Everton takeover, Rodri blow and a Football League roundup - Football Weekly podcast

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Speaker 35 Hello and welcome to the Guardian Football Weekly.

Speaker 36 It's an AFL pod, but we will briefly discuss the two big Premier League stories. Do Everton finally have a takeover?

Speaker 38 And what impact Rodri's potentially season-ending injury will have on the title race?

Speaker 37 And then to the championship, never fancied, never that interesting.

Speaker 36 West Bromwich Albion lead the way.

Speaker 38 Sunderland Barry second with some of the usual suspects below them.

Speaker 37 There's quite the rabid bite in Preston to discuss and Wayne Rooney perhaps steadying the ship at Plymouth.

Speaker 36 In League One, big spending Birmingham and not quite as big spending Wrexham lead the way.

Speaker 43 Cambridge United rock bottom on naught wins. Doesn't seem enough, really.

Speaker 36 We'll update you on the collapse takeover at Reading, while in League Two, Gillingham and Barrow are both enjoying themselves at the top while AFC Wimbledon's pitch is destroyed by flooding.

Speaker 43 If there's time, we'll do a little League Cup preview, answer your questions, and that's today's Guardian Football Weekly.

Speaker 37 On the panel today, Sanny Rodravadjulo.

Speaker 36 Welcome, Sanny.

Speaker 1 Hello.

Speaker 4 Hello, Ben Fisher.

Speaker 44 Hey, Max.

Speaker 29 And welcome, Barry Glendenning.

Speaker 1 Hello, Max.

Speaker 45 Before we get stuck in to the EFL, yeah, two big stories that happened after we finished recording yesterday.

Speaker 7 Everton, apparently, on course to get a new owner after a takeover deal was struck with the US firm, the Friedkin Group.

Speaker 45 Farad Mashiri's Blue Heaven Holdings have agreed to sell its 94% stake, subject to regulatory approvals.

Speaker 46 Friedkin owned by the US Tycoon Dan Friedkin, already a majority owner of AS Roma. They'd initially pulled out in the summer.

Speaker 45 A spokesperson for the group on Monday said, we're pleased to have reached an agreement to become custodians of this iconic club.

Speaker 45 We're focused on securing the necessary approvals to complete the transaction.

Speaker 46 We look forward to providing stability to the club and sharing our vision for its future, including the completion of the new Everton Stadium at Bramley Moor Dock.

Speaker 22 Now, Sanny, you've listened to a Roma podcast, English language Roma podcast.

Speaker 42 So you can tell us how they feel about the Friedkin group.

Speaker 41 I mean, I guess all Everton fans will be sitting there going, until this is signed, sealed, and we see like a happy American on the pitch waving,

Speaker 47 they won't believe anything.

Speaker 30 But

Speaker 39 what's the soundings from Rome?

Speaker 50 Well, by the sounds of things, it's very unlikely we'll see a happy American on the pitch because we won't see the Friedkins at all.

Speaker 50 They've they've been um kind of conspicuous by their absence but then also are incredibly rich and by all accounts it's all their own money which is which is very different to the you know sovereign wealth funds and backs hedge funds and all that sort of thing um but in the time at roma they've cleared all the debts like massively put in a load and load of cash in um and have managed to actually increase profit i think by 17% or turnover and then profit by 17 turnover by 24 something like that um see see when it's when it's it's these big numbers, it all becomes a bit irrelevant.

Speaker 50 But the point is, they put in a lot of money. I think the other thing to say is

Speaker 1 the

Speaker 50 footballing decisions that the Friedkin group have made, these two brothers, haven't necessarily always been the right ones.

Speaker 50 Danielle DeRossi being sacked after, I think he got a new contract quite recently as well, was an interesting one.

Speaker 50 But I suppose if you're an Everton fan and you're wondering, you know, what does this mean? It'd be very good news because these guys have deep pockets.

Speaker 50 They've talked about a symbiotic relationship with Roma because Roma fans were a bit concerned when this deal finally got over the line.

Speaker 50 And they said, well, you know, don't worry because actually we're stronger for Roma now. We've got Everton.
I don't think it's going to be quite the multi-club model we see at the Citigroup.

Speaker 50 I don't think it's quite going to be like the Oudenese Pozzo

Speaker 50 Watford sort of thing.

Speaker 50 But overall, this is very positive for Everton.

Speaker 1 In terms of, insofar as any billionaire can be good, a good billionaire, I think Dan Friedkin probably is a good billionaire.

Speaker 1 His money is inherited. His family made millions in the car industry.

Speaker 1 He's the 383rd richest person in the world. Has a net worth of 5.7 billion.
And

Speaker 1 interestingly, or not, as the case may be, he has a great interest in aviation history and uh owns a load of sort of vintage aircraft including six spitfires and in the movie uh dunkirk the the plane that uh inverted commas tom hardy lands on the beach at the end uh dan friedkin was flying that plane so he's he's a stunt pilot whenever the question is you know which premier league manager would dot dot dot the answer is always sean dice but you know which would be flying a spitfire

Speaker 15 i feel i feel Deish is certainly up there.

Speaker 42 Unless Spitfire is a bit of a fire.

Speaker 1 I think he'd need to wax his moustache

Speaker 24 and shave cleanly.

Speaker 1 This sort of looks like

Speaker 1 good news for Everton, but obviously their fans now will be stressing out. This could be ratified in eight weeks, as soon as eight weeks.

Speaker 1 Everton already owe the Friedkin Group 200 million quid. Friedcomb Group will pay off the 200 million to know

Speaker 1 those chances from 777.

Speaker 1 And there's another

Speaker 1 225 million ever-to-know

Speaker 1 company called Rights and Media funding. And the Friedcombe Group have also apparently agreed to pay this off.
So I'm not sure what the hell Farad Mashiri is going to come out of this debacle with.

Speaker 1 He might just have a handful of change. But Everton fans won't care.
They'll just be glad to see the back of him.

Speaker 41 And actually, you know, if we have have another club with lots of money challenging, it could be quite exciting.

Speaker 52 I mean, I can't envisage Everton challenging at that side of the, you know, that end of the table, but it would be nice to see.

Speaker 28 Meanwhile, being reported that Roderay's out for the remainder of the season with an ACL injury, it looked like a bad one, didn't it?

Speaker 49 In that challenge with, I mean, pretty innocuous challenge with Thomas Party, has to be said.

Speaker 39 And the statistics have been done a million times, but they are worth repeating.

Speaker 45 You know, Man City with and without Roderie since 2019-20, With him, they've won 74% of their games, without him, just under 62%.

Speaker 46 With him, they've lost just under 11%.

Speaker 48 Without him, they've lost a third of their games.

