Jan Siewert confident of keeping Huddersfield in Premier League
Tuesday 22 January 2019 13:57, UK
New Huddersfield head coach Jan Siewert says he only took up the job because he is confident he can keep the club in the Premier League.
The 36-year-old German was appointed on a two-and-a-half-year contract after David Wagner left the club last week.
Huddersfield are three points adrift at the bottom of the Premier League and 10 points from safety after 23 games.
But Siewert believes they have every chance of maintaining their top-flight status.
"Without being confident I wouldn't sit here," he said. "I think we have to work hard and do our very best and prepare for everything.
"We have 15 more games and my only focus at the moment is the task I have to do with the team and I will give everything to those games.
Siewert, who becomes the Premier League's youngest manager, has been tracked for some time as Borussia Dortmund's U23 coach.
He is now following in the footsteps of Wagner, who held the same role at Dortmund from 2011 to 2015 before joining Huddersfield.
But Siewert says he does not want to be compared to the man who guided Huddersfield to promotion in 2017.
"I always did it my way so I can't be compared to David Wagner because he's a fantastic manager and had so much success here," he added.
"But now it's my role here. It's a new chapter and the most important thing is that I'm used to working with professional players, at Dortmund I had some great opportunities and now I'd like to challenge myself.
"Of course there are similarities, but the most important thing is I'm Jan Siewert and I have to do it my way as David did it his way. We should not compare us two because that's not possible."
Huddersfield's chief executive Julian Winter said Siewert had been the club's number one target.
"Yes, we didn't speak to anyone else," Winter said. "David was a massive success and he stayed loyal to the club when there was a lot if interest in him, but we kept a running list of candidates, and Jan was always on that list - he was absolutely on the top."
