Football Talk Podcast 22-8-24
This this week's episode kicks off by looking at both Sheff clubs & Middlesbrough who all had excellent first weeks of the season with impressive wins in league & cup only to slip up in week two.
It turns then to Rotherham United who have had a fairly mixed start to life in League 1.
And finally we discuss the final week of the transfer window and which clubs we feel could do with conducting some last minute shopping.
It turns then to Rotherham United who have had a fairly mixed start to life in League 1.
And finally we discuss the final week of the transfer window and which clubs we feel could do with conducting some last minute shopping.
Category
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SportsTranscript
00:00Welcome to the latest edition of Football Talk from the Yorkshire Post, where we will
00:20be discussing some of the latest talking points from the world of football with members of
00:23our football writing team. On this week's episode, we are joined by Chief Football Writer
00:26for the Yorkshire Post, Stuart Rayner, and Football Writer for the Yorkshire Post, Neil
00:30Marshall, to discuss all of the latest developments affecting our local clubs. Don't forget
00:34you can keep up to date with all the football news across Yorkshire and beyond by logging
00:38onto our website at yp.sport at nationalworld.com, as well as checking out our various Twitter
00:43feeds, the main one being at ypsport. If you search for Yorkshire Post Sport, Yorkshire
00:49Post Football or even Sheffield Sport on Facebook, you can find us there as well. And if you
00:53have any questions for our writers, you can get in touch using those various Twitter or
00:56Facebook pages, or email us directly with a subject matter as Football Talk Podcast
01:01at yp.sport at nationalworld.com.
01:08As mentioned earlier in the intro, this week we're joined by Chief Football Writer for
01:12the Yorkshire Post, Stuart Rayner, and Football Writer for the Yorkshire Post, Leon Wobshaw.
01:15Good morning guys.
01:16Morning.
01:17Hello.
01:18Good morning. Right, this week we saw Leeds United share the points in their 0-0 draw
01:23with West Bromwich Albion. Hull City also saw the points shared when they drew 1-0 with
01:27Plymouth Argyle. Lettersfield Town continued their good start to the season with a 2-1
01:32victory over Stevenage. Barnsley were able to come away with all three points thanks
01:37to their 2-1 victory over Lincoln City. Now, Bradford City drew 0-0 with Salford City.
01:43Doncaster Rovers saw their 1-0 lead disappear and ended up losing 3-1 to Newport County
01:49and Harrogate Town drew 3-1 when they paid a visit to Accrington Stanley. However, let's
01:54kick this week's episode off by looking at both Sheffield Clubs and Middlesbrough,
01:58who all had excellent first weeks of the season with impressive wins in the league and cup,
02:04only to slip up in week 2.
02:07Now, could this be a reality check for them, and specifically on Sheffield United as you
02:13were there, Leon? What went wrong against QPR which led to them drawing 2-1 after leading
02:192-0?
03:50the game when he got injured at the Coventry and it was at Bramall Lane. I put it in my
03:56report and it was 20-22, boxing day, and he did his ACL and he was out for the rest of
04:03the season. So, I think psychologically that was nice for him to have a good moment. But
04:09yeah, it was looking good at half-time. QPR were poor and it was all there for United
04:16to kick on. But I think, just for a lot of contributory facts, Chris Wilder spoke about
04:23the fitness levels not quite being there and I can see what he meant there. QPR, to be fair
04:30to them, were very good in the second half. The head coach changed a few things at half-time
04:37and he made a few good substitutions as the game went on and they just couldn't get going
04:42in the second half. I think a few things, you've still got quite a few players there
04:47and they've got the psychological effects of what happened last season. Rangers pulled
04:52one back, then there was a bit of nervousness and anxiety. They haven't been part of a team
04:59that's won three points at home for God knows how long. I think that came into it, the fitness,
05:05the depth of the squad. He spoke afterwards, Wilder, Rex Harky. I think a lot of fans were
05:13thinking bring him on before but he said that he just wasn't ready. Crystal Palace had said
05:18he could only really do tops for 15 minutes. So, he was circumspect with bringing him on.
