In short
Kings of Anglia (Ipswich Town) discusses new kit sponsorship and kit design speculation, then covers departures and the club’s lack of signings so far, arguing Ipswich’s squad is already strong and recruitment will come later.
Guests
Mark Heath (host), Stewie (co-host), Alex (co-host). Ross is mentioned as unavailable due to moving house/technical issues.
Key claims
- Ipswich’s new front-of-shirt sponsor is Halo (a Suffolk tech/software firm with global clients and offices); it replaces Ed Sheeran’s deal and is viewed as local, non-gambling, and visually “simple and slick.”
- Sleeve sponsor is also Halo; the deal is described as a club-record.
- Axel Tuanzebe has left for Burnley on a one-year deal; hosts are disappointed but say geography (Manchester roots) and fitness/proving-a-season logic make sense.
- Ipswich have made no signings yet (episode recorded July 3); hosts say it’s early, PSR/financial constraints limited early moves, and the current squad quality/consistency reduces pressure.
Notable examples
- Kit: blue home kit with a diagonal/pattern teaser; away kit guesses include white/red; third kit speculation includes purple and “Tingly Ted’s” hot-sauce themed ideas.
- Transfers: compares Ipswich’s early-window activity to last year (e.g., Amari Hutchinson and Ben Johnson).
- Recruitment philosophy: Mark Ashton quote—Premier League requires different physical attributes; Ipswich must recruit players with stronger physical profiles.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOSetting the Scene
0:56 to 2:00
The hosts discuss the current state of the club and their expectations for the episode.
“Also has some technical difficulties which means you can't actually do any work if you wanted to.”
Kit Sponsor Announcement
2:00 to 4:21
Discussion around the new kit sponsor and the significance of local sponsorship.
“They've got global offices all over in Melbourne and America and all sorts sponsoring an McLaren F1 team recently, and now they're on the front of the Ipswich shirt.”
Design Insights and Opinions
4:21 to 6:34
Hosts share their thoughts on the new kit design and branding choices.
“If they're paying more money than Ed Sheeran, then they've obviously got a few quid, haven't they?”
Memorable Kits from the Past
6:34 to 7:47
Hosts reminisce about previous Ipswich Town kits and their favorites.
“I don't know if you boys have got much experience of hot sauce.”
Anticipating Future Designs
7:47 to 14:00
Speculation on future kits and the potential directions for Ipswich's branding.
“Obviously, there looks like there's some sort of diagonal pattern or decal on it.”
Discussion of Favorite Kits
14:00 to 17:20
The hosts reminisce about their favorite football kits from childhood.
“And the other one was, the one I was just talking about, was that one there with the green.”
Departure of Axel Tuanzebe
17:20 to 20:28
The hosts discuss the departure of Axel Tuanzebe to Burnley and its implications.
“Since we last spoke, we've had a departure.”
Impacts of Player Availability
20:28 to 22:36
The hosts analyze the impact of player availability and upcoming competitions on the team.
“for wanting to be in the Premier League.”
Current Transfer Market Situation
22:36 to 26:48
The hosts evaluate the current state of the transfer market and Ipswich's position.
“Taylor, just sharing, actually, I've just seen the sharing pictures of the players coming back into training this morning.”
Concerns Over Lack of Signings
26:48 to 28:00
The discussion turns to the fans' concerns regarding a lack of new signings for Ipswich.
“there's a story that you can bookmark that we've been updating.”
Show all 29 chapters
Transfer Window Concerns and Early Days
28:00 to 31:20
Discussion about Ipswich's lack of signings as the transfer window opens.
“to say that Ipswich have completely dropped the ball with someone that could come in and upgrade the starting XI.”
Assessing the Current Squad's Strength
31:20 to 35:00
Analysis of the existing squad's quality and potential for the upcoming season.
“Yeah, I feel like with the players now coming back and things starting to tick towards the first pre-season games, this is where you tend to start to see signings.”
Evaluating Players and Championship Dynamics
35:00 to 42:00
Exploration of players' past performances and the differences between leagues.
“Sometimes you have to wait, for example, with local players, Premier League clubs.”
Assessing Players' Transition to Premier League
42:00 to 44:17
Discussion on how players adapt from Championship to Premier League and specific examples from Ipswich Town.
“You can be one of the best players in the Premier League, sorry, in the Championship, and then just not really be able to find your feet in the Premier League.”
Recruitment Insights from Ashton
44:17 to 45:34
Exploration of Mark Ashton's views on recruitment and the physical attributes needed for success.
“This is a guy who did something that has never been done before.”
Importance of Athleticism in Football
45:34 to 48:29
Analysis of the physical demands of the Premier League and how Ipswich can improve their recruitment strategy.
“Physical profile and attributes can fly on the radar so easily.”
Evaluating Past Recruitment Decisions
48:29 to 53:26
Discussion of Ipswich's past recruitment and the factors affecting player performance and injuries.
“It's not just when you talk about athleticism.”
Prospective Player Signings for Ipswich
53:26 to 56:01
A preview of potential player signings for Ipswich Town and the strategic needs for the upcoming season.
“They're after tanks, they're after monsters.”
Player Recruitment Insights
56:01 to 58:05
Discover key players Ipswich should target for recruitment this season.
“Weirdly, because it should be strikers and I've gone for an interesting name at striker.”
Midfield Spending Strategies
58:05 to 1:02:19
An analysis of potential midfield signings and budget allocation for Ipswich.
“in and what my final squad would look like.”
Former Targets and New Possibilities
1:02:19 to 1:04:54
A discussion on former targets and new names for Ipswich's recruitment.
“There's a couple of other names that I forgot about, and I was punching in some of these numbers into the data and stuff and seeing who was coming up.”
Exciting Season Ahead
1:08:12 to 1:10:01
Anticipation for the upcoming season and the importance of signing up for updates.
“It is very important to us and the model of journalism for us going forward.”
Anticipating the New Season
1:10:01 to 1:11:30
The hosts discuss the excitement surrounding the upcoming season and what fans can expect.
“Yeah, everything you guys have said, I mean this should in theory be a really exciting season.”
Travel Plans and Upcoming Events
1:11:31 to 1:13:11
The team shares their travel plans for the summer and upcoming events, including a concert and trips abroad.
“As I wrote in the offer story, obviously now the world's media doesn't care.”
Sports Day Experience
1:13:12 to 1:14:39
One host recounts their experience at a recent sports day, including their performance and family reactions.
“remembered, since we last spoke, we've had the big one.”
Wrap-up of Today's Discussion
1:14:40 to 1:15:00
The hosts review what they discussed and the time spent on the podcast.
“have you the the drive phase and all that kind of stuff yeah no I spent the whole evening watching Usain Bolt videos the night before.”
Wrap-up of Today's Discussion
1:15:01 to 1:15:11
The hosts review what they discussed and the time spent on the podcast.
“which is remarkable, given we've really not had a lot to talk about.”
Wrap-up of Today's Discussion
1:15:13 to 1:15:48
The hosts review what they discussed and the time spent on the podcast.
“Use the code KOA at stardustspirits.co.uk.”
Closing Remarks and Future Episodes
1:15:49 to 1:16:23
The hosts share closing thoughts and tease the next episode, including new kit reveals.
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:02Mark Heath:That sound could mean a lot of things. And when something's going wrong at home, the hardest part can be figuring out what the problem actually is.
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0:37Mark Heath:hello friends and welcome to your long-awaited edition of the kings of anglia ifritztown podcast sponsored by stardust spirits use the code koa at stardustspirits.co.uk to get 20 off all that excellent award-winning clobber drinks products whatever you want to call it i'm mark heath i'm joined today by Stewie and Alex. Ross is still moving house. Also has some technical difficulties which means you can't actually do any work if you wanted to. We may be coming to that in due course. Friends, we've been away for a while. That's because there's not really been a lot to talk about but of course that in itself is something to talk about and that's what we're going to do today.
1:15Mark Heath:Before we get going though boys, I want to make it very clear to you I've got a message to start this podcast. I'm in no mood for frivolity, no mood for messing. I need us to be the very best versions of ourselves today because if we can be the very best versions of ourselves i think we could put our half decent podcast you know stew how do you feel about that uh i trust the process and it will carry us through let's be brave let's be bold but let's not be reckless aj please yeah i think that's right i think that we have to respect what other podcasts can do but also know that we have our own strengths that we bring to the table and back ourselves to be better on the day.
