Leeds and Burnley return to the Premier League: Football Weekly

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Hello and welcome to the Guardian Football Weekly.

We'll kick off with a huge win for Nottingham Forest at Spurs, taking them back up to third in the Premier League.

They scored twice and they decided to see if they could hold the lead and unsurprisingly they could.

And then it's the EFL.

The season defining Good Friday, Easter Monday games have defined some seasons.

At the top, Burnley's win over Sheffield United means the Clarets and leads are promoted.

Who will be better in the Premier League?

Scott Parker's Meanies, 15 goals conceded, or Daniel Farker's swashbucklers.

None of the sides in the playoff mix won both their games.

Could it be Frank Lampard versus Michael Carrick for the final spot?

At the bottom, Plymouth and Luton have hope and Aaron Ramsey.

Can he give Cardiff some good vibes to get them out of the mire?

Birmingham have wrapped up League One and now Wrexham are in the box seat to join them.

While at the bottom, the Mighty Us look destined for League Two.

Perhaps getting one point in the first nine games wasn't such a good idea.

No one wants to win League Two.

We'll try and work out who will.

All that plus your questions.

And that's today's Guardian Football Weekly.

On the panel today, Barry Glenn Denning.

Welcome.

Hello, Max.

Hello, Sonny Rodravadula.

Hello, Max.

And from Not the Top 20 podcast, George Ellick.

Good morning.

Good morning, Max.

Let's start with Nottingham Forest's win at Spurs.

James says, could Spurs win the championship?

Good for making it an EFL type question.

We don't need to spend too much time on this, Barry, because we've done a lot of Spurs aren't good.

And we've done quite a lot of Nottingham Forest are good.

But it is a huge win for Forrest because they'd lost two in a row.

Dr.

Tottenham will see you now.

Yeah, it was,

and I feel like I've said this a lot about Forrest.

Another textbook Forrest Forrest win, score first, score early.

If you get another one, great.

They've got another one, great.

And then maximise, you know, that maximisation of efficiency has served them well all season.

And then try to close out the game by defending obdurately, letting the opposition have the ball.

If you, Dr.

Tottenham, wish to send in cross after cross after cross after cross, that's fine.

We've got Marilla.

We've got Milenkovich.

We'll deal with it no problem.

And

if you do get past them, we have a very good goalkeeper in Matt Sells.

We have the third best defence in the league, so we will probably win, having gone two goals up, and that's exactly what happened.

I think

when Ange goes at the end of the season, as he probably will, and has the time to reflect on his...

two years this basket case of a football club he's managing, he will be able to say that, look, mate,

my second season there was dogged by injuries.

What could I do?

But he has a more or less fit squad to pick choose from now and has had for some time.

They're not any better than the one that was injury ravaged, are they?

I can't see any noticeable improvement.

And they let in two pretty soft goals.

The defending for both was could have been a lot better.

They pulled one back, they had a few chances, but ultimately Forrest held on and were deserving winners, I would say.

Yeah, so Forrest back up to third, 60 points.

Tottenham have now lost 18.

Their record is 19 defeats in a season.

Ozzy Ardillas.

Yeah, they're sort of frantic when they attack.

You're right.

Harry Toffalo cleared one off the line brilliantly.

Matt Sells made one great save.

I had completely forgotten Harry Toffalo was at Nottingham Forest.

I had completely forgotten Harry Toffalo existed

and was quite surprised to see him last night.

So, yeah, well done, Harry.

You played well.

Very well.

Well done, Harry.

Yeah, Spurs have Liverpool at Anfield next.

So a good chance to join Aussie's record there.

But at least the players are still playing for him, I guess.

There's some more Premier League tonight, Man City Villa, Wednesday, Arsenal, Crystal Palace.

We'll do those on Thursday.

Right, let's do the championship and promotion.

Leeds and Burnley's promotions both confirmed, mainly because of Burnley's 2-1 win over Sheffield United in the late kickoff.

Josh Brownhill with both goals.

Some atmosphere at Turf Moor.

And a great achievement, George, for Scott Parker.

His third promotion from the championship

after getting Fulham and Bournemouth up.

And to only concede 15 goals in 44 games.

I know we've talked about it before, but it's mad.

That was a totally ridiculous statistic.

Yeah, it's crazy.

You know, it's helped by the fact that they've got in James Trafford a goalkeeper who

you've got to hope this is the last time he's going to play outside the Premier League.

Like he's someone who I expect will be Jordan Pickford's successor in terms of being England's number one.

You know, but not only has he had a very good season, but the defence in front of him have been fantastic as well.

They are a very well-drilled defensive unit.

And for periods of this season, you know, they've struggled to pick up wins because their attacking output was relatively poor.

But the addition of Marcus Edwards in January has changed that.

And since the January window closed, they've been rampant in terms of what they've been able to do from an attacking standpoint.

And Josh Brownhill, 16 goals for the season now, playing an attack midfield role.

Two goals, you know, the two decisive goals yesterday against Sheffield United to send them up.

I do think there's some Scar tissue with Scott Parker and his relegations from from the Premier League, or at least

his sackings from teams who ended up being relegated from the Premier League, where

they've been so poor from a defensive perspective.

I think he's very, very keen to take a side up into the Premier League who have some kind of defensive solidity because that is

going to be the means to try and do what no team has managed to do this season and actually stay in the Premier League having been promoted.

The issue he's going to have is in terms of personnel, whether or not they can keep Trafford, C.J.

Egan Riley,

Estev.

These are players who are young, have proven themselves at championship level and will be very attractive to other clubs.

But

yeah, an amazing, you know, for him to achieve promotion three times.

Often, and I think is the case with Kieran McKenna at the moment.

Managers can achieve good things in the championship or in the EFL and then their reputation has done harm by not performing miracles in the in the Premier League.

And that kind of feels like it's the case with Parker a little bit where he's judged off the back of a few relatively poor spells or you know very poor spells in charge of Premier League clubs when kind of swimming against the tide and what he's achieved in the championship is often forgotten um but you know it feels like there are a couple him daniel farker guys who are specialists now are getting teams out of the championship george can you just run us through the burnley back four for our premier league only listeners yeah of course so yeah james chafford is you know the one who as i say is is the kind of the goalkeeper who is

i anticipate you know he's already in england squads now and i'm sure will um continue to be and should as and when they're at the Premier League side, I think we'll get that number one show up pretty regularly.

Connor Roberts is the right back who is just a really good attacking, well, he's a very good attacking championship fullback.

He's one of those where you wonder if he's going to be able to step up necessarily well to the Premier League as we've seen in the past.