05:25I just think it was a combination of everything. A bit of scar tissue from last season,
05:30not winning home games, a bit of fitness, a bit of time to build relationships. I've spoken about
05:36the relationship between O'Hare and Haymer which they got from Coventry but there were other
05:42combinations in the team. It is early season, they're not quite there are they? The second
05:45goal, a little bit of a mix-up with Burrows and Jack Robinson. So, I wouldn't be too hard on them
05:55and Wilder was keen to state that fact afterwards. They are a work in progress. They've made some
06:01good signings. They had a good result on the first day but there's more to do. If they're
06:09going to have an impact in the season, you sense it will be if they can have a good finish this
06:14window, keep the players that they've got then hopefully reinforce it in January. So, I wouldn't
06:19expect too much from Sheffield United. I think they'll have the good moments but I think it'll
06:27be one of those where if they are successful, they will grow into the season. In the second
06:32half of the season, that's when they'll hopefully get their legs consistently.
06:36Yeah, and Leon talks about the scar tissue with the players. I think that's really significant.
06:41I think even for clubs like Hull and Rotherham when they've had a complete revamp, I think it
06:46goes beyond the players, doesn't it? It goes to those in the stands as well. It definitely does
06:52have a bearing when you don't have that confidence and that habit of seeing home wins out or in other
07:00circumstances it might be away wins or whatever it is. It can linger. Sheffield United, it just
07:08shows the importance of pre-season. It's always talked about but it's not always taken on board.
07:15Pre-season really does matter in terms of that fitness, in terms of that understanding.
07:20Sheffield United are very lucky to have, as Leon says, have that sort of
07:26rebaked understanding between O'Hare and Hamer. The other relationships in the team,
07:32Wilder talked about their relationship with the left full-backs can be really important because
07:37I mentioned on a previous podcast about the importance of wingers. Well,
07:41Hamer isn't an out-and-out winger in the sense that we know it so therefore you need the full
07:46back to provide good width. Therefore, he needs to understand the combinations and so on and so
07:52forth. For all the teams, whether it be a good or a bad start to the season, these first few
07:58weeks are a real phony wall. We saw with Leeds United last season. They look nothing like
08:06the Leeds United of mid-season until probably that win at Ipswich Town which felt like early
08:14September time. Sheffield United or another, they'll take time to knit because there's a lot
08:20being done. A big question mark about them was always going to be depth. Again, it'll be later
08:28in the season before we can really understand that. I think the more positive way of looking
08:34at it is that when you consider all the problems Sheffield United have had in terms of revamping
08:39the squad, in terms of the uncertainty about the takeover, that first week was really positive.
08:46It could have been the start of a really worrying start to the season for the supporters if they've
08:50got a couple of bad results. The fact that they bought themselves a bit of time, a bit of belief
08:56and got the fans believing again I think was really important. It came to the fore on Saturday.
09:05I think sometimes you can learn in the circumstances that Sheffield have been in.
09:09Chris Wardle would have learnt a lot more about them on Saturday than he did the previous Friday
09:15when they won at Preston. I think it's good in some respects that they've got a clear week this
09:21week. There's no mid-week games. They've got a game at Norwich that can hopefully get a few players
09:28up to speed. I think obviously the plan will be to get Cooper in as the new number one. It'll
09:36take him time to build relationships with the defenders. He'll get his basic communication
09:43levels and stuff like that. They'll just be pleased that they've got that little bit of
09:49time this week to maybe start to bed one or two things in. It's going to take a fair degree of
09:56time as Stuart said. By all accounts, they're not going to be finished in the window just yet.
10:03They're pulling on after making a few contingencies. If they do lose,
10:07hopefully they don't, but if they've lost a Hamer or a Modzic, one of those sort of players.
10:16I think Wilder will be happy when he gets to the end of the window. He'll be happy
10:20if he can keep not losing any more of his leading players and add a bit more to the
10:24squad depth which doesn't look that strong at the minute. Then they can really start work.
10:33It's difficult because you're in part of a worldwide network, but it really is frustrating
10:37that the transfer window is still open when the season's on. It would help all managers
10:43to have got their players in and to know that they're going to keep, in this case,
10:47Hamer and Modzic. It really is frustrating. That's why you can jump to conclusions
10:55too early about teams, whether they do well or badly.
11:01What do you think about Sheffield Wednesday, seeing as they claimed a blistering 4-0 victory
11:05over Plymouth Argyle in the first week of the season, before being thoroughly outclassed in
11:10their 4-0 defeat at Sunderland, Stuart?
