Fitbaw Talk Podcasts : Transfer latest from Hibs and Hearts, with Motherwell guest Peter Hartley
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00:00Hello and welcome to Fae the Talk of the Toon podcast, my name is Ben Banks. Today we are
00:16joined by former Mullow defender, captain and by the sounds of it adopted son of her
00:22part by the way people go on, Peter Hartley. If Stephen Robinson sends Charles Dunne every
00:29club he moves to I get Peter Hartley on a podcast for every company I move to so it
00:33felt fitting that he would be the first guest we would have on. A pretty decent weekend
00:40for Mullow, a 1-0 victory, people got treated to Peter in the programme before it which
00:45was obviously the highlight but after that the action was a victory for Stuart Kettlewell's
00:51side. Took a bit of getting over the line but ultimately a 1-0 win in the Premier Sports
00:56Cup last 16 after extra time. Moses Abai with the goal sends the club through to a
01:03quarter final tie with Dundee United and already I think there are people getting flashes of
01:08Louis Moult playing in a quarter final at Fork Park and slightly getting the shivers
01:12a little bit. Just generally from your career Pete, I'm putting you on the spot a wee bit
01:17here but off the top of your head either playing against or playing with, has there been any
01:24particular debuts that have left you that he's a player? Obviously I had a brief spell
01:29of Blackpool before I came to Motherwell and there was a player called Bright, I can't
01:34remember his second name but I think he plays for... Is it Isaiah Samuel? That's the one,
01:39Isaiah Samuel and he plays for Fenerbahce now I think but he was a 17-year-old at Blackpool
01:45and we played in a pre-season game away at Salford City when Salford were in the conference
01:51and he played 45 minutes and I was like, wow, who is this guy? Because you don't, you see
01:57bitter plays in training but when it's a full-size pitch, when it's a game that matters, sometimes
02:02you have well-cut plays in training, sometimes you have players that don't look bothered
02:06in training, you get into a game and they do the business but I'd seen Bright, flashes
02:10of Bright in training. I'll never forget that day in Salford when I watched him for the
02:15first 45 minutes, I was like, oh my days, this guy's going all the way in. Stuart Cairwell
02:20spoke about it after the game, it's been a difficult start to the season for Mullow
02:23and I actually think the performance has been quite decent-ish in terms of like from maybe
02:28the back, Aston Oxbrow has looked really good in goals considering he sat on the bench for
02:33a couple of seasons, he's came in and looked quite commanding as a number one. Liam Gordon's
02:37a really good signing at centre-half, I think he's made a great impact and that back five
02:42generally is quite solid. I've quite liked the look of Steve Seddon as well, left-wing
02:47back who's come in and made a decent first start against Rangers at Hampden and then
02:54against, I think that was his first competitive start at Firth Park or maybe second and Ewan
03:00Wilson have looked pretty decent but it's been in that creative sort of, once you get
03:04to midfield, Lennon's of it, Lennon's getting played higher up the park and I'm not sure
03:09if that plays to his strengths, he's kind of getting played there out of necessity whereas
03:13I think he's probably better at the base of a midfield. The problem you've got there is
03:18that probably the three ahead of him you would probably pick would be Callum Slattery, Harry
03:22Payton and Sam Nicholson who are all out injured till November so it is a bit of needs must but...
03:29Well that's an opportunity for Lennon, that's an opportunity for him isn't it because he's
03:33a very, very young boy and he's got a lot of games behind him now for the age of him
03:37so his versatility of learning a new role in the team can only benefit him and if he's
03:41successful, if Stuart sees something in him it's obviously he's got an opportunity with
03:46players being injured so it's another strength to add to his board so fair play.
03:53He looked better for me once Tawanda came on, Tony Watt as well, he's returned to Firth Park
04:00and I think probably good for Tony, good for the team and probably a compliment to the fans,
04:06I think he spoke on the presser about not being too sure about how that return was going to go
04:11down, I mean if you look at social media it's very, very split on how people are going to take it.
