639: Kings of Anglia: New striker signing, Burns returns and the kits are out

0:08Hello friends and welcome to your flagship edition of the Kings of Anglia, Ipswich Town podcast proudly sponsored by Molecular UK. I am Mark Heath. I am back. I've taken my seat, my rightful seat on the throne of KOA like Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen. I've seen off the usurper Ross of House Halls. I didn't have to decapitate him. It was a bloodless coup. and I've shown that I'm a benevolent leader because I've allowed him to join us on this very podcast. Rossi, how the bloody hell are you?

0:37Ross Halls:I'm very well, thank you. And yeah, now I can just sort of just chill, really. I can just sit in the background, just, yeah, don't have to worry about doing the hosting duties and segue into different things. But I hope I've kept your throne nice and warm for you, my friend. Oh, it's lovely and toasty, I must say. Although it's probably because of the weather at the moment, As you said, prior recording, you are sweating and it's going to be a very hot podcast for you in your room. This is going to be a hot KOA podcast, both literally and metaphorically, obviously, in terms of the chat. But I'm in the middle room at Heath Towers, which is the hottest room.

1:14I can't have a window open. I can't have a fan on. I'm going to sweat, friends. So if you're watching this, watch the Heath forehead glisten as we get into this. Watson, have you got a problem with a glistening forehead ever? Uh, probably. Probably, yeah. Follicly challenged, so fellow Baldies, cream up out there. It's important, okay? Cream up, that's the message. Stewie, how have you been? You're enjoying the World Cup, aren't you? Those bloody three lines, eh? I am far more so than you. I'm loving the World Cup. It was already shaping up to be a classic and now we've got England producing that performance.

1:54What was your game plan? Did you, I don't know why I'm asking you, because you hate England and you actively want them to lose, which I'd like to explore here, actually. I loved it. I managed to avoid the score and I got up and I watched it as live in the morning. And what a game, game for the ages. It was a good game. I have been watching the highlights and obviously fair play for them. They played well. And Norway next is an interesting game, isn't it? Rossi, your boys, Cape Verde though, maybe the story of the whole tournament.

2:24Ross Halls:Yeah, Messi had to, you know, pop off his game, didn't he? I know he scored in that game, but yeah, they did fantastically. They haven't lost, they didn't lose actually a game in 90 minutes. They drew all their games. It's just extra time that, do you know what though? If they got to penalties, I think they could have gone on to win pens. I think their keeper is just, it's just incredible, isn't he? He's now got like 15, 60 million followers on Instagram. He like started the camp, you know, World Cup with 50 ,000. Now he's 16 million. He's going to have loads of brand deals and a lot of people dropping in DMs about different things.

2:56Ross Halls:But yeah, big shout out to Kate Burden. I want to give a big shout out to Stuart Watson, actually. Oh, come on. Got to. Got to because he introduced us to a website called Spoiler Free Highlights. And that is what I use because I was tempted to watch it live, the England game, but I just didn't have it in me. I had a busy day on Sunday. And by the time I was getting to midnight, I was like, nah, I'm going to go to bed now. and I stayed away from my phone, WhatsApp group, social media, went on the website, made a nice cup of tea, had a breakfast and then just watched the highlights with all its glory without having, not knowing anything.

3:35Ross Halls:So thank you very much for that, Stu, because if not, I would have probably been spoiled by normal highlights. They normally show the pictures of Hurricane celebrating, Bellingham celebrating or whatever, or the scoreline, but thankfully, I just went in there enjoying it. I went to bed, struggled to get off to sleep. I watched the Norway-Brazil game, which was also a great game. And then I woke up in the night to a loud cheer in the neighbourhood. So I knew England had scored at least once in the game. And I thought, do I check the time? I had a little look, and I think it was about 2.45. So I was thinking, oh, that could be a late winner.

4:16So I woke up in the morning. and then I saw that it got put back an hour and was feeling quite pleased with myself for not trying to see it through. I do know a couple of people that went out to pubs and lock-ins and things like that. Fair play to anyone who managed to stay awake to what was it, about 4am when it finished in the end? Yeah, I got up and watched the highlights and as I say, they did play well. Poor old Jordan Henderson. But I immediately then went out and painted a mini roundabout with the Cross of St George because I bloody love England. Anyway, friends, we're not here to talk about England.