11:14There's no sugar-coating it. They were very poor at Sunderland in the face of a good team.
11:20You know, giving the ball away poorly, playing in daft areas, they were really done by the
11:26Sunderland press. The points Leon was making before, the positive side is if you're going to
11:32get that lesson, get it early, take it on board. Again, to repeat what Leon said, Danny Roller
11:39will have learnt a lot about his Sheffield Wednesday players, new and pre-existing,
11:45and they will have learnt a bit more about what they need to do in this style of play he's trying
11:53to implement. He talked after the game, he said he felt they were trying to play the ball too
11:58much through the base of the midfield. That's where Josh Windas got caught for the second goal,
12:05which is why he brought Michael Smith on, so they had the option of going longer.
12:09I think one thing it might emphasise in Sheffield Wednesday minds, I think Roller will have already
12:15known it, but I suspect he would probably like an upgrade on Michael Smith as a target man,
12:24striker, simply because he's looking to upgrade positions all the time,
12:28and it kind of showed the importance of that position. Smith had a couple of chances later on,
12:33which he fluffed. You couldn't really have a go at him for that because all the damage had been
12:40done. It was already a helpless situation, and Smith is a decent player at that level.
12:46For a club that's looking to push on and push on, I suspect that might be one area where ideally
12:54they'd like an upgrade. But really, it was a shot across the bow. I was talking about how great
13:00they were in the first week of the season. I was certainly guilty of it. But if you believe your
13:05own hype in the Championship, it only goes one way. We don't just see it every season, we see it
13:12every month and practically every week. The season's only two games old and there's only
13:17three teams that manage back-to-back wins. That is the reality of life in this division,
13:22and if you get carried away, you will get bitten on the bum. It's as simple as that.
13:26I think it's just that's the division, isn't it? There's other examples as well.
13:33You can understand, in some respects, Sheffield West are getting a little bit
13:36carried away. They had a brilliant opening day win, especially when you consider this.
13:42I spoke about it last week. They just didn't have any identity. From the first start of the season,
13:51you just didn't get going at all, did you, under Munoz? It was the total opposite to it,
13:57wasn't it? I understand people getting carried away. Only 30,000 people win 4-0.
14:03Obviously, they've got all the vibes from the great escape, which was one of the stories of
14:07the EFL last season, wasn't it? I can understand it, but that's just the division, isn't it?
14:12Obviously, Sunderland got beaten to Wednesday on the final day of last season and one or two
14:18of their players had it in their minds. They started off well as well, didn't they? They've
14:22got a new manager. They started off at Cardiff. Excellent win there and they've banked it up.
14:28They've got a bit of momentum at a huge club as well. I think it's just one of those that you
14:33have to take on the chin and learn from, really. He had a rough day. Josh Wynn, that's the
14:42particularly disappointing thing for me. You saw it last season a few times. Wednesday did
14:46concede goals in clusters, didn't they? Yes. It was a bit of a debilitating habit. Danny Rowley
14:54is an observant guy and he'll have been wanting to put a stop to that. Obviously,
14:59in the first away he came in and had more of the same in that regard. It's a tough day, but
15:07as we said with Wilder and Sheffield United, you do learn things as a manager from these
15:12sort of days as well. I asked Will about that spell of three goals in 14 minutes.
15:24I mentioned to him that he'd managed to turn things around against Norwich last season,
15:29where they were laughing about too much early on. They got their heads around it and went a bit more
15:36direct. I asked him about that and he said, well, the difference at Norwich was we had a
15:44half-time to sort it out. It was only 2-0 at half-time. He was saying that he wanted to make
15:50changes but he wanted to analyse things properly and take his time, which is fine, but I think it
15:57underlines that in a situation like that, you need the players to take leadership on the field
16:02before half-time. Sheffield Wednesday have got enough players who've got the experience to do
16:07that as well. Shunlands was a very young team, Sheffield Wednesday's was more experienced.
16:12I think those players perhaps need to just think a bit more about, look, we need to get to
16:18grips with things and just be sensible for five minutes and not overplay. That was what was so
16:24frustrating about the second goal. Just Wyndouth, we know he's such a good player. We know he's an
16:30experienced player. We know he's a leader. He gets the ball played into him by Beedle with his
16:35back to goal 25 yards away from his own goal and he tries a backheel. It's just not the time and
16:41place to do it. I'm not digging Wyndouth out because all of the players you could point
16:49fingers at but at times like that, they just need to show a bit more now, a bit more leadership and
16:57they've got it in them. It's not a panic about it. They just need to take that reminder on board
17:06and learn the lessons really. It could, as bad as it felt on the day, turn out to be a good thing.
