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"A Really Lovely Human" ACN Pod 116
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The goals, the promotions, the titles, the memories, the man. Hannah, Tom, Edie & Jon recall some of the reasons there might be a bit of dust knocking about the old carra on Monday.
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Transcript
Emotional Farewell for Teemu Puke
00:00:22
Speaker
Welcome to the Long Come Norwich podcast, a preposterously posturing porpoise of impenetrable football pod, Pankestron, where for the last five seasons there hasn't been a single name said in more positive terms more prominently than one Teemu Puke. Hannah, Edie and John join me to look forward to an emotional farewell on Monday.
00:00:43
Speaker
Hannah, will it be emotional? Will the ITV4 cameras cut to you crying in the stands? Or will the total bonfire of the squad around team remove too much emotion from the game? Ooh, it will. I will be emotional. I'm sure everyone else will be emotional. I hope he plays. I mean, that's my current fear. I am coming back to the game. Do you think you'll start? I feel like he has to, surely. I mean, but I don't know.
00:01:12
Speaker
I think he has to, yeah, I think he has to. I'd have some serious questions if he doesn't. I mean, why wouldn't you? I just don't, I don't really get that. There's nothing left to play for. It's a day, you know, the one positive of it can be that it's a day all about him and to celebrate him. So I would be very confused if he doesn't start. I think it would be emotional, but I also think we, I feel like I knew it was coming. I don't think it's a surprise.
00:01:43
Speaker
Um, and in a weird way, I feel like I've been preparing for this, this moment for the last, you know, four or five seasons because, um, football is pain, you know, football is constant endings, constant renewal. The moment you kind of start to realize how important the player is, I think is exactly the moment that you start wondering what's going to happen next and what will, uh, who will be able to replace them. Um.
00:02:12
Speaker
especially a club like ours, unfortunately, where we do have to sell players quite a lot. So I'm ready for it. I'm glad that, in a way, I'm glad that the whole day can be about him. And there's not really anything overshadowing it beyond, like you say, the dumpster fire that is the rest of the team and the season. But apart from that, yeah, it can all be about him, which I think is what he deserves.
Puke's Role and Team Dynamics
00:02:41
Speaker
Okay, have you been pre-grieving too, Edie? Or are you worried that he might be overcome when it comes to 4.45 or 4.49pm and actually it's all over, his career's finished at Norwich?
00:02:55
Speaker
The thing is, I think he's been preparing us for it for quite some time. You know how you get your small children ready for the time that comes when they have to go to school and go to big school all by themselves? That's kind of what he's been doing for us.
00:03:13
Speaker
What, by not scoring anymore? We're not used to seeing you on the tennis court sheet. And just being like, yeah, here's some other people, they can do it. Which is, I don't know, obviously he's not had the most satisfying season, has he? And I think everyone saw him not getting assisted in the way he needs assistance. And after a while it makes sense that
00:03:40
Speaker
He might go somewhere where they're prepared to feed him more goals that are in kind of the right position for him to touch them with his foot. I think that's, you know. Like a lovely cat that goes sort of two or three doors down for a nicer dinner than the one that is being provided. Exactly. Yes, you know, I mean, he's not going to be, you know, like our darling Timmy Kroll, chatting and
00:04:04
Speaker
And, you know, like, like, well, like old goalkeepers like to do. That's, that's, that's fair. But, um, he, he's never a shelter. Is he like, he, he might look a little bit peeved if he doesn't get the support he needs. So he's, he's a man of action, not words. Let's face it. How are you holding up punt emotionally?
00:04:24
Speaker
Yeah, emotionally I'm all right. I think as Hannah's just said, we've had a lot of time to get used to this and we've speculated on this pod about, you know, should we give him three more years? But we've all known in our heart of hearts that he wanted to go last summer. We didn't let him because we thought we'd have a chance back at promotion. And so I think I'm sad, but I'm sad because of the way it's ended, not because he's leaving.
Criticism of Club Support for Puke
00:04:51
Speaker
And it is, I think it's been a real
00:04:54
Speaker
dereliction of duty in terms of the football club not providing him with the requisite people around him to, as Edie's just said, to feed him, to make sure that he went out. He goes out an orange legend, but if he could have gone out on a hundred goals and firing us back to the Premier League, or even just firing us into the top six, and we had a lovely enjoyable season where it culminated in maybe like a playoff semi-final loss, but we all had lots of fun.
00:05:19
Speaker
And Timmy was smiling rather than Timmy was cutting the frustrated figure that he's cut for the last six months, or I think it's seven months since he scored at Cara Road, then it would have all felt right in the world. And it doesn't. It feels like legends shouldn't be let down in this way. The last time that a legend left his football club or left football club in a worse way was probably Darren Huckabee. And look, we're not giving him the road of treatment. He will get a proper send off.
00:05:48
Speaker
on Monday and I'm really pleased about that but it's just sad that it's sadness because it's ended like this.
