"Let’s look at the stats to cheer ourselves up."
That quote from Joe probably sums up the tone of this end-of-season chat. The Sutton United Talk Time on Podcast crew gathered for one final episode of the 2024/25 campaign, and while the mood was part-reflective and part-resigned, there was plenty to celebrate too. Mike was joined by regulars Claire, Dan, Andrew and Joe as they unpicked a season that delivered both growth and grey hairs.
Speaker 4
00:59 - 01:06
Hello, and welcome to another episode of Sutton United Talk Time on podcast. It's the last one of the season. Don't worry, everyone. I'll be back.
Speaker 4
01:06 - 01:13
I've got a new microphone and everything. I'm not giving up yet. It's the Sutton podcast in association with Lucky Star Gin. I'm your host, Mike.
Speaker 4
01:13 - 01:22
And with me today, we have Dan, Claire, Andrew, and Joe, who are all going to give us their thoughts on the 24-25 season. And we had some waves as well. That's amazing.
Speaker 5
01:24 - 01:24
Make
Speaker 4
01:24 - 01:25
it look like a shit game
Speaker 5
01:25 - 01:25
show.
Speaker 4
01:26 - 01:29
Yeah, you did. It sounded a bit like blankety blank. Oh, I need to find that one again. How about a week?
Speaker 4
01:30 - 01:41
We love hearing from you. Join the conversations on all the socials. Stay connected at Sutton Podcast. Still not number two Sutton account on Twitter, even though Dan's quit Twitter for a good six months now, but I'll get there.
Speaker 4
01:41 - 01:50
Don't worry. I'll get there. Give us your thoughts on the episodes and chats with other fans and let us know what you think. I've already said that Sutton Podcast, but I'll say it again anyway.
Speaker 4
01:51 - 01:57
Um, we'll start off with some intros, Andrew, fresh from the barbecue on the beach. How are you?
Speaker 5
01:58 - 02:00
Yes, I'm very well. Thank you. I hope everyone's all right.
Speaker 4
02:01 - 02:06
Very good. Very good. What are you looking forward to most for summer?
Speaker 5
02:06 - 02:16
I'm going away in about a month's time to Portugal. So another beach. Um, so yeah, looking forward to that. Um, yeah, don't need to worry about any football now for a couple of weeks.
Speaker 5
02:17 - 02:22
Uh, so the friendlies no doubt get announced, uh, and some, transfer activity starts happening perhaps.
Speaker 4
02:24 - 02:35
Yeah, can't wait for the announce the signings, announce the signings, even though the season's not actually finished and contracts aren't up yet, but that's all good. Dan, how are you and what are you planning for the summer?
Speaker 5
02:37 - 02:54
Not much at the moment because just work's been all over the place. So yeah, I'll get to go to Norway next week but they're having a national holiday so there's no bloody football on. We've bought the sods. So I guess I'll just have to go and walk around.
Speaker 5
02:55 - 03:02
We're just, we haven't got any holiday plans yet. I think at the moment the most, the only thing we're doing is going to download in June.
Speaker 4
03:02 - 03:09
Very nice, very nice. And Claire, how have you been? And what have you got planned for the summer?
Speaker 2
03:10 - 03:34
I've still got a few footbally bits left, so a fans game next Sunday, my usual photographer is going to Norway for the weekend, which is outrageous behaviour, because the actual photographer's playing obviously, so still bits and pieces going on in that space, spent the afternoon sorting out everybody's kit, and then obviously the Dundee testimony on the following
Speaker 1
03:34 - 03:34
weekend as
Speaker 2
03:34 - 03:59
well, so lots of footballing stuff still happening, and then lots of planning for next season, and my day job is pretty hectic at the moment as well, so no holiday planned until the end of July, beginning of August, by which point we are sick into pre-season friendlies, so I'm going to be missing a few, but such is life.
Speaker 4
04:01 - 04:10
I'm not playing in the fans game, so Paul could probably just take the photos by himself, because he won't be as busy without me playing in front of him. Or he could lend you a camera, you could take
Speaker 2
04:10 - 04:11
some photos. Let's
Speaker 4
04:11 - 04:14
not do that, I get very easily distracted by everything. Welcome to
Speaker 2
04:15 - 04:15
my world.
Speaker 4
04:18 - 04:25
And Joe, I'm almost loathe to ask, how are you? Did anyone slip into your DMs as you announced last time? Do
Speaker 3
04:25 - 04:28
you want to say that to everyone whenever I see you? Oh, yeah,
Speaker 4
04:28 - 04:35
yeah, yeah. That's going to last forever. What did I miss? Oh, he sort of said on the last show, he kind of said,
Speaker 3
04:35 - 04:35
oh,
Speaker 4
04:35 - 04:38
yeah, I'm 18 now. So if anyone else is dropping to my DMs, please let
Speaker 3
04:38 - 04:42
me know. It was a joke. It was
Speaker 4
04:42 - 04:42
a joke.
Speaker 3
04:42 - 04:44
No, no, it wasn't like that.
Speaker 4
04:44 - 04:45
Listen back.
Speaker 3
04:46 - 04:51
It wasn't like that. Oh, right. Okay. Anyway, um, I'm good.
Speaker 3
04:51 - 04:55
I'm in that start exams next week. So is that why
Speaker 5
04:55 - 04:58
you had to wear a suit? No,
Speaker 3
04:58 - 05:00
no, I've missed that.
Speaker 5
05:00 - 05:00
Yeah.
Speaker 3
05:01 - 05:13
If anyone saw me at a suit at the working game, I'm going to explain this because people have asked me, Jack Daly said to me, you always look scruffy and the leads cup final. He said, you're always wearing shorts and a t-shirt look a bit smarter. It's a cup final dress up.
Speaker 1
05:14 - 05:14
So then me
Speaker 3
05:14 - 05:33
and, Mr. Harry Chappell decided to coordinate outfits in bed for a suit for the last game. We kind of looked like melons, but it was quite fun. I'm in the middle of exams, but I am also going on holiday in a month's time. I finish my exams and then the next day I'm going to Spain for a week.
Speaker 3
05:33 - 05:39
That'll be nice and then we'll be back for pre-season and doing all sorts before I go to uni.
Speaker 4
05:41 - 05:46
Well, if it makes you feel better, there was at least one person who thought you and Harry were very important.
Speaker 3
05:47 - 05:49
They
Speaker 4
05:49 - 05:56
look really important. No, no, they're fucking idiots. Don't worry. Who was that?
Speaker 4
05:56 - 06:02
Eleanor from Nickel. Nickel support. They look really, really important. Never mind.
Speaker 4
06:04 - 06:16
Right. So I've got a few bits to go through. I'm not really fussed how you want to go through it, but The first one was start of the season. Obviously, we'd just come down.
Speaker 4
06:16 - 06:28
We had 7,000 new players. First pre-season under Steve Morrison. Leagues changed quite a bit since we went to it or we came out of it. So, expectations.
Speaker 4
06:29 - 06:53
Now, I've listened back to a few where I'm talking about different expectations, and I think I covered top half, as long as we're nowhere near relegation, let's get into the playoffs, let's do this, let's top 10. So I covered pretty much every eventuality. But we'll start with you, Andrew, were your expectations, were they met? Was it slightly over what you expected or slightly under what you expected?
Speaker 5
06:53 - 07:22
No, they weren't met. I didn't think we'd go down coming down from the League Two, I thought we'd probably push for the playoffs, if I was being honest, last summer, yeah, when we amalgamated that squad. And then, yeah, as I said, didn't think we'd go down, but, yeah, mid-table finish, kind of had to readjust my expectations as the season went on. So, yeah, I mean, we'll cover next season's ambitions anyway, but, yeah, hope for better next season.
Speaker 4
07:24 - 07:36
Just going to clarify one point, top half finish. So just remember that it's not mid-table, it's top half. It doesn't matter whether it's just or not, it is. Claire, what about yourself?
Speaker 4
07:37 - 07:43
What were you hoping for from the season and were your expectations met or not met?
Speaker 2
07:46 - 08:05
I think, I mean, like Andrew, I wasn't expecting to go down, if that's what some people were predicting. I think given the vast churn, I'm pretty certain I said, you know, be happy to be in the top half. It would have been nice to have been challenging for the playoffs. But I think at points we were pretty close to that.