4:46We're here to talk about Ipswich Town. There's lots going on, which is why we're podding relatively early in the week. We've got new signing incoming. Yes! We've got Wes Burns returning. Yes! We've got the new kits. Yes! Which we've got a special look at. We've got some departures to talk about. And obviously, we've also got the players coming back. Pre-season's underway. So plenty to talk about. And I guess we've got to start with the sexiest of possible sexy things, Stuart Watson. I'm going to give you four words, which are some of the sexiest things you can hear as a football fan. Brazilian striker, club record.

5:23Talk to me about this, because this is, as I say, peak. Other than Stuart Watson shirtless oiled up, that's top. Emerson signing for Ipswich Town, that's probably second.

5:37Yeah, first ever Brazilian to play for Ipswich Town, which is quite something. Alan Brazil. Yeah, very good, Ross. Very good, well done. Yeah, Ipswich are closing in on him. Deal agreed. Still getting the full steer on fee. I think the original number put out by Sky might be a tad too high. I think they've changed that now, but it's going to be in the region of 20 million. Goodwill Eclipse, what was paid for Omari Hutchinson and Jaden Filagene. A long, long way from, we keep using it as a reference point, an anchor point from COVID transfer window and that slightly sorry picture of Olly Hawkins, David Cornell and Stephen Ward, wasn't it?

6:31The three of them socially distanced, all done and dusted in one picture. I've been covering Ipswich for I can't remember now, 16, 17 years something like that and the vast majority of it has been managers juggling dust Mick McCarthy working almost exclusively on free agents and loans you can go further back I think that phrase juggling dust was a Joe Royal one who had to wheel and deal a little bit so it's only really in this modern times at Ipswich have started to spend. I remember us all getting quite excited

7:09Ross Halls:when a seven-figure fee for Caden Jackson. That was quite exciting at the time. They'd signed someone from League Two for north of a million pounds. Bit of a sharp intake of breath when Leif Davis came for 1.2 million. I think we've pegged that as a left-back in League One. And now, dare I say it, almost slightly blasé about Ipswich kind of spending this sort of money. what time to be alive as an Ipswich fan. Absolutely. So as you understand it, then, Stu, where are we with it? It's fairly well progressed. He's hopefully either having or on the verge of having his medical. We're talking about a club record.

7:48What can you tell us about him as a player as well? Because, again, it's a League One signing. He plays for Toulouse. League Un, sorry. Not League One. League Un. And that seems to be a route they're quite keen to go down. Obviously, Mattasiwa and Kipre both came from there as well. Good value signing, as you'd say. what do you know about him Stu what can you tell us about what to expect not a lot Mark I'd be lying if I said otherwise this is a classic case of everyone a week or so never heard of him and then everyone suddenly takes to the internet and watches some YouTube videos and tries to read up as much as possible and some come to some grand conclusions the more sensible of us I think retain an open mind and wait and see his background he's been transcribing or translating a YouTube video when he first signed for Toulouse and trying to have a little insight into him.

8:42Don't think he speaks, would be a Portuguese speaker once he grown up in Brazil. He doesn't speak English, French, Spanish, so there might be a bit of a language barrier there. Grew up with not a lot of money, he says, in Brazil. Came over to Turkey in 2025, having already come through a year out with an ACL injury as an 18-year-old, overcame that, came over to Turkey. Not a prolific goal scorer. You have to look at his record, 2-17 over in Turkey. He wasn't a regular starter there. Toulouse scouted him, saw something in his profile, brought him over there. He's obviously done well enough for people to be looking at him.

9:26I think Hull were an interested party as well. Looking at the highlights, he's a hard worker. He's good in the air, six foot one, but has got a real leap on him. His stats say that he's a real dominant player in the air. The bit that jumps off the page for me, looking at the highlights, and again, they only tell a very small part of the story, is his link play. His back to goal is where his most impressive stuff on those clips looks like. He'll drop into his own half. He'll stick a goal kick up to him and he'll make it stick and he'll play little layoffs. Maybe some raw edges in terms of shooting and the technical side of the game.

10:08And I think he and coaches have alluded to that. But 21, lots of room for growth. He's Brazilian, as you said, which is always quite exciting. So, yeah, we'll see. Absolutely. I'm picking up some interference on the audio. Have you got a fan going somewhere? Yeah, I'll turn it off. Sorry. There we go. That's all right. I turned mine off. I made the sacrifice. You're going to see me melt, friends, as we go through. Rossi, Brazilian striker, incoming, Emerson, young, hungry, talented. Brazilian. Have we mentioned Brazilian? How exciting is this?

