In this latest episode of Sutton United Talk Time on Podcast, we explore 'The Thing That Unites Us' with special guests Alex and Claire. Hosted by me, Mike, this episode delves into football fan culture, memorable matchday rituals, and how genuine passion fuels everything at Sutton United.
Mike Dowling
00:37 - 01:06
Hello, and welcome to another episode of Sutton United Talk Time on podcast. It's the Sutton podcast in association with Lucky Star Gin. I'm your host, Mike, and today we have Alex and Claire. We're going to be discussing another late, late show, and we're going to look forward to a week's break, and then Boston. I know, a whole week. We may I don't know, chat about season ticket prices. That kind of news slipped out very quietly. I don't know if anyone picked it up this week. There was a slight announcement. We do love hearing from you.
Mike Dowling
01:06 - 01:17
Join the conversations, stay connected, share, like, comment, all the other stuff on social media and hashtag teams like something, the likes of something. I can't remember what that actually says. I
Claire
01:17 - 01:19
can't even remember your own hashtag.
Mike Dowling
01:20 - 01:27
Buy the merch. Yeah, buy the merch, which is modelled by Alex. I can't show you because it's a sticker on the
Claire
01:27 - 01:28
wrong side. I've got a sticker on
Mike Dowling
01:29 - 01:35
the laptop. Alex, how have you been? I know I saw you briefly yesterday, but how are you? Very well,
Alex
01:35 - 01:52
thanks. Yeah, delighted to have got the late equalizer yesterday to preserve the unbeaten streak on the podcast. I did very confidently say to both of you when I saw you yesterday's game that we were going to win because Claire and I were on today. But we'll take the unbeaten streak, even if not the win.
Mike Dowling
01:53 - 01:57
It has changed from a winning streak to an unbeaten streak. I like the little way you did that.
Alex
01:57 - 02:01
And if we lose, when I'm due to come on, I'll just fake an excuse me.
Mike Dowling
02:01 - 02:07
Yeah, yeah. Claire,
Claire
02:07 - 02:12
nice quiet day yesterday? Oh, absolutely blissfully peaceful. Thank you very much for asking.
Mike Dowling
02:12 - 02:15
Beautiful. I saw you woke up quite late.
Claire
02:16 - 02:16
Oh yeah,
Mike Dowling
02:16 - 02:22
yeah, definitely. I did send you a little email. Hmm.
Claire
02:23 - 02:25
Oh, did we have a question? I missed the
Mike Dowling
02:25 - 02:27
question. Oh, I was just
Claire
02:27 - 02:30
to ask Alex first, because I'll do it now. Oh, I'm so
Mike Dowling
02:30 - 02:33
awful. Here's the thingy, but I just rewrote
Claire
02:33 - 02:33
the
Mike Dowling
02:33 - 02:56
question and I could regret it, but hey. So the question is, do you wear any specific clothing or lucky items on match days? Alex?
Alex
02:57 - 03:42
Yes. Do you? What is it? I am pathetic with this, actually, because I'm assuming that wearing your shirt doesn't count, because everyone does that. I am the least superstitious. a pair of underwear with a yellow trim and yellow socks which are actually like beer socks so yellow then with the white bits at the top to resemble a pint of beer but they're the only yellow socks match days. They have absolutely no correlation to the results or the performance. I've worn them for wins, draws and losses, home and away. But for some reason, whenever I'm getting ready on match day, and actually even in the week, I'm like, I can't wear you today
Mike Dowling
03:42 - 03:43
because I need you on
Alex
03:43 - 03:45
Saturday. It's just embarrassing.
Mike Dowling
03:47 - 03:56
Saturday rotation. Right, first question I have to ask though is, was that yellow trim yellow at the start? Yeah,
Alex
03:56 - 04:01
fair question. It is there by design, although it is fading by the day.
Mike Dowling
04:02 - 04:04
Fair enough, fair enough. And Claire?
Claire
04:05 - 04:42
I just, I have now a vision of what the little clip is going to be on Instagram later. Maybe Alex talking about his pants. No, I don't actually. I used to, much like Alex used to have a pair of pants I always used to wear, but this is many, many years ago. And now I just feel like If I wear something and we win, I'm like, oh, I have to wear that next time. And then I tell myself that what I wear plays no relevance to what happens on the pitch. And I have to give myself that serious talking.
Claire
04:43 - 04:53
Otherwise, I think I would be wearing the same outfits like over and over and over again, because I'm very easily manipulated by my brain, I think is the way to put it.
Mike Dowling
04:54 - 04:57
I mean, I don't have any superstitions at all.
Claire
04:57 - 04:57
No.
Mike Dowling
04:59 - 05:02
I even had to sneak onto the curve the other night just to go...
Claire
05:03 - 05:09
I've never seen a man look so happy. Yeah. I was, you know, the other side of the ground and I could tell how happy he was.
Alex
05:09 - 05:11
The picture that went round the view was very good.
Mike Dowling
05:14 - 05:56
Hang on, that's a picture I posted, not anyone else's picture. Yes, that one. Yeah, OK. I was worrying what other pictures there are. Yeah, chuck in your answers as well. Let us know what your lucky pants are and what the rest of it. Tag us on socials at Sutton Podcast. So today the ladies teams lost to the league leaders. They were 1-0 up and I put out a nice little yay and then it was about two minutes later it was drawn but Dagenham came back, Dartford even, came back to win 2-1 but they're running away at the moment with the league so they're a really really strong side so it sounds like a loss but they're a really good side.
Mike Dowling
05:58 - 06:45
Claire, I'm going to give you a pass to drop in and out of the rest of this conversation because obviously you have two hats on, official hat and obviously fan hat first, but I fully appreciate that there'll be things that you might rather not comment because that... No, no, no, go for it. Okay, so season tickets. Alex, you might need all your professional skills to use proper language. Right. So, initial thoughts. So, things have happened in a different, in a specific order. When the announcement came, what were you kind of, what did you think? I mean, everyone's reaction was slightly different, but what were your thoughts straight away?
Alex
06:46 - 07:17
Yeah, so initially, I did, you know, did the sums, I think someone else put the sums on, on social media, and it was about a 17% increase from the price last year. So your initial reaction is, well, given that price was advertised last year at a time when we didn't know if we'd be in league two or the national league, you think we are potentially getting that for a potentially League Two and then 17% increase for what is likely to be a mid-table finish in the National League. You think that's a big increase. That's a bit of a, you know, bit of a sleep increase, I mean.
Alex
07:18 - 07:47
But my approach to it has always been money to the club is a good thing and I appreciate that people are in different financial situations and it's you know it's it's a factor you know there's loads of fact that could the cost be spread over of course a series of payments throughout the season could the window be longer for a new all that kind of stuff I think you know the approach that me and the people I go with take is often that For example, if we're having a drink before or after the game, we would do that at the club rather than at a nearby pub because we'd rather give the money to the club.
Alex
07:47 - 08:09
And therefore, even when the season tickets go up in the way that we thought they were going to be doing, it's still money to the club. It can hopefully lead to success on the pitch, all of that kind of stuff. So you can sort of rationalize it that way. But as I say, my initial reaction was, OK, that's a bit steep, considering we're likely to finish the lowest we have been in four or five years.
Mike Dowling
08:10 - 08:31
Yeah, I expected about a 30 quid increase. I'll be honest, I hadn't really sat and thought about it, my kind of 10% increase, but it didn't overly shock me because like you, I'm kind of like, well, I'm buying a ticket anyway, so it kind of doesn't matter. And if you break
Alex
08:31 - 08:51
it down over the course of a 23 game season, home season for a club that we love, I can appreciate it for lots of people. As I say, everyone's financial situation is different. You can look at it and think that's quite a lot.