1:56Mark Heath:This is too special of a podcast for us to mess it up today so let's try not to all right right friends we have to start of course I guess with the most recent news in terms of stuff that's actually happened and there's not been a lot of that but this morning we've had some kit news the club have put out via their newsletter quite a fun little game actually if you if you got the newsletter you could scratch off the kit reveal date which is this Saturday Saturday July the fifth and obviously we've had some news around that this week as well in terms of the front of shirts sponsor and also the sleeve sponsor Stu which you largely led in terms of coverage what did you make of this good to see obviously we knew that Ed wasn't going to be the front of shirts sponsor anymore good to see another Suffolk company on the front row and it's not just another Suffolk company it's a Suffolk company doing big things on a global level yeah I think it's important to say give the club some accolades for standing firm in not following the crowd and in going with
2:54Stuart Watson:gambling sponsors gaming sponsors as they're referred to um these no one seems to know what any of these 96.com 888 blah blah ones are to be honest um so yeah halo didn't know much about them to be honest I live in mid-Suffolk I've kind of driven past halo many times wasn't 100 % sure what they did to be honest and then they appeared on the shirt sleeve and I thought what are they and you kind of look into it still didn't really know a great deal about them but they're doing some more reading this week they are mega they've got they're basically sort of their description is disrupting the tech industry they're they're software creators that are now selling products to Microsoft and Siemens and some major companies.
3:44Stuart Watson:They've got global offices all over in Melbourne and America and all sorts sponsoring an McLaren F1 team recently, and now they're on the front of the Ipswich shirt. So, yeah, it's great to see Ipswich going back to local. We've had sort of in the past Fisans and Green King and then after the Marcus Evans era and Magical Vegas, which looked pretty rubbish, didn't it? Nice to be back local. with Ed going, I think they're a fitting company to take over, I would say.
4:16Mark Heath:And Ashton said previously that it's a club record deal as well, Stu. So obviously very good from a business side of things for the club.
4:24Stuart Watson:If they're paying more money than Ed Sheeran, then they've obviously got a few quid, haven't they? So I think Ed's been pretty clear that, you know, obviously he took on the sponsorship in League One, probably didn't dream of doing it in the Premier League and maybe cost him a little bit more than he was anticipating when he was, I think he was interviewed at the Miami Grand Prix around this time last year on the eve of the, I can't remember, it was around the playoffs time. And he said, yeah, I am sponsor next year, but I am going to have to do a little bit more gigging, which is difficult when you're Ed Sheeran and he seems to gig every night of the year anyway.
4:59Stuart Watson:But I've got a pretty chunky sponsorship deal to pay for. So he managed to ride out his Premier League season and now he's handed on the reins and it's essentially a swap deal isn't it between
5:11Mark Heath:front of shirt and shirt sleeve yeah big ed's still gonna be on the uh the sleeve aj have you ever had any tingly ted's no i have not um i'm gonna get we're gonna need to have a yeah i feel like we should have a tasting yeah i meant to go and get some this morning actually and do a little taste test live on the pod yeah i have a go i didn't know you could really buy them in supermarkets So we are going to have to do that, I think. I think the biggest thing for me, aside from the positives that come with it, not being any sort of gambling sponsors and with it being a local brand and a big name brand, I think is also the logos look quite nice.
5:49I think it's really good. I mean, Halo in general, it's just simple and slick. And the one thing that you want with a shirt sponsor is it being simple and slick. West Ham have done their kits this morning and it's Boyle Sports. it's another betting one and it's just plastered right on the front of their shirt and i think it looks horrible and there's quite a few kits like that and i think that obviously we'd love to go and see what it looks like but i think that with the logo that halo have got it feels like something that would suit an ipswich kit on the front and also even with the sleeve sponsor as well seen some bad ones in the past and from what we can see with the uh the tingly tense one although it's unique, I do quite like it as well.
6:31Mark Heath:Sainsbury's number one selling hot sauce, Tingley Tez, I'm told. I don't know if you boys have got much experience of hot sauce. I've had some in Barbados and St Lucia. Very different levels of heat as well, I'd say. Bajan hot sauce, pretty mild. But then I made the mistake having been to Barbados and lathering it up in St Lucia. Not hotter, much to the entertainment of the people in the restaurant I was in as I stuck my tongue into a glass of milk. Stewie, that could be the uh the freeze frame actually couldn't it that for the the whole podcast um steward it's a good point that aj makes halo i mean the other apart from the narrative behind ed sheeran and you know being a local boy done good and you know then sponsoring his his football team um one of the great things about that was the logo looked brilliant i mean it's probably like the best logo in front of shirt sponsorship in football and halo as what we've seen so far again looks just nice and classic doesn't it classy it's not one of these horrendous things like you mentioned magical vegas yeah that was an abomination wasn't it not just because it was a
7:32Stuart Watson:a gambling firm but they they stuck with the original logo to start with which was like multi-colored which stood out like a sore thumb on on the shirt they've just gone for the for the crisp white look which you know ideally football shirts wouldn't have sponsors passed all over them but that's the business that we're in so if you have to do it at least make sure it's um a right fit in terms of a local brand not gambling they've kept it white ticked all the boxes and it's bringing in some good money by the sounds of things as well so
8:04Mark Heath:everyone's a winner right then steve we have to talk about the kit itself we'll see we'll see the new kits on saturday for the first time clearly this is another important stepping stone in the summer something that fans get very very excited about um we've had little teasers of what the kit's going to be, I mean, big surprise, it's blue. Obviously, there looks like there's some sort of diagonal pattern or decal on it. Have you got any thoughts on what you'd like to see, Stu, and particularly with the away kit? Because there's not that many more colours they can go to for the away kit having the previous years.
8:36Mark Heath:You're going to tell me you don't care. I know. In which case, I'll go to Alex.
8:39Stuart Watson:Desperate times for the Kings of Anglia podcast. We're in such a fallow period in the summer that we're now going to dissect what the little five by five centimetre square part of the strip that we've seen. What could it mean? What could it mean? It will be a blue shirt again that has some sort of pattern in the background, which is slightly different to ones before. Will there be too much red? Will there be not enough red? Is the badge in the right position?
9:06Mark Heath:Will there be any yellow?
9:08Stuart Watson:Yeah. Is it a V-neck? Is it a collar? I can't speak with it as as much passion as others, although kits are a massive part of football, aren't they? We all grew up sort of loving kits and drawing pictures of kits. I had notebooks full of designed kits that I made and all that sort of stuff. So where are we at on the away kit colour rotation? So we've had, basically we go sort of a rotation, then we have orange, black, white, red.
9:41Mark Heath:Yeah, we've had the Inter Milan one, didn't we? that was the league one then we had orange and at the moment we've got maroon so um i say every
9:50Stuart Watson:year one day they'll go back to it and apeswich have worn yellow as an away kit you're going back a little way now but there's pictures of mick mills and co wearing a yellow shirt no green anywhere near it absolutely lots of blue trim i like it yellow and blue it works i know it will fall on deaf ears um i know people the people in general the majority are dead against it but that's what I want, Mark, something different.
10:16Mark Heath:Yeah, well, I think maybe yellow is probably harder to sell these days as an away kit for Ipswich. AJ, I know you're more into the kit side of things because you're young and that. What would you like to see from the home kit and also dare you venture a guess at the colour of the away kit?
10:38so I feel like it's always really difficult when two of the major colours on the palette are kind of out of bounds a bit but I do agree with Stu in terms of there are things you can do with both yellows and greens but I understand that that is going to be a very unpopular take from a lot of people so I don't think that the club would go down that route especially after a relegation wouldn't be great, would it? Suddenly they just come out with a yellow or a green kit. Let's have a guess then. Away shirt. I was just thinking this while I was looking at myself on the little screen there. I'm going to go white and red because I'm wearing white and red.
11:17So we'll have that as the away. And third kit is usually where things get a little bit more funky. I'm going to go with a purple. A purple third. Do we have any purple yet? No, I don't think we have, have we? So something like that. Something that's a bit of fun. I was trying to think about what we've had with some of the Umbro ones obviously Cambridge have had a really good set of kits this year from Umbro, the home one's good the away one is a little bit Newcastle Saudi kit the third shirt is the one that I have at the moment, the black one which I love and it's got the DNA imprint because of the whole Cambridge DNA link it's brilliant, goalkeeper kit's really good so I've got high hopes and I think that they might try and do a bit of a unique colour purple's the one I'm going to go with.
12:01There'll be a purple kit. It's a hot take.
12:03Mark Heath:I like the sound of purple. We've got no idea, so we're just guessing.
12:07Stuart Watson:Some sort of Tingly Ted's themed third shirt. Ed seems to have had his hands all over the third kits in recent years, isn't he?
12:15Mark Heath:Why, just covered in bollops of Tingly Ted's? Tingly Ted's is a very
12:19Stuart Watson:orangey brand, isn't it? It's a hot sauce. Orange and green seems to be the colour palette there.
12:26Mark Heath:Flames would be very early. You know, like those kind of buttoned up shirts? Yeah, like one of those. With the flames on the sleeves. Yeah, so like a black shirt with like flames either on the sleeves or like one that comes up from like the waist, yeah. Yeah, like a 15-year-old would have worn to a disco in like the early 2000s. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, perfect. I haven't actually, confession to you, I haven't actually really liked any town kits since the League One season when they were stone cold classics, obviously.
12:54Stuart Watson:Do you want me, I've got them in front of me here. Shall I run through them? and you can just give me some hits and misses. The away shirt last year was the sort of maroon with the gold trim.
13:05Mark Heath:Which was all right.
