The Football League returns and crisis at Morecambe – Football Weekly Extra podcast

This is The Guardian.

HiPod fans of America.

Max here.

Barry's here too.

Hello.

Football Weekly is supported by the Remarkable Paper Pro.

Now, if you're a regular listener to this show, you'll have heard us talk before about the Remarkable Paper Pro.

We already know that Remarkable is the leader in the paper tablet category: digital notebooks that give you everything you love about paper, but with the power of modern technology.

But there's something new and exciting: the remarkable paper pro move remarkable a brand name and an adjective man yeah it's their most portable paper tablet yet it holds all your notes to-dos and documents but it's smaller than a paperback and an incredible 0.26 inches thin so it slips easily into a bag or jacket pocket perfect for working professionals whose jobs take them out of the office like maybe a football journalist Barry although not like you

a proper football journalist mate exactly too much technology draws us in and shuts the world out.

This paper tablet doesn't.

It'll never beat or buzz to try and grab your attention, so you can devote your focus to what or who is in front of you.

It has a display that looks, feels, and even sounds like paper.

Think and work like a writer, not a texter.

And the battery performance is amazing.

No worries about running out of power before the end of extra time.

The Remarkable Paper Pro Move can keep going for up to two weeks.

And if you do need to recharge, you can go from naught to 90% in less than 45 minutes, Barry.

Fantastic.

Why not give it a go for nothing?

You can try Remarkable Paper Pro Move Move for 100 days for free.

If it's not what you're looking for, get your money back.

Visit remarkable.com to learn more and get your paper tablet today.

Hello and welcome to the Guardian Football Weekly.

The lower reaches of the EFL start this weekend, but while the biggest worry for most of us is signing a new striker who scored naught, brackets nought goals last season, we'll begin with existential crises in the championship and non-league.

Danny Roll leaving is the latest blow for Sheffield Wednesday.

Players have gone, one of their stands has been closed by the council.

We'll ask if they're going to be in any shape to start the season and if and whether the EFL will do anything about it.

Meanwhile, Morecambe have been suspended by the National League.

We'll unpick how that's happened.

On to the pitch in League One.

Could Dirty Luton bounce back in League Two?

Who will stop Neil Harris's Amber Army?

We'll answer your questions as always, and that's today's Guardian Football Weekly.

On the panel today, Barry Glendenning, welcome.

Hi, Max.

Sanny Rodravagula.

Hello.

Hello.

The season is starting too early.

Can I just say that right now?

There was a game on.

I'll bring in George Ellick from not the top 20 as well.

Hey, George, you okay?

Hello, yes.

I think it was your Twitter account, George, that posted a goal scored, I think, by Newport County in a game that was happening.

And I was like, what is this game?

Is this the end of last season?

What game?

It was a brilliant goal.

But I was like, what the hell is this game?

And it was like a, what was it, Carabao Cup preliminary round?

I think, yeah, some weird means of Premier League clubs coming into the competition later, meaning there weren't enough spaces early on.

I don't really understand how it happened.

It's a bit like how the Champions League seems to start on like the 1st of June.

Now the Carabao Cup starts before the season even starts, which is strange.

I mean, it was a great game, though, because Newport scored two of the best goals I've seen all season.

Yes, it's the only game this season, but even so.

No, they weren't good.

I'm sure I read in one of my sort of preview bits that Newport County were going to fire goals hard to come by this season.

Everything I know is a lie.

Well,

they're going to keep scoring 30-yard screamers every game.

I wouldn't have thought.

And then Barnett scored.

Barnett with 2-0 down in the 96th minute with eight minutes added on and scored twice to make it 2-0 and then lost the penalty shootout that came afterwards.

So, yeah, I mean, a great game.

But as you say, yeah, quite early.

Well, if that's a sign of things to come, what a roller coaster we're in for, everybody.

M says, repeating my question from a few weeks ago, will Sheffield Wednesday start the season?

It doesn't start until next weekend, the championship, and that will preview it properly next Thursday.

But since we last chatted about this, Danny Roll has left the club by mutual consent.

Their manager, of course, their coaches have gone with less than two weeks to go until the start of the season, or four of them at least.

BBC Radio Sheffield reporting yesterday, players have been informed their wages will be delayed for the third consecutive month.

Players like Josh Windas, Michael Smith, and Akin Famwe have already left on free transfers to other championship teams.

The North Stand at Hillsborough has been closed by the City Council.

The club were told to carry out repairs after extensive corrosion was found in the roof.

I mean,

George, as producer Joel says, that is a sort of on-the-nose club is falling apart metaphor, isn't it?

Really?

The whole thing seems disastrous.

Yeah, I mean, the news about the North Stand being closed and not fit for purpose.

as you say, kind of sums it all up at the moment.

And, you know, I think I read one report saying they were still selling season tickets right until the kind of the announcement was made in the stand, despite the obvious and very apparent issues that would have been known about.

It's a real crisis, this.

And

we had a crisis with Reading earlier in the year.

We've seen,

it seems strange to think about it now, but seen Birmingham and Derby recently in a position.

And thankfully, kind of the sales came just about in time to save the clubs.

The issue that we have with Sheffield Wednesday is it almost feels like with Wednesday, the issues have maybe gone further and are more desperate now than maybe at any of those clubs and that's not to downplay what happened at those but we are in a situation now where for the third month in a row players and non-playing staff aren't aren't being um paid players have already walked away you have

players who are worth quite a lot of money being sold for a fraction of what they're worth and now

you know given the the current situation with another missed payment the power goes back to the players in terms of being able to walk away and with 10 days or so until their opening game of the season at Leicester, we have absolutely no idea what kind of state the squad is going to be in going there, if there'll even be a squad, if they'll be able to field a team.

And unlike with the other clubs I mentioned, even though there have been at times moments of good news where it sounds like there's a buyer, it still feels like we're absolutely miles away from finding a buyer.

And even if we do, with Chanceri in charge, good news always has to be treated or treated with skepticism because it's never felt like a salesman particularly close.

You know, there's talk of

potentially lawyers being hired, the rest of it, in order to get a sale over the line.

And then it goes quiet for five days and nothing comes of it.

It's just a total mess.

And at these points, you just have to feel incredibly sorry for the fans who

right now are kind of staring down the barrel of losing their club and

are looking basically anywhere for help in order to try and improve their situation.

Because if it continues like this, whether or not it's starting the season is one thing, but whether or not the club even can continue to operate as an EFL football club, as a competitive team, as someone as a club who can employ employers in the offices and non-playing staff, can

function in any way, shape or form.