Speaker 45 All their stats are down.

Speaker 23 It is.

Speaker 39 And the thing is, Ben, like, you don't wish ill on any player, right?

Speaker 45 And it is really sad for him.

Speaker 43 And

Speaker 40 it seems bad to say his injury makes the title race more interesting, but that is probably true.

Speaker 44 Yeah, it's crazy that one player's injury, especially this early on in the season, obviously a serious injury, has that or has that perceived kind of sway or

Speaker 44 force in the title race, as you say.

Speaker 44 And I think the fact every time we hear Guardiola discuss Rodri, even when he's had niggles and you know, minor injuries, or he's missed the odd game, as you say, his reaction and the way he talks about him, it just says everything.

Speaker 44 And his reaction when he was injured at the weekend, again,

Speaker 44 was indicative of that. It's a massive loss.

Speaker 44 Man City, Pep Guardiola, for everything that he's done, hasn't seemingly been able to find somebody else who can play like Roderick can or can get city ticking as Roderick can.

Speaker 44 And obviously, let's face it, he was brilliant for Spain as well. He's been an amazing player.
Obviously, he's listed for the ballon d'Or

Speaker 44 in really a kind of unfashionable position.

Speaker 44 You know, if we weren't so obsessed with kind of goals and all the fun stuff at the other end, maybe he would be eschewing or probably should be eschewing for that.

Speaker 44 And it will be interesting where Guardiola goes with this.

Speaker 44 Obviously, you know, Calvin Phillips was signed as kind of a Rodri backup and never got anywhere near sort of satisfying Guardiola in that mold. Mateus Nunes hasn't been trusted really at all.

Speaker 44 It's a different type of player, but can play there. Did play there for Wolves a bit deeper.
They do have some good players there who can fill in.

Speaker 44 Obviously, Kovacic is the obvious one who you think could probably play that bit deeper. but

Speaker 44 John Stones, as well, maybe we might see more of him in midfield.

Speaker 44 Um, and again, it's not like he's you know, a total kind of nobody who would be coming into team, so you know, it's not like they don't have any options.

Speaker 1 Is there a recall clause in Calvin Phillips's contract with Ipsley? Yeah, I don't know. Maybe this could be his big chance to shine, yeah.

Speaker 44 Yeah, he's probably gutted, isn't he? He would have had a sustained chance, surely. Um, but I think one of the younger players, maybe, um, might get a look in.

Speaker 44 Nico O'Reilly starting starting against United, the Community Shield. Feels like it's a huge ask to expect him to fill in for the season.
I think that's the thing. It's the length of time.

Speaker 44 It's not like you're asking somebody to step in for a couple of games. So, you know, they have options, but are they going to be good enough for

Speaker 44 the season?

Speaker 41 We're going to have that conversation about a million times this season, so let's crack into the AFL.

Speaker 46 West Brom, top of the championship. I'm beating their opening six, winning five, only conceding two goals.

Speaker 51 Sanny, you were there when they beat Wayne Rooney's Plymouth 1-0.

Speaker 37 Who is delivering for West Brom?

Speaker 48 Is there such a thing as Corboran ball?

Speaker 50 Well, I suppose Josh Madger with six and six would be the easy answer. He's had a great, great season so far.

Speaker 50 A player that Barry will know well from his time at Sunderland and then Sunderland Till I Die, where I think they offered him a load of money, Barry, and then he decided to go to Bordeaux, which didn't quite work out.

Speaker 50 But yeah, this season he's just always popping up in the right place.

Speaker 50 Tom Fellows on the wide right has been very exciting for West Brom. He's just got into the England under-21 side as well.
And there has been a bit of a change this season compared to last season.

Speaker 50 I mean, I was at West Brom Hull last season, and it was Corboran's playing the ball on the deck against Liam Rossinha's playing the ball on the deck without anything happening, and the game starts to wash over you.

Speaker 50 And I checked the stats on this because one of my mates said that West Brom this season are like a rich man's stoke. And I was like, is that fair? And then I actually did some digging.

Speaker 50 So last season, they were the second fewest long ball team. And this season, they're the second most.
So they are happy to counter, happy to go a bit longer. And they're getting the rewards.

Speaker 50 It's a bit...

Speaker 50 If you like a bit of old-fashioned football of getting the ball out wide and getting crosses in, then you'll enjoy West Brom.

Speaker 50 They've got two absolutely monstrous centre-halves in Semi Ajay and Carl Bartley. And between them,

Speaker 50 they're mopping up at the back generally, getting the ball out wide and getting it in the box, and Madges reaping the awards.

Speaker 50 I would say that that style will probably end very badly in the Premier League. But right now, it's pretty fun.

Speaker 39 Barry Sunderland are at second, won five of their opening six, won the win over Middlesbrough at the weekend.

Speaker 21 Back heel from Chris Rigg.

Speaker 7 A wild time for Regis Labri.

Speaker 1 Yeah, it's quite exciting. I mean, I don't expect them to stay up there.

Speaker 1 I wasn't expecting them to be up there in the first place, but they continue to defy expectation despite their setback against Plymouth

Speaker 1 last weekend or sorry the weekend before last which is their only

Speaker 1 not win of the season so far

Speaker 1 in the championship they look pretty good they play really nice football and I thought maybe after Jack Clark left he was signed by Ipswich that might be the end of their little foray towards the top of the table but Romaine Mundle has more than stepped up in his absence and

Speaker 1 kind of got away with it a little bit against Middlesbrough in the not quite a Derby Derby on Saturday lunchtime.

Speaker 1 Middlesbrough should have taken the lead when Tommy Conway headed over from a brilliant

Speaker 1 Zaya Jones cross. I mean, the goal was gaping, what was he, five, six yards out, and he put it over the bar.

Speaker 24 Yeah.

Speaker 1 And apparently missing big, big chances is a Middlesbrough problem.

Speaker 1 And I think Trey Hume, the Sunderland defender, was quite lucky to get away with a yellow for what looked a really bad challenge on Emmanuel Latale,

Speaker 1 the Middlesbrough striker. And then the goal from Chris Rigg, young Chris Rigg, who I think he's still only 17, is he?

Speaker 1 Patrick Roberts, who's been playing really well for Sunderland on the right wing, he caught inside, shot. Defender stuck a leg out to kind of intercept his shot.
And Rigg was forced.

Speaker 1 He got the ball in the six-yard box, was forced towards the byline. And from what looked

Speaker 1 a really, really tight angle, he backheld it in with his weaker right foot. And it was kind of a reverse Robona, if you know what I mean.

Speaker 1 He had his back to goal, and right foot over left foot back heeled it in.