13:05Stuart Watson:Yeah, and then we had the pink third shirt. Very much like that. With various Suffolk themes on it, Ed Sheeran themes. Championship was orange. Championship promotion season was orange with sort of a navy blue trim, wasn't it? Sort of a very dark blue. And then a white pinstripe third kit.
13:24Mark Heath:That was my favourite one from last season. I really didn't, sorry, the season before now, obviously. I really didn't like the home shirt for the championship promotion winning season. It was too much of a throwback. Too big as well. I remember players saying they thought it was too big.
13:38Stuart Watson:Too much white on the sleeves. That was quite a lot of white on the sleeves, wasn't it? League One. Classics. That was the red and blue. Black. Red and black. Inter Milan, wasn't it? Vertical stripes of various different widths. Sorry, AC Milan. AC Milan? AC Milan.
13:56Mark Heath:definitely not into AC Milan
13:57Stuart Watson:we fudged that between us didn't we blue black what and then the blackout third kit
14:04Mark Heath:those three were stone cold classics all three of those shirts the goalkeeper I've got the list up as well the goalkeeper kits as well I really like from that year they're really strong little was that the year they had a pink one the goalkeeper the two that they have on here one of them is kind of like a green one which has little pattern bits on and I mean I could just kind of hold them up and you can see hopefully my ring light doesn't ruin it. That's the right one. There we go. So that's one of them. Yeah. And the other one was, the one I was just talking about, was that one there with the green.
14:33Oh yeah, yeah. I remember that. So there you go. For subscribers who want to see what kits I'm referring to. Yeah, those ones I liked.
Read the full transcript
14:40Mark Heath:Those are the last ones I really liked. I think that League One season. I thought all three were obviously the blackout ones, probably my favourite one they've maybe ever done, thinking about it. I think from the season the season before, just having a look at it, I quite like those as well. They look very slick, it looks like. So that was 21-22, standard blue shirt. I like kind of the size of the sponsor. And then they've gone with a white away and a black third. Again, I'll hold them up there so we got them. There's your selection from 21-22. You're not a massive fan? No, I thought that away shirt was incredibly dope.
15:14I like simple slick kit. I feel like you're the kind of maybe this is where we're kind of different here is that I remember when it was announced they were doing a pink kit, you were like, yes! Bold colours, craziness, make it insane. And I quite like, you know, blue. I don't think pink's insane.
15:32Mark Heath:I just think it's nice. How many do you know of strong pink kits? Well, that's why I like it. If they do a purple, I'd like that as well. Yeah, that's fair. Before we move on from this complete speculation fest, what were your favourite Kits, boys, when you were growing up, what were your favourite kits to wear? I had the classic, do you remember the grey Liverpool candy one? A big favourite of mine. I think that was probably the one I wore most as a child. How about you, Stu?
16:06Stuart Watson:Yeah, child of the 90s Everton fan growing up. My first kit was a white away kit. NEC is the sponsor with like a grey speckled sash across the middle. that was when kits were quite funky back then. They were also massive. Yes, really baggy. Yeah,
16:29Stuart Watson:and Everton had quite a lot of yellow in their away kits as well, yellow and blue, so I had a few away kits like that that I loved.
16:38Mark Heath:How about you, AJ? I assume you were a bit decked in used colours as a child. You've got to remember, I didn't live in Cambridge until i of course you're in holland yeah um liverpool carlsberg would have been the one that comes to mind for me cannot remember the year exactly but um yeah there's definitely a photo of me wearing that somewhere that i tried to have a look to find but can't see um yeah that's my my kind of generation of shirts i think i because obviously when i was a child i outgrew that one fairly quickly because it would have been like six i think i went to go and buy another one one would that have been like five years ago that's that's the one that always stands out to me proper nostalgia the liverpool carlsberg kits for me excellent boys we've managed to fill almost 17 minutes waffling on and speculating about what the kit might be um so we think aj's going purple i would like purple um i do feel though maybe it may be coming back towards a white sort of top uh and obviously the third kit i'm assuming will be something we we see at a later date um other things to talk about before we get on to um what i'm sure most of you want to hear us talk about which is signings slash lack of.
17:46Mark Heath:Since we last spoke, we've had a departure. Another one of these sad departures, Stu. Axel Twenzebi, we kind of felt the longer it went on, the more likely it was that he was going to leave. He has left. He's gone to Burnley. Your thoughts, please.
18:00Stuart Watson:Disappointed with this one. It sort of explains why Cameron Burgess happened and how there was no one to blame on that for all parties. Axel, I thought they had a better chance of keeping when we sort of talked about the two. I could see why Ipswich and Cameron's needs, wants wouldn't align. I thought they could align with Axel. I thought Ipswich would be in a position to say, we were the ones that gave you your chance when you were a free agent. And, you know, it got to September before anyone picked him up. And he had a couple of years of barely playing with a back injury problem. Ipswich have built him up, made him robust again, got him playing some good football.
18:41Stuart Watson:absolutely I think he proved that he was a Premier League player in terms of his athleticism last season but I hoped that Ipswich would be able to say come on stick with us be a part of the project Burnley on a one-year deal is interesting so I understand why he wants to go back to the Prem and stay in that shop window if you like or be playing against the best having been there earlier in his career and maybe felt like he's a few years of a short career of slipped by because of injuries but there's every chance that those two teams could could cross over in a year's time um I would hope and I don't know this but I would hope that Ipswich would have been in a position to offer him a two-year deal as opposed to a one-year deal maybe they didn't I need to look into that a little bit more.
19:32Stuart Watson:But I'm told that it was a good contract offer that was on the table. Geography plays a big part in this. I sometimes think we underestimate that. We all have lives and roots in different places and Axel's roots are up in Manchester. So I'm sure that played a big, big part in it, wanting to get back up there. But yeah, a bit disappointed that Axel's not stayed because when fit, he was one of it, which is best players last season.
20:04Mark Heath:I think he actually made reference in the signing thing to being able to go back up north, being a bit of a pull for him, AJ. What's your take on this? And I guess the next question is, which we've discussed already, but now he's gone, do they need to replace him? Disappointed, naturally, of course. I think that it's also one that does make sense for the reasons that Stu has lined out there for him geographically, for wanting to be in the Premier League. Don't forget on a one-year deal as well, he's mentioned, it has been mentioned rather about the one-year deal being for him to prove his fitness.
20:38It probably also will be a case of Burnley to prove that they can be in the Premier League. So if he goes and has a good season with them, I think by the looks of it, he's coming in to replace CJ Egan-Riley, that kind of right centre-back role. Again, something that I think he's wanted to do. I'm not sure how he's felt about the right-back role. It looks like I think he'd be playing right centre-back at Burnley. So he comes in and does that, has a good season, Burnley go down. Then he's, again, in a situation where he doesn't have those ties. He can go and have another move if he wants to, and he doesn't have that kind of obligation to stay in the hope that Burnley sell him if they're relegated.
21:12So, yeah, I kind of can understand that from his perspective and how that's maybe been put out as a little bit of, well, let's see how his fitness is, and I'm sure Burnley will be seeing that as well. so yeah it is obviously it's a blow and it's disappointing and frustrating i also think that from an ipswich perspective as painful as it is to lose a player of his quality i think there are definitely ways around it and maybe not positives to see a bit but kind of other caveats that come into it you've got to think about his availability as well there have been big issues with that you're coming into a championship season where you're playing much more regularly and if he's going to be a key player not having him um available for portions of the season will hurt um don't forget afcon afcon takes place in in the winter he's gonna potentially miss a month of the campaign just to go and play there that runs from mid-december until mid-january and having had a look at it congo have got pretty easy group and a decent run to get quite deep into that competition he goes away there and he's missing a key part of the season for Burnley if he's called up and plays for that one.
22:20So I think there's that part of it. And as well, as we'll kind of come on to, I think Ipswich are in a good position with their right-sided defensive options as well. So, yeah, I can understand why he's moved on. I am disappointed, but life goes on. And I think Ipswich will be all right.
22:37Mark Heath:Taylor, just sharing, actually, I've just seen the sharing pictures of the players coming back into training this morning. So we're another step closer. We've got Ben Johnson there. Chio is there as well which is good, great to see and I have to say Harry Clark looking in very decent nick indeed I'd love to know, I always say this why don't they screen the bleep test on the first day back, make that a pay-per-view thing I would pay to watch the players to see who would win the bleep test who would be your money on who would your money be on Stuart, get the words out in the right order to win the bleep test today
23:15Stuart Watson:Leif Davis would have to be up there of course Leif yeah ultra fit isn't he up and down that left hand side I believe Cameron Humphreys is one that can run and run and run yeah can they do the keepers separately
23:32Mark Heath:they don't really need to be able to run up and down I'd love to know I want the stats Hutchie if you're out there send me a message he's the one on the sidelines like doing all the data input and everything. Yeah, it just fascinates me. Because clearly in the old days, footballers would come back about four stone overweight because they were just drinking all summer and then they'd spend the first three weeks of pre-season just running, getting the weight off. Whereas now they come back and they're in the same sort of shape as they went away and they get their body fat done, don't they? The canipers come out.
