Mike: Hello and welcome to another episode of Sutton United Talk Time on Podcast. It's Sutton Podcast in association with Lucky Star Gin. I'm your host Mike, and with me today we've got Mark and Dan and we've got football to talk about. The quality of the football is not important at this moment in time. We have football to talk about. That's the important bit. We're going to be talking about the Tamworth little kickabout and we're going to look forward to the visit of Altrincham. Don't forget all the engagement things, likes, shares, thumbs up, and retweets and all the rest of it. It really does help and makes other people share the pain and have to listen to it as well. Just pretend it's good and they'll listen and I'll try and work out for weeks why you think it's good. A big shout out to the regular guys, the Jacksons do it a load, and Alex does it a lot as well. So if I've missed you, give me a little nudge and I'll try and remember for next time as well.
Mike: We're going to jump in as quickly as possible. Mark, how was your break? And how are you?
Mark: Well, I've recovered from putting my back out a few weeks ago, which is good news. I enjoyed the trip to Tamworth. It was one of those days where there was some good drinking interrupted by a pretty dire game of football, but we've had quite a few of those experiences down the years. So I think most of the fans that went to Tamworth liked the place. The weather was good once the rain stopped, so we took over 400, so yeah, I think 448, so it was pretty impressive actually. It was more than I think most of us would have expected. Obviously, it's a new ground for most of the fans. I've been there once before, ticking it off back in 2003, I think. But yeah, it was a good day, and we got an away point, so that's never to be sniffed at.
Mike: No, and I mean, I can hardly call it advice because it was quite an obvious choice of drinking venue. But Dan, how was your break and getting back to football? Obviously, I heard there were timing issues and all sorts of problems with you getting there before eleven. But how was the Tamworth tap?
Dan: Yeah, it was good. It was a nice pub I went into on Saturday. Still not really up for it, to be honest. I thoroughly enjoyed my break of no football. Didn't even really bother watching the Euros. Just couldn't be arsed. Last season was more than enough for me for a while. So yeah, I had a whole summer off and I ended up, I wasn't going to do any friendlies. I ended up going to Welling the other week because a couple of mates I know from down there I hadn't seen in ages, and it turned out they were going to the game and my plans had changed so I ended up going to Welling. So yeah, but even that, I still wasn't up for it when even got there, especially then got off the train. It was pissing down. Today's going to be fantastic. So yeah, no, Tamworth was alright as a town. The tap was a really good pub. Lots of good stuff. Loads of Sutton in there previously. I think I'd say probably the place was half full. About half of our away support I think was in there before and yeah, we went to the Market Vaults over the road afterwards and that was quite good as well. It was a good little pub as well. So all in all, as Mark says, a good day out ruined by 90 minutes of football.
Mike: Well, I did one of the things for. And they said, how many do you think you're going to bring down? And I was like, okay, this could be anything. I'm not going to lie to you. I said, I reckon it's going to be about 300, but it could be 100 either way because you just don't know how many coaches are coming down.
Mark: Yeah, it's got nothing to do with it. We've never really had much of a culture of going on the coach and people just travel down as and when they like, so you can't really tell when we get there. But yes, I got this to mention later, but just under 450, which is about just over 25% of the crowd, which is, we haven't been this big time forever. Big time now, right. I don't know if you two remembered, but you were set some homework and as I said last week, obviously there's a jingle.
Mike: Don't shake your head. People can see that's the point. I have no association with this. Please, Ava, don't sue me.
Mike: So the question I asked you guys was if we could magically sign one player in their prime from United's history. Their prime doesn't have to be in their history with us and put them in the current squad, who would it be? Someone from Sutton's history. Stick them into the current squad. Who would you like? I am torn between two, but I will hear you guys first. Who wants to go first? Is anyone ready?
Dan: You go first.
Dan: I think probably a prime Nicky Bailey from about when he was about 22, 23 and playing in the Championship. Yeah, that was one of my ones because we absolutely need somebody who can just drive. We look to need someone with a bit of n in the middle of the park who can put a tackle in but also can get the game going and is good in an attacking sense as well. Yeah, that was one of mine.
Mark: Well, we seem a little bit lightweight up front at the moment. I was going to go for Dominic Feltham. Okay. Somebody who scored some fantastic goals for Sutton back in the 90s. Recently course-director at the club, but that's not particularly relevant. But yeah, I think something like Dominic in the centre of the park will manage to break down some of these stubborn defences that we come up against and conjure in a goal from 30 yards as we saw him do a few times.
Mike: Well, I went for a forward as well. Someone a bit more physical and quick and their prime was definitely away from us. But we did see some good things from him with Effan. Just him up front, running past people going, what happened there? Yeah, that was mine. I had a long list of different people. I thought actually for the current squad and I think Effan would be really, really useful. Thought Nicky as well, perfect right back. I mean, sorry, midfielder.
Mike: Right. So we go for the club news and the ladies have signed a player. I didn't write down her name because I was just flabbergasted by the stat. She has scored in the last two seasons, 135 goals. That's not in her career. In the last two seasons.
