In this week’s podcast, The YP football writing team of Stuart Rayner and Leon Wobschall join host Mark Singleton to pore over how Thomas Tuchel’s England performed in his first two matches in charge – World Cup qualifiers against Albania and then Latvia.
Back on the domestic scene, only a handful of Yorkshire’s EFL clubs were in action, Barnsley ending a losing streak but with everyone just waiting for the end of the season after another disappointing League One campaign.
Bradford City bounced back after losing against Tranmere Rovers with a thumping 4-1 win over promotion rivals Colchester United in front of a record crowd at Valley Parade – are they the real deal this season?
We take a look at the National League and how York City can maintain momentum now they are guaranteed to seek promotion via the play-offs – with several weeks of the season still to come.
Finally, this week sees Stuart pick out his Team of the Week, while Leon singles out a Player of the Week.
Back on the domestic scene, only a handful of Yorkshire’s EFL clubs were in action, Barnsley ending a losing streak but with everyone just waiting for the end of the season after another disappointing League One campaign.
Bradford City bounced back after losing against Tranmere Rovers with a thumping 4-1 win over promotion rivals Colchester United in front of a record crowd at Valley Parade – are they the real deal this season?
We take a look at the National League and how York City can maintain momentum now they are guaranteed to seek promotion via the play-offs – with several weeks of the season still to come.
Finally, this week sees Stuart pick out his Team of the Week, while Leon singles out a Player of the Week.
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SportsTranscript
00:00Hello and welcome to the latest edition of Football Talk from the Yorkshire Post, where
00:15we will be discussing some of the latest talking points from the world of football with members
00:18of our football writing team. On this week's episode, we're joined by Chief Football
00:22Writer for the Yorkshire Post, Stuart Rayner, and Football Writer for the Yorkshire Post,
00:26to discuss all of the latest developments affecting our local clubs.
00:29Don't forget you can keep up to date with all the football news across Yorkshire and beyond
00:33by logging onto our website at yp.sport at nationalworld.com, as well as checking out
00:38our various Twitter feeds, the main one being at ypsport. If you search for Yorkshire Post
00:43Sport, Yorkshire Post Football, or even Sheffield Sport on Facebook, you can find us there as well.
00:48And if you have any questions for our writers, you can get in touch using those various Twitter
00:52or Facebook pages, or email us directly with a subject matter at the Football Talk podcast at
00:57yp.sport at nationalworld.com. YorkshirePost.co.uk. As mentioned earlier in the intro, this week,
01:04we're joined by Chief Football Writer for the Yorkshire Post, Stuart Rayner,
01:07and Football Writer for the Yorkshire Post, Leon Wobbshall. Good morning, guys.
01:11Morning. Hello.
01:12Morning. Right. This week saw a weekend where nine of our EFL teams had time off due to the
01:19international break, so we'll be focusing on the games that were played. Now, let's kick off this
01:26week's episode with England, who claimed all three points in their 2-0 win over Albania to give
01:32Thomas Tuchel's reign as England boss the perfect start. This was then followed up by a 3-0 victory
01:38when they welcomed Latvia. Now, Stuart, you were in attendance for the first game, and from what I
01:45saw, the performance was somewhat subdued. But what did you make of the two performances?
01:51Yeah, somewhat subdued would be a fair reflection. I mean, I suppose the first thing to say is,
01:55just highlight what you've just pointed out. They won both games, they kept clean sheets in both
01:59games, so it was job done. But it was a bit stodgy, it was a bit reminiscent of a lot of the
02:07qualifiers under Gareth Southgate. I mean, Tuchel came out before the first game and was quite
02:13critical of England's lack of passion, I think the word was. My mind's gone blank as to what
02:22exactly he criticised. I think it accused him of being too scared to want to win and that sort of
02:28thing. And maybe now he's had these players for a few days, maybe he's got a better appreciation of
02:36just what Gareth Southgate was up against. It's really difficult to judge an England manager on
02:42qualifiers in this generation because England are just so good at them and so much better
02:49than their opposition, especially when they're at home. It's really difficult to judge performances
02:56and you do end up nitpicking, but then sort of asking yourself, well, how relevant is it whether
03:03they beat Latvia by two, three, four or five? What matters, what's going to define Thomas Tuchel is
03:10how they play against the Germanys, the Spainys, the Francys, the Argentineys of this world, not
03:16these sorts of games. But yeah, it was pretty uninspiring. The paper aeroplanes were out very
03:22early, which is always a sign at Wembley of how bored people are. I think the first goal was
03:33England's first shot on target about 20 odd minutes in. So there was loads and loads of
03:38possession with just no cutting edge. It's just a balanced Tuchel's going to have to strike better,
03:46but when all's said and done, you have to give him the leeway that he'd only had two or three
03:52training sessions with these players beforehand. He's still getting used to most of them. The flip
03:58side of that is, of course, he himself has dictated that he's got very little time to actually
04:04experiment with this team. The next time he gets them back together, it'll be a year
04:13till he's picking his tournament squad. I think he's only got five camps left. He's framed it that
04:18way by not starting until January, by only signing a contract till the next World Cup. He's put a lot of
04:23pressure on himself. But on what you could judge from that game, and it's not just the Albania
04:32game, the Latvia game, he's got a bit of work to do to just find the right chemistry with that group.
