Huddersfield Town stole the limelight in 2017 with shock exploits: View | OneFootball

Huddersfield fans will never forget their remarkable promotion in the 2016/17 season

Huddersfield Town’s 2017 promotion to the Championship was a remarkable achievement.

The Terriers finished fifth in the table, securing a place in the Premier League with a penalty shootout victory against Reading in the play-off final under David Wagner.

The German coach was appointed in November 2015 and guided the team to a 19th place finish that campaign.

Nobody was expecting them to then gain promotion to the Premier League the next year, returning the club to the top flight for the first time since 1972.

The three time champions of England had spent 45 years outside of the top division, but their promotion instantly made Wagner a club hero.

Huddersfield’s pre-season expectations in 2016

Going into the new campaign, there were very low expectations for Huddersfield and absolutely nobody believed they could earn promotion to the Premier League.

The Guardian’s pre-season preview failed to mention the Yorkshire outfit at all when discussing potential promotion contenders.

Meanwhile, Ian Holloway, who was working as an EFL expert for Sky Sports at the time, even predicted that they would suffer relegation.

The now 61-year-old cited Wagner’s lack of experience, as well as a general lack of progression, as to why he thought they would finish 23rd.

“I haven't seen much progression from the club during the back end of last season,” wrote Holloway, via Sky Sports.

“David Wagner is pretty inexperienced and if results turn, then they may struggle to turn things around.”

Instead, the likes of Newcastle United and Brighton, who did earn automatic promotion, were tipped for the top flight, along with the likes of Norwich City, Derby County, Sheffield Wednesday and Leeds United.

Birmingham City and Wolves were also considered to be in the mix, but instead it was Reading, Fulham and Huddersfield, as well as Sheffield Wednesday, who made the play-offs, showing how difficult it can be to predict the second division.

Huddersfield Town’s early form carries them over the line

A total of 16 points from a possible total of 18 saw Huddersfield make a really strong start to the season, showing early signs of their promotion credentials.

In particular, a 2-1 away win against Newcastle United in their second game showed that a lot of those pre-season predictions weren’t going to be accurate at all.

Brighton inflicted the team’s first loss in September, 1-0 at the Amex, which led to a slight drop-off in form.

But the stretch from 10 December to 25 February saw the Terriers earn an impressive 35 points from 39, which kept them in the mix for promotion.

Wagner’s side did only win five of their final 14 games of the regular season, which saw them drop out of contention for a top two place and into fifth.

But once they got themselves into the play-offs they ground out their games against Sheffield Wednesday and Reading to find a way into the top flight, winning both the semi-final at Hillsborough and final at Wembley on penalities to secure a memorable, yet slightly obscure, route to the Premier League - the Terriers would ply their trade in the top-flight for two seasons, punching above their weight to survive in 2017/18, before coming crashing down 12 months later.

The promotion, though, was a remarkable achievement, with so many memorable moments, including doing the double over rivals Leeds United, as well as earning wins over the likes of Newcastle and Aston Villa. It was the story of the underdog, who nobody tipped for a top-six finish, let alone promotion. Town were tipped for relegation and ended up at the top table of English football. It truly was a tale of the unexpected.