555: Kings of Anglia: Town hunt new investment, kits are revealed and the latest sexy stuff

25:06Mark Heath:All right. Anything else to mention, Stu, before we move on from this particular issue?

25:11Stuart Watson:The only thing that I would say would be sort of tinged with sadness for me is that, you know, if and when the pension fund becomes sort of less of a major player, withdraws completely. That will be sort of sad, really, because when that first got announced, a pension fund, everyone goes, why on earth would a pension fund invest in football clubs that lose money? And most football clubs hemorrhage money. And, you know, most people end up walking away with the tail between their legs. And it's proved to be a really smart bit of investment, a great spot from picking up something that was on its arse and an opportunity to turn it around.

25:54Stuart Watson:and that's what they've done. But the messaging of kind of running towards adversity and reminding people where the money's coming from has been a really powerful message. And I think that's kind of, that really underpinned the culture of the rebirth of the club. And then, you know, essentially when it will all fall into the hands of private equity firms that are there to make money and, you know, in the same way, but with slightly different values, that will be that will be slightly different and but i would hope that the the culture and the core values that have underpinned this kind of game changer era will kind of remain regardless of

26:33Mark Heath:who comes and goes yeah good stuff i mean as you say mark steed must be pretty pleased with that investment it's well in the old mustache maybe a little extra extra expensive mustache wax to celebrate um friends so that's that's the finance stuff as we understand it and as i say we are we are trying to get more on that and there will be a bit coming with the without it speaking to karen mcguire as well um should we talk sexy stuff that was that was complicated stuff let's do sexy stuff

26:58Stuart Watson:now i assume by sexy stuff you mean things like this little um little key i've got here in front of me from dissecting brooke johnson's email irr internal rate of return oh yeah e-i-t-d-a earnings before interest taxes depreciation and amortization that was the sort of thing i was getting my teeth stuck into yesterday. Sexy stuff.

27:19Mark Heath:Rub my thighs. The actual sexy stuff, of course, is transfer stuff, AJ. Now, we have had a signing, which we are going to talk about at the end of the show, but it's fair to say, I think, that the more sexy stuff is potential signings, kind of sagas developing. So there's two probably worth talking about. There's Cedric Kipre, which is lovely to say, a defender, potentially on his way in, and also the ongoing Jens Kjusta saga, or as some wag in Rossi's KOA posse chat said, Jens, can you stay? I believe that's Liam. So well played, Liam. Liam H, not Liam from Crew. Good work, sir. Lovely stuff.

27:57Mark Heath:So what's the latest on these? You can bring us up to speed with AJ. Should we do the fun one first? Cedric, keep pray. Yeah. I like the sound of this, and I like the sound of it being quite reliable, and I like the fact that we've had absolutely nothing to work with for far too long and everyone gets irritable. We get loads of messages saying, where's the news? What's going on? Why are there no transfer rumours? Bam, all of a sudden, Le Keep, really low-key, just put out that Ipswich have apparently agreed a deal to sign Cedric Kipro, which is good. We like that. An actual kind of progression there.

28:31It's not interest. They've said that there is a deal there. It's going to be a season-long loan with an obligation to buy if Ipswich are promoted to the Premier League, which is 4.5 million euros. That transfers to just under 4 million pounds for Cedric Kipre. Not something we've been able to get a huge amount of concrete information on, but A, it's reliable, and B, I think we've kind of got that feeling that there is going to be something in this one. So one to watch for sure. In terms of the profile that he brings, he ticks a lot of the boxes. I've seen different kind of reports on his height.

29:05I think it's either 6 '4 or 6 '5. Either way, height, big boy, check. Strong, physical, centre-back, right-footed centre-back. Now, you might be thinking, ooh, Axel Twanzerbe, kind of that versatile. Can he play right-back as well? No, don't think so. I think he's the Cameron Burgess replacement is the way that it's kind of looking with this. Yes, he's a right-footer, but his time at Rennes, where he is at the moment, at least until any sort of deal with Ipswich has signed off, he's been playing on the left. He's also played centre of a back five as well. Previous experience, Ross has done a tweet looking at where he's played, the town players he's played with before.

29:45There are loads in loads of different spells. The key one is he's basically joining the ex-West Brom crew of players, which includes Connor Townsend, the other signing, who we'll talk about at the end of the pod, who else? Dara O'Shea and somebody remind me who my name is. Alex Palmer. Alex Palmer, of course. So, yeah, with all of those, he would kind of join that. We remember talking when Ipswich played West Brom. Remember the Hawthorns? And we spoke about the experience and the physicality and how incredibly solid defensively they were. And there are now key figures who have either been linked or now are at the club.