Maxima Estev is the one who I think has really proven himself this season.

He was signed.

Such an impressive signing from Monpellier, you know, paid last season in the Premier League, but in that, you know, very poor Burnley side under Vince and Company, but has been kind of the rock at the back for

Burnley under Scott Parker.

CJ Egan Riley, who is an England under 21 International, who came through at Man City, has been so impressive.

You know, he's versatile can play right back or centre-back, but again, alongside Estev, has been really, really impressive.

And then Lucas Perez is the left back who was brought in from Cadiz in the summer.

So yeah,

in Perez and Estev, they kind of found two absolute gems there who've settled in really well into a rock-solid back five.

But as I say, you know, what will that

defensive unit look like for Burnley next season?

For two reasons.

One, because those players will be, or some of them, certainly Estev, Egan Riley, Perez and

Trafford will be, will have their own suitors, but also because teams getting promoted out of the championship

really should be investing in Premier League defenders, and it's those who don't do that who often can't start.

Makes it sound like poor Connor Roberts will be just there on his own just looking around, where he'll be there.

Where have we all gone?

Sandy,

as for Shefford United, like such a time to fall off, lost four in five, including defeats to Oxford, Millwall and Plymouth.

Okay, Millwall are sort of just about pushing for the playoffs.

But what has happened, Sandy?

It's a very strange one, kind of epitomised as well at full time, where

they basically just got in a bit of a ruck on the pitch.

Hamza Chowdhury one, I think, had to be hauled away.

I know it's really strange, really, because,

I mean, the record for Sheffield United in the playoffs is really bad.

They've never got through it.

And it's all about peaking at the right moment, isn't it?

And a couple of weeks ago, Chris Wilder, you take so much on him.

You know, he's such a big character and personality.

We see much more of him than we, say, see Scott Parker, for example.

And it felt like they were all going in the right direction.

But I guess if you peek too soon, it all kind of comes apart.

I don't know.

It's really strange.

I don't know how much it has to do with the reliance on individuals and then those not coming to the fore.

I mean, Gus Harmer's been amazing this season, but you can't rely on one player, can you?

But equally, I think we don't want to take away from Burnley and Leeds because they've both been excellent.

I mean, Cheffy United, as I remember, had a points deduction, and for a while, they would have been top without that deduction.

But yeah,

out of all of this, Burnley and Leeds have been unstoppable.

I mean, Burnley's defence is incredible.

The clean sheet record is mad.

Was that, what, 30 games unbeaten?

Was that the Burnley win?

Or was it 31?

Now, I've kind of lost track of it all now.

So, yeah, as much as Sheffield United have fallen off, you've got to give credit to Leeds and Burnley.

Quinna says, could Rafinha get into this lead side?

I mean,

they do, George, they do have lots of exciting attacking talent, George.

They do.

I mean, I always think it's amazing how it feels like Daniel Fark has taken this lead side a step further than last season, despite losing Crisencio Somerville and Georgini Aruta, who

I still think were the

two outstanding individuals.

Manus Solomon's come in on loan from Spurs and looked like he could probably do a job for Spurs, to be honest.

He's been very good on the left-hand side, a direct runner, a creative player, good quality on the ball.

Willie Nonto has been a bit part player because Dan James has been so good.

It's not necessarily unlike Ruto, who ended up being sold for 40 million, the protagonists in this lead side probably aren't that.

Now, Aletanaka's the one you're looking at, who's been just a really smart pickup in centre midfield, just a very calm quality footballer, technician in the middle of the park.

But it's funny because, as is the way these days, a football club and a manager are kind of interchangeable.

And a lot of Leeds fans, you know, saying that if Farker didn't take them up, then it was time for him to go.

And there'd have been a lot of question marks over him.

But I think Farker deserves immense credit for building this Leeds side, who over two seasons have been incredibly strong.

You know, they should have gone up last season.

In any normal season, they would have done.

It was a poor performance at Wembley.

But apart from that, they were, you know, the quality they showed last season was normally enough to get you up promoted automatically.

And realistically, this season, you know, they've shot themselves in the foot a couple of times.

It should have been done earlier, but at their best, just at this level, no one can live with them.

George, you touched on Parker's scar tissue.

He took Fulham up, took them straight back down, took Bournemouth up, got sacked after four games, the fourth of which was a 9-0 against Liverpool, in which he tore into

his employers, went to Club Brugger, got sacked after a couple of months, and then Farke

got Norris promoted, took him straight back down, took them up again, and then got sacked after losing 15 in a row what can they do uh to try to ensure this doesn't happen them again resign

well apart from that

but i mean there is like we said it last summer like if russell martin for his career the the smartest thing he could have done after that wembley final was just to walk away Just be like, I'm not going to oversee this period at Southampton where we are going to get beaten loads.

And people are going to look at what we're going to do and say, oh, that Russell Martin, he's not up to much.

In a similar way, Kieran McKenna probably should have taken the jobs that were available to him last summer when it looked like he was being courted by everybody.

It is a massive hiding to nothing.

Like, you are odds on, like, massive odds on for relegation on promotion.

It'll be interesting to see whether or not leads are because they are a bit of a case onto their own in terms of the way that they're kind of rated by older compilers and the rest, in terms of being already probably better than most promoted sides are.

But generally, you're a massive odds-on shot to get relegated.

And yet, unless you outperform that unless you perform way above where you probably should be then you're perceived as being a failure like it's a hiding to nothing I think if you're you know basically a manager these days should do whatever they can not to manage or not to take jobs of sides who are newly relegated out of the championship because you know even look at you know Steve Cooper at Nottingham Forest just performed miracles to get Forrest into the Premier League himself and then did probably okay in terms of the consolid consolidation job that's enabled them to have the platform to go and do what they've done since.

But, you know, it's not like his reputation was enhanced by doing that.

It's a, it's an absolute hiding to nothing.

What we'll see from Burnley is: look, I've done, I've double-checked, it's 31 unbeaten, and it's 29 clean sheets.

It's 15 goals they've conceded all season, and only those two league defeats.

So, this is different to the Vincent Company Burnley, going back to our Premier League only fans.

That's a little bit of a side journey to fair the Premier League do that.

You know, in the schools of thoughts of, you know, pet ball or, you know, possession play, this is a side that is resolutely built on being solid at the back.

If that team can't survive in the Premier League, then you've got to think what team can survive.

You know, this is a team that have been so difficult to even score against.

Chevy United's goal in the second half was the only second goal, the only goal in the second half they've had all season they've conceded in this year over the Norwich the other day.

Like, no one's able to beat them.

