571: Kings of Anglia: What should happen next after the Blackburn abandonment?

19:30Ross Halls:I was even struggling to take pictures because it was just, I was trying to protect my camera as much as possible. I was just getting wet. I will admit there was a moment where I did go into the stand, but then even in the stand, I was getting wet. So I just thought, you know what, I might as well just stay where I was and just get as many pictures as I could. But yeah, I really did give up. I went, you know, it's not worth it. I just thought it's not worth it. The boys can get some pictures from a different viewpoint. But then, as I said, I was getting wet anyway. So I thought I might as well just go back to where I was.

19:58Ross Halls:and then, yeah, for a good 10 minutes or so, I was just sitting there just like, I actually wanted it called off. This is just getting ridiculous. It's just pointless. And then we had obviously the Cedric Kipre situation with him just sliding, which is probably the moment of the match. And then you just had people passing and just wouldn't even get to their man. And then, you know, players just slipping over. It just, yeah. Like, once again, I do love a good match. The Kipre challenge. Yeah.

20:28Stuart Watson:is the enduring image I think I'll take from this afternoon. That came on 75. He'd come on after Greaves had been sent off. Akpon was the man that was sacrificed. Ipswich was sort of playing 4-4-1 at that point. What I will say is, you know, the subs had come on and immediately Jack Clark almost set up Sammy Schmoddix to score with his first touch, who was cheered on by Blackburn fans, which I thought, you know, it was really nice of them to sort of recognise his contribution. But I thought, well, you're kind of putting a bit of wind into the sails of a player that can hurt you in a minute. And he almost did within seconds.

21:07Stuart Watson:So even though Ipswich were down to 10 men, they were very much in the game, albeit in difficult conditions. And then, yeah, the Kipre challenge on 75. I think it was on Gajonsson, son of Ida, Andre, who'd come on for his home debut for Blackburn. was he doing it to make a bit of a point or is that just Cedric Kipre? I mean, having done a bit of a deep dive on him and his playing style and attributes, I think that's just a bit of Cedric Kipre. I think he relished coming on in these conditions. But if you've ever seen the Sol Campbell never-ending slide tackle video, it was ripe for these sort of conditions and Kipre gave it a real good go.

21:51Stuart Watson:I mean, it was a proper splash slide tackle, wasn't it? And he just kept sliding and Johnson slipped and slide everywhere. A huge splash came up. There's a video that captures it that I think one of the Ipswich fans took from the away end. And then at that point, you were thinking it's a matter of time. We limped on for another three, four minutes, didn't we? And it was Kipre sort of involved in finally the incident that decided made up the referee's mind.

22:22Ross Halls:yeah but then obviously we still had like was it 25 minutes for the ref to sort of go inside speak to the managers and come back out and do the sort of the famous all right let's see if the ball bounces and rolls even though like you've been away for maybe 20 minutes or whatever it's it's going to be still raining what what's the point you know you've got to do it to show the sort of fans but it's just like it's rained even more mate and also the groundsman at Blackburn I think they also knew like there's no point for us going like I think a few of them went out and

22:50Stuart Watson:did some forking but by this point it was just comical wasn't it i mean the kip rey pass tried to play a 10 yard pass to a teammate and it just stopped in a puddle about four yards away dead um did did he do that on purpose to kind of make a point to the to the referee did he pick there were certain areas of the pitch that were worse i don't know maybe i'm giving him um a bit more credit than he deserves there but that was the moment where he just like the ball doesn't even role. This is, not only is it not making it a proper game of football, but it's unsafe for the players at that point. And you have to remember that, you know, if you did carry on and someone got hurt, I mean, we're joking, we're laughing about the Kipri challenge there, but, you know, it becomes dangerous conditions there and you have to think about player welfare.

23:35Stuart Watson:So he had to stop it. Then, you know, a lot of very cold and wet people all started heading for the exits. We get an announcement to say, ladies and gentlemen, please stay in your seats. The decision hasn't been made yet. And I think, yeah, we looked at our watches. I think from the players heading back down the tunnel to the game finally being called off, took 25 minutes. That then just became, you know, just added to the comedy of the afternoon there with the referee coming out and dropping the ball to a plop and a thud into puddles and Ipswich fans sort of cheering each one. I think Alex took a video of that that's got like 200 ,000 views on X at the moment.

