Transcript
Speaker: Hello and welcome to OTB, the podcast that will allow you to look at the table now. Yep, we're now five games in, so it's officially time that Connor Southwell opens up the table tab on his mobile, which is handy, as Norwich City have just entered the top half.
Speaker: Chinese wonderkid in a waistcoat, they came away from Sheffield with all the glory, registering their first points and goals away from home in the Championship this season. Yeah.
Speaker: goals blistering pace has big fill got them ticking again or should we be more concerned by the stoke game do we even care about the stoke game now We'll predict if this really is the start of something or whether we'll be writing them off as frauds again after the two big bees of birmingham and borough this week will be unveiling two more Norwich City greats from the recent history books as the countdown continues. And we'll start getting gratingly overenthusiastic about everything to welcome in the inevitable stampede of American listeners to the pod. Now we're about to get a Hollywood superstar owner. Howdy, folks. We got an awesome show for you on this here podcast. That'll do for that. And apologies to all our American listeners for various reasons. You've probably sniffed this one out already, but our greatest showman, Ryan, is off OTB duties for the next couple of weeks. But there's still plenty of prestige left in this panel. Firstly, the man who's been instrumental in setting up and running the new OTB Twitter account.
Speaker: at otb underscore pod underscore ncfc please give us a follow so i guess you could say he's our x-man what a shame for the world of social media that i'm going to be bludgeoning him to death sometime in the next 34 years it's dan brigham hello steve hello everyone it seemed like you were very keen to um make it public that i've maybe been doing most of the tweeting from the otb account like you're trying to disassociate yourself from it Well, where there's blame, there's a claim.
Speaker: Yes. At Dan Brigham. Daniel Brigham, I think, is your official handle. So if anybody has any complaints. It is Dan. It is Dan. It is Dan. Is it not Dan underscore Brigham? Dan underscore Brigham. Dan underscore Brigham. I'm going to be a lot of editing, I think. You're going to leave this bit in?
Speaker: Also, I kind of zoned out on your intro a little bit. And what are you each trying to claim Hugh Jackman's American? ah No, but just ah that it'll have the same impact as oh i see know your Ryan's and your Rob's.
Speaker: and But I do believe he's Australian. But again, I'm not having a very good start to this podcast. So please correct me if I'm wrong. and Finally, ah she's always upbeat.
Speaker: So there's no way that you can call her Les Miserables. It's Zoe Morgan. Hello, Steve. That was fun. We can ask Michael Bailey, I guess, to confirm if ah Hugh Jackman is Australian as he is now our Australian expert.
Speaker: We can, although we might have more luck getting hold of Hugh Jackman himself. michael ba yeah Let's let's should we take a take a bet now who's going to be on the podcast. first but Actually, Hugh might do he might do like a sort of press junket when he, um you know, when he starts. We should definitely position ourselves well to get that exclusive, I would say. And Ryan is a massive ah movie buff, isn't he? So he'd be he'd be well up for interviewing Hugh Jackman, I'd imagine.
Speaker: It's just a massive buff, let alone movies. just um Yeah, so if you're listening, Hugh, don't bother with Talk Norwich City. Everything you need is is right here. um i don't know if you've heard. Have you heard? We're on Patreon. For the low, low fee of £2 a month, you can hear extra OTB content all season from Connor Southwell doing a Daniel Farker impression to us deciding which of Cameron Jerome and Borka Sainz it would be better to receive a massage from. It's your chance to hear some extra OTB content if those two examples don't... ah encourage you to sign up I don't know what will to reiterate we are not taking anything away from the original podcast we're just producing more content that's the kind of generosity you get from us just search OTB Norwich City on Patreon to find us and subscribe we don't expect it of course but we are eternally grateful for any donations and we're on Substack so if you like what we say you don't like the sound of our voices then you'll be able to read our thoughts instead again just search OTB Norwich City right then it's enough plugging let's hit the headlines
Speaker: Norwich City trying to cultivate a glamorous reputation by failing to do it on a cold Tuesday night in Stoke.
Speaker: Ipswich lose on the telly again.
Speaker: Chris Wilder stuns world by being relatively polite about Norwich City.
Speaker: Philippe Clément's audition to join Jurgen Klopp as the face of a well-known travel company doesn't go swimmingly. I think it's better you don't ask me too many questions about bookings.
Speaker: So yes, Norwich City have won 3-1 at Sheffield United. Bong! Dan, it's ah it's been an up and down season so far. We've definitely experienced both of those this week. But that's what you call ending on a high, right? With ah with a proper win on the road.
