← Football Weekly
Football Weekly
Tuchel’s giant England squad and an EFL roundup – Football Weekly
00:57:14
Max Rushden is joined by Sanny Rudravajhala, George Elek and Ali Maxwell to discuss who made it into Thomas Tuchel’s England squad before the international break … and who didn’t
Loading summary
Transcript160 lines
- [00:00]
George
This is the Guardian.
- [00:09]
Progressive Insurance Ad
This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching your insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy. Just drop in some details about yourself and see if you're eligible to save money. When you bundle your home and auto policies. The process only takes minutes and it could mean hundreds more in your pocket. Visit progressive.com after this episode to see if you could save Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states.
- [00:37]
Ndomican Su
This is Ndomican Su from the no Free Lunch podcast. Ever feel like your workload is out of control? Like you're wearing every hat and expected to be everywhere at once? Running a business means juggling books, payments, leads, payroll, basically everything. But with Intuit QuickBooks, your workload gets unloaded. QuickBooks gives you access to Intuit's powerful AI agents and trusted human experts who work together to handle the tedious stuff so you can get back to what actually grows your business. And because everything streamlined on one platform, your customer management, accounting, expenses and payroll all work seamlessly in one place. So go ahead, outdo it with Intuit QuickBooks. Get 50% off QuickBooks online for three months. Terms and conditions apply. Feature availability may vary by product. Visit QuickBooks.com for details.
- [01:42]
Max
Hello and welcome to the Guardian Football Weekly. We'll begin today discussing Thomas Tuchel's England squad. 35 players, late call ups including Ben White, but still no Trent Alexander Arnold. Will James Garner win us the World Cup? What about Harvey McBarns? What chance do recall Maguire and Mainoo have of getting into the final group? And realistically, what starting positions are still up for grabs? Then onto the efl. Are Kov ready for the Premier League? Who of Middlesbrough, Ipswich, Millwall and even Hull would be the most interesting to join them. It's exhaustingly tight at the bottom of the championship. Oxford, Leicester, Pompey, West Brom and Blackburn all desperate to avoid joining Sheffield Wednesday. Lincoln could be promoted from League one at Easter with Cardiff sure to join them. With perhaps nine teams still vying for the playoffs in League two, it's picked three from six for the automatics, with Bromley almost certainly there plus way scrapped to stay in the league. We'll do all that, answer your questions and that's today's Guardian Football Weekly. On the panel today, Sani Rudjavagula. Welcome.
- [02:38]
Sanni Rudjavagula
Hello, hello from Salford Uni. If I have to disappear at the end, I apologise in advance. But learning's got to be done as well.
- [02:44]
Max
It absolutely Has. What's the subject of today's lesson?
- [02:47]
Sanni Rudjavagula
Sanny Live blogging and thankfully and with my colleague as well. So she might start them off if I, if I delay to talk Bromley. It'll be okay. It'll be all right.
- [02:57]
Max
Okay, good stuff then. It is a not the top 20. Slash the England pod from not the top 20 takeover. Ali Maxwell. Hello.
- [03:05]
Ali Maxwell
Hello. Pleased to hear that Sani is developing the Barrys of the future.
- [03:10]
Max
Yeah, absolutely right. George, Alec, hello.
- [03:14]
George
Hi, Max. If I have to leave early, it definitely won't be for learning.
- [03:18]
Max
Okay, well, maybe our listeners will learn something from today, but history would suggest it's unlikely. Right, let's talk about England. To start with, they named the 35 man squad. 11 players arriving after the Uruguay game. I mean you can George, get caught up with who's going to be the 23rd player because ultimately it doesn't have a massive bearing on the matches. But Ben White's inclusion is interesting after Quansa was ruled out, especially with Trent's continued exclusion.
- [03:43]
George
Yeah, I think that's kind of the big, the big story here. He's someone who's been in the international wilderness for three and a half years despite that time coinciding with the best period of his club career, playing as a, you know, a really important player for Arsenal. Ironically, I guess this, this call up comes off the back of not a great performance and quite a big game on Sunday. I think it's divided opinion amongst England fans. I think some feel like his decision to basically step away from the England national team fairly early on in his career at quite an important stage means that he shouldn't necessarily be welcomed back. There have been a lot of rumors and conjecture about what happened under the Southgate regime. I think it's probably quite telling that towards the end of Gareth Southgate's tenure there was talk that White had effectively ruled himself out of returning back to the national fold. And now under Tuchel, he's happy to come back in. That suggests that something has changed. He's someone that will hopefully, or I mean, depending which way you look at it, but will likely come to the summer having won at least one pretty big trophy with his, with his club team. And that's fairly significant.
- [04:40]
Max
George, that's a big.
- [04:41]
George
Yeah, yeah, you think at least one maybe. But in terms of profile of player, I think it's. That's kind of the interesting thing here where, you know, Trent Alexander Arnold is clearly an immensely talented footballer. But again, going back to the Southgate era, if you think back to the Last major tournament we had in the Euros in Germany. Even by then, Southgate was still unsure how to use Trent. In that first game, he played as kind of a hybrid right wing back, slash center midfielder. He was then taken out of the team and used to substitute. I, like many others, thought that a change of manager might see Trent basically ushered in immediately and installed as our first choice right back. But I think it's gone the other way where Tuchel looks at his skill set and while appreciating that he's an unbelievable footballer and a very unique talent, I think what he wants from his right back and his fullback is basically a very good one on one defender who's going to be competent in possession and provide a really good platform for the attacking players to play in. And that. And that isn't Trent, so. And if you look at Bukayo Saka, who'll surely be, you know, occupying that right wing role, he's played a lot of his best football in his career with Ben White at right back and at least with a pretty sturdy, you know, capable steady right back rather than a Trent behind him. So it makes some sense. I think as an England fan it's quite frustrating maybe that we don't get to at least see him have a look at Alexander Arnold, but maybe at this stage in March it's too late to do that anyway because I think he knows the roles that he wants from his team.
- [05:52]
Sanni Rudjavagula
Yeah.
- [05:53]
Max
And actually Ali, if you look at the England team and obviously there's a lot of football to be played between now and June, but it feels like the fullbacks are the most up for grabs positions like you sort of imagine. It's. It's obviously Pickford then it's probably gay in concert. Is it the three in midfield, Rice, Anderson and Rogers and then Saka, Kane, probably Gordon, but at right and left back, there's. There's a lot of questions.
- [06:16]
Ali Maxwell
Yeah. On the England pod, pretty much every month we go through every position and we discuss what's sort of up for grabs. And I suppose Rodgers versus Bellingham in the number 10 role is, is. Is still a big con station, but it's certainly Rogers's shirt to lose, it seems at this point, particularly with Bellingham recovering from. From injury and, and yeah, at left back's been quite funny because every single time England's had an international camp, we've commented on how pleased we've been with the new left back. So it was Lewis hall and then it was Miles Lewis Skelly and then it was Nico O'reilly and Jed Spence has popped up there as well. And then we wondered if Luke Shaw might come back into the reckoning. But no, now we're pretty happy with Nico O'Reilly. Except, oh, God, he's playing really well as a number eight for Man City. Is that problem? Probably not. The good news is Lewis hall looks absolutely sensational at the moment, and everyone's pretty happy that he's back in. And no doubt he'll start on Friday night against Uruguay, a game that I'm really excited about because although the first team, if you like, are going to be playing against Japan, and they are the most important unit, if you like. You know, all the speculation around the World cup squad is really, really exciting and fun to me. And I think essentially this Uruguay game is. Is kind of like the Squid games. There are players being pitted against each other for the honor of being probably England's first reserve in each position. And some of them, you can line them up against each other and it'll be quite exciting to track that game. So Foden against Palmer, I honestly think only one of them will go to the World Cup. I think they'll both get some minutes against Uruguay, and therefore, every time they touch the ball, it's going to be quite important if they can make something happen. As long as they do their work out of possession. You know, it's like a bad touch. You give it away, you get. You get killed, you're out. You're not going to the us Which,
- [07:59]
Max
Sanny is such a stupid way for anyone to play a football match, isn't it? I mean, I know that's what he has to judge it, but it's just ridiculous if, you know, Cole Palmer over hits a pass. That's it. No World cup for him.
