598: Kings of Anglia: Transfer talk, a cup tie and claret

19:38Would they have you happy to support Azor Matasiewa as a backup? So I was able to look through the championship, as I wrote under one of the players. I love Brian De Kiersmacher, Ben White, Sidney Peck, Jonathan Varane from the Championship, for example. But would they all want to come to Ipswich and only play a handful of games in that kind of backup role? That would be more of a question mark for me. So I've kind of chosen a few different ones, some that are more premium, that would want to start more regularly, could maybe play alongside Azul Matasiwa, and others who essentially are Lewis Travis 2.0, remember, when Lewis Travis came in on loan from Blackburn and essentially just played that supporting role for Sam Morsi when there were issues with suspensions or anything else.

20:26I'll pick out a couple and then I'll let Stu take the floor. I'll choose an EFL one and we'll choose a slightly more fun one. This one raised some eyebrows when I picked it out and that was Ben Pearson. Now, Ben Pearson is someone who has played a lot in the championship around the decade, most of the last decade in the championship, has also stepped up to the Premier League with Bournemouth. He finds himself at Stoke. I believe he's 30, 31 in that kind of bracket. Played 12 of the 26 games for Stoke. He's aggressive. He picks up yellow cards all the time. He might lack that technical ability in the same way that Lewis Travis did coming into Ipswich, but he has all the right physical qualities.

21:10So could you then essentially follow the same mould again, go for a Lewis Travis type who might not have that ability on the ball, that kind of ability to link things up and turn a man, all of those things that Azul Matasiwa can, but you know you've got that deep-lying style anchor who can step in whenever is required and also isn't going to be bashing down the manager's door to say, hang on, I should be starting week in, week out. So that was an interesting one for me. And I'll pick a foreign one. and the one I'm going to choose is, I need to get my pronunciation right, Dion Lopi, who plays Al Maria.

21:47And the reason I'm picking him out is after doing some research on him and liking what he is as a player, I actually found that he played for Rems in France and that he was a teammate to both Azor Matasiwa and Jens Kuyusta. So there is already a relationship there that you can build on, which I think would be a real positive. Playing in the Spanish second tier with Al Maria, again kind of follows the same mold as Mattasiwa has that technical ability because he uh well he's very shot heavy likes to kind of drift into advanced areas but also drifts deeper picks up the ball and can start attacked um would it be harder to take him out of a promotion battle and into the second tier knowing that he wouldn't start week in week out possibly but when you're looking at foreign players in particular there's got to be an appeal of playing in the premier League and knowing that you can reach that destination and have an opportunity to impress.

22:40So, yeah, the list includes eight players I've got on there. There's a handful from the EFL, from England, and also some exciting foreign names as well. Go and check that one out. Stu, what have you got in terms of the ones you've had a look at?

22:57Stuart Watson:Right. I won't go into too much detail, but a couple of names for you. They're Premier League, tenacious, experienced midfielders on the fringes that know the championship. Harrison Reid at Fulham, who's just scored an absolute worldie the other day but has found minutes hard to come by there. And Ryan Yates at Nottingham Forest, who, again, I think he started one Premier League game for them, mainly been involved off the bench. someone who has played, I think, in the top five divisions, so would kind of fix the mould of Kieran McKenna, liking players that have climbed up through the divisions and fits the culture of the club.

23:42Stuart Watson:Both 28, I think. I'll have to double-check that, Harris. But certainly both got a couple of years left on their contracts. I would imagine it would have to be sort of a loan situation with both of those. when I trawled through Premier League squad lists. So those were a couple of names that jumped off the page for me. Harrison Reid, 30, by the way. But yeah, I think it's a tricky balance to find, isn't it? Where I think you can find a lot of players that would tick the boxes really well. But how do you then balance the midfield? Do you want them to be Matasiwa cover as the main role? But you sign a Yates or a Reid would be exceptional signings.

24:24How would they be happy to play that role? maybe say that would be a question mark. So then you're looking at them starting alongside Matasiwa. That could work. That might be where you then have it and then move Kajusta onto the bench and Taylor and have those more as substitutes. But I guess it's difficult to kind of find the right balance of how to make up that midfield when you have the right-sided role that tends to be the deep-lying sitter and the left-sider that has more time on the ball, wants to be involved in attacks, doesn't do as much shielding at the back line and making sure that you've got someone that can start and can also provide cover, especially for someone like Matasiwa who is himself a real card magnet.

25:08Ross Halls:What's your prediction, by the way, boys, on Matasiwa's 10-phielder card? What game are you going for? It's got to be the narrative crusher. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. He's going to pick it up against Blackburn burn and that means that he will miss the clash against sam morsey's bristol city and everyone's going to be really upset especially mark keith who intends on doing uh multiple articles building up that that on pitch battle who's better all that's all stuff uh who's the better number five all that jazz so um but yeah you're very interested in the midfield i wish i'll see what kira mckellar and co do um i want to sort of copy what you mentioned on your tweets do we're going to move on to another link and that is based on your tweet saying, hands up, who saw Juventus being linked with Aro Miric this season?

