The losing run is over! and we finally have a CLEAN SHEET! What kind of witchcraft is this?!
In this week’s episode of The Brunton Bugle, Lee is joined by Mike Booth and Adam Tiffen (@adamtiffen18 on Twitter) to reflect on the last two fixtures – a 2-1 defeat at Bristol Rovers with a slightly more encouraging performance, and a battling 1-0 win at Burton Albion. Is this an end to the rot that United have faced since New Year, or just a false dawn?
That’s followed by a look ahead to this weekend’s home clash with Reading – including a chat with Alex from the excellent Elm Park Royals podcast, as the Royals prepare for their first visit to Brunton Park since the early 1980s.
On top of that, there’s a news round-up and the usual Ex-Blues update.
Your host Lee Rooney is in Liverpool and is joined via the wonders of the internet by Adam Tiffen in Carlisle and Mike Booth in Formby. You can find us on Twitter @bruntonbugle, Facebook (search for “Brunton Bugle”) and email us with any questions, suggestions and feedback to bruntonbugle@gmail.com.
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The Carlisle United Supporters’ Club London Branch is proud to be once again sponsoring the Brunton Bugle Podcast for the 2023-24 Season.
As part of this sponsorship, they will be providing some useful info for us to share ahead of each away trip in terms of pubs, public transport changes, places to eat etc.
The London Branch is open to all Carlisle United fans across the world – whether you’re based in the capital, Jacksonville, Timbuktu, Berlin or even Cumbria itself! To find out more, visit their website at www.carlislelondonbranch.org
Hi I’m Paul Simpson from the football club welcome to the Brunton [Applause] bugle here we come blue and white and we’re looking good you’ll be in for a fight and we fight pretty good getting goals is our job and we get goals good looking good we are car United hello everyone you’re listening to the Brunton beagle the number one
Place to get your A K night fix in the podcast world I’m Lee Rooney I’m aam Tiff and I’m Mike Boo the losing run is finally over as United pick up their first win since New Year’s Day and the first clean sheet in 29 games by beating
Burton albian 1 nil we look back on the last two fixtures for looking head to this weekend’s clash with reading at Bron Park nearly done it guys we’ve nearly managed to make it as not the worst ever team at League one level I think it’s one more win we need is it I think the take us the 26 points oh what a release that’s got it’s got to be the
First Target for the rest of the season it’s surely it has to be the first Target but what a relief I guys to finally get that win and like I think we all looked at that this fiction for it looks a good Contender to finally get
That monkey off our back didn’t we yeah and and a clean sheet as well it’s worth noting that’s another monkey off our back um yeah hopefully we can look ahead now some hopefully winnable games and we can go on a bit of a run would you go Adam sorry let you come
In I was waiting for you to to maybe come in with another question um yeah it’s just like you say it’s not even at this point it wasn’t even about the manner of the victory it was just about a victory or about a clean sheet um it
Wasn’t really too important how it came about but now that we have done it it should provide a bit more confidence not only just in the fan base but in the team to yeah absolutely absolutely we’ve got plenty to fit in today we’ve got two games to talk about we’re not going to
Talk too much in depth about the brist RS game because I don’t think any of us went to so we’ve had to sort rewatch it back and and watch highlights and stuff like that um and we also were able to watch the I game on Tuesday night
Against uh Bon um so before we get going just a reminder as usual the sponsor for the podcast this season is the kai United Sports Club London Branch they do lots of fantastic stuff for the club in terms of fundraising also do stuff for XRS in terms of arranging Away Travel
And tickets for some of the big games especially uh you don’t have to live in the Southeast or London to join them you can live wherever in the world and join them so if you want to find out more about them go to their website caron.org
I’ll just grab one of the guys at one of the upcoming away away games charlton’s probably a good one actually we’ll we’ll tell you what puet is prech I keep forgetting to tell you the the pre-match pubs this season but we’ll uh we’ll try and remind you for the Char Games if you
Want to grab one of the guys there you’re certainly welcome to uh right let’s get into news obiously uh before we’re going to be following up with uh reviews of the Bristol Rivers game on the Burton Alum game a look ahead to the reading game including a chat with Alex
From the Elm Park Royals podcast and then uh yeah we’re also going to look ahead to the reading game ourselves and do some predictions that kind of thing um let’s start with news um starting off with a little bit of sad news that broke earlier this week unfortunately um a
Legend of football and someone who despite only been here for a season certainly made a mark at Brenan Park Stan balls sadly passed away after his uh long battle with uh dementia I think it was wasn’t it sad um really really sad that knews this
Cuz obviously none of us got to see him play we’re all to far too you know so Alzheimer sorry I should say yeah correct myself there I it was one of the two um yeah none of us got to see him play We’re far too young but we’ve all heard
The stories haven’t we Adam you know he’s one of he’s a Maverick isn’t he one of those players that you just don’t hear of anymore really someone who had all that ability in the world but I want say he was lazy or anything you know
What I mean but you know just he just a natural ability wasn’t it that he had yeah there’s not many of them left in today’s football whether that’s for better or or For Worse um but like you said it’s a player that I’m sure people of of generations past would speak
Fondly of um and you’d look at his football in resume in terms of the teams he played for you can you only need to look at that you wouldn’t even really need to look at his actual performances to to tell he was a good player so yeah
Like you said a very very sad loss and to a very sad uh way of going to yeah and then you look at it I mean like for US 33 games 12 goals doesn’t really tell the full story does it because he was part of that team that played against as
Roma in the uh Anglo Italian cup and uh allegedly he infuriated uh the Italians in the studo olympico by doing a kiy oppies on the halfway line at one point during the game so I mean just shows you what kind of person he was and he left
Us to go to Queen par Rangers where he really is a legend you know 255 games 70 goals and I think the only shock really is he only got five caps for England and one goal wasn’t it yeah I mean you know you said yourself like we didn’t see him
Play but H the stories of him in that Roma game like passed down from caran to caran and Fa fault and you know I guess they they always will and he’ll always be remembered for that um I think my mom saw him play because she went to a few
Games in the 70s um but yeah just uh football like Adam said is running out of sort of characters like that and yeah he did play for England but and I suppose to be fair at that time playing for England there was a lot of competition up front as well so um yeah
He he sort of did it all in the game really yeah I see the legendary quot about him isn’t there that he you know if he could pass a pass a bookies as well as you could pass a football he’d be a very rich man would he say so there
You go um right let’s get on some more present stuff uh start off with a little bit of good news uh the floodlit cup uh we mentioned this last week uh the under 15 side with thought they were going have a really tough game against crew Alexander well guess what they turned
Out 3-1 winners against the railway men um to take themselves into the next round so they’re brilliant stuff from The Young Lads there goals from amaru Smith Caleb comp and William rafy uh put united into the next round I wonder if William raf’s actually related to Billy
Rafy the former United player I wonder if he’s maybe a grandson or something like that it’s a very interesting one um so well done to the young Lads uh once we have details on when the next round game is well we’ll tell you about them
As well as you can hopefully get down to sport them if it’s a home game of course it’s an away game suppose you could as well uh and a little bit of news that broke today um this is one that’s been bubbling under for a little while hasn’t
It Adam but finally gab Breeze has signed his new deal and it’s a freee deal as well shows the faith that Paul Simpson and and the club having him doesn’t it you know tied him down till the summer of 2027 well I guess it’s in keeping with the theme of the January
Signings or the permanent ones at least which were lengthy contracts which is something that has only really been um present at this club I mean it sort of started in the summer with a couple of of two-ear deals but it’s really ramped up now um and it does show the faith
That they’ve got in him um but also maybe the also acceptance that maybe he’s not quite immediately ready that he will still need some time to to improve um because if they felt that was the case then maybe would have been um a shorter deal rather than offering something much
More long term um but it’s great for him it’s great for the club obviously it’s a pain that they wish they probably wouldn’t have had but mhm that’s the way it’s turned out but they’ve got it over the line I suppose as well M way you look at it is that
That’s one job done for the summer almost isn’t it really unless they’re looking to loan him out which I don’t imagine they would straight away you’ve got your first two First Choice Keepers sort of next season we two keepers competing for the First Choice role for
Next season yeah I think what what I understand from Reading between the lines is that the reason this took so long it wasn’t really a money issue he kind of wanted to know what his role would be and Simo has basically said look your second choice and I think next
Season you know you’ve got your three trophy games in the group stage you know you’ll have a carabal cup game early on FA Cup you know if he gets a run an all L while Lewis is rested that’s really good experience for him and um hopefully
You know and and Lewis may get a little niggle here and there throughout the season um so yeah I think that’ll serve his his development fine without him in to go out on loan yeah it may well be second half of the Season think you know
What let’s send him out on loan get in some game time and you can get some in on Loan in jany cover his place can’t you so that’s it’s good stuff but yeah good having tied down uh for next season uh one little bit of news to finish off
With h ticket offer announced by the club uh for the stevenage game 10 pound for adults and5 pound for concessions I think it’s a one club one Community thing I think it’s linked to some sort of efl initiative isn’t it but um yeah nice ticket off of there hopefully to
Get a few fans down for that match um because I imagine that’s it’s one of the games it’s probably not going to have a big away following is it I think it’s fair to say even though I Steven is Dr near the top not they don’t really
Travel in huge numbers so don’t on ground let alone up up to us certainly true no we don’t want to start wars with Steven again we had them last season but but no um yeah no good stuff to see that offer in there and yeah let’s move on to
The match review section so starting off Bristol Rovers to K United one Um Adam this is this is a kind of weird on because like following off from the cage game you’d think oh eight that’s eight defeat in a row now things are getting worse blah blah blah but it wasn’t you can’t hide from the fact it was an improved performance compared