17:15Just as well to add to Leon's point about getting carried away, you want fans to get carried away.
17:21We go to football to enjoy it. It would be much worse if Sheffield Wednesday had played like that
17:27against Plymouth and nobody got any enjoyment about it. It's just a balance from the players
17:32to not believe that they're better than they are, not to get carried away. But certainly the fans,
17:39that's what the game's about. They pay enough money to go and watch the games. They're more
17:43than entitled to enjoy themselves when they see performances like that.
17:47It'll be intriguing to see what happens with Smith. He's obviously got interest from
17:51Reps and he's definitely a filter from Parkinson's. If Wednesday do let him go,
18:01he does have his uses, doesn't he? His work rate is prodigious. He chips in with goals.
18:07He's awkward. If they can get an upgrade on him, line him up first before they let him go.
18:13Because I wouldn't be loathe to let Smith go without someone like Falaik who's probably as
18:22good, if not better than him, lined up first. So it'll be interesting to see how that one plays
18:29out maybe. It's good to see Roel thinking in that way because some managers are so
18:33wedded to one way of playing that they'd almost take it as a... You wonder about, for example,
18:40Mikhail Arteta would actually be offended at the thought of having a big target man striker.
18:45But it does show that Roel's got a plan B about him and a way of thinking which is important.
18:52And Leon, what did you make of Middlesbrough and their start to the season? Do you think
18:56their 1-0 defeat to Derby County could serve as a wake-up call to the areas that they need
19:01to strengthen as well? I think, historically, if you look at Middlesbrough, they are the top
19:07hotspur of the championship. If ever a team were going to throw in a spursy
19:12sort of result after a pretty good result in midweek, I know it was Leeds and Borough Med
19:19a load of changes, but it was still a bit of a standout result, wasn't it? But if ever a team
19:25three days on are going to lose a game where you don't expect it, it's Middlesbrough all day long.
19:32And I actually put a cheeky tweet out, I think it was Thursday, saying that the most Middlesbrough
19:38thing that could happen on Saturday is that they'll lose at Derby. And it must have been
19:44a soothsaying. I should have put my numbers on really because they did lose 1-0. And all credit
19:49to Derby. By all accounts, it wasn't pretty. They got a bit of luck with the, it was a terrible
19:56back pass from Isaiah Jones, wasn't he? And the lad went on and scored. They were second best in
20:02nearly every stat that you can think of, but the one that mattered, they got three points. And I
20:08think seeing the highlights, they sat on the edge of the box, they were committed, the goalkeeper
20:13had a good game. In terms of goal attempts, shots on target, possession, it was all Middlesbrough.
20:22Derby had something to cling on to, they were a newly promoted side, they're not going to go out
20:28and take on a side like Borough in a basketball match. And yeah, it was, talking about lessons
20:35and maybe one there for Middlesbrough in having the wit to break teams down, having the quality
20:45maybe from out wide that seemed to be lacking on Saturday. They'll have a very similar, I think,
20:50examination this weekend when they play Portsmouth. Portsmouth will, I think they'll
20:54go to the other side, they'll try and nick something perhaps and then they'll, if they
20:59do that, they'll say come and break us down. But I don't think big cause for alarm for Middlesbrough,
21:05but they've got some good forward option, obviously brought Conway in now, who I've liked
21:12him for the last few years. He can chip in with goals and he's a clever and a quick player.