24:04Mark Heath:I'd be fascinated by all the stats behind that.
24:06Stuart Watson:And they all do their extra work and their summer holidays and they hire personal trainers and stuff to take with them on holiday or they go off it's a bit like um people that have to post all their runs on strava on social media it hasn't officially hasn't happened unless you share it with everybody
24:23Mark Heath:else well it also yeah i mean i if you go to the gym and you you've not got your your your wearable tech for example or your heart rate monitor there's no point doing it what's the point it's just as if it never happened if i can't write it down so if i can't put it into my app it means it's never happened um so yeah but obviously we know from from sam morsey they've all had they all went away with workout plans they had to they had to do every single week and hand them in and send them back so i'm sure they're gonna be coming back in in tip-top shape um caused um caused some drama with that tweet that's just gone out they've posted all those photos and they've updated it and taken harry clark's one out of the uh they posted originally it was um i didn't think i'd seen harry yeah and alex palmer and harry clark and then it just says there's a new version of this post harry clark is gone and harry's looking in harry's looking in tip-top condition as well interesting yeah that's a little bit so they've now posted it a third time with harry clark in it okay so who knows what's going on stand down maybe maybe he is being sold to realm i'm not sure right then stew this is a we've we've managed to fill 25 minutes so far before we get to the meat of the podcast which i'm sure is what most people want to talk about we're at various stages of the summer we've passed the fixtures we're about to do the the kit we are now at the why haven't we signed anyone stage um and then from from this we'll probably move to the okay we've signed someone why haven't we signed a striker stage um stew town haven't made a signing yet there've been a few people leaving there's been a little bit of gnashing of teeth the old uh noisy minority on social media, demanding signings.
26:05Mark Heath:I feel that mine, to bring back a phrase I used a lot last summer in the Kieran McKenna saga, let's all calm down, shall we? We already know how strong Town Squad is already before making a signing. They don't need that many signings. Am I wrong, Stu?
26:20Stuart Watson:Thank you for not doing the Harry Enfield Liverpool voice there. So as I said, calm down. So every year it's always the same, isn't it? We get to this little period of the summer where people get a bit twitchy. They just get a little bit bored, really. Everyone loves their football so much. They've got this insatiable appetite for news. And, yeah, we're not getting it at the moment. I've been keeping up to date the sort of transfer in and outs on our website. there's a story that you can bookmark that we've been updating. I've been trying to update on a daily basis. By my reckoning, there's only four clubs left in the Championship who haven't signed a player so far this summer.
27:03Stuart Watson:Ipswich, one of them. The other three are Sheffield Wednesday, who are in absolute crisis, not being able to pay their players at the moment. Talk of players walking away from their contracts. Leicester, without a manager still at the moment. They haven't appointed, have they? Post-Rud van Nistelrooy. and Middlesbrough are the only other one and they've only just appointed Rob Edwards themselves so not many and by my reckon I think we're around the 60 mark for players that have signed totting them up the first thing I'd ask you is go through that list of 60 players that have signed before you sort of go why aren't we signing anyone how many of those would you take how many of those would you say it's which have missed out on them they would they would definitely strengthen our squad.
27:48Stuart Watson:I picked out a handful in a piece that we're going to publish later in the week that I could make a case for, saying that they could improve the squad, but I wouldn't really make an impassioned argument to say that Ipswich have completely dropped the ball with someone that could come in and upgrade the starting XI. So I think that's a starter point to say, why haven't we signed anyone? Tell me out of those who you would have had. Tommy Doyle, most recently, probably would be one that stands out. Just gone to Birmingham. There aren't many, I'd agree. I think the controversial one, and it would not be as a starter, obviously, but he was one of the ones I had listed as a Burgess replacement.
28:32Harry Darling, who's gone somewhere else, let's just say. But when you look through the list as well, and don't forget a lot of these early transfers have been free transfers, and it's been waiting for players to go and leave at the end of their contracts. You've seen that with Burgess and you've seen that with Axel Tuanzerbe. And when you look through the list, a lot of these are free transfers and there aren't that many clubs who are like splashing the cash. And I think Ipswich are not going to really be going heavily down a free transfer route.
29:03Stuart Watson:I liked Kane Kessler-Hayden, who's signed for Coventry, three and a half million pounds, right back. We've just been talking about whether Ipswich need a right back after Axel left. Kwame Poku. Poku, who was obviously linked right winger, who's gone from Peterborough to QPR. So there's a few you could throw in there. But these sort of players, putting the right back situation aside, we're not necessarily talking about Ipswich signing them as out and out starters. It's probably only the central midfielder role that Ipswich are going to be going to and saying, you're going to be a week in, week out starter.
29:38Stuart Watson:for everyone else. And there'll be an honest conversation. You could make that spot your own, but you've got some serious competition. And you've mentioned Harry Darling there, a few others. That's essentially come in, but it's pretty obvious that O'Shea and Greaves are the centre-half partnership. So that's where players are going to weigh up, even if Hitchwich are interested. I'd rather go to Norwich, for example, and play every week. And there'll be a lot of conversations like that. So it is still quite early. This time last year, I look back at it, I think it was Amari Hutchinson, loan becoming a permanent, and Ben Johnson, Bosman free transfer from West Ham.
30:19Stuart Watson:They were the only two transfers done by this stage. Yes, the transfer window opened at the start of June, shut again for a week, and then reopened. It feels like it's been open for quite a while now, but you have to remember the sort of financial year starts in July. and Ipswich pushed themselves to the limit with PSR last year. Mark Ashton's been pretty open about that, that we push things as far as we possibly could within sort of healthy parameters of not being bold and reckless, the comments you made at the very start of the pod. But there wasn't probably a whole load of wriggle room to make early transfers.
31:00Stuart Watson:So really the transfer window opened at the start of July and we're recording this on July the 3rd at the moment. So it is still very early days. I would hope that things will start to, it's normally sort of middle of July that things start to hot up. So yeah, it might be a different conversation if things are all still very quiet in another fortnight or so's time. But at the moment, I'm pretty sanguine about it all.
31:23Mark Heath:Yeah, I feel like with the players now coming back and things starting to tick towards the first pre-season games, this is where you tend to start to see signings. Let me rephrase the question then, Stu, AJ. are you surprised that they've not made a signing yet? Because we know that Mark Ashton, Mr Relentless, likes to get his business done early. He's always said that. So are you surprised that we've not seen a signing yet? No. I think if there was a major player that stood out or a major target, and I know they need to work on the midfield, but I did a piece earlier this week looking at what the strongest town team would be if the season started tomorrow.
32:05I'd be happy taking that starting line up to Birmingham to be perfectly honest. I think it is a strong enough group of 11 players and I don't think it will be that 11 playing. I think that there will be signings in. I'd imagine there's a good chance it could be one or at least two new midfielders, for example. But with that in mind, I think that there's no real rush and pressure to go and get these deals done when other teams in this league aren't going out and pulling off any kind of real eye-catching moves, as she said, especially in midfield. Doyle was the only one that kind of stood out to me going to Birmingham.
32:42So I'm not really surprised, and more than anything, I'm just calm about it. I think if they can get a body through the door before we go to Austria in a fortnight, I think that would be a good enough position to be in. I just don't think that there's that much work to be done. and one of the things that Mark Ashton has spoken about is its retention over signings, and that is going to be a big thing. This squad, for the level, is really, really good, and the importance has to be keeping players together, Amari, Jadon Filagene, Jack Clark. They've proven what they can do at this level, rather than going and adding new players, which they will do.
33:24They will add new players before the start of the season, but I'm not worried or surprised that they haven't done it yet. It's July 3rd. It's fine.
33:32Stuart Watson:Sorry, Mark. I was going to say, I mean, yeah, it's quality over quantity this summer, isn't it? Yes, we want players in early. Ideally, as Alex says, you get them in time for the pre-season training camp away in Austria because that's a time to kind of bond with teammates and to kind of be drilled in the methods, working under a new manager. but wanting to do things early and being able to do things early is two different things if anyone thinks that people behind the scenes are sitting twiddling their thumbs that's naive Kieran McKenna was asked before the West Ham game at the end of the season was being relegated with four games to go does it provide a bit of a head start on next season knowing what division you're in and he said yes absolutely we've had conversations with targets already so those conversations will have been happening probably way back at the start of this calendar year I would imagine um there will be several plates spinning um Mark Ashton has kind of talked about no holidays and relentless attitude and all that sort of stuff and yes there's some dare I say it's like David Brentism to that but But, you know, it's true.
