REACTION | Paul Mullin Joins Wigan Athletic | The Welsh Beast Show Ep. 12

Matt Jones from Racecourse Ramble joins the show to discuss the news that Paul Mullin has joined Wigan on loan. We also discuss the latest transfer news and look ahead to Wrexham’s season in the Championship.

guys welcome to another episode of the Welsh B Show and today we’re going to be talking about the latest Rexom AFC news and believe me there’s some very very big news to discuss regarding Paul Mullen and joining me today is one of the hardest working if not the hardest working Rexom uh podcaster it’s Matt Jones from uh Racecourse Ramble who’s got about six shows now haven’t you thanks for joining me Matt thank you Carl i’m not sure I’m the hardest working i thought you know but uh yeah I thought I was the big news not not not I didn’t think there was any big wrecks of news i thought it was me they’re always big news but of course we have to talk about Paul Mullen paul Mullen has left Rexom he’s gone on loan to Wigan what are your thoughts about this how do you feel about this Matt so uh I’ve got mixed feelings i think I’m quite wisened i’m quite old Carl so I was This kind of wasn’t a shock you could see it coming at the end of the year so I was I prepared myself should we say that um but I think if you go back a couple of years I was talking about this with somebody before i thought Mullen was going to kind of be with us a a bit longer and be effectual for a bit longer you know last season is um how effective he was sort of died off a bit um and going into games knowing that you’ve got a player who could score a goal out of nothing had been lovely hadn’t it you know we haven’t had one of them in a while um and we haven’t had many of them at all over the last couple of decades have we so I’m a bit I’m gutted because he you know I I would class him as a legend i know he’s only been here what was it three or four years i’ve lost track perhaps four um I would been there for the beginning of Parkinson’s time there yeah um you know he’ll never have to buy a drink in Rexom again will he that and I I guess that that probably is a good way of measuring legend status you know does if he walks into a bar how many drinks does he have to buy he’d never have to buy a drink again will he too so I am disappointed um but the caveat is I think the signs were there and we’ve talked about this obviously on the podcast i think the signs were there so it’s not a total shock to me um I know that not everybody will say that not everybody’s is sort of um living in it every day like perhaps what we do but um yeah I it doesn’t it didn’t surprise me um but I’m I’m interested to see what your thoughts are well as you said it’s well for me it’s for the best and as you said it was always going to happen i think he was never gonna going to really he wasn’t in favor he’d lost his form the injuries and the surgery he had has clearly affected him you could see last season when he when he I mean apart from that fantastic goal he scored against Blackpool I didn’t see that did you see that i didn’t see that the father couldn’t see from me carrots you see but uh you thought then he is he come is he can he come back to anywhere near his best the quality will always be there and he always give everything but he was just off the pace he just wasn’t able to get into games like he used to and uh for me this is for the best I think and I think Rex probably moved on from Paul Mullen now i agree i think I think I think that’s the uh sorry to interrupt i think that’s what Parky has been showing us that he’s moved on from him now you know he wasn’t making match day squads in the end was he he wasn’t like on the bench he wasn’t traveling to games even as you know like we we sometimes take people to games just in case there’s an injury and stuff he wasn’t even being that in the end was he um and I don’t know if you remember there was the cuff or when he he went to the Wigan game if you remember um he was in the away end at Wigan last season at the end stand he was in the stand with us and I’m just I I was just wondering now whether that is there any link there was like was this move on the cards or why did he choose Wigan and yet now he’s rocked up at Wigan i’m just are those two coincidences or what i don’t know but um yeah I just that the I think you’re right phil Parkinson had just sort of thought I need more and he’s gone out and obviously you know he went out and got it in Sam Smith and Jay Rodriguez which is to be discussed I guess um and then obviously Ryan Hardy comes in so they’re moving down the pecking order aren’t they these other lads yeah and I think like I said his contribution what he did rex was best player for 35 years a great all round football more than just goals he could do everything couldn’t he yeah yeah i think that’s when we’ve we’ve been talking about this when we’ve been on streams and stuff and uh people have the thing that gets thrown at me a lot is he can’t do it he couldn’t do it at le proved it at league one level and then the other thing was well he’ll never be able to do it at Championship level um so I’m not of that opinion because I think he’s never been a quick player so he doesn’t rely on pace but he’s intelligent and he’s got good movement and he can score from anywhere from 25 yards out so you think back to that Blackpool goal how many of our players could score that goal probably him and Fletch uh who were there at the time nobody else could have scored that goal and I think he can do that at any level i think he’ll score goals for Wigan as long as they keep him get him fit give him a run give him some put some faith in him I think he scores 15 or 20 goals if and if it’ll be 20 goals if they’re if they’re a good side it’ll be 10 to 15 if they’re a average side but for me if he does well at Wigan I don’t think he should come back no I Well stay there why you can’t come back and recreate now it’s as I said I think it’s gone thank you but it’s a shame how it ended it could have he could have made an appearance at uh at the end of the season perhaps signed off with a nice 10 minutes to say thank you and it’s a shame how it’s ended but for me best he goes elsewhere tries to get back some form but if it works out for him stay there don’t try and come back and spoil it I I so I I agree I don’t think there’s any in I don’t think there’s any intention from Phil Parkinson that he comes back i think this is just the best way for them to handle the situation i.e nobody’s probably got money to buy him nobody’s got money to probably in certainly in League One to take all his wages because he’s probably very well rewarded for back three promotions and obviously we we paid him a lot to come down the leagues didn’t we so So I don’t think any of them teams could probably uh uh have an appetite to pay his wages i think he he’s probably there’s probably a recall option for him to come back in January i bet you we don’t even consider it um I think he’s gone this season and then he possibly comes back technically comes back next season depending on what the Wigan situation is obviously they might you know they might want him back other than that he probably that last year of his contract he probably sees somewhere else doesn’t he that’s how it feels to me that’s my sort of read of the situ but it’s hard for us isn’t it as fans because we’re not we don’t know the conversations that are going on do we um but I just I think I think I you’re you’re right i think Parky’s moved on from him now yeah and I not just park I think the club has and I think we’re looking at we’re looking at you know like a new future and we’ve got a lot ahead of us and it just wasn’t working out i mean that what was it the injury in America wasn’t it yeah the lungs he broke the ribs and the the ribs and the lungs yeah and he never really recovered from that then it was the back surgery and I think that was just too much he lost his pace didn’t recover from that can I I’ll just There’s something lots of people say he must have been fit by the end i’ll tell you um a couple of things so I I do obviously you know I do a little bit of running and your base fitness level has to be good yeah and he he and your footballers base fitness levels they get in the summer don’t they that preseason trading when they do more running and they sort of lay the groundwork so it was really really I think it was really tough for him to come back this second time because that was the second preseason that he missed um then I don’t think they ideally I don’t think they’d have played him so early in the season if you remember he had to come in when Jack Marriott got injured um and I think he scored in an early I think it was Rotherham away he scored a goal and I was like this is it now he’s going to go on and he never did it stalled again and he you know