**STOKE CITY [A] the verdict ...... — Transcript & Summary | SozAI**
Source: https://sozai.app/transcript/stoke-city-verdict/

Bristol City podcast review of a 0-0 draw at Stoke City in windy, wet conditions. Hosts debate Skuse's tactics, the goalkeeper change, and the team's struggle to score.

## Key Takeaways

- The 0-0 draw at Stoke was seen as a point gained but a poor, uninspiring game that did not move the dial on the manager's standing.
- The goalkeeper change from Tickle is viewed as a major, potentially damaging decision.
- Attacking output is the central problem, with xG not translating into goals.
- Recruitment has produced many signings who are merely adequate, raising questions about squad quality.
- Upcoming fixtures will be decisive in judging whether the manager's approach is working.

## What the video covers

- Bristol City drew 0-0 away at Stoke City in windy, wet conditions, a result the panel saw as a point gained rather than a good performance.
- Dave Tubby says the team met his minimum standard of showing fight, but the performance did not change his view of the manager's approach.
- Simon Mann was relieved to avoid defeat and notes the team has been outperforming on xG yet struggling to score, with only a few goals all season.
- The panel debates the formation change from a 4-2-3-1 to a 5-3-2 or 3-5-2, with the hosts agreeing the manager is right to adjust but that it is hard to sustain.
- Goalkeeper Tickle was dropped after 11 games, which the panel sees as a significant sign of lost manager trust that could damage the keeper's confidence.
- The hosts discuss Pulis-style 'hoof ball' versus vertical play, noting it can be effective at its best but aimless at its worst.
- Upcoming fixtures against Bolton, Wolves and Norwich are highlighted as key tests of the manager's pressure.
- Discussion touches on squad recruitment, with concern that many of the eleven new signings have limited Championship experience.
- Club ownership and finances are briefly discussed, including the post-Steve Lansdown era and the potential sale of a key player for around 10 million.
- Overall the tone is frustrated but measured, with the panel acknowledging limited entertainment and mixed confidence in the manager.

## Chapters

1. 00:00 Pre-match Introduction and Opening Reactions
2. 05:00 Formation Changes and Goalkeeper Decision
3. 15:00 Tactical Analysis and Pulis-Style Football
4. 30:00 Attacking Struggles and xG Discussion
5. 45:00 Squad Recruitment and Player Assessments
6. 60:00 Club Ownership and Finances
7. 75:00 Upcoming Fixtures and Outlook
8. 90:00 Closing Thoughts and Wrap-up

Answers

## Questions about this video

Why was the goalkeeper Tickle dropped?

The transcript does not state an official reason, but the panel suggests the decision reflects a lack of manager trust after 11 games. They note this could seriously affect the keeper's confidence and standing at the club.

What formation change did Bristol City make against Stoke?

The team switched from the 4-2-3-1 the manager recruited for to a 5-3-2 or 3-5-2 setup. The hosts agree the adjustment is reasonable but note it is difficult to maintain consistently with the current squad.

How did the panel rate the 0-0 result?

They saw it as a point gained and a relief, given the wet and windy conditions, but agreed it was a poor game that did little to change opinions about the manager or the team's attacking struggles.

## Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown

00:00

Speaker A

For every Bristol City podcast, we're reviewing the game at the Bet365, where on a windy, wet afternoon in Staffordshire it finished Stoke City nil, Bristol City nil. I'm joined today by Dave Tubby. I'm joined by Simon Mann and Anne Banks. Um, chaps, uh, before we get into all the details we normally do, you first, Dave. Thoughts at 5:00 to 5:00?

00:14

Speaker A

Um, it achieved the minimum standard in that the weather did them a bit of a favor, because after the last few games, let's face it, they've not been particularly entertaining.

00:24

Speaker A

Yesterday they needed a response, and they got a response in that the players met that minimum standard, but the dial has not moved. If you were against Rowbotham, if you have doubts about his ability to play any brand of entertaining football, you will still have them. If you're pro Rowbotham, you still will be.

00:35

Speaker A

Those conditions yesterday were atrocious. The wind was ridiculous, and I can only imagine what it must have been like for the supporters to be there, you know, and suffer a lot of that in getting there and getting home. But at the end of the day it's nil nil, it's a point picked up, and essentially the only compliment you can give them is that they've met my absolute minimum expectation yesterday, and that was to show fight. You have to be careful with that, because if you're like, yeah, our players fought, it's like, well, I expect that every single game. So they basically met what I expect every single game yesterday. It's a compliment, but a nil nil with not a lot to it.

00:47

Speaker A

Simon, if you were still awake at 5:00 to 5:00, did you stir from your slumber when you maybe heard the distant sound of the referee's whistle bringing that bore fest to a close? What did you think at the final whistle?

00:53

Speaker A

Uh, I was relieved at the final whistle that Stoke didn't score in the last uh, 10 minutes. I thought, what on earth are we going to talk about on the podcast today for an hour?

01:03

Speaker A

Because there's a lot... Well, I mean, there's always a lot going on in a way, isn't there? But it was a dreadful game, uh, ruined by the weather, difficult for everybody. Hard to know what conclusions you can draw from it really, but at least it was a point. It was a game that, I think, a lot of you were expecting we would lose, and we did not. I hate losing, so in a sense there were some positives there, or a positive, but goodness me, what's the rest of the season going to be like?

01:15

Speaker A

Yeah, we've already seen on the forum a few people saying this has got echoes of Pulis ball. He seemed ecstatic in his post-match interview that he managed to stop the home side playing. They were on a decent bit of form, you know, they've come on well of late. So if you look at the game in isolation, never mind what's gone before, you've got to say happy with a point.

01:26

Speaker A

Yeah, totally. When we had the Charlton game, it was like how good that point was would be decided by the following games. As it turned out, it wasn't a very good point at all, and it wasn't a very good game at all at Charlton. Now, it wasn't a very good game at all yesterday. Time will tell whether it's a good point. What's happened here, and I think Dave said it well, is it doesn't move the dial in terms of where you are with Skubala. If people have doubts, they still have doubts, and you're not going to change your mind over a nil-nil in Stoke. You can see things from it.

01:39

Speaker A

The problem is he's put himself under a lot of pressure at the moment because of the way we've played football. You say Pulis ball, and there is a lot to it. Is it vertical? Is it hoof ball? What is it? At its best, it's vertical. At its worst, it's aimless. And when you play in a 4-4-2 and you try and hoof the ball, it becomes quite aimless.

01:49

Speaker A

But he's put himself, as I say, in a little bit of pressure. That's why he was relieved at the end, not as jubilant, because yeah, I've got a point out of this. But he's now got Bolton, and more key, he's now got Wolves, and he's got Norwich. In terms of how good that point was, although Stoke have been on a good run, anybody will tell you, people play with their xG stats and so on and so forth, and Stoke have been outperforming their stats. So there was an argument that maybe they were due to fall backwards on it.

01:59

Speaker A

Because I keep saying that we've got good xG in our games, and ultimately, we can have as much xG as we like, we don't look like troubling the scorers at the moment. And that's one they can play going in six, and it wouldn't be too dissimilar from Michael. Yeah, we're the fifth lowest scorers in the division. There's three on 10, one on 11, and then us sat there on 12.

02:08

Speaker A

Um, Dave, the old Tom Bowler was out, team selection, but the big call was at goalkeeper. Um, Tickle, uh, can't be too tickled about what Skubala did. I wonder whether he told him on the day of the game or afterwards, but what did you think of the starting lineup? Here's a manager that recruited for a 4-2-3-1 formation, and he's gone back to 3-5-2 or 5-3-2, whichever way you want to look at it, but the goalkeeper call was the big one, wasn't it?

02:19

Speaker A

In terms of the formation setup, no complaints. He's going to have to manage that, because you can't start it and finish it with every game with the side that we have. It's very, very difficult to do. But at the same time, we can't say that he doesn't make adjustments, and then when he does make adjustments, complain that he's made adjustments. It doesn't make any sense.

02:30

Speaker A

The Collins one obviously stands out. Tickle is your face of the franchise goalkeeper. They would have brought him in for, you know, three, four, five years as a set-it-and-forget-it type of keeper. And if you're bringing him out after 11 games, first of all, that's a hell of a sign. That's a real lack of trust that you have in the keeper being able to do the job. And secondly, it's really tough for him to come back from. He's going to find out just who he is as a person, because goalkeepers need to feel confident. Goalkeepers need to feel like they have the backing of everybody. And yesterday it was clear, like, the keeper's not trusted by the manager. So he's going to have to really find out, personality-wise, just who he is to come back from that. It's not the end of his road, but it's a hell of a statement.

02:40

Speaker A

Um, Simon, Tickle cost allegedly, I don't know, between 1 and 1/2 and 2 million. Dave's talked about the confidence thing. I mean, I can't remember the last time a Bristol City goalkeeper was dropped. I think we used to have... do we ever have Fielding and Bentley together? But I don't recall, you know, the number one guy, other than through injury, not being selected for tactical or ability reasons.

02:53

Speaker A

Yeah, I'd have to go back and look at that and do the sort of deep dive on the stats, but yeah, I was surprised. I could understand if he was dropped, in a way, after the Blackburn game, because that mistake cost the game, but I didn't think he was that bad last week against Sheffield United. I personally didn't think he could have stopped the goal. I think it was too far away from him. The Sheffield United goal was from our blaster, and he made one very good save in that game just to give us a bit of hope later on, just to keep it at 1-0. But yeah, big call.

03:06

Speaker A

In a strange way, as well, it was a big call to take out a player who's not been playing particularly well. But actually, what really caught my eye more was the formation change, because we were playing four at the back, and then it was three, five, and that, for me, was the thing that really caught my attention at kickoff, when I was messaging other supporters and things. So what was that? Wh

03:15

Speaker A

The problem is he's put himself under a lot of pressure at the moment because of the way we've played football. And you say Pulis ball, there is a lot to it.

03:23

Speaker A

There's Is it vertical? Is it hoof ball? What is it? What it is is at its best, it's vertical. At its worst, it's aimless.

03:32

Speaker A

And when you play in a four scale, and you try and hoof the ball, it becomes quite aimless.

03:38

Speaker A

But he's put himself, as I say, in a little bit of pressure. That's why he was relieved at the end, not as jubilant, because yeah, I've got a point out of this.

03:46

Speaker A

But he's now got Bolton, and more key, he's now got Wolves, and he's got Norwich. And in terms of how good that point was, although Stoke have been on a good run, anybody will tell you, we get people play with their XG

03:58

Speaker A

stats and so on and so forth, Stoke have been outperforming their stats. So, there was an argument that maybe they were due to fall backwards on it.

04:06

Speaker A

Because I keep saying people that we've got good XG in our games, and ultimately, we can have as much XG as we like, we don't look like troubling the scorers at the moment. And that's one they can play going in six, and it

04:16

Speaker A

wouldn't be too dissimilar from Michael. Yeah, and we're the fifth lowest scorers in the division. There's three on 10, one on 11, and then us sat there on 12.

04:24

Speaker A

Um, Dave, the old Tom Bowler was out, team selection, but the big call was at goalkeeper. Um, um, Tickle, uh, can't be too tickled about what Skubala did. I wonder whether he told him on the day of the game or

04:37

Speaker A

afterwards, but what did you think of the starting lineup? Here's a manager that recruited for a 4-2-3-1 formation, and he's gone back to 3-5-2 or 5-3-2, whichever way you want to look at it, but the goalkeeper call was the big one,

04:49

Speaker A

wasn't it? In terms of the formation set up, no complaints. He's he's going to have to manage that as because you can't start it and finish it with every game with the side that we have. It's very, very

05:00

Speaker A

difficult to do. But at the same time, we can't say that he doesn't make adjustments, and then when he does make adjustments, complain that he's made adjustments. It doesn't make any sense.

05:09

Speaker A

The Collins one, obviously, it stands out. Tickle is your face of the franchise goalkeeper. They would have brought him in for, you know, three, four, five years as as a set it and forget it type of keeper. And if you're

05:21

Speaker A

bringing him out after 11 games, first of all, that's a hell of a sign.

05:27

Speaker A

That's a real lack of trust that you have in the keeper being able to do the job. And secondly, it's really tough for him to come back from. He's going to find out just who he is as a person.

05:37

Speaker A

Because goalkeepers need to feel confident. Goalkeepers need to feel like they they have the backing of everybody.

05:43

Speaker A

And yesterday, it was clear like, The keeper's not the manager's not quite trusting you. So, he's going to have to really find out personality-wise just who he is to come back from that. It's not the end of his road, but it's a hell

05:56

Speaker A

of a statement. Um um Simon uh Tickle cost allegedly, I don't know, between 1 and 1/2 and 2 million. Dave's talked about the confidence thing. I mean, I can't remember the last time a Bristol City goalkeeper was dropped. I think we used

06:12

Speaker A

to have Do we ever have Fielding and Bentley together? But I don't recall, you know, the number one guy other than injury, I don't recall a goalkeeper not being selected for tactical or ability reasons.

