The Lionesses round off a successful year and Tanya Oxtoby joins the pod – Women’s Football Weekly

0:00This is The Guardian.

0:12Hello, I'm Faye Carruthers and welcome to the award-winning Guardian Women's Football Weekly. More on that in a moment, but the Lionesses closed out 2025 in style with two friendly wins against China and Ghana. George Stanway hit a hat-trick in a clinical performance at Wembley, while Lucia Kendall scored her first goal for England on her return to Southampton. We'll dissect both performances and look back on a hugely successful year. And as the international break draws to a close, we'll speak to the new Newcastle United head coach, Tanya Oxterby, as she prepares for her first game in charge.

0:49All that, plus we'll take your questions. And that's today's Guardian Women's Football Weekly. What a panel we have today. Susie Rack is going to be joining us in the second half of the pod, but ESPN writer Emily Keough is with us. How are you? Very good, thank you. Love to see you. And you as well. It's been a little while. Aisha Galuti, how are you? Well, thank you, Faye. Thanks so much for having me on again. Oh, yeah. Well, I was going to say you were only on a couple of weeks ago. Impressed on your debut. Now, before we get into the Lionesses, I just want to say a huge thank you because I did say in the intro we are the award-winning Guardian Women's Football Weekly now because on Monday night we were very privileged and honoured to have been named Women's Football Media of the Year at the Football Supporters Association Awards which is a massive privilege because they're voted for by you.

1:39If you remember we asked you for your votes all that while ago and you delivered and it was a bit of a double whammy for the Guardian actually because the Guardian Football Weekly won as well. They got their title back after missing out last year. They are back topping the table and we topped the table for the first time and we were up against some real stellar pods, I'm sure, of which you listened to many of them. So we are very grateful that you chose us and thank you very much. We might just mention it a few times, you know, here and there, every pod, as many times as we possibly can. We'll be celebrating together next week because we're doing a live in-person pod at the Guardian headquarters next week.

2:20So I'll finally get to see the trophy, which will be very exciting because producer Silas, producer Sophie and the wonderful Susie Rack went and collected the award on Monday night. I unfortunately had to miss out. So I'm very much looking forward to celebrating with the team and a big thank you again. I tell you what, brilliant, brilliant year for the Lionesses and they brought an incredible 2025 to a close this fortnight. Two victories rounding off their homecoming series. Serena Vigman's side kicked off the first international window of the year with a statement 8-0 win over China on Saturday.

2:54Georgia Stanway scored a hat-trick. 75 ,000 witnessed that at Wembley. Beth Mead scored a brace and there were goals from Lauren Hemp, Elatoun and Alessia Russo. I mean, much has been made of the scoreline, Emily, in terms of the opposition but England were impressive and clinical. Was it 6-1 that they beat China back at the World Cup in 2023? Eight from nine shots on target, which is pretty good. That is, I would say, pretty much the kind of attacking performance we've been waiting for, isn't it? Yeah, definitely. I think we haven't seen a game like that in quite a while, but obviously with the changes, with the Nations League, we haven't had these sorts of friendlies where you've got quite a big divide between where two teams are at.

3:37obviously this China side haven't really played since September when their season finished so you could see there was quite a big difference between the two teams and I think potentially had they been playing a team that was a bit more in form it wouldn't have been such a heavy scoreline but there's a lot of confidence to take from the game and I think a lot of this now this sort of friendly series was it was about trying a new thing switching things up testing new things and they were able to do that so you know the scoreline probably doesn't reflect a lot of learnings I'm not entirely sure what they may have learned from that especially with the other two friendlies in the past camp being against 10 opponents in both of them so maybe they haven't had the learnings from these groups of friendlies that they would have wanted but still you you can't take away from that scoreline at all.

4:18No definitely not. Ayesha how disjointed were China and were you surprised by how bad they were? Yeah I think it's interesting because this was billed as the European champions against the Asian champions so it was deemed a really big match of course the only one of this homecoming series that was at Wembley, so therefore had the biggest crowd. It was an amazing crowd, by the way, like really, really epic. Self-esteem's performance ahead of kickoff was incredible. But yeah, we didn't see the best of China. Like absolutely what Emily said about them being totally, you know, out of season, out of form, that really did show.