25:59Ross Halls:Because yes, the Italian Giants are linked with the town goalkeeper, of course, on loan at Sassuolo in Sierra. He's having a good team spell there so far. Four clean sheets in 18 games. They're 10th at the table. They've got an option to buy. He's on a season-long loan there for 8.7 million, 10 million euros. Yeah, thoughts on that one. I think Italian football probably suits him. Because, yeah, in the Premier League last year, the few clangers, didn't he? But from what I've seen and highlights and moments, even in the Juventus game when they lost 3-0, he was still their star player making some really key saves.

26:40Ross Halls:So, yeah, Aaron Muric to Juventus.

26:43Stuart Watson:Yeah, not only hands up who saw Juventus being linked, but hands up who saw a kind of a bidding war potentially emerging over Aaron Mürich after the way his debut season at Ipswich unfolded. It's easy to forget that he did have some good games at the start of his Ipswich career. If you think back to Brighton, he's always the one that sticks in my mind, where he was man of the match there and made a ton of saves in a 0-0 draw. He's got qualities. Of course he has, otherwise he wouldn't have had the moves he's had for the money he's had. but it unraveled, didn't it? The good was outweighed by the big errors that stacked up along the way.

27:24Stuart Watson:Can Ipswich? I don't think there is a kind of a way back. The only way you'd see it is if Ipswich get promoted.

27:35And they look to sort of bring him back into the fold again

27:41Stuart Watson:in the Premier League. I can't see it. I think there's probably too much water under the bridge there. It's about getting back your money now. I know it's been sort of pegged at around£10 million that Ipswich paid to get him from Burnley in a lot of places. The guidance I was given was that was near£8 million at the time. So, like you say, the option to buy should cover that. May even get more if he continues. There was a string of highlights reels from him earlier in the season, wasn't there, pulling off some fantastic saves.

28:15Stuart Watson:Yeah, hopefully Ipswich can get their money back and move on. It just didn't quite work out, did it, for Aaron Muric for whatever reason.

28:24Ross Halls:Yeah, definitely. But I still have good memories of him. I know some people go really rush. You had memories of him. But the Brighton game made some incredible saves. The Tottenham game as well, which was obviously a really good day out in North London. He made some really good saves in that game. But yeah, AJ, just one of those that just didn't work out. but yeah I'm sure he's enjoying life in Italy I'm really happy for him to be perfectly honest because I can imagine how difficult that time was at town where he came under a lot of pressure where he did a lot of good stuff but his head kind of went missing in a lot of games and I think the one that would stand out for me and that there were some poor moments but God that Brentford game right at the death was the sickener for me I'd say but I'm happy that he's found somewhere where it's working out and he looks brilliant from what we've seen if you look at FopMob ratings he's the 12th highest rated player in the Italian top flight this season and even though maybe statistically it doesn't back it up quite as much you've got to bear in mind that he is the reason I would say why Sassuolo who are a team that have been pretty poor are where they are in the league they're 11th in the table and they've not looked great to be perfectly honest and Muric has done really well to be their best player this season and I'm not overly surprised that even though yes, if you'd said to me when he went out on loan or even over the summer who thought that Juventus would be linked with him or any big club, I would have laughed at you but sat here having seen him this season, am I surprised that a club like that are interested?

30:00No, to be perfectly honest and as well, there's a lot of qualities that he does have that would appeal to a big team because yes he can make the saves um but and i know this comes with the carry out of some errors that we saw at ipswich on the ball he can be really good in possession and he is more of that kind of sweeper keeper role that the top clubs want to want to have more of so yeah we'll see how that that would all work out for him um you obviously want whatever deal is best for for ipswich but quietly i think the idea of him going and playing Champions League football for Juventus and pushing to win the top flight there would be quite an interesting story.

30:38So one we'll wait and see, but I'm glad to see that there's some more positivity around them.

30:42Stuart Watson:I noted he did a podcast interview, a video podcast interview with someone a little while back talking about how the penny had dropped for him a little bit this year and he's kind of matured a bit off the pitch and sometimes those sort of things drop later for players, don't they? I think he's realised that it's a short career and he's got a great opportunity and that's good if that's the case. But yeah, I think his future will be elsewhere from Ipswich and hopefully they can at least get their money back and maybe even make make some more, who knows.

31:21Ross Halls:Yes, indeed. And linked with Italy, I've found an Italian team who play in Claret and Sky Blue, an SFC Rieti, which I've already completely butchered. But they play in the sixth tier of Italian football. So it'll add it on to the Claret. I've got a few others in my locker, but I'm going to bring that out later. But Stu, I want to stick with you because you wrote a story yesterday about a little-known EFL rule about homegrown players sub-rule. Let us know a bit more, my friend.