- [08:09]
Sanni Rudjavagula
Yeah, it's the finest of margins, isn't it? You could be talking 15 minutes on a pitch to decide your entire career. Better this than previous tournaments, right? Previous managers where they've just kind of arbitrarily cut to the number that you'll need for the tournament. This, I suppose, why not keep it open and wide as possible. Yeah. A lot of discourse about the first game being like, england B, essentially. And was it Chris Sutton, many years ago, turned down England B? Yeah.
- [08:37]
Max
Yes.
- [08:38]
Sanni Rudjavagula
Yeah.
- [08:38]
Max
You know, he does regret it, does Chris?
- [08:40]
Sanni Rudjavagula
Yeah, well.
- [08:41]
Max
Well, yeah, absolutely.
- [08:43]
Sanni Rudjavagula
So I suppose, yeah, a good opportunity, because you do never know. You know, Trevor Sinclair, all those years ago, 2002, came out of, what, nowhere, really. He didn't really have that chance and did really well, and he's kind of the exception of a.
- [08:55]
Max
Had a great World cup, didn't he?
- [08:56]
Grammarly Ad
Did.
- [08:56]
Sanni Rudjavagula
He did have a great look up and that's the thing. And what was he. He came in for Danny Murphy I think. Was it? And Danny Murphy was himself a replacement was it? Or something like that. Anyway, if you've got enough players who are familiar with the setup and know what Tuchel wants, it does save you a lot of that legwork, doesn't it? So yeah, strange. Really strange. Very sad for Trent. But yeah, I kind of like the idea of I'm a people pleaser. You know, let's not upset anyone. Let's just keep them all happy for as long as possible and then absolutely break their hearts. They can't get to the World Cup.
- [09:25]
Max
George, what do you make of James Garner coming in and the recall players? Harry Maguire, Kobe Mainoo and Fakay Tomori.
- [09:31]
George
I have to wonder in these cases. This is a direct knock on effect of Tuchel having signed a new deal since the last squad. This is the first squad that Thomas Tuchel has named since he's confirmed that he'll be carrying on as in the manager post. The World Cup. I find it, I mean hard to really believe that Ghana's in particular is going to force his way into the reckoning. His club form is obviously brilliant and you know, if you're going to take the view that players can deserve a call up, which is up for debate anyway but I think he is someone that probably does deserve to be looked at by the England manager. If Tuka was still intending on leaving his. His job in the summer after the World cup then I wonder if he'd be overly bothered about having a look at players. It suggests to me that he's. He wants to, you know, he. When he first joined as England manager there were reports that he had made a huge list of all the players that were kind of in his pool of thoughts and now maybe he's taking a look at some more of those and then obviously he's going to be on for. For a longer period of time with Tomori, you know, he's, he's someone who. There's been kind of a small clamor for him consistently over the last few years given his form at AC Milan. Another player who I think given we don't have immense depth at center back it's, it's important to look at. He's playing consistently at a very high level and is an important player for his club and is in good form too. So I don't know, is there a world where James Garner puts in two incredible performances against Uruguay and Japan and forces away into the. The into the World cup squad? Possibly, but I think it's quite unlikely, although important to note as well that he's played for the England under 21s in the past. He's played at right back kind of and for Everton too. So having an option there who can play either as a center midfielder or as a right back could be appealing for a World Cup.
- [11:07]
Max
And actually Ellie, who is the. What's our. What's the reserve midfield if, you know, something happens to Anderson and Rice or one or the other.
- [11:16]
Ali Maxwell
Yeah. So Anderson and Rice are obviously missing this first game and they'll start, you'd imagine against Japan to, to kind of continue establishing their relationship. Feels like Henderson Rice starting duo at the base midfield is almost, you know, as locked in as. As anything could be at this point a couple of months before the World Cup. Which means, you know, depending on how serious Thomas Tuchel is about Jordan Henderson being an England player rather than sort of the England mentor of the dressing room, it's him and Ghana and then Mainoo and Wharton and clearly the. One of the main, main benefits of Elliot Anderson's emergence has been unleashing Declan Rice. If you like something that's been talked about a lot at club and country level, how do we unleash Declan Rice? Because he's really good as the deepest midfielder, but he's world class as the number eight. And so I suppose you have to look at it in those terms as well. It's. Who would excel in Anderson's position were he to be missing. Wharton's progressive passing is world class for Palace. He doesn't actually always pick it up off the center backs. He quite often plays a little bit further forward. But I've no doubt he could play that role quite well. Garner, as George has discussed, I think Maino, you probably want as the, as the Rice really because he's so good in the middle and final thirds and so, you know, such a good ball carrier in particular and a good passer as well. But that's probably not his main strength. And then Henderson probably is that deep orchestrator who's just going to keep things simple and make sure, you know, tactically so, so good and will maintain position. So it's those four. You know, it would take a lot, I think, for Ghana to make the World cup squad ahead of Wharton and Henderson who've been in so many squads. And I think Mainu would probably be considered ahead of him as well.
- [12:57]
Sanni Rudjavagula
At this point, just on reflection of this giant squad and the fact we're going to talk England, I rooted through some of my old, I'm going to call them family heirlooms. I want to take you back to the winter of 1996. The glow of Euro 96 has happened. It's been and gone. Index. Remember Index, the rival to Argos. And in the bargain section of index were some of the Corinthian bobbleheads from Euro 96, which I was like, oh, I can't afford them at the time. But this was like the extended squad, which I managed to get for about six quid, so, so I thought I'd bust them out. So this is potentially the future here. So I projected.
- [13:36]
Max
Have you got a David Unsworth? What have you got?
- [13:38]
Sanni Rudjavagula
I do have a David Unsworth.
- [13:41]
Max
There we go. Okay, that's a great. I think I really. Five points for me, I think.
- [13:47]
Sanni Rudjavagula
Can you guess the other two Corinthian bobbleheads players that I have, they are both one cap wonders.
- [13:53]
Ali Maxwell
This is the original cryptocurrency, wasn't it, Bob?
- [13:56]
Max
This was kind of collectibles. What are the other two then? They end the squad. Steve. Howie is a great show.
- [14:02]
Sanni Rudjavagula
I, I think I do have a Steve Howey, but he's not one of the ones in my hand.
- [14:06]
Ali Maxwell
When you said I'll take you back to the winter of 1996, I saw Max's eyes. Lighter mine, if I'm honest, somewhat glazed though I was, I was, I was more preoccupied with starting school in the, in the autumn of 1990.
- [14:19]
Max
If we're being honest, would I. Would I rather spend 45 minutes guessing these two bobbleheads or talk about what's happening at mid table in the championship? I'm, I'm gonna say one thing but like in the interest of everyone else, I'll.
- [14:30]
Sanni Rudjavagula
I speed you up then. I'll speed you up. So Corinthians went to the trouble of giving this man an unshaven look as a defender and you've only put extra plastic to give them long hair.
- [14:39]
Max
Oh, Barry Venison.
- [14:41]
Sanni Rudjavagula
It is Barry Venison.