Mike: We're going to go for scoring then. I don't know the levels or anything like that, but yeah, we there's going to be some goals in that team. I will be finding out a lot more about them coming on Wednesday. So I've got Lucy and Sophie coming on Wednesday, so I'll find out a bit more about that. We've also just mentioned the coaches. They're obviously pushing the coaches for the next few games and Weeton is the one. They want to just check what people really want. I mean, they're making it sound a bit more like a protection racket than a coach because it could be it's all about how dangerous it is to come home on your own. But they're doing the coach and they want to know numbers so they can book it ASAP. I think they give us to the 16th, so let them know ASAP. You may have heard a small bit of news this week. We got a new, new co-owner. I spoke to him genuinely on the camera, off the camera. He's exactly the same and he is so enthusiastic about it. And you kind of come away going, yeah, oh, on, let's come back down to earth. He's genuinely a really nice guy and that's me saying that I'm so cynical. So if any of his chance have a chat, him just do so. He loves the whole thing about something and so, yeah, it should be lots of good stuff. And he's already been all over today, invite them all down talking about. Because obviously they match-mate him with us. And then the other big news. Well, I mean, thoughts on that, on the co-ownership or. Not really. Not really concerned. It was. It was an interesting one. I mean, I had a feeling when he started sort of teasing big announcement. It was clearly to do with Sutton United. I was like, well, it's got to be at least him getting involved in some capacity or other, be it as a. Either he buys some shares or, you know, he. He does some stuff on social media or something like that, or publicity for us. But yeah, I didn't quite expect think he'd go as far as co-owner, but certainly an interesting, interesting development and it will be pretty. It's intriguing to see what we'll get out of now of the arrangement going forward.
Mike: Yeah, I mean, it is a definite Sutton United thing. He just kind of came in as a little gimmick, which I've said to him, and a bit of fun. Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah, this will do. Ha. And just was suckered into it. And I even said to him on the first one, it was a gimmick. Don't. You've been kind of hooked in. You've kind of gone on fast forward. And then the one I've just done recently, I was like, did you think that was a challenge to step it up even more? But, yeah, I mean, he kind of acknowledges he is. He knows nothing about football at all, but he does know media, he does know publicity. He does know a lot of that stuff. And he's an investment banker. That's his career. So it's not going to be spending money left, right and center.
Mark: Well, obviously not short of a bob or two, but, you know, if you like, he's put his money where his mouth is. Rather than just talking up something on TV interviews on social media, he's actually, you know, invested. Don't know how much, but you. It won't be a trivial sum. So, you know, that shows a kind of different side to his commitment to the club, which is great.
Mike: I mean, obviously with these things, everyone's very cagey. So I was like, how many shares? And he kind of looked at it and I went, look, I've got four. Technically, I'm an owner. You got more than four shares? And he went, yeah, it's a lot more than four. I was, all right, okay, fair enough.
Mark: I mean, I guess you would have to, if you were to kind of want to put sort of numbers on it. The guys who invested towards the latter half of last season, I think there was three of the guys and they put like 100 grand in each or something. So you would have to assume it would be six figures. Yeah. Starting at 100k, maybe. But if we get a Netflix series out of it, we don't care. I mean, yeah, like the weird stuff like that. I wouldn't be surprised if something odd pops up. Yeah, there were some silly jokes on the way home on last night about a Sutton married at first sight and things like that, but. Oh, my God, that'd be horrendous. Yeah, I know. You can see the sort of crap we talk about when intoxicated on a train home with time, with time on our hands. Yeah, the other big news, Mark, I know you, you had some questions, reservations on this, or thought was the management contracts extended out beyond this year for another two years. So until 2027, what was it? You were kind of. Your thoughts on that, Mark?
Mark: Well, I seem to be swimming against the tide a bit on this one, but I just thought the timing was a bit odd. I understand that the argument about, you know, showing confidence in the new manager, I get that. But, you know, I just think two-year extension, we haven't even kicked a ball in the National League, but we don't know how the season's going to unfold. But we could do very well. We could struggle. But, you know, I'd been inclined to wait until, say, October. If things are going well, then yeah, offering the extension. But, you know, I think ideally, I'd like to see manage at this level with the new squad for a few months just to see how all the new players settle down at this level.
Dan: Yeah, I mean, it was a bit of a surprise. Like Mark says, I think that probably the thing that caught most people was the timing of it. It was like we've just kicked about to kick the season off. I mean, there's certain viewpoints that you can argue that the border wanting to show their confidence in the new management team. But I mean, they still had a year. They were still with us for this year. You know, I think. I think someone said it was an 18-month deal when he first joined last winter, last Christmas. So we had them for this season. I don't know unless maybe there'd been people sniffing around given Steve's background and where he did his first management job, which was a championship gig, and he did okay at that level. Maybe there had been a bit of. A bit of sort of sniffing around on that regard, and they thought, well, look, let's show them our commitment to them and give them an extension. And that way then if. I suppose if he does have a good start and someone does come in, we at least get compensated for him and things like that. But yeah, I know what Mark means about it was just a bit really, okay, all right, it's done it. It's not a bad thing, I suppose, you know, if it doesn't go well, then you've got a worse push comes to shove, then you've obviously got pay that contract up. But I suppose you've got to try and look on the positives of it and try to understand what the guys are trying to do.