10:41Ross Halls:As you said at the start, this is sexy. You know, Brazilian striker. We've not had a Brazilian play for the club before. We've had South American players who have been exciting and stuff like that. But yeah, when you first sort of see that link, you're like, oh yeah, Brazilian strike. And then you look, you know, you watch the highlights. Once again, it only shows the good bits. It would be funny if someone did actually create like just a highlight reel of like the whole, their whole game, even the worst bit, things they need to work on. But that's probably something no one really wants to see.

11:11But you say that there is one. I mean, there's a few different ones. And the first one I watched is not particularly flattering. I would say. There's a three-minute-odd version of it that does include some fairly wayward shots and loose bits and pieces. So it gave a slightly more rounder idea. But, yeah, in general, highlights can be misleading, can't they?

11:31Ross Halls:Yeah, but I like the way he just goes deep and link up the play and back to goal. I think that's one thing, you know, I think an interest town striker is going to need this season in the Premier League, especially with, like, Liam Dallat. That's sort of what his role was. A lot of people are using that as an example. But yeah, it's raw. I know the goals, the numbers aren't exciting really. And the fee, I know a lot of people are like, that's a lot of money for a 21-year-old who's very raw. But transfer fees these days are inflated, aren't they? Players are going for just ridiculous. Elliot Anderson, very good player.

12:09Ross Halls:111, 12 million or something crazy in a Man City, which is just bonkers fees. But I think this will get people excited, though. You know, Gary O 'Neill's first signing, potentially, Brazilian 21-year-old striker. Can't get any more sexy than that, Evie. Absolutely. Stewie, do you reckon he is going to be the nine or do you think there'll be a striker, a starting striker, maybe someone with a bit more experience and prestige coming in? They'll certainly be looking for another. As we've discussed many times, I think Tuber Ackham might depart. Ali Alhamadie almost certainly will depart. George Hurst probably isn't going to be the main man or isn't going to be the main man.

12:51Let's not beat about the bush. They could need another one in there, and I would say it will probably be the more experienced Premier League mould. We know that Callum Wilson is a prime target. Talk now that Brentford might be leading the race for him. But, yeah, it's all about variety, isn't it? And if Emerson is a bit of a project, and I think it's important, how many times have we talked about not judging people too soon, giving them time to settle? I think that's even more important when you're coming from another country, a different type of league. French football is very different, the French league, to the Premier League.

13:29Then there's the cultural side of things as well. So important not to expect too much too soon. Sindrei Valerigeli is probably the prime example of that last year and maybe getting too fixated on the fee. It feels like a lot of money. It is a lot of money. But relatively in Premier League terms, it's not. Ross has talked about some of the money that goes around 20, 30 million pounds. There I say it gets you a kind of middle-of-the-road Premier League player, a project player these days. That's where we're at. And the goal record, I don't get too fixated on that. Ross talked about Liam DeLapp just now.

14:05I think we had pretty much similar conversations that Liam DeLapp but had a handful of goals in the championship for, where was he at? Stoke, Preston and Hull, wasn't he? That didn't exactly set the pulses racing and that worked out okay in terms of his goal output in the Premier League. So the main thing is he looks an athlete, he looks physical and that was the big learning curve from the Premier League last time. Mark Ashton said, that's what we need to add to the squad and he certainly looks like he's going to bring that. Okay, so first proper signing on the way in, hopefully. We worked with Space, we'll bring you the updates as they happen, and profiles, and first interviews, and all that kind of stuff.

14:41Brazilian striker Emerson on the way. We had, essentially, like a new signing, happen on Sunday, boys. And before we get to this, I've got to take issue. Well, actually, the person I need to take issue with isn't here, because AJ's off this week, he's in Bournemouth. I listened to, I was actually back last week when you recorded the big squad audit, but I was off that day. I listened to it in the car on the way into it, which we should do the kit stuff we'll come to in a bit. And AJ said they should release Wes Burns. I almost crashed into a tree in anger. And I immediately brought it up with him when we got there.

15:13No, no, no. Wes Burns has re-signed Rossi. One-year deal. Backing himself to impress. Got some itches he needs to scratch in the Premier League. And let me tell you this, friends. Don't sleep on Wes Burns. I think Wes Burns can be a factor in the Premier League. A, he's an athlete. He's a proper athlete. He's a Premier League-level athlete. He plays that right-wing role. Admittedly, obviously, he's a different boss now, but better than anyone else has done in this system. And he's absolutely fired up and raring to go and has some targets to achieve in the Premier League, both personally and in terms of helping to keep Town up.

15:47This is great news, isn't it?

