EFL Extra: Big changes in the Championship

0:04Hello and welcome to the Game Football Podcast from the Times and Sunday Times. This is our EFL Extra show every two weeks you've got me Tom Clark and the former football league defender Gregor Robertson taking a look at the highs and lows in the championship league one and league two Gregor as ever there's loads and loads to get into we always say on the regular show how much can change in the space of a couple of days but two weeks it's time for everything to dramatically alter we can barely keep up we really need to have about a three-hour show to get all the changes in but let's start at the top of the championship last week two weeks ago sorry we were talking about a little wobble from Coventry.

0:41They've reset things, two wins on the spin. And as well, I wanted to note the goal scorer the other night, Roman Essay. I mentioned at the top of the year about signings in January that could make a difference. I thought his loan move from Crystal Palace, a very, very good signing. He scored in the 2-1 win against Millwall in the week. Very important for Frank Lampard and the team to just reset when you've got pesky journalists and editors like me going, oh, they're going to wobble, they're going to wobble. They've got two wins on the spin. Yeah, and with teams building ahead of steam behind them, Ipswich in particular.

1:13So yeah, it was big because it'd been, I think they picked up nine points from eight games before the win against Leicester. And even that win was an 85th minute winner by Haji Wright. And then Haji Wright again with quite a late 78th minute winner, I think it was. Two kind of low margin victories. You're right about Essie, I mean, he's made a difference. Great signing. when you think about previously a few hours ago recorded the regular show on Thursday talking about how Crystal Palace is struggling I slightly couldn't believe they'd let him go it's not really happened for him there at all he's only had a few run outs obviously he was playing against his former team Millwall in this game where he'd impressed his kind of end product his numbers that in terms of goals and assists weren't mind blowing and I think ultimately that's probably why he's not had a look in at Palace but I think he'll and an already kind of very strong team at Coventry will make a make a difference should say Kyle Rushworth made a great save at 1-0 as well in this game so but like I've got Brandon Thomas Asante back fit as well he's been out for a good while with a hamstring injury he would have missed a while if he'd been fit because he would have been away at AFCON anyway with Ghana Victor Torps back after a little while out so like just having a few of those players fit also I think they will probably do more business in January because as we've said it's all about the depth and that's been their one question mark and it kind of did start to tell over the festive period players coming back fit now SA a new addition I'd say there'll be a couple more as well and hopefully that'll be a bit of a turnaround and that's Coventry's wobble over that'll be what the fans are hoping anyway that's what they're hoping for and as you say could be a key couple a key week sorry till the end of the January transfer window just behind them Middlesbrough and Ipswich who you've mentioned there Ipswich continuing their brilliant run showing the brilliance of the kind of squad depth that you just talked about Coventry needing I mean they are the best squad and the best team in the league whether they finish top or top two or not that'll probably be down to Coventry and Middlesbrough to fight them off but they're on the charge regardless aren't they yeah I mean they were without Jadon Philogene and Chubba Akbom Casey McIntyre had been had a little niggle as well that's £50 million of attacking players and they brought in Jack Clark who's actually not started that many games I think he only started 10 championship games he was 20 odd million last season in the Premier League scored a couple of goals against Bristol City they brought on Sammy Smodic who again was like the championship player of the year a couple of seasons ago another 20 odd million forward the reports are they're looking at Anis Mimeti at Bristol City and one or two others I think still they feel that they can do more business Wes Burns come back from injury like a long term injury and start to make a real impact, their squad is ridiculous it really is and this is a kind of, a bit of a common theme in terms of teams that have been promoted, the yo-yo clubs although they've only done it one season they spend a lot of money on a lot of the championships best players when they come back down they're in great shape so yeah it's taken up such a while to They're really clicking to gear, but it does look pretty ominous from them now.

