With Leeds United having edged out hosts Middlesbrough in midweek – returning to the top of the Championship table, while harming their rivals’ play-off chances – The YP’s football writing team of Stuart Rayner and Leon Wobschall ponder where the respective promotion hopes of both clubs lie.
Two 1-0 defeats for Sheffield United are not what the doctor ordered but the Blades very much remain in the three-horse race for the two automatic promotion spots, with just five games remaining. Can they recover in order to edge out rivals Leeds or Burnley?
And what next for Sheffield Wednesday both on and off the pitch, with hopes of a late play-off push all but gone and stories of players not being paid surfacing in recent days. Is a change of ownership the only way the Owls can take things to the next level?
Huddersfield Town’s hopes of getting back into play-off contention in League Two suffered a further blow with defeat at home to Wycombe Wanderers, leaving them four points off sixth spot with five games to play.
Two 1-0 defeats for Sheffield United are not what the doctor ordered but the Blades very much remain in the three-horse race for the two automatic promotion spots, with just five games remaining. Can they recover in order to edge out rivals Leeds or Burnley?
And what next for Sheffield Wednesday both on and off the pitch, with hopes of a late play-off push all but gone and stories of players not being paid surfacing in recent days. Is a change of ownership the only way the Owls can take things to the next level?
Huddersfield Town’s hopes of getting back into play-off contention in League Two suffered a further blow with defeat at home to Wycombe Wanderers, leaving them four points off sixth spot with five games to play.
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SportsTranscript
00:00Hello and welcome to the latest edition of Football Talk from the Yorkshire Post,
00:13where we will be discussing some of the latest talking points from the world of football with
00:16members of our football writing team. On this week's episode, we're joined by Chief Football
00:20Writer for the Yorkshire Post, Stuart Rayner, and Football Writer for the Yorkshire Post,
00:24Leon Wapshaw, to discuss all of the latest developments affecting our local clubs.
00:27Don't forget you can keep up to date with all the football news across Yorkshire and
00:31beyond by logging on to our website at yp.sport at nationalworld.com, as well as checking out
00:37our various Twitter feeds, the main one being at YPSport. If you search for Yorkshire Post Sport,
00:42Yorkshire Post Football, or even Sheffield Sport on Facebook, you can find us there as well.
00:47And if you have any questions for our writers, you can get in touch using those various Twitter
00:50or Facebook pages, or email us directly with the subject matter as footballtalkpodcast
00:55at yp.sport at nationalworld.com, yorkshirepost.co.uk.
01:00As mentioned earlier in the intro, this week we're joined by Chief Football Writer for the
01:04Yorkshire Post, Stuart Rayner, and Football Writer for the Yorkshire Post, Leon Wapshaw.
01:08Good morning, guys.
01:08Good morning.
01:09Good morning.
01:10Good morning.
01:11Right, this week in the Championship, we saw Sheffield United fall to a shock 1-0 defeat
01:16against Oxford United. Sheffield Wednesday played out a 1-0 defeat when they clashed with
01:21Hull City, who in turn recorded a 1-0 defeat when they travelled to Watford, and Middlesbrough
01:28gave their playoff hopes a boost by beating Blackburn Rovers 2-0. We'll be covering all
01:33of these teams in the show as we go on. In League One, Barnsley suffered a bruising 6-2 defeat
01:39when they travelled to Birmingham City, and Rotherham United recorded successive victories
01:44for the first time since December last year when they beat Blackpool 2-1 before beating
01:49Bolton Wanderers 1-0. And in League Two, Bradford City climbed to the top of the table following
01:54a 2-0 victory over Crew Alexandra. Doncaster Rovers kept up with the automatic promotion spots following
02:00a 2-0 victory over Cheltenham Town, and Harrogate Town fell to a 1-0 defeat at the hands of AFC Wimbledon.
02:06However, let's start this week with the meeting between Leeds United and Luton Town, which saw the
02:13two sides share the points in a 1-0 draw, and Leeds United then followed this up with a 1-0 victory
02:20when the Whites clashed with Middlesbrough. Now, what did you make of the performances by both Leeds
02:26United and Middlesbrough, seeing as there was so much on the line for both teams that night, Leon?
02:31Yeah, well, two difficult away games, I suppose, for different reasons. And four points out of six,
02:41I think the pragmatists in Leeds would have taken that. I mean, I don't know what Stuart thinks.
02:48I think the Middlesbrough game was always going to put my head on the chopping block and predicted
02:56Leeds would win comfortably, but I thought it would always be a football match.
03:00And it would probably, you know, suit Leeds, Middlesbrough aren't the sort of side to sort of
03:06sit in a low block, sort of frustrate them and, you know, truncate the play a bit like Luton.
03:14And I think from what Daniel Farker was saying afterwards, the pitch at Middlesbrough was far
03:19better as well. He likened it to sheep grazing at Kenilworth Road.
03:23So, Leeds had, amongst other things, in a pretty difficult week, they had that to contend with.
03:31So, yeah, I always had a feeling that it's only whether Leeds would win or not, but I thought that
03:38that game would particularly take care of itself. I always thought the Luton game would be a bit more
03:42sticky. We spoke about it last week, you know, the crowd are on top of you. Luton are battling for
03:47their lives. They're not going to make it a football match. And in the same way, I think
03:51the game at Oxford on Good Friday will probably be tougher in a lot of respects, if that makes sense,
03:58than the Middlesbrough game. That always sort of was going to suit Leeds. They've got a good
04:05record at Middlesbrough. They've had some good, you know, good footballing battles with them over the
04:10last few years, and they've come out on top. And if you take away the, you know, the cup game,
04:15which, you know, it's not really, it's not a be-all and end-all for Leeds, is it? That's
04:20which Middlesbrough, one they've done, they've done pretty well. And yeah, they showed, they showed a
04:24couple of sides, sides of it, Leeds, that they flew out of the blocks. It was, it was a terrific
04:29start, exactly what you want. It was a great, a great goal. They opened up Middlesbrough on the,
04:34on the left. Good work by Ampadu and Firpo. Great cross by Solomon and Dan James was steaming in,
04:42just got in front of Illing Jr. And he's got a good, he's having a good, good run against Middlesbrough,
04:47isn't he? He seems to like playing against. I think he's got, was it, three or four goals in,
04:52in the last four or five meetings with them. So yeah, it was, it was a, it was a good start.
05:00Borough struggled in the first half, I thought, particularly on, on the sort of fullback areas
05:07as well. Illing Jr is good going forward. He's not the best defender. He's a work in progress
05:12in that regard. I didn't think Dyke Steele was, was too comfortable either. On the other
05:16fact, Dan James was, you know, he really was full of beans, showed what he was all about.
