593: Kings of Anglia: 2025 Xmas special LIVE

23:29Stuart Watson:the squad building side of things first I do think they've got themselves into a bit of a muddle at times as somebody one of the commenters put early they had a long time to prepare for this season really from January onwards whenever the Southampton game was the writing was on the wall going back to the championship had time to get their ducks in a row and I know it's not always easy in football and you have to wait for dominoes to fall but for all the business to have happened so late in the window wasn't was far from ideal um could the Hutchinson and Broadhead situations been dealt with earlier I think so looking at they unfolded quite publicly Chaplin sort of starting against Derby and then going like two days later on deadline day and the Wolfenden situation dragging on.

24:18Stuart Watson:It all felt like a bit of a muddle, really. And now time is a bit of an enemy, easy for me to say. And they're playing catch-up a little bit and the pressure's on because of that. And could some of that have been avoided? Probably. I think in terms of kind of thinking about how the squad came together, I still think like the Philogene signing, and we're talking about Philogene being top goal scorer at the moment and starting to look really good. But was that the best way to spend£20 million back in January when you had Jack Clark? You knew you were heading to the Championship at that stage. You've now ended up with your two best players in terms of goal output this season, both playing in the same position.

25:02Stuart Watson:They've tried to find ways to get them in the same team. It's not worked. the knock-on effect is it's blunted your most creative player in leaf davis all those assists last time in the championship one so far it's not really working with him trying to sort of play a bit more inverted um so yeah the whole balance of it has kind of been knocked off and have have it sort of grabbed at championship names rather than thought about the attributes they need and which areas of the squad they need to build? Possibly. Possibly. That's my fear at this moment in time. In terms of negatives for me, easy one.

25:42Stuart Watson:Blackburn away, brackets twice. Ouch. Yeah, that was bad.

25:47Mark Heath:Let me ask you this, Stu, because we're talking about squad building, and it's a good point, and they're linked here. Kian Leathers, again, says, is McAteer the worst town panic buy ever? Now, I live with a Leicester fan, and when I told her that town had spent 11.5 million on Casey McAteer, she just broke down laughing she thought that that was a joke um she said no surely five million no eleven and a half uh and this goes with it from from matt says the ogbeni thing i don't imagine that was found so we said you both there said that um they lack pace you know obviously the wes burns um role the right wing role clearly he's not ready to go and i think he always is missed when he's not in the team but they had in ogbeni they had this um a guy who fits that profile and they shipped him out and they brought in Casey McAteer to replace him.

26:35Mark Heath:Looking back on that now, AJ, do you think that was a mistake? Yeah. Yeah, basically, yeah, it was. At least that's how I saw it. And I thought it was odd at the time, to be honest, where I think we were all surprised. I think it was in a post-match press conference where Kieran McKenna revealed that they were looking at sending Chio out on loan, I think at the time as well, even though Sheffield United was struggling, it felt weird to send them to a team that still felt like they were going to be a promotion rival and still could be as well. He was signed for a reason, which was kind of to be competition for Wes Burns in that they're very similar players.

27:14They've got pace, they've got the physicality, they've got all those kind of elements they can almost play in the wing-backy role when you turn into a back five, as McKenna systems have done in the past. And it felt ready-made for him to at least have a part to play. I'm not saying he was always going to be the nailed-on starter in that role, having come back from a nasty Achilles injury. And I know he's also had some knocks while being out on loan, but that felt odd to me. On McAteer, as I said, it didn't feel like the right move at the time. and I don't want to jump onto this because there's every chance that he has one that goes in off his backside next month and all of a sudden in the second half of the season he scores five goals, he puts in some good performances.

28:00I don't want to jump the gun. Can I see that happening at this stage? Probably not. And the right wing position is probably going to be an interesting one going into January. Maybe they could look to add something there, but then they've also got Wes Burns coming back. This is what I mean in terms of being a little bit muddled in a way. I still and I know he's not a pacey player and I know Stu will roll his eyes because I mention him all the time I still don't know why they didn't go and get Tom Fellows for£4 million or less given what he's been able to do at Southampton but yeah, long story short as my doorbell goes in the background yeah, I'm sorry about that I do think it's probably every coming and throwing a package at the door yeah, I do think it was a mistake to do that.

28:46Okay. The only thing I'd say on Benna is we'll never know what he could have been

28:55Stuart Watson:for Ipswich. Maybe there's still time, but he ticked all the boxes in terms of Wes Burns has been brilliant in this straight-line speedster role as a right-winger for Ipswich Town. They get themselves to the Premier League. you've got to try and start upgrading in different areas. Beno was meant to be the upgrade on Wes Burns and then the Achilles injury robs him of the chance to go and prove that. Character-wise, he's a fantastic fit for the culture of Ipswich as well. I think, you know, from what Ipswich fans have seen of him as a personality, they've fallen in love with him. But he's gone to Sheffield United and I believe he's out injured again now.

29:39Stuart Watson:And there's talk about them looking at negotiating the loan being cut in January. So I think that kind of backs up that Ipswich couldn't, you know, there was a world where Ipswich stuck with Ben A. He gets an injury setback and everyone goes, well, that was remiss of you not to try and sort that situation out as well. So I haven't necessarily got an issue with them sending him out to try and get some fitness elsewhere and bring someone else in. Has McAteer been a miss so far? No doubt about it. How many games has he actually started? It's a smallish sample size still. I can see his raw physical attributes in terms of he's a good size.

30:28Stuart Watson:Seven starts. And it's hard to think of anything that's jumped off the page from him so far. But he's 24 and I'm just always really mindful, bearing in mind he's spoken publicly about it he's found it difficult first first move away from his boyhood club etc I'm always really mindful as we're speaking about young men human beings and it's not quite happened for him so far I'm still not writing him off by any stretch of the imagination but it's not helped him hit the ground running when there's just been so much change around the team as well I would say

31:08Mark Heath:So, yeah, you're dead on there, Stu, in terms of McIntyre and not Array Moff. I mean, let's not forget, not too long ago, Jadon Filagene, we were talking about being, you know, well, 20 million. He's not shown anything, and now look what he's doing. I agree with that, but also one of the things that confuses me is that he's not even coming on the pitch half the time. They're making changes on the right, be it from the start or on the bench, and you haven't had Sindra playing and they've ended up playing Jack Clark instead. And they preferred to go with Jack Clark, who we've seen play on the right a few times this season and I think it's been pretty bad every single time he's done it.

31:50And I keep going back to it. I remember asking McKenna about this after Preston and he said the balance of the attack was off. And still, we're in a point where we prefer to have Jack Clark on the right rather than bringing McAteer on. you look at before this cameo against Leicester, where he got that lovely shiner. That's where I'm pointing to in a video this afternoon. He was an unused sub at home to Stoke, an unused sub in that Coventry game when the right side was changed in both of those games. Six minutes off the bench against Oxford. He doesn't feel like they've really got the trust in him at the moment.