24:24Stuart Watson:Bit silly, really, as you say, then what are the groundsmen doing out there sort of forking at the pitch as if that was going to make a difference? It was all a bit of unnecessary theatre, wasn't it? I think we all knew that there was absolutely no chance because the rain had got worse by that point that the game was going to finish. And during that period, we're all scrambling for the rule books to see what happens next.

24:46Ross Halls:Yeah, pretty much. I went into the photographer's room again because I was like, there's no point in me just staying out there with my camera. And I thought just – and there was a TV in there I can sort of watch if they do come out. And that's when the ref did come out and I quickly ran. Obviously, I wanted to get some pictures of the ref trying to chuck the ball down. And then, yeah, I just knew straight away that's done. And then I was just packing up my stuff. And then we were just waiting for that. But, yeah, fair play to obviously the fans who stayed in the ground. I think there was just some who were just hoping, especially it's just fans, because you travel all that way.

25:14Ross Halls:You're just like, I don't want to leave just yet, just in case they do play it. But, yeah, it was never going to be able to play. And now the EFL have a decision to make, Stu, and there's three options. Play the remainder of the game, which would be mad. Let the results stand. We'll reset and replay the game in the full night E11 v11. Nil-nil. But, yeah, so we start, first of all, with the first option, let the result stand, which obviously Blackburn will like that. Calum probably won't. But, yeah, what's your thoughts on maths?

25:50Stuart Watson:Before I get on to sort of option A, I mean, my first thought went to, there's a lot of talk of, well, it's gone beyond 75 minutes, so the result has to stand. And I think that was an old ruling. I don't know when it stopped. But if you remember back to the Oxford game in the fog, midway through the League One promotion season in January time, where that just got, again, ridiculous. We couldn't see the ball on the other side of the pitch. That got stopped fairly late in the game. And both managers were told, allegedly, that day that by the referee, well, if we stop now, the result stands. So I think both managers wanted to stop, but they sort of went, well, if the result stands, we may as well carry on playing anyway.

26:29Stuart Watson:And Ipswich obviously went on to lose the game 2-1. and you could argue that that cost them the title in the end, that season. So maybe Ipswich are due a bit of luck on the weather front. So the ruling is not that. The ruling is, as you say, that it now goes to an EFL board and it's at their discretion as to what they do next. And you've outlined the three. First thing to say is, should the ruling be that wishy-washy, to be honest? Should there be some more hard and fast things? Should we now be spending days all debating about what is right and wrong? Should it be a bit more black and white? I guess the reason that they do this is that if a game got to 85 minutes and someone was 3-0 up, then obviously there isn't going to be any debate that I think most people would just say, yeah, well, that's fair.

27:20Stuart Watson:Let's just finish and call it at that. The reason they give themselves the option is for scenarios like this. but this is about a harder decision that you've got. You've got one team with a narrow lead up against 10 men, late in the game, but not super late. You know, it was the 80th minute, but there would have been tons of stoppage time because we'd had, I think, seven subs. We'd had a penalty, a red card. The referee had to go off for ages to get his audio radio equipment sorted, which had obviously failed in the rain. So there'd have been at least five minutes, probably more of stoppage time.

28:02Stuart Watson:15 minutes is a long time in football, isn't it? And I know Ipswich were down to 10, but 10 men quite often come back in games. Ipswich have scored two late equalisers already this season, Blackburn and Derby. Blackburn already this season have lost a game going into the 90th minute 1-0 up against Birmingham. So that, for me, rules out call the result. There was just too much that could happen. And I've seen the counter-argument from Blackburn fans, which is to say, well, how can you say that 10, 15, 20 minutes of what could happen outweighs 80 minutes of what did happen? And I have real sympathy with that argument.

28:49Stuart Watson:I really do. but I just can't see how you can call a result with so much football still to be played. So for me, I think you have to rule that option out. Yeah, me too, because Itchers Town, they'll keep going.

