Michael Duff namechecks Derby County and Sunderland in stark Huddersfield Town warning | OneFootball

Michael Duff mentioned Derby County and Sunderland as he warned Huddersfield Town about the toughness and the different aspects of League One, compared to the Championship.

The recently appointed Town boss is certainly experienced in his new club's new domain; these things won't be quite so new for him.

He managed both Cheltenham Town and Barnsley in the third tier, over recent seasons, and he took the Tykes to the play-off final last season. Huddersfield fought with Duff's former side, as both clubs wanted him to be their next manager.

The Terriers went down with a bit of a whimper in the 2023/24 campaign, finishing their season watching Ipswich Town win promotion to the Premier League - their former home of just five years ago - while they sat second-bottom of the league.

The new boss has sent a stern message to them that they will need to take on if they want to achieve their goals of being promoted back to the second tier.

Michael Duff's Derby and Sunderland warning to Huddersfield players

The Northern Irishman said that his players are going to have to be mentally and physically tough next season, and referenced the Rams and the Black Cats as examples of how hard League One can be to get out of.

He said, via Yorkshire Live: "I think physicality’s a lot of it, I think [that is] the one thing in the Championship [compared] to League One, and there are leagues within leagues in this one.

"In the Championship, other than the parachute payment teams, who’s the small team in the league? Whereas in this league, there are big, big boys, of which we are one of them, and there are smaller ones, who have got completely different objectives.

"In the Championship, I’d imagine there’d be 18 teams thinking they can get in the play-offs at the start of the season. It’s not like that in this league, but there’ll still be ten teams thinking they can get in the top six, and there’ll always be a surprise package, because there always is.

"It’s making sure the players [are made] aware that just because we play in a big stadium, and it’ll be in front of a big crowd, there’s no entitlement. They’ll get told that, because I’ve seen it.

"It took Sunderland two or three years, it took Derby a couple of years. You look at what Ipswich have just done, but they didn’t get relegated and bounce straight back. They needed that reset, and it doesn’t instantly mean ‘right, you’re going to win the league next year’.

"Make no mistake, that’s what we want to do, but it doesn’t just happen. It’s constant work, and constant application, and building the incremental things to achieve the ultimate success. Talk’s cheap, so we need to make sure that we’re ready to implement all those things."

Duff also touched on the what he wants his Huddersfield side to be like, stressing the importance to him of being physically capable in this league.

"All my teams have been built on they’re fit, strong and organised. That’s what they (the players) need to understand," added the former Barnsley boss.

"Yes, you want to play attacking football, you want to get in people’s faces, but the foundations are fit, strong and organised.

"They better come in fit and they will come in fit, and they will be fit by the end of pre-season. That’s not just physically fit, I mean mentally fit. Obviously with the strength and conditioning, all that comes with it, [being] mentally strong, and then organised."

Michael Duff's League One experience will be a big help for Huddersfield

The 46-year-old's last job at Swansea City, in the Championship, didn't go very well - he was sacked after around five months - but his record in the third division is almost unquestionable.

He steadied the ship for Cheltenham, making them a solid League One outfit after their title-winning promotion in the 2020/21 campaign. Duff then took a newly relegated Barnsley side within a few minutes of a first-time return to the second tier, had it not been for Josh Windass' last minute winner at Wembley.

He knows how to get a team to perform at this level, and that is going to stand the club in really good stead for the upcoming campaign.