4:55This isn't the disparity between the two teams by no means, but they didn't press England. England just had all the time in the world. but like you said they finished like you know eight from nine shots but they didn't do that last night I know we'll go on to talk about that performance in a bit but their finishing was incredible you know it felt like every chance they created they just took and that's what you get with the Lionesses in full flow and full confidence and it was really really epic to see them score eight really brilliant goals. I mean listen where there's a positive there's always a little negative lurking around the corner.

5:30And Serena Wigman was criticised by some for not giving younger players opportunities, particularly at Wembley. And in true Serena style, she actually pointed out, look, there's eight camps left until the World Cup. And that very much puts that into perspective, doesn't it? What do you think about that, Emily? Sometimes you kind of call for these big changes and you call for all of these minutes in rotation. But what's the point of putting out an entirely different squad that are never going to play together? Because if we're at this point, you know you're thinking come the world cup some of the players that played last night are likely to be part of that core squad if you rotate everyone then it's one game off it's not like you get a lot of experience or exposure from that you need to make you know one two three changes so that she can see relationships forming she can see what's building she can see where gaps are being made or where she's fixing gaps so I think it's an interesting concept that fans are calling for kind of all these big rotations when actually it's not it's not going to do anything it's not going to help England much so I think it's one of those situations where and I think we everyone's always been quite critical of Serena for not rotating but I think she has rotated where she's she's needed to and she's made changes where she's seen gaps and because it hasn't been you know six changes week in and week out everyone's like oh she doesn't rotate but I actually think she does when she needs to and where the gaps are so I think yeah you could argue that that there needed to have been potentially a few more minutes I would have loved to see Anouk Denton get some more minutes um in the game against Ghana I think it was a little bit unfair she didn't get as much of a look in it towards the end of the game but she get two minutes something like that I'm not I'm not entirely sure she touched the ball um but it was one of those where you know this this is also a learning camp for them they need to take things from these these games and if you rotate heavily how much is that actually going to teach Serena about what she needs for coming into the World Cup and in for qualifiers so I think there's a balance and I think potentially yeah maybe one or two extra players could have seen some more minutes off the bench but overall I think it was a pretty good in terms of getting more more minutes into players I mean look like someone like Lucia Kendall you know it's incredible she's probably the talking point of the camp and you know six months ago she wasn't even on the radar so that's something that's come from the past few camps into this one so I think there's there's always talk about it but I actually don't think it was it was as bad as as people are making it out to be.

7:50So the Lionesses then travelled to the south coast for their first ever meeting with Ghana at St Mary's Stadium. Much changed side, as we've said, much changed game as well. It was a 2-0 win in the end, thanks to goals, as we've mentioned, from Lucia Kendall and Alessia Russo making the scoreline look a little bit more comfortable in the 95th minute. It was a very, very different challenge, wasn't it, Aisha? What did you make of England's performance in this one? Yeah, it was a different challenge. Like you say, I think Ghana were definitely on it in a way that China weren't. They didn't give England the same space that China did.

8:24But also, like Emily said, Serena did make those changes for yesterday's game. And that group of players, I mean, they've not played together before. It's such a new team. And it was really interesting hearing what Serena said post-match because it was like, oh, you're really impressed with what you saw. And again, in typical Serena style, she didn't say, oh, yeah, it was really nice to see those new players getting up. She's like, you know, there were good bits, but there's a lot of improvement to be made and really kind of called out certain players and how they should be improving um which I rate because she you know she wants to say I'm giving you opportunity go and grab it but equally this is where you can improve and I want you to improve I think yesterday was a great example of some of the pathway that England have been creating and seeing that on the main stage we have to talk about Lucia Kendall scoring at Southampton the club that she spent her youth you know the best part of 10 years there uh what an incredible story for her that knee slide when she scored that early goal that was in the sixth minute i think i think that made we thought that might open the floodgates it didn't happen to be the case it was a case of maybe missed chances rather than taking chances in the way that they did in in that china game but something that really stuck with me when we spoke to lucy bronze in the uh mix zone after the China game and she said I hadn't even heard of Lucia Kendall before the start of this season and I was like I love that that sort of brutal honesty but it just gives you the story about Lucia Kendall and how far she has come and also just how bright a talent she is and I think those are the positives we have to take from yesterday those young players who have so much more to show and also maybe those players who have been on the peripheries and haven't been getting the time that they need.

