577: Kings of Anglia: Predicting Town’s next block of games, putting players in detention and bracing for Boro

21:13the thing that impresses me the most is that they're still without some key players who are going to come back Ilias Chair hasn't played since August Kwame Poku who I think we all know from being a very good League One player still waiting to come back but they've had players like Kone who's really hit the ground running in the championship why a top top team didn't go for him I'm not sure that they're really finding their feet and I think that with players coming back and a run that I think is quite favourable as well. They play Millwall, Swansea, Derby before hosting Ipswich. I think it's a good chance for them to really hit the ground running.

21:50I have gone for a draw in this one. I've got a 1-1 draw for this game.

21:57Mark Heath:1-1 draw. Rossi, do you share the concern of AJ heading to QPR? Yeah, obviously they appointed an interest of manager, didn't they? And I don't know. I just don't... Like Loftus Road, it's a nice sort of place to go, but we never really win there. I know we won there in the last championship season and Connor Chaplin scored on that goal. I know it's a new team and you don't really look at old pictures and stuff sometimes, but I don't think I've gone to Loftus Road that often and seen a town win. So that's my concern there. There's just a small pitch as well. so sadly do you know what I think we could lose this one oh yeah I just don't know it could be I know they're not a blokey team but they're just I don't know I just think they've got some good exciting players I think they could score early and then just we just can't break them down so do you know what I think we could lose this one so you're saying 1-0 yeah annoyingly 1-0 I'm going the other way actually I'm saying Tam win this game because why not using the Rossi approach 1-0 away I think they'll beat QPR so we do actually have a defeat predicted which will be interesting to note so Rossi's gone 3 straight wins and then defeat at QPR Watford next up on the Tuesday night AJ the Hornets coming to Portman Road looking to sting the Blues, how many times we use that they're 11th at the moment so doing okay how do you feel about this one?

23:34Mark Heath:Absolutely no idea how I feel about this game. So Watford appointed a new manager, Paolo Pezzolano, back in May. They had an okay-ish start to the season. They beat QPR, they beat Hull. They even beat Oxford in their last game. And in typical Watford fashion, sitting 11th in the table and having beaten Oxford over the weekend, they sacked their manager, Paolo Pezzolano. So the new man's come in, except the fact he's not the new man. He's the old man from a few years ago. took them to the FA Cup final. In Javi Gracia, Gracia was quite unfairly sacked back in the day. I think the board at Watford have accepted that they probably made a bit of a mistake in sacking him, so he's back.

24:16He previously managed at Leeds, I believe, as well. He's been around since leaving Watford. And now he's back in the Championship. What is that going to mean? I have absolutely no idea. They're a total all-over-the-place football club. Could they be quite good? Maybe. Could they be terrible? Possibly. Sheffield United, West Brom and Coventry and Borough in their next run of games is not easy before playing Ipswich. I've just got to look at what we've seen and the performances haven't been great. So I think Ipswich will win this one 3-1. But this is one I think we'll need to reassess a bit closer to the time.

24:48Mark Heath:I've literally just written down 3-1, town win. As you say, Watford will probably have at least four managers before this game. Rossi, me and AJ both saying the same, win for town. Agree? yes um very much so um i don't know if i put them in my relegation zone for some reason i think what for that they're a team that normally stay up but when we did our pre-season predictions i didn't feel like i put them in the bottom three i think i did um and yeah they're just a weird thing they got some just random players as well like players you just never heard of um but they become superstars and they sell them for like 30 million or something um but no i think this i want a nice big win against Watford.

25:32So know what? I'm going to go for it. I'm going to go 4-1. Add the extra goal that you obviously went 3-1.

25:40Mark Heath:So yeah, four goals at Portman Road. I would like that. And then the final game in this next run of games is the Cameron Burgess derby. Swansea away on Saturday, November the 8th. They're currently 12th. Obviously, again, hashtag narrative around this one, AJ. Be good to see big Cam. I'm sure he'll be looking forward to facing town maybe proving a point what are you saying? The first thing I want to say about this game is the incredible symmetry of Swansea City in the championship table, breathe it in because it won't last, they sit 12th in the table 9 games, 3 wins, 3 draws, 3 defeats, they've scored 10, they've conceded 10 and they are 12 points I absolutely love it, it's really satisfying to see that But Swansea essentially are very, very, very, very solid.

26:31They're very good defensively. They're very difficult to break down. The teams that have been able to break them down have often had these really good individual players who've been able to do it, or sometimes a bit of luck. You look at Birmingham, who struck deep into stoppage time to take three points against them at St. Andrews last month. Since then, they've drawn Millwall, beaten Blackburn away. They lost to Leicester in their last game, but Leicester again have players like Jordan James, who scored a very good goal, and Fatou, who scored a very good goal as well. But they're good, and they've shown that in Manchester season.

