Boring Burnley’s peerless defence and the EFL wrapped – Football Weekly podcast
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January 28, 2025
TLDR: Podcast has Robyn Cowen, Barry Glendenning, Ali Maxwell and Sanny Rudravajhala discussing European Football League.

Welcome to the Guardian Football Weekly recap where we delve into the latest episode focused on the EFL! In this session, Robyn Cowen joins experts Barry Glendenning, Ali Maxwell, and Sanny Rudravajhala for an in-depth analysis of the current promotion and relegation battles unfolding in the Championship, League 1, and League 2.
Key Highlights from the Episode
A Health Check on the Championship
The episode kicks off with a deep dive into the Championship, analyzing teams in contention for promotion and those battling relegation. Notably:
- Burnley vs Leeds: A dismal match ending in a 0-0 draw highlighted Burnley's defensive prowess, maintaining an impressive record of seven games without conceding.
- Luton Town's Struggles: The discussion raises concerns about Luton, potentially facing back-to-back relegations as they find themselves at the bottom of the table.
- Sheffield United's Surprise Defeat: A loss to Hull left fans wondering about the consistency of top teams competing for promotion.
Burnley's Defensive Record
- Incredible Stats: Burnley remains undefeated at home, which has fueled discussions about their defensive capabilities. With 20 clean sheets in just 29 games, they have a superior defensive record compared to Chelsea's championship-winning side.
- Challenges in Attack: Despite their tight defense, Burnley's attacking struggles raise questions as they have scored only 22 goals in 26 games, with fans expressing frustration over their lack of scoring.
League 1 Dynamics
Transitioning to League 1, Birmingham City appears dominant, while teams like Wrexham and Stockport are stirring contention for the playoff spots:
- Birmingham's Solid Performance: Birmingham leads the pack with a compelling team effort, but competition arises from Wrexham and new signings in Wigan.
- Wrexham's Hollywood Ending: Finishing their season strong could echo their ambitions, especially given their growing popularity.
Relegation Candidates
As the relegation picture takes shape:
- Notable Performances: A handful of clubs at the bottom, including AFC Wimbledon and Shrewsbury Town, seem to be improving under new management.
- Pressure for Teams like Cambridge: Cambridge and other teams must achieve consistency to help stave off relegation and find their footing.
League 2 Overview
In League 2, the title race is heating up while relegation remains a serious concern for several clubs:
- Walsall's Recent Defeat: Despite a strong start, Walsall's unexpected loss to Bradford City raises eyebrows about their momentum.
- Morkham's Existential Crisis: The club faces a precarious situation with financial and ownership issues that hinder their ability to sign new players.
Expert Insights and Predictions
- Expert Predictions: Each panelist shares their thoughts on potential promotion candidates and dark horses, examining the teams’ strengths and weaknesses while addressing the unpredictability in lower leagues.
- Playoff Contenders: Discussion flowed over which teams are poised for a playoff run, indicating a competitive landscape as clubs fight for survival and promotion.
Essential Takeaways
- Burnley: Their defensive game is impressive, but scoring remains a concern that may impede their promotion bid.
- Promotion Battles: Teams like Birmingham and Wrexham are looking strong, making the race for automatic promotion intense.
- Relegation Struggles: Clubs that were once competitive are now facing harsh realities as the season progresses into crucial moments.
- Morkham's Financial Woes: Exemplifies the broader issues of club ownership and management affecting performance on and off the pitch.
In conclusion, this episode of the Guardian Football Weekly encapsulates the complexities of the EFL landscape, drawing insights from experts and fans alike. As the season approaches its critical juncture, the excitement, drama, and tension of English football continue to captivate audiences.
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This is The Guardian.
Hello and welcome to the Guardian Football Weekly, an EFL special, a health check on the battles for promotion and relegation in the Championship, League 1 and League 2, who's nailed on, who could sneak in and will that be a great escape? We'll go deep into the dross that Burnie and Leeds served up on Monday night to keep Daniel Farker's side top of the champ. Down the other end, could we be witnessing the world's biggest hangover, Luton, set fair for back-to-back relegation. In League 1 is Birmingham's promotion inevitable or can Rexson provide a Hollywood ending?
And yet another club in an existential crisis at the bottom of League 2 will have an update on Morgan's situation. We'll rattle through all of that in five minutes, then move on to why Oxford's United are by far the greatest team the world has ever seen. Your questions, and that's today's Guardian Football Weekly.
on the panel today, Barry Glendaire. Good morning. Hi, Robert. Ali Maxwell from not the top 20. Good morning to you. Hello, everyone. And Sonny, Rudra Badula. I mean, what can I say? You were there at Turf Mall. I mean, you were lost for words when we came on the call this morning. Anything come back to you after all that. Well, hello. I actually went and I don't know why I did this to myself. I went and watched the YouTube highlights back this morning.
What? Because there were some ways. I wanted to see what actually worked. It was two minutes and 29 seconds. And one of the highlights was a corner going straight out of play. That sums it up nicely, I think. I don't think we can do too much on this. But yeah, a nil-nil draw. The first shot on target came in the 88th minutes. James Trafford made the save.
Let's go back to you. You made the trips specifically. We do admire your dedication. I think that was all in our thoughts. We were just thinking of you while we were watching this. It's funny because I wrote trips there with Will Unwin. All the time whilst I was watching, I was thinking of him.
I'm the most enthusiastic man in the press box, and Will might be the opposite of that. And he had to actually write something. That was the one thing. Although I was questioning why I was there. Admittedly, I told myself, I'm doing it for the part. I'm doing it for the big money from Guardian Football Weekly.
But really have had i not gone it would made any difference where as well was actually there being paid to be there and actually had to conjure up 650 words which he opened with this will be one of those games where you have to say i was there and yeah i was there it was it was truly it was truly awful the worst part actually.
was having got a lift with Will, having to then wait for the Bose Match interviews to be done, and the press conferences to be done, because I couldn't get a lift home otherwise. So I had to stay even longer. I guess the easy answer is two teams cancelled each other out. I even got the Guardian Live text up for a bit of bands there. A guy called Peter said it was Parker the Bus or Farker the Bus, which I thought was very clever. Nice. I actually like that a lot. Yeah.