Like, when the amount of time they've been coming Burnley this season, and after they get the first goal, you kind of just start to zone out a bit because they can just control the game as well.

So this Burnley side,

if any team is going to be able to show that you can survive with a solid defence, it's this, you know, and the cyclical nature of football.

Is it Sam Allardyce?

Not quite, but they've definitely got that strong back line.

And, you know, if they do half as well in the top flight as they have done in the Premier League, in the championship, then they'll give everyone a run for the money because they will be difficult to score against.

I think the leads winger, Ramazzani, he deserves the tip of the hat, by the way, for still being in full kit in the Lorimer suite at Ellen Road two and a half hours after his game ended.

He didn't need a shower, did he?

Yeah, probably not.

I was going to say at the nightclub.

I mean,

that's the real key.

If you get there.

Well, he was wearing shades.

There's a point here as well where I quite, you know, sometimes you, it's a bit sad when a team doesn't win promotion at a final whistle or something a title at a final whistle.

It's a bit like when a golfer wins a major and they're kind of standing in a hut, having finished an hour earlier and watching whatever happens.

But actually, yesterday was incredible because what you just saw was Leeds fans all just staying at Ellen Road and just absolutely packing the streets around the stadium and probably all watching on their phones or not even watching or not really caring, just waiting for news to come through.

And the scenes, you know, when the final whistle went in Burnley, the scenes that we saw kind of around Ellen Road were absolutely incredible.

It kind of felt like probably quite a good way to win promotion.

Win 6-0, leave with your mates, have a great afternoon, and wait for the finals a couple of hours later.

So good.

And it wasn't like late, you know, it was a 5.30, so you still got the whole evening.

You know, 80 to 7.30, plenty of time.

Just a quick one on Joel Pirro before we move on to the playoffs.

He'd gone 10 without a goal, but he scored four in the first half in this game against Doke.

Top scorer in the championship.

25 years old.

Had a decent scoring record at Swansea before Leeds.

George, do you think he can make the leap?

I've got concerns.

It kind of stinks to me of a loan to Southampton in January or something like that.

He's a very good technical footballer and

his finishing ability is undoubted.

And I think he's suited this lead side who create a lot.

And he's versatile enough to be able to play as a 10 or as a striker.

But

you know, maybe if leads are able to kind of translate their style into the Premier League, then he isn't the worst option to have as a front man.

But I think leads have to go out and spend probably quite a lot of money on one, two, three strikers

and can sign, say thank you very very much to Joel Peru and Patrick Bamford for what they've done, but probably move on past them.

You know, maybe Peru will be there for a transitionary season, but I, you know, he's, he seems to me like the kind of, you know, he's not a Victor Jokarez or someone like that whose ceiling is so high because of their physical capabilities alongside their goal-scoring X-Foits.

He's just technically, you know, he's better than the level in the championship.

He's a good finisher, but I don't think he'll be getting much change out of Premier League defenses.

He's another for the mezzanine.

Sticking to the first Cameron Jerome mezzanine.

Harry Gray made his debut for this yesterday as well.

Archie's brother, Eddie's grandson.

So that was nice to see the latest rolling off the Grey Dynasty assembly line.

I think it's Eddie's great-nephew.

Well, that's what I have in front of me now, Frank Gray's grandson.

So yes, So What by Pink was the number one single on the 8th of October 2008 when he was born.

Anyway, that'll do for the top three.

Then we'll do the playoffs in the championship in part two.

Hi Pod fans of America.

Max here.

Barry's here too.

Hello.

Football Weekly is supported by the Remarkable Paper Pro.

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Remarkable, a brand name and an adjective, man.

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Perfect for working professionals whose jobs take them out of the office, like maybe a football journalist, Barry.

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A proper football journalist, man.

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Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly.

So the playoffs look like this.

Obviously, Sheffield United are in, Sunderland are in, and then Bristol City are fifth on 60.

They have 76 points, Sunderland.

Bristol City have 67, Coventry 66, Middlesbrough 63, Millwall 63, Blackburn on 62.

I mean, could still make it, but they were the only team to win both their games over Easter from that lot.

Sunderland is still there, Baz.

Two defeats for the Easter weekend.

Have you made up your mind on whether you want to go up yet?

I mean, you've just heard what a hiding-to-nothing it is for any manager.

Yeah, I do.

Mickey Gray,

playoff specialist Mickey Gray convinced me on Sunday that going up, there's never, you can't plan to go up.

If you go, just go up when you can, which is what Tony Mowbray said

last season as well.

More of Tony and on, I suspect.

Sunderland will finish fourth.

They've lost three games in a row since confirming their place in the playoffs.

Regis LeBrie has gone a bit freestyle jazz in his team selections.

Joe Anderson made his debut for Sunderland at left back yesterday 811 days after signing for them

and he's been fielding resting big players fielding second string sides so the defeats aren't a surprise but there seems to be a feeling among Sunderland fans that going into the playoffs on a run of defeats is not a good idea but in Regis we trust and he has said or he said after yesterday's defeat that he will spend the next two games he will pick his strongest team try and get a bit of momentum going for the playoffs so they they will finish fourth.

They will be at home in the second leg of their playoff semi-final.

And

I suppose you give them as good a chance as anyone else of winning.

Sanny, do you trust Regis Labri and if not, which of the managers in the playoff hunt do you trust?

I actually think

he's on a good plan here because they've qualified for the playoffs so soon and they've got all that time to

to re to rest players and regroup albeit Sheffield United now know they're in the playoffs and therefore um have also got that same thing i mean bristol city are a really strange one because um they were roundly dispatched by uh luton the other day and then uh i think the goal difference is it's only like eight so they're not really doing that well and coventry again have slipped up um i mean coventry's the one that i suppose uh the broadcasters would like with frank lampard to be involved uh and he's got experience with derby albeit it didn't quite end the way he wanted to um but yeah it's it's a very much of a much of a muchness outside of sheffer united and and Sunderland, I feel.

The others have been pretty inconsistent this season.

I mean, Middlesbrough have come back into it now.

And Finn Azaz, we've mentioned before underpods seems to be backfiring and all silliness.

And then you've got someone like Millwall, who just out of nowhere can kind of sneak in.

So yeah, it's a

bit of a strange one, really, but it's quite hard to pick out of those because they're kind of very similar.

But what we do know is West Brom

pretty much won't be there.

And they've said goodbye to Tony Mowbray as well, which is I saw John Bruin say you can't buy class.

But equally, he's coming and in three months, they've, you know, it was a hard act to follow, replacing Carlos Corbran.

But yeah, they've completely fallen off and they need six points to get into the playoffs.

And they've only got two games to do it.

