EFL EXTRA: Big games, new managers and pointless goals

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1:03Hello 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 defender, Gregor Robertson, looking at the best and worst of the Championship, League 1 and League 2. Gregor, I say every week we did take a little break for a very extended international break, but we did think we're back. I'm back off my holidays. I'm absolutely buzzing for the return of the league season this weekend. Everyone is understandably excited about the Premier League and Manchester City and Liverpool and Arsenal and things like that.

1:36But there's some absolute crackers in the Championship. So before we get into a little review of League 1 and League 2 and some managerial changes that have happened. I don't know about you, but I'm absolutely buzzing about the Championship this weekend. There's some corking fixtures, aren't there?

1:50Gregor Robertson: There sure are, yeah. third versus fourth Middlesbrough versus Wolves the Rob Edwards derby without Rob Edwards that's one that leaps out at me and kicking it all off on Friday night as well West Ham QPR looks great West Ham obviously running up going into the international break in great form but QPR kind of slipped off a little bit in terms of three draws in a row but they're still I think look like one of the more dangerous teams in the league and I think that promised to be a really exciting game but yeah some absolute crackers to look forward to and yes, very, very happy to have the championship back.

2:23You should say as well, QPR are in six. As you said, a few of those draws had gone the right way. They'd have been even higher and they've been one of the real surprise packages. This will be a great benchmark, won't it, for us to understand maybe how good this QPR team are because West Ham probably of all the teams, maybe even the entire pyramid were one of the teams that wouldn't have wanted the international break, such as the kind of form that they managed to get themselves in. The fixture I'm really keen on is a derby in the Midlands, West Brom, against Birmingham. West Brom had had the Black Country derby, of course, before the international break, which they'd lost against Wolves.

2:56Defensive Howler in that one, which I know you talked about before. But can they bounce back? 12.30 kickoff at home against Birmingham City. Birmingham City would be very keen to put West Brom back in their place and say, no, no, we're the team that's supposed to be in the playoffs. Not you. Not you with all your youngsters. We're the team that are supposed to be in the playoffs. Loads more fixtures to come. We'll be analysing all of it next week on a bumper EFL extra show, I'm sure. Another big game down the bottom. Preston North End at home against Millwall Gregor. And it'll be the first game in charge for Graham Alexander.

3:32One of the big managerial moves of this international break. We often see it. The September break comes. Teams that have started poorly. Managements, boards, chief executives, they get twitchy. Preston North End sacking Paul Heckingbottom, of course. They are not bottom, but they're basically bottom. by goal difference, just ahead of Burnley. One goal between them. They've got a home game against Millwall to kick him off. And this is a fascinating appointment, isn't it, Gregor? Because it is the ultimate one in football. He's left Bradford at the top of League One. Brilliant Bradford. They were fantastic last season.

4:08You've praised them to the hilt many times on this show to take over his beloved Preston, played more than 400 games for them. The cynic in me gets twitchy for him already. Already. I don't know about you.

4:20Gregor Robertson: Yeah, I mean, you're right. It's leaving a club in the ascendancy for one in the opposite. I mean, I think he actually, I was looking at his interview after being unveiled and he said, I think he actually said to the Bradford chief executive the one job that he would leave for as Preston, that was when he arrived. And so when the call came in, I think it was Ryan Sparks, he said he knew what the answer was going to be. He tried his best to try and dissuade him, but he knew that that was the one job that he would leave for. And I love seeing these moves because they're actually very rare. It's still very rare to see a manager in League 1 or League 2 get a job in the Championship.

5:02Never mind, you know, Championship to the Premier League, that's the one everyone talks about. But it's actually, I look back and there were only 17 in the past decade.

5:12Gregor Robertson: I don't think that's a lot, considering the pool of talent available to you on your doorstep. And very few of them have actually turned it to be a success. And that's because of the level of the job that they're often getting. It's like Michael Scubala was another one recently. He's gone to a club in Bristol City that's pretty kind of tranquil and steady. Had some investment. He's still not competing financially against the biggest clubs in the league. But that's a solid job to get. and there have been others in the past like Lee Johnson that have gone there. Almost all the other guys have gone, I can't work on average to have lasted 246 days before the dismissal.