Speaker: Is that the earliest anyone's gone for an up and down season, do you think? Five games in? Well, it has. our early We've won and we've lost and we've not done anything else. Yeah, well, we don't really draw under big field, do we?
Speaker: think that was a theme last season. And we're continuing it this season. um Yeah, I suppose if you look at the week as a whole, that's six points in three games.
Speaker: Turned over a relegated side last Saturday and won at a very difficult place to win. and the first time we've won there since, was it two thousand and seventeen eighteen in the famous Toys Out of the Pram game for Chris Wilder.
Speaker: But I guess ah the week as a whole, I thought Stoke was very disappointing. I think we probably, despite that, I think we did enough to draw it at least. um First half, especially, I thought we were the better side. And then sort of...
Speaker: Second half struggled to really create anything, to really sort of control. And despite all the amount of possession, we didn't really control the ball very well, i don't think. Kind of hurried in possession, made some bad decisions, struggled to get in behind. And when we couldn't get in behind, we didn't have the players sort of to break ah a really stubborn Stoke defence down. And obviously, inevitably...
Speaker: you start to think after that start of the season, um, to poor away performances, uh, in the league. You kind of think, is it, is it going to take a little bit longer to gel a little bit longer to get up and running? Um,
Speaker: And then that sort of blown away by the performance at Sheffield United. um Huge amount of control in that game, especially second half. I really enjoyed how we weathered the storm as well. That ah sort of second part of the first half when Sheffield United threw a lot at us, but didn't really create anything. And I thought um it was quite important to come under that sort of test and come through it, which we certainly didn't against Millwall. So it showed sort of a bit more resilience defensively and the structure looked a bit ah back to what we expected last at the end of last season under Big Phil. And then second half, like the second half against Burnley, we just really controlled it. Looked by far the more dominant side, where a real threat both in behind with the two wide men and sort of when playing and in front of them as well. thought Mattson and Kenny really... stepped up as well. Our back line looked very solid and sort of, yeah, it felt like we played with a bit of swagger for the second time in a week. um
Speaker: But yeah, I do think that sort of 15, 20 minutes when Sheffield United had a lot of the ball was probably the biggest a positive takeaway for me because we're going to come under that sort of pressure from a lot of good sides in the championship this season. And it showed after a bit of a creaky,
Speaker: A creaky start to the season when we've been too open in places, it shows that maybe that structure, um which we got used to at the end of the last season when we weren't at all open, sort of might be sort of slowly gelling back into place now.
Speaker: Yeah, Zoe, as Dan says, two very different performances this week and two very different results. I guess you call it an up and down week. ah Big Phil. Up and down week is fine, but up and down when you're, what, three weeks old, not having that.
Speaker: Up and down month? Up and down month, I think. Okay. um Right. i'll I'll stick that bit in later. um Big Phil was adamant, Zoe, that Stoke didn't employ a low block. And I believe everything the man says, but it looked like two different approaches that we had to face. Was that the the main difference or were we just better on on Saturday?
Speaker: Yeah, I think you can get too bogged down in this idea that there's a certain type of team that we just cannot play against. And every every time we think we're going to come up against one of those teams, it's almost like everyone writes us off because we don't know what we're doing. um We played a lot better ah on Saturday. I think Dan's right. I think that we are...
Speaker: Like we're learning and we are improving and those sort of bits of cohesion that were maybe missing earlier in the season are sort starting to come together, but they're not perfect yet. I think we just had one of those nights at Stoke. Like it was frustrating. It got so...
Speaker: hideously like scrappy and gnarky and stop start and i thought well the most disappointing thing about that was that we allowed ourselves to get sucked into it I thought there was a real point at which I think Cordoba had been booked and I was I was very scared it was going to happen again that he was going to get his second yellow it just felt felt like there was we we just let them get in our heads a little bit and I think that's what we need to avoid and hopefully that's what the coaching staff will be talking to them about, because again, we, put yeah we we probably did do enough, you know, in terms of chances created and and all of that to get at least a point at Stoke, but it didn't happen. And I think that's that sort of mentality side of things is probably,
Speaker: why it didn't happen. um And there seemed to be none of that really going on at Sheffield United. And again, it's a place where you can also get, you know, the crowd can get on your back. You can get sort of sucked into the emotion of it. So ah that felt like a sort of,
Speaker: bit of growth during the same week which is good um and yeah we did just we we played really well you know the front three really seemed to be clicking um and really sort of worried Sheffield United and I think um yeah I think it's just a better performance all around Yeah, and Jose Cordoba, the kind of cool Rolls Royce of a defender, currently with the worst disciplinary record of anyone in the league. So something to work on there. I don't think he, he didn't get booked that often last season, did he? I feel like this is quite new, this him getting booked all the time. Yeah. I mean, Millwall obviously got two. That didn't help. And then he's had two since then. And for a combination of things, really. But yeah, the Stoke one, like you say, was definitely him just getting a bit and antsy and getting wound up by some Stokeys.
