Life’s A Pitch TV Episode 1 Season 3 John Wark Season Preview

Mark Murphy, Terry Butcher, Russell Osman host this 1st episode of Life’s A Pitch TV Season 3.

We would like to thank our Main Sponsor DPS Tech, our Associated Sponsors, All About Hearing, Hudson Group, Venue 16, The Dove, Seckford Golf Club, John Keeble Cars (Bramford), Ashford Wright Ltd, Lacons, and our Production Sponsors who are Come Hither Design, Jon Parker of Venue 16 and Richard Garrett of Sound 4 Pro Audio on Technicals..

This is Life’s a Pitch TV. Main sponsor DPS Tech. Also supported by Lakens, all about hearing, the Dove, Seedford Golf Club, Ashford Wright, John Keeble, Cars, Venue 16, the Hudson Group, Sound for Pro Audio, Come Hear the Design, and Suffuk Sound. Charities this year, cancer support suffering. Oh, you’re in fine voice. You’re in such fine voice and lovely to see you capacity crowd. Lovely to see some familiar faces. No fair weather fans here that may well have disappeared back to where they came from. Now we’re no longer in the Premier League. Thank you for still being our capacity crowd. Everybody, welcome to the DTS Tech Arena for a third season of Life of Pitch TV. In actual fact, the franchise is 15 years old. 15 years old. Uh we first started it back in the day on the radio with Kevin Bey and then we lost the beat who’s with us here. I’m behind Bey’s bar. There he is. There’s the beat in all his magnificence. As you can see, his magnificence, not like Donald Trump. got everything at the front there. Um, and then obvious bragged it was anyway. And then uh and then Terry stepped in on the radio show and did a brilliant job. Russ started joining us on the radio show and then we started this year and the rest is history. So our third season doing this. So you’re very welcome. So let me introduce you to the team. It is Terry Butcher. It is Russell Osman. Now, uh, Luke Chambers was a fixture last season. Well, he he came when he wanted to last season, as you know. Um, and he’s he’s obviously very busy with his, um, EFL stuff and whatever. So, he has said that he will do, and I quote, several shows for us this season. So, we’ll be able to sing again. He Comes when he wants. Luke Chambers, he comes when he wants. Um, in the Sound for Pro Audio production suite, isn’t that grand? Uh, we have on technicals Richard Garrett and John Parker. and Sarah James, our floor manager. Welcome, welcome, welcome. Uh, so let’s have a little look and see who we’ve got. We’ve got the Churchman stand sponsored by John Keeble Cars. We’ve got the North Stand sponsored by Ashford, right? We’re on YouTube. Don’t forget to like and subscribe the channel. It makes a huge difference. It costs nothing. You just get notifications and it helps us no end if you can like and subscribe the channel. We’re also wherever you get your podcasts from and on Suffuk Sound on Saturday lunchtimes. And don’t forget to apply for tickets to be part of our capacity crowd each week. Head to our website www.life pitch.tv. Uh there are Rocky Road available on occasions, sausage rolls on occasions. Uh you can zoom in. There’s a few beers being held. Uh David the sausage roll man’s got his beer there down the front. So there’s free beer and snacks when you come along. There he is. Look. See? Look. uh when you come along to the show uh we need a special guest and they don’t come much more special than Mr. John Moy, you get that everywhere, don’t you, Walkie? Everywhere. Oh, wherever I go. I went the other day to New Market and people bumped into me and started singing. I was like, whoa. Nearly old dear. It was just full full out. A few months ago, I was flying with some friends from Stanford airport in the early hours of the morning and and who should be there but walkie along with Mrs. Walk. And I think you got some friends with you, hadn’t you? Um, tell us how you managed to held up hold up the whole queue at Stanton airport through passport control. Well, I just thought you got passport control and there’s a young lad there and he suddenly recognized me and he goes, “Can we have a picture?” And there’s a massive queue behind me for you know that and I was there for 10 minutes with him. Just me and him and everybody was going mental. It was just Yeah. missing flights all over Europe that day. They were. Yeah. Brilliant though. It’s lovely though, isn’t it? Lovely. It’s good. Yeah. Yeah. And boys, nice to be back, Butch. Yes. It’s lovely to be back. Yeah. We’re um championship football this year, which might seem, you know, disappointing, but it’s exciting because we’ll be one of the best teams there and um we’re all aiming for promotion. I think we that’s the that’s the bottom line. Get promoted, get back up, and be better off for it. Russell, good to be back. Yeah, very good, Mark. It’s nice to see some some old faces that we’ve seen over the last couple of years. Um it’ll be nice to see some new faces at Portman Road as well, so just looking forward to that. and waiting for the season to start now. Yeah, some ins and outs which I’ll run through in a moment or two, but uh uh we just before we really start need to say well done to a group of female footballers who won the European Championship. Would you please give it up for our Lionesses everybody? football’s coming home. John, were the Scottish women’s team there at all? I don’t think they were now. No, they were out with me. They haven’t got a team up there, have they? Well, they have a team up there. Yeah, they did. Yeah, Scotland have has a team. Yeah, it’s crap. But I mean, you know, it’s great. It’s not men just going around in kilts, is it? No, it’s not the main kills. No, no. Oh, dear. But well done to them. I It’s great. And there’ll be some fantastic. I must say the penalty shootout was a lot better last night than the one. I wasn’t going to mention the penalties. Well, the last couple were pretty decent. Oh, fair placement. It is a different game though, isn’t it? It’s a different sport almost in a way. Similar. I’m not getting Jordan into that. No. Okay, we’ll move on. We’ll move on. But they did very well. I mean, it’s, you know, made proud. I mean, you can only beat what’s in front of you and they eventually beat them. So, that was quite good. But you know it’s it’s great for the game and I think that’s the most important thing. You saw how much it grew after the first Euros win and you know it’s going to continue to do that which is which is brilliant. So when you see the football crowds at Portman Monroe in particular it’s not just the boys that are there young kids it’s it’s the girls that are there having a look and seeing I want to be part of that. So it’s good. The football clubs are going to have a problem now because the girls are going to say, “Well, hold on. The men’s team, they’re getting hundred times more more money than we’re getting.” You know, I think there’s got to be some sort of leveling off there somewhere down the line, which might not go down too well with some of the clubs. And of course, we’ve got championship football for the women’s team this season. We have. Yeah. So, there’ll be a lot more interesting to the crowd. Yeah. Lovely. Brilliant. Um, let’s look