Mike: Yeah, I think it was not necessarily a reward on the pitch. I think there's a lot that's kind of happened off the pitch and he's brought into a lot of it. And when you're talking about your long-term plans, they're probably going where we want you to commit as much as we're committing. I mean, initially thought it was just a reward for coming on the podcast because I hung up on me at what, 6:45 and at 7:00 he signed a new contract. I thought, well, that's decent.
Mark: It was Mike that swung it. Persuaded him. Let's see how it goes first. And before I start, we've got to take that by yet. Not taking any credit just yet.
Mike: No, no podcast news. I'm exhausted. I've done ten things. I've actually got to ask proper questions on. So this isn't what I signed up for. I signed up to ask a little bit about what happened in the match and have other people talking, not to actually think. But yeah, there's quite a few of them and there's one more to come as a civil ladies team and I've already felt, I think some lined up for Christmas, January time. I don't know how I managed to do that, but hey. But on the match, so I didn't even bother trying to think of what the starting eleven would be because I was like, literally, I could build a case for almost anyone. I didn't do any of the friendlies Dan, so I'm in even worse than you. But did anything come as a surprise? I mean, I was surprised Josh wasn't in the starting eleven being as he's like literally the only him and Ryan the only outfield players. But did were you surprised at all, Dan? Did you have any expectations of the match? What was your thoughts ahead of the match?
Dan: I mean, lineup wise, I mean, obviously Steve said that they were the guys who were going to be involved on the opening day. So yeah, they weren't. I wouldn't say there was any too many surprises. I think someone said he went pretty much with the starting lineup from Welling. I didn't double check, so again, I wasn't overly stunned by that either as I'd only got to see the one game. Couldn't really give any opinions. He should have, maybe should and shouldn't have been in the side, but, you know, I was impressed. I quite liked what I saw at Welling, so I was reasonably happy with the. With the side he chose. As for expectations in the match, I was just hoping that we'd at least try and hit the ground running and just be competitive and just show a little bit of what we want to do, how Steve wants the side to play and get. And get a result. Unfortunately, we didn't quite pan out that way. We didn't really get going at all.
Mark: Well, pretty much the same as Dan. I mean, I did see a few of the pre-season games, but I'm still struggling to kind of recognise a lot of the players relying heavily on, you know, checking the numbers on their backs. We've got their squad numbers now. But, you know, I haven't really formed much of an opinion on any of the new players. Just haven't seen them enough. I'm just seeing them in a few pre-season games, but that doesn't really give you a clear idea of how they're going to perform in the league in competitive games. So yeah, no great surprises with that. With that starting eleven, I think it's Dan, it was pretty similar to the starting eleven, if not the same as Welling.
Mike: Well, as we were mentioned, there was a big crowd to welcome them. I know we took a lot to MK Dons, but that's pretty much because everyone knew it was going to probably be our last game in the league for a little while. So we had that. I know we kind of crept up similar ish amount when we were in the league, but obviously that's the attraction of the league. But it was a good crowd for good miles, fairly good crowd for the distance and they're making lots of noise, so that's good. Hopefully they'll do that this week. And I won't talk about the curvever too, but didn't really seem to get going. As you said, there was no kind of flow or creativity. It seemed that a lot of passes were slightly over, under hit or just weren't on the same wavelength. It seemed a bit stop start. Was that the players or the ref. I mean, there were some niggly fouls left, right and center. But what were your thoughts, Mark, on that? The flow, creativity and so of stop start?
Mark: Yeah, I mean, we'd obviously played on 3G Oxford City in pre-season. Tamworth's pitch was a quite poor shape compared with Oxford City's. And indeed our old pitch at Gander Green Lane. A few people pointed out it seemed to be quite dry. Obviously, there'd been some rain earlier in the day, but it dried out since then and it looked as it might have needed a bit of water. Maybe that was deliberate on Tamworth's part. Maybe, you know, they felt they'd have a better chance of getting from the game if they didn't, wet the pitch because maybe their players are more used to it. I don't know. The weather didn't help. It was. It wasn't excessively hot, but it was quite humid. Quite a close day. Quite when the sun came out, which it did from time to time, it was actually quite, quite almost unpleasant. It warm because of the humidity as well. So the playing conditions were not great and they probably affected the way the game was played too. But yeah, we didn't really seem to get going. Tamworth seemed to play quite a defensive game. They did. I think Steve mentioned they didn't. Their backline didn't push forward much, so there wasn't much space behind their backline for our guys to get in. So they were kind of stifling the life out of the game. So then that was another reason why it wasn't great as a spectacle. But, you know, it just looked like two really poor teams. But we know this Sutton team can play better than that. If you saw that in pre-season, admittedly against opposition from the next level down. But that's where Tamworth were last season, of course.
