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That Saturday Feeling 16
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Show Notes
Join Ken Davies and Nick Britten for your weekly sideways take on all things soccer.
We talk what a weird PL season its been - What it takes for newly promoted team so stay up, why great players rarely make great managers and the prediction league enters a critical phase.
Contact the show by email: thatsaturdayfeelinggspn@gmail.com
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Transcript
Introduction and Episode Overview
00:00:07
Global Sports Podcast Network
Welcome, welcome everybody. Bienvenue to that Saturday feeling episode, i don't know, 15 sounds about right.
00:00:17
Nick Britten
16, 16, come on, 16, keep up.
00:00:17
Global Sports Podcast Network
You're 16. six Welcome to That's How Feeling, episode 16, your weekly sideways glance all things football, soccer-related. We don't care what you call it. My name's Ken Davis, and I'm joined, as ever, by my co-host, the goat himself. And I'm not talking here about the greatest of all time. I'm just talking about a goat.
00:00:40
Global Sports Podcast Network
It's Nick. It's a ram. It's not a goat. It's a ram. How are you doing, Nick?
00:00:43
Nick Britten
It's a ram. It's a ram. I know it's a funny kind of old animal, but it's yeah it's a ram. Hi,
Return of the Premier League
00:00:50
Nick Britten
Kenny. Great to see you. Great to see you. Great to be here. Do you know what? I'm glad falls back. The international break seems to have gone on forever.
00:00:56
Nick Britten
It's not real football, is it, when it's an international break? ah But so I'm very pleased to see the return of the Premier League and particularly, obviously, the Championship. And you'll be happy to see the return of League One, I'm sure.
00:01:09
Global Sports Podcast Network
soon be in the championship rexham will be but it's uh no i've had a bit of an international break hence i think uh why uh i wasn't was i around for last one i can't even remember no you did the last one yourself didn't you
00:01:18
Nick Britten
No you won't, I did it on my own because you were sunning yourself on a beach in Lanzarote somewhere.
00:01:22
Global Sports Podcast Network
I was lovely.
00:01:23
Nick Britten
thanks Can't be bad, how the other half live, eh? How the other half live?
00:01:27
Global Sports Podcast Network
It was good. Now, we've got a lot to talk about. So, ah four
Unusual Premier League Season and Team Performances
00:01:32
Global Sports Podcast Network
things want to talk about today, if you don't mind. Firstly, I was reflecting on this when I was away. It's been a funny old season Premier League. I want to understand what's going on behind that in sense of take Liverpool of the equation The good teams have got bad. the bad teams have got good. i want to know what's going on there.
00:01:51
Global Sports Podcast Network
And what do we put that down to? I think the second thing want to talk about is relegation. in the sense of ah it seems to be getting more and more difficult for teams that come up from the Championship to survive in the Premier League. And is that the case? What do teams need to do to try and stay in that clearly isn't happening at the moment?
00:02:13
Global Sports Podcast Network
Thirdly, and Rudival Nistelroi got me thinking about this, and Leicester, and the fact that the variance looks like they're going down, we predicted from the outset it was not going to work. ah why don't great players make great managers? Or why are great managers so rarely great players?
00:02:31
Global Sports Podcast Network
What's the difference? And actually, got me onto thinking about what skills we actually need to be a successful manager. And I know you've worked with a lot of managers, relatively well-known managers. So wouldn't mind your thoughts on that. And fourthly, you've got to do predictions.
00:02:45
Global Sports Podcast Network
Predictions come with a twist. It's very tight at the top or the bottom. There's two of us in it. and we're going to look at the Championship, which is your home territory. So I'm expecting great things from you.
00:02:57
Global Sports Podcast Network
So without further ado, Nick, reflections on the Premier League to date.
00:03:04
Nick Britten
mean It's been an odd one. And in fact, in some ways, it's a shame that Liverpool have done so well. Otherwise, we'd be going into the last furlong of the season with everything really tight and everything to play for.
00:03:17
Nick Britten
The reality is there's nothing to play for in terms of the winning the title because Liverpool have got that sewn up.
Competitive Nature of the Premier League Season
00:03:22
Nick Britten
So focus is very much on the European places and particularly the Champions League places,
00:03:29
Nick Britten
which go down to fifth this season. So it's all a play for.
00:03:31
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yes.
00:03:33
Nick Britten
And you can go down and go down as far as Bournemouth in 10th position here in terms of who's going to grab a European place. Now, that hasn't been the case in recent years. And what it's shown, I think, this season above all is that it's been...
00:03:48
Nick Britten
Arguably the most competitive game-for-game Premier League that we've seen for a long, long time. And I can't remember a time where a team in 10th position, ah having played 29 games, is still looking to qualify for the Champions League and with a great chance of doing so.
00:04:05
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, it's been astonishing. And I want to try and get underneath what's really changed. You know, the yeah we see that... You know, i was looking at a table the other day. you know, we've got Fulham had a brilliance in Forest. Obviously, stellar season.
00:04:19
Global Sports Podcast Network
Brighton looked great. Bournemouth looked great. Brentford looked great. Palace... they hey kind of have really it could come um good.
00:04:30
Global Sports Podcast Network
All of them teams, by the way, but take Forest out, you they're all London, Southern Coast teams. Interesting phenomenon going on there.
