Huddersfield Town manager Danny Cowley says he is using the current suspension of football to look at ways in which he can prepare his side for another push for promotion to the Premier League in the future.

The Terriers were only relegated to the back to the Championship after two years in the Premier League last summer, having picked up just three league wins during the entirety of the final season in the top-flight.

Their return to the second-tier has also been a difficult one this season, with the club currently 18th in the Championship table, just three points clear of the relegation zone with nine games of the season that to be played at some point.

But while the current, unscheduled, suspension of the football season has prompted concern and uncertainty for many, Cowley is looking to take advantage of the situation for both himself and his club.

Speaking to The Training Ground Guru Podcast about how he is dealing with that unexpected break in the campaign, Cowley said: “I think that the uncertainty that we’re all currently living creates a natural anxiety.

“As a consequence we’ve used a lot of this time to try to predict what will happen in the future. It’s very difficult to know what football is going to look like…I think football is society are going to be different off this back of this pandemic.

“For us, it’s about trying to continue to create the provision and the support mechanism around the first team so we can allow the players to consistently play at their best.

"If we can do that then we can be competitive in this division."

Looking ahead further into the future from that, and discussing the impact their recent exploits in the Premier League could have on that, Cowley continued: “For us first and foremost it is about trying to be competitive again in the Championship.

"Obviously the club has had two years of Premier League experience and everyone will have seen the financial implications that have come as a consequence of that and actually how challenging that can be for a club the size of Huddersfield.

“We are now trying to find a place as a football club where we can have sustainability financially and while having that trying to be as competitive as we possibly can and trying to get as much value out of the group as we possibly can.

“If we can do that and we can find continuity and find a consistent and be competitive firstly again in the Championship.

"Then we earn the right to start to dream bigger and then you earn the right to hopefully create another football miracle like the club did a couple of years back.”

The Verdict

I think this is good to see from Cowley.

With the situation as it is and no certainty about how or even if it will change any time soon, you could understand if Cowley and co. were to simply sit back and wait for things to happen for the time being.

Cowley however, is clearly not doing that, showing the initiative he has to try and take a positive from a difficult situation, while the fact he appears so keen to familiarise himself with the club following his arrival a few months ago, should also endear him to the club's fans going forward.