Speaker 2
08:05 - 08:37
And then, you know, things just slightly drifted. The inconsistency, I guess, didn't really help us a lot, and I'm sure that word will come up again and again and again today, but genuinely I'm not disappointed. I just think given where we are budget-wise and a complete overhaul of the squad. I actually, I think I'm possibly in the minority of people sat here, but I quite enjoyed watching us play football this season.
Speaker 2
08:37 - 08:59
Okay, results didn't always go our way and sometimes it was very frustrating, but I think it was definitely a points much better football to watch than just watching us hoof it up the pitch. So I did enjoy kind of the season and not feeling generally sick as we tilted towards the bottom of the table. So yeah, I
Speaker 4
09:00 - 09:00
was
Speaker 2
09:00 - 09:01
quite happy.
Speaker 4
09:02 - 09:10
Yeah, I think probably some expectations were raised at the start of the season because obviously we're big time. That's what
Speaker 1
09:10 - 09:10
some people
Speaker 4
09:10 - 09:26
were thinking. But Dan, you'd put on your last one that obviously we avoided the double drop, which lots of people did worry about. But what about your expectations for the season? I'm not saying you were worried, I'm just saying some people were worried about.
Speaker 4
09:26 - 09:28
What were your expectations and where they met?
Speaker 5
09:29 - 10:12
I think if I remember correctly, I think I said probably top 10 would have been cool for me. with you know a reasonable flirtation with the playoff places because it was a big change it was at 23 players or something so you're always gonna it's there's a lot of unknowns there they could just hit the ground running, they could have improved as a side. I think I pretty much wrote it off till Christmas anyway, just because so many new bodies and I really started looking at where we were around turn of the year. So yeah, I think we fell a bit short of what I was expecting.
Speaker 5
10:13 - 10:37
Not loads of surprises, but yeah, a little bit outside of where I would have wanted that squad to be at the end of the year, unfortunately. Not a million miles away, but yeah, I don't think we kind of got mired in that sort of 12th, 13th, 14th sort of area and never really looked like pushing on from there, to be honest.
Speaker 4
10:39 - 10:52
there were a couple times where it's like, okay, win the next game or two and we're right into the playoffs and then it didn't work, but then also we didn't get dragged into the other end either, no matter what everyone kept saying all of a sudden.
Speaker 1
10:53 - 10:53
Joe, what about
Speaker 4
10:53 - 10:59
yourself, were your expectations met, were they exceeded or under?
Speaker 3
11:00 - 11:14
I've had to look at my season predictions because there's the benefit of going last. I put a sixth Now, that's obviously slightly biased. Claire, I wouldn't say you're in the minority. I actually did enjoy Portugal's play this season compared to last season, which was just painful.
Speaker 3
11:15 - 11:51
I will say that there were times this season when it was painful and you just wanted to shout. you know i said six but it's a toughly is a reason why they will three up three down because it's basically unless you've got a massive budget but budget budget advantage which i'd argue top teams in the league happened on that not to the extent that in previous last few years they have everyone, it's not like there's, well compared to the Prem, it's not like you've got a team who you pretty much know is going to win a game. It could be anyone, you know.
Speaker 3
11:51 - 12:36
Hebb's fleet showed us that both times, both having awful runs and then they put out a brilliant performance and we struggle but then we play a game against, I don't know, thinking off the top of my head, I'm trying to think, York, can we just completely outplay them? So, I think in some aspects, I think the football delivered, but yeah, you've already said inconsistency from multiple times from multiple people just not quite hitting what we wanted and what the players and the staff are saying in pre-season interviews, like Gaffer wants promotion this year, straight back up, and that was the jaunt at the start of the season. And it's good to have that optimism, but when you kind of instill that optimism in a fan base and you don't hit it really at all, it can be a bit disappointing.
Speaker 3
12:36 - 12:57
And that, you know, the start of the season was so good with games like the Ultrican game. I've said it numerous occasions, it was arguably the biggest outlier of the season because it showed us on a completely different level and kind of gave the wrong impression as to where we were. But, you know, didn't massively under sell expectations, but it didn't meet what I thought.
Speaker 4
12:59 - 13:24
Right, well, it's a couple things I've had. So Stephen Powers has said, we finished eight points off the playoffs and we also finished eight points off relegation. So we're kind of dead on that mid-table. With the fact that we were playing arguably poorer in the second half of the season, do we feel that we should be looking to bridge the A gaps to the playoffs?
Speaker 4
13:24 - 13:33
Or what can we do to make sure we don't drop those eight points towards the other end? And he did
Speaker 1
13:33 - 13:33
also
Speaker 4
13:33 - 13:45
say that he would sum up Sutton's season that they were consistent at being inconsistent. So we'll go the opposite way. Joe, what do you think? How do you think we can do to bridge those eight points?
Speaker 4
13:45 - 13:51
Or do you think we're more worried that the form going into the end of the season or coming out of the end of the season will drag into the new season?
Speaker 3
13:55 - 14:18
It all depends on the window. It all depends on who we keep, because this pre-season, as much as it might have seemed better than pre-seasons gone by, there were a lot of departures which we didn't see coming. Kizzy, Goodliffe, Showme. I mean, Patrick and Smith always looked like they were going to go, but we had to bring in more faces than I think were anticipated.
Speaker 3
14:20 - 14:54
And I wouldn't say that I think forms are completely different. I don't think form is a massive thing for this team at the moment, because as you said, we are very inconsistent. Looking around the club, we may have a bad game, but the energy around the squad's good. If we can keep that energy there, have a good, proper pre-season, just keep our heads down, I see no reason why when now you've got a set of players, you know how Steve wants to play, Steve can refine what worked this season, what didn't work, he can get
Speaker 3
14:54 - 15:21
in replacements for Finn and whoever else, obviously Finn being a massive part of last season. I don't see why we have to worry about the end of season four. I think it's a complete fresh start. I think that's what the boys and the kind of, I think what Steve needed, because it's been a, it's a weird season from a kind of manager and a club point of view, because it's like, yeah, we were good at points, we were bad at points, I don't
Speaker 3
15:21 - 15:26
really know how to sum it up. And that makes it great for a podcast, but you've got to go around everyone else now, so I've said another
Speaker 4
15:26 - 15:49
thing. Dan, on the form going into the next season, One of our happiest seasons was the Ebb Fleet pulling back and going on like a 26 game unbeaten run. We're going to be breaking all sorts of records and then we face Solihull Moors and they absolutely battered us in the first game of the season. So do you think the form at the tail end of the season has anything to do with the form starting in the season?
Speaker 5
15:53 - 16:32
Not really. I mean, There was lots of factors as I said earlier I didn't really put much stock on how we were doing seriously until we got to Christmas and then we had a little that little purple patch right after sort of right after over Christmas over sort of into the new year I think we won three three in the league straight and one of the trophy games as well and he said oh okay We're starting to roll now and then just fell on our faces again. Yeah, I don't put much stock into it because we never, it's not like we had a great start to the season and fell off.
Speaker 5
16:33 - 17:23
It's not like the penultimate football league season where we just, you know, didn't win for 10, 11 games at the end of the year and everyone was kind of like, where the bloody hell did that come from? There was injuries in there, you know, and I think one thing that Steve probably suffered a bit with all year is having, I don't think he ever quite got a settled core. I mean, not even an 11, sort of six, eight players that that's what you need to be a good consistent side is you need six or eight lads who are there most weeks and you're better players that you can then fill in gaps around them if you know when you need to then you can rotate one or two in where injuries and form dictates but I don't think he ever quite had that all year so and again that just we just into that after Christmas we just had loads of niggly injuries people kept missing games
Speaker 5
17:23 - 17:40
here there and everywhere so I don't think it's going to affect us because I think he's going to make, well he's obviously let several go. There might be other changes as well that, you know, we're not aware of yet. People don't want, don't want to accept new deals or people come and pick other players up. I think there's enough of a call there.
Speaker 5
17:42 - 17:57
I don't have concerns that it'll be, you know, oh shit we're in trouble next year. There's enough there, there's certainly bones, there's good bones there, it's just what you, you know, the meat you put on them now.
Speaker 4
17:58 - 18:03
And Claire, injuries again. It seems to be a theme for a few seasons.