Protests vs. Farewell Focus
00:05:56
Speaker
Yeah I think the fact that Blackpool have already down might help in terms of the atmosphere might be a bit more carnivorous and they might be a bit more beach balls and inflatables than otherwise they might be if they were biting fingernails and looking at results elsewhere so that might help a little bit
00:06:16
Speaker
going on the atmosphere that we have to touch on the potential protest on on Monday and that you know two o'clock there's you know the bed sheet brigade are out again at the directors box we don't know we haven't had it confirmed by any sources what and whether it might be duvet this time might be some pillowcase flags we know we know we haven't had that on on any good having triple source that information Hannah do you think there's any chance that
00:06:45
Speaker
if that is well attended it might sour things that might spill into the stands if there's negativity like that which let's have it right i understand why people are going football cross at the moment but do you think that there's any chance that might spoil things a bit and and result in there not being such a positive outpouring of love for teamu from kickoff i hope not um i hope that
00:07:09
Speaker
most people who will be at the game are there, you know, I've seen a lot of people say, oh, you know, I wouldn't bother going if it weren't for it being teammates last game. And so I think most of the people who will be there will be there for that reason. And they won't be there, you know, the people who really want to make their point probably aren't coming. And I think having a protest beforehand is also good, because it means that, you know, that you get that they get their chance to
00:07:39
Speaker
to have their say and make their point, but then hopefully once the game, you know, kicks off, um, it can just be all about, all about Teemo and Teemo and it doesn't have to spill into that occasion. Um, it's what I would hope. Who knows if it actually turns out that way, but, uh,
00:07:57
Speaker
I think they need to, my concern based on the last couple of home games, particularly the last one, is that they need to, sounds really silly, but they need to win. They need to be winning. I think that if
00:08:13
Speaker
If the negativity is disarmed by not even a good performance, but a one where us and Blackpool don't care, but we don't care slightly less than they don't care, and we end up being a couple of goals up, then effectively that would neutralize that. And the focus more can be on team, especially obviously if he gets on the score sheet. Edie, what would you say if you had a,
00:08:38
Speaker
If you had a WhatsApp group with the main protagonists of the protest at two o'clock, what would your messaging be to them in terms of how they're intending on conducting themselves? Well, I mean, to some extent, I think this season, there are so many different groups that have gone in different directions that I don't think there's necessarily any point in urging unity or
00:09:07
Speaker
are just a basic use of adults grasp of emotions but really like I can see that there may well be some bad vibes from this because we haven't lost Pookie for a good reason and it does all fit in with all of this so the minute
00:09:30
Speaker
we start to see Pookie waving and then all the memories, the good memories come back that will trigger some bad feelings because no good memories are getting made right now. So I kind of
00:09:48
Speaker
I don't
Management and Protests Discussion
00:09:49
Speaker
think this protest is going to be any more than the number of corners on the duvet in terms of people, one to hold each corner. I don't think there's enough energy or real kind of fire about it this time. I think it's like everyone's just at this stage, they know they'd be yelling at clouds. What can be done? What can be changed?
00:10:15
Speaker
absolutely nothing. Before when they were doing it, it could well be of some sort of direction had been found to maybe rectify what was going on. But we've got to the end of the journey of where this stupid clown car was going. So what could you do? However, I think maybe they're crossing the person at the wheel, the constantly collapsing wheel with the airbag going off every five minutes.
00:10:44
Speaker
you know, that person will still be driving next year. So, so, Punt, what say you? Are we saying, yeah, go and get, go and have a big belly ache at, at, at, let's have it right, a pair of double doors with a couple of people in, with a couple of people, you know, Michael Wing Jones is always out there with a fag on. Like, whenever you walk past, he's always there having a sickie. So, you know, he might, he might be up for a conversation about it.
00:11:11
Speaker
In all seriousness, I would absolutely support people's right to protest, given everything that's going on in this country right now. However, do we have a pretty well-run football club? I'm not talking about player recruitment. Have we signed the right players? Do we have a functioning business in terms of a model that
00:11:38
Speaker
many clubs still stare at and go, Oh, look, that's quite good. I wish we were a bit like Norwich. Yes, we do. So in my mind, does that mean that we should have supporters protesting for dealer and Michael to sell up, which is probably going to be part of the protest? Probably not. You know, the failure is very much in football in terms of the season. We've had the second or third biggest budget in the championship and we have failed with our stated ambitions. So
00:12:05
Speaker
I can only see that the subject of people's eye would be the man at the wheel. And we know how that protest went last time. It was a little bit of he's not worth its due and having to be pulled away, which isn't going to be good for anyone. So I think, look, let's just make Monday all about Pookie. We will be doing our best to do that. So I think it's probably fair to say that if you're in
00:12:33
Speaker
the middle couple of blocks of the Barkley, you might have your viewing paired for a few minutes prior to kickoff, because we want to say something to Timu, so everyone who's in the Barkley that's able to assist with that, we thank you for that. But yeah, let's just give him the proper send off that he deserves and forget about protests, because they can all be done on another day. Or if you really, as Hannah said, want to make a point, just don't come, because actually I think that's where the club will probably start feeling it is
00:13:01
Speaker
people not renewing, people not turning up, not having the commercial matchday revenue that they rely on. And then I think that might make a more meaningful statement than 50 or 60 people stood outside the director's entrance. I think that easily gets minimized and seen as a vocal minority by people within the club.
Favorite Puke Memories and Goals
00:13:25
Speaker
So let's focus on Pookie. Let's really think about some memories of TeamU. And what I was hoping that everyone would be able to enjoy by listening to this podcast ahead of the game is thinking back to some favorite goals and some favorite memories.
00:13:41
Speaker
maybe a few things that you haven't thought of for a while when you go through that mental rolodex of images of the tongue out finisher that he is. So Hannah, give me a particular goal that kind of floods into your memory when you're thinking about that wonderful Finnish wizard. The one that I always think of, and I don't think this is one that hopefully anyone else will
00:14:08
Speaker
uh say or think of because i don't think it's a sort of particularly um spectacular or uh important one but it's just i feel like it's just quintessential pookie and in particular the 1819 season and i watched it back i have a very clear image of it whenever i think about it but i watched it back yesterday as well just to make sure that i remembered it all correctly and it's the one
00:14:38
Speaker
I think it was the first goal against Bolton when we won 4-0.