Mike Dowling
08:52 - 08:58
Yeah, there is a payment plan, unfortunately, and I know Claire's nodding because she's been fighting for the payment
Claire
08:58 - 09:39
plan. I mean, I'm a big advocate. I won't disagree with anything that Alex has said and also massively echo the sentiments. Everybody's in different financial situations, right? And football and money are two of the most emotive things that probably exist in our world, right? So, like, it's always going to be difficult to make the balance there. But yeah, the plan thing is something I'm very, very passionate about. Like if you want to spread the cost over a few months, you can you can use Klarna. And I really did push for that. And that got introduced at the beginning of last season because it does make a massive difference if you if you can do that.
Claire
09:39 - 09:50
So I would advocate anyone using that, whether you necessarily need to or not. Like it's just a great it's a great option just to lighten the load a little bit.
Mike Dowling
09:51 - 10:04
Yeah, I mean, my mercenary thoughts on that is, it kind of takes away a little bit of the point, obviously I'm on it, but the club want the injection of money.
Claire
10:05 - 10:08
With Klana, the money, the club get the money straight
Mike Dowling
10:08 - 10:09
out.
Claire
10:10 - 10:28
So with a Klana payment, that money goes straight to the club. Klana as a company carry that, that like that, it's debt for want of a better word, but it's not debt, it's like that credit agreement effectively. So the club, the money goes straight to the club, but Klarna will then take the money from you.
Mike Dowling
10:29 - 11:01
not know that. Excellent, even better. And the other thing I was, I was, when I started looking into it, I was like, okay, yeah, that does look quite steep, blah, blah, blah. But I went back a further year. And prices went down last year. Do we think that was a mistake? Because if prices had gone up a little bit last year, like 25 quid, and then 25 quid this year, we'd be in the same position, but people wouldn't be moaning so much about a smaller increase.
Alex
11:02 - 11:17
But would we have just had exactly the same conversation? Because, you know, at last year, that price increase would have come at a time where we were looking like we were going to get relegated, which obviously subsequently happened. Would we have just had the same conversation where everyone's saying, hang on, we might be dropping a leak here and you're putting the prices up. So
Mike Dowling
11:17 - 11:18
actually, I
Alex
11:18 - 11:23
think when you increase the prices, there's going to be chat about it, kind of however you play it to an extent.
Mike Dowling
11:24 - 11:33
Yeah, no, I mean, it was, I don't know. It's always hindsight is wonderful. It'd be great to go. Oh, yeah, we're doing small increases. Obviously,
Claire
11:33 - 11:33
I do
Mike Dowling
11:33 - 12:11
council tax. That's why I'm know about the small increases. But yes, it had a bit of reaction, some of which was the wording. And it's a new sort of phase of tickets. So we've been very used to the early bird and then the general prices. And then this seems it's something new, which possibly wasn't explained as well as it could have been. and it left a bit of a silence, which got filled by people deciding that, ah, but if you renew at this price, you might find the early bird is cheaper. There's always going to be odd, that would never have happened.
Mike Dowling
12:11 - 12:13
But I'm glad, did you want to jump in? I
Claire
12:13 - 12:55
didn't know, just because I think that perhaps the message on that, in hindsight, probably wasn't clear enough. But I've long advocated for there should be an incentive for existing season tickets holders to renew before an early bird window and they should be getting the cheapest price as a show of loyalty to them. You should, if you bought a season ticket last year, the price that you pay should be incentivised to you. If you buy in an early bird window, you shouldn't be paying the same as somebody who's like, new to it, you know what I mean?
Claire
12:55 - 13:20
Like, I feel like there should always be something that goes, you did, you stuck with us last year, and possibly the year before that, and the year before that, and the year before that. And therefore, as a show of how much you mean to us, we're going to get you to go first, and you get a little bit of a, of a bonus from that. And perhaps, yeah, in hindsight, that was not delivered as articulately as perhaps it could have been. But it's all a learning curve, isn't it?
Mike Dowling
13:20 - 13:34
Yeah. I mean, Alex, you must do this. You read a document over and over and over, and everyone else reading the document knows exactly what they're talking about. And then someone else reads it, and it's like, what the hell? It doesn't make any sense. And you're all thinking, well, yeah, it does. It makes perfect sense.
Alex
13:34 - 14:03
Yeah. I think the idea behind it is totally sound. I completely agree with everything Claire said there. And as you say, it's all, you know, It's really hard when you're completely engrossed in something and you think about it all the time and you produce the material and documentation to reflect that. As you say, you completely understand it because it's been your life for the last week, two weeks or whatever. But then, you know, someone seeing it fresh can look at it and read it differently. But as I said, it's all learning. And I think the most important thing is that the idea behind it is really sound.
Mike Dowling
14:05 - 14:38
Yeah, one, one other thing. Claire's obviously worked very hard, so she may have strong feelings on this. The extra benefits onto the ticket, there's various different things. Obviously, we've seen some of the nights and organized things that Claire's had this year. Some were like, well, I don't want all those benefits, I just want a cheaper price. Do we think that some of that, and this is before Claire's time, It's based on past experience of offers that have been shiny and new and then forgotten about partway through the season. I know there was 1898 things a couple of, about four years, three or four years ago.
Mike Dowling
14:38 - 14:40
Or do you think people are just like,
Claire
14:40 - 14:40
no,
Mike Dowling
14:41 - 14:47
I'm not interested in any of that other stuff and they don't see it as a benefit? Alex? I think you're probably going to
Alex
14:47 - 15:10
get a bit of both, whatever you do, really. I mean, if you sell it, you know, if you just do a cheaper price and don't have any of these extra benefits, then people will look at the fact that this year we've tried to kind of, for want of a better word, corporatize the club and the offerings and the social media stuff a bit more and say, well, we're not doing anything then. But then if you do it the other round and offer all these things for a higher price, you'll get people that say, I just want a lower price.
Alex
15:12 - 15:21
I think you could debate it forever. And as Claire said, money and football are very emotive topics. So whichever route you go down, you're always going to get people. You're
Claire
15:21 - 15:21
never
Alex
15:21 - 15:31
going to have 100% agreement with all of it, right? It's basically impossible to achieve that unless you give out season tickets for free, which is not going to happen. So I think you'll get either way.
Mike Dowling
15:32 - 15:59
Yeah, I mean, I'm not saying this because she's there, I said it at the time, but the thing with Steve and, Steve, Steve, both Steve and John, they were both really good, the night with Steve Morrison, sort of explaining things, been perhaps a little bit more open than he has been before, because it was a closed group of people and he was talking about something he was quite comfortable with, the training and the setups, and the one with Steve Sallis and John Meaney as well were both really, really good. I'm sure there were others, Claire, sorry,
Claire
16:01 - 16:02
Yeah, the highlights.
Mike Dowling
16:03 - 16:23
Yeah, okay. So, some people got very upset, they were talking about the protest, they were demanding meetings, and then Wonder Woman stepped in to organise a meeting. How did that conversation go, Claire, if you're able to share any of the
Claire
16:24 - 17:32
So there wasn't any demand, there weren't demands as such for meetings, so there were obviously, there was a petition that I think maybe landed on Thursday and then Friday morning there were mentions of a protest and I think maybe I approach this in a very typical, has worked in politics for far too long, civil servant way of thinking that you have a protest when all of the conversations at the table have dried up and people aren't prepared to come back and sit back down. And actually, while some people had reached out for conversations, and I know that they had those with Tim and others, I was really keen that the conversation took place between the people that were pushing to kind of demonstrate something because clearly they needed an avenue to to use their voice so yeah there were a lot of conversations on Friday between myself and some of those individuals just to kind of offer them something.
Claire
17:34 - 18:12
Bluntly, I've seen, obviously, there's been a lot of comments since about, why was it Steve? Why was Steve put in that position to talk to people? He wasn't put in that position. I came in on Friday and I was talking to him and Tim about it, and he very much volunteered to talk to people. He stepped up to that and was like, I'll talk to people. And... To who, sorry, Claire? To the fans. Yeah, to the fans. To the fans. So... Initially that was going to be the youngsters that were organising the protest. I don't use youngsters in a derogatory manner, I guess they're a lot younger than me.