05:22And yeah, I mean, it was funny. It looked a comfortable game for Leeds. And I think if they'd
05:26have got the second goal, it had been, which I don't think anyone could have really argued
05:30with in the, in the first half, it had been a, a comfortable night, but it's, it's, it's never
05:36particularly easy at this time of year for Leeds, is it for one reason or another? It's, it's hardly
05:42ever, ever straightforward. And so they had the, another bad refereeing, well, not a referee
05:49in call, an assistant call with, um, quite a bit of controversy. It was, um, you know,
05:54a goal from Tanaka at the far post. Three plays showed that Hayden Hackney had played
05:59him on perfectly good, good goal. And it should have stood. And obviously the, the, the, uh,
06:06aforementioned official, I won't, I won't name him, but he had disallowed goals in the games,
06:12in the home game against Millwall relatively recently, which Daniel Farker was, um, not particularly
06:18happy about and the game at Coventry as well from, from Gonto. And, and, um, he was obviously
06:24at the center of it again, as he was in, in the second half when, you know, it was a terrific
06:29counter from Leeds, from Smith and Gonto and, uh, clearly onside again, Patrick Bamford. And it
06:35would have been a nice moment for him, you know, against his old club. He got a few boos when, when
06:40he came on, which I wasn't too sure about, to be quite honest. He was, he was a pretty good servant
06:45for Middlesbrough in his, in his time there. So I felt that was a little bit, a little bit
06:50poor from, from the Borough fans. And it would have been a great bonus for Patrick as well,
06:53wouldn't it? He's back in the fray and put his hand up. He's had some, he's had some difficulties
06:58with, with injuries. So in the end, Leeds had to actually dig in. Middlesbrough did improve.
07:04They got into some good situations out wide and one or two things dropped in, in the box,
07:11not great chances, but good half chances. But unfortunately, they left the, left the
07:16shooting boots at home. Finna Zazu was probably one of the best players of his type. And certainly
07:22in the autumn, you know, in those sort of positions, you've, you've seen, you've scored a few goals
07:28back then. He, he was a bit wayward. I think the biggest disappointment from Middlesbrough perspective
07:32was, was Ian Nacho. He, he's obviously coming as, not a light, light for light replacement for
07:40Latic Laff, but I'm sure Borough were putting their, um, putting a lot of faith in him getting
07:45a few goals and stepping into the breach a bit, but it's just not, not really happened for him,
07:49is it? And there was a few cheers when he, when he actually came off. He, he was, I'm talking about
07:55shots being over the top and wild. He was, he was really wayward with the best chance in the
07:59first half. And now he's sort of come in to sort of give Middlesbrough a little bit of a boost
08:05after the last half going and, um, he's, he's not provided it really. And, um, that's why it's
08:11one of the reasons why it's been a difficult sort of second half of the season for them,
08:16even though they have sort of, you know, stepped up a little bit, but, but yeah, yeah, Leeds ended up
08:22digging in a little bit and there was a lot of emotion at the final whistle. I mean, Stewart went to the
08:27Luton game and that sounded really tense as well with the fans, with the fans at the end,
08:32everyone, and Farker talks about it all the time, you know, Leeds be the 24-7 club, emotional,
08:38one of the most emotional clubs in Britain, let alone the division, because they're so desperate
08:43for it to, to happen. And, um, yeah, there was some, uh, some sort of scenes of, not just celebration,
08:51but relief really at the final whistle at Middlesbrough. I think, you know, with the context as well,
08:55a few, you know, after the Portsmouth game, a sticky one of four, you know, the QPR game,
09:03you know, Meslier against, against Swansea. Well, to be fair, Leeds are, is it five games
09:09after QPR and they haven't, alright, they haven't won them all and they had three draws, but,
09:15you know, a draw at Leeds United is, that's not going to be enough to pacify everyone, is it,
09:19at the, at the minute. But, to be fair to Farker, he's, he's held his nerve and he's,
09:23he's, he's always said that, you know, this time of year, a point can be a good point and,
09:28you know, you're looking at, obviously, the Chef United, um,
09:32results, maybe he's, maybe he's got a point, but you, you did feel that Leeds needed that on,
09:37on Tuesday night, um, for all manner of reasons, obviously last week as well, there was the 25th,
09:43recently the 25th anniversary of the death of, um, uh, of the two lead supporters in,
09:49in Istanbul, you know, um, Chris Loftus and, you know, Kevin, Kevin Spate, so there was all that
09:57and, you know, it affected one or two of the Leeds players, he, he, he spoke well and eloquently
10:02after the game of medals with Daniel Farker and he, and he mentioned how it affected some of the
10:06young players coming into Leeds United, he mentioned now Tanaka and, uh, he was in tears in the, uh,
10:13in the, uh, dressing room and he was very emotional at the end as well and, you know,
10:16he's, he's a young footballer who's come over to England to a huge football club and,
10:21you know, he's, he's wanting to become part of the fabric of it and understand it and,
10:26obviously, the commemorations, um, last week, um, obviously coupled with the running form that
10:32Leeds are on a really emotional club and things do get to you sometimes, don't they? And, um,
10:38young footballers do need, do need support, so I think given everything, one or two, one or two injury
10:45issues as well, you've got to throw in, obviously, Joe Rothwell's out for a little bit with his,
10:48with his card problem and from what, um, Farker was saying after the Middlesbrough game,
10:54it looks like Pascal Stroy could be out for the, you know, the rest of the season,
10:57so they're going to have to contend without him, so, as Stuart well knows as well, it's never easy
11:02with Leeds United, is it? But they, you know, obviously on the night they had to contend with the two
11:09goals that were ruled out that shouldn't have been ruled out, but that's part of the ticket,
11:13isn't it for Leeds, and, you know, on the night they, in fairness, they deserved to,
11:18to win and, you know, 1-0, 3 points, same as 7-0 against Cardiff is or, or whatever,
11:25and given, obviously, events elsewhere, a significant night, but I'm not going to sort of
11:30put my head on the, on the chopping block and say that's it with Leeds, I actually did the game
11:35against Middlesbrough last year, and it felt similar, you know, it was, that was a different sort
11:41of game, Leeds won 4-3, it was more of a basketball game, and, you know, I remember when Somerville
11:46got that goal attacking the Leeds fans in the second half, and, you know, the celebrations,
11:50it felt cathartic, but you can't pat yourself on the back too much, there's still, you know,
11:56a few more hills to climb, but, yeah, I think for the, in the short term, for the wellbeing of Leeds,
12:02I think they needed that. Definitely, definitely, yeah, I mean, I'm really struck by the sort of
12:08emotion and the psychology of, of title races, you know, we'll talk about it later, but I was in the
12:13press room at, at Bramall Lane on Tuesday night, and, and it was really, the whole stadium was really
12:20flat, really despondent, but I couldn't help but think, this is exactly how it felt after the last
12:25two Leeds matches, and now, Leeds are top of the league, you know, a couple of days later,
12:30it changes so quickly, and you can really get swept up in it, as, as Leon says, you know, last
12:34year with that Middlesbrough game, you could think, that's it, they've cracked it, you know,