Speaker: Dan, lots of lots of focus on the two X blades in our attacking midfield before the game. um But it was a former owl, which does make him sound a little bit like one of those Harry Potter characters that can turn into animals, um who scored and starred on Saturday, Anthony Musaba. He's got off to really promising start. So does the speedboat have a driver?
Speaker: Yeah, maybe it's a sort of a luxury yacht now for the Uber rich have, probably with several drivers, a catering crew, that kind of thing on there. um he So early impressions, he is much better on the left than he is on the right, which I think he's played most of his football on the left. So that makes sense in the appearances when he's had to come on in the right or started on the right. and doesn't really come in as effectively because he's right-footed. He's looked a bit Onel Hernandez at the back of Norwich's career, while the Musaba we see on the left is more like Onel Hernandez in 19, I think, sort of creating havoc, but also being quite decisive with... um
Speaker: his decision making as well and I thought especially against Sheffield United that decision making was really excellent and gave Chowdhury proper bad like difficult game got him behind a lot and then but then brought out really good passes and and crosses as well so yeah really good to see that you know it's pretty rare that Norwich City have got two out and out wingers you have to go back quite a long time and So probably to the Lambert era, even then it was kind of rotated between out and out and wingers and diamonds as well. um So, yeah, it's exciting. It might explain potentially why um with we struggle a bit against low blocks because, as you know, and this is no, like Brooks is definitely more all-rounded, I think, and is is a trickier player, but maybe we miss...
Speaker: Ahmed's ability to sort of pick out a pass from cutting inside a bit more than you get from Musaba but yeah really really encouraging and it's nice that the former owl scored a goal by putting it into where the owl sleeps as well as the Scandinavians like to call the top right hand left or right hand corner of the goal wow that's a deep cut yeah let's get that Also, you've got love a lover player, right, that says that he was surprised that his shot went in. ah great Great admission there. And, you know, at least he gets himself, I suppose. it's ah It's a lot of sort of self-reflection there that he's not quite sure what's going to happen every time he kicks the football. Does that mean we're just but i mean we've got him for another year? Are we just not going to see that again, that kind of finish? Because he was as surprised as we are see that. Maybe it'll encourage him to keep trying and it'll keep just going in.
Speaker: You never know. yeah um Well, you know, as long as they do. um yeah i mean, you sort of said it, Dan, but my bar for him is basically would Onel have been able to put that performance in? I would say no to the one on Saturday. I think the... the end product and like you say, being able to pick his head up and um find a pass is not something that O'Neill was renowned for and I think we probably saw enough of him to be able to make that judgment. um Moving on to, um I mean, we've talked about a lot of Aussies already. Zoe, I know there's been talk from our fans about not being sure
Speaker: whether Motore is good or not, but that is now 14 goals and four assists in 18 games. ah And his first touch and finish and celebration for the second goal on Saturday were all great. and So I'm putting it to you that he is in fact good. Are you are you with me?
Speaker: Oh, yeah. You've got start thinking that he's pretty good now. um a moment, please, for beautiful genius sir Slimani with that backheel that absolutely thundered through to Motore. And also, I mean, it was a beautiful backheel, but i also really enjoyed, i don't know if you saw the angle from sort of behind Toure as he went to finish it, but Slimani had his arms up in the air celebrating the goal long before Toure had taken the shot. So that's the level of confidence. He's McConville in that shot because he loves an early celebration, doesn't he? Maconville was already herring down the pitch, basically on Toure's back.
Speaker: But no, I mean, is really difficult to ignore how much he keeps scoring. Like, um i so i don't know. There was something about the commentary on...
Speaker: during the Stoke game where I kept thinking, are they getting like, they're getting really carried away with this guy. And and that's quite unlike me. Cause I'm, you know, as you know, um i love them all like they're my own family, but ah it does feel like he's still really yet to prove that.