Claire
18:13 - 18:55
I'm an old lady, not as old as Mike, obviously. you know, given the kind of the volume of people, we felt it was only fair to kind of offer that out wider, which is why then on Friday afternoon I posted kind of invites to said nine o'clock meeting on various channels for people to come and do that and that was kind of, you know, obviously uh out there by my by myself not you know kind of through the club as such um but that's kind of something I try to facilitate from my kind of weird SLO kind of space
Mike Dowling
18:56 - 19:31
um yeah um yeah I mean so the offer was made obviously I wasn't actually part of the meeting I couldn't make it um I had bacon sandwiches to eat so um couldn't possibly make that but The outcome is Steve has basically said he's going to cover the cost of the tickets. What I found quite interesting is there was one person who was getting remarkably upset with the way Steve spoke to people who wasn't at the meeting. They heard it from other people, and the other people who were at the meeting were like, no, it wasn't like that at all.
Mike Dowling
19:31 - 19:40
And he's like, well, he shouldn't talk to people like that. Well, we were there, and he didn't speak to people like that. One of them just said, That's how he is. He's not going to talk to us differently.
Claire
19:40 - 20:22
I think that, again, like I said, all the things that are being discussed are very emotive. There was a lot of passion from people in that room. And everybody who was in there left that room happy with the conversations that had taken place and the ways in which the resolution that was come to and the willingness of people to talk and listen. It's frustrating when people who have been invited into the conversation have chosen not to participate, but then want to put a negative voice out in there to fill the narrative that they've talked about.
Claire
20:24 - 21:10
Social media is quite scary in that regard. You can say anything on the internet without fear of reproach on a lot of occasions and actually you can build your own narrative and say the things that you want to say. but then not necessarily be brave enough to vocalise them in person. And actually, words matter. What people say matters, what you write on the internet matters, and we all have a platform. as big or small and how you choose to use it is a reflection on yourself and your intentions and I think that there's a lot of, I've taken a lot of time to think about that over the last few days of what you put out there.
Mike Dowling
21:11 - 21:43
Well, it actually really does lead on, because Steve's made this gesture, said, okay, it's sorted, we'll cover it. And you got everyone going, oh, it's just a PR exercise, blah, blah, blah. It's like, he genuinely can't win. He just genuinely cannot win. Because if he did nothing, why isn't he helping us? Why is he just standing by? But Alex, what do you think? I mean, literally, it was within I think possibly before the match had started, people were saying it was just a PR stunt. What do you think?
Alex
21:43 - 22:20
Yeah, as I said, whatever decision is taken in regard to something that has financial impacts is going to be met with criticism regardless. So your point about him not being able to win is a fair one. Fantastic gesture, you know, really great. amazing thing to offer and to do. I, you know, I'm interested in and Claire sort of alluded to it as a result of this meeting, I was interested in, in how that comes about and how, you know, he, how and why he Um, but that's not to take anything away from the gesture. I think it's, it's fantastic of him to offer that.
Alex
22:20 - 22:47
I'm a little interested as to what will happen because, you know, he's not going to be our manager forever. So, you know, he does this now, but let's say he's not there in a couple of seasons time and the price has gone, but then go up again. Are we going to have exactly the same conversation I'm interested in? And I don't know how much Claire can share about this interest in a sort of longer term planning behind that aspect. from Steve, yeah, obviously fantastic.
Mike Dowling
22:48 - 23:27
Yeah, I'd more suggest of a slow build up over the previous months of how much money things are costing us. And yeah, look, here is our electric bill. Oh, look, here's this. And by the way, guys, we have to price it up. Sorry about that. And I mean, I'm not sure people understand the scope of it, because I was kind of like, Oh, that's nice. But I'm not sure. And let's say 300 people take up his offer. That's 15 grand. That's not a, it's not a small pocket money change. So I The other thing I kind of was, I know, we've seen the accounts, we know, things aren't great.
Mike Dowling
23:28 - 23:43
But my little worry was, is this early extra offer a little bit like a payday loan, where we're taking a little bit of money from next year's income to cover this year's? I know, everyone has to do it in this cash flow. So it's just like, is it the right thing? Claire, you shook your head very quickly.
Claire
23:43 - 24:30
I just I just think that, um, like with everything in life, like that we're over-analyzing something that we don't necessarily need to, like literally just take it at face value. Like I understand people's wants to dissect it and to go into it and think, oh why has he done this, what's his motivation for this, why would he do such a thing, where does that money come from, whatever. just literally take that as somebody doing something really, really lovely that they don't need to do. And, you know, we've had managers in the past who've done some similar bits and pieces, let's say, and actually, like, his focus is what's happening on the pitch, and what, you know, and coaching the team and doing all of that kind of stuff.
Claire
24:31 - 25:08
And this allows him to then focus on that and I've seen a lot of comments of like why is he getting involved because bluntly like when there's that much noise it can distract from the things that everybody else is trying to do and it can take up a lot of energy and whatnot and actually it allows you to go cool let's let's go on with it and he you know he more than others will understand you know kind of the need for some of those things and whatnot so it's just literally just take it as as much as some people still don't want to believe it he is a really lovely man
Alex
25:11 - 25:30
Can I just comment on that, Mike? It's just, it is interesting, Claire, that, you know, this decision has been, I think maybe even he didn't decide to do this before the match, right? Which is fantastic. And then it is just, I can see how people can struggle to take it at face value because then two minutes into the match, he's shouting up at the stand. And
Claire
25:30 - 25:30
I
Alex
25:30 - 25:32
know it's frustrating when people are having to go at you from
Claire
25:32 - 25:50
the stand. And I think that's the thing. I think if you, People mistake his passion for him being aggressive or whatever, like, I understand that somebody shouted, like, get hold of this or what are you doing, whatever. He's not in control of what literally just happened when it came to that penalty.
Mike Dowling
25:55 - 25:59
I think someone shouted that that's your fault, Morrison, or something, for when
Claire
25:59 - 26:29
the penalty was given. Yeah, which is just, I think sometimes, yeah, okay, he might react, and he's the first one, he said it yesterday, like, in the meeting, I might react and I say things and maybe I shouldn't say them, but that's who he is and he's passionate and he's caring. You know he's passionate, you only have to watch him on the sidelines talking to the fourth and I know you see this because you're stood quite near him. I mean yesterday there were points where he was practically jumping up and down because he's so frustrated by what's going on.
Claire
26:29 - 26:32
So yeah, I get it.
Alex
26:32 - 26:39
I want the passion from him, I want the passion from the fans who are annoyed. I actually sordidly almost quite like that we're having this conversation because I
Speaker 3
26:40 - 26:40
want
Alex
26:40 - 26:49
people to be passionate about Southern United. I'm passionate about Southern United. It's just, yeah, it's a whole, it's, I think maybe I just fundamentally don't understand the man, but
Claire
26:49 - 26:49
that's not a
Alex
26:49 - 26:50
bad thing, you know.
Claire
26:51 - 27:36
I think what this, I think what the last few days massively demonstrates is that people are passionate and it's how you channel that and I think like, um I said this to to George who started the petition like I was like you have so much passion and so much energy and you clearly want to be involved let's channel that and let's do something amazing with it and I think like he's um he's going to be a real credit as a fan right to like actually have someone who really cares that much and I've said it to um the guys behind the goal about how they can you know channel all of their energy into getting behind the boys and doing those things and how we can build those relationships to make them feel even more part of it and I think that's the thing that has to come out of it.