4:36I think they're in really good shape. So it's going to be really interesting to see whether they can rein in Govanche at the top. Yeah, Middlesbrough is a really interesting one for me because you think the Rob Edwards situation could have gone really badly for them. But in a strange way with Kim Helberg coming in and his style of football and the fans getting behind Helberg so quickly, despite a little blip over Christmas, it's almost like a new manager bounce, even though it was a replacement manager. Rather than sacking a manager and bringing someone in, it's still got that kind of enthusiasm and that 4-0 win over Southampton just at the turn of the year has been followed up by a 3-2 win at West Brom with a 90th minute winner and then the win in the week just gone, last night in fact sorry, against Stoke City 2-1 watching some of these games because it was on the editing floor and you know the games are flashing or the goals are flashing some of the pass and moving that they're doing so fast paced some of the turns and pirouettes and spins in such tight areas I was watching it and I mean this is a slightly toppy but when you're watching it at the same time as Champions League games if you look up from your screen and look at some of these goals you're like I can't tell the difference sometimes between the pace and intensity and the passing that goes on at the Championship level and that's I actually don't think that's that toppy sometimes Yeah I mean I'd go a little bit further and say involving a few of the best players in the best teams at a Championship level and in that sense it's Hayden Hackney a lot of the time he's at the centre the game against against West Brom for the winner the passing move was beautiful Aidan Morris into Hatton Aidan a little kind of one two and I think it was Silveira played in Burgzorg and the finish was clinical it was just like bam bam bam bam finish it was a great little move of like fast paced interplay around the edge of the box so they have that yeah they have that in their locker and it's been you know you're right they did have a bit of a good wobble and couldn't find the back of the net actually over the festive period and then they've really got back on track.

6:30Yeah, another team that are going to look to reign in the teams above. It's really intriguing, isn't it? Because you've got Coventry there, 58 points now to Middlesbrough on 52. That gap not quite as big as it was before Christmas. Then Ipswich just behind on 50. And then you've got this really intriguing chasing pack. Hull in fourth on 47, Millwall 46, Preston 43, Watford 42, Stoke, Wrexham, Derby, Bristol City, QPR, Birmingham would like to still think they're in it and then you've got Leicester and Southampton behind them but in terms of that chasing pack right behind Ipswich in this top three Hull are an amazing run unbelievable Hull are great fun I mean they've got the third best goal scoring record in the league and the 17th best defensive record there's lots of goals in their games that's on a goals per game basis like only Sheffield Wednesday have a worse XG against they're really bad at the back but they're free scoring absolute boxers but also spearheaded by you just talked about Middlesbrough and some of the kind of really best players in the championship I'd say from the outset you wouldn't look at the whole team and go wow they've got you know Ollie McBurnay's the third top scorer in the championship it's got 10 goals Joe Gellhart's also got 10 goals playing for Hall as well you know a youngster that didn't quite capitalise on the kind of start I love Joe Gellhart I love him I think he's a great player but you know do you know what I mean they're not like these players that are going to go for 20 million or something like Hayden Hackney will these are players like getting a second or third chance exactly yeah kind of probably looking around for a championship team to be brutally honest Ollie McBurnie had a season in La Liga with Las Palmas didn't go great Joe Gildhart's been on various loans like you know a player of great kind of promise at Leeds he's had I think he's had missed the last nine games with injury he came back and he's already got you know he already had ten goals before that he was one of the players of the season early on And they've also had lots of injuries Like they still are Semi Ajay got injured at AFCON Balumi who was looking really Really promising Giabe, Ryan Giles They only had 12 fit senior players for the Southampton game So Like But they're still getting a great fun As I say lots of goals, lots of goal mouth action And a manager we don't really know A great deal about if we're being brutally honest Sergei Akirovic Bosnian who definitely owns a suitcase given the number of clubs he's got on his CV, he is both a player and a manager Dean Holden who worked with him in Turkey at his previous job and has got lots of know-how from time on Bristol City's coaching staff Stokes, had a brief spell as Charlotte manager he knows the league really well, I think he's been really important for them as a part of the coaching staff but great, they're on a great run I mean difficult place you know they went to Preston who've had a bad week but they smashed them 3-0 went to Southampton 1-2-1 I know they're not in a great run they beat Middlesbrough away they've got a brilliant away record I think it's five wins and six unbeaten on the road so like yeah great fun I'm not not entirely convinced how sustainable it is but you're so used to my follow-ups now you answer them before I can even ask them but like yeah in terms of that sustainability they're not just for Hull but Millwall and Preston because they're kind of three teams that if you're going for the end of the season you think one of them might break there'll be one surprise package in the playoffs for all three of them to make it would be a real shock wouldn't it?