10:10Mayo Letizia, I'm so pleased for her to be getting some minutes. She's brilliant in defence. She's been great. And Anna Morehouse, wow, what a story. For her to get her England debut, she said again in the mix zone, I'm just so pleased I can finally call myself a lioness. And that is a real great story for her too because she just really deserves to have that against her name. Yeah, she's been in so many camps and just not got any minutes. It's so tough. But, you know, these players are crucial part of the squad and people tend to forget that. You know, they're just as important behind the scenes.

10:48But let's talk about Lucia Kendall's goal. Serena Vigman joked she'd celebrated that goal as if she'd won the Champions League, which I thought was quite funny. And why wouldn't you celebrate it like that in those kind of circumstances? But I wonder, and especially bearing in mind what Lucy Bronze said in the mix zone as well, Do you think kind of her emergence is maybe the biggest thing that has come out of this homecoming series? I think definitely. I think definitely she's the talking point, really. And someone who potentially has a lot of raised eyebrows when that camp came out in October of who is this player?

11:23I think unless you were watching Aston Villa or potentially watching the Championship WSL2 last season and previous seasons, you wouldn't have known who she was. And that's simply just the landscape of women's football at the minute where it's hard to pay attention to every single club. and she wasn't getting the look in. I know quite a few of us knew her from around the 23s and kind of the odd sort of game here and there. I spoke to her a couple of years ago at Southampton but hadn't spoke or done much with her at all in that time and that's just where we're at. But yeah, I think it's an incredible story and I think it's an example of the fact that if you're given an opportunity and you take that opportunity, the doors are open.

12:00There's no way she now doesn't get called up for the World Cup qualifiers and she's taking the opportunity and has grabbed it with two hands and that's what you have to do. And I went up to do the under-23s game against America on Monday and that was so interesting, seeing how many of these players are in really good touch and probably going to give some headaches to Serena because, again, we've got a lot of injuries at the minute in the England squad. So there are a lot more movement around the squad. But if you look at the under-23s and who's kind of on the fringes, there's a lot of talent there that if they're performing at club and they're performing in that set-up, there's always an opportunity to come into that senior side.

12:35So it's just a really exciting time, I think, for these younger Lionesses that can see that if they do perform well, there is that opportunity. And almost just having that example is something to work towards. So it's a great story. And I think it's great for her as well, like scoring at your home club and where you grew up. It's what fairy tales are, really. So I'm not surprised she celebrated in that way. And I think anyone would have done the exact same, like you said. So it's just a lovely way that we can round out these camps with such a positive note about such an impressive young player who no doubt there's going to be so much tension on now going into the second half of the season.

13:10So it's just so exciting. Yeah, it really is. And let's look back on the camps and the year, actually, as a whole. Serena Vietman talked many times about the importance of playing non-European opposition in these friendlies. What would you say, Ayesha, are the biggest learnings from doing that? We've seen England play the Euros recently, the Nations League, these matches which were deeming friendlies. I can see why, you know, Serena doesn't necessarily want to rotate in the way that we spoke about, because how often are they playing the opposition that aren't the European teams, even, you know, at a club level in the Champions League and whatnot?

13:49And it is a style of football maybe that we are more familiar with in what we're seeing from the European teams. For example, Spain playing a similar way to Barcelona. And it's that style that the English players are becoming used to playing against. Now, I would say I'm not sure how much they learned from the China game in terms of how China played, because I don't think that is how they play, because they are a much better team than that. Ghana however yesterday they're sort of resilient and they weren't really letting England get in in the way they sometimes do but also Ghana's world ranking I can't remember off the top of my head what it is but it's it's pretty low and I think there was a lot of talk about especially from them from the Ghana camp saying we're not that ranked team we we are the emerging team in African region and I think for them as well being able to play against England and I think they did very well You know, they put such a great show of themselves of African football.

14:46And it's something that we don't get to see much. And it makes me really excited to see more of these African and Asian nations for the upcoming World Cup. And of course, those qualifiers, too. I think they're 67th by the looks of things, six in Africa. They've gone down a little bit on the points. I mean, I don't always look at the rankings, if I'm honest. Well, neither do they by the sounds of it. Well, yeah. Well, I mean, they wouldn't, to be fair. If you're number one, you look at the rankings. Yeah, we quite like our rankings at the moment. Exactly. And, you know, deserved as well. Special year for the Lionesses, hasn't it?