00:14:44
Speaker
Yes. And he, it's a lovely move. Oh no. It's my goal. Let's celebrate it together, Hannah. You've only got 85 others now to choose from. You know, I did have a backup as well, so you should have gone first. Anyway, but I'm glad you, I'm glad you also agree that that's a very concentrated goal because yeah, I love that the build up play is amazing. It's, it's such a classic.
00:15:10
Speaker
It's like Jamal's involved and Stevie's involved and tribal's involved and it's like all of that, you know, that classic sort of core team from that season. And then I think it's a sort of Stevie plays him in and he takes like four touches. It's one touch to control the ball. Maybe, I know, two touches to control the ball and then he sort of checks back on his left foot and completely wrong foots the defender and the goalkeeper.
00:15:39
Speaker
and then he kind of just pops it in, curls it in at the near post. And it's such a, he's so like economical and he's so precise and he never puts any sort of extra energy into anything because he doesn't need to, you know, he calculates it all so well. And that's why it all looks so sort of effortless and laid back because yeah, he just, it's like, he knows exactly what he needs to do, exactly the exact movement.
00:16:05
Speaker
And I just think that goal sums it up really perfectly and I really like it. I could watch it over and over again. I love that as a choice because I actually think that performance was, that evoked so much of that era. I mean, we absolutely, I mean, they weren't having a very positive season, Bolton, but we went away from home and just walked all over teams at times and that was farcable at its best. And I remember the,
00:16:33
Speaker
I remember I actually watched the video summary of one of the Bolton fans that they did some kind of video reaction thing to each of the goals going in and they did it for reaction to all goals but as it happened there were only Norwich goals that day and it was just one of those times when it took me back to I used to consume all content
00:16:56
Speaker
So and this is a thing about Pookie. Pookie would score goals that you'd want to watch again and again and again and again and again and again and again and you would watch it from the Norwich angle and then you'd watch and then you'd want to listen to all of the Norwich podcasts to talk about it and then you would want to see all of the journalists write about it and then you would go on the Athletic and see what they say and then you would go on to the national media and see what they said about it. I think Pookie was like a
00:17:18
Speaker
put in those performances and was part, he will always be synonymous with being kind of the spearhead of the time when there couldn't be enough Norwich City content. I would read it all. And I had the same number of kids I've got now, same amount of responsibilities that I have now, et cetera. But that is just such a great example of a game where you just think, I can watch those highlights 17 times on repeat. Edie, give us a goal.
00:17:48
Speaker
I have no specific goal. My favourite goals were the ones that Pookie scored during lockdown. Okay. I was never happier watching him scoring goals during lockdown with nobody there because he seemed to enjoy it 10 times more. That's interesting.
00:18:08
Speaker
It's like, you know when you just see a dog that's absolutely in its pure element and is just as happy as anything and running on pure instinct? That was him and he could just score a goal and just do the football and not necessarily kind of block out any particular.
00:18:27
Speaker
vibes from either side around him it was just an empty stadium and he was doing his thing because bear in mind this is a man who didn't actually train and talked about how he was playing football with his dog and then he went back and then just had a really good run
00:18:46
Speaker
So those are all my favourites. But that is a, again, similar to that Bolton example. I think that those goals were, this kind of links to one of the listener questions that we had in. Those goals and that kind of COVID run was synonymous with when we were getting multiple people who'd learnt how to do what Emmy had already learnt to do. And you know, we had E.P. Steepee, Emmy, Dow,
00:19:14
Speaker
all playing those little balls in to feet for him to kind of turn and finish first time. So, you know, it was he probably has never had that kind of end of that season is probably the time when he had the most highest quality is XGA. Is that the right thing in terms of the best quality of assist? Am I saying that right?
00:19:36
Speaker
Anyway, the highest quality of assists from the largest varying number of people who were kind of just setting up and enjoy, it must just be a joy to play with Teemu, like peak Teemu. Give us a goal, John, that is not the Bolton one. Well, I want to touch on the Bolton one and only because, so I think the Bolton goal
00:19:57
Speaker
that hannah had alluded to and so eloquently described i think i love it so much because every time i watch it i noticed something slightly different about it and i watched it again this morning because i realized that it was my favorite team you go and i was actually preparing for a podcast.
00:20:14
Speaker
rather than just flouncing in five minutes before and he starts in his own box and 12 seconds later he is stroking the ball home having collected that wonderful through ball from Marco Steeperman and completely wrong footing the defenders and then just smashing it in and it was just
00:20:33
Speaker
He shouldn't have put that goal in the near post. There is no way he should have put that in the near post. The finish was to go far post across the goalkeeper because if the keeper saves it, there might be someone else coming onto it who can kind of slot in the rebound. But it was just done with such a crispness and it was just too quick for everyone. He was instinctively miles ahead of anyone on an intellectual level, really. It was such a lovely goal. If I have to pick another goal,
00:21:01
Speaker
I want to pick something really scuffy and scabby and I will go for the goal, which I think was a 1-0 win against QPR in 18-19 and probably no one remembers it, but it's a lovely Jamal Lewis cross and it kind of just hits Pookie maybe kind of in the stomach or kind of on the knee or something and it just kind of fluffs its way in. And we go on to win that game, we go on to
00:21:27
Speaker
you know, kind of start another run which propels us up the league. Or that was the start of the time where it was like, oh, we're in the top six. Oh, we're quite near the top two.
Reflections on Puke's Legacy
00:21:35
Speaker
But it just felt like that was the point where he really kind of, it was liftoff for Pookie. I think that was the thing. You know, we got him on a three. He scored a couple of nice goals earlier in the season against like maybe Preston or Reading or someone like that. And it was like, oh, this lad looks quite good. And then he just kept scoring and kept scoring and kept scoring. And that QPR game was,
00:21:57
Speaker
Part of that and a part of him just being taken to our hearts and probably around about this similar time that you know the team of Pookie baby song you know kind of came out as well it was just it felt like it was his coming out moment.