31:53Stuart Watson:Yeah, we had a few questions because between Alex and myself, we've been doing various pieces on who might leave Ipswich this summer, this summer, this January. It's obviously a one-in-one-out situation with the 25-man squad being full at Ipswich at the moment. And there's some obvious candidates in there. and three of them are homegrown players in Elkin Baggett, Cameron Humphreys and Harry Clark, who I think we still count as homegrown because even though he went away to Arsenal and came back, he did spend a period of time, you know, he's an Ipswich boy who came through at Playford Road, so he still ticks that box.

32:35Stuart Watson:Now, we've highlighted in the past, and I think it's well known that you, as part of the rules, you have to have at least one club developed player within that 25-man squad. So people are going, well, how can all three of those leave because they're the only three homegrown players left in the squad? So I did a little bit of digging into that, got a bit of guidance, and Ipswich would get away with it thanks to a sort of a sub-rule which essentially says that you have to have a club-developed player either in your 25-man squad or in your matchday squad, because they could be underage. So I'm getting into technicalities there.

33:22Stuart Watson:You don't have to name your underage players in your 25. But without tying myself up in knots here, if you don't do that, you have to have one fewer player on the bench. You'd have to name an eight-man. bench. Ipswich would get around this by the fact that if you've sold an academy produced player for at least 10 grand, which is not much, and they're still playing for a team that is in the same division as you or higher currently and are 24 or younger, then you don't have to abide by that original rule. And there's a few players that Ipswich have sold. Immediately thoughts turn to, oh, Wolfenden and Downs and Dezel.

34:07Stuart Watson:They're all past the age cutoff for that now, so they don't qualify. But Ipswich have sold a few academy prospects to Premier League clubs in recent years, to Ander Chiraywa at Wolves. And then there's a couple of younger lads that have gone to Tottenham and Manchester United from the academy for compensation fees in recent years. So that's hopefully the long and short of it. Go and read the piece that goes into the real minutiae of rule 34.12 and all the rest of it. But bottom line is Humphreys, Bagger and Harry Clark could all leave, be it loans or permanents, and Ipswich still would be able to name a nine-man bench.

34:50Stuart Watson:Clear as muck, eh? Yeah, there must be a massive document.

34:54Ross Halls:And yeah, I'm intrigued to know who makes up these rules and who just go, oh, let's add this to the list. yeah it's interesting AJ what's your thoughts on that but yeah good that town can get around that

35:06Stuart Watson:I mean look it's essentially sorry the rule is there I guess more to protect lower league clubs yeah that would go well hang on a minute our academy is producing thank you but as soon as anyone gets near our first team big boys come and poach them and nick them for a bit of compensation so why should we be punished for not naming academy players when they keep getting poached from elsewhere. So Ipswich would kind of be sort of, I guess it's maybe not in the spirit of the rule that Ipswich would get away with not having a club to produce player. And it does also raise kind of question marks around, you know, we're hearing a lot about how the academy is a key pillar of the club now and they've spent a lot of money on it.

35:49Stuart Watson:And it's now up to category one status and the under 21s are top of their league. And Mark Ashton saying, we can't keep going out and spending multi-millions of pounds in every transfer window kind of highlights the fact that there hasn't been loads of players knocking on the first team door from the academy in recent years. And that has got to change going forwards.

36:11Ross Halls:Yeah, I know there's a lot of frustrations with town supporters wanting to see more academy players. That's what our DNA was, especially under George Burley. Even Joe Royal brought a few players through. We won the Youth Cup back in 2005. you know even Mick to be fair to him he brought in it through a few players you know Josh Emmanuel Miles Kenlock you know Walford then Downs would have been part of that as well I guess the

36:35Stuart Watson:landscapes changed the club would argue that you know yeah that was at times when money was tight and Ipswich weren't in a good spot that they are now they are in a position where you can the bar has been raised and they're going out and signing players for 10 20 million pounds so So, you know, if Ipswich, Cameron Humphreys would have played a load more games for Ipswich, were they not back-to-back promotion winning teams and been in the Premier League and the rest of it? But there's certainly a conversation, is there not, Alex, that while that's not the case, those boys need to go and get some games elsewhere, don't they, this month?

37:10Yeah, absolutely. I do like that the rules are basically, if you don't want to abide by the rules, you have to solve these riddles to figure out whether or not you're going to get fined or not. That's quite entertaining in a way. I can just imagine club secretary going through and trying to calculate everything and figure it all out. So yeah, that is quite a unique twist and one that I didn't know about until we had that conversation earlier. But yeah, these guys need to go and get some experience. It'll be interesting to see where they go. Obviously, maybe from Harry Clark's perspective, it could be a bit different.