Speaker: huge amounts about his footballing ability other than the fact that he seems to score every five minutes, which like, is that, is that all you need to do? Maybe it, maybe it Um, and maybe I'm underselling him, but he is certainly catching a lot of people's eye. Um, but it feels like there is more to come from him. Like there is more refinement. There is a lot of kind of, i guess,
Speaker: what to do if you go and collect the ball sort of near the touchline, sort of miles away from the penalty area. Like how do you make decisions on what to do there? Because I think those are the sorts of things where you think actually he sort of zones out at that point and he doesn't quite know what to do. Like give him the goal giving the ball, like with sight of goal, then no worries whatsoever. But um it is very exciting that it does feel like he can get better. There is a lot of road for him still to travel.
Speaker: So if he if he keeps scoring at this rate and builds up his all-round game, that that is very exciting. And Chris Goran scoring as well and Makama still to come. It it sort of it seems incredible. this In this calendar year, we have seen Yakov Medich play up front. When you think of the options that we have now, it's A big, big moment from Big Phil in his press conference calling Kvist Goran Matty ah for the first time. He always calls him Kvist, just Kvist, but Matty. Kvist Goran probably felt a million a million dollars after hearing that, didn't he I'm getting into his good good books, finally. He's calling me by my, not only calling me by my first name, but adding a ah Y on the end as well, affectionately. Yeah.
Speaker: I think um Chris Gorin's looked excellent as well when he's come on come off the bench. i Even against Stoke, when he didn't get many opportunities, he was the one who sort of was in the right position to almost fashion an equaliser from a really difficult angle.
Speaker: And he's in a really great place at the right time to score on Saturday as well. Yeah, ah he yeah with Toure, I get what I think...
Speaker: It wasn't really his game against Stoke in a way that it probably would have been McCama's game. Someone who is very comfortable with his back to go goal and holding it up and bouncing passes off you know the number 10s and the wide players. That's not really Toure's game yet. He's physical, but not in ah not really with his...
Speaker: back to goal. um So when Makama is back and hopefully Torre and Krissgoren remain fit, then we've got three sort of very different types of striker, I think. All of them with massive room to grow as well, which is very exciting. Well, I think the most memorable thing from Torre's performance against Stoke was he nearly got the the worst Norwich City assist of all time, didn't he? When he could have played Brooks in about five seconds before. it kind of sort just sort of stumbled it into his path. There's definitely been some very passionate footballers who would have been so angry in Brooks's ah situation there that they would have just made sure they smashed that ball over the net and missed on purpose just to prove a point that they should have been passed too earlier. Is there anything that angers ah an ex-pro more in analysis than somebody holding onto the ball too long when they should pass or shooting when they should pass? when there's a
Speaker: i chris Chris Martin, whenever he's being a pundit, hates stuff like that. And you just think... was this the way you played? play I don't remember. i don't remember this complete altruism of a player, like in your play. But yeah, it's it's funny the sort of change in mindset they can have as soon as they stop playing. What's the worst case scenario though with Tori? A, that he hasn't looked up.
Speaker: B, that he has selfishly decided to not pass to start with. um Or C, is there a C? um But he's incapable of making the decision one way or another. Yeah. Or it's probably all of the above, actually, isn't it? Yeah. I think, yeah, I think it probably is. See, he just, his mind suddenly went elsewhere, you know. He was thinking back to the World Cup when he should have taken that penalty the shootout and didn't.
Speaker: The only other thing I was going to add was it was it was all kind of weirdly nice. We're not used to this from Sheffield United. Andre Brooks got a really nice reception and there seems to be some sort of love in between Big Phil and Chris Wilder, which to me feels a bit like your mum bringing home a bloke who's been calling your sister a slag down the low course. That's something not quite right about those two getting on. So I don't know. Are we are we friends with Sheffield United now?
Speaker: I hope not. Okay, well, i think I think we'll agree on that. It's easier to pretend we're friends when we've won the game. yes. I do like them a lot more than yeah than the last nine years, it has to be said. Yeah, when he's not running on the pitch ah celebrating at the end of the game, it's a lot more palatable, i would say. Yes, he still had his sandwich face on, but it wasn't ah it wasn't at our expense this time. um Okay, well, ah I mean, that there are still a few stats to take from the game, so I will i will attack you with them.
Speaker: And when I say a few, I do mean a few. It's more of us a stat caress this time, I think, than an attack. um ah One of the things I wanted to just point out is just because I was thinking about how well all of our new signings are doing is the records of our new attacking players under Phil Clement. So by my reckoning, we saw we've had five of them sign.
Speaker: And after their first three starts, Ali Ahmed, two goals, two assists. Motore, like ludicrously, five goals and one assist. Paris Magoma, two goals. Andre Brooks, one goal, one assist.