00:22:15
Speaker
Yeah, that was one of the goals that occurred to me as well. We probably should have talked about this beforehand, shouldn't we, and told each other what goals we were picking. I didn't think it was that much of an issue because we just got such a rich vein of goals to choose from. But the one I actually wanted to recall was the Wigan Away goal, which was the relatively late equalizer. So it wasn't a winner, and we didn't win that game.
00:22:42
Speaker
But that was in the middle of the run where we didn't have Emi because he'd got sent off at QPR, but the home game 4-0 win, but marred by Emi and obviously we already knew by then that we can't win without Emi. Something we never fixed and you could argue we still haven't.
00:23:00
Speaker
But it was the fact that we'd taken 5,000 up there. We'd had the fantastic campaign to turn that stand yellow with all the scarves. And that way support really deserved something. And it was a bit of a misfiring, certainly first hour or so. We really hadn't got into our groove at all. Quite a lot of nerves had started to set in. We'd only drawn the previous game.
00:23:25
Speaker
and you know we're starting to get towards the business end of the season and we couldn't afford to drop any more points it really would have been an issue and I just remember that the amount of relief that that came from well right we've avoided
00:23:40
Speaker
We've avoided a real banana skin here of dropping points when we've had this big campaign to get all of the scars and to fill that stand in the way that we did. I think that is the reason that was worth bringing up was because he wasn't always necessarily scoring the winner.
00:23:59
Speaker
towards the end of that first season where he's hitting all those goals, it was kind of the introduction of, well, we've always got Pookie, there's always Pookie, you know, even if everything else is going wrong, he'll latch on to a through ball, he'll latch on to a half-hearted kind of kick through the middle as that was and slot home because actually he'll keep his head when everyone else is losing theirs and even if it looks like this is a potential banana skin, he will pull something out of the bag for us.
00:24:24
Speaker
And to then go on and do things like scoring a hat trick in the Premier League and even in seasons that are lost, he would still give us amazing highlights and give us a reason to look back fondly on a season that ultimately ended in failure. And the disappointing thing of this season is I feel like
00:24:45
Speaker
If we'd made the decision to hold on to him, we didn't make enough of a big deal around making sure we use that last season the best we can. If we think, well, he might lose a touch of pace and he might lose a little bit of his sharpness, you know, if he's going to get a bit older,
00:25:03
Speaker
then we should have been able to mitigate for that, and we should have recruited around that. And we should be drilling our players to try and recreate those Pookie goals that he's scored so often. So I feel like this season, it wasn't necessarily on him at all that he hasn't been able to go through the season giving us lots of wonderful little things. Hannah, what about a memory of Pookie that's not necessarily goal related?
00:25:32
Speaker
So I've got a couple, I don't know if one of these is allowed because it's not about, um, it's all about, it's not about actual real life Pookie. So I've got one actual real life Pookie memory and then one, um, sort of fan fiction. I think it's going to say, is this fan fiction that we can have some sort of dream? Trust me, I've looked, it doesn't make sense. Maybe that can be like a bonus episode. I'll do a reading, but no, no, no, it's not fan fiction. It's, uh, well, I mean, anyway, you'll see. Um,
00:26:00
Speaker
I really like the, um, when he got his hair cut by Grant Hanley. Uh, and there's that really good picture. I think it was the first, was it the first, I think we just, I think we just secured promotion or maybe I can't remember if it would won the title or, but anyway. And, um, there's a picture of Grant Hanley in his pants. Um,
00:26:22
Speaker
shaving Timmy Pricky's head and I just feel like it's such a crucial artifact from that season, like a bit of Norwich, Norwich folklore, and quite in hand he just looks like he's concentrating so hard and Timmy just looks very relaxed about the whole thing and I don't know, I just loved that whole, it just showed how kind of chilled he is but also how, you know, I don't know if I necessarily would have put
00:26:49
Speaker
would have assumed that Grant Hanley and Timmy Pooke would get along. They're quite different characters, but somehow they were on a wavelength, as the whole team was. And so, yeah, that would just always make me laugh. And you know the full context of why he needed a short notice haircut and why it was Hanley that was doing it?
00:27:11
Speaker
He was off to pick up the Finland sports personality of the year, but because he's such an unassuming, wonderful, kind of humble guy, Hanley was effectively saying, you're not going to pick up some international award, you know, looking like that. Come on. And that's why he sort of didn't go to some really expensive barbers or what have you. He got Hanley to do it in his pants.
00:27:39
Speaker
Yeah, perfect. Like it just sums them up. And then the other one, this, you said sort of the memory that you will always think of when you hear Teamu's name, and this is definitely one of them. I got married in September, and my dad did a speech, you know, as Fuzz of the Brides do. And the grief was like, I just sort of said, you know, it can be like, it's just a welcome, keep it brief, nothing fancy.
00:28:09
Speaker
And he proceeded to do the most elaborate Team Mupuki bit. He printed out his own pretend card from Team Mupuki. It was a big picture of his face on the front. He spoke Finnish.
00:28:21
Speaker
And it was like, he really committed. And the best thing was, I would say maybe 3% of the people in the room actually knew who he was talking about. That makes it even better. If it was like a huge Norwich contingent, it'd be like, yeah, okay, cool. But that's even better if there's lots of confused faces. Exactly.
00:28:41
Speaker
And there's a great picture of him and he's holding up his card and it's got Timmy's face on the front and I'm looking baffled. My sister's very confused. And it's just very funny. It just will always make me laugh whenever I think about it. And you know, it's my three favorite men. It was my dad, my husband and Timmy Pookie. And that's exactly what I could have wanted on my wedding day. So yeah. That is magic. Edie, can you beat that bizarre tale?