Yeah. Think of the game. Think of the game. Think of the game that you've got in your head as the worst game you've ever seen. For me, it was Plymouth at Sheffield Wednesday, 22nd November 2005. One of those student games where
The club knows that no one's going to go so they give students tickets for a five and that was nil nil and nothing happened and i pulled up the stats and they were four times as many shots in that game than this one this is definitely the worst game ever seen. I mean what's what's got parkers what night nil nil is it the season to nine or ten.
And afterwards, he was asked, you know, you've not had a shot on target or game. Are you happy with that? Because up until that point, he'd had all the bluster of, you know, we've been solid and it's a solid point. And he was like, no, I'm not happy with that. But there was no intent. There was no intent to attack whatsoever. I also just to really kind of, you know, get all the media I could. My left ear had Radio Lancashire on.
So I had a bit of those in my ear as well. Just to really get a real feel. It wasn't five from them. Oh my god. Scott Reed and Steve Eyre. Steve Eyre, honestly, I thought he was going to pick up his cans, take him off and walk off. He was really struggling. At one point, he was begging for Ashley Barnes to come on, just to give everyone a lift. And that was after an hour. So yeah, very bad. And you were begging for Will on one to leave, just to give you an if.
I feel like I should ask you about your childhood, but we'll move on, Sally, this therapy session. Ali, I mean, when the club tweet that it's a chess match, you know, that's code for boring for all the rest of us. But I think we should highlight Burnley's record. So undefeated at home and seven games without conceding. I mean, it is ridiculous, isn't it?
It is incredible, I think, can we stretch to an appreciation of two or rather four excellent centre backs on the pitch last night who completely won their battles. Estev and Egan Riley in particular in the back line for Burnley given their defensive record.
know as well as james traffing goal are for this level are playing astoundingly well and did so again last night i love that bernley fans shout steve whenever stev does anything good which is very very regularly and egan riley is excellent too
Amper doing road on a brilliant at the back for leads as well we should say but i guess it's maybe more notable because s-dev and egan riley are both 22 years old, traffic is also 22 years old so they are on course to be the best second tier defense ever, with 22 year olds center back and in goal which i think is pretty notable.
They have a better record than Chelsea's Premier League winning and Premier League record defense as well. You can put it into that context how impressive they are on that side of the game. They are desperate in attack. This is a team going for automatic promotion with parachute payments and some star names for the level. If you take out
the three exceptions to their season where they've scored five against Cardiff, five against Argyll and four against Luton. Two of those games were the first two games of the season. They've only scored 22 goals in 26 of their other games. So it is pretty horrendous on the other end of the pitch and that's why you get this strange situation where
They're not the top 20. Twitter account tweeted last night. Impressive stats around Burnley's 20th clean sheet in their 29th league game this season, more than any side managed in 46 games last season. And the replies, mostly from Burnley fans, are so angry that we've managed to put a positive spin on it. It's a, it's a fairly remarkable situation and they have been involved in 29% of all of the championships. Neil Nell draws this season. So don't watch Burnley again, anyone.
Yeah, this was grim. I mean, this was grim. And it wasn't held by the fact, I think, that it came on the back of the Manchester United Fulham game the night before, which was Sam the football by comparison. But yeah, I wanted to ask you that.
How do bernley fans feel about this because they are nicely placed, there are only two points off the pace for automatic promotion or one. But i genuinely couldn't pay to watch that week in week out, it's diabolical.
On that, Turfmore has seen 1.4 goals per game. It's the lowest number of goals for any club in the EFL. The lowest since 1921, not 22 seasons. So there is data to back that up. It is the worst. I was expecting some, some maybe booze at full time in a bit of dissatisfaction. There wasn't really any of that. And I suppose the
The other way of looking at this is look at how it seems who've come up in the Premier League this season have done. Like, you know, Southampton, we all know have been atrocious. And if you can go up being defensively minded and solid when you're up against the big teams in the Premier League, have you therefore got a strong base? I mean, yeah, Maxima Steven, CJ Egan Riley at the back are doing very well.
whether they could handle early holland uh well egan riley came from city so i think you might be used to that i don't know maybe i don't really think cross quite cross paths but um so that's another argument that is one way of putting it but when you've got like nil nills at home to stoke city for example you know that isn't
Good luck. There are games they should have won the fact that not in the automatic promotion places does actually Kind of dismiss that argument to an extent. They do need to score goals and they're just not getting them and and Scott Parker's had a massive squadies at a big turnover It's got creative players in there. They're kind of becoming a little bit repetitive get the ball out wide To jade and Anthony earlier in the season of Luca Coleo show He if that doesn't come right. They recycle it back. He seems like a player
one player extra back every time like that turgid five aside team you playing or I playing at least with a team of right backs and we're all waiting on one guy to do something. But the Burnley fans, yeah, I think they're kind of away and see if kind of seen all elements of what can happen and how you'd go up and what happens there. So, but all that or they've just been weathered completely. And it's just, you know, they're India Biss already didn't even know it was nil, nil.
Yeah, I was going to say, I don't think there'll probably no booze because everyone was just asleep or just frozen. Don't know. Yeah, exactly. Really a number of things. Scott Parker still looking like a Raffish World War II fighter pilot. Producer Joel says he thinks Connor Roberts looks like a member of the French Resistance. I think that's, again, another great observation. I'd love the Scott Parker's kind of trying to just collect
in a battle re-enactment. It's a world war. Well, I imagine his squadron would be flying backwards and wouldn't have any bullets in any of their guns. The turret gun would be empty.
It just shows how bad the game was that it's what players look like that is springing to mind. And I must admit, there was a point during the game where I found there was a close-up shot of Joe Rodon, the lead centre back. And I found myself thinking, he looks like he might have a cold, you know? And then I was thinking, how bad would your cold have to be for you to not play as a professional footballer? That was a sort of places my mind was taking me during this horrendous affair. I just love how offended everyone was by this game. So good. So good.