12:38when, when Leeds have that brilliant February, I'm, I'm personally was thinking, right, this is,
12:42this is going to be Leeds kicking away, you know, and likewise, when they have a wobble,
12:48one of, one of, one of Farco's many favourite phrases is over-interpret things, you can over-interpret,
12:54you know, a, a bad run of form, because it, it, it just switches so quickly, and there's so many
13:00unexpected things that happen, you know, Derby have been on it, on a good run recently, but you
13:04weren't really expecting Burnley to not win there, for example, and every, every time you think it's
13:09taken a decisive turn, you realise, actually, there's, there's a few more still to come. I mean,
13:15in, in, in fairness to, to Farco, and, and, and Leon's touched on it, you know, he was very strong
13:20coming out after the Luton game, when I say everything was all sort of flat and despondent,
13:25actually, this is a good point, and, and my feeling at the time was that, that to go to Luton,
13:30such a physical team, as Leon says, such a, a difficult team for Leeds to play against,
13:35that actually, under normal circumstances, if that was just in a bubble, a draw would have been a good
13:40point, but because it added to this run of one winning six, I felt that it wasn't, but he was like,
13:46no, no, this is a good point, and lo and behold, since he said those words, Sheffield United have
13:50lost twice, you know, and Leeds have gone from being outside of the automatics to, to, to top of
13:55the league, it really does, it really does change that, that quickly, and I say it's, it's, it's very,
14:02it's very easy to get swept up in it, but yeah, I mean, you're always, I think, I think as, as any
14:09football fan, really, you're always sort of panicking about what can go wrong, and, and those injuries for
14:14Leeds are worrying, you know, stroke in of itself, you can deal with it as well, yeah,
14:20but because you've not got Roswell, then taking Ampadu out the midfield becomes more significant,
14:25you know, Dan James has a problem with his hamstring, it's whirring through your mind,
14:30you know, what, what could happen, and there's, you know, same for Burnley and Sheffield United as
14:34well, um, so yeah, it's, it's, it's really going to test the nerves, as Leon rightly says, Oxford is
14:40going to be a big one to watch, every, everyone to them, let's say everyone, lots of people look
14:45at the fixture list in terms of the league position of the team you're playing, as in the higher they
14:49are, the more difficult they're going to be, but as Leon's rightly said, you know, Middlesbrough was
14:53the high, were the highest placed team that Leeds were going to face, but because of the style
14:57thing, not perhaps the biggest test, you know, although they've been in good form, so, um, yeah,
15:04it, it felt like they really needed that, as Leon said, to just get themselves back on track mentally,
15:10um, but one game in isolation isn't going to change anything for, for good or for bad, that,
15:15that's the key, and, and I think that's the, I think that's the key for Middlesbrough too, I mean,
15:19you know, they've been on, on such a good run of four, we've not talked about them much lately,
15:23we've sort of alluded to it at the end of the podcast, they've kind of sneaked up to fifth,
15:27in spite of those problems up front, you know, you hope that Ian Atchard scoring his first goal
15:31against Oxford had recently would kickstart him, but, but it clearly hasn't, but, you know,
15:37for them, again, there's going to be setbacks, and, and you really can't beat yourself up too much
15:42about losing, losing to Leeds United, you know, you've just got to get back on the horse, but,
15:46as I said, I was at Brammer Lane on Tuesday, and Millwall looked very good, uh, it's, it's Millwall
15:51v Middlesbrough on Saturday, that's going to be big, because, you know, Millwall have got that,
15:57like Middlesbrough, of a team coming up on the rails, they've also got the confidence of a
16:00manager who's won three playoffs, so they are right up for this, including one against Middlesbrough,
16:05including one against Middlesbrough, they're playing well, they're confident, they say,
16:09Middlesbrough in the same boat, you know, before Tuesday, so they can't let Tuesday affect them
16:14too much, that should be a, that should be a really good game, and I think after that,
16:18you know, talk about games not being decisive, I think that game will tell us a lot about whether,
16:23whether Middlesbrough can, uh, can be serious contenders for the playoffs.
16:27I suppose Middlesbrough will, was the one that will be happy that, obviously,
16:31Josh Coleman's scored the winner at Brammer Lane, he won't be able to play, will he,
16:35under the, yeah, the terms of his, his, of his loan, but yeah, I agree with Stewart,
16:39I think that's, it's a real test for Middlesbrough, I think he will have a decision to make,
16:43in terms of Ian Acho, and maybe, maybe playing more, you know, Morgan Whittaker in there,
16:48something like that, or, or, having said that, you can, Carrick's, they're not, he's never been the
16:54sort of coach who, who he's told what to do by his supporters, he's got his way, he'll make his
16:59decision and he doesn't, you know, with respect, he, he doesn't play to the galleries, I mean,
17:04neither, neither did his chairman, to be quite honest, because, obviously, there was a lot of,
17:07none of those, not so long back, and, uh, and he stuck to his guns with him, but, uh, yeah, big game for,
17:12for, for Middlesbrough, and they've got some big ones, and they've got Norwich still to play at home,
17:16uh, and the final day, that could be a, oh, it's one of those, it could absolutely, it could
17:22absolutely be ginormous, or it couldn't mean that, it might not necessarily mean that much, but they've
17:26got Coventry on the, on the, on the last day, we'll have to see how, how, uh, how that one fares.
17:32And more bad memories with Coventry, of course, if you think he's done before that.
17:37Well, at least, at least Mark Robbins isn't there.
17:39Exactly, yeah, yeah, but yeah, I mean,
17:42I'd say from a Leeds perspective, um, there were, there were just a few signs of cracks,
17:47you know, we talked about the press conferences the other week, you know, he was,
17:52it's, it's difficult to know what, with a manager, whether, whether,
17:56the being honest sometimes is a good thing or a bad thing, but he was sort of talking about
18:00Largi Ramazani being off it, he'd highlighted, um, you know, a few mistakes to Naka and costly
18:06mistakes to Naka had made recently, and clearly, from what we know, a week on, he's quite an emotional
18:11player. Um, you know, mentioned it, obviously there was the whole, the whole Melia thing.
18:16So he's, he's not hiding from these things, but you wouldn't, you wonder about the effects
18:22each individual comment will have on a player's confidence. But what I will say is Daniel Fark
18:27has been there, got the t-shirt and he knows these players, which we don't. So I would,
18:31I would, I would back him to go down the right route with each individual player in terms of who
18:37he needs to call out, uh, who he needs to give a kick up the bum to, and who he needs to put a
18:43verbal arm around the shoulder to. And as I say, his comments, his comments at Luton
18:49jarred a bit on the day, you know, we were only what, I don't know, four or five days on and they're
18:54looking a lot more, they're looking a lot more like, oh, who'd have thought it? The manager who
18:59wins the championship quite regularly knows more about winning the championship than the rest of
19:03us nuggets. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I was just going to say quickly, it's just a fascinating narrative
19:09with the three clubs up there, isn't it? It is. I'm sure Stuart will talk about it in a minute.
