Martyn is joined by Barry Anderson and Ben Banks to discuss Neil Warnock's appointment at Aberdeen, Hearts and Celtic
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - Hello and welcome to National World Fitba Talk,
00:09 your nan's favorite football podcast again.
00:12 We're back after a short break
00:14 and we're once again gonna be discussing
00:16 the latest news and fixtures
00:17 from around the Scottish premiership.
00:19 I'm your host Martin Simpson.
00:21 I'm joined by Barry Anderson from Edinburgh Evening News
00:24 and making his debut on the show for the first time,
00:27 welcome Ben Banks.
00:29 - Hello, I feel like this is like a deadline,
00:31 they say that nobody asked for and things like that
00:34 and I've just appeared so hopefully all goes well.
00:36 - Delighted to have you here Ben, you'll fit right in.
00:40 So I think the news we should probably start off with
00:43 is Aberdeen have a new manager.
00:45 They've appointed Neil Warnock until the end of the season.
00:48 Probably the big picture here is that Neil Warnock's
00:52 gonna be in there while they undertake
00:54 a full operational review of the football department
00:58 at the club.
01:00 So we know Warnock's gonna be there
01:01 until the end of the season.
01:03 What do you guys think?
01:04 Personally, I think this is a brilliant appointment
01:06 by Aberdeen, especially given like they said,
01:09 they're gonna be reviewing a lot more than just the manager
01:13 and you get a coach in who's not gonna have to worry
01:17 about things like recruitment or youth
01:19 or necessarily youth development,
01:21 he's just there to get the best out of the players he has.
01:24 Aberdeen, third place is gone,
01:26 fourth place is still within reach
01:28 and they're in the Scottish Cup.
01:29 So the season's not written off.
01:32 I think this is a great capture.
01:34 What do you think Barry?
01:35 - Yeah, I'm with you.
01:37 I think it's real kind of box office stuff
01:39 if you look at Neil Warnock's career
01:41 and some of the things he's done
01:44 and just the achievements in terms of taking smaller clubs
01:47 and either making them safe
01:49 or getting them promoted, things like that.
01:50 But just the whole character and the intrigue
01:54 that surrounds the guy and the way he deals with people,
01:57 he doesn't take any nonsense,
01:58 which is something I really like.
02:00 And I think that'll appeal to a lot of the fans
02:01 at Aberdeen as well.
02:02 Referees, I think, are in for quite a tough time.
02:06 I also think there's no risk for Aberdeen here.
02:10 They can bring him in till the end of the season
02:11 while they do this review.
02:13 And it's very unlikely, I think,
02:16 that Aberdeen with that squad would end up
02:18 slipping down the table into the relegation zone.
02:19 I think you're more looking at trying to climb up the way
02:22 and if he can generate a reaction
02:26 that's going to take them towards fourth place,
02:28 then you wouldn't put it beyond them getting there.
02:30 It's hard to see how he'll fare
02:35 because he's, as I just pointed out,
02:37 he's used to taking clubs with smaller expectations
02:42 and maybe punching above his weight,
02:44 whereas Aberdeen's a big club with bigger expectations.
02:46 So that's probably a slight change for him.
02:49 But it's great to have somebody like him in Scottish football.
02:51 We regularly, me included, have complained in the past
02:56 about the same old faces getting jobs.
02:59 And I think Aberdeen deserve a lot of credit
03:01 for thinking out of the box
03:02 and bringing in somebody with a real proven track record,
03:05 decades of experience,
03:06 and somebody who I would expect will light up the game here.
03:10 - It's definitely got the potential to be peak cinch,
03:15 as the kids like to say, Ben.
03:16 But also I think you can't get away from his experience
03:21 in the game.
03:21 Some people seem to look at his age as a detractor,
03:24 but you don't keep getting jobs
03:27 if you've not got something about you clearly.