That feels like there's a precipice pretty soon where they're going to fall off it.

There's some footage online from a Supporters Trust meeting.

One guy, I'm not sure who it is, incredibly eloquently.

absolutely scathing the EFL.

It's quite difficult to cover those accusations, Sally, because we need to go to the EFL.

We need to go to Sheffield Wednesday as well for comment.

And I suppose it goes back to this thought that fans have, I guess, which is

the EFL can save us, right?

And I just don't know.

I actually don't know.

Like if Cambridge, you know, were being run like this, I don't know.

I'd like to think, ah, you know, some organisation will save this club.

But that, is that how, is that, can that happen?

Can they do it?

What should they be doing?

Every time I come on Guardian Football Weekly, I'm aware that I will shoehorn Berry in.

And I try not, I try not to, you know, I really do.

And yet, continually, we end up back at this conversation, and it ends up relating to what happened to my team.

And when Berry were kicked out of the EFL,

we were like, well, in the run-up to that, can you help us?

And the basic answer was, well, not really, no, because we've already approved the owner.

He's there.

Or at least we proved the previous owner in our case didn't actually approve the actual person owning the club and yet he still took over because company law and EFL's laws aren't quite the same.

So the short answer is no.

Like the short answer is the EFL see themselves as the organizers of the competition and you've got to fit in with those rules.

And if you don't fit in with those rules, then Berry are the example that gets thrown in your face.

Yeah.

So it's like Sunday League, right?

It's like, you know, I don't know,

I played in the, you know, the Southern Amista League for years.

You know, they're not in charge.

They're a bunch of volunteers.

If your team, if you can't, you know, put a team out, that's not their problem.

Is it the same principle?

Because you'd presume it would be different well essentially yeah and then we also we made a documentary on this and i went to mark palios who used to be the the head of the fa and we said well what can the fa do here and he's like well the fa can't really do anything either we're just like uh the overseers you know if of the national game and grassroots and stuff so all these organizations that we hold in this huge esteem and we think are really powerful actually aren't really that powerful at all because their power is gatekeeping which they're very good at gatekeeping you know you talk about the the non-league and free teams coming up, whatever.

That side of stuff, the EFL do quite well.

When

clubs are already in difficulty, that's when it's really only a few bits of recourse they can do.

They can suspend you, they can put you under a transfer embargo, they can threaten to kick you out of the league, they can kick you out of the league, but at that point, it's then too late.

Football regulator might well change all that.

And since our last conversation on all this sort of stuff,

that's now gone through.

But then that still takes a load of time to happen.

And even then, there'd be a lot of murky waters into what the what the the regulator could actually do because just like with dai young at reading when chanceri came in you know he put money in you know everything was looking great and at that point where you're like well that's okay and now he's not got any money he's not really interested anymore and all the rest of it and now we're in the situation so for cheffee wednesday fans it's incredibly frustrating and you want the the authorities to do more but unfortunately and i don't want to say this i want them to i want them to be able to help but I know full well from first-hand experience, they can't, and they don't really want to that much either.

Yeah, I mean, to echo that, it is, you know, regulatory reform within football.

And in fairness, what I would say about the EFL is even before the independent regulator,

you know, in the last five years or so under new leadership, the owners and the directs and owners test has been changed and is much stricter now than it was when the likes of Chancery came in.

And the fruits of

the labor there in terms of trying to tighten up the mechanisms effectively for people to buy football clubs,

we will hopefully see in five, ten years when hopefully few of these cases emerge because of those tests that are now in place.

But if you strip out the fact that it's football and that we believe, as we should do, that football clubs are community assets, they belong to the fans, they don't.

They are privately owned businesses.

And as soon as somebody owns a business, it's very, very hard for people to tell them what to do.

And that's a situation we're in at the moment where I completely understand why Sheffield Wednesday fans are looking for any help possible and why you know the FA and the AFL would be the people that you would turn to.

But as Sani says, you know, a desire to help is one thing, and you have to hope and you have to want there to be a desire for anybody involved to help.

But the actual possibility of impacting change on a privately owned business right now is

known and possible.

The pressure has to come.

um but in terms of actually forcing chancery's hand that mechanism doesn't really exist yeah george speaks there of a desire to help but what struck me from that clip of the supporters trust q a

uh if if the bloke who was speaking was is to be believed and i've no reason not to believe him was that the fl a seemed totally unaware of the sheer scale of the problems Sheffield Wednesday have, and also, perhaps more worryingly, almost totally indifferent to them.

And he says that they told him, look, as long as ye can fulfill the fixtures, that's all we care about.

So if Sheffield Wednesday play Leicester on the opening day of the season and it's Barry Bannon and 10 16-year-olds managed by a kit man or something, then the EFL will go, well, you know, there you go.

you've you've you've been able to send out a team.

What boggles my mind is I'm old enough to remember when Sheffield Wednesday were a massive club, a force to be reckoned with.

And I think if I was a billionaire with more money than sense who decided I wanted to get involved in a football club, Sheffield Wednesday would be very much be on my shortlist of not so much sleeping giant as in this case now a comatose giant or a giant on life support but certainly i would say a giant worth saving um and i'm amazed there doesn't seem to be a huge amount of interest in

resurrecting this this giant with regards to a new a buyer which is what's needed at wednesday the key issue is seemingly that transient has set a ridiculous asking price in terms of the purchase of the club.

This is a club where, as you've already discussed, Hillsborough isn't fit for purpose.

There are basically no playing assets whatsoever anymore.

Well, there aren't any at the moment.

And the reports have been around the £100 million mark for a club that are basically destined to be in League One next season.

And, you know, Chancery clearly feels like he's pulled a lot of his family's money into the club and wants some of that back.

And therefore, is setting an asking price that no one's going to pay.

And until that moves, I can't really see where anyone who's been smart enough to make £100 million that they can go and spend would ever invest that in a club that is on its knees.

Yeah.

Sally, did you, what was your experience?

I mean, you said the EFL couldn't do anything, but in your experience at Bury, did you find them amenable and friendly and being like, guys, I'm really sorry about this, or just like, hey, not our problem.

What was the, and I know it was a different time, it's a different, different club, etc.

Well, there was an interim person in charge of the EFL at the time, post-Sean Harvey, who was Debbie Jevons, who now is at the Lawn Tennis Association.

And I think what the EFL came out from that experience was basically it was a complete shit show

and so many things were done in a really bad way, including our expulsion.

It was like,

it was almost like the arbitrary Brexit date, right?

We've got to leave by this date.

They gave us a date and then they couldn't move around it and it was just there.

