Did Southampton and Eckert get away with it?

0:00Your heart can tell you a lot about your health. Apple Watch Series 12 measures your heart rate every five seconds with the most advanced heart rate sensing in an Apple Watch. So your vitals app, now with heart rate variability, could tell you when something is off. And your readiness score can let you know when to rest and when to push. Hear the story in every heartbeat with Apple Watch Series 12. For general wellness purposes only, not intended for clinical use or to detect, diagnose, monitor or treat medical conditions. requires iPhone 11 or later. Therapy's biggest impact doesn't show up in some dramatic breakthrough.

0:34It shows up in the smallest moments. You bite your tongue instead of escalating. You put your phone down instead of firing off that text. You say what you actually mean instead of what would hurt someone else the most. Nobody applauds those moments, but they quietly change your life. That's what growing feels like. And that's exactly what Grow Therapy is here for. Grow is therapy that works, covered by insurance. Sessions average$21 with insurance, and some pay as little as$0, depending on their plan. There are no subscriptions, no long-term commitments. You just pay per session. Grow connects you with thousands of high-quality, licensed therapists across the U.S., offering both virtual and in-person sessions, nights and weekends.

1:18You can search by what matters, like insurance, specialty, identity, or availability. And you can book a therapy session in minutes and begin in as little as two days, not the national 48-day average. See if you could pay as little as$0 for therapy in seconds at growtherapy.com slash start now. That's growtherapy.com slash start now. growtherapy.com slash start now. Availability and coverage vary by state and insurance plan.

1:55Hello and welcome to The Game football podcast from the Times and Sunday Times. This is our EFL extra show every week with me, Tom Clark, and the former football league legend, Gregor Robertson. Looking at the highs and lows of the Championship League One and League Two. Some of it's brilliant, some of it's disastrous. Hopefully all of it is interesting. Gregor, the usual caveat, we must say it, there's a big, big round of midweek fixtures this week, aren't there? So, listeners, bear with us. We'll be back next week, though. Remember, there's not the two-week gap now, don't worry. But let's start at Southampton, Gregor.

2:28Last week's show recorded just before the news came out at Tonda Eckhart. I'd essentially, yeah, I know it's a suspended ban, but he's got away with it. It got away without any further punishment for the spying charges for Spygates. That came out just after last week's show. We were talking so much about Manchester City in the main show on Thursday that we didn't mention it. So we're going to start with them. They, of course, had a big Derby win this weekend. But first, let's go back on your reaction to that punishment. Six weeks suspended ban for Eckhart and a small fine. Some people going, well, they've already had the ultimate punishment.

3:03They were kicked out of a playoff final and a shot at the Premier League. other people saying what a limp punishment in the end. What do you think?

3:12Gregor Robertson: It's a pointless punishment. It's completely pointless. It's also absurd to suggest that to suspend a six week suspension because if he was found guilty of doing this again obviously the punishment would be immeasurably harsher than this. And it seems to be a strange process. You're right in saying it's a bit of a warped process in the fact that both the EFL have handed out one punishment and now the FA is doing another. And then the kind of news that the independent panel started off with what they thought should be a 16-week suspension and then the way it was chipped away at to reduce it to nothing is pretty extraordinary.

3:52Gregor Robertson: Basically, he got a third off because they admitted it and then they took into account what the impact would be on the club and everyone else involved at the football club. So this is probably another one where both things can be true. I mean, I was reading Martin Samuel's little segment in his column in the Sunday Times this weekend, and it's persuasive. You know, he's saying everyone thinks he's got away with it, but he's missed out on an opportunity to become a Premier League manager. You know, the 200 million windfall for the club, he would have been well rewarded for that too. And that's true.

4:21Gregor Robertson: But ultimately, given the way that, you know, has been revealed that the independent panel came to this decision, he's been remarkably lucky to get away with it entirely. I wonder whether he feels that look in some of his comments he seemed slightly more contrite after this game with Portsmouth at the weekend talking about it being a cloud over the club which does contrast slightly with some of the reaction to the announcement of that six week suspended ban I thought it was quite telling of the state of modern football at Southampton and I know it's not Tonda Eckhart who runs the Twitter account or whatever but posting pictures they posted the old corner flag picture with the statement and the outcome two minutes later there's a video of Eckhart fist pumping the fans what it means and you're like you you know it means you're still guilty right you know you did this you know you did the bad thing you've just not been punished again for it you did get kicked out of a playoff final so it's part of me that once again in football uh as so often of late there's a doubling down on oh we're fine don't worry about it um and it does seem like Southampton a lot slightly as Kit Shepard said in our preview show, buying into this idea of we're the bad guys and we don't care.