27:07They've shown that by beating Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup as well. The Cameron Burgess-Brace game, which was really good. They've probably got quite a nice run again coming into the Ipswich game, although they do have to play Manchester City as well in this next block in the Carabao Cup. so yeah again similar one that we'll have to assess near the time because they've still got to play city and they still play charlton and preston as their two away games before hosting it switch but i think this will be an away win i think it's such will do it and i think it'll be quite similar to the last one where it's gritty it's a bit horrible i could see it lashing down with rain and i think they'll show no okay i don't want that yeah after the blackburn fiasco where you got absolutely drenched.

27:57And I think that they will grind out a really horrible, grim win where it comes off someone's arse and they win it 1-0.

28:04Mark Heath:Yeah, it's going to be grim, isn't it? This has got terrible game written all over it in the wind and rain at Swansea. I've got 1-0 as well, AJ, and I reckon it's probably going to be Cameron Burgess and goal that decides it just for the hashtag narrative. Apologies, friends, if you can hear Benson barking, by the way. I've had to shut him away downstairs and he's not a fan of that. um so if that's spoiling your audio enjoyment i do apologize uh rossi me and aj both saying again an unpleasant ugly horrible away win at the swans in the rain fittingly what are you saying uh i hope it doesn't rain uh because it rained last time we were there and i got very wet so uh yeah i'm happy i've got a nice celebration pick of conor chaplin and i was yeah yeah yeah just score?

28:48No, Nathan Broadhead. Anyway, it doesn't matter. It happened. We won 1-0 on that game, but I got good sellies. All that jazz. 2-1.

28:57Mark Heath:Wasn't Wes Burns, was it? There's a really good picture I remember of Wes Burns celebrating. I think he was just celebrating. He didn't score, but he did the Cardiff celebration. It was 2-1. Broadhead opened the scoring. Yates equalised and then Chaplin scored the winner in the 35th minute. Okay. was it Cardiff we won then 1-0 am I just making things up no we lost we were won the last but Cardiff at the very end and then conceded twice yeah we lost yeah that was dreadful anyway I'll move on from that I'm going to go for a draw I think we'll score but then they'll equalize probably Cameron Burgess and yeah I hope it doesn't rain that is my main thing there we go there you go it's Wes Burns that's the picture I'm thinking of in Mission Impossible if you haven't got it still available$5.99 bargain Wes Burns celebrating as Towns sink the Swans last time out.

29:47Mark Heath:There we go. So you're saying draw, Rossi? Yeah, 1-1. Okay, right. So let's tot up our stats then, shall we? I've got them going unbeaten, which would make 11 games unbeaten at the end of this next run of matches. So I've got four wins and two draws. So that's 14 points from 18, which would be tremendous, wouldn't it? AJ, what have you got? I have been getting four wins and two draws which would be 14 points from 18 incredible Mark Keith there were so many very similar if not identical predictions from you to me throughout that entire season are you accusing me of plagiarism young man I don't know I just think it's an incredible coincidence I genuinely have been writing the scores down as we've been going along and I'm slightly concerned that you're agreeing with me being as your bottom of the prediction table that suggests that it's all going to go to pot.

30:44Mark Heath:Ross, you're top of the table. How many points have you got in picking up? Actually, I'm not a stew sort of table. Oh, stews? Actually, yeah, yeah. So we'll get on to that. I've actually got the leaderboard imaged. I'll bring that up when we do the borough prediction. You don't have to, Ross. It's fine. I will. I will. I have 10 points in total. Three wins, a draw, and that one defeat at QPR, which I think is fine. I don't think that's bad. I would like to go unbeaten like you guys are gone. But I think it's just, championship is a cruel mistress sometimes. And I think there'll just be just one game, which I picked with the QPR one, where we're just like, a bit of reality check.

31:24Okay. All right. We need to bounce back. And that's what I did when we went and beat Watford 4-1. So yeah, 10 points from me.

31:32Mark Heath:Even worst case scenario there, which, you know, Rossi's saying there, if we take Rossi's run of results, which would be one defeat in the next six games and 10 points, AJ, that'd be pretty healthy, wouldn't it, heading into the November pointless break? Yeah, essentially what you need to do is give yourself a decent basis to work on going into the winter because the winter months are going to be pretty brutal, especially for Ipswich with that kind of horror week. And you know what, you'll call me dramatic, but I think it's fair to call that one a horror week, which includes Hull away, Oxford away, and Blackburn away, all as late kickoffs in the space of seven days.