Claire
27:37 - 28:46
It makes me sad when words like greed get thrown around about people who um bluntly like you don't invest we've had this conversation numerous times right but you don't invest in a football club because you're greedy you invest in a football club because something about it has captured you and you want to be part of it and I know like from my very um like my role means I get like a privileged access to people behind the scenes right and I had a chat with Gary a couple of weeks ago when he was over and I asked him you know why do you do this and him talking about Sutton like his face lights up like he cares he wants to be involved like he's doing this because like the rest of us for some weird reason there is something about Sutton United that gets you excited and it gets in your blood and you just can't help yourself and he's not he's not a greedy man like he's so um he's so incredibly generous and like um that's something that obviously the fans need to see more, because then they'd understand him.
Claire
28:47 - 29:24
And the same with, you know, Ben and others, if they could see a little bit of that, then they'd know and they'd understand. And I'm working on that. But like, that's the thing, the word, the word most in the last few days that really, really upset me, and lots of things upset me on Friday in particular, was just the word greed, because none of this is about greed, it's about how passionate we all are about Sutton United and about keeping our club, you know, around for the next, you know, 125 years plus for the next generation of people to, and generation and generation of people, to love it like we do.
Claire
29:26 - 29:40
So it's one of those things where maybe we should stop focusing on all of the things that divide us and make us different and actually just focus on that one little passionate thing because we all love Sutton right and that's that's why we're
Alex
29:40 - 29:41
there.
Mike Dowling
29:43 - 30:24
That was on my list. No, no, I've seen and heard the greedy investors are to blame. I'm amazed that we attract this kind of investment, especially with the way some people disparagingly refer to the investors as the Americans. And it's not like an investment where us three and other fans do, where you go along, you put your money behind the bar, like you said, Alex, you buy your season ticket, you're getting something in return for all that. You're getting entertainment. Sometimes it's not the best entertainment and you're not as happy as you would be, but it's crap football is better than no football.
Mike Dowling
30:25 - 30:55
But you're getting your drink, you're getting something for your money. You put your time in. There's an enjoyment to a lot of this. they're putting a lot of more zeros in and they're not getting as much back. And when I spoke to Gary at the start of this season, I did kind of jokingly say, hang on, an investment implies that you're going to get something back. You're going to get a return. How come you keep putting more and more money in? I don't know. I understand investments are supposed to work that way, but it doesn't seem to.
Mike Dowling
30:57 - 31:35
But the last thing I had is some people were complaining that the window isn't long enough. And that last year we had longer. And crucially, I think they've also missed the point that last year, it was the early bird offer that was longer. And this is a brand new, separate, completely different early, early, early bird offer. So I think that's why it's a very short window. And it's just a reward. And yeah, get some funds in. So we don't know what it's for. It could be that Steve's planning to raid someone very, very quickly before the window, or the day the window opens, and he wants everything there.
Alex
31:36 - 31:37
Can I just say one last thing?
Mike Dowling
31:37 - 31:37
I
Alex
31:37 - 31:49
don't know if Claire, you can arrange this, but if there's some way whereby all every penny of my season ticket renewal goes directly into Will Davis's it I would be much appreciated if you could do
Claire
31:49 - 31:53
that. I'll make the suggestion but I can't make any promises. I'd like him
Alex
31:53 - 31:55
to personally receive my money.
Claire
31:55 - 32:06
It was actually one of the things on my post-it note things to talk about was Steve said at the beginning of the season that we would love Will Davis when he scored goals and my god do we love Will Davis when he scores goals.
Mike Dowling
32:11 - 32:39
On that, years ago I think it was Wigan actually who used to do a thing with their season ticket that you had a contribution of up to £30 a month to pay to the club and of that £30 you could split it into three separate things. So one was the data science, one was the Academy and one was I can't think the ladies team was there was something else. But basically, you could say I want to pay this much money, and I want it to split between these two or all three or just this one thing.
Mike Dowling
32:39 - 33:07
So you knew that your your contribution was going to that. And they got things like 10 or 15 20% off in the club shop. and other little perks, which is great because obviously if you spend 30 quid and you know you're going to get 10% off in the club shop, you've got to spend at least 300 quid to make that worthwhile because that's mercenary coming back in. You know you've got to spend this money. But let's talk about the match. We've done well to
Alex
33:07 - 33:08
avoid it so far.
Mike Dowling
33:08 - 33:41
We have, we have. So, I mean, it did need talking about, sorry, but Steve called for everyone to get behind the team from the start, blah, blah, blah, and there was a lot of comments about, well, we can't be going a goal down that early and expect everyone to get behind us. So we didn't go a goal down, we just gave away a penalty within the first few seconds. How were you feeling at that point, Alex? I personally was kind of like, oh God, I just sent out a clip last week of how we're confident when we're facing
Claire
33:42 - 33:43
penalty because the Jack seems in goal
Mike Dowling
33:43 - 33:43
and we
Claire
33:43 - 33:44
get a penalty
Mike Dowling
33:44 - 33:47
straight away. So how were you at that point?
Alex
33:48 - 34:25
Yeah, I think I sighed probably is the best way to describe it. I thought it was a pen. It's a bit of an unlucky penalty in the sort of way his hand was, but I thought it was a pen. But he's just got an aura about him in goal, doesn't he? Because I was standing with someone who I don't usually stand with at that point and he said, not a regular goer, and he said, His goal looking bigger because Jack doesn't look very big in goal and he doesn't but just the way that he, especially with penalties and his reputation, I think that's three saves this season, four if you count the one away to Chertsey.
Alex
34:25 - 34:27
Did he touch it onto the post? Did it hit the post?
Mike Dowling
34:28 - 34:30
He doesn't count that one. Yeah, I think he's four.
Alex
34:30 - 34:36
Then three but you know four penalties that have been missed against us and he's starting to get a reputation.
Speaker 3
34:36 - 34:36
I mean it
Alex
34:36 - 34:40
wasn't a great penalty was it really but you've got to go the right way, you've got to keep it out and
Speaker 3
34:40 - 34:41
yeah.
Alex
34:42 - 35:09
I think actually my main takeaway from it was that I was a little disappointed that it didn't kick us on because really the first 20, 25 minutes, I was looking that way, i.e. towards our goal. It was only really towards the end of the half where I started to look left with us attacking more. I would hope in the future that if something like that happens early in the game, we could use it to galvanize us and sort of snap us into action, which didn't really happen. But no, Simo, I mean, he's up there with the goalkeepers in the division, isn't he?
Mike Dowling
35:11 - 35:22
Absolutely. And the word aura is how I said it to Dan Taylor. I said something about his aura that helped it. It's something, some words, it was exchanged.
Claire
35:22 - 35:23
The second word was off.
Mike Dowling
35:24 - 35:33
But Claire, how were you feeling at the start? I mean, sorry, Alex, you said there it wasn't a great penalty, but I think, Claire, you were in a conversation with someone at the end of the match. If it went in, everyone
Claire
35:33 - 35:34
would have
Mike Dowling
35:34 - 35:35
said it was a good penalty. Yeah.
Claire
35:37 - 36:11
I think, I mean, much like Alex, I sighed because I was kind of like, you, I think you just kind of had that moment of like, oh, like, this is not how, this is not what I want to happen and this is not how today is meant to go. And I was just like, oh, man. And I absolutely have faith in him. You know, especially after Tuesday night, you're thinking, right, he can do this. He's got this. And when he saved it, I mean, we went absolutely wild. I'm surprised I still have a voice left, like, even just after that.
Claire
36:11 - 36:50
And much like Alex again, I really thought that's like, OK, we've got a bit of a reprieve here that could have been a really early nail in the coffin and, you know, shoulders would have dropped and we'd have been battling something. And we didn't seem to quite lift ourselves up and respond to it in the way that I know that we're capable of and that you see later on in the game of how kind of we can, something can happen and it can really light the fire. So it was kind of disappointing in that regard that like, despite the save, that it didn't spark something.