5:31So it's interesting to hear Eckhart talk in a little bit more contrite terms at the weekend when Southampton won the South Coast Derby against Portsmouth 1-0 despite going down to 10 men for the second half. James Bree with a lovely goal. I watched this game, Gregor, from the office. It did remind us again of this Southampton squad and their strength because Portsmouth were decent in spells, in patches. One of those classic performances of a team lower down the table. Lots of huff, lots of puff. Ultimately never really created clear-cut chances and never looked like they'd take them. Winning this kind of a game, 1-0, with 10 men for a whole half, players coming off the bench, it is just a reminder that now Southampton have had this FA charge and can put it behind them, sat in mid-table as they are in 11th on 13 points, they can start thinking about heading up the table, can't they?

6:25Gregor Robertson: Absolutely, yeah. I mean, this is a kind of a different side to Southampton. They had to show a different face in this, as you say, being down to 10 men for an entire half and really actually limiting Borsmith to very, very few clear-cut chances. A lot of crossing to the box and a lot of, as you say, huffing and puffing, but they kind of got two banks of four and made it really difficult for the opposition. I think I'm possibly fortunate that Fenerzaz wasn't sent off as well really bad challenge but yeah you saw Tonda Eckert's celebration sidelines afterwards kind of arms outstretched screaming to the sky he's not someone who shows that much emotion on the touchline so I think this was a big one for him not just because it's Southampton's first derby win since 2004 but just because of as you say everything now can be put into the past now and they can focus on the future look you've got to remind yourselves that they should be four points better off and that would put them third so yeah it was also interesting to hear Flynn Down speaking afterwards and he said that the squad have been talking amongst themselves and they don't feel they've been at it they feel there's still a lot more to come and actually I think that's true of a number of teams who we've discussed as promotion favourites this season so I still think there is more to come from Southampton early days and more to come but Southampton will be looking upwards and in terms of early benchmarks Swansea setting the pace at the top of the table continuing their good form from before the international break this was one of the games I picked out as a potential game of the weekend Swansea beating Norwich at home only watched the extended highlights but that was enough to tell you that it was a great game end-to-end plenty of chances in this one Norwich taking the lead Swansea proving that they can come back and they scored two very different goals I thought Gregor that showed they can do both parts of this game well lovely intrinsic moves down the wing brilliant team goal for the equaliser and then the winner good cross into the box great header from adam adam ida it's looking good i'm not i don't want to get carried away on swansea's behalf but they did mention in that voice note to you and joe harston a couple of weeks ago that having seen them for a full 90 minutes they look like they might be the complete package yeah the move you're Right, the move for Yale's equaliser was an absolute joy to watch.

8:48Gregor Robertson: Kind of triangles in their own half. And then I think it was Josh Tymon made the sort of underlapping run, played down the line into space. And, you know, bodies run into the box, cross into the back post on the plate for Yale. Although he took his time, it kind of bounced several times and he waited to finish it while he got it in at the back post. And you're right, the second goal was a lovely, a really well-timed run you should say actually from Aramida and Waddell's cross was on the money so yeah it's like Swansea now you watch them and there's a lot of that kind of you know playing the ball through the thirds but really intricate kind of moving and then dynamism and they've got speed up front and you know a lot of their sign-ins have really made an impact to Poku as well and Io has been Io has been Io has been excellent he does he does chipping in with the goals be delighted to get this one against his former club as well Norwich so they're going taking along really nicely and a big week for them, they've got Millwall in midweek and then West Ham at the weekend so we'll see probably know a bit more about the credentials after this week Yeah maybe come back to you with that same question on Swansea next week then Middlesbrough just behind them in second Will Lancashire at it again basically a screamer by his standards this one Gregor, I think it was about 8 yards out a brilliant header great hang time for a 1-0 win against a Wolves side who looked a little bit off it a little bit rusty post international break and in truth Middlesbrough maybe could have won it 2-0 with another header off the bar I wanted to maybe focus in on West Ham though just below them in third dropping points on Friday night with a 1-0 draw against QPR Gregor I should say firstly a lot of listeners will be waiting for me to mention the penalty decision which was given in favour of QPR a challenge a good way outside the box i'd say um i'm going to stick a fiver in the var charity jar for this one just to keep anyone at bay it's a friday night i could see people on social media getting involved getting exercised by it people that i know still don't want it still don't want it still don't want it anywhere near nowhere near get rid i don't care with big clubs like west ham post-international break they missed another penalty in this one second time this season and they missed a penalty at home.

11:06Are we just waiting to see West Ham? And I'm saying they might be a bit rusty. They've got Lincoln in the week. I'll be going to that one. So fingers crossed they're still rusty. They will be looking to bounce back from this one, won't they?