5:54Gregor Robertson: Really? That's the managers who were dismissed There's a few I think there's only four Russell Martin went from MK to Swansea in 2021 and he was poached by Southampton. You've got Liam Manning who went from Oxford to Bristol City in 2023 he was poached by Norwich Darren Moore went to Sheffield Wednesday, actually got relegated and came back but he left by mutual consent, you know there are one or two sort of bit of grey areas but almost all of them were sat to within a year so like I haven't said all of that, I really like Graeme Alexander as a guy and as a manager I think his job, his sort of body of work is largely underrated first full season at Fleetwood led the club to League One via the playoffs.

6:40Gregor Robertson: First full season at Scunthorpe led them to third behind Bolton and Sheffield United, then lost to Millwall in the playoff final. We know about his work at Salford, led them to promotion for the National League. You don't get much credit for that because they had loads of money. And also a lot of the clubs who've sacked them, you look back and with some regret, that's the one that Gary Neville's often cited, this was a mistake. Scunthorpe sacked him, I think they were fifth and the club plummeted after that so led Motherwell into Europe. MK Dons was a bad fit and actually the club was in a big period of transition and he's working bad for us being outstanding so yeah I often think back as well to an interview I had with him a few years back and he said that he has total belief that in a similar vein as his football career his managerial career will last and it will be a slow burn upward trajectory he was like 27 before he got to the championship even 30 30 before he got to the premier league and and became an international played a thousand games you know he thinks his managerial career will do the same he just i know it'll take take me time but i'm willing to put in that time so here's your chance yeah you do wonder though with that about the kind of managerial churn that happens and you talked about that short time frame less than a year we're going to talk about his replacement Michael Duff at Bradford has kind of got a similar thing going on with his career trajectory in terms of short spells I'll come on to that in a second do you think the legend factor will help him because with so many of these so many of those jumps when you see them from from any league but particularly from maybe league one to the championship and the championship to the premier league fan skepticism is a big part of it isn't it where you even even at the appointment and we had this when I was seeing how Michael Scobala's appointment at Bristol City was going down a lot of Bristol City fans going what the hell do we want the Lincoln manager for before he'd even done anything so you're already on the back foot do you think the fact that he played 400 games for the club is a club legend buys him that because the fans want, every fan will want him to succeed so you get a bit more time, a bit more scope Yeah I think so yeah I mean they look in the dugout and they've got Alexander and then Chris Lachetti beside him as well and they played together for several years Get him on the pitch Get him on the pitch The way the start they've had, get him on And the way he's spoken as well at the start He's kind of, you know He feels that's where home is Although he moved around in his career a little bit That's where his children brought up That's where he returned to after his time in Scotland All of those things will engender some good feeling It won't last forever, that's the thing And there's been a talk about a takeover going on For quite a long time although there's not been any noises really I think since August like officially so that may decide how much I don't know how much ambition there can be moving forward but obviously his number one task is to turn around particularly a defensive record that's woeful and keep him in the league this year and then look up and the other thing is he's been someone who sometimes he's been you know he's never been seen as a sexy appointment I mean, he's never been seen as someone who will play sexy football, for want of a better word.

10:02Gregor Robertson: He's seen sexy a lot here. None of that will matter, partly because football's changed a little bit over the last few years and the things that have made him a good manager and successful are now the things that a lot of clubs are looking for, but also because he has that connection. None of that will matter. He will have 100 % backing from the very start and it's up to him now to get down to work. Yeah, home game, as I mentioned, against Millwall to see if he can get off and running, but Preston in difficult position. They are in the bottom three, just ahead of Burnley, as I mentioned. Derby in 22nd, just ahead of them, a point ahead of them.

10:40And then Cardiff and Watford just above them. We will see how this return of the championship pans out. I mentioned it there, Gregor. Let's talk about his replacement at Bradford. High-flying Bradford, of course. Michael Duff. This is fascinating to me because he's a manager that we've talked about a lot on this show. Principally because he keeps getting jobs, but they're not lasting very long. He had a brilliant spell at Cheltenham. That was his kind of big breakthrough, four years there. But has then had very short stints at Barnsley, Swansea, Huddersfield, Wickham. Clubs who I would all argue are on that same, you know, he's someone who had that jump up to Swansea.