and see. Um, we’re going to talk about the book Walkie later in the show. Right. So, there’s a book um which I’ve got a copy of here uh the John Walk era which is coming out later this year. We’re going to hear all about that a little bit later on in the show. It’s called He’s here, He’s There. We’re not allowed to swear. Mark, has it got plenty of pictures in there? Pictures in there. That’s good. Yeah. Although can’t walk can’t see them tonight cuz he’s forgotten his glasses. Yeah. No, they’re all great. It’s going to be some book you really enjoy. I kept flicking through and seeing Bruce Groblar on every other page. Don’t even go there. I’ve I’ve got to get used to that again when I got to Liverpool. Absolutely. Cuz every time I’m there, it’s you’re all right, Bruce. I went from Glasgow, not Zimbabwe. You want to think yourself lucky? I was in the club shop last year and got mistaken for Allen Brazil. Well, I think that’s a pretty good likeness myself, but hence the Jane plan diet. Two stone down. No longer double X, just an X, let me tell you. Um, look, it’s great to be back. Let’s talk about the ins and outs at Portman Road and um, should we obviously dilap, we all knew that Dilap would probably go. Um, Chelsea, Butch, good for him or not? I don’t think he’s bothered because he’s going to get some some good money to go there. I think he Yeah, I mean I mean preseason he’s done well over in America. Um, so I think he’ll he’ll I don’t know if he’ll start the games. I think he I don’t think he’ll be first choice, but you know, he’ll be part of a really really big squad there, but he’s got to fight his way and he is one that can fight his way. He’s strong. He’s he’s a different sort of center forward to other people that they have there. So, I think he’ll do well. Russell is a good club for him to go to. I think he’ll surprise a few people um by how well he does do. I think the club’s good. It’s it’s shown it’s going in the right direction. I think it’s very positive from their point of view to give a young uh English striker a chance. So, let’s hope he, you know, makes the most of it really. He’s got good players around him. And I think all he can do is play with the best players you can play with and hopefully he rubs off on you and he’s not a bad player, but I think he’s just got to add one or two more things to his game than last year. Yeah. Yeah. Walkie, good move for him. Yeah. Yeah, if he if he gets the games, you know what I mean? I’m I’m a bit bit like Butch, you know, he won’t play all the time, but what he did for us was great. You know, I thought he was a real decent player sort of player. I would have liked to, you know, do do you think do you think Hurst can can fill that gap now? Because he’s he’s proved that he’s he can score goals already. Preseason, he scored goals, but do you think he can fill that gap? Personally, yes. Especially cuz it’s a championship. I think Hurst is on his day. He’s a handful, you know, and it’s just his injuries. He had a lot of injuries for us. So, he’s got if we keep him fit and he gets certain people alongside him, I think, yeah, he’ll be he’ll be fine. Um, Burgess and Twanzi departing the club. Bosman’s disappointed about Burgess, I think, boys, aren’t you? Yeah. Surprised more than anything, you know, it was seemed to be like a, you know, cut deal as soon as the season was over. That was it. He played the last game and he was off, you know. So he made his mind up he wanted a a move and that’s how it is I’m afraid these days you know and I thought he was a good servant to the club um and I think the club did well for him as well made him a better player than he was when he first came so that’s football you know everything moves on like that but we have a we have a player called Elcam Bagot who’s left footed 6’4 so he sort of fills that fills that gap in terms of like for like although he hasn’t exper experience that Burgess has and I like the way Burgess just defended he just kicked it headed it like Elcan’s not as you know he’s he’s similarly um lacking a bit of pace but he he’s he’s been out on loan he’s done very well he’s he he can read the game well so you know he’s he’s not going to be first choice but you know with there’s some good players ahead of him he’ll he’ll learn even more but it’s good to it’s good for them to go out and then come back and and be better players like Cameron Humphre as well in the middle of the park so it’s good to see homegrown players coming through. I think that’s the most important thing. What do you think walking to Xavier and Burgess disappointing they’ve gone? Well, not really personally, you know. I just think in the premiership they get found out like a lot of the other players we had at the back and uh I just think once we get in the championship if I think it’s going to be a big big difference and the players will be all right. Was it Twan that got injured washing up? He did it. What I mean I mean you had some injuries, John, but I mean never won like that really. Yeah, but mines were ke on injuries would I get away with. What I can never understand about that is a is a Premier League footballer on I don’t know £100,000 a week or whatever he was on hasn’t got a dishwasher. What? Well, maybe there’s more to this story than meets the eye. You know, who knows? It’ll come out eventually, won’t it? We should start an inquiry about this. We want to know. Um Sam Moy skipper going off to QA. disappointed everybody. Oh yeah. Russ, no. Terry Walkie. Yeah, I’m as a lad, you know, I got to know him as well and I just think he was a great player for us, especially in the championship. I think it like most of them as I say when they got to the premiership that it was too much for them. But I just wish him all the best and he was a real good lad and a good player at the championship level. is he seemed to get the midfield seemed to get swamped. Yeah. By big players, by strong players. Um and you know, Sam is not quick, but he was he read things well. He was sh He was sharp. But I just think we need someone in the middle of the park that’s going to inject an intensity and a tempo to the game. We that was that was sort of lacking in a way with missing at times, wasn’t it? That intensity and switches a play as well. We didn’t last year we we seemed reluctant to switch to switch play quickly. Yeah. But so thank you for your service. But yeah, and a good move him. He’ll make some money in he did really well. Popped up with some goals occasionally and he did well and the club did well for him. Yeah, it worked both ways. Worked very well. Very well. Um Harness Lewongo, they’ve gone as well. When you start looking at there’s a lot of players that have departed, isn’t there? Yeah. A lot gone on Freeze as well. Yeah. His I thought every time he got on the pitch for us, he gave you 100%. I thought he’s is very good from that point of view. Um yeah, you’ve just got to let players move on, move on to uh new pastures and hopefully we get better players in. Four four loans back. Kajou, Eniso, Phillips, and Godfrey. Um Eniso I thought was a good player. Kadust obviously we’d have liked him to stay, wouldn’t we? Really? Yeah, I think