11:15Gregor Robertson: Yeah, look, I think you've got to give QPR a lot of credit. They were really good in the first half and created some good openings. Obviously, taking the lead from Madsen's penalty, fortuitously, but they had played well in the first half. And then West Ham in the second half really turned the screw and Jared Bowen did a lot of Jared Bowen stuff like equalised with a very Bowen goal coming in from the right onto his left shot and then sticking away the rebound with his right foot and then it was Bowen again cutting in from the right back post cross that kind of won the penalty and you've got to say Piers Charles did magnificently to save the penalty and then to bounce up and tip Arnie Engle's rebound onto the bar, like incredible reactions, so West Ham have had a couple of games, you think back to the Charlton game as well, where it could have been different, they could have had another four points from these, but clearly they've acclimatised to the league finally, it took them some time and you heard Nuno's interview afterwards, he was hugely frustrated by the fact that they weren't able to get three points in this one, but yeah, I think QPR are a good team and they've posed West Ham a lot of problems and Nuno actually acknowledged that afterwards he said that you know credit was due to to QPR as well so certainly not a disaster yeah QPR looking like a rare good shout from us in a difficult preview show where we try to make predictions we did wonder whether they might be up there can they stay up there they're in sixth at the moment Pierce Charles as you say Greg a very impressive young goalkeeper only 21 spent time in Manchester City's academy before a short spell at Sheffield Wednesday.

12:55I think a very, very promising future ahead of him. Let's talk about Stoke. Joe Harston a couple of weeks ago picking them out as a team on the up, and so it's proved another win for them, despite having 10 men for 70 minutes in this one. Very impressive run of form, Gregor, into fourth.

13:13Gregor Robertson: Yeah, I mean, it's remarkable when you consider they were bottom of the start of last month. lost their first three games and then I think taking 16 points from 18 available something remarkable yeah great turnaround, we said it before a change of formation has been a big part of it but they also showed another side to them here in terms of after Talovarov sending off a kind of blast man unnecessary sliding tackle on Killian Dong but they still have fashion chances Lamine Cece's goal was an absolute beauty he kind of shimmy of his hips to buy a yard as he cut it onto his right foot and curl it into the far corner and he had another one in the second half where he did the same and it came back off the post and he should have finished the rebound so like Mark Robbins was full of praise for them and no wonder they've also got Borough in midweek so that's another big game to look forward to but yeah, it came from nowhere really it's extraordinary how this happens Mark Robbins was on the verge of you know there was conversations about how long he was going to last in the role and Sorbet Thomas's exit kind of perhaps gave men that Robbins chose to change formation that was certainly a big factor in it and and the turnaround has been remarkable yeah great limbs in the away end the definition of away end limbs I think as well for that Ben Wilmot second goal as well which may still think they could win that one and so it proved slight worry for Bolton though getting cut apart by 10 men regularly in this game.

14:49I will say, though, Theo Blair's goal at the end, I don't know if you've seen it, the touch, the turn, the spin, the finish, maybe need to get him on the pitch and in front of goal more often. It was a big win for Burnley, Gregor, at Watford, 4-0. I don't know whether this says more about the state that Watford are in. So bad that even Elton John is bemoaning their poor form on social media. But for Nicky Hayen and Burnley, huge, huge, huge to come back from the international break with a big high-scoring victory. Doesn't matter who it's against. They're up to 22nd and they can start maybe thinking about climbing even higher in this table.

15:27Gregor Robertson: Yeah, I mean, just to finally get that first win. Watford, obviously, on a really bad run. Manager, Alessio Dionisi, is kind of calling his players out for their attitude after this game. So clearly the opponent was a big factor. Do you think he'll still be there by this time next week? probably not I mean it wouldn't surprise you Lincoln are playing at Watford in about a month's time and I'm going don't sack him yet don't sack him yet for goodness sake I mean if history's anything to go by yeah you wouldn't give them they might have had two managers by then I know but look Burnley won't give a damn they've they've you know they've had a torturous start to the season as has Hay and to go three up and say 25 minutes was just like the perfect afternoon for them Marcus Edwards just got the pick of the bunch so three minutes to go a brilliant volley and kind of towards the back post but good distance out still just guiding it into the far corner beauty dropping dropping one so it must be so hard to hit one of those right like just ball dropping right out the air yeah and it was kind of inside of the foot too but like with a bit more force it was uh it was a beautiful finish hatati had a big role in the in the in the win too obviously scored uh i think it It was the third he scored, but he laid on the second too.

