592: Kings of Anglia: Two steps forward, one step back

18:43Stuart Watson:So I actually think that the bit that Ipswich need to look at more is the bit earlier than that. And again, it's Ipswich in the final third. Daro Shea's a bit loose with a cross-field pass. So that's the first bit. And not for the first time this season, this was an Ipswich performance full of kind of unforced errors, players giving the ball away and that was another example of that and then can it switch then do better to rectify that mistake fatah who does skip past both philagine and jack taylor before he gets his shot away i think maybe that's something that they need to look at as well but regarding walton yeah i'm i'm no goalkeeping expert but i would imagine that his starting position is what most goalkeepers take up in those scenarios in games.

19:32Stuart Watson:And I think this is one you just have to applaud the strike because that's incredible technique. You know, that was a proper David Beckham versus Wimbledon territory. That wasn't it?

19:44Mark Heath:Absolutely. I mean, actually, I think it's further out than Beckham's. 70 yards, they've clocked it out, I think. Yeah. Where do you stand on that sort of goal? I mean, I've referred to it as being probably goal of the season. And I mentioned that yesterday on social media and someone came at me, George from BSE, I think it was, saying he's got an open goal, he's got to hit it. I'd much rather have a Tony Yeboah style, you know, thunder bastard, smacking the roof of the bar and violently cannoning into the net. Any thoughts on that, Stu? Do you think these kind of long range efforts aren't as good of goals as maybe others?

20:22Stuart Watson:everyone's entitled to enjoy different goals and I can understand the aesthetics of different types of goals. Some people love team goals, some people love thunderous strikes, whatever it may be. Was it George you said there? George, yeah. Yeah. George, I'll stick you 70 yards from goal with an open net and I'll give you 100 attempts to try that shot and I'll see how many of them you put in. Yeah.

20:51Mark Heath:That's just it.

20:52Stuart Watson:George, you may be an incredible athlete, but that is, I think I might struggle to reach the goal most of the time trying to do that.

21:00Mark Heath:That's just it. If you remove all the kind of other factors he has to worry about, like the players around him, where Walton is, how hard he's got to hit the shot, the fact it's in a live environment, and just try and do that, from there on your own you'd struggle i think generally speaking um to hit the back of the net

21:18Stuart Watson:so to do it in a game i think sensational yeah we watch um remember on soccer am back in the day where they did the crossbar challenge and the amount of these these were you know elite pro athletes and the amount of those that would would skew a shot you know wide with efforts like that it's an incredible bit of skill. Let's not take anything away from that. Absolutely.

21:45Mark Heath:And then, obviously, Stu, shortly after halftime, it's pretty much game over. That man, Fata, were involved again. I enjoyed that. I don't know, it's not a term I've seen before, Stu, but you referred to him flip-flapping, Leif Davis. What's that all about?

21:56Stuart Watson:Yeah, is it? Is that the term? I'm now questioning. Yeah, where you kind of go to move the ball one way and then very quickly sort of flick it the other, is it? You know, like Ronaldinho used to do.

22:11Kieran McKenna:Yeah, yeah. Elastico, is that the same thing?

22:14Stuart Watson:Yeah. Yeah, he does that sort of bit of skill. It's just one v one wing play. One of probably, if not the best winger in the league, taking on Leif Davis, who just gets beaten by a bit of skill, sends him stumbling. Don't think there's any question of a foul in there for me. a bit of misfortune with the way the ball then kind of hits Leaf on his way down and falls nicely for Pereira to pick out Ayew. But again, if you roll it back, I think less than a minute earlier, Leaf Davis has won a free kick in the left-back area. And he takes it quickly, plays it back to Walton. They get themselves in a bit of a muddle and Kipre sort of ends up sort of looping a square ball across his own box, which was a bit of a, you know, watching through your fingers moment.

23:11Stuart Watson:And, you know, Leicester from there recycle it and end up scoring the goal. And that's probably the most frustrating one of them all because even at 2-0 down, I thought there was something in this game for Ipswich. I've mentioned the crowd. I've mentioned if that next goal, the old cliche of 2-0 being a dangerous scoreline would have really held weight in this game because I think if Ipswich had got the next goal in the game and got it to 2-1, it would have been really interesting. And as it was, they did go and get another goal and it did become semi-interesting. But, you know, once it got to a three-goal margin, effectively that was done, wasn't it?