Speaker 1 Wonderful, wonderful finish. It's worth seeking out if you like.
And then Sunderland should have had a penalty. Middlesbrough missed another half-decent chance.

Speaker 1 And Romaine Mundle hit the post with a free kick. So it was a pretty convincing win in the end for Sunderland.
But I think they were quite lucky to have 11 men on the field for most of the game.

Speaker 50 Mundial

Speaker 50 tweeted the Chris Rigg goal and said it's the sort of goal you score at Power League.

Speaker 50 And as it just so happened, my mate listener as well, Geordie, as we know him, Newcastle fan Chris Mullen, scored that exact goal at Stockport Power League that week,

Speaker 50 which was absolutely amazing. So I can attest that at least one person has scored that goal at Power League, even if he was then an homage as a Newcastle fan to a Sunderland player.

Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, I thought Patrick Roberts looked great in this, didn't he?

Speaker 41 And he's sort of a Robin Townsend style, you know, Barry cut inside.

Speaker 48 Don't let him cut inside.

Speaker 1 Sunderland are...

Speaker 44 like stay in the office i suppose but they are like super exciting they've got i mean barry mentioned chris rig there i mean i think he made his debut at 15 There's been a lot of noise around him, and understandably, given that finish that Barry was just talking through there, I mean, he's obviously incredibly talented, still only 17.

Speaker 44 You know, loads of clubs looking at him, have been for a while. Then, obviously, you've got Job Bellingham, who we still probably,

Speaker 44 because of how good his brother is, we probably don't quite know how good Job is, but I think he's pretty extraordinary as well.

Speaker 44 you know, he's growing all the time, developing, maturing.

Speaker 44 And as you said, as Barry said as as well, Jack Clark going, you think, oh, you know, is that kind of it? Or are they going to be a bit flat now?

Speaker 44 But actually, they've still got this kind of freewheeling nature, which they had under Mowbray and just, you know, go and attack, go and hit them.

Speaker 44 Yeah, I think Sunday are really exciting. You know, LeBris seemed a left field appointment.

Speaker 44 But, yeah, so far, so good. And they're definitely one of the teams who play some of the best stuff.

Speaker 30 Ben, how is Scott Parker settling in at Burnley?

Speaker 41 Third, four wins, one draw, one loss, beat Portsmouth at the weekend.

Speaker 47 I mean, a very late winner, but I think they probably deserved it.

Speaker 44 Yeah, I mean, obviously, there's a lot of turbulence towards the end of the transfer window. So many players left.
Obviously, Veykhorst and the gang eventually got their moves.

Speaker 44 But they've still got a core of very good players in this league, I think.

Speaker 44 Luca Codiosho, who we saw really impressive glimpses of in the Premier League last season, is still there.

Speaker 44 Josh Brown, who I think got the goal in the weekend, captain, sort of he must have some serious kind of championship minutes under his belt. Now he's an experienced player in that league.
Captain,

Speaker 44 and you know, Scott Parker, for all whatever people think about him, has a very good record of getting out the championship, even if he sort of does it the hard way.

Speaker 44 I think they're going to be up there. I just think they've got this kind of means and the tools to compete at that end.
And I think they're third, fourth.

Speaker 44 So, yeah, I'd fancy Burnie to be there all along, really.

Speaker 43 In the mix below, then you've got Blackburn, Shelf United, Leeds.

Speaker 40 I suppose Blackburn, of all those, Sanny, are the surprising ones.

Speaker 51 Yeah, they are.

Speaker 50 Especially when they sold Sammy Smodix to Ipswich just, well, after the season had begun, and he'd scored for Rovers as well.

Speaker 50 I caught the 3-0 win against Ben Fisher's Bristol City. And just a shout out to Yuka Ohashi.
And Maxie did something. I know you'd love this.

Speaker 50 He scored essentially the same goal with both feet, like mirrored, like on the edge of the box, and curled him on in with his right and then did the same thing, cutting in from the left and curled him on his left foot.

Speaker 50 It was great and I was like, you know, before the game, I was there for five live. I was like, you do all your research and stuff.
And I'm like, well, I've never heard of this guy.

Speaker 50 I assume he's played for Japan. Nope, 28 years old.

Speaker 50 They got him from San Francisco Hiroshima. And then I really went down the rabbit hole of how did they sign a player who's never played for Japan? How's that allowed? And it's this

Speaker 50 new rule about a post-Brexit dividend, perhaps, where you're allowed to bring in players who potentially wouldn't have got a work permit in a previous world, but now can.

Speaker 50 And he's one of the four players that they've been able to bring in who's talented enough and they can justify his position in the team. And yeah, he was absolutely.

Speaker 13 So on balance, Brexit is worth it because

Speaker 35 this chap can score two identical goals for Blackburn Rovers.

Speaker 50 The elite significant contribution is one of the slots he's in. Yeah, I think that might be the only thing.
So if anyone,

Speaker 50 you know, the Reform Party will be, we're pushing this line now. Have you got any players who can make an elite significant contribution, whether you're Lincoln or wherever you might be?

Speaker 50 So, yeah, he's done really well. And

Speaker 50 they've got a decent core there. I know, I'm sure we'll get on to the Derby against Preston North End.
But, yeah, overall, kind of looking fairly solid at the back.

Speaker 50 And you just need a couple of live wiser. And Tyree Stolen as well, who can blow hot and cold.
And when he's blowing hot, he does very well. He's been really good for Rovers so far.

Speaker 50 And they need those players to kind of step up and they are doing.

Speaker 51 On Preston North End, you mentioned an eventful game with with Blackburn on Sunday.

Speaker 45 Preston's forward militant Ozmaic could face a lengthy ban after allegedly biting Owen Beck, the FA are investigating.

Speaker 1 Yeah, it was, I mean, we're laughing at it. It was quite unsavoury.
And Owen Beck

Speaker 1 looked very distressed at the time.

Speaker 1 So basically, what happened,

Speaker 1 Ozmaic went to ground.

Speaker 1 There was a bit of a straw mash. Owen Beck stuck a leg out and kicked somebody.
And then Osmaich

Speaker 1 just sank his teeth or allegedly sank his teeth into the area sort of just below his neck in the middle of his back.

Speaker 1 And Beck obviously couldn't believe what was happening. And Maj was wrestled away from him.

Speaker 1 And while Beck was trying to explain to the referee, you know, he bit me and trying to show him, get him to look at the bite mark in his back, the ref was too busy doing the uh red card admin that he was about to show Beck.

Speaker 1 So Beck got sent off as Meit went unpunished.

Speaker 1 Oh, no, I think he got booked. I'm not, I don't think it was for the bike, though, it was for something else.
And um, yeah, the FA say they're aware of the incident. We'll look into it.