21:18It's interesting what Stuart said about plan B's and things like that. They've got Josh Coburn,
21:25who's a big strong lad and probably the closest thing they've got to a target man. He's got some
21:30interest by all accounts, Millwall and there's probably one or two others. I would be,
21:35if I was Middlesbrough, I'd be wanting to keep hold of him because he obviously won't play every
21:40week I don't think, but he's more than useful isn't he? If you're playing the Portsmouth on
21:47Saturday, it's nil-nil with 20 minutes left. You need something else to throw on somebody like him
21:53and I think if you're going to be successful in the Championship, you do need four or five
21:57strikers don't you? And you've got strikers who are different types as well. So maybe that's
22:05a lesson there. They probably need maybe another left wing back option as well. There's been a lot
22:09of talk about Ryan Giles and I think he would be useful, but I don't think there's any need
22:17to panic for Middlesbrough. A little bit of thinking for Michael Carrick, when you're coming
22:24up against teams who are just going to sit deep and try and block space out, how are you going
22:31to deal with it? Because I think a lot of teams will do that, especially when they go to the
22:35riverside this season. A little bit of food for thought, but they're doing a lot of good things
22:39as well. So far this season has been very good hasn't it? They're great on the eye,
22:45they play some lovely football, but to be successful you've got to have that ruthlessness
22:51at the top end of the pitch. The thing for Middlesbrough, even playing against that
22:56side of football, they did create a lot of chances. You can debate about the quality
23:01of the chances and what have you, but Bloomfield hit a post, these are the small margins and you
23:08do have days like that in the Championship. But I guess the key, if you want to be challenging
23:12for promotion, is that you do your job at the other end and just keep your concentration on
23:17days like that. That back pass from Jones, unfortunately, just killed him on another day.
23:25That chance might be missed, Boromir gets away with it, but you really need to hold your
23:31concentration, don't you, on days like that. I don't understand why he was in that position,
23:35Stuart. He was almost the last man, wasn't he? Yeah, watching the highlights, I had to look
23:42twice to see who it was. You're thinking, that looks like Boris' right winger, but there we go,
23:46in the centre circle. Yeah, it was one of the most bizarre goals I've seen in a while,
23:51really, wasn't it? It was just from a corner, but yeah, that's the Championship.
23:56Exactly, and because the Championship is like that, you just cannot afford to get carried away
24:01one way or the other, as a squad, as a manager, by results.
24:08Next, let's turn our attention to Rotherham United, who have had a fairly mixed start to
24:12life in League One. What do you think the Millers will have to do to maintain a good run of form
24:18if they're to make a return to the Championship, Stuart?
24:21Well, number one, just to continue what we said, not panic. And number two, again,
24:26a bit of a continuation of what we've just been talking about, be more clinical. It wasn't the
24:32lack of chances created at the weekend, by all accounts, just a lack of ruthlessness in putting
24:39them away. And again, it's a theme that we started with Sheffield United, and it applies the same,
24:45that this is a hugely changed Rotherham side. It will just take a bit of time for them to gel,
24:51to get those understandings, maybe to find the right formations for certain days,
24:59or if they're going to stick with one. Obviously, Malik Wilks was added to the
25:04mix very late on, too late to be a realistic starting option, but he's going to add something
25:13different in terms of bringing a threat from wider positions. We all know what a good player
25:20Johnson Clarke-Harris is at that level. He, as time gets on and he gets sharper, I'm sure,
25:28would be more of a threat. So, yeah, it's obviously not been the start everyone was
25:35expecting. I think we all had high hopes for Rotherham this season, but equally, nothing's
25:41been lost. It's just a team slow out the blocks. Well, I mean, yeah, I think the thing is,
25:49they are creating chances, aren't they? They're not at the start of the season where they're
25:53scratching their head and they're struggling to create chances. I think they got, was it,
25:5625 up against Crewe, and that was only a cup game, but it's still pretty good. By all accounts,
26:02they could have won by a bit of a cricket score, and they had 20 against Bristol Rovers. So,
26:07they just need a little bit of a catalyst, don't they? One good three points in the first few
26:13weeks of the season, and then they should be on the way. I mean, they're talking about relationships,
26:18how it takes time to build them. That'll be there at Rotherham, won't it? You know,
26:22Nombé and Clark Harris, they'll take the time to gel. They've got quite a lot of
26:28new players in midfield. That's going to take time as well, but yeah, they're creating chances.
26:33That's an important thing in early season. They did have an off day on the opening day against
26:39Exeter, but in terms of performance, they seem to have turned that round in the past week. So,
26:45yeah, I think it does take time for things to gel, and I'm sure Rotherham will be
26:52fine when it starts to settle down. You know, they're another club that was their
26:56first home league game of the season. This is not a criticism of anybody, but it's human nature.