23:49Mark Heath:Yeah. So Jens gets obviously the consolation literally handed to him on a plate. So he gets the goal, which I guess is good to see. I was interested to see Matassi were taken off just after the hour. Do you reckon that's just because essentially the game's gone? They're trying to prevent him from getting another booking? Because you end up with a midfield pairing of Ashley Young and Jens Kijusta, which is not what you'd expect.

24:14Stuart Watson:Yeah, remiss of me not to ask about that post-match, actually, in terms of Azul's substitution. But he did take a bit of a heavy kick a few moments earlier, so it might have been precautionary around that. There might have been the thought of him being one booking away and 3-0 down. It's a bit of a silly moment for him to go and get that booking in this game. So it might have been due to that. But, yeah, ultimately we end up with, for a small period in the game, Ashley Young and Jens Kajusta in midfield because a tired Jack Taylor had also been withdrawn at that stage, as or off. That's not a central midfield pairing that we thought we'd ever see.

24:59Stuart Watson:I thought Young did alright actually when he was in there for a period and then eventually Furlong came on and they had a bit of a Furlong went off and Young went to right back and there was a bit of a reshuffle but

25:15yeah

25:15Mark Heath:that was that Before we move on and talk about the bigger picture which I think is the more interesting stuff anyway in terms of players and the way they perform in this game is there anyone who's kind of emerging with a bit more credit than others Stu I know I think AJ gave Furlong man of the match I see There's a guy who does Player ratings ITFC data I think it was on Twitter After every game Where he uses a heat map And stats And that kind of thing He had key praise As the man of the match Quite a clear man of the match Is there anyone That you think is worthy Of highlighting Or

25:49Stuart Watson:I thought a very small Positive to take from it Was Sammy Schmoddick's Lively appearance off the bench. He looks like someone that's raring to go again to me after another frustrating injury setback in what's been a real stop-start calendar year for him. You see his reaction to the goal against Stoke. Who was the goal scorer against Stoke? Remind me.

26:19Mark Heath:Philogene, wasn't it? No, Igelli. Yeah.

26:24Stuart Watson:losing my mind now what's the Stoke was 1-0 yeah who did he come off he came on Coventry didn't he is that when Azon scored Azon sorry yeah so he makes his injury come back very late on 89th minute and it's the Azon goal is the one I'm thinking of and if you have a look Schmollix doesn't immediately run over to the celebrations because the attempted Azan pass was heading to him before it came back to Azan and I think he was frustrated that he didn't get his name on the goal on the score sheet there and then I watched him in the warm-up ahead of this game and he was the last one in and he was really sort of practising with real intensity I thought and he just looks like someone that's ready to make up for a bit of lost time and he comes on in this game and ran around and looked quite lively and gave a bit of spark.

27:25Stuart Watson:So, yeah, a slight positive to take from a disappointing afternoon. It was Philogine, of course, who scored against Stoke. Of course it was.

27:36Mark Heath:It's just all these games kind of blend into one, don't they?

27:38Stuart Watson:I mean, Coventry, yeah, Coventry's only just over a week ago and it already feels like a lifetime ago already, doesn't it? Yeah.

27:47Mark Heath:Where are we with Sam or Sammy? because I know in some quarters he's now being called Sam. Has he officially switched to the shorter versions too? Is he still Sammy? Is it just a free-for-all, whatever you feel like? Don't know.

28:00Stuart Watson:I don't know if there's been an official renaming there. Absolutely.

28:04Mark Heath:We need to get the official ruling on that. All right, Stu, so 3-1 defeat. Once again, we find ourselves back here in the glass half full, glass half empty, bigger picture chat. I think looking at it, and I've just been editing Carl Fuller's column for tomorrow. He makes a point in which he says that if you'd taken six points from these three games, you'd have been pretty happy with that. You know, two-point average. Had they lost to Coventry, for example, and then beaten Stoke and Leicester, we'd be sitting there going, yeah, pretty decent return. So it's just, again, the manner of the fact that they've got two really good wins and they've gone and laid an egg at Leicester and turned in another unconvincing performance, which immediately then dampens the mood.