15:50Ross Halls:Yeah, it gets the fans on board straight away. I know a lot of people are going, it's a bit sentimental and stuff. We're in the Premier League. But to be fair, he deserves it. he's returning from his ACL injury a lot of people, us probably included, saying he's probably just going to play a few cameo appearances here and there but he made a difference when he came back and scored some important goals, really showed Wes Burns of old, you've had an ACL injury and we were like, oh maybe he's going to lose some of his pace and stuff and the first few games he showed a bit of rustiness but for me, had a solid end of the season and yeah, I think he deserves now a crack at the Premier League.

16:27Ross Halls:I don't think he'll be first first choice um you know i know your hot take that may you may start on the opening day against underland it really depends on how our recruitment's going um but he knows the values of the club you know i think that's a good thing as well for gary anneal to have players like wes burns who knows the club in and out you know who'll drive standards um but no i know there is mixed reactions from some fans saying all right we're ready get already there's even like some opposition fans saying oh it's just sound relegation confirmed with wes burns signing a deal i don't think that's the case um i think it's just a solid decision you know one year deal um and let him sort of live out his you know boyhood dream hopefully you know he scored all the levels from league two league one championship can he get that premier i know he spoke to stew at the bus parade saying yeah i've still got that itch i want to get rid of you know it's it's you know it bugs me because that injury and um i thought he played okay in the premier league last time out i thought he was really getting up to speed and everything with it and And then he just got an injury at Anfield, sort of, you know, ripped his way of playing well and stuff.

17:32Ross Halls:But, yeah, he's got another crack at the Premier League. And a lot of people just love Wes Burns as a person as well. And, yeah, looking forward to seeing him in the Premier League again. I don't see this as sentimental. I see this as a good move, Stu. I think Wes Burns, the record shows that he was really adapting well to the Premier League. Yes, everyone struggled at the start, but he was really starting to hit his stride when he had the injury. he has that physical profile proper as i say athlete at premier league level uh and obviously he's got all the everything else he brings with him in terms of the bond with the fans and the connection with the the band of brothers all that kind of thing i don't see it sentimental and as rossi just said just just slightly uh blew up my hot take is that he's going to start i think he's going to start on opening day i'm not saying he's going to be in every every game start but i can see him starting against sunderland what do you make of this yeah uh very very smart very pragmatic business a no-brainer, dare I say it, from an Ipswich Town point of view.

18:25I didn't think he'd stay, but not because Ipswich wouldn't want to keep him or try to keep him. I thought that Wes might think that putting emotion to one side, that he had to think about his career and he might look at a two, three-year deal elsewhere. So I'm delighted he stays. It's a one-year deal. it won't break the bank in terms of wages there I say not everybody can be a week-in week-out starter but he is someone that's going to buy into whatever role is asked of him I'm sure it's important I think to have some links to what's happened in recent years and to and to help having having one or two players still around to help sort of with continuity and stability and again profile box pace, direct and play that right wing back role and I think we are going to see that not necessarily every week but we're going to certainly see that in certain games against the big boys in a counter-attacking brand of football he's perfectly suited to it so Ross said he had a very solid second half of the season, I would upgrade that I thought he was more than solid, I thought he was sensational really given a year out, had those big moments with the goals, but for him to have put himself comfortably top of the right-wing pecking order with the players that he was up against is quite something.

19:53So delighted. I said to him at the end of that interview, I hope the journey continues, and it has, which is great. Yeah, I think it's fantastic. And also, don't forget, of course, he actually knows Gary O 'Neill. Played with him at Bristol City, says he's had some good positive conversations with him. O 'Neill fully confident that he can keep town up and Wes is on board so from that point of view it ticks all the boxes as well I think it's great news I really do like I say I can see him starting opening day and having a proper impact in the Premier League right then friends if you're watching on video you'll notice the background has changed and that's because it's now based on the new Ipswich Town home kit which we got to go and have a look at last Thursday before it was officially released on the Friday everyone's seen them now so we're going to talk about the kids but first of all of course i want to set the scene so we get invited down to portman road last week our old friend hutchie's there we walk into the the media room hutchie's there paul macro's there who's the guy's kind of um the main man with the kit says jacob henderson there and harry as well from the media team we think why so many people here anyway all right hutchie do we get any sort of jet about the kit before we do this unboxing video no no no he says just take this box down there and start rolling okay we'll crack on we thought and this is this is what happened i'm sure many of you have seen this but if you haven't this is what happened when we thought we were unboxing the new home shirt

21:17oh my goodness

21:22i knew that immediately i was like I wonder why there were three. At first when I saw that I was like, how are we going to sell this? That's not the home shirt. How are we going to sell this?