04:18Sorry Matt, do you know what, I know Tony well, he's got an amazing attitude and personality and
04:24he's a good guy to have in the dressing room. From the outside looking in, before I came to
04:30Motherwell in the first stint you'd think what's happened to his career kind of thing and I was
04:34sitting on the fence myself before I knew him when Robbo initially signed him the first time
04:38around. From day one since I seen him train I thought this guy means business, you know I don't
04:42know what the issue is with him jumping, having so many clubs at such a young age but then for him
04:49to come back and hold his hands up and his interview is fantastic, very professional,
04:53you know I've got a point to prove, I've got to win people back over and I believe like we've
04:59just spoke off fair, obviously I've been away this weekend with the family so I've not seen
05:03the highlights but going by what Tony said after the game I believe he's won a few Motherwell
05:08hearts back with his performance. Yeah I think generally when he came on, Tawanda came on and
05:14they both, it's just a bit more direct, it puts Lennon back and he can pull the strings a bit
05:20more. Kelly looked a bit jaded I thought, obviously the exertions of the European game 72 hours
05:26previous, they've got a big game against Copenhagen which realistically for their ambitions as a club
05:32probably is a bigger game but they got the sending off, Mullow still struggling to break them down
05:39but I thought Mullow probably shaded it in terms of being the better team up until about 50 minutes
05:45when Kilmarnock were at 11, once it went to 10 Mullow took control of the game and it's a really
05:50good cross, Tawanda sort of, good play with Ewan Wilson, good cross into the box and Moses Abai
05:56it's like the duality of man a wee bit with Moses, there's some minutes you're like
06:03but I think it was in the Clyde game, he totally loses the ball in the middle of the park and Clyde
06:08going to score but then in this game he's totally, his foot is planted, doesn't move apart from his
06:14head and it's a brilliant header into the bottom corner and he just stands there like nothing's
06:18happened. He's a really, he's a quite confusing player but again he's a striker who's came up with
06:25winners and big goals since he's came in and ultimately doesn't really matter if the rest
06:30of your performance isn't great, if you're scoring those goals people are going to remember them more
06:36than maybe the mistakes or sort of the wee flaws in these games that players at Mullow ultimately
06:41are going to have. Without a doubt and like you just touched on, strikers are obviously judged
06:47by how many goals they score, how many strikers have you seen in the recent years at Motherwell
06:52that have put shifts in for the team but they're just only getting eight to ten maybe even less
06:57goals a season. If this guy can get in the double figures then you know his performances, I think
07:02the fans will accept his inconsistency at times as long as when he gets his opportunities in front
07:07of goal he takes them but I don't think you can, I mean you sort of mentioned about Kilmarnock
07:14having one eye off the ball and onto Copenhagen, let's not beat around the bush, Derek McInnes
07:20wants to win every single game he plays, he's a very competitive manager and he's managed at that
07:25top level for a reason because he's very experienced and he knows how to rotate a team to get the best
07:30out of his players so you've got to give ultimate credit to Stuart Kettlewell and the Motherwell
07:35team and I don't think you take any of that away and say oh but maybe you know it's a big game for
07:40Kilmarnock here or there, let's make it no secret. McInnes would want to win that Scottish Cup, he'd
07:45want to be in that semi-final draw 100 percent, he'll be very disappointed with that result,
07:50he won't be, he won't have, I know you see Carvacel on the bench and players like that, he's a
07:54captain, he didn't start the game okay but you know I know Vass very well, I played with him at Blackpool,
08:00he'll not want to rest, he didn't take rotation, he's captain of that football club for a reason
08:05because he wants to play every game and he's a leader of men, I know him, so I don't think it's
08:11necessarily a rotation thing what he's done, I think you've got to give 100 percent credit to
08:18Motherwell for getting the victory and hopefully, touch wood, I don't want to speak too soon but
08:23hopefully we have a wee, they have another good cup run, I'm still there
08:29I was going to say it's very much, it's still very much wee I think, I think that's kind of a,
08:34I think that's not going to go away now surely, you're literally in print saying wee so I mean
08:39that's, you're stuck now, you're a de facto Mullow fan, so I don't know if they do Mullow and
08:46half and half Mullow and Hartlepool, Scarce I think you'd need to go sort of search to the
08:49ends of the world for one of them but, hello and welcome to the Hibs hub with our club correspondent
08:55John Grechen and me Ben Banks, John's just back from East Mains which he's had a wee chat about
09:01all the transfer goings on at Hibs just now ahead of the sort of transfer window shut and we're
09:06still a wee bit away from it but at this time this is probably the final point for clubs to,
09:12including Hibs, to do their business in a reasonably calm and rational manner,
09:16so you were speaking to David Gray, what was he, obviously as well you can check out
09:21John's written pieces from his conversation with David Gray on the website but just
09:26what were some of the main newsy headlines from your chat with him that you took away?