32:27Mark Heath:This just in from Jeff just says, absolute bloody rubbish. I assume that's passing comment on the quality of the show thus far, Jeff. We'll try and improve for you. Right. Let's move towards January, shall we? A couple of questions we've had in which lead us down the alleyway. Ali Cat, Stu, says, how much involvement does McKenna have in the signings? Is he responsible? Is he a victim of poor recruitment? Now, I remember when you boys were both off on a press conference day, I went to talk to him. I think it was the week before the window shut. And he talked about there being more change than he expected.

32:59Mark Heath:and it being very difficult and, you know, as a manager wanting to be able to plan with what you've got. So how would you respond to that, do you think, Stu? Is it possible that McKenna himself has been kind of let down on that sort of things?

33:17Stuart Watson:I don't think so. No, a manager is never going to come out publicly and throw his superiors under the bus and say, I don't have anything to do with signings at all. But I think we would get a sense that signings are made on data and from above. You only have to look at the nature of the signings. How many of them have been players that have done well against Ipswich in previous games or certainly done well in the division that Ipswich have been in before? A big part of the reluctance to go down the foreign market up until the last window or two has been led by Kieran McKenna, that he feels that you have to have everything in place off the pitch to enable foreign players to settle and find their feet.

34:07Stuart Watson:And he didn't feel that was the case. So he wanted to stick with the domestic market that he knows. So no, I don't think there's any sense that these haven't been Kieran McKenna signings at all. It'd be interesting to do a breakdown of every signing that's been made during the kind of McKenna era and work out the percentage of hits to misses. I still think there'd be more hits than misses. So far, it's pretty split, even probably from last summer, isn't it? Off the top of your head, talking about McAteer being a miss, there's probably a fair chunk that are on the fence, still not sure about at the moment.

34:49Stuart Watson:But Furlong's been pretty solid at right back. Matasi was grown into the season. and Sindra's showing a little bit and signs of growth in him. So it hasn't all been a disaster. And I just think the nature of recruitment is you're not going to get them all right. Not even the best clubs in the land do.

35:08Mark Heath:Absolutely. I mean, look at Demolition Man Summer and how many of those. I mean, clearly, there are a lot of really good signings in that, but equally a lot that kind of faded away. Right, I'm going to ask you this question, AJ, to kick off the January chat. It comes from someone who I'm fascinated by because of their handle. bullies bulldogs bully does that mean you have bulldogs can we talk about bulldogs tell me more about your bulldog send me a picture of your bulldog um bully if you could uh and then i suppose we should do the question if we recruit in january who leaves so let's get deep into this january chat then aj talent gonna have to get rid of people as well um who do you think is on on the bubble in terms of january departures four off the bat elcom bagger harry clark ben johnson Cameron Humphries brackets loan.

35:55There's no guarantee that the other three would all be permanents. I think it's kind of quite widely understood that Ben Johnson had something in the pipeline to leave over the summer. He just is not playing. He's hardly making the squad. He won the Conference League with West Ham. He's hardly played outside of the Premier League at all. Only this season's first time he's dropped out of it. Started the season with Town and now yeah, finds himself out of the picture. he's not going to be happy with that in the slightest. He doesn't fit McKenna's plans. He's going to be on quite a high wage, move him on.

36:31I really like Harry Clark. I don't want him to go permanently because of a lot of the links and obviously he's an Ipswich boy. He's gone and achieved so much. But again, not in the picture, coming back from an injury. If nothing else needs half a season of trying to build up some regular minutes somewhere, somewhere else in the championship or Scotland or wherever. Elkhorn Baggett's an obvious one because I know you need centre-back cover, but he's not getting the look in at the moment and must be frustrated. So at least, again, get him out on loan. And then going to Cam. Yeah, I think that it's quite clear that even with absentees kind of in that attacking area or even deeper in midfield, he's not really getting the opportunity.

37:16He's a talent. He's a really good player. We've seen that. We've seen it out on loan. what's the next step for him? Is it going back to the top end of League One? Is it somewhere else in the Championship? They're always really careful with Cam in terms of it has to be a stylistic fit, 100%. But I don't think that it makes sense for him to be playing in the 21s and having minutes in the FA Cup and things like that going into next season. He needs to go play regular football somewhere.

37:45Mark Heath:Okay. We've had a few more thoughts here from... Where are we, Ian? I think saying loan out Harry Clark says recall the man who plays 10 and assists to bet than everybody else I assume he's talking about Connor Chaplin who's not really been pulling up any trees at Portsmouth if you listen to Portsmouth fans loan Harry Clark out McIntyre and bag it out sell Johnson send Azon and Akpom back interesting we got here from Rodney Marshall can loan signings be cut short Azon and Kiyusta who would have thought we'd be talking about Jens being sent back Stu have you got any thoughts in terms of exits further and above what Alex has just said?

38:22Stuart Watson:No, I think there's two right-backs mentioned in there. Obviously, four in the building. That's too many. Ben Johnson has been a bit of a puzzle to me. He's been brought in as someone who's played right-back all his career, and Kieran McKenna has barely touched him in that position. Most of his minutes in the Premier League came further forwards pretty much as a winger at times. I kind of thought going into this season the first time he's ever dropped as low as the championship he might be one that could step in for Axel Twenzel being it's which might as a team that was going to be a front foot attacking team in the division go with two kind of marauding fullbacks as they did in the you know with Harry Clark and Davis in the first half of that but for whatever reason he hasn't been trusted I think wanting to move him on and being able to move him on might be two different questions.

39:15Stuart Watson:He'll be on a decent wage, and I don't think now if people will be queuing up to match that, and it's up to him whether he wants to take a pay cut to play football or hang about for a bit longer. We'll have to see. Harry Clark, for me, is still alone out at this stage, and keep your options open because Ashley Young more than likely retires at the end of the season if Johnson moves on. I think the situation changes for Harry Clark a little bit. yeah so there's a chance to trim it's a one in one out situation because they're at the max 25 man squad numbers so there's some easy routes there that Alex has mentioned to free up a bit of space the bigger question is you know what do they do with those spaces and how much do they want to do if they want to do more than four are we in the territory of what some people are saying there will they look to cut short a loan or two I can't I can't see it with the ends necessarily.