Speaker: And Anthony Musaba, one goal, one assist. So they're all contributing like multiple times. I feel like that's not something that usually happens with our attacking signings. They usually take a while to bed in. Certainly not recent in recent years, I would say. Um, is that a sign of really good communication, like making it incredibly clear what is expected of you, um, and, and people and going out there and then doing it? Um, or is it a case of them really wanting to impress a manager who's got a lot of charisma and is quite scary? Uh, is it that maybe? Does it also mean we should keep signing attacking players and then just playing them for five games, moving them on bringing in another new another new one, keep that going?
Speaker: I mean, that that is basically what the transfer window is now, isn't it? is you know but I cannot keep up. So I think if you're Chelsea or Watford, that's probably already what they're doing. Give them five games and and then and then bin them. um On Masabe, he is the first Dutch player to score for Norwich City since... yeah I might just give it to you, actually. Mitchell Dykes on 9th of February 2017. Number one in the UK charts that day was Shape of You by...
Speaker: um Ed Sheeran. Very good. Well, I say that. um But yes, well done. And the film, number one film on that day was Sing.
Speaker: you tell me anything about that? Because I'd never heard of it. For children. For children. For children, correct. Set in a world inhabited by anthropomorphic animals, the film focuses on a koala named Buster Moon, a struggling theatre owner who stages a singing competition.
Speaker: A koala owned a theatre? Yeah. Wow. Is he voiced by Hugh Jackman by any chance? Unfortunately not. ah They went for the very Australian Matthew McConaughey.
Speaker: Hugh Jackman was right there. at least Russell Crowe. um Michael Bailey. Michael Bailey. Zoe Morgan. Motore.
Speaker: How old would Motore have been in 2017? About 15 maybe. but you know girl um And finally, and I think you two might particularly like this one because you're from the north. um I thought you meant this might be up Bono Street.
Speaker: He might like this one as well. Do we know if Bono likes sort of tedious Norwich City related stats? It doesn't sound like something I like.
Speaker: We'll soon find out if our listeners like it. I think they're going to love it. um If not, then someone show this to Bono. So I'm setting picture Wrexham, picture Wrexham on a map. That's where I'm setting the bar. We won north of Wrexham on Saturday. But prior to that, we'd won one of our last 16 games north of that point.
Speaker: which is going back a few years, um compare that to Wrexham and South, nine of the last 16. So I'm here to ask you, do we have a northern problem?
Speaker: this This country's got a problem with the north and it needs sorting out. Right, Andy Burnham.
Speaker: Does it suggest that we need more comfortable travelling arrangements for our players? Maybe plump up a few more pillows on on the aeroplane? oh it but do we Do we fly up north?
Speaker: We will fly. well we certainly used to fly up north, yeah. Really? Oh. Hell no.
Speaker: Nothing's cut out. Okay, good. Zoe is so outraged by Steve slagging off the north of England that she left. What is the game that we've won?
Speaker: ah It was, good question, Blackburn away when he who shall not be named scored two goals. Just after we lost Marcelino Nunez. For some reason, I've named him. That's fine. LAUGHTER
Speaker: And yes, we won 2-0. Vlad um made that brilliant save. It was a ah Manning win. So if if everyone's forgotten it, then fair enough. Didn't mean anything.
Speaker: um So yes, I did say it was it was going to be a light caress of an attack, but that was Stat Attack.
Speaker: Now, us OTB podders will no doubt spout thousands and thousands of words on the podcast this season, but they still probably won't have the collective gravitas that Sophie Leaney will manage in about 30. Something for the three of us to ruminate on while we found find out what Sophie has chosen as her word of the week this week.
Speaker: evolution
Speaker: It's another two game week this week. If I was a hyperbolic Sky commentator, I'd say the championship is relentlessly relentless or something like that. Birmingham at home on Wednesday, Middlesbrough away on Saturday. Two members of this panel are going to that one. Allow me to be the killjoy just as we're getting into a rhythm in the four games against these two opponents last season. We got precisely zero points. and Zoe, that that may not matter a great deal. What does matter is turning Saturdays encouraging performance into something approaching the norm. So will we see that or are we going to start reverting back to inconsistency? I'm expecting you to know the answer to this one.
Speaker: Is this going to be a down after hour up at the weekend? That's what you want to know. um Well, I guess compare it with last season. that The only way is up one point. We're suddenly winning. So that's good. um Birmingham are my dark horse that I think are going to be rubbish this year. So it would help me out if if we could win. Burnley were right there, you know. Yeah.
Speaker: Well, I said this after the Burner game ah that we need to start asserting ourselves on this division um and stringing a couple of wins together. um Keep on the up and up. um I think that is even more important now because we have had those mixed results. um It would be really, really nice if we could just...