- [14:42]
Ali Maxwell
Yes.
- [14:43]
Max
Okay.
- [14:44]
George
Okay, great stuff.
- [14:45]
Sanni Rudjavagula
And the final one is Neil Razor Ruddock. These players have the chance to be the equivalents of a bobblehead and they can live on forever. And 30 years later, a 40 year old man will be looking forward to passing this Barry Venison onto his seven year old son. Very confused. But this is the future of these England players. They could end up, you know, immortalized in some form.
- [15:06]
Max
Sanni, I'm absolutely delighted you brought that to the table. Feels the right time to end part one and we'll do the championship in part two.
- [15:15]
Progressive Insurance Ad
This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game? Well, with the name your price tool from Progressive, you can find options that fit your budget and potentially lower your bills. Try it at progressive.com, progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates Price and Coverage Match Limited by state law not available in all states.
- [15:35]
Grammarly Ad
Work moves fast. Every email report and proposal counts. That's where Grammarly comes in. It's your one place to think, write and finish. Grammarly's AI Agents help you find natural phrasing, fine tune tone and confidently write wherever you work. It's the premier writing tool that 93% of users trust to get more work done in a world of generic AI. Don't sound like everyone else. With Grammarly you never will. Download Grammarly for free@Grammarly.com.
- [16:14]
Max
Welcome to Part two of the Guardian Football Weekly. So the top of the championship looks like this. Coventry have 80 points, nine points ahead of Middlesbrough on 71. Ipswich have a game in hand on 69, Millwall 69, Hull 66. And then in the race for the playoffs, Southampton in the final playoff place on 63, Wrexham have 63 and Derby have 60. So the question on Coventry I guess is, look, they had that blip then they went on a brilliant run, won six games, lost to Southampton on great forms, but beat Swansea this weekend. How do you think they'll do in the Premier League?
- [16:48]
Ali Maxwell
Always find this quite difficult because, you know, we're talking about the team that, you know, in terms of me and George's EFL podcast, the team that, that we talk about every week as being the best by miles and so, you know, to sort of pivot and go well actually they'll probably be one of the worst next season but, but history suggests that might be the case because the odds are so stacked against these teams. Essentially, as far as I can tell from this season, we've had a good season right in that Sunderland and Leeds have, have competed really well. And how do that? They spent tens, maybe upwards of £100 million on massive, really fast guys who can run unbelievably quickly, sort of smash other players and, you know, score either on the counter attack or from set pieces but not very much in, in terms of kind of open play threat. So that if that's the blueprint, will be tricky for Coventry at the moment. They Play very stylish, attacking, kind of 4231442 type situation. They play through the thirds in the main. That one of the reasons they've got better again and so consistently over the last few seasons. But one of their big upgrades this year was just, you know, playing for their physicality and attack. They do have two or three really impressive physical strikers, particularly Ellis Sims and Brandon Thomas Asante. So they have played forward quicker and they have been better sort of in transition if you like, a bit more, a bit harder to set up against. That was one criticism of Lampard last season, was that actually if you just sat in for 90 minutes they might find it hard to break you down. But they've, they've got over that this year. They've got Matt grimes who plays 90 passes a game at the base of midfield. He's like the kind of Xavi of the championship. And there'll certainly be some questions about whether he can be anything like a Xavi in the Premier League. And if he can't, then they will have to change the way that they play because he. Everything goes through him. They haven't been that incredible defensively this season. I'd say that they've had vulnerabilities on that front and their goalkeeper has been one of the players of the season in the championship, Carl Rushworth. But he's a loanee from Brighton, so possibly won't be with them next season. So there's certainly plenty of question marks heading up to the, the Premier League. They've got plenty of time to prepare for it given that their, their promotion should be rubber stamped, you know, early to mid April. And what I should say is their recruitment team has been absolutely sensational for a really long period of time. Coventry's success is, you know, a lot of it gets put down to the management of Mark Robbins and then subsequently passing the baton to Frank Lampard who's taken them to another level. But deep down it's been Coventry's success in the transfer market, both in buying players to contribute for the first team, most crucially selling them for lots of money and then buying more players who make the team even better has been remarkable. So I would like to think that recruitment team make a pretty good fist of it, whether they'll be able to spend as much money as Sunderland or as Leeds. I mean that. That comes down to an appetite for risk really, doesn't it?
- [19:47]
Max
How impressed have you been with, with Lampard, George? And, and what's he done well this season?
- [19:52]
George
Yeah, really impressed. I was One of the many who couldn't really understand the decision to sack Robinson, appoint Lampard at a time where Lampard's managerial stock was, was pretty low. You know, there's a big difference between the, the, the Frank Lampard we saw, we saw at Derby county early on at Chelsea where, you know, he was initially assisted by Jody Morris and now he's assisted and there is a very clear start of play shift. Now that might be Lampard's development as a, as a coach or it might be because actually, you know, assistant coaches do a lot more than we as football fans normally give them credit for because they are, you know, often leading training and, and play a big part in how they set a team up. But Lampard's Coventry, you know, his Derby side were just relentless presses which often worked, but often would get paid. The, the press would get played through quite easily. Now Coventry seem a much more well rounded side, especially in possession, who often find ways to, to break a team down, who have no issue breaking down a low block. I think individuals have flourished under him as well. So he's, he's done incredibly well. Like he's, you know, I, I think that the decision to appoint him now looks like a master stroke and a managerial career that looked like it was spiraling a little bit is now back. You know, he's gonna be a Premier League manager next season by merit. Not because he's Frank Lampard and not because some owner in the Premier League has decided they'd like to have Frank Lampard as their manager. So the tough part starts now because there is a cycle that we see so consistently of teams like Coventry, like Middlesbrough ips, which were this team where they come up as a really good in possession side and they go to the Premier League and they realize that that style of play means they're probably gonna get relegated. And that either means that the manager who got them there in the first place is sacked or the manager has to change their approach, which is what we've seen with Leeds this season where Leeds certainly out of possession or a completely different side under, under Daniel Farker than they were in the Championship last season. And that is a manager in Daniel Parker who's paid the price for not changing the style of play twice with Norwich in the past. So it's going to be interesting. You know, Lampard's had a job at Everton, so he's already managed a team who don't necessarily, you know, dominate possession in the Premier League. And it went okay for a while and then didn't Go. Great. So the, the transition of style of play is going to be important because as Ali says, it's hard to see them coming up and being able to. To rely on players, you know, like Grimes to have as much impact up a level when they're not going to be able to play a high line and they're not going to be able to dominate the ball.
- [22:15]
Max
Sanny, you were. And it's so tight below them. Middlesbrough in second at the moment, Bibs which have a game in hand on them in third and then Millwall and I don't think you can discount Hull. You guys may want to discount them but you Sanny, before this were listening to a Middlesbrough fan podcast. I did say it is possible to over prepare but what are they saying? Because Middlesbrough have two points from the last three games. I mean this is, this is the wrong time to drop off, isn't it?
- [22:39]
Sanni Rudjavagula
Yeah. Once you've prepared for a pod by bringing a Barry Venison doll into the frame, you know, it's all. You can do whatever you like then. Yeah, yeah. The general feeling of fans is kind of similar to what I suppose we'd all kind of say which is the kind of they've never really had an out and out striker and they're creating all these chances and now they don't seem to have anyone to put in the back of the net. They're playing David Strelok up front who the podcast mentioned that two Slovakian journalists had told them that that is not actually a striker. I think he's got five goals this season so that's not working great. Tommy Conway as well isn't that sort of player and I think he's playing a bit more wide. So they are a bit worried because yes, it's absolutely the wrong time. The previous week I was at Sheffield Wednesday Ipswich and that was the. The week where everybody dropped points apart from Ipswich who accidentally have now become almost in the driving seats and it's just a that time of the season and burra finally I think maybe the failings of a squad that aren't quite well, they certainly aren't at a level of Ipswich for example, obviously because Ipswich came down from the Premier League Helberg style of play of just, you know, flood players forward has worked pretty well until they haven't got anyone to finish it off and that's really kind of hurt them these last couple of games. Have they got enough to get over the line? I don't know. I've seen Ipswich now not play great and still get results and they've got players coming back, so. Yeah. Whereas previously we were like, yeah, borrow the best of the rest. I'm not so sure anymore.