40:15Stuart Watson:As on, depends if they go out and sign a striker, I guess. But again, I can't see that being cut short. It's going to be fascinating to see how much. Four has been the magic number in the last three transfer windows. It's been four signings in January. Mark Ashton has spoken this week about, you know, we like player trading and we will definitely be active again in January. gut feeling is it will be probably around that number again four players in i would say

40:44Mark Heath:i can't speaking honestly i can't be arsed with the january window loads of work for us isn't it can't wait till january's over um matt town says i don't get spoken enough how important axel was to our team and this brings me on to someone who's also an important member of our team who's just appeared in the virtual green room um in true rossy style

41:04Stuart Watson:calamity ross bring yourself in we're going to introduce him as a as a 41st minute sub to inject

41:10Mark Heath:some some energy off the bench energy and mispronunciations that's what we need right now um so let's get ross in yes ross how are you have you got water yes i do i can do you can wash

41:23Ross Halls:yourself yeah and do the other bits ah i hadn't thought about that when you when you mentioned

41:29Mark Heath:that earlier oh that is yeah that's probably the most important thing let's be honest yeah i'd nip out to do where did you dip out to buried it in the garden you got really feral i just went to mcdonald's at cardinal park oh you lucky you lucky people you were in there at the same time good lord do you remember boys when we went to the the pod awards and the um in manchester was it manchester and run the toilets work the entire basically it smelled well it smelled bad let's be honest anyway whilst i'm digressing is it fixed are you happy yes um it was just the fridge we had to get

42:05Ross Halls:the fridge back in which is a pain in the ass to make it level yeah shout out to joe who's uh my good plumber friend friend handsome man enters wow alley cat 2144 thank you very much should have gone to spec savers yeah but um no it's all good it's all fixed you know the stress is gone but um you just want to get it done before christmas because yeah there you go

42:29Mark Heath:it's ross last time i saw that man he was on a bus going towards the curve bar lol there's so many there's so many questions about your driving test ross um rosco have you done the test uh there's another one that i've missed uh clearly do you remember we did our new our probably

42:47Stuart Watson:this time last year and we did new year's resolutions and we all said things that we were going to do and i'm sure we gave it the massive build-up in terms of this is going to be the year we hiked it up ross was thumping his chest this is the year yeah what happened does it

43:04Mark Heath:ross it's never gonna happen just accept it it's never gonna ross is never gonna be independently mobile and now if he does don't you for a driving test i understand if he does does anyone want to get in a car with him genuinely after after all these failed tests i'm a bit worried at the moment He's not taking a test. Okay, but I mean, we're talking about the theory here. Oh, yeah, well. You don't need that, do you?

43:30Stuart Watson:Really? And that also includes hazard awareness within that part. I pass that, mate, all the time. Okay, so that's all right. You just press the thing every time. You're just like, I'm just going to sporadically press the button. Yeah, and the dog. I can't comment out yet.

43:44Ross Halls:Don't move there.

43:46Stuart Watson:Good.

43:47Mark Heath:Good Lord. Anyway, Ross, it's good to have you with us. We're just in the middle of talking about January. We've just done who's going to leave. And now we find ourselves at the most exciting juncture, which is what the town need to bring in. So I'm going to ask, I'm going to start with AJ, because obviously AJ is a man I know who had lists of targets and ideas on his phone. AJ, what did Ipswich Town need to bring in in January? There we go. There's his list. There's the list. I really hope nobody can stop that and zoom in, because that will ruin all the content I've got planned for the end of this year.

44:21Ah, it's ruined it now. what do they need to do? I'll name you four positions because I said four exits. Left-back cover because I don't want Leif Davis to be running to the ground. I know he always wants to play. I know he can throw up at Blackburn and sleep for 20 minutes, as he told us that he did, but he also needs to have some proper support there that isn't Ashley Young, ideally. I'd rather have Ashley Young covering at right-back. Some natural cover for Azul Matasiwa, really important, and they're going to feel the effects of it probably quite soon because he's one yellow card away from a two-match ban.

44:58So unless he can drag that out into January and they can sign some natural support from early doors, then they're going to have to do without him. The last time he didn't start a game, Ipswich lost 3-0 at home to Charlton. Not great. Striker is obviously one. George Hurst has missed... No player in the division has missed more big chances than George Hurst so far this season. 11. Even as on his miss 10, the shot conversion numbers are not great. So ideally someone that can stick the ball in the goal hole would be nice. And then probably the other one I'd look at would be a creator of some sort.

45:37I know I've spoken about pace and I've kind of gone away from that. It's an option to go down the pace even in a mould, but I think like a creative 10 who can also play on the right i an amari hutchinson style would be the other one i'd go for all right then stew um it's

45:53Mark Heath:time for christmas list if you could give me a christmas list now as to priorities of what town need to find under the christmas tree if it were in january obviously um what what would it be i mean strike is always the one that everyone brings up um would that be top of your your christmas

46:08Stuart Watson:wish list or other other i think top in terms of priority would be a matter seaw alternative Alex has mentioned it. The one game he's missed has been the Charlton one. I think that played a big part in it. There's no one else. This two-band game is coming down the track. If he gets booked against Leicester at the weekend, he misses Millwall and Coventry away over Christmas. And then I think we'll get a real look then as to how a midfield functions without him. Nunez, they tried playing Nunez as the kind of quarterback style, deepest midfielder against Charlton didn't work. Ashley Young ends up in central midfield towards the end of the game last weekend.

46:52Stuart Watson:That's not a viable alternative. And Matt Asira, if you look at it, I'm a big fan of Matt Asira. I think he's, you know, most interceptions in the league, I think he's become a vital cog and really after that baptism of fire at Birmingham really got to sort of grips with the intensity of the league. But he has faded a little bit in the last few weeks So maybe that's just a little bit of fatigue kicking in for him. If you look at his record, he's not been a kind of 40-plus games a season man throughout his entire career. Thank you for all these distractions coming in. Lovely stuff. Let's talk about Ross's wrench a bit more.

47:29Stuart Watson:So, yeah, a Matasiwa alternative is definitely high on the priorities for me. where it then gets a bit complicated is that we've spent the whole first half of the season saying we're not into rotation and it's time to find a settled side and McKenna's tied himself up in knots by having almost too many players all of a level and you're trying to keep everybody happy if you start adding more into the mix on top of that you trim away sort of players that we've mentioned Baggett, Humphreys etc who haven't really been part of the conversation and then you add in players that are, it's going to become virtually impossible to kind of pick teams from that.

48:12Stuart Watson:So I think if you are looking to do that, then you have probably got to start making some tough decisions in terms of, you know, loaning out a McAteer, for example, or cutting short a loan spell of a Cuyusta or an Azon. There's certainly other areas of the team that are not functioning at the moment. Taylor's come in and he's done fine. He's helped solidify the team a little bit. but I still think that's an area that could be upgraded. Striker. Hurst hasn't been the striker that I thought he would be this season, as on as missed chances. That clearly is an area with the chances that have been missed that Ipswich could upgrade on.