I think Blackpool might have been the only other goal he scored um but Mark Kryon was um was at the Fearless and Devotion live event and he said um missing for a he said for a pro missing two preseasons it’s really really tough um and I know people are saying no at the end of the season he should have been fit at the end of the season and stuff but it’s just not that easy it’s it’s really difficult um and I think the fact that we it might have done him a favor if he could have if we didn’t need him so early in the season and he had another six or eight weeks to recover and get some better base fitness in and then we had to use him maybe that would have been different but it’s all if buts and maybe in it that’s the thing but I think also coming to a new league as well getting because Rexom got promoted he was coming to a harder league wasn’t new I think as well and he had to perhaps offer a bit more even if he was fit he perhaps had to up his game a bit more because he’s at a higher Yeah I I so I I take that on board the only thing I will say as well is that I don’t think it’s going to sound weird i’ve watched loads of games for Rexom and seen and watched Moles and other strikers and I thought we don’t help our strikers out a lot um so you know we’re not a side that creates loads of chances are we and that the strikers miss all the chances we don’t create a lot we’ve been really rellying on being super efficient and that’s probably the opposite of what you need when you’re trying to get yourself into a rhythm as a striker um you know Jay Rodriguez hasn’t set the world alike has he let’s let you know let’s So so you know and Smith obviously got a few goals to his credit um but we’ve I think we’ve got to help ollie Palmer didn’t get a lot of goals last season did he get three or five or something something like that and he played half the season yeah yes it was it was the point is it’s like it’s not like we had loads of other strikers who got 15 goals is it we don’t create a lot and I whether that was by design or just the way the season played out for Park we we’ll we’ll see next season won’t we because if it’s the same we know it’s by design really and that’s the way he wants it to be um but I I I’d say I just I I hope he goes and scores goals because I think everybody loves Moss don’t they and you know we love his story we love the bit with Albi and and the fact that he loved being close to him um so I think we just want what we want is Moles to be happy he’s achieved legend status i hope he’s happy i hope he scores some goals uh and he gets to spend some time with Albi well I think Wigan fans are going to be excited and I think it’s it offers a fresh start hopefully it’s not too much pressure and he can just I think they understand his his circumstances and I think they’ll get behind him and hope Yeah and and encourage him give him time and like I said if we can just get something back but going back to what you said about the style of play it probably is by design there were times last year when Smith was looking isolated the service wasn’t there for him i think maybe Rodriguez was going to offer a bit more in the linkup play but I think the way park plays certainly last year there’s lots of crits it’s to keep it tight and like I said not too many chance i think 67 goals as well which wasn’t you know which it was defense was really good and I think next season it’s the defense is gonna going to keep us uh up there yeah i so I think I I did a um sorry to plug up my own channel but I did an interview with Brin Law last week that went up on the channel and we spoke about this and Brin basically he says what you notice in the championship is every team is super well organized from the start you know defensively they’re solid from the start and where the exceptional teams kick on is because they’ve got so much money to buy all these amazing midfielders and forwards you know you look at Leads for instance who’s scored bag fulls of goals but they’ve got bloody 15 20 million 30 million pound players on 70 80 100 grand a week so um so obviously that’ll get us defense will get us so far being set up right will get us so far but then obviously the job over the summer will be to raise the uh raise the quality level in the squad won’t it with I don’t know how many signings perhaps you think we’ll get but what I five or six championship level and if they can get better then yeah from above that’s what it feels like to me that’s what it’s not going to be a one or two job this i think they’ll go and get five or six you know really good players see I’m I’m stuck on this because I’m I don’t want this to this squad to be disrupted too much i don’t know how much work you think it needs but I I’m quite tempted to say just go up and see what you can do i think this squad is good enough to survive i’ve been looking at this and I think 60 points should be the target and if you can get 60 points that will keep you up there obviously another promotion the Premier League yeah yeah yeah we all know that yeah but 60 points would have been 12th last year in the Championship so that keeps you up there with room to spare 55 points you do it 52 but that’s a bit risky if Rex came in for 60 points Yeah they’re going to be well safe and that’s I think that’s 16 defeats I worked out they could afford to lose 16 games and be well safe and stay up there to go again that would be for me a massive achievement yeah so I so I agree i um I don’t think Rob Mhenny thinks like you i think Rob Mellenni thinks I think in his in his head he goes “Well how do we I don’t think that they think they’re going to go and win the league.” I’m not saying that that but I think they’re thinking well how do we have a bloody good go at this and make sure we’re as as high up as we can be and you know um but it’s the championship is really weird you’ve looked at the table if go and have if you haven’t go back and have a look at the league table because there’s about 16 or 18 points separates promotion uh celebrates the bottom of the playoffs to relegation the middle of the champion it’s like it’s it’s like that it’s weird and it’s you know Um so it’s going to be re every point is going to count next year um it’s going to be really weird and you’re right although that wasn’t your point but we’re going to lose more games next year aren’t we this is you know but I think people need to understand this now don’t they this is going to be much more challenging but I think Rexum so I agree with what you’re saying and I think it um me and Brim were talking sorry to keep referencing it but we were saying that if Rexom can just become plug away go for it if Rexom could become an established championship side you know if we could stay there for like three to five years you know at least that would be unbelievable from when me and you started watching wouldn’t it like you know that’s bonkers to even say that I think um so I’m sure they’ll be they should be delighted if we stay in this bloody league next year um we didn’t get that reality check that we thought we were going to get last year did we you know everyone was saying “Oh you’ll get a reality check now.” We didn’t get it we were never outside the top three were we in the end in the end what was all the worrying about i know let’s go back to that day let’s go back to that day what a day that was what a performance i mean you could feel the town was buzzing i was up early i was out and about early and you could sense something was happening i was revved up i was tweeting nonsense i was I thought I was going to explode everyone was You just feel it everyone was out early it was buzzing yeah we were was going to happen then what a performance what a start yeah so I I think actually it pro was Blackpool the game before or was there I think Blackpool was I think it started there because we went away to Blackpool which was going to be really well that was going to be really tough away game we thought and we went there and we were like a Rolls-Royce we turned up we played Rob Mini was in the away end it was like it was bouncing it was as good as anything I went to in last year um and then obviously we were all out early because the who was it lane Orient Wickham was that the early game absolutely kickoff which I think helped yeah it did because because the caveat was obviously if if Wickham lost and we we have to win whatever it was and obviously you know so it was set up for us was it because that will obviously cause the I don’t know even if you’d say it was an upset because they were a good side in the end weren’t they um so the day was just set up um which was obviously really nice so that by the time we got there we’d had a we we’d had some laggers as well we were all ready for it weren’t we um and it and then we turned up again so at the crucial point of the season all