21:39Oh my God. That's a dark shirt. I don't know what that's been used for. I thought the quarters didn't work quite well. My stomach went, what? I thought it was sad after you started doing that a little bit. Yeah.

21:57There we go then, Stu. They stitched us up like a kipper there. I was super focused on the front of the shirt. I hadn't actually seen the back. So when you took it out of the box, all I saw was the massive Ipswich Town badge. And in my head, although I thought, wow, that's bold, it wasn't like, that's out of the question, that could actually be the shirt. So I hadn't seen the darts bit. You twigged, obviously, pretty much straight away. They got us, though, didn't they, Stu? yeah i think it was those cheeky scamps sniggering away in the background that was the first the first giveaway to me um very good very good boys you can purchase that shirt by the way before we before we cast too much shade on it is available in the club shop don't think you'd get away with having a zip in an official uh in an official match shirt um yeah i made uh doing the actual unboxing we had to you had to gather yourself a little bit after that yeah i struggled i struggled a bit after that the uh we have to do i think a couple more takes before i'd stop laughing in the intro um they properly got us but we did eventually unveil the kits on boxer kits stew um and we got let's start with the home this is the home there we go under the lights um hopefully you'll have all seen it by now um unveiling it as you can see with the pattern behind us now that was the thing that caught my eye straight away was the embossing it's not just a pattern it's actually embossed you know it's tactile you can feel it of the diamond pattern both on the front and the back of the shirt which i think is the first time they've done that under the the umbro uh relationship it's going to look great under the lights um and that's obviously got the kind of story of being linked to parts of the stadium and the floodlights um with it with just over what a few days now to think about it stew what how are you how are you feeling about the the home kit now same as when i first saw it um i want i want a uh don't try and be too clever with the home kit um clean crisp simple it ticks all of those boxes the great thing with the umbro relationship is that they can do things that are bespoke you don't get like with the big manufacturers you don't get an off-the-shelf uh template um so yeah it's quite nice i think It's like a diamond pattern, isn't it, which is meant to represent the white, what do we call that, the steelworks around the…

24:19Stanchions, is it? Yeah, I guess so, yeah. White stanchions along the back of the north and the south stand that are visible from far out. So a bit like the League One kit that had sort of construction of the kit on it. But as you say, with this one, rather than it kind of being printed onto the pattern, it's kind of within the texture of the kit. and as you can see in that picture under the floodlights, it looks quite nice under the lights, doesn't it? The pattern sort of stands out. So I like this, I like it a lot. I think it's going to look spectacular. For you, Ross, as a photographer, obviously this will warm the cockles of your heart because in the Premier League, as we know, there are stipulations as to how much brighter the lights have to be at grounds.

25:01So with a kit designed to look pretty under the lights, it is a beauty. And we filmed a kit ranking video yesterday, which is available if you're a subscriber to go and watch about 45 minutes of us arguing about all 14 Umbro kits. And you've had some absolute shockers in there, mate, if you don't want me to say, um, you've, you've, yeah, I mean, you've put some, some absolute bangers well down the list mental anyway. Um, but you're a fan of this, right?

25:24Ross Halls:Yeah. As Stu said, it is clean, crisp. It's just a solid effort. And, um, yeah, the blue really pops out. I know, you know, it's a blue kit, you know, you can't do much with it, but I think they've done really well with this one. And as I said before, the Halo, I just, once again, we've said this before as well, if it's a gambling sponsor or just a general sponsor, that can ruin a really nice kit. With the Halo, it's just nice and bold. And yeah, when I first saw it, I was like, yeah, I like that. I'm going to go out and buy that because it's just clean and just solid. So yeah, looking forward to taking many pictures of those throughout the season.

26:00Ross Halls:Hopefully celebrations and stuff. Hopefully not many goals conceded, but we won't see. Yeah, now, obviously, Rossi, the kits are modelled by elite athletes. We were the next best thing, so we got to put them on. And you, in terms of the away shirt, and this is obviously Big Sed, who's only slightly more of an athlete than myself, AJ gave that a 9.5, and you, behind the camera, started shaking your head vociferously. And then once we stopped rolling, you said, that's not a 9.5. Now, bear in mind, I think AJ felt maybe under a little bit of pressure because you've got Paul Macro, the guy who's designed the kit, sat behind us watching us film this.