48:48Stuart Watson:But if you bring another one in, where does that leave you? If you recall Chaplin, you've then got two former Golden Boot winners in Schmodek's Anakpom. Nunez ahead of them currently in the 10 slot, and then Chaplin on top of that. you know unravel that one unpick that one for me if you will so there's a real balancing act to be had in terms of Ipswich being tempted to go and do stuff being able to do it making an argument that they should but where does that leave you in terms of the balance of the squad and the harmony of the squad I don't know

49:23Mark Heath:Colin agrees Stu I hope that wasn't distracting totally agrees Stu he disagrees with whatever you say and I didn't bring this up while you're talking the good doctor mentioning ross's wrench was not on my bingo ticket so there we go well then friends that's january um discussed clearly you're going to have thoughts on that and i'd imagine you're about to want to ask questions about that as well we now enter the mailbag phase of the show so if you have questions for us um send them in now uh we need of course a mailbag jingle mailbag mailbag it's time for alex stew ross and me to dip into the Christmas mailbag.

50:02Mark Heath:Yes, excellent. Superb. Right then, we've got a question that came in via email and I was so impressed that he'd take the time to email that I thought we'd take it first just to get the ball rolling. It is from Stuart Clark. He's asked two. I'm going to start with one and then finish with the second one. Football related, he says, we've been told over the past couple of years that newly recruited players are an upgrade and what we had in the championship last time around. In my opinion, the only upgrades are as follows. Furlong is better than Clark. O'Shea is better than Wolfie. Fulajin and Clark are better than Broadhead.

50:39Mark Heath:And Agele is potentially better than Burt. Brackets time will tell. AJ, do you agree with that? He has obviously missed out there. I guess the most contentious and potentially biggest argument, which would be Azor and Morsi. Don't get me drawn into that, mate. No, no, no. I think that the biggest thing is that they were a better team because they played together for longer because they all knew each other and they're all this band of brothers. And this group probably are a better group of individuals, I'd say. That's how it feels to me at the moment. I mean, when you go and you did a comparison of this, didn't you?

51:25try to pick the combined 11. So you have a little look at that one. And when I kind of go through it in my head, of course, there's some difficult ones to look at. Some of them, I think, you know, they're very good individual players, but they haven't gelled with the teammates around them in the same way. You could definitely look in kind of the midfield with Matasiwa, Kipre and Burgess and things like that. Those kind of comparisons. Jacob Greaves. The attacking unit is a big one. Of course, people always think highly of Nathan Broadhead, for example, and understandably so, given what he's achieved in an Ipswich shirt.

52:12I think the fact that a lot of these players have gone out and not done very well elsewhere speaks volumes. the fact that Chaplin struggling at Portsmouth, Broadhead not really set the world alight at Wrexham, Sam Morsey currently doesn't have a club, Wolfie was last seen getting bullied by Kiefer Moore, Cameron Burgess was last seen by Ipswich fans scoring two own goals and his Swansea side are right at the bottom of the division he's been posting public apologies. They were really good in an Ipswich-Kieran McKenna system, but now they've kind of gone elsewhere, maybe that's an indication of what they are kind of as individuals outside of that team whereas this group feels like really talented individuals that just aren't seeming to click in a team yet so

52:59Stuart Watson:that's how i see it and the argument to that and this feeds back into the glass half full side of things and where i kind of maybe tip towards the more of the optimism is that it's easy to forget that that team you know we're talking about that was a team that became more than the sum of its parts and now we've got a collection of individuals that are probably underperforming to their collective value but that that band of brothers team took a while to gel and we talked about this in the last podcast kieran mckenna you know if you went in the big demolition man summer you know if you remember how long did it take for him to get that first win lincoln before mark ashton was running wildly along the touchline there out of relief when And that was however many games in, approaching double digits.

53:47Stuart Watson:So there was a bit of a rough time there to start with. Paul Cook eventually loses his job because of that. Kieran McKenna then can't fully get a tune out of them for six months and they miss out on the playoffs in League One. Even as deep as Valentine's Day in the promotion season, 0-0 at Bristol Rovers and we're all picking it to absolute pieces and having a lot of the same conversations that we're having now about too ponderous, too obvious in possession, too predictable. Does there need to be a plan B? Is there enough character, et cetera, et cetera? And it was only from there, really, that they grew and grew and grew and became the force that they were.

54:31Stuart Watson:Even then, it's easy to forget that midway through the championship promotion season, they got one win in nine over that winter period. It wasn't all sunshine and roses along the way. That team had to grow and had to go through some negative experiences to become the one that they became. And the hope, and it is just blind hope at the moment, is that, you know, Kieran McKenna can do it again with this group of players. Time will tell, won't it?

55:02Mark Heath:Content idea, story around that comparison going forward. Look out for that over the Christmas period, friends. Alan Partridge into dictaphone.

55:10Stuart Watson:Exactly.

55:10Mark Heath:yeah there's the meme uh right then rossi your time to shine dino wants to know favorite veg of your christmas dinner

55:20Ross Halls:Oh, I like a parsnip, you know, do you? And I call carrot, carrot solid. So, well, it's my mate. You asked me what's my favourite. Absolutely, mate.

55:32Mark Heath:Whatever floats your Christmas dinner boat, go for it. Unless it's obviously Yorkshire puddings. AJ, what's your favourite veg on your Christmas dinner? When Mrs Jones puts down the Christmas dinner in front of you, because I assume you have absolutely no part in cooking any of it. God, can you imagine? What do you say, Mother, can I have more of this vegetable? In general, not a huge fan, but it's Christmas, so you have to say sprouts legally. Sprouts are amazing. They're so underrated. If you present them in the traditional way, which is just boiled, then they're not great. But if you chop them up and put a little bit of pancetta through them, fry it in a pan, absolutely delicious.

56:15Mark Heath:Perfect. Did you know that he does food reviews? Yeah, it also makes a great addition to the bubble and squeak on Boxing Day morning. All the leftovers, get them all in a pan, fry them all up. Amazing. Stu, I already know you like Brussels sprouts with vinegar. Would they be your favourite veg on your Christmas dinner?

56:33Stuart Watson:Yeah, we have them quite regularly on our Sunday roasts throughout the year. And then I regularly have bubble and squeak as a follow-up the following day. So yeah, sprouts for me. I'm assuming roast potatoes are just kind of taken as a given, right?

56:48Mark Heath:I mean, they qualify. A stodgy carb. I mean, Colin actually said roast potatoes here. That's the correct answer. My sprout train, fried sprouts with a bit of bacon. Correct. Let's have a look at another question, shall we? Here's a good one for you, Stu. Rodney Marshall wants to know, is there a single Premier League quality player in our squad? Oh, dear, oh dear, Rodney.