Against cage game I know it’s a very low bar to move up from but there was just those slight signs in this game okay maybe things are picking up just slightly you could see you could see a slight forward trajectory couldn’t you yeah definitely I do think there’s an
Element of you know positivity just because really how much worse could have got um and the fact that you know obviously a lot of people weren’t there to necessarily see it maybe soften the blow of the loss a bit and I think people sort of become numb to the
Defeats at that point but it was pretty clear to me at least from the the commentary that things were at least better and that we were maybe just outclassed by a team that had Superior Talent yeah absolutely that that was that was the main thing a couple of real
Quality players or three real quality players in attack I think in Sinclair Martin and brown probably made the big difference in this one um in terms of when the team was announced Mike uh I think the only change was Barkley coming out for Charters maybe I think if I remember
Rightly so um obviously melis dropped back into defense as a result was that was that what you expected for this one um yeah I wouldn’t say yeah I didn’t disagree with the team um I mean you and me had both been calling for Charters to
Come back in for a little while um yeah it’s one of them it’s it’s so hard hard at the minute to really call the team I mean you know we’ll touch on it later I think a few of us want wanted Huntington back in but you wouldn’t have expected
It necessarily um but yeah it was uh I think as good a team as we could realistically pick yeah I think in the circumstances I think it probably probably the team most of us expected wasn’t it um started the game quite positively though know a few early chances
Um I think Armstrong i’ W him particular where it was a good bit of play down there um sorry Char had a really good one but he hit the post quite early on but then Josh V I didn’t expect him to be a goal machine did you add him when we signed
His record six goals I think in his whole career he scored two already for us something like that I know it’s ridiculous well I think I think also I don’t think anybody was expecting him to be the one that’s been pushed higher up the pitch but that seems to be
The the dynamic that’s been working with Neil being the one who who’s sitting deeper and then he’s the one who’s trying to join the press and be that more advanced Central midfielder so I mean I can’t remember um of his times playing for for Fleetwood and Balton wey
I don’t think he played as that sort of role um but he’s clearly adapted to it well and it’ll be very helpful considering the lack of production we’ve had from our attack to have some reinforcements in terms of goal scoring I believe in behind them yeah I mean
He’s got he’s his yellow card record suggests otherwise doesn’t it I think it’s fair to say that he he’s not a particular dangerously close to is it I think the next three games or something like no I I I think he has to survive till the end of the season we have
Another booking or he gets a three game ban that’s thought it was but I saw somebody said it was the 37 game Mark no I think that’s for 10 bookings I think which John melish has to survive for the next three games so so there you go um
So yeah it was a decent move I thought actually this you know corner from the from the left from V was a little bit over here but United recycled the ball really well comes to arm send a really deep Loop High across to the far post
Which is flicked on by a Defender and it’s a lovely cushion finish isn’t it Mike from from V to put it in the back of the net yeah definitely um yeah I didn’t realize he sort of had that in his locker but I was thinking more more
On V on the whole is that when we signed him I have to say I was I was a little bit disappointed but thinking about it now you know and when we were crapped last time Simo was it he’s that sort of player that Simo signed last time you
Know I mean I feel like players like you sort of Kevin Henderson’s um Kev Grays they don’t really exist anymore but I feel V is as close as you can get to them sort of of Pros um and I think he brings good experience to the team and he’s
Certainly a hardworking player and I think that’s what we need to get us out of what we’re in yeah he’s he’s very industrious and he doesn’t shy from getting bit get involved ises he so one thing he he he’ll He he’ll quite happily demand the bow he quite happily go for
His tackles he’ll put himself out you know which slightly to his detriment with the number of yellow cards he gets I get that but generally I think I think he I agree with you I think he’s going to be you know look we’re probably going
To be in League two next season I think he’ll be a very good play for us in League two one those plays we’re going to need a little bit of experience at that level so I think he’ll definitely make a difference there so yeah really good stuff this we could have gone teing
Up Armstrong had a chance from uh a cut back from back that just went wide of the post um and then unfortunately this one Adam I look back at this and there was a bit of debate on radio com in the comedy about this wasn’t there is it a bit of naivity from
LVL to come a bit too tight to Brown I I think I tend to agree with I think lumy was the one who said wasn’t it I think James thought it was just a really good flick it is a good flick from brown but for me level has been a bit naive and
Going in far too quickly to try and make the tackle which allows Brown to get away on the left I wouldn’t necessarily lean towards that I think it’s just I think it’s pure quality and just because of lvl’s Mobility um I don’t think he can really
Well there’s two ways of looking at you can think you know because of his Mobility he has to get tight to him because otherwise if he allows him to turn on the ball then he’s done for or you can look at his he’s pressed too
High like he said and and been and been done on the turn but to produce that as a Defender you can’t expect somebody to to pull that out of the locker you can’t anticipate that they’ve obviously been told to get up close to them on the touch and I think
He’s just been done by some very good skill yeah I think the only question I would have on it is does he need to come that far out to do it because it was almost on the halfway L I wonder if he’s a little bit closer to go i’ maybe
Understand it but for me he he left a big space in behind for him to run into so it’s a good run that’s literally exactly what I was going to say I think regardless of how tight he was like LVL coming that deep with like if you’re
Marking a stri and he goes that deep let him like because if you go with him you’re leaving a massive Gap at the back for another player to run into um and when he did that little flick I it I it had me thinking we don’t have a single
Player with that in their locker you know and well in maybe in the locker or not but I think the issue with us this season is I still to to this day I don’t think that we’re the worst team in this league but we are certainly the team
That lacks confidence the most and I don’t think that we have a single player with the confidence to pull to pull that off I think if that was well I think if that was one of our players the way that they’ve been recently they’ just sort of
Lay the ball back for a simple five yard pass you know when they hear the center back closing them down that quickly they just do something simple like that they wouldn’t go for the spectacular like uh like browned it’s it’s a good little flick he’s way down the left and putting
A good ball I would say I think it’s melish is the defender I think he maybe could have intercepted it he might just be coming across him in a bit of an awkward angle makeing it difficult he didn’t want to put in the back of his own net but as it is the
Ball comes to Chris Martin and he’s not going to miss a chance from that far off to be fair decent finish it’s 1-1 into the second half and United could have gone back in the lead with a really good chance from a from a corner from the
From the right CH send in Armstrong’s initial head is blocked just in front of the line and then melish has two really good chances that In fairness he just has to try and poke it and Defender gets in the way both times and unfortunately then Rovers go up the other end and uh
Take the Lead don’t they and this one Adam there’s been a bit of debate getting out about this one should Harry loose do a bit better I think having seen it again now maybe he could he might be a little bit unsighted but the ball I would say goes through his hands
But it’s a bit past him before he dived isn’t it the replay really doesn’t help him um it cuz it does look like it’s not been hit with much venom it’s not on the radio it seemed like it’s right in the top corner and you you hear it you go
Right well you know there’s nothing we could do about it it’s just another moment of quality but you realize when you see the other angle of it that it was fairly Central um and yeah I think he I do think he has to do better but I
Think earlier in the in the buildup to it Harrison Neil he’s he’s a very muding player he charges out he’s a bit like John melish but with a bit of technique um is Harrison at times and he charged out to try and um intercept or tackle one of the midfielders who then played
It forward to Sinclair and he just left a massive gap between himself and the defense which allowed them to break obviously you know if Lewis makes a save that’s no problem but I think that’s maybe also a bit of naivity on Neil’s part just because of his age and things
Like that not having the awareness of the game state to sort of hold his position and just try and stifle them until you can get some players back to help yeah he’s absolutely agree with that that’s the first thing I spoted when I watched the the highlights back I was like Neil sold
Himself a little bit short there he didn’t really need to fly into it really could he could have just like I said took a step back and just let let the play continue so bit of a frustrating on that one and uh yeah from that point onwards didn’t really create as much I
Don’t think and um Rovers nearly had a third on the break but actually to be fair Lewis did brilliantly tip the ball onto the post with it from a short close range chance and uh that was it yeah in terms of talking points M we weren’t
Going into too much deal because we’ got the Burton game to cover I think we could talk enjoy talking about that one a little bit more than this one um what I would say is mate we we created some decent chances in this match and the stats wise we we fairly matched Bristol
Rers didn’t we you know in pretty much all departments including past success you know 74% they had we had 72 you know shots on shots including shots on target 14 and three and they had 11 and four so possession pretty much equal it’s it was a it was a fairly tight game really
Wasn’t it yeah um and I think you know that pass success right 72 earlier in the season we were getting like 30s 40s weren’t we um so I think it’s definitely indicative that we’re trying to play a little bit more football and not just lump it long so much um and obviously
You know the green shoots shall we say from that game came to fruition uh on Tuesday yeah absolutely lovely uh Steven Presley phrase there Mike thank you very much for that the one thing I noticed with it was especially in the Cambridge game obviously I didn’t get to watch the full
Game for this but obviously I wasn’t on for the reaction to the Cambridge game it was really annoying me the fact that the two Center midfielders so it would have been um Neil and uh not Neil sorry V and whoever was in central Midfield of him were basically being told to stand
Next to Armstrong so there’s no one to receive the ball off the backline other than the Neil um but I’m happy that’s been eradicated from the from the system because it was driving me insane in that game yeah no you’re right on that one um I don’t really got huge much else to
