1976–77 Huddersfield Town A.F.C. season

Huddersfield Town's 1976-77 campaign was Huddersfield Town's second season in the 4th Division. Under Tom Johnston, Town almost gained promotion back to the 3rd Division, but a dreadful end to the season saw Town finish in 9th place with 50 points, 9 points off 4th place, which was taken by rivals Bradford City.

Huddersfield Town

1976–77 season
Chairman	Keith Longbottom
Manager	Tom Johnston (until 22 April 1977) John Haselden (from 22 April 1977)
Division Four	9th
FA Cup	First round
Football League Cup	Third round
Top goalscorer	League: Kevin Johnson (13) All: Kevin Johnson (13)
Highest home attendance	11,829 vs Cambridge United (19 April 1977)
Lowest home attendance	2,275 vs Southend United (7 May 1977)

Squad at the start of the season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player -- GK  ENG Terry Poole -- GK  ENG Dick Taylor -- DF  ENG Steve Baines -- DF  ENG Paul Cooper -- DF  ENG Neil Hague -- DF  ENG Peter Hart -- DF  SCO Peter Oliver -- DF  ENG Arnie Sidebottom -- DF  SCO Alan Sweeney -- MF  ENG Terry Armstrong

No. Pos. Nation Player -- MF  ENG Martin Fowler -- MF  ENG Lloyd Maitland -- MF  ENG Steve Smith -- FW  ENG Mick Butler -- FW  NIR Bobby Campbell -- FW  ENG Franny Firth -- FW  ENG Wayne Goldthorpe -- FW  ENG Terry Gray -- FW  ENG Bob Newton

Review

Town had a mixed start to the season, with wins and draws seeming to come from all over the place. Although they were never on a massive losing or unbeaten run under Tom Johnston, they mainly relied on new signing Kevin Johnson from Hartlepool, who scored 13 goals during the season.

They had a run of 7 straight wins during late January to early March saw Town climb ever nearer to promotion, but the last nine games (6 of them under Johnston's replacement, John Haselden) saw Town fail to win a single match, which saw Town slumber down the table into a final position of 9th place, just 14 points off 4th place, which was taken up by rivals Bradford City.

Squad at the end of the season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player -- GK  ENG Alan Starling -- GK  ENG Dick Taylor -- DF  ENG Steve Baines -- DF  ENG Paul Cooper -- DF  ENG Paul Gartland -- DF  ENG Neil Hague -- DF  ENG Peter Hart -- DF  SCO Peter Oliver -- DF  ENG Arnie Sidebottom -- DF  SCO Alan Sweeney -- MF  ENG Terry Armstrong -- MF  ENG Martin Fowler

No. Pos. Nation Player -- MF  ENG Kevin Johnson -- MF  ENG Lloyd Maitland -- MF  ENG Jim McCaffrey -- MF  ENG Steve Smith -- FW  ENG Mick Butler -- FW  NIR Bobby Campbell -- FW  ENG Terry Eccles -- FW  ENG Franny Firth -- FW  ENG Wayne Goldthorpe -- FW  ENG Terry Gray -- FW  ENG Peter Howey -- FW  ENG Bob Newton