So the other two teams in the mix, Sheffield United and Sunderland, a surprise defeat, a heavy one for Sheffield United against Hull on Friday night. Sunderland drew two all with Plymouth who, well, a little flicker there, but they do look doomed. I mean, nobody in that top four looks incredibly consistent. Ali, I know you did your sort of mid-season check on your podcast. Who do you think could sort of crash in or who do you think could crash out, I guess, indeed?
I've been pretty clear in my own mind that leads to the best team in the league. I think that they will win the league, and I don't think that Chef United or Burnley or Sunderland are likely to push them too close to the title. I do think they'll pull away.
even last night, you know, clearly they didn't have a sparkling game going forward, but they were absolutely the team, the better side, the team that were trying a bit more in possession. And yeah, they weren't able to break down what is potentially the best offense ever in the second tier. But as an away game against one of your main rivals for the title, I still think you have to see that as a good point and be kind of energized by the fact that they were more likely to win. Sunderland went to Burnley the other day and Drew Nill Nill on a Friday night. That one was to be fair, a lot more entertaining.
That was also at that game. That was a bit. That was a good nil. That was a great nil. I mean, it's difficult to pick between chef United Burnley and Sunderland. I kind of nailed my colours to the Sunderland mast in the mid-season predictions. I think that they're the best
Going forward of those three teams and there's a lot of focus on sun burnley's defensive record for obvious reasons but sundland and chef united both concede well under a goal a game as well so if that's the case to me anyway burnley's impressive defense is not as important when the other teams around them are also keeping tons of clean sheets what's more important is.
Are you going to be able to score enough goals in the last 17 games to kind of get yourself into second spot and stay there? And for me, it is Sunderland, albeit that home draw to our guile over the weekend, fairly damaging, particularly in the context of everyone else's dropping points. Well, Barry, as a Sunderland fan, are you as optimistic? As a Sunderland fan, you're never a optimistic boy. And to be honest,
I'm torn between whether I want to see them promoted or just stay where they are in the championship because when you see what's happened to some teams who go up
It's not fun being in the Premier League, getting beaten week in week out. It's just horrible. Very unpleasant experience. But you want your team to succeed. You want them to test yourselves against the best. If they did go up, would they be well enough equipped to make a decent fist of staying up?
I suppose the only way to find out is by going up. That was a bad result against Plymouth. Plymouth have four wins this season. They're bottom of the table. One of those wins came at home to Sunderland. Plymouth fans made the 700 mile trip, round trip or whatever to this game. Hats off to them for, you know, they have to travel so far for some of their away games to watch a bad team.
And yes, I think through this one away, they went behind and then they went to one up, and Plymouth scored a late equalizer and got a point, so that's a flicker of hope for them. Yeah, Sunderland are already performing well above pre-season expectations, so if they did get promoted, it would be
a massive surprise because everyone was expecting them to struggle, I think, or maybe mid-table at best. So, yeah, let's see where it goes. I want to ask Sani O'Reilly about Aaron Conley, who
It's his birthday today, 25 today, happy birthday Aaron. He's just signed for Millwall after an underwhelming spell at Sunderland, and that underwhelming spell at Sunderland was preceded by underwhelming spells at Hall, Vinesia,
Middlesboro. This all came after he burst on the scene, Mika Richard style with his two goals against Spurs and his first ever start for Brighton. But his career seems to have just gone over a cliff after that very promising start. I was wondering if either of our more knowledgeable guests have any explanation as to why that might be.
Aaron Connolly himself has addressed this season when he signed for Sunderland. He gave a very candid interview to the Sunderland website explaining that he's had and had had problems with alcohol for quite a few years. I think the fact that he did burst onto the scene and that a lot was expected of him was something that clearly caused him quite a lot of stress and one of the ways that he
dealt with that was to turn to alcohol. That seems to have been a big reason why Connolly's last few years have been so underwhelming and why he's found it really tough to stay fit and contribute to any of the teams that he's played for.
That was considered to be a really great thing for him to be open about. And he got a huge amount of support from Sunderland fans, but also from lots across the game. And I think the fact that he's looking pretty bright in early appearances for Milwaukee can only be a good thing.
Yeah, absolutely. And so let's look at the other sort of playoff contenders. West Brom, we talked a little bit on the pod yesterday about Tony Mowbray, got his first win back after beating cancer, five-one demolition back at the Hawthorns. Middlesbrough in the final playoff position. I listened to your description of it. I'm just going to send people to your podcast, Ali.
Yesterday on the winning goal for Preston North End, it was totally bizarre to two players clashing heads and sort of not sure whether to play on or not. And then before they knew it, it was in the back of the net. So that was very, very odd. Definitely a recommender watching that and then listening to your podcast to have your brilliant description. Blackburn, two points behind in seventh Bristol City.
I mean, Sonic Bristol City, it's like that they've got 10 years in the championship. I think they're the joint longest serving. It just seems like it's never going to happen for them in my mind anyway. I think that's a very astute point. I'm not sure it will happen. And, you know, it takes Scott Twine's three kicks out the side. It be even
even worse. I think as far as who would be going up out of the rest, I mean, you mentioned West Brom and Tony Mowbray after that five one saying he wants his players to release the inner child and talking specifically about Greater D and Ghana did very well. And I think having watched a lot of Albion this season as well, Carlos Corbin leaving and Mowbray coming in allows that attack to kind of flow. And I've actually think on its day when it works, it worked very well. I mean, I'm sure we'll talk about the relegation candidates, but Pompey were atrocious.
But they do get loads of goals. I mean, the team that on the front as far as goals wise goes that I'm really interested to see how it'll do is not at city because Josh Sargent is now back. He's had a few injuries. His latest set back. He came back and got a double and a 5-1 against Swansea. Borgia Science was tearing it up till he decided to spit at Chris Metham just before Christmas and got himself a ban. But when those two are back, then you've got like an absolute shed load of goals and
If not, it could just stop scoring four or five in individual games, spread those out. They'd be OK, because that's the one thing that you really do need, isn't it? I mean, we talk about Burnley and their defense. They're not going to get automatic because they're not scoring enough. So that's the team that, although they're in the 11th at the moment, that's the team I'd really keep my eye on. And yeah, I think Bristol City just haven't quite got the X Factor outside of Scott Twine. Sorry.