00:04:37
Nick Britten
other than man city and newcastle uh but yeah i take your point the and look if you the reality is i think the reality is under forest and we'll talk about them in just a moment other than forest the league broadly looks as it normally would do other than had it not been for the kind of the collapse of tottenham and manchester united so if you if you put tottenham and man united back up into that sort of fourth or fifth place the league looks like it does every single year
00:04:58
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah
00:05:04
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah
00:05:04
Nick Britten
uh with with with you know with the exception of nottingham forest so it hasn't it's not been a it's not been a year that suddenly amazing things have happened or not happened. It's just that a couple of teams have just fallen out of the picture completely and ah couple of teams are having seasons that you wouldn't necessarily expect them to have. So if we start with the teams that aren't doing well, obviously the two to pick up are Manchester United, who are in having played games with
00:05:40
Nick Britten
34 points. Now, and Everton, just below them, have got 34 points. And West Ham, below them, have got 34 points. So Tottenham, you could argue, are joint 16th if you wanted to go down that particular road.
00:05:48
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:05:51
Nick Britten
And if you look at Manchester United, you look at Tottenham, well, we know why Tottenham have been conceding goals is because they don't defend. They've had a horrendous injury crisis and there's a discussion to be had around why their injury crisis has been so bad.
00:06:08
Nick Britten
A lot of supporters will tell you that Ange Postacogli's tactics and this completely gung-ho approach has led led to you led to ah a worsening injury situation than perhaps they would have had last year.
00:06:23
Nick Britten
um But they don't defend, so they're easy to score against, they're easy to beat. They don't really have much resilience about them. It's all a little bit chaotic. It's a bit of chaotic football. So and you can't really do that in the Premier League. It's too good.
Challenges for Promoted Teams in the Premier League
00:06:36
Nick Britten
Because even the average teams the Premier League will beat you if you're not well set up, if you're not structured, if you're not defensively solid, if you don't have a plan.
00:06:36
Global Sports Podcast Network
Hmm.
00:06:38
Global Sports Podcast Network
Hmm.
00:06:44
Nick Britten
And it certainly if don't have a plan B or C and be able to adapt during a game. Whereas Angie's tactics seem to just be attack, attack, attack, attack and hope for the best. um the and The reason why that hasn't worked and the reason why It's a poor tactic in many ways. It's because they don't have the goal scorers who can outscore the opposition.
00:07:03
Nick Britten
If you have three players up top who who could each get 15 goals a season, brilliant. It might work because you just outscore. if you remember the Kevin Keegan Newcastle teams of United, they just outscored opposition.
00:07:11
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:07:14
Nick Britten
Whereas Tottenham have a tactic to try and do that, but they can't do it because they don't have the striking capabilities to do so.
00:07:14
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, great. Great to watch.
00:07:22
Global Sports Podcast Network
Really interesting, actually, that it's it does remind me of playing football manager. And there's the option, I think, of gung ho on that or some some, you know, that if you have three nil down, you might as well play for the last 15 minutes.
00:07:35
Nick Britten
I think you're right.
00:07:36
Global Sports Podcast Network
Never works. You end up winning, losing seven nil. And Anshim have got his football manager stuck on gung-ho. ah That's interesting. United's slightly different.
00:07:46
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah In a way, United's issues seem more deep-seated to me than Spurs' issues. ah I mean, you can you can say Spurs have been so badly affected by injury and you'd be that's it's not an excuse.
00:07:54
Nick Britten
but think you're right
00:08:00
Global Sports Podcast Network
It's actually true. United haven't really been affected in that way. They're just terrible.
00:08:06
Nick Britten
Yeah, know and it's a whole mixture of things, isn't there, at Old Trafford? I think you're right. It is deep-seated. This goes back many, many years.
00:08:13
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:08:13
Nick Britten
And they've had squads who are built over those years through successive managers who just – it's just they're imbalanced. they've got They haven't got strength in depth. They haven't got strength in the right areas.
00:08:25
Nick Britten
They've essentially got Bruno Fernandes. and And when he's fit, Diallo in midfield, who's who's got a great future ahead of him. But they've never solved the striking crisis.
00:08:35
Global Sports Podcast Network
no
00:08:35
Nick Britten
They haven't had a proper striker really since probably Ronaldo. and Hoyland's just struggled. It's never really worked for him. You've got players who have been playing through the middle who who might prefer to be playing left or right and and vice versa.
00:08:50
Nick Britten
Rashford's obviously left to go to Manchester City. Nobody's... Sorry, Aston Villa.
00:08:54
Global Sports Podcast Network
Absolutely.
00:08:55
Nick Britten
What is the Manchester City? Aston Villa. um and And so... so It's just a whole kind of, it's a whole mess in there. And then if you want to throw into that mess, a new coach who comes in and wants to play a completely different formation that every single player in that team is totally alien to.
00:09:13
Nick Britten
And he's not only come in to do that, and this is not his fault, by the way, but he's come in to do it midway through a season. So he's not even had a chance to get... a pre-season and a proper summer transfer window under his belt to get in the players he wants who can play his system.
00:09:28
Nick Britten
So that's that's sort of been the problem. And it's also been why they can look pretty good in some games, but look absolutely dreadful than the next week. So it's just really inconsistent form as much as anything else.
00:09:41
Global Sports Podcast Network
It's going to be a...
00:09:41
Nick Britten
And I don't think it helps the whole behind-the-scenes instability. I don't think it helps the whole INEOS thing, whole Jim Ratcliffe stuff, the whole Glazer stuff, the constant protests going on at the stadium.
00:09:44
Global Sports Podcast Network
No.
00:09:53
Nick Britten
None of that is good. None of that is good. And it still feels, and I hate to say this because this really is a bit of a cliche, but it still feels that the the club and on the pitch have never got it right since Alex Ferguson left.