So it's pretty much not happening.

Yeah, what do you make of that Mowbray second, George?

I can understand from a performance perspective why they've done it.

I'm not entirely sure if you're looking to replace Carlos Corboran with someone who can get you over the line in a short, sharp

kind of way, then I'm not entirely sure why they appointed Mowbray in the first place.

Like, Corboran is a tactician, he's kind of very much an arm's length kind of guy with his players, pragmatist, whereas they then went and appointed kind of an ideologist in Mowbray, who is very much an arm around the shoulder, attacking football, youth development.

He's definitely not someone that you bring in for a three or four month period in order to kind of steady a ship.

So, it just feels like a really bad appointment now.

You know, obviously, there was a

he has a massive affinity towards the club and was a very popular appointment when it was made.

But that's not a reason to appoint someone.

I mean, I'm a huge Tony Mowbray fan, and I can't really understand why they turned to him if what they were after was someone

to do a short-term job.

But

they're not playing particularly well.

The recent performances have been pretty poor, and I guess you pay for your job with that.

But yeah, it's a shame.

And I really hope we see Mowbray back in a dugout relatively soon

because he's got a lot to offer.

Yeah, I think he's the fact he came into the job having recovered from a very serious, serious life-threatening illness means he gets extra sympathy and he's an incredibly popular man.

But I did a talk before we came on air this morning.

14 different championship clubs changed their manager this season.

Two of them, Cardiff and West Brom, have got rid of two managers.

I'm just wondering,

are

chairmen in that...

division a bit too hasty when it comes to the pulling the trigger or would most of those dismissals changes have been sort of the right thing to do at the time?

I think that

across football, you know, owners are too hasty to sat managers.

And I think there is

some evidence now, like whether it's Leeds and Daniel Farker, whether some lead tans would have, would have had you think that maybe he should have been shown the door at the end of last season in League Two, which we'll get on to.

You know, whether it's McCann at Doncaster, who got off to a really poor start in his second spell there, Matt Sadler at Walsall, who, you know, had a middling first season, Johnny Jackson, the same at FS Wimbledon.

I think there's growing evidence now that if you invest time in a manager and you ride out the bad spell, then things can often ripe themselves and you can benefit from that.

But the stakes are now so high, and the culture within the game is, you know, we just accept there's this kind of acceptance that like, oh, you've lost three games.

Well, you know, you should get sacked then and you should roll the dice.

And there's also kind of an acceptance that there's a new manager bounce that realistically, I think it's only two of the last 14 i'll have to the last 14 managers that have been sacked in the championship the club has gone on to win their next game the new the new manager bounce is a myth it's just sometimes you know luck goes your way after a luckless spell sometimes performances can have a small uptick or they can have a downturn some of the the managerial change has been justified you know certainly the club i sport gary rowat uh coming in for des buckingham you know massively increased our chances of of staying up but you know when transfer windows are closed and you're staring down the barrel of relegation there's only one thing you can can change, and that's sacking the manager.

And I wish there was a way to change that because it just seems a very

cutthroat way to

just churn through people who are trying to, you know, who

maybe don't deserve to just immediately lose their job, even if they are pretty well compensated for it in the most part.

It doesn't always write itself.

See, Gary Monk, Cambridge United, who we may have hung on to for a little bit too long.

But anyway, Sanny.

What I would say, Barry, is take Norwich, who's who had Johannes Hoff Torup since the start of the the season and they are the division's second highest scorer as they like just pile the low goals into individual games and they are 14th this season with a goal difference of plus one and have been like so all over the place I saw them against Burnley and he were just like completely just a nothing side for for most of the game and managed to get a corner and a second half to pull themselves back in so if so many clubs are at a similar level right and the difference between them isn't that great which is why the championship can be so entertaining because yeah anyone can beat anyone then yeah like as as george mentioned with oxford united

if you might not get a new manager bounce but if the new manager can just change things ever so slightly and it gives you on a bit of a run then you can get right back up there because i reckon if norwich had um sorry johannes but if they had sacked him a bit earlier on they had the tools there um to give themselves a fighting chance because in josh sergeant you've got someone who had has got 15 goals a season and borger science although he's been a bit hot and cold has 17.

so you you had the goals um but the defence has just been abject and you think well maybe if we'd have got someone else in they might have been able to switch things up so but but they might have also been worse well yeah well that's that's football isn't it you know

he might work really under under him you know like they've appointed him for a reason and it's his first season in English football like you've just got to have a like a longer term pro like if you you know if if you're as a director of football or an owner, if you're chopping and changing managers two or three times a season, that's your failing, not the manager's failing.

It means you are unable to find a process to appoint someone to manage your club who you see as doing a good job.

And that, you know, eventually it's going to come back and bite you.

Well, Norwich have won one of the last 10.

So, you know, it's not been great so far.

You hate this poor, you hate all Johannes, Sunny, but we'll find out next year, won't we?

And let's hope he stays just so we can do the experiment.

Coventry play Middlesbrough last game of this season, which could be a decide of who gets in the playoffs.

So some classic picked a lot for England versus not picked enough for England in Frank Lampert versus Michael Carrick.

There, let's do the relegation.

I mean, it was an amazing day at the bottom.

At one point, all four of the bottom sides were winning, I think.

I mean, you're an Oxford fan, George.

You were saying, like, at one point, the results were all just like perfect for you, and then they all just went to shit, basically, for you.

Yeah, it was mad.

At half-time, if all the results stayed the same, we were basically up.

And then straight after half-time, Hull equalised.

Luton went ahead, and we conceded, and then suddenly we were staring down the barrel.

Like, that's how close it all is.

Um, you've got to feel for

Argyle, in the most part, who've picked up, you know, so the wins they picked up in recent weeks.

If you'd told their fans three weeks ago that they'd be on 43 points or two games to go, they'd have thought they had a massive chance of staying up.

But because teams above them, Luton, Derby, are in such good form, it's going to be pretty hard for them to wrestle their way out of it.

And that's been the story of it.

You know,

it looked like mid-40s was going to be enough to stay up a couple of weeks ago, or even a month or so ago, but because certainly Luth under Matt Bloomfield and Derby under

John Eustace

are putting in performances now that have everyone worried.

You know, even Oxford, who was sitting on 49 points, thanks to a ridiculous draw yesterday away at Cardiff, where

Aaron Ramsey's first performance as a Cardiff manager,

they were good.

They were by far the better side.

And Oxford only had one shot of note in the whole game, which was a 40-yard free kick from Cameron Branigan that flew into into the top of the hand goal.

Unbelievable goal.