03:30 And Neil Warnock's got three promotions
03:33 from the championship to his name
03:34 with QPR, Cardiff City, and Legion,
03:37 not Leeds, sorry, no, QPR and Cardiff City,
03:39 so, and Sheffield United, three.
03:41 And as soon as last season he saved up,
03:45 I mean, pulling no punches here,
03:46 an absolutely woeful Huddersfield townside from relegation.
03:50 I really just, yeah, I mean, what's your opinion on it?
03:53 'Cause I think it's, as I've said, and as Barry's agreed,
03:56 this looks like a really good short-term appointment.
03:59 - I think on February 28th,
04:01 he'll be able to fill national newspapers
04:03 when Craig Levine meets Neil Warnock in the dugout.
04:05 I think that'll be a real meeting of the minds.
04:09 I think it's a good short-term appointment.
04:11 I've seen a couple of fans maybe arguing the point
04:15 if you want to look at a slightly negative stance
04:17 and that his teams are probably more used
04:20 to being the underdog in games
04:22 and maybe counterattacking and things like that.
04:24 Probably a bit of a style that Barry Robson tried to deploy,
04:27 'cause I think Barry Robson's best results
04:30 as Aberdeen manager came against sort of games
04:33 where they weren't fancy,
04:34 but when it came to maybe like Dundee midweek,
04:37 last week they drew one each.
04:39 Arguably pretty lucky to come away with that game
04:41 with a point with the way that game ended.
04:44 And I think it'll maybe be that side of things
04:46 that'll be slightly different for Neil Warnock in this
04:49 and that he's gonna be expected to go out,
04:51 especially with Audrey,
04:52 he's gonna be expected to go out and win games
04:54 and probably win games comfortably as well,
04:56 because this Aberdeen squad is a good squad.
04:58 I think people maybe forget that as well.
04:59 You've got a potentially four or five million pound striker
05:02 up front, Bojan Majovski,
05:04 somebody they paid a lot of money for
05:06 in a creative midfield in late in Clarton,
05:08 Jamie McGrath and Graeme Trinney
05:10 are both proven at this level.
05:12 Offensively is probably where you have the concerns,
05:14 but I think there's a good squad there to work with
05:16 and I'll be interested in terms of maybe
05:18 he's maybe worked with clubs that are same size,
05:21 maybe as Aberdeen,
05:22 Sheffield United, Leeds United, they're big clubs,
05:24 but the expectation is different in that
05:27 Aberdeen are gonna view themselves
05:29 as the third force in this country.
05:30 And even though the league table
05:32 maybe doesn't show that right now,
05:34 that's still gonna be the expectation
05:36 that it might be going,
05:37 but how close can you get to it between the league?
05:40 - Just before we move on from this,
05:43 I want to look at some of the other names
05:44 that were mentioned.
05:45 You can't accuse Aberdeen of lacking ambition.
05:49 There's reports today saying they made an approach
05:51 to Scott Parker, which given where he was not so long ago,
05:55 and I think that suggests that they definitely
05:59 they were again looking outside the box
06:02 and they were willing to make overtures
06:04 to people who would have been certainly,
06:07 I mean, I imagine Scott Parker's wages alone
06:09 would have made him the highest paid manager
06:10 in Aberdeen's history.
06:12 But one name that was always amongst the favorites
06:15 was Alex Neil.
06:17 And there was definitely a big section
06:20 of not just Aberdeen supporters,
06:21 but elsewhere in the Scottish media
06:23 that seemed like, well, finally one of Hearts,
06:27 Hibs, Aberdeen have found Alex Neil
06:30 at a point in his managerial career where he's unemployed,
06:34 he's ready to step into a job.
06:36 And it did kind of feel like over the past few years
06:38 for all three clubs have had managerial changes
06:40 that he was always kind of there or thereabouts.
06:43 And if he's free, could they get him?