30:24So that's really exciting. He's made about 174 appearances at championship level, I believe it is. He's played for Wigan. He's played for West Brom, of course, and he's had a spell at Cardiff. He's a senior international. He made his international debut for the Ivory Coast last month. And now after this season in Ligue 1, it looks like he's going to move on. Ren were relegated from Ligue 1. After a playoff game, he had an assist and a couple of red cards in that season. But overall, from a physical profile and from what he can offer to step into the Cameron Burgess void, I think it looks like a really smart bit of business if this is one that Ipswich are going to get over the line.

31:07How old is he and what's the damage? 28. What are we talking? Damage, sorry? In terms of bunts, cost. Well, yeah, so 28 and then it's a loan for the season. If Ipswich are promoted, 4.5 million euros on an obligation to buy, which is about just under 4 million pounds. I think it's about 3.9 million.

31:28Mark Heath:Okay. Stu, Cedric Keeper seems to fit the bill.

31:31Stuart Watson:Yeah, I've seen some varied responses to this One is you're now seeing a lot of Well, he won't be good enough for the Premier League He's going to now get thrown away with a lot of signings And I remind you that we have to get there first Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves Everyone has to now be players that are going to be able to cut it in the Premier League We've got to get back there and not every player is going to have to be, is going to be a star starting every week signing. The reason Cameron Burgess left is because he's got Jacob Grease in front of him, but you do still need those squad numbers because we know over the course of a 46-game championship season with cup games on top, it's gruelling.

32:22Stuart Watson:There will be some rotation required. There will be some injuries required. If you think back to the championship promotion season, there were certain games where out of nowhere, George Edmondson would suddenly be putting to the team, certainly for midweek games, I seem to recall, and come in and do a really solid job. So, yeah, versatile. I think Alex is right. I think looking at where he's played the majority of his football, I think he is probably the Burgess-type replacement, but maybe he might be able to, the versatility of, you know, potentially being able to play that hybrid sort of centre-back slash right back role of Axel Twenzevy if it ever looks a bit more back fivey at times might be able to do that as well, we'll have to see but yeah, championship experience won't break the bank and he seems to be from all reports another one of these lovely guy top human being, all of that glowing praise which fits in with the values of the club athletic profile that we've all been talking about post Premier League so we'd tick that box so yeah I would say sensible on a number of counts, this one, if it is to happen.

33:33Mark Heath:Yep. So obviously the boys are going to be looking into that in more detail today. Obviously Jens as well. We'll come back to AJ. The Jens-Cayuste starting to become a bit of a saga now because I think it was over the weekend, Sunday, wasn't it? Saturday, Sunday, that our mate Fabrizio said he was off to Besiktas medical sword on his way. Looks like it was all done and dusted. But hey, it's not as it stands. No, it's not. And this is the, I mean, it's starting to become a bit of a saga. I think it is a saga now and has been for a few days. It kind of becomes a bit of Chinese whispers and you have different sources that come in and we've heard different things.

34:12Yes, that's what Fabrizio Romano said over the weekend. And there's since been reports that Jens Kijusta has stalled the move from Napoli to Besiktas. the reports from Italy said that was after an inquiry from Ipswich, which obviously kind of brought up some questions as well. If they're inquiring about him now, was he's on a plane to Turkey? Mark Ashton said that the talks have been ongoing for a while. Ultimately, Jenski used to have the decision to make and he used to see what the right terms are for him and his family and where to go. All of those different things. That's going to be financially.

34:48That's going to be in terms of game time. That's going to be the league that he's in. We know that he wants to try different things and play in different leagues as well. So essentially, as I see it, there are kind of five major, six actually, if you include Ipswich, and there's six major players in this, which is crazy. We've seen Sevilla have been offered him, Crystal Palace and Aston Villa. Both have, Schicktas are kind of the more recent ones, and they were the ones that had agreed the deal. Then Ipswich as well in there. Also, not forgetting that I've seen them linked to Udinese and Ajax as well, but we'll put those two aside.

35:20and then the other team that has been mentioned quite a lot is Burnley as well I know TWTD who've done a bit on Jenski mentioned him as Burnley is one of the favourites so there's still a lot of teams at the table there's still a lot of players in this one and I think that essentially we're at a point where Jenski has to make a decision is it going to be Turkey? is there Premier League interest? what does that mean in terms of his game time? are Burnley going to ruin and break Towns' hearts again for what feels like about the eighth time in the last year. Yeah, there's all a few question marks over this one, but Town's still seemingly keen to bring him in, but facing a lot of competition to do it.