11:18Didn't work at all. You know, he's a great example of what we've just talked about. he's now got a club that will demand and expect him to keep going what graham alexander had put in place and that is arguably as tough a job as going up to the championship is it not

11:35Gregor Robertson: yes and no i mean like you're walking into he said already i you know i want to i'm not going to try and upset too much here without being a copycat i think that was his his kind of quote he's you know he knows that there's a lot of good things in place a good environment uh you know good support behind the scenes and a team that's winning games of football and actually there's a bit of synergy in terms of the style of play and even the system like play three at the back a lot of the time and he's done that a lot of his career as well so yeah I mean to be brutally honest if you're asking what's the easier job to go into it it's definitely that one We should have applied mate we should have applied just keep doing what you're doing lads looks good looks good but I know what you're saying because you know Bradford's support will be bruised a bit by Alexander's departure and they're not probably overall you know enamoured by the the replacement because of what's happened to in his career recently I still think there's a very good manager in there as you said a minor miracle to get to get Jeltman promoted got Barnsley to a playoff final in the season there lost to Sheffield Wednesday like that was that was nip and tuck as you say he got that leap to Swansea and that just didn't feel like a good fit that's these things can happen and then Huddersfield was spoken about he kind of I don't know he I think he was maybe too strong in his in his sort of appraisal of the player of the team at the end of last season I think they fell away so badly and and a lot of the time with you know conceding really late goals that cost them points and and ultimately meant that they they didn't make the playoffs but they again have an owner who's pretty trigger happy in Kevin Nagel so I wouldn't hold that against him too much either and then Wickham yeah that was a very difficult spell for him so yeah I still think there's a good manager in there and he's walking into a club where he's got an opportunity now to show it Yeah we will see how Michael Duff gets on at Bradford but arguably maybe the biggest managerial move of this international break.

13:46We've mentioned some big ones already. Robbie Savage in at Peterborough. And I love the fact, Gregor, that when I saw this news, I thought what I think every football fan thought. Robbie Sarage and Darren McAnthony side by side in charge of a football club. And then you went and watched the unveiling and you've got little Barry Fry saying exactly that. Saying, posh fans, you're so lucky. It's not going to be dull. I'm like, yeah, Barry, it won't be dull. Will it be any good though? That's the question because Peterborough have been a club we've mentioned so much recently about what a big club they were, always challenging near the top of League One, aspirations to be in the Championship and they have been struggling.

14:28They are in the relegation places. So it definitely won't be dull with Robbie Savage. Will it be any good, Gregor? Oh, crikey. I mean, I don't know what to say about this. I feel like Robbie Savage's managerial career overall has been pretty odd. Like if you think about the fact that he took charge of Macclesfield you know a club that he helped kind of revive from the dead yeah found yeah you're right that's the right word for it and yeah I think he had 109 points 109 goals but they're well above it you know completely walked the league and they're well above any other opponent at that level the Forest Green one felt like a bit of an owner Vince kind of

15:10Gregor Robertson: I don't know he liked the idea of the celebrity appointment, he's done it before in the past you know, he gave Duncan Ferguson a job before that, he wants eyes on the football club basically, I think he's going to speak to people who've watched the other screen since Robbie Savage has been there, they've always gone for it in games and that's the way he says he wants to play football, he says he wants to win he'd rather win 5-4 than 1-0 but it was kind of mixed ultimately in the end and then this is another one that feels like they're very happy to get the kind of the associated celebrity factor which hasn't been something that Peterborough have done like historically so it is a big step change and actually their CEO has said this is a kind of this is a bit of a swing for us like you know we're trying something very different we believe it's going to work but we are trying something very different here so yeah you're right and there'll be some combustible you know meetings between McAnthony and Savage behind the scenes if there's not a documentary in the offing that wouldn't surprise me either and then to hear that Robbie Savage is just continuing with his BBC radio show and all his kind of media and punditry work that's unprecedented surely in terms of a league manager yeah I don't know what to say that's going to be nice I thought that whole media side was pretty mad when he was Forrest Green manager given that they're a club of very good repute you know they're in the National League hugely competitive league that was mad this is absolutely crackers he could come on and do you know five live sports report himself from the ground in like give you know sky sports and bbc won't have to send anyone to the ground they'll just be like we go live now to the touchline and robbie savage his peterborough team have lost nine nil robbie tell us about it i mean it's it's mad it's absolutely mad just to say as well and short managerial spells for listeners as well you He mentioned the kind of dominance that his Macclesfield side had.