And I think as a result of what happened to us, the EFL, to be fair to them, knows that this is a nuclear scenario that we really need to be very careful about pressing that red button.

So the EFL weren't particularly amenable in that

at that period of time with that culture.

But by the sounds of things now, they are more.

But also they have to be, because if they don't, half the members are going to end up being kicked out by their own, by their own,

you know, their own situation, they're putting themselves in and where the EFL have placed themselves.

So yeah, overall, they weren't particularly, but I like to think things have changed now.

Yeah.

And one more question, George, I guess, is which is relating to Barry's point, is, is there anyone on the horizon, you say we seem so far away,

coming in to rescue Sheffield Wednesday and if they can't fulfil their fixtures then what happens they just get points deducted what what what happens if they can't fulfill their fixtures then then they'll be expelled from the league we assume and then you know the points will be awarded across the leagues and it'll be a 23 team league I mean that that seems to be the precedent I mean we have to hope it doesn't get that far whether there's anyone on the horizon you know we did a live show in Sheffield

a month ago and during the live show the the news seemed to filter through that there was a buyer that was being lined up and there was the potential, and you know, that Chanziri was engaging his lawyers, which he's kind of never done before.

But then it went quiet, and that's been the case a couple of times since.

So, it, you know, no smoke without fire.

But then,

like with Sheffield Wednesday, unlike with Reading, where you know, Rob Coig was kind of set to take over the club and then it fell through, and then there was another buyer, and then that fell through, and it always felt like there was somebody there waiting to do it

with Wednesday.

That doesn't seem like it's the case at all.

You know, I know we're going to talk about Morecambe in a With Morecambe, there is a very public-facing consortium ready and willing and wanting to buy the club.

With Sheffield Wednesday,

I mean, if that is the case, it's not being played out in the public domain.

Yes, at the live show, if you had brought out the new buyer at the end of the show, George, that would have been.

If it could have been, you know, Joe Montana or something, Dan Marie.

We are buying.

Anyway, let's talk about Morecambe.

Then they've been suspended by the National League.

They've fixed your way to Boston United on the 9th of August.

That's their first away game.

Home game against Bracknell on the 16th.

And the trip to Scunthorpe on the 19th of August will no longer take place as scheduled.

The league's compliance and licensing committee, which is a committee I'd love to be in, will meet on Wednesday, the 20th of August, to determine if outstanding items have been satisfied to decide the club's ability to retain membership in the competition.

Morcan's protective buyers have implored the owner of the club to sell up.

You have been following this, Sanny, in quite a lot of detail.

Give us the detail.

Morgan, when they were remembering the Morcom were in the EFL for 18 years till last season, where they finished 24th in the league to relegated.

And during the summer, a sale's been agreed, an EFL-approved sale, to the point where there is paperwork that just needs a signature and then it's done.

So Jason Whittingham, who owns the club, who together with Colin Goldring, also owned Worcester Warriors, the defunct rugby team.

You know, that didn't go particularly well.

Jason Whittingham has a host of dissolved companies on Company's house.

Anyway, he's got Morecambe and he's had the opportunity to sell to Panjab Warriors

who, through some way or means, have put money into the club already in advance of the sale.

And I think that that money was protected.

They've told me it's £1.7 million.

And

then the day came for the sale to happen and it just didn't happen.

And they're like, well, we're here.

We're ready.

Why have you not sold?

And then this is where things have got very kind of Wizard of Oz.

Like Jason Whittingham, just, you know, no, no, no messages from him, nothing.

And all of a sudden, so I was there a week last Friday and I'd contacted Jason Whittingham and said, you know, we're going to be there, blah, blah, blah.

Nothing, radio silence.

So you get the MP, you've got the Supporters Trust, you've got all the fans there and, you know, so much emotion.

It was, you know, it's again, it's a story close to my heart.

And I had to kind of...

bang on a few of my editors doors at Sky Sports like look this is a big story you know and all of a sudden this email comes that there's a new consortium led by Johnny Kato, the ungoogleable Johnny Cato.

And he will then provide further information that day.

And that information never arrived, right?

And this is a continual thing.

And I had a little email.

He's a mythical man.

Well, we don't.

It even got to the point where people are like, does he mean Johnny Kato?

Because there's a guy on company's house.

So this.

So like that still rumbled on.

And then there's been no proof of this person being real or to be fair, unreal.

You know, he could be.

There's nothing barely there.

In the meantime, the

staff haven't been paid the full wages.

They got paid a third of the wages.

And why was that?

And it's amazing.

Groundsmen, ground staff, no matter what level,

if you're media and you're doing a pitch side interview, they will fire up.

the lawnmowers.

Even when they're not getting paid, they will still come and sort the pitch out right next to you.

That's all right, fair enough, you know.

So the staff haven't been paid

and they were due to be paid for this month now.

And I don't think that's happened either from what the the Supporters Trust have said: a third of the wages, the players have only got a third of the wages.

10 senior players now, and some kids, you know, spoken to the players off the record.

The PFA have told them just to you know, keep the powder dry for now.

But they are getting to the point where mortgage payments are coming up, and they're struggling to make those payments.

You know, this is a very real situation.

And when we were there, all the staff at Morecambe were great, like they were so accommodating, making us food and all sorts because they were so delighted that national attention was was being a spotlight was being put on them but yeah the situation is now that jason whittingham um could sell hasn't done he's then put out a statement saying i've not been able to contact panjab warriors all week they're like well i've got two numbers for them here right now which would you mean and they've come back to the table and said we're ready to make a sale and even now that sale hasn't happened and they've had to put another statement out saying we're here we're ready sale hasn't happened and this is where you start to ask the question: why is he not selling?

You know, perhaps he was trying to string things out and get more money with the Johnny Cato stuff.

If he wants out, he can just get out and he's not done.

Yeah, and all football operations have just ceased at Morecambe now as well because their insurance hasn't been paid.

So they may,

as things stand, have played their last game because their first three of the season

have been postponed.

And

as things stand, the wages of over 300 000 are outstanding so as as things stand if this sale doesn't go through or ass sale doesn't go through in the next 20 days i think it is they will be bounced out of the league and go the way of bury so it's it's quite sad but i i listened to um

just to try and educate myself a bit more on the situation the price of football with our our friends kevin and kieran

and they had a woman on, Tanya Ellsworth from the Shrimps Trust.

She spoke very well about the situation, and she just seemed baffled by what's going on.

And I'm curious to know, Sanny, the crowd who want to buy the club and have said, look, we are here, we're ready to sign the paperwork, Punjab Warriors.

I was looking at their website.