Dan: Yeah, I mean, as a whole, I just thought it was a really poor game. Neither side really showed much. I mean, we just never got started at all. We had no real hold on the game at any point over the 90 minutes. There wasn't like, you know, our games tend to go in little Spitz and ebb and flow and thing like that. We never really got hold of the game at any point. A lot of mistakes from our side. A lot of passes astray. I mean, probably all their best opportunities came from us bloody giving the ball away, right in our own defensive third. I mean, they could have had two or three with, you know, Tyler gave the ball away first early in the second half, you know, obviously Steve's bad kick. And there was another one that we gave it away and the shortly after they'd scored where the guy looked it and it just dropped wide. So, yeah, it was. It wasn't a particularly good game, just full stop. Funnily enough, I expected a bit more from Tamworth. I thought they were going to have a bit more of a go and be a bit more sort of at it. So I wasn't overly impressed with them either. I was just, like I say, had their best opportunities. All came from our mistakes. So, yeah, I thought the game was a nailed on nil-nil. Although we were saying amongst ourselves that we look like we've got another mistake in us, and it's only a matter of time. If we keep giving them those chances, they might take one. And so it was. But I suppose, positive. You got to look at it. The boys kept going. I think maybe once they got in front and got in front quite late, that they probably dropped off a little bit and thought, let's try and get the win hold what we've got. And that probably, I think, allowed us to maybe get out a touch more. And that in the end meant that we got a leveller. I think a draw was probably a fair result because, like I say, it was a really poor spectacle. It wasn't great. And yeah, I get what Steve was saying about the pitch because, well, we know our 3G runs, we know how full well. We watched football on it for what, six, seven years? Yeah. So we know when they're hot. When it's hot, they run slow. Unless you introduce water to the surface. Yeah. So, yeah, there were a lot of people saying about that, that very thing of always they didn't water as much, but it's like the only reason we watered it as much is because it suited the way we wanted. And whether it's 3G or grass, you get your pitch prepared in the way you want it because that's the advantage.
Mike: I mean, first off, Dylan had started to look lively and then got injured. And was there a handball in the box? Was it a hopeful handball in the box?
Mark: It was one of those handballs that would generally be. You would expect a penalty from. Definitely bounced up, definitely hit him in the arm. I mean, it's one of those ones that Premier League would have been a penalty because obviously they have gone to VAR seen it and everyone, I mean, goes soft. But that's what they're given for now. Yeah, it's weird that again, it was one of these ones that you've got a linesman stood there looking right at. It's on his side of the pitch and it wasn't like the guy did it here. So he had his back to him. He actually stood out and it came up in his arm. It was clear as day. So I thought that was a decent shout. But I mean, I thought the ref did all right, but yeah, the lo we had, but sort of at our end, both halves didn't. Typical National League official didn't seem to really fancy it or seem that interested, really.
Mike: So I will get enough. Another apology letter. It's all right, Mark, Dan's already kind of touched on it. We switched to a 442 half time and Army kind of kept us in it a few times and then, unfortunately, his mistake caused the goal and then we nearly went two down. How are you feeling at this point?
Mark: Just. Well, Dan said it looked like a nailed on nil-nil. I mean, I almost, in jest, I said, I think before the game, nailed on nil-nil. And after about an hour, Jenny Corkhill came straight up to me and said, this is your fault. It's nil-nil. But it did actually end up one all. Yeah. Well, Davis wasn't having much joy up front on his own. He's not really a target man. He was quite isolated. He wasn't seeing a lot of the ball. So Steve obviously made the decision to take off a midfielder and bring on Ashley Nazary, alongside. Well, but actually they didn't make much difference. Neither of them really had much of a sight of goal during their time on the pitch. And it was more, I think, on midfielders that were providing the goal threat, rather the forwards. Yeah, unfortunate mistake by, by Steve. I mean, it fell to their guy and just set up a teammate. There was quite a big gap for him to run into. He wasn't closed down. He was able to pick his spot and I think Steve Arnold was still slightly off his line then and slotted it past him. And as Dan said, there was that other chance they had a minute or two later, where I'm not sure which player it was. But looked just wide. So, yeah, I mean, we could have been two nil down and it would have been very difficult to come back from that. But Josh made absolutely no doubt that there could be a dodgy goal or any kind of, any kind of dispute who was scoring that goal. He meant that one.
Dan: That was at the opposite end to you guys, wasn't it?
Mark: Yeah, yeah. I mean, he seemed to be unmarked, the far post. I mean, Tamworth had defended pretty well up to that point, but they just left him left in there. The ball came, I think. I think, um, Will Davis tried to have a shot, didn't control the ball. It ran through to, to Josh and he had time to sort of control the ball, I think, on his chest and, and put it away. Good finish. So, you know, that wasn't great defending from them, but, you know, you've got to take your chances. One came and thankfully we did. We got the point.
Dan: I think he may have been expecting the goalkeeper to get something on it and go into the. What was your view of the goal or have you seen it back?
Mark: I mean, it looked like actually when the ball came to him, to Josh, his first touch seemed very heavy, so it looked like the ball had run away from him and the chance had gone. And I think maybe that actually helped him in that the defender didn't shift. That was who was coming across then didn't shift back. So he thought, well, he screwed that. But he actually got on back on the ball quick and it sat up nicely for him just to just give it a thump. I. Yeah, stuck it away. I mean, when you're hitting it on the rise that with that sort of power from that range, chances are you're going to beat the keeper because it's. I mean, that might, that might have unset the keeper as well because he thought, oh, heavy touch, there's not a shot. Probably not a shot going to come. The next thing you know is it's flash past him and in. So, yeah, I was grateful to see it go in.