36:03Mark Heath:Yeah, piss off, Burnley. See, what's your take on the QC stuff?

36:07Stuart Watson:Burnley just being spiteful now. Yeah, just do it out of spite. I saw a tweet saying that... Yeah, I saw a tweet... I can't remember who posted it now, so sorry, but I saw a tweet saying that they'll be having Ed Sheeran playing there instead of Portman Road over the weekend as well. Be up at

36:23Mark Heath:Turf Moor. What's your take? I mean, we've obviously spoken about Jens a lot and we've said what a good player was in the Premier League. Clearly he was. But there is obviously an issue around the knee situation with him. And in the Championship, there's a lot more game, just a lot more intense. Do you, kind of in terms of signing, do you think that he is the best kind of option still? And what I'm saying is if Towne miss out on him, how much of a blow is that?

36:54Stuart Watson:I'd like him back because we've all seen what a classy player he is, but on the right deal, which is clearly what Mark Ashton has said. They've been pretty open. I think all parties have been pretty open that he's had to really carefully manage his knee. Brentford pulled the plug on it last summer for that reason. It looked like they got him robust over the course of the season. you know Axel's a great example of someone who came not in not not able to rattle out games and I can say got to that stage I think he was quite unfortunate with with the way last season went because he you know his feeling is that were it not for that freak thumb injury it wouldn't have knocked him back in terms of the rhythm of his season and then probably the hamstring injuries wouldn't have followed we'll never know but Jens was getting to the stage where he's playing Saturday, Tuesday games.

37:46Stuart Watson:And maybe that's what you need. Some players need the rhythm of games to stay fit. The stop-start nature of football sometimes can make you more likely to get injured. So I don't know. But we don't know the full medical history and what the risk is involved in that. Obviously, there is an element of risk there. But if there wasn't, if we were talking about Jenske used to having no physical issues and the knee problem wasn't there, Ipswich would have no chance of getting him next year from what he's shown in the Premier League. So it's whether Ipswich will know him better than anyone else. So they'll know where to draw the line financially in this.

38:28Stuart Watson:But this saga could continue yet. Who's to say Jenski used to get to a medical stage elsewhere and, you know, they decide that things are uncovered and they decide to look at things as well. I don't know. So it's not a deal that I've managed to get particularly close to this summer. I hope it gets concluded sooner rather than later. I hope it's not one where Ipswich are waiting and waiting on that. And then there's a potential for other targets to go elsewhere in the meantime. And then suddenly, you know, you're left scrambling. That's the fear here. But I'm still relatively relaxed as we sit here on July the 10th, that it's quality over quantity, all the things that we've discussed, and there's still plenty of time.

39:10Mark Heath:yeah um on that note as i said about axel to i would say directly to jens don't go to turkey jens you know i know you're a world traveler um it's my least favorite country i've ever been to and i've been to russia um aj i think it's a good point actually to tease a pod special we put out earlier this week uh students mentioned they're kind of being rather sanguine about the uh the signing situation and you had a really interesting chat actually with um with ali off not the top 20 podcast who basically said the same kind of thing and he gave i thought he gave some really good insight into other clubs in the championship and how they're set up and there was one line I think it was something around around making signings by July the 8th or whenever you spoke to him it's not a silver bullet generally means you're doing that because you have to whereas town are probably in a different boat yeah exactly that and I think that it all comes down to looking at the squad and you You can't ignore the quality that Town have in their squad and the fact that, yes, there have been departures, but you're looking at, for example, let's take Norwich.

40:13They're a really good one in this case, where they've done quite a lot of early business, but they've lost key players. Borja Sainz is currently on a plane to Porto to go sign to them for£14 million. They're losing about, what, he scored 18 goals in the Championship last season? And other clubs have the same thing. You're looking at Sheffield United of losing. Vinicius Souza is going to go to Wolfsburg. I think that one's already been done. Other clubs are going to have this same thing. Southampton will have it. And who's the other one? I think of Leicester as well. I mean, Leicester still don't have a manager.