How reliable are they as prospective owners?

Because

it all looks a bit vague.

On if you try to see what it is they've done in terms of ownership in the past, it's very vague.

I think the more things look bad for Jason Whittingham, the better light Panjab Warriors get shone in.

Because there originally was another buyer who was connected to Panjab Warriors who said he's made his money through like fizzy drinks.

And then it turned out there was no Fizzy Drink.

There was nothing.

Johnny Fanta.

But then somehow through that connection, Panja Warriors got involved.

But, you know, they have put in real money, and that money has paid for wages.

So they're putting in more money than the current ownership.

So if you take it on good faith, and you know, they have been EFL approved, as much as the EFL.

I've got a bit of a kicking here.

As George has said, the owners and directors' tests are firmer than they were.

So they passed all of that.

Now, even though they're in the National League now, they passed the EFL approved stuff.

So that's half the battle, right?

And the fact they're actually in dialogue and still here, that's better than the current owner.

So for that reason, they'll continue to look good.

One other quick point I would say is Derek Adams, you know, for most of us, probably has not the best reputation, right?

Surly kind of Scottish manager.

But I know for

a couple of sources, let's say.

He has been amazing with the players.

They've been training at the club.

He's been distracting them.

He even got him playing a game of cricket on the car park.

He's told all of them as well, look, if you've got any money problems, just come to me and I can try and help you out.

You know,

he has taken Morecambe in his various spells to the highest point.

They're in League One.

You know, he's won at Wembley Stadium with them.

And, you know, he's got not the best reputation.

But in this hour of need for the whole

club and the whole town, he's certainly trying to do what he can, even though he might not see and hear of it publicly at the moment.

It is also a measure of how mystifying the situation is at Morecambe with Whittingham and what it is he's up to that even Kieran Maguire, who is the oracle of this kind of thing, he was

left just clutching at straws and guessing as to what was going on and what Whittingham's motives were because

everything just seemed so murky.

Not even Kieran could get to the bottom of it.

What you need from the fit and proper persons test at some point is, are you completely shameless?

Like that, you know, because

you know, the real, you know, the bottom of it is individuals who just can leave their house without thinking, God, everyone hates me.

Whereas I would just be like, of course, I'll set, like, I've made all these people sad.

I will obviously change that.

That's what I think is, in terms from a personal perspective, it has to be incredibly kind of malicious.

Well, like, he's he's gone through this before with Worcester Warriors and has been on the receiving end of like an unbelievable swell of bad feeling from fans of a club who point the finger at you for for destroying them to then go through it again like it just seems almost like sadistic like how

what is he doing like what is his motive how can this be the way that he wants his life to be going right now like it just seems absolutely crazy it wasn't long ago i was at wembley watched them win the league one elder league two playoff final going up to league one um with an incredible team um led by derek adams And

yeah, their kind of managed decline and for them to be on the brink of existence itself just seems so avoidable when, you know, clearly Panjab Warriors should come under immense scrutiny like any new owner should do.

But if they have the funds to be able to buy the club and have proven that and are sitting there waiting to do a deal, to have...

Jason Winston gaslight the whole football community by saying I can't get hold of them, it's just absolutely unacceptable.

All right, look, we'll keep you posted on those stories as they progress.

Of course, that'll be for part one.

We'll look ahead to league one and league two that start the weekend in just a second.

Hi Pod fans of America, Max here.

Barry's here too.

Hello.

Football Weekly is supported by the Remarkable Paper Pro.

Now, if you're a regular listener to this show, you'll have heard us talk before about the remarkable paper pro.

We already know that remarkable is the leader in the paper tablet category, digital notebooks that give you everything you love about paper, but with the power of modern technology.

But there's something new and exciting.

The remarkable Paper Pro Move.

Remarkable, a brand name and an adjective, man.

Yeah, it's their most portable paper tablet yet.

It holds all your notes, to-dos, and documents, but it's smaller than a paperback and an incredible 0.26 inches thin, so it slips easily into a bag or jacket pocket.

Perfect for working professionals whose jobs take them out of the office.

Like maybe a football journalist, Barry.

Although not like you.

A proper football journalist, man.

Exactly.

Too much technology draws us in and shuts the world out.

This paper tablet doesn't.

It'll never beat or buzz to try and grab your attention, so you can devote your focus to what or who is in front of you.

It has a display that looks, feels, and even sounds like paper.

Think and work like a writer, not a texter.

And the battery performance is amazing.

No worries about running out of power before the end of extra time.

The Remarkable Paper Pro Move can keep going for up to two weeks.

And if you do need to recharge, you can go from naught to 90% in less than 45 minutes, Barry.

Fantastic.

Why not give it a go for nothing?

You can try Remarkable Paper Pro Move for 100 days for free.

If it's not what you're looking for, get your money back.

Visit remarkable.com to learn more and get your paper tablet today.

Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly.

Tombo says, how is Barry able to reconcile his participation in Football Weekly Live with his hardline theatre is shit views?

Barry.

Well,

we're not

a play.

It's specifically plays.

Well, you say that.

We could be.

It could be plays I have a problem with.

And we are not one.

So off the cuff, improv.

Improv comedy.

Not sure.

Please add this to your live show.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I just like, yeah, just a monologue from Barry.

Barry will do a monologue.

Well, you know, your favourite monologue, give us one and we'll get Barry to perform it.

See, we're just going out talking about football

and messing about a bit.

If we were going out and I was playing

another Irishman who was in an argument.

with his father over some land and I murdered my brother.

Got it.

You know, none of these people actually existing in real life.

Then it would be shit.

Right.

So that seems to be what all plays are about.

A disgruntled Irishman killing his father over land.

Okay.

Well, we'll see if we can add that into part two.

Look, Thursday, September the 11th, we're at the Troxy in London.

You can get tickets from theguardian.com slash football weekly live.

If you aren't in London or you can't get there,

it'll be live streamed around the whole world.

So there's no excuse for any of you listening not to come in some form.

Guardian.com/slash football weekly live.

It will be lovely to see you all.

We haven't done a live show for a couple of years.

You can find out more details on the show description page or on our Instagram or Blue Sky or TikTok accounts.

League One kicks off on Friday night, Luton Town versus AFC Wimbledon.

Who's going to win League One, George?

Well, I think Luton Town is certainly

the most likely.

They're the team that got relegated from the championship.

straight off the back of relegation from the Premier League.

Their squad currently, even though they've lost a few players, Alfred Doughty to Millwall last week.

Um, Carlton Morris moved on, but he had a poor season last season.

