Boot Sale by Nige Tassell

Author:Nige Tassell
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781473559950
Publisher: Random House

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As Christopher Schindler’s penalty hit the bottom corner and one half of Wembley exploded, Harry Bunn – along with the Huddersfield Town subs and backroom staff – was off like a whippet, out of his seat and streaking across the turf. It was a penalty that meant so much to the Terriers. Here at the 2017 Championship play-off final against Reading, the final kick of the penalty shoot-out had just secured their return to the top flight of English football for the first time since 1972. The jubilant staff and players piling onto the pitch were now employees of a Premier League club.

It was a status that Harry Bunn would enjoy for sixty-three days.

Bunn – a tall, rangy left-winger – hadn’t been a guaranteed first-choice pick that season, his fourth in West Yorkshire, and didn’t feature in the play-off final. Nonetheless, he had contributed to the club’s success, appearing sixteen times in the league during an injury-affected campaign, as well as scoring the opening goal against Manchester City in their FA Cup Fifth Round replay.

Bunn enjoyed the most settled period of his career while at Huddersfield. He had prospered too; the previous season, he was second in the Championship rankings when it came to providing assists. But then a pre-season hamstring injury at the start of what would become that promotion season ruled him out for a month. With the team hitting strong form early on, he was now playing catch-up.

‘When the team’s winning, you can’t really go to speak to the manager and demand that you should be playing. If I were the manager, I wouldn’t expect players to come and see me, saying that. But I managed to make around nineteen appearances in all competitions that season. Obviously I’d have liked to have made more, but it was great to be involved. And we had that good cup run.’

As the season progressed, promotion to the Premier League looked increasingly credible for a club that had been written off back in August as favourites for relegation. This scenario, for a player who’s no longer a bolted-on first-team regular, can be somewhat bittersweet. While the gathering excitement of their club’s season of success is infectious and difficult to resist, a brake is applied when personal circumstances are then considered. Should promotion be achieved, there will inevitably be new faces arriving to cope with the more vigorous, more professional demands of the Premier League. You might not make the cut. If promotion is missed, the current squad will largely be retained, including yourself. This was Bunn’s conundrum.

‘I did know that if the club went up, they’d definitely bring in some players. But it was only when I went back in pre-season, maybe the first day or the second day, that the manager came up to see me. “I think it’s best that you’re up for another club. I don’t see you playing.” That was the first time I got a definite answer. I’d made sure that I went back as fit as could be and it was a kick in the teeth.

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