15:29It's 17 games, 12 wins, one draw, four defeats, back-to-back European champions, which in fairness, I think none of us would necessarily have thought in those opening games of the Euros was possible. They've done it and they've done it the hard way. And actually, sometimes I feel like that is more satisfying in many ways. But how do you think they're going to be reflecting internally on the year? I mean, what a year. They have won the Euros again, back to back champions. their win percentage on paper is technically lower than in sort of previous years but who cares to be honest you know we look at that Euros as well did they play their best football absolutely not were there a few fluky moments so you know of course but that's tournament football and when you go home with a trophy nobody cares and then we start looking at actually the mentality of that team which is the shining light throughout the tournament throughout the Euros that togetherness that never say die attitude.

16:31That, to me, is the beacon that shines from the Lionesses this year. I think when we look back at the last Euros, they were just a level above all those other teams, beating teams really emphatically throughout, maybe not quite in the final. But this year, it was just about everything that surrounded it and just that attitude and everything that came with it. So, yeah. Well, it's going to be very different. You know, it's all very well talking about winning the Euros on home turf. That is vastly different to going abroad in Europe and winning it, let alone going abroad. Don't forget, the last World Cup was in Australia.

17:06Tricky conditions. And it's going to be, you know, over in Brazil, which will also be tricky conditions. So there's lots of work to do behind the scenes. Funnily enough, Serena Vigman says she enjoyed Euro 2025 more than previous tournaments. She said it was insane how the games developed, but off the pitch, it was really calm. And I can understand that because there was less scrutiny in some ways, perhaps not being home Euros. But let's talk about her contract, because that runs until the end of the World Cup in 2027. She said that there haven't been any discussions yet about extending it. These are her thoughts.

17:412027 is coming. I'm still really enjoying the job. I think the team is still enjoying that I'm around. I think that's important, too. Let's see what the future is going to bring. I'm very relaxed about it. I don't look forward. I don't plan my career a lot. I just know what I really enjoy. And I always want things to be fit for my side and the other side. And then we'll see what comes on my path. I mean, look, she's outwardly very calm about it. So surely we all should be as well, Aisha. why wouldn't you be calm about it you've reached five successive major tournaments in your managerial career and you know won three back-to-back euros as far as credentials go it doesn't get much better than that she is one of if not you know the best manager of all time you know she is a legend in the women's football space and beyond in the football space actually and England want to be doing everything they can to keep her the FA need to do that I'm sure they know that and those conversations they have a good relationship and I think when the time comes it's going to be not really a big conversation I would hope she'd want to stay and feel like she wants to do more but who knows if we win the World Cup equally that could be a perfect time for her to close that chapter so who knows but I'm not surprised she's relaxed about it.

18:57Looking forward then to the World Cup and football waits for no one World Cup qualification starts in in March We've actually got a little bit of a break before then. But an away game against Ukraine is the opening qualifier. And then we host Iceland. Spain also in their group, would you believe. What do you make of England's chances? When are we ever going to have a year where we're not playing Spain, I think is the question. But I think it's really interesting because it's two quite unknown teams of this Lionesses side. They haven't played Iceland in a really long time. And looking back, I'm not entirely sure when, if they have played Ukraine before.

19:35So it's two teams that are relatively unfamiliar. And that is always going to be a bit of an anxiety producing situation because it's the fear of the unknown, I guess, right? So they can do all the analysis, but actually having a bit of experience and coming up against these players or these teams, it's a whole new challenge for them. It's going to be tricky. I think, obviously, with Artana Bonmartin now out for pretty much the whole season, having that surgery to her leg. What does that look like for Spain? They've got an incredible squad, but a lot of it has rotated and been centred around Bon Mati in the middle.

20:08So it's an interesting time, I think, to play these teams because a lot of teams will be looking at England going, you know, they won the Euros, but then you look at sort of the Nations League that they've had in the past and it hasn't probably been what we've expected of them and sort of the table topping sort of landslide that you would expect from the European Championship. Yeah, it's been slightly lacklustre in the past. So I think you're looking at, if you're Ukraine or Iceland, and especially Iceland having been at the Euros, probably have a quite disappointing run at the Euros. You'll think, actually, there's an opportunity here.