They've still got a ridiculous squad for League One's level, still have parachute payments, have brought in kind of proven quality and the likes of George Saville, even Naki Wells.

You know, these guys aren't necessarily in the infancy of their career, but certainly they've been good championship players in recent years.

Naki Wells must be 50 by now, mustn't he?

I think he's 35.

But it's still, he doesn't play like he's 35, he still can

move pretty well.

But he, and then also, you know, they changed manager last season rob edwards left matt bloomfield came in it took a while for bloomfields

um

you know it took a while for his arrival to to to translate into an uptick in the form but for the last 10 15 games of the season they were one of the in terms of points per game one of the best teams in the league so if you take that kind of linearly then you've got a team that were probably a top seven top eight championship team for the last two months of last season um dropping down into into league one and and that you think will will be reflected in uh in dominance especially when Matt Bloomfield had a Wickham side with a fraction of the talent that Luton have got at the top of League One before he decided to move our club last season.

So, I mean, it's never always this easy.

There's every chance that they might be a bit complacent, and obviously, we saw them last season be way, way worse than some of their parts.

But they look to me to be the ones to beat.

Barry, from your League One research, have you got your eye on?

Interested to see how Brian Barry Murphy gets on at Cardiff City.

They went down.

He's the son of a famous Cork GA player, Jimmy Barry Murphy.

But Brian used to manage the Man City Academy.

I think he worked for Rude Van Lisselroy at Leicester City.

That's not necessarily something I'd be

putting in large fonts on my CV.

But as an Irish, a fellow Irishman, I'm curious and interested to see how he gets on.

As far as I know, they haven't made too many signings.

None.

Oh, none.

Right.

Okay.

So it doesn't look likely that they'll go up.

I'll be interested to see how Stockport County get on.

I think they could be dark horses.

Yeah.

Have you listened to I124 as Baz?

I've listened to the League Two one.

I haven't actually got to the League One yet.

Yeah.

I think Stockport County, maybe,

and beyond, probably Plymouth.

I'm interested to know, actually.

George, because I know in your last seasons, 1-24, you didn't have high hopes for Tom Cleverly at Watford.

He's now at Plymouth.

He's taken over from Miroslav Muslic, who left the club during the summer.

They'd have stayed up with Muslic, I'd have got the job earlier, I'm sure.

But did Cleverly do a good job at Watford or not?

It really depends how you look at it because,

you know, they started the season really well.

And then for the second half, I think in 2025, so from January the 1st onwards, they were 24th in the league.

And their underlying numbers were were pretty poor throughout the season.

So, you know, if you judge a manager on

kind of the data side of things, which not everyone does, but you know, it's the side of football that doesn't require goalkeepers to make saves and strokers to finish their chances.

It's just kind of between both boxes, then possibly red flags there.

But then, Watford fans, pretty much to a man, were pretty gutted when he left, and they're the ones who go and see their team play every week and have a probably better understanding of entertainment factor and the ability of certain players.

so

i would say for a first full season in charge there was definite promise but definitely in my mind um

not the kind of appointment for our guy i think there's the similarities between brian barry murphy's appointment and cleverly's appointment where i think for both cardiff and argyle they've made appointments that suggest they're looking at the the longer term picture they aren't appointments to just you know try and impact an immediate return back to the championship it's more an understanding that they've got quite a young squad and certainly in cardiff's case a nucleus of really young, good, homegrown players that they want to develop.

And if that doesn't happen this season, then hopefully they can grow and build under Barry Murphy.

And the same for Cleverly and Argyle, where their recruitment policy is generally to recruit young.

And in Cleverly, they've done that with a manager who, I guess, they hope can learn and grow with them.

Sunny, are you doing the Wordle?

No, I'm not.

I was looking very closely at my football app, looking at Huddersfield Town and double-checking

the signings because

they bought everyone, uh, seemingly, um,

including Alfie May, yeah, who

actually he was, he was kind of an impact player at Birmingham City last season.

Uh, and quite well, I say that he did have a period where he did start and then scored some spectacular goals and then was out of the team again.

Um, but his record is great.

I mean, he didn't quite hit the heights that he did at Charlton, but equally he didn't quite get as many chances.

But um, they signed him for just over a million pound, and that's a big, a big statement of intent.

They've got this American owner, uh, Marcus Harness, as well from Ipswich Town, and a couple of players from Preston as well.

And one of Millwore's good centre-backs and all.

So basically, they bought an entire core side.

And they had a couple of good players already that they'd signed in the previous window, like Dion Charles

from Bolton Wanderers, and quite a spectacularly,

well,

there was a big rivalry there on transfers with Bolton now.

So, anyway, overall, they might do quite well.

And they've got Lee Grants, former EFL goalkeeper, then Man United

Richard Wright equivalents, famous for the meme holding up a

subsubs board.

I think at one point, it was like his only job.

And then he was the right-hand man for Kieran McKenna.

So he's yet another

Man United trained coach in theory.

I think he was the attacking coach, attacking FaZe, which is quite interesting for a goalie.

So he gets his first chance at management.

And given the money behind him, given everything that's been positively said about him in the coaching world, uh, yeah, Huddersfield Townlander wants to keep an eye on.

They've um, they've signed five centre-backs, which I'd love to know if that is a transfer window record, if anyone's ever signed five centre-backs in one.

And they've all and they've also got about eight strikers.

Can you play a very narrow 5-3-2?

Can you play a very no, uh, I mean, yeah, he's he's he is excited.

I mean, I'm excited to see how it translates because his reputation as a coach, but also his reputation as a as a man, are both very, very good.

And it kind of feels to me like if he is good because of his seemingly his character, I think he could be a kind of bright young thing of English management, which would be fun to have a goalkeeper who goes on to do that.

How's Noel Hunt doing at Reading, George?

I mean, I love, I mean, the Hunt brothers were sort of Soccer AM Glory Year's staples.

They were on all the time.

They were great value and just tell stories, but I can't remember.

I think Noel of the two brothers was the one who would just jump off the top of the house just for fun when they were kids.

And, you know, sort of many years ago, I remember getting spectacularly drunk with him and some other footballers that I can't remember at some sort of terrible bar in Leicester Square.

In that same way that you don't, you know, when you see Craig Bellamy being sort of erudite and serious and a brilliant football manager, it doesn't tally with the Craig Bellamy you remember as a player.

Noel Hunt managing anything doesn't tally with me.

But like, as far as I remember, he did really well at the end of last season.

And I really hope he does well because he's just a genuinely great bloke.

He did incredibly well because, you know, Reading last season were in a kind of a desperate position.