17:09It was just shy of a year that he was in charge. 51 games, 40 wins. That's a win percentage of 78.4%. But as you say, Gregor, they were very much punching above their weight. He just managed over a year at Forest Green. 67 games, 32 wins, 47.8 % win percentage. But it's not long spells. It's clearly big ambition from him, isn't it? To get up and up and up. but this is the one where he might live or die on this one because you're in League One you don't keep Peterborough up that's, in terms of the topics we've talked about in managerial reputation wise, that could be disastrous Yeah, look, people have their opinions of Robbie Savage whether good or bad I think Alison did a really nice interview with him actually when he was

17:58Gregor Robertson: for a screen manager and he wears his heart on his sleeve and he was saying he was wanting to give this everything so why don't you give everything the thing that I feel slightly uncomfortable with is he doesn't feel quite happy about Park and the thing that he's been doing since he finished playing football and focusing on this entirely that kind of raises questions about how much you really really do want to do it despite what you say so for me yeah whether you like Robbie Savage or not everything he says sounds like whether it's belated the fact doesn't matter it's belatedly that he's come to this realisation that he really wants to be a manager and maybe that was just sort of sparked by his involvement with Macclesfield.

18:41He wasn't manager immediately. He kind of took the helm and realised he loved it and now he has got ambitions. Just commit to it. Commit to it entirely. I think I'm sure you could, I'm sure if it doesn't go well, you could, you know, you could fire up your media career again. Well, I hope so. Actually, do I? Maybe I don't. You don't need to fire it up if you're not giving it up, do you? you just keep it going have you seen their first game? we've been talking on the regular show on Monday and we'll be talking again on Thursday about this massive clash in the Premier League how you couldn't make it up in terms of Man City having to go to Liverpool after the charges have you seen Peterborough have got Leicester?

19:22indeed it's the flowing long locks slightly divisive manager derby Russell Martin against Robbie Savage on the touchline I'm not going to know where to look I'm not going to know if I'm on the pitch or on the touchline a brilliant brilliant start and as barry fry said it won't be dull but peter brifanz if any of you are listening let me know what you think about this appointment it's really split us in the studio here so do get in touch with me tom.clark at the times.co.uk loads more still to come in part two we're going to have a look at some of the action because there was some action in the football league over the weekend in league one and league two we'll be back in just a second

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22:27Welcome back to the Game Football Podcast from the Times and Sunday Times. This is our EFL Extra Show with me, Tom Clark and Gregor Robertson. Looking at the best, the worst and the maddest things in the football league. I'm getting ahead of myself, I'm talking about maddest. I already started thinking about Ian Holloway. We'll come to that in just a second. We've had some exciting breaking news though, listeners. It's an honour on this show to work with so many wonderful news reporters. Martin Ziegler the man who you know stopped FIFA Matt Lawton who's broken so many huge exclusives over the years Gary Jacob Paul Joyce with their transfer brilliant news now we've got producer Neil chiming in in the break to tell us that Blackpool manager Ian Everett might not be long for this world according to some of his mates so watch this space everybody watch this space and I'll be amazed if this actually makes it into the episode or whether producer Neil cuts this bit out so there you go will depend on what kind of mood he's in but Gregor there was some actual football in League One and League Two so we are going to do our usual little award categories it's a little bit tricky in League One because there are only three games but let's give it a go anyway your win of the weekend and

23:35Gregor Robertson: there were only two of them yeah it's got to be Plymouth 2-0 win at Orient go top of the league Tom Cleverley trying his very best to say that means nothing said I don't look at the table till March good come on mate how many times have I heard tell that to your players but yeah no it it was a big win for them and a lovely header by Will Evans to make it 2-0 great ball by Ronan Curtis we're going to talk about another excellent headed goal but this was a cracker and after they lost 1-0 at home to Burton last week as well that was another chance to move top of the league, an excellent response so yeah, huge win for Plymouth who started the season a bit shakily despite being one of the favourites for the league in many people's eyes but they've put together a really good run recently and yeah, big for them to move top of the league.

24:28Yeah, listeners will be stunned to discover that I'm going to pick the other win as my win of the weekend. Huddersfield beating Burton Albion away 3-1 to move up to third in the table. A fascinating team, Huddersfield, to see whether they can get things together this season. They've promised so much and failed to deliver for the last couple of campaigns. This win though owes so much to some disastrous defending from Burton Albion. They looked like they thought they were up. It looked a little bit like they thought this game wasn't happening because of the international break, and then they got told last minute that they were actually playing.