40:45They'll appoint one. Marty Stiefwentes coming in by the sounds of it. But yeah, so the fact that Ipswich have right now made one signing who probably isn't going to have loads of minutes next season, we should say. by what is July 10th, and hopefully we'll have one coming in, I'd hope in the next few days, doesn't mean that it's a reason to panic, and history has shown that as well. So, yeah, it was really good to talk to Ali. We went through, we spoke about Ipswich, what the expectations are, kind of had a little bit of a deep dive through the squad and the tag of championship all-stars and the way that's been compared to maybe some of the other teams that we've seen in previous years, back at last season's championship, because not many town fans cared about the championship last year.

41:31And a little bit as well, going through some of the other major players, Sheffield United, Southampton, Leicester, what are Birmingham and Brexham going to be like? So we went through, did all that, spoke about it. Ali's research is brilliant. He watches more football than I do, I think, which is saying something. So go have a listen to that one. Yeah, on all your usual podcast platforms.

41:54Mark Heath:Yeah, really, really interesting. Lots of really good knowledge. knowledge that I will now be assimilating and claiming as my own going forward when it comes to the championship set up next season. Yes, Stu?

42:03Stuart Watson:I'm just saying, everyone gets excited about lots of new shiny things every year. We all fall into the trap of it as football fans. Yeah.

42:16But stability, I've said it before, haven't I?

42:21Stuart Watson:The championship promotion season, they didn't do barely anything. I always think back to, I probably fell into the trap of it after Mick McCarthy went and Paul Hurst came in. Do you remember how excited we're all talking about Caden Jackson's meant to be really good and Ellis Harrison's this, that and the other. And they signed a whole bunch of players and that didn't work out. And I'm not comparing apples and pears in terms of the budget and where those players have come from, etc. But just seeing a whole load of new players doesn't necessarily mean good things. How long did it take after Paul Cook's demolition man, Samma Fripswich, to get that first win after a really slow start that ultimately cost Paul Cook his job?

43:01Stuart Watson:I think the number of changes last year with 12 players coming in didn't necessarily help with integration. So everything a bit quieter, steadier. The bulk of the squad reporting for the start of pre-season is not a bad thing.

43:16Mark Heath:I agree, but it's not sexy, is it, as we say? Stability doesn't get the old going, does it? just got a war stability for um anyway let's talk about something which we're hoping was sexy i'm not so sure it was in the end uh the kit reveal on saturday um the kits are out i want to get your take on this boys um because i have fairly fairly strong views um shall we start with the the home kit which i'll flash up on screen i mean what a surprise it's blue um here we are with Sammy Smollicks there demonstrating said kit with the new obviously front of shirt sponsor Halo. Got some kind of diagonal pattern which we kind of knew about on the main body of the shirt.

43:55Mark Heath:The sleeves are plain with a white cuff I suppose and then obviously you've got the tingly Ted's logo on the left sleeve which is the sleeve sponsor. Just going to flash up a few more pictures while we talk about it. I suppose you get the most excited about kits aj what did you make of this this home kit i like it i think it's slick i think that um a couple of points that stand out to me for starters the sponsor had to be right didn't it and losing we spoke about this before losing the the ed sheeran sponsorship which is such a kind of iconic one you have to have something that isn't ugly basically obviously it has to be the right company and ips which done really well at doing that but crucially i also think that the halo sponsor looks really slick on the shirts um you don't want anything magical vegas you don't want anything like that that's going to stand out too much um the other thing i'd say is within it being a slick shirt does that give anyone a few kind of rangers vibes especially with the the cuffs it's got kind of if you bring it up again have a look and it's kind of got the white and it's got red on it as well yeah it looks a little bit rangers to me um which i'm not against i don't mind rangers and um yeah i can already see stew is typing away to go and have a look at some rangers kits as we as we speak but yeah that's kind of the vibe that i get but overall with the home shirt it's slick it's simple it's what home shirt i think should be and i like it yeah stew um you're an old grumpy git like myself um we don't get that excited about kits these days um what did you make

45:31Stuart Watson:of the home kit i like it the thing i like most is the long sleeved option oh long sleeves that's the thing that i'm enjoying the most um cheer ben a modeling that in the in the kit launch video and pictures uh love a long sleeved option um my only fear with long sleeved is that you then get half some of them wearing long sleeves some wearing short sleeve but with the under armour underneath it I think there's rules that you have to have matching colour don't you if you do that but um yeah I like it I think it's um I was just look the reason I was tapping away was I was just seeing I think it's sort of in the 80s those that little red pinstripe in the the detailing around the collars and the sleeves and stuff is a kind of nod back to some of the 80s kits isn't it so um yeah clean crisp a little bit of detailing in the background like you're saying nice white sponsor local sponsors the ed sheeran logo on the sleeve doesn't doesn't stand out too much so um a lot to like about this i think that's gonna gonna sell a lot of shirts give me a score out of 10 um nine wow nine yeah yeah i don't think you can do i personally i don't love loads of red in ipswich kits but i'm just not a red man which will bring us on to the away one in a moment but um i prefer to do a little bit more yellow detailing as i've said before but yeah what else what else do you want more from a from a from a kit just want it to be