They lost their manager, Ruben Sayers, who was doing an incredible job.

They lost Sam Smith, their star striker, to Wrexham in January.

And so Hunt had to come in and, you know, expectations were probably too high because they'd massively overachieved.

And he still managed to guide them onto the fringes of the playoffs.

I think they were achieved last season.

I really hope that.

You know, we had them pretty low down and I won't 24s and the reaction from Reading fans was surprised given how close they were to the top six last season.

And because of the takeover now, there seems to be a belief that they're going to be able to kick on.

They've lost key players like Tyler Bindham was bought by Nottingham Forest and known back.

He's now going to spend next season at Sheffield United.

And Ben Gay, their other centre-back has left.

Harvey Nibbs going to Charlton.

So again, they're kind of being,

you know, they've still got Lewis Wing and Charlie Savage, who are two key centre-bit fielders.

They could borrow a couple of centre-backs from Hornsby.

Yeah, exactly.

So I think, and I hope for the sake of the new owners, that you know, expectations can be that this is a season to kind of consolidate and they're still kind of

getting through the wreckage from what was a really difficult few years under Dai Young to build for the future.

But my favorite Hunt brothers story is that I remember reading that Stephen Hunt was asked why he had his long hair, and he said that because he realized that he wasn't as good as a lot of other players, he decided to grow it long just so that when he played well, people would recognize him.

And he basically put his whole career down to the fact that when he had a good games, people would know it was him and then they'd buy him.

It sort of works, doesn't it?

In the sort of cucurella, yeah, it can go both ways, you know,

for Lanyard's, David Louises, et cetera.

Just get noticed.

Who have you relegated in your 1-24, George?

In League One, I mean, it's always probably the more predictable because the disparity of wealth in League One is pretty big.

And normally it's teams that have recently come up from League Two who tend to struggle.

So AFC Wimbledon, who did incredibly well to get promoted out of League Two, I think if Johnny Jackson delivered safety this season, it would be another incredible job from him.

Northampton Town under Kevin Nolan, who kind of had a big clear out at the beginning of the window and then have really struggled to bring players in.

So they're kind of kind of threadbare at the moment in terms of what they've got.

Exeter, who

do so well season on season to stay up, but it kind of feels like they might struggle to kind of continually do that possibly.

And

we had Peterborough, who may be the ones that people would be surprised to hear.

Get rid of them.

Like if you look last season, they were poor for much of the campaign and had a very good run late in order to just about climb away

from the renegation battle.

But they've lost so many good players who've all kind of moved upwards from there.

Like Fernandez, the centre-back's gone to Rangers, Mother Sill has gone to Stockport, various other keepers, Kiprianu's gone to Watford, Poku's gone to QPR.

So if you're already a poor League One side and you lose four or five players who are going to either the championship or to Rangers, and they haven't really replaced them, to my mind at least, with similar quality, then I think that spells trouble.

Let's go to League Two.

For the first time in years, you haven't relegated Cambridge United from your League One predictions because they're not in it.

And suddenly after five years,

five years after not caring, or however many years, I now suddenly am very interested in League Two.

Sanny, who will finish second behind Cambridge United

under Neil Harris?

MK Donce, who had a

spectacularly bad season last year.

I think 90, was it in the end?

But he got Paul Warren in, and he's brought in some of his mates, including Nathaniel Mendez-Lang, who for League Two is is going to be amazing.

They spent a lot of money and seem to have invested well, bringing in a host of players, I guess, who know the level and above.

So overall, I think they'll be great.

Aaron Collins would be the other one as well, who was really impressive.

I think he was young player of the year in his time at Bristol.

Brovers.

When I've seen him at Bolton, he always kind of impressed, but they bought him for £800,000, which for League Two is huge.

Wow.

Whatever you feel about MK, I probably feel the same.

However, as far as this current iteration, the management and the intention, looks like they might actually have some bites with their bark.

Barry, from your League Two research,

where are you sticking your flag?

I'll stick it in the Abbey Stadium, Max, of course.

Yes.

No,

I mean, my League Two research was basically going, ooh.

Bradley Dak plays for Gillingham.

Didn't know that.

Been there a while.

Danny Cowley's in charge of Colchester.

Didn't know that.

Gareth Ainsworth's in charge of Diddingham.

Didn't know that.

So

you don't want to read too much into my research.

I'm interested to know

how the lads think Oldham will get back on their get on and their return to League Two.

Because

teams who come up seem in recent years anyway to do very well.

And,

you know, again, I'm old enough to remember Oldham in the Premier League being in cup finals.

Does Andy Ritchie and Roger Joseph still play for them?

And do you think they'll do all right?

Frankie Bahn.

Well, I think they'll probably be fine, I would guess.

I think no team has ever been relegated out of, or at least for you know, like 100 years or something.

I don't know how long it's been, but from

League Two and having just been promoted from the National League or from whatever the conference was called at that time.

There, you've got Mickey Mellon, a manager who's pretty rock solid at League Two level.

He's gone out and recruited a lot of players who played with him at Tranmere previously when they went up straight from the National League through League Two into League One.

But, you know, Barnett finished with 30 odd more points than them last season.

And if there's a team I think to take out of the National League I think could really be a force to reckon with, then I think it might be them.

They went up with 102 points, but by far the best team in what is always a competitive National League.

And when you consider how well, you know, Chesterfield getting into the playoffs last season,

Wrexham going straight up.

Newport obviously struggles in their first season, but then into the playoffs last season,

normally the top national league teams go on and they're competitive at the top end of

League Two.

And if there's one of those teams to do it, I would have thought it would be Barnett over Alden.

Sorry, one other thing I'm curious to know.

Salford City has been kicking around in that league division for some years now, obviously owned by Gary Neville and Chums.

Are they ever going to get out of that?

Are they ever going to get promoted?

Because

they seem to spend a lot of money and have a high churn of managers well i'll be watching them up close on saturday for five live uh salford crew kicks off my season which i'm very excited about nice easy um commute uh yeah well the the they've brought in more new players as well and you think the ones they've got already i mean cole stockton was one who like had a period of score scoring amazing goals from morkham that was a few years ago i think

as we know with non-league like you can put a bit of money in and get really far really quickly they were the original doco

uh team, weren't they, with the Sky Sports documentary.

But then League Two is a bit of a money hole.

And what they have done is they've stuck with the manager in Carl Robinson.

And

having listened to all the 1 to 24s from George and Ali Maxwell, I'll quote them that Carl Robinson is quite a streaky manager and they can go through a period of winning quite a few and losing quite a few.

And for that reason, they kind of end up always regressing to normal.