Talk about this one at the end of the day was it it was an improved performance a slight step forward at allbe it from a very very low base which is why it was important that come Tuesday night we got a good result and we did Burton Alby and Neil K United won
Um yeah I mean the change to the team for this one Mike Paul hunting to coming in something we All Cried Out for and it made a big difference didn’t it yeah definitely you know we’ve kept two clean sheets this season and they’ve both been with a B three of lvll Huntington and
Melish so pretty telling in it yeah and and that’s the thing I think at the start of the Season it didn’t look perfect and I think obviously Huntington got injured didn’t he but I think Simo was tinkering and changing maybe trying to get something more perfect but I remember last
Season when feny was out injured at the start and we were saying oh imagine feny hunting to melish what a good that three that would be but that took a few games for it to actually you know gel um but yeah I think that’s definitely the way
Forward now um and armor at left back as well armor was left back for well left wing back for both of them clean sheets as well so I think that’s the way to go forwards yeah it’s good it’s good to see Jack sort of getting a little bit back
To his bests as well he had a a tops to tury season hasn’t he but he he’s looked a little bit more solid playing in there uh Jack Ellis also came for this one H Finn back dropped out the score all together and simos basically said he’s
Protecting him and I think there they’re working very cautiously they want I kind of feel like we’re managing Finn back to the end of the season aren’t we um Adam just to Thomas make sure he doesn’t do anything bad again and he’s out of Contracting some uh Finn back isn’t he
At Forest and I do wonder if his one we might even Target potentially as a permanent one and if we can look after him and make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid with that hamstring could be maybe maybe I don’t uh this season’s not been as encouraging but obviously his
Last season in League two was was very encouraging the massive caveat of though is the the injuries and like you say we’re having to we’re having to nurse him till the end of the season really and that’s probably under the advice of of forest to I mean obviously even
Though he’s out of contract they’re like there’ll be saying to us you know don’t you be running our young player into the ground otherwise you won’t be getting any of our good young players in the future um so yeah but we are lucky that that’s one of the areas that we actually
Have a bit of depth in even though emanuel’s obviously not back yet but he’s coming back soon and Ellis has been playing recently so we have some cover there so it’s not as big of a hit as it might have been yeah in just as well
There was a change in the OB the formation here obviously going as you mentions the back three but also Mike that meant Jack Diamond was pushed up front alongside Luke Armstrong we’ll talk about about that any minute but that seemed to make a bit of a
Difference as well that gave us a little bit of a extra quality in that attack didn’t it yeah definitely for what with sin of Armstrong so far i’ prefer him in a front two uh I think he he works better having someone making runs sort
Of in behind so he can drop a bit deep um yeah I think it works much better and by all accounts we saw the best of diamond from that as well yeah we did I do wonder if it’s frustrating to say this but if you’re playing a front three
I think you need someone like a already playing on the left off him someone who’s going to come inside and support him a little bit more a bit more often so so there you go um what let talk about the goal then I mean I just realized I haven’t actually updated the
Text here on the things so it says someone else has scored the goal but um bit of confusion about who scored the goal which is apparently being cleared up by the ju goals panel but frankly who gives a toss who scor the goal it’s a
Goal and it’s a winning goal as well um brilliant ball into the middle wasn’t it CH Adam from chars I have to say from the set piece it was perfect because sometimes they whipped a bit too much height sometimes they’re too low and catch out the man this was almost the
Perfect height whipped with pace and all it needed was someone to glance it in and that’s what we got from lv/ Huntington if you’re one of those players that’s in the box that’s the exact delivery you want you don’t want to have to generate all the power you
Just want to have to get a touch on it that will guide it in um and that’s exactly what it was and I I tend to prefer those types of free kicks where it’s being swung from that position specifically it’s been swung out away from the keeper because you can afford
To put it deep without risking cuz the keeper unless he’s very confident won’t come for them unless it’s right on his on his head yeah so I prefer that tactic of having the left footer taking those sorts of free kicks but as you say it was a brilliant delivery and it’s
Something we’ve really missed this season that consistency from set pieces yeah Mike whose goal is it then LVL or Huntington it’s lv’s isn’t it um don’t tell me you’re going to say Huntington I I I genuinely I’ve watched I’ve watched the footage so many times and because because the camera angle so
Low and so rubbish it it’s really really hard to tell I think level gets the first touch but I do wonder if he’s just flicked it onto Huntington and he got in off him and actually that’s what’s directed it into the N it’s it’s so hard
To tell you do realize the club put a tweet up so we spoke to the lads and have decided it’s SK they both agreed it so why are you arguing with hon no I’m argu with h because you may have missed this but the juus goals planel have
Looked at it seos has confirmed today that the juus goals panel have confirmed that it’s Paul Huntington’s goal no so that’s is first goal of the season so no uh I think your official assist stats are gonna have to put Sam LEL with a very very close range assist so uh there
You go um yes so Paul hunting to get his first goal since Boxing Day last year um not last year sorry Boxing Day 2022 we will be here wouldn’t it God been a while so first goal of the season um and from that point it was a case of right
We’re not going to concede anything silly here and I got to say Adam defended really well on an absolute pudding of a pitch it’s a horrible pitch but I wouldn’t stretch as fast so he defended very well there was a lot of chances that uh had there been maybe a
Better team playing against us that we would have struggled obviously uh Lewis made a good save before we scored from head from from braford um and there was there was a few times actually relating to to Lewis where sometimes the ball was crossed in quite close to him and he
Said that he’s not the type of keeper to come out and claim and you know dominate a box and things like that but it’s our defense hasn’t proved to be great at defending crosses into the box and when those go in and they’re a couple yards
Away from him he stood on his line it just makes it makes me feel very very anxious so maybe I’m just only remembering the the nervous Parts but I don’t think we defended brilliantly but I think we did well enough and deserve to win the game yeah I think they had
Plenty of chances from my memory there was a lot of long range chances that went over the bar and I say Lewis did make three or four very good saves and you mentioned the header from braford was a great example of one there was another one I think where he pushed onto
The post didn’t he as well from from a seie in the first half from memory and trying to think what the other ones were there was the there was a couple from uh cam in the SEC second half wasn’t there I think from that he sa quite well I
Think there was one from a bit of a scramble in the Box in the second half sort of fired low him um which he sa well got to say as well brilliant hands to stop LEL scoring his third own goal of the Season as well that that was he
Actually touch it though I don’t know if he actually touched it if you watch it back he gets a he gets a slight Nick on it enough to almost take it over L’s over Lewis’s head so he did very well not just to watch it but also catch it
So well you said brilliant hands brilliant feet to be honest because it be very easy for your feet to be like all over the place with that and and the way our season’s gone like nine times out of 10 that would that would go in against us this season because we’ve
Conceded so many spawny goals like that yeah we mentioned how good Jack Diamond was Adam I mean needy scored two goals from him long range didn’t he the first one in the first half on great little bit of space 25 yards from goal hit a low shot at the keeper parried and it
Was then cleared the one in the second that would have been goal of the Season wouldn’t it 25 yards out flying into the top corner and the keeper Palms it over yeah well we don’t have many to uh to pick from but it would have been a great
Strike and that’s the that’s the type of quality and almost arrogance that we’ve been missing in the team just to like some of the turns he was not attempting but pulling off were ridiculous half turns you know taking it on the half volley flicking it around Defenders like
They’re not even there um that’s the confidence and the raw ability that we just haven’t had at all this season you’ve had it in flashes maybe from Gibson but not on a consistent basis not for a a full 90 usually so he’s that shot that almost found the the top
Corner we not for for kroen just symbol uh symbolizes what he is as a player just someone who’s going to take risks and has the quality to pull them off well I like as well that that shot that you mentioned in the first half it if
You watch it again it sort of it bounces just before the keeper which I think is the clever thing to do on a pitch like that because you know and Armstrong was lurking wasn’t he and there’s an argument that we could we could and should have had a penalty for that but
Like yeah having that shot and just making it bounce in front of the keep it it can go anywhere and you know unfortunately we didn’t score off that but I think it shows a little bit of nouse that he seems to relish it doesn’t he Adam the the responsibility doesn’t
He I think that that’s the first time we saw that I think putting him in that Ro where he was going to get a lot more of the ball down the middle he seemed to really sort of enjoy the fact that I’m going to be getting the ball I’m the one
Who’s going to try and make things you know tick in this match and I think the comfortability of having a familiar face alongside him probably helps as well because obviously his playing days with Armstrong go back to when they were Harriet and they played a lot together
And would often link up together um so having that standing of you know when AR it comes into Armstrong’s chest he knows Diamond’s going to be coming round him to pick up the ball immediately and then he’s on his bike or when Diamond’s on it he knows what type of runs Armstrong
Likes to make and things like that so it’s it’s that understanding and cohesiveness that maybe because of the chopping and changing and the cons inconsistency of the car front line we haven’t seen much of yeah no absolutely um overall great win um allbe it against I have to say a
Really poor Burton side Mike I got to say this but like how on Earth are they what 15 points better off than us this season because for me clearly they’re a side that play the percentages aren’t they they’re a very direct long ball side they rely heavily on set pieces a lot of
Long Thrones come into the box a lot of you know free kicks and Corners um and clearly some sides just don’t cope with it and putting Paul Huntington there seems to be Master strugg to to sort of stop that wasn’t it yeah I mean obviously I wasn’t there on Tuesday but
I was there for the home home game and yeah I think they’re not from what we’ve seen they they’re not a very good side I mean obviously they’ve pulled off some very good results against better teams than us this season but um yeah I think you’re right I think they they like to