37:50It's not as much about experience because he's played regularly at this level before. But I think if Town are going to head back up, it might be a case of what's next for him. And we've spoken about Sheffield United interest before. Elkhorn Baggett, the club, obviously loved some of the unique characteristics that he has. And even though his career hasn't followed the trajectory that many would have hoped for at this point, you've got to look at the fact he's a tall, physical, left-footed centre-back and there aren't many of those, let alone home-grown ones. Then, of course, Cam Humphreys. Everyone wants Cam Humphreys.

38:24If you said Ipswich are up in the Premier League and Cam Humphreys is playing regularly, I think we'd all be delighted. Whether or not that happens, we'll have to wait and see. But I think everyone is desperate for him to succeed and that will be a case of finding the level. I know that Wickham had been linked with a move to take him back, although I think it was reported this morning that those talks have stalled from the Bucks free press is what they've been saying. So could he go out to the Championship and maybe go to the lower end there? We'll have to wait and see. But McKenna's not held any secrets about it.

38:55He knows that they do need to go and play regular minutes between now and the end of the season. We expect all three to go out, to be honest. It's good that Tao aren't going to be hamstrung by that and needing to keep player X, Y, Z here at the club to make sure they can have nine subs.

39:15Stuart Watson:Clark, I wouldn't rush to sell at this juncture because it's easy to go four right backs, need to trim that back, it's too many, and that's correct. But if you sell Ben Johnson this window, which I think Ipswich will try to do, easier said than done, trying to find someone that will pick up his wage. But if he goes and then you sell Harry Clark as well, you get to the summer and Ashley Young's probably going to hang up his boots and suddenly you're down to Darnell Furlong as your only right back. So I think a loan for Harry Clark, see how he does in the second half of the season and then reassess.

39:49Stuart Watson:Baggett and Humphreys have to go out and play now. The last five months, the first half of this season has been a bit of a waste for both of them. You always hear about centre-halves. It's important for them to play games and properly. You hear managers always go down to the lower leagues, pick up some scars, know what it's like to have sort of points on the line every week. They've tried to do that with Bagger, and last year was meant to be the case for him going to Blackpool. And Steve Bruce, real praise from a legendary former Man United centre-back, was full of praise for Elkhorn Bagger, but he just couldn't stay fit.

40:24Stuart Watson:He just didn't manage to rack up the games. He needed to go out and try and do that again this year. Ipswich couldn't do it because the transfer window went quite deep, didn't it? And Wolfie didn't leave till deadline day and they tried to get the Uruguayan guy. That didn't come off on deadline day. So I think in the end they thought we better keep him around just as a bit of insurance as a fourth choice centre-back. Likewise with Cameron Humphries. I get the feeling that Kieran McKenna is always keen to keep him about from a personality point of view because even for his age, he's a leader behind the scenes.

41:02Stuart Watson:And he really likes him, but he just doesn't like him quite enough to give him some more minutes. And you can't see a route to any kind of minutes for him at the moment because you've got Jack Taylor's kind of resurgence this season. You've got him and Jenska used to vying for that sort of, what I think would be Cameron Humphrey's best position in the team, that sort of left-sided box-to-box role. He can do a bit of left-back, but we've seen on the odd occasion that Leif Davis hasn't played. We've seen Ben Johnson there. We saw Jacob Greaves there. So it doesn't look like he wants to play him there.

41:33Stuart Watson:And he's not going to get any minutes as a number 10, which is where he played for Wickham and did really well on loan because of Nunez, because of Atpong, because of Schmodix, even Aghele, Jack Clark, others as well. So he has to go out and play now. They're not kids anymore. We're not talking about them being 18, 19. They are, you know, they're taking up senior spots in the squad. can they be good enough to make it at Ipswich? From what I've seen, certainly of Humphreys, yes but I think they need a little bit more evidence to decide that and they're only going to get that evidence by getting them out on loan for the second half of this season.

42:12Ross Halls:It'll be interesting to just see how Cameron Humphreys is feeling because he must have been loving last year, thriving, playing week in, week out in League One, scoring goals, getting assists, winning awards. I've seen he's actually out of contract this time, but he's got an option, and I'm sure the club will tie him down, but just like Harry Clark as well, so yeah, it's interesting, but I do like Cameron Humphrey, he's a good, as you say, he's a good character, you know, every time I see him, he says hello, and we're a nice little chat, and yeah, he's a player there, and yeah, hopefully he gets a loan spell sooner rather than later, this window, and yeah, he's like Kieran McKenna's side piece, isn't he?

42:49Ross Halls:You know, he's got his lovely wife, but he's got a side piece. I don't know why I did that. I'm going to move on. I'm going to talk about Galwell United, who also play in Claret and Blue. Cove Ramblers, another Irish team playing Claret and Blue. Anyway, boys, let's talk and look ahead to Blackpool because they're coming to town in the FA Cup third round. AJ, compose yourself. Yeah, League One outfit in Everett's side. Lee Evans' derby X-Blue, of course. Yeah, how are you feeling for this one? A nice little sort of distraction, you know, going in the FA Cup. We got to our last 16 last year, a nice little run in a competition.