47:05Mark Heath:better if i'm honest um i would give it a seven it's it's all right just all right as far as i'd go aj go straight down the middle and being boring with an eight i like it but unfortunately my levels are also quite high because i've seen what umbro have done for for cambridge united and here he is going on about cambridge united again sorry they're lovely even you admitted it i like the black and gold that's what i'm talking about i like stuff like that um right then uh let's do the away shall we see i'm going to come to you first because i'm going to flash this up here this uh here's sophie peskett modeling it um i think i hate it uh i haven't seen it in person yet which obviously would make a usually makes a bit of a difference but i really do not like it at all um i'd like it a lot more if you took the sleeves and made that the main body of the shirt and then made the sleeves red um red's just not a not not a vibe for me um what are you saying

48:06Stuart Watson:stew well when this leaked a few days before there was a picture of it i think we all assumed it was the goalkeeper kit because it was the long sleeved version and the sort of the jazzy sleeves make it look a bit goalkeeper-y um it's very sort of bright primary color red isn't it um as i said i'm i'm not a red guy so it was never going to excite me um i guess the players will like wearing it because it's quite quite bright and players quite like bright kits yeah that's a good point spotting each other on the pitch remember that's i've heard various players and managers talk about that over time, but I'm with you.

48:44Stuart Watson:I don't love this one. I'll be interested to see if I warm to it more when I see it in person.

48:50Mark Heath:I mean, that's one of the things I remember that the player said about the bright orange away kit, that they liked it because it was so easy to see each other. So, AJ, me and Stu, you say you're not taken with this. I actively don't like it. As I say, I'd much prefer it to be switched with the sleeves as the main body the shirt that would make it interesting at least um aj your your thoughts please i personally i think if they they switch the the body and the sleeves i still think it would look pretty bad to be perfectly honest i i don't think that i like the pattern on the sleeves if it was a training kit i wouldn't be that opposed to it or the goalkeeper kit as we've said but yeah this one isn't as much for me again you've got the kind of the main bits which is the sponsor is not hideous but the sleeves are what really puts me off, if it was just a straight red I wouldn't mind it that much, if we just got rid of the sleeve pattern which I think is a little bit strange and had it as a straight red shirt, I know it would be a bit boring and people would complain oh it's not on the air and I understand that but I think that that would just work, I like slick simple kits and spit much

50:02Stuart Watson:The pattern on the sleeve is, I can't really see it that much in the pictures but I think it's the similar to the pattern that runs through the home shirt as well it's to do with kind of the sort of the bits of the crest isn't it you can kind of see the the sort of the bits of the uh the crest sort of thing sort of mashed in so it's meant to be a bit of an ipswich nod in there it's not easy to tell from the pictures but um yeah i i think you know we've all said it there and by general consensus people seem to be more keen on the the home shirt and than the away this time around.

50:34Mark Heath:That's very diplomatic, Stu. Well done. That's what I do. Score-wise, I'm giving this a three. Three out of ten. It might change when I see it in person. I remember when I saw the... I didn't particularly like the orange away kit when it was first released, but then I saw it in person and I thought it had a pop to it. I don't think even seeing it in person is going to change my opinion on this. So I'm going three out of ten. Stu, what are you saying? Five. AJ? I was going to say it anyway, but again, it's going to look like I'm repeating myself for going down the middle. The one thing I will say as well is that when we spoke about our kit predictions before, I went quite punchy and said, I think that the third shirt, which we haven't got yet, but yeah, will be purple.

51:16Now, I don't think it will be anymore, because has anyone seen the goalkeeper kit? I haven't gone on sale, but it was a photo, and it is purple. There it is on my phone. So there you go. I'm quite happy that I've made a prediction that we will have some purple Ipswich stuff and it has come to fruition.