24:59It was absolutely crackers, some disastrous defending and a shocking moment that I'm sure we'll come on to in just a second, but a great win for Huddersfield. I'm going to mention my goal that listeners should go and check out because the only good thing for Burton Albion was Finderlap's brilliant strike and excellent fun Robbie Keane-esque celebration, the forward roll and the kind of gun-slinging action as well. great fun and a great celebration for a young player at Burton Albion. Gregor, your goal that listeners should check out in League One? Another great header, yeah. Jake Beasley for Bradford in the draw with Reading.

25:33It was a great goal on many levels.

25:35Gregor Robertson: Great switch of play by Baldwin. I think Bobby Poynton slipped in down the left channel and just whipped it with his left foot. Love a left foot. Whipped cross, obviously. And just one of them really satisfying emphatic headers. great, great, great header I think that probably tops Will Evans actually and we spoke about actually in the same venue Jack Marriott scoring a very similar goal just a couple of weeks ago so maybe it's the Majeski maybe these crosses and emphatic headers or something in the water there great goal Bradford not able to get the win though Reading pegging them back in that game but it is a brilliant, brilliant team move lovely pass from Aidan Baldwin at the back honestly if I was a defender and I hit a ball like that I'd be like who cares about the header did you see my pass lads honestly an absolute stunner Gregor your moment of the weekend and I think I've teased it already I mean it's got to be Corey Adai's absolute howler for Burton Albion you mentioned there Burton very un kind of Gary Boyer like to see his team's gift goals to the opposition so freely there was on the first half a kind of attempted switch of play from the right back just just kind of laid it on a plate and this one was even worse kind of ball played into Adai on the goal line and then he controls the ball all in his own goal line and kind of tries to shimmy past Ashley Fletcher and you know all he has to do is get a little toe on the ball and he pokes it into the net it was just an absolute calamity so yeah sorry sorry to Burton and Corey Adai but that was undoubtedly the moment of the weekend yeah sorry Burton fans I mean we do praise them quite a lot on this show with big, big Burnheit fans.

27:19So, you know, it's only right that we kick them when they were absolutely disastrous. And the funny thing was, Corey and I had made a load of good saves. They could have lost this game about 8-6, 7-0. Absolute stinker. Let's move into League Two. More games in League Two than in League One. So a bit more to choose from. Gregor, your win of the weekend in League Two.