16:41Gregor Robertson: He's come to the team and I think he's made a difference, but it's only one win. It's still a long way for them to go. Haynes spoke about the break. It's funny actually to listen to how managers have reacted to this massive international break. Chris Davies at Birmingham was saying he used it as almost like a second pre-season. Haynes said he felt it gave him an opportunity to lighten the mood. and clearly getting a win will help that enormously. So yeah, big win for Burnley, but still a long way to go. Another big team hoping to climb the table picked up another important win, Sheffield United, 3-0 winners at home to Lincoln City.

17:23Gregor, further proof that whenever the Times goes to interview championship managers, it is always, always a jinx. I decided to send Alison Rudd to go and interview Lincoln's joint managers, Tom Shaw and Chris Cohen. Do you know what she said to me afterwards when she called? Not only how much she'd enjoyed her day, but she said to me, and I quote, Tom, there is absolutely no way that you will not score against Sheffield United. I watched open training today. They look so good. Thank you very much, Alison. 3-0 win for Sheffield United. This was a miss at the end. There was an absolute sitter at the end.

17:55That's the new striker, Ladafoged, who we signed. Lots of talk, just as you've asked. Lots of talk about he and plenty of other new signings, not being played in the starting 11. Lots of loyalty being shown to the players who helped us win League One. We will see if that remains big games to come. West Ham at home under the lights on Wednesday night. I'll be there with my dad. So basically get ready for either complete silence from me or you're going to get the longest voice note for Thursday's regular show for you to play to Martin Samuel if we manage to get even a point off West Ham. But Sheffield United, Gregor, Chris Wild has been under pressure there for a while now.

18:30We've got players like Bamford and Tathis Chong who scored in this game who you just think like you know they're good players they're recognisable players at this level if they can get it going they should be in the top half shouldn't they?

18:42Gregor Robertson: Yeah I mean look Bamford Bamford's Bamford's had a great time at Sheffield United if he's you know I think it's 18 goals and 39 appearances now for them over the course of two seasons like he's nice finish for the first one swept into the far corner and you're right Dahith Chong like both these guys have played in the Premier League as has Brereton Diaz Tom Cannon up front was bought for£10 million Joe Rothwell he's kind of driving run I think it was in the build up to Chong's goal Siri Peck's one of the best young players in the league it's been a lot of the issues at Sheffield United are what's going on behind the scenes and upstairs and in the boardroom and what the direction is of the club moving forward there's been a lot of issues at the club over the last couple of seasons and Chris Wilder alone can't remedy everything.

19:38Gregor Robertson: So yeah, big win for them after a difficult start to the season and they can start to look up. And again, it's another one where you talk about the extended, expanded playoffs and say there's always going to be a chance for Sheffield United. Yeah, seventh and eighth is up for grabs for basically anyone in this league, especially with such a long way to go. We'll just run through a couple of other results. The definition of a mid-table draw between Charlton and Bristol City, one all between 10th and 12th. Darby, currently second bottom, pegged back late on from what would have been a big, big win for them.

20:10Olly Rathbone getting a late equaliser for Wrexham, who are still in 15th. They'd expect to be higher in the table. Blackburn getting a 2-1 win at home to Cardiff. Cardiff, like Bolton, may be a little bit worried. A weekend when all three of the promoted sides were beaten. Cardiff caught to ribbons at times in this game by Blackburn, straight through the heart of their defence, despite Cardiff having another lovely Gregor. I know this is a theme of this show. Pinky purple away kits are a real theme in the Football League this season. I honestly might do my top 10. There's so many of them, but a good win for Blackburn.

20:42West Brom, I mentioned this game before, maybe another one suffering from a Times Sport jinx. I picked them out in the football newsletter a couple of weeks ago. They lost 1-0 at home to Birmingham. That's two Midlands derbies. They've lost 1-0 back-to-back. Disappointing times for James Morrison. I've whizzed through those because I wanted to finish with Preston, graham alexander starting at home against millwall with a defeat they're still bottom thoughts on the position that he finds himself in following last week's show where we talked about this difficulty of this climb his upcoming fixtures birmingham wrexham west brom stoke it's the old cliche that there's no easy game in the championship but right now they all look very very difficult for preston

21:19Gregor Robertson: don't they yeah look at the 24 league games without a clean sheet that says a lot and graham alexander knows that's the starting point. He spoke afterwards, actually. He said that he thought that defensive structure was much improved and was good for a lot of the game. And I don't think there's probably truth in that. It was a really nice finish, actually, by Camille Negley to steal the points from Millwall. Nice kind of run down the right and cut back by Luke Gundl. I think, ultimately, that's what Eul have been working on over the international break, doing everything he can to get the kind of structure in place to give them a chance in games because the number of goals they conceded has given them no chance so far this season.