00:10:07
Global Sports Podcast Network
There's any doubts? Absolutely no doubts about that. it's It continues to be the story that keeps on giving. It's going to be a fascinating off season for them. ah I reckon Amarim's got one swing at this. he's got one city He's got one off season. He's got a rebuild. He's got got to work so much better next year.
00:10:28
Global Sports Podcast Network
Now, if he's a great manager and everybody thinks he is, you know, this is his big opportunity to show it. Okay, so... Interesting. And we're flirting with relegation when we're talking about Man United or Spurs, but we're going to come to real relegation in a second.
00:10:47
Global Sports Podcast Network
Here at Global Sports Podcast Network, which, of course, that's how feeling is a big part of, we spent lot of time selecting our delivery platform. Zencaster came out the clear winner. 4K video recording from your phone.
00:11:00
Global Sports Podcast Network
AI editing. Automatic recording. Just remove that little mistake I made there. It won't be in the actual recording. Amazing. um Super easy to start a podcast that sounds great and is delivered efficiently. I did that on purpose, by the way, just pointing that out.
00:11:17
Global Sports Podcast Network
If you're ready to tell your story, check out the link in the show description to learn more about Zencaster now. Relegation, teams that come up struggle.
00:11:28
Global Sports Podcast Network
It's always been like that. There's always been a gap. It's never been easy. But is it more difficult now than ever? In fact, is it impossible? And if it's not impossible, what do promoted teams need to do in order to hang on in there, to stay up?
00:11:45
Global Sports Podcast Network
Now, just to put it into perspective, The three teams that came up last year are going straight back down again, and it isn't even close. what Why do you think, Nick, firstly, those three teams are lamentably ah the worst teams in the league?
00:12:05
Nick Britten
They are lamentably the worst teams in the league. I mean, I would hesitate to kind of put Ipswich in the same bracket as Leicester or Southampton because I think they're actually ah better team.
00:12:17
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:12:18
Nick Britten
Southampton and Leicester have been utterly woeful. Leicester even more so since Ruud van Nistelrooy arrived through the door. And there there remains, i think, a very strong argument to say they should never have got rid of Steve Cooper.
00:12:34
Nick Britten
um So Hampton, as we know, they've got nine points from 29 games with a goal difference of minus 49. they are they They are wretched.
00:12:44
Global Sports Podcast Network
Mm-hmm.
00:12:44
Nick Britten
They are absolutely wretched. They can't win home. They can't win away. um it can't be long before they're formally relegated. I'm still, and I'll say this every week, I'm still hoping they win one more game or draw three more games to get them to 12 points, which will allow the Derby County 11-point season to remain a record as the worst team in football history.
00:13:06
Nick Britten
ah We've got to have something about us, let's face it, and if it's the worst team, well, as they say in a game, thats bad PR is better than no PR, quite frankly.
00:13:14
Global Sports Podcast Network
It's looking more and more less likely every week that Southampton concede. you You could lose that title.
00:13:24
Nick Britten
Yeah, I think so. ah think so. it's definitely It's definitely looking like it because their performances are just but just so inept. ah yeah They got rid of Russell Martin because he just wouldn't adapt.
00:13:35
Nick Britten
um And Plevnes has come in. He's no better. It was no better.
00:13:38
Global Sports Podcast Network
No.
00:13:39
Nick Britten
i mean, it was a ridiculous. I'm not going to lie. This is a ridiculous appointment, by the way. We said it at the time.
00:13:43
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, we do.
00:13:43
Nick Britten
This is a ridiculous appointment to employ somebody to manage a club, to try and get them out of a relegation battle who's never had any experience, not only in the Premier League, but also of a relegation battle in the Premier League.
00:13:55
Nick Britten
And what he's provided Samson with is exactly what they don't need. which is nothing whatsoever that's going to help them get out of this mess. You need to dig in. You need to be organized. You need to show fight. You need to have a spirit.
00:14:06
Nick Britten
Remember the old Everton dogs of war spirit they used to talk about so much that would get them out of relegation battles all the time?
00:14:09
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:14:13
Nick Britten
So Hampton have got none of that. Leicester have got none of that. Getting rid of Steve Cooper was a very poor decision at the time. I said it at the time. getting Hiring Van Nipsteroy was even more so foolish. I just don't get it.
00:14:25
Nick Britten
ah We'll talk about why yeah why manager good players can't make good managers. Well, here's a good example. It's all going wrong there. And Ipswich, I think, have been the best of the three, but but not good enough. The problem with Ipswich is that they were, for the for the large part of the so sort of first half of the season, they were losing games, but they weren't losing by much. And i think there was quite a lot of hope.
00:14:45
Nick Britten
And I think as long as you've Liam De Lapp in your team, you've always got hope because he's a sensational player.
00:14:45
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:14:48
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:14:49
Nick Britten
ah But latterly, they've they've started, the whole thing's caught up them. And that's always bound to happen.
00:14:53
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah
00:14:55
Nick Britten
that That tends to be what happens with championship clubs who come up. The second part of season is really difficult. And what you've got to try and do is get the points on the board early on in the season that will give you a cushion if if and when things start going wrong.
00:15:11
Nick Britten
And the return games, particularly for championship clubs, are hard because by then, teams who who don't know you and you're a bit of surprise package at the start of season, they've worked you out and they know how to play you and they'll beat because they're better.
00:15:25
Nick Britten
They'll beat you because they're better.
00:15:25
Global Sports Podcast Network
Very interesting analysis, and I'd agree with that. It's very interesting looking back to that time when, apart from Ipswich, all those teams changed managers, including Wolves.
