Former Huddersfield Town captain Tommy Smith says "expectations have changed" at the Yorkshire club ahead of Sunday's Championship play-off final.
Forest take on the Terriers at Wembley Stadium on Sunday (May 29) with a place in the Premier League up for grabs for the victors. Huddersfield Town were in the Premier League as recently as 2019 and have tasted play-off success at Wembley once before after beating Reading on penalties back in 2016/17.
Smith was part of the side that won promotion to the top-flight five years ago but has since become a free agent following his release by Stoke City. The now-30-year-old featured against his old side in a 2-1 win at the bet365 Stadium back in September and is not surprised at all to see his former employers within 90 minutes of a return to the Premier League.
READ MORE: Jurgen Klopp makes 'crazy' Steve Cooper comment as Nottingham Forest boss misses out on award
ALSO READ: The key factor Nottingham Forest must control in promotion showdown with Huddersfield Town
Speaking on the Radio 5 Live podcast Football Daily 72+, he said: "To be fair to Huddersfield, the way they’ve gone about this season, the way they’ve played, you have to say they thoroughly deserve to be in the play-off mix.
"They’re a very well-drilled side, they’ve got a good manager, and yeah, they probably have surprised a lot of people based on last season's finish, but as I’ve just said they thoroughly deserve to be in the play-offs and they’ve got an unbelievable chance now to go back to the Premier League."
He added: "I think a lot of things have changed, notably the manager; a lot of players have changed; I would probably say expectations have changed. It’s definitely a different club to the one I was at. There’s probably two or three players who are there now [who were there] when I was there.
"So a lot of changes have gone on but I think it’s great to see that they’re still in and around it and they’ve got a great chance of being promoted to the Premier League, which will be an amazing day down at Wembley on Sunday.
"It’s great for the Town, great for the people, and most definitely for [former chairman and current chief executive Dean Hoyle], who I still have a lot of time for and I still keep in contact with."