00:29:10
Speaker
No. I just think for me, it's more like the vibe of Pookie than a specific moment. He's just adorable. He's fuzzy. He looks like he's been nesting somewhere the night before the game. Just curled up in a little ball of feathers and twigs. He is fuzzy. Fuzzy is such a good adjective.
00:29:36
Speaker
He's very much, I mean, as someone who grew up loving the Moomins, he is very Moominish. Like he is the closest we'll ever get to having a Moomin around. Like a fuzzy felt Moomin.
00:29:52
Speaker
Yeah, well I think at most moments were fussy weren't they? They seem quite plush, I don't know. They never illustrated them to that degree that we knew of texture, but maybe this was all individually imagined.
Puke's Future Career Speculation
00:30:04
Speaker
But yeah, he was just like a little folk creature. I don't know if I ever remember hearing him talk, maybe I did hear him talk and I forgot, but in my head I've never heard him talk.
00:30:16
Speaker
and it's because he is like the kind of creature that appears like by moonlight to let you know of the coming of a good harvest.
00:30:26
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, of course he is, yeah. Yeah, and this is a sport where most young men, you just know by looking at them, they live in these houses where everything is very sparse. There's grey crushed velvet sofas and maybe there's a picture of a peaky blinder on the wall. It was just very weird to see this creature come along who you were like, how did you get into football?
00:30:52
Speaker
Yeah, he doesn't follow hardly any of the bellend stereotypes of football and you're right. Anecdotally there is a lad that I'm very good friends with who sees him relatively regularly in kind of danned mode.
00:31:12
Speaker
And I'm happy to report that it's that kind of fuzzy creature before a good harvest is very much the vibes that is seen in play. You shake your head punt, but you book Evie, this is what you expect. I know. I'm pretty sure that that's not the first Moomin reference that she's made on the podcast, either. I'm not sure Fuzzy Farts has come out before, though.
00:31:33
Speaker
You mentioned Fuzzy felt. Oh, no, completely. I look when you're coming with me when you when you grab the reins and take this podcast in a direction, I want to I want to be involved. I'm buying a ticket. I'm buying a season ticket to these travels. John, give us a give us a memory, please. I can't follow those. Look, can I can I? There are there are many. Can you indulge me with three? Because I've just another one has popped into my head and it is. So the first one.
00:32:01
Speaker
Thomas, you were there with me. Thank you. It was the presentation at City Hall. He is absolutely smashed out of his face. And we gave him... Have you ever seen a drunk moomin? Because we have. Yeah, we have, yeah. And we gave him the Ben Stokes prepared like kind of panini style sticker of himself. And I've never seen someone
00:32:26
Speaker
drunkenly smile so much and you just know that they're so pissed and they have not got a clue what's going on but they're loving it. He was absolutely enjoying it and I will try and fish that picture out from somewhere because I've got it still on my camera roll.
00:32:41
Speaker
So that's one. Steepy put his on, didn't he? He immediately took the sticker off and stuck it to the front of his jersey. Yeah, as did Kenny. Kenny had his on as well, which was quite funny. It was a weird day. It was a really weird day, yeah. So there was that. It's kind of goal related, but the fact that he just picked up
00:33:02
Speaker
a Norwich City Scarf off the turf at Carrow Road after he, I think it was the third goal against Ipswich when we beat him 3-0 and just kind of twirled it in front of the Barkley, was lovely. But I think the one that kind of speaks to him as a human
00:33:18
Speaker
is the one that I'll probably remember most affectionately so we beat Leicester I think it was just before lockdown we beat Leicester 1-0 in the Premier League and I was fortunate enough that a friend had said oh look do you want to come in our box for the game you know which is in the back of the South stand
00:33:36
Speaker
So, you know, you have a little bit of food or, you know, drinks afterwards or whatever. And, um, I'd taken my eldest daughter and her, one of her really good friends and like, she didn't get to go to the football much. So she was all wide eyed with, Oh my God, look, it's Premier League footballers and all the rest of it. And at the end, they kind of went out of the box and they were stood pitch side and watching the players kind of trudge across the pitch towards the, the players bar when they go after the game.
00:34:03
Speaker
And Todd walks past, doesn't look at them. I think Amy might do the same. He's in his own little world. Ben Godfrey's got his big headphones on. It was almost like those viral clips that you've seen of Arsenal and Leeds footballers lately. Just ignoring.
00:34:18
Speaker
So, you know, we obviously to a trendsetters in that regard. But, you know, they were just walking past these two, probably 10, 11 year old girls who were clearly trying to engage with them as footballers, you know, trying to say hello to me, can we have a selfie, you know, that kind of thing. But they were too scared to initiate that conversation. It needed a nicely well rounded human to just look at them and smile. And then
00:34:45
Speaker
that was therein and he saw them from about 50 or 60 yards and he gave him a little wave and then as he got closer he smiled and I could see on their faces like can we ask him can we ask him and I just kind of nodded and I kind of went
00:34:57
Speaker
and like pointed at the kids. And he just came over and he was really gracious. And just, you know, all he took, all it took was 60 seconds to have a couple of selfies and just smile and be shy and humble, but lovely, all in the same, you know, wrapped up in the same present. And I was just like, yeah, you're properly good. You're, you're a really good human. And that's all I want sometimes out of my footballers. But so the fact that he scored 88,
00:35:24
Speaker
hopefully 89 or 90 goals by the time he leaves Norris City is great but if all Norwich players were as well rounded and nice lovely boys as Edie likes to call them then yeah I'd be well happy. So yeah that was my little moment with Pookie, or my daughter's moment with Pookie. It was just, it was
00:35:45
Speaker
because I think it was the fact that preceded by it was your stereotypical 21st century modern day footballer walking past and look you know they're in their bubble or whatever you want to call them but he's just you know complete throwback and not of that ilk at all. Wonderful. So where's he going to go next? What do you reckon Nana? Where do you think he might be applying his trade and scoring his goals?