those big players turned up again didn’t they you know and the good Matty James who not everybody not everybody Richie on my podcast called him Matty sideways because he doesn’t always pass forward um not he didn’t always have the love out of everybody but he had two unbelievable games Carl hon honestly and and char the balls for Smith at Charlton were were you know for the volley was unreal um so in the end the cream rse to the top didn’t it and when we needed it all those big players came up that that first 20 minutes know the movement the pressure the pace you were getting two early goals obviously helped I mean and I think that’s for straight span sometimes why can’t we do it more often but you know I think parky style of play is usually to be cautious but obviously it was a lot at stake that day and they knew what they had to do but when they play like that it’s a joy to watch and they are capable like the passing just everything everything was just astonishing the pace they did they sat back for large parts and controlled the game largely no real threat was there most of it no so a couple of things to say Guys uh two things parky’s way of dealing with pressure is to sit back in shape he doesn’t really tend to like to press high up he just he’s content to let everybody defend our box let’s have everybody back and we just defend our box he’s always done that i’m not sure we’ll ever change him uh I think that’s what he prefers to do his experience is telling him that’s the way to defend and it it worries me to death because you’re letting the opposition have the ball all the time but he he he he he thinks he’s got good enough players and defenders to deal with it um but I I talked about this I noticed at sort of Christmas time well probably new year time is how I describe it um that we tried to start playing more football and it was less direct than it had been um and it took a bit of time but we got there and it’s it’s peaked at the end of the season so I think he started the transition that he probably thinks he’s going to need this season uh you know early in the new year aided by the two signings you know with Rodriguez sort of doing that deeper role um and Sam Smith actually scoring goals which is what he said on the documentary was the reason he bought them wasn’t it that he wanted somebody to score the goals when we did make chances um so I give Parky a lot of credit I think um I think you know that that Blackpool we played some lovely football the ball was it Blackpool where James Mlan scored the ball from George Dobson to James Mlan go back and watch it on YouTube it’s unbelievable that pass um so uh yeah I’m going to be it’s going to be fascinating to see how he sets up this season um bearing in mind some of the opposition we’re going to play i think he’s always played the same way but obviously in the lower leagues National League especially this was always a league one squad in it from early on so it was just too dominant i think everyone’s always complained about his style of football but in the National League especially such a talented squad too powerful the quality gap was too much so we were scoring a lot of goals winning games threes fours fives and that that changed as we went up but the football hasn’t changed the style of playing the approach has not changed oh I disagree with that i think it has you mean I I think overall he’s always had that that safe setup cautious you mean talk about the five at the back or whatever to keep it tight keep the positioning keep the shape right so uh so I think some of it still the same so that the obviously the formation predominantly stays out of possession when he has the sort of you know out of um that formation for me stays the same i think when we’ve got the ball we don’t smash it as long as we have tried to play through midfield into attack for me as I said since Chris since New Year I spotted it i spoke to Andy Morel about it and he said he thought he saw it in December um so I think it has as a bit but his some of his some of some of his core beliefs will be the same won’t they like he’s not going to I don’t think he’s suddenly going to rock up with a 4231 formation at the start of the season are we it is what it is now that um and I think some of some of some of his traits are because he’s he’s had to learn pretty much he’s always had challenges he’s never been the man with the most money in the league um you know you think about the tough times he’s had at some of the clubs so he’s learned to uh to deal with that so I guess some of that some of some of what we see is is what’s gone before isn’t it the difference now is he can he can although obviously we won’t be the biggest spenders this year but he’s he’s had the most the best toolbox he’s ever had to put into action his plan hasn’t he yeah and the signing of Smith especially that’s what we all wanted and we were we were desperate for a striker to come in a quality striker and they’ve gone and paid big big money for Smith and again he delivered what seven or eight goals was in yeah that was a good return it feels like if he’d have been here all season he’d have got double figures because you have to remember none of nobody has got double figures for us last that’s bonkers isn’t it we’ve got 92 points we’ve gone up uh second in the league and none of our players have got double figures for goals i mean uh and the top two were the top two were Elliot Lee and Max Cleth I think um so in terms of say again eight goals was it i think nine I think did Elliot Lee get the ninth which is how he ended up with the top goal scorers i think it was nine yes yes yeah so um so yeah you won’t we can’t you can’t say you won’t i think it’s highly unlikely that we can get away with that again next season which is why he’s brought a striker in already and what do you think about this signing um so we’ve been linked with a lot of big names haven’t we everybody’s seen it stupid names stupid name jamie Vardy Christian Erikson take your take your pick well that has been going around for a couple of years now hasn’t it all seems to crop up you know yeah i don’t think Rexom have any interest in pretty much any of those players um I think that they’re the you know publicly they’ve spoken and said this season they want hardened experienced championship players in their 20s is what um Les Reed had been in the paper and said that’s what Rexen were looking for predominantly and think Ryan Hardy obviously fits into that they chased him before Smith apparently didn’t they that was the rumor they tried to get him they they want both sides want Plymouth and Reading wanted about 2 million um but Rexom opted for Smith but knew that Hardy had this relegation release clause supposedly of call it 600 or 700,000 which is why they’ve rushed to go and do the deal because that’s a no-brainer probably for somebody who in a poor side got 10 goals so where will he play i don’t know will we play two up front again will we play one up front and one behind i We’re guessing at the moment aren’t we but what we do know is Parky loves experience uh and Ryan Hardy will bring championship experience into this squad he’s he’s on the cusp of the Scottish side so um Plymouth fans think if he has a good run he’ll actually get into the Scottish international side so that what that’s a great player to bring in for six or 700 i mean I can’t even believe I’m talking about signing a player for 600 to 700,000 it used to be six or seven bibs and some balls didn’t it it was not six or 700 we’re talking about buying a championship player for 700 grand but for me I’m not overly excited the experience is one thing I believe but 10 goals last year he’s not setting my juices flowing a good player is he any better than what we’ve got no will he contributes and add yes I suppose he’s he reassures the squad and he re reinforces it but it’s not a star signing in my eyes and 10 goals last year or be a team that’s got relegated for me doesn’t set the world on fire right so I I so I totally understand that because it’s not um it’s not glitzy he’s not it’s not a glitzy or glamorous signing is it is it’s not like he was the championship top goalc scorer and it’s not like he’s fallen out the bottom end of the Premier League or something like that which is what would excite people but what Rex what there’s two things you can do to make your side better this is just my simplistic way of looking at it um and you can tell me whether you agree or disagree one of those glitzy or glamorous signings would lift your ceiling wouldn’t it would you know you would really be adding a quality player but the what we’ve done is actually raise our floor so what we’ve basically done is go you know we’ve we’ve basically we we’ve gone in and gone right there’s probably going to be four or five players here um couple of them will raise