Mike: He's our squad top scorer, I think. I'm pretty sure. I think he's got record scorer under Steve. Yeah, yeah. Current top scorer. Yeah. So you said there were some hard lessons we need to learn and quickly. What immediate improvements apart from getting free bastards in the side, as you suggested, what immediate improvements do you kind of think we need to be made?
Dan: I thought a lot of the players need to kind of understand that. I mean, we all jokingly call this the bastard league simply because you've got to. And you've got to go earn your right to play. We know that full well. If you turn up at places like Tamworth and think they're going to let you stroke it around and mug them off all day long, then you're sadly mistaken. You're going to get basically, I mean, our midfield constantly, every time we've got the ball, everything needed two, three touches on what is essentially a laser flat pitch. All right, it's not running as quick as it should do, but there was always. Everyone needed an extra touch and by that point you've got the oppo player snapping at you and then everything gets hooked and there's no passing going on, which is the way Steve clearly wants them to play. We went a little bit direct with the diagonals out from the back and there were always. There was always never anyone near them. So, yeah, there's just. And also just in and around your own. In and around our own box, that just don't piss around with it, basically. Deal with. Deal with, you know, clear your lines, reset and then let them, you know, ask the questions rather than, I mean, the one, the bloke who dropped wide, that was, you know, the fullback not clearing his lines rather than get rid. He took a touch, turned inside the bloke. Oh, great, great. He retained the ball, but then it's. The pass out is crap. We're instantly under pressure, we're robbed and again, suddenly, you know, they're in the ascendancy with a ball and we're not set. So, yeah, I thought we came across very under 23s against the non-league side in the cup type performance in. Yeah, they're all young lads who've, you know, are professionals, but a lot of them haven't really played at that level before. And the lads that have, need to get into them and make them understand that. I'm sorry, if you think you're going to be able to dance around these sides, that's not going to happen. You have to go and graft and earn the right to play, and that's something we need to learn, because if we keep doing that, then we're just going to get bullied. Yeah.
Mike: So. And by far better sides than Tamworth.
Mark: Yeah. I mean, it's almost a complete reverse from what we were last time and we were doing the bullying. So, big change for us, watching a physical side come to dominate us.
Mike: How can we get around it? What do you.
Mark: Well, I'm not a football coach, but, you know, I think perhaps you need to consider playing two up front than one. Obviously, we've lost Dylan probably for a few months, so it might be worth thinking about whether perhaps you play with three at the back and play with wingbacks. Diodo is very good at getting forward. I think he'd make a good wingback. And Jack O on the other side, I think, can play that role quite well. V impressed me going forward, but he did make one mistake in the second half, gave the ball away near the corner flag. That guy robbed him, crossed in. Thankfully, it was easy for Steve Arnold to gather it, but that could have been costly. So if you've got a centre back behind, you can get across and cover. That gives a bit of extra protection and gives you more licence to get forward. So maybe that's something to think about. Three at the back and wing backs, at least until the Silva gets back. And then, you know, if you find you're trailing, you can switch to 414 for the last 50 minutes or so, see if that makes a difference.
Mike: Okay. One thing I think there's consideration is Tamworth are a side that they've won back that promotion. So, yes, on the one hand you could say, well, the players are playing at a much lower level, but it's the core of their team. They know how to play, they know how to get a result, they know what they're doing. So should we, rather than go, oh, it's only little old Tamworth and we're big giant Sutton, should we not be going, actually, you know what? We didn't do too bad there. We got an away point which says, Mark said, a point on the road not to be sniffed at. We're going to get better. Is it a good point or is it a bad point?
Dan: I think it's one of those results that you'll need to look back on around in the context of the season a bit later down the line. I don't think they're going to pull up any trees looking at the way they played. I mean, obviously it's only one game, so, you know, but you can only sort of go by what you see. And also when you look at their record last year, even though they won the division, they really didn't score many goals. Didn't concede many, to be fair. But I mean, when you do make that step up to National League, I don't think they're going to be much out of the bottom five or six. So I suppose you could look at it the other way, you could say, well, you should be turning them over. But also you could also think we, well, we could have gone up against someone who was a serious outfit and got turned over bad. You know, it's a. Like you say, we didn't lose, it's a point on the road. Hopefully it's lessons learned and we can, you know, take that into the sessions this week and go into the Altrincham game on Saturday and I mean, they will definitely be a lot harder of a test.
Mark: Yeah, I've seen some of the, you know, pre-season predictions for the National League from guys who studied the clubs a lot more closely than I have. But Tamworth are tipped to struggle. I mean, they're tipped to go down again. The pundits seem a bit less sure about us but we're generally tipped to finish quite high. So yeah, I think a point away from home in your first match of the season when you don't quite know what to expect is a reasonable return. But, you know, I think we need to, as Dan says, step up against Altrincham who, you know, finished fourth last season. So, you know, there'll be probably quite a different proposition. Will be a tougher side but we are at home and hope that makes a makes a difference and, you know, Steve is able to make the necessary, you know, tweaks and adjustments, maybe a bit of a rollicking, to get the team performing at a higher level for that one.