00:15:37
Global Sports Podcast Network
And Wolves were down there. Wolves were right down. think they were second bottom at the time. And it was so obvious that the decision that Wolves had made as a manager was the right decision.
00:15:48
Global Sports Podcast Network
And the decisions that that Leicester and Southampton made at the time about the managers were the wrong decisions. It was absolutely transparent to people on the outside. ah I just can't understand why it wasn't transparent to people on the inside.
00:16:04
Nick Britten
because Because football club owners know best for some reason. And and we see it we see it all the time. You know, we see it all the time. But look, what do you have to do to stay up? Well, if we look at teams that have gone up and got up and so stayed up and gone up and gone down again, Nottingham Forest are probably a good example of, what well, what do you do to stay up? Well, you need to spend £200 million. pounds And then you need to spend another £200 million pounds and just keep going and keep going and keep going.
00:16:31
Nick Britten
And that sounds quite a a silly thing to say, because, a lot of clubs won't have that money, that's what they've done. They spent 200 million quid when they came up and they spent 200 million quid staying up. And that's got them to where they are now. Fair play.
00:16:43
Nick Britten
It's not a criticism. a Fair play. As long as they're operating within ah PSR, ah fair play to them.
00:16:47
Global Sports Podcast Network
Oh.
00:16:49
Nick Britten
Ipswich, when they came up, spent 120 million pounds in the summer. And they were by far the biggest spenders of the other two who barely spent a penny, frankly, Leicester and Sampton. and And if you're not going to spend even...
00:17:01
Nick Britten
£50 to £100 million, if you're not prepared to do that, well, you've got to accept your fate before a ball is kicked, quite frankly. ah think I think where this went wrong is where they spent big in the summer, other than De Lapp and perhaps other than Hutchinson, but but I'm not sure on him.
00:17:17
Nick Britten
They bought championship players, and that's the difficulty.
00:17:19
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:17:21
Nick Britten
ah Broadly, they bought yeah they bought i spent £10 million pounds on a goalkeeper from Burnley, Arthur Muric, in the summer, and they had to go out and buy another goalkeeper in the transfer window in January because Muric wasn't good enough.
00:17:31
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:17:31
Nick Britten
And I just thought it was a really odd recruitment policy buying a lot of players from the championship having just been promoted to the Premier League. And Hutchinson's a good example.
00:17:39
Global Sports Podcast Network
We've
00:17:40
Nick Britten
He was great in the championship. That doesn't make him great in the Premier League.
00:17:43
Global Sports Podcast Network
seen that so many times, haven't we?
00:17:43
Nick Britten
And they spent...
00:17:45
Global Sports Podcast Network
So many times.
00:17:46
Nick Britten
Yeah, yeah, they spent 20-odd million on him, and it just hasn't really happened. um They spent another 20-odd million in January time. So they spent £140 million, pounds and that's still not going to be enough.
00:17:58
Nick Britten
And they're going to relegated.
00:17:58
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah That makes a lot makes a lot of sense. So Leeds fans, Leeds managers, Leeds chairman, if you're listening, you're going to need to get your checkbook out. Right. So...
00:18:07
Nick Britten
yeah But it's it's it's it's my concern here, finally, to finish on this point, is that this is now the gap between the Championship and the Premier League is becoming too big.
00:18:18
Nick Britten
Because for the first time ever, you're going to see two seasons in a row where teams who, the three that come up, go straight back down. Now, that's got to be a sign of something wrong.
00:18:28
Nick Britten
It has to be a sign of something wrong.
00:18:28
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah I think part of that, by the way, and just to finish it off, is I think the quality of the championships going down, not going up. you know when i cease the when i You know, when I see that, I've seen a bit of championship football, Leeds are a decent team.
00:18:44
Nick Britten
million
00:18:47
Global Sports Podcast Network
But the rest are very similar, you know, in standard, down to about from about second down to about 12th. there's not but yeah I mean, you've seen some championships as well. Do you get the sense of the championship? It doesn't seem to be raising its game to higher levels.
00:19:02
Nick Britten
um've i've watched a lot of championship football well in the the last 10 years ah but particularly when when obviously when derby were relegated to league one In the two seasons that we spent out of League One and coming back up, I thought the level of the championship had gone up a lot. I was watching championship games when were in League One.
00:19:22
Global Sports Podcast Network
Okay.
00:19:22
Nick Britten
I thought it had gone up a lot. But this season, I think you're right. This season, yeah it doesn't seem to be nearly as good. And even and and i don't you watch the teams who are top yeah in the top three. You've got Leeds, Sheffield United and Burnley.
00:19:35
Nick Britten
Leeds on their day are a great side, but they are they are a little bit inconsistent. I don't think Sheffield United or Burnley or West Brom, if you want to go carry on down the playoffs, or other teams around there, Coventry, some they not they're not great.
00:19:50
Nick Britten
They're not great.
00:19:50
Global Sports Podcast Network
Did not?
00:19:51
Nick Britten
um And the championship this year hasn't been great. And I think, to be honest with you, other than Leeds... I think whoever goes up, it's probably going to be certainly Sheffield United, it's looking like now, and then somebody through the playoffs. I think that that could be on for a massive struggle next year.
00:20:06
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, think that's right.
00:20:08
Nick Britten
And look at something to Luton.
00:20:08
Global Sports Podcast Network
Global Sports Podcast Network partners with Bionique.
00:20:13
Nick Britten
Luton were playing in the Premier League this time last year. next year, they're going to be playing in League One. They're going to go straight down and straight down again.