29:05Ross Halls:I'm like, God, the sun is just like... You're watching a video, ladies and gentlemen. I don't know what, I was getting risen up there. But yeah, I don't think we can rule that out. I hope they don't go down that route. Then I'm sure Itchers Town will be wanting to know the big reason for that. But yeah, option B is very, very weird if it did happen. I don't know how they would do it. So yeah, obviously, 18th minute, Jagger Reeves, obviously, it's 10 men. It's 1-0 Blackburn. But then, whenever they play that, we've said before, players could potentially get injured, and then do you play it behind closed doors, or do you let fans in?

29:44Ross Halls:If you don't let fans in, then obviously Blackburn are off that home advantage town have obviously lost that way backing yeah yeah logistical absolute

29:52Stuart Watson:logistical nightmare for this one um really complicated on the face of it this is objectively the fairest way but how can you replicate the variables um going into those final 10-15 minutes again for me the moment has passed for that the way of doing it would have been to Ipswich stay over and then we'll do it tomorrow morning or tomorrow afternoon or whatever but I guess they weren't able to make that quick decision a probably because let's be honest EFL committee members probably don't start till nine o 'clock on Monday morning but more likely it's that the two the two clubs are gonna then there has to be a process of the two clubs making their case Blackburn pushing for the result to stand, Ipswich pushing against it so that sort of let's finish this off Sunday probably couldn't happen for that reason but once it doesn't happen the next day you know how do you then, it's now not going to be this week is it?

31:02Stuart Watson:So they're going to have to slot that final few minutes in further down the line what players can the managers pick? So it starts sort of 11 v 10. Do you have to field the same players that were on the pitch when that action came to an end? Could you do that? There might be someone else injured, suspended. You know, it's open to kind of foul play of saying, well, this player's ill or this player's carrying a knock. We can't play them. So all of a sudden, Kieran McKenna sneaks a few more attackers into his team. and all of a sudden the Blackburn manager wants to get a few more defenders into his team and that becomes all a little bit farcical as well, doesn't it?

31:43Stuart Watson:And then you say there's the issue of supporters. Blackburn aren't probably going to open the stadium to fans because it costs a lot of money to staff it and steward it and all that sort of stuff for the sake of 20 minutes of action or whatever. And they'd probably suck it up because if it was that or replaying the whole game, they would probably do it. But they would then have no home supporters behind them. And Ipswich, you know, certainly. And then if you do open the stadium, Ipswich aren't going to be sending 4 ,000 up for such a short period of time, are they? So that opens a whole can of worms, I think, trying to finish the game off, you know.

32:22Stuart Watson:And it's just, again, it's two fresh sets of players playing rather than, you know, two rain-soaked, sodden, tired set of players trying to slog it out for the last few minutes. So you just can't replicate kind of the conditions and the variables. So it seems the fairest option, but I just can't see how they can do it, to be honest.

32:45Ross Halls:Yeah, because it'll obviously be a Tuesday night as well, if they had a reset, because there's no free weekend for them to do it. So it will be a different day, different time of night as well. so if they do it behind closed doors they could just do it in the week and it would be like they could do 3pm and it would be like a normal Saturday but yeah I think that's out of the window that option and I think that would be silly if they went down that route I think the best option and Ipswich Town would like this it would benefit Ipswich a lot and that is reset and replay it my friend

33:15Stuart Watson:Yeah and I'm very conscious that you know those of a Blackburn persuasion will hear us associated with Ipswich Town talking about that being the best and fairest option of a bad bunch and rolling eyes and saying, of course, you're going to say that. But, yeah, I mean, we've worked back, haven't we? And we've kind of ruled out option A. We've said option B is very difficult, which then really only leaves option C. And that's just replay it. And I think there's plenty of precedent that that tends to be what happens.

33:51Stuart Watson:I think that's what they'll have to do. And I have real sympathy with Blackburn, Ipswich have got away with one here, if that proves to be the case, as expected. And if the boot was on the other foot, we'd be very upset and angry and disappointed by it. And it won't just be Blackburn fans that are feeling that way. It will be Ipswich's competitors in the championship as well. If Ipswich go on to get something, a point or more, from a replayed game, and that proves to be decisive in deciding a spot at the end of the season. You know, there's going to be a hell of a lot more debate to come around all of that, isn't there?