so. About Phillips and Godfrey really. Yeah. Well, again, Phillips showed that he’s got some some qualities as a player, but you can’t keep him fit. And again, that’s one of the things that we trust on there with uh with Hurst. We got to make sure we keep him fit. Um and that’s it. You know, it it’s hard to pick a side week in week out when you’ve got one or two players pick up niggly little injuries here, there, and everywhere, you know, so makes it very difficult. I thought Godrey sometimes looked like Godrey from Dad’s Army. Don’t give them your name, Pike. Yes. Yes. Don’t tell him your name, Pike. Yeah. Oh my god. Yeah. Did you not think so? I thought he moved like Godfrey did. Mind you, God qualified to say that, but I’m not. I think Godfreyy’s dead now, isn’t he? So, I mean, well, there we go. I rest my case. I rest my case. I certainly remember the Spurs game very well when he was what I mean. Yeah, son can believe his luck, can he? Say um Humphrey’s back. Walky Cameron Humphre. I I’ve always liked him and and he’s he had a cracking season last year. Yeah, I personally I did. I was always raving about him when he was here and he’s done well and he he’s got a lot of ability and uh I just think he’s back here and he’ll be if we he plays a lot of games, we’ll be all right. But he’s got to play a lot of games for us. Yeah, I think he’s he’s just one of those players is he looks a little bit ungainainely, doesn’t he? You know, and he’s now and again you look at players and that they’re not quite as pleasing on the eye as other players are, even though they might be more effective or more efficient, you know, during the 90 minutes. You think, well, he’s not looked like he’s really done well. But it’s deceiving Cameron Humphrey. He’s a he’s a real tidy player, you know. He’s just got a funny gate about how he plays. Yeah, but he’s up and down. He’s got I think he’s got three lungs at times because he’s just up back up back all the time. But he scored a lot of goals last good few goals last year as well. And so to add that to your um to your CV is is really good. A bit like Connor Chaplan. He’s not the same as Connor, but he’s just he’s he’s got a sweet left foot. He can fill in he can fill in at left back if needs be or left mid left side of midfield. But he’s he’s versatile, but al he’s he’s he just loves the he loves the club. So, but we’ll see more of Chappers this year. I hope so. Yeah. I really hope so. I think in the Championship especially. Yeah. Yeah. Because we need we need people like that. And the thing about last season in particular was we got a lot of injuries to key players, especially to the strikers and the and the wingers. A lot of injuries. So you you’re having players on a player position and players that that aren’t they’re used to first team football and coming in and all that. It was we we suffered badly from injuries and it’s good to see a Benny coming back and playing as well. Wesburn’s not so much yet, but he’s coming back. So it’s like having a new signing of Benet, isn’t it? Yeah, it is. You know, he’s when he when he came because he’s he’s rapid. He’s lightning. So hopefully he’s not lost any pace. So hopefully he can he can set the championship alike. And you’ve got Philigine on the other side who had a lot of injuries as well and and he started the preseason really well. So there’s a lot to look forward to. I I think we’ll do really I think we’ll do well really well. Perhaps not at the start. I think the start is a thing that you got to get used to the championship. You got to get used to to the players again. But the system that we have is very versatile and very flexible. And I think if you can get into your stride quickly like we did in the championship two years ago or year two a year ago or two seasons it, you know, we we really hit the ground running. And I think that’s something that you every manager and coach wants to do and sometimes doesn’t quite achieve that until later on. I think we were surprised by the physicality of it last season, weren’t we? A little bit, you know, when we came up against one or two real good, fit, strong, athletic teams last year. Brutes. Yeah. So, Al Hamdy back. Uh Harry Clark back as well. Yeah. Um you scored already. Hammed. That’s that’s a record, isn’t it? Yeah. First, it’s a bit like you That’s a bit like me. Yeah. Let’s talk about some of the injuries. Obviously, this is this is um recorded and we there may have been others when you’re watching this that we don’t know about yet, but um as it stands uh Azor Matia, is that how you uh what’s his name again? Azor Mata as well well done. Is that right? You’ve been practicing that? 7.8 I have actually. Yes. 7.8 Probably not got it right, but 7.8 million pounds. So, he’s a midfielder. Yeah. Yeah. I’m good. We’ve seen him. Yeah. 10 million. Yeah. Yeah. was dead as well. By the way, John, the Beatles are split up. Yeah. Not Cedric Kipri on loan. Yeah. In uh another goalkeeper, David Button. So, it looks like um uh will go out on loan probably, won’t he? How many keepers we got? Five. We got five at the moment. Yeah. Uh and a 40-year-old Ashley Young. Yep. Now, let’s talk to the evergreen Johnny Walk about this because I actually thought he came here to be coach serious. But his ability is incredible. He played he was at Everton, you know, last year and he’s one of the best players and done well and for that age. But, you know, as I say, I played till I was 39, but then I used to enjoy myself, have a few refreshments now and again. Most people used to have a bit of pace when they started playing, John, and you didn’t. So, you didn’t have to worry about losing. So, I use my head, but the thing with him, he’s so he’s so fit and I think he’ll do I think he’ll do brilliant for us. I think he’ll be one of our best players. Right back, is it? Yeah, right back. You’ve got to, as I say, play him there and I think he’s going to be a real good signing. So, right back, you got Ashley Young, you got Harry Clark, and you’ve got Johnson, Ben Johnson. Ben Johnson. So there’s three fighting for the position there. Harry Clark might go out on loan again. Yeah, probably. I just think we just fit and I think he is a fit lad. Ashley Young, I think he’ll be in every game. Yeah, but it’s it’s worked before for for Kieran. You got this this big center half, Collins. He got him in. He was he was very old. Yeah. For center back, but not quite as old as John, but I mean he was very old. And you’ve had Sonia Alco as well coming in. So that that little bit of experience has helped in the past. So I think he’s gone down that road again. He’s available and he’s he’s been with him knows what he’s like as a person. It’s only co still on the staff, I think. So yeah, there’s been a few ins and outs behind the scenes which we’ll all kind of filter out at some point. Um preseason, we can’t really read too much into preseasons or can we? Ask Johnny about three seasons. Never done one anymore. I think I missed about 10 in the truck. I messaged the boys today, right, Walkie? And said, you know, it’d be nice tonight to be able to talk about, you know, your memories of pre-season and I and I said, walkie will be here