06:25

Speaker A

Yeah, I'd have to go back and look at that and do do the sort of deep dive on the stats, but yeah, I mean, it was I was I mean, I was surprised. I mean, I I could understood if he was dropped in a

06:34

Speaker A

way after the Blackburn game cuz that mistake cost the game, but I didn't think he was that bad last week against Sheffield United. I personally didn't think he could get the goal.

06:43

Speaker A

I I think it's too far away from him. Sheffield United goal from our blaster, and he made one very good save in that game just to to give us a bit of hope later on just to keep it at 1-0, but

06:54

Speaker A

yeah, big yeah, big call. I mean, in a in a strange way as well, I mean, it was a big call that take a player out who's not been playing particularly well. Um but I thought actually what really caught my eye more

07:04

Speaker A

was the formation change uh because you know, we we were playing four at the back, and then it was three straight five, and that that for me that was it, you know, that was the thing that really caught my attention that at

07:17

Speaker A

kickoff when I was messaging uh other supporters and things. So, you know, what what was that? What did it look like? Was it going to be uh Some people were saying, "Is it still four?" No, it obviously had to be a five or or

07:28

Speaker A

three and and two wing-backs. But I I think Dave's uh made the point subsequently, and also, you know, some of my friends as well, you know, we haven't got What What do you do if you're playing wing-backs consistently?

07:40

Speaker A

What do you do on that left and right? Cuz we haven't We've only got we've only got what two that can play it and there aren't the people that can come in especially when the schedule gets really tough when you're playing three games in

07:49

Speaker A

a week. So that was interesting whether it was just for one game. I don't know.

07:53

Speaker A

Well, we're going to find out, aren't we? And the team Williams came back in.

07:58

Speaker A

Toney, we knew he was only going to play part of the game. Tommy Horvat not even in the match day 20. That sends out his own so so much to talk about with that selection. You know, I mean he seems to like Yaya a lot

08:10

Speaker A

at the moment. There's no creativity in the midfield at all. You know, you look at players on the bench. You know, for most city fans, I mean we'd ignore Greenwood but for most city fans you'd expect to see Twine and Randall in a

08:24

Speaker A

starting lineup if you wind the clock back two months but he certainly doesn't fancy Randall and that's come from the players' lips.

08:32

Speaker A

And that's [snorts] a really really poor show for me because Adam Randall was one of our best players last year.

08:40

Speaker A

He is an absolutely proven player at this level. Whether Skubala's um should we say in a mood with him because of what happened in the Millwall game?

08:48

Speaker A

Whether he just thinks he doesn't fit. Who can say but he's had far far too few minutes. In Skubala's defense when he played against Preston he didn't play particularly well but I think he played against Watford and I think he did fine.

08:59

Speaker A

So Randall is Randall for me should be getting more games than he should. Now if I look at that side yesterday, I mean I've been critical of Tickle not because he's done anything wrong but because of the fact I've said if I scouted him for

09:15

Speaker A

10 games, I wouldn't sign him because there are too many weaknesses for me. Distribution wise, command of box wise in the main and he's got a really low shot percentage saves and that's supposed to be a strength. So there is a

09:27

Speaker A

case for dropping him. I think they made the decision for Collins on the basis of Skubala said pre-game he was expecting Stoke to be big, physical and so so so forth. Now if you then got the wing, you've got balls coming in the box. Sam

09:40

Speaker A

Tickle does not want to deal with balls coming in the box. Now, there's a justified reason therefore for dropping him, but you don't drop your goalkeeper for one game. You've now got to give Collins that running in the middle of

09:50

Speaker A

the side. As for going 5-3-2, um it wasn't Well, it was supposed to be 3-5-2. It was actually 5-1-2-2.

10:00

Speaker A

An exceptionally narrow. I've said that I wanted us to go 5-3-2. It's a bit of a mystery that we've recruited for a totally different formation, but that 5-3-2 to me has a different makeup in the midfield.

10:13

Speaker A

Includes Adam Randall with Joe Williams acting as two sixes at the at the base of it. And it includes probably Scott Twine ahead of them to give you the creativity. As it is, we played Ya and Knight higher up, very narrow behind

10:26

Speaker A

Tulloch and Ballard. And as a result, there was no creativity. We were just reliant on second balls off Tulloch and Ballard having pumped it up there. With no width cuz we were deep. So, it's I'm glad to see the system change, but

10:40

Speaker A

it's not where it needs to be as yet. We're right about lack of options, and I think Jason Knight coming into the equation as a right wingback potentially is moving forward.

10:48

Speaker A

Well, I was saying that to Dave before we went live. And the conundrum We We haven't spoken to Simon about this, but but Dave, do you agree with Ant's view that um Knight is an option at right back, and

11:00

Speaker A

then that at right wingback, and then that gives you the flexibility to put Cardiff on the pitch uh on the left-hand side in in place of Pring, who's not the Cam Pring of old. I don't know how he played uh yesterday,

11:14

Speaker A

but you know, Knight at right wingback. And And the point I was going to raise with Simon, which I will in a second, is you know, he's still got the captain's armband. From what I've read From what I've read, he he played okay yesterday,

11:25

Speaker A

but what do you think of uh Knight at right wingback? Chris in text with me, he certainly doesn't think that that's an option, but you know, let's have him in the out there. He is one of our better players, even if he operates at

11:38

Speaker A

50%, but what's your view on that? Well, the issue with Knight is the where is his best position?

11:45

Speaker A

Where should he play within the side and does he actually fit the way that Skubala wants to play?

11:51

Speaker A

And for Skubala's kind of football to work, first of all, they have to kind of buy the bluff that you can play through the lines. What we know for sure is that Knight and I cannot play together in a

12:01

Speaker A

4-2-3-1 because they cannot do it. You know, and as soon as you can't play through that line, you've only got one option and it's pipe and slippers football.

12:10

Speaker A

I would absolutely play Knight as as an option as a right wing-back. First of all, if you're going to play 5-3-2, 3-5-2, you have to. Because he's the only one that can do it in a rotation on that side, say for example, with

12:23

Speaker A

Cadden's. Because you've got Præst on one side, you can have Cadden's that side. You would have to go in rotation with Cadden's and Knight on the other side.

12:30

Speaker A

You've got Morrison as well, Dave, haven't you? I know I think he's injured at the moment, but he's still an option.

12:35

Speaker A

He is is an option, but and as I discovered with the pushback I got, it is not an option right now in terms of doing that. You know, this is this is all hands on deck on deck at the moment.

12:46

Speaker A

This is not a situation of let me blood a few youngsters. Skubala does not have that room for maneuver with the fan base right now. And changing formation has already opened a few eyes, even if it's the right move. Now, when you play

12:57

Speaker A

Knight in the 10, that's great from a pressing point of view, but actually Twine's pretty good. Now, is Twine creative? He certainly produces statistics, but is he creative? Knight isn't creative when you put him in the 10. So, yes, they we lack creativity.

13:13

Speaker A

What Knight can do is run and he's full of energy. That's why for me, the right wing-back is an option because then all of a sudden you have another way of getting your best players and one of them being BDK

13:23

Speaker A

on the pitch. And if you had a a base of Williams and BDK, for example, all of a sudden you've got ballers, you've got players that can pass, you can get Twine in the side. So, a lot of it does make

13:35

Speaker A

sense if you put him out there. Mhm. Simon, your thoughts on Knight. We haven't spoken to you for a couple of weeks, but he was particularly poor along with the rest of them against Sheffield. He's still got the captain's

13:46

Speaker A

armband. His post-match interview after Sheffield was very uh quite insulting if you're a City fan. He didn't seem massively bothered about it, but you know, if you want to get value on the pitch and get players in the

13:58

Speaker A

middle that want to be here, that's an option for Twine. And what's your overall view on him and his current status and indeed as team captain?

14:07

Speaker A

I'm quite pragmatic about it, actually. I mean, he's the only player that's started every game uh this season, uh Jason [snorts] Knight. I mean, I generally prefer when he's in the side. I don't think he's become absolutely indispensable

14:19

Speaker A

anymore. Um I mean, just on a wider point I I wonder about James Ellis was asked in his I think it was Radio Bristol interview the last time he spoke uh publicly. He he he it was suggested to him that he

14:32

Speaker A

had a great transfer window. And one thing he said was, "We don't know yet." And I thought that was a really interesting answer from him. So, and and I look at some of our recruitment and I I I kind of wonder

14:44

Speaker A

I wonder about the recruitment. I also wonder about this team at the moment. I don't I mean, if if Skubala stays, I I don't see this team being the team we see say in a year's time. I actually had

14:54

Speaker A

a look back uh before we came on air at the at the City team that played at Stoke last year and lost 5-1. Do you know how many players started yesterday that uh started that 5-1 game?

15:06

Speaker A

I'll say three. I can tell you the answer. It was one. And do you know who that one was? It was actually it was actually the a player who who actually had a very significant impact on the game in a strange [snorts]

15:16

Speaker A

way. It was George Tanner because he was involved in the situation in which the Stoke striker Cissé was injured and I thought actually that helped us enormously cuz I thought he looked really lively getting in behind. Anyway, so it just shows what sort of churn

15:29

Speaker A

there is in football and I I can't believe for a moment that you know, if you go forward a year that this this Bristol City team will look anything like it does now cuz I I just I don't

15:39

Speaker A

see I don't see this generally as being a Scooby Doo team. I watched Wigan I watched Lincoln play obviously at our place, but I also watched them against Millwall last week and my god they they're all massive. They're all huge

15:51

Speaker A

like the land of the giants out there. Very very physical. So I I don't know what we're going to say I I suppose my instinct is it's not the football I generally want to watch. I want I want obviously want

16:02

Speaker A

to see us win. I hate losing, but I also I also want when I go, I want to be entertained. I want to see some nice football some bits of nice football anyway and I you know, I I'd like to win, but

16:16

Speaker A

we're not being entertained, are we? We're not There's nothing There's nothing that gets you excited uh watching this. But they and there seem to be so many square pegs in round holes. It just does It just doesn't seem to be working.

16:28

Speaker A

Okay, everyone's trying. I think everyone's trying and and trying to work hard, but it's it's ugly, isn't it? It's ugly.

16:35

Speaker A

Yeah. And I mean, we talk about recruitment and to a system or what have you. Um the summer when we ended up buying Twine, we got McNally as well. We were splashing the cash a little bit.

16:47

Speaker A

And you know, at this level even at the highest level when you buy players, it's a bit of a lottery cuz some are going to be good, some are going to be bad. If the old recruitment regime was still in

16:56

Speaker A

charge, they'd be getting a lot more pelters for this apparent scattergun unplanned approach to recruitment than these chaps are getting at the moment.

17:05

Speaker A

Although the heat's going to come up if we end up only getting another three points in the next three games.

17:11

Speaker A

Well, James Ellis gets a bit of a pass from a lot of people because he's not Brian Tinnion.

17:17

Speaker A

And you know, that was one of the reasons why people were giddy over the recruitment in the summer.

17:22

Speaker A

The other reason why a few people are giddy over the recruitment in the summer is we signed players like Yiadom, for example, who has really good Football Manager stats. And people, you know, you can't make a judgment on him if not seen

17:36

Speaker A

him for a significant amount of time. So, we've signed a lot of players. And the bit that Tinnion says there about it's going to be a different side if Scougall says Didn't James Ellis say we front-loaded our business? The reason we did so much

17:51

Speaker A

business in the summer was so we'd have to do less business in future windows.

17:57

Speaker A

So, that says to me that actually we signed what, 11 players? Mhm. Do we need to sign 11 more players to get anywhere near looking like a coherent side that plays under Scougall?

18:09

Speaker A

Because if that's the case, this becomes like painting the Forth Road Bridge. You know, it's never-ending, it's never-ending, it's never-ending.

18:17

Speaker A

And when we look about Right, we've got Oh, we're going to get rid of Pogba. Oh, we're going to get rid of Randall. You know, are we going to get rid of Twine?

18:25

Speaker A

If you looked at what our best side, quote unquote, was, how many of those 11 players that we signed in the summer would get in that, quote unquote, best side?

18:36

Speaker A

Mhm. Because I'm looking at it and I'm saying 3-5-2. And I'm saying my three, if everyone's fit, um McNally, Eardley, and Easton. So, that's one.

18:45

Speaker A

The goalkeeper Mhm. I don't have a preference for the goalkeeper. I have no preference.

18:49

Speaker A

You know, but you start working through it and say, "Well, actually, does Gibson Yiadom get in my best midfield?" No, he doesn't. He's described on Wikipedia as a midfielder with an eye for goal.

18:58

Speaker A

I wonder how many times I wonder how many times we actually watched Gibson Yiadom play, never mind sitting down watching it video tapes and Guys, are you Are you really saying that you're essentially you're implying that you're not having Gibson Yiadom now? I

19:11

Speaker A

mean, is is that where this going? What I am saying is that yesterday we were better when De Gier came on for Yaya. Yaya is enthusiastic.

19:21

Speaker A

He's puppy like he's running around the pitch, but there's nothing he's shown me so far which says actually is he a better option than we talk about Knight, Williams. I've seen more from De Gier than I have from Yaya so far. I'm

19:33

Speaker A

not writing Yaya off. No, I'm not saying I'm not having Gibson Yaya. I'm saying if you go through this and say, right, all of these signings, we've reviewed at some of the future. You know, Isak, I think gets in our best

19:44

Speaker A

side even with the rough edges. Yeah. Gibson Yaya doesn't with the rough edges at the moment is what I say.

