The £1.2 million bargain that defined a Huddersfield Town generation | OneFootball

Huddersfield signed Marcus Stewart for £1.2 million in 1996, and Stewart will go down in history for shaping Huddersfield's fortunes over two seasons.

Huddersfield Town splashed a club-record £1.2 million in 1996 on Marcus Stewart, and what followed was a story that defined a generation.

When the Terriers broke the bank for Stewart from Bristol Rovers, they knew exactly what sort of player they were getting. Stewart had netted Rovers' goal in a 2-1 defeat to Town in the 1995 Second Division play-off final.

The Bristolian had scored 24 for the Gas in the 1994/95 season and had certainly caught the eye of his play-off final opponents.

Stewart would stay in the South West for another season before relocating to Yorkshire for the 1996/97 season.

The Terriers paid £1.2 million for the striker's services in the summer of 1996, and the rest is history.

What follows is a story of extreme highs and lows for Huddersfield fans, characterised by a flurry of goals and a shocking transfer twist.

Stewart's instant impact in Yorkshire

Throughout his time with the Terriers, Stewart found the back of the net with ease. The Bristol-born striker scored 62 goals across his 148 appearances at Town.

Stewart averaged a goal roughly every 215 minutes for Huddersfield - an impressive return for the striker. This form was a continuation of his prolific record at Bristol Rovers, where he netted 80 goals in his 171 games for the club.

Huddersfield certainly received a tangible return on their £1.2 million investment, thanks to Stewart's contributions for the Terriers throughout his time at the club.

A prolific start to the 1999/00 season

Huddersfield, under the guidance of Steve Bruce, started the 1999/00 Division One season on fire, and looked destined for the promised land of the Premiership at the halfway stage.

Bruce's men found themselves at the summit of Division One on 18th December after a 3-1 win against Grimsby Town, with Stewart notching his first and Huddersfield's third goal of the afternoon.

After 29 games of the season, the Bristolian found himself on 14 goals, averaging a goal every 186 minutes. Stewart's goals had fired Town to the top of the league, and as Town's top goalscorer at the time, he was an indispensable part of their promotion push.

Despite all the positivity around Stewart and Huddersfield, there was to be an unexpected twist in this tale.

Shock transfer twist sends Stewart to Suffolk

Just when promotion seemed inevitable for the Yorkshire club, the sale of prolific talisman Stewart was sanctioned to direct league rivals, Ipswich Town.

The former Sunderland man was sold to the Tractor Boys for an initial £2.5 million in January 2000.

Terriers manager, Steve Bruce, when asked about Stewart's departure, said: "We all know Marcus is a quality player but we had an offer we couldn't refuse.

"We did not want to lose Marcus but every player has their price. Unfortunately, we have sold to a First Division rival but that is the nature of the beast. It remains to be seen whether that is a right or wrong decision."

Unfortunately for Bruce, we can now be confident in the proclamation that this was the wrong decision.

Ipswich would go on to be promoted to the Premier League that season via the Division One play-offs, with Stewart scoring three times in the Tractor Boys' play-off campaign. The Suffolk-based side defeated Barnsley 4-1 in the final, with Stewart scoring Ipswich's third goal of the afternoon.

Huddersfield's season didn't end with the same success as Stewart's, with the Terriers finishing eighth in the league and missing out on a play-off spot by two points. A bitter pill to swallow for Town fans, particularly as their prolific goalscorer enjoyed the same success that they were destined to achieve at the halfway point of the season.

From a business point of view, the sale of Stewart was certainly profitable for Huddersfield, with £1.3 million profit on the money they paid to bring Stewart to the Kirklees Stadium.

Despite this, the failure to achieve promotion to the Premier League was a huge loss from a footballing perspective, and fans made their feelings very well known to the club's hierarchy.

Stewart's delight and Terriers' despair

The following season compounded Huddersfield's misery with a relegation to Division Two, a huge fall from their promotion aspirations only just over a year prior.

Stewart's fortunes were a total antithesis to the Terriers', with Ipswich achieving a fifth-placed finish in the Premier League after their promotion, resulting in a place in the UEFA Cup the following season.

To make matters worse for Huddersfield fans, Stewart was prolific in front of goal. He ended the season with 19 goals in his 34 games played in the top-flight, making him Ipswich's top goalscorer.

The Bristol-born striker was only beaten to the golden boot by Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, who notched 23 goals across the campaign.

A signing and a sale that defined a generation

The sale of Stewart will go down as one of the costliest errors in Huddersfield's recent history.

The striker's goals had propelled Town into a position of great promise in the 1999/00 season, and then his sale caused the breakdown of not only Town's promotion hopes, but also their Division One status the following season.

Stewart went on to excel at Ipswich and even played in Europe with the Tractor Boys in the 2001/02 season, whilst Huddersfield languished in Division Two and didn't get their Premier League crack until 2017.