10:05Which of those three do you think are best equipped both in terms of manager, playing squad, it's a hard one to call of course and Hull are the form side at the minute but maybe Millwall, Alex Neal that squad? Probably just about probably just about to be brutally honest as well it's not even a fair comparison just drawing those teams because as you say like Watford are a point behind Preston and then another point behind that you've got Stoke, Wrexham, Derby all on 41 points and I think Derby are like really? I don't see Derby I don't know why well I think they signed 14 players in the summer there was a big overhaul Eustace who we know all about and we've lauded many times on the show signed several players who he knows really well and has had kind of Relative success with Dion Sanderson Danny Bath Louis Travis Who's just come back From injury Ben Brereton Diaz Then there's players He reminds me He reminds me a little bit Of Chris Wilder And his sort of Approach is like Everything's just about winning And it's all just about He doesn't care How he do it He relies on players And often returns To sign players That he's worked with In the past He often loves to give players A second chance Or players who like Who've got a real point To prove So in that category You'd put Rian Brewster you put Bobby Clark who obviously was part of Liverpool's team when they kind of wilded everyone in the Carlin Cup went to Salzburg for I think about 10 million he's looking to sort of revitalise his career I'd put Brereton Diaz in that category as well and then Patrick Adjumang was the big gamble he's the one that they spent a good few million pounds on came from Charlotte FC he's got 7 goals now and his header against Preston was brilliant, he's great with his head great in the air if he starts to click and really get in the goals then yeah I wouldn't be surprised and I'd put Eustace at the top of the tree about like why they might make it because he's great he's been brilliant in the Championship for a few years now in difficult circumstances and then like in terms of turning a club's fortunes around and I'd say that's at the point in time that Derby are at now under him So do you think actually maybe as much as I'm talking him down and I should say as well since I'm going to be in big family trouble because my mother-in-law is a whole city fan so the fact I'm talking them out of the playoffs means I might be off the Christmas card list this year but you're talking about Boudarby getting in there as well that would be a shock is this more of the pattern that we're seeing in football generally of as we said with Hull teams that are really good as teams maybe without these individual superstars that maybe the top three will have fill of jeans hackneys and players like that that you're like wow these guys are 20 million 30 million pound players now but then behind that it's all about a good team a good collective and a smart manager yeah you've still got you've got a lot of really experienced Championship players there Who've like Despite the league's development I've played in it for a long time And I've been successful in it So There's still a lot of value to that And They won't have the wage bill And the sort of The financial clout That some of the teams do But With like Intelligent leadership With that bank of experience And You know A few smart loans You'd say Preston have been A particular example of that They've played the loan market Really well this season Yeah You can You can go on and also there's just the mad cup status of the championship in that you can be 14th in the league and look up and think there's only five points to the playoffs.

13:29We can bridge that gap. Exactly that. Leicester and Birmingham in that exact situation in mid-table. We wonder whether they might spend some money in the final weeks of the transfer window. Let's go further down the table. I just wanted to quickly mention West Bromwich Albion. When we recorded the last show, you said Ryan Mason was in trouble. Before we could put it out, he'd been sacked. The Gregor Robertson curse well and truly in effect with that one. Eric Ramsey having a very difficult start to his life as West Brom coach, but we won't dwell on them. We'll give him a couple more games before we analyse them.