If you're going to have one shot, make it that one, I guess.

My wife came in, I was watching it, and my wife came in the room and asked what had happened.

And I said, We scored.

And she said, Oh, I thought a bird had got in the house.

I don't know what kind of noises I made.

But, yeah, and it's going to go down to the wire.

I mean, there's a huge game on Saturday with Derby playing Hull.

And, you know, the good news for Luton fans and Oxford fans, Picardo fans, is that that means one of those teams has to drop points.

And there's a fair chance that both of those teams drop points.

And it does kind of feel like that's going to be a deciding factor in this relegation scrap, as is Luton hosting Coventry at 12.30 on Saturday.

And that's huge because if Coventry can win that game, then Oxford, Harle, Derby can go into their three o'clock games in a much safer position.

However, if Luton wins that, then it's going to be nervy.

It was funny when you just said, you know, at some point in the season, you thought mid-40s would be enough to stay up.

Having just turned 46, it's depressing now to be at an age where you could stay up in the championship.

You know, for so many years, I was definitely relegation fodder, but now

you're all right, I'm mid-table in the championship.

You're above Preston.

I'm pushing for the playoffs.

So, who do you think might survive?

I mean, Luton, Sanny, would be like, it's amazing that Luton are down there, but like, you know, it would be amazing now if they stay up, right?

It would be.

I think Matt Bloomfield, I mean, it felt for the longest time he was the wrong, the right man for the wrong time.

Like, you know, know, he had that time at Wickham to build aside and a completely different style of football to what was being played there before.

But especially listening to players post-match as well and how they reacted, Carlton Morris getting a goal for the first time in a really long time, they really did seem to have got it all back together.

And I know the Luton fans previously have been some have been a little bit toxic in how they've been feeling about how things are going.

But, you know, about momentum, what momentum before, a 3-1 win against Bristol City, who are in the playoff playoff uh hunt and um they were they were just great so i actually think they they've got it all going their way now well i kind of it's funny because i kind of hope they stay up because they as we've said before like

if if Luton were the one club that went to the Premier League and weren't silly, right?

And they've reinvested that parachute payment money in the Premier League money in a new stadium so they get the infrastructure, they're doing everything properly, right?

So to then end up in League One a season after you go down would just kind of like, well,

let's nobody do that.

So I think Luton are doing a great job off the pitch.

So kind of need them to stay up just to prove that it can be done.

And of course, if they do stay up and they haven't used all that parachute money towards the stadium, then they've got a good springboard and a good manager to get them maybe challenging up the table next season.

But yeah, they've got to...

They've got to actually survive first, and that's going to be very difficult to start with anyway.

I mean, yeah, Carl Morris is seven this season.

Adebayo has missed so many opportunities for Luton.

And that's the other thing.

It's not that they've been playing really badly.

It's like they seem to be missing so many chances.

Like, it's almost a statistical freak the amount of opportunities Elijah Adabayo has missed compared to last season in the Premier League, where we kind of saw, I think, got 13, you know, around that number.

He had a great time in the Premier League.

It hasn't come together this season.

But yeah, I think they've got the tools in the right place to do an okay job and survive.

Just a hello to Larry, who is who asked us whether Luton could survive.

He says, I'm from Zimbabwe.

We're really hoping so because our national captain, Marvelous Nakamba, plays there.

So hello to all our Zimbabwean listeners.

Yes, Barry.

Well, it hasn't gone unnoticed as well that the curse of Aaron Ramsey struck again as he made his first parade into management.

Obviously, famous for killing off celebrities such as Nancy Reagan, Roger Moore, Bruce Forsyth, Osama ban Laden.

And yesterday he killed the Pope.

Well done, Aaron.

He did.

Sorry, I'm making it sound like I'm happy the Pope is dead.

I'm not.

No, you're right.

He seemed like a good Pope.

I also like

I was trying to work out who Osama bin Laden was the first time you pronounced it, but you know,

I got it in the end.

Anyway, that'll do for part two.

Part three, we'll do leagues one and league two.

Hi Pod fans of America.

Max here.

Barry's here too.

Hello.

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Welcome to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly.

So, top of League one then, automatic promotion.

Birmingham

champions, 99 points.

Four games to go for them as well.

Wrexham are now in second, 86 from 44.

Wickham, 84 from 44, and Charlton, 82 from 44.

And that mainly comes about, Sandy, from Charlton going to Wickham and absolutely hammering them 4-0.

Absolutely relentless.

It was just brilliant and some really good goals as well.

I mean, Matt Godden is one that's been great this season for them now, or at least in this run-in.

And yeah, they kind of look at the team that are going to do it now.

And it's for the longest time,

it's kind of benefited them, I think, that there's been all this attention elsewhere.

Obviously, you've got the Birmingham City story, the Wrexham story.

I mean, Stockport County, I'm sure, will mention, and what Dave Challener has achieved.

But, yeah,

having seen them right quite recently against Birmingham and Nathan Jones.

The thing about Nathan Jones is he's able to mix it up, isn't he?

Because once he's got them all on side, now he's got them stopping to go to Blue Water or whatever and focusing on playing and, you know,

sitting still in between matches.

He's got that bit where he can tell them just to, you know, start chogging the opposition and, you know, be a bit nasty.

But he's also got the players to do a really good job as well.

So, yeah, Charlton, I think, have done brilliantly.

So they are...

what, fourth now?

And yeah, I think producer Joel will be very happy if it stays like this, won't he?

Yeah, he will.

Great goal from Luke Berry, who I remember from his Cambridge days.

He was playing in the Premier League with Luton last year.

So, you know, that is, you know, you're signing players of some quality.

I mean, obviously, Birmingham have done a lot of that.

Wrexham now in the box seat, George, for second.

Do you think they'll do it?

I mean, they're likely to do it, but it all comes down to this massive game on Saturday where Nathan Jones travels back to Wales and takes his Charlton side to Wrexham.

And I kind of fancied Charlton to at least get something out of that game.

Wrexham have morphed a little bit from being this, like last season in League Two, they were kind of the entertainers, especially at home.

They had these crazy games, five threes, five alls.

It was all very

un Phil Parkinson.

And, you know, as they've got into League One, and therefore their riches are slightly less rich,

you know, where they're still able to, you know, one of the biggest spenders in the league, but by no means to the extent they were in League Two.

We've seen them adopt much more of what we expect from a Phil Parkinson side.

They are relatively direct.

They are very good defensively.

They don't offer loads going forward, but it's normally enough to get them buying games.