04:36You know, there's still Phil Foden, again, really disappointing. I was on the right-hand
04:42side. I didn't manage to find the best out of him. Marcus Rashford was lively in both of the games,
04:49putting a lot of crosses in the second game, but most of them found Latvian players rather than
04:53Englishmen. So yeah, still quite a bit of work to do, but that's only to be expected, I suppose,
05:01at this stage of proceedings. Yeah, I'd agree with all that. They're a waste of time, let's be
05:06honest. They can somehow sort of freshen it up. It's not just for England either, is it?
05:13It's the same situation for the Francis of this world, Spain's, Germany's. How much do you
05:20actually learn? I mean, I watched both the games. You know, Lewis Kelly was a great debut for him.
05:26He's got a terrific goal. It's a nice story. I thought Konza played well for both of those games,
05:30but how much will they learn? How much would have been better for them to sort of play against
05:36a Class A opponent, almost? They gauged themselves against that. So yeah, I don't know how they do
05:42it, but I just think they've just got to freshen it up somehow. It's just, you know, it's the
05:47equivalent of a Premier League side taking on a League One club, isn't it, really? Or something
05:52of that ilk. And yeah, England did the job. There were some encouraging enough passages to play.
06:00Clearly one thing to sort of gauge from it is that Tuku, he's got high standards and he won't
06:08mess around and he'll certainly make the big calls, which is what you want. I mean, there's not too
06:14many players who you would say look safe there. Perhaps Harry Kane in Bellingham. There's not
06:20too many others, really, is there? But yeah, England did the job. It's a good start on paper,
06:26but you know, the games that won't stick long in the memory, I mean, but it's the same per se
06:32with most qualifiers, isn't it, really? How many qualifiers can England supporters really remember?
06:38You know, you remember the Italy ones and the Greece one at Old Trafford, this, that and the
06:43other. There's a real formulaic sort of theme about them all just getting the job done. But
06:52yeah, I think there's wider sort of issues, really. How much is this developing players
06:57and developing England on the international stage? Because quite frankly, I think most of
07:03them are a waste of time. And how much is it developing Latvian and Albanian players as well?
07:11I think the big contrast really was when you look at the Nations League this week,
07:17those quarterfinals, you had some tremendous two-legged ties. I think, was it three of them
07:24went to extra time and two of them went to penalties? So they've clearly found the right
07:27formula there. There's maybe an argument to sort of use that as the way to qualify. I mean,
07:34it's always a difficult balance. You don't want to shut countries up and say, oh, you're not part
07:39of the elite, you can't qualify. There has to be that door open for them. But at the same time,
07:45as Leon says, these games are just achieving nothing really, apart from putting yet more
07:52miles in the legs of players who, if you take Harry Kane, he's going to be playing all the way
07:57to the end of May with Bayern Munich. Then he's going to be playing a couple more World Cup
08:01qualifiers with England. And then he's off to this stupid Club World Cup championship until the
08:07middle of July. We're just wearing down our top players for very little games, Leon says.
08:17These games, international football, it should be the pinnacle.
08:21I think there's a case for the leading teams in Europe and the Americas. All football fans want
08:29to see them in action, don't they? There's something missing, isn't it? One or two of
08:33them missed out. It's a dramatic story. Italy have missed out, the Dutch have missed out. But
08:39I think with the way football is now, you want to see them at the major tournament,
08:46the top table. You want Brazil there, you want Argentina there, you want Uruguay, you want
08:53Italy, Spain, France. The competition misses out quite a lot when those teams aren't there.
09:00They're not necessarily qualifying, but they're the top tier of clubs and there's got to be a way
09:07to get it more competitive between them for the time when the tournament takes place.
09:19For every one result where it's been a competitive game where England have played,
09:22they'll have me. There's been eight or nine that haven't been, haven't they, really?
09:25It's just that's the bottom line. The games aren't competitive. It's almost as if
09:32it's a well-worn thing. They'll come to Wembley low-block and even when they're playing their
09:35home games, it's the same, isn't it? It's two banks of, well, a bank of four and maybe a bank
09:41of five at the back. There's spectacles to watch. They're not particularly enjoyable.
09:48To be fair to Latvia, they have a couple of chances, don't they? Which is probably more
09:51than a lot of teams probably do have at Wembley. They've just got to look at it in the future and
09:58change it because it's not doing anyone any progress, really, least of all the Leicester
10:04nations as well. We've got possibly the most talented generation of English players there's
10:12ever been in terms of the depth of it. I think ticket prices were even cut for Monday's game,
10:22I could be wrong on that, but they didn't sell out. That's criminal, really. Players of that
10:31quality are on display and you can't even fill the ground for it. That's down to the fact that
10:38it's not a contest, it's not an entertaining game, it's not criticism of any supporter.