19:49

Speaker A

I mean, I I mean, look at it this way, you know, if you look at I mean, De Gier to me, Oxford United, he's a little bit like that Mark McGuane that we signed, you know, who came in and was was was

20:00

Speaker A

okay, you know, and this is the problem with our signings. They're okay. They're not bad. They're just okay. Let's get into the action cuz there's plenty more to talk about. I'll be honest, yesterday, guys, I didn't watch the

20:13

Speaker A

game. I went to see my grandkids. So, I was keeping up to speed with it. It wasn't a lot of pinging going on. Uh and I have to say it doesn't matter that I didn't see the game because Mark

20:22

Speaker A

Chapman, he doesn't watch the games when he's hosting Match of the Day. So, he relies on his analyst or have you. So, Dave, early stages of the game, first half, I was in my car listening. We almost went

20:34

Speaker A

1-0 down inside the first 3 minutes, didn't we? Take us through that chance. McNally, man of the match saving the day.

20:41

Speaker A

Well, we did and I just to I mean, look, the chance was the chance. It's it's not I wouldn't call it a a stonewall gilt-edged miss.

20:49

Speaker A

But what I would say is in the opening 15-20 minutes, Stoke were trying to play football. In those conditions, actually, I found it the football side of my brain enjoyed watching them trying to play.

21:00

Speaker A

I obviously didn't want them to succeed, but I could see they were trying to play football. And in truth, we were struggling to adapt. Isak was finding it really, really, really hard in that first half. His positioning wasn't off.

21:12

Speaker A

He was full of self-doubt. He was either too advanced, he was checking behind him. When he got the ball, he wasn't sure where other people were. He really, really struggled to adapt into that back three.

21:22

Speaker A

And it was part of the reason why we were struggling to get out. In addition, we were playing with the wind. And when we did go long, it was going straight through to their goalkeeper. It was an essence of we were going to stop Stoke

21:33

Speaker A

from playing and hope we picked up a scraps somewhere along the line. But that the the first had a whole first half for me. There there weren't too many moments. I mean, I know that Yaya had a couple couple of opportunities

21:45

Speaker A

where you'd question his shooting boots. But it it wasn't like Stoke were opening and opening us up at will. They really didn't have that many chances. I just don't think we aren't that that well because especially because of Isak. He

21:57

Speaker A

was really struggling in that back three. Mhm. And Anything in the opening phases for you, Simon, that caught your eye or sort of kept you awake?

22:07

Speaker A

Um well, I I think uh Dave said it really. The They were just coming to terms with playing that system in in the in those conditions. And Stoke were busy and they were trying to run in behind and they

22:18

Speaker A

nearly did, you know, a couple a couple of times. And once once they got over the first 15 minutes, actually, if you think about it, I mean, I know we're hunting forward a little bit here, but Stoke didn't create that much between

22:30

Speaker A

the opening 15 minutes and the last 10 minutes. So, I mean, Stoke were I I I saw quite a few Stoke supporters on on social media giving it the, you know old Bristol City the worst team we've seen.

22:42

Speaker A

They're absolutely useless and hopeless. But I don't I mean, I I didn't see that much from Stoke particularly other than that in in that sort of kind of like middle 65 minutes. I mean, they tried to play a bit as as Dave said. They looked

22:53

Speaker A

They did have more possession, but we don't care about that. We're We're very happy to let the other opposition have the possession. And actually, we are I mean, thank God our next game is against Bolton. Can we play Wolves away and

23:03

Speaker A

Norwich away as well, please? Because you know, that that seems to suit us uh far more uh to me. So, rocky first 15 minutes, ball pinging around everywhere, can't get any control in the game.

23:15

Speaker A

Players struggling to come to terms with the conditions and early on Stoke uh got hold of it a bit better. I thought for me the the turning point was when Cisse went off. I mentioned it earlier. I thought he looked he looked a threat. Uh

23:27

Speaker A

I mean Cisse, 23 years of age, nippy and get getting in behind. Soon as he went off and Hurst came on, I noticed a lot of Stoke supporters absolutely lambasting Hurst uh last night saying, you know, he's a donkey and he you know,

23:39

Speaker A

he couldn't pass the ball and he can't pass the ball. him in January then, surely.

23:42

Speaker A

Well, yeah, let's hope so. Yeah. Yeah, um and I mean, it it it was dire stuff. Who had the wind advantage in the first half? Was it a wind or was it a cross with wind. Oh, so we got

23:54

Speaker A

So, we were we were playing with the wind, but actually I think strangely we we would be better playing against the wind because the balls we play forward playing that right direct um style of ours, the ball holds up a bit more.

24:06

Speaker A

Whereas the ball's been going over the top and it was just running straight through to the goalkeeper out for a goal kick. So, it actually in the second half when we were playing ag- against the wind, it kind of suited us a little bit

24:17

Speaker A

more, I thought. Cuz the ball holds up a bit, doesn't it? it's all counterintuitive, but that the problem was and we'll probably come to it was that when the corners come in, when you're playing when your team playing with the wind, goodness me,

24:29

Speaker A

you're under pressure from the corners being swung into your six-yard box. Yeah. David, that's why everything we speak about in yesterday's game has a context of the conditions because truly some of the balls were being played and where

24:41

Speaker A

the wind took the ball, it's like, my goodness, how do you play football in these conditions? It It truly was atrocious conditions to play football in and so we can be critical, but that context needs to be remembered.

24:53

Speaker A

Mhm. Jack Seddon said just on the text here just to backtrack, not relevant to what we're talking about here, but he said give give these new players these transfers. So, that's I'm taking that collective. Give these new transfers

25:06

Speaker A

some time. They're quote, "Sorry, Jack, very young." Jed Wallace, he's not very young. Sikora's maker, I don't think he is either. Yeah, and who's the other one who came in? Greenwood, Sam Greenwood.

25:20

Speaker A

Not youngsters, sorry. And most clubs in this division signed at least half a dozen players of you know, probably championship standard. Whereas we've signed, yeah, how many of all those 11 signings have played more than 50 championship games?

25:37

Speaker A

Only Jed Wallace, I'd argue. Greenwood was never able to settle anywhere. And it does beg the question, you know, we're giving out contracts to people like Sam Bell. Why don't we try and persuade Mark Sykes to stay on? Because

25:49

Speaker A

he'd certainly be in that side, you know, ahead of he'd be in my matchday 20 every day of the week. Simon, sorry, and first half we had we've been crying out for To La to come back. Was he Was it

26:04

Speaker A

not a game for him? Did he look a little bit lacking in fitness and having the two of them up front? Do they work as a two?

26:11

Speaker A

I know. I think he didn't look fully fit, but I didn't expect him to look fully fit. I think I almost think if Skubala wasn't under a degree of fan pressure, he wouldn't have played on that because to me it looked

26:26

Speaker A

like he probably needed another week. Now, in terms of Ballard and him working as a pair, to me the problem isn't the two of them working as a pair. So, therefore we saw enough of that yesterday. And I think it

26:38

Speaker A

is absolutely taking into consideration of the conditions. The conditions were awful. But the way we played yesterday, when you play five at the back, you can either play with three and wing-backs pushing on and trying to create space and creativity.

26:53

Speaker A

Or you can play five at the back. We played five at the back pretty much.

26:58

Speaker A

Certainly in the um certainly in the first half. I've just seen a text that says greenhouse is a better investment. Very nice.

27:07

Speaker A

Now, we certainly played five at the back first half. And like I said, we had Williams sitting in front and then we had two men really narrow ahead of them. Yiadom Knight just running, not creating. You can't learn

27:18

Speaker A

anything about Balogun and Suliman yesterday because they're given nothing to work with. Now, that was a big space between the back and the front. And what you've got to try and do to bridge that space is pass the football. You know,

27:31

Speaker A

particularly in those conditions, you know, Michael Jacobs said pre-game, we need to get the ball down and play.

27:37

Speaker A

Absolutely said it to the media. I don't know what he said in the changing room because until say on, we didn't get the ball down and play. And the one time we did get it down was and he's getting a lot of

27:49

Speaker A

pelters there, but Jason Knight won the ball wide on the right. Plays the one-two with Car Deanes and Car Deanes does the pull back to Yiadom.

27:58

Speaker A

And it's horrific it's a horrific horrific, sorry I can't even say it, horrific effort by Yiadom. It's a terrible effort. Should be hitting the target. That's a basic on that one. But that was the one time we tried to play a

28:09

Speaker A

bit of football. You don't learn anything about Suliman and Balogun playing together if you've got a gap between the back and the front that's that big and in windy and rainy conditions you're just trying to say, "Bang, get it up there."

28:21

Speaker A

You know, the one time I remember Balogun picking up the ball was probably where I think it was Tanner played it down the wing.

28:27

Speaker A

Um no, no, it wasn't Tanner. Played it down the line on the left hand side. He came back in and he had the one shot where he ran into Knight afterwards.

28:33

Speaker A

But they were feeding us scraps. You can't learn anything from that. But and this is this is what everybody everybody wanted. Everybody wanted two up front. It was the solution to everybody.

28:42

Speaker A

But you wanted two up front, but the two up front does not exist in a bubble.

28:47

Speaker A

If you are playing two up front and you are playing five directly at the back to stop Stoke playing and then two behind them are whatever you think of them as individual players of Knight and Yaw, who are just there to run.

28:59

Speaker A

You know, Jason Knight doesn't get many assists. Gibson Yaw is not going to get many assists. They are not those kind of footballers.

29:07

Speaker A

So, where is the ball coming to? To Don Balon and Tom Ince like so that you give them a chance to do something. I can play two up front. I can play four up front. If my gap between my front and my

29:17

Speaker A

back is that big, it don't matter. Don't matter who's up there. You can have Haaland up there. If you're not giving him a chance to do anything, that's what the problem is.

29:27

Speaker A

Yeah, um couple of things. Mark Chaffee, BDK is not getting any stick on here in the time he's been on the pitch, he's been a positive. So, we're not giving BDK stick at all. Um Dave Katie said on

29:38

Speaker A

here, keeps saying, "If you play Tyrese Campbell and Balon, you have to remove creative midfielders and it's just pointless." I don't think you do because if you play those two up front, you know, you and you put BDK in place of

29:49

Speaker A

Knight, Knight at wing back and then in the space in midfield, you bring Twine.

29:54

Speaker A

That's where you get your creativity. Or we need as a creative player a Brian Tinnion type of ball player and the closest we've got to that, I think, at the moment is BDK. Would you agree with that, Dave? On the limited minutes

30:07

Speaker A

all, on on the Twine thing, could you play the 3-5-2 with Twine in that gap? Sure.

30:13

Speaker A

But again, is Twine creative? Do Do you see him as a creative last season, Dave. 10 assists.

30:18

Speaker A

That doesn't That doesn't mean that he's creative. They're two different skills. The ability to play the final ball and being creative is not the same thing.

30:26

Speaker A

Twine is excellent in and around the box, but he's not a number 10 that runs the show.

30:32

Speaker A

You know, you want him in and around the box picking up things, capitalize on things and he has that killer instinct to play the final ball, but it doesn't mean that he's creative to get you there. You play those three, sure he

30:43

Speaker A

could do it in a 3-5-2. He could play in that position, but it doesn't necessarily make you any more creative.

30:50

Speaker A

If anything, you could argue it opened you up even more because Knight has that extra energy to slot in in the middle of a three, which Twine doesn't necessarily have. There's nothing wrong with what you've said about putting Twine there,

31:02

Speaker A

but it could just as well open you up and make you even more susceptible to conceding by having those three. For me, it's always two of those three.

31:10

Speaker A

Having those three on the pitch leaves you extremely open. And in terms of BDK, absolutely, he plays. For me, he's put his name up yesterday, and I know I'm jumping way forward, but his 20 minutes yesterday showed me that he needs to be

31:23

Speaker A

playing every single game that his fitness allows. He was picking the ball up, pinging passes, controlling the pace of the game, looking to get beyond the lines, which is something we weren't doing from the midfield, and he put his

31:35

Speaker A

hand up and saying, "I need to start every game." So, for all we've been critical of some of the players we've brought in, people are saying, "I want to lie. I want Ballard. I want BDK." Uh Issah has been pretty decent so far.

31:47

Speaker A

It's not been all bad. As Simon said, there were 10 different players on the pitch from Stoke away to Stoke away.

31:55

Speaker A

That's a hell of a turn, and the way that we're speaking on this podcast today is a hell of a lack of patience.

32:01

Speaker A

You know, what are we truly expecting? If we do just go to Lyden, Ballard, and Telalovic as your front three, that's great, but you still got to get them the ball. You can put BDK and Williams in.

32:11

Speaker A

You know, it's it's not that easy to just make a football side in 5 minutes.