our scene i’m sure there’ll be some big names that you know that the fans love as big shiny toy don’t they new sign that’s exciting but what we’ve also got to do is raise our floor because you’re only as good as you you know you’re only as good as your weakest link aren’t you um so if our weakest link ends up being Ryan Hardy who’s a championship proven player then we’ll be in a good place um at the moment you know because there’ll be more will go as well remember won’t they car there’ll be you know there’s probably there’s probably four or five of them that will go um still so I think for me he raises our floor he doesn’t raise our ceiling like I think that’s what you’re you’re referring to but let’s not knock that because if we could you know you need four or five of them in your squad don’t you um and I don’t know did Did like did Ollie Wthbone get you as excited and yet look at I’m just just a name I’ve picked out out the air i wasn’t thinking he was going to be the total game changer that he was in the end for our midfield so maybe last year clearly yeah but did you have that did you have a similar feeling perhaps when he signed because I think I probably did i was a bit like probably an excellent player but I wasn’t expecting him to be outstanding yeah exactly the same feeling you think okay decent player he adds a bit to it nothing exciting nothing you know too to get too excited about but obviously I think a different position i think that’s you’re looking we’re expecting we need someone who’s going to score 15 to 20 goals perhaps and is that going to be Smith is Smith the number one are they going to bring in another striker but I think that the positionings are slightly different you’re expecting more I think of us from a striker you want that signing that is going to set things on fire i get that i understand that it’s the It’s the glamorous end of the pitch isn’t it where the you know the goal scorers so I do understand that but if he if if Hardy has the same effect that um Rathbone has but for the forwards we’ll all be we’ll all be saying the same thing in what a steal he was um so but I totally understand why uh some people are a bit like it didn’t move the needle for them in terms of excitement i get that and do you think this is going to be the only striker or will they go for for someone else you think it’s so hard because we don’t know what he’s going to do do we you know um you like if he continues playing one striker deeper then you know this we’ve been linked with some other players you know I’m picking names out the air like Davis Keela Dunn you could argue him coming in and playing that Rodriguez role behind Hardy or Smith um you could see that happening so I think if if you if you want to give them numbers I think Smith and Hardy will either play together or fight for that number nine spot as our main goal scorer i just wonder whether he might bring somebody in to challenge that Rodriguez role because um I don’t know it didn’t set the world al light for me last season now it you know some people he did and some people loved him and thought he was great um I it worry I it worried me that he was you know the amount of impact that I thought he had in a game um and I think we’ll need more next season so it won’t surprise me if we bring in another forward but um that’s you know I don’t know what what did you think of JRod well yeah disappointed and I think everyone I’ve spoken to feels the same i think you know we thought he’d offer much more an experienced player like that again he was always going to come in to compliment Smith and you could see what Park was trying to do with him but it just it just didn’t come off like I said he didn’t contribute as much as we all hoped can I ask you something do you think we played him in his best position yes exactly yes yeah all right okay i would I because what I I followed uh obviously very loosely his career just from watching like Premier League and what have you um and I always thought everything I’d seen of him was as him as your number nine and us asking him to play deeper and watching him sometimes being so far down in the pitch like he’s helping out the fullbacks and stuff i don’t think we’re I don’t think we’re helping him out in asking him to do that so um I didn’t think that um but Parky obviously had a plan and it worked so it doesn’t matter does it it worked yeah i just think at this stage of his career and the way Rex and play he would have been of no use as the lead striker right lack of pace and that and you know just because of his age yeah i think what I think best was for now what park he the vision he had I think was the correct one you can see what he was trying to do but we perhaps didn’t the way we played and help him at times yeah yeah yeah yeah no I don’t think we’ve I don’t think we’ve particularly ever help our center forwards i think they are left it alone i think he’s going to have a job on his hands sometimes a big job on his hands we we’re not going to be as helpful as we should do the way we play yeah yeah yeah you know what our fans are like when things start going wrong there’s always the easy you know you always that’s all fans to be fair that’s not just Rex that’s all especially in football i think that’s what I was trying to when I was going for the 60 points is just to just have a plan and just be sensible because if the defeats start coming the bad runs come just remember where we are i know it’s easy to go back and say look where we’ve come from look we’re not that team now are we we’re not the team that got relegated or nearly got relegated from the National League five years ago or whenever it was we’re a bigger team now bigger club you’re expecting more but I think it’s still a case of being sensible yeah so if you look at last season Portsmouth who won the league the year before and got into the Championship uh I think they finished about you’d have to check about 16th something like that in the end but for a long time and they’ve got a very good squad and a very good manager yeah for a long time they were they had a run of games where they just weren’t winning and the it publicly it felt like they potentially could have fired their manager John Msinho it was like every time they lost you like well that’ll be it now you know and they didn’t they stuck with him and then eventually they pulled away and and were safe by about five or six points if you have a look and if I had again sorry I keep referring to Brin i had this conversation with Brin and I said that’s got to be what Rexom look at next year because there will be there will be a spell where we drop points for two three four five games won’t there um and you like you have said the then the the doubts will start won’t they um and the question it’ll be really interesting to see how we react um but there’s an example because you know what it’s like in the championship there’s clubs that have three or four managers last year in the same club K So um it’ll be really interesting to see how Rob and Ryan react but I don’t think they will waver i think they will back parky till the end and it might be that we have to be like Portsmouth and we have to stick it out hold our nerve and eventually we pull free um but we have to remember something as well we’ve got 5,000 less seats next year which is a lot of money to be without um so if we can just hold our own be get as high as we can next year try and stay in that league and then when that new stand is full and it’s churning out money then they’ll have you know you’ve already brought in five or six players perhaps this year then you go and add another three four five next year we’ll be a different team won’t we of course I think Parky will be backed he’s he’s deserves it but again you go back to Rob and his vision and Ryan as what they want to achieve if things do start going bad do they do panic do they do look to make changes is that the danger once you become you get in a position where you’re so close to achieving what you set out and you’ve spent money you’ve invested how much time do you give someone yes parky deserves time absolutely he does i’m I’m 99.9% sure uh that they will hold their nerve if if we have a spell um they’ll hold their nerve and they’ll back him because that’s what they’ve done um we haven’t had long spells of uh of losing or dropping points if you like in games so we don’t actually know we haven’t got the evidence but I I think if you you know they they everything they talk about is an absolute belief in Phil Parkinson isn’t it um like when we lost to Stockport 5-nil away apparently Rob text him straight away and said “Don’t panic we’re right behind you no need to you know don’t don’t stress about it.” Um and I just think it’ll be more of that it’ll be more of that um and honestly if we can I know there’s a lot of people who