Speaker 2
18:03 - 18:29
It has been a theme. I think having had discussions about it, I think we had significantly less injuries this season than we did last season. But as Dan said, it's not the quantity, it's the people. So you miss those key players and it's the people who are injured that I think really scuffed our chances in some respect.
Speaker 2
18:29 - 18:49
I think we could, like you said, eight points either way. bluntly, if some of those big injuries hadn't been a factor, would they have been the people that were the turning of the tide of our season? You just, you just don't know. And like, I guess that's why we spend hours talking about these kind of things on a podcast, right?
Speaker 2
18:49 - 19:16
So we can just kind of pretend that we do know. But yeah, it could have been something that completely and utterly changed everything. But going into next season, I have every faith that he's already putting in a hell of a lot of hard work to get the people that he wants to fill those gaps. And the season may have ended, but the work by no means has stopped and things are happening.
Speaker 2
19:17 - 19:38
behind the scenes and whatnot. And I think that it's going to be quite exciting. Like I'm genuinely quite excited to see what happens next and how you build on that kind of foundation that he's created this year and where we go from there. I mean, the hunger from people is unreal to push on and do stuff, you know, on and off the pitch.
Speaker 2
19:39 - 19:43
I think next year is going to be a big space of progression kind of across the piece.
Speaker 4
19:46 - 19:53
And Andrew, what do you think of the form and whether we're going to take it into next season, or do you think, as the guys... As
Speaker 5
19:53 - 20:23
someone who's pretty glass half full, I'd say, yeah, I definitely think we can bridge a gap towards the playoffs, providing you can keep hold of the players that I've written down that we'll cover a little bit later. The likes of Sim, Simpa, Kurt, Taylor and Davis. I think you keep your real star players who have done well this season and then you add bits more quality. I think, yeah, we can push on towards the playoffs.
Speaker 5
20:24 - 20:30
Yeah, I don't think their form, yeah, is a crossover into next.
Speaker 4
20:32 - 20:38
Well, this has the potential to wind Steve up quite a bit, but...
Speaker 2
20:39 - 20:42
I don't want to be party to this. No, no, no.
Speaker 4
20:44 - 21:09
It's good. It's just knowing what I know about him. I've gone back through all the seasons and the league finishes and assuming that obviously you decide that finishing 23rd in league two is better than finishing first in the league below because it's in the pyramid, where do you think the season we've just had fits in the all-time seasons we've had?
Speaker 4
21:09 - 21:09
I
Speaker 5
21:09 - 21:11
saw this in the week I think.
Speaker 4
21:12 - 21:14
What? No, this is my thing. You can't have seen it.
Speaker 2
21:14 - 21:17
No, I feel like Jared's already said something along
Speaker 5
21:17 - 21:18
those
Speaker 2
21:18 - 21:20
lines. Yeah, I've
Speaker 3
21:20 - 21:20
seen it on Twitter.
Speaker 5
21:22 - 21:24
Isn't it about 10th best season?
Speaker 4
21:24 - 21:37
Yeah. So there was two others where we finished 12th, but both of them we had less points per game as well. So it was like, that's the 10th best season for Sutton United. And I think something like six of the top 10 has come in the last 10 years.
Speaker 4
21:39 - 21:56
So when you take it like that and you go, hang on, it's a fairly lifty amount of time, even though every single person, and I include Steve and the players, going, ugh, it was a bit of a meh season. It's the 10th highest finish we've ever had. So I'm sticking it as being positive. Don't all frown and huff at me.
Speaker 4
21:56 - 21:58
I'm taking it as positives.
Speaker 2
22:00 - 22:00
It's
Speaker 4
22:00 - 22:03
fine. I'm happy. Leave me be. I'm
Speaker 2
22:03 - 22:09
happy. I don't, I'm not happy about it at all. Dan's face says otherwise, but you know. Yeah, go on Dan.
Speaker 5
22:11 - 22:22
It was a mid-table finish. It was, I mean, When you look at it, I mean, statistically, that's fine. You've got your stats, you can say 10th best season ever. That's cool, no problem.
Speaker 5
22:22 - 22:45
But from a watching perspective, there wasn't a huge amount of excitement in stretches. It was hit one here, one here, one here, one here. Like, I mean, the York game, and then you had the Kiggie game as well, kind of close after that. and not much else.
Speaker 5
22:45 - 23:14
You had the reasonable first week, sorry first month of the season and then it didn't really sort of catch light after that and then you kind of had the low point of the Spennymouth game and then you made the National League Cup final and then it fell on your face again. So it's been, yeah, Statistically, yeah, I mean, fine, but it's not one that's going to live long in my memory, that's for sure.
Speaker 4
23:15 - 23:24
No, but I had to have something to cling on to. But the next question is, what are your personal highs and lows? And I think you've kind of said a couple of those, but did you want to expand on any of those? I
Speaker 5
23:25 - 23:47
mean, yeah, York just was levels above anything else we did this season. And I genuinely mean that. It was from front to back, the performance, the discipline, the shape, the way we played, the way we approached the game. It was literally levels above a lot, if not all of everything else we did, really.
Speaker 5
23:49 - 24:19
We went there, did a job. All right, I think York helped us a bit with, I think they made a huge tactical error in playing Ollie Pearce in midfield and trying to shoehorn the new expensive signing in. And I think that really helped us, but not to take away from our performance, we were excellent that day, we did everything right and that's, and I said it at the time, that should be our benchmark, that should be what we should be aiming for and we never really got anywhere near that for the rest of the season.
Speaker 5
24:20 - 24:49
Low points, spending more, we were just, I can't see how you can put in a performance like that when you're two games from Wembley, it just boggled, boggled the mind but then again some of our home performances this year were that, It was a case of we just took the field, did nothing for an hour, and then suddenly, once the game's gone, we're in. You know, we're trying to pull something back, and it was... Yeah, that was frustrating.
Speaker 4
24:50 - 24:51
I mean, certainly
Speaker 5
24:51 - 24:51
the low point.
Speaker 4
24:53 - 25:00
Yeah. Right. Joe, do you want to weigh in on the 10th best season of all time and your personal highs and lows? It's
Speaker 3
25:00 - 25:02
just made me... Dan, that's just made me sad.
Speaker 4
25:05 - 25:05
It's what
Speaker 3
25:05 - 25:06
I'm here
Speaker 2
25:06 - 25:10
for. Don't give in to his negativity, Joe. Don't. It's what he wants.
Speaker 2
25:11 - 25:12
I'm also going to put that on a
Speaker 4
25:12 - 25:13
t-shirt. Dan made me sad.
Speaker 3
25:15 - 25:15
I'd
Speaker 4
25:15 - 25:16
buy one.
Speaker 3
25:17 - 25:29
Anyway, anyway. I'm actually with you, Dan, on this 10th best season. It's just like, yeah, but we're in a different place to where we were for the other 120-so years. It's like I saw something similar for Ipswich.
Speaker 3
25:30 - 25:48
Like, oh, in the last 30 years, it's like the... top eight best finishes in the Prem, and then someone replied, but we were relegated by miles, had awful home performances and disgraced ourselves on numerous occasions. But let's look at the stats to cheer ourselves up. I mean, we just have to look and be like reflected it.
Speaker 3
25:48 - 25:52
I get the point of the stat, but apologies. My mind is slightly offended by that.
Speaker 4
25:53 - 25:56
My God, I've got another T-shirt. Let's look at the stats to cheer ourselves up. I'm
Speaker 3
25:56 - 25:57
having that as
Speaker 4
25:57 - 25:58
well.
Speaker 3
25:58 - 26:24
Anyway, highs and lows, York, Altringham, that first half was unbelievable. Spennymoor was depressing, whatever else was depressing. Oldham was very depressing at home. I don't even, yeah, a lot of games would just slip the memory for being a bit just bland.
Speaker 3
26:24 - 26:31
Like if you, Oldham away, I can't remember what happened. I genuinely don't have a... Not much. Not much, yeah.
Speaker 3
26:31 - 26:37
Not much. Oldham away is like a big away day. I just, I genuinely like... Fired away, yeah, nice comeback win.
Speaker 3
26:37 - 26:51
Jovial, Woking, like... Away games seem to be the running trend, but really good away. It's funny about the York one. I was speaking to, obviously Josh has gone now, but I was speaking to him, Naders and Simpa, and they were like, we knew we were going to win that day.