00:20:19
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:20:19
Nick Britten
it's it's
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00:20:20
Nick Britten
It's very, very difficult.
00:20:21
Global Sports Podcast Network
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00:20:37
Nick Britten
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00:20:38
Global Sports Podcast Network
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Why Great Players Struggle as Managers
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Global Sports Podcast Network
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00:20:54
Global Sports Podcast Network
Right. couple of quick things to go through on managers and then when I get to predictions. So we touched on it earlier with Van Listeroy. Why don't great players make great managers? Now,
00:21:07
Global Sports Podcast Network
I had a quick look at, and it's not scientific, the top six managers in the Premier League ah and what their playing records were, just to give me a sense of whether we're dealing with you know great players or not great players.
00:21:21
Global Sports Podcast Network
Liverpool, on a slot. Not an international player. He played for Breda, Zwolle, Sparta-Rotterdam. Bit of a journeyman in one country, essentially in Holland.
00:21:36
Global Sports Podcast Network
That's it. He wasn't he's not couldn't be considered a great player. Arteta. Now, Arteta was a decent player. No question about that. He was a decent player. i know he's a world leader. He's a decent player.
00:21:47
Global Sports Podcast Network
Forrest, Nuno Espirito Santo. Porto, Guimaraes in Portugal. Not an international player, but a decent player. Goalkeeper, of course. ah Chelsea, Maresca, started off at West Brom.
00:22:02
Global Sports Podcast Network
a Bit of a journeyman. Went to Juve. Just a decent standard, but not an international player. City, obviously you've got Guardiola. He was an outstanding player for Barcelona. No one can deny that.
00:22:13
Global Sports Podcast Network
Eddie Howe. I remember Eddie Howe as a player, but he was playing in the lower leagues when I saw him. Former Storwart, obviously.
00:22:24
Nick Britten
yeah
00:22:24
Global Sports Podcast Network
They loved him there as a player, but he was, ah you know, no one could say anything, but he was ah just a journeyman professional footballer. Now, they are the managers of the top six teams in the Premier League.
00:22:37
Global Sports Podcast Network
And as we've seen, and I've seen it with Wayne Rooney, seen it with Van Nistelrooy, it often is the go-to place for chairman to say, recognise this guy as a player. He must be a great manager.
00:22:51
Global Sports Podcast Network
It very rarely works out. I was just wondering you what your thoughts are on that, Nick. And as a secondary point to that is, why are the skills different? What are the skills you need as a manager?
00:23:04
Global Sports Podcast Network
And why is it so difficult to find that in players?
00:23:08
Nick Britten
yeah It's not always the rule, obviously. We've seen Guardiola, we've seen Zidane have great playing careers and great and managerial careers.
00:23:15
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:23:18
Nick Britten
But there are also some great players in recent times here in the UK particularly that were expected to go on and do great things as managers. So Gary Neville, Thierry Henry, Paul Scholes, Frank Lampard, who, to be fair, is is doing a good job of commentary moment.
00:23:31
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:23:31
Nick Britten
Wayne Rooney, who's just it just been one disaster after after another. I think part of the problem here, Part of the problem is that, particularly if you're a top player, you focus very much on you and you focus very much on the game of football, if you like.
00:23:47
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:23:51
Nick Britten
But being a football manager, you've got to be everything else. You've got to be HR. You've got to be a counsellor to players. You've got to understand analytics and data. And there's a whole world of other things that are outside actually what happens on the pitch on a Saturday afternoon.
00:24:08
Nick Britten
And I think that's where potentially even top managers or top players rather struggle. They know everything there is to know about football, these players. They do. Their tactical minds in terms of what they know, having played at that level, is unsurpassed.
00:24:24
Nick Britten
But when you're then asking them to...
00:24:30
Nick Britten
motivate and train and coach players who are of a lesser level potentially or players that that need a ah greater level of communication that's often where they can fall down. im I'm reminded to think back a few years to Glenn Hoddle when he was a manager at Swindon, and it didn't work out for him there. sort ah I mean, this is perhaps apocryphal, but it was a story of the time whereby, yeah you know even having retired for years and years, he was by far the best player on the training pitch, and he couldn't understand why other players who played for Swindon Town couldn't put it in the top bins from 25 yards every time because he could.
00:25:10
Nick Britten
um and part of that is i can do this so i don't understand why you can't and um and and that that sort of element there's another reason as well and that is because top players tend to get top jobs in top leagues as their first job so they haven't done that groundwork in the lower leagues before they get given the top job and of course the top jobs are the hardest jobs if you first if your first a managerial job is in the Premier League or in the Championship, they are both very unforgiving and difficult places to work in.
00:25:44
Global Sports Podcast Network
Mm-hmm.
00:25:44
Nick Britten
So ah without any experience, without that grounding, yeah it can be it yeah it can be it can be very, very hard. and But broadening it out there from there, there was a good There was a good academic paper that I read about this that was published in 2016 when I was doing my research into this.
00:26:02
Nick Britten
And that analysed 20 years of Bundesliga results in Germany, and going down a similar going down a similar theme. And it found that managers who had played professionally in the top two leagues significantly underperformed when set against managers who hadn't played in the top two leagues.
00:26:21
Global Sports Podcast Network
Isn't that interesting? No, isn't that interesting? I mean, we we kind of think that, but it's very interesting to get that as an insight as an academic paper. I was thinking about it. I thought about it a lot. I used to watch Rooney and post ah for Derby, post-interview, and then Birmingham, and then Plymouth, and following it. I mean...