13:59I wanted to talk about the team that beat them though. Norwich City winning 5-0 in the most recent game at West Brom. Norwich showing signs that they might be able to pull away from trouble, Gregor. You'd said in the start of the season that you thought you had worries about them when Liam Malling was there, then got sacked. Clement came in. They've started to show that they might pull away from the relegation places, although there are only two points clear of Blackburn who are in 22nd at the minute yeah look it's been a really positive few weeks for them like clearly the 5-0 drubbing of West Bromwich Albion was like was the biggest example of that but they beat Wrexham away 2-1 before that they've been QPR away a few weeks a couple weeks before that as well they've made they've made one particular sign of note which is Ali Ahmed from Vancouver Whitecaps who's like even if you're just watching extended highlights of their games he just smacks you in the face you go oof this guy looks good he got a great great assist for Ben Anislamani on his debut and then rattled a crossbar not long after and then he scored a second against West Brom as well 25 winger from Vancouver white caps he looks like he could be a find and actually there's reports that they're they're looking at the Bodo Glimpstriker Kasper Hoag as well who obviously just upset Manchester City in the Champions League and then moves to the Championship again a reminder of the strength of the Championship and they you know obviously Josh Sargent wants to leave he's been left out of recent squads that's a blow but I feel like they know that's coming so they're trying to prepare for that eventuality so they don't need Josh Sargent Craig because they've got Jovan McCalm yes this is the other thing 10 goals in 13 games I think since Clement got the job amazing performance from him obviously I know him particularly well from playing at Lincoln.

15:50We sold him to Norwich in the summer, we believe, for the first time Lincoln have sold a player for more than a million quid, Gregor. I'm starting to think we got fleeced, given his form recently. I hope there's some big sell-on clauses in that contract to the imps board. But listen, he's a really, really good player with real potential. You talk all the time on this show about the importance of the physical side of the game. He's massive and he's quick and he's only 21. He shows increasing flashes of brilliance in terms of scoring brilliant goals. if he just adds to his game the kind of one-on-one killer instinct I think he could be a really really top level striker Yeah I mean his goal against Wrexham was a great finish because the ball was played into him just sort of inside right channel he had like his first touch wasn't actually great but when he struck he kind of composed himself and struck it so cleanly into the far corner it was a great finish and then there's moments as well in the build up to I think it was either the second or third goal against West Brom where that physicality you're talking about really showed.

16:50He collected the ball, he was back to goal and he sort of ruled the defender and did a great little turn as well to get away from him, played the ball wide. And I think it was the second and I think that came into Mehmeti. Sorry, Ahmed, and he got the goal. So yeah, great potential when you marry those two things, the physicality and you're saying his one-on-one finishes isn't great, but there have been some examples of great clinical finishes as well. No, absolutely. I just mean having seen him through those kind of teen years at Lincoln when you're clearly a rough diamond even his physicality there were games when you were thinking mate you're massive come on like bully you don't know how to use it bully people yeah exactly so you see them grow all the time so as a kind of Lincoln fan seeing one of your players thrive in the championship after a move is genuinely nice as much as I wish you would still Norwich now out of the bottom three that's a big landmark moment for them like because they look dead and buried let's be honest still think they're in trouble obviously as much as we're saying they've won they've also lost two in the last five as well Yeah they've improved greatly and I think it looks like they're trying to do some business this month which will be important for them because it's not been you know recruitment hasn't been great in the last few windows and it's just if you're looking up and you're looking at who they might draw in like West Brom you have to see now our team that they might be able to draw in and Blackburn have plummeted Oxford obviously have changed manager I think we're going to come to talk about so like it's a big it's been a big step forward for them in recent weeks they're not out of the woods yet though just a quick word on Oxford then you're going to bring them in yeah I mean Matt Bloomfield it's an interesting appointment bit of a merry-go-round one this one isn't it yeah yeah even the fact that the guy who succeeded him at Wickham Mike Dodds has been brought on to his coaching staff yeah that's pretty remarkable I can't think of many examples that happened so yeah look he obviously did a really good job at Colchester was doing a great job at Wickham when he was taken by Luton wasn't able to keep Luton up I think he was sacked prematurely like a little bit harshly I think they were mid-table but like not far outside the playoffs we know that the league table is not a massively reliable barometer that early in the season But to get another Championship role I think Probably I think actually A lot of the fans Will be raising Sort of an eyebrow to this Because He's not He's not someone with pedigree He's not someone Who's got like A history of Kind of these Firefighter situations Which is Which is very much What the position Oxford are in They need They need a big uptick He got two clean sheets I think it was the first time In like 17 games Something like that two clean sheets in his first two games which is a positive but it's still a very tough task for him and I'm not entirely sure Oxford fans are entirely behind the decision either Oxford in 23rd only Sheffield Wednesday below them some worrying news coming out of Sheffield Wednesday some rumours about Barry Bannon potentially leaving the club just when you thought that season couldn't get any worse Barry don't do it don't do it that would be an absolute disaster going to take a quick break we'll come back and talk about League 1 and League 2 in just a second.