Speaker 3
26:51 - 27:05
From the moment we got to that ground, we knew they were going to win because they were just swaggering around, not even taking their warm-up seriously and the way they were doing it. And Will was just like, we're going to smash these lot. And they did. So that was quite an interesting thing to find.
Speaker 3
27:05 - 27:19
Yeah, I can't remember. Tamworth was quite exciting because it was the first day of the season. and they had, yeah, an awful pitch. I just, yeah, there was so many...
Speaker 3
27:19 - 27:19
I
Speaker 4
27:20 - 27:22
believe the match that Dylan got injured in is a good point.
Speaker 3
27:23 - 27:30
Oh, no, no, I quite enjoyed his away day. It was just such a rubber, like, there's so many games where you just look and just think... Yeah.
Speaker 1
27:31 - 27:32
Not even a
Speaker 3
27:32 - 27:45
lower high, just a meh. Easily away from a screen at home, lost last minute on TV. It's just so many games where you're just like, I could black out the memories. Eight highs, eight lows and the rest were just a bit rubbish.
Speaker 4
27:47 - 27:53
Fair, eight and eight is pretty good. Claire, what about yourself? What do you think of the highs and lows for yourself this season?
Speaker 2
27:55 - 28:07
I mean, it's been monumental, hasn't it? In a sense of like, one minute you're one way, one minute you're next. So I guess there's been a lot of that. Peaks and troughs, lows, Ebbsfleet away.
Speaker 2
28:07 - 28:35
That was pretty sad. Really going into that thinking something very different was about to happen. And yeah, not exactly coming away with it with what you expected, what was good, Sully Hole on a Tuesday night was surprisingly a nice trip away. I think some of my highs and lows have massively come off the pitch as well.
Speaker 2
28:35 - 28:52
I think there's been some really great stuff off the pitch, kind of progress of different initiatives and things and just general events and stuff that we've done this year that I think have probably been more my highs than maybe on the pitch.
Speaker 4
28:53 - 29:04
Fair enough. Andrew, I think you mostly go to home games like me, so how much fun is it hearing all the highs are going away and everyone's lows are at home? It
Speaker 5
29:05 - 29:26
was certainly one of my lows, not getting to as many games as I wanted to, really. Did enjoy the Ultra Noon game, first home game of the season. It's the second consecutive season that we scored five on the opening home game. Joe, you mentioned the Easley away.
Speaker 5
29:26 - 29:44
I thought we played pretty well that day. And then Baz scored that wonder goal. Lowe's, Benny Moore, as mentioned, the cup final against Leeds, where, yeah, first half didn't show up. Second half, we actually should have probably got something out of it, but just started too late.
Speaker 5
29:44 - 29:49
So, yeah, onwards and upwards, I'd say.
Speaker 3
29:50 - 29:53
So depressing. It's such a depressing topic.
Speaker 5
29:54 - 29:56
See? And that's not just me. See?
Speaker 3
29:56 - 30:01
No, no, no. Just the way we're talking about it, it makes me die inside.
Speaker 4
30:01 - 30:02
Don't worry. Don't
Speaker 3
30:02 - 30:02
worry.
Speaker 4
30:03 - 30:06
It's a process. It's a process, Joe. It's a journey with hate.
Speaker 2
30:07 - 30:17
I don't think you should feel like that, Jo. There have been so many amazing things that have happened this season. Granted, right, probably not where some people wanted to be. Yeah, okay, so we're not, we're not in the playoffs.
Speaker 2
30:17 - 30:23
And the comms at the beginning of the year led people to feel like, you know,
Speaker 1
30:23 - 30:23
it was
Speaker 2
30:23 - 30:46
absolutely on and it was absolutely going to happen. And, you know, we can talk about that one till the cows come home. But like, ultimately, like, We're a little bit tainted at the moment in the fact that, like, of what, the 127 years that we've existed, the last three of them before now have been in the EFL, right? And so we expect that we almost kind of get a bit cocky of like, oh, that's where we belong now.
Speaker 2
30:46 - 30:54
And bluntly, it's not really where we belong. It's where we want to be. And it's absolutely where we want to get back to. But we're a non-league team.
Speaker 2
30:55 - 31:07
for, you know, 124 of those years, so we've got a lot of work to do to, you know, get back. 10th best season ever! Come on! You can see me waiting to say it, I can see!
Speaker 4
31:13 - 31:32
So this is a double question. So Andrew, you've got a list already, so we'll start with you. Which players stood out for you either way? And what are your thoughts on the fact that we've changed now to this youth focus and potentially a model where some of our players are going to be moving on for a fee?
Speaker 4
31:33 - 31:40
Obviously, we don't know if any offers have come in, but there's an assumption that some of the players you mentioned earlier may well get offers.
Speaker 5
31:41 - 32:08
Yeah, I mean, during my time of supporting Sutton, I've obviously had experience of Doswell favoured an experienced player model. He didn't really go too much down the lines of youth, whereas John Rains dipped into the academy a lot when he was here. I like this youth focus. You get young, hungry players who, well, they've got the desire to play.
Speaker 5
32:11 - 32:32
And they'll be better for having the experience they've had this season, say, for next. So the players I wrote down, yeah, that stood out. Davis for his goals, obviously. I was impressed with Sims, Simpa, Kirk and Taylor, and Barbrook, who will be a great player in years to come through his career.
Speaker 5
32:32 - 32:49
He'll play a lot higher up than the National League. But yeah, I have heard that Selling Club, that we could become, which I don't like hearing because I want to keep all of those players. But yeah, you have to accept that. Yeah, it's the nature of football, isn't it?
Speaker 5
32:49 - 33:03
So we'll have to wait and see what happens in the summer with regards to offers and bids and whether they're accepted. but we've never been a club to stand in the way of players moving on, I'd say.
Speaker 4
33:04 - 33:23
Exactly. That's the key thing, and Clare, I can come to you on that. It's all about whether the player wants to go. Now, we know Jeremy Sivy had that bizarre offer, completely out of the blue, and the club were like, okay it's up to you if you want to go and i mean we could have easily got a chance but um what do you feel about the the focus on
Speaker 4
33:23 - 33:28
youth i mean it's great for me because they all think i know something and they're all talking to me as if i know stuff and i'm like i don't
Speaker 2
33:29 - 33:30
know what i'm going on um and
Speaker 4
33:30 - 33:33
how about this model don't tell them
Speaker 2
33:34 - 33:51
I mean, I would never dream of telling them. No, I think that there's a lot to be said for it. And I do think that there's, as I just said, we've never been one to stand in the way of anyone's ambitions or stop anyone from going anywhere. But perhaps in the past, we haven't always been that savvy about it.
Speaker 2
33:51 - 34:23
And I think if you think about now, some of the conversations I think we had at Steve's last evening about kind of, it wasn't Steve, it was Ben, wasn't it? It was Ben and Terry talking about different things and kind of sell on stuff and clauses that we're putting in place. It's just sensible business, right? And, you know, if somebody you think shows a glimmer of something now, and then in five years time is absolutely settling the footballing world alike, why shouldn't you be getting something out of that?
Speaker 2
34:23 - 34:41
Because you've helped to build their foundation. And, you know, if we become a bit of a springboard for some of that young talent, then great. You know, bluntly this season, we've had, you know, we fell foul to a lot of people wanting to leave. And I think the narrative a lot from fans this season has been like, oh, we can keep hold of these people.
Speaker 2
34:41 - 35:19
you can't force people to stay right the people that left wanted to leave like and nobody uh was you know holding guns to anyone's heads and say you must play for us this season because again not how football worked so uh the youth side this side perhaps hasn't quite solidified again possibly because of some of those injuries we need to make sure that over the summer we've got a few more kind of experienced people in that are kind of hitting those those gaps and providing a bit of kind of um Whether it's educational guidance to some of those youngsters, I think the thing that's been massively lacking this season is communication from them. You just have to watch them play.
Speaker 2
35:19 - 35:43
Sometimes they're not talking to each other and they're not shouting at each other or telling each other what's what. None of them are shouting at you the way my brother shouts at you in there. Yeah, exactly. So that's what we're looking for, someone to basically tell people when they're being a waste of space and to just think about it, which is always positive, right?
Speaker 2
35:43 - 35:55
It's team building. But I think that we could, I think we've got a good start. We just need to fill those gaps in a positive manner.