06:45 And as much as we all agree, Warnock's a good appointment,
06:49 do we think maybe Aberdeen have missed a trick by not,
06:54 maybe they did make a move for him,
06:56 maybe he wasn't interested, but we don't know.
06:58 But if they could have got him in,
06:59 have they missed a trick by not getting him in?
07:01 Because he's proven at this level,
07:04 he's proven at the English level,
07:06 he's a young coach still, there's a lot to be said for him.
07:10 And I can understand why people want to see him back up here.
07:14 But obviously Aberdeen have gone with,
07:16 that wouldn't have been a short-term appointment,
07:18 that would have been a long-term appointment
07:19 and Dave Cormack, the chairman,
07:21 wants to basically overhaul the entire football department.
07:25 So what do you guys think?
07:26 Do you think they've maybe missed a trick
07:28 by not getting Neil in?
07:30 Ben?
07:31 - I think Aberdeen fans maybe want to see
07:37 the foreign route being taken now,
07:39 that's the sort of one,
07:41 I think Alex Neil's obviously is the traditional,
07:43 steady pair of hands, if you want to call him that,
07:45 but could have said Jim Goodwin
07:47 was a traditional steady pair of hands,
07:49 even if maybe Premiership,
07:51 he's obviously not got the experience
07:53 south of the border that Alex Neil has.
07:55 Barry Robson, probably a bit more difficult
07:57 to say no to at the time of last year.
08:01 But again, hasn't worked.
08:02 And the thing is with Alex Neil as well,
08:05 when was the last time he was in Scottish football?
08:07 You're talking a wee while ago now,
08:08 the game has changed significantly
08:11 since he was last here and he's spell at Stoke
08:14 was hardly set to heaven as well.
08:17 So I think it would be a decent enough appointment,
08:20 but I'm not sure if it'd be enough
08:22 to really let properly excite.
08:23 And I've seen a few sort of the Nordic coaches,
08:26 I think Knutson was mentioned the last time Aberdeen
08:28 were looking for a manager,
08:30 and the Bodo Glimt boss,
08:32 I think he's probably beyond Aberdeen now,
08:34 I think he was mentioned with the Celtic job
08:36 in the summer and things like that,
08:37 so that's probably out of the bracket.
08:39 But I think it's going to be,
08:40 I think Alex Neil is a good appointment.
08:43 I'm not necessarily sure if fans get on,
08:46 maybe not on side is the right word,
08:47 but are properly excited by it.
08:49 I think they maybe want to see the club
08:50 be properly ventured into the system
08:52 and see what's out further I feel.
08:54 - It wouldn't surprise me if Alex Neil's still got
08:57 irons on the fire in England
08:58 and wants to kind of pursue those first and foremost.
09:01 I'm not saying he would never come back to Scotland,
09:02 but I suspect that probably still
09:07 at the forefront of his mind
09:08 is trying to do something in England.
09:10 Where Neil Warnock's concerned,
09:11 I think Aberdeen, as I said,
09:14 this is no risk for them.
09:15 And I don't think it's inconceivable
09:16 that Neil Warnock, if he does really well,
09:20 could then stay on beyond the end of the season.
09:22 If he harnesses the support
09:24 and he's got a bit of momentum behind him
09:25 and he gets Aberdeen up into fourth place
09:27 and they qualify for Europe,
09:28 maybe do well in the cup,
09:30 then who's to say that he couldn't stay on?
09:32 You certainly can't predict what Neil Warnock's going to do.
09:34 He's told us he's going to retire about 12 times.
09:36 So that's certainly possible.
09:39 I just think if he gets the momentum going
09:42 that he's capable of,
09:43 then whatever this review is going to throw up,
09:47 at the end of the day,
09:48 results on the part dictate
09:50 whether a manager's going to stay on or not.
09:51 You saw that with Barry Robson last season.
09:53 And who would have thought last May
09:56 that Barry Robson would have been in this situation
09:58 come late January, early February,
10:00 where he was out the door?
10:02 I think that's all.