09:33I think he would genuinely quite like another central defender in, I think that's where the
09:38Owen Bevan thing comes in, the rest of it he's fairly relaxed on in terms of,
09:43I think if you're a head coach or a manager whatever you want to call it you have to be
09:48a little bit philosophical about it because there could be a lot of things out here with
09:51your control bids that come in, stuff that doesn't get done, stuff that does get done,
09:56so he'll be pushing for additions, I didn't get, you know, there was nothing hugely revelatory from
10:04just sitting down with him, obviously I chatted to other folk on the phone and here, there and
10:10everywhere I think there's been a lot of activity around the fringes at Hibs about signings, not
10:17signings and not Kevin Nisbet, I don't know how that one got locked in there, I don't think there's
10:23any future in them pursuing that, I don't think they're interested in that, yeah I think there's
10:30still, again same with the Rocky Bashiri interest, I'm not sure they would encourage that or whether
10:35there was anything concrete, I don't get the impression there was any bidding or anything
10:38going on there, it's this weird time of the season and you know you stay around it long enough you
10:44know that there's varying degrees of, not saying things aren't correct or accurate or they're false
10:53but there's a degree of strength to things and there is, yeah so clubs are genuinely maybe keeping
10:59an eye on this player or would be interested but it might be would be interested if A, B and C happens
11:06and then A and C happen, B doesn't and they can't follow up their interest or they won't follow up
11:10their interest. I think Grey's quite relaxed when we were just chatting about it as well, the fact that
11:16clubs will be looking at Hibs and saying well, there's a lot of turnover there, maybe I'll try
11:22and get him so there might be some more bids coming in for players who aren't going to get
11:27a lot of game time because people just put one and one together and figure it out don't they go
11:31well if he's brought in four midfielders or three strikers or two more central defenders and he's
11:36not going to be playing. I thought it was interesting this week they got Riley Harbottle down to
11:42AFC Wimbledon and you would expect more of that, you would expect perhaps you know
11:48Noah and Kenna and one or two others to shift out before the deadline.
12:08You could go right to the final day just like the incomings as well isn't it because there's so many
12:12moving parts involved in any transfer but especially if you're in that, they're almost
12:17in that middleweight zone aren't they where the big teams are doing loads of stuff and you may
12:21pick up something there but there's a lot of teams underneath who might want to pick up your younger
12:24players or guys who haven't got the game time. Interesting week or so ahead yeah so Owen Bevans
12:3110 days yeah and I know you said that it could go down to the final day, it will go down to the
12:36final day and Hibs will ensure you're up at one in the morning so good luck. Owen Bevan though
12:45I think is when they'd like to get done, I got that impression from people out there.
12:50He was what I think actually wrote about it in the summer saying they were still interested
12:55despite that and I remember writing because I'd had a chat with someone said oh yeah we'll go
12:59back for him because he got himself fit, played pre-season and picked up another injury so he's
13:03got a little injury now but of course you'll remember he came to Hibs in January but was
13:09injured, a thigh injury I think and just never was never going to get fit enough to play so they
13:14sent him back down the road. He's one that you know Montgomery loved him but there was a there
13:20was an admiration across the coaching staff and the scouting staff there for a player. He's just
13:25been handed a four-year contract by Bournemouth at 20 years old. They see him as you know an
13:31investment for the future that probably ties in very nicely with the whole Black Knights
13:37model vision of things. Let's send him there to get him some more experience. It wouldn't be his
13:44first loan, he was off on loan. I'm gonna check it, I lost it, was it Cheltenham last year?