Sort of play the long throws and they like to I mean certainly from the game at Brunton part you could tell he wanted to really slow play down and frustrate people which which some teams that will work against but I think us coming from League 2 last season were kind of used
To that a little bit so it kind of worked in our favor yeah absolutely um we s touched on it briefly there um Adam but that pitch it was an absolute disgrace wasn’t it I mean it was weird because like one flank looked absolutely perfect but the flank the Left Flank for
Us on in the first half in front of the dugouts I mean poor Jack diam was made to look an absolute PR wasn’t he at one point he did this brilliant turn to go away down the left and then he took about five steps and you could just see
The Earth giving away underneath him and he and he just fell on his backside and I do Wonder with some of these things you want when a pitch ends up that bad should the efl be forcing them to do some sort of rfing or something to make
It better because it’s not it’s not condusive to playing any sort of good football is it no of course not but I how the efl would manday you know pitch quality would be would be interesting to see um I think if anything it played into our favor if we’d have played
Against a proper football inside on Tuesday night maybe we wouldn’t have won um and I think the in uh reintegration of Paul hon into the starting 11 was an absolute no-brainer and they obviously did see from the footage they watched of of B that they just like to get balls in
The box and you know those throwin so having someone like hon in there was going to be absolutely essential thank God he was brought in um but yeah I think if anything even though it was horrendous and maybe wasn’t conducive to a good game it probably benefited us
Yeah I I’d probably agree with that I mean the the biggest indicator of it isn’t it if you look at the past success for the game against Bristol Rivers they had 74 we had 72 the past success for this game both teams 58 you know half
The passes wer even accurate so I think that probably tells you a lot I mean zero point us trying to play football on that pitch no absolutely absolutely what I’d say is um another advantage having Paul Huntington something I S of noticed watching the game Mike is that he’s got
This he’s got a real Knack hasn’t he when he picks that ball up in the center he can actually ping the ball out to the fullbacks quite well he’s got a decent longrange passing him you maybe don’t get that as much of LEL and that’s a bonus of having him in that middle
Center back rather than level there for for hunts as well it’s his decision making for me like he knows when to do them passes and he knows when to just hoof it as well which is critical absolutely he’s he’s clever enough to do that isn’t he um other
Talking points from this one obviously mentioned Diamond I think we’re finally getting to see the player that we expected there um for me when I was I was looking at in terms of players that were a top performance in this game I actually picked out Ellis melish I think
That was actually seeing melish back at his best in you know getting forward and causing problems in attack and diamond with the the the three I picked out but I haven’t put it in the running on here but I’d give a shout out to Luke Armstrong as well to be fair Adam I
Thought not just in terms of attacking you can see the effort he puts in every game he runs so much but actually towards the end defensively was excellent as well he was coming back he was winning tackles he was winning headers he was clearing the ball you’re
Really seeing a proper team player there aren’t you he doesn’t get the recognition for you know that type of performance because he hasn’t found the back of the net but you know the way that he helped diamond in the game by you know getting into into those High
Position by holding up the ball and like you said coming back later on to help defend Corners throw in free kicks whatever it was it’s it’s the type of player that you want in your team no matter what level you’re at no absolutely um in terms of the clean
Sheet Mike just good for the whole team that isn’t it it’s good for Harry Le though because he has been under a bit of pressure you know he did make that mistake in the game against kanage but was I think in terms of the way he distributed all of his feet we’re seeing
Why Sim wanted to bring him in aren’t we yeah definitely and I I think a lot of it as well is the understanding between the defense and the goalkeeper is building every game um uh I think it must be different for them because when Hy was in Nets he’d come out for most
Corners and crosses and things like that and Lewis doesn’t do that I’m not saying that it’s a terrible thing he doesn’t do that but if the defense are aware that he’s not doing that and you know I think the issue early on was they were expecting him to do that and he wasn’t
Doing it so hopefully now they’ve got that little bit of an understanding um and going forwards will be a lot better for him y any other talking points from E you from that game um I don’t I don’t think so um I would yeah I think the general thing was
We were the better of the two not great sides um but it’s those sort of results that can that can start a you know a decent run because it’s just getting off the off the ground in terms of getting those points you know it’s been so long
Since we picked up any points let Al on a win so I couldn’t have cared less how we won even though it was a a horrible watch it’s three points exactly last 10 minutes were not fun to watch I think it’s fair to say uh I’ll just run
Through the league one results from the weekend and from the midweek the weekend uh cambrid United lost their local Derby against P United one nil not happy Camp there because obiously Neil Harris has uh walked out on them to go to milw Neil Harris has now managed in League two
League one and the championship in the same season and sacks from the League 2 Club first on an upward trajectory as well which which is insane when you think about it uh barnesley got a big 2-1 win over Derby County Blackpool they beat their as supposed to the Lancashire
Rivals both Bolton were Lancashire once uh Bolton 4-1 at home obviously we lost two one at Bristol Rovers Burton lost their game at Northampton home against Northampton 2- nil H Charon got a nil nil draw at home against Portsmouth exitor Drew 1-1 with Fleetwood uh Oxford
United suffered a bit of a surprise two one home defeat to Le AR who were really flying um port well I mean five and a half year deal to Darren Moore I mean I’m not saying Darren Moore is a bad manager but it’s not looking a great
Move that is it at the moment and maybe not a great move for five and a half years at this level is it’s there’s got to be a clause in there there’s got to be a clause in there that can get out fairly easily but
I mean it’s more it’s not even so much for PV I think get more for him he must be thinking what have I let myself in for here CU things I’m not sure there is a close in there because I think for him to drop to Port Vale was quite I was
Quite surprised that they got him and I think for him to go there there’s got to be something in it for him they’ll be some sort of like he gets a big chunk of payout or something just to go after however long or something like that but anyway uh reading our opponents the
Weekend they lost 3-2 at home against shuby bit surpris W that one and stevenage continue to push for the playoffs it’s mad one- nil win at home against uh wick on the Friday night wig and Drew one with chelam Town um into the midweek fixtures uh obviously we won
One nil at Burton Derby suffered second defeat in a row that they’re sort of dropping a little bit but Charon athletic Nathan Jones already had a bit of an impact there isn’t he at him I think it’s fair to say 2-1 win well it’s it’s taken him a while I think the last
Win before that was the 28th of November if I remember correctly wow which explains their horrid league position even considering the masses of talent that they’ve got in that team um but they they really shouldn’t be in this position so results like that on paper shouldn’t be a shock if you just don’t
Take into account league position but bad for Derby but Bolton as I’m sure get on to they let them off the hook they did they did indeed um Lon Orient again like I said they they really doing well one- nil win at home against Blackpool Lincoln City they won 3-0 against shuby
I think they’re fairly safe this season Lincoln shuby not really out of it yet um Port Vale threw away a two nil lead to draw 2-2 with Fleetwood I think Fleetwood scored like it was at 88 for the 93rd minute or something like that to get the two2 draw there not a great
Result for Paul Vale Wickam won 2-0 at home against chelam who sort of recent decent forms s of dropped off a little bit Steven like I said once again won one nil against cambri actually I was going to say Mike did you see at the end of this uh game uh stevenage against
Cambridge Cambridge were going on the Counterattack and I think like the 89th minute to try and get an equalizer and one of the Cambridge fans threw a flare onto the pitch and the game had to be stopped Jesus imagine being the idiot who’ done that like you know you would
Not be able to let it down would you for years to come not that they were probably going to score but you know there you go and yeah as you hinted there uh Adam Wigan got a one-nil victory over Bolton in their local Derby and they’ll be very pleased with that
One I think it’s first that’s see the the aftermath in this game too I saw it the kick off at the end a little so Marshall Marshall godo uh was celebrating and went over and celebrated in front of the traveling Bolton fans so then bod vson came over and to give him
A bit of a piece of his mind and then I think it was the wig and Captain basically stopped him and they sto started like having to go at each other and then I think somebody else started having a go goo and then sort of on the
Other side of the Box some of the other wig and bolon players got into it which I and ever then got involved in and he was getting right in the Wigan players faces and um it was James mlan uh put on his Instagram story afterwards basically like taking the M out of Ian
Ever for you know thinking he was going to like scrap the the Wigan players so it wasn’t a good look for for him no no it’s a bit bit of a disappointment one that for Wig I think sorry Bolton I think is that I think they’ve uh right
Wig done the double over them this season as well so maybe well bton have lost the last including that the last two as well as Darby the Portsmouth have been loving this week yeah I mean they’ve really been let off the hook because they they they had that little
Drop off in for and now look actually they haven’t lost in the last five including you know four four wins in that time as well Derby it’s looking I mean barnesley have put themselves Back In Contention to finish actually in the top two when you look at it they’re on a
Real one I’ll C we play them soon don’t we I completely forgot that great that that’s something to look forward to um but there there you go uh yeah that’s all the results from the midweek and from the league one so we’re going to take a short break after the break I
Will be back and I’ll be speaking to Alex from the Elm Park Royals podcast will be looking ahead to this weekend’s game few of the things we talked about including the ongoing off field crisis at the club H just doesn’t stop there sadly for them how uh Ruben cers has
Actually got on despite all those issues and uh how much actually they’re looking forward to their first trip to Brunton Park since 1982 been a hell of a long time before even I was born uh anyway I’ll take that short break and we’ll be back with me
Talking to Alex hi I’m John halpen and you’re listening to the Brunton bugle yes we’re now into part two of this week’s brunon bugle and as usual part two is of course Behind Enemy Lines where we talk to one of the opposition fans from this weekend’s game uh from an