- [24:02]
George
And.
- [24:02]
Max
And they play Millwall on Good Friday. Ali, who drew with Ipswich this weekend. I mean, I keep expecting Mill Ball to drop off because Mill Ball don't play in the Premier League ever. You know, it's. And, and that is, you know, in the same way I don't expect Tottenham to get relegated, even though they probably will. Do you think Mill Ball can keep this up? It's of incredible achievement from Alex Neal.
- [24:23]
Ali Maxwell
Yeah, I think they can. I wouldn't necessarily have said that, that two months ago, but I, I honestly think when you get to this stage of the season, the way that they're playing, you know, the second half against Ipswich on Saturday, they're one nil down at Portman Road. In a game where, you know, most people. People minded like you would go, okay, Ipswich one will up at home. They'll probably win this. That might be the end of Millwall in the, in the, in the automatic promotion picture. They were excellent in the second half. They scored a really good equalizing goal and they hit the bar in injury time. They could have easily won that game against Middlesbrough. I would be very confident that Alex Neal will have the perfect game plan because this is one of the most underrated managers in championship history. The guy is amazing and tactically brilliant. And this Millwall team are really, really good. And again, it's that classic thing we always try and make. This point on the podcast is like if you can try and remove the actual name of the teams, almost do like a blind taste test. And you looked at these three, you know, yes, Mill will score slightly fewer goals than the other two teams, but they are all neck and neck over 39 games. And that's because they're all broadly as good as each other. And you can do the same with the playing squad. Yeah, Ipswich have got players that they paid. Some of them they paid over 10 million quid for. And Middlesbrough have got Hayden Hackney, who's probably the best player in the league. But Millwall's players, they may not have come for as much money and they may not be as well recognized, but they are playing as well as anyone. That Middlesbrough and Ipswich have Femi Aziz on the right wing. They signed for one million quid from Reading. He's probably now worth 15. And a lot of Premier League clubs reported to be looking at him. He's been one of the most impactful players at the level. Tristan Kramer they signed from Brentford B and is one of the most dominant defenders. Can play center back and right back and excels in both. But there's loads of others as well. Camille negley is a 24 year old Dutchman. You know, they were the ones that brought Zian Fleming over to the UK and, and he's now excelling as a Premier League player. That they're really, really good in terms of recruitment and it's not just, you know, 6 foot 4 Steve Morrisons like their, their recruitment team have played an absolute blinder over the last few years as well. They've used the overseas market as well as any championship club and all their players are playing just as well as all the other players. So I feel, you know, it may be they go to Borough and lose four nil, but actually there'd still be six games to go and I believe in this Millwall team's kind of both quality and their staying power.
- [26:55]
Max
Yeah, they're last in the top division in 89, 90 when Cambridge obviously knocked them out of the fourth round of the FA Cup. We all remember that. Should we ignore Hull George from this automatic picture?
- [27:05]
George
No, I don't think we can at this stage. Hull are in this strange position where net they're in fifth, they're on 66 points from 39 games. My reckoning is that their fans and their players are looking upwards and thinking, you know, Borough played Millwall, someone's going to drop points there. We're only five points off. There's no reason why with a good run we can't force our way into the top two. I also think that Wrexham and Derby who sit seventh and eighth, who are three points and six points behind Hull. They're probably looking at Southampton's form, who's sitting between them and their relentless winning run and thinking it's probably Hull that we can aim out here in Hull that we try and get past. So they're the team who, I mean all season they've defied logic, they've defied, they've defied the data. You know, their underlying numbers. The XG and all that stuff has them as a bottom half team but consistently they're proven that wrong. I would definitely say that there has been an uptick in their performance level over the last 10 games or so where they're now putting in way more displays where they win games and deserve to win them and put like a clear gap in quality over the 90 minutes between them and their opposition. They had a game against Millwall, I think it was last Week where probably the better side and came away having lost the game, which hasn't happened too many times into the season. So it would basically you'd be a fool to predict what's going to happen to Hull between now and the end of the campaign. It feels like you can't really, really rule them out. Finishing the top two, finishing in the playoff places or even falling out of it all together.
- [28:22]
Max
And Southampton's form, Sonny, is really impressive. Rich saying, how good is Tonda Eckerk? Can they win promotion through the playoffs?
- [28:29]
Sanni Rudjavagula
Yes, it kind of comes down to them and Wrexham really. It's. The margins are so tight. I'm surprised you haven't started this question by mentioning Shay Charles goal against Oxford which was. Was absolutely incredible. Just that absolutely. If you haven't seen it. And I don't think he was really involved, was he? He was like it was a set piece that was kind of recycled and it dropped to him or kind of rolled to him and he side foot, it went across the ball top corner. There was a man who looked like stop it.
- [28:53]
Max
I've just seen it. That is some hit.
- [28:55]
Sanni Rudjavagula
Yeah. Oh, it's incredible.
- [28:56]
Max
That was. That was some live blogging for your.
- [29:01]
Sanni Rudjavagula
Well, when you, when you get a chance to watch the replay a few times, there's a man who looks a little bit like John Bruin in a flat cap just behind the goal as well in like a blue and yellow striped shirt and he's really excited. I really wish it was Jon Bruin.
- [29:15]
Max
Never knowingly excited, I would say John
- [29:18]
Sanni Rudjavagula
Bruin and I know the boys have been. Have been waxing lyrical on Shay Charles for quite some time and he's not always been in the first team but when you've got someone like that able to throw in, it's just exactly what you need. And I mentioned Wrexham. I've seen a lot recently and last two of the last three home games. Three like three games actually, including at the weekend at Sheffield United and that to come from behind there they are missing Keefer more because of what he does. And I think this season Kiefer Moore's kind of really emphasized how much of a more rounded player is than maybe we gave him credit for. He's not just like a big target man like you go back to his Cardiff days, you just stand it up and boom it in. He did that Sheffield United. But some of the goals he scored this season, some of his link play has been great and missing him has meant Wrexham have been a bit more one dimensional kind of hit. Sam Smith and he's so strong. He's got so much pace. He's like. It's a bit like a barrel, but a really fast one and that's caused quite a few issues. And. And Issa Kabora, who've got on loan from Man City, is fantastic players who whipped in the ball for the winner for Smith. And it's kind of. It's kind of between those two. I mean, Southampton have got a better goal difference and I. I am also looking at Hull, who are incredibly efficient, but then you think, well, at some point they're going to come unstuck and yet they haven't. And I've kind of grown a bit fond of this Wrexham side now. Maybe because they keep being nice to me, maybe because I was nice to them on the pod last time. But it's quite difficult for them to catch Southampton it. Because there is. There's so little margin for error.
