1994 - 95 season may be best remembered for kung fu kicks by Cantona, the signing of Jurgen Klinsmann by Spurs, Gary Lineker retiring from football or the pairing of Sutton & Shearer combining to score 50 goals between them that secured Blackburn Rovers the premiership title.
For me the stand out memory was securing my only ever medal. Okay it was a runners-up medal at that, but I'd got to a European final and just missed out on lifting the trophy by the odd goal and it was all down to the HTAFC strike force of Andy Booth and Ronnie Jepson.
Town manager, Neil Warnock reckoned Booth was one of the finest headers of the ball he had ever worked with and one of the best around at the time. He'd banged in plenty of goals the previous season and that's why I picked him alongside Jepson for a relatively new competition I'd entered called Fantasy League....This was long before web based leagues with transfer budgets, squads and instant results. This was Fantasy League by post! Pick your first 11 and each week you'd get the results and latest standings through your letter box on Wednesday morning.
Ignoring the highly priced premier league strikers I opted to invest much of my budget in a solid defence and invest what remained on signing the Terriers forward line.
At the time, I was training to be a psychiatric nurse at St Luke's Hospital in Huddersfield and used to drive past the training pitches and Leeds Road ground on a daily basis. It was on one of those drives to work that I recall having to pull up rather sharpish to avoid running over a couple of guys wearing training tops and football boots who weren't exactly concentrating when crossing the road. I'm not saying who they were but let's say my fantasy league season may have been cut short if I'd not stopped!
Town made the 2nd division (as it was then) play-offs that season and one or both of Booth and Jepson had a knack of scoring whenever there was a round of the EUFA Fantasy Cup played. Their goals took me to the brink of European glory and while I just missed out, I've Huddersfield Town, Neil Warnock, Andy Booth & Ronnie Jepson to thank for my one football medal!
Town were more successful in their final, winning the play-offs and securing promotion. An experience they have enjoyed more than once since
Memory added on September 4, 2012
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