00:36:11
Speaker
I have two theories about this. I think the first, possibly the most obvious option is he wants one last shot at the Premier League and I wouldn't blame him. And I could totally see the bottom half Premier League team going for him. He's going to be a free agent. He has proven that he can score in the Premier League.
00:36:42
Speaker
I think he'd be very good like a backup option. I really hope he won't go to one of the new new promoted teams. I don't know why that just feels meant to fit too close to home. And I don't really like Burnley or Shaft United or I mean maybe like if Luton go up or something that'd be fun but again I can't see him going there.
00:37:04
Speaker
But no, so I think, I think it could be, it could be like a film. I feel like it needs to go somewhere with like a little bit of style. And I feel like a London club. I don't know. I just, something about that I potentially could see. Or, and my dad suggested this. And then the more I thought about it, the more I was into it and thought actually it could, it could be a goer, is Villa, reuniting with Emmy at Villa. I think they could potentially be,
00:37:34
Speaker
could potentially, I mean, depends where they end up. If they end up in, you know, I don't think they're going to end up in Europe, but they could be at a slightly higher level maybe than, than he can expect to be at 30, how old are you, 30 feet old. But again, I think it'd be a really good backup. They don't really have a backup striker. I think they've just got Watkins. And I know they just sold Dannyings so that Watkins could be the main man, but I don't think Pookie would be like a threat to him in any way. And, you know, him and Emmy Lincoln up again, I think,
00:38:03
Speaker
would be pretty beautiful. But then my other theory is that he is winding down. I know these is like opposing theories. But I think it just could go either way. And so you might want to go somewhere a bit more close to home. I follow his wife on Instagram. So this is I'm also using this intelligence that I've gleaned from that. And she, they I think she really liked living in Copenhagen when he was a Bronvy. And so I also think that could potentially be
00:38:32
Speaker
you know, a route he could be going back to somewhere a bit more familiar, maybe somewhere they want to set down, you know, put down routes, because maybe they're a bit fed up of moving. And so, yeah, that's my that's my theory back to someone like Bromby or low half per minute. Okay. What about you, Heidi? The idea of him going to London just feels sort of, I don't know, like, would he be okay in London?
00:39:01
Speaker
I'd just be a bit worried. Maybe he could go and hang out with the Wombles. Well, they're not real though. Of course, so whereas Moomins are obviously factual, forgotten. Yeah, duh. But yeah, I think way to start wrapping up his possessions and a little not a tanker chief, it's sort of, it feels like definitely Europe is the place to go.
00:39:29
Speaker
but I do remember him saying that he wanted, this is ages and ages ago and I made a little mental note because I was like, oh yeah, oh yeah, you can't have him. I think he said that his pal is the goalkeeper for Bialevakus and then like that he wants to go where his friend is and that always made a bit of an impact on me because like,
00:39:56
Speaker
It's sort of, I don't know, the idea he can go somewhere and speak Finnish just to one person. My theory on that is that he will go and speak Finnish and I think maybe there is a reason that he hasn't been being started and it's because he is going to go to a Finnish club and they've only just started their season, they're only like four or five games in.
00:40:17
Speaker
So maybe actually, because he hasn't been particularly that fussed about not getting game time recently because he's gearing up to go into a finished season. So that is my suggestion that he goes in. Because I personally think that he perfectly apt theories that being with one friend in his handkerchief possessions and speaking to his goalkeeper friend and also going and being a backup striker for a team who needs, you know, is going to be going at it on three fronts if it's European football.
Debate: Puke as Norwich's Greatest Striker
00:40:46
Speaker
or when, I can't see when the newly promoted team's going for him, that's the one thing I just think, I think he's a tough, I mean I would, if I was the fan of them of course, but I think he's maybe a tough sell to a newly promoted team, whereas maybe an established Premier League team as the second striker or the third striker makes sense.
00:41:09
Speaker
I just think it actually, a team who probably wants to be the main man if he can. And I think he might go to a team where they would be delighted for him to be the main man. And that's why my guess is that he goes to one of the teams at the top of the finished table, no names of which I'm going to have a go at pronouncing.
00:41:32
Speaker
They're all anacroninimnimnized, like SJK and HCL and things like that. Pardon, where's he going?
00:41:40
Speaker
Well, I can't claim credit for either of these theories, but I like them both. Claire Thomas put out on the Twitters that she thought he may be reunited with a certain former head coach of ours, Mr. Farka, at Borussia Mรถnchengladbach. And I responded to her to say yes, because they both deserve to be happy. And I think they would be happy together again. I think that would be a wonderful move.
00:42:04
Speaker
Munchi Gladbeck are on the lookout for a striker, according to Farka himself, he would be free, that would fit. But also, Adam Brandon had put out into the ether that he thought that an MLS move because this might be Pookie's last.
00:42:21
Speaker
financial motivated move might work. And so only because Timu looked so resplendent in the third kit of 2018-19, that lovely lime green number, I'm going to say the Seattle Sounders because they have a similar colored kit.
00:42:44
Speaker
Well, if it was a FARC reunion, then I would be very up for an ACN trip to go and watch either the debut or whichever game is likely to feature him. That would be a really nice use of time. Okay, so there were some listening questions. John, do you want to pick out a couple?
