Skip to content
How enigmatic Josh Ruffels redefined his Huddersfield Town career before release
Some players are remembered for their contributions over a period of months or years at a club, others just have the odd moment here or there. Somehow, against all odds, Josh Ruffels comes away from Huddersfield Town with a bit of both.
The left-back had the unenviable task of playing understudy to Harry Toffolo in his first season at the club, making it a bit unclear how well Ruffels would handle the step up to more regular football following Toffolo’s departure for Nottingham Forest.
What few indications we had had were broadly positive, in fairness. Ruffels had been one of League One’s leading left-backs for Oxford United before he signed, and a poor FA Cup showing against Forest aside, Ruffels had generally stepped into the side and done just fine whenever required.
Read more: Huddersfield Town confirmed squad for 2023/24 after releases announced
Playing more regularly in 2022/23 exposed more of Ruffels’ limitations, however. With Ruffels played almost exclusively at wing-back under Danny Shcofield, sides started to target his flank from the very beginning of the season – and did so successfully. After a spell out of the side under new boss Mark Fotheringham, Town again had to turn to Ruffels after Yuta Nakayama suffered a season-ending Achilles injury in early November.
Prior to the World Cup break, Fotheringham used Ruffels in a very limited full-back role as he aimed for defensive solidity above all else, and better performances followed. And yet it was while playing this role that Ruffels had the night of his career, scoring twice – including an overhead kick from outside the box – to help Town come from win away from Queens Park Rangers.
A change of tack after the World Cup meant Ruffels was moved back into a wing-back role, and again he largely struggled. Neil Warnock mentioned several times that he was told upon his arrival not to expect too much from Ruffels. The veteran manager departed the club declaring that the 29 year old was as good a left-back as he had ever had at this level.
Looking through Warnock’s eyes, that’s entirely understandable. He had left Ruffels out to begin with only to suffer back-to-back four-goal defeats and decide he needed a left-back in the side who was primarily there to defend, rather than someone who would look to get forward at every opportunity.
Ruffels was his solution to that requirement, and he never once let him down, having easily the best spell of his Town career as he played the majority of Town’s remarkable comeback from bottom of the table to finishing in the safety of 18th.
Punctuating that was a truly superlative performance against Middlesbrough: having bailed Town out at the back several times in the first half, Ruffels scored another wonder-goal within seconds of the restart as he slalomed into the penalty box from the left wing, benefitting from a couple of challenges from Boro players that only served to push him towards goal with even greater momentum.
Looking back there was an obvious pattern in the standard of Ruffels’ performances: he tended to struggle as a wing-back and do absolutely fine as an out-and-out left-back. Warnock helped turn around quite a few players during his time at the club – but with Ruffels, he simply played him in a role he had already performed perfectly well instead of the one in which he struggled at this level.
With Nakayama hopeful of making a return and two good up-and-coming left-backs as cover, it’s hard to argue with the decision to let Ruffels go, but he has done enough over the past few months to suggest he may well attract interest from somewhere in the Championship.