57:14Stuart Watson:yes I think I think Dara O'Shea has proven to be Premier League standard and I know he's had what's he had now three relegations yeah um so that that would speak against that argument but the fact that he's always had interest from the Premier League after that I thought he was one of it which is more consistent players last year I think he's getting to grips with the captaincy now and is starting to show his ability at this level. So I would have no qualms with him being in a Premier League team for Ipswich next season. He could have gone back there in the summer before he signed his new contract.

57:54Stuart Watson:Any more for any more on that debate? Is there anyone you'd make an argument for passionately at this moment in time? Passionately not, I don't think. The two that would stand out to me as players I could certainly see making that step up one is Azor, who I think at the start of the season we were all saying he looks ready-made for the Premier League. He kind of got the rust of that Birmingham debut out of the way. I can definitely see him adapting really well to the Prem. And I'm going to throw in Jadon Filagene, and I know that that will have a few winces in there because of the fact that last season in the Premier League he offered absolutely zilch.

58:35But I think all of the factors were against him. He'd hardly kicked the ball at Villa, apart from that one Champions League game against Bayern. So many limited minutes in that spell that he had there. Comes in in January. Oh, let's play him on the left. Wait, no. Wes Burns has injured himself, so you're going to have to play on the right, mate. Sorry. Misses the latter stage of the season through injury himself. Coming into next season, let's say, hypothetically, that Towne will go and get promoted, and he's come off the back of a really good championship campaign and he gets a full Premier League season under his belt, I think that Jadon Villagin could kick on and prove to be a Premier League level player.

59:15Mark Heath:Okay. We've got some more info here from Mexico. Our Mexican correspondent, Ben Chaplin, says, Fun fact, parsnips can be found in specialist markets in Mexico, coming at two to three quid per parsnip. Wow. Chappers, I need you to send me some recommendations for player Del Carmen, which is where I'll be in early 2026, please.

59:36Stuart Watson:Mark, can I interject? Yeah. Because Ben's made a couple of comments today. He texted both myself and Ross before we went on today. For those that don't know, I think Ben's in charge of the North American Supporters Club. Yeah. And he's asked me to do a little shout-out. They've got a 2026 holiday raffle on the go at the moment, which gives you the chance to win some Ipswich Town goodies. There's a signed shirt by the men's team. And an original 97-98 Ipswich home cert signed by Matt Holland. Loads of other stuff in there as well. Yeah, you can buy various amounts of tickets for$10,$40,$100 if you want.

1:00:21Stuart Watson:They're going to put all the proceeds of that into player sponsorship at the club. So your money basically will be going to the football club in a way and it gives you a chance to win some prizes. So go and look up the North American Supporters Club and see if you want to enter into that.

1:00:38Mark Heath:Fair enough. Let's do a few more questions. Five more minutes on Mailbag. So if you do have questions, get them in now or forever hold your peace. I'm going to start this one from the Jubster, Ross, with you. Kings, in the last week, we reached four years of McKenna. What's his legacy to date for each of you, Ross? When you think of Kieran McKenna and the four years he's been at this club, what would you say is his legacy for you?

1:01:01Ross Halls:getting us to the Premier League I know it's pretty good

1:01:04Mark Heath:that's a pretty strong legacy

1:01:05Ross Halls:not many managers have been able to do that first time in a generation yeah so that's one that sticks out just back to back promotions good football and yeah just these big coats winter time he's got that big puffer jacket isn't he sandbanks

1:01:23Mark Heath:do you know how much those are by the way I can imagine it's a lot of money yeah you're looking at 600 quid each at least with Sandback's coat. He's got two of them as far as I'm aware. He's on a bit of cash though and he's wedged up. He can afford them. Stu, other than the coats and getting down to the Premier League, what would you say is his legacy?

1:01:43Stuart Watson:Back-to-back promotions. It's as simple as that, isn't it, at the moment? That is his legacy. Whether it becomes more than that, time will tell. But I think it boils down to that, doesn't it? And also carrying himself in a way befitting of an Ipswich town manager. I think I said that when he joined, it just felt like there was something intangibly Ipswich about him. He's from the same kind of first job in his 30s in the same way that Ramsey and Robson were of the past and Burley. yeah it just felt like he fits the culture and history of the football club and I think the way he's held himself is also something to be thankful of and grateful of and admired as well.

1:02:36Mark Heath:Yeah great points here I think overall the legacy surely has to be that he's the manager that finally brought the good times back to Itchurch Town times that we never thought at some point in the dim and distant past, languishing in League 1, getting relegated, all that kind of stuff. We never thought we'd see again, and yet he brought them back and took them straight into the Premier League. So I would say that's his legacy. AJ, Dino wants to know, if we don't go up this season, what, in your opinion, will happen to McKenna?

1:03:05Depends how they don't go up. I think we had this discussion before, what will it take for the owners to maybe pull the trigger and look at going down a different path. Obviously, it'll be a huge disappointment if they don't go up. If they, say, finished third, missed out on the top two by a couple of points and lost to Southampton in the playoff final, a la Leeds of a couple of seasons ago, then you can very easily make a case of saying, you know what, fair enough, let's try and build and go again. And we've seen enough from this season. if they sneak in sixth as I know was one of the predictions at the start on one of the comments that say they do that, then there's a different conversation to be had.

1:03:48If they drop off and finish in mid-table then that's a totally different conversation as well. So it all really depends and again it comes back to the fact that we're so unsure about the way this season is going to swing if they don't go up, there's every chance he stays. You've also got to factor in what he wants to do as well because even when things are going bad Bradley seems to have every opportunity all the time and linked with every single job under the sun, which I know we love covering as well. So yeah, there's so many factors that come into it, but the biggest one for me is if they do miss out, how does it happen?

1:04:25Mark Heath:Okay. Right. I'm going to bring my bag to an end now because Stu has got to be away by half eight. He's got to get to the gym. He's already taken his pre-workout. And once you've taken that, you need to get to the gym. Otherwise you just explode.

1:04:38Stuart Watson:and running around goals tonight in a bit.