32:15

Speaker A

It's really not. Yeah. Kate has said on the text feed as well, BDK and Williams just what I was thinking. BDK and Williams should be starting in midfield. Yeah, that that goes without saying. I mean, Simon, at the back,

32:26

Speaker A

I mean, you know, we we've got Rob Atkinson. He's he's okay, but he's on the bench. Um Rob Dickie is allegedly coming back to Chris fitness. We'll probably see him before Christmas, but you know, good old Tanner is still there. He might have his

32:40

Speaker A

limitations, but you know, he's a consistent performer. McNally has been an absolute bonus, the fact that he's come back after nearly 2 years out and was, from what I've seen, man of the match yesterday. And Isak, we've still

32:54

Speaker A

got Iler, you know, with this illness or something, but that that McNally Isak combo, McNally is man of the match. I read some reports that Isak was dreadful for the first hour.

33:06

Speaker A

But McNally coming back is a real, real plus, isn't it? Oh, yeah, huge. I'm I'm amazed he's back as as soon as he he is. I mean, I mean, obviously he's back for a long time, but the way he Michael Skubala was talking

33:16

Speaker A

earlier in the season, you thought he well, you probably won't even see him uh before Christmas. The defense doesn't seem to be our problem. I think it's fair to say we don't uh concede many goals. I mean, maybe that's because of

33:26

Speaker A

the way we set up. So, I don't you know, we we've got lots of solid options at the back. So, that's that's not a problem at all. It's that anything but further forward, where there just seems to be a complete lack

33:39

Speaker A

of creativity. I mean, you know, we've been trying to piece together what we think would might work. And then you think, well, you do that, then he's not playing. And And it's hard to get certain players in. And you just wonder

33:50

Speaker A

about the the creativity. Uh it seems to me that the it the way we are trying to score is is go direct, pick up the loose pieces, and try to make something happen. It nearly happened a couple of

34:02

Speaker A

times. There was one moment in the second half where it nearly happened yesterday, where Ballard uh put his chance over the bar. And then it it would have been, in Michael Skubala's words, a perfect away performance. I mean, he said it was nearly a perfect

34:14

Speaker A

away performance. I mean, I thought, well, okay, I'd like to see a a bit more in terms of chances.

34:20

Speaker A

Um So, you you know, it's it's kind of a senseless football. It's not It's not particularly enjoyable to watch. And when it doesn't go well, ala Sheffield United uh last week, then people get pretty annoyed because they they, you

34:31

Speaker A

know, we we go football because okay, you want your team to win. Next line is you don't want them to lose, but you you also, I come back to this point, you also want to see something that gets you out of your seat

34:43

Speaker A

and gets you excited, even if it's just one or two moves. And it's been pretty thin gruel, I have to say, in recent weeks.

34:51

Speaker A

Uh and anything in the second half that caught your eye? Simon alluded to one of the few things [clears throat] that I remember was Ballard shooting over. I mean, if that goes in, that spectacular goal number three for him this season. It

35:03

Speaker A

wasn't that far away, that shot, was it? [snorts] I I think in the second half you would say that we had more chances.

35:11

Speaker A

You know, other than you said the last 10 minutes or so. And this does play to Skubala thinking it's not not a perfect way performance. It wasn't, [clears throat] you know, but it's never going to be in the wind and the rain,

35:22

Speaker A

you know, and I keep qualifying that with that. I don't think we were perfect, but there is mitigation here. On that. Um McNally has one header where he puts it marginally wide from I think from a corner.

35:35

Speaker A

Um that wasn't far away. Uh Ballard again peels off on a corner, manages to get the header in that There was one where actually I actually think McNally cuz may have been where Prig gave the ball to Tanner quickly to

35:47

Speaker A

take a long throw and then Tanner quickly made a short throw. You know, actually showed a bit of ingenuity, which was quite good.

35:53

Speaker A

On that. And then um obviously the Ballard chance that Simon refers to, it's a good win. Ball McNally comes down.

36:00

Speaker A

And it's you know, it's unlucky. He do- he does pretty much everything. I don't think he ever has the ball fully under control for the volley.

36:08

Speaker A

Rather than anything else. But Yeah. it was we were we had more chances. In that 20-minute spell, we keep coming back to it. To me, that showed the way that you can do this. And what am I looking for and what from Skubala and

36:22

Speaker A

what have I been what have I been most critical of? Two things. The first one [clears throat] is the style of play. I've said numerous times this is a tough watch.

36:30

Speaker A

And I keep coming back to the quote of you'll like it if you're winning. If you're not winning, the rope is very short for this type of football because it is not entertaining.

36:38

Speaker A

The second part is the consistency in selection because there's been some comments about us slating new players.

36:44

Speaker A

We're not slating new players. What we're saying is actually have we seen enough of them? The one person I've made my mind up on is Tickle because I've seen him enough. And we go for it. But the most of them are in and out of the

36:54

Speaker A

side with big players around them in different They can't be asked to deal with any consistency. What Skubala now needs to do is saying, "Right, I'm playing at the back." And I get what I say about Saturday, Tuesday, or or

37:05

Speaker A

Wolves game Wednesday, etc. You need to play with as few changes as possible. To me, BDK comes in for Yac. on next game against Bolton.

37:16

Speaker A

Yeah. I'm happy if there's no other changes from that. Then maybe I'd want Hwang in the side, but if Skubala is going to try and make this work, he didn't do this level of change at Lincoln. Maybe he

37:27

Speaker A

didn't have the personnel. Maybe he's a kid in a sweetshop. But he now needs to go and go with and say, "Right, I'm going to play what I consider my best side and give the players chance to get

37:37

Speaker A

used to each other. Give the players chance to build relationships." Because unless he does that, we could be sat here having the same conversation in 2 weeks' time.

37:45

Speaker A

Rinse and repeat, Dave. And in 4 weeks, and in 6 weeks. Yeah, and in May. That's why he might not be here if it carries on like that, Dave. I mean, this thing about this thing about he's got

37:56

Speaker A

I'll just use the term kid in a sweetshop. He's got a much better squad than he had at Lincoln. Now, the Championship is more technically demanding. He watches these players in training. We keep having people say, "Oh, you don't know what happens on the

38:10

Speaker A

training pitch." He watches them, right? He's walking a fine line between this rotation and trying to get it right in a real, you know, live situation every week because, you know, if we'd have lost yesterday and we don't know what's going

38:25

Speaker A

to happen in the next three games up to the international break. But you know, if we lose two out of the next three, you know, he's starting on thin ice.

38:34

Speaker A

He's got to have courage in his convictions. And you just wonder if, you know, he's got enough experience behind him on the coaching team because there's nobody there like that sensible head, you know, who's been there and done it at this level. You know, even

38:51

Speaker A

the guy from Arsenal who was obviously, you know, the the older fellow on there is younger than me. You know, he was probably James Ellis's mate as indeed Skubala was to some extent. You know, it we're we're watching almost like a

39:04

Speaker A

simulation, aren't we? In in terms of your your coaching question, as long as he's happy with who he's got, that's enough for me. Um I would suggest that you you pick your sword to die on.

39:16

Speaker A

In terms of rotation, maybe there is an element of too much rotation and but he's been doing it with the whole season in mind. We speak about no changes in the next game which I agree with. I would B Dike would be my only change.

39:29

Speaker A

But then you've got two other games pretty quickly where you will have to make changes if you're playing with wing-backs.

39:35

Speaker A

I agree with you with the thin ice. Personally, I think that if we were to lose the next three, he would be in deep deep deep trouble. And if we picked up one point, I'm not sure if it's enough

39:44

Speaker A

simply because of the performances. And that's why he needs to keep picking the side that he believes. It's literally the next game. I need a performance from you. I need a performance from you.

39:55

Speaker A

Yesterday, that side showed they've got fight. They have got fight. For all we speak about Jason Knight, he showed he's got fight. Is he the right answer creativity? I don't think so. Do I particularly enjoy some of the football?

40:07

Speaker A

Not all of it. I have my doubts. But what I did see yesterday is B Dike play.

40:13

Speaker A

I did see that we finished stronger in the last 20 minutes because we tried to play. Look it towards the end of the the Tanner cross and we had one cross.

40:21

Speaker A

Sorry, I'll just get it from my notes. Um B D K had it in I think it was towards the end of the game, the 80th minute. He clips it inside and we have four players in the box. Esa Bell, McNally and

40:33

Speaker A

Ballard. Not one of them goes to a dark place to win it. It is quite literally and they phrased it on Robin's TV, the corridor of uncertainty. You could not put it in a better place from B D K. None of our

40:46

Speaker A

players truly attacked it desperate to score a goal. And that's what we're lacking right now. That imagination, creativity and arrogance in the attacking part that we put it there and then we don't finish.

40:59

Speaker A

Who Who are the four Who are the four in the middle, Dave? Just say those four again.

41:03

Speaker A

a It was Esa McNally because it had come from a corner and it was Ballard and Bell.

41:07

Speaker A

Okay, so the right two strikers were there. They did not attack it in the way that's necessary. However, we all agree we really struggled in the next 20 minutes.

41:17

Speaker A

In the last 20 minutes, sorry. If B D K doesn't start the next game, then I would begin to have doubts about what Scubala's doing because after seeing that after seeing a player step up Now I'm saying right, mate. You show how

41:31

Speaker A

to break the lines. You show how to control the game. You've given me enough. I'm putting my faith in you to show that you can do that from the start of the game because with B D K in the

41:40

Speaker A

side, we will start to break lines. That will cause an additional pressure, a bit of a bluff and it will allow us to play the football how we want to play.

41:49

Speaker A

Yesterday the goal was to make sure that Stoke did not score, walk away with a point, awful conditions, job done. Thank you very much. That will not be acceptable game after game. Right now B D K is part of the solution to that.

42:03

Speaker A

Mhm, interesting. Simon in the closing stages, Stoke did have the advantage of the wind but that was a good save by Collins with his leg when he diverted it and then there was that late shot that swerved all over the place with the wind and

42:19

Speaker A

yeah, it would have been a travesty if we'd have come away with nothing. Although one of the text feeders out there, I didn't make a note of your name, said that overall Stoke deserved to win but that they didn't. But getting

42:30

Speaker A

back to Collins, you know, he I saw him punch a corner away and then I think when the ball got played back in, that's when he did that save with his leg that the guys on Radio Bristol said,

42:40

Speaker A

you know, that was damn good save cuz that was going to creep in if he not got down there. I mean he he keeps the shirt unless he screws up for the next three games at least, doesn't he?

42:49

Speaker A

Well, you you think so, wouldn't you? You when you make a change like that, as I'm said, you you don't just do it for a one or two games unless you have an absolute, you know, absolute nightmare, of course, and

42:58

Speaker A

it it becomes unsustainable. My the one fear I had in those last 10 minutes was Stoke bombarding us from corners because you get that in-swinging, that whipping swing with the wind, you know, and they created chaos a couple of times in the penalty

43:12

Speaker A

area. And that's when I thought we were most vulnerable. And and Collins did well. He got there just with his foot as it was it was in the six-yard box just sort of pinging around in the six-yard box. He got it away, managed to

43:23

Speaker A

smuggle it away and and survive. But the shot, if it'd gone in, then it'd been that one that that swerved. I mean, it was not quite the same as the Blackburn goal because that was so much closer to

43:33

Speaker A

tickle and didn't swerve as much. But I think inevitably there'd have been question marks about, you know, how how did that happen? The goalkeeper kind of going left and then the ball going right. But it was a it was extraordinary

43:44

Speaker A

moment. You don't see the ball move that much as it did. And unfortunately for us it it drifted wide of the post. I always think actually that phrase "I deserved to win" is is the is the most pointless

43:54

Speaker A

phrase in football because it's I think I think played well enough to win I would think would say that. You know, did he play well enough to win? [snorts] You if you can deserve to win, that the whole point of the game is to

44:06

Speaker A

get the ball in the net. If you don't get the ball in the net, you don't deserve to win.

44:10

Speaker A

Cuz that's cuz that's cuz that's what that's what it's all about. So, you can play you can play you can say we played well. Our XG was good, but deserve to win. I think managers who say that is is

44:21

Speaker A

like a nice pointless phrase in football. I always really hate it when people say that. So, Yeah.

44:29

Speaker A

But but so pressure this in the last few minutes and nearly nearly nicked it, I think.

44:34

Speaker A

That's that's what I'm saying. Yeah. I thought it was in. I thought it was in. I thought it was a goal. I I'd already started swearing, to be honest with you, because [laughter] I thought it was in.

44:44

Speaker A

But I And when you see it from behind the goal, like I apart from Roberto Carlos, as we spoke about before we came online, I've never seen a ball move that much without a deflection.

44:55

Speaker A

I I don't it doesn't the mathematics doesn't really add up to me, because it's not exactly it's well hit it's well struck. But when you're keeper you know sometimes a keeper when they know it's going wide have a bit of cop sure about

45:06

Speaker A

themselves, like, oh, it's going. But when they just stand there and look to their side, you're like, this isn't good. This is this is hitting the back of the net. And it frankly it was it was an awful feeling. I don't

45:16

Speaker A

know how long, maybe half a second, but truly I thought it was in. Yeah. And what should we read into Seb N'Gala going to Yeovil on loan? Is just not good enough to be in contention, cuz he was brought in that was

45:30

Speaker A

Mr. Tinnion's last signing of note, wasn't it? And you know, brought in to cover that left side. He's been playing in a more advanced role, but you that came out of the blue Seb N'Gala going, didn't it?