think we’re going to go and fight for this league title this year if we can stay in this I said this last year and and they they they overperformed aided by some clubs that threw it through threw their season away last year but we still had to do our bit if we can be anywhere near halfway in the first season here we’ll have done unbelievable car yeah i The thing is though so far under Park we’ve always been in promotion battles yes not relegation fights we haven’t seen that yet so that that’s always the danger now who knows what we’re going to do it’s exciting i mean but there is a a real chance it could be a relegation battle the only good thing I’ll say so if if so there is a chance there is always a chance for any club if you know for that for that to be the case um but we probably both really believe it’s unlikely don’t we but then we that’s but the good thing will be that Phil Parker has got so much experience as a manager um you know like if if you were going to pick somebody to replace him you’d be going well who’s got loads of experience wouldn’t you you wouldn’t be going let’s have the latest fancy 35year-old young coach um so if we are in or around anywhere I think they will be so grateful to have Parky and Steve Parkin experience um but the question will be obviously until we’re there like if we’re rock bottom at Christmas and we’re 10 points behind everybody let’s just play a hypothetical very unlikely scenario what do you do then that’s the worst case scenario you know you’re getting cut apart um cut a drift in terms of points and you’re bottom of the league and you can’t buy a win what do you do then but I just don’t believe we’ll be in that situation i think I looked at that league and I looked where Oxford and Portsmouth were i thought you know at 16 17th we can definitely get to um whether we can make the jump to challenge for the playoffs I think depends on the level of player that they can attract but I’m not expecting them to go out and get five Premier League players to help us you know bridge that gap i mean I think this squad can go this don’t sign any new players this squad can go up and do well be safe i truly believe that this is not a flu this is not one good season this is four seasons in a row of finishing in the top two there’s the foundations are there the form is there there’s something that is no for me that that’s this is real form it’s real quality and I think it’s it’s been built over time now if I was a football chairman Carl I would give you the manager job because I wouldn’t have to spend any money so I would be like “Yep you you take these players and off you go.” I’m not a fan of disrupting what what’s doing well i don’t see anything that needs changing we get frustrated sometimes but you mean we went up pretty comfortable in the end i know in the end but four seasons in the top two three promotions in a row i think like I said it’s so strong i think everything is there the team the team is it’s clicked the scoreboard has clicked uh and I I mentioned this before the recruitment has been excellent very very few Duff players yeah yeah yeah i think the the I think this football in football there’s there’s probably an ideal number you probably know if if we buy two or three players then we get the continuity but then we get a little bit of extra lift from those two or three players there’s probably a magic number uh whereas if you got going by look at Rotherham they went and got about 15 players last year didn’t they everyone thought they were going to be in the top top six and where were they in the end bloody mid-table they were a disaster weren’t they because they got 15 new players um so I think that’s what you’re afraid of is that is sort of that total change and everybody has to learn again how to play with each other i think I don’t think I park too experienced for that he’ll know he in his mind he’ll have a number probably and he’ll know like if we you know if we if we change 10 players uh it’s going to be too many lads but so we probably need four or five now and then in January perhaps we get a couple more um and then probably the in the summer after you get another four or five you know he’ll he’ll have his own idea won’t he um but I I understand what you’re saying you mean and you mentioned becoming an established championship team you know becoming an established League One team for wouldn’t be the end of the world if this is as it goes we come back down and we spend 15 years in League One solid could the owners live with that is that the end of the story is that the danger is that the risk or you think well hang on this is still This is still excellent um so I don’t think it’s a scenario we’re going to have to deal with because I think we’ll be all right however let’s just put up let’s play the game anyway um no I don’t think they I don’t think they will settle for that i think they will always try to Well we know what the ultimate dream is don’t they because they’ve told us we all thought they were joking when they said Premier League didn’t we little did we know yeah um and um so I think that will always be the that will always be the plan um and like 15 years in League One whilst us as fans who took who had 15 years in National League would go I take that off you right now um I don’t think Rob and Ryan it’s it’s specifically Rob i don’t think Rob would will think like that it’ll be like how do we get back onto the train that takes us to the championship that takes us to the Premier League um so um but listen I like I said if if if we could be an established championship side that’s a game changer that is for your long-term health of your football club isn’t it yeah because of the extra money you know the the big money that’s there um it would be uh it it’d be mind-blowing if we could have you know I to be honest I whisper this I talk about this with with a friend of mine Welsh techie um we often sort of exchange the same view don’t don’t tell Rob Mack any of this i’ve got no interest to be honest in going to the Premier League i think it’s full of primadonas who are overpaid with crap rules crap referees it’s but obvious I understand it’s all the money so that’s why everybody wants to get there i VA disallowing goals that and they’re getting it wrong i’m like you can keep that i’ll I’ll stay in this league please if we can if we can you know if we can stay in this league for a long time I’ll be more than happy but whisper that because obviously that’s not a very popular opinion the fixtures are out this week who do you want first game who are you hoping for so in an ideal world we’d have a home game yeah but I think that the chat the rumor has been that we’ve asked for an away game haven’t we to let the pitch settle okay I know that okay yeah well that’s the that’s just idle chatter in the you know out there that we’d asked for the extra week and we don’t know if that’s true or not um so who would I like i would like somebody that we can beat um so uh that would be my caveat is home or away somebody that we can beat so for instance if we got Ipsswitch at home or away I think they’re going to probably win the league for me um I’d be whilst I’d be really excited that we’re playing a big club in the back of my mind I’m thinking we’re probably not getting any points here even if it was at home so if I could have somebody like So if I could have somebody who like last year there’s a couple of clubs like Preston or Hull who were close to getting relegated um if if they haven’t sort of strengthened and uh and stuff i know that’s not glamorous but I think part of the reason we did so well last year is we had a better start didn’t we do you remember so it was Wickham at home and obviously we beat them so if we could a fixture like that whilst it’s not glamorous and and you wouldn’t be thinking “Oh this is great we’re back we’re in the championship and we got Hull away or home.” The flip side to that is that might give us a chance to get some points on the board which might settle everything down for us because you you you end up with a couple of games after that where you lose one and draw one and you’re like it’s getting a bit nervy then so so I get people you know people are on about the common consensus is that they think we’re going to get Leicester away on the Friday night which will be the first the first because you know the ex Premier League winner about nine years ago 10 years ago lost track whatever it was well yeah I’ve lost this i’m old now time flies and the FA Cup as well not long ago so they’ve got good credibility haven’t they recently correct so so if you know if that seems to be the one that people are like we’re going to get Leicester away aren’t we you know at the King is it still called the King Power on a Friday night um and they’re going to be loving it aren’t they so you know I I