would only have led to massive queues and long waits and run the risk of some very stressed and upset fans.

"The decision was made to give the best service to the fans. So far feedback is favourable with half a dozen adverse comments out of the 10,000 sold. When people have problems, our Ticket Office staff are sorting them out; they are first class, as our fans know."

So what do you think of the whole ticket scenario? Tell us what you think over in the forums.