00:26:43
Global Sports Podcast Network
often Often players are not the sharpest tools in the box. are They're not. They're brilliant at what they do, but they're not you don't necessarily have insight and wisdom and intelligence and communication skills.
00:26:58
Global Sports Podcast Network
And, of course, one of the things you've got to be as a manager is a better manager than the opposition manager. It doesn't matter about you being a player. You've got to be more intelligent. You've got to outthink the opposition manager.
00:27:12
Global Sports Podcast Network
And so, therefore, that's going to require a certain degree of intelligence and mental capacity that only certain players have. Let's put it that way.
00:27:21
Nick Britten
Well, yeah, I'm going to introduce one more word into this, okay?
00:27:21
Global Sports Podcast Network
You've got to...
00:27:25
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yes.
00:27:26
Nick Britten
And that's arrogance. Now, to be a top football player, you have to be arrogant. You have to think that you know best about absolutely everything because that's the way you reach the very top of the footballing profession.
00:27:33
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yes.
00:27:36
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:27:40
Nick Britten
There has to be, that particularly on the pitch, there has to be a level of arrogance. If you then transfer that arrogance into the way you manage, it ain't going to work.
00:27:50
Nick Britten
It's as simple as that. It's not going to work. but And we've seen it. We've seen it loads where managers have gone into clubs thinking, right, I know what to do. I know the way to play and and have failed because like they they haven't got the players to do that.
00:28:03
Nick Britten
They haven't adapted actually to the best system that the the players they've got at their disposal can do. And they've tried to impose things on players that they can't do. And that just comes down so just comes down to a level level of arrogance.
00:28:16
Global Sports Podcast Network
That's a really interesting point. The other thing I was going to make about this is is ah you've got to be a great man-manager. And very as you were saying earlier, very few players have really ever looked outside their own individual bubble. They spend a lot of time thinking about themselves and their own...
00:28:32
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah their own role within football. You need to be much broader than that. Very few players are. The other thing I've noticed over the last few years, and Guardiola, to be honest, is great at this. And I think lot of the team, a lot of the managers we mentioned in the top six are great at this, Guardiola,
00:28:49
Global Sports Podcast Network
They are great coaches. And what I mean by that is they make players better themselves. they They've got the wisdom. They've got the insight. They've got the communication skills. They've got the intelligence to identify where players can improve and actually facilitate that improvement.
00:29:07
Global Sports Podcast Network
And Guardiola is great at that. I suspect Santo is great at that. imagine Slott is great at that. Howell is great at that. And I just think that is what separates really good managers from the also-rans.
00:29:20
Global Sports Podcast Network
And just being a football player who was great on the pitch doesn't give you any of that. So it's, hey,
Predictions Contest and Upcoming Matches
00:29:28
Global Sports Podcast Network
that's good. I'm glad we talked about that because it's something I've been thinking and i've been thinking about that for a while.
00:29:33
Global Sports Podcast Network
We need to come to predictions. Predictions. With a twist. So it is at the moment Nick is leading 57-54, wasn't it, Nick? You were you were winning?
00:29:45
Nick Britten
harm Well, no, no, it's now 120 to because last week we did predictions on all the international games that were taking place over the over the whole weekend and it was triple points week.
00:29:50
Global Sports Podcast Network
Really?
00:30:00
Nick Britten
and So I scored heavily on that. You didn't do any the predictions. so um You weren't there.
00:30:00
Global Sports Podcast Network
Oh.
00:30:03
Global Sports Podcast Network
I wasn't here. was. I was on holiday.
00:30:04
Nick Britten
you don't Well, you don't get anything. You know you know the rules. If you don't put it in, you don't get it. you don't if you don't put your predictions in, you don't get in you're not in the game. Skin in the game, my friend.
00:30:12
Global Sports Podcast Network
i'm gonna and Well, I'm going to appeal that to a higher court, to be honest, but between now and next week. But, okay, I hear where coming from. But, therefore, I better...
00:30:20
Nick Britten
and let's like Who's that higher court going to be, wonder? You. not sure.
00:30:23
Global Sports Podcast Network
It's Wayne Rooney.
00:30:23
Nick Britten
you
00:30:25
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah i I can convince him of anything. So, it's ah so I'm assuming for... for Time being at least 57-54. We've got 11 championship games to go at.
00:30:35
Nick Britten
and
00:30:37
Global Sports Podcast Network
You shouldn't worry, Nick. This is your home turf. We'll do League One next week. um Right, I'm going to run down and you tell me it's going to be a home win, a draw or an away win. Sheffield starting tonight. Sheffield United against Coventry.
00:30:49
Nick Britten
we're good then this second versus fifth uh i'm looking forward to this um commentary but a great run under frank lampard uh their only defeat in recent games was actually at derby and they look pretty poor to be honest us but they're what
00:30:59
Global Sports Podcast Network
It was. We got proper hammered, though.
00:31:03
Global Sports Podcast Network
You took properly turned him over that day, didn't you?
00:31:04
Nick Britten
Yeah, we did. And they didn't look good. They didn't look good. um Sheffield United, I think, are just on that roll now, particularly at home. So home win.
00:31:14
Global Sports Podcast Network
Okay, I've got a draw for that. Hull against Luton.
00:31:18
Nick Britten
Yeah, important game towards the bottom end. Hull in 19th or 41 points. and Luton second from bottom on 23. Every game now for those bottom three, as things stand, with Plymouth, Luton and Derby, they feel like must-win games.
00:31:32
Nick Britten
To use the old cliche, they are a cup final. Every single match is is big. this is ah This is a tricky one. I mean, you'd think that Hull... would win this. But Harlan have threatened to pull out of this relegation zone fight for quite some time.