- [30:44]
Max
Do you think a professional footballer would take it as a compliment to be described as a fast barrel? I mean, maybe they. Maybe they would. He's a very good player. Sam Smith, I obviously watched a lot of him when he was at Cambridge. Now, Sanny, you were at the Live from Wrexham with Robin Ryan. Swansea's chief executive Tom Gorring just said the club will raise concerns over television coverage of their game against Wrexham, with the EFL saying Wrexham were given priority at every opportunity. Rob McElhenny called. Being able to commentate on the game, it was on a. He wasn't the commentator on the main coverage, it's worth saying, was the most rewarding professional experience of his entire life. Which will be a blow to the directors of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. What do you make of it, Sanny? Do you think Swansea have a point?
- [31:25]
Sanni Rudjavagula
I think you've got to remember that anytime you've got the home team doing something special, they're always going to be the story because they're the home team, right? It's all set up for them. But in this situation, I suppose, look, you know, put my hands up, you know, I was there reporting on the game for Sky Sports and these guys were commentating. I think it was their production arm and it's part of the documentary and it was kind of a synergy with sky. And David Protton, who, by the way, I met for the first time, is the nicest man, man in sports broadcasting. What a lovely guy.
- [31:56]
Max
Listen, I launched David Pratten.
- [31:58]
George
Be clear.
- [31:58]
Max
I got him. I. I thought he was. I thought he was eloquent when he came on Socrates. I got him down to talk sport, to co host a couple of shows. They didn't pay him, so I gave him some petrol money. I gave him like 50 quid. I said, come on, I can't do this enough.
- [32:12]
Ali Maxwell
Incredible.
- [32:13]
Max
And there. And now Prats. I mean, he hasn't forgot, you know, he'll still text. He's a good egg, is Prats. I don't know what you think chaps about about this, George. Does Swansea have a point or do we just have to go? It's part of the, you know, I mean, it's showbiz, right? Showbiz is showbiz.
- [32:28]
George
I think Swansea have a point, but I also think if sky and Snoop Dogg were both both agreed to do a live commentary, then I. I doubt Swansea would have much issue with that, given the PR it would give them and. And the reach we get and the social tips we get and everything else.
- [32:43]
Max
Snoop and Luka Modric commentating on a Swansea game.
- [32:46]
Ali Maxwell
Yeah, we're all just here. We all just exist now to be part of documentaries. The welcome to Wrexham documentary will use clips from podcasts to help boost their
- [32:58]
Max
story by saying, say something interesting now. Come on, say something good. Right, get on this.
- [33:04]
Ali Maxwell
No one believed in us. What a Cinderella story. They'll do that. So, you know, this is all feeding right into it, Max. Right into it.
- [33:11]
George
We had an email from welcome Treks. I'm asking if they can use clips from our podcast, which will inevitably be us at the beginning of the season, saying, I think they might get relegated.
- [33:18]
Max
Wow, that's good. Well, here's one of my look at celebrity lookalikes, Ryan Reynolds. I mean, they do go all the way down to Nigel from EastEnders and say, by the bell. That's a wide gamut, isn't it? It's a wide gamut. You know, there's Ben Affleck. There was once where I.
- [33:33]
Ali Maxwell
What? Just naming all the most objectively handsome people of an era.
- [33:37]
George
Leonardo DiCaprio.
- [33:38]
Max
Do you remember Throwback Thursday on Twitter?
- [33:41]
George
Yes.
- [33:41]
Max
Back in the day when it was a nice place. I once tweeted a picture of Ben Affleck on Throwback Thursday and said, when I was feeling pensive the other day and I got an email from my mum saying, lovely photo of you on Twitter. There you go. Love is completely blind. Love is blind, isn't it?
- [33:58]
Ali Maxwell
Was it the one of him smoking a cigarette, looking unbelievably stressed?
- [34:05]
Max
It was very moody. Anyway, back to more important matters at the bottom. Chevy Wednesday down. But then it is incredibly tight. Oxford on 39, Leicester 39, Portsmouth 40, West Brom 43 and Blackburn 43. Chevy Wednesday did get a draw against Watford. They certainly nearly won for the first time in months, Rich says. Are the EFL punishing Sheffield Wednesday enough? Sarcastically, I think 15 points off a cap on wages, can't spend anything on transfers until 2027 or because we haven't paid the man they just banned from football at £18 million. I just want to enjoy going to the game again. Ali, what do you. What is the latest and what do you think? Huge.
- [34:43]
Ali Maxwell
Yeah. Huge sympathy for, for that point of view. As always, it's the fans that, that feel punishment the hardest. I, I would, I would guess it's such a boring thing to bring up, but the EFL and, or anyone in their position in any league in the world has to have automatic punishments for things like clubs going into administration and not paying back their creditors. Yes, he is right that Chanziri, who is the man responsible for all of this and pretty much solely responsible, is the, the largest creditor. So it is the case that, you know, part of this is because they're not paying him back, but it's also hundreds of other creditors, many of whom will be local businesses who provided a service to Sheffield Wednesday Football Club and haven't been paid and aren't being paid a certain amount of money to the pound in this administration process because the new owners, you know, that they, they don't think that that makes business sense for them. So it's absolutely horrible. It's horrendous. They'll start next season in League 1 with, with a 15 point deduction. As, as you allude to, the tail sort of extends a little bit because also there are caps on, on recruitment, caps on what they can offer player wages. The fact is that this is Dejvon Chanziri's fault. I can understand why you don't. You might also be unhappy with what's happened kind of since he ruined everything, but, but it all really does come back to him. He would be for me still the main focus of, of my anger. But I would say there are also lots and lots of examples of clubs going through something similar and coming out the other side and sometimes, you know, and it doesn't, it doesn't have to take ages and ages. Sheffield Wednesday will have a football team next season, we hope, in League one and they will probably win loads of games and it will be more fun going to the games again. Whoever's playing for Sheffield Wednesday and whether they're capped at seven Grand a week wages or whatever the case may be. They'll have a team and hopefully a team to be proud of. There's a new preferred bidder. They are the second preferred bidders after the first preferred bid is pulled out. So, you know, the situation is not done. But I think there's some, some quiet optimism that with these preferred bidders, who are a US based consortium, as they, as they pretty much always are at the moment in the efl, that they will get a deal done and the club can move forward. But, I mean, how many months have we been saying that? It's. It's absolutely horrific for Wednesday fans, George,
- [37:07]
Max
Oxford United, your team, they've given you some hope. That's not what you want, is it? You don't want hope.
- [37:12]
George
I've enjoyed the hope, I've got to say. Yeah, I think kind of losing your mind to scoring goals when you think your season's over is. Is definitely fun. Even if it does end up with relegation. Three wins in a row and then nearly beat Charlton to make it four wins in a row before conceding a very late penalty. Having received our own first penalty in 92 games, which was exciting. Wow. And it was probably the softest penalty that's been awarded in.
- [37:35]
Max
So you could have gone to every, you could have gone to every home ground in between the last penalty and this one. Amazing.
- [37:41]
George
I got a penalty in the second half of the last game and then a defeat against Hampton, as you know, thanks in part to that golf Shay Charles we discussed earlier. But it is tight. But as is always the way, or as seems to be the way at the moment.
- [37:51]
Max
Moment.