Opposition podcast ahead of the match to basically get their view on their team and and what’s been going on with them and it’s probably fair to say that um the guys we talking to this week lot lot of stuff’s happening with their Club of
Late and not a lot of it on the pitch unfortunately it’s mostly off the pitch where the uh the issues have been H we’re speaking to Alex from the Elm Park Royals podcast Alex how are you doing mate uh I was doing okay ear in the week
And yeah we’re kind of in the middle of the week now and read of had points deducted and we’re now only three points clear the relegation Zone instead of the five that we were so I’m not as good as I was at the start of the week I’ll be
Honest yeah it kind it seems like an ongoing thing doesn’t it this whole point seduction thing for this season we we’ll talk about that in a minute um before we get going just just tell us a little bit first about your your podcast and you know how it came about and how
Long you’ve been doing it that kind of thing uh yeah so the podcast has been going for seven years eight years at this point I think it started in about 2016 um just as we were coming towards the end of the season in the championship when we finished in the
Playoffs under y Stam uh we obviously lost in the final that year since then we’ve been going pretty much every game with some kind of review show um I think we’re up to about 500 episodes or something at this point it’s it’s kind of um ridiculous how how much time you know
We’ve sunk into recording over the years um we yeah become a big part of the the kind of the campaign group in terms of the ownership change which we’re pushing for um and yeah there’s a group of of four or five uh five of us who kind of
Do the main majority of the shows and then uh yeah we’ve got guests who come in every other every other couple of shows and things like that so yeah it’s um it’s a good release I will say given how bad the football has been on the
Field for the past five or six years well on that point um unfortunately we’re gonna have to talk about now so I mean actually currently you do you find yourselves you know out of the relegation Zone thanks to actually what’s been quite a decent run of form
Especially since the turn of the year I was looking at this only three defeats in your last 11 since I think New Year’s Day or something like that in the league and quite a few wins thrown in there as well I know you you lost last time out
Against shuby which will be a frustrating result I guess um yet that feeling of turmoil around the club just hasn’t been able to disappear has it you haven’t been able to shake it off and you know things were a bit funny around about the time we played you but I think
I can’t remember since then you had the call off against Portville was that after then and you know there’s all been all kinds of other stuff um I know it’s GNA be very tough to Briefly summarize this but take long as you need explain what’s actually happened in the last few
Months since we last spoke yeah so when we last spoke we were I think we were just outside the or just inside the relegation Zone when we last spoke yeah um and since then we’ve actually gone on a on the field at least we’ve actually
Gone on a really good run form um it was the game before we played year it was our first away win for just over a year we won at Wickham 2-1 yeah um followed It Up by beating beating yourselves a few days after that and then I think
Since then as you say we’ve lost I think we’ve lost four games in total since then um two at home and two away and we’ve actually looked quite solid on the field um you know we’ve picked up results at kind of we beat stevenage away we beat Derby at home we came back
From behind against peterb twice U we came from two down against chelham away from home we’ve we’ve been picking at points at you know a decent clip for for a few months now I think someone uh pointed out a couple of weeks ago that if the season had kind of started back
Then just before we played you would be somewhere I think would’ be about seventh in the table or something um you know disregarding the points deductions and things like that so on the field I’ll be honest the squad are actually doing a ridiculously you know good job
Um in the last couple of months given the situation and the circumstances uh the obvious issue is that off the field we don’t really have any control over what’s going on um and no one really knows when you know if we do pick up a thre Point seeing a win no really
Knows that it’s going to still remain the week after or the month after because of the efl deciding to take off more points against us so it’s um we kind of just have to keep picking up as many points as we can before the end of
The season in the hope that we don’t lose enough points that we end up in the relegation Zone anyway it it it’s a mad one isn’t it because I can sort it’s frustrating because the efl have to have some sort of regulations plac to make sure these
Things you know clubs don’t take the Mickey with this sort of stuff but you guys have clearly got an own who just doesn’t care and he doesn’t care about the club he doesn’t care about the fans and he’s the one who’s doing it and they
You know they can f him all they want but he’s not going to pay those fines is he and you know and you look at in terms of the points he doesn’t seem to really be bothered by the fact that he hav points deducted because he’s not paying
Hmrc and all that kind of thing so how how frustrating is it that the that you’ve got that owner there who’s clearly using it as a play thing and doesn’t really care and you can’t really have as much of an impact on terms of trying to get rid of
Him yeah um the the trying to get rid of him is you know a huge ongoing task it’s not something which is particularly easy and realistically anything that the fans can and try to do is only going to have limited impact because ultimately he’s the person who can decide when he sells
Like no no fan or fan group can you know Force somebody to sell a club however much you you know want to um you can try and put pressure on them which is what we’re trying to do but if he doesn’t sell he doesn’t sell there’s nothing you
Can really do about it ultimately um so it’s an extremely frustrating situation for for reading fans because there’s no real control and there’s no real kind of look uh light at the end of the tunnel necessarily um because we don’t know who’s going to take over the club if the
Club’s going to get taken over realistically you know you ask 100 reading fans and I think it would be a very even split as to whether they would think we will be playing football next season or not at the minute um because it’s difficult to say that we will be I
Think uh because without a new ownership it’s tough to see the club being able to sign players in summer be able to fulfill fixtures next season Etc and I just it’ll be one of those situations a bit like Barry where if we don’t get taken over it’s I just don’t see there’s
Going to be a way around us doing anything except being expelled from the league and the efl are obviously in a position where they have to deal with reading being in a situation like this where you know they have to be seen to be fair to other teams but at the same
Time try to help in some way I’ll be honest again I don’t really think that they’re actually helping the situation particular any um you know people might disagree um but realistically being fined for not paying tax which we can’t literally cannot afford to pay yeah it isn’t a sporting
Advantage as much as the efl have you know discussed the fact that it gives us a potential of sporting Advantage currently it just doesn’t we’ve been under an embargo for five years we haven’t signed a player every player that we have signed has to be signed off
By them um there isn’t enough money in the club and the club basically relies on you know Dyan to fund fund the kind of the shortfall and having points deducted ultimately makes the club less attractive to purchase for somebody um and the you know the ultimate goal for the efl
Clearly at this point they don’t want him to be in charge but the ultimate goal is to remove him from the efl they’re not really necessarily helping the situation anymore so yeah the efl are frustrating in one sense um diomi is frustrating in another sense it’s just a
Kind of very helpless situation for for reading fans at this point I think no absolutely let’s talk about on the pitch a little bit then um so how happy are you with the job that Ruben has done in such difficult circumstances because I mean like like you said you you look at
Your squad it’s you know it’s quite young and in experienced Squad in places and obviously you mentioned the transfer in bers has been a bit of a a nightmare for the last few years for you but if you were to add those six points back on
That you’ve had taken off you’d be above Wickam into 14 place you know be two points be Wigan and a lot of people you know said you know such a good team this season have done so well it kind of goes to show doesn’t it
You know that it’s if if those sort of restrictions weren’t in place you’d actually be in a fairly solid place right now yeah I the first 15 games on the sets was a struggle and I we got to the end of October roughly and there was definitely a lot of calls to
To remove CZ because of the fact that we were throwing away games um Left Right and Center I think we’ve lost probably four or five games in the last minute this season um we’ve given away another probably four or five you know wins which have been converted
Into draws in the last minute um and a lot of that early season kind of pessimism and and despair around Ruben celes and his performance I think comes from the fact that obviously he had no real preseason with this squad so we basically spent the first two or three
Months of the Season trying to understand what you know what our best system was what who what our best 11 was and we spent the first uh probably 10 games playing this four Triple Two formation where we played with two kind of pivot midfielders and two winners and
Then two Strikers and we didn’t have our best players available at that point Sam Smith who summer was was injured up until the end of October Lewis Wing was injured until you know mid October as well and then we got to November and we we changed formation and we’ve kind of
Gone to a a 4141 or kind of a 42 4231 system um which has made us look much much more solid especially at the back we we’ve improved a lot at the back um so yeah I mean I mean the turnaround has been ridiculously impressive I’ll be
Honest given the situation um and I think he’s won a lot of reading fans around he’s not won every arm round um and I think you know if it was a normal situation he probably wouldn’t have kept his job however you know we’re not in a normal situation ultimately and I think
He’s done a a pretty good job um from my eyes as you say with be 14th Place which I think is fine I most reading fans would have been very happy with a midt finish this season given you know we we finished in the bottom five I think a championship five
Of the last seven years or something like that it was it was coming that we were going to get relegated and actually a season the mid-table wouldn’t have been the worst thing in the world for the club in by any means and I think most fans kind of would have accepted it
Um so yeah if if you know without the points deductions if we’ve been in 14th Place I would have been very you know not delighted but I would have been yeah Absol fine of it so I think he’s doing a good job all circumstances considered um
And if he keeps us up I I’d be disappointed if he wasn’t here next season yeah janary transfer window bit of a tough one for you guys because you did lose a few players didn’t you um and you’ve sort of think I’ve seen you bring
