David Wagner says he’s a ‘completely different’ person from the manager who left England for Germany in 2019
Norwich manager David Wagner believes he is a superior boss to the one who led Huddersfield to the Premier League in 2017
David Wagner was lauded for leading Huddersfield Town to the Premier League in 2017, a feat few thought would be possible when he arrived at the struggling club in November 2015.
He won even further praise when he managed to keep the Terriers up a year later. And, despite leaving the club via mutual consent towards the end of their relegation campaign in 2018/19, it's safe to say Huddersfield fans hold Wagner in high esteem.
So it will be music to the ears of fans of Norwich City, whom Wagner took charge of in January this year, that he feels he is a far better coach and person than he was when he first arrived on these shores.
"I'm completely different – it would be poor if I hadn’t learned and developed, you must always improve yourself," Wagner tells FourFourTwo as part of an exclusive chat ahead of the new season.
After losing his job at Huddersfield, Wagner departed England to manage Schalke, in his native Germany, before a stint at Swiss top-flight side Young Boys.
"There were some challenges at a huge club in Germany that was really struggling in terms of stability," he says of his time in the Bundesliga. "Then I was in Switzerland and faced the Champions League for the first time. We had to qualify for the group stage, meaning the six most important games from a financial perspective came before the regular season had begun.
"So it was a new situation, but we beat the champions of Slovakia, Romania and Hungary. I experienced living in a new country in Switzerland, too – but now I’m very happy to be back in England."
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Norwich are among the favourites to win promotion in the coming season, and Huddersfield supporters will tell you that anything is possible with the German in the dugout.
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Ed is a staff writer at FourFourTwo, working across the magazine and website. A German speaker, he’s been working as a football reporter in Berlin since 2015, predominantly covering the Bundesliga and Germany's national team. Favourite FFT features include an exclusive interview with Jude Bellingham following the youngster’s move to Borussia Dortmund in 2020, a history of the Berlin Derby since the fall of the Wall and a celebration of Kevin Keegan’s playing career.