1:04:41Mark Heath:That's all the magic, Stu. I was extending your brand as a gym bunny. Anyway, this is from Stuart Clarke. Final mailbag thought. The four main parts in the School of Nativity being cast, the kings of audition. This is how I see it. Innkeeper, me, Mark Heath. Likes animals, correct. Liked to have a small holding, love to. Doesn't like children, even more correct. Liked to direct a heavily pregnant woman to a stable. probably fair yeah don't bring those kids around me mary um even if it is the son of god he's still annoying um mary and joseph aj and ross aj to play mary on account of less substantial facial hair um so you ross would be the humble carpenter uh and the baby jesus stew no hair and cherubic looks you happy with that literally uh literally our lord and savior uh stew how do you feel about that

1:05:37Stuart Watson:uh how do i feel about being the baby jesus yeah by virtue of being follicly challenged

1:05:45Mark Heath:um i'll take it i went for a a pre-show haircut which um now i've realized i'm actually just been sat with a hat on the whole time um and in terms of follicular challenge to you when you reach a certain age as a man um you go for a haircut and they start to shave your ears as well and it's it's terribly terribly uh underwhelming deflating demotivating when you realize you've got to that age um i would say the obvious obviously we've got baby jesus but surely if we fast forward in the jesus timeline there's only one man who can play jesus as a as a 30 year old isn't there ross i mean you wouldn't need any help to sort your sink out if you were in fact Son of God.

1:06:29Mark Heath:Don't have to drive because I just float and walk on water. Walk on water, yeah. Yeah, so, yeah. That would save on planes for the pre-season trips, wouldn't it? I would. Ross is just walking across the channel again. Right then, where are we? Sheffield Wednesday. Let's talk about Sheffield Wednesday, shall we? Thanks for all your questions. And do still keep sending in your thoughts, friends, because we have a game to talk about this weekend. It's a game against hashtag crisis club Sheffield Wednesday. AJ you've been writing stuff today because I think I asked you at the end of the podcast on Monday should we be concerned that they're likely to come up against their their old nemesis the low block a team is not going to play expansive football and is going to come and just try and nick something how are you feeling about this game I already know what your prediction is because you've done a prediction piece looking at the five games coming up but is this one that should worry you does worry you are you concerned in any way does it worry me yes i think there is it is a banana skin because it's very easy to take sheffield wednesday and not take them seriously essentially when although they've been in pretty horrendous form they're largely quite competitive in games and i know that isn't the case all the time like they played derby on on Monday and they had three shots, one on target, lost that game 3-0.

1:07:53That was in their own stadium. But they have shown that they're capable. On the flip side, should we be worried? In theory no, because they're winless in 14. They lose quite regularly. It feels like they seem to battle very hard in games and then throw things away quite often late on. It's a squad made up of kind of some some names where you look at them and say, oh, I remember you from somewhere. Like Dom, Dom, I all further remember him from, from town. Of course, there's some others in there. Jamal Lowe, for example. They've got Liam Cooper at the back. They've got Max Lowe as well. And then they've kind of got a couple of European signings in there and, and a core group of youngsters as well.

1:08:42Barry Bannon, of course, who is at 36. He's just turned 36. three goals two assists by the way so not not a bad return um in theory given everything like uh the the big gap in squad values given everything that's gone on on the pitch and off the pitch at sheffield wednesday they're losing two key players in that kind of right wing back role to afcon uh the best player so far this season's been a 19 year old unknown from man united who plays left wing back um given everything this should be a really good game for Ripswitch to bounce back from that Leicester defeat. But there are worries in terms of the fact that it's going to be a 3-5-2 from Sheffield Wednesday.

1:09:24It will be wing-backs that sit deep. It will be a midfield three. It will be direct play to two strikers, one of them in Kadamata, who's a bit of a target man. Lots of aspects that Town don't deal well with. I've done a piece on this that you can go read that went out this afternoon. I need to see if I can remember the stat off the top of my head. I think they played eight games against back threes or back fives, however you want to see it. And they've won one. So it's not something they've been overly good with this season.

1:09:53Mark Heath:It's going to be an awful game, isn't it? Stu, rotation, rotation, rotation. Who do you reckon will play in this one? Because clearly they're coming off a loss. If ever you're going to change a team, it would be after a defeat. Full week on the training field. What would you expect?

1:10:11Stuart Watson:Minimal changes, I think. I think it will probably be, my prediction is probably Sindra, if he's recovered from his illness, which you'd imagine he probably will be after a week, back in for Jack Clark on the right. I don't think we'll see that experiment too many more times this season. And that will probably be that. That would be the same team that started the 3-0 against Coventry. Probably would have been unchanged for Stoke were it not for Hurst being suspended. and it probably would have been unchanged again were it not for Syndra being ill. So it feels like we're getting towards a core of a team emerging now.

1:10:51Stuart Watson:I know there's a debate about whether Azor should be risked in one booking away from a two-game ban and the two away games that are coming up against Millwall and Coventry. For me, for the reasons Alex has outlined, Sheffield Wednesday are not a team to be underestimated. This is not a game to be underestimated. The main thing is get a win in front of your own home fans. Keep that feel-good factor building at Portman Road and then worry about what comes next next.

1:11:22Mark Heath:Yeah, Alex has done a big bit about the Matassiwa debate. I would be, I think as you all probably agree, I'd be staggered if he does rest him. We've been here, of course, obviously with Morsi before. I can't see him dipping out just to avoid a booking. that would be quite anti against what McKenna does, I think. Rossi, let's start with predictions then because I want to get the final question in before she has to shoot off to run around with his mates. What would you say in terms of predictions? Who is actually top of the league? Is it still AJ?

1:11:56Ross Halls:Let me quickly update because obviously none of us got Leicester right.

1:12:00Mark Heath:Oh no. Let me say quickly.

1:12:02Ross Halls:No, it won't take too long. It's because no one got any points for Leicester.

1:12:07Mark Heath:So it's as you were then, isn't it?

1:12:10Ross Halls:Yes, AJ top with 22 points. Stu second with 20 points. Defeat with 19 points on bottom 18. It's very close.

1:12:20Mark Heath:So close, like the Championship itself. Give us your prediction then, Ross. Score and first goal scorer, please.

1:12:27Ross Halls:I'm going to do... I'm not going to do 6-0, because that was obviously the last time we played Shuffle Wednesday. That would be very nice indeed. I want to go 2-0. Solid win. There will be frustration, but we'll get the win. And George Hurst to score first against his former club.

1:12:43Mark Heath:OK. Ian Warbank says, Stu's goals team could beat Sheffield Wednesday. Anything less than three points and the player should be made to train all Christmas Day? Old school. We've got Rodney Marshall here saying 5-0 Hurst. Wow. I already know Alex, so I'll keep that to the last. Stu, what are you saying?

1:13:02Stuart Watson:I've parked the potential banana skin stuff to one side because ultimately I think with a week to prepare for this one Ipswich should be fine I think they'll have more than enough through starters and subs I think there might be a period in the game where everyone gets a little bit nervy and tentative but ultimately it'll be comfortable I've gone for 3-1

1:13:27Mark Heath:And who's going to score first?