43:32Ross Halls:We lost against Nottingham Forest on pennants, didn't we, when we hit to the city ground once again. I think, wasn't that like a two weeks prior to when we weren't there in the league? Yeah, that all came very close together. But it was nice to have that run, wasn't it? I think that in a season that derailed very, very, very quickly. It was good to have something to at least look forward to, even though we all knew that it wasn't going to be town heading to the latter stages and doing a commentary or something like that. So, yeah, the journey kicks off again. Blackpool do not play in Claret. They play in Orange, which I assume they will probably wear at Portman Road on Saturday.

44:13This is your typical banana skin because it's a team from the division below, but also a team that has spent a lot of the campaign struggling. I thought they spent really well over the summer, and I kind of tipped them to be in and around the playoff spots looking at the squad that they had. But under Steve Bruce, they've been pretty terrible, to be perfectly honest. And then Steve Bruce got axed in early October. And in comes Ian Everett. Ian Everett is, could he go as far as saying a Blackpool legend? I don't know enough about Blackpool to say, but we'll go with it. Why not? He's played more than 250 games for them across a loan and a permanent spell.

44:50And he's been tasked with coming in and guiding them to safety. And he found it quite difficult, I think, at the start. And then he had that big win in the Cup. They'd beaten Scunthorpe, who do play in Claritonbury, and then Carlisle in the second round to reach the third round. And that Carlisle win, the 4-1 win, was what kind of kick-started their campaign. They went on a five-match unbeaten run. They won four of those games. They got big scorelines. You started to see the best of Blackpool. but they've had a bit of a wobble thrashed by basement boys Port Vale and then beaten by Bradford in the last two.

45:23They sit 18th in the division. So there is a question mark as well with a bit of a thin squad and some players out for injury. How up for this are they going to be? Are they going to be more focused on, hang on, let's stay in this division and prioritise that over going on the cup run, which probably isn't going to lead us too far down the line. That's the big question mark on the flip side for Ipswich. we've had that debate in previous years as well haven't we does it make sense but in previous years I've been quite strong and I know that Stu's often countered that and understandably so I get that side of it that it hasn't been beneficial for Ipswich and for example I think going out to Maidstone two years ago is the best thing that could have happened in that season this year I think it's a little bit different when you look at the squad depth and being able to give players to players to minutes minutes to players who desperately need them and maybe aren't getting them as much.

46:13So, yeah, sets up an interesting clash for the weekend.

46:17Ross Halls:Indeed. A little fun fact about Ian Everett. Last time we played Blackpool in the FA Cup, he got sent off in that game when we beat them 2-1 at Bluefield. And also Rob Edwards got sent off, now the Wolves manager. And another little fun fact, if you fancy it, ladies and gentlemen, Liam Rossini played for town, who's now, of course, the Chelsea boss. Just a nice little link. So there we go. but yeah Stu how are you feeling for this one we played Blackpool a lot didn't we when we were in League 1 I just remember going there many times and then playing us at Porton Road so yeah the Tangerines the Seasiders whatever you want to call them yeah you mentioned Steve Bruce he got sacked in October so in Everett's you know another manager that Blackpool have had

47:00Stuart Watson:yeah I'm just looking at their squad for the first time this morning and there's a couple of names that you kind of go I remember him Ashley Fletcher do you remember the striker left West Ham did really well at Middlesbrough which seemed to be linked with him on and off for a period of time Bailey Peacock Farrell remember him from the McCauley Bond he's behind you moment at Portman Road he's their goalkeeper at the moment Lee Evans was an unused sub at the weekend former Ipswich favourite at the start of the Kieran McKenna era in midfield alongside Sam Morsi George Honeyman as well ex-Sunderland was he Millwall as well he was Millwall I've been trying to convince him to start a duolingo streak with me, but it's not happened so far.

47:41Okay.

47:43Stuart Watson:So, yeah, they were obviously, where are they in the league? 18th, was it? Something like that in League One, yeah. Not had a very good away record this season looking at it. They had a good little run in December, five wins, one draw, but they've started the new year with two defeats and one of those was 5-1 at Port Vale on New Year's Day. So as ever, Ipswich will be favourites at home against a lower league team. As ever, we know that it doesn't always work out that way. We've seen many a cup set along the way, haven't we? I was just looking back at some of them this morning. I think six of the last 12 years, Ipswich have exited the FA Cup to lower league opposition, Maidstone, Barrow, Accrington, Lincoln Portsmouth and Preston a little bit further back when they were they were in lower divisions at the time as well so um yeah team selection from Kieran McKenna is going to be interesting we'll come on to that in a minute and to pick up on Alex's point about would a cup run be beneficial this year I think you always have to judge it year by year 100 % agree that that championship season it helped um Ipswich get over the line was maybe a blessing in disguise that um That was a real freak game, wasn't it?