- [37:51]
George
I always think it's a bit of a cliche and doesn't actually bear much truth that, you know, towards the end of the season, teams towards the bottom suddenly kick on. But last season that happened. In this season, it's happening again. And I think in part that's because some of the teams down there, certainly Leicester and West Brom, the quality they've got within their squad, there's absolutely no way they should be down there. And maybe the shock of realizing the position that they're in has meant that they've certainly, in West Brom's case, have really turned things around. So it's. It's looking like Oxford and Portsmouth are probably the two most likely. Pompey were 1 nil up against Blackburn in a game two weeks ago, which if they'd won that game, I think they'd have been seven or eight points clear of the drop. They conceded the Last minute equalizer and since then have lost their next three games in a row, the last of which came as a 61 defeat against QPR. Things not looking great at Fratton park and it's gonna be a big Easter weekend given that Oxford traveled to Portsmouth on. On Easter Monday. Leicester under Gary Rao at have, you know, looked better from. More efficient from set pieces but still not great from open play. They were good at Watford last weekend in a nil nil draw. They were the better team and missed a penalty to win that game. Blackburn are the other ones who under, you know, they've got this strange situation now where Michael o' Neill is their manager and he is just embarking on what is probably the most important week of football in Northern Ireland history with the opportunity to get into the, into the World Cup. And I don't know if I was a Blackburn fan, I would probably rather my manager was at the club working with the players ahead of some of the most important couple of weeks. But there's no denying that they put in some decent performances and their win away from home at Millwall was important. Having gone 10 down thanks in part to a red card for Zack Sturge that was overturned afterwards. So it is very tight. As an Oxford fan, it's looking for who you're going to be able to climb above because there are some big fish down there.
- [39:36]
Max
Who's going down, sonny?
- [39:38]
Sanni Rudjavagula
Well, do you know what? I was just looking at the table and double checking what West Brom have done have got next because their last two games, James Morrison's now in charge and by all accounts has put a bit of a rocket up them and just decided to turn it on and smash All City three zero. And then followed up by an away winner at Bristol City. One nil. And all of a sudden you're like, right, okay, they've got a huge amount of momentum and after they play Wrexham, they then go to Blackburn Rovers. And Rovers, like Portsmouth, have only won four games at home all season. And I do start to feel that, you know, I previously said here that I think Rovers will be okay because they've got enough youngsters to. Who are good because their academy is excellent to kind of give them a bit of a bit, just a little bit more quality to get themselves out of this, even though, you know, the owners haven't been investing. And to the point where, by the way, I posted a picture that went viral of Kim Helberg in a H and M jumper. Yes. Which was great. At the Slow Snail Gardening Club. Whatever. And what I noticed in the background as well is he's in the Blackburn Rovers dugout and the Rovers badge on the second row of seats has worn away. And it's very symbolistic of where kind of Ewood park and Blackburn Rovers are. You know, it is fallen glories and all the rest of those cliches, but the investment in the squad and off the pitch hasn't been there and that is never a good sign. It does feel like they're kind of circling the drain, whereas someone like Portsmouth or Oxford are just, you know, haven't quite got the quality there. And you kind of think, well, okay, a club that are in the doldrums versus somebody who's arguably not got the strongest squad but can get a bit momentum, can they do something? Maybe I say that, you know, pompey got obliterated 5:1 at. Was it 61 6:1 at QPR. So perhaps not. So I think West Brom all of a sudden are turning it on. I'm so therefore worried about Pompey and Rovers. And I do have a soft spot for Oxford purely because of George. Like I've got no other skin in the game.
- [41:34]
George
Yeah.
- [41:35]
Max
What a guy. What a guy. Yeah.
- [41:37]
Sanni Rudjavagula
They're on third and it is important. They're on 39 points and that's only one point above the drop, even though they are second. Bottom.
- [41:42]
Max
Christian says, are the EFL regulars looking forward to visiting the Beyonce Go Kart NFL Showcase arena next season? Selfishly, Ali, how brilliant for you. And would it be brilliant for the EFL if Tottenham were in it?
- [41:54]
Ali Maxwell
Yeah, I mean, the EFL will be buzzing. I'm pretty confident of that. Tottenham will have some funky kickoff times, there's no doubt. And I'm looking forward to. I don't know who's their celebrity fan that could co commentate on some games on a red button.
- [42:06]
Max
It'll be McIntyre. It'd be McIntyre.
- [42:08]
Ali Maxwell
Oh, of course it would. Actually, one of my biggest sort of footballing icks is. And I would be careful what to say here is when football journalists make a big deal out of like the buffet at a certain stadium that they're working at a game at and things like that. So I. I can't be too hypocritical and say I can't wait to get the Tube to an amazing stadium and enjoy the delights of the Tottenham press room. But I personally come from it, from a point of view of the English football pyramid, for me is so special because of its mobility, because of the fact that you can be Lincoln City and you can have been in the National League 8, nine years ago and you can next season be playing in the championship and you can be rewarded for being really, really, really good over a long period of time or even just having a good year like that is quite clearly when we boil the best part of English football is promotion, and therefore relegation, as well as its counterweight that is there to punish you for being really, really bad. And in the modern game, football finance has exploded to such a position where the gaps between teams are so big on that front that it should be almost impossible to be relegated, even if you are really, really, really bad in your decision making over a long period of time and nothing to do with Tottenham. But I would be pleased to an extent that we could still have an English game where despite having more money than all but five teams in the world or all but five teams in English football, you can still be punished, you can still get relegated, you can still be demoted for being shambolic. I think that's actually quite important. So there you go, a rubbish start to the answer. And I think ultimately we got to
- [43:49]
Max
how I really feel a standing ovation for the end of it. And that'll do for part two. Part three. We'll begin talking about Link Kid
- [43:58]
Pablo Torre
hi, this is Pablo Torre from Pablo Torre finds out and today I want to talk to you about Boost Mobile because we spend a lot of time analyzing inefficiencies in sports, overvalued contracts, money tied up in the wrong places, and so on. But those inefficiencies aren't just on a roster. Sometimes they're in your own monthly expenses. Boost Mobile says switching to their $25 Unlimited Forever plan can unlock up to $600 in savings a year. That's $25 a month month for unlimited data, talk and text. When you bring your own phone. If that money is trapped in a pricey phone bill, it might be worth a second look. Visit boostmobile.com to learn more. After 30 gigabytes, customers may experience lower speeds. Customers pay 25 per month as long as they remain active on the Boost Mobile Unlimited Plan savings claim. Based on a January 2026 Boost Mobile survey of a thousand Americans with single line unlimited plans, comparing average annual payments of major carriers to 12 months on the Boost Mobile Unlimited plan. For full offer details, visit boostmobile.com this
- [44:55]
Progressive Insurance Ad
episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game? Well, with the name your price tool from Progressive, you can find options that fit your budget and potentially Lower your bills. Try it@progressive.com Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates Price and coverage match Limited by state law not available in all states.
- [45:15]
Ali Maxwell
Foreign.
- [45:23]
Max
To part three of the Guardian Football Weekly. So League One looks like this. Lincoln have 84 points from 39 games. Extraordinary. Cardiff 77 and they are 11 points clear of the playoff places. Bolton 66, Bradford 65. Then down to Stockport and Stevenage in the last two playoff spots on 60. And then Plymouth, Reading, Huddersfield and Wickham, the chasing pack. Dean got in touch on on Twitter on Sunday to ask for more coverage of Lincoln. George this run is just extraordinary, isn't it? I mean we said it when they were second and Cardiff were running away with it, but they've just sort of, they've just kicked on from there.
- [45:59]
George
Someone stupidly on the EFR podcast sat about two and a half months ago and predicted that Lincoln's former tailed off and they would fall away. And since then they've been relentlessly brilliant making a fool of me because it's incredible what they've done.
- [46:14]
Max
Where did you have them at the start of the season?
- [46:16]
George
I think mid table.
- [46:17]
Ali Maxwell
Yeah, they were, they were in our dark horses category with Steven.
- [46:20]
Sanni Rudjavagula
There you go.
- [46:21]
Ali Maxwell
Has aged quite well. Yeah, 6th and Lincoln are first but we didn't actually have the balls to put either of them in the top six.