Speaker 1 Uh, Blackburn's manager, John Eustace, was suitably appalled, and to be fair, um, even Preston's manager, uh, Paul Heckingbottom, said,

Speaker 1 you know, that if that's what happened, then that's not acceptable and it'll have to be dealt with.

Speaker 1 He sort of sounded like he couldn't believe what he was hearing. All right.

Speaker 18 So, yeah, I mean, it's sort of the optics of it were bad because obviously someone's biting someone, but also because Osmart's about five times the size of Owen Beck.

Speaker 4 And so it just sort of looked like a...

Speaker 28 like an enormous sort of giant biting a tiny child.

Speaker 1 It's such a weird thing to do for a grown man. But if you want to look at precedent,

Speaker 1 Louis Forrest got ten game bans for when he sank his Nashirs into Branislav Ivanovich, what was it, ten years ago? One presumes Osmayich will at least get at least that.

Speaker 44 It seems like an in-vogue kind of action. As weird and wonderful as it is, or not wonderful.
It's

Speaker 44 like Paul Mullen, obviously, we saw, looked like he was very tempted to bite the the Birmingham player's leg and then sort of remembered that he was on, you know, live television, beamed around the world and seemed to pull out.

Speaker 44 And then this, as you say, I mean, was my quite an imposing guy, just sort of commandeered Beck and just, yeah, really horrible to watch actually.

Speaker 44 And the thing I found strange was Beck quite clearly, as Barry said, the ref's obviously otherwise engaged and is all

Speaker 44 you know, caught up in it, but Beck quite clearly tries to say to the assistant referee, like, look, you know, this is what's happened here.

Speaker 44 And it just seemed like he kind of just was like, no, no, no, just get out of the way rather than like, surely a good ref or good referees, good officials should engage

Speaker 44 in some level of, you know, something serious like that. I know you could say he's thinking, oh,

Speaker 44 is he trying it on or something? But still, like,

Speaker 44 I just, that just surprised me.

Speaker 1 Well, if you, you could call his mic over and go, did you just bite him? And if he denies it, then send for dental records to, you know, take casts, compare.

Speaker 1 It would be a lengthy, quite dull process, but you would get to the bottom of it in the end.

Speaker 37 So the referee's got a load of plasticine, you know,

Speaker 18 puts that in Osmaraj's mouth.

Speaker 1 He's bite down on this.

Speaker 15 Yeah.

Speaker 12 And then he compares it to Owen Beck's back.

Speaker 50 By the way, just to add, we have seen this sort of thing before because it was straight out of Sean Connery James Bond, wasn't it? With Jaws. Yes, with his big teeth.

Speaker 50 Like the looming big presence of a man, and he's really going into it against a damsel in distress that was Owen Beck.

Speaker 50 Very much, very much James Bond-esque. If he's auditioning for the reboot, Jaws, I don't know, he could do a job.

Speaker 38 Jaws came on soccer AM, and literally every single person in the crew, the cameramen, the sound men, the audience, every single person just got a photo of Jaws putting his two hands, one on your head and one on your chin, and just looking menacing next to you.

Speaker 38 He must have done that so many times while he was on this earth.

Speaker 40 He was a very nice man.

Speaker 49 It was an odd interview, granted.

Speaker 26 Quick word on Rooney at Plymouth.

Speaker 24 Ben, how's that going?

Speaker 44 Yeah, no, I I mean, obviously a few weeks on from his stint karaokeing down at Plymouth, which it feels like, you know, if you do that and then lose your next three, you're, you know, gonna be uh people will be asking questions.

Speaker 44 No, but he's done all right, and you know, losing at West Brom is is no disgrace. You know, and let's face it, what he's got there is a team is you know, it's not a vintage championship side, it's uh

Speaker 44 it's a team that probably should be struggling down the bottom of that that that that end of the table. So

Speaker 44 he's, yeah, he's made a decent start.

Speaker 44 I think it was just a massive relief getting the win that he did a few weeks ago, just to take that monkey off his back, because obviously we know that that eluded him previously at Birmingham. And

Speaker 44 he knows that people are kind of waiting for, kind of like to indulge in his kind of misery. So, you know, I think he's done well.
You know, it's not an amazing group of players.

Speaker 44 And I think that's probably the frustration he'll have is he's trying to develop that group? The goalkeeper situation was an issue. They let Michael Cooper join Sheffield United.

Speaker 44 He was into the last year of his contract. He went to Chef U, who actually, I think, is worth pointing out they've assembled quite a good squad, actually.

Speaker 44 Again, there was quite a lot of negativity around Sheffield United, but they've got this kind of championship all-stars where, you know, like Callum O'Hare, who was brilliant for Coventry.

Speaker 44 Everybody thought he wanted a Premier League move. He's actually ended up at Chef U.
Kiefer Moore, who's kind of a guaranteed, you you know, put you in the mix of promotion, he's up front.

Speaker 44 You know, they've got they've and now they've got Cooper in goal, which was an area they needed

Speaker 44 improving. So, yeah, Plymouth are a bit short goalkeeper-wise,

Speaker 44 and Rooney tried to rectify that before the end of the transfer win. It didn't quite happen as he wanted, but I think they'll be okay.

Speaker 44 But I don't think we should be sort of alarmed or sort of shocked if they're, you know,

Speaker 44 in and out of the relegation zone. I think that's that's fair for where they are for the weather at.

Speaker 50 I saw Argyll's opener and I was at that West Brom defeat for Argyll.

Speaker 50 And yes, if there is a marked difference there, I think he definitely is Wayne Rooney getting the players, he wants to play his way.

Speaker 50 Ibrahim Susoko is very exciting, got him on loan from Toulouse, he scored one, but he's one of those players who wants to take on the ball and go with it.

Speaker 50 Technically, very good.

Speaker 50 So, yeah, I think they've got some exciting players. Another interesting thing, as well, just the idea of the Wayne Rooney circus.
So, I was leaving West Brom.

Speaker 50 It had been hammering down with rain, the same storm that had delayed the Leicester game.

Speaker 50 And Rooney didn't get on the team bus. He went away with an entourage.
I assume because he was heading back up north or something. And I don't know how often you see

Speaker 50 the opposing fans cheering. for that manager because Wayne Rooney is exposed for England.
And he must have that at every single game. It's just such a strange dynamic.

Speaker 50 And he's got his own separate set of minders because he was going off somewhere else.

Speaker 50 So yeah, it's a bit of an extra element that the players have to deal with. But when I've spoken to Argyle fans, that were like, you know, we're happy for the publicity, we're happy for all of that.