00:31:46
Nick Britten
They've never been able to manage it.
00:31:47
Global Sports Podcast Network
keep getting dragged back in?
00:31:48
Nick Britten
They just keep getting sucked in all the time. And Luton have got everything to play for. I think they might get a point out of this, you know. I think they might surprise might surprise a lot of people.
00:31:59
Nick Britten
um Because down the bottom of the table, results are all over the place at the moment. um So, yeah, I'm going to go for draw.
00:32:06
Global Sports Podcast Network
Okay, I've gone for a...
00:32:06
Nick Britten
Not that I want that, the way. I'm desperate for a whole win. But we'll go draw.
00:32:10
Global Sports Podcast Network
I'm going for a whole win. I think they're going to pull out from relegation from here. Watford Plymouth, another another one affecting the the bottom of the table.
00:32:19
Nick Britten
Yeah, Watford have underperformed this season, the sitting in 10th on 52 points. They haven't redone as well. Doesn't look they're going to threaten the playoffs this season, but they're still going to be too good for Plymouth, so home win.
00:32:31
Global Sports Podcast Network
Same here. Burnley, boring old Burnley, the 1-0 merchants against Bristol City.
00:32:38
Nick Britten
Well, again, it's a good it's a good game at the top of the league. Bristol City are pushing hard for the playoffs. They're only out of the playoffs on goal difference. So they're sitting in seventh or 57th points, the same points as West Brom in sixth.
00:32:50
Nick Britten
Burnley are probably the dullest team to have played professional football this season ever. mean, they really are boring. 0-0, 0-0, maybe a 1-0 here or there, just to keep everybody going.
00:33:00
Global Sports Podcast Network
1-0. 1-0. mon Okay.
00:33:03
Nick Britten
but It's just dreadful. They're really dull to watch. They are a good side, though. um Bristol City are playing well. Tough one. Tough game to call this.
00:33:14
Nick Britten
ah ah Nil-nil. Draw, nil-nil.
00:33:19
Global Sports Podcast Network
I'm going home win. 1-0. No one ever scores against Burnley. So if Burnley scores, they're going to win. Cardiff against Sheff Wednesday. Interesting one.
00:33:30
Nick Britten
Yeah, Cardiff again, they are 21st, so they are only out the relegation zone by one point. One point ahead of Derby. um Yeah, Sheffield Wednesday, a decent side.
00:33:43
Nick Britten
Yeah, Wednesday win.
00:33:46
Global Sports Podcast Network
Wednesday win. Okay. I think that one's got a draw written all over it. Leeds against Swansea.
00:33:53
Nick Britten
Yeah, Leeds win.
00:33:54
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:33:54
Nick Britten
I have just think at home, they'll be too big for Swansea.
00:33:54
Global Sports Podcast Network
and
00:33:58
Nick Britten
Swansea are.
00:33:58
Global Sports Podcast Network
Outstanding. Outstanding.
00:33:59
Nick Britten
Their season's pretty much over now, Swansea, I'd say.
00:34:02
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, I think that's true. Middlesbrough against Oxford.
00:34:03
Nick Britten
Nothing much closer. Again, Oxford had that big spurt, didn't they, when Gary Rowett took over.
00:34:10
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:34:11
Nick Britten
They went on a run.
00:34:12
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:34:13
Nick Britten
They're kind of just hovering at the fringes of the relegation zone. They need probably two more wins to be absolutely sure of staying up. Middlesbrough, but they They were well ensconced in the playoffs. Then they fell right off, and now they're coming back into it again. so they're only three points out out of the playoffs. They've picked their form up a little bit, so i'm going to go for a Middlesbrough win.
00:34:33
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, same here. Rowett's done a decent job Oxford. That's fair it's fair to say.
00:34:37
Nick Britten
yes yes He has. Yeah, he's done well. He's done well.
00:34:39
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, he has.
00:34:40
Nick Britten
A lot of people, they were a people's favorites to go. They got promoted last year from League One. They were are a lot of people's favorites to go straight back down again.
00:34:44
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, 100%.
00:34:45
Nick Britten
So, no, Gary Rout's done a good job.
00:34:47
Global Sports Podcast Network
He has. Norwich against West Brom. That's ah that's a big game. I mean, neither sides are great, but, I mean, it's a well-balanced game, I think, though.
00:34:52
Nick Britten
but it is i mean no thirty Yeah, Norwich in 13th or 49 points West Brom in the in the playoff places at 6th on 57 but Norwich are quite good at home and they score goals at home and West Brom are very unpredictable you're never quite sure what they're going to go so I think i'm goingnna i'm going to go for a Norwich win here
00:34:59
Global Sports Podcast Network
Hmm.
00:35:08
Global Sports Podcast Network
They are.
00:35:12
Global Sports Podcast Network
and Okay, I've got a draw. West Brom are i yeah ah still my dark horses to get promoted, but they're making it that they're falling further further back behind the field, Mike.
00:35:19
Nick Britten
but
00:35:22
Global Sports Podcast Network
Portsmouth against Blackburn. Now, Blackburn, I mean, it's a funny team.
00:35:26
Nick Britten
you
00:35:30
Global Sports Podcast Network
I thought they were going to get promoted, and then they lost the manager, he went to Derby. Wheels have fallen off a little bit at Blackburn.
00:35:36
Nick Britten
They haven't just folded off. they've they've like They've collapsed off and are rolling down the hill still. ah They've lost three games since John luce Eustace left and and they're all games to teams at the bottom end of the table.
