Huddersfield Town hardly saw the best of Derby County modern-day legend: View | OneFootball

The 2020/21 Championship season was Carlos Corberan’s first in charge of Huddersfield Town.

It was a testing campaign for the Terriers, as they struggled near the bottom of the league for the majority of the time.

So, given their struggles when the January transfer window arrived in 2021, Corberan decided he needed to bring in some experience, and the club secured the signing of central defender Richard Keogh.

Keogh had been playing for MK Dons and was performing reasonably well, so the Terriers were hoping his arrival could help them in the Championship. Joining the club in 2021 wasn’t Keogh's first time with the Terriers, as he spent three months with Huddersfield in 2007 while on loan from Bristol City.

While the club did beat the drop, finishing 20th in the league, Keogh’s time at Huddersfield wasn’t as good as the player’s time with Derby County, where he had the very best years of his career.

Richard Keogh’s time at Derby County

Keogh started his football career at Ipswich Town, but left the club in 2003 to join Stoke City.

From then on, the defender was very much on the move in his playing career, as he soon joined Bristol City, where he was shipped out on loan a few times.

Keogh never really got going at Bristol City, and his time at the club ended in 2008 when he joined Carlisle United. After two years with the Cumbrians, he then joined Coventry City, and a couple more years down the line, he made his move to Derby.

The defender would go on to play for the club for seven seasons, all of which were played in the Championship.

While the club didn’t achieve promotion, Keogh played a big role in the Rams reaching the play-offs on four separate occasions.

Apart from the 2019/20 season, Keogh was a firm regular in the Derby team, and he finished his time with the club having played 356 games, scoring 12 goals and chipping in with 14 assists from centre-back

Huddersfield Town didn’t see the best of Richard Keogh

While Keogh was a firm success with Derby and became a modern-day legend for the club, the same cannot be said for his time with Huddersfield.

As mentioned, Keogh had two separate spells with the Terriers, both of which were quite short, with them in total adding to just nine months of football.

In his first spell at the club, Keogh joined the Terriers when they were playing in League One in the 2007/08 campaign.

The defender arrived in August 2007, but he didn’t stay too long, as in October of that year, his loan ended, and he returned to Ashton Gate.

From there, he went on to play for the likes of Coventry and, obviously, Derby. So, Keogh probably thought he wouldn’t get a chance with Huddersfield again, but come January 2021, the Terriers decided to snap up the centre-back from MK Dons.

Keogh joined the club on a short-term basis, but he was able to have more of an impact this time around than in his previous spell.

The experienced defender played 21 times in the Championship that season for Huddersfield, with all those appearances coming in the starting XI.

In the second half of the season, Keogh was averaging 87 minutes on the pitch per game, playing regularly but not really posting any groundbreaking numbers.

Keogh failed to score or register an assist for the Terriers, with him not being able to have that impact at the top end of the pitch, as he did with Derby.

He did average a single interception per game, but was only making 0.7 tackles per game. Keogh was part of a defence that also kept four clean sheets, and he finished that season with a Sofascore statistical rating of 6.72.

The centre-back did bring some experience and leadership to Huddersfield’s defence, and he helped keep them in the division, but it is safe to say he didn’t have the impact with the Terriers over two spells that he had with Derby in one, albeit over a much longer period.

Keogh was a key player for the Rams over so many years, and while they didn’t achieve much as a team, his best time came with the club and his longevity was unmatched.