51:34Mark Heath:I quite like that purple kit, if I'm honest. That's the sort of thing I'm talking about. You're going to get the goalkeeper kit. Well, no. I can't remember the last time I bought a kit. I think I'm slightly too old. The other thing I do like about it, I saw a note that said that these kits fit larger than normal, which is a good thing because I don't like seeing kits that are made to be worn by athletes, worn by people who aren't athletes, shall we say, diplomatically. So the fact they're going to fit slightly larger, I think, is a good thing. Sorry, Stu. I was going to say

52:02Stuart Watson:they will make a third kit because commercially it makes sense we all hark back to the days where maybe there was, you changed your home and away kit every two years and you rotated it a little bit but it's the world we live in now where most clubs pump out three kits a year which will normally release their third one a bit further down the line, will there be any need for it? Is there anything I'm trying to think, red and blue there won't be a need for it but they didn't need to have the pink kit last year and they wore the pink kit a lot more than they wore the claret kit i wouldn't be surprised if we get a third shirt before the start of the season that we might not see that much of the red actually and it might be one where even though they can wear or yeah where they can wear that they might go for the third shirt like they did in the premier league where i think we have a lot more memories of them being pretty and pink than wearing the maroon one it's going to be white in it like we said it's going

53:03Mark Heath:to be white with splotches of tingly teds on it i reckon just like well ed's doing his he does his

53:11Stuart Watson:art doesn't he he has a big sort of um warehouse where he just basically puts a hazmat on and splashes dulux paint all over canvases and sells it and raises money for charity and art funding art and that's all great stuff but maybe maybe maybe that would be the third shirt this year it's just ed flinging loads of tingly ted sauce all over exactly abstract arty that'll

53:34Mark Heath:be a hundred pounds please um let's get the call me ted boys involved that'd be good wouldn't it they produce some wonderful artwork for the uh the programs of various bits um that'd be excellent but of course these kits were approved a long time ago so i'll have to wait and see what happens there the only other thing left to talk about this week friends is a signing i can't believe we've got 53 minutes into a show we're talking about it was just making their first signing of the summer and the reason for that is of course because it was thoroughly underwhelming um a keeper third slash fourth string keeper they need a keeper because they probably want to send karen slicker out on loan um i'll come to you aj i've just written button down and now i can't get jensen button jensen button out of my head it's david button isn't it i've completely forgotten which probably speaks to the level of excitement around the signing.

54:22Stuart Watson:I can't get Benjamin out of my head. Benjamin Button, yeah. I'd be ideal if they did sign him, because then he'd be one for the future, wouldn't he? So he's 36, isn't he?

54:32Mark Heath:So yeah, he's got a few good years ahead of him if he's aging Benjamin Buttonway. Yeah, that would be good. No, it's a 36-year-old goalkeeper. I want to just tie into this with a little bit of another transfer room. We didn't really touch on that much. Arrows been linked with a move away as well. We've had interest. apparently this came from a German publication he mentioned it was newly promoted Serie A side Sassuolo in Monaco apparently there's been an offer from Sassuolo so that one came in from a German publication wouldn't be surprised at all to see Arrow out of the door this summer I think it's more likely to happen than not but there obviously needs to be terms agreed for that one whether it be a loan or a permanent or what and the goalkeeper department in general is where the question mark is isn't it at the moment where we know realistically, hopefully it'll be Alex Palmer and Christian Walton as the two main ones.

55:24But Kieran Slicker is in desperate need of a loan. He spent the last year being a full-time housemate to Liam De Lappe, a part-time footballer basically, which then saw him get thrown in for Scotland on his debut before making a club debut, which is crazy. And he just wasn't up to it. And that's not down to his ability. It's the fact that he needs to go out and be able to play regularly and not be tested against senior international players. So he needs to go out and have a lone brilliant goalkeeper, I think, for his age and just needs that. And then if Arrow moves on as well, suddenly he'd be down to two.

56:01And Kieran McKenna likes to carry three senior goalkeepers. And that's where David Button comes in. Had quite a journey. He's a Tottenham Academy graduate who's been on loan at most clubs in and around the London area. stayed at Tottenham for quite a while I need to go get my notes up on this now as well and then kind of ended up making his Premier League debut when he was at Brighton he'd been at Brentford which was kind of his first spell as an established goalkeeper permanent club and then also gone to Fulham then went to Brighton after that made his Premier League debut played in the Premier League a bit with West Brom where he played behind the aforementioned West Bromwich mishmash of players there, left them after there was quite a lot of competition at that point.

56:50Alex Palmer as well was becoming quite prominent at West Brom and then ended up going to Reading, Reading in all sorts of financial difficulties. I don't think the fans thought he was brilliant, but they really appreciated him being the number one in a really difficult time and making sure that with all their financial difficulties, they didn't drop into League Two. So after leaving Reading, following their takeover, he's at Town, where he will be, I would imagine, the third-choice goalkeeper next season, and will also kind of have that kind of coaching and mentoring role, which will be good for him.