Speaker 50 So it's an interesting mix. And yeah, I guess he's got to save space in Argyle.
You know, it's so far away. You've got fewer media outlets wanting to chase him down all the time and talk to him.

Speaker 50 But it's an interesting extra element that he's got to manage in amongst it all.

Speaker 46 Anything else on the championship, Baz, you wanted to pick out before we move to League One?

Speaker 1 Well, the Leeds have just announced that they're going to do a refurb

Speaker 1 of Ellen Road

Speaker 1 and raise the capacity to from 37,500 to 53,000. That would make it I think the seventh biggest stadium in the country, bigger, slightly bigger than St.
James's Park and about the same as Man City.

Speaker 1 I think what's been happening at Stoke is quite interesting insofar as Stephen Schumacher got sacked. So I think he got the gig around about last January, was it? Or Christmas January.

Speaker 1 And they they had two wins, three defeats this season. He got sacked after their game against their defeat at the hands of Oxford.

Speaker 1 It's rumoured, and I have no idea whether it's true or not, that Stoke director of football, John Walters, and Stephen Schumacher fell out after that game over team selection.

Speaker 1 Schumacher was sacked. He released a statement saying it was a massive shock that he'd been sacked.
John Walters gave

Speaker 1 an interview in which he didn't come across as tremendously convincing about

Speaker 1 the whole situation. And now they've appointed this young Spanish manager called Narcis Pilak,

Speaker 1 aka Chicho,

Speaker 1 who's a 36-year-old from Spain who's worked as an assistant at Huddersfield for three years under various coaches, including Carlos Corberon.

Speaker 1 And he had a spell working under Neil Warnock.

Speaker 1 And in his introductory interview as Stoke manager, I think he was talking about the experience of working under Neil Warnock. I think he addressed it very diplomatically, but

Speaker 1 certainly got the impression he found it was a very strange experience. Not saying he found it unpleasant, but I think he found it quite weird.

Speaker 1 Then he worked under David Wagner at Norwich last season. and was still an assistant at Norwich when Stoke came in and appointed him.

Speaker 1 So he's the first foreign manager, like foreign as in not from the UK, appointed under the watch of the Coates family. And

Speaker 1 I watched his interview.

Speaker 1 You know, it was a half-hour long interview. It was quite, he came across, spoke very well, and outlined his philosophy and blah, blah, blah.
But

Speaker 1 you would expect someone who's just been given the job to speak well. That's probably part of the reason he got the job.

Speaker 1 But apparently, Boyan Kirkich was one of the people who recommended him to John Walters,

Speaker 1 former diminutive Stoke legend. So it will be interesting to see how he gets on, because even if he is a good manager, Stoke just seems to be a graveyard for managers.

Speaker 1 No one seems to be able to get a tune out of that team.

Speaker 41 Just a quick one, Ben, on Cardiff, who have sacked the manager, one point from their opening six games, lost two at home to Leeds at the weekend.

Speaker 30 Rumours of Nathan Jones,

Speaker 49 Charlton fans will would be slightly disappointed to hear that.

Speaker 44 Yeah, well, yeah, they would be. He's made a really done a really good job at Charlton, but I think he said previously

Speaker 44 he would love the chance to manage Cardiff. Don't know on that, but I think Cardiff needs someone to breathe a bit of life back in.

Speaker 44 Yeah, winless start to the season. Bullet, it was a bit weird because the end of last season didn't go spectacularly.

Speaker 44 Then he was given a new two-year contract, and then obviously, what, seven, eight games into the season, he's gone.

Speaker 44 So, yeah, I mean, it's a a bit like you know vincent tan is an owner has been there a long time now and it feels like they're just sort of swapping and like i don't know don't really know what they want from the team it all feels a bit half-baked you know neil harris seemed a bit of an odd appointment good guy and did an all right job but yeah there's no it doesn't feel like there's any real structure or plan there bullet was obviously a

Speaker 44 bit of a strange appointment and it's yeah i mean yeah yeah they need um i think jones would be a good appointment someone just to to galvanise the place. I think the fans are so fed up.

Speaker 41 Yeah, I suppose for Nathan Jones, it would be one step closer to becoming a PE teacher and marrying a Welsh sweetheart, which I remember him suggesting was what he could have done when he was having a tough time at Southampton.

Speaker 30 Anyway, that'll do for part one.

Speaker 15 Part two will be League One.

Speaker 2 HiPod fans of America. Max here.
Barry's here, too.

Speaker 1 Hello.

Speaker 3 Football Weekly is supported by the Remarkable Paper Pro.

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Speaker 1 A proper football journalist.

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Speaker 35 Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly.

Speaker 42 Top of league one.

Speaker 47 I mean, it's impossible, sadly, to look beyond Birmingham for the league title, isn't it?

Speaker 10 I mean, they beat Wrexham comfortably on Monday,

Speaker 47 who are actually above them at the moment, although Birmingham have a game in hand.

Speaker 28 One 2-0 away at Rotherham, Jay Stansfield, who costs more than Federico Chiesa, George Ellick with that stat, with a lovely finish for the second.

Speaker 47 And they are playing lovely. They're zipping it about, aren't they?

Speaker 50 They are.

Speaker 50 And you're right it is hard to look look past them when you you spend what 15 million i think it was for jay stansfield uh he's got three so far it's surprising that that wrexham have stayed so far up there but overall yeah birmingham city i think are doing really well um tomograi iwata has come in another japanese player two in two for him overall they're just playing really good football but i guess when you've got the quality there you know sometimes there are teams that that

Speaker 50 you know, perennially start to struggle in the division they're in and they can just go down.

Speaker 50 And if they can survive that one season financially and have a really fun time down there and get promoted again it can really boost them and i suppose for the greater good for birmingham city it might well be there you know the the ownership we know what happened last season uh they've been burnt there they've learned the lessons and you know it's such a big club get them winning you know winning football brings brings fans in it's what they need they've got the stars as well what was it david beckham was at the the wrexham game and all that so yeah overall i think they yeah nobody can really look past them and and rightly so i guess with the money they've got it's interesting barry isn't it it's easy to be cynical when David Beckham turns up to a footman.

Speaker 28 I'm just trying to think, you know, you see they're going, what's he doing at Birmingham, Wrexham?

Speaker 52 This is, you know.

Speaker 32 But if you were a Birmingham fan, I'm trying to think if he was invited to watch a Cambridge game and he went, I think I would be...

Speaker 28 I don't know if it's sad or not, but I would be quite excited that David Beckham had gone to watch my football team.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I would also agree. It's quite sad.

Speaker 1 I mean, why would

Speaker 1 I give it?

Speaker 20 I don't know, just because there'd be a buzz, you know, like

Speaker 15 the buzz is fun, right?