13:49I might have got that wrong sorry but with all my Wi-Fi problems here I've lost things.
13:56Yeah so it'd be again you're always worried getting guys on their first loan spell
14:02from Premier League academies because there is that massive adjustment anyway going into
14:09first team football and to throw on that coming into Scotland's top division is another big
14:15adjustment to make so I think getting someone like him on their second loan, clearly got all
14:20the ability, clearly someone that the you know Premier League club values might make a lot of
14:28difference certainly makes a lot of sense. Good stuff right well you can check out the rest of
14:31that track it's more than just obviously just newsy headlining stuff there'll be lots of good
14:35stuff coming for that over the course of the build-up to Saturday's game before David Green
14:41speaks to the press again before that game. We'll speak a wee bit I would imagine about Owen Bevan
14:47again and something I have devised as called the depth chart where we're basically going to take
14:54an overview of the Hibbs squad we'll move through each area of it from goalkeeper to striker
15:00assessing the strength of each area to work out sort of how David Gray's team looks at the minute
15:06does it need added to is it adequate is it really good so we will take a wee gander at it we won't
15:12be here all day we'll just be casting our eye over it with the transfer window shutting in just over
15:17a week's time this will sort of be as I said this will be the last this is when rational thinking
15:22sort of exits the building in a few days and you know clubs start we need to play at x and play y
15:29I think the one from January that probably falls in that basket and I only say this because of
15:34exploits over the weekend was Eliza Maenda didn't I think you like whoever that is playing in that
15:41Sunderland shirt is not the player that Hibbs signed in January but it just shows you that
15:46the nature of the way spells and football works at times like
15:53he's that's the exact type of player Hibbs could be doing but they had him and
15:59there's always you always end up it almost feels like your club signs a player in January plays
16:04like four games doesn't do great and then two years later you see him scoring in the UEFA
16:08conference final and that's been part of his development coming in and not getting
16:16into your team this game but just learning and things and it's utterly bizarre when I saw that
16:22my son who's a season ticket holder east road was vociferous in his view on that how the hell did we
16:27let him go because he played 100 minutes and did nothing is ultimately why he didn't and that was
16:34that was one of those signings even dead there was deadline day last in January everyone had
16:42left the building they'd all gone home and like it was like by the way we can get this guy in
16:48and it was like a nothing deal effectively it wasn't affecting any other deal it was like
16:53another striker young raw okay well yeah we'll take him up we'll take him you know it wasn't
16:59going to cost them you know pennies or whatever it was it wasn't big big money so and there will
17:04be those deals someday yeah okay we'll just the impulse buy at the checkout effectively
17:09yeah actually I do need some chewing gum yes thank you
17:12my ender is Hunter's chewing gum at Tesco there we go we can there's a potential podcast headline
17:19hello and welcome or should I say Dobry den a Viete to the Hearts Digest with Barry Anderson
17:26and me Martin Simpson we'll take on a Czech field this week as Hearts look ahead to their
17:31Europa League playoff first leg with Victoria Pilsen which Barry will be in situ for tomorrow
17:38Barry how are you finding the place yeah it's a lovely place Martin typically Czech you might say
17:45you know lots of what's a great architectural lots of nice buildings back in square in the
17:50city main square and the cathedral in the middle of it and it's very warm as you can imagine this
17:57part of Europe we've been kind of landlocked it's really in the heat's really intense so
18:02yeah that takes a bit of getting used to certainly for me but no it's it's enjoyable
18:07it's quite picturesque and I'm looking forward to going to the stadium shortly I think we'll
18:11have to discuss that game last weekend against Falkirk how critical are you of the bigger team
18:20versus giving praise to the lower league team because we know how good Falkirk are after
18:27the run in league one this season a great start to the championship some top quality players
18:31home advantage at the Falkirk stadium which John McGlynn spoke about wanting to use
18:37not just the pitch but the the atmosphere created by the Falkirk fans
18:42do you think once you factor in all this good coach good player home advantage that pitch
18:48does it take the sting out of losing to a championship team a bit or not really
18:55no not massively I think with the squad hearts they've got the budget they've got
19:01you know the players they've got and certainly after last season's achievements they should