32:10And then you've got the kind of blood and thunder of the festive period, which includes two huge, by the way, colossal games against Coventry as well, the new bookies title favourites. So trying to give yourself a decent kind of points haul and separate yourselves from the other contenders, the other recently relegated sides, that's going to be the biggest thing. And 10 points would put them in a good spot. 14 points would put them into a great spot, any more than that. And they're just going to piss the league, basically. they play Coventry twice over Christmas do they yeah so the first one they play them at home which is the start of December and they'll travel there just after Christmas so it's one of those short turnaround games but given the significance where these are the two favorites for the division that's going to be a very significant little run that big big things right then friends so we're

33:01Mark Heath:feeling pretty positive heading into these next few games and before we move on to the next section I must say, gold star, top of the class, AJ, for the use of the term Nadir in there, which you may have seen me chef's kissing. And also, Ross, I loved your little drop in of the term cruel mistress. Excellent. And that brings on to our next feature, in fact, because we're going to talk about top of the class and who needs attention. Rossi, what do you want to say? Yeah, I don't know where that came from. It's just out of nowhere. My brain just went, I want to say that. It's a cruel mistress. Yeah.

33:32Mark Heath:Okay. so AJ you again going back to a piece of content you produced over this boring break where you've basically kind of given a report card to each of the players that have played so far um gradings a a plus all the way down um and I want to just briefly reflect on that now because I know Rossi you did this in more depth on the on the fan social last night oh you didn't do it okay fair enough um you did say you were so you didn't do that in the end changed my mind we did okay okay well they didn't do it on the fan social in that case we'll do it now in in brief form aj obviously if you want to read the long form um you can do that uh i want i want a couple of names from both of you top of the class and and then who's in detention um i think the top of the class ones are fairly obvious i would say but aj give us give us your your um what do they call in america valedictorian students is it prefects or something we call them in this country we have a prefect at your posh school aj but you were i was not you're not sorry yeah sorry at this point i was i thought you're gonna say mvp no not quite the same vibe um so you want both of them i mean the thing is i think that we'll all probably have the same two players as the standouts um so i'll list them both and i'll see if you guys agree the obvious one given his form in the last month has to be jayden villaging because he scores for fun uh especially at portman road he scores screamers.

34:58He has this goal catalogue at Portman Road since the Sheffield United game, which is just ridiculous. He's the kind of player that can turn tight games into ones that Ipswich go on to win. Look at the Norwich game. Yes, there's probably a little bit of room for improvement, but it's hard to say that with the return that he's had so far. If he can start delivering on the road, then all of a sudden you're looking at a fantastic, well, the best player at the level. at the moment. He's right up there. No wonder why he was nominated for Player of the Month last month. Yeah, fantastic footballer, so he's top of the class alongside Azul Matasiwa for me.

35:41Ever since that Birmingham game, he was good at pretty well, yeah, poor at Birmingham because naturally, and we've spoken about that before, he was pretty good after that against Southampton and then every single week after that he gets better and better and better to the point that he is just such a consistent performer. Yeah, really brilliant in terms of the way that he's adapted to the championship, the physicality, his movement, the way he shields the back line, the way he picks up the ball from deep and is able to create attacks from deep, the way that he's taken this Sam Morsey role, but also developed it a little bit as well, which has helped tip switch.

36:18He's the signing of the summer, isn't he? Let's be honest in terms of what we've seen. and he quite possibly be town star of the season so far. So, yeah, brilliant. And if he gets booked tomorrow night, I think he's going to get a suspension because I think he'll be on five then, which is scary. But yeah, he's fantastic. Those are my two stars of the season so far.

36:38Mark Heath:He's got a while, I guess, to kind of toe that line, to tread that tightrope before. I think it'll be just before New Year. So it is coming. Unfortunately, it will happen. I mean, at the end of the day, if it happens tomorrow night and he misses the Charlton game, there are probably worse ones for him to miss. But yeah, that's one to watch. I do need to double check that the Blackburn cards do count, but I'm fairly confident that they do. Drake Green was suspended, so... Yeah, exactly. But then the scoreline didn't count, so who knows, to be honest. Maybe just half of the cards count in that game.

37:12Mark Heath:They've decided if they'll just make it up to go along. What do you mean, like he's on three and a half yellow cards? Well, maybe. How many yellow cards did Town get? If there was four in the game, only two of them stand, for example. You can choose which two don't stand. Exactly, that's the way they approach nonsense, isn't it? Yeah, I obviously agree with those. A sign of how well Jadon Filagin is playing is I've got people sending me messages on social media saying, please don't give him a nickname, which is ironic because I have been thinking about potential nicknames for him and obviously I won't actually utter that because that will curse him for the rest of the season.

37:39Mark Heath:The other one I'd add in is another obvious one, Jens. I think Jens has been absolutely tremendous. He is I think pretty much every game there's signs that he's too good for this level and it's frankly absurd that town have got him at this level because he's the guy's absolute class if it wasn't for his dodgy knees he'd be a you know star in the premier league more likely um so those three would be my top of the class students uh rossi how about you any else to add into the mix yeah echo what you guys already said um one player that's going under the radar a little bit i'll say is leaf davis um his set pieces have been pretty poor i think he'll admit that himself but he has just been, you know, he's only got one assist so far.