34:50Stuart Watson:You know, there is a really hardworking ethos behind the scenes at Ipswich Town. And that is clear. So they will be doing everything they can. But sometimes you have to wait for the dominoes to fall. Sometimes you have to wait, for example, with local players, Premier League clubs. We've just had a summer where we've had the under 21 Euros, the Club World Cup. then players these clubs will go off to japan and america and all their global tours and some players might be still being given an extra rest so they feel like they need to bring young players and fringe players as kind of squad fillers before and they'll wait till they get players in before they let players out and it's just a bit of a holding pattern so ipswich will have made sure that they're hopefully at the front of the queue for some of these sort of lone players i think McKenna's got enough of a reputation now as a player developer that Ipswich have got that relationship now, that trust to take players so there will be a lot of things frantically happening behind the scenes just a little bit of a waiting game at the moment.
35:50I think that consistency is such an underrated thing in the Championship when you come down how many teams do you see get relegated? I think this will happen with both Leicester and Burnley this year Leicester and Southampton this year or these teams blow into one sometimes, where they've got like five, six, seven, eight players that have to be sold. And there's kind of like these big ticket items, big name players that have to go. Think about when Leeds came down and you saw players like Sinistera playing and he was off and then Nonto went on strike and they lost Tyler Adams and Rodrigo went.
36:25Burnley last year over the summer, they have such a huge squad show. And yeah, I know they still went on and got promoted. They lost Mürich, obviously. Odebert, Sander Burge, Anna Saruri, O'Shea, Weghorst, John Eager. There are so many players that kind of had to go out at that point. With Town, you don't have that same feeling. There is now a consistent core, and I can't think of that many teams that come down from the Premier League with a consistent core of really top-end players that should be staying and aren't going to be realistically on the move this summer. So that's one of the things that excites me.
37:04So just not having a huge summer of change ahead of a relegation into a lower league, I think, can be such a big thing.
37:11Stuart Watson:It's not as exciting, is it? But you have to remember that the step up into the championship, how quiet that transfer window was. Because Ipswich had effectively built their championship squad in League One. They'd done their business in the January with Broadhead, Luongo, Harry Clark, George Hurst. Then the summer rolled round. We were all excited about who they're going to sign now as a second tier club. and all they really did was sign Hurst permanently. Jack Taylor. Wasn't a lot else beyond that, was there, really? Amari on loan. Yeah, Hutchinson on loans. There was bits and pieces, but it wasn't like a major summer of change, was it?
37:50Stuart Watson:They just added little bits and pieces, but really the squad was in place. And you can argue that, again, the business in preparation for this season has already happened. the signings they made last summer were realistically pragmatically with half an eye on the potential for relegation, they built the championship super squad inverted commas at the start of a Premier League season so kind of keeping hold of that as Alex says is just as important if not more so than adding new ones to it
38:20Mark Heath:Consistency is not sexy though is it boys? That's the problem, if anyone says to you, what's the best thing about this team? They're consistent, you go it doesn't really get me going and we understand friends as you listen to this summer is for signing signings are exciting and I'll be honest with you as well friends we quite like a signing because we're starting to run out of as you may have noticed starting to run out of things to talk about and write about so it would you know a signing would be nice but there is there is also an important part of this conversation Stu which you wrote a bit about actually which is just look at how strong the squad already is before they've even made any signings I mean AJ references his starting 11 there.
38:57Mark Heath:You went back and looked at all the bloody accolades. Show me your medals, your awards in the squad already, which is definitely worth reflecting on, isn't it? Because if you look at the level they're going into and what the players they've got, who are definitely going to be here, have already done, it looks pretty bloody good.
39:12Stuart Watson:I'll just whiz through a potential starting XI now, which Alex has kind of put one together. There's probably a debate around one or two players as to who people would go with, but on the whole, you've got Alex Palmer, Championship Golden Glove winner at West Brom last time he had a full season in the championship. You've got Leif Davis, record-breaking assist season for a defender last time he was at this level. Greaves was team of the year for Hull before Ipswich signed him. Darro Shea's just spent two seasons in the Premier League and had Premier League interest this summer. Right back, we didn't really sort of dwell too much on whether Ipswich need an Axel replacement, but at the moment it's Ben Johnson and Harry Clark.
39:54Stuart Watson:Harry Clark played a big role in it, which is promotion last time around. Ben Johnson's never played below the Premier League. He's won a Europa Conference League, played a role in that for West Ham. So maybe people are underestimating, you know, his value in this squad and his ability to step into the right back role. Sam Morsi is Sam Morsi, serial promotion winner throughout his career. We talked about maybe the need for another midfielder in there. Amari's just won the Euro under-21s. Whether he'll stay, we don't know. Connor Chaplin's been, which is the top goal scorer for a couple of seasons in a row prior to the Premier League.
40:34Stuart Watson:The list goes on. Sammy Smodik. Oh, yeah. Sammy Smodik scored 27 goals. Championship top goal scorer last time he was in the league.
40:43Mark Heath:Jack Clark absolutely tore, you know.
40:45Stuart Watson:Lit it up for Sunderland, player of the season for them. and George Hurst, you know, without having one of those kind of accolades to put to him, we're all kind of hopeful from what we've seen that he's more than capable of stepping up. So when you say it out loud and you go through the squad, and that's before we kind of look at some of the injured players coming back and, you know, we haven't mentioned broadhead, et cetera, et cetera in there. It's a pretty good starting point, isn't it? I think recency bias can be a bit of a thing, can't it? because I think you can almost be guilty of putting aside, let's say, Jack Clark, for example.
41:23I've had a couple of debates on Twitter with Jack Clark and what he can bring. And you can almost forget what he's done at championship level when you think, well, Premier League, too lightweight, didn't offer anything, didn't score any goals. He got four assists, but people are surprised when I say he's got four assists that's the most in the league last year. Dane Filagene, too lightweight, only played a handful of goals, scored a lucky brace at Man United. And you can go through and look at kind of different players. I mean, Jacob Greaves, another one, and go through and say, well, they didn't cut it in the Premier League.
41:55It didn't work out. They had poor performances, et cetera, et cetera. The Premier League and the Championship are very, very, very different ballparks. Let's make this clear. You can be one of the best players in the Premier League, sorry, in the Championship, and then just not really be able to find your feet in the Premier League. And there are different circumstances that come in with that, with a handful of Ipswich players. You look at Jack Clarke, late in the window, different role, Jadon Filagene, signed six months later than he should have done, for example. Those are the two that stand out.
42:24But look at what they've done at championship level. You cannot ignore that and you cannot write it off based off the fact that they've struggled against Liverpool and Manchester City and Man United and Chelsea and Arsenal. And you have to factor in, he's scored 40 goals for Sunderland or contributed to 40 goals for Sunderland over the course of two seasons. He was one of the most highly coveted players for Barcelona and whoever he was linked to last summer. He was in the Championship Team of the Year and was linked to West Ham. There's so many different things that you can go through and it's really important not to ignore those because they're not playing Liverpool and City next year.
43:00They're playing respectfully Preston, Charlton and Hull.
43:04Stuart Watson:Luton obviously are the example that people all throw out that you can do a Luton, right? but I think Ipswich are far more likely to do a Burnley slash Sheffield United than they are a Luton next season. I think that's fair to say. Burnley got 24 points when they got relegated. They got 100 last year. Sheffield United got 16. They got 90 last year with a two-point deduction as well, was it? So I think people forget the chasm between Premier League and Championship that is growing. and yeah, like Alex says, the struggles in the Premier League are fresh in people's minds but maybe forgetting just how good these players have been, are proven at Championship level.
43:49Mark Heath:Yeah, just going back to the Axel thing, I feel really good about the right-back spot to be honest. If you look at, as you say, Ben Johnson played in the Championship for the first time, you've got Harry Clark, part of the promotion winning side potentially as a backup and then you've got Dara O'Shea as well you can cover there. Same at left-back with Greaves, isn't it? I think that's a really strong situation there. So for me, I'm quite happy with that. The other thing I'd like to say before we move on is, can we put some respect on Sam Morsey's name, please? Because I'm seeing people saying we've got no ambition because we're not saying they need to replace Morsey.
44:17Mark Heath:This is a guy who did something that has never been done before. Back-to-back promotion winning skipper, yes, he's 33, but he lives the life, as they say in boxing. He's a top-tier, really dedicated athlete. And I think he's earned the right to go again in the midfield next season. I'd be more than happy with that. Friends, I want to talk about, before we move on to potential targets, AJ, because you've been something around that this morning, some quotes from Ashton, which I thought were really interesting, around recruitment, which came up in his TalkSport interview, which was quite good fun, listening to Ashton being interviewed by Simon Jordan, who I think are natural best mates.
44:55Mark Heath:He was asked about the kind of biggest learnings from the Premier League and what they'll take. And he said the biggest one was recruitment. I'll just actually read these quotes because I think they are interesting. So he said, I think it's recruitment, recruitment, recruitment. One of the things that we learned was that the gap in physicality, the physical attributes of players that are required in the Premier League. When we look to recruit players now in the Championship, we have to adjust and amend how we recruit players. We need to look at players with the physical attributes because the reality is Kieran can coach them, but you can't develop the physical attributes to the level you need to compete.