Speaker 4
35:55 - 36:11
Absolutely. And Joe, what about yourself, the focus on youth and the idea that we may become a selling card? Again, it's not a, oh, that's it, get used to it. But realistically, we've had what you describe as a meh season.
Speaker 4
36:12 - 36:20
And Andrew listed off five players who could quite conceivably get a fee for. So it's a meh season, but we've got players that actually could move on. But how do you feel about it?
Speaker 3
36:24 - 36:43
Yeah, sorry, I don't know. I think it's good. I think it's better than, as Claire said, than kind of past approaches we might have taken. The five that Andrew mentioned, the five that come to my head, obviously Barbara gone back to Ipswich, I would agree.
Speaker 3
36:43 - 37:19
I wouldn't be surprised if he's played Championship a couple and five years or so. And if not, maybe he might even be part of Ipswich. squad next season, which would be very rewarding, because I think he is, not to say that he was miles standing out on our team, but the dirty work he does that goes behind the scenes is really important to any team. But, yeah, Sim, Simpa, Davies, Taylor, Kirk, I wouldn't, well, if, yeah, I don't think all of them will leave.
Speaker 3
37:20 - 38:01
I think there are a few, out of those five, I think more likely to leave, maybe more likely to leave would be possibly Will, maybe Jack and maybe Alex. I don't know, I feel like Luista has a bit more, like he's had a good end to the season, but you know, injuries part of the season, he didn't, you know, it wasn't like, amazing at the start. He's had a really good end and a really impactful end, but to make the step up and to pay a fee to pay out a private contract when there might be free agents or loans on the market, you're going to have to really want that player and a League Two club's going to have to really want that player.
Speaker 3
38:02 - 38:30
And as we know, a lot of League Two clubs, League Two next year, you haven't got the big bucks anymore, really, looking at it. You've got Notts County and a few others, but you haven't got the Wrexhams, the the other clubs who you might think, I'll just buy, pay and move on, you're going to have to be savvy about it. And they might look towards free agents more, which might see that we move on. I think Jack, I wouldn't be surprised if he left.
Speaker 3
38:31 - 38:54
Not because he can, I just think he's an excellent keeper. And I think finding good keepers who really are strong with the ball at their feet is something really that so many teams want to play like. And I think we've realised how important having a really solid keeper is this season, because I think last season when it was all a bit over the place with who was in goal and things kept changing and we didn't really
Speaker 1
38:54 - 38:54
know what
Speaker 3
38:54 - 39:12
was going on and it was really kind of a weak spot for our team, which never really got mentioned, you'd think of bad performances, but actually our keepers weren't amazing throughout last season. It really shows how important he was. But no, I think youth things are really important, like Junior Eccleston. Sarnie's pro deal, obviously he's rated highly.
Speaker 3
39:12 - 39:38
Jack, you've got George Worcester who's won Player of the Year at Ashford. You've got Liam Moore, Jordan Trickett, Vinnie Toome, James Fennellow. You've got so many youngsters who Steve clearly trusts and they are there ready to kind of chomp you a bit to get in the first team. That's the right kind of attitude to have because obviously the older players aren't that much older.
Speaker 1
39:39 - 39:39
It's not like
Speaker 3
39:39 - 39:46
he got, apart from a few of them, most of them are like 22, 23. So, you know, they will know pretty recently. And
Speaker 1
39:47 - 39:47
the
Speaker 3
39:47 - 40:14
likes of Liverpool, that's one of the reasons I think he might stay, because he had a miserable time last season. He was at Cambridge all season, got injured for some of it, wasn't getting game time, you know, lower in League One club. he's got consistent game time, he's first name on the team sheet, well one of the first names on the team sheet, such an integral part and he can keep that game time. Why would you move unless you're assured, like getting an assured same position in a League Two club when you can get another year and maybe put some more stock in your name?
Speaker 3
40:14 - 40:50
Same for Will, you know, had a great season in Leicester, bit good at Braintree, struggled at York, struggled at Bromley. Again, to go where there's so many good strikers in League Two, strikers from League One who might not have made it in League One and they're going to get dropped down back to League Two, you know, it's so changing. If you don't kind of smash it and if you're not 100% like, yes, I'm your starting number nine, where he is here and he's set that and he's shown he can do it here, then why move when you're settled and you've got a club which he's going to? And I think from what I can tell from Steve and the way he talks in interviews, He wants these players to succeed massively.
Speaker 3
40:50 - 41:15
The close personal relationships he has with them and the way that he values the youth development himself. For a manager, he only just retired six, seven years ago, so he knows what it's like to be mentoring younger players. The likes of Ed O'Brien, when he was there, he was like, he's older now, but he was like, young enough to cover a mirror. That's important and he won't let someone go if he doesn't think it's the right thing.
Speaker 3
41:16 - 41:22
And I think for some of those players, it might not be the right thing yet, but we'll have to see. It's all we'll have to see when it comes down to it.
Speaker 4
41:23 - 41:49
You also won't let them stay if you think it's the right thing as well. And about yourself, I mean, Joe's mentioned Jack there, but if you're Jack and you're looking at next season, you're looking at a couple of those players back from injury, you've got Alex Kirk and Jack Taylor. That's a very solid three, two centre backs and Jack Sims. Would you be thinking, oh, let's use it as a springboard or would you be like Joe says, just give it another year, get another year under our belt?
Speaker 5
41:52 - 42:33
It goes both ways, doesn't it? I mean, as a player, you want to be always kind of, if opportunities come your way, sometimes a lot of players will naturally jump because they think, well, I might not get another chance. I might have a crap season next year and then everyone forgets about me or I might do my ACL and then I'm out for a year. Same thing, you know, so there's, it's football careers are so short, certainly from sort of players coming up from our level, it's you know, they might want to take the opportunity, but I mean, as we, Steve's, the route that these players are taking is the route that their
Speaker 5
42:33 - 42:56
manager took. Steve came, dropped out the pro game because he got let go by Northampton, went to Stortford, banged goals in, Got picked up by a bigger non-league club who was Stevenage at the time, got them promoted. Had a couple of years there, got them promoted again, got a move, got a move and wound up playing in the Premier League with Norwich. So, and getting international caps.
Speaker 5
42:57 - 43:14
So, so yeah, everybody's different. I mean, it's, you can't, you've got agents more involved as well now that they, they're obviously going, well, look, you're never going to get, you might not get this chance again. It is what it is. I'm a bit sanguine these days with players coming and going.
Speaker 5
43:14 - 44:12
It's sad to see players go who've been good for you, but it is what it is. From the approach with youth I think it's it's a good way to go certainly because we're not you know the most well-off club in the world and you've got to kind of balance that sort of talent with what you can afford. My feeling at the start of the year was when I said it was don't you know the signings on paper look good and going after the right people, people like Siju, people like Jack Sims from below or moving on their way up. But I always, I always had a feeling that we were just lacking a little bit of mouse, just a couple of old head, older heads in there just to sort of add a little bit of common sense now, a bit of the dark arts, things like that.
Speaker 4
44:14 - 44:16
Yeah,
Speaker 5
44:17 - 44:43
lads who've been around, done it a bit more, even if they've never gone above this level, because there are players that do that. I mean, you'll see it with Barnett's side. There'll be four or five lads they'd let go who've won this division two or three times. But they don't want to go for, you know, go full time, but they'd rather be big fish in this pond than, you know, struggling for game time and maybe not earning.
Speaker 5
44:44 - 45:17
much above so so yeah there's I don't disagree with the way we've done it and obviously as well with the the way football is at this level you've got to be smarter with the players that you have that you've developed I mean we must have had I must have been told three four five times this year in the bar oh that lad from the 14th we've had a lad from the under 14s go to Brighton or go to Palace or something like that and that's the problem with this the elite performance stuff for the Premier League, they can just nick them from you. And you never see them.
Speaker 5
45:18 - 45:26
We never get to see those players. So seeing people like Jack and Eccleston getting signed to deals is what you want.