A couple in maybe I think one of them was a player come backing on loan was it he’d sold out possibly I remember right yes we we sold players kind of left right and Center to be able to fund the club in January um the the club would
Basically say in December they wouldn’t do this they wouldn’t sell players to be able to fund the club and it would be you know the squad would be kept together as best it could but um we sold our our team captain not Club Captain we sold our team captain Nelson Abby to
Olympos which is not you know he’s going to end up going to Nan Forest presumably in summer um we sold Tom holes who and holes and Abby have been our kind of Center back pairing um up until January we sold both of them in January Tom
Homes got sold to Luton he has come back on loan but he got injured pretty much as soon as he came back on loan actually he got injured he hasn’t played since mid January now I think he’s still out um probably for another couple of weeks so he won’t be
Playing this weekend uh we sold a number of kind of younger players as well um from the academy and we sold a couple of kind of bit part players who haven’t really played in the squad the season um and basically just haven’t really made the grade under Reuben cellers
Necessarily uh despite being you know around the squad so we didn’t sell a huge number of first team players although there was a lot of links with teams but um I think it it really kind of like put a big strain on the on the fans and
Hence you know the port Vil kind of Abandonment because we ended up selling two players and I think we ended up selling Tom mcart to Portsmouth for £75,000 realistically he he is out of contract in summer and he’s probably not worth you know he’s not worth millions or anything but he’s
Certainly worth more than 75,000 solding for um and it essentially became a bit of a fire sale we got obviously like I said Tom homes back on loan um from Luton for the rest of the season we signed an Arsenal youngster on Deadline day from on loan who
I think he’s only made one appearance so far and we conce in the last minute when he came on so that was a bit of a rocky start for him um but yeah it wasn’t a great January transfer window um but it could have been worse All Things
Considered yeah I mean when you look at it results wise it hasn’t really affected you that much to be fair so it’s it’s not necessarily been a bad thing in that in that sense yeah I mean the the strange thing is of course is that because we sold our two center
Backs who had been playing we ended up with Tom Holmes and Tyler bendon who’s been a revelation really at Center back to be honest um playing and then Toms got injured and we’ve we’ve resorted to playing in bengu who’s really never been played at Center back to reading before um typically he’s
Been kind of a backup Winger a backup right back uh for reading and he’s been thrown in the center back and actually for the past month or so we’ve looked relatively solid in most games with with in bengue and bindon at Center back and I think they’ve got combined age of like
39 or 40 or something it’s incredibly young between them um but we’ve looked pretty solid with those two at the back and it hasn’t hugely affected results despite the fact we’ sold off some of those players well um who the D you been to watch out for this we this weekend
Then so going forwards we we do have a lot of kind of Firepower I’ll be honest um we any of the front players that are you know going to be a worry I think for for car Harvey nibs has had a really good season he does have games where
He’s on and off and if he’s having an off game he you just won’t notice him he he’ll play um in the center behind Sam Smith um Sam Smith’s you know done really well this season for his he again is is similar to Harvey nibs in the
Sense of he will go on and off and he he goes through streaks of goal scoring I think he’s on seven now for the season um he did score last weekend against rosby but that was his first goal since uh boxing day so he it had been a while
Um feiz on the right hand side has been a big Improvement this year over what he been offering previously um he’s really kind of stepped up this year uh Plymouth were interested in him in January but he stayed at reading um we’ve he’s got a kind of a lethal shot
From outside the area at this point it kind of Def depends on the day as to how effective that shelter is but he does have a you know if he hits it right he’s got a decent decent shot um on him is he the one who scored from long range
Against us I can’t remember someone scored no I think he scored he didn’t score from long range against you he scored I think it was the fifth goal against you um it was LE Wing scored long range against you’re right you’re right yes yes and Le Wing is probably I
Haven’t you know seen every cental midfielder in the division but I think he’s probably got to be up there in terms of you know attacking in terms of attacking Central midfielders and creative Central midfielders he’s got to be up there in the top three or four in
The in the division he’s you know class above really um his shooting ability is is ridiculously good and he could pretty much have a goal of the Season competition on his own this year uh he scored so many good goals as you say the goal against yourselves back in November
He scored one against Fleetwood a couple of weeks ago his goal against um who would it have been his goal against Port Vale recently was really impressive as well he’s he’s basically just got an incredibly accurate strike from outside the area um and if you give him too much
Time he will he will shoot and I would say he’s probably our most dangerous player leis Wing if if he if he has a good game reading turn up we will you know we will create chances um it’s just a matter of whether we give up chances
At the back as well and how well our kind of back line plays yeah um you’ve been very G your time Alex thank you very much so before you go though uh what’s your prediction for this weekend’s game I have to predict a reading win I just I can’t I
Can’t face giving a 600 whatever it is 650 mile round trip and Cen is lose so I’m goingon to say two ones reading and uh just fingers crossed that some of those other teams around us lose this weekend yep Al thanks very much for your time before we go just remind everyone
Where we can find your pod again uh it’s El Park RS we’re on Spotify and apple podcasts and all all the different social medias Etc and we’ll have a review of the game against yourselves after the weekend great stuff Alex thanks for your time all the best for
The rest of the season after this weekend and really hope that all the off the pitch stuff gets sorted before the end of the season as well because the last thing you wanted another summer of going through all that and wondering what is going to happen with your
Football club it’s not a nice place to be we know that from that about 20 years ago we had that issue as well so yeah we know exactly how that can feel nice one cheers Le thank you very much cheers no problem at all H we’ll be back just
After this break and uh myself and the rest of guys will be looking ahead to the game this weekend hi it’s uh Tom padic II and you’re listening to the Brunton bugle and we’re back into part three of this week’s brunt and bugle thanks once again to Alex from the Elm Park Royal
For speaking to us ahead of the big game this weekend me and Mike are hoping to catch up with him for a p this week aren’t we he’s an old friend of yours I seem to remember you saying yeah yeah that’ll be very good um right let’s look
At to this weekend’s game then guys um reading I mean I think a weird one reading ad Adam aren’t they because we we sort of looked at the start of the Season we were kind of like there’s a bit of ability in that Squad but they’re
Such a mess off the field surely they’re going to really struggle but actually all things considered they’ve done Fair well especially since the turn of the Year their form’s been quite remarkable since they beat us in fact 5-1 they’ve barely well they’ve only lost like a handful of games haven’t they well it’s
A it was a squad that you looked at at the start of the season and just because of the financial problems it was quite an inexperienced team and with a manager who hadn’t managed at this level before you weren’t really sure what was going to happen and the points deductions and
All the off field stuff which is still continuing now um they’ve done very well to beer to them to keep themselves sort of out of it but now have’ been dragged back into it a little bit by this most recent Point deduction yeah it it’s kind of it just
Feels like every time for them that they they they Mike that they’re getting away from trouble one of these points deduction suddenly dropped in there and they’re like oh come on we look like we’re getting ourselves towards safety and now we’re back dragged back into it
Because if if you gave those six points back to them they’d only be I think a couple of points behind Wigan in the table um yeah um it’s it’s crazy isn’t it and then points deductions have really I I I think it probably takes it’s talling you mentally
As well because it’s like three steps forward two steps back a lot of the time for them um but yeah the either way they’re they’re right in it with us and this should be one of the home games that we’re looking to win yeah I ad when
We look at the January transfer window we talk about how teams are affected by it reading were really not able to strengthen and actually considerably weakened in defense they lost Tom Holmes to Lon town they got over a million pounds back from him he’s been loaned
Back but he’s been injured I think after one game he got injured again Tom McIntyre there to sell for peanuts for 75k to Portsmouth because he was out of contrac in this summer and Nelson Abby has gone to Olympiacos albeit we think he’s probably going to end up at naan
Forest eventually for an undisclosed fear as well I mean to lose a big chunky defense and then still actually still be performing probably shows what a good job rben CIS has done there and he should sort of be expected to be doing a good job because you know he was
Only managing the Premier League last season you know it’s it was almost an odd thing to see him dropping right down to the bottom of League one pretty much from a a premier league side but he’s a very good coach and like you said he’s done a very good job with the limited
Resources that he’s been given I mean they’ve just been asset stripped basically um and you know even the working conditions they having to you know uh play Under you know they’re not allowed to this might not be the case anymore but they weren’t allowed to um stay overnight after games to cut costs
Players having to eat microwave meals um they were allowed heating on at the trading ground were they I think they were allowed heating um so they’ve done very well considering they’ve been handed an absolute stinker of situation to work with yeah who are the players that stand out for you in their squad
Mikee um I mean Sam Smith obviously uh I was disappointed that cuz we were apparently linked with him in the summer um yeah I was disappointed that he didn’t wind up here because he scored what 17 goals last season for Cambridge in a struggling team like that yeah yeah um who else
Have they got uh I mean I’m not even going to say the name of that onethird from bottom for them uh you can do that Lee can forget it Calvin atim Han or something um we we should apologize if any of his family happened to be listening to video I just haven’t
Had time to look up how to say it yeah um Harvey nibs as well um decent player um yeah yeah they’ve certainly got a few that can cause us a few problems I mean Lewis Wing was always stood out to me as a good player at this level Adam you
Know he played for a long time at Wickham and you know he’s got uh Charlie Savage in there as well x man united obviously son of uh Robbie um one everyone’s a bit surprised they got him in Su because he only made his Man United maybe towards the end of last