20:39So, you know, it's such a strange sort of group of talent because you've got kind of two of the top teams in Europe and two that are, you know, Ukraine came up from League B. So it's a very different look than what we've probably seen from the Nations League. But I think, again, for fans, that's so exciting that you're going to potentially travel to these countries to see these other teams as well. so yeah it's an exciting time and I think England will fancy their chances I think having this also is probably they want to make a statement this year they probably didn't make the sort of statement that they were hoping to last year even though they won the Euros which is quite an interesting thing to say I guess they'll fancy their chances and and I think when you look at the format as well even if they don't top that group they have a really really good chance of going through the qualifiers through the playoffs and and into that World Cup so you definitely think that that all being well that they would be there.

21:26I remember Iceland being coined as the dark horse of the Euros and that kind of never really came to fruition but I'm hoping they don't become the dark horse in this qualifier group. Yeah that would not be fun. We still don't know where the Lionesses are going to be playing Ukraine. When England men played Ukraine a couple of years ago it was played in Poland in a place called Rotslav so we'll wait to find out where that is going to be obviously with the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. We mentioned Spain earlier on and actually they retained their Nations League title, they do do well in that tournament.

22:06It was an emphatic 3-0 victory over Germany 55 ,000 fans at the Estadio Metropolitano in Madrid Sonia Bermudez's side without Aitana Bomatti as you mentioned ruled out for five months having surgery on a broken fibula. France, meanwhile, finished third. They edged past Sweden in Stockholm but needed an extra-time goal from Kelly Gargo to win 4-3 on aggregate. Wales ended their 12-game winless run. Well done to them. It was a narrow 3-2 victory over Switzerland. Sophie Ingle, Hannah Kane and Lily Woodham all on the score sheet for Rhianne Wilkinson's side. Scotland, meanwhile, held off a China comeback to win 3-2 in Spain.

22:45Melissa Andreata's side scored three and three minutes in the first half, thanks to a brace from Kirsty Howitt and a goal from Kirsty Hansen. There was a concern, though, for Chelsea's Erin Cuspert, who was stretched off with a head injury. She was thankfully released, though, a few hours later. So wishing her the very best. It's been a pleasure to have you both on. Thank you so much. Em, see you soon. See you soon. Thanks for having me. Ayesha, catch you, no doubt, at an awards ceremony somewhere in the future. See you soon, Faye. Thanks for having me. Take care. Thank you very much. That's it for part one of the Guardian Women's Football Weekly.

23:21In part two, we're going to talk to Newcastle United's Tanya Oxtoby as she prepares for her first game in charge.

23:39Welcome back to part two of the award-winning Guardian Women's Football Weekly. Susie Rack is back. I have already waxed lyrical by the way and thanked everyone for voting for us at the FSA Awards but I want you to tell them briefly about the night itself, particularly a selfie that you legged it over for, it was noted. Yeah, so Declan Rice won Men's Player of the Year. I'm a journalist, right? Like, I don't fangirl much. I don't ask photos of players ever. I don't do any of that. But I am a lifelong Arsenal fan. And when he was doing his speech, I knew, you know, men's team have a midweek game.

24:16He's not going to be sticking around. He's going to be dashing off afterwards. I was like, I've got one chance. One chance, do I do it? And I was like, if I do it, I can't go now while he's in the middle of his speech. I'm going to have to go literally as soon as he stops finishing. and we were one end our table was one end of the room the exit was completely at the opposite end so the second he stopped speaking I literally jumped up said to producer Danielle and uh producer Silas that I was going for it and legged it carrying this very heavy heavy trophy across the room dodging through tables people laughing at me launched through the doors into the lobby and there he is being sort of shepherded away quite quickly I just went deck please can I have photo with us and our trophies and he was so lovely and Sam Matterface very kindly took photos on my phone for me and I walked proudly back through the room having not made a complete tit out of myself legging it across the hall for no reason so that was fun.

25:09Amazing, amazing well listen when I'm on the England men's camp next time in March I'm gonna say to him you've got you had a photo of the trophy before I did which is brilliant. Listen we've got a very special guest with us today that I know for a fact, Susie Rack, you would also sprint across a room to try and get a photograph. Oh, yeah. I've had a few photographs with her myself, but that's because I like to call her a friend. Tanya Ogsterby is with us just before the international break. The news broke that Tanya was leaving Northern Ireland to become the new Newcastle United manager after an extensive period of recruitment.