27:02When you've been through the season that Rotherham fans went through last season,
27:06there's an element of, oh no, here we go again, rather than the real belief that
27:10you know, this is going to come, and that can sometimes have a bearing in just pushing teams
27:17over the line. But I'm sure, you know, for the reasons Leon's outlined, that once they get up
27:22and running, that belief will very quickly take hold because Rotherham fans know what they're
27:27getting from Steve Evans and Clark Harris for that matter. They're not daft. They can see that
27:34they've done some really good business, and I think once they do start to get that first win on
27:41the board, I think that belief will quickly snowball. I think you need a little bit of luck
27:46as well at the start of the season, Stuart. I mean, you look at Barnsley, and by all accounts,
27:50they didn't play particularly well, did they, at Lincoln, but they dug out a result, the 1-2-1.
27:55You know, every new manager, that's what you want, isn't it? I know Clark said that,
28:00did he say something like it was a 3-out-of-10 performance?
28:02He did, yeah.
28:031-1, and you're going to take that in the first few weeks of the season, aren't you? So,
28:08I think that plays a little bit of part as well.
28:10Absolutely, yeah. And managers always sort of try and take that out of their analysis,
28:15and I'd say that's what the managers of all the teams we've talked about so far have to do,
28:20because generally, they were, Sheffield Wednesday apart, they were pretty good performances
28:26undermined by mistakes here and there.
28:28Yeah, absolutely.
28:29Yeah. And finally for this week, I wanted to ask you both about the final week of the
28:34transfer window and which clubs you feel could do with conducting some last-minute shopping.
28:40Let's start with Leon on this one.
28:43It's not rocket science, Mark, isn't it? You alluded to it earlier nicely. It's got to be
28:48Leeds, hasn't it? I mean, they've not just lost three big players in that team, they've lost
28:53three big players in the context of the Championship. They've lost not just the best
28:58young player at Leeds, probably the best young player in the division in Archie Gray. They've
29:03lost probably the best winger in Somerville, and they've lost the best forward of his type
29:10in Rutter. I don't know, it's like Liverpool losing, I don't know, Van Dijk, Salah and
29:16Alexander-Arnold really, isn't it? How do you replace them? And replacing them late in the
29:21window, isn't it? The clock's ticking, you haven't got time. The worry is they're going to
29:27go after players, and clubs know they've got a fair amount of money in the coffers, so there's
29:33going to be a premium, I would have thought. Clubs will pick up on the anxiety and desperation
29:41there, but they've just got to give themselves a chance. They've got to somehow try and,
29:47I don't think it's difficult to replace them light for light with quality, but
29:52they've got to bring some serious players into the building for me to give the fans hope they're
29:59getting disgruntled. They're pointing fingers at the owners, and it's a big, big test for the
30:05owners. They've sort of taught the talk, and they've been open and engaging with their
30:12supporters through the media, and now it's about walking the walk, really, isn't it?
30:15And Leeds do look really... A lot of the potency has been taken away in the final third, hasn't
30:26it? They went to West Brom, and they had to really dig out a result, didn't they, really?
30:32They weren't particularly focused on entertainment, and the pragmatic side of Farka will
30:36think, well, at least we've got... It could have turned the drama into a crisis, couldn't it,
30:41if they got beaten badly there? So he had to sort of pull up the drawbridge almost and nick
30:46something, but that's not really how we want to see Leeds this season, over a piece of time.
30:54They've just got to get some serious signings in to inject some hope there, because there's
31:01been a big hangover there already from what happened against Southampton at Wembley,
31:06and it's a little bit worrying.
31:08I think Leon's dead right about the quality of players they've lost, but if you look at what's
31:14left, there's a good foundation, if they can add those quality players. But as much as anything
31:20else, it's about getting the fans believing, isn't it? They need to make a couple of signings
31:25who the fans will look and think, wow, this is going to make us a lot better.
31:32I think one area they should probably look at is goals from midfield, because
31:37as Leon says, it was a problem last year and you probably aren't going to find someone to replace
31:44Somerville-Routier like for like, so look for solutions in another area. But I just think
31:50having someone who'll break the lines and score goals will make them a bit more dynamic,
31:57because there is a valid criticism of Leeds that they're a bit predictable at times in terms of
32:04how they play the game. Again, I'd be looking probably at a target man. Matteo Joseph has
32:11had a good pre-season, but you've always got to be careful about how much you ask of young players.