Speaker 4
45:27 - 45:27
Yeah,
Speaker 5
45:27 - 45:31
you want to, you know, even if you get one season out of lads like that,
Speaker 4
45:32 - 45:37
we would be still protected. I think some of those players at the academy stadium. So you
Speaker 5
45:37 - 45:39
get, you get a fee from them, but it's
Speaker 4
45:41 - 45:42
Yeah, no, it's
Speaker 5
45:42 - 45:58
how many of the thing is as well is how many of those lads. I'd love to see stats on it. How many of those lads that they basically pick up for peanuts off guys like us got want to make it and actually then don't drop out of football entirely. That's the thing.
Speaker 5
45:59 - 46:26
Whereas if they stayed here and maybe had a bit of a career, did all right in the National League and actually got picked up once they were developed, and have played, you know, adult football, men's football, senior football, then you might actually get more out of them. And yeah, that's one of the reasons I don't like all the under 21s being involved with all this stuff, because they're basically using us to build these lads up and they should be loaning them out.
Speaker 4
46:26 - 46:46
Yeah, exactly. to people like us. So Claire made a point is we may have had a bit, I don't think you use this word, but naive in the past. So when we had a good season in the first year of EFL, you had Gav Sutton saying Omar and Will Randall were really marketable.
Speaker 4
46:46 - 46:50
And we're like, well, no, they're staying. They're on a contract, blah, blah, blah. And he goes, yeah, but they've only got six months. So what?
Speaker 4
46:50 - 47:05
They're staying. And then they did both leave, and we got nothing for them. And he was kind of going, yeah, you could have got something for those players. And it's like, okay, yeah, that's where we need to be switched on a bit more about how we do these things.
Speaker 4
47:06 - 47:14
But it's going to go to the retained list. Claire, we were emotional the other day. So we'll start with you quickly. So get it out of the way.
Speaker 4
47:14 - 47:33
Let's put all personal feelings aside. It wasn't completely unexpected with the players that we had. I mean, I personally thought we would have kept Matt or Sam, but... As for everyone else, it wasn't like the previous year, where it
Speaker 2
47:34 - 47:36
was like,
Speaker 4
47:36 - 47:38
what? Yeah, much shorter.
Speaker 2
47:38 - 47:53
It's a much shorter list, isn't it? Yeah. Quite the sweep of goalkeepers, though, which I guess is unsurprising, because at one point this season, I feel like we had about 24 goalkeepers. Slight exaggeration, but you know.
Speaker 2
47:54 - 48:17
No, I don't think there's really any surprises there from my perspective. I think, like, it is disappointing to see people going, especially when you kind of, you've kind of, you're kind of the people that put themselves at, like, kind of out there and around the club. I know so many people are really upset about Josh going because of that reason. And it is, it's one of those things, isn't it?
Speaker 2
48:17 - 48:36
That you just, it's kind of the nature of the game, I guess, that, like, I did get emotional this week about someone going and, you know, one of mine and Dan's friends bit back and just said, you know, it's football, isn't it? I'm like, yeah, it is. But like, it is sad. And so, yes, it's been hard.
Speaker 2
48:36 - 48:43
I'm going to try not to be emotional, I'm afraid. So you should move on. That's why I started with you, so you didn't build up to the
Speaker 4
48:43 - 48:44
whole...
Speaker 2
48:46 - 48:47
She's going to start crying.
Speaker 4
48:47 - 48:54
Yeah, me too. It's the contact list. It's fine. Andrew, what are your thoughts on the retained list?
Speaker 4
48:54 - 49:05
Were there any surprises? I mean, there's lots of conversations with people on Facebook, especially going, that's not retained list, that's a leaving list. All other players are under contract. It's very simple.
Speaker 4
49:05 - 49:10
If they're not on this list, then they've been retained. But how do you feel about it in general?
Speaker 5
49:11 - 49:29
I try not to let that Facebook site annoy me, but it's very hard. But anyway, yeah, I think there were seven overall released, was there not? Yeah, Coley was the one, the standout. I was quite, I guess, surprised that.
Speaker 5
49:29 - 49:43
I mean, he had a really good first half of the season, didn't he? Kind of in and out of the team with injury, second half of the season. But, yeah, that's all the EFL players we had. They've gone now, haven't they, from
Speaker 1
49:43 - 49:43
the
Speaker 5
49:43 - 49:48
three seasons? No, Jack played in the EFL. Who, Taylor? Taylor.
Speaker 5
49:49 - 49:50
Oh, yeah. All right. OK. Well done.
Speaker 3
49:50 - 49:56
And I think Vinny did as well. Oh, just stop. Just let him have it. No,
Speaker 5
49:56 - 49:57
I've been done. I've been
Speaker 3
49:57 - 50:01
done. Yeah, I won the sub. I gave it to one sub appearance. Yeah.
Speaker 3
50:01 - 50:02
Oh, great contribution. It does not matter.
Speaker 2
50:04 - 50:12
He's really got very angry during this podcast, Joe, and I'm not going to let you spend time with Dan ever again. What am I getting
Speaker 4
50:12 - 50:13
blamed for this?
Speaker 2
50:14 - 50:14
Is it you?
Speaker 4
50:17 - 50:41
But yeah, I mean, Josh and Jaco would have been, and Arnie, I guess, as well, would have been fairly hefty wages. Some of them probably wouldn't have played as much next year. So it may be a case of, I can't remember who said it, but it's not a case of us going, well, we don't want you. It's a case of them and us not being able to agree a contract.
Speaker 4
50:41 - 50:47
And if they're out of contract, then they need to earn money. These are people, we always forget that. I'm
Speaker 5
50:47 - 50:56
guessing they were all on two-year deals from when Grey signed them two years ago. Yes, contracts expire, isn't it? That's what
Speaker 4
50:56 - 51:02
Josh said when he did the interview with me at the start of the year. And I was like, wow, so many people leaving. What made you decide to stay? And he went, well, the contract.
Speaker 4
51:02 - 51:12
Fair enough. Great question there, Mike. Dan, what did you think of the retained list?
Speaker 5
51:16 - 51:50
No surprises really, to be honest. I mean, I expected Jackson to go, I expected Steve Arnold to go because I mean, Steve was brilliant at the end of last season. And to be honest, if Steve himself said, if he changed him two, three weeks earlier, we would have stayed up. it's that you know that's one of those sliding door moments but this year he started okay and then had four or five games where he made a couple of a few really big errors.
Speaker 5
51:51 - 52:02
uh then got injured and Jack then got his chance and I thought he did really really well when he came in um so he wasn't overly surprised he's kind of you know that he's 36 now so
Speaker 1
52:03 - 52:03
yeah
Speaker 5
52:03 - 52:40
no doesn't really fit that unless you're going to give him a coaching position or something like that as your goalkeeping coach or something or a job on the staff it doesn't really fit Steve's template uh same with Ryan Jackson I guess You know, we didn't really see much of him last year with injuries and things like that, and was obviously contracted. So I'm guessing they maybe took a bit of a knock in wages because of the relegation, but because they're under contract. And I wouldn't be surprised if people like Ryan and Josh, even if we did offer them another deal, it was probably going to be on less money again.
Speaker 5
52:42 - 53:05
So that as well comes into the mix that it's like, well, I'll take the chances elsewhere. Certainly people like Ryan because he's in his thirties as well. He's probably got another year or two and he wants a firm deal somewhere rather than maybe a bit part player and earning less dough than he was. Yeah,
Speaker 4
53:06 - 53:24
I mean, that's, I mentioned him again, that's the thing with when Omar left saying he wanted to move closer to home. It was like, if you just said it, they were offering you more money and everyone would have been like, oh, fair enough, because we know people have got to earn money. But Joe, what was your thoughts of the retained release list? Many expected
Speaker 3
53:25 - 53:25
a
Speaker 4
53:25 - 53:25
prize from you? A
Speaker 3
53:26 - 54:04
lot of goalkeepers, as I said, so we've got to kind of rebuild that next season. Yeah, I think Ryan, I think, yeah, he doesn't really fit the way you want to play at a poor cup final against Leeds and just, you know, looked just slightly off it. You know, very, the wing-backs have to be physical, big cross of the ball, which he is, but it just never really seemed to work into the way he wanted to play this season compared to last season where he, you know, had a decent end. under Steve.
Speaker 3
54:05 - 54:35
Josh was still thinking more to give, but then again, you know, he played a lot of his games this season when he wasn't had injury, a great start, but then they've had a lot of games at right wing back and that isn't where he plays. And I do think that he, lower end league too, he could get a move. I could see him at somewhere like a Barnet, I could see him at somewhere like a Bromley. When he's at his best, he can take on defenders no problem.