19:14You know, there's been a lot of emotion flying around with Chris Wilder, hasn't there lately?
19:19Yeah. For different reasons. And we've obviously touched on Farker and, um, and then you've sort
19:24of got Scott Parker, who isn't really saying anything, is he? And, you know, his Burnley
19:28team are sort of slipping under the radar a little bit. And, um, I still think, just touching
19:33on Burnley briefly, four points from two tough looking away games, that's, that's pretty good,
19:38isn't it, really? Exactly. Yeah. I'm sure it wouldn't, you know, I'm sure their supporters would
19:43have, would have loved them to follow up, uh, you know, a tough game at Coventry with another
19:48three points, but to be fair to Derby, they've got themselves organised a bit more under John
19:52Eusterson. I don't think that's, Farker's talking about points being decent. I don't think
19:57that point for Burnley is the worst point in the world, I think. Yeah, definitely not.
20:00No. Uh, now I wanted to look at Sheffield Wednesday, who have been in the news in recent
20:06days because of the players having not been paid for the month of March. And now Danny Roll
20:11is once again being looked at for the Southampton job. Uh, this was then followed by a late
20:161-0 defeat, uh, at the hands of Hull City before, uh, sharing the points, uh, in that two-all draw
20:22with Blackburn Rovers. Now, what did you make of all the news about the Owls at the moment, Stuart?
20:29Well, it's just same old, same old, isn't it? I mean, Leo and I have got enough memories of, uh,
20:35Sheffield Wednesday players not getting paid the last few years. It's quite a regular occurrence,
20:39you know, they have been paid now, by the way, they were, they were paid at the 11th hour in terms
20:44of, um, in terms of when they needed to, to avoid a transfer embargo, but it's just rinse and repeat.
20:51And it must be so, um, it must suck so much energy out of you as a Sheffield Wednesday supporter.
20:58You know, um, as I say, I was, I was at Luton, um, but sort of from afar, you were kind of, you're kind
21:06of expecting it to be quite an explosive day at Hillsborough in terms of protests and all that
21:10sort of thing. And by all accounts, it was pretty apathetic. You know, exactly. It feels like a fan
21:17base that has just been ground down, but, you know, probably a bit like that for the manager as well.
21:22Um, and it, it, it, it's just such, it's just such a shame, you know, um, Sheffield Wednesday
21:30shouldn't be like that. You know, I think I said it on a previous podcast. They're a big club in
21:37terms of history, in terms of fan base, but they, they don't act big often enough. You know, they
21:42don't, they don't punch their sort of historical way. And I know we can get caught up with history
21:48and, you know, Preston were a big club once upon a time and, you know, Blackburn Rovers and Blackpool
21:54and all of these clubs were, you can, you can get lost in that, but they are, you know, they,
22:00they are, they should be a, you know, a big force in English football, not necessarily a title,
22:07you know, a Premier League winning force, but, but a lot better than a lot better than they are.
22:12And it just feels like they've got, they've got a chairman who after, after splurging a lot of
22:17money in his early years, he now just frankly doesn't seem to be rich enough to own a top end
22:24championship club. Um, if all these cashflow problems are anything to go by, they need him,
22:30they need really a new owner, but where are they going to find one? And how are they going to
22:36persuade him to sell? That's the other thing. So it's all well and good, someone having the money
22:39even, but, but you've still got to persuade him to say, I mean, he always says that he will,
22:44if somebody comes up with the money, but the question is how much money is needed, you know?
22:50And in, in this particular season, it just feels to me like a wasted opportunity because
22:56Kefir Wednesday have got one of the best managers they've had for years.
23:00Yep.
23:01Um, and I can't see them having him much longer, you know,
23:06everything he's said the last couple of weeks. I mean, everything, everything I, and probably
23:10Leon has thought since the transfer window shut was that this would, this was the,
23:15this was the farewell leg of the, of the tour sort of thing. And it, it, yeah,
23:19it just feels that way. And maybe it'd be Southampton, maybe it'd be Leicester,
23:22Leipzig have been talked about, but somebody somewhere is going to come in and, and, and
23:28take that manager away. And, and, and when they need to dip into the transfer market in the
23:32somewhere to strengthen, which they will do, you know, regardless of who's the manager,
23:36they're going to be going for good players. They should be going for good players who will
23:40have offers elsewhere. And in the back of their minds, and maybe even the front of their minds,
23:45they'll be thinking, well, I could go to club X, or I could go to club Sheffield Wednesday.
23:49But if I go to Sheffield Wednesday, there's a chance I won't get paid every month, or at least
23:54I won't get paid on time. If I go to club Y, perhaps there, you know, there's a better run,
24:01more ambitious, you know, more, more go ahead club. So the worry is that although they've
24:05dodged this transfer embargo, they will suffer in future transfer windows for the, for the
24:10reputational damage that has been done to, done to the football club in the, in the last week or so.
24:17Yeah, and I'd agree with, with all that. It's, it's become a, you know, it's one of the,
24:21one of the grand old football institutions, isn't it, Sheffield Wednesday. And they've got the fan base
24:26to match. I mean, Stuart touched upon some of those other old historical clubs and, you know,
24:31with respect, they haven't got the numbers of Sheffield Wednesday, have they? And yeah,
24:35it's just such a shame. You know, I just say just, the chairman just seems, unless, unless there's
24:43regime change, you just can't see how Sheffield Wednesday going to take the next significant
24:48step. I mean, the great sort of platform that Danny Rol sort of made. Obviously, we all know about
24:55the great escape last year. You know, they've had a, they've had a push for the top half and,
25:00you know, the way the, excuse me, the results and the, the standings of, of, of, of seem to
25:08develop. They've had a chance of top six, haven't they? And, you know, somebody's going to sneak in
25:13the, in the top six. And, you know, the annoying thing is, you know, this, the sort of things
25:18happened before, you know, with wages being paid late, this down, the other behind the scenes,
25:22you know, they really needed to sort of, you know, hold it, hold it together, um, behind
25:27the scenes, everything be, um, be smooth. And, um, obviously the off the field stuff's
25:32come to the, to come to the fore again. And, you know, for Roll, it must be like death by
25:35a thousand cuts, really. He's, he's taken a lot of punishment. He's coming to the end of
25:39the season. And, uh, I just think, frankly, he's, he'll get to the end and he's had enough,
25:43hasn't he? And he'll, he'll see, he'll see escape route. He obviously loves Sheffield Wednesday
25:47and the supporters, but, you know, there's too much, there's too much carnage, frankly,
25:52behind the scenes, isn't he? And he's, he's had to cope with, with quite a lot, you know,
25:56frustrating in the fact that, you know, obviously the Middlesbrough lost, lost to Leeds last night.