1:13:29Stuart Watson:I cannot look beyond that man, Jadon Filagene. Seven goals, all at Portman Road this season. And I think Alex has touched upon it. Some players missing on the right side for them at the moment. I think that Filagene-Davies combination could cause a bit of havoc this weekend.

1:13:44Mark Heath:Are you writing these down, Ross? Is that what you're doing? Yeah. Okay. So we've got three. You say 3-1? Yeah. 3-1 Jadon Filagene. I'll go 2-0, but Ross has got that. and is it going to be 1-0? I can see it being a dull 1-0, but I don't really want that to be the case. So I'll say 3-0 Town and I will say...

1:14:12Mark Heath:I'll say Cinder to score first because I'm sure he'll come back into the side. AJ, what's your prediction? I already know it, of course. It's quite positive. Yeah, it is. and it's kind of done because with the week to prepare and what I think is their strongest team in theory at home, I think there's every chance this is going to get clipped up. I think Town could really deliver a hammering here, honestly. I've not gone full-blown big bollocks on anything huge, but I've ended up with a 4-0 Ipswich win. I do just think that as well, one of the big factors is they don't have any squad depth, Jeffwood Wednesday.

1:14:57I think the starting line-up's good enough to be competitive, but this is a tired old team with injuries, with no new signings, with youngsters on the bench. And I think that when you get into the latter stages and they're bringing on their youngsters and Town can bring on Jack Clark and Azon and players like that, I think that could also rack it up a little bit more. So 4-0, the left-sided argument was going to be my bit to go with there. I need to keep a gap on Stu so I'm not going to say Jadon Villagin I'm going to say Leif Davis

1:15:29Mark Heath:It feels like if Leif Davis is the first goal strong you get that you should get more points I agree but I don't know how we'd do that At this point in the season I'm just saying it does feel like that I think for next season if you pick a defender to score first and they do score first you should get an extra point Yeah we should maybe consider that Let's get through this season first because of course last season we didn't even get to the end of that Ross D so what have we got then? We've all got wins AJ 4-0 Leif Davis Stu 3-1 Jadon Filagene, me 3-0 Cinderate, Violet, Agelli and you were 2-0 and who did you just remind me?

1:16:06Mark Heath:George Hurst Right then Stu I know you've got to go shortly so I'm going to start with you start the season, pre-season preview podcast, final question for you before we head off we all predicted where Tam would finish in the league and I think we all said either first or second. Now we're almost halfway through the season. Has your opinion changed? And if so, when now do you think Town are going to finish?

1:16:35Stuart Watson:I think I landed on second in the end and I toyed with champions, but my reasoning was I finished second in both promotion seasons. I couldn't quite bring myself to say first. so that's why I ended up on second has my opinion changed? Yes I think it has to be dialed down a little bit from all the discussions that we've been having about the team having not fully come together or convinced thus far the sorry my wife just decided to walk in midway through there

1:17:16Stuart Watson:she's not been on the pitch again has she? No, she just came and said, just reminding me I've got football in a minute. Ah, okay.

1:17:24Stuart Watson:Yeah, look, the underlying stats behind Ipswich are really good. The second top goal scorers in the league, they've got the joint second meanest defence. If you look at XG4 and XG against, they're, you know, right up there. You can put a positive spin on the kind of lots of missed chances that eventually those will start going in. and Ipswich will find another second gear. But ultimately, the eye test doesn't back any of it up, does it, in terms of what we've seen consistently for a while yet to sort of convince us. So I've got no concerns at all about Ipswich not finishing in the top six, but, of course, the optimism around top two has faded somewhat.

1:18:10Stuart Watson:I've landed on third.

1:18:12Mark Heath:Third. Okay. Stu, I feel like you might be in trouble now. So if you do want to make your way out, that's fine. We've got your answer. No, I'm good. Excellent. Watson defies the iron fist. Mark Job says, Is this the season we finally get to visit the new Wembley? Now, of course, it could well be. And what better way to go up, if indeed they are going to go up, than winning at Wembley in the playoff final. Rossi, what do you reckon?

1:18:40Ross Halls:I think they may finish where they're currently standing. Fifth? Yeah. And they'll probably lose in the playoffs semi-finals. They'll go four years of that.

1:18:55Mark Heath:Excellent. Fifth. Lovely stuff. AJ, can you give us a bit more of a positive outlook, do you think? Yeah, a little bit. I will be doing a revised 1-24, hopefully before New Year. But I'll give a spoiler away as to where I have Ipswich. I do like to have Ipswich in third. I think they will improve quite a lot towards the end of the season. But I do wonder and worry as to whether it might be quite a big gap that they're chasing by that point. Weirdly, I think one of the big factors I've got in town not getting top two, hear me out, is Wolverhampton Wanderers. And there's all the dominoes falling here.

1:19:41I can see your eyes going, Mark. and that's because they took Rob Edwards as their manager and Middlesbrough went and appointed Kim Helberg, who I think is really good. He's really highly rated. They look on fire at the moment. I think that they're going to get some good backing in January and I think he's significantly better than Rob Edwards and I think that might be something that could push Borough over the edge with a few attacking reinforcements. So yeah, I have Ipswich in third and a spoiler alert on that 1-24 that I've written out already. It's subject to change. As things stand, I would have them meeting Millwall in the playoff semifinal.

1:20:18AJ Derby. Yeah.

1:20:21Mark Heath:Divided loyalties, et cetera. Sick burn for Rob Edwards, by the way, AJ. Well played. He's not great. Yeah. Okay, so I'm going to say third as well. I think I said champions originally, but clearly I feel like that's going to get away. I do feel like Town are going to be all right. I think they're going to be top six minimum. I can see them improving, like I said earlier this week, after January and maybe putting the run together towards the end of the season. Will it be enough? Will the gap be too much then? Who knows? I think probably yes. So I will say third. And then we have the playoffs to look forward to.

1:20:52Mark Heath:So me, Stewie and AJ saying third. Rossi saying fifth. Not just the playoffs, Mark, the lottery of the playoffs. Sorry, the lottery of the playoffs, of course, Stew. Give it the full title. Most important question of the night has just been asked by the Great Wall. has Mark watched Die Hard yet I haven't yet Ian Die Hard is obviously the best Christmas movie I will not entertain any questions or indeed suggestions it's not a Christmas movie but I watch that when I'm wrapping my presents Ian which usually is done in a frenzied manner late on Christmas Eve in the best traditions of a pathetic man Ben Chaplin says I still think second I hope so

1:21:31Stuart Watson:I wouldn't completely rule I did for a split second when you asked me I was like I might say second, just to ramp it up for the pod a little bit. It's eight points, which I think 13 is a chunky number to Coventry. But eight is, what's that? It's three results that you've got to turn. Maybe a bit more if it's draws compared to wins. But who knows? Borough are looking good at the moment, but there's still a long way to go at the moment. and Ipswich look a long way off being able to put together a long winning run. But we've got the January transfer window to come yet and a lot can change over this winter period with injuries and things kicking in.