to help. It’ll be great. Yeah. I didn’t used to do many to be fair. I just had I had a word with the physio, you know, saying what what what should I tell the manager? What’s wrong with me? You know, and he says, mention this and I would stay, but then I was fit for the start of the season every time and it didn’t do me any harm. But the older I got, you know, you never told us to do that either. No. No, I didn’t. I just had a thing with it with the physio, you know what I mean? They let us think, you know, he let they let us get away with murder, you know what I mean? So, I used to see him and my Johnny just say this and all that. That didn’t do any harm, did it? Obviously not. What about where where did you did you go away on preseason like they’ve gone to Austria? Did you go to places? Oh, yes. Oh yeah. Oh yes. I I was actually fit for that. I think we we called it team bonding in those days. Okay. Bonding was a good word. Don’t worry about sort of places did Bobby take you? Um was it cuz he wanted to go away as well? Yes, it was entirely entirely. That’s another story. Zeiss. Zeiss in in Holland. The that was a regular one. That’s the the Dutch training center, a bit like St. George’s Park that we have now with England. Yeah, Scotland don’t have one, but you know, we have one. I remember Alan Hunter not being able to get back into his room one night and was still fast asleep out in the garden underneath a tree the following morning. Yeah. Going. Is that the night he was doing owl impressions up the tree? Yeah. Trying to get back in. Bobby Fergus shouting out, “I know you’re out there, Hunter. Get yours. I remember that. Yeah, we used to find we used to find little places, little bars and um obviously you got to hydrate. So we we’re hydrating correctly. What we thought anyway, but it was Hinekin, not water. But no, we little glasses, wasn’t it? The little Yeah. Yeah. Y get the the top off. But we used to we used to that was a a big thing for us. And also remember we used to take a cricket bat with us. Yeah. Yeah. Was it you that you took it? You had a cricket bat. I had a cricket bat. You had a cricket bat. So, we used to bring it and we’d have we’d go into the squares and like the squares in in Amsterdam and we we’d play a tennis ball. We play cricket and we have we actually played in the hotels in the you know the corridors. You had a big long corridor with the rooms and of course you have a little little recess for the doors. So, the boys used to stand the doors open. The boys were standing the doors, batter down one end and a bowler down the other end and everybody disappeared into the into the doors and as soon as the ball was delivered they saw it come down. Everybody jumped out waiting to catch it. It was it was it was just like after a while we thought we better better use a tennis ball. It was like whack-a-ole, you know. We used to go every every time it’s like he’s going to bowl, he’s going to bowl, go back in, boom, and out we come and then try and catch it. It was great. We used to do that. But that is the team bonding, isn’t it? That is, you know, he can play cricket to save his life. They don’t have that. I actually missed that one as well. Yeah. Yeah. But we used to we used to we used to go out and and play on, you know, the Dutch look at us and say, “Were these?” But we used to have some some big preseason tournaments, you know, they started we we played in and Barcelona won preseason and we played in Rotterdam. Rotterdam. Great goal in Rotterdam. Yeah. Um, so we had some some strong tournaments, you know, for early on in the season. They were real testers, weren’t they? Yeah, they were good. There was always good opposition and we always tried to to try to go there to win it. We had a preseason tour of um in America, Florida, which we didn’t start the season too well. Which one did you go to, Walkie? Can you remember? I went to them all, but I didn’t play all the time. You didn’t go to the Panam Sunshine tournament. I remember the American one was a one I thought stood out. It stood out. That one stood out. Yeah. Yeah. But the thing was we used to play so we’d train hard and then you could you could go down and have a few beers. Bobby allowed us to have a few beers. So we used to get the bin bags full of ice and get tons of beers and put them in the bin bag. So we didn’t actually know that there was bottles of beer in there and we’d hide it and all that sort of thing. And we just used to replenish it and replenish it and replenish it. We were terrible. The trip to the the trip to Florida started off badly because it was sponsored by Panama in those days. It was the Panama Sunshine Tournament and um Heath they upgraded as many people as possible into first class. Dangerous. What with the cobalts and the directors and the bers then? I think they ran out of champagne going over Ireland. And uh well the rest is history. It was like a fantastic trip out there. Fantastic a fantastic trip back and in between was not bad either. You didn’t sit near the cobalt on the plane, did you? No. No. No. I think Mr. John slid under the chair in front of him now and again, you know, and you had to strap him in. But we played um four Lorddale strikers um Tampa Bay Rowies and Sao Paulo from Brazil. So good games, you know, and we should have won the tournament, didn’t we? Get we got cheated one nil, didn’t we? Yeah, real bad, dodgy referee’s decision. So we we actually stayed we actually didn’t have any beer the night before the game, which was a mistake. What a mistake. What a mistake. Yeah, it was a mistake cuz we lost. Yeah. Yeah. have a great trip and it’s difficult to sort of judge really on a preseason walkie isn’t it? You know when you look at town you know sometimes we’ve had good preseasons other times not so good and I mean it’s they’re just training games aren’t they? That’s what it is. As I say they’ve done well so far town you know I know they went beat Aberdine but they can beat them. They’re a pub team, you know what I mean? So, you know these Scottish teams, don’t you? Yeah. Bit like Rangers again. You know what I mean? But just think, you know, they’ve started well and as I said, but it’s all about just getting yourself ready for the start. It’s getting everybody fit and healthy and all on the starting line for the first game of the season and that’s it. And then you go Birmingham, Brmley, two games in the space of four days now. It was Friday the first game. That’s strange, isn’t it? Friday night kickoff. But wasn’t it wasn’t it Mick Mick McCarthy that they had a wretched preseason and I think they lost every game and then started off really won the first five in the league. Yeah. So it just goes to show I think the the the the sport science and the managers and the coaches, they they can see things in there that they want to see. And even if you don’t get the results, it’s just getting game time, getting game fitness because you have a general fitness, getting match fitness, and getting sharp. That’s that’s the thing that you want to see. So, I mean, Kieran’s been been excellent with that. Um, didn’t obviously last season didn’t start too well because of the opposition, I