57:23We've spoken a bit about that kind of being the pathway for older players at Ipswich. So he'll be able to offer cover if needed, he'll be able to step in, but also will be able to kind of train, mentor young goalkeepers as well. Seems a good guy, as we've kind of spoken about, needs to be. Ticks a lot of boxes. It's not sexy, is it, necessarily, but it's what's needed, and I don't think we can complain too much.

57:46Mark Heath:He's a bloody good egg, and he looks like an egg as well. Hey. Hey, Stewie. You got any thoughts on this? So much bullshit today. Yeah, you can talk about scalp wax with him, I guess.

57:57Stuart Watson:Could do, yeah. Can you play up front? Has he ever done that?

58:05Stuart Watson:Yeah, well, this basically kind of confirms what we've all known for a while, that at least one of the senior goalkeepers will leave, most likely Aro Müric. Alex has mentioned the links there. That's definitely got Matteo Serrini vibes, isn't it? He went on loan to Brescia, I think, wasn't it, after Ipswich's relegation from the Premier League last time around at the start of the long goodbye. Do Ipswich need three senior goalkeepers? When we've been looking at this 25-man squad restriction and how people like Cameron Humphreys and Amari Hutchinson count towards that now and all loan players count towards it no matter what age there's a little bit of work to be done to fit within that given the players that we we think Ipswich need in terms of midfield strikers so carrying registering three senior goalkeepers would I think restrict you elsewhere so I don't even know if it's guaranteed that David Button will be registered I think he's maybe just been signed to basically be a glorified training goalkeeper Rene Gilmartin likes to train with at least three Slicker will go out on loan Mürich will will almost certainly go if he doesn't Christian Walton you would imagine would push for an exit but my feeling is it would be Mürich um and then uh yeah as you say there's the the coaching part coaching pathway there as well David Martin was kind of fulfilling that role last season he's now left so um yeah it's it's a it's a a necessary signing but not one that gets the blood pumping that's for sure absolutely it is what it is to use a great football cliche

59:44Mark Heath:anything else to mention friends before we start to think about wrapping this up any other items on your to discuss list no are you looking forward to ed this weekend alex I am yeah I've enjoyed all the road warnings and things like the Orwell bridge will be shut which I think it mostly is and stuff like that so looking forward to having that drive and all the traffic but it should be good I would imagine that he will be wearing the new third shirt and bring on the string of signings which are going to make on the stage can you just imagine just a confused load of Ed Sheeran fans watching Kitbrae being brought onto the stage in the new third show thinking, what is going on here?

1:00:28That would be fantastic. I would love it. I don't think it is actually going to happen, but it should be good anyway. Looking forward to it.

1:00:34Mark Heath:Stu, you got anything going on?

1:00:38Stuart Watson:No, I'm not going to Ed Sheeran. I did have a look at some of the last minute, some more tickets went on sale, but couldn't quite justify it financially. But I hope everyone who's going enjoys themselves. I'm going to enjoy my last free weekend for the foreseeable, really, next 10 months or so of the year, because after this weekend, we're back into it. The team fly out to Austria on Monday. This coming Monday it will be, won't it? And then we'll have the first pre-season game in Linz a week on Saturday. So, yeah, and then it all just picks up momentum from there.

1:01:17Mark Heath:Oh, it does. I've seen it three times, of course. I was there before he was cool. Just saying. Boys, do you want to finish with a tale of extraordinary extravagance and foolishness from myself? Please. What's the most friends you've ever spent on two drinks?

1:01:37Mark Heath:Ballpark it. 20, 25. Okay. Sue, any thoughts? Any advance?

1:01:44Stuart Watson:Yeah, maybe pushing 30 quid in some sort of fancy bar maybe in London.