22:01Gregor Robertson: And I think there were tentative signs of improvement in there. But as you say, some really difficult games coming up and yeah, they find themselves rock bottom of the table now. Lovely passing move from Millwall, we should say. Don't conform to stereotypes. Don't expect what you think Football League clubs to be like anymore. Get down into the Championship and check out some of the action. A brilliant team goal by Alex Neil's side. Millwall are up to eighth. They'll be hoping to get into the playoffs. Again, we'll have loads more reaction to the Championship next week because we'll have had two games, these midweek games, as I mentioned, and then the weekend's action as well.

22:34But if you've got any views on your side or players or teams that you've seen, do get in touch with me. We'd love to hear from you, tom.clarkatthetimes.co.uk. We're going to hear about some more new managers and how they got on in their first games in charge of their new clubs just after the break when we get into League One. Stick with us.

23:23Thank you. Intended for clinical use or to detect, diagnose, monitor, or treat medical conditions. Requires iPhone 11 or later. Therapy's biggest impact doesn't show up in some dramatic breakthrough. It shows up in the smallest moments. You bite your tongue instead of escalating. You put your phone down instead of firing off that text. You say what you actually mean instead of what would hurt someone else the most. Nobody applauds those moments, but they quietly change your life. That's what growing feels like. And that's exactly what Grow Therapy is here for. Grow is therapy that works, covered by insurance.

23:59Sessions average$21 with insurance and some pay as little as$0 depending on their plan. There are no subscriptions, no long-term commitments. You just pay per session. Grow connects you with thousands of high-quality licensed therapists across the U.S. offering both virtual and in-person sessions, nights and weekends. You can search by what matters, like insurance, specialty, identity, or availability. and you can book a therapy session in minutes and begin in as little as two days, not the national 48-day average. See if you could pay as little as$0 for therapy in seconds at growtherapy.com slash start now.

24:39That's growtherapy.com slash start now. growtherapy.com slash start now. Availability and coverage vary by state and insurance plan.

24:57Welcome back to the Game Football Podcast from the Times and Sunday Times. This is our EFL Extra Show every week with me, Tom Clark, and the former Football League defender, Gregor Robertson. Gregor, we're into League One. Are you ready for this? Can't quite work out what the catchy title is, but it was the battle of the outspoken, controversial managers with flowing, luscious hair in League One. I don't quite know how you shorten that, but it was Russell Martin against Robbie Savage, Leicester against Peterborough. we talked about Robbie Savage and his move to Peterborough from Forest Green in last week's preview show Dominic Akeboy our young reporter was at this game and he sent us a couple of thoughts to go alongside a brilliant piece that he's written on the Times website this is what he had to say yes Tom and Gregor great shout from you guys on last week's podcast with the Robbie Savage stuff and he made an excellent start to life at Peterborough United with a 3-1 win at his former club from his playing days Leicester City courtesy of goals from Awara Edwards, Harry Leonard and a Warren O 'Hara own goal from an Ethan Williams deflected strike in the first half.

25:53Learborough's director of football, Barry Fry, revealed to me that Savage has signed a four-year deal at the club until 2030 and will be expected to target the playoffs despite the club's poor start to the campaign. After the match, Robbie Savage said he felt like he had done 10k from his technical area and you could see why. He was a real live wire on the touchline and went through all the emotions, leaping up and giving two fist bumps after the opener and falling to his knees, clutching his head in agony whenever his side missed chances. The P.V. United supporters were already charting his name after the end of the first half and there were some really nice scenes towards the end of the game when Robbie Savage rounded up his playing squad and his backroom staff to celebrate with the travelling fans.

26:30Savage described it as one of the best days in his life, but for Russell Martin and Leicester City, things just keep going from bad to worse. At 2-0 down after 30 minutes, fans were already empty in the ground as Russell Martin, your footballer's sugar honey iced tea, bellowed around the King Power Stadium. Leicester dominated possession as typical of Martin's sides but looked tepid in the final third and despite a late resurgence Emil Jacobson's goal only shows his consolation as booze rang out full-time at the King Power Stadium and Leicester City dropped to 17th place in League One Back to you Tom and Gregor Cheers Very very clever way of getting a swear word in from Dominic there Gregor I don't know whether you'd heard that little rhyme just way of mentioning a kind of little swear word but also really interesting insights a lot of them as I mentioned are in his feature about Robbie Savage's opening win, 3-1 for Peterborough at Leicester.