25:43She's been on the pod, friend of the pod, numerous times. So we thought it'd be a great opportunity to get her back on and find out all about her return to club football. Oh, big change. How are you, Tanya? I'm good. Thank you for that wonderful introduction and definitely a friend. I apologise in advance for my voice because it's hanging on by a thread. So I don't normally sound like this, but I'll just rock with it. Is this what it's like back in club football? And that's it. You're on the training pitch more than you are normally. And it's gone already. It's gone already. It's all over. It's all over.

26:18My voice is just wondering what's happening. But no, it's been a great week. Really, really good week. So good to be back on the grass every day with the players. And everyone here has been so kind and lovely. And yeah, certainly can't complain. I think you need to get yourself a megaphone without a doubt. That's the... Or maybe that won't necessarily endear you to your new players if you've got yourself a megaphone. They'll run in the other direction. What's it been like so far? So you settled in nicely. How's it been? It's been a little bit chaotic. Obviously, I'm not quite sort of relocated up here permanently yet.

26:54So family is still down in Surrey and I'm up here. So a little bit of back and forth, but it's been amazing being on the grass every day with the players. We've got players coming back now from international duty and really looking forward to working with them and building towards our first game together. Sounds like an absolutely just a nightmare from a personal point of view. And I don't envy you. it um what was it about Newcastle that drew you to the project when you first started having those conversations with them externally I've always kind of watched what they were doing and thought god that looks like a great project and you know they're building something special and I think when the conversations sort of started more in depth and we were kind of discussing about the ambitions of the club and what they felt they needed and maybe the skills that I had to be able to bring to the party on that it just felt right you know whilst it was a big jump going from obviously international back into club football from a family point of view it just felt like it was the right time and I think on the flip of that like to be able to see my son every morning and every night and not have large chunks of time away as well is uh is is going to be um beneficial to him so it just made sense yeah I'm not going to make you look back too much but a couple of years you were at Northern Ireland how do you reflect on your time there I'm really proud I'm proud of everything I did there I think um when I walked into it I think you try and do as much research as you can about what you're going to walk into but until you're in it you don't really know and I think where I found the program and where I left the program are in two completely different places and I suppose the transition of the squad and kind of where the squad is at now in terms of really good young players with really good cultural architects from a senior player point of view in and around it like whoever steps into that role next has got a really good foundation to build from and I'm really really proud of the work that we did there and I'm going to miss the people because they're amazing people I think the the players and I were really really sad when we were saying goodbye but I think we also knew that it was probably the right time for me to move on Newcastle obviously coming back over here been on a clear trajectory in the the past couple of seasons with back-to-back promotions into the WSL2 the club haven't hidden their ambitions of reaching the top tier what have conversations with the board been like in terms of that sort of long-term strategy moving forward exactly that you know we want to be in WSL1 want to be competing for trophies want to be winning things which obviously like from my point of view with my time at Chelsea just it meshed it meshed really nicely but on the flip of that it's about building it in a sustainable way and making sure that when we do get there that we're we're ready in terms of our processes and the people and all the bits around it and that's one thing to say it but it's also another thing to show actions to do it and that's probably been the thing that's impressed me massively about the club is they put their money where their mouth is or their actions where their ambition is and that fills me with a fair bit of confidence that actually if I get my part right on the pitch that we can we can obviously elevate and go the whole way.

29:50Listen you're in a bit of a talent hub aren't you in the northeast as well when you think of the likes of Beth Mead, Steph Horton, Jill Scott as well you know it's an incredible hotbed of talent that area how much emphasis is there at Newcastle in terms of building a pathway for the next generation of local girls? Yeah there's a massive emphasis I think when we talk about doing things in the right way that's exactly what we're talking about so yes we want to be competing we want to be obviously winning things we want to be performing at our best but we also want to make sure that we're developing our own talent and I think that's not just about the players that's also the staff Fernie's been in with me today you know she's obviously like part of our pathway but she's in with the first team and she's in and around it.

30:32It's exciting because you think about where we could be in five years' time and actually that's probably a little bit scary, really. 100%. Coming in in the middle of a campaign can be tricky. Obviously, they've not had the most consistent start to the season, currently four, ten points behind Charlton. What are those first priorities for you as you head into this first game against Southampton? Because I imagine when you're coming in mid-season, and it's really hard to decide what takes the focus. Yeah, there's no magic wand to just be like, okay, bang, bang, bang. I think it's trying to prioritise, as you said, what's going to give us our biggest bang for our buck.