I think they just fell just outside the playoffs.

I think they need a bit of momentum.

But just going back to Oldham as well,

because you asked that original question, I covered a lot of Oldham for Radio Manchester back when they were

in

a complete mess.

They were owned by some brothers who were agents, who'd taken the money they'd made from transfers and invested in a club and then would bring in these random players from the Fourth League division in France.

It was all a complete mess.

The new owner, Frank Rothwell, who you may have seen because he goes viral every now and then, this like amiable, jolly northerner, has put a very positive feel on the place.

And, and you know they're getting record scene ticket sales and all the rest of it so clubs like oldham coming up is great you know they're a proper historic football club but also that positive vibe can do a hell of a lot and as far as salford city go they finally feel like they might have that as well but i think there are other teams that are stronger than them so um in league two don't don't rule out just how how how many points having a positive set of fans really are in a division where the teams can be quite similar to each other.

Where have you put Cambridge, George?

Max, you haven't listened.

It's unbelievable.

No, I apologise.

I've never mentioned it.

I've two young children.

I'm time-poor, George.

So do I.

I had to record them.

In my defense, by the way, I only listened to them all because I had a four and a half-hour drive back from Dorset last night.

You don't have to defend yourself.

Listen, what are you doing?

It's a good podcast.

You can't just listen to it out of pleasure.

To defend myself, I've only listened to them because I had five hours on my own.

I listened to all of them.

You're really selling it.

I spend most of every day on my own, and I've only listened to one of them.

There's no such thing as bad publicity.

We have Cambridge 18th.

18th?

What?

Aren't they better than that?

I'm sure we're better than that.

I have a Pelly Radak and Panzu.

We've just signed Louis Aparre, a striker who scored no goals last season.

Ryan Laughlin.

You'd think that Pelle Radicampanzu should be a good signing, although I would say that we did record.

but like a day before but one of our favourite

so often when we do the 124s we'll get a message from a fan of a club, say Cambridge, who'll be like, guys, I think

you must have recorded this before we signed.

And the player is always some like 21-year-old left back who they've signed from a National League club.

And they're like, did you know this before you did your predictions?

And we're like, well, yeah, I mean, how much of an impact do you think this guy's going to have?

Suddenly going to catapult you from 14th to 7th off the back of his.

So yes.

We.

18th.

Yeah.

I mean,

if you look back at recently relegated teams teams out of League One,

they struggle quite often unless there's a real reason for them not to struggle.

We've seen Forrest Green go straight back down.

We've seen Carlyle who had loads of money for the level go straight back down.

Yeah,

at the moment, I mean, Neil Harris obviously offers a level of kind of solid that is good, but he also doesn't stay in jobs for that long for the most part.

So

I wouldn't say there's much cause for huge optimism.

Never left us before.

I love how you...

So

did you you just assume that we didn't have you get relegated rather than actually knowing that?

Because it would have been good if we'd had you 23rd.

No, I presume we were in the playoffs at least.

I just sort of, you know, we've gone down.

We've signed some footballers.

I'm very, I'm very enthusiastic, as I always am.

Yes, Sanny.

This is uh, we're eating into Louis Diaz as a bar Munich player, but you know, I'm quite enjoying the CFL stuff.

Well, I've got a transfer that you'll love even more.

Um, real-life Gary Goals, uh, Jake Tabor.

Then, if you heard about this guy, he scored, he scored 127 goals in 91 games, his last two seasons at Amersham.

Yeah, and then he was, he, he decided he wanted to, and also in the interviews, it was great.

He doesn't like train properly, he doesn't really do any running, he doesn't do any fitness, he's not really keen up.

He just lives for goals, and his goals also are all like spectacular.

He'll be on the shoulder and he'll outpace somebody, or he'll score from like 40 yards.

Like, it's it's James Bardy plus.

So, so I got in touch with him and was like, Do you fancy a move to Berry?

We're in Division Eight, but you know, we've got this 12,000-seater stadium and he's like maybe yeah yeah and it's what you know oh you know good luck i'll talk to you in a bit uh he signed for swindon town okay good and he started on like a one-year deal and within a week uh ian holloway's giving him a three-year deal um yeah so he's 22 he's he's going to finally get some training in um you know he's at a professional football club and they absolutely bloody love him so yeah i mean this this guy keep an eye on him jake tabor keep an eye on him jake tabor the real life gary goals that's great before we end part two you wanted to have a word about Ronnie Moore, EFL legend.

I feel like he must have managed Rotherham for about 200 years.

He's been diagnosed with myeloma, a type of blood cancer.

We obviously wish him well.

You spent some time with him last year.

Yeah, I did.

Him and John Brecken, who was his longtime assistant manager.

who are just an amazing pair, like just so full of like joie de viv.

And I know Ronnie Moore still does like

the analysis on Radio Sheffield and so does Breckin as well.

And just like at the time we actually met up at Millmore, which is Rotherham's old stadium that the club have managed to, or the community have managed to keep going and they've like got a pitch in it now and it's still kind of there.

And they do like these memory games and they get all the old fans together and you play a match on the pitch and have a little reminisce.

And he's got so many stories and so much experience and yet he still has the energy and enthusiasm trying.

give it back to the club and Rotherham, you know, have had highs, lows, you know, ownership issues, all the rest of it and yet he's still you know he doesn't need to buy a pint ever in Rotherham maybe that's why he keeps going back there these people are really important to the fabric of of our EFL clubs and yeah hope he's okay wish him well I'm sure we all do and his family as well yeah echo that completely and we'll be back in a second

Hi pod fans of America, Max here.

Barry's here too.

Hello.

Football Weekly is supported by the Remarkable Paper Pro.

Now, if you're a regular listener to this show, you'll have heard us talk before about about the remarkable paper pro.

We already know that remarkable is the leader in the paper tablet category, digital notebooks that give you everything you love about paper, but with the power of modern technology.

But there's something new and exciting.

The remarkable paper pro move.

Remarkable, a brand name and an adjective, man.

Yeah, it's their most portable paper tablet yet.

It holds all your notes, to-dos, and documents, but it's smaller than a paperback and an incredible 0.26 inches thin, so it slips easily into a bag or jacket pocket.

Perfect for working professionals whose jobs take them out of the office like maybe a football journalist Barry although not like you

a proper football journalist.

Exactly.

Too much technology draws us in and shuts the world out.

This paper tablet doesn't.

It'll never beat or buzz to try and grab your attention so you can devote your focus to what or who is in front of you.

It has a display that looks, feels and even sounds like paper.

Think and work like a writer, not a texter.

