Huddersfield Town put nail in Rotherham United coffin with 2017 transfer masterstroke | OneFootball

Izzy Brown moved between the two sides mid-season, with the pair ending 2017 in complete opposite directions

The 2016/17 Championship campaign will go down in Huddersfield Town folklore forever, with the Terriers earning their place back in the top flight for the first time in 45 years.

Town got themselves over the line on penalties after a nervy play-off final against Reading at Wembley, with David Wagner compiling a team whose work ethic knew no boundaries at times during that campaign.

The addition of Izzy Brown in the January transfer window helped to keep the momentum going into the second half of the season at the John Smith’s Stadium, with the Chelsea loanee moving across Yorkshire, having dazzled at Rotherham United at the beginning of the campaign.

That move would prove to be a further blow for the Millers’ plight in the second tier, while push Town to a place they hadn’t been in a generation, with the two sides leaving the division via different exits when the season came to an end.

Izzy Brown starts season in top form for Rotherham United

Brown’s loan to Rotherham would prove to be his first real taste of English professional football in the summer of 2016, having spent the previous campaign on loan at Vitesse Arnhem in the Netherlands.

Right from the off, the then-teenager made his impact known in his new surroundings, as he offered creativity and a verve in the final third, and netted his first goal in just his third outing for the club in a 2-2 draw with Bristol City.

As ever, the Millers were among the favourites for relegation from the second tier when the season began, and while the defeats came regularly, Brown was showing flashes of a player capable of holding his own in the second tier, if given the platform to perform.

Having netted the only goal of the game in a 1-0 win over QPR in December, the young star gave United just their second league win from 20 matches just two weeks before Christmas, which is evidence enough of just how severe their struggle was at the time.

Brown was regularly the main creative outlet going forward, and would have to work overtime just to retain possession up top at times, with the Yorkshire outfit fulfilling their usual role as second-tier basement boys by the time the new year had rolled in.

Despite his side’s lowly position, Brown’s potential had been recognised, and it didn’t take long for him to be lured across the county to Huddersfield for the second half of the campaign, and into a side with much loftier ambitions on their hands.

Izzy Brown plays his part in Huddersfield Town fairytale

Huddersfield were a side more used to competing at the bottom of the second tier themselves in recent seasons, with the Terriers putting together an unlikely play-off push, having finished 19th in the previous campaign.

Wagner had his side well-drilled and the momentum was gathering at the John Smith’s Stadium, with Brown joining the likes of Aaron Mooy, Kasey Palmer, Danny Ward and Elias Kachunga as a loan option for the second half of the season, and immediately set to work on making his mark in blue and white.

Right from the off, he was showing exactly why he was on the books at Stamford Bride, as he buzzed around the pitch making things happen, and opened his account for the club just 41 minutes into his first league appearance at his new home, with a sumptuous curling effort opening the scoring against Ipswich Town.

That match would kickstart a run of eight wins in ten games for Town, with Brown finding the net against Leeds United and Queens Park Rangers to keep the run alive, and immediately endear himself to his latest set of supporters.

The Terriers had the automatic promotion spots in their grasp at this point - although Newcastle United and Brighton and Hove Albion would both prove to be a step above as the season ran its course - with Brown thriving in a side that offered him support when flooding forward, and options to choose from in the final third.

While their form took a turn for the worse in the run-in, the playmaker defied his years once again to score the only goal of the game in a win over Wolverhampton Wanderers to avoid any fears of dropping out the top six, with a play-off place secured once the regular season came to a close.

With the nerves ramped up for the end-of-season lottery, the two semi-finals against Sheffield Wednesday were anything but classics, but Brown continued to pose a threat against the Owls.

A goalless three halves of football was put to an end by Steven Fletcher in the second leg before Brown had his say once again, as his incisive through ball sent Colin Quaner through on goal, before Tom Lees diverted the ball into his own net to level matters on the night and on aggregate.

It would take spot-kicks to earn Town’s passage to Wembley, where they repeated the trick after 120 minutes of goalless football against the Royals, with Wagner getting his side over the line after a season for the ages.

Brown’s impact can’t be understated in that success, while Rotherham were left to fester at the bottom of the second tier in his absence, with relegation to League One a formality before the turn of the year.

Two Yorkshire rivals, and two contrasting stories, but through it all the brilliance of Brown shone through, in what hindsight has proven was his most successful spell in the game before his retirement last summer.