Season didn’t he but yeah there’s players in there that can cause US problems definitely yeah well um Lis wi is one of the names I was going to mention and it wasn’t too surprising for me the the Savage move just because he was with um forest green last season who
Obviously were right down the bottom of of League one but he seemed to be a little bit above their level when he was when he was there so it wasn’t too uh too much of a surprise but the fact that he’s there permanently maybe was the uh the
Unexpected part of the the deal but yeah yeah it’s you look through the squad and there’s not a lot of experienced operators at this level um which again is Testament to the job that Ruben salers has done I mean Harley D te obvious I’m not sure how much he’s
Actually played for them this season to be fair um I know that there’s been a few issues with David button recently I think in the game against shuby he maybe let a couple in that he probably could have done better with for them um yeah in terms of sort of looking at other
Things uh let’s look at some of the sort of stats and that sort of stuff um head-to-head uh it’s only the 12th meeting between the two sides I haven’t played them very often uh we’ve won two drawn four and lost five we’ve only lost four of our last fixes against them
Three of those fixes came in the early 1980s so it’s a stretch to use that as a startat I think it’s fair to say it’s not going to stop me um yeah in terms of s of recent form they’re like I said their recent forms pretty good they’re
Seventh in the last six games form table record of 1-1 drawn lost one lost we are now sitting in 23rd we’re off the bottom finally with a record of loss loss loss loss loss one there we go don’t get excited that one um yeah so that’s those
Sort of bits uh referee for this one Martin Coy from County Durham H it’s his seventh season as an efl referee taking charge of 18 games so far this season Hing out 82 yellows and three red cards last season uh he handed out 47 yellows
And three red cards in just 17 games uh and the last United game he took charge of was a two-nil defeat to Derby County earlier this season where Sam lvll was booked for the blues that day right uh let’s talk about United then um what what are we thinking with this
One then Adam are you thinking my thoughts are I think we need to be sticking with this 532 352 whatever you want to call it for the rest of the season just stick with it try and get a bit of confidence and form into the team pretty much pick the 11
That played on Tuesday night against Burton for the rest of the season as long as they’re fit and just drop players in and out as players are not quite fit and that kind of thing that that’s what I’d be looking to do maybe changing the the wing backs up a little
Bit just to keep them fresh yeah injuries withstanding I’d probably agree with you just because it’s probably the most rigid formation and setup we’ve got but also a allow us for a bit of uh creativity in in the forward areas yeah I I don’t think we can get away with
Playing two Wingers either side of Armstrong this season I just don’t think our Midfield and defense is is strong enough to have well Diamond especially isn’t a passenger but Gibson is more so uh defensively um but I just don’t think you can afford to have that many people
High up the pitch and risk getting counter attacks on especially when we score to struggle to score goals anyway way and we’re a bit leaky so yeah I would agree with you that formation we played against Burton the general lineup is what I would stick with at least for
Now but probably till the end of the season the only one I maybe look at is maybe Finn back in for Jack Ellis possibly i’ be harsh on Jack I just think Finn’s got a little bit more quality going forward that’s that’s the only real difference I think in terms of
That Mike what would you do yeah well it’s interesting you say about back and Ellis because we talked about back been sort of rested and managed uh on Tuesday night but I think Alice needs a bit of management as well because of his injury problems so I think it would probably
Work out well for them both if back was to come in for Ellis um but other than that I’d probably keep exactly the same team yeah I think having chars in there is a big thing as well as we mentioned in the in the review section the fact
That his set pieces make a big difference to the team down there in terms of the the quality of getting the ball into the box because that’s something we miss and actually that’s something we miss with having Paul Huntington the team although he’s not scored that many goals for us he does
Offer a bit of a threat doesn’t he add him you know in terms of getting on the end of stuff he’s just a bit of physicality that we don’t have when he’s not there like I’m pretty sure he’s the tallest of of our Defenders and even though he’s maybe not as physically
Strong as a as a level he’s got the the height to be able to get on onto things um I think with Charters too he’s he can be a bit sort of rough around the edges when he’s on the ball but if he’s picking out a pass or picking out
Crosses and and and Corners that’s the the the quality we don’t really have in our Midfield at the moment he’s probably the only midfielder actual midfielder who is or has that ability to put in those types of deliveries because I don’t really think Neil or V are that
Type of player you pointed by him on the ball’s a really good one and someone made this point to me actually saying that if you watch back with him it’s amazing how many times his first touch is a bit loose and it gives the opposition a chance to get the ball it’s
Something he does need to work on a little bit if if there’s anything in his game that he could do with improving he get that first touch bear he could be a real quality player for us I think didn’t that lead to the the second Bristol goal if I remember correctly I
Feel like a loose touch gave them possession yeah I think maybe possibly yeah but it’s just something one my Mak no and I watched a little bit of the highlights back on that actually yeah to a fair point that something he could really do with working with so we’re
Generally agreement same 11 as long as they fit and I think Simo is probably going I don’t think Simo is going to do anything DFT after a win like that I think he’s going to be like yep let’s as long as it’s worked it’s worked let’s
Stick with it and uh yeah in terms of the bench you know not a huge amount of change there you’d maybe bring him manual in maybe it’s the fullback option possibly if he unless he else he’s going to bring back back in instead I don’t know it’s it’s just the defensive ones
That you got to tweak with there isn’t it really because your Midfield ones pick themselves you haven’t really got many other options have we that sort do you think I think Jordan Gibson’s not going to get much game time between now and the end of the season I just don’t see I don’t
See it because of diamonds emerging I mean we knew about his quality anyway but it’s coming to the to the four now and his partnership with with Luke Armstrong and the way that we’re probably going to set up I I don’t really see a role for him for this
Season I think he could maybe in some games he could come on for Charters and be that sort of third and if B we pushing forward in games he could be that player who’s basically playing as the extra you know the Midfield that pushes forward behind behind the front
Too I don’t I don’t think he’s going to start as many now for a bit I think he might have time 11 yeah that was M I don’t think he’s going to be in the starting lineup much and it also could be a case of Simpson thinking ahead to
The summer thinking right who am I going to realistically offer a deal to and prioritizing the players that he expects to be here longer term yeah yeah I mean I mean like like I said before I was sort of thinking of the kind of players that Simo signed last time he was here
And you know I a fan of Gibson but I don’t think he’s a Simo player and I think it’s it’s probably best for him as well well you know there’ll be a manager out there that can get the best out of Jordan Gibson but I don’t think Simo is
It but I think Simo is the kind of manager that’ll get the best out of a Josh f for you know for example and I think yeah this is almost you know I mean I hate to get drawn into it but we’re pretty much down aren’t we but
This can be a bit of a pre pre-season for us well could they we we threw the question OB obviously they won’t obviously they won’t well say you know we win these two games with seven points a drift with a game in hand you know win that it’s four
Points a drift can be done we’re we’re going to get keys the happy happy CL podcast let’s be careful realistically we can’t yeah no but yeah you know no but but like like I say I think this is an opportunity to sort of build what we
Want to do next season really these next three games are quite big aren’t they when you look at it I mean barnesy is going to be a tough one it’s a Tuesday night hopefully they’ll bring a decent following if we can get a good result uh
In the next two you know you’d you’d be hopefully going to a bit of confidence but hly mentions L Charlton and shuby they two we’re looking at thinking right surely maybe we can Target a few points out of those maybe four points possibly get a draw at Charlton and a win at
Shuby maybe I don’t know I just win them all simple as well yeah if we can but realistically better perform better solid performances where we’re not getting out totally outplayed where where we’re looking like a team that’s the key thing for me cuz once you once
You get those three out the way you’ve got Steven is pre to an informed Lincoln side that’s a tough run it is a really tough run so yeah I think that Char game is maybe a bit more winnable than it maybe seems just because of the the poor
Form they’ve had this season if we can stifle them early and get it’s a massive uh not crowd a massive ground the the valley so uh if you can sort of get tensions up in there and a bit of unrest in in the crowd that could be a game
That we could just Nick it’ll be interesting to see how many we take for this one because obviously our fans tented like a good London trip and the trains at the moment touchwood are okay for it um I’ve I’ve seen a few people saying oh they they’re probably not
Going to do it now because the form’s being bad or whatever and stuff like that but you know get a win on Saturday suddenly people people might like oh you know what I quite fancy doing that trip now and you never know big following it could really really be something for
That game couldn’t it I did see someone after Saturday uh I think selling their train tickets for Charon on Facebook train tickets go but it’s one of them because of having to buy your train tickets in advance we all booked our train tickets for it when we thought we
Were staying up well I don’t think we ever thought we were staying up I we just bought them because they were cheap at that point but there you go um right let’s see some predictions for this one then guys Adam you can go first
Um I feel like this could be a very yoyo game at times just because of the the type of players they have I feel like they’ll try and go in behind especially if we try and press them early I feel like they’ll try and go over the top of
Us uh I am going to go with a 2-1 win for carile with goals from Jack diamond and Josh Val okay Josh Fell’s goal scoring machine still Mike what are you going for I’m going to go for 3-2 Thriller with goals from Armstrong Charters and lavel really annoy me that cuz I was
Going to go for 32 as well you absolute swine um you know so I’m going to go 3-1 I’m going to have a bit more confidence in the defense uh 3-1 win goals from Armstrong diamond and H Big John go on Big John’s going to get
One there you go that’s what I’m going to go for right here’s Dan’s prediction for this game back to winning ways at Burton let’s follow it up with a comprehensive 3-1 win against reading and goals from Armstrong diamond and John melish you’ve got to be kidding me he