32:19Leon's already made the point that you need a stable of young strikers. Bamford's got his injury
32:26issues, so I think if they could add a couple of players in those positions, I think that would
32:34give them a lot. But again, Leon's absolutely right. Everyone in football knows Leeds have money
32:41and are desperate, and that's when you can be taken for a ride, so they've got to be really careful
32:48not to fall into that trap. Obviously, we've seen Leeds causing that trap in the past,
32:55but equally, not to use it as an excuse not to do something. They may have to grit their teeth
33:00and pay a bit over the odds for somebody down the line, because they just do need that
33:07injection of belief. We talk all the time about the power of Ellen Road. The whole point of that
33:16is you've got to give that crowd something to believe in, whether it be how you play, who you
33:21sign and what have you. This feels like one of those moments for Leeds United. It just shows
33:27how quick football has changed in modern day, really. Leeds are a huge one-city club, aren't
33:34they? One of the biggest clubs in this country, but over the last decade or so, look at the clubs
33:41that they've lost leading players to. You can go back to Lewis Cook and Bournemouth and obviously
33:48now Brighton. Ross McCormack went to Fulham, Brentford. Clubs historically, with no disrespect,
33:58just can't hold a torch to the cachet and fan power of Leeds, but now they're in the Premier
34:03League and they can lure players from Leeds United, even though historically they're nowhere
34:09near as big. That's the realities that Leeds have to deal with whenever they're out of the
34:16top division. It's a bit disconcerting to some supporters, but that's unfortunately the reality,
34:26isn't it? That's what they're having to contend with. I think the past regime has suckered into
34:30that a bit. You listened to Angus Kinnear this time last year and he was talking about how they
34:35put all those loan release clauses in, believing that a lot of players wouldn't take it up because
34:42they'd rather play for Leeds United than in the Premier League. But the Premier League is the be
34:46all and end all now. You see teams, Liam referred to that Coventry team, as soon as they lost the
34:53Championship final, that team breaks up. It's such a cliff edge moment now, that player final. Gone
35:00are the days when Don Revy, Howard Wilkinson could build a team in the second division,
35:05take them up and just add to that team and withstand setbacks in that division.
35:14Now the gap between the divisions is just so huge that you almost only get one shot at it,
35:22particularly if you're a parachute club. That's the pressure on. Chris Wilder has mentioned a
35:27couple of times that Sheffield United have basically got two years to get back up because
35:32having been relegated in their third season, they've only got two years of parachute payments.
35:37West Brom are a club that have fallen foul of that. It really does need sorting out.
35:43There's lots of talk from the Football League about getting rid of parachute payments and I
35:47agree with that. But the fact of the matter is, they have to be there until that gap is evened up
35:54quite considerably. It's something football really needs to work on. I'm not sure if it'll
36:00ever even get there, but I think it really is important to try.
36:04And you were mentioning there with regards to the gap between the Championship and the Premier League.
36:10We spoke about this prior to recording, I think it was last week's episode.
36:15If Leeds couldn't keep hold of players and stop them from going to clubs like Bournemouth
36:20in the Premier League, there was no way they were going to be able to keep hold of someone
36:24like Routier, Somerville and Archie Gray from going to Spurs and Brighton. Because like you said,
36:33the Premier League, it's the promised land. You want to get there, you want to play there,
36:39top of the tree sort of thing. So it's always going to be the alluring factor
36:46for players in the Championship.
36:48There's a huge disparity, Stuart's touched on it, between the Premier League and the
36:53Championship. The side that finishes third in the Championship, how much do they earn in
36:58comparison to the one that finishes at the bottom of the Premier League.
37:03Rick Parry's spoken about it, he's put his head against a brick wall, he's spoken about it for a
37:08few years now and that's the sort of big issue really, one of the biggest issues in British
37:16football really. You look at the teams that come up from the Championship to the Premier League,
37:21straight away they're pretty much fighting a losing battle. Fourth from the bottom is a
37:26hell of an achievement, isn't it? There's a few outliers, obviously Leeds in the first season,
37:31Sheffield United had a good first season, didn't they? But it's pretty much exceptions to the
37:37rule really.
37:38I don't know if they're really sustaining it, they obviously went down
37:42within one or two years of that too.
37:43You can just add one or two bad windows and you're just back down there, aren't you? So
37:47there's huge problems between the Championship and the Premier League and the balance just
37:57hasn't been right for a few years really, has it?