Speaker 10 If you're a Wrexham fan, like, like the celebrity stuff at Wrexham is a bit perhaps getting a bit tedious if you're not a Wrexham fan.

Speaker 12 But if you're a Wrexham fan, it's the...

Speaker 1 Oh, no, it's tedious if you're not a Wrexham fan, but lads at Wrexham are at least, you know, contributing to the club, contributing to the community.

Speaker 1 David Beckham turning up at a game because he's mates with Tom Brady's.

Speaker 39 Man, I suppose so.

Speaker 1 But I'm not.

Speaker 1 I don't get started.

Speaker 4 No, no, neither do I.

Speaker 15 I mean, I wouldn't need to meet him, but I'd be like, oh, well, you know, I think when you're a low league fan, people just talking about your club is good.

Speaker 48 I know Birmingham is a totally different size club.

Speaker 11 I mean, speaking of Wrexham, it's a very, I mean, it's different compared to Birmingham, right?

Speaker 10 They're coming up. They're on this wave of,

Speaker 48 you know, of everything that is happening around that club and what a brilliant job their owners are doing.

Speaker 5 But are you surprised that they've taken League One

Speaker 46 to League One so quickly, Ben?

Speaker 39 Or is this, they can still do the sort of expendables type thing in League One and they might have to change next season?

Speaker 44 Yeah, a little bit. I think I expect them to be up there.
I think the thing that I am sort of surprised, I suppose, pleasantly surprised by, is that Phil Parkinson is still

Speaker 44 steering the ship, as it were.

Speaker 44 He's not kind of

Speaker 44 the Hollywood appointment. Inevitably,

Speaker 44 I'm pretty sure their next appointment will be a former player who played for X, Y, and Z. But in the meantime, Phil Parkinson, you know, he's done a really good job

Speaker 44 and

Speaker 44 he's playing the football that he he knows

Speaker 44 how to get results. Obviously, he did a good job at Bradford.
He was at Bolton. And I think really in terms of what they're, I mean, again, it's hard to judge them because they're able to sign players

Speaker 44 who probably

Speaker 44 could play higher or get better offers elsewhere. But for obvious reasons, they're able to attract them.

Speaker 44 Yes, I don't think it's a huge surprise that they're there, but I think the way they're doing it is a little bit surprising. And fair play to them.

Speaker 44 But yeah, I don't think we can be sort of two in all of what they're doing because of the resource. Um,

Speaker 44 and Ditto Birmingham, really, I mean, everybody and rightly so talks about Stansfield, but when you think they also signed Lyndon Dykes, who QPR fans, you know, held quite highly, Elfie May, who's ripped up in League One for the last couple of years, you know, that's their three strikers.

Speaker 44 It feels a little bit unfair on everybody else.

Speaker 1 Now, look at what we've got, that is not fair. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 Can I ask you guys who know more about this division than I do? Is there any doubt in your mind that Wrexham won't make the Premier League say in the next 10 years?

Speaker 1 I'm convinced that they'll be there sooner rather than later.

Speaker 44 10 years, Phil, if you're going to say, it sounds stupid, but if you say that five-year plan is, you know, back in the QPR days,

Speaker 44 I think the interesting bit will be when they get to the championship because that gap between championship and Premier League is so big.

Speaker 44 And at the moment, in League One, they're able to attract players who probably could play in the championship or certainly the the best league one players i'm not convinced if they get into the championship they'll be able to get premier league players maybe they will but i think i think they'll they'll come up a lot of

Speaker 44 come up against a lot of competition and even is sort of without labouring the point that i just made against like parkinson you know is then he going to be kind of outwitted by a you know a scott parker or a top championship manager corborang or whoever i don't know i think the the championship would would be really interesting but then as you say if they had a good you know if they if they were to get promoted in next season, in the first season.

Speaker 50 Well, that's got to be the model, hasn't it? Because the championship is just a casino, isn't it?

Speaker 50 You can spend any amount of money, it can be an infinite amount of money, and you can do equally just terribly as well,

Speaker 50 as we've seen with Birmingham. And I think, yeah, maybe the only way they did go up in that sort of way would be sticking with Parkinson, who knows everything about the runnings of the club so well.

Speaker 50 You know, he's really plugged into it. I would be a little bit sceptical about Wrexham getting into the Premier League in 10 years.
I think think championship would be the ceiling because, you know,

Speaker 50 you've got clubs like Sunderland, for example. These are massive clubs with huge resource.
And at some point, you know, financial fair play, how much money can the Hollywood owners actually put in?

Speaker 50 Because they're going to need to put in a lot to get out of that division, unless you can get down the loot and way.

Speaker 46 Yeah, I mean, that's a really interesting point, isn't it? That they could get Paul Mullin to go down two divisions.

Speaker 45 And actually, the level of football, it's just, and what happens isn't that different you know he was ripping it up for us he went to wrexham it's probably the same really but if you get into the championship like who who you know who do they who do they get like they can't go and get

Speaker 30 what are they getting with sort of reserve are they getting richarleson like i mean i i don't know like like that's a sort of tricky like like i would love it if i saw it would be quite fun if they did but then ffp comes in right and yeah but it'd be interesting to see uh let's talk about reading They're 16th in League One.

Speaker 45 Ruben Seller still there

Speaker 46 and did an incredible job.

Speaker 42 Ben, you've been reporting on the situation there.

Speaker 48 They really thought that the former Wickham owner, Rob Coig, who is a good football guy, as far as I understand, was going to buy the club.

Speaker 49 And it has fallen through and it is devastating for the Reading fans.

Speaker 44 Yeah, and Rob Coig thought he'd had it wrapped up. four times, I think, four or five times.

Speaker 44 He came over to Reading being told, you know, yeah, it's just going to be the next couple of days or, or you know, be over on a Friday, and by Monday, it's gonna be signed, sealed, and delivered, and

Speaker 44 it hasn't happened. Um,

Speaker 44 yeah, I think this is

Speaker 44 uh a serious uh matter. Um,

Speaker 44 it's a really grave situation. I mean, they lost five to it bolts in the weekend, but that feels just insignificant, really.
Um,

Speaker 44 this situation is really worrying, um, because they are well, as they have been for seven years now, but it feels like they're back in the hands of Dai Young, the Chinese owner, because it feels a little bit like he well, he hasn't, it was Rob Kuwig who was putting who was the money man the last few months, putting about five million to keep the place

Speaker 44 going, wages and everything else that comes with that club, which is you know, it's not a

Speaker 44 it's a fairly uh

Speaker 44 costly club to run in that league with the stadium and everything else, training ground, academy.