34:34Stuart Watson:But I don't see a way around it. The only other thing is that I've seen people suggest is maybe sort of the gentlemanly thing, the spirit of the game would be to start the game, replay it, but Ipswich let Blackburn walk a goal in from the start. which we've seen happen in football before, whether Ipswich take off a man themselves. But I don't know. Again, Ipswich could then argue, well, it's not our fault that we came to your place and your pitch wasn't playable. You didn't offer up a surface that was able to withstand the elements, unlike many pitches around us. So there's a lot of money on the line when you're trying to get back to the Premier League and the hundreds of millions of pounds that are sloshing around and riding on all these things.

35:22Stuart Watson:There probably isn't much room for Corinthian spirit, I would suggest. But it's an interesting thought.

35:30Ross Halls:Yeah, very much so. Yeah, if they do reset the game, yeah, can we just check the forecast and just make sure the ground is looking good? I know, once again, we looked at the forecast and we were worried a bit anyway. But if we definitely know it's going to be raining throughout the five hours in that period where the game's going to be, you know, from midday to... Because even when we left the ground, it was still raining. I think we left the ground about maybe half six or seven, potentially. It was still raining in Blackburn. But it's just funny, as you say, you woke up on Sunday morning. It was lovely sunshine.

36:01Ross Halls:So it's just how the weather can quickly change. But my gut feeling is, yeah, they're going to probably just reset and replay and then just find a Tuesday night for us to play there. Yeah, obviously, I'm going to say that as an Itchers Town fan and man covering the club. But I think that's probably the fairest, probably, decision. Because Itchwich are not guaranteed to win the game. Like Blackburn fans, maybe they'll be a bit annoyed while I've got to play them again.

36:25Stuart Watson:They're going to be fired up for it, aren't they, if that's the case. The crowd are going to be right up for it. We've seen already it was a difficult challenge, and I think probably even more so if they go back there. And again, you've now got to slot it into, we're getting into the stage where we're getting into sort of relentless championship territory now, aren't we? It's Portsmouth, then it's Bristol City away next Tuesday. Then it's the East Anglian Derby. And it's kind of Saturday, Tuesday for the foreseeable when you get into the winter months, isn't it? And now Ipswich have got to slot another long trip to Ewood Parking, likely.

37:02Stuart Watson:So that won't be easy. It's not ideal, but it's certainly a reprieve. And when that comes about, if that comes about, they've got to make the most of it. But, yeah, what do you make of the performance? I mean, we did have 80 minutes to reflect on. Can you read too much into that performance? Is there anything that you kind of took away from it?

37:30Ross Halls:I think it does prove we're not very good in the rain. We've had that before in seasons gone by under Kieran McKenna. I know, obviously, it's both teams who are playing in that conditions, but I don't know, there's times where I feel like we struggle in those elements. But I still felt we were creating chances. Even in the rain, we were really pushing to try to get a goal, which cops did what I just said. But I think if we took those chances early doors, I think it would have been a great day. I think we would have ended... Well, the game would have been called off. It would have been fine. We would have got the points because I think if Hurst's chance, I can't believe he didn't score that because I thought that was a big chance for him.

38:13Ross Halls:But yeah, still things to work on, my friends, especially after last week's 5-0 win against Jeopardy United. It still wasn't free-flowing, but overall, I thought we were okay. They are what they are.

38:25Stuart Watson:They're working in progress, aren't they? And I know that piece is not what people want to hear, and it's the same for everyone. I look at it every week. I look at the opposition. we're learning again about championship teams because so much has changed a year away squads are very different but I look at it and ins and outs probably the average is about 10 so Ipswich aren't the only ones going for a bit of a new build new team build at the moment and so many teams have got new managers as well unlike Ipswich so that sort of we need time to gel that can't last forever. There are still times where I feel like it's just not quite telepathic yet, is it?

39:16Stuart Watson:There's things where it's that split second and that's all it needs, a split second of thinking about what they're going to do rather than it just coming naturally and then the moment's gone. But I thought Leif Davis had a good game. He's been good signs in the last couple of games that he's getting back to his sort of marauding self going forwards. As I say, apart from the mistake for the red card, defended pretty well. Ultimately, it's an unfortunate penalty, which is the goal against, created some chances. So, as you say, if one of those early chances had gone in, who's to say in normal conditions they wouldn't have gone on to grind out a 1-0 bit like the last time they went to Ewood Park and we're all coming away going, wow, classic away day display and really good step in the right direction.