And the battery performance is amazing.

No worries about running out of power before the end of extra time.

The remarkable paper pro Move can keep going for up to two weeks.

And if you do need to recharge, you can go from naught to 90% in less than 45 minutes, Barry.

Fantastic.

Why not give it a go for nothing?

You can try Remarkable Paper Pro Move for 100 days for free.

If it's not what you're looking for, get your money back.

Visit remarkable.com to learn more and get your paper tablet today.

Welcome to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly.

Rangers made it through to the second qualifying round of the Champions League.

They drew one all away at Panathanikos.

They win 3-1 on aggregate.

They'll face Victoria Pilsen in the next round onto any other business.

Regards, Tottenham's homegrown players.

I said it was good news for David Howells and Steve Sedgley.

Stewart says Steve Sedgley wouldn't count as a homegrown player.

We signed him from Coventry when he was 21.

So bad news for Steve Sedgley.

Not going to play any Champions Champions League football this season.

Freddie writes, Dear Guardian Football Weekly team, long-time listener, first-time writer, etc.

Judging by much of your correspondence, Vasectomed or otherwise, I'm not alone in turning to the pod as much to escape the anxieties of modern life as for the granular nuggets of football wisdom.

The world we live in today is expensive and exhausting, and as you've no doubt heard many times before, you guys provide much-needed relief, not to mention joy and laughter.

Over the past few months, this has come in especially handy.

So I've sweated away, trying desperately to push the never-ending boulder to the top of the hill that is my PhD thesis.

Motivating myself to go back and forward to the library every day has not been easy, but what's made it possible has been your dulcet tones.

Last week, my fellow library goer and friend Suria finished his own thesis.

He's a big fan of the pod, and whilst I will miss his joyful presence beside me in my final weeks, I was hoping could all give him a big shout-out for getting over what has been a marathon finishing line, no doubt with your help.

I will be there soon.

Thanks again.

Keep up the important work.

Let's hope Tottenham signs someone half decent, Freddy.

Now, the thing is, Barry, what we would like from Freddy is to be formally thanked in the acknowledgements of his thesis and maybe be brought up in the viva.

That's what we're really looking for here, isn't it, Bans?

Absolutely.

I'll be honest.

I don't really know what a thesis is.

To the best of my knowledge, a thesis is something someone

works incredibly hard at to write, does an awful lot amount of research, writes this thing, and then nobody reads it.

Is that about the size of it?

It's like one of Wilson's books.

And the Viva is the meeting where you tell everyone what you wrote about because they couldn't be asked to read it either.

Okay, right.

Yeah, I think you have to come up with a question that no one has ever asked before.

But obviously, you can come up with a question that somebody's basically asked before, but it's got to be very subtly different.

You then spend three to four years.

So you spend two and a half years not doing anything, surely.

And then you've got six months going, oh, shit.

And then, you know, and then it's like my half-marathon stream.

Exactly.

It is.

It is.

Although a lot of people will watch that.

And then, yes, but this is adding to, you know, academic.

Without these, there would be no academic research.

We would get no further as a race.

That's what these guys are doing.

So good luck in whatever it's in.

And sorry if you were.

searching for some motivation and Barry has just announced that what you've done for the last three years of your life has been an absolute waste of time.

I would argue in contrast that most of what I've done for my entire adult life has been an entire week since

my own time, a lot of other people's time as well.

James says, very much looking forward to your next live show.

Myself and my good friend Duncan attended your last London show before the Qatar World Cup.

Are joining forces once again to see some more of Barry's holiday snaps, listen to Philippe's dulcet tones, and enter Mark's meat raffle.

Duncan's getting married to his wonderful partner, Esther, this Saturday.

It would mean the world to him to get a shout out on the pod.

I've known Duncan since we were six.

He's been a firm friend for almost three decades now.

And our weekly messages, quoting the pod or slamming your hot takes, is one of the highlights of my week.

Esther is an absolute gem.

I wish them all the happiness in the world.

I humbly ask that Barry offer his obligatory congratulations.

Not only would it make Duncan's Day, but it would hide the fact that I haven't bought him a wedding present yet.

Thanks so much.

All the best, James Kirby.

So if you could do your best for Duncan and Esther, please, Barry.

Well, I would like to wish Duncan and Esther all the very best.

Obviously, this

Saturday,

her wedding day will be the highlight of Esther's year.

But Duncan, for Duncan, it's just a preamble to

the 11th of September at the Troxy.

Unless that's the honeymoon.

That could be the honeymoon.

So he'd be in big trouble if it is.

But yeah, I hope they have a great day.

And

I'll give them

four years.

Four years.

Oh, well, enjoy those four, every

Duncan and Esther.

And thank you, James.

We'll see you at the live show.

And, you know, we'll probably have a, we'll probably go to to the one of the pubs around the corner afterwards.

So you can all come and say hi.

I seem to remember singing Troy Townsend's luggage suitcase or something and Barry holding it over his head last time out at some early hour.

Theguardian.com slash bubble weekly live if you'd like to come along to that.

Meanwhile, thank you very much.

Thank you, Sanny.

Oh, thank you.

Thank you, George.

Thank you.

Oh, just to say, a few people have been in touch about how I've, and Barry even noticed it.

When I come to the northern hemisphere, my voice has gone down three octaves.

I've not been out on a wild bender.

And it's not just different.

My voice isn't just different, Barry.

You listened to me on the radio for two hours and didn't realize it was me the other day.

Well, it was about 20 minutes and didn't realize it was me.

I've got a chesty cough.

I'm full of benelin.

That's why.

But through the pain.

This is like Lucy Bronze.

Lucy Bronze doesn't know what.

It's an advert.

It's not an advert.

This podcast is brought to you by...

I think Lucy Bronze had it hard with a fractured tibia.

Podcasting with the amount of phlegm in my lungs is quite a feat.

But yeah, I'm I'm still delivering at this extraordinary level.

But, you know, hopefully, my voice will go back to its normal pitch soon.

But in the meantime, we'll be back on Monday, won't we?

Football Weekly is produced by Joel Grove.

Our executive producer is Phil Mendel.

Did I say thank you, Barry?

Well, I think the thanks are implied at this point.

Although

this League One, League T preview is one,

it's the annual pod that causes me the most anxiety because I mean, you know,

compared to the other two lads, I am of course absolutely nothing, no, nothing.

You are, and also, I'm really excited when you put your finger up to ask a question because I look at you and go, I've got nothing to ask you on this subject over all of it.

But we got through it, no one noticed.

We'll be back on that.

This is The Guardian.