Claire
36:50 - 37:14
I think for me, I don't know if you've, I was reading comments last night on Instagram there's obviously like a video up of of Jack making the save and then Arnie has commented on it goalie with a heart and I someone was chopping onions near me when I read that because like oh like goalkeeper union is very strong here which I um I love really love
Mike Dowling
37:16 - 37:38
well when I I was dressed as Santa and interviewed Arnie, took it all very seriously. But he was saying, we're in such a strong position, I'm not even counting Jack as a young goalkeeper, but we've got Sam and Matt, and they're both really, really good goalkeepers. As a club, we're lucky to have so many good goalkeepers. So yeah, it is very strong at the club.
Claire
37:39 - 37:56
Isn't it amazing to have that attitude to it? Because I think quite often, you get this impression that everybody is competing for their spot and that doesn't feel like competition that actually feels like proper like that's teammates right like it's actually like people that support each other yeah which is awesome
Mike Dowling
37:57 - 38:35
Yeah, I mean, I didn't write timings down of any of this, but they had another shout for a penalty, which was probably a better shout than the first one. It was more of a penalty than the one they got. But the ref obviously decided, well, there's no point giving it because Simo's just going to save it. What's the point? But we had a slight shout. Go on, Claire. Talk us through Angry Barbrook, his shot on goal, and the penalty. I mean, the guy was playing basketball, wasn't he?
Claire
38:36 - 38:53
I mean, the most blatant penalty of all time. Like, no. Why are we so unbelievably, like, why do referees hate us? Like, how could that not, like, how could you not give that? How could you not give that?
Mike Dowling
38:53 - 38:54
Yeah. Well,
Claire
38:55 - 39:10
baffling. And I really, I mean, I sound really patronising. I feel for the referee because obviously there is a lot of video evidence and photographs of him being inept at his job and it will be sent to the powers that be.
Mike Dowling
39:12 - 39:13
We'll get another apology, it's OK.
Claire
39:15 - 39:18
And apologies give you points, don't they? So it's really worth
Mike Dowling
39:18 - 39:21
something. You could do an apologies table. I'd love
Claire
39:21 - 39:21
to
Mike Dowling
39:21 - 39:24
see that. It's because you love a stat.
Alex
39:25 - 39:25
I've
Speaker 3
39:25 - 39:26
got a
Alex
39:26 - 39:27
good stat for you later on, Mike.
Mike Dowling
39:29 - 39:40
Clubs would be able to truly say, oh, no, look, see, referees do hate us because we've got four apologies coming out. Alex, go on. You obviously had something to say because you were sucking air there.
Alex
39:40 - 40:10
Yes. I mean, I actually think slightly less bothered about this than other people because obviously it's a penalty. It's such a blatant penalty. But as we have kind of just alluded to, I think they should have had another one as well. So there is an argument that we both didn't get one we deserved. And as I said, I think their first penalty was a legit penalty as well. So, you know, as I say, I think You know, I know you're joking Claire about referees hating us, or maybe it's a truth with a hint of joke in there.
Alex
40:10 - 40:30
But like, I actually think the referee yesterday was just rubbish. I don't think he was biased either way. I thought he was just awful. He was just so card happy and just, you know, making it all about him and not playing advantage and just all over the place. I mean, as I say, blatant penalty. I've seen the replays today and it's a shocker, but they probably should have had one as well, another one.
Mike Dowling
40:31 - 40:38
Well, there's a couple there. I think possibly he might have realised if he'd given it, that's a red card.
Claire
40:39 - 40:40
And he may have had a bit of doubt
Mike Dowling
40:40 - 40:44
and not been 100% clear.
Claire
40:45 - 40:46
I mean, if it's a penalty, it's a
Alex
40:46 - 40:55
red card, right? Yeah. Is there a double jeopardy on that? Because I know they changed the rules on last pitch, but if Hamble's on the line, presumably it's still a red card.
Mike Dowling
40:56 - 41:04
I was like, well, hang on, I thought you can't do that anymore. And it was explained to me that that's only in the case of there's a genuine attempt to play
Claire
41:04 - 41:04
ball.
Mike Dowling
41:04 - 41:06
I mean, technically, you
Alex
41:06 - 41:07
could
Claire
41:07 - 41:11
say. He attempted to play the ball because he thought he was a goalkeeper.
Mike Dowling
41:17 - 41:32
The thing about the cards, and I always find this strange, I mean I don't watch referees as some people do, but the thing with the cards is a lot of them were for dissent and you always think, Yeah,
Claire
41:33 - 41:51
but quite often like if your book, and this is to sound really harsh towards referees, if you're booking loads of people for dissent because they're telling you that you're doing things wrong, maybe take a little bit of a look at yourself because people wouldn't perhaps be being so critical of your work if maybe you were getting it right.
Alex
41:51 - 42:21
But I actually don't actually don't mind yellow cards being issued for dissent. You just got to apply it consistently week in week out with all the rest. Like if they're just going to say there's a directive where if you if you are dissenting, you get booked. I'm all right with that. But, you know. And the fact that, you know, I don't want him to, but the person who most should have got a yellow card for Descendant yesterday was Steve on the Touchstone, but he didn't. So I just have no idea where the consistency in application is, and that I think is the most frustrating thing.
Mike Dowling
42:22 - 42:41
One of the best refs we ever had at Sunday League basically said, look, I know everyone gets emotional football. You can say what you like in the second after the tackle, you say whatever you want. When you draw breath and go to go again, my yellow card will be out before you even... As soon as mums are mentioned, yellow card. Yeah. So, I
Claire
42:41 - 42:41
mean,
Mike Dowling
42:52 - 43:27
We had to then make another substitution, or an early substitution. Josh has unfortunately done his hamstring. Don't know how bad it is, but he kind of hobbled off. And we then had more substitution later on. Now, I really thought that Nana was going to claim to be an absolute hero, because he came on on 77 minutes against Vald, and we came from 1-0 down to 2-1. And then he came on again on 77, 78 minutes, and when we got the equalizer, I was like, You can't ever claim this. I'd be dying out on that, weeks on that if that was me.
Mike Dowling
43:28 - 43:40
But did you think that gave us the spark we needed, or did you think that we were already in the zone of pushing forward and hopefully getting something out of this? Alex, we'll go with you first.
Alex
43:41 - 44:13
I think we were already getting better. I mean, to be honest, I don't think we were ever in the zone yesterday at all throughout the, you know, 102 minutes with the added time and stuff that we actually played. I don't think we were ever fully in the zone and playing anywhere near our best. I think we were gradually, the nature of, you know, of Dagenham holding a 1-0 lead with any team is that you start to sit back as the But no, I thought Nana was good when he came on. I thought he was sharp.
Alex
44:13 - 44:28
And I just, I like that he's, you know, we've talked about this in the context of Dylan and Josh does it sometimes as well when he's on, it's just the bravery to take someone on, especially when you're chasing a game. I would just always rather they did it. Sometimes they'll lose it, but I would take that over cutting back every time for sure.
Mike Dowling
44:30 - 44:31
Claire, what do you think about the subs?
Claire
44:33 - 45:11
I think the bravery point is spot on. He's scrappy, isn't he? He's like, he wants to get in there. He wants to do something. He want to make something happen. And I think that does ignite a little bit. Yeah, I don't think, I think much like Alex, I don't think we were massively in the zone until we scored. And then suddenly it was like, oh, we can do this, and you see that, like, and I mean, like, we can talk about, like, late minute goals again, because that never really goes in our favour, but twice in one week, but like, he, that, you saw the ignition, the kind of switch of like, oh, we could actually win this now.