28:46Mark Heath:So where are you, Stu, in the old glass half or glass half empty, various other chats debate?

28:52Stuart Watson:Yeah, I think that's a fair point in terms of the points tally from the week. I think it just feeds into this frustration around inconsistency, doesn't it? And it's not just about the points tally, because if you have a look at it, if you extend that to the seven games in 22 days, It's three wins, two draws, two defeats, which is not a terrible points tally. It's 11 points from seven games, which is three below that two points a game average. This one, for me, going and losing at Leicester in a game that was changed by some fantastic strikes at the end of a really busy period isn't going to be what makes or breaks this season for Ipswich.

29:44Stuart Watson:It's going to be Oxford, Blackburn, Charlton, Derby, Rexham, Watford, those games that have kind of slid by for varying reasons. They're all in the bottom half, those teams, by the way. Ipswich got four points from those matches. so yeah I think the bigger picture debate is that win, lose or draw this season in general we're still waiting to be fully convinced aren't we and this is another performance that feeds into that I don't know how to feel right now I've said it a few times this season I've normally got a bit of a gut feeling or I can say with sort of confidence that, you know, don't worry, it's going to be all right.

30:40Stuart Watson:I've seen enough to know it's going to be fine or actually I'm a little bit worried that I'm seeing a trend here. I genuinely don't know, Mark, and we're nearly half a season in at the moment. And I don't know if this team is going to kick on. We were talking before this pod started. I think I said in a previous pod that we keep saying when they hit top gear, maybe there isn't a top gear. And maybe that's all right. Maybe this is about embracing the grind this season and it's going to be this way as it has been from here to the end of the season. And if it is, they end up probably around 80-something points and in the playoffs, and then who knows what happens.

31:24Stuart Watson:If I was a betting man, I'd probably be putting my pound on that being the case at the moment. They're not looking like a top two team at the moment, are they?

31:34Mark Heath:No, but I think that really resonates with me, Stu, what you said there about, you know, always using this term, when's it going to click? When's it going to be lift off? When's it going to be top? Maybe it's just not, you know, and we've kind of been spoiled, haven't we, by what's happened, you know, particularly those two seasons where they were extraordinary. but that is you know in terms of that kind of thing happening that's the outlier that's that kind of thing is not going to happen again realistically it's never going to be that good again we're never going to have that feeling again and right now it's which time a fifth in the table without really playing that well in what looks like a fairly average league yeah and is that okay i mean they're they're going to more than likely be at least in the playoffs now you can then argue well they've spent loads of money and this and the other and obviously expectations are much higher than they were.

32:18Mark Heath:But surely we want a team that's competitive more than anything else and is likely to be involved in the sharp end of the season. So have we just been spoiled by what's happened and now we're expecting nothing else other than a tremendous season where they barely lose and go up is kind of seen as not good enough now. And generally speaking, that doesn't really happen in football that often.

32:41Stuart Watson:No. I mean, I had a look at it. This was an opportunity again to win three games in a row that slides by. They still haven't done that since that night against Southampton at the back end of the promotion season. Kieran McKenna says it's difficult to win games consecutively in this division. I had a look through it. I think Ipswich are the only team in the top seven that haven't won at least three in a row or more this season. So it can be done and Ipswich should be in a position to do it with the squad that they've put together and the money they've spent. I mean, I talked about it, it's five defeats now this season, which is one fewer than the entirety of that promotion season.

33:26Stuart Watson:And it feels like we're destined to never quite escape comparisons to that year. And this is the big problem where you talk about, have we been spoiled? Yes, because I felt this from very early on in this season. And nothing is going to really top that in terms of it being the perfect storm of a decade or so of apathy and pain and nothingness and then it all coming together in the way it did and the style of football and underdogs and... The players. Yeah, and that's what's kind of against Ipswich at the moment. The fan base are always going to compare that. and it's a fair comparison because people say we could have kept that.