10:04 Sorry, Martin.
10:05 I think the Barry Robson tenure last season,
10:12 I think the runner results up until the split was great.
10:15 They secured third place.
10:16 And then the wheel slowly, even in the last season,
10:19 I don't think it ended.
10:20 Season two, great Aberdeen.
10:22 I just wonder whether if that's going to be
10:24 Neil Warnock staying on beyond this season,
10:26 whether even if he does great,
10:28 if he gets a good run in the cup,
10:30 whether even that might not be enough.
10:32 This might be the time for Aberdeen to just go,
10:34 "Look, this has been good.
10:35 Thanks for your service.
10:36 We need to think properly long term."
10:39 Because I know Neil Warnock's age shouldn't be a fact
10:42 from things like that,
10:43 but at some stage it's going to be with Neil Warnock
10:46 because he's miles away from Cornwall
10:48 or wherever it is he stays.
10:51 In my mind, Ben, just on that,
10:53 sorry to cut you off.
10:54 You're right.
10:55 I mean, Aberdeen's a hell of a commute from Dunoon,
10:57 never mind Cornwall, where he's got a property.
10:59 But in my mind, if he does well,
11:02 Aberdeen, like say their overhaul
11:04 in the football department,
11:05 I could see him staying on the way Craig Brown stayed on
11:07 when Derek McInnes succeeded him.
11:10 Craig Brown moved back into a seat on the board pretty much
11:14 and was still kind of involved,
11:16 kind of giving advice here and there when required.
11:19 And I think if Aberdeen do go and get a foreign coach
11:21 and having Neil Warnock still involved in the club,
11:25 but not having to like live and travel to Aberdeen
11:29 two, three times a week
11:31 is really something I could see happening.
11:34 But we need to take a break now.
11:36 We'll be back very shortly just to discuss
11:38 the remaining teams across the premiership.
11:41 Look at the results from last weekend.
11:43 (upbeat music)
11:45 - Welcome back.
12:08 So guys, let's, obviously we've spoken a lot about Aberdeen.
12:12 They faced Celtic at the weekend,
12:14 a game where Celtic dominated the first half.
12:18 The second half was a terrific game of football I thought.
12:22 But yeah, I mean, if you're a Celtic fan,
12:25 there's already a lot of unrest amongst the support there.
12:29 And then that result hasn't done them any favors
12:33 'cause Rangers are now a game in hand away,
12:37 potentially from overtaking them at the top of the league.
12:40 What's your immediate reaction, Ben?
12:42 Do you think, is there pressure mounting
12:44 on Brendan Rodgers almost?
12:46 He seems to still have the backing of the fans
12:48 because a lot of the anger at the moment
12:50 seems to be directed at the board, I suppose.
12:53 - Yes, it's the board for me
12:54 that the anger at Celtic's directed to.
12:56 I mean, realistically, I know it's an age old question,
12:59 but if Brendan Rodgers was to go,
13:00 who are you gonna get that's realistically
13:03 gonna be much of a better option at this stage?
13:05 I think you can argue, obviously,
13:06 performances on the park haven't been as good.
13:09 There's certainly been,
13:10 it's certainly not as exciting
13:11 as Andrew Paul's football.
13:13 I think that was a bit of an impossible task, to be honest,
13:15 no matter who came in.
13:16 But you've seen the banner before kickoff as well,
13:20 aimed at the board.
13:21 And when you look at their back four, I think,
13:22 ending that game, Alistair Johnson went off.
13:25 And you had Stephen Welch, Liam Scales,
13:29 and Anthony Ralston playing left back.
13:32 And for the club that's, you know,
13:34 it's been not shy in saying how many millions of pounds
13:37 in the bank it's got and all these different things.
13:39 And the reinforcement in January for the title push
13:42 was a striker on loan from Norwich
13:45 who's struggling to get a game.
13:46 And to be fair, Nicholas couldn't look pretty good,
13:49 I thought, in the time he was on the park on Saturday.