Claire
45:12 - 45:55
I genuinely, it might sound ridiculous, but at the final whistle I was almost surprised that we hadn't won it because that spark was like oh we can keep going and we were really ramming it at that point and I just thought like this is what we're capable of and sometimes like it just baffles me that they can have those moments where they clearly know what they can do and they seem to forget And I don't quite, there's some kind of psychology there clearly, but like they are capable of so much as a team. And it's a confidence thing and it is that bravery thing and taking the chances and really talking to each other and communicating maybe a little bit better.
Claire
45:56 - 46:29
And then, I mean, I've said it every time I've been on the podcast this year but genuinely like when it clicks it's something magical and you see it for that last five minutes and I just think there's probably a few little tweaks that need to be made somewhere here and there and whether that's with people that we've got or people we might get over the summer or whatever I just think there is so much promise here which I get is why people are frustrated by perhaps not getting three points and you know silly mistakes being made, but it's coming.
Claire
46:29 - 46:30
I really think it's coming.
Mike Dowling
46:31 - 47:00
Well, on that evening with Steve, he'd mentioned bravery. I want the players to be brave. I mean, he was talking about one game where the ball came in, and Lucy kind of booed it out, rather than take it, he was in the penalty area, take it down and pass it. No, Steve, I'm with Suji here, just get rid of it. And he was like, no, no, no, I want him to, he had time to take that down, pass it out, and we retain the ball. And he's like, OK, that's possibly a bit too much for me, but I hear where you're going.
Mike Dowling
47:00 - 47:22
But it is the players just going, you know what, let's do it. And I get it, though, because we're not the loudest, but the groans when things don't go right is quite loud. As soon as something doesn't quite go the way we... So, yeah, I kind of get why people might not. But let's talk about Will.
Alex
47:23 - 48:04
Oh, please, can't we? just so good. I did some homework on this, right. So I think he's got 17 league goals now. And we've scored 50. So that's pretty, you know, that's a third of our goals. And that's pretty, it's good for what you'd hope and expect from your number nine. But what's more interesting, I think, as I went through the fixtures, and that we've got just from his goals. So, you know, if he scored one in the 4-0 win, I'm still counting that as we got three points. So the points that, you know, if you just take out his goals, how it impacts the score.
Alex
48:05 - 48:30
And it's 15 points. And we're on 51. And if you take those 15 off, we're 23rd in the league. And again, like part of that is, you know, what you want from your striker and he needs to be assisted and the defence needs to do their job and Simo needs to make the saves and all that kind of stuff. It's, you know, football's more than just a striker scoring goals. But when you put it like that, it does show just how valuable he is to us. And I would like every single penny of my season ticket to go to him.
Alex
48:30 - 48:33
If he wants a new wash bag, I can contribute towards that or whatever he would like.
Mike Dowling
48:35 - 48:42
I did suggest that we put out a GoFundMe because he didn't actually have it. I was like, let's make one. Let's make this happen. We're
Alex
48:43 - 48:49
getting to the stage where whatever Will Davis wants, I will personally try and arrange for it. I'm going
Claire
48:49 - 48:49
to let him know that.
Mike Dowling
48:51 - 49:03
I mean, how important, I mean, you said it earlier, that Steve said, he made, he made me what, did he say, was it Will who was talking about when he said this is gonna be our top scorer, we haven't signed him yet? I can't remember.
Claire
49:03 - 49:39
I don't, I don't know, but he, I do, you know, remember him saying, like, that we would, we would love him, and, and we do, you know, and, and, those points speak for themselves, don't they, quite frankly? And it's great to have that because I think there are other elements of our team like we've been, we might touch on this later, but like we've been so unlucky with injury, you know, like obviously Josh now, Alex Kirk is probably one of our best players, let's be honest, if not the best, and you know, that's another injury we've had.
Claire
49:40 - 49:47
There are so many missing pieces of the puzzle that actually some of them in there as well, helping Will to do even more.
Mike Dowling
49:50 - 50:24
We're essentially going to have three new signings at the start next year, just from the squad that we've got, because you've got Alex, Jayden and Dylan. I mean, Dylan and Jayden may well do something towards the end of the season, but that will be fully next season. But on Will, whilst I absolutely appreciate what Alex is saying, and I do agree with him, do we think anyone is going to come waving some wads of cash in the summer? And do you think we would be able to say, no, we want to keep him?
Alex
50:25 - 50:27
I don't want to talk about this because it would make me
Claire
50:28 - 51:10
upset. Whilst Alex cries in the corner, I mean, I wouldn't be surprised by that in any way, shape or form. If you score that many goals in a season, then absolutely, yeah. It all comes down to, I guess, how much cash they wave in our face and whether he wants to go. If you're sensible about it, do you go, OK, cool. We're going to do something special next season. If I really set the world alight here and we get a promotion out of it or we're in the playoffs or whatever, I score 10 more goals than I've scored this season, am I going to get an even better offer?
Claire
51:11 - 51:45
next year, am I going to get a bigger club coming in for me, because I've really proved myself, he's still so young, or do you go, well, this is my opportunity? And I really hope that some of those people, whether it's Will or others, sit back and look at what that actually means, because I think one of the things... Loads of us yesterday were talking about Dean Bousanis, right? Because he's signed at Charlton till the end of the season on loan, right? And we can all admit that the first series of Dino that we were party to, we loved him.
Claire
51:45 - 52:27
He was our hero at Wigan. He was amazing. His antics in that penalty shootout alone were legendary. And then, you know, the summer that was and he went away and he went to Reading and he sat on the bench for a considerable amount of time. And the guy that came back to us was not the same player that left us. His confidence, the mental side of the game had gone and he just wasn't performing in the same way. I'd really hope that anybody who was looking at going on took that as a bit of a lesson of like okay cool I could make this step now my god I'm gonna make a lot more money if I'm gonna sit on the bench and I'm not gonna play football Why would I want to?
Claire
52:27 - 52:32
You want to go somewhere because you're going to make that that starting 11 every week, right?
Mike Dowling
52:34 - 52:35
Yeah, I agree.
Claire
52:35 - 52:38
Seems a no brainer to me, but I'm not a football player. So
Mike Dowling
52:38 - 52:38
we
Claire
52:39 - 52:40
thank you stars.
Mike Dowling
52:41 - 53:14
We've got examples outside that. I mean, Eastie was offered to go a couple of times, and he kind of took the picture of, actually, everything's going brilliantly here for me. Why would I want to go? It's not about a few extra quid. You mentioned Dino, there was Will as well. Went off to Notts County, obviously yelling loads more money. Just didn't happen. And last I heard, he was on loan at Dorking, but not getting game time, I'm not sure. But I'm not saying he has to stay, because it is a big decision that he has to make, but you have to kind of look at it all.
Mike Dowling
53:14 - 53:51
And he's learning under a good striker who will be able to teach him and hopefully guide him to say, well, do stay down. And as you said, Claire, maybe stick another solid season in. because there was that guy at Newport that scored loads of goals and he went to Crawley and other places and didn't score any. I can't remember the fella's name, but he had one great season and scored loads and loads of goals. Not our player. And he scored loads there. Next season, there was nothing at all. But how much would it take, Alex?
Alex
53:51 - 53:52
Oh, so much, mate.
Speaker 3
53:52 - 53:53
I mean, look,
Alex
53:53 - 54:11
I don't know. All we can say really is, of course, people will have their eye on him. Of course, some offers will come in. I mean, he's joined third, top scorer in the league, and we're 12th. So that shows you in all the stats we've spoken about, about what he's worth in terms of points and goals. We just cross our fingers, don't we, that he wants to stay and build something here with us.
Mike Dowling
54:12 - 54:29
Yeah. I mean, the other important thing is for years and years and years, we're a club that was always help people platform and move on if they want to. So if a player wants to go, we're not going to go. No, you can't. Like Jeremy as well. That was a strange one where a sudden offer came in for him. It was like, do you
Claire
54:29 - 54:41
want to do it? And that was really, really quick as well. Like a really quick turnaround on that. If he wants to go and he gets the offer that, you know, that he wants, then yeah, I wouldn't envisage that we would stand in his way.