00:43:06
Speaker
Yeah, I say we've we've dealt with a lot of you have covered a few. We've certainly covered the same ground. I think something that we haven't talked about, and it is our very own Nick Hayhoe who's written written an excellent piece off on the website today for those who haven't read it already, I would thoroughly recommend popping over to to the site. But he asks,
00:43:27
Speaker
is Timo Norridge's greatest ever striker. He's fourth in the all-time goals list, but he has the best goals to games ratio in the top five by a fair way. And that's a fair way having not scored a goal for quite a long time. I can only think of a couple that rival him in my own supporting lifetime. Hannah, I'm presuming that's just a resounding yes from you.
00:43:52
Speaker
I mean, yeah, what an absolute tap-in, I feel like. I just can't answer this question objectively at all, but... This is why we had you on. I definitely think, I mean, I don't know, number one greatest is a big, is a big call, but for me, yeah, and also, you know, in my, in my lifetime, I'd say probably could make a very decent, decent shout for that.
00:44:19
Speaker
I think the thing that makes him, I like to say the going to the goal ratio is very good, but I think he also, and this sort of gets a bit overlooked sometimes, is he is really good at assists. He's really good at making goals as well. And that's a massive contribution. I think, I mean, even this season, I think he's got, he's only got like 10, well, I say only, I still think that's a decent return in a very dodgy team, but I think he's got 10 goals, but then he's also got eight assists, I think.
00:44:49
Speaker
And I think that, yeah, it just shows his value isn't just in scoring goals. Even if it were just in scoring goals, I think he would still be up there, absolutely. But I think that's just such added value.
00:45:05
Speaker
I think, yeah, he gives so much beyond just the goals. And I think, I don't know, it's so hard, isn't it, to extrapolate him from the teams that he has come to represent. He's such a sort of talisman of those amazing championship seasons. And I think you can't help but sort of factor that in when you think about these players, you think about
00:45:31
Speaker
Like you said, you know, we've said this whole, this whole podcast is the memories that they give you. And, um, yeah, I mean, the same 18, 19 season, I've never been, I haven't been as enthused about the team as that, as I was then since I was a child, you know, it was like, and I had the same excitement and the same enthusiasm. And like when I was a kid and I sort of first discovered Norwich, like even.
00:45:55
Speaker
even like seeing the colors yellow and green was exciting because it was like a little a little link to the team and it was like a little secret sign and I don't know and I sort of went back to that again and like you said consumed everything like all the content and it was I was sort of having a bit of a rough time and it was such an escape and I I could you know for every for
00:46:19
Speaker
90 minutes or whatever I could I could be outside of myself for a bit and I could just completely um yeah give myself over to this incredibly likable enjoyable um football and football team and yeah they were just so special and I think he completely represents that um and everything that was great about about those teams not just in his football but in in his luminous personality as well and so
00:46:49
Speaker
Yeah, I think absolutely you could very, very easily make an argument that he's our greatest striker.
Puke's Legacy and Cultural Impact
00:46:56
Speaker
Yeah. Edie, do you think Teemu is the bestest Everest to score lots of goals for Norwich City Football Club? Two factors opposing. The first factor
00:47:09
Speaker
There is one crucial piece of the puzzle. He needs to hang around afterwards. For us, we need someone. We need to just watch him walking his dog after, you know, 10 years. He needs to sort of be absorbed into the fabric of Norwich.
00:47:24
Speaker
So that is a factor that I don't think is going to happen for him. However, he was just the leader of the most perfect band of weirdos ever to exist at one time for Norwich, who are the biggest band of weirdos. He was the weirdo of the weirdos. He was even weirder than Grant Holt.
00:47:48
Speaker
I just think it's like in terms of personal branding he fit into everything we were about in that he was mysterious and weird and clearly funny and just like I think he would have gone anywhere else he just would have felt a bit like a fish out of water whereas we're all fish out of water.
00:48:10
Speaker
in Norwich. So that's why it all worked, that's why Farka and he managed to connect in that way of like, well we're in this really weird place and there's just weird stuff going on and I don't, I thought there would be boutiques, I thought there would be nightclubs, apparently there's just a park, it's full of dinosaurs, let's just make the best of it and then everyone
00:48:35
Speaker
just get so excited to see them that they realize that they're in a very special place. Well on that point and that was the perfect moment that will not be repeated for a long time and he was part of it. Yeah and he led it. I think that is a perfect way of describing that movement of Norwich weirdness that was that that particular squad and that's that kind of narrative but on the point of getting excited to see him I actually wonder my counter to your counter my oppose to your oppose is
00:49:05
Speaker
actually the fact that he won't be coaching his kids football and walking his dog because you you know you do see the legends around quite a lot and obviously some of them run busters for the club and some of them are great human beings and it's great to run into them however i wonder whether or not he might be whether or not the club can do it and whether or not he'd even want to
00:49:27
Speaker
Imagine how magic it will be if actually he does go back towards his homeland and that is where he spends the remainder of his career and most of the time bringing up his kids. Like Aslan. Yep. So maybe Aslan Moomin does come back
00:49:45
Speaker
every sort of four or five years or every three or four years or, you know, at Markstone anniversary, the excitement and the joy to see him and, you know, to be in and around the club would be that much greater than, you know, someone like a Holt or a Hux or a Jeremy Goss or someone who is effectively at or a jury or a lap in or whatever, who are all fantastic servants of the club and great people. But we do see him a lot. So I think that's a very starry eventuality. And I just don't think we're that starry. I think like,
00:50:14
Speaker
I think in order for him to become like this level of reality. Do you think he might retire back here? So that's most likely with one of Hannah's examples. So he could, for example,
00:50:26
Speaker
maybe they have put roots down here in their opinion and he does go somewhere English club-wise and plays somewhere for a couple of years and then they kind of come back here and this is where he feels kind of comfortable and where they want to be but I mean you've got the Insta inside scoop on that so I'll go with your steer on that if you think that's even possible. The thing I would say to all of that is I don't think that he needs to come back for us to feel that Norwich
00:50:55
Speaker
is an important place for him, an important team for him. And I think we should remember that. And I think that's part of, again, that's the sort of the pookie magic and that whole story was that he, along with a lot of those weirdos in that team, we knew that we were giving them something really special and that there was a mutual thing there.