45:26Mark Heath:So it's an evolution for us. We have to look at recruiting a different type of player, a player with a different set of physical attributes. Now, I find this fascinating because we've talked about it a lot and that was, for me, one of the most eye-opening things in the Premier League was just the sheer athleticism and physicality of the players, proper units, real athletes. And to hear Ashton say that, AJ, I thought was really interesting in terms of actually changing the way they recruit to look at that sort of player, obviously with an eye of getting back into the Premier League and doing better than they did.
45:57yeah I think that it's quite easy to be caught out by that and I remember going through some of those recruitment bits I did last year and I was maybe not something that I factored in as well and I think that supporters can be guilty of that and quite often when you look at players and how often do you want to sign the five foot eight dribbly attacking player who's great fun and scores goals and can offer things going forward. Physical profile and attributes can fly on the radar so easily. And I didn't really notice it for the first half of the season. I think I've mentioned this before. The game where it stood out to me was Crystal Palace at home, and they played a 3-4-3 formation, and their three centre-backs, Gehi, Lacroix, and Chalema, would have been, I think, in that game, were colossal.
46:50They're massive. And then I was watching Liam DeLap go up against them. there was three of them there he was kind of just bouncing off them because they're huge guys um that was where it really stood out to me and then you start actually paying attention to it more in games and you look at midfielders who are big physical can drop into the back line can shield the ball can offer the protection there premier league athletes are very different to what you see in any other sport in any other league in football and actually in any other league in the world you don't get the same thing in la liga or syria there are players who have those attributes abroad but it's not leagues that are necessarily known for it when you watch the premier league that's where you start to notice it and um maybe one of the bits that really stood out to me getting to go in all the mixed zones means that you're standing next to the players as they come past i've had that in a few times in the premier league you're just like i'm not i'm not the tallest of people but when you're watching some of these guys come past you're just like Jesus, I'm Connor Chaplin's height.
47:52I can just imagine him bouncing right off of one of them. So, yeah, and that was obviously something that Ipswich missed. I think midfield was the big area for that. Calvin Phillips brought it a bit, wasn't available. Jenski used to have a bit of height, but maybe didn't have the same kind of huge physical prowess about him. Sam Morsey, probably not the tallest as well. So that was one of the areas where you look at it and say, should they have done more there for the physicality side of things? But definitely, it's good that they've come out and said, actually, this is one of the areas we should have been stronger at with the recruitment side of things.
48:28Bodes well for kind of learning going forward ahead of hopefully another Premier League campaign soon.
48:33Stuart Watson:It's not just when you talk about athleticism. We're not just talking about the physical size, which is obviously a big part of it. and I think Ipswich have been undersized at times when you go through a team sometimes and you look at Hutchinson, Chaplin, Morsi, lots of... There's been a bit of height at the back, but you need to supplement that at times and there were some set-piece goals started to go in in the second half of the season. But it's also that it's speed as well, isn't it? When we're talking about athleticism, it's pace. You talk about coming up against people like Alanga and people like that.
49:10Stuart Watson:And that's why Axel, I think, looked at home in the Premier League because he had that athleticism. He was one of the few players that could keep pace with Alanga, even though he ended up swanging his hammy, I think, in a foot race with him. But he was able to do that. And there's very few players that can operate at that level of elite athletes. I did Jason DeZell's book, as you know, and I remember speaking to him about how he would be suited to today's modern game. He was sort of a languid, classy playmaker. Whether, you know, it was a more physical game in terms of what you're allowed to get away with in terms of fouls back in the day.
49:49Stuart Watson:But so would he have enjoyed today's kind of passing game a little bit more? And he sort of said yes, but Premier League clubs now sign players, say sign athletes first that they can develop into footballers rather than signing footballers that you can develop into athletes. And that is essentially what, you know, the quote you just read out from Mark Ashton there, really.
50:10Mark Heath:I think when I talk about athleticism, I mean, what I mean is like, yes, physical size is one part of it, but it's the ability to move with that size and to get around. And, you know, Troy Ore, for example, at Fulham is absolute tank, but his feet are so quick. He's so athletic. You think he's going to be like a tanker, you know, a huge turning circle, slow as molasses, but he was so quick with his feet on the ball. It was unbelievable. And that combination of size and athleticism is incredible in the Premier League. Sorry, AJ, I cut across yourself. I was going to say Keough, I think, in that respect, was a subject missed last year.
50:51Again, did a bit looking at injured players you shouldn't forget about. He tops the list for me. He really feels like a new sign in Clackson. But when you look at his profile as a Premier League player, he's actually done quite well contributing to goals but I think that the goals and the assists that he's scored are just kind of a minor footnote actually in what he offers and that is the perfect Kieran McKenna right-sider that is searing pace that is a real kind of physical presence he's strong he's a big physical guy and you don't really notice that until I watched a few clips of him from the Premier League games at the start of the season and the way he handles himself with the pace that he has then being able to contribute in the final third, then also being able to drop back and support with that kind of profile that he has physically.
51:40Not having him for... How many games did he play? Five? That's such a big miss from Town's perspective. He's one of those I think would have really helped in that regard. So excited to see him next season at least.
51:53Mark Heath:One of the key things I think in that quote as well was Ashton saying McKenna, he can coach players and make them better, but you can't make them physically superior. You either are, there's a saying in basketball, you can't teach height, you can't teach being seven foot. You either are an elite athlete or you're not. And you have a ceiling of athleticism, which can't be changed. You can obviously put weight on, you can put size on, you can make yourself stronger, but everyone has a baseline at which they, or a kind of upper level, which they can reach. And you either are genetically able to be an elite athlete or you're not, unfortunately.
52:29Mark Heath:So it's going to be really interesting to see what they do do with recruitment.
52:32Stuart Watson:They didn't completely neglect that last year. Let's not forget that Liam DeLapp is an absolute bonfire of an athlete. So they got that right. Chio, as you say, they got unlucky with. I think only Mickey van der Ven at Spurs clocked a faster sprint time in a game in the Premier League the previous season than Ogbené. So, you know, Wes is obviously someone who adds that speed down the right. That got taken away. Calvin Phillips is someone who has proven himself to be an elite athlete, which obviously didn't get him at full tilt, unfortunately, last season. I weren't able to get him to full tilt.
53:06Stuart Watson:We'll never know how much of a difference he would have made. So, yeah. And, I mean, like Ben Johnson, I think, is capable of being an elite athlete. He's someone who's got speed and can get up and down as well. So they did think about that last year. I wouldn't say it's something that they completely underestimated. They had a bit of bad luck with it. But, yeah, maybe broadening the market to find some of these athletes is probably something that they need to look at now and casting the net a bit further afield.
53:38Mark Heath:They're after tanks, they're after monsters. Has Ashton been on the phone, Stu?
53:42Stuart Watson:I've told you, all that's gone to absolute pot, mate. I've done absolutely nothing for about eight weeks now.
53:49Mark Heath:Are you saying you are in shape? Round is a shape. Well, yeah. yeah yeah uh aj uh talk to me about recruitment then uh in terms of i asked you to be put your your uh recruitment hat on and and tell me some players who you'd sign this summer or the players you'd sign this summer and you've written a piece this morning which is available for subscribers um and we'll talk about subscribers in a minute so i don't want you to give away the whole the whole farm but do you want to just tease us just tantalize us maybe with a with a name or two you may have thrown into the mix and you're thinking around it?
54:22Mark Heath:Because you not only did signings, who you'd sign, but also who you'd let go or move on. Yeah. I think you tasked me with doing the players I'd signed for. So it's probably thinking I'd come up with like seven or eight, name, name. And I thought, you know what? Let's plan out. Let's do a little recruitment piece here and think about everything. So we factored in squad sizes, the limits, how Ipswich can get around that, what players would need to come in, who would need to go. As things stand, Ipswich have a squad. Stu did this bit a couple of weeks ago where it was 26-man. Axel Twenzebe has left since that piece has gone out.
54:57It's a 25-man squad. They're at the limit. So you're kind of in a one-in, one-out policy. There are ways around that, which you can find out about if you read my bit that I've done. But essentially, that's where they're at at the moment. And there are players who will likely move on in some capacity. Don't think it's any spoilers to say that those players would probably be Kieran Slicker, Elkhorn Baggett, and if possible, Aaron Muric would be the ones you'd probably look at trying to move on, and that would then free up the spots there. So in my mind, I think they probably need four. That's the magic number that I've landed on.
55:34Position-wise, I think you're looking at the Burgess replacement. Two midfielders, I think, is the way to play it. And then a striker. I'm going to, well, I have been going through and doing recruitment bits, looking at eight strikers that Town can sign, eight midfielders, we've had Burgess replacements, we've had Transabbe replacements. They're all there. You can go see them. They're all linked in this piece as well. I'll give you a midfielder because I think that's the sexy one at the moment, isn't it? Weirdly, because it should be strikers and I've gone for an interesting name at striker. I'll tease that.
56:06You have, yeah.