34:10Stuart Watson:We could have still had that this season. Could we have done more to keep Morsi, Chaplin, Wolfie, Burgess, etc.? And might it have been different had that been the case? We'll never know. I'm not sure it's particularly healthy to keep looking back on that. We are where we are. I thought I got a feeling after Stoke that there was a bit more of a bond strengthening between the fans and this team. But it's never quite getting there at the moment, is it? It feels like that's another little step back, as you say, at the weekend. So, yeah, an interesting time. I said closer to 16th place Derby in the table than they are to second place Middlesbrough at the moment.

35:02Stuart Watson:I mean, it's a mad congested championship table. Eight points separating third and 16th at the moment.

35:13Stuart Watson:I don't know, Mark. What's your gut feeling? Which way do you feel it's heading?

35:18Mark Heath:I personally think they'll be OK. I mean, you know, they're almost kind of in fifth by default at the moment. They've not been great. But what is okay? Well, I think they'll be at least in the playoffs. Yeah. I agree. Top two maybe getting away from them. But if you just said they're going to be in the playoffs, they're going to be with a chance of going up, that's what we want from the season, isn't it? I know you can look at it on paper and go, well, they spent more money than anyone else, and therefore they should be 30 points clear at the top of the table. It doesn't work like that. That's not the way football works.

35:52Mark Heath:You have to build a team. and that's what they're still in the process of doing. It reminds me a little bit, actually, Stuart, of the League One promotion season, where, again, there were obviously high expectations. There was a big money side for that level. And for much of that season, they kind of were stop-start, weren't they? And we obviously then recorded that podcast after the Bristol Rovers thing, where we literally said, are they good enough? And we wheeled off a lot of the problems which we've been talking about now, the rotation, style of play, predictability, all that kind of stuff.

36:20Mark Heath:And then, obviously, they went on that ridiculous, on beating run and got themselves promoted. So it feels to me a little bit like maybe that sort of season where when they finally, if they do finally gel or click, whatever you want to call it, it might be a couple of months down the line and then they go on a bit of a tear. But I think generally speaking, they are in the mix for promotion in what is a fairly average league. So I'm inclined to think.

36:47Stuart Watson:The League One comparison is a really interesting and a good one, I think, with that promotion season because, yeah, the pressure was on for Ipswich to get promoted that year. And, you know, that 0-0 at Bristol Rovers on Valentine's Day, wasn't it, with Morsi going over to the fans and confronting them afterwards and it was like all the scars of the past were kind of old wounds reopen. Here we go again, typical Ipswich. still going to blow it and all that sort of stuff and the january transfer window played a massive part didn't it in in that season with broadhead and clark and luongo and um who else is hearst coming on that in that window as well yeah um so there is still january to come in this season and and it may have have a have a role to play um the point about it being an average division i would agree with.

37:49Stuart Watson:I'm still waiting for anyone to kind of blow my socks off in terms of someone I've seen up close and personal. I was waiting to see what Coventry are all about. Obviously, we didn't see them anywhere near at their best last week. I thought Stoke looked at a decent side, but I look at that top six with Preston and Millwall in there. Can they last the pace? I don't know. They feel like sort of Nick McCarthy type Ipswich teams from a few years back that were kind of quite functional and consistent. But will it be enough to keep them there or get them over the line? I'm not convinced. The issue is, and you don't want to get too far ahead of yourselves.

38:30Stuart Watson:It might not be like this division, might not be like this a year. If Ipswich don't do it this season, you're into year two, the final year of parachute payments. the pressure's well and truly on then to get promoted. And you could have Wolves and whoever else dropping down from the Prem. If Southampton and Leicester don't do it this year, they probably, you know, get stronger to go again. And it's a different kettle of fish next year. So it's all very well, I say. They'll be okay. They'll be fine. They'll finish in the 80-odd points and they'll finish in the playoffs.

39:10Stuart Watson:but is that enough? Should that be enough given what they've spent and the time they've had to prepare for this as well? They've known really for a long time they were heading to the championship and really they're sort of chasing their tail a little bit because of the mad late scrambling in the transfer window which could that have been handled a bit better? Is that going to prove costly over time? they're all the sort of questions that people, you know, are fair to ask, I think.