Yeah, I think you're right. She offered Wednesday three points off the playoffs in 10th. And yeah, the usual circus at Watford, it seems, Ali, with Tom Cleverley, who's actually done a really, really good job there. Yeah, he has done a good job. I mean, they're drifting down the table after a strong start. They were incredible at home.
to start the season and that's kind of melted away as well and now they're losing home game. So the last couple of weeks have been difficult for a young manager to try and stop the slide and the owners or rather just those in charge of Watford. I don't think really help the situation necessarily. They don't
strike you as a club that provide a lot of support to their managers, which I think is a shame. And last week around this time, last week, I think it was there were some quite random reports from Spain that a Spanish manager was being lined up and would take over Watford. So they came out with two statements at the back end of last week, one not attributed to anyone, and then one attributed to Geno Botzo saying,
Tom cleverly the manager categorically and anything that says otherwise is speculation and I just find it quite funny with apologies to what for fans that we can have a situation where an ownership of put out two statements supporting their manager and everyone's going like yeah yeah no ignore that that that you know.
They've cried wolf so many times. We just don't simply don't believe them. No smoke without fire when it comes to Watford's owner. So, you know, they might be telling the truth. They might be keen to keep Tom cleverly at the helm, but it doesn't feel like it. And when things start to slide like this, it'll be the third season in a row. If it does happen, the Watford slide towards mid-table, don't look close to a Premier League return anytime soon. And clearly, when it is this repetitive with so many different managers and head coaches at the helm, you have to look at the top of the club and wonder,
if the way that they're operating is as effective as it seemed to be five, ten years ago. Let's talk about relegation then from the championship, delighted to say Oxford United aren't in this conversation, Gary Rowett. He's started to win me round a little bit, but again, as I say, there's mucking and mistle in my heart very, very much. Hull City, amazing win on Friday Night Dimension, Sheffield United, and they've signed Louis Barrie on loan from Villa, who tore it up once again at Stockport this season.
Danny, I mean, gosh, I mean, that seems like some statement signing. That is and whole under Liam Racine, you're also managed to get quite a few quality loan players. And Liam DeLap being one actually is doing quite well in the Premier League now. So they've got form at least for making those big signings. And yeah, Louis Barrie.
He just played with complete vibes, didn't he, in league two, then he got an injury and then in league one came back just as strong and the amount of goals he scored, he still league one's top scorer and just the quality of the goals as well. He could conjure something up out of nothing. I mean, if you don't know his backstory, it's great as well. He was the first English player.
to go and play in Barcelona's youth academy system he did actually managed to be one of the kit one of the young players on the outside of a game training match with with Messi and co you know when he bring the youngsters over to play with the first team so he said a moment of that at least he's not had his chance at Aston Villa yet but again we are.
continually seeing players, especially English players, get developed in the EFL and go on for great careers. And he's certainly not doing his chances of getting a place in the Premier League any harm whatsoever. So I think it's fascinating to see how he does for Hull because he's had this chance in league two that he took very well. He's gone to league one and he's been the outstanding player there. I mean, it's called from the halfway line on the opening day of the season. It kind of set his stall out for the season so far.
How he does in the championship, it would be really good to see. But in Ruben Sellers, Ruben Sayes, I want Ali to give me a correction on that, having his name suddenly changed halfway through his career in England, who can get something out of anyone, regardless of where they are, the job he did at Reading was incredible. I am fascinated to see how Louis Barry will do at Hall City.
So the Ruben Sellers thing or Ruben say yes thing is quite funny, at least to me, because we've been calling him Ruben Sellers throughout his tenure at Reading and to start a whole city. And then a couple of weeks ago, we had Ruben on the podcast and George, who's significantly less passionate about pronunciation than I am, I think it's fair to say, messaged me that morning, because he was doing the interview and said, I feel like I should probably, if he's coming on, get his name right out of respect.
And I was like, you've opened a real. Yeah, you vote. Unfortunately, you've opened a can of worms here because when you find out how you're meant to say it, you're going to hate it. You're not going to want to say it because you're going to think you're going to sound stupid. And people are going to be like, why are these guys suddenly getting all smart and Spanish on the part? But, you know, I'm of the opinion that once you learn how to say a name the correct way, it's.
But it's wrong not to. So yeah, I wish I'd never opened that Pandora's box, but Ruben say yes is very much how he would say it, or a Spanish speaker. Well, as the most mispronounced man in broadcasting, I salute you.
Yeah. How was he as an interviewee just out of interest? He seems like a smart guy. Mate, absolutely impeccable. I mean, couldn't have been any better. And just turning the line brilliantly between
You know, too much coaching speak is just the right side of it. So he gave us so much detail in terms of coaching and development and tactics that you very rarely get in a 20 minute zoom chat with a manager, but it
you know he did so in a way that that felt very genuine as well which is a great skill it didn't feel like he was just trying to impress um he just is incredibly clear about how he manages and uh kind of the thing that it made me think afterwards was clearly football management has changed a lot and in particular the demographic of managers in the top two and now three english divisions has changed a lot and not just in terms of nationality but also in terms of
you know how they are formed and where they come from in terms of you know kind of arriving as a head coach and a manager and say yes he spent basically 10 to 15 years traveling the world because he didn't have a professional career coaching in Azerbaijan, Turkey, Greece, Denmark, Norway, I think five or six different nations before he arrived at Southampton to work under
And so when you think about it, he arrives as a Reading Manager in his first full-time senior management job and is ostensibly a very young coach and you think may be inexperienced, but actually he has spent 10 to 15 years.
fine tuning what he's going to do when he becomes a number one and i think that's where the clarity comes from we spoke to richy well and so week after on the podcast and without bringing up say yes he spoke about the fact that when he started his managerial career straight off the back of a twenty year playing career,
one of the things he found challenging was having to know how to communicate his ideas clearly and concisely to players and thinking and communicating in a way that he hadn't done previously for 20 years. So i thought that was really interesting and maybe explains why some of this the new wave of coaches and managers are so good at communicating their ideas quickly and i think we're now seeing that
the generation of young players in particular, they're now used to that and they really expect that level of clarity and detail in their coaching. Other relegation candidates then, Stoke City, still without a win under Mark Robbins, Derby County, lost the last six games in the championship, two points off safety. I think we need to talk about Luton Town, Sunny, expecting them to come good at some point, but
It's not happening, isn't it? Matt Bloom filled now in charge. He's yet to win. They just seem to press the self-destruct button. And this could be, as I say, backed up allegations all the way down from the Premier League to League 1. It's pretty shocking stuff, isn't it?