Expectations for Puke's Farewell Event
00:51:18
Speaker
It wasn't that, you know, they were daining to grace our club and they were dragging us back to the Premier League. We were giving a lot of these players
00:51:25
Speaker
a second chance or a first chance with the young ones. A teamer was all right before he came to us, but he wasn't anything special, I'd say. Free transfer. Free transfer. A bargain. Absolutely a bargain. We gave him the chance to play in the Premier League. I think
00:51:52
Speaker
playing regularly at the level he did at Norwich really helped him for Finland. You could kind of say that, I mean, I'm not going to claim responsibility for Finland qualifying for a major championship, major tournament for the first time ever, but I think it was all sort of part of it. And... It'd be weird if you personally claimed responsibility for it. I mean, that would be... I mean, I have got friends in high places, but not that high. And yeah, so I think, yeah, he doesn't have to come back to...
00:52:19
Speaker
If he doesn't, I don't think that's sort of a sense that he didn't feel that in Norwich. And I don't think there's a sense that he doesn't appreciate what the club gave him. I think there's always been a sense of that. And I think we can, you know, enjoy that and be proud of that as well. And again, yeah, I think I really like that whole aspect as well was that it was a mutual sort of a mutual rise. And I think that's that's pretty great.
00:52:46
Speaker
Because the passing alchemy was like we were never going to be able to cling to it. It was a magical moment that you cannot put in a box.
00:52:55
Speaker
It was a sort of four to five year moment. Any final thoughts from you, Pun, on the wonderful man, Team Ibuki? There's just one more question that I wanted to touch on, which was from Matthew McGregor, who is a regular question and error of the podcast. And he asks, can we answer, will we ever, ever fall in love again? And I think my answer would be, yes, we absolutely will. But I'm not sure that we will love as hard again, because it doesn't
00:53:24
Speaker
Look, I am 44 years of age. I've never experienced a season like 2018, 19. It was the best. I just can't see it ever being that good again. So yes, we will. But I think we're always just going to look back. Misty eyed at Timu and his band of weirdos.
00:53:43
Speaker
Yeah, speaking of misty eyed, it will be poignant on Monday. And I do think that it will be a shame if there is, to say it lightly, if there is any kind of negativity that kind of perforates what should just be singing Timu songs and maybe singing some of the old 18, 19 songs and Allah singing the Huk song at Christmas. You know, I have thought a few times this season that
00:54:08
Speaker
some of this, you know, this has been a terrible season for songs, really bad, because there hasn't been the performances on the pitch. Well, we do like the Gabrielle Sarroan then. Yeah, one. One decent song, you know. Well, he's the only one who's deserved a new song, that's the honest thing. He's the only one who's given, you know, going back to that kind of alchemy and that magic, he's the only one who maybe gives us the impression that maybe some magic is passing through our club and he could be about to, you know, rise into one of the European's really interesting players, either at Premier League level or
00:54:36
Speaker
European level he really does seem like he's got a ceiling maybe either above where where he currently is playing or we are seeing the very best of him either of which is the sort of thing that creates a song and to your point Hannah in terms of what we gave and we gave them songs we gave them the identity of being you know some of those have gone on to do other things like an Emmy
00:54:55
Speaker
And some of them have kind of gone into obscurity and you've never really heard from again because we gave them the best season or two seasons of their career where they got the most love and they got the most points and scored the most goals, et cetera. So it does go two ways. And with that in mind, I just really hope that it's not going to be quite to the same degree as the Wesley game because of the situation that we were at when we say goodbye to Wesley. And from my mind, in terms of the answer to is he the greatest striker, yes.
00:55:23
Speaker
wholeheartedly he is. And I don't think it's that close because of the fact that some of the other people who own those scoring slots did so in far less glorified eras. And yes, they've got some incredible seasons or an individual season, but the fact that he was part of this moment like John described of it just being the purest sense of falling in love with football again,
00:55:51
Speaker
So I just hope that we can have towards that level of emotion on Monday and that we probably do need to win, we probably do need to be winning for most of the game in order for it to feel like that in the stands and to suppress how cross with everyone, you know, cross with those in charge, a lot of the fans are.
00:56:07
Speaker
But I do thank you very much, Hannah, for giving us your memories and giving us your emotional, fantastic stories from your wedding. And likewise, Edie, fantastic stories akin to Moomin's and Fuzzy Felts, which I know I did help kind of corroborate that they are factual creatures, not silly creatures like Womble's John.
00:56:28
Speaker
I acknowledge you exist. I acknowledge you were there at the City Hall when we saw a very, very drunk team of puking. Yes, that was the greatest season of my life, too. And I don't think it will be maxed. However, we might get something just as good again. It just might take us a little while. And here's hoping that this time next year, we're considering what pose David Wagner's statue will be of and that we've fallen back in love with Stuart Weber after he's found another 25 goal of season three transfer from the Nigerian Nationwide League Division two.
00:56:58
Speaker
But in the meantime, enjoy saying goodbye Monday, enjoy the memories that come flooding back and saying thank you to you. Until next time, mind how you go.