think, really. And being in the Premier League, but in the Championship, it was great. Wow. And that’s that’s got to be repeated, and I think he knows what level to get these players to for the Championship. Okay. Right. Well, let’s have a look at uh this week’s live to pitch TV player of the week sponsored by the Dovan Ipswitch. Got to get the sponsors mentions in. You see, uh anybody stand out from you at all that you’ve seen or heard about on preseason? Philigene. Yep. Yeah. It’s good to see the real Philligy. Yep. I think the one when we Hurst Hurst just stood out. Yeah. and we need to keep him in all the time in the team. Matia for me I think the players there have been a bit surprised how good he is. Said he’s a very solid strong character in there. So sounds like uh got a good replacement there for the Okay. Well, we’ll have some real uh match action to talk about next time we’ve got the show. We’ll be back after the Birmingham game uh for that. Um we’ve got some new features on the show. Um, it’s time for an old one first with a new twist. It’s time for You’ll love this, Butch. Ask the Legends is back. And we’ve got Simon here from Seekford. Uh, and Simon and Tony will be asking questions during the course of the season of you. Uh, Russell has the uh the title from last season. Well done. Thank you. I was going to bring me trophy, but I couldn’t find it anywhere. It’s over here. There we go. You can have that one. Um, we got a few of these lying around from last season. So, um, yeah, Simon’s here from SEO, uh, one of our quiz masters. And there is a difference this season. You get to choose home or away for the questions. So, Simon, would you like to just explain absolutely to all of us and to me how this is going to work? Of course. So, Question of Sport back in the day, uh, there was a feature with home or away. So, in our version of that, did you do Question of Sport? I think I was on four times. Oh, yeah. I lost everyone. Okay. Obviously. So, if you decide to go for the home question, you’ll score one point. But if you risk it and go away, you’ll get two points. And they’ll take it in turns, I believe, each week to to choose either home or the or or away. If you pick home Terry, then Russell will get the away question and so on. It’ll all become clear. It’ll all become clear. Simple. Yes. So, um, who are we going to get to choose? Should we go? Should we start with Russ as he was the champion last season? So, do you want to go home? Home or away, Russ? I’ll go away. Okay. So, the away questions are general knowledge. Oh, it’s more risky than that. Every general knowledge. Oh, you didn’t say it was going to be general knowledge. I thought it was all the home questions about switch town. The away questions, general knowledge. So, you’re going to go away for two points. Yep. Here we go. What was the name of the horse that won the Grand National in April 2025? So, what was the name of the horse that won the Grand National in April 2025? I think Alan Brazil might know this to be honest. Get him on the phone. It wasn’t Sher, was it? Wasn’t There’s not much help from the audience there either. I’ll be honest with you, I’ve got no idea. No idea. Guess at all? No. Anybody from the crowd? No. Blimey? Nobody. That’s a good start, Simon. Great start. The horse was Nick Rocket. Of course, Nick Rocket. There we go. Oh, so Terry still got the home question which is about Ipsswitch Town. So Ipsswitch finished 19th in last season’s Premier League, but how many points did they finish on multiple choice? Was it 20, 22 or 24? So for one point, Ipsswitch finished 19th in the Premier League. How many points did they finish on? Was it 20, 22 or 24? Wasn’t my name? I got 22. is the correct answer. 22. What a guess that was. One point to I’m gonna retire now. I’m in the front. I’m car park. No car. Storming into the lead. Fantastic. Well done, Butch. Well done. Wow. Good start. One point to Terry Butcher. Uh, and next week you’ll get to ask home or away. You’ll get to choose. Is that right? Perfect. Yeah. Very good. We’ll get there by the end of the season. So, well done. Well done. Well done. I’m I’m absolutely shocked. Going to declare. I need some water. Don’t peek too early before the season starts early. Right now, those of you amongst us who are watching or in the capacity crowd, uh, will notice that there’s something that’s missing from the middle of the studio this year. So, the table football game has gone out into our ante room next door. Uh, and we do have instead a golf challenge because every footballer plays golf, don’t they, Walkie? Apart from me. Apart from Walkie, who’s going to be the first to try our new game and credit where credit’s due. I was trying to think of a name. Uh it’s sponsored by Seekford Golf Club. I was trying to think of a name and I I had we had a high level meeting, didn’t we, boys at Honey and Harvey? Yeah. The second floor, was it? Yeah. And uh and I said, “What we going to call this?” And Russell said, “It has to be Mark. Life’s a pitch and putt.” Or So, uh Walkie, are you left-handed or right-handed? Right-handed. Right-handed. So, um, you have the club behind you there. Pop your microphone down on the floor. Uh, anywhere over there. Don’t trip over. And what it is, we have six balls. Okay. Six balls in front of you. Uh, X marks the spot. Tony from Seekford is there to help you with this. So, there is one problem. Walkie’s forgotten his glasses. So, so just, so just hit this way, Walkie. Okay. Hit over here. That’s it. We can see. Hit over here. more holes on the right. So you’ve got holes between 10 and 100. So 100 is over this side and 10 over the other. So you’ve got no time just six balls to see how many you can score. So I’m going to do my best Peter Alice and then when we get a bit near. So Walkie is just teeing up and there’s the first shot coming down the green. Didn’t go in. I’m not even holding that straight. Walkie te’s up for his shot number two. Here we go. The crowd is silent. Here we go. Missed again. Third one. Go on, Walkie. 75. Slight misit on that one. Take a divot. Open your eyes. Give him a mic. Take a divot in this. 75 so far. Our top score. Come on, Walker. You can do this. Oh, 75 everybody. So that means Walkie, you are top of the leaderboard. Top of the leaderboard. I’ll put your name up on the leaderboard. So you’ll be top of the leaderboard. Grab your microphone back over there. Um, and we are playing for the trophy that Russell should have got last year that we’ve we’ve kind of recycled it. Really? I’m not going for that. Use your microphone next time. No, not with your microphone. Uh, and we will get Terry and Russell to do this on occasions as well. No problem. That’s what you That’s what you think. Well, I saw you play at the Cancer Sport at golf day the other day. You did very well. No, I didn’t. Yeah, you did. Russell had a little practice earlier on as Oh, a little cheeky practice. Yeah, we slip one in. I’m just wondering which one of you’s got keys for this building to come in and have a little practice in between. No, no. Doesn’t need a practice. 