Speaker: have a few games where we don't lose. um Because yeah, the championship has been so weird already in terms of results. ah It's absolutely all over the place. And I think we all knew it was going to be competitive um and there would be a few teams in the mix, but this seems even weirder than anybody might have expected. yeah,
Speaker: I think if you can string a sort of a little run together, it's going to make a big impact on the on the league standing. So um yeah, go i would it would be nice to just get a little bit of consistency going.
Speaker: Well, we're five points off the top of the league. So this time next week, we could be, you know could be top. um But two tough games here, Dan. Birmingham, not to be taken lightly, obviously, but you'd you'd have to say Borough away just as it was last season.
Speaker: That's looking like it could be a real challenge and a really interesting barometer of where we're at. Yet they've lost one game between them this season so far. Birmingham, only one of two teams to be unbeaten so far, which, as Zoe was saying, kind of points to how mad this league is. No team have won more than three games out of their five. But then Sheffield United were unbeaten, right? Yes, and that's right. um But yes, I do think...
Speaker: It may be, you know, it's around this time the season after five games when maybe things start taking a a bit more shape. New signings have bedded in for every team a little bit more. um Teams have maybe seen how well the opposition want to play their their football. Yeah.
Speaker: Well, I think I'd like to see maybe some more of Sebesson's clean shits as well, as we are. You know, as much as I love a high scoring win, we are we are lacking in clean sheets under this season under Philippe Clermont and a bit of a trend last season, I think, as well. um So at this stage of the season, I still think it's good performance rather than good result. And I'd kind of like to see, as i sort of mentioned earlier, i think we're still maybe a bit too open at times, um which I think we can put down to sort of a revamped and rotating front line as well, which means... um
Speaker: as well as we've pressed at times, sometimes they may not be doing it as well as a collective as they were when we really got into our groove last season as well, which obviously has an impact on how open we are in in the centre of the park. So I'd like to see those little details kind of being ironed out and us looking a bit more of ah a collective out of possession. um I was looking at some of our stats. Sorry to steal you, to enter into your territory here, Steve. Yeah.
Speaker: I had a look on FOTMOP, which is very good for this kind of thing. And it's only five games in, but we're we've got the second highest XG behind West Ham. We're fourth in the XG difference between West Ham Wolves and Middlesbrough, we play on Saturday. Only Borough have created um more big chances than we have. And only Borough have missed more big chances than we have. Sounds about right. Oh, they're still doing that, aren't They're still doing that, despite having, you know, a sharp sharp shooter in Lancashire up top now. But we're also like fifth in tackles per match and third in possession, one in the final third, which suggests, you know, we're also ah pretty committed as well and, you know working hard. um
Speaker: So I'd like to see yeah the sort of continuation of us creating a lot of chances, and which has been good apart from against Millwall in second half um against Stoke City. But I'd like to see that in these next two games. sort of sort As Zoe said as well, kind of like imposing ourselves a bit more but out of possession as well. sort of Really looking to um when we're not hitting teams on the break, properly dominating in their half like we did second half at Bramall Lane. But i am Last season, that I thought, borough away, that was the best performance by a team against us, um under Philippe Clement anyway. um
Speaker: It looks like they're still sort of playing some really great stuff. Losing Hayden Hackney doesn't seem to have damaged them too much. um so yeah, as ever against Middlesbrough, it'll probably be quite a fun, open game. hopefully looking forward to it.
Speaker: Can I just place on record ah that I think clean sheets are for losers? ah we We agree too much on this podcast, so I'm just going to disagree there. yeah i hate to I'd hate to lump myself in with like you know Chris Euton and stuff, but it would be nice just to see one or two over a 10-game period, I think. I think Vlad would like it. He seems furious that he's, you know, every time he let one in, it's oh, again, again with this, kind of can I just have one?
Speaker: I do like it when defenders celebrate ah their own good defending. I do find that quite touching. ah But yeah in the grand scheme of my priorities for football, I'd say clean sheets are quite far down the list. I mean, we've with like the last three games, I guess we've only conceded one in each of them, and all three of those have come from outside the box. So maybe we're just coming up against Thunder Bastards every week. But Seb Passong will be delighted that you're taking interest in his bowel habits, Dan, at least. So... ah Are we going to see the Big Phil rotation? um of his outfits.
Speaker: For some reason, I was just putting my of him like spinning around in a circle like on the touchline. But I did mean the team, Zoe. Neither of those things. And if so, who who's going to come in? who's gonna come um yeah i've I've just written Yongwa question mark, Mykoma question mark, but they were just the two players that came into my head first.