10:42I wouldn't go and pay and watch that. But yeah, they should be able to provide games that people
10:50want to watch and if not, frankly, don't bother with them.
10:55I mean, Leo mentions about the top nations. The good thing about the Nations League is you have
10:59this promotion and relegation. So, for example, Scotland could get into that top tier. So,
11:04the pathway is open for everybody. But chucking everyone into the same qualification when there
11:10was such mismatches, it's just not working for me. It's not useful preparation for a World Cup
11:19because you have two years of just easy games and then all of a sudden, bang, you're hit by
11:25playing a Germany or somebody and you haven't practised it.
11:29No, no, no. And now, let's look at the domestic action starting with Barnsley who rescued a late
11:371-0 draw with Cambridge United. This brings their three-game losing run to a halt and this will
11:42hopefully be somewhat of a platform on which the Tikes can build on. Now, what did you make of the
11:48performance, Stuart? Well, as you know, the previous week I'd gone to Huddersfield Town
11:56for John Worthington's first game as interim coach and just his sheer presence had just
12:01lifted the whole place. So, you go into Oakwell thinking it wasn't Conor Hurrahan's first game
12:07in charge but it was his first home game thinking, you know, I kind of hope this has the same
12:11galvanising effect and it really didn't. I mean, one little thing that niggled at me,
12:19which is, you know, maybe a bit trivial but I thought was significant. So,
12:23Hurrahan comes out to applaud the crowd. Now, you know, Liam and I and you as well,
12:28Mark, have been at loads of games before where a new popular manager gets introduced to the crowd,
12:33it just lifts the place. Conor Hurrahan comes out of the tunnel, they don't even switch the
12:38music off on the tannoy. You know, you suddenly look up and you're like, oh, there's Conor
12:42Hurrahan sort of thing and the opportunity to just lift the crowd and get things pumped up
12:48is just wasted. And then the football that followed kind of continued that theme.
12:53But Barnsley had loads of the ball, played a load of tippy-tappy football, got absolutely
12:58nowhere with it, got done on the counter-attack and Cambridge were winning 1-0. You know,
13:03the place is just flat, it's just demoralised, this season is petering out. The one positive
13:10and the one thing that Barnsley got to cling to really is that all five substitutions Hurrahan
13:16made improved the team. He changed formation, that improved the team too. There was an infusion
13:26of young players. I mean, Fabio Giallo was brilliant from the bench, but there was also
13:30Kieran Flavel making his first league start because of injuries. You had Jonathan Bland
13:38came on very early on for another injury too, Josh Benson, he lifted things. So there was kind of a
13:45bit of a blueprint as to the way to go. You know, you get to this time of season, the teams are
13:51struggling and you'll often hear from the fans, I've chucked the kids in, you know, it'll liven
13:55things up. Well, on the evidence of Saturday, and it was one game against a very poor team,
14:01that might be the way to go for Barnsley. That might just lift things and give them a bit of
14:06positive momentum because that's what, you know, there's nothing else to play for in the last
14:10seven or eight games of the season. It's just about getting some positivity,
14:18getting a situation where players want to join this club in the summer, fans want to buy season
14:24tickets for next season and people are just enthused about the place. Because as I say,
14:28for an hour until Giallo came on and until Hurrahan made the changes, it wasn't just by
14:34the way it was a triple substitution, but until those changes, it was just really flat and really
14:38demoralised and apathetic and that's the danger for Barnsley, that it continues that way for the
14:44rest of the season. Most fans are fed up quite simply, aren't they? It's been, you know, there's
14:50been one or two moments of promise, sort of, either side of Christmas, but it's just really
14:57been so flat for many, many reasons really. After January, it was a poor winter window,
15:05let's be honest. I mean, I can understand this, I interviewed Barnsley's chairman
15:10last week, I can sort of understand the fact that they kept the powder dry and they're
15:16thinking, you're looking at the league table, what were the chances of Barnsley getting promoted
15:24from January onwards? They weren't significantly high, they were there, but there were a lot of
15:28clubs who were in a lot of better positions. Obviously, you've got, you know, Birmingham,
15:31Wrexham, we're talking Wickham, Huddersfield were up there. You know, Barnsley sort of spend a lot
15:37of money and then miss out on the playoffs and then it's going to impact on the sort of budget
15:42for next season and I sort of get that, but yeah, I mean, you look at this time, last year things
15:49were petering out, Barnsley got in the playoffs, but they sort of hobbled there, didn't they,
15:53really? And it wasn't a big surprise when they lost to Bolton, to be fair, I think they won,
15:58I think it was two of the last 12, something like that. So, yeah, like I say, it wasn't a surprise
16:04they got knocked out in the end. Just another use, another sort of use, some reason they've got,
16:11the owners are faced with credibility issues again in terms of getting the head coaching
16:16appointment right. They've been speaking about, you know, it being not an interactive style of
16:21football, but they hired Daryl Clarke in the first place, didn't they, really? Surely they
16:25should have sort of known all, you know, criticising the style, the lack of pressing
16:30front foot. They actually appointed him, as they did with Neil Collins as well.