understand that would be a great fixture but just give me give me somebody I can get some points off I think yeah ideally who do you want though who come on south away or home or you don’t bother home right i want the glamour i do i want the excitement i want to say look where we are look what we’re doing bring it on because Southampton will always be a Premier League team there’ll always be I understand that yeah for decades they’re a founding member of the Premier League and not played i was reading today was it 65 years since we last i I’d have to Google it i’ll take your word for it yeah so for me it was always Southampton because they still be a massive club top 20 club perhaps so bigger than Brenford bigger than Brighton does Matt Leticier still play for him because he can’t play if he does you still don’t do it believe me he could probably still uh get those volleys in and free kicks unbelievable what a year yeah just so much history there if I’m just still Yeah just growing in that would be for me fantastic that would be what it’s all about so that So that feeling that you’re uh um describing um that sort of I don’t know what to call it like a wow moment and you know that magic feeling um is a feeling that I had a couple of grounds last year so um whilst the game was pretty crap when we went we went to Bolton fairly early on and that was like it was like what we we’re here again aren’t we and then Charles and I had it as well we went we went away to the chart to the valley um and again that was like you know you’re looking at it and like I think Charlton’s fairly you know they’ve did well in the Premier League for a long time they stayed there until 14 they’ve had 10 or 15 years there something like that they’ve obviously bounced haven’t they a little bit but um that feeling that we had at those grounds is probably what you’re talking about like walking into that game home or away seeing Southampton at that kit they probably have a bouncing away end uh or if you go to their ground it’s probably 30 or 40,000 um stadium i don’t know off the top of my head but I think it’s a decent one uh and that sort of a bit of nostalgia about it I guess from uh from your point of view so we we’ll be grateful of any of them won’t we ultimately it will happen eventually won’t it it will they will come around that’s that’s the beauty of it some of those teams like West Brom Stoke I mean we played again quite recently didn’t we stoke in the cup was it so well there’s so many teams there massive massive clubs and like like we got Charlton Bolton i knew then that game against Bolton that was a credible draw a welldeserved point i knew then hang on we’re in this league we’re not out of our debt here we We can survive this i did first priority survive yeah yeah yeah and for for us it’s it’s um it’s alien to some people because obviously like we’ll have a gen We’ll have generations of fans now who’ve only know that as they’ve come of age and understood what’s going on they’ve only seen Rexom get promoted promoted promoted um so this is going to be interesting to see how people react this season if if we’re not at the top and I’m not expecting us to be but if we’re not at the top of the league and we are having a spell where we don’t pick up points for two or three games or whatever it is it’s going to be really interesting to see how the fan we do that every January February so you take January and multiply it out and dot it dot it in September and then November and then January that might be what our season’s like might it yeah but still yeah it’s still going to be just so exciting i it’s it’s it’s for me I never thought we would get out of the National League in all honesty it felt like we’d come close a few times and it was just not meant to be um so for us to now be sat here what are we I don’t know how many weeks away we are but you know uh let’s let’s just call it on the eve of a championship season even though it’s not quite but you get what I mean we’re in in the bloody championship you know I was turning to my lad g in games last season we’d be in we’d be in the ground we’d just scored a winner just scored a goal i mean you’d be I’d be looking at him we’ be like we this could bloody happen we might be playing in the championship this is like bonkers stuff is it i did i never dreamt we’d be here K i don’t I I don’t know whether you really did or whether you’d be willing to admit that if if you didn’t but I didn’t think we’d ever be here well no of course you thought we all understood the potential of what was happening but it takes more than money it takes more than exposure and you just wanted to get promoted out the National League and that that stupid rule teams go up that was a problem there you know different rules if that changed we would have gone up mean far far earlier to get out there get get back established as a football league club can I add there was there was something else that changed that often gets overlooked and I think my gut feeling is it’s something that Sean Harvey probably was behind but somebody at our club um uh and it helped us greatly um was and you might not remember this um but while we were in the national league because we obviously uh are under the FAW um I might be refreshing your memory we had we had to adhere to trans transfer windows whereas every other English club in the National League right so we were always we always had our hands tied from the start and then the season we got promoted when that news broke i was actually in London on the day and the news broke rex and put it out there said we’re now on the basically we’re on a level playing field we’re uh and I’m assuming Sean Harvey had gone to the FA and gone or the EFL and gone this isn’t fair like what’s going on here can we can we have and we got an exemption that was the point that I thought we’ve got a chance here now because as well as having the backing we’ve got the accessibility and it actually it came it came to bear because that we were able to buy players in like February that we couldn’t of normally um so it it’s often gets overlooked i don’t know whether it was Shan Harvey maybe it was Flur maybe it was somebody else but whoever it was that fought our case and made that argument um probably did us a really really big favor didn’t they as well as obviously all the money i get all that but if you can’t spend the money when everybody else can you’re still hindered aren’t you exactly yeah yeah that’s a very good point yeah I did forget all about that to be fair who was your who were your best signings under Park uh Richie Williams in the leader he did his top 10 the other day who would your top five be oh god top five right this is difficult because sometimes they they’ve come and gone and stuff can I Can I have a cheat one can I Can I have one cheat one i’m not I’m not going to put them in order if that’s all right just because it it would take too long to think about it but can I have a cheat Can I have a cheat one in Max Cleorth and I’ll tell you why it’s a cheat that basically he was a kid uh that like Parky’s decision was do I think he’s good enough or not wasn’t it you know um and that looks a stupid question now because he’s he’s been accustomed to everything um so I’ll put him in because Park had faith he played in the very first game away at Sol um even though we’ve been buying defenders at the time so I’m going to have a cheat one if I can i think I think that um Moles I know he’s a free agent but I think that’s you know that’s an unbelievable signing um so that’s a big one for me um I’m going to put Arthur in there because uh I just think he’s just an unbelievable shots stopper and there’s been times there was if you go back to to times like the game against Wickham away last season in the end they they had a massive chance we’re one nil up they have a massive chance at the end of that game and Arthur pulls off an unbelievable save so I would put Arthur up there um Wrath I I might I’ve got I have recency bias so lots of them will be more recent ones I guess um I’d put Wthbone in there i’d put Ollie Wthbone in there that’s four i’m trying to think of one that perhaps nobody would if there’s an odd one that perhaps escapes escapes the memory all right I’m tell you what i’m gonna say controversial maybe i’m going to say Toer okay yeah because I think his he’d be close to me you know his experience and everything that we perhaps don’t see i think back to that game we won we won a game away at Knots County and he had to it was just after his dad had died and he had to come in somebody got injured in the warm-up and he had to come in uh out of the blue like uh and he played the game and he was unbelievable um I just think he was his leadership and obviously the laser of a long throw which helped for a for a while uh and I remember him scoring a late equalizer