- [46:29]
George
But they are incredible. I mean I said this on our pod yesterday. It feels like almost because they're linking. Like if they were, if this was Cardiff posting these numbers or if this was Huddersfield or Blueton, you know, you'd be waxing lyrical about one of the best teams we've seen in League one for a long time. But almost because it's Lincoln, there's like this idea that they're punching above their weight and you know, actually they are just the best team in the league comfortably and we've seen. Scarala has came. This is the second full season. He came through halfway through the season in 2324 and was very good nearly to to the playoffs. Last season was kind of, I guess disappointing in terms of not kicking on from there. But there was no panic at a club whose decision making has always been really sound over the last decade or so and you know, at times where maybe the fan base or people might have been wondering if Scarbala was all that after that first season they retained the faith and the recruitment is always very good. The playing style is so repeatable and isn't reliant on. On dominating the ball. You know they are incredibly efficient from, from set pieces they have in Hamer, they've got a long throw that is, is incredibly useful. They have a rotation of forward players who consistently score goals. If you look at the team that started of the 11 compared to the 11 now, there's been quite a big churn of players but it hasn't impacted their consistency at all. It's, it's, you know, incredible what they've done and crucially I think that the style of play that Scubal has got and their ability to be really solid defensively whilst also not really giving anything away in terms of attacking threat means I think they should deal with the step up pretty well. I think they will. They'll really relish going to some of the bigger clubs in the league knowing that they're very happy to let the opposition have have the ball. There was a game they played against Cardiff a couple of weeks ago which was kind of the big title clash where Cardiff are probably the most similar in terms of profile a team to a championship, kind of a top championship side given the way that they play and the talent their players and it was basically like seeing a bigger, stronger brother hold the little brother by the head and let him swing away whilst not getting anywhere near them before he delivered the knockout blow like it was. It was so comfortable for them to see the game out out and not really concede anything whilst creating the better chances themselves. So an incredible job. I think everyone in the club deserves immense credit for this which isn't just a. It's not a one off season. It's the culmination of season on season of growth and it's a great story and I think they provide a really nice blueprint basically for teams with a mid table budget in League one as to how you can still achieve success and operate smarter and box cleverer than some of the teams with the bigger perhaps sunny.
- [49:05]
Max
The next most interesting story at the moment by all means disagree is Plymouth. Aaron says surely this needs to be discussed. Unbelievable turnaround. Only Lincoln have won more points than plymouth in league one in 2026. On New Year's Eve they were 21st, now sunny they are one point off the playoffs in sixth. That's insane.
- [49:23]
Sanni Rudjavagula
Yeah, I argue that and Cardiff's drop off would be the two kind of talking points but yeah, I mean Plymouth amazing. Am I not right in thinking that Argyll in the past have had like form for this like going on these crazy runs in previous seasons? I mean I'm not making it up on my boys George and Ali. That's true. Isn't It.
- [49:43]
Ali Maxwell
No, I think it is a bit of a thing. Yeah, I think it is a bit of a thing.
- [49:45]
Sanni Rudjavagula
The turn of the year and things have suddenly turned around. I mean, I think this season, unlike previous ones, the home form was where they kind of struggled and you know, they've had a few issues there. But yeah, it is amazing. I don't watch enough of Argylle actually to come of having thought about like what they're doing playing wise differently. But yeah, this is, this is a thing, this is like a seasonal thing, is it not? And just, just whilst, whilst I mentioned Cardiff, I might as well mention it now because I saw them after, after that defeat to Lincoln, I watched them midweek at Barnsley and they were very laboured in a one all draw and since then they've only won one, albeit a four nil win, Exeter. But then they've, they've lost again home and then, and then drew nil nil last time out. And they are a bit like I mentioned on Burra, kind of missing like a striker outright really. And they did feel a bit laboured in possession. It did feel like they were kind of running out of ideas a little bit. If you can, you know, sit back. I'm not saying it's like, you know, Arsenal, Man City, League cup, but you know, it's about this time of the season where teams have played enough that there's enough data and all the rest of it to analyze them well that you can go right, we do know how to play against these sides. There may be a bit of over reliance on Reuben Colwill in the middle and it's, it's not quite coming together for them. And all of a sudden, although there is a, what I think an 11 point gap is, it's a Bolton. They actually do host Bolton pretty soon and Bolton have only lost one away from home, one at home all season. So there is an argument that momentum could be shifting the other way. I'm sure Barry Murphy's Cardiff have got enough, but I think that's an interesting one. So sorry, Argyle fan, I've just taken your question and answered it on Cardiff instead.
- [51:19]
Ali Maxwell
There's just a couple of things that probably, you know, unique to this Argyll story. One of them is at the point where they were 21st, you know, halfway through the season and you should remember that they were in the championship last season. So they were, that the fans would have felt like they were, you know, ripe for a double drop which would have taken them back to the level that they were at about six years ago. When that ascent up the league started, as you can imagine, there was an awful lot of clamor for the manager, Tom Cleverly, to be sacked because in the first half of the season they barely won a game, they lost loads. The team looked completely out of ideas and instead of sacking him, they hired Derek Adams to be director of football. Derek Adams, very experienced lower league manager, including a former Argyll manager who won promotions with them, who had most recently been with Morecambe a few spells over the last, you know, five, six, seven years and took Morecambe out of League two, but had not, to my knowledge, ever been a director of football or in that sort of role. They brought him in to a. Help with recruitment or to maybe look at the January window and kind of assess one or two obvious additions using his experience of, in English football. And also I think to support Tom Cleverly and to be a sounding board and a mentor. And you know, we always think that this stuff sounds like it might be a bit awkward, like, oh, he's been a manager before, is he going to want to eventually take Cleverly's job? And that was fair to bring up at the time. But sometimes I think it works out where someone gets to a point in their career where they really relish helping someone younger, giving their experience and their point of view. But hopefully, if all goes well, not treading on toes, I mean, it couldn't have gone any better. They signed Ronan Curtis in January, who's a 29 year old sort of classic League One, League Two winger and he's been unbelievable and our guy would never have signed a 29 year old attacking player any other time in the last few years because they've mainly been focused on kind of buying young and resale value and things of that nature. So Curtis has made an instant difference with his, his, with his quality, but also with his kind of his mentality, I think. And, and they have to be clear, some of their young players that they signed last summer with this idea that they would build assets in League one and try and kind of, you know, that that sort of model, some of them have come on really strong in the second half of the season as well, having struggled in the first half of the season to the point where argyle now have three strikers who are all 23 and under. One of them, Laurentali, they signed from Port Vale, is one of the best strikers in League one. Currently injured in his absence, Bim Peppel, who is a young Canadian striker, I think he's 22 that they brought in in the summer has been scoring more goals than practically anyone in the league in the last couple of months and so now looks like a serious prospect. And then they've got Owen Oseni as well, who's also 21, 22, who's kind of chipping in with goals here and there and also looks like quite a classic modern striker profile. So it's a, it's a really interesting one. They didn't sat their manager. Everything turned around even though they didn't sat their manager. And I think that's a nice reminder that you don't always have to Just
- [54:11]
Max
a quick one on Rotherham, the announcement you told me that Lee Clark is their new manager, that did surprise me. And then Sanny said he was managing in Sudan, which also surprised me. The last time I saw him he was being outed by Karel Prince for never playing in the Champions League on hmrc. But yeah, he's a nice, he's a nice fellow as Lee Clark. I wish him well at Rotherham.