38:19I know he's got that record-breaking stuff, but I think he's just solid. He plays, I think, seven, eight out of ten every week. I think he's just that player you can rely on. So, I think he should get a shout-out because I think he has been going under the radar. Obviously, he's playing a different role as well at times, but he's linking up very well with Jalen Philogene. So, yeah, I think he gets a little mention.

38:39Mark Heath:I suppose another one you'd have to throw into the potential A bracket, despite the fact he doesn't really start that much, is Jack Clark. Four goals, mostly off the bench becoming a bit of a super sub um so throw him in the mix as well how about the other end of the spectrum than aj um back at your in your your posh school i'm sure you were never in detention but um who would you if you were now a teacher you'd be kind of a a teacher who's best mates with the students wouldn't you reckon you wouldn't rule by fear you'd be like pally yeah you you don't you didn't get uh detentions you just got the cane yeah who would you actually I'm not going to ask you who would Kane who would you put in detention oh god who would I put in detention so the caveat there should be Ipswich are doing well this isn't trying to dig players out or say you're rubbish or anything like that these are just probably players who could do better with high expectations of and maybe it just hasn't quite worked out for one reason or another The first one on that list is Ben Johnson.

39:43I thought he was going to nail down that right-back spot. He did at the start of the season, and I just wasn't convinced by his performances at all. He didn't look up for it. He didn't kind of run and press with the intensity that I expected. He just looked a little bit like a weak link in those early games, and ever since Daniel Ferdon has come in, he's not had a look in. He's hardly made the bench. He's only made the bench when there have been injuries or stuff like that that have kept. other players out. And that's a real shame because I thought he could be a top player in the championship, but I'm not really sure that he's feeling 100 % up to it.

40:19I'm not sure at the moment where his future lies as well. I think that'll be one to look at in the January transfer window. I'm a little bit surprised he didn't get a move away over the summer. So he's one I've been quite disappointed with. And the other one, unfortunately, is Casey McAteer, who I think as well has been so dictated by his price tag, hasn't he? Because it was a lot of money that Ipswich paid for him. And I cannot really tell you what Casey McIntyre has done, to be perfectly honest, in an Ipswich shirt. And that is harsh because he's coming in to a totally new environment, leaving his boyhood club permanently for the first time.

40:55He's still a young player. There's a lot of change going on around him, but sink or swim, isn't it? At the moment, I think that at best he's treading water. and the fact he didn't get any minutes in the derby against Norwich, I think speaks volumes as to where he is. Hopefully that will come in time, but I just haven't been convinced so far.

41:18Mark Heath:Interesting one, Ben Johnson, isn't it? Given his pedigree, you know, the first time he's played in the Championship, isn't it? Off the top of my head. Always played in the Premier League. Started in huge games for West Ham. And he actually looked, I think, thinking back, he looked really lively in that Bromley game, didn't he, when he came on? He was all over the place. So we ended up playing almost as a 10 at times in that game. Looked tremendous. And then we've barely heard of him since. Okay, so you're putting McAteer and Ben Johnson in detention, getting them to write lines, saying, I must be better.

41:46Rossi, who would you be sending into that class?

41:49Mark Heath:Would you be adding to it? Or would you just be reinforcing those naughty boys? Yes, the latter. But there's going to be some players I'm mentioning that I may put in detention because they need to work better. you know they're good players but Sammy Smoddix I'll put him in there because he's not been bad he just hasn't scored yet and he's supposed to be my top goal scorer this year so he's letting me down Sammy you're letting me down he has obviously missed some sitters but he does work hard like the Norwich game he worked his you know ass off or no socks off that's the phrase in it but ass off whatever you want to say but he worked hard But, yeah, he hasn't yet got that goal or assist.

42:34So, for an attacker, I'm sure he's disappointing himself as well. So, I'm putting him in there just to work better. And this is controversial, and that's only because of a recent form. George Hurst.

42:45Mark Heath:Oh, you've stolen my thunder. Oh, sorry. Well, I'll let you expand on that. But, yeah, he's got three goals. But I think, I don't know, ever since that Birmingham game where he said, this is what I do, I think that's somewhat backfired on him. I know he scored a few other games, but he's missed some sitters. And I think in the Norwich game, I didn't think he played that great. So I think he needs to work better. So I'll let you expand. So he's in detention, doing some lines just to work on that. That's exactly why I'd put him in detention. He wouldn't be in the proper naughty boys class, along with McAteer and Ben Johnson.

43:19Mark Heath:But he'd be right in lines saying, I must work on my finishing. I must take more opportunities. Because at this level, he's had quite a lot of chances. and he should have scored a lot more goals for where he is in the season. I know three is a decent return thus far, but he could be up on seven or eight already and be right up there among the leading strikers in the league. So that's the reason I would have him kind of focusing on improving that finishing. I mean, going back to, you say, working one's socks off. Of course, famously, Jonas Nudsen said bollocks, didn't he? We'll see back in the day, working your bollocks off.