39:40Mark Heath:100 % they're fair. And nothing, you know, it's not been perfect, has it? But then nothing in life is. No. Apart from, obviously, that season they went up when everything was rosy and they just seemed like to be this relentless winning machine. But that is, as I said, that's the outlier. You don't get seasons like that very often. And to then be expecting that again, you know, you're always going to be hiding to nothing, I think.

40:00Stuart Watson:And that team went through, Kieran McKenna always talks about this in terms of you have to have shared experiences as a group to get to where he wants them to be. And it's very easy to forget, and I keep saying it, that that revered team that everybody loved had some rocky moments on the way. Some of them took a little while to find their feet. As a team, they had some setbacks along the way. The Charlton 4-4 game with conceding the goals and various other moments along the way that proved to be, and I know people now always go, oh, here he is, talking about learning lessons again, and it's boring, and we don't want to hear it.

40:44But this is a new group now that is learning, you know,

40:49Stuart Watson:learning on the job and going through some experiences. And you can learn so much in a classroom, but nothing like real life teaches you, does it? And, you know, we just have to hope that they are going to pick up a few lessons from some of the things that have happened this season and put it into practice in the second half.

41:08Mark Heath:On that note, Stu, the one thing they do need to learn pretty quickly is how to win games after falling behind. You mentioned the Jeremy Samiento moment. That's the last time they won a game after being behind. That's what was that, April 1st, 2024. So a year and a half. and McKenna has made reference to that a few times, hasn't he, in terms of we can work on our reaction to what happens when we go behind. That's your silly question now, but what's your take on that? Do you see kind of players kind of drop their heads and kind of be impacted by going behind more than they should be? Because clearly that's something that has been a great trait of Ipswich Town in, again, harking back to that promotion run, you never felt like they were beaten, even if they did go behind.

41:55Mark Heath:You always thought they could come back and score more goals than the opposition. And you don't get that feeling clearly now, and the stats back that up with this Hitchfield side.

42:03Stuart Watson:Yeah. The first thing I'd say is they have scored three last-minute equalisers this season. Birmingham opening day, Derby, Blackburn. So that's not completely gone, and there's been, but definitely a comeback win is something to tick off. They've gone behind in 10 games and they've got five points from those. So, got five draws and five defeats in those. So, if you wanted to put a positive spin on it, in half of the games they've gone behind, they've still managed to get something. The comparison again, we're going back to the comparison with the promotion season, but I think that it was different then because Ipswich was seen differently then.

42:51Stuart Watson:They were the newly promoted team that were underdogs and maybe underestimated for quite a big chunk of that season. And so when teams went ahead against Ipswich, now it's something to defend against. It's something to protect against Ipswich. And we've seen the difficulties with breaking down the deep block In that promotion season, teams kept playing quite open and Ipswich had that mentality of as soon as we go behind, we go back to get another goal. That's a little bit easier when you're playing against more open teams. So every time we make this comparison to the promotion season, it is comparing apples and pears a little bit, I would say.

43:40Stuart Watson:I've seen a lot of stuff about does this team care enough? Is there enough passion? Is there enough bite? Leif Davis is talking about, I'd go to war for any of the boys in this dressing room. I think Dara O'Shea is really starting to grow as a leader. Matt O'Shea is someone that can't be accused of not being up for the fight. Jack Taylor is someone who's smashing into tackles. no I don't know if I'd go as far as sort of saying this isn't a team that's got enough heart in it at the moment um well again I'll throw it back to you you do you sense that you're a fighting man are you you're seeing enough passion you're seeing enough desire out there is it is that is that an element of this what it's like a it's a kind of intangible that it's hard to measure isn't it i would say that you know comparison is the thief of joy isn't

44:37Mark Heath:it and therefore if you're constantly comparing this side to the the side that we all love so much you you're on a hiding to nothing like i've already said the only way they can show they've got that heart and they've got that ability is by doing it um and as you say that's something they have to tick off thus far i you know clearly this is a side with much and again it might be part of the issue is that this side is packed with players who are on big wages have been brought in with big money and expect to start every single game whereas the previous side were players all a bunch of underdog players all pulling towards something that none of them had ever done which is get to the premier league really uh and there was so much more defined in their roles as well whereas this side we don't have that do we everyone you'd imagine everyone thinks they should really be starting um so that's another another kind of problem that mckenna has to work on and solve But I will say, if anyone's going to find a way of gelling a team, it's going to be Kieran McKenna.