It is, and I, in our previous EFL product, had been a Rob Edwards, got his name. God, Rob Edwards advocate. That sure is. Yeah. Just because I thought, well, you know, they've got the parachute payments and we've seen, he's a great coach. We've seen what you can do. Can they just ride this through? But it got so toxic. It got so bad.
The players are really underperforming. Elijah Radabayo, if you want to go on the XG, I think he should have scored 11. He's got five. They've just been upfront really not at it at all and defensively just completely all over the place. I mean, Alfie Daugherty, who did so well last season in the Premier League, has been out injured and that's
A mitigating factor because he is still one of the most creative players. Funny enough, I actually kind of know Matt Bloomfield through two separate avenues. One was when he was still a player or when he retired because if you don't know, he had a freak injury where he got a ball into the back of the head from a free kick and it concussed him so badly he had to retire.
And in my World Service sports program I was working on, Robin Koch of Leeds had had a similar concussion. So it got a few players who'd had concussion and we kind of talked about it. And it kept in touch with him for you there. And so every now and then we drop a message. And also he went to school with my wife. So I kept in touch with him that way. So I say all that, this is a caveat because I don't want to, I'm always pulling my punches a little bit, even though I'm pretty sure my wife doesn't really talk to Matt Bloomfield, not that I know anyway.
It took him a long time to get Wickham going. This time last year, he was on the series threat to lose his job, and he's kind of turned it around and did so well. I do know that I think his family still live in Suffolk in Felix, though, and he was kind of based in Wickham, so Luton's kind of halfway back.
So that is another draw. But you see, he's saying the right things. I think it's such a big job now. The players aren't performing. The game is Miller, which was a terrible game of football as well. But defensively, they were all over the place. And it is a worry. And it's not what also is really bad about this as well is often when we see a club go through back-to-back allegations, it's when there's calamity off the pitch and it's a complete disaster.
And Luton are, essentially, what, Fanon Club, or certainly have that kind of Fan ownership as part of them. And off the pitch, they're doing everything right. You know, they didn't go crazy with the money, they're getting a new stadium, that's all coming in place. So we need clubs like Luton to actually do well, to kind of show the rest of the football world that it can be done properly. So with that, and the fact that, you know, Matt Bloomfield is an old friend in some respect, I wanted to do okay.
Stay up please. I was not expecting a deep dive of such thoroughness into the life and times of Matt Bloomfield, I have to say. Hats off, Sammy. I think we've come to expect that from Sammy, though, haven't we? You know, this is the man who went to Burnley, Neil, the United, Neil. They'll be making t-shirts of that, I'm sure. And that will do part one in part two. We'll do league one.
Welcome back to The Guardian Football Weekly. Before we go on to Leagues One and Two, in an interview with The Sun released on Monday evening, the former Premier League referee David Koot has said he has hidden his sexuality during his career, fearing the abuse he would receive for being gay. So some of the quotes I'm gay and I've struggled with feeling proud of being me over a long period of time. I've received deeply unpleasant abuse during my career as a ref and to add
My sexuality to that would have been really difficult. Another statement on Monday, I apologise for his behaviour. This has been one of the most difficult periods of my life. I take full responsibility, my actions, which fell way below what was expected of me. It says my sexuality isn't the only reason that led me to be in that position.
but I'm not telling an authentic story if I don't say that I'm gay and as I've had real struggles dealing with hiding that, I hid my emotions as a young ref and hid my sexuality as well, a good quality as a referee, but a terrible quality as a human being and that's led me to a whole course of behaviours. A lot to unpack there Barry, what do you make of all this?
I think it's sad but understandable that he felt the need to to hide his sexuality. There's no players out in in football there are no current referees out in football. In rugby you've Nigel Owens who came out and nobody cared but I suspect in football if referee came out he probably would get abused for being gay.
And otherwise I don't care whether David Cruz is gay or not, as I suspect most people want. But I just hope he wanted to come out publicly and that he wasn't railroaded into it. I think it wouldn't be the first time that has happened. So yeah, I just hope he was happy to come out publicly and that it wasn't sort of blackmailed into it.
Yeah, absolutely, because as you said, that's not the first time this has happened. Sandy, you've spent time with the PGMOL. What are your thoughts on this? Well, funnily enough, one of the programs they have is the Breaking Barriers program. So basically, you get the top refs and you get them in a room with some young
Up and coming refs are people interested in becoming referees and it is all about trying to get as many different people involved in refereeing as possible for all the reasons that we know that having. People reflect our society in everything any walk of life is a is a is a net benefit overall so. It's really tragic that.
This is the way that we find out about David Coot's life and how he had all this, obviously, of going on his sexuality as well. In the context of if there's a young gay referee who was looking up to somebody like David Coot, they've kind of missed the opportunity there. He had an opportunity in a different world, but that's in a world where all this other stuff wasn't going on around him. I mean, I spent some time with Sam Barrett the day after he'd refereed Luton Arsenal last season. I asked him, you know, why?
Why do you do this? We've gone through his life story and he wanted to play as a keen player and he didn't become a referee. He's so young as well. He's in the early 30s. And you just said it. It's the best place on the pitch. It's the best place in the stadium to be at a game. You're in the middle of the match. The match is going on. You're there. There's no better place in the whole stadium than to be watching a game.