And it's a pretty good recipe for success but up against the charlton side who defensively are so strong and are so you know it kind of feels to me at the moment that there are similarities between the way that these two sides play but maybe charlton are doing it a bit better um there was a kind of an alarming stat around wrexham where if you took out the game against burton where they won 3-0 and button had a man sent off after after 10 minutes in their previous 10 games they were averaging eight shots per game which was lower than the average per 90 shot count for any team in League One, including Shrewsbury, who are down towards the bottom.

They are not creating very many chances.

And that, I think, could be where they come on to start.

It was a massive win for them at Blackpool and incredible scenes in the away end

in that one with James McLean scoring the first and Rathbone getting the second.

But it wouldn't shock me if Charlton do go there and win on Saturday.

And if that is the case, then it'll be all eyes on final day.

Yeah, I watched them at Cambridge not too long ago, and it was a 2-2 draw.

And they didn't look, apart from going, oh, look, that's him.

There's another old guy who I remember from the Premier League 35 years ago.

They didn't impress me that much, you know, and we are no great shakes.

Birmingham are chasing down Wolves' record in 2013-14 of 103 points.

That's the record since League One became League One and was not Division II and then Division III previously.

So Birmingham, four points behind that with four left to play.

So

they should do it.

Perhaps the greatest League One team ever, sammy if that is a is that an accolade for someone

going through those stats then like there's no material difference between division two and league one right this isn't like premier league when there was more teams to come out of division one it's just a name change right so um

yeah i mean they've they've been they've been they have been great and yeah they've got the players that admit they can do that and chris davis what what they did do

when

when they got relegated and brought in chris davis what they did do is appoint a manager who was really well respected as a coach and had done, it was Angel Postakoglu's coaching staff as well

and had also worked with Brendan Rogers at Leicester and Celtics.

So he had a lot of pedigree and backing him has meant like

the younger players they've got, I think, have got a lot of room to go and the you know the investment and that's what it is in Jay Stansfield at 15 million, a lot of talk on that.

But it does mean they've got someone already who's equipped to go up the levels.

As opposed to, by the way, Wrexham, who've got the second oldest squad in the division, I think they would need to, outside of the goalkeeper and Max Cluff in defense, I think they've got a bit of work to do.

But can I mention Stockport County grudgingly as a Berry fan?

Please.

Dave Challoner, the club tweeted it as well.

Across six different divisions and 14 full seasons, he's never finished lower than the playoffs, which is just an incredible achievement.

I mean, Stockport County, remember,

essentially dropped down from the championship into the National League North at one point.

They were completely, you know, in a tailspin.

They got local investment, I suppose, a local businessman, done good.

So there is money in there, but it's been spent wisely.

And it's one of those things where you keep the momentum up and you never know where you can go.

And they've invested in stuff like fan parks and all that side of stuff.

And they've got an exciting team.

When Louis Barry left back to Villarin and went out again, you kind of thought, well, is this going to be the end of it?

Is it all Louis barry powered but actually um challenger's proved what a good manager is he is as well so are they they could be going on the way up back again which would be an amazing story which hasn't really got the publicity because of everyone else around him but it's he's done a great thing there dave challener one in the eye for all those who thought The only trick he had in his locker was his long.

He's no Andy Leg, let's face it.

So yeah, Stockport of fifth, 81 points, one point behind Charlton.

Then you've got Leighton Orient and Reading on 72.

So barring some sort of miracle, those two will be uh the sides left in Leighton Orient were one down at the mighty Cambridge before and then a very lucky victory

another unlucky defeat for us Jamie Donnelly who scored that great goal against Man City

he scored another brilliant goal for him as on load from Spurs

and is too good for league one I reckon

So who makes it in, George, do you reckon?

And actually, more importantly, Redding.

Like, what is the latest with them?

And given everything that's happened off the pitch, is it amazing that they're in this in contention, or is their squad actually on the pitch good enough to be where they are?

It's it's pretty amazing.

Um, I think when you consider all the off-field issues, when you consider how much academy talent they've had to bring into the first team, who have

you know, flourished effectively to the extent that Tyler Bindon's secured himself a Premier League move to Nottingham Forest before being loaned back for the rest of the season, losing Reuben Sayas, their manager halfway through the season to Hull, losing Sam Smith, their kind of talismanic front man to Wrexham as well.

And it hasn't derailed them.

You know, I think Noel Hunt and his team have done incredibly well.

There are massive red flags in the underlying numbers.

They are one of these teams where they just seem to laugh in the face of XG and everything else.

But with two games to go the season, it doesn't really matter now.

And with the kind of performance and the result that we saw yesterday, an unbelievable got from Lewis Wing, who, you know, I always had him pecked as a bit of a kind of one-trick pony where he would just shoot from 30 yards consistently.

But this season, he's shot from 30 yards consistently, scored consistently, and also been very creative and been really good at

breaking down play.

He's been an unbelievable player for them.

Whether or not they can get over the line,

we'll have to see.

The good news is there was

kind of serious concerns a few weeks ago as to whether or not they would even exist long enough to take part in the playoffs, should they get there.

It feels like the kind of imminent existential fears

to one side of the moment feels like there is the chance that Rob Kuwig, who is of course the kind of prospective owner who they were then embraced in this illegal battle with,

you know, maybe there's a chance that that can be back on the table.

It's all kind of conjecture at the moment.

And, you know, I think as a Reading fan, it's difficult because you've got one eye on hoping you can break into the playoffs and get it back in the championship, and another eye on making sure the club still exists going forward.

The good news for them is that Auriate have a really tricky run in.

They're home to Wickham

next up and away at Huddersfield on final day.

Huddersfield obviously not playing particularly well.

So maybe that isn't as hard as it would have looked a few weeks ago.

Reading, on the other hand, they go away to Bristol Rovers, who are in the relegation zone at the moment.

So it's one of those where it looks like, again, they should win, but also Rovers obviously fighting for their lives.

And then host Barnesley on final day, who under Conharan aren't having a great time, I think.

So it's going to be tight between the two of them.

But yeah, I mean, if Reading do pull this off, it will be some story given

what everyone at the club has had to go through over the last couple of years.

At the bottom, Shrewsbury are relegated, 30 points.

Cambridge are second bottom, 38.

Crawley 40.

Bristol Rovers 43.

Burton 43.

It's sad.

But Shrewsbury are down.

Garrison's worth turned up Sanny a few months ago and then left.

What happened then?

I think they'd hired him, knowing that they'd only give him a deal till the end of the season and see what he could do.

And Gillingham, who've got

some solid investment behind them, offered him a lot more security.

And I guess you're only limited in with your shelf life as a manager aren't you?

I guess that was the justification for it but it wasn't it wasn't the greatest thing anyone could have done.