27:19He talked in there, Dominic, both in the piece and in that bit of insight about Robbie Savage and his demeanour. It was the Robbie Savage show. We never knew, we didn't think anything else. We talked about Barry Fry and the Peterborough hierarchy talking about there'll never be a dull moment, and so it proved. Savage talking, as Dominic mentioned there, about, oh, I felt like I'd run 10K in my technical area. I felt like watching it go, yeah, Robbie, stay, don't stop running, stop running down the touchline as if you're Jose Mourinho in the Champions League final no wonder you think you've run 10k but it was a good performance it's a good win you've got to hand it to him

27:52Gregor Robertson: it was I mean the Kriki you've got to give them credit considering you know where the team were when he inherited them but my goodness some of Leicester defend them when we come to that yes like yeah all the kind of antics on the touchline you can understand he's emotionally wore his heart on his sleeve the stuff at the end I thought was like was a little bit OTT I mean he was getting down in the corner with the fans yeah on front of the fans like I'm sure Peterborough fans listen to this will be saying shut up you know this is you know this is a precious victory he's trying to kind of engender some kind of connection between the players and the supporters but it was like they'd won the FA Cup and he was I don't know he also there was some interesting lines in Dominic's piece about you know I want us to feel elated when we win and deflated when we lose.

28:45Gregor Robertson: That's like literally the polar opposite of what you hear most managers saying nowadays. You don't get too high when you win. You don't get too low when you lose. It's about performance and process and all that kind of stuff. So look, if that's the way he looks at it, fair enough. But it was all very, very emotional, yeah. But it's clearly going to be all about that as well. I thought it was so telling, as I say, and the cameras were all on him when you're watching this back. And even at full time, he's hugging. I think he jumped on one of his assistant coaches. and wrapped his legs around him.

29:13And then he was doing the kind of like, come on, everyone in. Everyone in for a big group hug type thing. He just about managed to remember to shake Russell Martin's hand. I'm not slagging him off, but he was so in the like, we've won, yes.

29:24Gregor Robertson: He said it was the best day of his life. Yeah, the best day of his life. I wonder what his family must think of that. But I mean, that is quite a claim. Yeah, he lifted the League Cup with Leicester City, the team they were playing against. Yeah. He had some good days in football. So look, as I said this last week, it's all actually when you strip it back it's all quite endearing because I don't doubt anything he's saying it's just like I don't know how much is that is that going to work moving forward long term I know it was his first game but it was all very very emotional Yeah I mean we'll see obviously yeah obviously you mentioned the Leicester defending there and we'll come on to them in a second Dominic quite rightly pointing out that Russell Martin it feels a little bit like when not if now with him indeed lead it could be one of these where by the next time you're listening he might not still be in charge but just on Savage very quickly just to I agree with you but to slightly play devil's advocate in this modern world of where everything's so serious for football fans to see so much joy and you do see this at every game you know our managers do it in fact Michael Scobala our previous manager some fans were like oh he's not very good at the celebrations at full time you know genuinely analyzing the fact as to whether he's good at doing the one two three fist bumps in front of the away fans so and i do think that there was a bit of the players savage clearly making the players feel like it's a team thing you know they walked towards that corner where the away fans were and i think a few of the people players like pushed him forward to go and do it now obviously as robbie savage he was like oh go on then oh go on then i'll do it i'll do it but you know it's good vibes isn't it for a peterborough fan they've been struggling for a long time suddenly they're like probably savage good times three and a look by half time this is pretty great yeah look and it was it was extraordinary the way the game the game unfolded as well i mean like as you say three and a little by half time uh ora edwards with a lovely finish the way he kind of chopped inside the right back a loco um and then harry leonard who's been a bright spark this season he's a good player but again the defending was extraordinarily bad but look they knew what they were coming up against and you've got to give them some credit you're playing against a team who are also going to be extremely low on confidence trying to play it from the back and Peterborough were full of energy and bite and dynamism and they've got some speed at the top end of the pitch so yeah it was a brilliant afternoon for Robbie Savage and Peterborough I just don't know whether the whole show is something that will kind of be good for them moving forward like long term Yeah we'll see when he loses 4-0 whether that'll be the worst day of his life we'll see whether we'll get the full gamut of emotions from Robbie Savage this season Peterborough up to 20th with that win I should say that Leicester did score at least a lovely team goal to pull one back in the second half it wasn't enough for Russell Martin and his side there still in 17th not sure many people would have expected Leicester to be there after eight games new manager that we talked about also on last week's show Michael Duff heading into Bradford to replace Graham Alexander he might be wondering how they didn't beat Leighton Orient they drew 0-0 at home in that game some missed chances in that one as well and some potential penalty shouts as well and another nod to Yorkshire with the 2-2 draw between Huddersfield and Sheffield Wednesday Huddersfield 2-0 up they I honestly imagine being a Huddersfield fan the last couple of seasons at home.