13:53 But they've also not got the experience left back
13:55 that Brendan Rodgers wanted.
13:57 And he also has been going on and on about quality.
14:00 You need quality additions.
14:02 And I don't think it's ever a good thing
14:03 or a good look for the board
14:04 when the manager and the spokesperson
14:06 of the football club really is coming out
14:07 and saying sort of, "We need to be braver
14:10 in the transfer market."
14:11 I don't think that's ever a good sign.
14:14 So yeah, I think it's more on the board, I think.
14:17 And it'll be interesting to see the atmosphere
14:19 in the next game at Parkhead and sort of how that mounts.
14:22 So obviously they're gonna be on the road,
14:23 I think, now a few times.
14:25 Might be for the best.
14:26 Hibs on Wednesday is huge for them
14:28 'cause that gap they had between Michael Beale's Rangers
14:32 is now gone.
14:34 Rangers can catch that up with their games in hand.
14:36 So it's gonna be really interesting to see
14:38 sort of the pressure probably changes now
14:40 in terms of they now need to properly
14:43 fend Rangers off as opposed to just maintaining themselves
14:46 to try and win the league.
14:48 - Rangers doesn't need any extra initiative, Barry,
14:51 but they've certainly got it.
14:53 Celtic have dropped points.
14:54 They've convincingly seen off Livingston at Ibrox.
14:58 And with a big enough win over Aberdeen on Tuesday night,
15:01 we're recording this on Monday,
15:03 a big enough win over Aberdeen on Tuesday night
15:04 and they're top of the league.
15:06 I mean, like the way Philippe Clément's got that team
15:10 working at the moment,
15:12 momentum can be a big thing
15:14 and it feels like all the momentum's with Rangers.
15:16 - Yeah, you're right, Martin.
15:18 It does feel that way.
15:20 You look at the run that Rangers have been on,
15:23 only one loss since the start of December.
15:26 Well, in fact, only one loss since October, actually,
15:32 if I'm just looking at it here.
15:33 And that includes the European game.
15:36 So, I mean, you've got,
15:38 that's a terrific record at any level.
15:40 And you know that Celtic and Rangers have got
15:42 a bigger budget than the rest of the teams in the league,
15:44 but I think Celtic are showing at the moment
15:47 that that isn't a guarantee of anything.
15:49 And as you say, the momentum with Rangers,
15:51 the way Clément's got everybody sort of gelling together
15:54 and moving in the same direction
15:57 is something that Celtic have to be wary of.
15:59 And I think Ben's right there in what he says.
16:00 I think you can sense that Brendan Rodgers
16:02 is a little bit frustrated there,
16:04 perhaps a little bit worried in the sense
16:07 that Rangers are closing the gap,
16:08 so it's slowly but surely.
16:10 So I think the game in midweek at Easter Road
16:14 is huge for Celtic.
16:15 And it's huge for Rangers as well.
16:18 I think when you get to this stage,
16:19 when you're into February and you know
16:21 that the nitty gritty point of the season
16:23 where March and April is coming,
16:24 then the team that's got the most momentum,
16:28 if they can continue that through into the spring months,
16:30 then they tend to be the teams that end up successful.
16:33 Just because you've been top of the league
16:34 up until the start of February
16:35 is no guarantee of anything.
16:37 And I think that Rangers,
16:40 just the way the Rangers are going about their business,
16:42 they're quite quietly efficient at the moment.
16:44 They're not shouting and bawling about too much right now.
16:46 And I think a lot of that's down to Clément
16:48 just being quite grounded and sensible
16:49 about the whole thing.
16:50 So yeah, next few weeks are gonna be quite telling
16:53 in the league at the moment.
16:57 - Well, from one team with momentum
16:59 to potentially the only other team in the Premiership
17:02 with more momentum, Barry, and that's Hearts.