26:00Covham's have had a couple of little dips, haven't they, lately? And, uh, West Brom as well.
26:04It's there for some, you know, it could have been there for Sheffield Wednesday, if they could have,
26:08you know, seven points out of nine, something like that. But there's all this sort of noise
26:12going on in the, in the background. And, uh, yeah, it's just, just such a, such a shame,
26:16isn't it? And, um, yeah, I just can't see how they're going to get any, any, any further
26:22without, uh, regime change. It's just too, too dysfunctional and chaotic behind the scenes.
26:28You know, it's just sort of been one thing after another, sort of a steep stream of, of
26:33intervals, hasn't it, really? And, um, you can't blame the supporters for having enough
26:37and Danny Roll as well, even though he, he obviously got, has got a strong emotional attachment
26:42to that football club. Yeah. I mean, you know, as Leon says, they've, they've got a bigger
26:47fan base than some of those, you know, the Lancashire clubs I was talking about. So you've
26:51got to use that, haven't you? You know, 24-7 club, isn't it? Exactly. You know, we've, we've
26:57both been at Hillsborough when it's a really powerful place. You know, you've got to, you've
27:02got to use that by, by getting everyone pulling in the right direction. And when they ground
27:06down like this, you know, the human beings, they're obviously not going to be able to,
27:09to give the team that, that extra, extra push that they need. And it's the, you know, it's
27:14the home form that's, that's made the difference in terms of them not being in that, uh, in
27:19that position. You know, and I would say for Chancery as well, um, I, I, I believe that
27:24he loves the club as well. You know, I don't think, I don't think this is malicious. I don't
27:27think this is one of those, you know, some owners, you, you, you really sort of question
27:31their motives. I think his motives are there. I just, the money isn't, you know, and he's
27:36made some bad decisions and he's, he's, he's said some crass things about the supporters
27:40and that sort of thing. He's absolutely not faultless. But if you really love that football
27:47club, you have to recognise I'm not the person to take this on to the next level. It needs
27:51someone else. It needs new ideas, but most of all, it needs new money. And in fairness to
27:56him, he's, I say for years now, he's sort of been sending out the backs, that signal
28:01that I am open to offers. But, um, as Leon says, they, they, they just, they can't move
28:07to the next level as a, as a football club under, under this ownership. It's, it's as simple
28:12as that. And it's, it's really, it's, it, you know, it's sad to see when you, when you're
28:17not a supporter of that particular club, when you see clubs of the standing of, you know,
28:22Forest in years gone by or Leeds in years gone by Sheffield Wednesday, it's, it's sad
28:26to see those big clubs with, you know, with passionate fan bases, you know, Bradford at
28:32the moment, um, sort of toiling, um, when you feel like there's so much, so much more
28:37potential there and it would be great for somebody to come in and just unlock it. From a, from
28:42a footballing perspective, I feel like Danny Roll was the man to do it, but he needed that
28:46support off the field and, um, 10 series just hasn't been able to provide it.
28:52Yeah. I don't think it's just the money for just necessarily the players as well.
28:55I mean, you've been to, um, you know, Hillsborough a lot of times this season more than me.
29:00You look at it and it's a famous grand old stadium, you know, in English football history
29:06with, you know, loads of semifinals, this, that, and the other, but it's looking tired,
29:10isn't it Hillsborough? And it needs, it needs a bit of love. It's not getting at the
29:15minute. And there's obviously the, the well-documented issues with the, with the
29:18training ground as well. So yeah, it just needs regime, regime change and someone to
29:23come in with the ambition and the clout to sort that, that aspect of the football
29:28club out as well to take Wednesday on and fulfill the, the massive potential that
29:33they've got.
29:34Yeah. I mean, you know, when I first started going out there in the nineties, it was,
29:37it was a wondrous place, you know, it was a real cauldron. It was one of the biggest
29:41grounds in the country. And as Leon says, it's, it's, it's kind of, it's, it's
29:45sad to, sad to see the, the decline, but it just sort of sums up the way the
29:50whole club has been allowed to, allowed to decline.
29:53I mean, I've just said, I've just said massive then. I don't know, I'm going to
29:55get told off by something.
29:58No, but everything that you've been saying about the, the fact that clubs like
30:02this need support and to be honest, that the fan base need to pull together
30:07and work together for, for a brighter future. It, it just reminds me of how I was
30:13feeling with regards to Blackpool because, um, 2010 up in the premier league, uh, top
30:20of the world couldn't be better. Then all of a sudden everything turns, uh, the, the
30:26fan base becomes toxic and there's no communication with the owners. Uh, money
30:31was being basically ripped out of the club. And, um, it, it really is sad when it
30:37gets to that point. And, and it actually requires the fans to say, right, enough's
30:42enough. We, we want to keep our club going. Uh, and the only way that's going
30:46to happen is if you, uh, is if the owners leave.
30:49Yeah. I mean, it's, you know, it's the natural order of things. It's, it's not
30:53even a good thing that all the big clubs are always at the top of the league, but
30:56it is sad when you, when you see so many people care so much about it to see, you
31:02know, even, you know, even like clubs like Luton and Oldham who don't have the
31:05same level of fan base, but I've, I've, I've tucked those sites. It's, it's
31:09really sad to see mismanagement dragging down what should be, you know, so much
31:14more as a football club and what, what means so much to so many people, you know,
31:18and even if Sheffield Wednesday had average gates of 10, it still matters to
31:21those 10 people. You know, the fact that it's tens of thousands, it, it really, it's
31:27really, it's really sad to see as a neutral. And, and I just hope, um, well, I just hope
31:33that a new owner can, can come in and take it over, but I'm, I'm not overly
31:37optimistic at this point. We've been hoping this for years, haven't we, really?
31:41Since, since that initial split, initial sort of, um, honeymoon period of the
31:46Chansey era when they, they reached the, the, the two playoffs, it's really been in
31:51decline since then. Yeah. Yeah. And, uh, next let's look at Huddersfield Town, who
31:57faced Mansfield Town and claimed all three points to stay in the hunt of the
32:01playoff spots following a 2-1 victory. And that was then followed by a 1-0
32:05defeat when they faced Wickham Wanderers. Now, what did you make of the two
32:09performances by the Terriers, Leon?