16:34You know, they spoke up a coach's credentials and then they sort of had enough and they get
16:42rid of him, which, you know, I think the last two decisions have probably, you know, there's
16:45been an element of thinking about season ticket sales as well and how they impact on things and
16:50worried about that. So, I think there's a credibility issue in getting,
16:56they really have to get this one right, don't they, really? I mean, it's going to be a fourth
17:00year in League One for Barnsley. I don't think that's happened for, it must be about 20 years,
17:06isn't it, since the noughties, really? So, you know, the club are in a particularly great
17:13ebb at the moment and I think the encouraging thing is that I think there has been some decent
17:18people who've thrown the hat into the ring and, in fact, I know there has. So, that's, you know,
17:24that's positive development. So, obviously, discussions are taking place with candidates
17:30as we speak. So, they really, really do have to get that one right and I think, as well,
17:35they've got a big issue with recruitment as well. I mean, in recent years, there have been
17:42lauded, you know, in certain regards, Barnsley for their approach, their data-driven approach
17:46and they've got plenty of things right. They've made some really smooth acquisitions and sold on,
17:53but you sort of look at the financial landscape and I spoke to Nirav Prakash and, you know, he's
18:00a very responsible sort of guy. They're going to put, they're going to, the club are going to spend
18:05within their means, but, you know, he did speak about telling me about balancing the books.
18:11He's putting about six million, will the board have six million pounds as all the
18:16all the extra money that they're having to fork out as well as, you know, there's things like
18:20utilities and various bills and just money to keep the club going and speaking about balancing
18:25the books and suggesting that one or two players will go, you'd probably think people along the,
18:31you know, Adam Phillips is of this world, potentially Luka Connell, I suppose the
18:35worrying one would be Davis Keeler, don't I? I mean, they've obviously brought him in the
18:39last summer window. He's been a real success story. You wonder if one or two teams at the
18:44bottom end of the championship have a nibble with him and we've touched on January.
18:51They didn't have a lot to spend. In fairness, he's taken a lot of criticism as
18:56Milad and Somaz, but they didn't have a lot to spend. Well, they didn't get it particularly
19:00right, did they really? They were scrambling around at the end. The players who they brought
19:06in haven't particularly worked. So, you know, there's a bit of a credibility thing with getting
19:13the head coaching decision right because the last two ones by the board's admission have
19:19failed and been unsatisfactory. There's issues with recruitment and I think you look at Barnsley
19:24as well. The sort of their budget really, it's probably a mid-table budget, isn't it really?
19:29And you're getting where they are on the table, you know, in effect where they are. But there's
19:34a lot of other clubs. We're not just talking about Birmingham and Huddersfield. Quite a few
19:39clubs in League One, whether it's rightly or wrongly, I don't know, but they've sort of been
19:44a bit proactive and they're chancing their arm a little bit more. So there's probably clubs who
19:50maybe aren't necessarily as big as Barnsley who are having a little bit more of a go. So,
19:55yeah, I just think it's not for the first time. It's going to be a huge summer for Barnsley.
20:00They really have got to get this head coaching position right and nailed down and to provide
20:06some positivity going into the first part of the summer. And I guess the point is, yes,
20:13there's good candidates who want the job, but there will be other offers for those guys. You
20:19know, if over the next couple of weeks they see a club that's just dying through apathy, you know,
20:26that the players aren't up to much, the fans are discontented, suddenly Barnsley becomes a less
20:31and less attractive option and some of the job that opens up comes up. So they've got to do that.
20:37And on the credibility issue, I mean, in that interview with Leon, the chairman talked about,
20:43oh, you know, we've won the numbers. This is a top three or four squad.
20:50I mean, you ask any League One fan and they know Barnsley aren't the top three or four.
20:55You can run all the numbers you like. You know, running numbers has done well for
21:00Brentford and Brighton and clubs like that, but there's more to it than just
21:04sticking numbers in a fuge when it comes out, or everybody would be doing it. You need a bit
21:08of expertise. You need a bit of guile. You know, these were the numbers they ran to discover that,
21:14you know, Marcus Schott was the best man to replace Valerian Isabel. You know, it wasn't true.
21:20These are the numbers that have produced some of these transfers.
21:23You know, there's a place for the data in there, but you've got to go beyond that. You've got to
21:29use the evidence of your eyes, a bit of expertise, and Barnsley just haven't got that balance right
21:34at the moment. And that's, you know, clearly having a good head coach and listening to that
21:39good head coach is a big part of that equation. So, yeah, they are in a difficult spot because,
21:45you know, the chairman said, right, they can't continue to just chuck money down a black hole.