45:33Mark Heath:He's done it already with that team that were languishing in League One and he took them all the way to the Premier League. I'm fairly confident they're going to be all right again under him. But you can't, it's hard to sit here now and say, well, they've got no heart. They've got no desire. Because how do you measure that unless they come out and literally say that? who are we to judge the size of a man's heart as they say in boxing but they have to show it they have to come out and prove they can do it because that's clearly one of the key signs of a good team the key the key traits of a team is being able to come back and win games that they've gone behind you but you make a good point next year with the fact that they have come from behind they just haven't won games so it's not as if as soon as they go behind they just fall apart and get beat four or five every time.

46:21Mark Heath:That's not the case. But it is, again, we are at this juncture, which I feel I've been at a lot of times this season, where you've sort of felt that it's lift-off. You know, the Sheffield United game, oh, they're going to be all right now. And then, again, they take a step backwards with the Middlesbrough game and games after that as well.

46:41Stuart Watson:I think we forget in football the time element of it as well. Like, Coventry are doing what they've done this season after building with a fairly consistent group over a period of years to get to this point. Ipswich got to that point, as I say, with Kieran McKenna comes in midway for a season, has six months, doesn't quite do it, bumps in the road during that League One promotion season. That was 18 months in the making before they then became what they were in the championship. we are now effectively well middle of december three and a half months post transfer window three and a half months that's nothing is it you know that's 14 weeks you think what if you can relate it to starting a new job or moving to a new country or something like that and what you would be expected to do within sort of 14 weeks um just because the games come thick and fast and the narrative changes so quickly all the time.

47:48Stuart Watson:I do think we forget how little time there has been with a completely new group at the moment. I do think the money side of it, and this is a general football thing now, is, you know, football's in danger of eating itself, isn't it? But like with the FIFA World Cup tickets and all of that. But generally, the money that washes around in the game, it's easier to it's easier to love the underdog isn't it and it's now Ipswich are the big boys and this squad cost 130 million pounds and all of that and pressure and expectation so every little every little knockback feels like there's a bigger stick to beating with because you should be doing better and um we've not felt that it's we've not had that for a very very long time for those of us associated with Ipswich so it's a new feeling it's it's one we're getting used to

48:42Mark Heath:It's also that you mentioned the football generally, Stuart. It feels like every season, the discourse and the kind of narrative around every single result gets more and more intense. So they win a game, everything's brilliant and they're going up and then they lose a game and everything's rubbish. And the players are useless and McKenna, you know, sort his ideas out. You look at the Celtic boss, Wilfred Nancy. He's come in, he's lost three games. Already people are saying he should be sacked. um it's just there was time is not a commodity you get in football anymore is it you either win now or you're useless um so again it all kind of adds up to this kind of debate around every single minutiae of every single game but clearly that's football and that's why we love it because it it's uh it's fun to talk about and debate and and and trade opinions and that's what we've been doing i think now for about 25 minutes to it's been a bit of a group therapy session is there anything else you want to mention before we head on and crack on with our Monday?

49:42Stuart Watson:No, I don't think so. Yeah, I'm sure a week on the training pitch will do them a bit of good. Not much sort of training time, not much rest time for anyone sort of involved with it all, really. So hopefully a little bit of a rest, a reset, and then they can go again for this, you know, gets hectic again for Christmas, doesn't it? Of course it does. Christmas crunch.

50:08Mark Heath:Should we be worried about Saturday, though, Stu? Crisis Club Sheffield Wednesday. They're not going to come and play expansive football, are they? They're going to park the bus. It's going to be the old breaking down the low block issue again.