49:02Stuart Watson:The amount of chances Ipswich had against Maidstone. But that helped that year. Last year, I kind of thought that a cup run would help when you're struggling in the Premier League and losing week in, week out. I just think sometimes getting that winning feeling back and a little bit of a feel-good factor from a cup run would have been useful. This year, it's a deep squad. Ipswich have got the numbers to deal with it. And Gary McKenna's trying to keep everybody sharp and happy. I don't think extra games should be a problem. And if you look at it, the games were sort of fourth and fifth round full because they don't keep blank weekends for it anymore.

49:39Stuart Watson:So you'd get some rearranged games. They're both home games. If they get through, it's Valentine's Day, Saturday, February the 14th, at home to Hull. That would get rearranged. If they were then to get through again to the fifth round, that would be another home game against Leicester on Saturday, March the 7th, that would have to get moved. so it was not the end of the world moving those under the lights at Portman Road. Yeah, you're three wins away from a quarter-finals in the FA Cup when you come in at the third round. So for me, yeah, go for it. Let's just enjoy a little cup run if we can.

50:16Ross Halls:Well, we've got a squad for it, so use that depth. But I'm intrigued, AJ, how you're going to go about it. We'll obviously do more preview on Blackpool on the boot room, which is of course a subscriber only video series we do. So check that out when that drops at some stage, but tease us with a little bit of a team selection. You know, what do you reckon Kieran McKenna will do? So to caveat this, we did get asked this on Monday as part of the mailbag. If you're not going to listen to that, we spoke about all things January, me and Mark Heath to go have a listen through. So I'm going to rush through this quickly and then I'm going to put it to Stu if there's any changes.

50:53But the team that I went with off the top of my head was Alex Palmer starts in goal, Ashley Young at right back, centre-backs. I changed my mind a couple of times to see if I could squeeze Elk and bag it in. I'm not really sure. So I'm going to go Kipre and Greaves as the two centre-backs. Leif Davis at left back because it's that or you go into the academy, but I'd probably go with Davis for this one. Your midfield two, I think, will be Jack Taylor and Jens Kuyusta. Cameron Humphries to play in the 10 assuming that Sam Smoddick is still not available but we haven't heard otherwise yet on that one so that could change things as Ross leaves and then on the right again a toss up given Burns and McAteer I think McAteer would have started against Portsmouth to then give the opportunity for Burns to play this one given that the Portsmouth game was postponed I'd maybe lean towards putting McAteer on the right, Jack Clark on the left and even Azon up top.

51:52So that is my team. Any changes to that, Shu?

51:57Stuart Watson:Defence is a difficult one. That is definitely one that I've kind of wrestled with because there are certain players that you might want to get in for minutes, but does it give you the right balance of the team? The extra headache that Kieran McKenna's got is I think there's no doubt that we'd have been talking about 11 changes being a certainty had Ipswich gone to Portsmouth last weekend and played, but they didn't and as a result this is now nine days on from Oxford on New Year's Day and it will leave what 15 days in between league matches so if you don't play too many first teamers or starters in this one that's a long period for players to get sort of deconditioned I'm no sort of expert on these things but you get these players to a real kind of elite level of fitness they've played through a couple of really busy periods in the season does suddenly stopping for a fortnight and then going again does that make them more sort of the risk of injury increase probably so i think maybe a few more players normal kind of league starters might feature in this one um i don't know um the McAteer Burns one is probably a really difficult decision and I'm probably with you I always had this game in mind for Burns to for it to be his first start after coming back from injuries um but McAteer really could do with the minutes and could do with a bit of a confidence lift couldn't he um from playing in a game like this and doing well hopefully so I might edge towards that.

53:35Stuart Watson:I've gone with Akpom in behind Azon. Don't know what the Schmodek situation is going into this month. We'll find out a bit more at the press conference tomorrow, speaking to Kieran McKenna. Bagger, Humphreys, do you play them to get them ready for a loan, or do you not play them to risk them getting injuries ahead of a loan? You've got to bring that into the equation. I wouldn't rule out, by the way, Ashley Young playing in midfield, because we've seen him come on and do that a few times in games and as it stands he is probably next in line to back up as or matter see or if matter see was suddenly picked up that 10th booking um and was to miss two games before a new player came in i'm pretty sure ashley young might be the one that starts in midfield as the holding midfielder so do you kind of with that in mind do you give ashley young a start in that position just to to get him used to it i don't know um yeah you've got davis at left back.

54:35Stuart Watson:I think he's one that maybe could do with a little rest, given how much he puts into matches, and he's had a little illness recently as well. It's going to be an interesting selection.

54:47Ross Halls:Yes, indeed. Big question, boys. Is this going to go the full? We're going to go to penalties? Luckily, there's no replays at this time in the tournament, so tournament. What do we call it? Tournament? Competition. Tournament. I don't know. It's a tournament, yeah. Yeah, I don't know. I don't think anyone calls the FA Cup a tournament, really. I think that's more like an American thing. No offence to American listeners out there, but I just swear, yeah, you hear tournament more.