Results

Division Four

Date	Opponents	Home/ Away	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance	Position
21 August 1976	Torquay United	A	0–1		3,955	19th
28 August 1976	Brentford	H	1–0	Newton	4,559	15th
4 September 1976	Newport County	A	1–1	Firth	2,247	14th
11 September 1976	Swansea City	H	2–2	Newton, Firth	4,048	15th
14 September 1976	Southport	H	1–0	Smith	4,174	8th
18 September 1976	Darlington	A	0–2		3,037	11th
25 September 1976	Stockport County	H	2–0	Johnson, Baines	5,916	9th
2 October 1976	Barnsley	A	1–2	Butler	7,124	14th
9 October 1976	Bradford City	H	3–0	Sidebottom, Butler, Johnson	10,608	10th
16 October 1976	Doncaster Rovers	H	2–1	Sidebottom, Jones	7,494	7th
23 October 1976	Aldershot	A	0–1		4,598	11th
26 October 1976	Watford	H	2–2	Johnson (2, 1 pen.)	5,299	9th
30 October 1976	Hartlepool	A	1–0	Goldthorpe	2,613	6th
2 November 1976	Cambridge United	A	1–1	Goldthorpe	4,357	7th
6 November 1976	Workington	H	2–1	Hague, Smith	5,621	5th
12 November 1976	Exeter City	A	0–2		3,657	9th
26 November 1976	Rochdale	H	2–1	Johnson (pen.), Jones	5,240	7th
4 December 1976	Southend United	A	1–1	Baines	4,419	6th
18 December 1976	Crewe Alexandra	H	0–1		4,932	8th
27 December 1976	Halifax Town	A	0–0		8,720	8th
28 December 1976	Scunthorpe United	H	1–0	Hague	7,028	6th
1 January 1977	Workington	A	2–3	Baines, Johnson	2,133	8th
8 January 1977	Bournemouth	A	0–1		4,494	12th
15 January 1977	Southport	A	2–2	Campbell (2)	1,803	11th
22 January 1977	Torquay United	H	2–1	Johnson, Eccles	6,237	10th
5 February 1977	Brentford	A	3–1	Johnson, Campbell, N. Smith (o.g.)	4,830	11th
12 February 1977	Newport County	H	3–0	Eccles, Campbell, Johnson (pen.)	5,452	9th
15 February 1977	Hartlepool	H	4–1	Johnson, Baines, Fowler, Creamer (o.g.)	5,493	5th
26 February 1977	Darlington	H	3–1	Campbell (2), Johnson (pen.)	6,315	7th
4 March 1977	Stockport County	A	3–2	Campbell, Gray (2)	5,499	5th
12 March 1977	Barnsley	H	1–0	Eccles	11,659	4th
19 March 1977	Bradford City	A	1–3	Oliver	10,734	6th
21 March 1977	Colchester United	H	0–0		7,508	4th
25 March 1977	Doncaster Rovers	A	0–2		11,042	6th
2 April 1977	Aldershot	H	2–0	Hart, Butler	5,073	7th
5 April 1977	Halifax Town	H	1–0	Smith	7,591	5th
9 April 1977	Scunthorpe United	A	4–0	Gray (3), Johnson	4,207	5th
12 April 1977	Cambridge United	H	1–2	Johnson	11,829	6th
16 April 1977	Watford	A	0–2		6,181	7th
19 April 1977	Colchester United	H	1–3	Dowman (o.g.)	5,057	9th
23 April 1977	Exeter City	H	0–1		4,717	10th
26 April 1977	Swansea City	A	1–2	Gray	9,613	10th
30 April 1977	Rochdale	A	2–2	Baines, Campbell	1,626	10th
3 May 1977	Bournemouth	H	0–0		2,342	10th
7 May 1977	Southend United	H	1–1	Howey	2,275	10th
14 May 1977	Crewe Alexandra	A	0–0		2,153	9th

FA Cup

Date	Round	Opponents	Home/ Away	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance
20 November 1976	Round 1	Mansfield Town	H	0–0		9,025
22 November 1976	Round 1 Replay	Mansfield Town	A	1–2	Sidebottom	9,036

Football League Cup

Date	Round	Opponents	Home/ Away	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance
14 August 1976	Round 1 1st Leg	Hartlepool	H	2–0	Baines, Newton	3,603
18 August 1976	Round 1 2nd Leg	Hartlepool	A	2–1	Newton, Butler	2,060 Huddersfield won 4-1 on aggregate.
31 August 1976	Round 2	Northampton Town	A	1–0	Newton	6,641
20 September 1976	Round 3	Chelsea	A	0–2		19,860

Appearances and goals

Name	Nation	Position	League apps	League goals	FA Cup apps	FA Cup goals	League Cup apps	League Cup goals	Total apps	Total goals
Terry Armstrong	England	FW	4	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
Steve Baines	England	DF	43 (1)	5	2	0	4	1	49 (1)	6
Mick Butler	England	MF	23 (3)	3	0	0	3	1	26 (3)	4
Bobby Campbell	Northern Ireland	FW	19 (1)	8	0	0	0	0	19 (1)	8
Paul Cooper	England	DF	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
Terry Eccles	England	FW	17	3	0	0	0	0	17	3
Franny Firth	England	FW	8	2	0	0	4	0	12	2
Martin Fowler	England	MF	36 (3)	1	2	0	4	0	42 (3)	1
Paul Gartland	England	DF	3	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
John Gilligan	England	MF	0 (1)	0	0	0	0	0	0 (1)	0
Wayne Goldthorpe	England	FW	5 (2)	2	1	0	1	0	7 (2)	2
Terry Gray	England	FW	17 (1)	6	0	0	0	0	17 (1)	6
Neil Hague	England	DF	25	2	1	0	4	0	30	2
Peter Hart	England	MF	44	1	2	0	4	0	50	1
Peter Howey	England	MF	3	1	0	0	0	0	3	1
Kevin Johnson	England	FW	38	13	0 (1)	0	0	0	38 (1)	13
Chris Jones	England	MF	9 (5)	2	1 (1)	0	1 (1)	0	11 (7)	2
Lloyd Maitland	England	MF	10 (2)	0	2	0	4	0	16 (2)	0
Jim McCaffrey	England	MF	14 (1)	0	0	0	0	0	14 (1)	0
Bob Newton	England	FW	15 (2)	2	2	0	3 (1)	3	20 (3)	5
Peter Oliver	Scotland	DF	41	1	2	0	4	0	47	1
Terry Poole	England	GK	24	0	2	0	4	0	30	0
Arnie Sidebottom	England	DF	18 (5)	2	2	1	0 (2)	0	20 (7)	3
Steve Smith	England	MF	44	3	2	0	4	0	50	3
Alan Starling	England	GK	13	0	0	0	0	0	13	0
Alan Sweeney	Scotland	DF	21	0	1	0	0	0	22	0
Dick Taylor	England	GK	9	0	0	0	0	0	9	0
Paul Walker	England	MF	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0