And I was like, that is a great answer. And that is, that's why they do this. That's all the referees. They absolutely live and breathe it. They love it so much. And even stuff like, so at that time, he'd yet to make a VAR call. I think his next game, it's Newcastle then did. And he would say, oh, you know, I'm dreading that first moment. I got to go over to the screen because I know I'm a bit like, oh, if I made a mistake, what's going on? And you got a real insight into the human element. And I wish we could do more of that.
But of course, we've seen through what's happened to David Cute, we've seen with Michael Oliver, every reason under the sun why referees need protecting as well. And I honestly think the people who maybe would be having a go at him for his sexuality, the same people who'd be having a go at him for everything else about him and being a referee in the first place, they're now reminded people who have a go at everyone for anything and are full of vitriol and anger regardless.
I think it's really sad that this is, this whole situation has arisen back when it first, all this news came out, a lot of us, you know, on the pod as well. We talked about, you know, we worry for his well-being and clearly this is part of it. I mean, he said, I watched his interview this morning, he said, he said a lot of support with, from the PGML, Koot, and he did say, he's been working with a psychologist as well, and that's been really positive and helpful for him. And he says he wants to going forward, he wants to kind of,
be someone who can help shed more light on refereeing and get more people involved in it. Maybe something in the media, but for now I think he just needs to really kind of look after himself and hopefully he's got enough people around him who can do that with him as well. Hopefully something positive can come out of all of this.
Just let everyone know I do have my three month old again with me just in case you can hear all boys already listened and watched so much football and this is what is short life. That child is impeccably well behaved in the ways of podcast etiquette. I haven't already.
Well, as I say, he's already well versed in it all. So let's move on to League 1, a full round of fiction League 1 and League 2 tonight. So it might be slightly outdated by the time you listen to this. So Birmingham Top does feel like there's to lose three points separating themselves.
and Wickham and Rexham it seems. I'm actually interested in Wickham Alley because obviously lots of manager to Luton. No word on who they might get in, but this could be quite a delicate situation given where they are in the table. They want to get this right, don't they?
Yeah, quickly, Robin, can you confirm or deny that your son is having the best sleep of his short life so far after being subjected to Burnley, nil, leads nil, and the shadow of which is really hung over this podcast. He was actually really, he said it was a chess match and that he enjoyed the tactical battles and he was wide awake. Oh, classic. That is, that's classy from him. Top of league one.
It felt two weeks ago, similar to top of the championship, a sort of two from four scenario with the teams that you mentioned, Burmian, Wickham, Rexham, and Huddersfield. All of them in slightly worse form than they have been previously in the campaign, which is opening the door a little bit for a team like Stockport, maybe, who are in good form, Leighton Orient, who have absolutely flown up the table from the relegation zone to one point outside the playoffs in about six weeks.
I still think Birmingham City with the games in hand, with the two point cushion and just being an excellent team for this level, very, very dominant. There are some similarities with Burnley. Forgive me, Birmingham City fans, you are not as bad at scoring goals as Burnley.
But there is a similar vibe to them in that they are defensively incredible barely ever face a shot let alone can see the goal going forward at the top of the pitch and you know with the caveat that teams at this level generally defending for their lives with everyone behind the ball against them making it.
Very difficult for them to play with any space. They're not that exciting going forward. I think there was a bit more expected of this group of stars, essentially, particularly Alfie May and Jay Stansfield, when it comes to scoring goals, Wickham have scored nine goals more than them this season.
But they should counter to the title, I think. And I think it'll be a bit of a scrap between Wickham, obviously currently manageable after Matt Bloomfield left them for Luton. They appear to have some pretty rich, ambitious owners who came in at the end of last season.
They've broken their transfer record twice in January, signing Danish players. So it's a new look, Wickham. And I think if they do go up to the championship, you can shelve any thoughts of little old Wickham under Gareth Ainsworth, because it will look and feel very different. And then Rexham, who incredible at home, basically win every game, drew with Birmingham the other night, but pretty much win every other game.
at home and away from home a sort of bottom half team at best. Huddersfield, who went 16 unbeaten before losing to Bolton at home on the weekend. So I'm not a hugely clear myself on who will finish second alongside Birmingham City, but that chasing pack, again, like if you're Stockport Barnsy, late in Orient, Reading, Bolton and Charlton, who are all separated by four points, you're probably thinking playoffs rather than automatics at this point.
Sonny Bolton, currently ninth, and they got rid of Ian Everts. Oxford United could broke them at Wembley, and it seems they just not recovered from that. It really felt like they really wanted to keep hold of him. They wanted to give him every opportunity, but it seems like, I guess maybe that fan opposition just got a bit too much in the end.
Yeah, and they did a little couple of weeks earlier, did kind of back him. The chair woman did actually put out a statement saying, you know, we are going to back him, but results haven't been great, have they? He certainly comes across a very abrasive man in the wrong moment. You know, twice this even very recently, we've seen him have a go at opposition players. He's having to go at the Charlton captain, the other day on the pitch. There might have been some
four letter words thrown from both parties. And he's angered the fans as well sometimes in his post-match interviews in just the way he can carry himself. But he is quite a passionate man. He has had Bolton playing good football in his time there. He's been there quite a while. Actually, when he did leave, the club kind of put out a little thank you sort of video thing, kind of showing all his best bits.
It kind of feels at the right time, but you've got to remember where Bolton were when he came in, which was Barry and Bolton were both on the verge of being kicked out of the EFL. My team Barry ended up going out and Bolton did not, and they were on Death's Door. And at one point, and I've mentioned it before, he did say that the best team in the league, in league two, and they were right near the bottom, and they went this crazy rung gotten promoted back into league one, studied the ship, and they've been there, they're abouts. And yeah, he never recovered from that Wembley final.
But yeah, it's probably the right time for him to go, and I'm sure there'll be other clubs interested in him. Maybe a few players at other teams, not so keen on him joining them. Yeah, no, he's a bit of a controversial figure, isn't he? And relegation in League One looks fairly set at the moment. You do see some movement, but Burton Cambridge in Crawley
on 21 points. Shrewsbury Bottom with 20. Gareth Ainsworth has started to turn their form around before their last minute loss to Charlton on Saturday. They lost just one in seven. Six points to make up though for those in between 21st and 23rd. Any takers, Ali, do we think?