32:11Yeah, well, it's, it is one of those now that five games left, the four points
32:16adrift and, I mean, they've still got a, John Worthington has spoken about it
32:22consistently, about it being a roller coaster and ups and downs, but it doesn't
32:27smell like a team to me who are, who are going to get in the playoffs. I don't
32:30know what Stuart thinks. There's a lot of, um, it's a little bit of a, almost a bit
32:36of a perfect storm. I think after, after Christmas, we've spoken about it a few
32:41times, some buyers that haven't, haven't sort of worked, it worked in January and
32:48they've spent a bit of money as well, Huddersfield to be fair. And that's sort of
32:52factored into the, to one or two previous windows. We've spoken about the criticism that
32:56Mark Clowright has been, um, has been getting and, you know, the owner in terms
33:02of, and the fans as well, they've not been much bang for the buck in terms of the
33:05signings that they're making and the impact they're making on the field. Horrendous
33:10injuries, issues with, with home form, we've touched on a few weeks about, you know,
33:15the difficulties to, um, to score. And yeah, I think it's, what is it, six wins out
33:21of, out of 20 since Christmas. That's just not, not the numbers you associate
33:25with it, with a side who, uh, are you going to get into the playoffs and be sort
33:31of going to go all the way and get promoted. You just have to hope from a
33:34Huddersfield perspective, there's another twist or two, but it just doesn't, you
33:37know, for me, it just doesn't quite, quite, uh, smell right. I think they need, I
33:44think they need, it's going to be a big summer. They need maybe the, maybe the bit of the,
33:48a bit of the clear out that they never had last summer. They sort of kept quite
33:51a few of the, of the players hoping they could go again and, and have an instant
33:56return. We have some big decisions to make in, in, uh, in that regard. I think
34:01they've struggled all season in the, in the final third, haven't they, in terms
34:03of attacking potency that struggled in terms of mid midfield combinations. I, I did
34:09the game on, on, uh, on Saturday and they got over the line in the final quarter, a
34:15couple of decent goals to be fair. Um, uh, I think the two best players on the day
34:20in, in Ben Wiles and, and Ruskin, um, Wiles set up Ruskin for the opener and, uh, then
34:28Ruskin returned the favour. In fairness to, to Ruskin, I know he got sent off on his, on
34:32his, I think it was his debut, wasn't it? He's looked the sort of one player who they
34:37brought in in January who's, who sort of stepped up a little bit and they had, they've
34:42had issues with the, the Joe Taylor injury, but he's not quite settled yet. Um, Dion
34:47Charles as well. I mean, he's a, he's a willing runner, but he, he's obviously shown
34:51of confidence up front and he, you know, he didn't help himself by, um, being a silly
34:55boy by going in the away end at, uh, Bolton when he was injured recently. So, uh, yeah,
35:00I think there's a, like I say, a bit of a, bit of a, bit of a perfect storm at the
35:06minute for, for Huddersfield. I mean, they've still got hope. They've got, you know,
35:10they've got a game at Brighton on Saturday, which I think they really will need to, to,
35:13um, to win, to give themselves a bit of hope. I suppose there's a situation with
35:17Reading, isn't there? There's, you know, there's, um, the ownership situation there,
35:21potential sanctions further down the track. So we'll have to watch that one.
35:26Obviously, Reading won on Tuesday night, didn't they? And, uh, in their four points
35:29clear of Huddersfield with, uh, with five left, but we'll have to wait and see what, uh,
35:35happens there. I mean, ironically, Rotherham did, Rotherham did Huddersfield a bit of a
35:39favour, didn't they, by beating, beating Bolton. But, you know, Huddersfield, you
35:43know, they really can't be relying on, on, uh, on favours. And yeah, they're just, I
35:49just, just with everything really, the, the, the form, the injuries, the, you know, the
35:54inability of the buys to come off in the, in the, in the transfer market and the mood
35:59of the supporters as well. They were one or two, um, uh, you know, placards, voicing
36:05a bit of discontent and you can just feel the angst in the, in the air at Huddersfield
36:09among supporters. I mean, I know they had the great escape a couple of years ago, but
36:13probably a bit of joy, I suppose, in, in isolation really since, pretty much since
36:19they got to the playoff final under, under Cobra. And it's been lousy apart from that,
36:24hasn't it? Um, to be quite honest. And, um, yeah, the fans are,
36:28unhappy, agitated, and it doesn't seem, um, a particularly happy club at the, at the
36:34minute, which is, you know, you know, which is, which is sad to see given that there
36:37were, you know, relatively recently there were, you know, the David Wagner revolution
36:42and they were in the Premier League and, you know, they were talking, talking much
36:45of the country and not just, you know, not just around these parts. So yeah, it's,
36:50it's, it's a troubled, seems to be a bit of a troubled football club at the minute
36:53and that'd be the way it's going. I mean, who, who knows? There may be some
36:58surprises yet, but I would, um, it doesn't look like a, a club we're going
37:02to go on and get promoted.
37:04Yeah. It just has that feel about it, doesn't it, Leo? That they're just not
37:07quite that, which, you know, again, you, you talk about the sort of slightly
37:11longer term history, but, you know, if you look at the course of this season,
37:14you know, for a long period, it looks, you know, pretty, pretty strongly placed
37:18to make the playoffs at the very least, you know, and it's been, it was, it was
37:24always, it's, it's been stodgy all season, hasn't it? The football and, you know,
37:29Leon and I are both big fans of Michael Duff as a manager, but he is a defensive
37:33minded manager. That's not criticism. That's just an observation. So, but it's
37:38clear from John Worthington taking over and taking the handbrake off that it
37:43wasn't just Duff's tactics that were behind that stodginess, you know,
37:47there's a bit of a lack of quality. As Leon says, they've tried, they did,
37:51they did try to make signings to address it in January, but those signings
37:54haven't really come off. Um, you know, it's certainly in terms of the centre
37:58forwards and yeah, it's, it's just, it's another fan base that's just being
38:03ground down a bit. And, you know, in fairness, we talk about South Carolina
38:07being disconnected from the fans. If anything, Kevin Nagel's probably too led
38:12by the fans, you know, you need to be somewhere in the middle, a bit like
38:15Leon was talking about with Steve Gibson, you know, that, that middle course
38:18of actually, I believe in this, this guy, this process, this, whatever it is
38:22and, and stick with it. He seems to be, because obviously, you know, he
38:27doesn't have the background that English football in foot, you know, in
38:30football full stop over the longer term, he's maybe a bit more swayed by
38:34sentiment, um, supporter sentiment than it should be. Although that said, you
38:40know, if he was completely swayed by it, Mark Cartwright would certainly be
38:43out of the job. Let's be, let's be fair. He's stuck by him. But, um, yeah,
38:48it's, it's felt, you know, really since the back, back end of Duff as
38:53though it's just not going to happen. And there's, there's other clubs, you
38:57know, as Leon says, Bolton lost the other night, but they've looked a
39:01bit, they've looked a bit more like it. Stockport and Charlton have
39:04looked a lot more like it. Reading have just done remarkably well
39:07considering all the, I mean, you know, they make Sheffield Wednesday look
39:11like a good roster manager as well, and that's the manager and, and, you
39:15know, all sorts of problems. So, you know, if, if, uh, if it comes down to
39:20pure football, they will probably make one of those play-up places and they
39:24will deserve to. But of course, um, there's the issue of sanctions against
39:28Dye Young and what might happen there. So we, we wait to see, but yeah, it
39:32just, it feels like they're not, Huddersfield aren't going to be
39:35massively short, but they're always just reaching for it and they're
39:38never quite going to get there. And, uh, I hope that's not the case. I
39:42hope they can find something from somewhere, but it's, it's a pretty
39:45depressing outlook at the moment if you're a Huddersfield fan.