45:41

Speaker A

I I think the thing here is is that you can't send him on loan to League One or League Two at this moment in time. Your option is National League.

45:49

Speaker A

Now, Seb N'Gala came as a left back and he's been playing in the center midfield and he's been doing very well for the 21s.

45:56

Speaker A

And it was interesting hearing Louis Carey on commentary yesterday on Robins TV. And one of the things that Louis Carey said is that Michael has been looking to play this formation for a while, the 5-3-2.

46:07

Speaker A

Um which was a complete bolt from the blue for me. It's like, "And if he's been looking to do this for a while, what's he been doing the last 11 games?" So, that was really odd. But back to

46:17

Speaker A

Naylor, um the I think he's 20 still. He's only 20 years old. You know, you're talking You need to group him with players like Elijah Morrison, with players like Campbell Sloey, people of that ilk. You know, do I expect him to be absolutely in

46:34

Speaker A

contention? Maybe not. Technically, he's very good. He's looked good in the 21s. But also, there is no chance in hell that Skubala is going to be blooding younger players when he's under pressure at the moment. I've already said that he

46:49

Speaker A

played Talai because he really needed him. He said in his post-match he kept Joe Williams on for longer than he intended, or longer than Joe Williams was supposed to be, and that was because he needed him. Skubala is at the stage

47:02

Speaker A

now where he is playing players because he needs results and he needs to get the pressure off.

47:08

Speaker A

And the over-rotation, and let's be clear, it was over-rotation, when someone like Sam Greenwood, whatever you think of him, is playing an average of 30 minutes a game, you're not keeping him fresh for later in the season. You are over-rotating a player.

47:24

Speaker A

You know, it And certain players, Jason Knight, doesn't get taken off generally apart from the last two games. He was over-rotating because he didn't know what side he wanted to pick. Seb Naylor was never going to touch that side.

47:37

Speaker A

Um one for circumstances, two possibly for his own development. It's a good move for him. Um I hope he does well there.

47:45

Speaker A

But we don't want to be expecting Seb Naylor to be the answer at this moment in time because he is a young player and he's not going to be given the opportunity.

47:55

Speaker A

That Dave, we're talking there about Sadnaider, who schooled in Manchester City, you know, well, so was Madouda, but that's another story. But, you know, what is it that [snorts] Gipson Yah has got, and Jack, see, this is not me having a go at younger

48:10

Speaker A

players. Is Gipson Yah so good, so so so much better that he gets in the starting team ahead of more experienced players?

48:19

Speaker A

And, you know, again, have we got too many average players? And, if we had players like Yah on the bench, and maybe one from Jason Knight's brother, Billy McNeill, or one of the other youngsters coming through. But, what's Yah got that

48:34

Speaker A

some of these other youngsters haven't got? Yah is 23. Yah Yeah, Yah you can't Sorry.

48:42

Speaker A

I thought he was I didn't re He's 23 years old. He We can call him a project. But, if I'm if I sign We sign him when he's 22. He's 23 at the moment.

48:51

Speaker A

There should be an expectation that he can contribute at this level, because otherwise, you keep in there 2 years of a contract, he's 25, he's barely played football, and he's in the Sun Belt twilight zone.

49:01

Speaker A

So, there is an expectation. We can't say he's a young player. If he's picked, he should be picked on merit at this moment in time.

49:09

Speaker A

I personally Well, that's just a thrown up Sorry, Dave, that's just thrown up something else, because if he's a project at 23, I call somebody 20 20 21 a project who's failed at a higher club, and given a

49:21

Speaker A

second chance. If he's 23, and you look at his appearance stats, he's got very very limited experience in a league far inferior to the Championship.

49:30

Speaker A

Well, that There's a few things. First of all, when you're coming from from the Dutch league, it does take a bit of time to adapt to the Championship. You're not going to be thrown in overnight, especially in the type of position that

49:41

Speaker A

he's trying to play. Secondly, I don't think that he's been helped with the selections. Quite often, he's played with Knight. They don't compliment each other very well, because they both essentially almost doing the same thing at times. I actually think that Knight

49:54

Speaker A

uh sorry um Yiadom got more of a pass on him than than Knight. But Yiadom's the type of player that you you can you can build around. He's going to get around the pitch for you, but he's not necessarily going to be

50:05

Speaker A

picking it up off of the back three or the back four. If you put Yiadom with say BDK for example, I'd be more than happy with that. If you put him with Williams, I'd be happy with that, but

50:14

Speaker A

not with Knight. You speak about complementing. There's been a couple of games this season where I felt like he's been one of our best players. I feel like Knight I can't even say the right names. I feel like Yiadom causes a bit

50:25

Speaker A

of debate because quite often people watch and don't appreciate what he does. He's slightly gangly. He doesn't necessarily look cultured all the time.

50:33

Speaker A

But he is contributing. He's not the the sole reason that we're having issues right now. There are bigger ones around the whole side around being creative.

50:42

Speaker A

But I wouldn't necessarily say we've got Yiadom, what a terrible introduction. I think he's been perfectly fine for the first 11 games in a new country in a new league. And what I would say to fans is that a player like you who's moved

50:55

Speaker A

country, you've given every single benefit of the doubt despite the fact he's had seriously underperforming delivery. But someone like Yiadom, you're on him straight away. You have to give every player a bit of time to adapt.

51:09

Speaker A

Yeah. Well then on the same vein then, Sam Greenwood, give him an extended run in the side. Cuz he's a little bit of a Skubala project, isn't he? Because Skubala had him at Leeds and he probably thought there's a player in there

51:21

Speaker A

somewhere and I'll get the best out of him. What say you to that? This is this is exactly what I'm is saying about over rotation. It's that it feels like there are some players that aren't getting any minutes when they

51:32

Speaker A

should be, and there are other players that need it and are in out in out. We brought in Greenwood.

51:38

Speaker A

I know that some people aren't necessarily a fan. I've yet to see something that says, "Oh, that's why we've got him." Simon, I know that you're definitely not a fan for example.

51:46

Speaker A

And right now it's hard to disagree with that because I I don't necessarily see that he's done that much. Against Blackburn, for example, though, he put in two fantastic crosses that on another day gets two assists. And it made me

51:58

Speaker A

feel like, you know what? I want to see more of Greenwood because I actually want to see what he can do because it feels early to make a decision. But when you keep giving a player 30 minutes here, 25 minutes there, 55 minutes

52:10

Speaker A

there, you're never going to get that from them. You're not going to get that because does Greenwood come across to you right now that he's an integral part to go and get goals? No, absolutely not.

52:20

Speaker A

He comes in, he does a little bit, he goes out again. We as fans feel like, well, what's what's he contributed to the side?

52:26

Speaker A

That's the issue for me is the that element of too much rotation. And then all of a sudden, we go to a 3-5-2 or a 5-1-2-1-2.

52:34

Speaker A

Where's Greenwood playing in that? You know, it's it's not it's not easy right now. And Scobala has a lot of questions to answer, a lot of things that he needs to manage. And he needs to really decide which sword. And by that, I mean which

52:46

Speaker A

players am I going to die on? You He needs to make this decision and he needs to make it quickly.

52:52

Speaker A

Mhm. Mhm. Si- Simon Nicholas [laughter] Nicholas Osborne says, "This podcast is going all over the place. One I'm one of those that's not helping the game should be talked about other than the things things after." Yeah, it is going all

53:05

Speaker A

over the place, the podcast. David, I just to just to David, just to say Nicholas, I you need to understand that in yesterday's game, there is pretty much zero to actually talk about.

53:14

Speaker A

And we would be We would be insulting every single listener to talk about the technical aspects of one player that could have got in if he just cut back.

53:23

Speaker A

The point is that we're talking about how Bristol City get better going forward. And let's face it, that's what people care about much more than the degree of wind there was yesterday and how it affected the player's shot being

53:35

Speaker A

slightly sliced. [laughter] Simon, Gibson we're talking about. Go on, you're take the floor. I I don't mind Gibson yeah. I'm I'm interested in him. I I like like Dave T.

53:45

Speaker A

I'm not I'm not against him at all. I don't mind him. I'm happy to see him. I've seen a bit of him already [snorts] in before he he came to us. And what I would say is that uh Dick

53:54

Speaker A

Advocaat was a was a kind of like a level above him in in Eredivisie. Dick Advocaat was the man that made Heracles tick when he played for them. He was their sort of energy. So, yeah, I'm fine I'd be fine next week for

54:08

Speaker A

example if Dick Advocaat played and and Yac didn't, but I wouldn't uh write Yac off. My My problem with us is kind of some of the personnel that I just don't see we've got those physical stroke technical players. Like so for example,

54:24

Speaker A

I would be very happy already to see or wish we hadn't signed Greenwood and Wallace. And I would be very happy to see you um leave as well. Not because I you know anything particularly against him. I think take those three players

54:37

Speaker A

out and if you could put three more uh creative players in, perhaps a bit more physical players in, I think we've got a problem left and right when we play with a four at the back. I think we've got

54:46

Speaker A

nothing on the left and I don't think we've got much on the right going forward as well. But solve those two problems and I think it might work a bit better.

54:54

Speaker A

So it we we talked earlier and and picked up on about, you know, an overhaul. Do we need an overhaul? Well, I I don't see this particularly being a Scubala type team he's got at the moment despite all

55:06

Speaker A

the signings, but it may be a couple of fixes left and right midfield might make um some difference. But at the moment it just looks all a bit disjointed and everything further forward just doesn't seem uh to be working. It's as if

55:21

Speaker A

someone's put a great big poker into the engine and it just it's kind of like spluttering forward and and it's and it's difficult to watch.

55:27

Speaker A

It's difficult to watch. Yeah, I think and Ant and Simon Ant and Simon have both hit it in a different way. Like Ant when you spoke about that Ellis quote about front loading it, I think it connects to

55:37

Speaker A

what Simon's just said. I really feel like the left-hand side and right-hand side attacking are what are holding us back right now. You start adding quality there, which means either Greenwood has to step up. You look to January bringing

55:49

Speaker A

in players. You look to next summer, and you have a very, very good side. You know, we're not scoring goals. In my opinion, it's not for the front two necessarily. They They are a work in progress stepping up a division, but

56:00

Speaker A

it's that attacking right and left-hand side we are just not getting enough input and creativity from those two positions.

56:07

Speaker A

And pace as well. Just a bit of pace. We need some pace in this side.

56:10

Speaker A

Statistics Statistics don't lie. In the last five games, that's 450 minutes of football, we've scored one goal from open play.

56:19

Speaker A

One goal in five games from open play, which was the game against Watford. So, that was five games ago, not like the game before last. That is where the problem is. And to use my favorite phrase, extrapolation, you take where we

56:33

Speaker A

are now, it's 58 points. We're not going to trouble the playoffs, even though they're extended down to uh eight positions. What price uh Sean Dyche going back to Burnley? As somebody put on the text feed that he was at the

56:44

Speaker A

bet 365 yesterday. Uh Mark Robins has stabilized his position there, but uh Lincoln 4-1 winners over Burnley. It does beg the question whether, you know, Scubala wouldn't be having these problems if we had pushed the boat out and allowed him to bring his coaching

57:00

Speaker A

staff with him. But another piece of news that came out in the week was the football finance specialist, Kevin McGuire, did a table of all the clubs that have been in the Championship for the last 10 seasons, which we're right there. And uh 48

57:17

Speaker A

clubs, I think it is in all. And the ones who've accumulated the most losses, the top three were Leeds, Middlesbrough, and yes, you've guessed it, Bristol City. Um Simon, uh we haven't talked to you about Bristol City finances relative to how

57:32

Speaker A

much he's lost, but you know, 48 clubs have been in the Championship. Some have never gone on to the Prem, but some have and we're right up there with losses. It just backs up what I've been saying for

57:44

Speaker A

the years we've been doing this podcast. Some people have achieved a lot, lot more for a lot, lot less than Steve Lansdown has and it was put into even sharper focus on Wednesday Thursday night when we see bloody Bournemouth

57:56

Speaker A

beating Milan 3-0. I mean, that that table makes for shocking reading, doesn't it? Oh, how long more have we got on the podcast? We could do another hour on We could do another hour on this. Uh If you look at those losses, I've looked

58:14

Speaker A

at that table. And one of the reasons why we have so many losses as a Championship club is because we have been in as I understand it, we have been in the Championship a lot longer than most of the other clubs. So, basically,

58:25

Speaker A

most teams it seem lose about 20 odd million quid a year. Uh give or take.