Speaker 3
54:35 - 54:53
Jay Williams we never saw ever. Jack Rose had a good start, I actually really liked him. had one really good penalty shootout and then we never really saw him again. When Bouza came back and everyone was like, where's Jack Rose for six months?
Speaker 3
54:53 - 55:05
Well, we know where he is now, he's somewhere else. And he wasn't even getting game time in, was it Tier 7, Tier 8? He was asked if they didn't have a good season there. So, game and then Sam and Matt, I mean, I think both of them can get game time.
Speaker 3
55:06 - 55:14
Matt maybe National League South. I mean, Brad House is doing well in National League South. Matt maybe as well. And Sam trying to build his way up the pyramid again.
Speaker 3
55:14 - 55:29
But I think they're all logical exits. I don't think there's anyone leaving their contract early. I don't think there was anyone from the group who I think would want to do that because it's a pretty settled group of players and they've only been here a year and it's not been From
Speaker 1
55:29 - 55:29
a
Speaker 3
55:29 - 55:35
player's point of view, it hasn't been an amazing season, but it hasn't been a terrible season by all accounts.
Speaker 4
55:35 - 55:45
Yeah, I mean, to be fair, until I saw them on the replaying list, or the release list, I was looking and I'd actually almost forgotten about Jay and Jack Rose, because I
Speaker 1
55:45 - 55:45
knew
Speaker 4
55:45 - 56:06
they were with us, but you don't expect to see them again. Right, I'll stick with you on this one, Joe. We are going to wrap up very soon. But your target areas for the summer, let's pretend you're sitting in that room and you've got an option to go this, let's say the two, to make it quicker, two areas I'd like to target.
Speaker 4
56:07 - 56:13
And also what, no, we'll do that one first. So what two areas would you like to target for strengthening this year?
Speaker 3
56:14 - 56:19
Okay. Positions. I've got one position. I've got one kind of area of the way we play.
Speaker 3
56:21 - 56:53
Positions, I would say full back. On either side, you know, with Bez gone, depending on how we play, I mean, Tyler can play right back and he looks okay there sometimes, but, you know, if he is going to play there, just a full back who kind of strikes fear into into attackers and defenders, you know, you've got, there are so many fullbacks we've seen this year who have played against us who, you know, have been so excellent. And it feels like we're just missing a really good one of them.
Speaker 3
56:54 - 57:31
And then for kind of an area of the game, I'd guess, is kind of, it's already been mentioned, but just experience, games on the about, time in the National League, time at this level, and then just a certain amount of, body on the line. Not saying these players wouldn't do it for the club, because I think it's completely fair that they do, but just a real scrapper. A bit like Finn Barber, but with just a bit more experience when it comes to it. I think a few seasoned veterans at this level would really prop up this squad nicely.
Speaker 3
57:34 - 58:13
players maybe even who have had good seasons and I think National League South actually I'd like to say is a place where we should target because there are so many good teams in that league who haven't gone up and a lot of them are around us and a lot of players who will be like, I thought it was our year and a lot of players who will see us being in the South and thinking, huh, play at a club who have had a rebuilding year, will have maybe a few gaps for people leaving. Maybe I'll get a year there and if they don't go up, I'll go up again and chance to prove myself. Think of people like Dawking, like Worthing, like, I'll talk he's a bit far, but one of Maidstone and Boreham Wood don't go up.
Speaker 3
58:14 - 58:23
There's a lot of players there who will think, let me get a bit more money, let me get a bit more game time. There's one player who I saw, Charlie Carter. I'd like us to have a look at him. Plays for Dorky.
Speaker 3
58:23 - 58:29
Been excellent this season. Bangs and goals are fun, but he can play higher. I know he can play higher. Attacking midfielder, really exciting on the ball.
Speaker 3
58:30 - 58:31
Have a look at him, see what we can do.
Speaker 4
58:32 - 58:36
Fair enough. Andrew, what's your two areas to focus on?
Speaker 5
58:37 - 58:37
If
Speaker 4
58:37 - 58:37
I'm
Speaker 5
58:37 - 58:37
only
Speaker 4
58:37 - 58:39
allowed two, which is sad.
Speaker 5
58:39 - 58:53
Yeah, one of them is a backup keeper. uh, providing Sims days. And the second point would be to sign top of life permanently.
Speaker 4
58:54 - 58:55
Fair enough.
Speaker 5
58:56 - 59:11
Uh, I thought he was pretty, uh, yeah, I'd say it was a good sign in from Bromley. Um, he showed up pretty well apart from, uh, he got sent off and against spending more, didn't he? I think we'll gloss over that, but overall I thought he had a pretty solid spell of us left back.
Speaker 4
59:13 - 59:16
Yeah. Claire, what about yourself? What areas would you target?
Speaker 2
59:17 - 59:58
I think probably Jo and Andrew probably said what I'm going to say but I kind of echo Jo's points is that experience thing, that that's my area that I'm thinking about and that kind of that hunger more than anything. So if you can get some people that have actually bluntly, one stuff, right, that can show them this is what you've got to put in to actually get to where we want to do. I think a few of the criticisms, we've talked about it today and we've talked about it consistently, is that, you know, that's not how we expect you to play when there's something to play for. When you're a couple of games away from Wembley, where's the hunger, where's the passion, where's the fight?
Speaker 2
59:58 - 1:00:27
And I think if you've got some people around you in the squad who've actually done those things, I know that you've obviously got experience within kind of the coaching side of stuff you have, but you want that, those people that are going to make you go, Oh, they've done that. And if we do it this way, then maybe we can, we can achieve that as well. So I think like, you know, someone else to, to push the, the hunger and the drive and the passion, uh, on the pitch, not just the people shouting at them from the sidelines.
Speaker 2
1:00:27 - 1:00:29
Fair enough. And Dan.
Speaker 5
1:00:31 - 1:01:33
Well yeah just to echo that I've been saying it all along a bit just a bit more a bit more experience a bit more know-how in there but for actual areas on the pitch wingers we need we need some wingers who can actually wing can beat men a bit of pace because the amount of times this year we'd get we'd take forever to get the ball wide and then they're either covered off and there's nowhere to go or we'd get them in and they just couldn't beat the man or they couldn't deliver a ball so you know you need someone there who's even like an early David Agiboy who's just rocket pace even he doesn't know what he was going to do after time but he was he was quick he was lightning quick he could get away from people over a couple of yards just and then give himself enough space to actually do something we're in behind um and as we we well know from this division if you've got pace you will hurt sides um and we just didn't do that this year i mean
Speaker 1
1:01:33 - 1:01:33
would
Speaker 5
1:01:33 - 1:01:52
we take kaji boy back he got released from peterborough last week i believe yeah I don't mind players coming back on loan like he did, but I'm wary of going backwards like that. I don't think he'd want to drop down. Having just been released by League One side, I think he'll be looking to leave too.
Speaker 2
1:01:52 - 1:02:08
I don't think he added anything. Like when you get this thing, don't you, where you have this image of what the player was like before, and quite often when they come back, they're not the person that they were, or they don't do quite the same job because their head wasn't quite there in the same way.
Speaker 5
1:02:08 - 1:02:44
When he came back, his sort of first six games or so, it was David Adjiboy, he scored goals, created stuff, but then because he hadn't been playing all year, he tailed off hard because he was knackered, you know, he just didn't have that much sharpness. So yeah, we need some wingers, we need some, we'll pace wide in the side, and I think we need another half, someone who can partner a play with Will, because we flogged him to death this year. The lad plate, you know, that's not digging anyone out. It's because that's what we had.
Speaker 5
1:02:46 - 1:03:17
And I think you could see that a little bit with him at the end of the season. He got to 20 and with plenty of time he probably could have kicked on and got 25. but he was knackered, got a knock, cost him a couple of games, and then you lose that little bit of sharpness, that little bit of momentum, and he never quite got back to that level. So, yeah, we need a bit more upfront attacking-wise, but that could also come with the way that Steve's been playing from wide, but pace, yeah, we absolutely need pace.
Speaker 5
1:03:19 - 1:03:32
And I think if I had to pick another position, maybe someone in the middle who's a A player I expected Woodier to be but never quite looked to be. Maybe he'll be different with a full pre-season, but just yeah, bastard in the middle of the park.