40:07For me, I'm not dwelling too much on this.

40:10Stuart Watson:I don't think you can really get the conditions. Just spoiled it as a game of pure football. Yeah, for Ipswich, it's move on. And McKenna, I think, will kind of distance himself from all of this chat. And his full focus now is on a big home game against Portsmouth on Saturday.

40:32Ross Halls:One thing I like, though, is every time I look at our bench and just go, that is, what a bench that is. The players we can bring on, like Sammy Smoddix, as you said, they were obviously Blackburn fans were cheering him, even when he was warming up and stuff. And that must have just got him, as we mentioned earlier, just well up for it. And just to bring on players like that, it's just incredible. Egele didn't get to come on. I think probably Kieran McKenna went, yeah, don't worry about it, mate. Don't worry about coming on for this one. But yeah, I just love the bench that we can bring on. and as we said before in the last podcast, the bench boost, which happened with Sheffield United as well.

41:03Ross Halls:We were able to bring on those players who got the goals. So, yeah, I'm liking that. One thing that maybe I wouldn't say went under the radar, Stu, but the club released their third kit. We saw that for the first time. Obviously, it got leaked on social media prior, I think, a month or go. But, yeah, we were able to see that kit for the first time up at Blackburn. it's going to be a weird story you're going to have an abandoned game and then the first time we saw the third kit what's your thoughts on it?

41:34Stuart Watson:I like it actually I think from the pictures that we'd seen on the leaks it looked sort of black but in person it looks kind of more grey I think technically I'm told it's volcanic ash is the colour of this it's sort of there's a sort of horizontal stripes through it that are very slightly different tonally but yeah it's essentially a kind of a a darkish grey with um with electric blue like a bright turquoise with the halo logo not a sort of traditional ipswich town badge it's just a big suffolk punch which i've seen some people saying it's a bit too big but um quite like it it's a bit different it sort of shouts ipswich town doesn't it when you when you look at it um yeah um i don't mind it look in general there's the debate about whether you need to bring out three new kits every year and whether that's putting a bit of undue pressure on parents to keep buying their kids shirts and all the rest of it and the prices of them now but everyone does it commercially it's a big thing for the club um if people want to buy it it's up to them and yeah i quite like this one

42:42Ross Halls:actually yeah i think it's fine it's you know when i when i saw it um when i was taking pictures of and I was like, yeah, it does stand out. Maybe in the rain, it probably wasn't the ideal kit to have in the rain. But yeah, with the badge, I don't know. I've been seeing a few people on social media say, well, maybe they're going to move away from that, the current crest, and maybe they'll go towards just having the punch, which is probably another discussion for another day.

43:10Stuart Watson:Well, a lot of clubs have rebranded badges, most actually up and down the land, to kind of come into a modern era of things that work digitally. I remember Norwich when they sort of changed theirs and they put out quite an in-depth video as to why it was important. Like Juventus and go for quite minimalistic, those sort of brands of badge. Is that something Ipswich will look at in time? I don't know, actually. That's something to maybe for me to ask some questions behind the scenes. it's probably just trying something a little bit different for a third kit at the moment. I don't know.

43:49Ross Halls:Yeah, because it's the 30th anniversary of the current club crest this season. So I think that's just obviously them just celebrating that. But yeah, the third kit. Out of the three, Stu, what's the rankings for you?

44:03Stuart Watson:The three kits, home kit, third kit, away kit. Yeah. You?

44:10Ross Halls:I'll probably own the same. The red kit, it's weirdly grown on me. I just wish the pattern was just all over. I don't know. I just don't get it why it's just there. But that's just little things. I don't mind red. Red's actually one of my favourite colours. But, yeah, I know a lot of people don't like that. And a lot of people with the home kit, they just think it's a bit boring. But I think it just does the job. And do you know what? The goalkeeping kits, the purple one, big fan of that. So maybe goalkeeping kits. I've seen more people wear them more often. But yeah, there's a few town fans who were lucky enough to get the third kit during the game.

44:49Ross Halls:I think some of the players were given some apps. I remember going to the server station and I saw a kid having an Ashley Young third kit. I was like, how has he got that already? And obviously he would have probably Ashley Young gave it to him. So there were some lucky town fans who got the third kit, which is a nice little touch from the club.