I mean they haven't won since February.

It's been pretty depressing all around but I don't know how much investment they've made in the squad this season at all.

It just kind of feels like they've kind of just, I wouldn't say like they've waved the white flag, but they've not really backed the squad building.

I mean, they've gone through a couple of managers now and a couple of different ideas.

And Gareth Ainsworth was kind of like the troubleshooter one with the vibes and when he uh beat birmingham city i think his first game with in charge it looked really positive but yeah you you can't i don't think it can come down to one thing in particular but it's been it's been pretty depressing uh and yeah they've got to kind of you know sometimes there are teams that come down and you know they're going to bounce back up and other teams you really worry for them i'm a bit worried for shrewsbury town actually cambridge at 23rd we won at huddersfield on friday gave us hope we took the lead against layton orient for even more hope we're still not down george we just need burton bristrovers and Crawley to pick up no points in the next two and beat Burton and then beat Birmingham.

Can we do that?

Easy.

Well,

at least you're playing one of the teams you need to drop points.

Kind of, that helps.

And Birmingham final day, I guess, could be.

I'm not sure it does help, George.

I think it would be better if someone else was playing them.

I think it's pretty unlikely at this stage.

You know, it felt like when you're 1-0 up against Orient, like there was a chance.

But that sadly didn't last.

It does feel like the club, you know, Sanny spoke there about Shrewsbury, and I totally agree.

Like, I really fear for them.

The owner, you know, the fan base, and I think Gareth Ainsworth were under the impression that there was going to be a takeover from an American businessman.

That fell through.

There's a real need for investment.

in that football club that is at the moment not forthcoming and and if they don't get that then i could i could definitely see them doing a carlisle or doing a scunpulp as we say and being a team that immediately are in a relegation battle in League Two and could drop into the National League.

But yeah, with Cambridge, it feels like at least with Mark Bonner and Neil Harris there, you know, you've got some canny operators who know the club relatively well.

And I'd be surprised if Cambridge were to make that back-to-back.

But you can come and blame me, Max, when it happens.

No, we'll bounce back straight up.

Sandy, can we talk about Joe Thompson before we talk about League Two, former Rochdale midfielder who's passed away at the age of 36?

Rochdale said they were devastated after hearing that he'd passed away peacefully at his home on Thursday with his family by him side.

We first knew Joe primarily as a talented footballer.

We'd soon grow to adore his loving, infectious personality.

The club said he faced every battle head-on, both on and off the pitch.

His journey and indomitable spirit have been an inspiration for everyone who's been touched by his story.

Above all of that, Joe was a loving husband to Chantelle, incredible father to Tallulah and Athena Ray.

You knew him, Sanny.

Yeah, Joe was a really good friend.

And

we did a radio show together for two and a half years.

In fact, I wouldn't be with you now if it wasn't for that show and it wasn't for, I won't be where I am if it wasn't for Joe.

I think the funny thing with Joe is because I had a different route into broadcasting.

So Joe was actually one of the first kind of footballers I really had a good chat with.

And I kind of thought all football ballers were like him.

But actually, it turns out he was pretty unique.

I mean,

he

started at Man United.

was let go.

He had one of those hand scan prints when he was 16.

And the print said he was going to be too short to make it.

said he really so united released him he had a gross burn ended up six foot two and got signed by rochdale and at no point did he hold that you know oh that would eat me up you know what could have been and it didn't hold that at all with him he

got diagnosed with cancer when he was 23 at trammere came back from that got diagnosed a second time came back from that and scored the goal that kept Rochdale in league one against Charlton Athletic.

It was actual Roy of the Rovers, beyond Roy the Rovers, it was.

So he always had that to define him, and yet he never let any of that stuff define him either.

He was so generous with his time.

He was such a brilliant person.

And as well as a broadcaster, you know that the best footballers are the ones who are coachable, right?

You'd get like the producers to say one thing to him, just give him one example, and he'd just, he'd do it.

He'd do it straight away.

And I kind of was like, right, that's the guy you need to be like.

So as a, just, he was only 36 years old, and to lose him,

it's just no age at all, is it?

It really is no age.

He was such an amazing person.

I miss him so much already.

And he did lots of motivational speaking as well, and way beyond the world of football.

So, his reach has been really far, far-reaching.

And going back to Man United, he actually helped start their alumni program, which up until this point was like

just like an ad hoc thing.

And so, when we talk about man united looking after their old players or thinking about that side of things he was spearheading that even with all this going on he took the time to to try and help other people as well and yeah much missed there was applauses silences across the efl and beyond um and it kind of shows you what an impact he's had and yeah i will really really miss him Beautifully put, Sammy.

And we send our love to his family and his mates, of course.

Let's talk about League Two.

So, nobody really wants to win it, but Doncaster currently in the box seat.

They're on 78 points from 44.

Portvale, 77.

Bradford, 75.

Walsall on this absolutely terrible run, 74.

And they're looking at the playoff spots.

Wimbledon on 70.

Knotts County, 69.

Grimsby, 67 in the last playoff spot with Colchester and Salford just behind them.

Can we start with that Walsall drop-off, George?

Because

they spent 216 days in the top three, and now I've got 12 without a win.

It's just so like, it just feels like every lower league fan knows this.

Typical of us.

That's just exactly what we would do.

There was some EFL podcast that I won't name did a piece saying I will saw the best league two side ever.

And since then, they've won two games.

Yeah,

it's a ridiculous drop-off.

And

having watched quite a lot of their games in this run, it's felt like they've played okay in some of them.

You know, they were okay in the tour draw against Doncaster, for example.

Um, they were two-on-up against Port Vale, and again, they ended up losing 3-2.

They've put in some okay performances, they've just completely lost the ability to win games of football.

There is some block there where they just can't get over the line in games, even when they're ahead.

And Ferniston, they've come back from behind in a few games.

That Doncaster game being one of them, there was a one-all draw against AFC Wimbledon, where they scored late.

The loss of Nathan Lowe, and this is what must really hurt Walsh fans, is that Nathan Lowe was recalled in January by Stoke when Tom Cannon was recalled by Leicester from Stoke.

And initially, he played, but he's not playing, he's not featuring the match day squad anymore.

He's playing for under 21s.

And for Walsall fans to be sitting there thinking, This is our star player who we put in the shop window, who scored 15 league goals for us in the first half of the season, taken away from us.

Now

he's not even playing league football for anybody.

And that's got to be so galling.

I watched the game on, it was the early kickoff

on Monday.

And one of the probably probably most iconic moments of the whole season came with Newport were down to 10 men, also were throwing everything forward.