1:01:49Mark Heath:Do you know how much I spent on two glasses of champagne on Friday? Go on. Last Friday? £54. That's too much. Well, yeah, it was slightly foolish of me. It was my wife and I. Was it good? It was good. I mean, it better be bloody good. It was like that scene in, what's it called? Peep Show, you know, where Jez goes out and he accidentally buys an expensive bottle of wine and the waiter pours and he goes, that's a five is worth right there. That's exactly what I was thinking as I was drinking it. Essentially, we went out. it's my wife's uh and i's 16th wedding anniversary we always go out to a nice posh restaurant and we went to a place called upstart upstairs in litchfield which was tremendous um and in these type of places they really look after you it's part of the you know the service is all part of the michelin star level attraction so we get there they've they've got a card on the table for us signed by all the people and the head chef and that kind of stuff that's lovely and then they go can we start you off with a with a glass of champagne for because it's a celebration and foolishly because we're both a bit kind of giddy we both went yeah that'd be great and then the realization hits as it arrives at the table we haven't checked the price on this we don't know we haven't even seen the wine list julie get the wine list 54 bloody quid anyway so uh that's what we did uh i would highly recommend the restaurant i'd also highly recommend litchfield cathedral friends one of the most staggering buildings i've ever seen took 150 years to make to make to build um so if you are ever kind of heading out that way looking for a nice restaurant to go to upstairs in lichfield add that one to your list um anything else boys no neither of you neither of you really passed kind of judgment on that i was hoping for a little

1:03:28Stuart Watson:bit more like ribbing but the uh the spend i how much did that kind of take the edge off your night how much how were you able to kind of let it go how often did it come into your mind well it became

1:03:40Mark Heath:it was one of those things where obviously we knew we were going to spend quite a lot of money anyway on the meal um and it became sort of it's become now a running joke between the two of us um because you know that is ridiculous to spend so if i spent that on a bottle of wine for example i would say that was an expensive bottle of wine um but for two two glasses of champers i mean it was good champagne but um i didn't even really like champagne if i'm honest i i'd prefer the glass of prosecco champagne has to be generally quite expensive before it gets decent so uh anyway that's that's me friends an idiot um friends uh just to remind support we talk about extravagance support our sponsor use the code koa at stardustspirits.co.uk to get 20 off all the

1:04:22Stuart Watson:excellent items hey mark yeah how much was that champagne again it's 54 pounds 54 pounds yeah That would get you...

1:04:32Mark Heath:Everything.

1:04:33Stuart Watson:£54. That would get you two years' worth of subscription. Oh, hello. Here he is. Under the current offer that we've got at the moment. Yes. That champagne gone in a matter of seconds.

1:04:46Mark Heath:Yeah. I mean, we really nursed it. Yeah, but yeah.

1:04:50Stuart Watson:Yeah. That gets you two full years at the moment, or two of you. It doesn't quite work that way, so it doesn't really work. But anyway, two of you could get six months each. subscription to the East Anglian Daily Times. Was it£29

1:05:05Mark Heath:for the year? £2.50 a month less than, friends. It's a great point to raise, Stu, as we end the show. Our biggest offer of the year running now. What a great time to sign up because things are starting to happen. The boys are about to go jet-setting off to Austria, to Aberdeen and then to Ausair. The boys will be there. We'll have a full team in Austria. Then Rossi and Stu will be in Aberdeen. And then, as I've said, before rossie and aj will hopefully make it to orzer and back in one piece um that'll be coming as well so six pound for six months is one part of the deal which obviously if you sign up now will take you all the way into into january or 29 pounds for a full year the whole season what season it's going to be hopefully um it'll take you into clearly this time next year when we'll be hopefully looking at some much improved kits um so that that deal is live now it's across our across our social medias and there's all sorts of links and signups so if you do feel able to support us um it's great it's very important to us in terms of the future of what we do um so as i say if you think what we do is worth let's be honest six pounds not a lot um that for six months or even 29 pound for a year um again i spent considerably more than that on champagne which is foolish but 29 pounds feels hopefully like good value uh also to mention i was in the middle of it um starter spirits use the code k at starter spirits.co.uk um and get your hands on particularly the the biscoff biscuit vodka which is one all sorts of awards in the world drinks awards um which aj can also heartily recommend uh and also friends if you can leave us a fire story over in itunes that'd be great we've not had a lot of those recently just helps us lift visibility wise in the charts and boost our fragile egos uh and also follow us across all social media's kings on youtube instagram twitter x facebook tiktok i think that's all of them um friends we've had a lot to talk about today hopefully we've we've explained the finance thing half decently as i say we are trying to get some more um more interviews and questions asked around that um transfers we may be on the verge of a signing you never know keep an eye on that and obviously everything else we talked about the kit as well and an actual signing so things are happening we are moving now towards ipswich town football returning as she says this is the last blank weekend before they return and we get to see them play which is going to be good i hope you enjoy it friends the weather is going to be beautiful have a couple of barbecues get yourself psyched up ready for the return of it's which town football and we'll be back next week to preview it all

1:07:57Thank you.

1:08:24Thank you.

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