50:20Stuart Watson:Possibly, yeah. And they'll be... I just... Yeah. It's a shame because... Yeah. Having done so much to build that... Start to build those bonds with the two home games previously. I don't know how much... Because it was a good travelling contingent at Leicester. 3 000 plus how much that has kind of done to to damage that um but a week off everyone back at portman road the majority of whom will have will still have some good memories from from coventry stoke hopefully the atmosphere is good and um they can rise to the occasion absolutely uh friends

50:56Mark Heath:that's going to bring us to the end of this podcast we've done 50 minutes um which feels like a nice tight little uh review of what happened at the weekend and a general wider a bit of a group therapy debate. Whichever side of the debate you fall on, let us know. Because as I say, football is a game more about opinions and chat. That's the fun of it. Talking of chat, Kare Live 3, which was meant to be obviously on Saturday, as the boys revealed last week and we shared on social media, that's had to be postponed. So obviously sad news, not something we wanted to do. But to try and make up for it, we're going to bring you a live pod virtually this Thursday, our Christmas special from seven o 'clock live across our YouTube and Facebook channels.

51:34Mark Heath:So join us for that. We're going to be talking, obviously, about the season so far. We're going to be looking ahead to Sheppard Wednesday. We're going to be taking a lot of questions, mobile questions. So get involved. You can actually ask us questions live and maybe have a little chat about January transfer window as well and what might be needed going into that. So join us on Thursday. And obviously, just to remind us about our sponsors, use the code KOA at startofspirits.co.uk for 20 % off all the excellent spirits, alcoholic beverages, lots of stuff to get involved in for christmas there and also use the code koa 10 at molecular-uk.com just check that i haven't got that one off the top of my head yet yeah molecular-uk.com for 10 off all their excellent cleaning products for your car and various other bits and bobs get your alloys shined up and your interior looking nice and smelling nice for the the christmas travel which is inevitable at christmas you go all over the place don't you christmas uh and also friends uh a reminder of a couple of competitions we've got running at the moment.

52:30Mark Heath:Two, well, one, definitely money can't buy competition. One, pretty special competition. The first one is a chance to come and watch a game with us on January 31st against Preston at home looking for revenge after that defeat earlier in the season. You can come with us. You'll be in the press room with us beforehand. You can have some media scram. You can appear on game day. You can touch Watson's boulder shoulders. Maybe it'll rub his head for luck before the game. then sit and watch the game with us in the press box and obviously go to the press conference afterwards with kerry mckenna and see how it all works you have to be a subscriber to enter that but you can sign up now and enter that straight away we currently have the best offer of the year which is six pound for six months or 26 pounds take you all the way through to the end of 2026 um so if you're not a subscriber go and get involved clearly it's very important to us that the people who do enjoy what we do sign up and and hopefully you'd agree that that's not too much money for what you get and the other one stew is one you've been instrumental in sorting and you're just going to bring it in now that man is in your head uh i've got a blind spot on this year i've started writing and i'm i'm i'm convinced i'm going to do this properly at some point i've started writing darwin nunez now that's that's in my head don't put that in my head marcelino nunez we've got a signed shirt stew which you've you've got and not only that it in my opinion it's the best shirt this season, the third shirt.

53:54Mark Heath:So, yeah, good to have that on offer to our subscribers as well, Stu.

53:59Stuart Watson:Yes, it is indeed, yeah. I'll just give you another look for those subscribers watching on video. There it is, Nunez, 32, signed by the man himself. He's written 32 next to his signature on the three of 32 on the back of the third shirt, which uh yeah has really grown on me that's now i've got one it's really in the flesh it's uh it's nice that so um it's up for grabs for uh one of our lucky subscribers yeah so again you can

54:33Mark Heath:enter that competition online now um again you have to be a subscriber but again as i say if you're not already you can sign up the other thing to mention is to leave us a five-star again itunes we don't have one of those for a little while i just helped lift us visibility wise in the charts helps people find us with the algorithm and all that and join join the army stew we've got to crack on with it with a week without a game which feels a bit weird doesn't it given that how how busy they've been recently building up to sheffield wednesday this weekend anything else to mention before we go no other business no okay excellent well friends as we say that the second part of this week will be live coming to you at 7 p.m on thursday so join us please if you can if you can't obviously we'll put it out as a pod anyway and you'll be able to listen back and watch it back but the more people we have involved the better it will be because we want loads of questions as input from you as we head towards sheffield winter this weekend and then christmas friends hope you have a good start to your week and we'll speak to you on thursday night

55:47Thank you.

56:22Thank you.

56:46Thank you.