39:47Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think that one or two of the untimely injuries haven't,
39:51haven't helped. It's good to see Mickle Miller come back, but obviously missing
39:53Herbie Kane and they haven't got that sort of physical outlet to aim for up
39:58front. They can't, it's not as if they can really knock it, mix it up and
40:03knock it long, long really. They've only really got Freddie Ladapo and with
40:07respect to him, he's really been used as a sub, sub coming on really and not as a
40:11starter up front. Obviously, Danny Ward's injured and Healy's injured and, um, you know,
40:16they're trying to play around the sides and through teams and they just haven't
40:19got the, it seems to me they've got the skill or the now, so the, the quick
40:24thinking, the, you know, the pace of passing to, and the confidence, quite frankly, to
40:29open up teams, um, regularly that way. And, uh, you know, he's trying his best as
40:33John, John Worthington and he, you know, he's got a, got a result on Saturday
40:37against, uh, uh, Mansfield. So I don't think you can really pin anything, um, on, on
40:42him, on him, but it's just that there's just a lot to
40:46content with it at Huddersfield at the minute and it just doesn't, um, say it
40:50doesn't, doesn't smell like a team and we're going to do it.
40:52No, no. And now we turn to Sheffield United who faced Millwall and recorded a
40:571-0 defeat, which was their second defeat in a row. Now, what are your
41:01thoughts on the performance, uh, that was put on by Chris Wilder's side, Stuart?
41:06Um, well, my, my thoughts are kind of partly framed by having seen Leeds as well in
41:13the interim and what we were talking about before. I mean, it's incredible
41:16to think it's only, it was only sort of a week and a half earlier they'd beaten
41:20Coventry with what Chris Wilder described as their best performance of the season,
41:24you know, and then two games later, I mean, you should never, never judge
41:28anything by Twitter, but you know, if you were looking on there, the manager was
41:31the most, worst manager in the world. The players were the worst players in the
41:34world. The tactics were the worst tactics. Exactly the same things that all the, all the
41:38lead fans on Twitter were saying the previous week, you know, and, and, and it's all over
41:43now, you know, and, and, uh, they can't possibly go up. Well, you know, they're only two points
41:47off the top. The, the, the, the fascinating thing about this title race is that the leads
41:53for Burnley and for Sheffield United, if they win the last five, five games, they're up.
41:57Yeah. Yeah. No, it's no buts because Sheffield United played Burnley.
42:01That is the equation. Yep. Um, you just, at this juncture, you just can't see any of them
42:06winning all five games. As we said, there's going to be twists and turns and it's just
42:10about holding your nerve. Yep. It's about not getting too, too, too low when things are down.
42:15Who blinks first? It's about showing that attitude that Daniel Farker showed after the
42:19the Luton game and Chris Wilder showed after other games. Um, and it's about not getting too
42:25giddy when you, when you win a game, you know, cause the, you know, they could be Sheffield United.
42:30I'm not saying this is going to happen, but Sheffield United could beat Burnley and still stuff it up.
42:35You know, and, and likewise, Burnley could beat Sheffield United and still stuff it up.
42:39It's, it's just one of those, it's just one of those races. And yeah, it was the, the thing
42:45that struck me about Bram Alain on Tuesday was it was really flat. Um, I know Chris Wilder was
42:52sort of conscious in the buildup to the game that he needed to sort of get the fans pumped up and, and
42:57who knows, uh, maybe, maybe he, uh, made a mistake. Maybe he didn't by coming out and criticizing the
43:04away fans who criticized his players after the Oxford game. Maybe that dampened the mood.
43:10Maybe, maybe it didn't, but I think, I think the biggest thing in terms of the mood was
43:15he talked about the football being ponderous against Oxford. It was the same in the first
43:19half of, uh, uh, Bram Alain. You just wanted somebody to run up plays or even just kick someone
43:25up in the air just to get, just to get the place going. I mean, there was, there was a moment,
43:31half an hour in when Sheffield United should have had a penalty. Um, Jake Cooper was trying
43:35to swap shirts far too early with, uh, Anna Lacroix. It's really obvious pull. The referee
43:40had actually warned him before the corner was taken. None of that. Watched him do it. Wave,
43:45play on. So that, that got the crap, you know, got the crowd something to rally behind briefly,
43:50but it kind of fizzled out and it wasn't a terrible performance. I mean, I think if you look at the
43:54numbers, I think they had 25 shots, but it wasn't, it didn't feel like a 25 shot performance. Oh,
44:01they absolutely battered them. They did this and did that. Um, yeah, it just, it never,
44:07it never really felt it was there. Millwall were really good. They were really organized and really
44:11tactically good for Sheffield United out wide and dealt with what few crosses came in the front
44:16to Coburn and Ivanovic were excellent for them. Um, so as I sort of touched on earlier, Millwall looked
44:22a really good side. Sheffield United looked just a not quite side on the night, but as I say, we,
44:29you know, you could have said that about Leeds in previous games. I'm certain you could have said
44:32that about Burnley. Um, it's a, it's about reacting in the right way now, getting back on the horse and
44:39not letting two defeats be the end of the world because it just isn't. I think often at this time of
44:46year, playing teams who are, you know, you know, very well organized, not particularly ambitious,
44:51as I mentioned before on one or two podcasts, you don't often get loads of games, loads of games,
44:57loads of goals at this time of year in games. They'd be quite arm wrestles and, uh, lots of,
45:02you know, teams nick a goal, one nil, sit in, sit back and,
45:05you know, very well organized and I'm not sure that they wanted a game where you attack, we attack
45:13sort of thing. No. And, um, quite often they're the worst sort of teams to play, I think, especially
45:17when you're sort of aiming for something, you know, at the top end of the table. But yeah,
45:23the test for Sheffield United, they've had, they've had, you know, it's known in the trade is a bad week,
45:26isn't it really? You know, Stewart touched on, they had a great result against, um, Coventry,
45:31everything was looking good. And, um, yeah, they've had, I mean, I remember in the promotion
45:36season, the, you know, the, the odd bad result in isolation and reacted really well. And we've
45:41spoken about this season, Sheffield United doing that, but, you know, back to back defeat is a real
45:46sort of real issue at this, at this time of year. They obviously go to Plymouth as well on,
45:52on Saturday and they, you know, they need, uh, one or two players to sort of hopefully put their
45:56hands up, you know, the, the sort of big game players. And we're talking about, you know,
46:00the Hamers, O'Hare, it was like Cannon really needs a goal, doesn't he? I've looked at him.