43:56Mark Heath:So maybe that's another one. But Sammy Smodek certainly does all of that. But you're right, he's yet to kind of get any goal contributions. OK, right, friends, there's the naughty boys and the good boys. Let's move on to Borough tomorrow in a more in-depth look at that game. I'll probably start with you here, Ross, because you alluded to, as you do always, I've got a bit of insight into the opposition. What did you learn about Middlesbrough then? AJ's already suggested that the stats suggest they're not as good as the position would lead you to believe. You say they're a very compact side. What else can you tell us about Middlesbrough?

44:26Yeah, that's a word that Craig, who covers but as well for the Gazette, said. And I said, yeah, I'm going to use that. Very compact team. Defensively, very solid. Obviously, got some good midfielders in Hayden Hackney, which could have been an interesting down player. And also Morris, who's an American international, though he's just come back from America. So he could be a potential doubt for this game. But that could be the battle, that midfield. Because you've got our midfield, Jens Kustay and Azul Matasiwa. And you're going to have Hackney and Morris. so that it will be a batter. Whoever wins that, I think, wins this game.

44:59But yeah, as I said, their forward line is interesting because there's a few who have not played in the Championship 4. There's Neupan. Neupan, is it, Alex? He's a Norwegian. He's actually probably stepped up. Neupan, yeah. He's on loan from Man City. He's a talent. He's a talent. Man City have signed him from Rosenborg in the summer and then loaned him out to Borough. And he made his debut for Norway during the latest international break. So, you know, we've got a Norwegian superstar in our ranks, but they've got one themselves at Barra at the moment on loan from Man City. So, yeah, they've got some good players all round.

45:36We've got some solid, like Luke Ayling. He's a player that's been around for ages. He's a solid player. But yeah, Hayden Hackney will be their big talking point because of their summer transfer saga.

45:47Mark Heath:Yeah, there's a bunch of narratives around this game, isn't there, AJ? And you got to speak to Kieran about that yesterday with the Hackney stuff. There's also clearly Tuberak, Pom as well, and the Fridge, although he's not going to play in this game, I don't think. In terms of more focused stuff from the presser, what did McKenna have to say about Middlesbrough? Well, when you get to a lot of these pressers, they can be quite similar because there's often rinse and repeat style quotes, which is natural. They're a good team. We know that they've got real quality. They're going to try and impose themselves being the home side, but we have to try and show our qualities and oppose ourselves.

46:23You will read those phrases a lot, and that's quite natural. Not too much change, I think, is what Kieran McKenna said in terms of the Michael Carrick system coming into the Rob Edwards team. I think that's helped. They kind of kept the core of this group together, and keeping Hackney was going to be key to that, while adding in, as Ross has said, a little bit of foreign recruitment. I think the midfield as well is an area that he's pinpointed. Although he's spoken highly of Hackney, Kieran McKenna, without directly saying that, oh, you know what, he was someone we wanted to sign and we had agreed a deal to sign.

46:53He spoke highly of Hackney but also said you cannot ignore Aidan Morris and that midfield as well. They're such a strong partnership. I agree with Ross in terms of that being a key area. And if Morris doesn't start, that is a significant blow to them because that partnership is so strong. He's only just come back from playing instead in the US against Australia. He literally just made a 14-minute cameo in that game in Colorado, where they played. So that's going to be an interesting area. Then you've still got players that can come in, like Alan Brown, like Nipan. And I think the thing that stands out is maybe when you look at the Norwich game, the bench was pretty weak for Norwich, wasn't it?

47:34They didn't have options to change the game. Whereas with Middlesbrough, you've got players, when you take their last team where they have Sene, Hansen and Conway, started as the three, then they were able to bring on Bergzorg, they were able to bring on Morgan Whittaker, who they've such know all about from previous seasons, and quite good attacking quality within that. So, yeah, harder game in that sense, but I'm not 100 % sure what they're going to go with, how they're going to approach this game personnel-wise, whether they might shake the pack, A, with the midfield, and B, having lost their last game away at Portsmouth.

48:09Mark Heath:What do you think Tam will do with the starting XI, AJ? because, again, McKenna was talking injury-wise yesterday. Obviously, Sammy Smoddik withdrew from the Republic of Ireland squad again with that ankle injury. He's pictured wearing a boot over the international break. I think he mentioned Sindrei Vallier-Gelli as well with an issue which needed him to take some time off. He pulled out of the international stuff as well, didn't he? So what can you see happening with the starting 11 at Borough tomorrow? various little knocks and niggles i think is is what kevin mckenna said after the norwich game which is probably natural in a match like that so the training has been less intense there have been some players who haven't been involved just to give them some time off um so we'll just run through quickly in terms of the injury news sammy smoddix does have an ankle injury again it's the same one that we've had before um he didn't train at all in the first half of the the international break when he came back, having dropped out of the Ireland squad, so he's had some injections in the ankle as well, he's just been keeping off it, but was due to train yesterday, so if he has and got through that okay, then he should be involved, and it's been the same with Aghele, he got an ankle injury in the Bristol City game, played through it against Norwich, to which Kevin McKenna said his ankle just basically looked like a balloon by the end of it, it was huge and really swollen up, so he didn't play and train in the first half of the international break, which probably was good for him, I'd say.