Last kick of the game, the cross comes in, McKentie at the back post, heads home, absolute pandemonium in the away.

And finally, they've broken their duck.

Finally, they've won a game.

And in scenes that we don't normally see in the AFL, because it's normally safe for VAR, about 50 seconds after the ball hits the back of the net, we see the referee jog over to the linesman.

And the linesman very clearly says, hand ball.

And as for why he hasn't flagged already, I don't know.

And then you see the replay.

and what McNee is doing, slapping this ball over the line, I'll never understand because the ball is just there to be headed in.

Like, I can only assume that he's scared of just flying straight into the post.

And then you watch the celebration back, and you can kind of tell that he knows, and you can kind of tell that he's like, Do I celebrate this?

I mean, it's a massive goal, but I'm not, I don't want to be the villain here.

Um, and the goal is chalked off, and they and they draw the game nil-nil.

And it's another example of Warsaw just finding crazy ways not to win games of football.

And there there was a fair chance had they won yesterday, they still could have

probably topped the table

at the end of the season because their fixtures are so kind.

I still reckon there's a fair chance they do actually finish in the top three, given their last two games of the season, but they're making hard work of it.

Yeah, I mean, look, Satan, Bradford and third drew both their games over Easter, getting huge crowds over there.

Port Vale only picked up one point, and actually, you know, that was another sort of last-minute keeper was up.

Then the, you know, the Oppo Grimsby clear it.

The keeper starts sprinting back, but Port Vale get the ball back and finally score.

So, like, nobody wants it.

No, for Bradford, I suppose calm as a bitch, isn't it?

If you think back to the celebrations that you talked about in the pod and the 5-4 win over Swindon Town, Goading, the guy who scored the own goal, they were 3-1-up against Chesterfield on Monday and contrived to draw 3-0 with a last-minute equaliser.

And Port Vale, by the way, the game before that one, they were 3-0 down to bottom side, Carlisle United, got it back to 3-2, and then won a penalty.

And the best goalkeeper name, I think, Gabe Hendrix Breeze, with a brilliant save for Carlisle United.

So

every team just won't, just won't try and get it over the line.

It's amazing.

So,

yeah, I don't know.

You cannot call it.

You cannot call it.

I have no idea what's going on.

I kind of fell in love with Doncaster when I saw him a few weeks back.

Luke Molyneux in particular, who's nominated for player of the season, season, has been great for them on the wide left.

But it's really anyone's.

In fact, Doncaster and Bradford play next.

So that's another huge game in the EFL.

I don't know if, by the way, if you saw the David Prutton homage for David Mitchell.

Very good.

Yeah, and another game.

But it's true.

It's actually true.

If you are wedded to the EFL, then it is pure David Mitchell walking around QPR.

It's amazing.

Is that football eating itself when Sky are doing a rip-off of David Mitchell doing a rip-off with Sky?

Like, now does David Mitchell have to go and do another rip-off of that?

I mean, fair play to Prutz because that would have taken a long time, that shoot.

And actually, he did it.

And it's really easy to fuck that up.

And he actually did it brilliantly.

And, you know, he just, he actually, he sort of channeled because, you know, he sort of David Mitchelled his hair up a bit, didn't he?

And of course, we launched his media career, Barry.

And

I actually, the first time he came to do a radio show for nothing, I gave him 20 quid petrol money.

I just thought it was a nice fantastic.

But yeah, no, he's a good guy, Prutz.

Bottom of league two, then

George sort of looks pretty much set, doesn't it?

Morecom are down.

Carlyle look like they're going to follow them.

They're four points behind Tranmere, two games to go.

So it seems very unlikely that they will get out of it.

Yeah, I mean, it does.

It still feels like a significant goal for them to score that equaliser away at Accrington in injury time because they were going to be consigned to relegation had they not won that game.

And

with Cheltenham next up, who have little to play for, and then home to Salford on final day, where Salford could still have an opportunity to get in the playoffs, but it also could be a dead rubber.

Given that Carlisle had won their three previous games going into the Accrington game, it wouldn't be a massive surprise if they could pick up the six points needed that would get them onto 47.

And that would mean that Tranmere have to pick up at least two points from their games against Crewe and Newport.

So it's not done yet, I wouldn't say.

And for Carlisle fans, having been properly staring down the barrel of relegation to have that moment of celebrating survival and just that small chance of being able to get out would have been huge for them.

And you were there, Sammy, weren't you?

I was.

And Accrington would have themselves been safe up until the 92nd minute.

I mean, they're pretty much safe anyway because it's goal difference, really.

They have to be a 10 goal swing or something.

I mean, they'd been on this run, which was diabolical,

and then won three games in a row, all powered by Georgie Kelly, who you'd love, by the way, as a centre-half.

Proper old school, putting his body everywhere, elbows out.

He'd got four in three at the post in this game.

And at that point, momentum was really going their way.

They went behind, and this clawing the game back with this draw.

It's not, they needed a win, really.

They needed a win.

And had Trammere have won and they drew Nilen at Barrow, Carlisle would have been down if it had

lost.

So it's out of their hands now.

But the margins are so fine.

It's just incredible.

Yeah.

If they do stay up, it'll be thanks to Kelly.

But he's got to get a few more goals yet.

And by the way, remember, this is the side that went down from League One last season.

They're looking at back-to-back relegations.

And it's also a team that get regularly 7,000, 8,000 every season.

And going through my match notes when I started on this, he got these American owners, the Pyattics, in.

And I think they just like...

really naively put all their faith in Mike Williamson they brought in from MK Dons.

He'd signed so many players.

A lot he'd actually had previously.

And then they got rid of him in January just after he'd signed all these players.

It's been a complete hodgepodge.

The wage bill will be massive.

Mark Hughes has frozen out players.

There's just, you know, they've got some like Paul Dummett there.

He's played one game.

Like, I don't know why they brought him in.

There's just players everywhere.

They need to stay up.

And if they can stay up, I think they'll do very well next season.

But they are in a real crisis point now.

And if they go down, I mean, they go down, to be fair, I think they'll be okay.

But, you know, going out of the EFL, we know how difficult it is to get back in.

It's the last thing they want to do, and they are dangerously close to doing it.

Thanks, everybody.

That was great.

I appreciate everybody's time.

Ian Rushton has entered the chat.

You can hear him in the background, but hopefully, you can cope with that.

Thank you, Barry.

Thank you.

Thank you, George.

Thanks, Max.

Thanks, Sally.

Cheers.

Thank you.

Football Weekly is produced by Dale Grove.

Our executive producer is Danielle Stevens.

This is The Guardian.