00:35:46
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah
00:35:47
Nick Britten
They're having a right on time of it. So and Portsmouth home form, is is pretty decent. I think, I expect Portsmouth to beat Blackburn. Even though Blackburn are in ninth still, I expect Portsmouth to win that.
00:35:58
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, I've got the same home win.
00:35:58
Nick Britten
not and And as a side bet, Valerian Ishmael, who got the job after John Eustace and has lost every single game soon, I wonder what the odds are for him getting sacked before the end of the season.
00:36:10
Global Sports Podcast Network
Right. Was he a good player?
00:36:14
Nick Britten
I think, by memory, was he a centre-half? He wasn't a high, high, high, high profile player, no.
00:36:20
Global Sports Podcast Network
he's got He's got a chance then. Stoke for QPL.
00:36:24
Nick Britten
Stoke v QPR. Stoke v QPR. I mean, look, Stoke are desperate for wins. They're desperate for points. QPR safe in 15th.
00:36:35
Nick Britten
Again, they're up and down. Firing about a championship and predicting the championship is so hard because you never know which version of teams turn up. a week you can be You can turn up and look at World Beat in one week, turn up the next week and look absolutely garbage.
00:36:48
Nick Britten
It's really difficult.
00:36:48
Global Sports Podcast Network
Coventry,
Future of Derby and Wrexham
00:36:49
Global Sports Podcast Network
Coventry, a great example.
00:36:49
Nick Britten
QPR. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And QPR, again, you just never know what you're going to get out of them. um Stoke sto need the points. keep your Score draw, I think, or no score draw. ah Again, I'd be very keen for QPR to win that. Very keen, but so I think probably a points piece.
00:37:07
Global Sports Podcast Network
i think it's I think it's a draw as well. And finally, we've got Sunderland against Millwall.
00:37:15
Nick Britten
Okay, good game, this. Yeah, good game.
00:37:16
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:37:17
Nick Britten
Both, yeah, Sunderland doing very well in fourth. They're a good bet for a playoff place. Absolutely. They should, well, to be fair, they're 10, what are they? 12 points.
00:37:28
Nick Britten
12 points in the, you know, safe from seventh place, Crystal City.
00:37:30
Global Sports Podcast Network
so Yeah,
00:37:31
Nick Britten
they're pretty much assured of a playoff point there, a playoff place. Millwall are always difficult oppositions. They always make it hard for you. ah But I would expect Sunderland to have a bit too much. So Wait a minute.
00:37:42
Global Sports Podcast Network
I've got the same home wins so brilliant 11 results 11 predictions might Oh, let's have it in then Darby V Preston at Okay
00:37:47
Nick Britten
you Wait a minute. Wait a minute. You're missing out one game here. yeah next wednesday darby v preston you can't play it or we were due to play it tomorrow but preston are in the quarterfinals of the fa cup so it's been shifted down shifted around to next wednesday
00:38:02
Global Sports Podcast Network
Let's put it in then. So ah I'll go first on this one. Derby at home, presumably.
00:38:09
Nick Britten
yeah yeah
00:38:10
Global Sports Podcast Network
Derby won three on the bounce, haven't they?
00:38:14
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah That isn't going to last forever. I'm going to go for a draw.
00:38:19
Nick Britten
Okay. Well, on the back of three wins, having not won for about 13 games, i John Euston has come in. We've beaten Blackburn, which was a great result.
00:38:30
Nick Britten
We then beat Coventry, which was a great result. We then went to Plymouth and won 3-2 away at Plymouth.
00:38:33
Global Sports Podcast Network
Fantastic.
00:38:34
Nick Britten
is good players have had a bit of a rest I don't think we're going to get our injured players back I don't think that's going to happen now till well maybe late later for on in the season but home form is picked up confidence is high another three points winging their way to the Rams next Wednesday evening
00:38:50
Global Sports Podcast Network
I am so hopeful that Rams stay up because I am so desperate to see Wrexham Derby Leicester championship. That is my dream come true.
00:39:00
Global Sports Podcast Network
And it's getting closer and closer. The last thing I want to do is see lester get re ah Derby get relegated um next and Wrexham promoted. That would just be wrong.
00:39:09
Nick Britten
so I think the real jeopardy in there in all that is Derby, isn' ni Because I think Wrexham are going to get promoted.
00:39:14
Global Sports Podcast Network
I
00:39:14
Nick Britten
Wickham seem to have kind of fallen off off a little bit.
00:39:17
Global Sports Podcast Network
don't know.
00:39:17
Nick Britten
They looked well set a few few weeks ago. i think Wrexham are going to get promoted. Leicester are definitely going to get relegated. So it might all hinge on on whether Derby can stay up or not.
00:39:26
Global Sports Podcast Network
thats Which is why we need them to stay up. So brilliant. Well, thank you, listener, for your attendance at that Saturday feeling towers today. That's been another
Conclusion and Farewell
00:39:37
Global Sports Podcast Network
episode in the can. Thank you, Nick, for checking me through all those very interesting issues about the Premier League and relegation and managers and predictions.
00:39:47
Global Sports Podcast Network
We'll see you next week for episode, what, 17, 16? I don't know if lost can.
00:39:53
Nick Britten
116 now so it'll be 17 next week uh
00:39:56
Global Sports Podcast Network
17. That's what happens. you You add one to the last one. Brilliant. Okay, 40 minutes of fun. Hope your team wins. 7-0. If they don't, at least you're not New Caledonia.
00:40:09
Global Sports Podcast Network
We'll see you next week.
00:40:10
Nick Britten
yeah
00:40:17
Nick Britten
to submit submit during york well