away at Oldm uh where he drilled one in the bottom corner and then Moles got the penalty afterwards if you remember in like the 90th minute or something um and that was to he got a bit of stick sometimes but I think that’s a you know one of those he’s the type of it’s like a championship equivalent of what of him is what I think we’re looking for just really solid players that just like really they understand what’s going on and they know how to win and like and how to battle through adversity i think um so I think I’ I’d say I’d say them I know people are pick somebody might pick a Fuzzy or something but um I’d say I’d say that them for me but I’m interested say again no room for Ollie Palmer not for me not for me he had a he had a brilliant sort of six six to 12 months when he joined and then I I I didn’t see it then after that um for me so uh No not not one for me that one but yeah you can have him in yours that’s all right is he another one you think that’s that’s his time’s up yeah yeah i I thought he would I thought I thought he would go last season um and I think he’ll definitely and obviously there was that bit on the documentary wasn’t there where it sounded like he was close to going um in the January window um I think I just he’s I think he was lower down the list than Paul Mullen was and Mullen’s decided to go i think uh I think I think Ollie will go quitting himself really well behind the scenes it’s it’s been handled he’s reacted badly there’s some be some issues doesn’t there surrounding you know being left out the squad not playing he stuck by him though early on he gave him a chance yeah he did he gave him yeah he he because obviously he played the first say it was about 20 games of the season or something last season um and I know lots of people like him um but uh I for me I was surprised we went with him at the start of last season i thought I thought we were going to upgrade on him um but we obviously didn’t but in the end what we know is he didn’t score enough goals for Park and obviously he’s obviously replaced him and he in a in a different way so he wouldn’t be in my five but would he be in your five uh possibly not i’d have to say uh obviously Mullen I’d go for Foster right yeah mcclean all right okay elliot Lee yeah he’d be close for me maybe maybe Rafon okay to is of a shout i think there’s some nostalgia for that that squad that got promoted for the national did the first time but possibly yeah Palmer would be in the top six perhaps because of just what he did that first season six you know what’s interesting if you’d have asked me that question about 15 games into last season I’d have said to you Ryan Barney it might be close yes yeah he was on fire if you remember he was he was he was the start was me the first half he was untouchable he was unstoppable and yet Parky went and still upgraded him i guess is for what I don’t know what what the better word is um so it just goes to show that you can’t rest on your laurels can you doesn’t matter whether you’re the best performing player that again there’s an example the signs are there parky tells you that even if you think this player is like if you’d asked me in the National League season some people would have said Jordan Davis wouldn’t they yeah because he was scoring a lot of goals and stuff yeah chef Brussy dependable not flam but you Luke Young deserves yeah so yeah yeah yeah I get it um but yeah you know it’s different because every everyone’s got got a connection to different people um but uh yeah I you know I I wonder what I wonder who Parky would say when he ret when he retires or quits or whatever it’ll be fascinating to say if you said that to him who because if I remember where seeing Alex Ferguson got interviewed and somebody asked him who is uh who I think Gary Neville asked him and I think his answer was somebody like it was somebody like Park G Young or Dennis Irwin it wasn’t like Cantonar or I can understand i can understand yeah yeah but it was it was somebody really under the radar that you wouldn’t have ever thought of you know what I mean and it’s it’s interesting because they get to see him in and around the ground and and all that you see as well don’t they okay cheers Matt before we go uh any uh any news on the cop what’s happening with this now oh god um well what I’m hoping was it next season it needs to be built by it’s got to be it’s got to be up by this time next year I think so what I’m hope obviously they’ve taken down the temporary cop haven’t they um so it looks a bit bare there now sadly uh which is uh was would have been it would have been lovely to have that next season but it is what it is so what I’m hoping is that they’ve got to um they’re going to uh the substation for the power um has moved to buy the flats uh and buy the uh university so what what I’m hoping is once that’s up and running um and that they can move all the iners of the uh substation across that they will then which is obviously going to take them a few more weeks yet they will then start to break ground and we’ll be watching them from the from when we’re at the ground we’re going to be able to see this this work happening aren’t we um so you know I I’ve not heard anything to say it’s not happening unless you have so I’m expecting it to emerge in front of our eyes over the next few brick by brick yeah piece by piece yeah I’ll be I mean most of it’s pre-fabricated so it’ll go up quite quickly because of you we I you know when they said it was going to take 12 months I was like really that sounds quick um but because a lot of it’s pre-fabricated you know they can just put it up relatively quick um it’s going to be you know when we get to Christmas time and it’s probably starting to take shape a bit i think that’s what we’ll walk into the ground one day won’t we we’ll be like “Oh bloody hell.” Like you know um so I’m I’m really looking forward to that uh to that point but um you know when it’s full and the ground is full as well I think that that first game when we get to open it well you know that first league game probably not a friendly or something that first league game I think it’s going to be uh it’s going to be again that’ll be another moment a bit of a we’ve been dreaming of that for a long time haven’t we did we ever really believe that the [ __ ] would get replaced did we ever think we had the facility to do it left rejected it was just you know pre-take over i don’t think we ever really believe we would have the cap capability to do it no but uh you you got the option to take up a seat there and move yeah because we Yeah well that was the original plan because we were in the tech end i think I I’m pretty sure that when uh it said that if you renew then they’ll give you the option of going into the uh into that stand so um because the original plan whether they’re going to stick to it or not I don’t know the original plan was that the uni end or the tech end will be for away fans um because we we’re obviously going to have to give them a bigger allocation and it’ll be easier to police them in and out of there like we we used to with like even when Chester came to town we used to give them that stand didn’t we um so I’m assuming that that’s still the plan but obviously we’ve not heard anything so it might not be um but uh yeah it’s going to be it’s going to be weird going in this season the dugout be moved we’ll have the new pitch yes it’s going to be weird is it in front of the M roll star now isn’t it yeah yeah okay that’s what I am okay you’ll be able to tell Parky what you think exactly i don’t You’ll tell him to s off are you gonna Can you Can you What you should do is write some substitutes down on a paper plane and throw it at him he’ll open it up and he’ll be like “Yeah take off Rodriguez and bring on Hardy or whatever.” So no he won’t appreciate that would he parky did you go to the awards ceremony the awards day yes yeah bloody cold wasn’t it it was so I made the classic mistake though because it looked sunny so I’d made the mistake of not having too many layers on um and it was chilly in the mold road um I don’t know what it is has anybody ever figured out why that mold road stand is it something to do with the wind coming in there and catching the I don’t know but I I tell you what the the the new uh the dugout the the new seats they’re having in the dugout apparently for the players and stuff are all heated and everything apparently uh but I’ll bet you after by the end of December Parky will be on the phone going “Can we move this bloody dugout back across the pitch it’s bloody freezing.” But have you seen what they’ve done in the dugout uh in the old dugout have you seen what they’ve done they’ve got the dugout club not right so um they’re putting some where exactly where the dugout was they’ve not really done too much work to it i think they’re