55:13Stuart Watson:Yeah. Do replays come in in the later stages still, or are they scrapped entirely? Scrapped entirely. So, yeah, so replays, it's the early stages where they are up to, so I believe that replays now run up to the first round, so the first round of the competition, which is when all the League 1, League 2 clubs come in. That is where they have been scrapped, which I think is something that's split opinion. In a way, obviously, of course, I'm happy that if this was to end level, that we wouldn't be having to make a Tuesday night trip to Blackpool later this month. But from a totally neutral perspective, I still sympathise with some teams who might miss out on big opportunities which I'm sure you'll see in this round.

56:06Team X from the lower leagues holding Team Y thinking, oh, you know what, on another day we get to go to this top six Premier League team only to crash out on pens and miss that opportunity. But from a selfish perspective, not having to go to Bloomfield Road this season is quite nice.

56:22Stuart Watson:Who was it who held Tottenham at their home ground last year and then ultimately went out in extra time or pens and didn't get the replay that they would normally have got? We watched that in the press lounge. I remember that one really vividly. And now it's a National League team. I'm sure it was, I'm going to get this up, it was Tamworth. Tamworth. Last season was the first season of it, wasn't it? And they were a prime example of not getting that big payday for a replay away from home. Still got a bit of magic left in it. Those scenes, no one could begrudge Maidstone. their win at Portman Road.

57:02Stuart Watson:And as much as that stung from an Ipswich perspective, you still like to see those little moments, don't you? I mean, Exeter drawing Man City away when they're at a time of real financial struggle. It was a cup tie at Man United actually going back into the early noughties that kind of saved them. And they really need this as well. I see they've actually written to Man City asking for a greater share of the gate receipts from that one. So it still financially is really important to lower league teams. I think just having a look at the prize money this weekend is£121 ,500 for winners in the third round, which is not to be sniffed at, is it?

57:46Stuart Watson:Some other interesting ties in there. There was, I think, Western Supermare is still in there. They've got Grimsby, I think. So one of those two will go through. getting ahead of ourselves a little bit but if Ipswich get through and that is a big if given recent history anything you'd fancy in another round? The first thing I will say is big credit as well you mentioned to teams giving gate receipts out Crystal Palace deserve huge credit for that one they're hosting Macclesfield this weekend Macclesfield of course the original Macclesfield town went bust they went under and then they've come back as a Phoenix club and they're hosting Premier League the holders of course Premier League opposition and Palace have said that they will donate all their gate receipts from the away end to Mecclesill, so they'll get the total share, which I think is really nice.

58:35Yeah, fine balance, isn't it? I think that if possible, and knowing that you want to have a run, if town can beat Blackpool this weekend, someone like a Western Supermare, a non-league team at home or even away for something a little bit different. the appeal of course now the town have been in the Prem of going to Anfield or Old Trafford or something like that has waned quite significantly I would say but the one caveat that might I like in a way is that this is a new squad as well with quite a few signings over the summer who maybe haven't had that opportunity as well and I'd like the opportunity for Sindra Vala Agheli to play Anfield or who else as sign up, or Matassi were to test himself against Rodri at the Etihad or something like that, just to give them a sniff of hopefully what will be to come in the Premier League next season, touch wood, fingers crossed.

59:32Yeah, anything stand out for either of you?

59:34Stuart Watson:You mentioned Coventry earlier. Was it the semi-finals they got to, didn't they? They should have been. They easily could have been. I don't know if you want to say should have, but VAR took them out of that final, didn't it? Yeah, came within a penalty kick of the final and arguably should have won it before it got to that stage as well. And that was as a championship club. Why can't Ipswich as a top-end automatic promotion-chasing championship side go deep into this? You know, semi-finals at Wembley, Ipswich haven't been to the new Wembley, one of now a handful of sides that haven't been to the new Wembley yet.

1:00:12Stuart Watson:You know, they got to, was it fifth round last year against Forest and took them to penalties as well. I'm up for a little cup run. I think it can benefit what they're trying to do in the league. I think they've got the squad to cope with it. Just got to get over this first hurdle first. We give it all this build-up and then we'll reconvene on Monday and go, here we go again. Should we have some breaking news on the podcast? I don't know if anyone has actually seen this pop up on their phones, we're talking about fixtures coming up the Portsmouth game has a new date has anyone seen it? February 3rd we will be back at Frattenburg I think I might have got the closest of the three of us February 3rd so it's going to be in between and this probably works quite well for town actually the home game against Preston where a lucky subscriber could be sat with us if you win and the trip to Derby the half 12 so it'll be on that Tuesday night quarter to eight kick off lovely

1:01:16Ross Halls:I mean you're not going to miss it are you I was hoping it might have been the 17th look there are worse games to go to on there but I was thinking you know what I've already done this journey most of the way once I've already been to Fratton Park if it was to fall on the 17th then so be it but there you go February 3rd I think from a scheduling perspective that's probably quite good because if it was the 17th going from Fratton Park to the race course ground in the space for about four or five days would have been pretty brutal, wouldn't it?