Speaker 1
1:03:33 - 1:03:34
who's just
Speaker 5
1:03:34 - 1:04:10
gonna put a foot in and get us going that way. We've lacked that since we didn't have it last year because Eastie was injured. Nikki Bailey did a lot of that as well but I mean they're players of sort of experience and quality that are very very difficult to find and also find an hour price point. But, you know, if you can find a Timu, Nikki Bailey or Eastie, then you can do that job and just be that bastard in the middle of the park.
Speaker 4
1:04:12 - 1:04:21
Yeah, I mean, it's fair enough. To be fair, I thought he was only to the end of this season. So I was surprised to not see his name on the release list. So I'm quite pleased.
Speaker 4
1:04:21 - 1:04:22
I think it was an 18
Speaker 5
1:04:22 - 1:04:23
month deal.
Speaker 4
1:04:23 - 1:04:26
Right, so, yeah,
Speaker 5
1:04:26 - 1:04:26
with
Speaker 4
1:04:27 - 1:04:51
a full pre-season and knowing the players in pre-season, I think it might be very, very different. Right, one other thing. There was, in the year before we got promoted, I know everyone was down on the Spennymoor result, but we did have a really crap cup result and then we went on to win the league the following year, so I'm going to cling to that. Very quickly, not mentioned for some good reasons, but he's going to be a little different next season.
Speaker 4
1:04:52 - 1:05:09
I know he's only been with us a short span of time, but Steve has lost Anthony to go off and do other things. So that dynamic can change. Will he I mean, he's been mates with Anthony for 400 years or something. So will he have someone who can just trust to pick up that slack?
Speaker 4
1:05:09 - 1:05:25
So we need him to be able to put his trust in other people. I'm sure he is, but he just won't have that natural balance with someone. But good luck, Anthony. And I did say to him that if whatever his outside thing is, if he's a Sutton fan knows, I'm sure they will try and support him as well.
Speaker 4
1:05:26 - 1:05:40
But This is one. We're going to finish off really with this. What are your hopes for next season? And I know at least two of you work in the corporate world, so you're going to love this.
Speaker 4
1:05:40 - 1:05:49
What does success look like? You're
Speaker 2
1:05:49 - 1:05:55
such a wanker because I say this all the time and I hate it. I work
Speaker 5
1:05:55 - 1:05:58
with Americans, mate.
Speaker 4
1:05:59 - 1:06:08
Right, why are those two recover composure? Andrew, what does success look like next season? What's your hopes? It's really lovely to see what happens in those transfers.
Speaker 5
1:06:09 - 1:06:19
An improvement on 12th place for starters. And I think what success looks like is a playoff place next season. That would be a good progression from this season.
Speaker 4
1:06:20 - 1:06:21
Excellent. Joe?
Speaker 3
1:06:23 - 1:06:29
Playoffs and a trip to Wembley of some sort. That could be in
Speaker 4
1:06:29 - 1:06:30
the playoffs.
Speaker 3
1:06:31 - 1:06:37
It could be in the FA Trophy. It could be in the playoffs. It could be if the National League Cup final is contested by two senior teams. We'll never know.
Speaker 5
1:06:38 - 1:06:38
Good luck
Speaker 3
1:06:38 - 1:06:39
with that.
Speaker 5
1:06:39 - 1:06:39
Yeah,
Speaker 3
1:06:40 - 1:06:47
I know. That laugh from Dan. It's the wisest I've smiled in 50 minutes.
Speaker 4
1:06:49 - 1:06:51
It might be inside Wembley. It might play at Hendon or something.
Speaker 3
1:06:51 - 1:06:51
Yeah,
Speaker 4
1:06:52 - 1:06:52
exactly.
Speaker 5
1:06:52 - 1:06:54
Yeah, it might be in the borough, but it won't be at the stadium.
Speaker 4
1:06:55 - 1:06:59
Dan, what about yourself? What are your hopes and what does the contest look like for you?
Speaker 5
1:07:00 - 1:07:37
I mean, if you assume that everybody who's staying stays, there's no other outward movement with people picking them up from third parties. improve uh just be more consistent over the season we have to be better at home for the love of god be better at home that's i mean if we just have a really good season at home and we're shit away i'll take that and and because that will just push you up alone with push you up a couple of spots in the league alone. If we'd been even average at home this year, we'd have been in the playoffs.
Speaker 5
1:07:39 - 1:07:58
And that has to be something that Steve has to get right, because we were garbage last year at home, and we were marginally better this year. And that's what you build your seasons on. You've got to be good at home. If you're not good at home, then it's all up for grabs, because then if you shit away, you're going down.
Speaker 4
1:08:02 - 1:08:05
Claire, all your hopes and what does success look like?
Speaker 2
1:08:08 - 1:08:39
No, I think I'd echo kind of everything that's been said. For me, I guess, higher up, a playoff place would be great. I think that realistically speaking, we've got, you know, We need a strong year both on and off the pitch to really kind of solidify some of the stuff that's happening to then allow us to really push for that top spot. If we found ourselves in the playoff next season, I think that'll be pretty awesome and I'd be more than happy with that.
Speaker 2
1:08:39 - 1:08:46
But yeah, I think Dan sums it up pretty well. That's possibly one of the most positive things I've ever heard him say.
Speaker 4
1:08:55 - 1:09:02
What do we, do we want a new kit? What do we think about the kits next year? I mean, I don't think the yellow, I think the yellow one's only a year old. So I mean,
Speaker 2
1:09:03 - 1:09:18
I can, I can, I can ruin that one for you, can't I? So the yellow one is, is a, that will be the next year will be the second year of that. So there is one of our kits, and if you can work it out, that will be changing. Because this year was its second year.
Speaker 4
1:09:20 - 1:09:22
It must be the white one. It's going
Speaker 2
1:09:22 - 1:09:22
to be chocolate. Did
Speaker 4
1:09:23 - 1:09:27
you say it's going to be chocolate? Did you say it's going to be a chocolate
Speaker 2
1:09:28 - 1:09:30
kit? I said nothing. I said nothing.
Speaker 4
1:09:31 - 1:09:33
I love people
Speaker 2
1:09:33 - 1:09:35
that know what's going on.
Speaker 4
1:09:36 - 1:09:37
Say again?
Speaker 2
1:09:37 - 1:09:40
I know nothing, Joe. I know nothing. I know nothing. I know nothing.
Speaker 2
1:09:40 - 1:09:40
Me neither.
Speaker 4
1:09:43 - 1:09:48
Lying bastards. Right. Prediction League. Charmers won.
Speaker 2
1:09:50 - 1:09:53
See, if you want to get depressed about something, Joe...
Speaker 5
1:09:53 - 1:09:54
You end it on a low.
Speaker 2
1:09:54 - 1:09:57
That's what you get depressed about. Charma's winning anything.
Speaker 3
1:09:58 - 1:10:03
I was only 45 predictions off of winning this year.
Speaker 4
1:10:04 - 1:10:14
Joe entered once, he got one point for entering and that's it. He didn't do any more. But Charm was a pessimistic PC. Well, the bastard kept predicting losses and draws.
Speaker 4
1:10:15 - 1:10:16
That's basically how he was.
Speaker 2
1:10:17 - 1:10:27
I love him dearly and he's one of our great friends, but I don't want to live in a world where he's winning things. It's just wrong. One step away from Gareth.
Speaker 4
1:10:28 - 1:10:44
We're going to wrap up this episode and the season of Sutton Podcast. Who knows, there might be something that comes up, but I'm looking forward to a bit of a rest. As always, we appreciate everyone's attention and feedback. Don't forget to follow, like and share.
Speaker 4
1:10:44 - 1:10:54
There's going to be various things on social media. Do give me reviews, like and give me the thumbs up on various things. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know. Any likes, dislikes, let me know.
Speaker 4
1:10:54 - 1:11:07
The host ain't changing, but everything else is changing. As always, thank you to our sponsors, Lucky Gaijin, and a big thank you to today's panel of Andrew, Claire, Dan, and Joe. And thanks to the listeners. Hope you've enjoyed this episode of Startup Podcast.
Speaker 4
1:11:07 - 1:11:10
And take care, and we'll catch up early in the season. Bye-bye.
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