going to put some fancy padded seats in uh I think you get you can buy some sort of season ticket for it it’s like a corporate seat they call I think they are going to call it the dugout club um or it’s being referred to as the dugout club i think you get a pie and a pint every game um and you get your seat obviously in that old dugout i think it’s about £1,200 a year okay how many do you want uh okay no how many rows does the Wells Beast show want do you want a couple of rows Carl or how many do you want i’m thinking about it i’m thinking about it why not let’s live the high life isn’t it let’s live it up i tell you what my 400 pound hurts enough was that Sorry my 400 pound in the tech end hurts enough never mind that i know to be fair I’m surprised it didn’t go up higher i was expect that that that’ll do i think they’ll take take their hands off i thought I agree i thought it was extremely fair i know there’s some people who who are in the corporate and the hospitality are not happy because I believe their their some of their prices doubled uh if if what I believe if what I’ve read online is true um I see some people complained um but I think you know corporate and sponsorship if you can get more money from them and try and keep it affordable for the people who um I don’t want to call us normal people what can I call us your normal batch going fan try and keep it as normal as possible to retain that that that sort of connection to the community and the you know the better atmosphere and stuff because Premier League clubs are suffering with that now they’re out they’re they’re outpricing the local fan aren’t they because they’re so expensive so if we can do that for as long as possible that would be amazing i was extremely uh surprised that we I thought it was really good the pricing this year but I know not everyone will agree because if it goes up then obviously you feel hard done to but I thought it was inevitable and just no problem no problem with that as either you know I don’t think anybody realistically could expect it not to go up um especially with the fact that we’re getting rid of 5,000 seats so we’ve gota we’ve got to get that money from somewhere haven’t we so yeah I was I thought I thought that was that was uh really good and the club del club deserve a lot of credit for that pricing um certainly in our seats I say the corporate stuff I don’t that might have been different but that’s not my world so we don’t live in that world i think businesses be spoiled for choice i think people who want to go can afford it they’ll find the money and they’ll never be short of uh interested people will they and the new shop is taking shape as well on the club shop on Yeah i mean I walked past it i walked past it about a couple of weeks ago I think it was it was the first day I think they put the sign up uh but it’ been long rumored that as so I think we knew it was going to happen um but it it looks good it it it’ll be interesting to see it when it’s open and what what you know what difference is it to a normal shop um and then obviously there’ll be a mega store in the cop that was the original in the new cop that was the original plan so I’m assuming that’s still going to be the same um but uh you know we’ve had pop-ups on Eagles Meadow before haven’t we and they’ve done all right so let’s uh you know let’s hope it uh it does that see that does that’s a that’s a move which is good for the town as well because it drives some of the some of the footfall to the town not just to the ground people who just want to grab some merchandise and some shirts they’re not going to go somewhere else they might stay there then and do other things and Right so this and this is obviously this is um this is how you help the community and not just the club drive people to that retail park or you know they’ve all got to walk if you if you’re an international fan and you you arrive on the train for instance yeah you’re going to go and have a look at the ground but now you’ve got to walk through the high street and then it’s up to it’s up to our high street vendors to draw people in then is it uh you know and and some of the pubs come and have a drink while you’re on your way to or from the the shop so uh so yeah I think it was last night the place was dead i don’t know what’s happening but the high street’s lovely now isn’t it what they I think how do I word this the council don’t do very much right but that high street looks really good doesn’t it although those bards are obviously causing a problem that they I know yeah well you can’t please people can you really but they looks absolutely lovely let’s get the rest of the town sorted yeah no I think it looks is here i know they’ve got the tour of Australia coming when we’re going to get Chelsea at the race car so Liverpool Well yeah i mean they’ll definitely They’ve already said they’re not going to be this season didn’t they um they said but the word was that we were going to play two I think they said a couple of friendlies away from home but like the tours will be here before we know it so like if you got if you have got a friendly before the tour aren’t you going to have to announce that this week really um now there was some clubs rumored I don’t know if you saw the rumors of the clubs that were rumored for the friendly so the the rumors that came out no the rumors that came out weeks ago was Wolves and Everton okay but then Everton it right but Everton have put out a post yesterday or a couple of days ago which said um they announced I can’t remember who they were playing at their new stadium but it was described as our final preseason friendly so it would appear that it’s not Everton um and then there was a rumor going around that we might be be away at a Dutch club um I saw on on social media but it didn’t name the club so I have no idea who that is uh or who that could be i mean you you can have some wild guesses couldn’t you because obviously I could Google which all the Dutch clubs but um but so it’s going to be fascinating to see who um but I it’ll be next hopefully next year we get to have a couple of they’ll have to do a couple of test events you think with the new cop won’t they um so hopefully in the end of that preseason next year we’ll have at least one maybe two sort of test events uh that are friendlies as well on his international tours they do needed worth taking advantage of the interest growing the fan base you do you agree with it are you happy with it do you think it’s best use of the time the traveling the change of climate all that business um so as long as long as we manage it year one when we did it we came back too late didn’t we and we got you know we paid the price um so I accept it because everybody does a tour now don’t they ultimately it puts money in it puts money in Phil’s pocket for him to spend money so I accept it it’s It’s always going to happen I suspect um it’s just nice for us to have a se a game or two at the raceourse I think preseason um so that we can see how it’s shaping up you know those those August friendlies on a bright sunny day at the raceourse are quite nice um so as long as we get one at home uh I I’m you know I’m accepting of the fact that they go on tour and we have to remember we are say they slipped on in at the end last year didn’t they uh and and if I like I think I was away um I remember us a couple of years ago playing I think we played Macklesfield at the race course and and and stuff so I you know I grew when we grew up it was great because big teams would come weren’t they you know you’d have a decent a decent side would come and that was quite exciting um I mean it would be nice for us to go and support some of the local teams as well we have to remember but you know let’s put ourselves in a different foot why don’t we go and help the likes of you know an Airbus or you know somebody get some of them at the raceourse as well um and help them out because remember we’ve been where some of these teams are have been haven’t we yeah good idea yeah let’s not forget how how grateful they might be for you know pick another team pick a league two side that you like um how nice would it be for us to help them sides out say “Come to the race course or we’ll come to you and let’s get you a payday.” And you know um like we did with Hanley Town we went away do you remember going away to Hanley Town before they flew away i don’t know if I remember if I ever went so yes I did and that was you know that was it was their record gate fee and stuff so um I’m all for doing that as well but obviously it’s it’s it’s a different world now isn’t it okay great stuff thank you Matt thank you as always great stuff great contribution very knowledgeable matt Jones from Racecross Rambles thank you so much and we’ll do it again cheers mate i appreciate this thank you Carl no problem