21:49They have to run things responsibly. But there is that sense, as Leon says, that they're not
21:55punching their weight. There are smaller clubs that are giving it a better go than Barnsley
22:01and making more of what they've got. And there's just that sense that, as I say, Barnsley aren't
22:06maximising what they've got right now. So they've got to make themselves more attractive in the next
22:14couple of weeks to somebody who can come in and really take a hold of things and shake things up.
22:19That certainly needs to provide a bit of hope. I mean, if they sell a couple of the leading players,
22:22they're absolutely miles away, aren't they, going into the summer? And that puts a hell
22:26of a lot of pressure on recruitment. I mean, the talk is it will still be a reasonably competitive
22:32budget. But when you lose, you've got to sell a few. There's a hell of a lot of pressure there
22:36to get it right, isn't it? Or, you know, you use the loan system extremely well. And, yeah,
22:42they just look miles off it at the minute. And it's no sort of coincidence that it's second
22:47season, really, that it's petering out. I mean, they only really got in the play-offs last year
22:52because of the good work they did in the first sort of half of the season, really. Gave them a
22:56little bit of credit in the bank to hang in there. But, yeah, really worrying times for Barnsley.
23:02I think the board, I think they're well-meaning and they're responsible. But, yeah, I think there's
23:09an issue there with the overall football nous and credibility, if you like. That's not a,
23:16you know, it's not a criticism of the personalities or anything like that because
23:20I think a lot of what we say about sort of being responsible is right in this day and age. But
23:28as Stuart said, they're just not, they're not punching the weight, are they, really, at the
23:32moment. And they're getting, you know, there's other clubs in League One who have probably a
23:37lesser stature and are getting things more right than them at the minute.
23:41Yeah. And next, let's take a look at Bradford City, who produced a remarkable 4-1 victory
23:47over fellow promotion hopefuls Colchester. This win now sees them just one point behind
23:52League leaders Walsall. Now, I must admit, it was a very impressive performance seeing,
23:56as the visitors were coming into this game, having gone 13 games unbeaten.
24:01And it was in front of what was the largest attendance at Valley Parade for any competitive
24:05game. What were your thoughts on this game, Leon? There was a bit, there's been a lot of,
24:14about the crowd, first of all. There's a lot of sort of wondering if it was a bigger crowd in the
24:21FA Cup in the 1960s. It's probably the biggest fourth-tier crowd and it's the biggest one
24:26since the stadium got redeveloped after the fire disaster. But, you know, 23,500 is incredible,
24:35isn't it? How many League One clubs, even if they did have that capacity, would be able to do it in
24:40the first place. And yeah, it was just a fantastic, fantastic day. I think the fact what happened
24:48the previous Saturday, when they were very unlucky to lose against Tramme, they were
24:54hoodwinked a little bit by a soft penalty. I thought that sort of gave it an extra gossip
25:01for a few reasons as well. I mean, they were, you're right to say Colchester were a real form
25:06team. They'd won five in a row. I think they'd unbeaten in 13. They came to play in fairness and
25:12they had a good go early on, but Bradford just blew them away. They're sort of,
25:20relentless was the word that he used afterwards, Graeme Alexander, and it was hard to disagree with
25:25that. They were really down the throats of Colchester. What I did like, there were sort
25:32of teams within teams. You had Halliday and Lapsley on the right. They were really getting
25:37in the faces of their opponents and sort of teaming up on the attack. And then on the left,
25:42you had Tyreke Wright and Adara Moeller. He was brilliant. I mean, Richie Spohr would have caught
25:49the man of the match, but I'd have given it to Adara Moeller all day long. He was rapid. He was
25:57involved in everything and he was a real tick in the box. And yeah, they just couldn't cope,
26:04Colchester, to be quite honest. And yeah, I, you know, I added bonus as well with Bobby
26:12Poynton and another couple, wasn't it? Patterson and Kelly coming back. So yeah, you struggle to
26:19get better days at the office. Graeme Alexander was asked if it was better than the Walsall game
26:25in, I think that was sometime in January. They were top of the league and he said that it trumped
26:30that. And you could see where he was coming from, given there was a bit of a challenge,
26:37they'd lost two games without scoring. And I think it was one of those as well that, I mean,
26:43the supporters were great on the day and they lapped it up, but it was a pretty dangerous one,
26:48wasn't it? It could have easily gone the other way. Colchester could have been one nil up after
26:52an hour. Then how would the fans have reacted? So there was a certain amount of pressure going
26:57into that for Bradford and they really did sort of hold the nerve. It was just hard to fault them
27:06anywhere across the pitch, really. And, you know, Richard is a victory, a comprehensive victory.