Mike: A bit more effing and jeffing. Funny enough, I sort of asked the question out on the socials and Andrew on Twitter said it was a tough point. We struggled and we were fortunate to get a draw which ties in exactly what you're saying here on Insta. The best part was getting there before twelve and the worst part was Dylan going off and Stu, who's been on a few times on TikTok said I'll take that point and run. So it's pretty much exactly as you said. Right. We'll see if this one works. It's the second bit of homework. I don't even know how this is going to work or if it's going to last very long. But it was the good, the bad and the funny. I've done music right so that I convinced myself I'm going to get Fozzie Bear going wacka wacka wacka. Because it's supposed to be funny. He doesn't do wacka wacka wacker. It just wacka wacka. I'm like that's outrageous. That's not going to work. So that might get changed.
Mark: What was good yesterday.
Dan: I either wanted to start well the Tamworth tap was pretty good.
Mike: Okay fair enough. That'll do. It's about the whole day. Yes. Match day experience. Don't worry, it's not just a match. Dan, what was good for you?
Dan: Actually, yeah, just the standard day out stuff as per normal. The usual idiots for their on top form and sort of, you know, they put the hard work in their own three seasons. So yeah, it was good just to see everybody again. All the faces from that you just generally only see for the football.
Mark: What was bad?
Mark: Well, I suppose the injury to Dylan is the most obvious candidate for that. That award. Not sure if he's still got Dan, because I've got Internet flashing. That is Internet bandwidth.
Mike: But Dan, if you can hear us, what was bad for you?
Mark: He's gone. And Mark, what was funny on the day again? Could be anything.
Mark: Okay, I'll come back to the Tamworth tap. Bruce was in there and Ab was in there with their respective spouses and a load of other Sutton, as Dan said. And the pub was offering a discount to camera members. I'm obviously I on m one. So you've got the ep. Ab was a point and we've been in there for an hour or so. Suddenly Ab shouts. Oh he Mark, come back. I want to ask you something. What is this? How do I join? Camera said, well, how much did it cost? It's about 20 quid, actually. It's that 30 I checked. But he was obviously trying to calculate how much he could save through his camera membership. Would it actually be worth it joining just to get a discount on pints in pubs that do offer this discount?
Mike: Fair enough. Dan, you ended up back on mute. But what was your bad? And your, your funny?
Mike: So you're on mute. Just at the bottom. Now you're on mute. Okay, he's going again. So while Dan sorts that out. We might come back to Dan on that. I probably won't remember. I think it's literally you're on mute, Dan. It's down the bottom. Oh, he says he's not. Oh, okay, well, what are we're going to do? Go on. I'm going to go to do the free Q preview with the opposition and I spoke to Erin who is a supporter of Altrincham and she does a load of content. So there was one bit that I was showing off a little bit and thinking I'm great and then she slapped me down. So I thought it was very funny but I'm just going to pop that on. Now, it's a couple of minutes, so hopefully you'll be able to hear it properly. I know Neil said he struggled. Oh, Dan's back. Oh. Did he not want to answer the question or what? What was your bad? No, what was your bad about the day?
Dan: Bad? Yeah. Could that reminded me what a nice summer I'd had. What I'd not missed at all since May.
Mike: Funny.
Dan: Let me keep it clean. There was the little. We did the can and food run for the train on the way home and I thought we had less time than we actually did to make it. So I was dragging poor Gareth along and I made him hop over a very, very low wall to cut across the car park at the station rather than walk all the way around. No problem. No, no one fell over anything. He just. He scraped his knee and there was blood and he basically whinged about it the entire journey home. Like Gareth. I know. So. So, yeah, I think. And of course, he got all the sympathy you would expect from the people that he mixes with on a match day.
Mike: If anyone had vodka, you could have helped them out and just literally poured it on his knee and he would have been fine.
Dan: Yeah. Using a can of IPA for it, or also can's gin and tonic, he didn't appreciate that. Didn't work. Fair enough.
Mike: I think you're supposed to just pour the liquid, not throw the can. No. God. We're not total animals. Come on. Right, so I'm just going to do the video of Erin. It's a couple of minutes, so she's going to tell us all about Altrincham's point of view of the visit on Saturday.
Mike: Hello. And now it's time for our free Q preview. Only reason it's called that is because it rhymes. So, we are going to get insights from our upcoming opponent Altrincham fan. And we are joined by Erin. And Erin is going to need to explain something because it's Golf Road Goals is her Twitter handle and Instagram handle, and we're going to find out what they've got to say. So, Erin, tell us a bit about yourself and explain your little Twitter handle and your history with Altrincham and why you support them.
Erin: So, my name is Erin, I'm 17. I do a bit of content creation for Altrincham. I work for their women's team as well. I write for the programme as a match, little matchday section in our programme about our women's team. So I've been doing that. I've been creating content since lockdown. So since our promotion season, that was kind of inspired by something a friend was doing. My explanation for my Instagram and Twitter handle is that we have a stand at Altrincham called the Golf Road end and that seeming to be where we score every second half. So it's kind of like a little combination of the two. My first involvement with the football club was that my granddad took me to an FA cup game in which we won one nil against Barnsley when I was about eight years old in 2015. So he took me to that and I never stopped going after that. I just carried on going.