58:30

Speaker A

And Palace haven't lost as much as that, but they haven't done particularly well, either. Uh we have gotten the playoffs once and we are also I mean, I've been watching this club since 1970 and this is the most This is the most stable

58:44

Speaker A

period in our history since the 1970s. So, we are established Championship club. Okay, we're starting to get a bit worried cuz you look at the football and you think, "Well, where's this going to lead?" But generally speaking, we we got

58:56

Speaker A

up, we struggled a bit to start with and then we stayed [clears throat] We've stabilized. And that's the sort of money that you need to pay to to to be relatively competitive in the Championship, seems to me. Have we

59:07

Speaker A

made mistakes? Of course, we have. Everybody's made mistakes. We probably made some mistakes on this podcast in the last hour. So, it's not a perfect world. I actually personally a lot of people say, "Oh, get Lansdown out." I don't I'm not I'm not

59:20

Speaker A

one of those. Um I look, unless unless someone comes in with a proper proposition to to take over the club, then then fine. You know, that that happens. That's life. But, Steve Lansdown, he always says, "We pay the

59:33

Speaker A

bills. We pay all our bills." And they do. And so, you know, he his money has allowed us to be stable.

59:39

Speaker A

Uh decisions he's taken have not always been right. That is the nature of the football beast. Everyone at the start of the season was saying, "Well, at least we've got it right this time. At least we we've got a director of football. You

59:51

Speaker A

know, we've got a manager that's been uh successful. We've got rid of Brian Tinnion. We've got rid of, you know, players that were brought in that just looked, you know, we all know who he means, some strikers that just didn't

60:01

Speaker A

look up to it. We've brought in a couple of strikers." Everyone was kind of on board at the start of the season. And it's not going well. So, like, what what what do we say? Football Football does this to us. Football is unpredictable,

60:13

Speaker A

um unless you go, you know, ruthlessly uh you know, ruthlessly approach ruthlessly in the way that clubs like um Brighton have done or Brentford. Unless you go down that route, they have that genius. They have a They have a touch of genius, it seems

60:27

Speaker A

to me, uh those two football clubs, because of the people they've got involved. Unless you do that and get get those sort of personnel in and their operating system, then it's going to it's going to be difficult. You know, we

60:37

Speaker A

We've always There's an element of risk. Well, we've always come up against We've always come up against um teams with more money than us, even though we've spent a lot of money. And we've also we've come up against parachute payment

60:48

Speaker A

uh clubs as well. So, it's not a it's not a perfect world. It's you know, we haven't been ideal. Um but I actually do um I I I do actually feel slightly concerned when at the post-Steve Lansdown era, it might get better, but

61:02

Speaker A

it might get a whole lot worse. And there's There's There's the conundrum, isn't it?

61:05

Speaker A

struck me as You never struck me as one of those people, Simon, that says, "Oh, be careful what you wish for." We've got Well, it's not It's not Tug the forelock to Mr. Lansdown.

61:14

Speaker A

No, it's not It's not about It's not about tugging the forelock to Mr. Lansdown. It's about pragmatism. And you need You need a lot of money to keep a championship football club going and and relatively competitive. So I think the thing is

61:28

Speaker A

Where's the Where's the Where's the next plan? Everyone says get rid of Steve Lansdown. Well, who's next? Where Where is the Where is the person?

61:35

Speaker A

Simon Parker has written several texts during this podcast anti-Lansdown for Steve Lansdown to sell. You can't force him to sell. It's his bloody train set.

61:46

Speaker A

Well, someone's got to buy as well. Someone's got to buy. Someone's got to buy.

61:51

Speaker A

Who is it? Where Where are they? Have they come forward? I don't know. I mean They've got What I What I would say is that Lansdown's done a lot of things through arrogance believing that his way is can

62:02

Speaker A

only be right somehow spending a lot of money yet also doing it all on the cheap at the same time because he wants certain people Well it's a bit of a a reach, bit of a bit of blind faith, a

62:14

Speaker A

bit of faith, a bit of I like what I've seen, but I think that Ellis will take us to the Premier League. I don't know if he's part of that, but I think Ellis will do it grown up in the building

62:22

Speaker A

that's going to do what he needs to over time. Is Kubala part of that? No. And here's the point, right?

62:31

Speaker A

When we had Tinnion leading the charge, things were done in the back in the you know, behind closed doors or behind in secret, a bit of snake-like attitude, things not being done counter-intuitive against the manager. Ellis won't do

62:44

Speaker A

that. He'll pull the plug when he feels the need to and he'll do it to his face and he'll do it with class.

62:49

Speaker A

Then we'll move on. I really believe that if we're patient uh Ellis will get us to the Premier League. The fact is that it's taken Lansdown far, far, far too long to realize hey, I need to have a grown-up

63:01

Speaker A

football club and he's been a classic case in just how you waste money. That that that sort of rose-tinted spectacles. I've got a vision of somebody James Ellis has entered Dave Tovey's room and picked up his cat and he's there with a gun at the

63:16

Speaker A

cat's head and he's just reading off a script. You say this, otherwise your your cat's gone. And um look look at we we we look at Bournemouth. We keep going back to Bournemouth.

63:28

Speaker A

They took a gamble one year, right? Um they were successful. And it cost them a 4 and 1/2 million pound fine. That's what Bournemouth had to pay.

63:39

Speaker A

If you look at how much Lansdowne's lost over the years, right? He could have taken that gamble two or three times, and hope he might not have got it right like the Russians did getting Bournemouth at the first time. But if he

63:51

Speaker A

had have gambled and splashed the cash a bit and took the punishment, you know, it'd be interesting to see what the what the punishment bar is when Man City end up getting done, right? But 4 and 1/2 million was the underlying cost of

64:06

Speaker A

what Bournemouth paid to to gamble. And if they'd have not done it, they'd have done it the next season, they might have got a 12 million fine.

64:15

Speaker A

Lansdowne's lost Never mind the infrastructure. Lansdowne's lost in losses 200 million. Yeah? I think the thing here here is you used the word gamble, and it is a gamble.

64:27

Speaker A

Because there was no guarantee if Bournemouth did break FFP, which they did, that they would have necessarily gone up.

64:34

Speaker A

Everything needs to be right that goes around it. They had Eddie Howe in charge.

64:38

Speaker A

You know, they had a very very good manager. When Dave was on his um penance to James Ellis moments ago, um who I'm assuming he's going to poke at James Ellis later.

64:49

Speaker A

[laughter] Um One of the things he did One of the things he did say is that with Ellis here, we will go to the Prem. He didn't specify the Premier League or the Southern Premier League, so let's be

64:59

Speaker A

clear about that. Because the football we're playing at the moment is more akin to the Southern Premier League. But he did say Scubala won't be there with him.

65:08

Speaker A

No, I said he might not be. Might not be. No, you said that wouldn't.

65:11

Speaker A

I say Okay, I'll re-clarify. he might not be. You're the first person on this podcast to break cover and say Skubala should go. So, in all of your positivity so far, you're all the first person who said it.

65:22

Speaker A

So, I listen to things for a living, so No, I think I think Bristol Sport are going to set up a futsal side as part of the Bristol Sport franchise, and that's Skubala will end up running that.

65:33

Speaker A

But, the big deal around this at the moment is, and Simon's completely right when he says the basis of um Lansdown's losses is that because we've been in the championship more than other people.

65:43

Speaker A

Okay? He's tried various strategies that are flavor of the month as we go through it. You know, why can't we do what Luton did, so on and so forth. He's backed the wrong managers. He's made wrong decisions.

65:54

Speaker A

For where we are this season, maybe I'd want Steve Lansdown to put some more money in.

66:01

Speaker A

But, I can't actually criticize Steve Lansdown for this season. Because he is what football makes football can spend, are covering the losses. We spent what we got in in January, and we've also had the fees for Bird, um McCrorie, etc.,

66:16

Speaker A

etc. etc. And the decisions have been in the hands of Skuse and Moore, and then Ellis, and then Skubala.

66:24

Speaker A

So, Lansdown has given them the framework to work within. What we are seeing at the moment is nothing to do with Steve Lansdown in the nicest possible way.

66:34

Speaker A

It's absolutely nothing to do with it. It is purely about how we are playing football and if Ellis has made a bad call, you know, let's say uh you make 11 signings, realistically two of them are going to

66:47

Speaker A

be duffers. You know, nobody has 100% hit rate on signings. I don't care how good your data is.

66:52

Speaker A

Agreed. The question is whether the manager signing is a duffer. And the duffer can be because actually all those 11 players you can't get them to play a certain way.

67:03

Speaker A

Because yeah, we might want bigger, stronger footballers in a Lincoln style, but I tell you what, we don't want to watch it for that long. And the reason Skubala was appointed was because he had a history of outperforming his resources at Lincoln.

67:17

Speaker A

They did it very much by playing the percentage. If you read Sky Sports articles on this, it's about right. James Allen said, oh sorry, Michael Skubala said, you might only get six goal kicks a year uh or a

67:29

Speaker A

game. Six goal kicks a year would be terrible. Six goal kicks a game, but you'll get multiple throw-ins. So, you work on the throw-ins in the attacking positions.

67:36

Speaker A

He plays set pieces. He plays percentages. It's who he is. And he outperformed resources at Lincoln.

67:42

Speaker A

And we've appointed him because we wanted to outperform resources here. The question that arises in that is, does that style of football actually work at championship level where you've got Chris Wilder managing Sheffield United who knows exactly how to combat

67:56

Speaker A

it. Nathan Jones at Charlton who combated it straight away. The more we played and the more we tried to play that percentage game, teams go, "Well, we know what we're doing." And Lincoln, who were set up to play it, I

68:09

Speaker A

saw a comment earlier on, they're below us in the league notwithstanding beating Burnley 4-1.

68:14

Speaker A

This style of football will not be a success at this level, which is why Dave Te is absolutely right to call for Skubala's head.

68:23

Speaker A

[laughter] All right, look, we're we've managed to spin this out for over the hour. That's good. Let's look forward to well, look forward to Bolton and look forward to the next international break. Can't come soon enough, really. We said

68:37

Speaker A

at the start of that seven-game run that we thought, "Oh, we'd get about 11, 12 points. That'd be quite nice. Set us up nicely." We got three games to go.

68:46

Speaker A

We've got two points. So, we've got two points in [snorts] the last four games.

68:52

Speaker A

Bolton away, you just don't know what's going to happen in this league, do you?

68:55

Speaker A

Because they lost They won 3-1 at Wolves and then on Friday night they lost 5-1 at home to uh Boro.

69:03

Speaker A

But uh [snorts] each of you in turn next three games, Dave, your points total, what do you How do you think it's going to go?

69:11

Speaker A

I [clears throat] I four points, I would say. I really I I winning away at Bolton.

69:17

Speaker A

Uh I would I can imagine a point at home to to to uh Norwich. What What concerns me is the two home games.

69:26

Speaker A

What is the football like? Do our fans, not so much are they entertained because there are two ways. If you're entertained, you could take it. If If you win, you can take it. But, you need at least one of them. And the being

69:38

Speaker A

entertained without winning only lasts for so long. [snorts] And those home performances, it will grow toxic very, very quickly because the rope is so incredibly short at home.

69:48

Speaker A

So, really in the next home game against Wolves, he needs to come out firing.

69:52

Speaker A

But, it is Wolves at the same time. But, looking at the Bolton You're saying four and you're getting the bulk of those points. So, you're expecting a win at the Reebok Stadium next week.

70:02

Speaker A

Yeah, if not, you've got to win at home to Norwich because it is Wolves and you you don't get a pass, but football fans aren't stupid. They do understand that it's Wolves.

70:10

Speaker A

But, that means that the Norwich game does become huge for that reason. Mhm. Simon.

70:17

Speaker A

Well, I don't know. It's impossible to say how many points. I mean, the way we're going, I mean, it's just so it's so difficult to predict. We've got to score a goal to to get a win, haven't we? I mean, where's Where's the goal

70:27

Speaker A

coming from? I I don't know. Uh I I think if we could play all three of those games away from home, we'd have a better chance. I think the pressure's going to like Dave said, that the pressure's going to come on at home. Uh

70:37

Speaker A

because because of what's what's happened recently and the fact we can't score and we don't look like scoring. So, and the that's where you That's where your supporters watch you, obviously, at home more. Away from home, you know, you you

70:49

Speaker A

get the die hards who go we could We could scrape a point We could scrape a point at Bolton next week in conditions not unlike they were yesterday. And then, the pressure's really on for the Wolves game, isn't it?

71:00

Speaker A

Whereas if you beat Bolton away, the crowd are a bit more up for it, aren't they?

71:03

Speaker A

Yeah, I I takes a bit get a win takes a bit of the the pressure off. But you you got to you got to get the win and look like look like you're a team that is believes it's going to score as well. Uh

71:15

Speaker A

I And we we've gone we we've got away from that. Um it it it just looks we're we're in that sort of trough that you can sometimes get in in the championship.

71:24

Speaker A

Like every now and again, um you you're going to get a really poor performance in the championship. It's 46 games and we we had that against Sheffield United.