Speaker 44 And this is a guy now who who's been in charge for a while uh in Daiyong who has shown total disregard, total contempt for the fans, supporters,

Speaker 44 staff,

Speaker 44 his own team.

Speaker 44 Ruben Selez, the manager, who, you know, from his time at Southampton, you know, a highly rated coach, it's actually done an extremely good job at Reading in unbelievably difficult circumstances.

Speaker 44 He was saying, you know, the other day he's had enough basically now. And I think

Speaker 44 that's a feeling shared by fans. I think with the ownership situation as it is, the concern is that this guy now, who is,

Speaker 44 you know, essentially killed two previous clubs, one in China, one in Belgium before,

Speaker 44 if he's shown, you know, if he's shown zero interest for the club for the last, what, well, to be generous, year, 18 months, but it's longer than that, really.

Speaker 44 Why now is he suddenly going to be

Speaker 44 a brilliant, a great owner? The club claim, you know, the funds are in place to fund the club until a transaction for the sale is completed, which

Speaker 44 you know, if we believe that, then great. But I would have huge reservations about that.
This is a guy who's paid wages late, has total disregard for paying HMRC on time, let alone at all.

Speaker 44 In last January, so January 24, they were selling off academy players or homegrown players to generate funds to generate and fund the day-to-day running of the club.

Speaker 44 This is a guy who is not interested in Reading Football Club and yet he holds all the cards again. The EFL

Speaker 44 were trying everything in their powers and there aren't many of them in fairness to them in the way that

Speaker 44 football is structured

Speaker 44 to get that deal to go through because Rob Kuhig

Speaker 44 really was barring kind of I don't know

Speaker 44 being taken over by sort of

Speaker 44 a state or Abbey Abbey Derby group or something.

Speaker 44 He was the best owner Redding. We're going to get an unbelievably safe pair of hands.
And I mean that in a respectful way. Did a brilliant job at Wickham, stabilised that club, no stupid

Speaker 44 outgoings. Because

Speaker 44 this is how Reading have got into a situation, just exorbitant spending, wages just waying above what they should be paying.

Speaker 44 stupid fees, salaries, and this is what they're left with.

Speaker 44 It's really concerning. And you've got Nigel Howell now this the sort of de facto CEO who

Speaker 44 is banned from football for three months starting on 4th of October so

Speaker 44 you know so what less than two weeks really you think he's got to to push through a deal and if it doesn't happen in that time which you know I would suggest there's a very good chance that nothing happens in that time I don't know where they're left I just think it's

Speaker 44 it's extremely concerning and I sympathise with with all of the supporters and the staff who are just sort of trying to go about their business as if none of this is going on.

Speaker 1 It's really worrying that it does sound like Ruben Sellers is very much at the end of his tether. Keeps saying

Speaker 1 we will fight on, me and the players, but then

Speaker 1 he says, Well, you know, we're being pushed to the limit. I've had enough of this situation now.

Speaker 1 And apparently, the money currently being used to fund Reading as a going concern is from a sell-on fee they got when Michael Elise went to Bayern Munich.

Speaker 1 So that's not going to last forever, however much it is.

Speaker 44 It's about what it's 1.8 million for the rest of this year, and then there's another 1.8 million that comes in in January.

Speaker 1 This is a stonewall example of why football in this country needs a strong regulator.

Speaker 1 And at the moment, we have, as Sanny flagged up on the WhatsApp group yesterday, it seems like half the Labour MPs already have their snouts in the trough accepting free gifts of Taylor Swift tickets, and all those tickets are coming from the Premier League.

Speaker 1 I wonder why the Premier League are giving Labour MPs

Speaker 1 gifts.

Speaker 1 Could anyone possibly have any idea why that might be happening?

Speaker 15 Because they're nice, Barry. They're nice.

Speaker 1 But these Labour MPs are all they've all obviously been given this line to parrot, and the line being, oh, well, I'm not a Swifty. My kids are, you know, I didn't want to disappoint my children.

Speaker 1 But no one's asking them, who is giving you these tickets? And the answer is the Premier League are giving them these tickets. And why are the Premier League trying to cozy up to

Speaker 1 Labour MPs? Because they don't want a powerful regulator.

Speaker 24 So I actually,

Speaker 1 I thought Labour might be different to the last lot, but no, it just seems, you know, as soon as you get in power, stick your snout in the trough and,

Speaker 1 you know, business as usual.

Speaker 1 So, slow hand clap for all those Labour frontbenchers who are

Speaker 1 accepting freebies from the Premier League. It's tantamount, well, I can't say what it's tantamount to, but we all know what it is, and

Speaker 1 it's sickening.

Speaker 50 Just to come back to the Reading situation and put on my Berry FC hat on as a Berry fan, we're in Division Nine now,

Speaker 50 and that's, of course, the nuclear option.

Speaker 50 And what I would say to Reading fans is,

Speaker 50 Berry,

Speaker 50 we've martyred ourselves so that no other club has to go through that. I think the EFL, if it were to go back and do things again, Debbie Jevons was in charge at the time.

Speaker 50 I don't think they necessarily would kick us out because

Speaker 50 you've got nowhere to go from there. You know, we were a part of the EFL family and now we're in the ninth division.
And I think lessons have been learned.

Speaker 50 And I think the league would like to continue working with Reading rather than go with the stick and at the very you know at least they're still a going concern for now and I think they'll get a bit more leeway than he may have done previously because you know the absolute shit show that what what Berry FC was and what happened to us has meant that you know um

Speaker 50 other teams might get a bit more um

Speaker 50 have a bit more consideration of what can happen when you do kick a football club that's been in the EFL for 125 years and now are playing in the FA VARs in Division IX.

Speaker 49 Reading have said in a statement that Dai Young remains committed to the sale of Reading Football Club and provisions are in place to fund the club until a transaction is completed.

Speaker 49 Worth mentioning Cambridge United, our bottom of League One, one point from six games.

Speaker 38 We lost 2-1 to Wickham, an 85-fifth minute sickener

Speaker 43 at the weekend.

Speaker 10 I don't know where the hope is coming from.

Speaker 28 We've tried to change our style to play out from the back.

Speaker 10 I'm not sure we have the players.

Speaker 37 But, Barry, the good news is that Ryan Loft, who we spent a lot of, I think, the England semifinal Euro podcast discussing he's back on the grass so this this could change everything you can shove your stance field dykes and Alfie May Ryan Loft is back on the grass watch us sail up the table anyway that'll do for part two part three we'll do league two

Speaker 4 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 We already know that remarkable is the leader in the paper tablet category.

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Speaker 1 A proper football journalist, mate.

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Speaker 35 Welcome to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly.