Well, we're kind of desperate for something to happen down the bottom of League One, because that four in the relegation places has been pretty much set since the first week of the season. And you occasionally get things like Burton rattling off back-to-back wins, as they have done in their last two games, doubling their win total for the whole season in Games 26 and 27. Cambridge have had a couple of small little bursts of wins. As you mentioned, Shrewsbury are clearly better, more competitive under Gareth Ainsworth.
the way that they do it is by reducing the game to very little, playing a lot of direct football, trying to keep clean cheats and Nick 1-0 wins from set pieces and they're doing that fairly well. But again, with the seven-point gap as it is for them to make up, you wonder if they're going to be able to win enough games that they'll need to in the last 20 to kind of close the gap. You know that the hope
comes not so much from their own performance level, these four, but the performance level of Northampton town, who are just above the relegation zone, and Peterborough, both of these two teams on 27. Northampton probably expecting a season of struggle, probably weren't expecting their talismanic manager, John Brady, to step down from the club. Just exhausted, I think, basically, after an incredible tenure that he'd had.
and keeping them with just about keeping their heads above water in league one but they're in in desperate form they've only won two games in the last three months and peterborough you know more dramatic really because peterborough is quite a dramatic football club is there's always something going on there their games always have tons of goals compared to everyone else they've always got young wonder kids being bought and sold and and and obviously berry fry and our mccantony at the head of the club are.
are entertainers at their core. The club are doing terribly. They've only won one game in the last two months. It was a fourth three win against Crawley. They lost five-one at Lincoln over the weekend and it was their worst display of the season so far. Dropping down the league towards a relegation that certainly no one would have seen coming and getting worse and worse. Darren Ferguson very much got the flame thrower out after this one and Basie said,
It's the softest group of players I've ever worked with. What can I do with this useless lot? So watch this space for Peterborough because they can't really afford for this form to carry on. And it would be a huge dent in the whole club's ethos and the way that they operate and the confidence with which they operate from the top of the club if they were to drop down to the league too. It's interesting that Darren uses a flamethrower and wasn't bequeathed his dad's airdrope.
Might be trademarked maybe might be trademarked. I do I wonder if they who will be The in between manager between him and you know him coming back because that's usually what happens isn't it with Peter bro? He they they suck him and there's something higher on the cans grandma
McCann. Well, McCann, and then, yeah, and so on and so forth. They really need to get some more contacts in that book. Luke has messaged saying, can we have a Ryan loft minute from Max? And, you know, in the absence of your podcasting husband, Barry, would you like to do the honors for him? Yeah, well, I'm confident Cambridge can get them out of this pickle because Ryan loft, who I think Cambridge signed on the day of the European Championships final and weirdly,
It's a precedent, didn't it? It was the topic of a part discussion when we were covering the euro's final. Lafti has hit a rich vein scoring form. He's now got one goal in one, which was the decisive goal in Cambridge's 3-2 win over Mansfield at the weekend. So if he can continue that rich vein of form,
Who's to say that Cambridge can't extract themselves from the mire in which they currently find themselves? A huge vote of confidence from the club for lofty yesterday. They signed two strikers.
What I would say on that 3-2 win, by the way, Max has told us that he catches the Cambridge games by scrolling through the Twitter feed, and he owes the beginning and catches up. And Cambridge scored up 31 seconds, so he would have been having a great time. And then when Ryan Lough made it 3-0, he must have been bouncing off the ceilings, and then they kind of let Mansfield... Going very stressed.
Yeah, when it got to 3-2 in the 91st minute, I'm sure he was not enjoying himself again. But I did look at the data, by the way, just for Max, I looked at the data. And in chance creation and shots on target and big chances missed and expected goals, they are not in the bottom four. So they are actually making stuff happen. They're just not making it happen. But yeah, it may be Ryan Loft under the pressure of those other players he's now competing with.
or braised levels. Undropable, he'll be. That one's for you, Max. That's League One done. League Two is coming next in part three.
Welcome to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly. So, League two, as is always the case with these pods, we haven't got a lot of time for League two. So, let's raffle through some of the big stories. We'll saw 12 points clear in a game in hand at the top three nil defeat to Bradford City at the weekend. But, Ali, you're kind of, you feel that's going to be an anomaly and that they're going to cruise.
I think so. I think so. I really don't want to overreact to one defeat when they'd won their previous nine league games. I guess the only question mark is whether they replace the goals of Nathan Lowe, who was recalled by Stoke. He could still go back to also, if Stoke signed a few more strikers this window. He might go back to also, which would be a nice story because I think for someone like him to win the league to Golden Boot, Age 19, and experience promotion would be
Great for his confidence moving forward, but he has been playing games for stoking the championship in the last couple of weeks, so maybe that's his level now. I'm not too worried about Walsall, I think it's fair to say. And beneath them, just an absolute pun fight, isn't it? There's a seven team separated by four points now. It felt like there were about 10 teams gunning for a playoff position. Now there is a bit of a gap opening up between
currently eighth place offered city on 42, then Grimsby on 38 and Chesterfield on 36. So now to me it feels like a real fight for second and third and those who miss out will likely drop into the playoff places. It's kind of hard to predict who that will be because there's merits and probably some things to detract from all of these teams. That's kind of the beauty of league too. The reason it is easily the most difficult league of the three to predict
and generally the most competitive with the most surprise results in terms of the league table. It's because the differences between these teams are much smaller than they are as you go up the pyramid where the gaps in budgets get a lot bigger. It's a brilliant, brilliant league. I would just give credit to Bradford. They were the team that beatwall saw three nil over the weekend. Fantastic display from them.
and particularly impressive because their striker Talisman Andy Cook tore his ACL on New Year's Day. He has scored more goals than anyone else at this level over the last three, three and a half years, scores about a third of Bradford's goals total in that time. And he's out. There's a lot of concern about how they would find a way of scoring goals and so far so good. They've won their three games since he's been injured, so they're coping with that very well.