Mike: Perfect. And there was me being all like, oh, yeah, I'm hopefully going to get this in the programme. And you're like, yeah, I write for the programme every week. There's no biggie. Might calm down. So the. Obviously, we're kind of early season, we've only had the first round of games and you guys won with, I think, free new players in your opposition. But what were your kind of expectations coming into the season? And how's pre-season kind of gone with that so far?
Erin: Pre-season for us looked pretty decent, actually. I mean, we only lost once and that was against Chester. We had a couple of wins, a couple of draws here and there, but obviously pre-season, you've just got to get the team ready for the season. It's just about getting used to it, the way that they play. But then in that first opening game, I think everyone's got high expectations of us this season, having reached our highest ever finish since the 90s last year in fourth place. But when you lose somebody in your team that scored 23 goals and got 12 assists, 34 goal contributions in one season, I think you're bound to struggle a little bit because everything played through him yet last season. So yesterday was a good game. It was very possession based. However, it was very scrappy between the two sides. There was. There was a lot. There was a lot of misplaced passes and things, but I think that's to be expected, obviously, teams with new signings coming in. You've got to expect it for the first game. But yeah, I was lucky enough to commentate on that. There was one wonder goal, two red cards, that about four bookings. So it was an entertaining game, to say the least.
Mike: Good stuff. So aside from giving away the secret of we have to attack the Golf Road end second half, don't give that advantage. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the team? And at this point of the season, who should the fans be looking out for as a danger?
Erin: So strength wise, I probably say our possession, we're a very possession based side, so we like to keep hold of the ball, get it forward and we play very direct. So I think that's one of our strengths, is it worked numerous times for us last season. So winning against sort of like the bigger teams and league like Rochdale, Oldham, South End, Barnet, people like that, it worked. So I feel like that's one of our strengths that you should be watching out for. Weaknesses, I'm not really too sure in the first game of the season because there wasn't a lot to judge. There wasn't a lot to judge on yesterday. I mean, it was a gritty performance to win, but I feel like it was a deserved performance, like it deserved win for us because we put a lot forward. We put a lot going back in defence and I think the players knew what they had to do. So weaknesses at this stage, I'm not really too sure about, but danger men, I'd probably. There's a few I could go for here. So I'd say Alex Newby and Jesurun Rak-Sakyi up top. So our wingers really, very tricky, very technical players. Midfield, I'd go with Tom Crawford. He come in from Hartlepool and he must have covered about every single blade of grass yesterday. He was all over the place. Absolutely brilliant. And in defence, I'd say probably just after yesterday's performance, Tyler Golden. I mean, now we've learned he can make those overlapping runs and he can absolutely hit a worldy from about 30, from about the edge of the box and it'll still go to the top. Right? So see, those are the players you've got to be watching out for.
Mike: Excellent. And how do you. What can we expect from the match? Be one of these teams that mix up formations or is it something like, once we start doing well, we're going to stick with that? And how do you see it kind of going?
Erin: So I feel like with us, once we find something that works, we kind of stick with that. So yesterday, obviously, going down to ten men, 13 minutes in any game isn't very. It's not ideal. We made the substitution, took off one of our attacking midfielders and put Tyler Golden in. So we kind of stuck with. We stuck with four at the back and that's what worked for us because we were putting him out in defence and we were closing, working down at any opportunities. So they weren't working. Didn't have many opportunities yesterday, but when they did, it was, it was. It was heavily charged down by the Altrincham defence. I feel like once we find something that works, we stick with it. But if something's not working, we'll change something. Like maybe what? We'll switch Jesurun from the wing to up front and put Regan Leny, the striker, on the right wing. So just, just little changes like that, that can change a game or people. We've got people off the bench to bring on. We brought in Keon Reding. He's coming from Stoke City. Under 21s. He's a former FA Youth cup winner. He's another one that can come off the bench and change a game. George Wilson as well. We've got little players that can come off the bench and change a game within seconds.
Mike: Fair enough, fair enough. Watch out for that. And do you have a prediction for the match? Don't worry. No one ever puts any money on it because I get them all wrong all the time. So just, just go with whatever you feel.
Erin: I don't know, because in the past we've had some decent games against you. Last time we've heard you would have been in lockdown.
Mike: Yeah, it locked down and we were two-nil down in about 90 minutes. And I remember Connor Hampson hit it, wanting it hit the roof of the net in the last minute.
Erin: Ah, I'm probably going to say two-nil. I don't know why, two-nil just seems to. Yeah, two-nil just seems. Seems right. First number that popped into your head. That's fine. Just seems right.
Mike: Excellent, excellent. So thank you very much.
Erin: Thank you.
Mike: We look forward to the game. I'm very much looking forward to the game. We've got a lovely new pitch so it's time. Can see it up close. I saw it very close the other day and I was terrified to cross the line but see the players on it. It would be nice but yeah, look forward to it and good luck for most of the season and we will speak soon.
Erin: Thank you. See you later.