49:34So those are the two doubts. If it was me and I had the option to do it, I'd play the same team again, to be honest, and try and keep that feeling and that momentum going. Obviously, your two doubts within that will be Smoddix and Sindra. I think Smoddix seems the more unlikely of the two, and Ipswich have a record of pushing him back a little bit early and him getting injured again. So I think the way that Kieran will approach it, I think Igelli should hopefully be good to go, and I might put Tuber Akpom in against his former club where he won the Golden Boot. Akpom for Smoddix in that number 10 role was the one change.

50:08Mark Heath:Yeah, I think I'd start Akpom, given he's likely to be well up for this game and the fact, as you say, Sammy Smoddix, although we talked about him before not being historically particularly injury-prone, he seems to be getting little knocks all the time, doesn't he? And a lot of that is the way he plays, I think. He's combative. He's always kind of getting involved. And I think when you start to get a few knocks and niggles and stuff like that, the way that he plays is going to lead to that kind of adding up over a period of time if he's not given a bit of a rest and I'm sure he will be saying I want to play but maybe this is this is one to let him rest for um Rossi give us a score then I think we all did we all say no you said win didn't you at the start so um have we got the have we got the prediction league table to flash up before we get to that yes so um obviously following the norm here it is oh is top of the table with 12 points because he got the Norwich prediction.

51:01He did, didn't he? Yeah. With a 3-1 win. I went for a win as well. So I've got a point. You've got a point as well. We're both on 10 points. Second and third.

51:11Mark Heath:I mean, I should be second technically on Alphabetsk order. I think I was just lazy. I just didn't bother moving. It's important. We're both second. We're both second. There we go. And AJ. Ooh, getting cut adrift there, AJ. he needs to get a good result this weekend or in this next block of games as we're saying, yeah, six points for AJ so far Rossi, so you're saying win this one what's the score going to be and who's going to be the first scorer? 1-0 Chewbac POM because former club, do you know what he may get an interesting reception, when I was speaking to Craig, the Middlesbrough reporter, he said he may get a bit of a he may get an okay reception, but there'll be some certain Borough fans who are not really happy because he was potentially could be gone back to Borough in the summer.

52:03There was that interest there, but I think he wasn't interested because I think his family's based in London so he didn't really fancy that. And how he left as well, I think there'll be some Borough fans who may just give him a little bit of stick. He'll be well up for it. He'll score the goal to win the town the game 1-0 happy days three points love that lovely stuff all right well obviously i

52:25Mark Heath:predicts 1-1 a draw um i like i'm just going to stick with the hot hand i'm going to go with jayden philagine uh be nice to see him score away from home i mean his record of getting better and better goals you wonder what he's going to pull out next halfway line maybe something like that um aj getting cut a drift there mate if if we're honest starting to get nervous i mean we're approaching sack in season the board have got to be asking questions that's drift in october going early there. Get you in a hot for the day. Rock bottom. Yeah, okay. I'm going, well, since you were so good at copying me, I'm going to copy you and go 1-1.

52:59So yeah, 1-1 is my prediction as I was written in my piece before. I'm going to go with Leif Davis to score the first goal.

53:09Mark Heath:Well, if you get that right, you deserve the points, mate. Leif Davis, fantastic. Okay, so obviously we'll find out what Stu thinks he's off today. We'll share those predictions ahead of the game tomorrow, just so you can keep up to date with the prediction table. Before we leave, AJ, there's one very key thing I want to talk about, which hasn't got anything to do with football, but it's a shared passion of ours. I don't know how Rossi feels about this particular thing, but I know Stu loves it as well. And as I say, I have had some messages asking us to talk about it. So traitors, there's obviously celebrity traitors on at the moment, which has been, by the way, absolutely brilliant.