71:31

Speaker A

Well, we weren't awful against Blackburn, we could have won that game. And we weren't awful yesterday. Uh we we we went there and you know, gave it a go in terms of, you know, quite a defensive setup. I mean,

71:42

Speaker A

there was no lack of effort at all. So, you know, that was that was good. And I I think I think we are, you know, we really do need to get onto the EFL and ask them if we can play all our matches

71:52

Speaker A

away from home for the rest of the season. I think I know I don't I know Bolton is I know Bolton's next game and I understand there's a there's a fans forum and there's going to be some I'd imagine some firm harsh

72:04

Speaker A

conversations there where it's not going to be a time for jokes because the questions are going to be quite on point. But for the next home game against Wolves, if I was Guballa, truly I'd say to one of the players,

72:16

Speaker A

act someone hard. Create a brawl. Make all the players aware of it. Get in everybody in their faces and get the crowd up. Get them forgetting the fact that the the home form hasn't been good because right now

72:29

Speaker A

that's how you get people on side. But first up is Bolton and Yeah. Yeah, they could do with a win there.

72:35

Speaker A

Yeah, and as Dean Street has pointed out, it's the Tough Sheet Community Stadium, not the Reebok. Let's hope it's not tough sheet for City up there. Um and um the boys, Dave and Simon, four points.

72:49

Speaker A

Uh that's almost like a minimum requirement. That would give us six points from the seven games. Jesus, that's well below expectation. But, what do you think's going to happen?

72:59

Speaker A

I think the question more is how many points does he actually need? Um because the pressure if you if you go on Oat Tip, it's quite toxic at the moment. You know, and I'm not calling for Skubala's head as any one

73:14

Speaker A

member of this panel that is at the moment. Okay? But, I think that he needs points.

73:21

Speaker A

He needs points and he needs performances. Um you're playing at Gavin Bazunu, one of the worst goalkeepers I've ever seen next week. We should at least get one goal. You hope we do.

73:31

Speaker A

But, realistically, you're probably looking at getting a point at Bolton. You know, if you looked at the winnable game, that's the winnable game.

73:38

Speaker A

Wolves, I don't see us getting anything out of Wolves whatsoever, the way we're playing at the moment. And we could We could eventually, you know, um football's a funny thing.

73:49

Speaker A

But, we could The realistic scenario is we'll be on one point potentially from the next two games.

73:55

Speaker A

We are then playing Norwich. And they're under a bit of pressure at the moment.

74:00

Speaker A

They got a good win at the Valley yesterday, didn't they? Cuz they were one nil down, came back, yeah.

74:05

Speaker A

But, that's the first win for a while, so they're not out Philip Clement is not out of the woods either at this moment in time.

74:11

Speaker A

So, there is a very realistic world where we get one point for the next three games.

74:16

Speaker A

And then we have an international break coming up. And then there was a decision to make at that international break.

74:21

Speaker A

Because Well, because first game after the break, the first game after the break, Simon, is Burton away.

74:27

Speaker A

And we usually do well up there, but you don't want that as your first game if you only get one point from the next three, do you?

74:33

Speaker A

So, yeah, exactly. We are So, he needs a win desperately. He needs probably two wins from the next three games. I think people The bare minimum they expect is, I think Dave said at the outset is it's battling performance that we saw

74:47

Speaker A

yesterday. We expect them to put it in, put the effort in. Um we lack the potential quality to get the results in all three games.

74:55

Speaker A

I If I was to put money on now, I would suggest we may get two points in the next three. That's draws against Norwich and Bolton.

75:02

Speaker A

And I think that will ramp the pressure up to a fairly extreme level. I'm not saying the club will act. I'm not saying he should be sacked at that point because it depends on the quality of the football. But if we are sat here post

75:16

Speaker A

Norwich and we've only got two more points in the bank, this is going to be toxic.

75:21

Speaker A

Yeah. But you know it is so Bristol City that it will end up getting seven points from the next three games cuz it will go win, draw, win. That'll be seven points on top of the 15 we got at the moment,

75:35

Speaker A

22 points with a third of the season gone. Multiply by three and we're just creeping in there on the sixth. I mean, final question, GG, before we wrap up. I mean, Dave, looking at the league table, uh the three playoff the three parachute

75:50

Speaker A

payment clubs are in the top eight, but Swansea got dubbed by QPR yesterday. Uh who are the surprise package at the moment who are up in that top eight as it stands? QPR certainly seem to be for me. They've come from nowhere, haven't

76:04

Speaker A

they? I'd say so, but the championship comes at comes at you quick. One minute you're the team in form and it it flips really, really fast on you and QPR seem to have been around almost as long as we have in

76:16

Speaker A

this division. I know they had a few years higher, but it it's a hard league. The championship is a a really, really, really challenging league. And if if you look at it, we're we're five points from eighth and going down, we're we're seven

76:28

Speaker A

points. We're in the middle. We really haven't moved from where we expect us to be.

76:33

Speaker A

You know, there were a lot of people at the start of the season that would have said, "Oh, we're going to finish ninth to 14th, 10th to 14th." And right now that's where we are.

76:41

Speaker A

I What I would say is in terms of looking to the next game, if if you want to get us moving upwards, the first thing that has to happen is beat the case in the side. It has to be.

76:51

Speaker A

You look at the league table, Simon. Any particular any any particular sides there that have surprised you that they're there or, you know, so sides that I mean, look at Burnley. Sorry, Burnley Burnley No, they're they're not a parachute. They

77:04

Speaker A

are a parachute club. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They're in the bottom three. I got confused with Southampton, the cheats.

77:09

Speaker A

Yeah, they're in the top lot. Yeah, well, they they've got their own peculiar problems Burnley. I mean, Swansea have surprised me. Get dropped yesterday. I was interested you should you said so typical Bristol City to get seven points in three games,

77:24

Speaker A

David. I mean, you've been watching them for longer than I have. I would have thought seven points is not so Bristol City. I thought no points is so Bristol City and then it goes.

77:31

Speaker A

that's when you sometimes I always say Bristol City never fail to [snorts] you know, they they they always let you down. Whereas, you know, So, when you give up, they suddenly come back and you think, "Oh." And that's why you keep going.

77:44

Speaker A

It's the hope that kills with City. Usually, they never fail to disappoint, but I'm just hoping, you know, that we if we did that, happy days. I don't see it coming, but back to the league table, Simon. Your thoughts on the teams that

77:58

Speaker A

are there or thereabouts. Somebody said on the text feed, "That's it. The top eight done already." I don't think so. I really don't think so.

78:05

Speaker A

Yeah, I I don't think there are that many surprises in the in the top eight apart from perhaps Swansea who actually I think finished the season pretty well last year and they're they're on a bit of a surge. See how

78:14

Speaker A

they react to getting beaten yesterday by Queens Park Rangers, but you know, Boro I mean, they they're one of those teams that spent all that money over the course of their time in the Championship. I think they spent more than us, haven't they? And

78:26

Speaker A

Leeds had spent the most. So, Boro you know, they might finally come good. Lancashire obviously that's a you know, a decent signing.

78:33

Speaker A

Yeah, West Ham Wolves West Brom perhaps a bit of a surprise. Southampton, I I mean, I expect Middlesbrough, West Ham, Wolves, and Southampton to be out there. I thought Birmingham might have quite a good season as well.

78:45

Speaker A

And they're they're they're in there abouts. Something I said at the start of the season. But I mean, it is unpredictable. Everyone could be I mean, the team that I'm amazed that Portsmouth have are up to 11th.

78:54

Speaker A

No, I was just going to say that cuz I thought Machino Machino was on our short list. So, somebody said on Otze the other day, Skubala was actually fourth choice. So, I was trying to work out who was the guy who was at

79:05

Speaker A

Bournemouth who decided to follow Ariola. Then Machino, I'm trying to work out who was third choice if Skubala was fourth, yeah? But he's done well, Machino, hasn't he?

79:17

Speaker A

Well, he he had they've done well this season. I mean, I thought they were awful at our place. And we were pretty awful as well. But I thought they looked absolutely zero creativity. And they got that dodgy penalty right at the end to

79:26

Speaker A

get them a a goal. So, you know, fair play to them. A couple of decent home wins. Beat Millwall's a a good result.

79:32

Speaker A

And they beat Sheffield United, albeit they played for over over one half with against 10 men. So, who who was the who was the Was there a third person and who was a Well, I don't know. I just

79:43

Speaker A

Skubala Skubala was um third choice. Yeah. And actually, so he was behind Alfreð and was behind him, yeah.

79:51

Speaker A

Um I thought Machino made a lot of sense for us to go for. Uh Managing with available resources, he certainly ticks that box, doesn't he?

80:00

Speaker A

And had the experience of the Championship, which was um the advantage over Skubala potentially. I mean, and but we again, we have to remember Machino has 2 years at the Championship. Skubala has 12 games.

80:12

Speaker A

So, um there may be a case of that Skubala will get better with experience rather than anything else.

80:18

Speaker A

Can I ask you one question, Anne? Um to Do you think uh we we we we kind of got there and then we we diverted away. But do you think this team needs to stroke will change a lot more

80:30

Speaker A

quick or relatively quickly under Skubala than um than you know just leave the players we brought all these players in. Do you think he's going to go with these players or do you think actually he's going to look at and say we do need to

80:42

Speaker A

change it and I need to change it to fit the way I really want to play.

80:46

Speaker A

If you ask what my gut feeling is I think the coach will change before that level of player Overton.

80:52

Speaker A

But if it doesn't change? If he doesn't change he will need to bring other players in.

80:57

Speaker A

Because I I do think I do think he's relatively one-dimensional in the way he wants to play football it's percentage based. We don't have the physicality, we don't have the runners for that. You know, he will need to get more resource in to

81:10

Speaker A

play the way he wants to play successfully. Now, the average life of a manager in the championship is 10 months. So, it is not a long shelf life. Play managers typically don't have the luxury of bringing in a whole load of players

81:24

Speaker A

to play their way. And that's why I say that the players will probably outlast the manager in this case because he's had 11 players come in. Now, we can debate discuss about was some tick already on the club's list for example. You know, for

81:38

Speaker A

Skubala to change him quickly it's very very quick to say actually I really want this guy now I don't fancy him when he's not conceded that many goals. So, that's a big decision on that.

81:49

Speaker A

So, I think that if he wants to play the way he wants to play which we assume is a close cousin of Lincoln for that to be successful he will need three or four more players.

82:02

Speaker A

Do I think that we will get those three or four more players? No. Number one because I don't think the fan base will have that style of football when it airs more towards long hoof as opposed to vertical ball.

82:16

Speaker A

Two, because the average shelf life. Three, because what football makes football can spend. And I've said about Steve Lansdown has put the money in this year he has.

82:25

Speaker A

There isn't a huge amount more unless Clive Adams they put his hand in his pocket.

82:30

Speaker A

And would you, if I flip the question, would I get would you give Michael Skubala another 8 million pounds spend? That's 40 million pounds. It's not massive outlay. Would you give Skubala 8 million pounds spend in January to try and

82:44

Speaker A

translate us into a better version of Lincoln? Well, DT wouldn't give him one more game.

82:50

Speaker A

Yeah, exactly. [laughter] No, look, I mean, but the thing is, look, the thing is, the thing is, right?

82:58

Speaker A

We talk about this style of football and when if you're losing, it's shite. Let's make no bones about that. And I can remember in the days of Danny Wilson, right? When yeah, he played attacking football and yeah, every year he had year-on-year

83:10

Speaker A

improvement and it cost him because he had the snake that was Brian Tinnion stabbing him in the back after a Brighton game. And I remember his press conference and he said, "Defeat isn't failure." But that last season he was in

83:21

Speaker A

charge, the team that went up as champions was Wigan. And we the previous year, that's right, Wigan had gone back up in 2003. And Wigan were bloody dour and they were winning every game 1 and 2-0. And if in

83:37

Speaker A

the next 10 games between now and the end of the year, if we won six of those 1-0, yeah, and half of them were away, and we drew a couple had a couple more 0-0 draws at home, and a couple of defeats, one at

83:51

Speaker A

home or one on the road, but come 1st of January when we play West Ham on New Year's Day, we were actually there in seventh place virtue of six 1-0 wins, which was boring as shite with goals in

84:04

Speaker A

either the first minute or the 91st minute, we wouldn't be sat here moaning. We'd be looking we'd be saying, "Oh, we've got to go for it." And and we are.

84:13

Speaker A

I mean, had Alex Scott not got injured playing for England, we would have been in that situation where if he goes, as he undoubtedly will, I don't think it'll happen in January now. That 10 million is going to be there

84:26

Speaker A

on [snorts] the table potentially unless Lansdown swallows it up in losses. And as somebody pointed out on those Kevin Mcguire stats, they were before player sales, yeah? And obviously in there you've got Semenyo and you've got Semenyo sale or Kalas sale and Alex

84:42

Speaker A

Scott sale, but blah blah blah blah. You know, would we give him that money? Did you I would say he probably would get it because it's all about the project. I mean, it's it's Simon's question, Dave, but would would you give him money to

84:54

Speaker A

spend? And who does he shift out? Because he's bought players that have got no ongoing value. Jed Wallace, I don't know how long his contract is. And Sam Greenwood I think.

85:04

Speaker A

Yeah. We [clears throat] I mean, if if Greenwood, you, and Wallace left this football club, I I couldn't give a toss.