56:07Mark Heath:It was a complete left field one, yeah. Yeah, well, in a way, yeah. I think that there's a good reason why. He's certainly not been discussed. He's not been discussed. but yeah, he's one that I've watched a little bit of now and I really, really like, so go find out who that is. Go have a read. The midfielder that stands out to me and has done for a while, Tyler Morton. I think he's really good, and we've now seen some of it at the Euros. I think he might be in a bit of an Amari situation where people didn't realise how good he was until they watched him at the Euros, and that could then attract some more interest, but I think when I started doing the recruitment stuff, when I was looking at the players, I remember sat in a, I think I've told this story, I sat in a hotel lobby waiting to check in after a win at Bournemouth.
56:48And the player that I landed on then was Tyler Morton. And I think that he is a really strong fit. Let's look at him physically. Six foot tall, has a strong build, has proven himself in the Football League. He's now had two seasons in the Championship, 40 games with Blackburn, 39 with Hull, which means that he also knows some of those players there. He's played with Jadon Philogene and he's played with Jacob Greaves. Could also be a bit of a factor there. He knows a lot of Ipswich players, so that can help as well. Come to an elite academy in Liverpool. He's been there since 2009. We know that Kieran McKenna likes those kind of players.
57:25He's had that background. Can play either side of the two. I just think that him learning from Sam Morsi, developing under Kieran McKenna, getting a strong campaign in what would hopefully be a promotion-winning season at Ipswich, then going on to have a crack at being a regular Premier League player be the perfect trajectory for him probably cost a fair whack i'd say at least 15 million but ipswich don't need to sign that many players which means that you can put more players onto more players more money onto your main targets um he would be right at the top of my list i think and yeah we've seen some of that in the last few weeks of the euros he'd be the one i'd go after but um yeah go have a read of that i've picked out four players i've looked at who can go who could come in and what my final squad would look like.
58:12A nice little graphic which shows a potential line-up and bits like that. Yeah, not a huge amount of work to be done, I don't think.
58:20Mark Heath:It's very much worth a read that. Go and read that if you've not seen it yet. Stewie Tyler Morton, you said before when we did the squad audit, you think midfield is where the majority of the money is going to be spent if it is£15 million or so. Does that seem reasonable to you?
58:34Stuart Watson:Yeah, Hayden Hackney is the one that I would like. I don't know how gettable he would be and what sort of price would be involved with that. A fair chunk of money. I've seen 25 mentioned online. Yeah, so I'd say that's unlikely. I mean, he was one I picked out last summer. He's gone on to have another fantastic season with Middlesbrough. I've just gone on to whoscored.com where you can kind of put in various rudimentary stats. It's not quite as in-depth as the football industry will use, far from it. But, you know, I look at what Ipswich will need. In that role, it's someone who can take the ball from the goalkeeper slash centre-halves, look after the ball that can carry the ball up the pitch.
59:22Stuart Watson:Hackney rates seconds in the Championship last season for total passes. He's high in terms of accurate short and long passes. He's fifth in terms of successful dribbles. So he's got a bit of everything about him. He's young as well. Lots of room for developing. There's the Michael Carrick, Kieran McKenna link as well. Carrick now gone at Middlesbrough. So I'm sure he would be putting in a good word about Ipswich being a destination of choice for him. But yeah, there may be bigger fish in the market for him. And the fee might be a little bit big after relegation. I don't know. but he'd be top on my list for the midfielders.
1:00:04Mark Heath:You talked about it before, AJ, Josh Brownhill, free agent now as well, I believe, he's out of contract at Burnley. Yeah, I mean, that would be brilliant with the experience that he has with what he offers, a goal-scoring record, versatility, being able to play almost as a bit of a second striker, but also then playing a deeper role and score goals, real pedigree. I mean, a midfield with him and Morsi or signing someone else in there would be quite something for sure. I think a little bit ambitious, having seen West Ham links. I'd imagine that there will be some other top side sniffing. I think Rangers, Celtic, one of the old firm clubs was linked with him as well.
1:00:46Yeah, it would be an excellent addition, but one that I think is potentially out of town's reach, given also where his current club are as well in the Premier League and being able to offer that. But if that's the profile of player that Alm will look to attract in the championship, then that's exciting as well. And as I said, they're not going to need to go out and say, here's our budget of, let's say, 30 million to spend this summer. We need to go sign eight, nine, 10 players. And then all of a sudden you're thinking about cutting costs and maybe this player can move on, things like that. No, you're able to put some serious money towards a couple, two, three good players that will actually upgrade the starting line-up from where it was maybe at the end of last season.
1:01:32Stuart Watson:Here's the balancing act this summer, and we're talking about the time frame of things. We want Ipswich to be really ambitious and set their targets high because we're talking about wanting to sign players that not only can hopefully get Ipswich promoted but could then travel with them to the Premier League. by setting your sights high the risk is that you spend all summer chasing them you fall short in them and then you're left with a late scramble and then your options b c and d may have gone and that ship has sailed and it's a bit of a late scramble and no one wants that but what's the alternative is that you kind of go for sort of mid-tier targets straight off the bat just to get them in the door and then you're not quite sure if they're going to carry you in the the medium to long term so that that's probably the balancing act that Ipswich face at the moment um people like Brownhill Hackney they will be the the absolute top tier targets but I guess that Ipswich will have to have a point where they kind of sense that maybe things like that may or may not be possible and I'm just throwing out names that are out there at the moment and move on elsewhere but um I'll tell you someone else you know I did a piece on sort of former targets and whether they might still be viable.
1:02:48Stuart Watson:There's a couple of other names that I forgot about, and I was punching in some of these numbers into the data and stuff and seeing who was coming up. Jason Knight, who Ipswich had a look at when he left Derby for Bristol City in the summer of 2023, which would have been in preparation for the championship promotion season. And he went to Bristol City instead. And he comes out quite nicely in terms of sort of aerials, dribbles, passing stats for a Bristol City side that finished in sixth in the end, didn't they, last season, getting into the playoffs. He signed a four-year deal, so we'll be halfway through that.
1:03:25Stuart Watson:He jumped off the page. And do you remember Stephen Alzate, who was on trial for Ipswich after he got released by Brighton? He comes out quite nicely in the stats for Hull last season. He signed for Hull as a free agent in the end. Versatile, he can sort of play on the left, but I think he ended up playing central midfield quite a bit for them. So there are plenty of options there. It's just how long Ipswich spend on chasing the very, very big targets before they move on. Are we missing one of the former targets that I thought you were going to mention there? I think it's a Mark Heath favourite midfielder who might be suffering relegation from Ligue 1 in France to Ligue 2 in controversial fashion.
1:04:11everyone's favourite midfielder from the States, Tanner Tessman Tanner Tessman man he was linked I think kind of I'd imagine it was from a fairly I can't remember, I think it was a fairly reliable source it was probably someone that Town had on on a list of potential midfielders there and he ticked all the boxes kind of physically but yeah, he's at Lyon isn't he and they are going through a little bit of a crisis at the moment been playing fairly regularly for them 25 games, only 13 starts last season but they might be relegated due to their financial mismanagement stuff, so if they are, maybe he'll be on the move, maybe he does fancy Portman Road after all
1:04:54Mark Heath:Who doesn't? Friends we've managed to fill almost 65 minutes with largely speculation I hope you've enjoyed our chat we threw a few names around at the end there as well AJ's piece, very much worth reading, if you want to see all four players at each time for Itchwich Town go and go and see that you need to be a subscriber though which brings me on to my next point so we are at the the starting point pretty much now of pre-season we've got the fixtures we've got the kits coming out on saturday we know that before we know it they'll be in austria and before after that obviously they've got um aberdeen they've got charlton at colchester they've got all there in france um and we'll be there for all of those friends and to mark this very exciting season hopefully coming up and we've launched our biggest offer on digital subscriptions of the year so as i just said there six pounds for six months gets you everything for that period which would include the boys flying out to austria three-man team in austria uh stewie aj ross in austria and stews in aberdeen with rossi flying back like the jet set to the years to cover the game at Alchester and then file this under the nothing can go wrong file Rossi and Alex are going to France on their own where I'd imagine that AJ is going to have to fill the role of dad in that scenario despite the fact you're about five six years younger than Ross so hopefully you'll be there for that and we'll be bringing everyone behind the scenes stuff from there as well so six pounds six months gets you all of that obviously then gets you all the signings the profiles the she He looks like he wants to say something.
1:06:26Stuart Watson:No, I was just thinking how to word this because we might have some younger ears listening. But the last time I didn't accompany Ross and Alex on a pre-season tour, Ross ended up having a sex aid strapped to his forehead on a train. And that's the sort of behind-the-scenes video content you can get.
1:06:41Mark Heath:You can only get a subscriber.