1:01:47Stuart Watson:Yeah.

1:01:47Ross Halls:Well, put that in your diaries later, gentlemen. February 3rd, Portsmouth trip is now being confirmed. For the draw quickly, boys, once again, they need to get through. We need to get through. I don't want Blackburn, all right? Blackburn away can get in the bin. They've got whole city away, so they need to be whole, but we do not want that. Sorry, Blackburn, but I don't want to go Blackburn for the third time this season. I would rather go out. I would rather go out the cup. Just lose. Just lose. but that's it. But boys, another Mammoth podcast. Any other business from you before we wrap up? Stu, what's up with you?

1:02:24Stuart Watson:Yeah, brief teasers for some content that's coming up. I've put together, as I mentioned earlier, January transfer window wishlist, what I'd like to see happen. That will be online first thing tomorrow morning. Alex is going to keep churning out over the coming days names for different positions that he's going to float as potentials which we know you can't get enough of. We can tell by the number of views on these. Just give us names, the people say, and Alex provides them. I'm going to get my teeth stuck into a little transfer bit that's come through on my phone while this is well. We'll keep working the phones and try and find out what we can for you guys.

1:03:07Ross Halls:Love it, my friend. AJ, anything for you as we wrap up this? No, nothing from me. I know you've got something as well that you want to plug, so I'll leave the floor to you, Mr Holt.

1:03:20Stuart Watson:Oh, before... Sorry, Ross, I don't know if this... Were you going to talk about the Tractor Girls?

1:03:25Ross Halls:It was going to be more of a plug to listen to the full chat about it because there was some breaking news on Tuesday or whenever it was. Yeah, it was Tuesday. Yeah, Joe Sheehan, the town manager, women's manager, has, yeah, he's departed. his role. David Wright, the former town defender, will be interim charged until the end of the season. But that was shocking news, really. He's been in charge for nearly seven years. And yeah, for the second half of the season, it will be David Wright in the dugout. Me and Tom Cann recorded a podcast to discuss our thoughts on that. What's next? Joe's journey at the club because it's been an incredible journey from two promotions and the landscape has changed at Itcherstown in terms of all the football and yeah, I was in shock and I've spoke to Joe a few times and yeah, he's gutted of course and we'll find out what's next for him and yeah, me and Tom, as I said, spoke a lot about it so check out Track the Girls Talk podcast which will probably be available on your feed after this podcast so check it out if you want to hear more insight from me and Tom but yeah, Stu, thanks for letting me remind me for that that he's on my pod plan but I haven't got it in front of me right now but yeah, Joe Shears

1:04:37Stuart Watson:It's huge news. I know not everyone will listen to all of the podcasts, but if you're getting into the women's game or if you want to know a bit more about that, listen to Ross and Tom chatting about that. I've come across Joe intermittently over the years when dipping in and out of the women's coverage and he's always been an absolute pleasure to deal with. So on the record, I wish the best for Joe going forwards. I know they've talked about him maybe having a different role at the club. I don't know if that will appeal to him. We'll have to wait and see. but it was always going to be a massive ask for Ipswich to stay up in the Championship first year at this level.

1:05:13Stuart Watson:I think people compare it to the equivalent in the men's game of stepping up to the Premier League and how difficult that is to survive. So always we're going to be against it. Ipswich have decided that they want to change things up and give themselves a chance of staying up in the second half of the season. We'll have to see if that's the case, won't we?

1:05:32Ross Halls:Yeah, they have returned to action because they have a little winter break in women's football and they're back in Colchester this Sunday. They play the league leaders, Cholton. So it's not an easy start for David Wright. We held them to a nil-nil draw back in September. But yeah, that'll be a tough one. They're unbeaten and leading the league table in WSL too. So a big test for the Tractor Girls this Sunday. But yeah, check out me and Tom's podcast, discussing Joe's departure and all the other bits and bobs. but boys thank you so much for joining me of course follow our coverage at Blackpool not at Blackpool we're not going to Blackpool at Porton Road as Town Take on Blackpool if you are going to the game enjoy it because I know it's maybe an opportunity for some fans who maybe can't get tickets for the league games to go to the games because of course it's FA Cup some people will go I don't fancy going to that so enjoy it if you are going follow us on all our socials Kings of Anglia as standard if you've been watching on video and you've been seeing my lovely shirt claret and blue of course South Shields another team non-league team yeah go to our merch and buy this lovely shirt we've also got other bits and bobs and our sponsors Molecular and Stardust Spirits two local companies supporting the podcast so check them out and we'll speak to you on Monday to hopefully discuss an FA Cup win but we shall wait and see bye for now ladies and gentlemen

1:07:06Thank you.

1:07:38Thank you.

1:08:01Thank you.