38:01Another club that are suffering from that in a different way is Hull City and that's why they've
38:07got so much business still to do in the transfer window because they really pushed the boat out to
38:11try and get there and again it was kind of a one-shot for them really. Once they didn't win
38:19promotion there had to be this big clear-out and they're still working through that. Recent history
38:26of this Hull regime would tell me that I think they probably will be very busy in the last week.
38:31I remember speaking to someone over Twitter earlier in the window and they were saying
38:36they weren't confident that Hull would get the numbers in that they need.
38:40I am actually, but the quality and the timing is the issue with Hull. It's really nice to see a
38:51team like Middlesbrough just able to build incrementally but that's so rare nowadays and
38:58they say Hull are really the epitome of a team without parachute payments trying to compete with
39:03those that do and missing the boat. In all honesty, this would probably be Ipswich if
39:09things had been ever so slightly different and they'd miss the boat. Hull have a lot to do in
39:15terms of, as Leon rightly says, bringing in the right quality to play this very technical,
39:22very demanding style of play that Tim Balter is trying to play and then the job will be to bed
39:29them in and get them used to it. I think they're going to have a big and really important week
39:37ahead in the transfer window. They seem to have got a lot on the plate. They've had a big style
39:44makeover. They've lost God knows how many players and good players as well, haven't they?
39:48That's the point.
39:49Having to replace them. I'm going to look a little bit at other clubs. Sheffield United,
39:55I think they still need one or two, don't they? Maybe another centre midfielder perhaps.
40:03I think with Borer, I think they're okay. I think maybe another left-back because Van Geer is out
40:09for a decent amount of time. If Engel gets injured, they're a little bit thin there.
40:16Looking a little bit further down, I think it's going to be strikers at Barnsley and
40:21Huddersfield. Barnsley, they've been talking about needing a couple in there. There's a lot of talk
40:28about Styles going to West Brom and maybe Mo Fowle coming the other way. He's still a young lad,
40:34Fowle, isn't he? He did okay at Doncaster in the first half of last season. I think they'll need
40:40a couple in Barnsley and Huddersfield as well. They've been talking that way. They're not just
40:46one but perhaps another two strikers. A lot of clubs have been waiting for the Premier League
40:54to do the business. Players coming back from pre-season, Premier League clubs knowing where
40:58they're at, looking at the squad and knowing who they're going to push out. Then the Championship
41:03clubs can look and see who they're going to push out as well. I think there'll be a bit of business
41:10at Barnsley and Huddersfield all being well because they need to get a striker or two in
41:15the pen. I think at Bradford it's probably going to be a case of they need to move players on
41:22even more than they need to bring players in. Graham Alexander has been quite open about the
41:27fact that he doesn't think Kevin Macdonald, for instance, is going to get many opportunities.
41:33He doesn't think Alex Glead is going to play anywhere near as regularly as he has done over
41:37the years. There's others in that boat as well. We've seen Adam Wilson go out alone.
41:42It's important not to have too many players around the squad who've got no realistic hope of
41:48playing as often as they can. The hope with them, with players like Callum Styles,
41:55that is that you're able to move them relatively early from this starting point so that Bradford
42:03and Barnsley can reinvest that money. I think with Rotherham and probably a few of the other
42:10clubs that we haven't really mentioned yet in regards to the transfer window,
42:13they just need patience. They just need time to bed things in. I'm sure Rotherham will add
42:18one or two more but they've done the bulk of their work and it's now like Sheffield United,
42:25like others, just allowing it to bed down. Probably similar with Harrogate who haven't
42:30done very much business but again, bedding down for them and Doncaster Rovers is the same.
42:38I mean, you talk about some clubs that the squads are too small, you can have them too
42:43big as well. If you look at Bradford on the opening day at Milton Keynes, they've pretty
42:50much got a clean bill of health, haven't they? There were players that weren't even in the
42:5518. You mentioned the likes of Gilead and McDonald and that's why you hear some managers
43:01talk about squads being too big. You don't want 30 there. You want probably top 20,
43:0623, 24, 25. You don't want any more than that. You want training sessions where everyone's playing
43:13for their place, don't you? If you're Kevin McDonald, in all honesty, you know that even
43:19a good week in training isn't going to get you that. It's a two-page position roughly,
43:23isn't it? An outfield position. Then you've got perhaps one or two kids to come in where needs be.
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