Mike Dowling
54:42 - 54:50
But just in case anyone is listening on the part of scouting, he's horrible in the dressing room and everyone hates him. He's horrible. He'll
Claire
54:51 - 54:53
cost you a fortune in Gucci attire. I
Mike Dowling
54:54 - 54:57
mean, yeah, yeah, no, no, no one likes him around the place. I'm
Claire
54:58 - 54:58
going to
Mike Dowling
54:58 - 55:22
finish up with this. Good, the bad and the funny about yesterday. Right. First of all, Alex, that was hilarious because you were turning your head sort of like that and time to the music as if you were thinking alongside the music.
Speaker 3
55:22 - 55:23
I just suddenly
Alex
55:23 - 55:24
realised that I've given this
Mike Dowling
55:24 - 55:24
no thought at
Alex
55:24 - 55:25
all.
Mike Dowling
55:25 - 55:29
Okay. Well, on the spot, what was good yesterday, Alex?
Alex
55:31 - 55:58
Actually, for a game that I was criticising and for it being a little bit drab and potentially a bit boring at times, there were a few good things. Obviously, last minute goal, always fun. The Penalty saves, great. But I'm actually going to go a bit nicer. I'm just going to say, Bez's left foot. I just love watching him kick a ball. And when he's standing on, you know, behind the dugout, as Claire alluded to, in the first half, when he was coming out the left-hand side, I just like watching him dribble. So that was good for me.
Mike Dowling
55:59 - 56:00
Excellent. Excellent.
Claire
56:00 - 56:09
Claire? Another, I guess I'm going to put a stat into it. I'm beating in Royal Aubergine.
Mike Dowling
56:10 - 56:12
There
Claire
56:12 - 56:13
we go. That's a good thing,
Mike Dowling
56:13 - 56:35
right? Absolutely amazing. I had lots of fun yesterday. I managed to persuade Rambo to let that guy who's on the stag, just before the match, let his friend film him running up the tunnel. It was as if he was coming out on the pitch. Rambo's like, all right then. Really? And then later on, I was showing some
Claire
56:35 - 56:37
people around. You made big Frank's day, did you?
Mike Dowling
56:37 - 57:00
Yeah. Showing some people around, Mickey had to shoot off, so I said, oh, I'll do that. And then as they're walking back down the tunnel just before the match, they were told no. And they sort of turned around and said, oh, we're with him. And Chris went, oh, all right, then, and let him through. And I'm like, I absolutely didn't know I had that much power. Wow, I don't even come down the tunnel. So that was fun for me. What was bad, Claire?
Claire
57:03 - 57:08
What was bad yesterday? The standard of refereeing? Yeah.
Mike Dowling
57:10 - 57:11
fair
Claire
57:11 - 57:15
enough, not blatant hairballs. That was bad. Not sending people off you should.
Mike Dowling
57:16 - 57:19
Yeah, absolutely. Alex, what was bad for you?
Alex
57:20 - 57:45
Yeah, Claire's taken my one refereeing was appalling. I would say though, the only thing I would I mean, who am I to tell Steve how to manage but I think when we can see our benches so you know, John and Steve is so up and so loud. And I like that. But when we can see that does go quite I appreciate it's tricky, but just, yeah, thinking off the top of my head, if I can't say the referee as well.
Mike Dowling
57:45 - 58:13
That's fine. I did keep going to back my old interviews. I had easy on that. And I sort of was asking, I said, you know, when you miss a goal, it's quite an obvious, horrendous miss. And is it really annoying? Everyone's like, oh, go on, unlucky heads up. And it's like, yeah, because because, you know, you know, you were rubbish. So you don't want everyone going, oh, yeah, that's good. All right, Alex, what was funny about the day? There was a moment yesterday,
Alex
58:14 - 58:48
I think it was Dagnon's assistant manager, a guy called Terry Connor, I think he was. And I thought I'd recognised him. I looked at his history, and I can't think where it was from. But he was quite a good demeanour throughout the game. He was being quite funny with the fourth official and the fans and stuff. But there's one moment in stoppage time when one of their players, I think it might have been the his boots on and Terry absolutely lost it at him out of nowhere for the first time in the game completely at odds with his demeanour for the rest of the thing and that just made me laugh.
Mike Dowling
58:50 - 58:55
Be ready, be ready. Yeah I agree. And Claire what was funny for you about that?
Claire
58:57 - 59:26
There's actually quite a lot of funny moments. There's a fair few people trying to be quite jovial and cheer me up at points, which is very, very nice. I think one of my funniest things was I was sitting in the bar before the game, talking to someone, and I had just a half of Coke in a glass. plastic cup. And I finished it, I put it down and Greek appeared behind me and just put a drink in my hand. He's like, yeah, I got you another one. And I was like, well, this is alcohol. That's all I was drinking.
Claire
59:26 - 59:39
And then he just proceeded to keep buying me drinks. So that was quite funny in a sense of I wasn't drinking alcohol and I hadn't drunk alcohol up until that point in the year. So then everything else was quite more hilarious.
Mike Dowling
59:41 - 59:46
I can imagine. Good, good. It was an early one for alcohol.
Alex
59:46 - 1:00:05
Can I just throw one more thing in before we finish, just to say thanks to Claire and the club because I went to see my nan after the game and presented her with her signed shirt that she's received from the first team because they're going to do their visit to her nursing home soon. She's at the stage now in her life where she is confused
Claire
1:00:05 - 1:00:05
and
Alex
1:00:05 - 1:00:13
forgetful but she absolutely resonated with this and loved it. So if we can add a lovely moment to the good, the bad and the funny that would be good because she was made up.
Claire
1:00:16 - 1:00:19
Big shout out to Tats for making that. I
Alex
1:00:19 - 1:00:24
know we've talked about some you know tricky stuff today with the season tickets and stuff but just a reminder that we've got a crash
Mike Dowling
1:00:26 - 1:00:54
I mean, I keep saying it whenever it comes up, the behind the scenes stuff that they do, I just love it. I would practically bore everyone by doing behind the scenes stuff all the time because I just think this is great. And there's other little things like, there was the Marsden match and you think, oh, okay, I mean, you can be cynical and it's like, it comes around once a year, right, lovely. But no, they're up there, they go up there, they visit. They were visiting the other day, there was no kind of big press thing on it.
Claire
1:00:55 - 1:01:58
I mean they go so much like obviously Harry from the Foundation organises lots of visits for them and I mean I said this anyway but like talk about cutting onions like Harry showed me a video the other day of some of the players playing football with some of the kids there and I mean my god it puts everything else in life into absolute perspective and I know that like one in two people get cancer and it touches all of our lives and I know that you know it's touched my life on a very personal level and and just watching that and seeing what what a leveler football is like with kids like it they're going through things that we can't even imagine and um to watch the smiles on their faces because they had a kick about with some of our boys like that's something to be so proud of like um and it just goes back to like you know we all have a football team and it it should be the thing that unites us and does great things so um yeah that's
Mike Dowling
1:01:59 - 1:02:30
a community club that we all Exactly. It's doing that kind of stuff. It's really, really important. So it's not just rock up on a Saturday, put a ball down and go, off you go lads, go on, see what you got. But we have got Boston at the weekend. Now, when you look at those three fixtures in isolation, you've got Fowler away, you've got Dagenham at home, and then you've got Boston away. All of them are in the relocation zone. So obviously they're nice, easy matches, not that they're fighting tooth and nail for their existence in the league.
Mike Dowling
1:02:31 - 1:02:55
They beat us 3-0, was it? Are we going to be taking that into this game with a bit of revenge, or do they not think like that anymore? It's not like a case of, well, we've got to do them because of this. What do you think of, how do you think the match is going to go, Alex? And just before you jump in with your 4-0, tell us a little bit more about what you think might happen.