Speaker: Yeah, it was... I mean... My initial thought was, oh, well, he doesn't really seem to be doing much of that rotation. Then I realized that, ah or remembered that Schwartau was nowhere near the squad on on Saturday and he's been starting all the time. So maybe I'm not giving him enough credit. um Yeah, it seems like full back and number 10 are kind of the positions up for grabs at at the moment um a little bit.
Speaker: He does seem very keen on Somani starting though. um And I wouldn't be surprised if he stuck with that. Yeah. Yeah, it would be nice to see Jongwerp get a few more minutes, get himself established. but um And i think I do think there is so much competition in those fullback positions that we will see plenty of rotation there. Do you think Fisher will be in again?
Speaker: He's still having an interesting time of it, isn't he? um I'd say probably, probably, but...
Speaker: i think he'll definitely play against Middlesbrough whether he definitely plays midweek I don't know poor Jack Stacey was god awful against Stoke wasn't he well as good as good as he was well as good as he was offensively against Burnley he was caught out again offensively bad again an up and down week for him is a very often and and he does like to get up and down um I like to get up yeah rest of us just get down when he's... And then McConville has to look across and think, oh God, i've got to go across again, haven't I? Because he hasn't got down. I also think, sort of more to a tactical point, I do think Fisher gives us so much more control and that was probably a big part of why that second half, well, maybe not a big part, it certainly helped having somebody in there who is a little bit more inverted, isn't quite so keen to to bomb up and down the wing. It just helped us get hold of that...
Speaker: second half a little bit better than I think we have done in in previous games. I thought some of the sort reaction to the rotation against Stoke was a bit weird. I just don't think Musaba and Krizeny are ready for three games in a ah week yet. And so Musaba and Krozeny couldn't start against Stoke.
Speaker: Or if they did start against against Stoke, they wouldn't have started on Saturday at Sheffield United. So sort of it made sense to me that because we're still in a position, unfortunately, where you know we've still got Diallo returning from Inji, Musaba...
Speaker: came in without much of a pre-season Kraseniad surgery you know in the in the summer, that we're still having, or Clement still having to rotate a little bit in order to get people up to speed. And it will help that Yongwu will benefit from having those minutes. I'm sure if he plays again, and by the way, he looks really classy, um ah he'll benefit from um getting as many minutes as he can within that system. So I just think it's kind of, unfortunately a bit part and parcel until say Diallo is ready to start on the left and then you can dovetail between Musaba and Diallo and you know until Sienac is ready to start on the right potentially you your Brooks will mostly have to start or Schwartel as he did against Stoke will have to come in on one of the wings um I just think that's reality of it at the moment still
Speaker: i do I think there's probably a thing about sport in this country in general where rotation as a concept ah is welcomed in theory and not necessarily in practice. ah I'd say people talk about it, especially with the England cricket team a lot, about how we should be rotating players. And then when it comes to it, it's like, oh, well, I didn't mean those ones. And why aren't we playing this person? And i think we do have, you know, unless you're a fan of you know the very biggest clubs in the country where that's sort of become a reality, but only relatively recently, probably in comparison with some other sports. Yeah.
Speaker: You know, that sort of like slight feeling of uneasiness that you might not be playing your like number one or perceived number one 11 every time you go out. i think people do struggle with a little bit. Yeah. And I do get it. But, you know, this is but ah we've had a midweek game. I think it'll be four midweek games in a row. So that's ba effectively nine games in the space of of four weeks.
Speaker: And we are, the numbers say, basically the most relentless pressing team in the division. And I know we tend to take our attacking players off after an hour or 75 minutes or what have you, but you cannot ask players to do that regardless of how good they are in that that number of times in that short space of time. And we have a really good squad now of where we can do that. So, um ah you know, Big Phil said it, I think, before the...
Speaker: Sheffield United a game. This is the reason I do it. And if you don't like it, I've got bad news. It's probably going to carry over to the season. And you hear about rotation a lot in the context of a Norwich player gets a muscle injury and people say, why didn't we rotate him more? all right Well, and when it does actually happen, people were like, well, why didn't we start? Musaba again on Tuesday night why didn't we start Krizeny it's like well they'd probably get injured that's why um i was a bit surprised actually that Torre started all three games especially with Chris Gorin showing really good form I wonder if that will continue against Birmingham whether we'll see maybe Chris Gorin getting a start
Speaker: Maybe. So in summation, none of us has any idea what the team's going be on Wednesday, but that's part of the fun of it. ah Predictions for number of points. Obviously, we're not going to draw any games, so i don't want to hear any ones or fours, Zoe.