27:14And yeah, another added bonus was that Walsall dropped points as well and,
27:20you know, they're just one point behind them. They've had a nice little brucey bonus this week
27:25as well on Tuesday, haven't they? With Barrow doing, they seem to be good at this Barrow at
27:30the minute. They've taken points off one of the leading sides. So, yeah, it's, you know,
27:38after the difficult week, I suppose, of losing to Gillingham, after the Lord Mayor's show,
27:44after winning the Manager of the Month, the Player of the Month, they had that bump,
27:49then they had the result against Tramney, which no one foresaw. It's changed round and that seems
27:54to be a little bit what it's like at the top end of League One at the minute. But they've obviously
27:59got to go again. If you've hammered a team in front of a record fourth-tier crowd, if anything
28:06gets you back down to earth, it's an away game at Accrington, isn't it? With respect to Accrington,
28:12who've done good things over the years, in fairness. Obviously got Accrington, then they've
28:16got Port Vale as well the following Tuesday and that, you know, that for Port Vale, that might
28:22be one of those sort of games that they've got to get up for that, haven't they? They've had a
28:25blow against Barrow. So, yeah, two different sort of tests away from home for Bradford, but
28:35they should go into it with a lot of, not arrogance, but a bit of confidence and a bit
28:39of momentum. There'll be two heavily populated away ends, certainly Accrington, the City fill
28:47that out all day long every time and I dare say there'll be a few going down to the Potteries as
28:52well. So, yeah, terrific performance away for Bradford. They must be looking at the lead table,
28:59the points as well, you know, when they're nearly on the 70 points, once you get that,
29:03that's a psychological lift, isn't it? But, yeah, they were fantastic on the day and they
29:09deserved all the applause that they got. Yeah, I've got a mate who's a Bradford fan,
29:15who lives in Moorpeth, north of Newcastle, so he doesn't get too many games these days,
29:21but he was at that game and he texted me beforehand on the back of those two defeats.
29:25He says, oh, yeah, I'm coming along just as the Wales are about to come off on our title challenge
29:29and it's kind of your default mindset as a football fan. You always expect your own team to
29:35cock things up when things are going well and, yeah, I text him after the game and he's like,
29:40yeah, even I believe we're going to do it now. It was such a statement win, you know, alongside
29:47the Walsall win, you know, not just to get back on the horse, not just to beat a team in great
29:55form, but to beat them 4-1. And, you know, you look at the running and there's loads of problems
30:02there. You know, Leon's mentioned the next couple of away games, there's Crewe coming up, there's
30:06Notts County coming up, Chesterfield away is always a difficult one, they're one of those
30:10teams that could cause problems. Doncaster away on the penultimate weekend, but you just feel like
30:16they've got the momentum, they've got confidence, they've got the belief to ride all of this.
30:21They just seem like they've got a really good mindset for dealing with the highs and the lows.
30:27There's a really good culture there and, you know, at the risk of putting the mockers on it,
30:33it does just feel like it's going to happen, you know. It's the 40th anniversary of the fire,
30:38it's City of Culture year and you look at it and you think not just that they can finally go up and
30:44this miserable six years in League Two, but the title is genuinely on. And, yeah, I mean,
30:53it's just a case of keeping that snowball rolling, really, because they're in a really good shape.
31:00As we've said before, there's loads of people chipping in. I mean, Leon rolled off a load of
31:05names there who were probably not many of them in contention, you know, small ones certainly,
31:10but not that many of them in contention, but the player of the season. But everybody's
31:16chipping in at different times. Definitely. I mean, that's what it's all about nowadays,
31:23having everybody chipping in and everyone doing something and, yeah, they're certainly doing that.
31:30And let's now take a look at the National League, where York City claimed all three points when
31:36they clashed with fellow promotion hopefuls Rochdale and produced a convincing 4-0 victory.
31:41Now, with basically seven games left to play this season, this season sit very comfortably
31:48in the playoff positions in second place. What was your assessment of the fixture, Stuart?
31:54Well, it's a really weird time for York City. Just the way the league table is and the way
32:00things have panned out. Their next properly competitive game will be May the 20th,
32:08which is a playoff semi-final. So they've got eight weeks basically to keep things ticking
32:14over. They are 11 points off Barnett, so they've conceded defeat when it comes to the title.
32:20They're 21 points above the highest team outside the playoffs and they're even 11 points with a
32:29better goal difference above fourth place, which is what they would need to drop to, to be in the
32:35playoff quarter-finals. So it's a really difficult period of keeping people sharp,
32:40keeping people hungry, rotating the team, but not chucking all your momentum away.
32:48This is the sort of issue that teams like Sunderland will have at the moment. When you
32:51know you're in the playoffs and you're just seeing out time, you don't want to... They've
32:56got players like Cameron John, for example, who's playing with a hernia operation. They've got
33:00certain key players who you wince every time they go into a tackle because you're worried
33:04about losing them. But if you go half-hearted, if you just rest these players, if you just end up
33:11losing five of the next seven and scraping them, the playoffs are all about momentum.