Mike: Right, you all go on to mute straight away, but let's skip over my restart. But 17 years of age, I am never doing an opposition fan podcast ever again. She's answering these questions. I'm like, we played you in lockdown. I don't know if that's true, I just got to take a word for that ain't true. Guy who put me in touch. She didn't mention that as the return game. It all read me one forty. They got a two draw, but Alice Smith in their side, they got a two draw out of place and he won the return game. Four-one up there. Yeah, just. Oh my God. And there's me showing off. Oh, this should go into the match programme. Yeah. Aren't I great? Yeah, I go into the match programme every week. I commentate on the team. Okay, I thought I was doing good, but what did we think? I mean, thank you Erin for your thoughts, but what did you think? Were you surprised that kind of the same thoughts that you guys had about Altrincham or had you not even considered them yet? Is it too early?
Dan: I mean, obviously they had a good season. They definitely had a good season last year. Finished fourth. But yeah, they've had a couple of. They've lost a couple of bodies, including the lad who scored a lot of the goals and was a big, big deal for them last year. They've lost him, but again, it's early in the season. I mean, it's one of those things that how teams. I mean, even she was saying, you know, they've obviously got a relatively settled squad, but there was still the misplaced passes and obviously mistakes being made. It takes a couple of games for most sides, I think, just to totally find their feet. I think they'll definitely ask more questions of us than Tamworth did and it sounds like they do like, they do like to play with wingers and play with a bit of pace. So our lads are going to need to be on their toes defensively, but hopefully as well, if they like to play with possession and they like to have the ball, maybe there'll be a bit more space for us to play a little bit as well and we can see a bit more of what Steve wants, how Steve wants us to play more going forward. So, yeah, I'm expecting a competitive game. I think it'll be a good one.
Mark: Yeah, I agree. I mean, I think there'll be more of a test for us than Tamworth. Obviously, we'll be at home for this one. The lad who scored all the goals for them last season, Chris K. Clark, he went to Peterborough, but they've got quite a few of last season's squad still there. And as, as Erin said, they brought in some players. A couple of the players she mentioned actually scored against us for other clubs. Alex Newby scored against us at Rochdale. Tom Crawford has scored against us at Hartlepool. So, you know, our stand certainly knows a bit about some of these players. So, yeah, I think it'll be a more entertaining game than yesterday's, but it'll be a tougher game. And I think, you know, all our players need to go up a couple of gears on yesterday. With a bit of luck, it won't be quite as hot and sweaty next Saturday as it was yesterday.
Mike: Yeah, definitely. Well, it's going to lead us on to the predictions and the prediction league. I don't think I've jumped on to this, but Mark, what's your prediction for the match?
Mark: I'm going to be bit pessimistic. I'm going to go two-one. Two-one to Altrincham.
Mike: And yourself Dan?
Dan: It's a tough one, actually, again, because it's so early in the season and we obviously didn't do much yesterday. I'll probably go with another draw. Draw. It sounds, from what Erin was saying, it sounds like they might still be slotting a couple of new pieces in themselves. So whilst they were more of a test. Yeah, I think probably another one-all draw might be. I think it might take us a couple of games to get. Get that first win.
Mike: Okay, well, five people who entered did one-one for Saturday, so there's five maximum, but no one got the goal scorer, so no one got those extra points. I'm going with two-one. Just because it's got to be right sometime.
Dan: Fifty-six. A streak of fifty-six wrong. It's amazing.
Mike: So the next big question, obviously, you guys have to join in with the know me. Know you. What player would you sign for Sutton and let us know what was good, bad and funny. But next big question, Mark, I'm not sure it applies so much to you because I think you're still behind the goal or the curver. So you kind of still got your spot. But me and Dan need to kind of plan our days and where we're going to stand. We'll see as if we're going to sit. So any thoughts? Tell us where we should be standing, where should we watch the match and why? I mean, the obvious choice is the Tardis because it's basically the same view but just opposite. Tell us why and where should we give it a try?
Mike: We're going to wrap up, basically. You probably guessed out with where we are in the conversation. So we're wrapping up this episode podcast. We appreciate the attention and feedback. There's lots of questions for you get involved in so please do follow, like, share this episode, tag us in at Sutton podcasts on social media. The photo that's going to be with the artwork this week was with Lewis Maingam role, so I'm going to try and do that again this season. Instead of me just casually scrolling Twitter and trying to find someone's picture and beg for it, I am going to say hey can people just send me some pictures? That would be much easier for me. But don't forget to like and subscribe on your podcast platforms. Give a thumbs up on the old YouTube. We're back on Wednesday with Lucy and Sophie and will let us know how the inside get shaped up for the season. They've had a million friendlies and get the questions in. We'll be asking all about the 125 goals in two season strong strikers. It will be interesting if we get the Gander Green Lane curse on this striker. Just no goals. But yeah, let's hope that. Let's hope not for their sake. Absolutely. I'm definitely going to be putting that Lucy. As always, thank you to our sponsors Lucky Star Gin and a big thank you to you guys, Mark and Dan. I've kept you out of the sun for a little while so it should be cool now. Thanks to listeners. Hope you've enjoyed this episode of podcast. Take care and we will catch up soon. Thank you.
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