27:37Gregor Robertson: I'm going for Cruz 3-1 win over Bristol Rovers. They've drawn their previous six games in a row in the league. They're up to third. like it tells you everything about the state of league too and how close it is how congested it is at the top of the table and they're still unbeaten I know there are a lot of draws in there but it's still one of the very few teams in the football league who are still unbeaten and Jack Lancaster was the star of it a great finish for the first goal kind of run down the right cutting it onto his left foot and one of those kind of whipped half kind of whip half drive into the corner that bounces over the goalkeeper were very hard to save so and then he got a second from the penalty spot and Gibson made it 3-0 25 to go so you know this is against the Bristol Rovers team who yes they've lost three of the last four but they're still just a point off the summit as well again that shows you how tight it is and yeah very big win for Crewe and a great performance by Lancaster who had a really difficult season last season with injury and he started the season well I think he's got five and 11 games this season so really good start to the season for him yeah a really good win for them you mentioned how tight is Salford City top of League 2 we might come on to that in a bit more detail in just a second but they're on 16 points there's three points between them and Rochdale in 11th and the funny thing is about League 2 is everyone might be like oh yeah but Tom it's the start of the season it'll probably be that tight until about April and it could well be that tight until May that's why we love it so much my win of the weekend Gregor I'm going to go for Accrington Stanley beating Cheltenham Town Cheltenham could have gone top themselves if they'd won this one and maybe would have been expecting to Accrington as always near the bottom of the table but two goals from Charlie Warren the first one lovely again another lovely pass from deep if you want to go and check it out Connor O 'Brien a really brilliant curling ball one of those where there looks like there's loads of players in front of him and he manages to pierce the lines over the top of the defence and it's a really composed finish by Warren so a great win for Accrington Stanley I'll always like to big them up because they're always punching above their weights Gregor your goal that listeners must go and check out in League Two I'd go for Dylan Markandy's goal in Chesterfield's 4-2 win against Tramier Rovers I mean his name comes up quite often he's too good for League Two really and he got kind of ran on tacking a channel ball down down the right hand side maybe on level with the edge of the penalty box and he kind of because he's so small and he's got a low centre of gravity, he kind of looked like he's going to turn backwards and up the line and then swivels and he completely bamboozled the defender and he's off and he's away and then he's barreling into the box but the angle is really tight, he managed just to pull it back onto his left foot and whip it into the corner, just the kind of goal that you don't see many players at League 2 level producing and yeah, he's he's been in great form for a team in Chesterfield who are really in the goals so far this season and look like they're going to be in the shake-up I think for automatics I'm not I've realized I realized I've got an exciting thing to think about as we go through this season to see if you can manage to mention all of your former clubs in these awards as we go because you've took you've you've done two there if you've managed to shoehorn Grimsby into the last one I think that might be tricky uh this weekend but I'll keep an eye on it as we go throughout the season see if you could mention all of your clubs in these awards in terms of goals if gregor has persuaded you to go and watch uh lancaster and crew make sure you stick around for the very end of that highlights package to see bobby camworth's strike from inside his own half a brilliant hit pure clean strike and it also had the vibe of a guy who's very talented very frustrated to have lost the game going do you know what i'm gonna absolutely smash this but it looked brilliant a brilliant goal from inside his own half make sure you stick around just inside like maybe 15 yards inside his own miles inside his own i couldn't kick the ball that far like i don't mean i don't mean now i mean like 15 years ago and i was still playing that's that was brilliant like there's goals from inside your own half where you kind of look up and it's opportunistic and then there was this like i can't i can't remember many longer like many farther away from the goal than that it was a brilliant goal and just an absolute tragedy that it meant nothing it was a 92nd minute and they're 3-0 down like it's just you know foot you know a footnote in history beauty yeah meaningless brilliant goals is another great category that maybe we could bring back on a rainy day next international break let's finish with our moments of the weekend and gregor i'm going to let you go last because you've definitely got the best one the one that i've been thinking about since we hit record on this show i'm going to mention anthony scully shamelessly mentioning a former lincoln player but one i'm really pleased for he signed for exeter on the friday scored the winner at home on the Saturday as they beat Rotherham a much needed win for them he could have had two in the game as well a really talented player if he can find form and fitness one of those creative forwards can play off either flank or could play down the centre it was a poacher's goal to get them the win much needed for Exeter so delighted for him and what a brilliant story sign for your new club on a Friday get a winning goal immediately a club legend by Saturday evening but Gregor your moment of the weekend this might be one of the moments of the season but to be fair he's had plenty than before.

32:52Tell us all about it.

32:53Gregor Robertson: Even Sky Sports showed this and even the presenters saying we're used to seeing Ian Holloway having some kind of rants and whatnot but this one might take the biscuit and he wasn't wrong. Oh my goodness. He's talking about everything that's swirling around Swindon as a football club and it seems to be flabbergasted that he's his head's on the chopping block now that they're struggling. They're down to 13th, they've lost three of the last four. And he just, you know, you think there's a rant coming and then he just starts thumping his chest going, D, M, W, dead man walking. And like pulls a zombie face.

33:35And you think, oh my God, he's really going mad here. And, you know, he is a bit mad. I think he has gone mad. Yeah, it was, even by Ian Holloway's standards,

33:47Gregor Robertson: it was quite something to witness. and you know I can't shoehorn my former club in here because Grimsby Town fans know well like when he gets to this stage and he starts giving you know his impassioned speeches that all is not well and probably it won't end well Yeah it was a brilliant switch up wasn't it we would play it in listeners but do you know what you're better off going to watch it because you need to see it as well as hear it and it was a brilliant switch up he talks about oh we're one out of ten one week to 10 out of 10. Then he talks about this cloud hanging. I can feel it. I can sense it.

34:23He's speaking to journalists. You can feel it. And then, as you say, he switches up. It's like it wouldn't be out of place on the theatre stage. It was really, really remarkable stuff. You wonder whether he can make it back after that 1-0 defeat, a late defeat for Rochdale, who, after a poor start to the season, are doing very well. There you go, listeners. You thought there was no EFL action. We've managed nearly 40 minutes of it. That is just how much we love the Football League. As Gregor says, sexy. We managed to get sexy in as well. We've had everything in this show and we barely had any games to talk about.

34:53It's back in its fullest form this weekend and we will be back next week. But for now, Gregor Robertson, thank you very much for joining me. Thank you too for listening. We'll be back with the regular show on Thursday as well. We'll see you very soon.

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