19:05be going to Falkirk and winning I think when you have a cup upset like that you need two
19:12things to happen you need the bigger team to be to have an off day and you need the smaller team
19:17to be you know really on their game and all the boxes ticked and I think both of those things
19:21happened on on Saturday so yeah Falkirk deserved their win they were good for it and John
19:26McGlynn's got them playing some great football they do use the pitch to their advantage why
19:30shouldn't they and they've got some cracking players without well without Callum Morrison
19:34remember on Saturday and a lot of people said oh well that you know that's a big chunk of their
19:39scoring opportunities gone and you know they made light of it despite Hearts being on top in the
19:45first half and could potentially have been out of sight Falkirk hung in there and when they took
19:50their chances they got them so yeah I think you have to credit the winning team on this occasion
19:56and in these occasions when you get an upset like that I think the smaller teams are raising their
20:00game and they've if they get to that point where they get a result that's causing a surprise then
20:06hats off to them you can't you can't take it away from them Hearts have as I said they'll
20:10have only really had themselves to blame they should have been pretty comfortable in command
20:15of that game. Small silver lining with the European fixtures coming up being knocked out
20:23of the League Cup will give them at least one weekend somewhere down the line well I can't
20:29remember the exact date but one weekend there where they'll get to probably a much appreciated
20:34rest from the players and coaching staff. Yeah I think the little gap in the fixture list will
20:42probably help them if not right away at the moment then maybe later in the season.
20:47So you're right it does take a task or an assignment off their agenda in terms of that
20:54cup competition but you know Hearts haven't won that competition since the 1960s and there's a
21:00fairly serious yearning at Tentcastle to try and put that right and Stephen Nathan has spoken
21:06about it you know about trying to be a team that lifts a trophy and trying to get silverware and
21:13that's the kind of one thing that's been missing for Hearts in recent years they've done an awful
21:16lot they've got to cup finals they've played in European they've played in group stages they'll
21:20be playing in this new league stage this season obviously so much for the supporters to enjoy so
21:24much for them to get excited about and the trophy just hasn't been there yet and there's an
21:29opportunity gone now because that realistically if unless you're Celtic or Rangers you know there
21:34only are two opportunities to win trophies in Scotland if you're a Premiership team and
21:40you know one of those is gone for Hearts now.
21:44I don't know how fair it would be to call it a particularly weakened Hearts team that played
21:49Falkirk obviously if you take Laurence Shankland out of the Hearts team and I know you've said
21:53they're not a one-man team by no means saying that but they are immediately weakened by not
21:57having their star striker in the team you're also talking about benching Kai Rolls, Xander Clark,
22:04Craig Gordon obviously a very capable replacement and Cammie Devlin, Alan Forrest's been in great
22:11form sort of at the start of this season might have but when you do rotate and as Hearts are
22:19going to have to with the European fixtures coming up and then you do have such a disappointing
22:24result I was spoken about how concerned the Hearts fans should be in talking about a five or a six
22:30but just does it feel like the squad's deep enough right now how much more could you see them
22:38looking to do in the transfer window over the next 10 or so days?
22:44Yeah not a lot I don't think I mean there's a possibility of a striker if they can get
22:48one with the right attributes that they would then look to bring in those attributes being you know
22:55pace a bit of aggression you know so a completely robust player doesn't necessarily need to be a
23:00giant but you know someone that's got a you know willing to work hard and got enough about
23:05them physically to cope up front against Scottish defenders and are clearly an eye for goal but I
23:10mean those sorts of forwards don't grow on trees and yeah if they were that readily available then
23:15all the teams would be would be signing them so it's easier said than done and I think when you
23:19when you leave Shanklin out it's difficult to replace them any team would find that you know
23:23when you're in Shanklin's not playing it's you don't just have ready-made replacements sitting
23:28there you can bring in for people like that so but Hearts have got enough enough quality in that
23:34squad and the size of the squad and enough international quality as well that they you
23:39know that they should be coping better I think without I mean certainly over the last two games
23:43they should be they should be faring better than they have done.