33:17So you've got to strike that balance. In the first 20 minutes at Rochdale, they really didn't
33:25get it right. Rochdale were the better team, as they kind of should have been because Rochdale
33:29dipped in and out of the playoffs over the course of that night. They've got loads to play for
33:34and they looked it. But Adam Hinshaw would have talked before the game about
33:39he wanted to see his players play with the shackles off. I'm sure neither of you two were
33:44glued to the game on whatever satellite channel it was on last night, but if you haven't seen
33:49Ollie Pierce's goal, find it on the internet. It was brilliant. Swivelled on a ball,
33:55back-heeled it into the corner of the net and that just took the shackles off. And just from there on,
34:01York just had fun and just played really good football. There was a couple of absolutely
34:07gorgeous assists. They said it's got four goals away from home. It was everything that Hinshaw
34:12would have talked about before the game and they just got to try and recreate that as often as
34:17possible now by really just enjoying themselves, playing good football, scoring goals and taking
34:24risks. It doesn't matter if they lose. It doesn't matter if they end up with a four-all draw or
34:31something. You want to win, but if you can get that freedom in them, then they'll be well served.
34:36But it's a very long time to keep things ticking over because that game on May the 20th, the way
34:41the conference play-offs works, it's a one-off semi-final game at home. If they win, they're
34:48through to Wembley. If they lose, they've missed out on promotion for the season. So it's all on
34:53those 90 minutes. They've got to be ready for them and I don't envy the manager trying to get
34:59them in the right shape, but that was a really good start in terms of doing that. It shows the
35:06folly of the system, doesn't it? That division is practically full-time, isn't it? Apart from
35:12one or two, or one or two might be hybrid. It just shows the folly of the fact that you don't have
35:18three up and you don't have three down. I think there's problems at the level below as well.
35:22The Conference South and the Conference North, there's only one up from those.
35:28Only champions who go up automatically. Even in Conference North, you've got some big clubs
35:34there, haven't you? You've got Darlingtons, you've got Ereford, you've got Chester, you've got
35:39Scunthorpe and Cheshire who had 8,000 there the other day. So it's not doing them particularly
35:45well, is it? It's not really fair on them. The problem is I think they'll probably vote for it
35:52in June or something at the AFL meeting, but you're going to have clubs towards the bottom
35:57end of League One. It's not going to be Turkey voting for Christmas, isn't it? They're not going
36:01to do it, are they? It just seems so unfair. There's a lot of ex-league clubs in the National
36:12League and at the top end, but some of the historically non-league clubs will be coming
36:20full-time as well. You look at the crowds of half of those teams, York, Southend, Oldham,
36:27family members of the Premier League. Those clubs, their crowds, it was big if not bigger
36:34than half of League One and half of the teams in League Two. It just seems to be
36:47just for one team to go up automatically there. There's three teams who go up automatically from
36:53League Two to League One and another in the play-offs. It just seems to be they've got it
36:58wrong. Not just because York are the ones to miss out, as Stuart said, they've got 77 points now
37:05and they could finish God knows how many points above a team who perhaps even knock them out in
37:10the play-offs really. It's just an imbalance and they've really got this wrong and that's
37:17regardless of the fact that it's York who could suffer. As Stuart said, it's a funny old
37:26situation, isn't it? They're in second and they're having to basically prepare for the next proper
37:31game in six weeks' time. It's pretty different for Sunderland. I get what you're saying about
37:39Sunderland but to be fair there's two automatic promotion slots in the championships. It just
37:46seems really unfair at the minute on the side who are second in the conference and obviously
37:54they've got a hell of a lot of points as well. Crowds are one thing and they're important but
38:01the football as well. I genuinely think that the top half of the conference is probably
38:08a better standard than the bottom half of League Two.
38:11Well I'm sure with the teams that go up and how they perform at the level above,
38:17none of them have hardly ever sat down at the bottom, have they?
38:23I'm pretty sure this was certainly true a couple of years ago and I'm pretty sure this is still
38:27the case. So Scarborough were the first team to go up automatically when the days of re-election
38:32stopped in 1987 and since then I don't think a single team that's come up in the conference
38:38has been relegated in the next season. It might have been in two season time or three seasons.
38:44You look at Wrexham and Stockport, they're going for a promotion again.
38:49There's just a bottling up of quality and it just shows. It's not just a conference football
38:54league issue. It just shows the folly of these individual leagues making these decisions which
38:59affect the whole pyramid. It'd be the same if we were talking about should there be two up,
39:05two down from the Premier League or whatever, four up, four down. It needs somebody independent,
39:11i.e. a regulator or whatever, to make these decisions for the good of football. Not,
39:15as Leon says, ask turkeys to vote for Christmas and that's where we are. There's a real bottling
39:23up of quality and that's why you have this situation throughout the pyramid where you've
39:28got the balance of the chairmen saying look the model's broken. We're having to bend ourselves
39:32into oblivion to compete because there's just not enough fluidity within the divisions. It's
39:39exacerbated of course when you've got teams yo-yoing because of the gaps between the divisions.