33:00The amount of late goals they concede is truly staggering. I need to go and look it up for official statistics for the next week's show. Pegged back in the 88th minute with an own goal in this one and then a 98th minute penalty, which was only given after some kind of strange consultation, despite the fact they didn't have VAR. A high boot from Marcus Harness, referee gives a corner, eventually gives a penalty and it's slotted away. An absolute nightmare for any Huddersfield town fan. And you'll notice, listeners, that neither of those are victories. Gregor, I'm assuming, given that we've started it, that that Peterborough win is your win of the weekend.

33:34I should just clarify, given that we've been keeping these categories. It's got to be, yeah. It's got to be. What's yours? Well, I'm going to give a shout to Plymouth. Another win for them. Top of the table. Wimbledon had some good chances in this game and hit the bar. But if there's ever a goal, listeners, that shows that when it's going for you, when the going is good, and when things are going your way, you get a winner, it's the Plymouth winner in this game. I think a Wimbledon clearance hits a Plymouth player, bounces down, the keeper runs out, Plymouth player pokes it past them, absolute limbs at the home end.

34:04When it's going for you, for Tom Cleverley, it really is. And long may it continue for a manager who stuck it out last season through some difficult times. So a big win for Plymouth. Gregor, your goal of the weekend in League One?

34:16Gregor Robertson: I'm going with Jamie Donnelly's goal for Luton Town in the 4-1 win against Wickham Wanderers. he'd quite easily have gone for Casey Palmer's which had arrived 11 minutes earlier both players kind of cutting inside Palmer first of all onto his right foot and curling into the far top corner but there's something about Jamie Donnelly, he's a bit further out but he was also, I'm going on my left foot bias here it just looks better, he's cutting on his left and it's an absolute beauty and he's a player who's kind of, in the last two years he's packed a lot in, you know, he's done loans at Leighton Orient, Stoke, Oxford now Luton all from Tottenham Hotspur as I say he has a wand of a left foot and some listeners might remember his goal against Man City in the FA Cup when he visited Brisbane Road a couple of years ago there's a really good player in there I think kind of playing regularly in the Championship was not something he was always able to do at Stoke or Oxford but certainly I think he's someone with an enormous amount of talent and we wouldn't have been benefiting from it just now Absolutely I'm going to go for Cameron Brannigan not quite as amazing a finish as some we will normally see but a great counter attack from Watford and a Crifts finish from Brannigan in their 2-1 win against Notts County Oxford aside that maybe we've been wondering where they'll be at the end of the season only got a couple of games in hand as well should say the consolation from Rory Finneran for Notts County wasn't bad as well but Gregor your moment of the League One weekend?

35:46Gregor Robertson: Bit off-piste here but I'm going to go for Billy Sharpe's retirement announcement. One of us had to. Given that his last club was Doncaster Rovers and his last game was a hat-trick, brought him on to 299 career goals. He scored a fourth that day, which was ruled offside. It would have given him 300 goals. It was offside, I think. He's not too bitter about that. He announced it when he was working for Sky at the weekend. He's had an extraordinary career. he's 40 years old like I remember playing against him when he was leading the line for Scunthorpe in League One like more than 20 years ago now I can't believe I'm just saying that up front him and Andy Keogh that was a hell of a partnership Jesus crikey that would have kept you busy bloody hell yes yeah won a promotion there he's had promotions to the Premier League with Jeff United of course with Southampton Leeds played out in LA LA Galaxy came back and like just kept going kept going but he said this was the time to hang up the boots and he was really emotional when he announced it and there was a kind of montage as well on Sky Sports from all the people he'd worked with over the years and he couldn't hold back the tears so that was a really nice moment and I think he played more than 200 games in League One as well more than 400 in the Championship so brilliant career An absolutely brilliant performer in the Football League absolutely for some of my moments not so brilliant moments though Gregor I've got two George Honeyman with one of the more stupid sending offs I think I've ever seen the Blackpool captain ensuring basically that his side lost the fourth game in five one nil at Cambridge he was sent off in the sixth minute one of the more innocuous most stupid things it's from a corner he kind of kicks out at someone then there's a melee and you're like what are you doing what on earth are you doing truly truly stupid staggeringly stupid I'm getting that mention in there for producer Neil who I'm sure when he's listening to this will be nodding along and another disastrous afternoon Cohen Bramall anyone who's watched the highlights to Reading 5 MK Don's 1 will know what an absolute stinker of an afternoon that left back had probably at fault for three of the goals definitely two just getting cut to ribbons the MK Don's side it's been a real struggle for them they are second bottom just ahead of Wigan Inter League 2 Gregor your win of the weekend please I think it's got to be Port Vale when they'll win against Grimsby two wins in the last three after an awful start to the season lifted them out of the relegation zone eased the pressure a little bit on John Brady Portville had announced Mickey Moore was their new sporting director last week and he spoke in pretty blunt terms about the fact that he'll be judged on results and raised some question marks about his future it was a great great goal as well to win the game Kyle Dempsey just collecting the ball maybe 25 yards out and opening up and smashing into the far top corner so Grimsby have been on a bit of a bad run but they're still one of the kind of favourites for promotion so it was a big big win for Port Vale Yeah I'm going to go for Salford a couple of mentioned basically in every show so far this season Greg about another win for them Peter Klamowski following up his Manager of the Month award remember they had that disastrous start drawing lots of intriguing glances I would say from this show and many others for their poor start to the season after his arrival and spending lots of money but they've turned it around and how George Grant with a late double in this one, probably the sending off for Cheltenham in the second half turning this game, but a 2-0 win for them.