1:22:19Stuart Watson:So I'm not completely ruling out seconds still at the moment and I still feel pretty good, certainly about top end of the playoffs at least.

1:22:29Mark Heath:Yeah, absolutely. And let's hope if it is indeed the playoffs, we get another kind of Wembley moment with town. Rossi, as we look to end this podcast, I want to throw to something you've done put out today. And if you're a subscriber, I hope you've already watched it. If not, it's really good. Do you want to talk a little bit about it, Rossi? And then we'll play the trailer, the cinematic trailer for your mini documentary.

1:22:52Ross Halls:Yeah, I should have got maybe someone to do a voiceover, maybe. In the world. Yeah. 15 years ago in Snowys Suffolk

1:23:01Mark Heath:all over the pitch one man defied the referee that man Roy Keane yeah do you know the guy who does those voices by the way his voice his name is Red Pepper that's his actual name Red Pepper look it up edutainment

1:23:18Ross Halls:that's what we're all about sorry Ross but no yes the infamous snow game against Leicester City was 15 years ago today at Portman Road. And when we hit certain milestone landmarks, I always like to do something big for it. So I had the idea of maybe catching up with a few players, fans who were in the stands. And that's produced a 20-minute little mini documentary talking about stories about the game, from getting to the grounds to the game itself. And even afterwards, shout out to David Norris, who was captain on the night. who appears, as well as Shane O 'Connor, who had probably his best game of his footballing career.

1:23:59Ross Halls:He even mentioned that on the video. And also Tommy Smith, who, of course, was at the back. And there's some really good stories. And also fans, Peachy Bloomers, who do a lot of game day stuff for me. And also Matt Cusborne as well, who shared stories of getting to the ground. And even Blooming's mentioned, little sneak peek, his cousin was at the game with him. And she's never been to another game since. so uh nice little story tied to it but yeah absolutely and another question as you watch

1:24:28Mark Heath:this trailer has bloom is bloom is being held captive um i thought when i when i saw the room that he's in um let's let's watch the trailer shall we

1:24:47Ross Halls:the weather was extreme to say the least um and to be quite honest i don't think any of thought the game would be on. I remember going to my seat and that's when the snow started. I thought, oh, this is nice. And then before you knew it, as the players were coming out, pitch was covered. And it was like, OK, so how's this game going to go then?

1:25:22Ross Halls:I've never witnessed anything like that go into a game before. So, yeah, it'll always stick in the mind, you know, because it's a one-off, really.

1:25:50Ross Halls:That's probably my best moment where I get to sell Kyle Lodden and win the ball back in square. And then you hear the commentator saying my name, O 'Connor wins it back in square. It's like a childhood thing. It's just a dream you have, isn't it? Once the game goes ahead and the start we made, if you get to half-time 0-0, you can call it off fine. Everyone probably just goes, you know what, okay, it's not right, it's not great. But because we were so desperate for the winner, we were 3-0 up at half-time, then the referee's in a really difficult position there.

1:26:20Mark Heath:I don't think we'll ever see a game like that again because it just won't take place. It will have been banning way long since.

1:26:41Mark Heath:bloomers blink twice if you're in trouble i'll i'll come and i'll come and sort you out mate i'll save you the other observation from that is david norris is aging ridiculously well isn't he yeah he's a good looking bastard jesus anyway um rossi that's an excellent documentary only available subscribers um go and watch it there are stories now i've never heard before really nice one about Shane O 'Connor or from Shane O 'Connor about Roy Keane and his relationship with him and that particular game and how much it meant to him so go and watch it if you haven't um Stu I know you've got to head off have you got any messages for the KOA army ahead of uh ahead of Christmas

1:27:17Stuart Watson:um have a great Christmas one and all thank you for following everything we do thank you especially to all those that have subscribed as well and hopefully we can bring you a bit more positivity from the games from the transfer window in the weeks ahead.

1:27:33Mark Heath:Absolutely. Well said, Stu. AJ, anything from you before we wrap up?

1:27:42I was going to try and throw in the Christmas movie debate, but I felt like we'd be here all night because I know how big you were on Die Hard. I spoke to you last night about that one. You forgot about it, though, because you were so big on Muppets Christmas, Carol. Yeah, that's also classic. it's really good isn't it so yes that will be my last point everyone go and watch Muppets Christmas

1:28:02Mark Heath:Carol very good Michael I would say Michael Caine's best film actually controversially Rossi what would you what would you say ahead of just Merry Christmas one of all enjoy the festive

1:28:17Ross Halls:foods and drink and yeah have a good time and yeah hopefully 2026 is a good year for it's your town

1:28:26Mark Heath:enjoy it but enjoy it by being disciplined isn't that right stew um get your protein in healthy protein lean protein turkey's very good for you anyway friends um just to remind us for our sponsors i have them here this is a startup spirits this is their festive uh sample a pack of which i've just poured myself while i've been watching that the uh the festive spice rum liqueur which i'm going to drink now live

1:28:54Mark Heath:that's that's jolly decent actually it's very very festive i love a bit of rum as well warms the cockles um so use the code koa that's start of spirits.co.uk for 20 off all that excellent clover and also friends molecular uk rossi's favorite word to say molecular um i've got a couple of products here these are two of my favorites this is the um the acid-free wheel cleaner if you if you if you're alloy proud that works excellently and this is my particular a favorite mainly because of the name it's called banana dine which is dashboard and vinyl dressing so basically that's for shining up your interior and again my interior gets pretty pretty ropey because i have a dog so i've shaved a hound in the car that's useful for getting rid of it um so you can use the code koa10 and molecular-uk.com i haven't remembered if it is.com or.co.uk .com for that one um to get 10 off all their excellent products um thank you very much for joining us to shoot through a few of these messages mark job merry christmas everyone three points on saturday please chapa says cheers to the uh four kings merry christmas and to all the koa army ali cat thanks gents love you all merry christmas upper town the great wall have a great christmas gentlemen thank you for another great year of entertainment thank you friends for watching thank you for listening thank you for engaging with everything we've done this year um i hope you enjoyed this podcast and as we uh as we approach the big day itself all that's left for me to say is have a very very merry and happy christmas and a wonderful 2026 cheers to you all and we'll be back on monday hopefully to talk about a huge if it's town win at portman road thanks for joining us friends and good night

1:30:46Thank you.

1:31:17Thank you.

1:31:45Thank you.