75 in the lead, which is brilliant. So, congratulations. Um, and uh, yeah, we we’ll do that every week on the show. Um, see how we get on as the season goes on. Um, now it’s time to welcome Neil Apprentice. Now, Neil is the man who’s put together some wonderful, wonderful Ipsswitch town books. The latest is the John Walk era. He’s here. He’s there. We’re not allowed to swear. Uh the book All about Johnny Walk. Would you welcome Neil Apprentice, everybody? Neil, brilliant to see you. Thank you very much for coming in. Um clearly the book doesn’t feature Walkie’s golf skills. No, it doesn’t. Most of his other skills, though. Oh, okay. Um this is not your first. Tell us about the other two that you’ve done. Uh yeah, well I was here this time last year um introducing George Burley’s book, All to Play For. Um which was an amazing experience to work on. Uh George was was great a great subject to write a book with. Um and all of the other players from his era um as manager um were fantastic to uh uh contributors in that that project. Obviously George um was very ill during that that process. So that was a a real challenge and he showed exactly what he’s made of with his fight against uh against cancer and his u amazing recovery. Yeah. Colleague saw him in the park the other day in Christ Church Park and he said he was feeling top of the world. So yeah, he’s looking really good, isn’t he? Yeah, he’s looking great. Fantastic. So then you decided on uh on the legend over there, the evergreen Johnny Walk. Yeah. Yeah. Johnny Walk. Yeah. I mean, you look at the um something just came to mind earlier in the show. You put Sam Morsey’s stats on the screen and I love Sam Morsey. I think he’s been an amazing player for town. I think I said he made 165 appearances and scored 11 goals. So, just to put that into context, John’s John played 678 matches for Ipsswitch and he scored 179 goals. So I think I think there are there are legends and then there’s Johnny Walk. Cheers. You agree with that, Butch? No, you missed about 300. I was busy carrying carrying back cleaning up. I was cleaning up after him. Um you’re quite self- aacing, Walker. you don’t sort of, you know, how has it been having this this book done with everybody saying such wonderful things about you? Uh, fantastic. You know what I mean? But it’s, uh, I didn’t think I was that good. You know, there some of the stats that gets me there certain things. One of the stats was Spanish magazine and it was a top sort of 10 players in Europe or and it was uh Ziko first, Rumineer second, me third and a little player called Maradona fourth. I just thought I’d let you know, You know that’s a stand that’s a standard. Yeah, I shouldn’t have mentioned that, should I? When I saw Ziko, he did ask me, “Who’s that bloke Johnny Wall?” I know exactly. Yeah, he knows now. He does. Yeah. But he knew me when I played against him in 82 in the World Cup cuz he actually asked for my shot. There you go. Yeah. He was blind like you, I tell you. He wanted number nine, but he got number 10. He wasn’t happy apparently. No. But to to score all those goals, you got to have good players around you. Yeah. You know, you can you can you can be a great finisher, natural finisher, and all these kind of things, quick, sharp, bang, bang, bang, all these kind of things. But you’ve got to have good players around you to create those chances because if if we create a chance, he’d score. Is that there’s no no doubt about it. He’d score. He wouldn’t score prettily, but he’d score. You I’m not taking the Mickey there, but he was he never scored glamour. He never scor a glamour goal from Did you ever score more than 18 yards out or was it Did you hit some from 25 yards? The odd time. Yeah. Most time was most time was in the box. And that was that was his art of getting into the box, ghosting into the box, coming then timing. He saw that and then you can’t coach that, can you? No, you can’t. It’s just a natural thing that some players have. Butch liked it as well cuz in 80 he was left back and he done a cross which was the worst cross ever and it and it was just it was just inside the box and I’ve headed it in the top corner to make his cross look good. No, I just put it into the space where you came into. So I did what my job was entailed. Get to the by line and cross the ball into the box. Yeah, there he goes. Thanks for that. That’s why we rearranged the seating tonight compared to normal. So, but I see you in the car park. What was it like playing with Walkie? Uh, good fun. Um, you just knew that more or less every game that you went out and played that he was going to score at least one goal, which is always nice. You know, you think as a team you, you know, we thought at the time we’d get a couple of goals again, you know, even if we went one down early on, you just all right, let’s let’s kick it on a gear. But when you got somebody getting goals from nothing and penalties that you can, you know, you can put your hat on him scoring his penalties, you know, it it just gave you that confidence that we knew we were a good enough side to create chances and we had good enough people in the side to you know, make those chances count. You know, if it wasn’t Walk, it was Mera. If it wasn’t Mana, it be Brazil. If it wasn’t neither of those three little gates would pop up with them, you know, and um that’s what they were paid to do. And we just sat at the back and did what we were paid to do, try to keep clean sheets and Walkie just he was the link between the the front guys and the back guys. What stands out for you, Neil? You’ve done a lot of research into this man. Um well, there are so many things really. It’s it’s how much you can drink. We we we’ve discussed it, haven’t we, John? But we’ve managed that situation, I think. Um but it’s I think it’s just the the phrase he’s here, he’s there is just so true, isn’t it? Because not only on the pitch, was he here and there? He really was everywhere off the pitch as well. He was in Escape to Victory. He was in the Sky Sports ad um when the Premier League started in in 1992. There’s so many little episodes and and things that have um occurred that you you find out. I mean, another another one was that he was shortlisted for the um the Bon Door. He was ninth place in the Bon Door in 1981. And John didn’t know that, did you, John? Until I told you about that. I mean, these are incredible things, just elite level performances that shouldn’t be taken for granted. And you know, I think putting the book together and like with George’s book, I I hope that supporters in 50 years time might pick the book up and have a little look through it and read about the exploits of what these guys um carried out. Well, it was a fantastic time to be a footballer, John, wasn’t it? With these guys around you? Oh, yeah. But we were, you know, our boys, the team, I call them I call them my football brothers cuz we were there since kids, you know, like 16, 17. butcher, you know, George Alan Brazil and and we’re still together, aren’t we? And we we’ve had some fantastic times. We’re still the best mates. Well, sometimes, you know what I mean? Butch gets the hump now and again, didn’t he? But as I say, we’re still like this. And it’s it’s great. Once you played