39:45There just needs to be an evening out between the divisions in terms of finances and quality
39:51and a fair route through the pyramid. I'm totally with Leon. It should be three up,
39:57three down from the Conference to the Football League because these clubs
40:01enhance the division. It's as simple as that. It's not like dropping off the edge of a cliff,
40:08isn't it? It's a competitive level. There's a hell of a lot of full-time sides and you can
40:17rebuild if you go down there. They've just got it wrong for me and it really does need to change.
40:23It should be called League Three, shouldn't it? Let's be honest.
40:26Yeah, it effectively is, isn't it? Without actually bringing them into the family then
40:33you run into different TV deals and no-one is not shared around and all this sort of thing.
40:38It needs looking at and it needs looking at by someone who hasn't got a vested interest
40:43in whatever division or whatever club it is but we'll see if that happens.
40:48Yeah. And finally for this week, I will look to Stuart for his team of the week before turning
40:53to Leon for his player of the week. So, Stuart, who have you decided on giving the team of the
40:58week title to? Well, I think this week it's less a team of the week, more a club of the week really
41:05for Bradford City because we've outlined how well the team played but I think the whole club's had a
41:12really good week. For the board to recognise where they are at the moment, to cut ticket
41:18prices to £5, to get that massive crowd, to just give them the push they needed, I think was
41:25absolutely brilliant. And from the point of view of the spectators, to not be lured in by those two
41:33defeats and to recognise a lot of them. Was it 19,000 were at the Chadmere game, Leon? It was a
41:39big crowd. So, a lot of them were at the Chadmere game, saw what Leon saw, that actually they played
41:45really well, it wasn't really a fair reflection and they've come back for more. I think there's
41:52a recognition and a realism amongst a lot of the fanbase, let's be honest, not all of them,
41:57as to what's going on. There's something there worth getting behind that two defeats on the
42:04trot isn't the end of everything. I just think the whole club, the team, the administrators and
42:10supporters have all done really well, they're all pulling in the same direction at the moment
42:15and it's really good to see because we all know it's overdue Bradford getting out of that division
42:21and it'll be exciting to see. I don't think they go straight back up again because
42:26the quality of League One is so high but it'll be exciting to see
42:29them let loose in League One and see what they could do.
42:33And Leon, who have you decided on giving the Player of the Week title to?
42:37No, that's a fair call from Stuart, first of all. It's difficult to ignore Bradford.
42:43Yeah, there's one or two probably worthy of mention as well and Stuart touched on the lad
42:50at York who was signed from Worthing Pearce and he's scored a hell of a lot of goals hasn't he?
42:54Has he got about 25 goals, something like that? I don't think he's no spring chicken either.
43:02I've not seen too much of him but he looks a good old-fashioned goal-getter, doesn't he really?
43:07He's obviously firing York's bid for promotion and play-offs it is, isn't it,
43:15going to be this season but he looks to be a real handy weapon going into that particular
43:21part of the season and fingers crossed he can stay fit and firing.
43:26Harrogate got a good result, didn't they? I had a little look there.
43:29See, they've had some fears a bit ago if they could dig out enough results and that's what
43:36they've done, isn't it really? And I think they've really done it on defensive solidity
43:40and organisation which, you know, his sides have always been that. Simon Weaver and
43:49the Stage Strong and Anthony O'Connor, whenever I've sort of seen Harrogate,
43:55he's always led the defence well and you look at teams of the week, it's that and the other and
43:59his name's often in it. An experienced professional who's had another good season in the heart of that
44:06defence but yeah, as Stuart said, it's difficult to ignore Bradford City this week. I think the
44:12strength is their strength, isn't it really? How everyone is putting their hands up. They've got
44:16lads who've been out for sort of part of the first half of the season and have put their hand
44:22up. They've got players who were brought in in January who've come in and made big impacts,
44:27you know, the likes of Lapsley. He got another double. Adara Mola, I touched on him earlier,
44:34he was absolutely brilliant on Saturday but I think the one I'm going to go for is Callum
44:40Kavanagh. I think it was his first start since about early-ish February and yeah, it was an
44:48interesting call from Alexander beforehand given what happened against Trammere and
44:55obviously he demoted Mellon to the bench and Lee never had him. He wasn't even in the matchday
45:01squad and obviously showed a bit of faith in Kavanagh and two real strikers' goals. He was
45:07described by the manager as a pest and he certainly showed his fox-in-the-box side and
45:15a couple of instinctive, proper strikers' goals and I think Bradford are going to get over the
45:23line. They're going to need a few more of those from Kavanagh as well and it all went well in
45:29that regard. So yeah, on a brilliant day for Bradford. I don't think it was hard to give
45:35anyone really less than probably 7.5, 8 out of 10. I'm going to go for Callum Kavanagh.
46:05YP.Sport at nationalworld.com