Is it been brains behind team.

Is directing skill that is paved way for success.

Town is on everyone's lips today.

For a proud position which she occupies in public esteem, it has very largely Mr Chapman

to thank.

Welcome to It Was What It Was. I'm Rob Drape. I'm here with Jonathan Wilson, and that was the Huddersfield Examiner from May 1924, was in an impressive accent by whoever Yorkshireman it was that read that.

I don't know who that was. And this is a very, very special episode for us. We're 100 episodes old.

Thank you so much for listening to us and for keeping a podcast of us going. Please, on our 100th

birthday, do go and recommend us and review us and then we'll get to 200th. And it's a very special

birthday present on our 100th birthday to our producer Patrick, who's always going on about Huddersfield and things like that

and he was suggesting that we do something from 100 years ago and do you know who won the league

a hundred years ago and whether it's significantly title Jonathan who was it was it uddersfield town

it was Huddersfield town oh it's that yorkman's popped into the studio again he's back um I didn't realize that was you Jonathan um it was Huddersfield Town. Oh, it's that. Yorkshireman's popped into the studio again. He's back. I didn't realize that was you, Jonathan. It was Huddersfield Town. And to be fair, it was a very significant league title because it was Herbert Chapman. So for our 100th episode, we are doing Herbert Chapman and how he took Huddersfield to the league title, how he kind of changed football,

the early part of his career, changing football, changing football tactics. In some ways,

Jonathan, you're going to put us right in this, I suppose, providing a template for modern football. Herbert Chapman is just one of the biggest figures in football history, in football

tactic history and coaching history. And Huddersfield Town right to center of that. So Patrick's going going to be happy all we're doing is talking about Huddersfield and Yorkshire today so Jonathan take us away yeah so we did touch in the episode we did on the 100th anniversary of the changing offside law I mean I realize now how carefully Pat has kind of laid his traps to make us talk about Huddersfield but the we did talk about how Chapman at Arsenal, which he, you know, who he joins after

Huddersfield, that he is one of the, you know, maybe the greatest pioneer of a WM.

So if you haven't listened to that episode with David Owen, do go back and listen to that.

And we will do an episode on that great Arsenal team of the

late 20s, early 30s at some point. But yeah, this is specifically about his time at Huddersfield.

So Chapman was born in Kiverton Park, which is a small collier town between Sheffield and Worksop.

And he probably would have gone into the mines. His father had been a minor. And if it hadn't been for football, that would probably have been his occupation. But he is a good player. He plays for Staley Bridge and he goes to Rochdale, Grimsby, Swindon, Sheppey, United, Worksop, Northampton Town, Knox County. Finally, Totham. So I think it's fair to say he's not a great player, but he's able to make a living of it. He's a journeyman. He's good enough, certainly not to have to go down the mind. And the thing he's most notable for in his playing career is that he wears these pale yellow calf-skin boots. And do you know, do you know why he does this, Rob?

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