alongside somebody, once you see their strengths and you see their heart in the soul, it’s it’s pretty powerful. is um same as if you if you were crap then you wouldn’t be here. We wouldn’t we wouldn’t be mates and we’d end up kicking you sort of think that’ be great. Perhaps I might do that now. Yeah, I know. But you played through so many different eras, didn’t you? Really? There was a picture just gone up on the screen of of um getting promotion up into the Premier League. Yeah. Which um Jason Dell, Simon Milton, Chris Kwamia there and these boys you played with. I mean the the list of players that you were alongside it was taking over your time is huge. Yeah. That’s when you and Mills had hair. That’s right. Yeah. Yeah. It was the 70s, the 80s, the 90s, you know. So, I was quite as I say, fortunate. And the ‘ 90s, I loved actually cuz, you know, as I say, I was still one of the best players, you know what I mean, which is scary, but but to but to go but to come to to be an attacking midfield player, scoring those goals, and then eventually to come back to center back, you you center back originally, really, weren’t you? But to go back into that position and then adapt again, it takes special a special talent, a real special talent. But the thing about that is your vision and seeing the game is is way above everybody else. Way above because you read things because you have to, you know, because you can’t, you haven’t got the pace, but that sort of thing, but which isn’t a bad thing, but if you can read it and and sus it out before it does happen or as it’s happening, then that’s a real art. And that’s worth a lot of money. Well, that’s how he scored half of his goals, wasn’t it? Reading the situation better than other people. And then defensively, you just read it the other way round. You read the danger coming in before the people have realized it’s there. So, now he can’t read anything. His eyesight’s gone. No, his eyesight’s gone. Not with your glasses. And a penalty king as well. A lot. Yeah, but I missed I missed a few. I always say I didn’t miss many but I think I did miss I don’t know was it how many was it you know something like you scored 59 out of 68 I think was it terrible shocking I thought it was a lot better than that you know what I mean but we we did yeah you missed a few though didn’t you but the highlight was the ones against Norwich you know when you take a penalty against you missed all that the highlight was against Norwich thank you come on come on you was in goal for them Gunny Gunny. Yeah. Yeah. I don’t count. There was one that already scored at Carol Road. It was quite funny. And all the players from both sides went to see the linesman and it was like and I’m standing in the penalty spot with Gunny and he goes to me where are you going to put this one cuz I put I went same as the last one in the net and it was cancelled. He wanted to know what side I was going to go and I just but it’s quite funny you know but I did score one earlier against him. Did you have a you had a you had a strong side. Yeah, my strong side as I say to your left. You said this before. I used to whip it side to my left. Yeah. So I would if I’m scoring here, I’m putting it over there. Used to go in the side net. No. No, not at all. There’s one game I got three penalties on and it was like I went bump bump bump three different areas. European game. Yeah, three three penalties. A Greek team, was it? It was penalonica. Yeah. Good job. You scored those three. I know. My mother-in-law was Yeah, exactly. I got slaughtered in the away game. So, what did you think when watching the the penalties for the Lion Ses then? Oh my. I was I was with Karen watching the misses and I just I swore a few times. I was the worst I’ve ever seen in my life. But the best penalty is the one that goes in irrespective of if it’s a good if it’s in the corner or not. When you get both teams that can’t even hit the target. Would you? But would you would you aim high with power or you always try and find the bottom corner? I was actually not high, probably about middle. Yeah. Right in the bottom, you know, right in there. Cuz they wouldn’t get near it if you get it right. And you didn’t know that nowadays they have a celebration. What What would your celebration be now? Just one of them, you know. All right. Just a natural. All right. Not a knee slide. Yeah. I wouldn’t go stupid. You know what I mean? I would always You wouldn’t You wouldn’t do the heart thing in all these funny things. Never mind. I don’t do all that rubbish. Cuz you should score penalties, shouldn’t you? Oh, there pictures in the book of his goal celebrations. There are some really great. I think that what comes through is is not that rehearsed sort of scripted celebration that you get now, but that raw emotion of scoring a goal in a big match. That’s what comes across. What do you do? You used to just run off, didn’t you? Yeah. Run off. We just Nobody Nobody would wait for you to come back. None of my teammates would come near me. No, quite right. Cuz I was I was quite quick then. Well, we’re not running 60 yards up and 60 yards back to put you on the back or whatever. No, you stick that. You knew I was going to come back and help you later. You have to come back in and a half anyway. Yeah. No, we didn’t bother. What else did you discover or want to mention, Neil? Um, well, just the Norwich link there earlier that Oh, you’re back. You’re back. Well done. Well, John John’s got so many he leads so many statistics for the club and one of them he’s played in more East Angland derbies than any other player for both teams and scored more goals in them as well. So I think he played in 25 and and scored nine and had a really good record against uh against that lot up the road. You get sent off as well against Yes, that’s with Darren when I was getting on at the end of my career and as I said I tried to get him in the first half but I was that late. I got him in the second and and I got I got a straight red car road. Yes. Brilliant. Love it. Cuz I cuz I caught him. Delightful. Yeah, I caught my cracker. Oh dear. We’ve got all that to come this season. Up against the scums again, haven’t we? Oh my goodness me. Um you’ve got a big event coming up to to launch the book and also featuring George Burley as well. Neil, tell us about that. Yeah. Um well, we didn’t get the chance to do a proper event for George’s book due to his um his health situation. So on Thursday, October the 2nd, uh in the Sabb Robson suite at Portman Road, we’ll be having a a dinner. It’s going to be a really prestigious event uh celebrating George and and John’s careers and the books and you’ll receive a copy of of the books as part of your your ticket price. Um it’s going to be a fantastic evening. Hope lots of John’s teammates from the time will be present. What’s on the menu? Um four choices. Russell, you can help him inform the choice if you like. Um, but it’ be lovely to see them there and be lovely to see as many Ipsy town supporters there as possible paying tribute to what they both achieved. Yeah, it be a special night. It really will. And lovely to be able to do it walking alongside