45:07Stuart Watson:I believe, yeah. that's sort of something that they've done fairly quietly without any great sort of fuss. That's a nice touch, isn't it? They're going out, handing out sort of signed shirts and giving away to kids. And the club's doing a lot of things like that on the quiet. Mark Ashton always talks about doing the right thing while no one's looking. And I think that is genuine. They do try and do a lot of stuff like that. A lot of things that probably we don't know about. The foundation, as we know, does loads of great work. and there's already talk about, you know, rewarding the fans that made that trip up.

45:41Stuart Watson:Saw quite a few of them having their breakfast on Sunday morning. I think they tried to make the best of a bad situation. We saw a few, I think, topless in the stands where the rain was coming down and, you know, certainly having a bit of fun when the referee came back out and went through that theatre that we've already discussed. But, yeah, certainly won't have been their best away day and I think, you know, the club are now talking about, I assume sort of maybe funding the replay if it comes so yeah those things I think are important to praise and highlight when the club does that.

46:18Ross Halls:Yeah definitely and there was an awkward moment during that period when the game got stopped I went into one of the stands and it was actually the Blackburn end and there was a back and forth between Blackburn and Itchers fans you know obviously just doing a bit of banner but I felt I was like the man in the middle where I was like, I'm probably in the wrong stand here because obviously the Itchwich fans were just shouting abuse at the Blackburn fans and the Blackburn fans were doing the same. And I was just like, I'm caught in the middle here because I'm not involved in both really. I'm obviously more on the Itchwich side, but I just felt very awkward because I remember looking around and there was an Itchwich fan shouting at me.

46:54Ross Halls:I was like, I'm not one of them. I'm not one of them. But that was just the best stand I could go in because I had a bit more cover than the away end. but yeah salute to all the town fans who stuck around because obviously the players went out and clapped and said thank you for the support I'm going to out Jack Clark he went over and clapped but then he then ran and was jumping over and he flipped them flip flops on and he was trying to get back here as soon as possible sorry Jack but it was just funny watching you try to run back as quick as you can probably didn't want to get his hair messed up but yeah What a day, hey Stu.

47:33Ross Halls:What a day it was, as Harvey Price would say. What a day.

47:38Stuart Watson:One that will stick in the memories for a little while. Some games that I look back on and you tell me a scoreline of something and I think, I can't really tell. I was there, but I can't tell you much about that. But games like Oxford and this one, they stick in your mind for different reasons, don't they? And as I say, there'll be ramifications to come. So when we get a decision, I don't know. I guess this committee will sit down today. They'll probably have to give an opportunity for both clubs to provide their evidence and their arguments, how long that then takes for them to sort of go through.

48:18Stuart Watson:I don't know. Gut instinct, it might be tomorrow, Wednesday, before we get a decision. So I'll keep sort of asking and digging. And as soon as we can bring people something, obviously we will.

48:32Ross Halls:Indeed. And, yeah, all eyes now on Portsmouth back at Porton Road, who lost 2-0 against Chiffre Wednesday at home. Connor Chaplin's first game back at Fram Park and they lost 2-0. So it wasn't good. Should we actually quickly still look at the results on the weekend? Because there were some interesting ones. Norwich lost again at home. Yeah, Liam Manning has yet to win at Carroll Road. so he's not a good start. I know there's some talk about maybe he's under pressure this early doors.

49:00Stuart Watson:I watched some of the Pinkins coverage of that game and it all doesn't seem well north of the border at the moment. Yeah, they're not happy certainly with some of the home performances. Liam Manning already sort of questioning some of his players publicly which is not great at this early stage of the season from their point of view. So, yeah, I mean, from Ipswich, have got an important run of games coming up now. Portsmouth, as you say, have just lost to Sheffield Wednesday. Bristol City away Tuesday night. They lost to Oxford yesterday, 3-1. And then Norwich, as we've just said, where everything doesn't seem to be particularly rosy.

49:42So, important run of games now.