1:06:42Stuart Watson:Yeah, absolutely. I will be sharing that. By parting with six of your English pounds. Yeah, I will be sharing that on Twitter again this afternoon to plug the deal. The screenshot, the still image of that eventful train journey and there is the full video you can still go and watch it now if you really want to it's still up there go have a look at um ross and yeah who knows what will befall the
1:07:04Mark Heath:young guns in france on their own this time so six pounds six months anyway gets you all of that all of the pre-season stuff all of the signings when they start making them profiles of the signings scouting reports on the signing that aj's going to do and then obviously we take you into the season the big kickoff that takes you deep into the season friends but even better we've got 50 off for the whole year so that's 29 quid for the whole year what's that like two pound 50 a month less than that to cover the entire year so the whole championship season all the promotion celebrations afterwards fingers crossed um it'll take you all the way through into that into into next summer so that deal is live now we've got links all over social media just click on one of those sign up and we'd love to have you on board we've spoken before about why this is important to us print journalism like this advertising like this but online journalism going like this but fortunately there's not a lot of money attached to that so we need to find a way friends i do like getting paid for what i do is find a way of making money a new way of making money and that in this scenario is people paying hopefully you do you'd agree not too much money i mean six pounds six months that's the price of a pint pretty much or less than what i drink anyway seven pound ten i paid for a pint the other day that's an aside um but hopefully you'd agree that's good value and if you do feel able to support us.
1:08:17Mark Heath:I know a lot of you already have. It does mean a lot to us. It is very important to us and the model of journalism for us going forward. So yeah, that offer is live now. Please consider signing up if you haven't already. It just means that we can carry on covering Itstrichtown to the extent that we do. We all love what we do. We're passionate about it, as I'm sure you can tell from listening to this podcast for a while. So it's important, isn't it, Stu? People should sign up, right?
1:08:40Stuart Watson:Yes, please. Yeah. We'll do Alex's player ratings if you don't subscribe you don't get to call out its names every week for giving someone a six instead of seven yeah um so that's a perk uh what else do we do my verdicts that i uh that i stay up and write after every game so you'll get what nearly 50 of those probably over the course of a championship season throwing some cup games as well uh we'll hopefully sort of deliver you plenty of player exclusives along the way uh what's a good example of that calvin phillips last year we did a two-part interview with him that you had to be a subscriber you might chuck in a few prizes along the way as well we've given away some signed shirts and club shop vouchers for people who are subscribers might do some special live podcast access type things along the way so we'll try and give you lots of perks for as you say hopefully not in this day and age six quid doesn't get you very far 29 pounds doesn't get you very far for a whole years worth of all of that.
1:09:44Stuart Watson:Come on, you know it makes sense.
1:09:46Mark Heath:Absolutely, and funny you should mention shirt giveaways there Stu because I think I'm not giving too much away but I think that might be coming down the line with a new kit for subscribers and you have to be a subscriber to enter competitions like that. AJ, anything you want to say about the importance of people signing up to follow what we do? Yeah, everything you guys have said, I mean this should in theory be a really exciting season. We know that last year It was probably a bit of a hard sell for us trying to create content for a season that didn't go to plan. It was difficult and a lot of you didn't care.
1:10:20And that's all right. We understand that. But now there is a reason to care because the fixtures are out, the kit's on the way, signings will be coming. We're going to Austria. You can follow us in Austria. We're going to Scotland. She's going to Scotland. You can follow him in Scotland. We're going to go to France. Hopefully we'll make it back. and you can follow us there and back if we manage to do that. Yeah, there's going to be so much coming. That's already before the start of the season. The£6 for six-month deal will carry you to the January transfer window. It won't sit around that kind of time.
1:10:52I'll give you the first half of the season and it should really be a good one. We're going to try and give you a lot of good exclusive content. We believe we've been doing that consistently for a while now, but there's plenty more to come.
1:11:04Stuart Watson:There's always a reason to care, AJ. It's always a reason to care. If we rain or shine, we've been there, haven't we, for decades as a newspaper, some of us for decades as journalists, and we'll be there again. We go again. It's the soap opera that we live our lives to. It matters because it doesn't matter, and it's our pleasure sort of chronicling it for you and being your friends along the way, hopefully. So stick with us, please. Yeah.
1:11:33Mark Heath:As I wrote in the offer story, obviously now the world's media doesn't care. They're not in the Premier League, not interested. We'll still be there because we've always been there and we always bloody will be there. So sign up and follow town with us if you can. It's great to have you on board. Anything else to mention, friends, before we take our leave? Have you got any other points to mention? Are you off to see Ed Sheeran? I am. That's a week on Saturday, isn't it? Or Friday, Saturday, Sunday, whatever. Quite a busy period, isn't it? We've got that. That's on the Sunday. We're at the Sunday one.
1:12:06standing so if you see me come and say hi uh if you recognize who i am you never know um and then from that we go to austria the week after that we've got a little bit of time up there so we should be able to record some good content if anyone has suggestions of how to fill like 10 hours before flying back after checking let's try check out to flying back on the sunday then let us know we will go and do some tourism in lynn's um i'm off for a bit and then we come back and go to france and i'm terrified of going to france we'll see we'll see what happens my french isn't that good anymore uh we're staying in the hotel opposite somewhere called le pub which sounds good great i love it that sounds great and i really hope that uh ross and i can go and visit le pub and maybe do our um our post match podcasts with a pint at le pub that sounds great and then we get on to the big season start busy few weeks zuta law you're going to be jet
1:13:00Mark Heath:sitting off all over the place. I'm really jealous of you. What I would say, AJ, to alleviate your fear of travelling to France is just a reminder that Ross will be absolutely useless. It'll be entirely falling on you. So good luck with that. Stu, we have, of course, I've just remembered, since we last spoke, we've had the big one. The sports day. How did we get on?
1:13:23Stuart Watson:I finished third, which I'm quite happy with, to be honest. I think I told you my trend had been third, fourth, fifth. so i've reversed the trend i'm moving back in the right direction yeah exactly so um
1:13:36Mark Heath:questions over the winners potential drug cheats i'd imagine probably yeah um for legal reasons
1:13:43Stuart Watson:that's a joke yeah if any of the dads are listening that isn't an accusation please don't sue me and we've not we've not named them anyway so scot free exactly no um i've got a the main thing is it was shorter this year it was a full-on 100 100 meters in previous years which was a bit much I think we all agreed and this year they changed it to like a 50 meter dash sort of thing which which suited us all down to the ground a little bit more but the main thing is I turned to my wife on the sidelines afterwards and she just gave me a little one of those little little nods oh nice and that was more like yeah a little little nod a little nod of approval and it wasn't where I finished I think it was more the aesthetics of my running she was a she was a little bit embarrassed by my sort of chest out weird running style which I think you showed in the picture before so it was it was more the fact that I it's a balancing act between wanting to do well but not not trying too hard yeah and I think I just about trod that line you've been working on your cadence have you the the drive phase and all that kind of stuff yeah no I spent the whole evening watching Usain Bolt videos the night before.
1:14:54Mark Heath:It's how he starts. I mean, to be fair, Bolt, the start was the worst part of his race. Friends, that brings us to the end of today's podcast. We've done an hour and 15 minutes, which is remarkable, given we've really not had a lot to talk about. So just a reminder, before we go, this is important because I keep getting this wrong, and it's frankly an insult. Support our sponsor, Stardust Spirits. Use the code KOA at stardustspirits.co.uk. And I keep mentioning this award-winning product of theirs, and I always fudge what it actually is so i've made sure i've got it to hand it's the biscoff biscuit vodka has won numerous awards in the world drinks awards um and aj that's the one you enjoy so you can 100 say that's bloody good stuff so go and get yourself a bottle of that they do little samplers as well i'd recommend the cascade rum and also the single malt go and get that uh 20 off with the cocaway at sardar spirits.co.uk right and friends we're heading into a weekend where we're going to finally learn what town's kits look like for the coming season it's the next step towards their inevitable domination of the championship give us a follow across social media kings of anglia on youtube instagram x facebook tiktok leave us a five-star review on itunes because we've not had one of those i think since february which is quite frankly a disgrace um and it's not good for our egos not to have reviews telling us how great we are so go and drop a five-star review on itunes just helps us lift this ability wise in the charts and friends we'll be back next week when we'll know what the kit looks like it's going to be blue we reckon with a bit of white and potentially purple away that's aj's big tip have a great weekend friends and we'll speak to you next time
1:16:54Thank you.
1:17:21Thank you.
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From the publisher
The boys chat about the new front of shirt sponsor being unveiled, plus their hopes for the new kits.
There’s a reflection on Axel Tuanzebe’s departure too, before we get into the meat of the pod - Town’s lack of signings, and whether that’s a concern.
We reflect on the strength of the current squad, discuss Mark Ashton’s recent comments about a shift in recruitment ethos, and throw around a few names we’d like to see targeted.
There’s also news of our biggest offer on digital subscriptions this year, plus Stu’s school sports day race.
Kings of Anglia is sponsored by Stardust Spirits. Get 20% OFF with promo code KOA at https://www.stardustspirits.co.uk/
Subscribe on our website to watch the video version of the podcast - https://www.eadt.co.uk/subscribe/
You can shop the KOA range here - (kings-of-anglia.myspreadshop.co.uk)