Alex
1:02:57 - 1:03:15
I'd be interested to hear from Steve and the players if that is a factor. I think because it was so early in the season and so much has changed in terms of where the team is now and everything that's happened since August, I think it was when we played them. I'd be surprised if revenge is too big a factor. I
Claire
1:03:15 - 1:03:15
think it's
Alex
1:03:15 - 1:03:40
just interesting that our away form is better than our home form throughout the whole season, not just recently, but we've got more away points than home points in the season and therefore that actually brings me quite a bit of confidence going into Saturday's game. I think the week off will help, as you said at the start, Mike, it's been a crazy few weeks playing Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday for several weeks now, so that will help us and I therefore do think it will be 4-0 to Sutton.
Mike Dowling
1:03:44 - 1:03:48
Claire, how do you see any sort of revenge?
Claire
1:03:48 - 1:04:42
I mean, I think the whole Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday thing has been a massive factor. And obviously it means that you spend more time recovering than you do training. And I also think that, like, given where some of those fictions have been, they've been long slogs of a journey. and so you know the lads have got back at like three four o'clock in the morning to the club and then obviously had to go on homeward so it does take a lot out of out of us so hopefully you know this week with a couple of extra days of of training um i feel quite confident going into saturday that um yeah i don't think revenge comes into it but i do think that um we should feel a little bit energized off the back of those kind of last 5-10 minutes of yesterday and go into it with our heads held high and push for some more points to take us into the playoffs.
Alex
1:04:44 - 1:04:46
I mean, Will's going to score.
Claire
1:04:46 - 1:04:51
Obviously. I'm going to go for a 3-0, not a 4-0, but you know.
Alex
1:04:52 - 1:04:53
Very conservative.
Claire
1:04:53 - 1:04:58
Yeah, exactly. That's what people always say about me. Very conservative. Not dramatic at all.
Mike Dowling
1:04:59 - 1:04:59
Very debil. Very
Claire
1:05:00 - 1:05:01
mindful.
Mike Dowling
1:05:03 - 1:05:33
I get that reference. But I mean, just saying, I've sort of been trying to say recently, when we do come up against one of these teams fighting for their lives, we're obviously Sutton, we're only going for what we're doing. We do forget that there is another team out there also trying to get something out of this match. How difficult do you think they're going to make it? Because for teams down there at the moment, every point is important. So Claire, go on.
Claire
1:05:34 - 1:06:16
I mean, I think as much as you probably don't want to, think back to this time last year. We were there, we were fighting for our life, we were going into every game absolutely determined to cling on and make it work. And I mean, my God, we took it down to the wire, didn't we? sometimes like I mean if you've resigned yourself to the fact that it's happening fine but I mean if you're gonna battle like we battled and and try and get as much as you possibly can then you're gonna you're gonna push as hard as you possibly can I think it just depends on what's what are the factors for why you're down there you know is it Is there a massive injury list?
Claire
1:06:16 - 1:06:37
Is it you've not got the money to have put into the squad and therefore you haven't got the players to compete at that level? Those kind of things all matter, but you can't really take anything for granted, can you? That's one of the, if you could predict what was happening in football, then we wouldn't watch it, would we? It would
Alex
1:06:37 - 1:06:57
be really boring. I think I'm right in saying that they lost at the weekend, but had won three in a row in the league before that. So as you alluded to Claire, you know, this time last season, we actually started picking up a few more points because it was getting so scrappy and every point was as important as you said, Mike. So yeah, it will be challenging for sure. But 4-0.
Mike Dowling
1:06:59 - 1:07:07
4-0. OK, that was what I was going to ask the next one. I mean, their keeper, I believe, is out injured, so it's not their main keep. Mind you, that doesn't always work
Claire
1:07:07 - 1:07:07
in our favour.
Mike Dowling
1:07:07 - 1:07:10
Claire, are you going to stick with your 3-0?
Claire
1:07:10 - 1:07:11
I'm sticking with 3-0.
Mike Dowling
1:07:12 - 1:07:20
OK, I'm going to go with 3-1 or 1-3, sorry. Yeah, just, you know, just get an early go.
Claire
1:07:21 - 1:07:23
You're entitled to your opinion, Mike. I mean, you're wrong, but...
Mike Dowling
1:07:24 - 1:07:32
Like I said the other night, you can't come back if you don't fall behind. And I did say that, you were there. I don't know if you heard it, but you were there. I can't always
Speaker 3
1:07:32 - 1:07:37
win. I just want to win again!
Mike Dowling
1:07:39 - 1:08:17
Right, so the Prediction League is really not worth joining now if you haven't been doing it before because basically anyone outside the top 19 can't win and from 19 to the possibly he's going to stretch it to winning as well because the two at the top are pulling away with it. That's Stuart and Chalmers. Right, we're going to wrap it up though. We're going to finish this episode of Sutton Podcast. As always, we appreciate your attention and feedback and get involved in the Knowing Me, Knowing You segment. Do you wear specific lucky clothing or items on match days?
Mike Dowling
1:08:18 - 1:08:45
We'll talk about Alex's yellow pants. And follow, like, and share this episode on Sutton Podcasts and socials. Subscribe, leave a review. We'll be back after the Boston match with Dan and Mark. And if my maths is correct, that's episode number 250 of the relaunch. And they are the top two appearance holders because you've had a break.
Alex
1:08:46 - 1:08:48
Oh, boy.
Claire
1:08:48 - 1:08:50
How far behind am I?
Mike Dowling
1:08:51 - 1:08:56
Oh, hang on. I do have this information on a spreadsheet. I mean,
Claire
1:08:56 - 1:09:02
because like, could I do a couple of, yeah, could I do like a couple of specials over the summer or something? Yeah, well,
Mike Dowling
1:09:02 - 1:09:12
Dan, Dan will be there on 29. Yeah. And Mark will be on 27 and you are today on 25. Oh, good news, though. You're going to get a
Claire
1:09:15 - 1:09:26
coaster. A coaster? Oh, this is so exciting. I love the merch. This is what I'm here for. I'm all about the merch. He's got the T-shirt. I've got a sticker. Oh, that is. Oh, that's
Speaker 3
1:09:26 - 1:09:26
nice.
Claire
1:09:27 - 1:09:30
That's going to replace the coaster I have on my desk. Oh, my God.
Mike Dowling
1:09:33 - 1:09:37
And you'll be extra pleased to know that ever so slightly different design to the badge.
Speaker 3
1:09:38 - 1:09:39
Oh,
Mike Dowling
1:09:39 - 1:09:50
ever so slightly, but close enough, but ever so slightly different. And then if and when I do the ones for people in 50s, I'm going to make sure that's ever so slightly different as well, just to throw off everyone's OCD a little bit.
Alex
1:09:50 - 1:09:55
This is a nice little reward for people who stuck around to the end of what's been quite a long episode.
Mike Dowling
1:10:00 - 1:10:00
hour
Claire
1:10:00 - 1:10:00
and 15.
Mike Dowling
1:10:00 - 1:10:15
I'll do it on 1.1 speed, it'll be fine. No one will notice. Right, well, thank you both for your time. Thanks to Lucky Star Gin for their sponsorship. Thanks to everyone for listening, as Alex said, stick it in here. I hope you enjoyed this episode and take care. We will catch up soon. Bye-bye.
Stay Connected with Sutton United & Sutton Podcast
Join our community on social media for the latest updates, exclusive content, and engaging conversations. Don't miss out on the Sutton Podcast for in-depth match analysis, player interviews, and more!
Bookmark our one stop page for all updates
Follow Us:
Listen to the Sutton Podcast: Catch our latest episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and all other platforms.
Contact: If you have any questions, feedback or comments please reach out on any of the socials with @suttonpodcast
Share this post