39:19Gregor, your goal of the weekend, do you know what? I'm going to do mine first because yours is absolutely by miles maybe the goal of the weekend in any league. I'm just going to quickly mention Sonny Cox's 86th minute winner for Exeter at Shrewsbury, a great counter-attack from a Shrewsbury corner, Exeter away from home. Sonny Cox, 21 years old, played in on goal with a lovely ball over the top. It's one of those moments Tony Cascarino has talked about with us before, where your heart's going like the clappers. So cool to finish for a big win for them, back-to-back wins for Exeter. But Gregor, your goal of the weekend, maybe the goal of the weekend, across the league, across the country, a fantastic finish.

39:55Gregor Robertson: Zach Williams, Barnett defender, take a bow. It was an absolute missile. Again, on the left foot, just a brilliant, brilliant, pure strike of a football. and as I say, he's a left foot defender who doesn't score many goals. Signed him from Crewe in the summer and it's a brilliant game as well. I mean, they're playing against Bristol Rovers who again are on a bad run but one of the strongest teams in the league. They've taken a very early lead and then Barron equalised in the 79th minute and this was the 86th minute to take the lead. Tremonga scored a third later on but it was just an exocet one of those where it's bouncing a little bit and he just caught it so purely and it's just an arrow into the top right hand corner and there's one of these we talk about this quite a lot the kind of the views from the crowd and there's one from the opposite goal and it's just great it's so good it's like even from that distance you see the kind of trajectory of the strike it was an absolute worldie so yeah yeah zach williams take a bow this is not just one listeners where you need to go and check out the goal you then need to go and research the other footage that has come with the goal because as well as that goal the weather's that in video sorry from the fan end there's also a brilliant footage from rory edwards who is the barnet club commentator who was filming himself from this game and drops some big swear words i would say whilst he's live on air but has filmed himself and put it out and his co-commentator is kind of shocked next to him it's very very funny go and have a look at it.

41:34To round up Greg here, let's do moments of the League 2 weekend. I'm going to go first and I'm picking Gianmarco Di Biasi off the bench with Crawley 2-0 down versus Chesterfield. He came on in the 59th minute, seven minutes later, it's 2-2 and he's got both of them. It doesn't get any better than that. That is the definition of super sub. But again, I think you've pinched the best moment of the League 2 weekend that isn't a goal. Truly wonderful stuff. Tell us all about it.

42:00Gregor Robertson: Yeah, Grimsby Town defender called Maldini producing a heroic goal line block with his head kind of a la John Terry. Yeah, absolutely extraordinary moment. I think it was tonight, George Hall after Pym had saved a close range shot by Max Waters. It was like a follow-up and Hall's running, slid in. Kalkuri's on the goal line and he's kind of on the floor and he's blocked it with his head like it's just a moment of pure bravery to kind of to hack the ball off the line with his head he is actually named after after maldini he's a he's got a cap he's got a cap for albania although he's born in london he's he's a albanian albanian heritage and his parents apparently named him after maldini so doing his best to follow in the great man's footsteps there although actually i can't remember maldini ever having to you know dirty himself on the floor and ever main block a shot on the goal line with his head too busy sweeping his hair out of his face after making another brilliant pass but yeah Maldini Karkuri a great name and a great moment for Grimsby definitely one of those moments that we cannot possibly do justice to on a podcast but we give it a good go anyway Gregor Robinson we'll leave it there thank you very much for joining me as always thank you too for listening we'll be back with another EFL extra show next week we'll see you then

43:52Apple Watch Series 12 conditions requires iPhone 11 or later.