17:04 3-2 against Dundee's a scoreline
17:08 that was a bit of deja vu in that, of course.
17:11 But just what's the feeling,
17:13 you're obviously the Hearts reporter for the evening news,
17:15 what's the feeling like at Tyne Castle at the moment,
17:17 like just amongst the supporters?
17:18 'Cause it's almost like we're waiting
17:20 for the wheels to come off and they're just not,
17:23 they just keep going like some kind of
17:25 mad marine juggernaut.
17:27 - Yeah, mad's probably a good way to describe it
17:30 because a lot of the games,
17:32 they start off very slowly,
17:35 they're getting overrun in midfield a little bit,
17:37 and in a few games now they've been behind,
17:39 but there's just that, there is that belief
17:42 and that resilience there, and you can sense it,
17:44 not just from the players and the coaching staff,
17:46 but you can sense it in the stand as well,
17:48 that although they know maybe the first half's been poor,
17:50 they know that they'll come out in the second half
17:52 and they'll have a right good go at it,
17:53 and if they're not gonna get three points,
17:55 they'll at least salvage a point.
17:56 And that was criticised, I spoke to Stephen Naismith
18:01 about that and he made the point that even
18:02 when he was a player at heart,
18:04 that that lack of character was criticised at times
18:07 quite a lot, rightly so at the time,
18:10 and so now it seems to be there in abundance
18:12 and that isn't something that you could ever overlook
18:17 and underestimate because I think any good team
18:20 has to have that sense of defiance and fight when things,
18:23 because the chips will be down and things will go against you
18:26 in football at different times,
18:28 and you have to have that sense of togetherness
18:30 and belief to try and dig yourself out of it,
18:33 and Hearts have certainly got that,
18:34 the way they came back, they were always,
18:36 I think they were always in the game on Saturday,
18:38 even at 1-0 down and 2-1 down,
18:41 because they were getting forward and creating chances,
18:43 but they were exposed a little bit at the back
18:45 and that's why Dundee managed to get a couple of goals,
18:47 but again, when you've got players,
18:50 everybody talks about Shankland,
18:52 and Shankland's been terrific for Hearts,
18:53 absolutely their best and most influential player
18:56 without question, but not far behind them at the minute
18:58 is Alan Forrest, he's been absolutely terrific
19:01 for a good five, six weeks now,
19:04 regular assists, winning penalties, scoring goals,
19:10 just a general all-round player,
19:11 running at defenders, creating chances,
19:13 getting by people, getting to the byline,
19:15 delivering crosses, he's just taken his game
19:17 to a whole different level and that's had a lot to do
19:19 with the momentum that Hearts have built up
19:21 since mid-December really.
19:23 - Across the city from one team where momentum's with them
19:29 and the atmosphere potentially could,
19:30 well, maybe it could be a bit better,
19:31 but it's still, it's really high,
19:33 to one where it's kind of bottomed out at Easter Road, Ben,
19:37 it looks like the supporters might be starting
19:43 to turn on Nick Montgomery just a little bit,
19:47 certainly on, I think a lot of the Hibs players
19:50 by the looks of it are getting a lot of the flack,
19:53 the recruitment, there's a few players there
19:56 that could still step up and be good.
19:57 I mean, unfortunately, John Greken, our Hibs writer,
20:01 was at the game last week, at the weekend, sorry,
20:04 could be here today to discuss it with us,
20:06 but anyone that wants to read his player ratings
20:10 from that match, they're out there and please do
20:12 and believe me when I tell you, he's pulled no punches.
20:15 Where do Hibs go from here, Ben?
20:19 - Probably not to the Edinburgh Evening News website
20:21 to read his player ratings,
20:22 'cause it probably won't make you feel too good
20:24 if you're one of the guys inside the camp there,
20:27 but yeah, I mean, they were awful on Saturday,
20:30 I mean, three and 0 down against St. Martin.
20:32 St. Martin were, by all accounts, really good.