49:46Ross Halls:It is, yeah. We're now 17th because of obviously not being able to play. But, yeah, Birmingham City, of course, scored a late, late goal against Swansea City to get a win. Yeah, Hull beat Southampton 3-1. Leicester drew 0-0. Preston, by the way, fair play to them. They're obviously relegation favourites. Obviously beat us. They beat Derby on the weekend. They're fifth at the moment. They've only lost one game all season. And obviously Borough, under Rob Edwards, they're top. And have you seen that picture of George Edmerson? With his, like, his basically, I'll quickly get it up so you can see.

50:22Ross Halls:but bless him he loves obviously getting into the battles and he's your hairy ass defender but yeah he's basically got a massive shiner because of yeah I don't know if you can find it quickly but yeah it's just incredible because obviously he must have battled and got hit right in the face let me find it quickly I think anyone who's listening probably knows what I'm talking about but I'll quickly show you on screen no one on socials would have seen this if I can find it. I should have brought this up before I was going to talk about it.

50:57Stuart Watson:While you're looking, I mean, Middlesbrough are flying, aren't they? So that's a Friday night trip there. Isn't too far away, is it? So, yeah, they're looking impressive from the bits I've seen of them. I mean, you mentioned a couple of other results there, which highlights how difficult it is for teams that come down from the Premier League, and that's Leicester and Southampton. Neither of them have kind of lit it up since they've come down. Southampton in particular struggling six points from six. Leicester have got 11 from six. They're doing better. But, you know, that's three of their six games that they haven't won.

51:35Stuart Watson:So, you know, it's not the easiest, is it, when you drop down from the prem. And there's a lot of situations to unpick, as we've seen. Definitely.

51:47Ross Halls:I found it by the way. Look at this. Cool.

51:52Stuart Watson:It's a proper shiner.

51:54Ross Halls:Yeah. Yeah. He's there. Cheers. All the messages. Appreciate it. So, yeah, that was, oh, he's not going to be able to see out that eye for a while. But, yeah, battle wounds from George Emerson there. That'll be an interesting battle when we play them at the Riverside, which is obviously a Friday night. But, Stu, a good two-man pod today. AJ's off this week. He's having a lie down, as I always say. he's just trying to get over this abandoned game and obviously getting over the holiday blues obviously he's come back from Spain which looked like he had a really good time but any other business my friend I want to give a big shout out to everyone who took part in the Itchwich Half Marathon yesterday I know there's a lot of town fans who took part in that and yeah shout out to all of you who are listening if you did take part in the Half Marathon because that is one hell of a job and luckily it was nice weather for you because that's the worst isn't it you prepare for like a run or a big event and it just starts to piss it down.

52:50Ross Halls:It's just not fun, is it? But yeah, any other business, my friend?

52:55Stuart Watson:No other business, I don't think. Ross, no. No, I think that's all good. We'll probably talk a bit more about Portsmouth in due course this week. Andre Dezel amongst their players as well, doing quite well by all accounts. So yeah, Connor Chaplin won't be eligible to face his parent club, which I think we'll be relieved by. albeit it was going to be strange seeing him at Portman Road in another team's kit. Yeah, I think we'll leave it there today. Very interested to see how this EFL decision plays out.

53:32Ross Halls:Yes, indeed. We shall wait and see, ladies gentlemen. Keep yourself on our websites to find out the update on that. Also want to give a shout out to the Tractor Girls as well. we've got an historic point away at Cholton on Sunday with that 0-0 draw against the Attics who were unbeaten by that point well they're still unbeaten but they won their opening two games and were top of the table and an established side in this division so a really good point and a really big improvement for Joshi inside so well done to the Trattler girls for that big point the first in the WSL 2 and yeah thanks everyone for listening to another Kings of Anglia podcast sponsored by Stardust Spirit use the code KOA to get 20 % off.

54:11Ross Halls:And also, another great sponsor, another Suffolk local business. Who are they, Stu? Molecular. Yes. K-A-Way 10 for all your cleaning products and all that bits and bobs to sort your car out and all that jazz. But yeah, also follow us on our socials, Kings of Anglia. And yeah, you can keep up date with all the stuff we've got coming this week. And yeah, we'll speak to you later in the week to build up to Pompey at Portman Road. So Stu, Thanks for joining me. Thanks everyone for listening. We'll speak to you next time. Bye for now.

55:13Thank you.

55:47Thank you.

56:10Thank you.