53:43Mark Heath:Been fantastic. i love stephen fry i love alan carr no spoilers however uh but you went my friend such as your enthusiasm for the uh the genre the brand you went and actually played it yourself in london live traders tell us how this works yeah so these tickets went on sale ages ago and i bought them like back in february and it dawned on me last month oh my god we've got to go do this next month so yes you go to this building lovely in um london which is near covent garden it's all very fancy they take you around into a bar you can buy incredibly expensive drinks i spent 13 pounds on a cocktail great um and then you go and you you get put into your group and um you get to meet everyone beforehand until they lead you down the stairs into one of these playing rooms where they have a round table and you all sit around the round table and they literally just play it as the traitors so it's um it's so does someone play the claudia role then come around and touch they have yeah there's a there's a member of staff there who takes you through all of it they have a little ipad to do all of that so um they choose the traitors you have to put ski masks on to block your vision so you don't know the slight problem is sometimes you can hear things which gives it away they need to put some some headphones on or something like that but um yeah they do that and then you've got to play games and you've got to try and win money that you don't actually get it just puts you on a leaderboard but still it's quite cool so you gotta try and do all the tasks um and then they have the the banishment you have the round tables and you have the murders as well we have to put your masks back on as well um so that's how it works you have some cool kind of puzzles and tasks to do and then it's uh trying to figure out who who is and who isn't a traitor which our group was not very good at how long does the whole thing take then if you've got to do all the tasks and all the murders and that kind of stuff just under two hours in total is how long it takes uh they say it takes one hour 50 um so the way that it works is that yeah you get banished i was the first one to get banished someone got murdered and then they basically said yeah you're we think that you're you're a traitor i don't even need that many votes to get banished because it was so early on um and i went up there and said i am a faithful because i was um i think that probably what gave it away was at the start they said to us you have to go around the room and say well you'd be a good faithful and i thought you know what i'm gonna make them laugh and i said um i'd be a good faithful because i work as a journalist and we're notoriously very trustworthy and yeah that was banished that's probably because of why you were the first out yeah probably probably didn't help but you get to do so you get to help with some of the games while you're sat in a room towards the back um so yeah that was cool went with connor who of course we all know from the last podcast episode who went over to finland and my lovely girlfriend sophie who was a traitor and i knew she was because i could hear it did she get found out or did she make it through she did get she did get found out of the three traitors two got done out and one of them went on to win it and rossi you're not into this thing at all are you no i know it's a big thing but yeah i i just haven't watched it so i enjoy it i'm kind of jealous of you because at one point you're going to discover it and then you've got about 15 different series to watch from not only the uk version but the excellent american version and the Australian version as well.

57:16Mark Heath:Don't bother with New Zealand. That's rubbish. AJ, what are you making of the celeb? Without giving away any spoilers, what are you making of the celeb version? I thought it was going to be awful. I really did. I was so concerned it was going to be absolutely crap. And I saw the line. I was like, all right, that's quite good. And it's been so good, hasn't it? It's been so good. Really good. Yeah. I thought the fact that they'd like, a lot of them would know each other already would be a bit rubbish, but it's not. I thought the fact that they're not actually playing for their own personal money they're playing for charity um would also kind of you know would you still have the motivation to go and do it but they all do and it's great and they've selected the traitors so well and it's such a great group and i think it's brilliant yeah that i would argue it's maybe the most kind of star-studded celebrity version of anything ever um and certainly in this country with the likes of like steven fry for example who would think he would ever do anything like this uh jonathan ross and celia imri i mean there's some really big names involved and steven fry is one of my favorite people full stop um i once saw him give a a speech at my sister's graduation in cambridge she can go to cambridge uni aj one of the other ones um and he gave a tremendous speech about how the most important thing in life was to be kind he speaks so well and he's so eloquent um i love the guy and i'm loving seeing him play this game because clearly he loves it and it's great to see people who genuinely enjoy the game get to play it um so yes highly recommend the traitors celebrity traitors if you've not watched it is brilliant um friends just brings us to the end of the show just coming up to the other nice hour then we've covered quite a lot of ground need to remind you of our sponsors of course friends one of which is these lovely boys here molecular uk who sent me a little care package um now obviously we know they do uh cleaning products for cars and various other things so i'm just going to put my hand in here actually not going to pull out what we got here uh this is the evolution acid-free wheel cleaner now uh i've got alloys on my uh my somewhat aging suv uh which do need a clean so i'm gonna be looking forward to uh cleaning these i'm gonna be doing all this rossi before we head to the o2 next weekend so we're in a clean chariot to go and watch fabio hopefully beat joseph parker anti-fog glass cleaner that's for the inside of the car because you know annoyingly you get sort of smudges all over your glass don't you need that what else have i got in here uh this is the detailing spray sparkle this is for uh to basically make your your car shine uh rossi obviously none of this is relevant to you um although i think the amount of times you do get lifts you should actually be cleaning cars for people and this is hydro foam which i'm going to put in my pressure washer um which is going to be good for them and uh and get my my car cleaner than ever so all of these excellent things you can get at molecular um obviously we don't say www docs only granddads say things like that don't understand the internet and i'm way cooler and younger than a granddad i probably could technically be a granddad now given my age where are we it's molecular-uk.com use the code koa10 for 10 % off all their excellent products i'm really looking forward to getting stuck in with these because the old car does need a bit of a clean and then obviously just remind me the other sponsor stardust spirits use the code koa at stardustspirits.co.uk for 20 % off all their excellent products i've got loads of other things to mention you've still got your empty there aj or have you been at it again this morning no well yeah that was a different bottle um i've still got the empty one here it sits proudly on my desk as a reminder of our beloved sponsors yes and our live podcast uh before the before the derby um things to mention friends we've currently got for i think this is the last week in fact it ends next wednesday a good offer on digital subscriptions five pound for five months um which obviously if you sign up now it takes you right the way through january window uh and well into into next year um so a decent good offer there to get involved with um links all over our various social medias we've also just launched as part of that a new comments platform on our websites which is aimed to kind of create it for want of a better word a safer space to talk about it switch town because we know as with anything in in life now when you're chatting about stuff it can end up getting quite unpleasant and very divisive and before long you get people calling your names and that kind of stuff and that's just me and aj um but the new the new comment system online uh we've got we're working with a with a company who basically have 24 7 moderators so we're eliminating what i would call the morons um that the people just want to chuck stuff at people and say nasty things um this is intended to be a space where we can kind of have sensible debate around football in it's rich town and the good thing about it as well if you do subscribe we can see who our subscribers as are and we're definitely going to get right involved with those in that particular area so that's another perk of subscribing i'm pleased already to see some in jokes from the podcast making their way into the comments as well including that www.joke um which is already in there um remarkably yes ross you want to say something yeah that actually links up with the comment section because ben briddle shout out to you uh can we hear hefe's thoughts on this on the next pod, please.