85:12

Speaker A

Dave. I mean, of course you do. If if you if if you're if they get to the point where they're like, "You know what? I'm not sure I can give you this money." then you shouldn't be in charge. Yeah. If you

85:22

Speaker A

believe he's the right man, you give that money to spend it. And I do actually believe that those two wider positions is where we are lacking that quality. You get that quality, the conversation changes completely. But at the same time, you give that money, the

85:34

Speaker A

expectation rises. And what I would also say is if you're going to bring in those players, it's really important that we stick to this philosophy that we spoke about in the summer of continuity.

85:46

Speaker A

We can't keep having this thing of bringing in players, another manager comes in, and actually he wants another ones. Because if you think about last season, like Randa was one of our best players for the whole season. Horvath

85:58

Speaker A

was brought in early because he was deemed that he could be really really needed in help.

86:02

Speaker A

Make a difference, yeah? And essentially now it's like neither of them are popular with this manager. It cannot be the case that if, not when, and if we get to another manager at some point, that all of a sudden we're having

86:14

Speaker A

to rotate again. Because that makes this version of us no different to Carthage. Continuity is important and if they come in, they have to be part of the side because we can't be in 1 year from now Stoke away and Simon saying, "Oh, we

86:29

Speaker A

have one player from last season." It can't keep being like this because the project is standstill. So, absolutely I would give the money but we need to do it in the right way.

86:39

Speaker A

Yeah. Ain't it great being able to talk about that you can talk about it for ages and ages. I mean, I'm just looking I'm just looking one player we talked about Portsmouth. One player who when he was with us, right? He was always he was

86:51

Speaker A

always a bit like in the Cole Skuse mode, you know, you don't really know what he does but to some extent when he's gone, you sort when I never miss Cole Skuse.

87:00

Speaker A

Marlon Pack, 35 years old, right? And we used to berate him. He if he was three if if he was the same age as Jed I mean, he played 244 games for us, Marlon Pack, with 11 goals. So, he's a

87:14

Speaker A

one in 20 goal one one goal in 20 games midfielder. That defensive midfielder. But since he left us, he's 35 years old, how many games do you think he's played in the last well, since he was at Portsmouth? That's 4 years ago, yeah?

87:29

Speaker A

153 games, 10 goals, did 90 minutes the other day and you know, you look at that. I mean, we had an equivalent to Marlon Pack in Sam Morsy last season but Marlon Pack, fair play to the bloke, still doing it. I don't know if he still

87:46

Speaker A

lives in Portishead but we've just had so much churn. So much churn. I think one point it right, do we?

87:54

Speaker A

No, well, one point about churn though, David, is that with 3-year contracts, three straight 4-year contracts, the power is with the players and so inevitably you you you have to sell them. If you don't want to give them

88:05

Speaker A

another contract or they don't want to sign it, then inevitably they have to go. So, I think it's the nature of the game now that you're going to get greater churn because of the contract situation and players have all that power. So I mean,

88:16

Speaker A

you know, the Knight situation is not It's not surprising that It's not surprising that uh Jason Knight hasn't signed his contract. He didn't sign it at Derby. I think wanted to keep him as well, but he he he got to the end of his

88:27

Speaker A

contract and came to us. Same Well, not almost the same with with Bird as well.

88:31

Speaker A

So players, you know, that's what players do. So you are going to get that You you are going to get a situation where the team from a couple of years ago is is totally or radically different from the

88:41

Speaker A

team two or three years ago. It's It's inevitable with with the unless you can unless you're successful or you can really give them a huge contract to to entice them, but you get a signing on fee, you move on. It's the It's the

88:52

Speaker A

nature of the Yeah. modern football game. So Simon, do you I mean, one thing I've noticed this year we seem to have done a lot of four-year contracts, but doesn't doesn't it worry you that someone like Randel, who was so instrumental one

89:06

Speaker A

year, is somehow deemed surplus to the next manager? Is that your all concern? Uh just on the four-year contract, I mean, you give four-year contracts, don't you, to the players you really rate when you sign them. So you go, come

89:17

Speaker A

on, let let's see if we can keep them for a bit longer. Uh as for Randel, I I mean, he's a victim of as some players are, of a new manager, isn't he? I think it I think it's that. It happens the whole time in

89:28

Speaker A

football. A manager comes in, doesn't fancy a player for whatever reason. Probably I mean, he was He was in Michael Skubala's first team though for the season, and then we had the Millwall incident. And then, you know, all sorts

89:40

Speaker A

of things can happen. Kante is a movable feast. So you talk about four-year contracts, right? You talk about this is worrying.

89:46

Speaker A

You talk about [clears throat] four not three years with a one-year option. Four bloody years, right?

89:52

Speaker A

25th of June 19 2026, Sam Greenwood moved back you were going to say that.

89:57

Speaker A

and joined Championship side Bristol City on a four-year contract. Yeah. Well, I'm not going to use that word me.

90:05

Speaker A

I love those adverts that um who is it? Not Google, one of the thing with Brat from when he says cheeky and then you get the ring doorbell sign in the background, but you know, that is a awful sign.

90:18

Speaker A

David, you can't you can't have it both ways. You can't have it both ways because we are we are seriously hot on the fact that we go down below two years of our players and we're no longer in

90:29

Speaker A

control of them and this that and the other and now you're saying that four years is too long.

90:33

Speaker A

No, you could give No, no, I think I think four years if it's a three with a one-year option and you really like the player, you exercise the option. We've got him for four years. So, he's secure.

90:46

Speaker A

year is is very naughty the one year thing because all you end up doing half the time is making the the player angry because they become aware of if you but if you make him angry, you don't rate him and that's what happened

90:57

Speaker A

with Sykes. We could have given Sykes we could have given Sykes a new contract at the end of that, but as it was, we pissed him off And that's because of that exact thing.

91:06

Speaker A

We annoyed him for that exact thing. this bloke he's got four years. He he is going to earn more in four years than most people if he's on a championship wage most people will earn in the bulk of their

91:19

Speaker A

working life for him. but what you're assuming is is that the they don't have the ability to move him on if he doesn't produce. If we end up with a Harry Cornick situation, then your point is totally valid and you'll

91:33

Speaker A

be very right to be angry. But if he doesn't produce and they manage to move him on, like I imagine they're going to do for Horvat in the summer, like they did with Armstrong somehow, all of a sudden you're looking at it and saying,

91:45

Speaker A

you know what, you've given a player a go, you've moved him him on. One of our biggest inabilities in recent years is actually to move players on either breaking even or anything close to a profit. That's how I'm judging these

91:57

Speaker A

players. If Greenwood doesn't produce in the next year year and a half and we don't move him on, absolutely he's failed. And yes, we should be really harsh for the the club for not doing so.

92:07

Speaker A

But who's going to buy him? Who's going to buy him? He didn't have a track record before he came here. He was a nearly man.

92:13

Speaker A

I think of the whole that situation is probably a bit different from Sam Greenwood in because I think Hoornweg might have a few more options because he's you know, a player who's come from abroad. There might be other leagues

92:22

Speaker A

that would take him on. Sam Greenwood I'm I'm not so sure about that. There was a player we had and you'll remember him, David. I don't know whether Anton and David team will remember. Mark Gavin.

92:32

Speaker A

Yeah. A while back, quite a while back now. 33 years ago. People listening a bit of a card. He I think he became a professional gambler at some stage, a professional poker player.

92:43

Speaker A

He might well have done. But I remember seeing him to start with with us and he was dreadful. I thought, "What on earth is this?" And then he had one great season, didn't he, where he was in instrumental in in a promotion season.

92:52

Speaker A

So 89-90. Yeah. So So with Sam Greenwood, I've got my fingers crossed, but to me, he looks a bit like Mark Gavin Well, and a few others as well. Marley Watkins, those sort of players.

93:03

Speaker A

Can I just in their first season? Just to get a little bit of revenge, I'm happy that you can all remember because Mark Gavin, I was six. I was very young.

93:12

Speaker A

So You were You [laughter] were a mascot. You were He was in that team when you came out as mascot, Dave, wasn't he?

93:18

Speaker A

Yeah, exactly. There's another one. I give you for Mark Gavin, I give you a more recent one.

93:22

Speaker A

This is 2012-13. Alan Woolford, I think it was. And then the year Mark Martin Martin Woolford.

93:29

Speaker A

The year the year He was awful when he came. And then the start of I think it was 13-14 season or 12-13 season, he got We beat Crystal Palace at home 4-2. And there used to be a chant, "There's only

93:41

Speaker A

one Alan Woolford, one Alan Woolford. He used to be shite, but now he's all right. Alan Woolford, Alan Woolford, you know." So [snorts] people laughing at him.

93:49

Speaker A

Martin Woolford. Martin Woolford, sorry. Alan Woolford. [laughter] Game's gone. The The game is gone. The game's gone.

93:58

Speaker A

Yeah. Who could Well, here's a Here's an interesting one. Who can we think who started We've done Simon said Mark Gavin and Martin Woolford. I've said Do you Do you Do you give me anybody and who's Somebody said Ralph Milne on here. Yeah,

94:14

Speaker A

I mean that was still. Ralph Milne started brilliantly. Ralph Milne scored a fantastic goal on debut against Bury, so I'm not having any of that. He scored like that.

94:20

Speaker A

And he scored a cracker out of Oxford in a League Cup tie, but there we go.

94:23

Speaker A

What you've And this is this is where managers can sometimes make players look poorer than they actually are. If you remember under the last manager we had who played vertical football, a certain Mr. Pulis, he signed a lot of players.

94:40

Speaker A

And he signed a lot of players who didn't actually make the great start off with.

94:46

Speaker A

So, I'm talking about players like Paul Holland he signed, for example, who never ended up pulling up trees, but you know, ended up being a perfectly serviceable and I had quite quite good games for us eventually, but started off really poorly under Pulis.

95:00

Speaker A

Uh the most notable one under Pulis was another cult hero with a song. I know what you're going to say. I will sing that song. Hey, Jonesy, I want to know where you got that tan. Yes?

95:14

Speaker A

I was going to say Steve Jones, yes, but I'm I'm both glad and disturbed that you sang.

95:19

Speaker A

Um so, yeah, Steve Jones came in he was absolute pony and he was never great, but actually he he won the crowd over with his effort and his work rate, I think eventually did Steve Jones. So, look, what I'm

95:32

Speaker A

saying is is there was a lot here when we talk about these players at the moment and you know, I've said Sam Tickle and decided on you know, we don't have enough data on a lot of these players to say whether

95:44

Speaker A

they're going to be good or bad signings at the moment. You know, we jumped early on a lot of them. Again, Sam Vokes has played 360 minutes for us. You know, that's not that long. Gibson Yah has played about 200 minutes. So, these

95:58

Speaker A

players, even to make inauspicious starts, are possibly not being helped by the over-rotation, are possibly not being helped by the style, and they may end up being very, very good players at the end of it.

96:12

Speaker A

So, I think that there is potential. I think we have a very, very good side streaming [snorts] to get out of a tactical straitjacket at the moment.

96:25

Speaker A

Good point. And I'm optimistic. Good point. Uh Dave, any redemption? Uh that should be the This should be the music for this episode when I uploaded the podcast plat- platform, Redemption song by Bob Marley. But, uh any players

96:40

Speaker A

that you thought were crap and they came on all right in the end? Well, the the Steve Jones one was a a very good one, I thought, because he did actually come back from a very low place. And I'm struggling, racking my

96:51

Speaker A

brains, and struggling to think of one. So, what I would say is to the listeners, if you can think of a player that had a poor start and came back, please put it in the chat. Please put it

97:00

Speaker A

on the Spotify chat. Just just let us know if you can think of any, because it'll be a an interesting uh jog down memory lane.

97:08

Speaker A

[laughter] All right, look, it's we've done 90 minutes plus stoppage time. We're up at 1 hour 37 minutes. So, the referee fourth official put the board up a few minutes ago.

97:19

Speaker A

Uh it's been a great podcast. Uh it's great fun doing it. Hope you've enjoyed listening as much as we've enjoyed doing it. I mean, you know, Simon, Dave, and uh we could go on and on and on, but

97:31

Speaker A

I've got a dog to take out for a walk, and I'm going to go to uh Leaf and Bean on Sixways in Clevedon and get myself a cup of coffee. And uh yeah, I'm not doing any more advertisements. If anybody else wants to

97:43

Speaker A

promote any I'm I'm going to I'm going to go meet Ellis for a beer, so it should be pretty good.

97:47

Speaker A

to go and meet Ellis, yeah? He's there in the background. Simon's probably not going to go and watch the cricket because how are England doing now?

97:55

Speaker A

Uh oh, they were five down uh for about 160 not so long ago. In a one-day in a one-day game and and he's obviously going to do something sophisticated as such as his uh such as his uh his day and we'll we'll be it's I we we

98:10

Speaker A

we we we don't have any problem doing uh three podcasts a week uh and we never need any recovery time or anything uh like that. It's this week it's a free week. Absolutely brilliant. But we'll be back on Sunday morning reviewing the

98:24

Speaker A

game at the Toughsheet Stadium against Bolton. And um yeah, everybody, thanks for listening and have a great week. All of it.

Topics: Bristol City Stoke City EFL Championship match review podcast Tickle goalkeeper formation xG Skuse

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