Huddersfield boss David Wagner admits promotion to the Premier League has been a life changer
Commitments other than football take up more time than the German ever thought they would
DAVID Wagner admits his life has changed since becoming a Premier League manager
And the Huddersfield boss is surprised at just how big the competition is around the world.
Gone are the days where one interview before every game would be enough, now he has to field requests from Europe, the Middle East, Australia and the USA.
And the German holds his hands up – the level of interest in what Huddersfield is beyond what he even dreamed of.
Which means much busier days, not just filled with being manager of the Terriers.
Wagner said: “I was surprised how unbelievably strong the Premier League is produced around the whole world.
“The media work is extraordinary, much more than it was before.
“It’s not only here, local, it’s for America, not only for Germany, for Europe, for Asia, Australia.
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"I could easily fill a whole day only with media work each week, with all the requests the club gets for me or for the players.
“This was a surprise for me. I was aware that this is a worldwide product, but it’s shown very well around the world and produced across the whole world.
“I have much more work to do. Not the day-to-day work with the players on the grass, but my work here in the football club, and not only the media work – and yes, the media work has increased massively.
“But as well, especially in this football club, as you see, we have rebuilt the training ground and I am involved in a lot of the decisions.
“This means a lot of meetings about how we want to do it, our commercial department has more work, so sometimes I am involved in some commercial work.
“And of course, in my private life, it has changed as well, because more people recognise you or speak with you, to ask for autographs or selfies. Yeah, it changed of course.”
Wagner may have plenty of things to do but one thing he could afford to not get too involved in was transfer deadline day – Huddersfield’s work was pretty much done and he was relaxing on a beach while others fretted over fax machines.
However, he revealed he was never too far away from doing anything in case it came up – and anything that has not come off can be revisited in January.
He added: “I was in the Netherlands at the beach, but also near Amsterdam airport so I would have been able to fly over if something had happened.
“There were phone calls and, of course, I had my eyes and ears on the market.
“I recognised some names but nothing that I thought would really help us or will be able to do.
“And at least we now have some further names on the radar for January. We can now follow them and get our heads around. We can see how they play in the season and see what they do.”
Wagner may not have any pressure on his shoulders but the same cannot be said of his opposite number tonight, West Ham boss Slaven Bilic.
But ever the thinker, he revealed he has drawn up two sets of game plans depending on who the Hammers play up front – and is constantly working to make sure players are not affected by what pundits may say.
He said: “Andy Carroll is a different character to Chicharito as a number nine. This will change the game.
“So it only makes sense to prepare your team for two different ideas if the opponent can change his game plan.
“And I think criticism, in a positive or a negative way, shouldn’t affect you as a professional but it can go into your brain, and you get it in your ears even if you don’t like it because your friend texted it to you or you read it on social media.
“We’ve had periods where we lost five in a row and went seven games without a win.
“We were in more difficult situations, rather than being in the Premier League and maybe losing a few games in a row.
“Then, it will be exactly the same as what I say now in the maybe more successful period. It means nothing. If you have a defeat, leave it behind you and focus on the next game.”
Huddersfield may be third and West Ham rock bottom but Wagner is in no doubt which is the bigger club.
And even if the Terriers defy many predictions and stay up, that may not change.
He said: “OK, yes, we are a Premier League club, like West Ham are. But West Ham are much more established. West Ham work with totally different numbers to what we do.
“They have a 60,000-capacity stadium, we have a 25,000-capacity stadium.
“Everybody who knows me knows that this does not mean we are not ambitious. In this season, for sure, we’ll be little Huddersfield. If you see the budgets of the teams for this season, of course. Nobody knows beyond. This is nothing I can answer now.”