Bradley, another team be like Bristol City just seemed like they're stuck. They're a bit stuck, aren't they? Just can't quite seem to get over the line. I mean, Sulford City were flying as well. Five wins on the bounce before the eight-nil defeat to Man City. I think some of their players just still in that eti had dressing room, just staring into the middle distance. Not sure what's happened to them. But since then, they've lost the last two league games. Sani, anyone you feel might sneak it? I mean, it's not really sneaking in. As Ali said, it's kind of anyone who could put a run together.
Yeah, it is. And just to keep the running theme of clean sheets, AFC Wimbledon do have the most in this division, along with Colchester United with 12. And I think that could be a real positive for them. And they were in such a mire in League One. They were just about surviving year upon year. And then they had a really bad run and got relegated. And at the time I was like, well,
You know, they've got plow lane. They need a bit of positivity. Take the hit into league two and maybe build a bit of momentum and have a bit of fun whilst doing it. I mean, the fact that they can, they can lord it over MK Donnes at least at home and then a nil, nil away last time out as given them that positivity. And I think that's one of the teams that, you know, Johnny Jackson, I think has figured out what the club's about. And after his chart and kind of misstep, if you want to call it that, it seems to be going in the right direction. So that's the one team I'm kind of thinking.
have that solidity, whereas someone like Knox County who score lots of goals can see quite a lot as well. And Grant McCowns don't cast the ropes because it's top three go up automatically, does give you that bit of leeway to maybe not be as well performing. And yeah, that's kind of a thing. I think Solver City, it's funny, they invest so much money, they bring in all these players that are like no names in the lower league, they just can't quite get it together.
We'll have to wait and see if this is this is the year of we get more Gary Neville shots of him in a looking a bit miserable in a in a press room somewhere on a director's box. I have no animal store to solve for but their total lack of success does seem quite puzzling considering their owners and their wealth but
And I do find it amusing that Gary never always preaches or often preaches patience for managers higher up, the food chain, but he's never slow about getting rid of any of his own who are underperforming.
Yeah, you do wonder what will happen if this street continues. Moving on to relegation. I mean, you have to be pretty bad really to get relegated from leap two because there's only two positions. But I mean, that feels a bit harsh, more concurrently propping up the table, Allian. I mean, relegation would be bad, but it just seems like they got a myriad of other problems.
Yeah, they do. These aren't new problems. These are problems that need to be solved. And the longer they go on, the closer the club might get to what the board of directors called last summer, potentially catastrophic outcome, which, you know, Sanny and Barry know all too well exactly what that means and what that entails. The issue here is that the owners bond group investments, they've owned the club for six and a half years now.
For the last two and a half, the club's been supposedly up for sale, but for whatever reason, and I say for whatever reason, because bond group investments, ability to communicate with the Morgan fans is incredibly poor and very frustrating for the fan base. That hasn't happened, and there's currently
nothing publicly available about a potential sale and it seems incredibly important that the club does change hands and that someone takes over with the best intentions of the club and also an ability to fund it because last week that the news if you like came in the form of a
a statement from the board of directors who are essentially calling out the ownership via official club channels which is unusual and just kind of adds to the sense of concern. And they were saying that we can't sign any players in January to help with our survival bid. I think they have five points from safety at the moment.
We can't add to Derek Adams' squad because bond group investments haven't proven sufficiency or source of funding to the end of the season to the EFL and there are very strict rules that the EFL put in place in order to try and avoid catastrophic situations. It's very important that owners do provide that.
if they don't, that they have restrictions placed on them when it comes to recruitment. So it's kind of like this very large existential issue, which comes with a huge amount of frustration, essentially the fan base and the board of directors saying, why have you not sold this club yet? What is stopping you from doing so? Why haven't you, you know, why is it that prospective owners seem to find it so difficult to get a deal done? And they don't really feel like the club can move forward in any sense until that happens.
It's not the only troubling ownership situation in the EFL at the moment, Redding, obviously, in League One. It is absolutely that as well, probably a bit less. It's a bit harder for Morkham to kind of get the noise out there. I think about this. They're a much smaller club with a much smaller fan base. So I think it's important that we talk about these things on shows such as this. And yeah, if anyone's listening that might be a viable prospective buyer of Morkham FC, they'd need exactly that.
We've talked to quite a lot, haven't we, about this regulator, and things like that. No, Sally, obviously, you've spoken very passionately about your club and what happened with that. But I mean, Barry, as I know, is that going to actually prevent these situations from happening, do we think? We don't really know what it's going to look like, do we? It's so hard to say, Robin, because
All these amendments are being added on. The Tories are trying to kick it into the long grass. So I just can't answer your question. I don't know. Ideally, it would prevent these kinds of things happening, but only time will tell. It's not a very satisfactory answer, but it's the only one I have. Maybe one of the boys have a better one.
Well, I think it's just very difficult. I am not an expert on all things financial or in terms of business and limited companies and stuff. But as much as we know football clubs aren't like normal businesses, I think it's quite difficult to guard against a situation, for example, where
An ownership group that's owned a club for six years and therefore provided proof of funding upon purchase and funded the club for a few years at the point where they start to find it more difficult and stop providing that funding.
I don't really know what recourse you have to remove a club from someone that legally owns the club. Clearly that's where you need a sale and it takes two to tango. You need both viable prospective buyers and they need to be.
fit and proper, of course, and you need the people who are incumbent and need to sell the club, as we see it, to play ball on that front as well. And so it's just, I think it creates situations that there's just a lot of awkwardness, a lot of friction in terms of the transaction. And I don't know exactly what either the EFL or an independent regulator is likely to be able to do legally to force changes such as this.
Well, on that cheery notes, we'll send you on your way, Pod fans. That's all for today. Thank you so much, Barry. Thank you. Thank you so much, Ali. Thank you very much. Cheers, Sandy. No worries. Anytime. Your day gets better yesterday. We'll be back on Thursday to try and unpack the 18 Champions League Games taking place on Wednesday. Yeah, look forward to that, Barry. Rest up. Do your stretches. We'll be back on Thursday. Football Weekly is produced by Joel Grove, and our executive producer is Danielle Stevens.
This is The Guardian.
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