46:05I know he's been used quite a bit from the bench, but you just think for his confidence,
46:08if he can, if he can get a big goal at, uh, at Plymouth, that, that'll be something significant
46:14to, uh, to, to tick off. But, uh, but yeah, one defeats, you know, is, is a bump, but, you know,
46:22two defeats without scoring, that's, that's a bit of a worry for Chris Wilder and they'll need
46:26to sort it out at, uh, Plymouth on Saturday. Yeah. I mean, what, what was sort of slightly
46:30unsettling, um, I know Leon's a massive fan of Michael Cooper, I think, you know, between him
46:35and Tiofford for the best goalkeeper in the league. Yeah. You know, uh, he looked a bit nervy. There
46:40was one, you know, one sort of, um, passage of play where he just tried to play a simple pass and
46:46kicked it out. Another one where he very nearly scored a known goal. And, and it just reminds you,
46:51you know, we talk about Tanaka in tears and all this sort of thing. Yeah. Like I says it all the
46:55time, they're not robots. They're not, you know, the, the nervousness, the tension gets to people.
46:59We won't see the best of any of those teams between now and the end of the season. It's just about
47:03getting the job done, isn't it? Yeah. And who do, uh, who does Cooper play against on Saturday?
47:09Exactly. Which fans might, might have a few things to say to them. I think they might. I think they might.
47:15Exactly. Yeah. Patrick Bamford type, uh, yeah. And finally for this week,
47:22I look to Stuart for his team of the week before turning to Leon for his player of the week.
47:26So Stuart, who have you decided deserves the team of the week title? Well, I mean,
47:31it's been another one of those up and down weeks where somebody has a really good win and then
47:34loses the next one or vice versa. So it's not, uh, it's not been the easiest. I mean, obviously two
47:40teams, uh, are doing really well at the moment who we've talked about a lot, you know, particularly
47:45in this section in, in Bradford and Doncaster, uh, don't want to, don't want to do either of them
47:50down there. They're having a great old ding dong. And as Leon's piece outlined this week,
47:55you know, with, with all the teams playing each other and all this sort of thing, that should be
47:58a really good league two title race. If you, if, if you're not involved in it, um, but, um, yeah,
48:05I think, I think in terms of my team of the week, I would, uh, I would go for Rotherham United. I mean,
48:09uh, you know, by, by, by, uh, implication, you can work out that's, that's manager of the week
48:14as well. I'm sure three straight wins really just given that football club, what they needed
48:19in terms of a lift. And, uh, again, it's good. It's good to see that they've, uh, they've taken,
48:24overtaken Barnsley little victories, you know, um, but yeah, just, just put some, you know,
48:31we talked about it the other week, just put some smiles on Rotherham faces and that that's,
48:34that's really important. And I say, hopefully, um, come the end of the season, Matt Hamshaw's got
48:41the option of going into management full time, you know, whether he wants to or not, we'll wait
48:46and see, but it's, um, it's, it's great to see somebody who really loves a football club
48:51coming in and just, uh, giving it the lift it needs. Yeah. Yeah. No, no, I don't think they're
48:55going to get any better, are they? No. No. And, uh, Leon, who do you think deserves the, uh,
49:01player of the week title this week? Well, there's one or two, two candidates now keeping
49:06in what Stuart said. It's been a, it's been a bit of an up and down few games for, for several,
49:10uh, Yorkshire teams, um, Johnny Howson played against his old club on, on, um, on Tuesday night.
49:18Um, he, he was steady enough again, obviously had a great game at Blackman on Friday and,
49:23you know, he's shown his talent as an emergency centre-back. Um, young Hughes at, at, at Hull,
49:29there's been some, you know, sterling defensive performances from him and he was, he was good
49:33by all accounts at, at, um, at Hillsborough, Charlie Hughes, and he got his, he got his goal on.
49:38Great header, wasn't he? Yeah. On Saturday proper header. And, uh, he, he looks a really good
49:43signing in that, you know, it's what, it's been a, a tough year for Hull, hasn't it? But he looks
49:47a defender of promise. You know, you can't ignore one or, one or two of the Rotherham players as well.
49:53I mean, Cam Dawson was, was brilliant at, uh, at Bolton on, on Tuesday night. And even though,
49:59you know, Bolton lost, I think they played like a side who were, who were gunning for promotion and
50:03they really threw everything at, uh, at Rotherham, but they just, you know, they couldn't get past,
50:09couldn't get past, uh, uh, you know, Dawson. Louis Sibley's come in and showed his versatility.
50:14Uh, Leeds United as well. I mean, I've, Stuart's seen more of them than, than I have, but I, I,
50:21I do, I do like it when, um, you know, when they play Ampadu at the back, he bring, he brings
50:26a calmness and read, you know, reading of the game and, and passing ability short or long. And I thought
50:32he was particularly in the first half, he, he just cruised it, I thought. And, uh, you know,
50:36he looked a real, a real class act and he's obviously a huge player for, for, for Leeds United. And when,
50:43I think when Ampadu's playing well, Leeds invariably do, don't they? And, um, and he was,
50:48and he was good on, on, on Tuesday night, but I think keeping in the same vein as Stuart,
50:52I'm going to go for a Rotherham player. I'll, I'll go for Hakim Adolfo and he's been one of the
50:56more consistent players in a, in a pretty difficult season, um, for the Millers. And, you know,
51:03I think he was another one who stepped up to the, to the plate at, um, at Bolton when the bullets
51:08were firing and, you know, obviously three wins for Rotherham, um, Rotherham United in,
51:13in a row and conceding just one goal as well. So that's, that's pretty good, um, form at the,
51:19at the back and, you know, big player for Rotherham and, uh, he's out of contact,
51:22unfortunately, the summer. So I would expect the smart money may be on him, on him moving on,
51:27but he's, he's served Rotherham United well in a difficult season. Yeah. Yeah.
51:31Yeah. Giving it on that farewell leg, it's good to see he's not in the towel in, you know,
51:35moving on in terms, you know, as we saw with Victor Johansson, for example, you know,
51:39Yeah. It counts a lot with Rotherham, with all football fans, as it should do to see a player
51:44giving their all right to the end. And if he does move on, he's, he's, you know,
51:48he's earned the chance to go elsewhere.
51:49Yeah.
52:01Many thanks to Stuart Rayner and Leon Wobshall, who will doubtless join us again soon for more
52:06discussions on the Yorkshire football scene. But don't forget, you can keep up to date with all
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52:28subject matter as Football Talk podcast at yp.sport at nationalworld.com. As ever,
52:33many thanks for listening, look after yourselves, and bye for now.