Speaker 28 Before we do League Two, Sanny, you wanted to mention Steve Bruce?

Speaker 50 Two wins in two in League One. If you thought that Steve Bruce couldn't do it in the lower leagues, so far it's going all right.

Speaker 50 A 94th minute winner and then a very good win at Charlton last time out of Seoul, who started the day third. So

Speaker 50 I don't know how much coaching he's doing necessarily, how much is maybe management, you know, motivation, that side of things.

Speaker 50 But, you know, it's good to see that however much we get these managers that no one's ever heard of from the other side of the earth

Speaker 50 coming in from nowhere. Steve Bruce, he's still got it.

Speaker 18 He's still got it. I'm delighted.

Speaker 45 He's a lovely chap.

Speaker 7 Ben Barrow and Gilligan fighting out on the top of league two.

Speaker 28 They play each other this weekend. Huge.

Speaker 44 Yeah, Stephen Clement's done a really good job since he's got into Barrow. They've obviously got the Chelsea game

Speaker 44 this evening, I think, if you're listening to this.

Speaker 44 Yeah, no, he's done a really good job.

Speaker 44 And as you say, Gillingham as well under under Mark Bonner.

Speaker 44 Walsall going well as well. They've got Leicester in the Caravelle Cup.
I think it'd be interesting how they go because they're having a great time. Leicester not having such a good time.

Speaker 44 And yeah, no, I think the interesting one of note is Mike Williamson going from MK Dons to Carlyle, the manager, who did an amazing job at Gateshead, got him the job at MK Dons, obviously former Newcastle defender.

Speaker 44 But he sort of made an unusual move. It's kind of the lesser lesser-spotted move, isn't it? Like to a divisional rival.
Normally, it's either you get sacked or you go up the pyramid.

Speaker 44 So, quite nice to see, actually, although albeit surprising.

Speaker 44 Carlyle, I believe, have a bit of money behind them as well with their owners now. Obviously, MK Dons have just had a takeover in this post-Pete Winkelmann era, a Q80, I believe.

Speaker 44 Both ambitious clubs, but Mike Williamson

Speaker 44 has gone to Carlisle. They triggered a release clause in his contract, which I would imagine is quite a blow to MK despite them not having a brilliant start to the season.

Speaker 44 He was clearly quite a hot thing as a manager. And now it means that we get Ray Livington back at MK Dons with his son in the sort of interim.
They're leading the coaching sessions.

Speaker 44 Dean Livington for the third time in caretaker charge.

Speaker 22 Get the shorts back on, Ray.

Speaker 44 Exactly. And I do remember, I remember chatting to Dean Livington last year when he was just racking up another few appearances as he does.
And

Speaker 44 I remember him telling a story when it was his second time in caretaker charge. And he said, how

Speaker 44 some of his teammates, one of his teammates, I can't remember his name, said a young lad at MK Don said, God,

Speaker 44 this guy you've got in Coach Ness is pretty good. What does he normally do? And it was like,

Speaker 44 he just thought it was his dad, as opposed to his dad, who's that former England assistant.

Speaker 1 My dad has got a bit.

Speaker 28 So, yeah, no, great, great to see them too.

Speaker 1 He's a plumber.

Speaker 4 Let me just get my rods.

Speaker 26 That's right, Louis.

Speaker 1 Really good.

Speaker 41 Should say that I'll get my rods.

Speaker 40 It's very much a Paul Hawksby line that I stole, but I enjoyed saying it.

Speaker 27 I don't even know what it means.

Speaker 12 Not an expert in the plumbing world.

Speaker 33 Anything from League Two you want to pick out, Baz?

Speaker 1 AFC Wimbledon's pitch.

Speaker 1 There was torrential rain in London on Sunday night.

Speaker 1 Absolutely torrential rain. uh kept me awake half the night and um

Speaker 1 it has absolutely destroyed uh the pitch at plough lane or whatever it's called these days the something record

Speaker 1 cherry red record stadium um so much so that if you look an aerial view of of the ground which i presume was taken with a drone it it just looks like a giant bunker in a lynx golf course it's it's been or like a tornado like a twister has been on it or something.

Speaker 27 Yeah, it's mad, isn't it?

Speaker 1 So I have no idea how long it's going to take them to fix that.

Speaker 24 But the

Speaker 1 immediate upshot is

Speaker 1 that they were supposed to play Newcastle there tonight, Tuesday night, but that game

Speaker 1 is now going to be played at St. James's Park next week, I think.

Speaker 1 So it's a bit of a logistical nightmare for the Wimbledon fans who were looking forward to going to see their team play Newcastle this evening.

Speaker 1 And yeah, good luck, Wimbledon Groundsman, getting that back into shape because it looks like quite a job.

Speaker 18 You'll need more than just a fork that Ian Dahler would take to the Abbey on a rainy day and just, you know, do that a little bit.

Speaker 35 Anyway, just before we go, anything else that we haven't covered, Sonny Ben, that we should have done?

Speaker 44 I said before about Morecambe and their kind of state of play, given we've spoken about Reading and ownership,

Speaker 44 you know, in June, July, they said that talks were for a takeover at an advanced stage, and it's just been radio silent since, obviously, we're approaching October.

Speaker 44 But on the pitch, they got a point last night against Fleetwood, 2-0 down, and that was a week on from getting a 3-0 against Colchester, I believe, of 10 men.

Speaker 44 So, on the pitch, Derek Adams has shown, you know, he can get a tune out of them. But, yeah, I would have questions off the pitch.
I think, again, just one of those clubs that sadly

Speaker 44 there's a lot going on or not going on behind the scenes.

Speaker 50 Just to add, I'm very worried about Accrington as well, yet to win all season in in any competition. They keep conceding late as well.
You know, they were in League One not so long ago.

Speaker 50 And at the moment, it looks like they're heading back to non-league. John Dooland, manager now.
Yeah, troubling times. They've got some young players they try and bring through.

Speaker 50 You know, it's kind of a it's always been a kind of a wheeler-dealer sort of place. They've got Sean Wally,

Speaker 50 their oldest player, doing great things, cutting in and having some shots. But yeah, just throwing away leads and just kind of falling apart.
Very worrying if you're an Accrington Stanley fan.

Speaker 13 All right, that'll do for today. Thank you, chaps.
Thanks, Baz.

Speaker 1 Thank you. Thank you, Ben.
Cheers, Max.

Speaker 38 Thanks, Sally.

Speaker 42 Thank you.

Speaker 40 Football Weekly is produced by Joel Grove.

Speaker 38 Our executive producer is Danielle Stevens.

Speaker 12 We'll be back on Thursday.

Speaker 1 This is The Guardian.