Picked exactly the same as me Absolut I I genuinely did not listen to his thing for but I never do I was just put them straight in ah it’s really annoying me because I was building the suspense there yeah lengthy gaps between the words I like bit bit of tension there bit of
Tension right uh let’s wrap things up then and do the xil it’s not quite as busy as some of the previous weeks but some interesting bits in there uh first let’s start with uh the goals and sort of other things from last weekend only threee to pick out Dan did originally
Put Angelo banter in here but I went and double checked and I think his goal was changed to it own goal in the end so his isn’t including in gue Dan’s listening like thinking why is he not put Angelo baning that’s why um well they start at
The very top big Jared branway he scored again for Everton in their one-1 draw at Brighton I mean get him on that playe GFF go on get him on he’s got to be I mean surely Adam is gonna be playing in these friendlies come next well I say
Next month tomorrow is next month isn’t it come March I bloody hope so but also at the same time my personal Pride really hopes it’s not because I used to play against him when I was a kid and the fact that he might be going on the
Plane of England is demoralizing to say the least you can say that playing against you sort of molded him into the player that he is today and I appreciate it Mike Mike is still taking credit for Liam McCarron’s coaching when he was like what six years old or something
Like that so yeah but maccarron played against branth weight and trained every day and that made bran the player he is so indirectly I made BR the player he is today a stretch what a stretch did I assume you both saw the goal that that good stri we should yeah we should
Comment like for a big Center back great first touch and then bang curls it into the top corner it’s brilliant bit of play and he got a lot of Praise on Match of the day as well they keep I mean look he had a little feature on football
Folus I think on the Saturday as well so we had one on Monday Night Football uh when they I think when they played Palace as well um I mean anybody who does fancy football get him in your fancy team because he’s only like four million and absolutely smashing it been
In my team all season so yeah I think I’m could probably say the same but going back to your point about should be going on the plane yeah I mean I’m trying to think of other left footed center backs who were just other center backs in general Tyro Ming is injured Tyro Ming
Is injured so he’s not going to go Levi coell take him Levi coell was probably a contender for it but he’s not his forms dropped off massively I think he’ll still I think he’ll well to be fair Southgate is very reluctant to actually pick and consistently pick new players
Unless he absolutely how has to but I I just I just Phil he’s going to look at brand for think big strong lad can play across the back four left footed Center back but like ball player likes it likes ah header I just think he’s I just I
Just at the moment I just can’t see how he won’t get in that Squad I just I just really really can’t but there you go I hope there’s a clause included in our deal with there 100% will be a clause there should be not words will be has it
Would be lovely to get another wedging money from them for that um like other the other two scores that weekend Jordan cook a rare goal from the other cook he scored for BL Spartans in their two2 draw with Boston United and David simonon continues his fight to be the
Northern premier league Premier Division top goal scorer this season he scored again for workington as they beat Matt locktown 21 a little bit more on workington in just a minute H into midweek James Tania and Tom Lawrence both scored for Rangers in their 2-1 win
A kill manik and then a couple of Braes Aussie zanzala scored twice for Newport as they beat hargate 4-1 away from home he’s not scored too many for the as his hands are Mike he’s he’s s of went there a big he just seems to jump Club to club
And can’t find his feet wherever he goes can he he just strange strange one yeah he’s a bit of an enigma isn’t he yeah uh someone who’s not an enigma someone who’s an absolute Legend Joe Garner he’s really settled into life at Alder athletic hasn’t he Adam another brace
For him scoring at alms 2-1 win at eastley in midweek he just it’s just nice to see isn’t it yeah and he’s he’s he’s too good of a striker in terms of obviously his physical attributes a diminishing but in terms of the Kno how and you know just the the smarts of the
Game he’s too good for that level and it really doesn’t surprise me that he’s started as well as he has yeah uh into the other bits first I’m going to do the second one first because it’s uh Danny dine a bit sad news if he’s he broke his
Leg I think he a clean break on his tibular saw something on Twitter from when he’s playing the games with Trinity so yeah wish him all the best in his recovery from that cuz especially as a non- leag play it’s not much nice is it
Really to to break your leg like that um but the one big bit of news that broke suddenly the other night early in the week um Danny Granger has announced that he will be standing down as workington boss at the end of the current season speculation it’s already started
Adam on this one isn’t it it’s to where he’s going next there’s some talk that potentially he could end up at uniting in some sort of role in The Academy possibly he he has come out and said hasn’t he that he has nothing lined up
He just thinks it’s the best time to get out but he’s the kind of person you’d want involved with the club isn’t he of course yeah his association with the club is is a key part of that and would be a key part of it if they do try and
Try and bring him in um I can’t remember if this was in the exact statement he put out or but I feel like I remember seeing something of him saying that you know he’s he’s looking to like new things to do rather than he feels that
You know he’s done he’s done what he can with working to it’s time for a bit of change maybe would hint a bit of a change in in roles or or levels yeah I’d be amazed um if it was just sort of a case of of taking
Time off it could well be but I I wouldn’t be like him I don’t think that’s in his character to be like oh right in the middle of my sort of early coaching career I’m just going to take a bit of time off yeah I mean he’s working
The side as a reputation playing good football as well that level don’t they I think and I I I just feel Mike that yeah we need to be looking and getting former players integrated into into theot a lot of other clubs are really good at doing
That crew are quite good at doing that actually especially players who don’t quite make it they often get them involved coaching really early on and build them up I kind of feel like him and get deit involved as well you know he’s probably not going to be working to
Next season TR try and get these good characters into the squad and build a good rep like good atmosphere on the club yeah I mean I know for a fact Granger has been working with our Academy next week um um well his son’s the I don’t know what age but he’s the
Goalkeeper at one the age groups yeah um but yeah ideally I I’d love him here in some form of capacity because you know we’re not going to have the Simo in out debate this week but he’s not going to be here forever and I think it’s spoken
A lot about in recent years that managers don’t get as much time at clubs as they used to and that works the way you know we we said before about Neil Harris you know managers get another offer from a club and they’re gone and I feel like you know Simo isn’t going to
Be here forever and if we can have someone who gets the club the way that a Danny Granger would maybe as his replacement one day you know 10 games into a League 2 Season you know if we’re top of the league winning 5 nil every week and it’s all wonderful if our
Manager is from say Manchester or London when a club down there sacks their manager in League one where are they going going to be looking for the next manager you know they’re going to be looking at the top of League too so if we can have someone who gets the club
The way Simo does and sort of offers us a little bit of loyalty to build what we want to build I think that’s the best way forward yeah I think it’s about getting a few of these faces and not I’m not as I mentioned there not just Ranger
But someone like de and there’s other faces down the year so you know I’m sure would be interested in get involved with the coaching side and things like that so I think it’s really good to try and you know make them feel like they’re part of the club still and they want to
Come back and be involved and you get that impression with both grer and deit that they’d love to so yeah just just all all the best of Danny for the rest of the season I’m pretty sure workington are going to stay up I just looking in the table they’re fairly comfortable
Aren’t they and to be fair they’ve done pretty well in their first season backup I think they’ve drawn a lot of games haven’t they actually ad them you watch it a bit closer than me but they’ve had a lot of high scoring games as well yeah um which might speak
To the uh the the style of football um although the games down at that level can be quite a sometimes you get games where they can be boring as anything in the second half there’s seven goals or something like that that’s just the type of football and the uh varying levels of
Players you get down there um but yeah if they could convince him to come but I I don’t think he’d come in as an assistant manager as such I think he may be just his obviously with his son being in the academy and and um just his sort
Of General nature I think an academy role maybe would suit him first and then he can transition to to the first team if needs be or if he wanted to um but like you said having players like him back involved with the club would be would be a nice touch yeah absolutely as
You said looking there they scored 57 goals which you know I think is the best in the bottom half of the division but they’ve also conceded 63 which is I think like one of the fourth worst I think in the bottom half so it probably tells you exactly what you said there
You know I think losing Dan wsth is a big blow for them as well earlier in the season obviously retired from playing so I think that’s been a bit of a challenge to replace him but there you go right uh that’s pretty much it for this week I
Don’t think there’s anything else to cover um thanks once again guys for joining me really appreciate it cheers always thanks everyone for listening as usual um I always forget to say if you want to get in contact us you can find us on Twitter Brunton bugle and we’re on
Facebook as well we don’t update the Facebook page as much as we should do I probably should get around to doing that a bit more often we’re also on Instagram again I don’t update that anywhere near as much as I should the Twitter page is the best place to grab us generally or
If you want to drop us any email we’re always Keen for you know correspondents and listeners Brunton bugle gmail.com get yourselves involved there and we’ll be back next week of a review of the reading game and a look ahead to the trip to Charlton which I think me and
You are both doing Mike AR we’re going on one of the early trains not the earliest because you wouldn’t let me book The really cheap one you insisted I book later because you wanted to lie in because because you were working till late the night before or something like
That I think you said well not only that but you think oh yeah we’ll save three quid by getting the early train but then we spend 40 quid in that extra hour on food and drink in London so yeah my logic is out the window on that one but
There you go so yeah we’ll both be that one anyway we’ll be talking ahead of that game um yeah I think that’s pretty much it so uh all has got left to say is thanks everyone for listening and up the blues up the blues Blues areed on the United for
One you’re looking good and with you all the way always you’re he us singing every time you play car uned J of theing For