20:08We'll see you soon.

20:19Welcome back to the Game Football Podcast from the Times and Sunday Times. This is our EFL Extra Show with me, Tom Clark, and the former Football League legend, Gregor Robertson. Gregor, let's go in to League 1 now. I don't want to dwell too much on what might happen, who might move, etc, because I think the next eight, nine days of the transfer window will ultimately decide League One in terms of the promotion places. You've got Cardiff top on 55 points, then Lincoln next on 49, then Bradford 46, Stockport 45, Bolton and then Huddersfield we will come on to talk about in a minute. I just wanted to ask you on some kind of the loan moves that happen in the Football League, particularly loan moves.

20:57I mentioned just before the break about Sheffield Wednesday, another blow for them. Harry Amas, who's been one of their best players and won bright sparks in a dreadful and miserable season for Sheffield Wednesday fans, recalled from his loan spell from Manchester United and sent to Norwich, another team we mentioned, in the first half of the show. And there's a similar thing that's happened in League One near the top of the table involving my team, Lincoln City. We've had a player on loan from Coventry, Justin Abiquou, scored some important goals for us, looked quite sharp, quite lively, not always used from the start, has gone from his, recalled from Coventry and immediately sold for£500 ,000 to QPR.

21:31That's fine, no problem with that. I think lots of St Lincoln fans going, oh, he wasn't good enough anyway. I think he might be one of those players that suddenly gets in the championship team and looks an awful lot better than he did at League One level. But the interesting one for me was that then we saw Alfie Lloyd, who was a striker who'd been on loan at Leighton Orient, who were struggling this season. He was recalled by QPR. I hope you're keeping up with me here, listeners. Recalled by QPR and sent on loan to Lincoln. So QPR sign via Coventry, a player who was on loan at Lincoln, then recall one of theirs from Leighton Orient and send him to Lincoln.