20:34 I think Steven Robinson's doing a really great job there
20:37 and I don't think it was ever a game
20:39 they were gonna win convincingly,
20:41 or I think they were.
20:42 Probably says a lot about where Hibs are at the minute,
20:44 that a game at home to St. Martin at Easter Road
20:46 and you're probably, you're not sure
20:48 how that's gonna go.
20:50 You obviously, there's no easy three points in this league,
20:52 but that should be a game for clubs like Hibs
20:54 that they should be looking to get three points
20:57 against clubs like St. Martin, these type of teams.
21:00 So, none of them were ran about the park.
21:03 I think it was three and 0, possibly, you know,
21:06 could it have been more with the way
21:07 that first half went?
21:09 Possibly, but we've had this conversation
21:11 about Hibs before.
21:11 We had it with Lee Johnson,
21:13 had it with everybody who's been in that dugout
21:15 since Jack Ross left.
21:17 It's just been constantly,
21:19 maybe results pick up a wee bit,
21:21 had a dip, fans want the manager out,
21:23 manager goes out, start again.
21:25 That's kind of how it's been for the last couple of seasons,
21:29 more than that.
21:30 And for the money that's being spent,
21:33 and obviously they've got Bill Foley coming in now
21:36 to potentially put more investment in,
21:38 but that's not gonna obviously help them short term.
21:42 Really poor, I'd struggle to see where they get
21:44 their sort of spark from.
21:46 I think Martin Boyle and things like that
21:48 coming back from the Asian Cup will be a boost
21:52 in the sort of short term,
21:54 but whether that's enough to help them,
21:56 because I don't think it's actually going forward
21:57 if they've got the issues.
21:58 I think it is at the back where I think fans
22:00 have been calling for defensive reinforcement,
22:02 and that was very clear to see on Saturday.
22:05 - Yeah, they brought in two centre-backs on deadline day,
22:09 two with good young players with bright futures,
22:13 but it's not what they wanted.
22:14 The Hibs fans were clear,
22:16 we want a centre-back reinforcement,
22:18 we want experience.
22:19 Look, it's hard to,
22:20 those types of players aren't gonna be available
22:23 on deadline day when you're working with,
22:24 at that point, a limited budget.
22:26 But yeah, I don't know for certain that,
22:29 regardless of how bright Owen Bevan
22:31 and the Australian lad who played with--
22:34 - Neto Treantis.
22:36 - Neto Treantis, that's correct, yes.
22:39 We'll wait and see.
22:41 Montgomery's got probably the worst two matches
22:45 you could have hoped for to come up next
22:46 for a manager when pressure's starting to build.
22:48 You've got one of the league's two title challengers
22:52 at Easter Road, followed by a decent
22:57 Scottish Championship side away from home
23:00 in the Scottish Cup.
23:01 I can't actually think of two worse fixtures
23:04 back-to-back.
23:05 - They have to win at Inverness.
23:07 They cannot lose that game at Inverness.
23:09 That's when, I think the Celtic game,
23:11 I think their reaction was pretty hostile
23:13 to the Rangers game when they lost, obviously, last month.
23:17 But I think you're almost forgiven slightly,
23:20 depending how that scoreline reads,
23:22 and Celtic and Rangers, but if you go up,
23:25 even a poor performance away,
23:26 say that game goes to extra time to scrape through
23:28 and things like that, I think the pressure
23:29 really builds there.
23:30 Not just on the manager, but on the players
23:33 and things like that as well.
23:34 Obviously, when you're already on your second manager,
23:37 I think the criticism is turned on the players
23:41 at some point as well, and they need to start
23:42 playing themselves.
23:43 - Well, that's all we've got time for this week.
23:47 Thank you very much, Ben.
23:48 Thank you, Barry.
23:49 We'll be back next week with another episode
23:51 of National World FIBA Talk.
23:53 (beeping)
23:56 (upbeat music)
23:58 you