Huddersfield Town are on the verge of changing hands as a deal has been agreed for a North American consortium to take over the club, as confirmed on their official website.

Multiple parties have been interested in the Terriers for a number of months since Dean Hoyle announced he was stepping back from day-to-day operations at the John Smith's Stadium, with Dave Baldwin placed in charge of finding his successor.

Hoyle had sold his majority stake in the club to Phil Hodgkinson back in 2019 following relegation from the Premier League, but in February 2022 Hodgkinson resigned as chairman after some of his businesses fell into difficulties.

He had been in talks ever since to reacquire Hodgkinson's 75 per cent share in Town, but it has now been confirmed that Hoyle owns the full 100 per cent of the club having completed the purchase from Pure Sports Consultancy - one of Hodgkinson's companies.

Hoyle will now sell on to a party from across the Atlantic Ocean, but per the Daily Mail he will continue to fund the club to the tune of £6 million until the end of the season with the expectation that the new owners will pay him back.

£40 million worth of debt is also set to be written off by Hoyle so that the Terriers do not enter administration, which would have incurred an immediate 12-point deduction and secured their relegation to League One for next season.

The takeover is now in the hands of others and it will be completed once legislative and governance procedures have been followed, and the EFL will also need to rubber-stamp the purchase and make sure the consortium pass the Owners' and Directors Test.

The Verdict

Whilst the identities of the new owners have not been made public as of yet, it was imperative that this takeover was agreed as there was a serious chance the club could have gone into administration.

That would have been a hammer-blow to their survival chances in the Championship, which they still have after defeating Millwall 1-0 this past weekend.

There is now light at the end of the tunnel though for Huddersfield, and regardless of whether they go down or stay up there will be some fresh investment and hopefully some positivity as it has been negative after negative following the play-off final defeat last May.

Of course, nothing is finalized until the EFL give their approval to such a deal, but this is a step in the right direction for sure.