22:06So we've now got a striker who spent half the season at Leighton Orient on the sidelines with injury replaced by replacing someone we've lost to go to QPR via Coventry. It just all feels a little bit, and I'm not flagging off my own team or anyone, it's just, it feels a little bit unsatisfying to me. And I hope he's brilliant. Listen, I hope he scores 10 goals and we win the league. That'd be fantastic. But I just, from a neutral point of view, some of these loan moves, and the same with the Amass one as well, we have got it before you know Walsall had it last season didn't they with the striker who was so brilliant for the first half of the season gets recalled for maybe different reasons or two it just feels a little bit grubby and unsettling to me yeah I mean obviously there's two things to balance out you've got the purpose of a loan from the club and the players perspective is to develop and if you go out to say League One and you tear it up there's a good chance that the next step for you is going to be the championship and if the club and the player think right I could do that this season then and the championship team wants you then great but it can completely derail a team's team season in you know the lower down so I often refer back to Connor Gallagher's first low move to Charlton Athletic I think it was in 2019 2019-20 yeah and he was outstanding he was like you know force of nature in midfield scored goals first half of the season did really well was taken back in January and sent off to Swansea in the league above and I think both teams Charlton struggled after that but I think that season both teams got in the playoffs and he was a big part of that and it was the same thing it felt like it felt unsatisfactory that you could kind of derail Charlton's season and massively buoy the team and often there's a link the link involved in that is the transfer of a player the link involved with Swansea was that Steve Cooper who he had worked with and England these setups could get them and say come to us so it does feel like it's particularly for me when it's the same two teams in the same league like you know Lake Norient and Lincoln are in the same league Sheffield Wednesday and Norwich are in the same league you know they're not playing at different levels Harry Amas isn't suddenly playing at a better level that Manchester United are like oh well you know it's brilliant fantastic he's getting a new challenge he's playing in the same league against the same teams just completely Sheffield Sheffield Wednesday instead anyway just thought it was interesting the low market can like completely you know make or break a season and it could be and I do keep banging on about it I think in all leagues but particularly in League 1 there could be some potential big loan moves that could decide at the next six months of the season one team who might be making moves in the January window as they did a year ago at Huddersfield Town they made a move in changing manager Lee Grant sacked after two defeats Liam Manning the managerial merry-go-round continues Gregor Liam Manning in this is a big big hire from Huddersfield Town who as I said last January they made big moves spent around£5 million on two strikers now they've made a big play in the dugout instead Yeah I mean this is this is a manager who got Bristol City to the playoffs in the championship Absolutely then was hired by Norwich and you know that was a disaster three wins in 17 games he's packed a lot into his career one thing you can say is he's not work shy like the guy And you rate him don't you?

25:25I do I think he's and I think the reason he keeps getting jobs is because he's good clearly there have been circumstances at various clubs that have made it more difficult for him like Norwich we spoke about there have been problems in terms of a change of ownership there was a new sporting director in Ben Knapper there was some pretty shoddy recruitment and he kind of was the guy who paid the price for that clearly you still need a manager to make an impact and he wasn't able to do that but he punched above his weight with Bristol City Oxford fans really I think Would now appreciate the job he did Before he left for Bristol City MK Dons he got them to the He should have got them promoted automatically And they fell away And got into the playoffs and lost in the playoffs And he's got pedigree He started for West Ham He worked at New York City The team that's under the umbrella of Manchester City's Group and another in Belgium Lommel So he's kind of He's got that pedigree, that coaching pedigree and now he's got a bank of experience and I think for any League One team to hire him is a bit of a coup and you're right they've been backed and the owner Nagel is like fiercely ambitious I think he's he's pulled the trigger before slightly prematurely I don't know whether this is an example because I think the truth is with Lee Grant's team this is his first managerial job he had three years on the coaching staff at Ipswich but they were pretty dull like there was not there weren't there was no energy in the stadium there was no real like appreciation of what it was he was trying to do that seems a strange thing to say for a team who were top scorers in the league they scored 46 goals but they conceded 38 that's the same number as second from bottom Rotherham United that's shambolic for a team who've had the money invested that they have so yeah like well you think it's harsh for any manager to be sacked six months into your first job when they're sixth in the table like there's there's a bigger context with Huddersfield and the opportunity to get a really bright manager in Liam Manning was probably too good to turn down Yeah you talk about opportunity there is 11 points between Bradford in third and Peterborough in twelfth the League One table does not lie it is the toughest league in Europe I'll keep saying it until you all agree with me we've got to wrap it up but just a very quick word for League Two top of the table Bromley take on second place Swindon Town this weekend it should be a brilliant clash and you can read Alison Rudd's interview with Bromley striker Michael Cheek we've banged on about him on this show so much that I decided to send our pal Alison down to interview him we'll see what he has to say you can read that on the Times website and in the Saturday edition of the Times Gregor we'll wrap it up there we promised League 2 fans to talk about League 2 more on the next EFL show but we'll leave it there Gregor Robertson thank you very much for joining me as usual thank you too for listening we'll be back with the regular show on Monday and another EFL extra very soon we'll see you then Thank you.