George. You mention how close you are. Yeah, George is George is my mate, you know, we’re mates and we’re all very close, aren’t we? George, you played together for Scotland, didn’t you? Yeah. And lost. Yeah, it was great. Yeah. Lost against us as well, didn’t you? Yeah. Yeah. What was that like coming back the following week back to Portman Road? That’s that’s why he’s still talking about it. It’s just a normal for them. We played against him for the under 21s up in up. I didn’t even shake hands with him. Oh, you did. I’ve got it. I’ve got you. Have you got it? I’ve got it. Oh, yeah. Beauty. It was brilliant. So, um, where can we find the tickets? Are they on sale yet? And what about the book? Can we order the book? Yes, please. Please pre-order the book. Um, you know, people were so supportive uh with George’s book. Um, if they could go to itconds.com, you’ll find details of how to order the pre-order the book. It’s going to be ready um and delivered early in October. Uh, in terms of the event, the details will be going on that website, but if um in advance of that, if you want to send me an email at contactitcicons.com, uh, I’ll get straight back to you. Brilliant. Well, Neil, it’s a fantastic work of art. I’ve seen a lot of it. You know, I’m a big genuinely big fan of the other two books that you’ve done and a lot of us are here as well. So, uh this is going to be fantastic and get those pre-orders in. Um and hopefully, fingers crossed, we will uh all be together on that night in October. Yeah, that’d be brilliant. Fantastic. Excellent. Cheers. Thank you. Thank you, Neil. Two more things. Uh it’s time for On This Day in History. Right on this day in history, Thursday the 28th of July, we’re starting off in 1966. A long throw expert Andy Le was born in Neath, Wales. Town signed the Welsh international on loan from Birmingham City in the 199798 season and he scored once in six fairly ineffectual games. I’m only reading what’s in front of me. Monday the 28th of July 2003, Joe Royal signed goalkeeper Kelvin Davis from Luton Town on a free transfer. Bedford Bourne Davis was magnificent for two seasons at Pullman Road before leaving to join Sunderland for uh one and a quarter million in 2005. Finally, Friday the 28th of July 2023. K McKenna hailed town’s victorious Insrook Cup campaign. A really good day after Ipsswitch triumphed in a three-team tournament featuring Bundesliga side Verda Breman. RB Leipzig in Austria. Striker George Hurst headed home the winner as Town beat Champions League qualifiers Liipig during the first 60-minute game before Greg Lee. Remember Greg Lee? He grabbed the leveler in a 1-1 draw with Verde Breman ensuring Town finished their preseason program with notable silverware. And that is it for the 28th. On the 29th under Bobby Ferguson, Ipsswich focused their preseason as we talking about preseason campaign against the lower league domestic opposition Mansfield Town who were defeated 2-0 at Field Mill with strikes from Trevor Putney and Mish Dre. And that is it from Ipsytown on this day. Fantastic. Brilliant. Right, time for the Man Vat results everybody. Uh some exciting news from the Manv Fat community as they’ve now expanded the league to eight teams and relocated to Inspire Suffach at Lindberg Road where they will play every Friday from 8:00. Now last season saw Ips Chips Town win the trophy and our best individual success story was Alex Hammond who deserves a round of applause who has now lost 35% of his body weight which totals eight stone. eight stone. We have some We have some new teams. Of course, we’ve they’ve been playing while we’ve been off. This week’s results from Inspire Suffukk. IPS Chips Town 11. OMPOS 10. The Pink Panthers 6. Blubber Blues 8. What? Food FC 8. Leighton Oreos 8. Porter Carl Fatsuma 12, RB Liposuction 11, and from the Whitten Sports Center, FC Fat Salona 11, Juventus 10. Most of the lads of town fans have been looking forward to an exciting season in the Championship. That’s from Matt Manv Fat Mark. So the big question, Butch, where are we going to finish this season? In Manv Fett or just No. No. Ipsswitch Town. Where are we going to finish? What is your prediction? First. First. First. Top of the league. Okay. Russell. Can’t go first then, can I? You can. You can check. No, I’ll go I’ll go third. Walkie. I’ll go second. Well, that leaves me with the playoffs then, doesn’t it? Really? Thanks. Thanks for that. Uh, but we’re quietly confident, Walkie, we can do it. Well, I think so. Personally, personally, I think we’ve got a great chance, Ross. Yep. every chance. Just need to keep everybody fit and healthy and uh get off to a good start. Yeah, fitness is the is the main thing. Can I just say as well, it’s very sad to see the passing of Brian Owen, one of our coaches of many years ago. He was a fantastic guy. Uh hard as nails, but really good laugh. And he was he always used to say we we saw him coming and we’d always go is Brian Owen. How’s it going, Brian Owen? Like that. and he would call me Terry Mcbuchio and like stupid names like that for that but he was a great co good and when I saw that I was wow it was really sad cuz he was part of that era when we were growing up and learning our trade yeah it’s that great team spirit that we talked about right at the very start he was a great man yeah brilliant stuff oh yellow card penalty hang on a moment hang on a moment that was Melvin Eek I believe everybody yellow card Melvin So, if you know Melvin, it was his phone going yellow card. Melvin. Okay. No, it’s all right, great, mate. Don’t worry. There he is. He’s on the There he is. Wave, Melvin. Wave. There he is. Yeah, there’s the guilty person. Uh, I was looking for a way to finish the show. And that’s it. It’s done it. Uh, thanks very much for watching or listening. We’ll be back after the Birmingham game. And don’t forget, if you want to be part of the capacity crowd, there’s free beer, free snacks, sometimes sausage rolls, sometimes rocky road. It’s all here for you. Uh, good company and a swelteringly hot studio. Um, so go on to the website www.lifeepitch.tv, book on capacity crowd, and we’ll get an email and I’ll be in touch with you to sort that out. And don’t forget if you’re watching to like and subscribe on YouTube. Walkie, a pleasure to have you on the show as always. The evergreen Johnny Walker, everybody. You can always do 20 seconds of the song if you want just to brilliant. Actually, that should be the theme tune for the show, I think. Anyway, uh Russell, thank you. Great to be back. Terry, great to be back. Neil, thank you. Capacity crowd, thank you. Uh, and we’ll see you after the Birmingham game. Life’s a pitch. We’ll be back for the whole season. Blue Army, Blue Army, Blue Army, Blue Army, Blue Army, Blue Army, Blue Army, Blue Army, Blue Army, Blue Army, Blue Army, This has been a Life of Pitch TV production. Main sponsor DPS Tech. Also supported by Lakens, All about hearing, the Dove, Seedford Golf Club, Ashford Wright, John Keyboard Cars, Venue 60, The Hudson Group, Come Hi Design, Sound for Pro Audio, Suffuk Sound, our charities this year, Cancer Support, Suffuk, Forget Me Not Gold, and Combat to Coffee. Heat. Heat.