- [54:32]
George
Yeah, it's funny how football does has this sometimes has this way of just throwing up names that you'd basically just completely forgotten still had any relevance really within the game. And you know, Lee Clark had a decent young management career at Huddersfield with that famous unbeaten run of 43 games or whatever it was in a Birmingham. But he, he last managed in English football Blythe Spartans in the 1920 season, which didn't really go to plan. He then went to Almeric in Sudan for a short spell before moving on to go to Al Ittihad in Oman before returning to Al Marik in Sudan before then posting on Instagram that he was retiring from management. So arriving at League one Rotherham in the midst of a relegation battle didn't necessarily seem like the most obvious next stop for him. But let's see, it didn't start too well with a 30 defeat against Lincoln. But yeah, Rotherham fans hoping that Lee Clark can come in from the wilderness to deliver them.
- [55:25]
Max
When you said, when you, when you said he last managed blythe Spartans in 1920. It is a 1920s style team, isn't it? Blythe Spartans like blimey me, that is a stretch. Okay then league. League two.
- [55:37]
Ali Maxwell
Alex didn't I'm sure Fly Spartans won the FA cup in 1920, didn't they?
- [55:40]
Max
Probably. Probably. Well that Lee Clark said he did and then Corel Prince said I'm not sure. I'm not sure you did. League Two then Bromley are top 79 points. MK Don 74. The Mighty Youth have 72. Knox County 70, Swindon 69, Salford 67. And then what? Grimsby have 62. And Chesterfield, Crew, Walsall, Oldham could all catch them. Ali, give us a nice concise top of League two roundup. Please, Please.
- [56:05]
Ali Maxwell
Yeah, it's. It's really strong. Lots of good teams picking up lots of points and turning this into a. A really exciting automatic promotion battle. There's obviously three automatic promotion spots. Interesting title race as well. MK Dons have been slowly chipping away at Bromley's lead, but Bromley haven't lost in 21 games. They've just gone over a year. Unbeaten at home in the league. They just keep getting it done. One nil win. One nil win. One nil win in their last.
- [56:29]
Max
So annoying.
- [56:31]
Ali Maxwell
And, you know, but it goes down to Salford in sixth. All of those teams still, including Swindon and Knotts and Cambridge obviously, definitely still all up for grabs in terms of the top three. And then another group of teams between Grimsby in seventh and Barnett in 12th. That's six team separated by five points going for what looks like the last playoff spot. So it's really, really entertaining. I mean, I wanted to throw to you, Max. Give us. Give us from the heart. Like, what does it feel like to be part of. Right, you know, an automatic promotion battle which could see glory, but equally could tumble into the playoffs and, you know, but how are you? Are you waking up and checking the table every morning and just making sure that, you know, the gaps between all the teams and who everyone's playing? What does this feel like for you?
- [57:14]
Max
Yeah, yeah.
- [57:14]
George
Well.
- [57:15]
Max
Well, there's one thing which is we've only lost once since October and it was mad that we're not miles clear at the top of the table. Like, I mean, that is ridiculous. But, you know, it's now at the stage. I'm sure it's the same for any fans in this situation. Situation where you're not just looking at your fixtures, you're looking at everyone else's fixtures. And then you're going back to remind yourself where they are in the table and who they've got. And really, you should just ignore it all and just, you know, we are actually sort of. We've drawn a few games recently, but we are getting. We are a good team. Like, we have, you know, we have good players. We've got a good man, a manager, Neil House, who is, you know, probably too good for League two. And it's just like incredibly solid. And young.
- [57:53]
Ali Maxwell
Max would have posters of Ben Knight and Kel Watts on his.
- [57:57]
Max
Yeah, Ben Knight's story is really interesting, isn't he because Pep gave him his debut in the Charity Shield, you know, and so I, I think we've talked about it before. It must be weird to recalibrate your own mind to. You know, he played every England level, you know, kept Cole Palmer out of England teams under whatever to then go, actually this is what my level is. But he has slightly dropped off recently. But he had a run of just being absolutely brilliant. Yeah, it's nice to see somebody who can control a football. I'm always impressed when I see that. At the bottom it's two from four. George and Barrow have 29. Harrogate 30, Newport 31, Crawley 31. What will happen?
- [58:33]
George
Any Trammere fans listening to this podcast are saying max, it's. It's two from five because they are really concerned about their current level of form. The managerial change, Pete Wild coming in hasn't yet yielded the turnaround of fortunes that they would hope for. They're losing games consistently and even though there is a gap between them and the chasing package, I think Tramir fans are worried that they're currently on 36 points. So they may finish on 36, 37, 38 points. Crawley have decided to sack their manager Scott Lindsay, who delivered promotion two seasons ago and basically re signed the whole promotion team. But it isn't working this time. Claddy, Lolos, Delio Orsi not showing the kind of form that got them big moves off the back of that promotion season and we'll have to see who they're going to turn to next in order to try and stay up. Barrow currently rooted to the bottom of the table who are on their fourth fifth manager of the season this time player Sam Foley has come in. They were beaten 5 nil at Grimsby on Saturday and their form looks really troubling. The two kind of, you know, good news stories I guess in a way. A Newport and Harrogate who are both kind of written off relegation back in September, but have done incredibly well to maintain their challenges. And Harrogate signed a host of new players in January and they've looked far better off the back of that. Newport under Christian Fuchs have kind of improved and they were a hammer blow when conceding a 97th minute goal to at Walsall last time out to lose that game two one, but they're playing well at the moment. So I think the likes of Crawley and Barrow hoped that Newport and Harrogate would just be much worse than everyone else and they'd be able to coast to safety, but it's not looking like it's going to go that way.
- [60:01]
Max
Lovely stuff, Sanni. Go teach your people.
- [60:03]
Sanni Rudjavagula
I should also give a quick flag though to on Oldham Athletic, who are unbeaten in nine and won seven and are rocketing up the table. That's one to keep an eye on, but yes, I better go and teach some kids I'm late for for them.
- [60:15]
Ali Maxwell
How good is it when your lecturer is late for class? That's like the best thing ever.
- [60:19]
Max
Yeah, yeah, just walking.
- [60:20]
George
Cool.
- [60:20]
Max
Going. Sorry. Thank you, Sonny. And you can go as well, chaps. Even though you have nothing else to do for the rest of the day, I'm sure. Ali Maxwell. Thank you, Ali.
- [60:27]
Ali Maxwell
Cheers, Max.
- [60:28]
Max
Thank you, George.
- [60:29]
George
Thanks, Max.
- [60:31]
Max
All the international playoffs are on Thursday night, so we're going to be back on Friday. Football Weekly is produced by Tayo Papula and Jesse Howard. Our executive producer is Danielle St. Stevens.
- [60:48]
George
This is the Guardian.
- [60:58]
Pablo Torre
Boost Mobile is now sending experts nationwide to deliver and set up customers new phones. Wait, we're going on tour?
- [61:04]
Ali Maxwell
We're delivering and setting up customer spots phones.
- [61:06]
Pablo Torre
It's not a tour.
- [61:07]
Max
Not with that attitude.
- [61:08]
Grammarly Ad
Introducing store to door Switch and get
- [61:09]
Ali Maxwell
a new device with expert setup and delivery.
- [61:11]
Pablo Torre
Delivery available for select devices purchased@boost mobile.com
- [61:14]
Progressive Insurance Ad
this episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Fiscally responsible financial geniuses, monetary magicians. These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to Progressive and save hundreds. Visit progressive.com to see if you could save Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliate. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states or situations.
- [61:36]
Grammarly Ad
Work moves fast. Every email, report and proposal counts. That's where Grammarly comes in. It's your one place to think, write and finish. Grammarly's AI Agents help you find natural phrasing, fine tune tone and confidently write wherever you work. It's the premier writing tool that 93% of users trust to get more work done. In a world of generic AI don't sound like everyone else. With Grammarly, you never will. Download Grammarly for free@Grammarly.com.