1:02:19Basically, that is the Aaron Droynan winning the League 2 Player of the Month award. He's actually won the PFA League 2 player. He's won two awards because he's been on fire this season so far for Swindon Town.

1:02:31Mark Heath:Well, I'm like a proud, cool, older brother to Aaron Droynan, the Drizzy, the Drizmonster, Driznaldo. He's been absolutely on fire, hasn't he? Only I could see it when he was at Town. Only I could see it. I'm pleased to see that he's now flourishing. In the summer, I think Town have really got to think about bringing him back when they're looking for that man to fire them into the Premier League when they inevitably get back there. They're going to have to probably spend 25 billion to bring him back. So that'll be a pain. But yeah, obviously, I'm very, very proud. And what I love about the Dryden thing, it's the longest running joke, I think, in KOA history.

1:03:02Mark Heath:Because even to this day, even now, whenever Aaron Dryden scores, I get people tagging me in the goal or the comments or have you seen this? Have you seen that? And I love it because I do generally keep an eye on what he's doing. And I've still got, I must be the only person on the planet with a signed Aaron Drynan, it's a town shirt hanging on their wall as a result of that. The other thing to mention, friends, I flashed up Mission Impossible. This is still available from last year, which obviously was a remarkable run through the championship on the way to the Premier League. And we've since added a blue era this summer, which is the story of the rebirth of It's Rich Town.

1:03:35Mark Heath:I'm going back for the first time through all our coverage from the end of the Mark 7s era all the way through Demolition Man summer, the American Takeover, Mark Ashton, Kirmic and all that stuff, right the way up to present day. and that's available now as well so go and get yourself a copy of that sitting next to each other on your it's which town bookshelves anything else to mention friends before we take our leave

1:03:56Mark Heath:no other business my friend no other business okay well i hope you've enjoyed the first podcast for a little while i hope you're going to enjoy if you're going tomorrow night if you're not going follow it all with us the boys will be there obviously and hopefully when we reconvene on monday we'll be talking about another it's which town win um so friends have a great weekend whatever of you doing and we'll speak to you next time

1:04:46Thank you.

1:05:16Thank you.

1:05:52The World Cup Championship will be crowned this week, and you can trade the tourney through the finals on Cauchy, America's number one prediction market platform. Right now, Spain is trading at 58 % to beat Argentina, meaning 100 trade pays out 166 if they win. On Cauchy, you're trading against other people in a live market. No house, no odds makers. For a limited time, download the Kalshi app and use code DEFEND to get$10 when you trade$10. K-A-L-S-H-I. Kalshi. Trade the beautiful game. 18 plus only. Restrictions and eligibility requirements apply. Event contract trading involves risk and may not be suitable for all investors.

1:06:31Kalshi products are not available in all jurisdictions. Prices, values, and available markets may differ from those mentioned. For more information, see Kalshi.com forward slash regulatory. Hey everybody, Lady Luck here, and we're celebrating America's 250th birthday. Now all summer long, I'm going to be celebrating by playing on SpinQuest.com, which is an American-owned social casino. It obviously features over a thousand slot games and live blackjack, live craps, live bubble craps. Head on over to SpinQuest.com. Get yourself a$30 coin pack for just$10. SpendQuest is a free-to-play social casino.

1:07:08Void where prohibited. Visit SpendQuest.com for more details.