Speaker: ah Well, I would say six, but as you have mentioned, I am going to the Middlesbrough game. um My record for recent wins seen in person, very poor. My record for wins away from home seen in person goes back to...
Speaker: potentially Wagner's first wow game. and What? Away from, really? Oh yeah, the... yeah Preston, Preston, 4-0. Just it so that that that was, I forgot to mention, the point of part of the point of that stat, that's why you never see us win because they never win in the North. So um I fully, I'm totally okay with absolutely nobody else caring about it, but I thought hopefully you would and as as part of an explainer.
Speaker: It's a lack of respect for my years of fandom, I would say, that they don't honour me by putting in decent performances in the north of this country. Well, you know, it's it's the same for us podcasters. We don't honour you by putting in a decent performance on on this. Dan, what do you think?
Speaker: Well, now you've spotted the north-south trend. um It's broken. So Norwich will get three points at Middlesbrough and obviously lose to Birmingham. who I know that's at home though, isn't it? But that is that is still they're still further south than Wrexham, I believe. Birmingham must have been. Yes, they are. yeah So three points just based on that.
Speaker: Yeah, now you've said that, can totally believe it's going happen. It'll all be quite different. Okay, our countdown is back. Canary countdown, your top 25. It's numbers 22 and 23. Here we go. It's Norman's cross.
Speaker: It's Roberts! Grandman!
Speaker: It's TT!
Speaker: Yes, it's the second edition of our list of the top 25 Norwich City players since the year 2000. But of course, it's not our list on this podcast. It's your list, or at least the list of the 393 Canaries fans out there who voted in it, from Sprouston to Spicksworth to sub-Saharan Africa, maybe. If you're not familiar, then each person's first place got 25 points, second place 24 points, and so on with the final points tally giving us our comments. final list we're now firmly in leonardo dicaprio girlfriend age territory looking at 23 and 22 just a reminder that neither dan nor zoe know who is coming up here only i have the knowledge of the names in the envelope a burden that has weighed heavy for weeks now these two guys are officially bigger legends than both cameron jerome and bork assigned quite the accolade
Speaker: If you want to read more about why these two got in and why they weren't higher, then please subscribe to the ATB Substack. I've mentioned it already. You'll see plenty about our top 25 and more just what I've already told you, but head to Substack and search ATB Norwich City. In the last article, Dan condones the act of spitting and calls Lewis grabbing a dick. So there's something for everyone.
Speaker: to enjoy um and a big thank you to uh teague hipkiss uh for his magnificent artwork uh has brought our otherwise um slightly repetitive uh instagram grid to life um and yeah they do look brilliant so please do check that out so without further ado let's find out who our number 23 is courtesy of uh this bit of music
Speaker: number 23
Speaker: Ooh, yeah That was long. Really disappointed that it doesn't include his dube, though. um much But yes, that was Dion and the Dublins on Smooth FM, number 23.
Speaker: Dion Dublin, born in Leicester in April 1969. joined City in From who, oh i can't remember that was ages ago The correct answer is no one. Absolutely no one. He was a Celtic before me. ah It was on a free and left in, oh I should have asked you the year, should I? And left in what year, Zoe?
Speaker: two 2008 or nine? eightton eight or nine I'll except eight. I'll imagine I didn't hear that. Oh, that was my first choice. I should have shouldn't have doused myself. You've got to back yourself. To join Dan?
Speaker: Yeah, can't remember that either. No one. No one. These are not going to get any easier than that. He retired at Hillsborough. Oh, yeah, of course. He had that big, big parade of saying farewell every single away game. As we lost and lost and lost. Yeah. I have a feeling this going to a really positive one. I can sense it already.
Speaker: Dublin rejoined Norwich City at the age of 37, 18 years after he was released by the club as a trainee. He was Nigel Worthington's first signing as Canaries manager and went on score 16 79 the Canaries. winning the Barry Butler trophy in his final season as a professional at 39. He was, and still is the oldest winner of the club's player of the season award by about 25 years. Zoe, um I'm not sure we've ever talked about Dion Dublin, at least not in a not homes under the hammer context. Do you have many or any outstanding memories? What's your general verdict about him appearing in our list?
Speaker: um ah guess overall not surprised that he's on the list. um That period of him playing for us was a strange time um of him being kind of, i guess, a big personality in a team that was ultimately very quite bad um and getting worse. um So in many ways, it was a sort of soothing balm, really, that we had someone to...
Speaker: cling onto during those times. um He always seemed like a lovely guy. um Obviously we've now got homes under the hammer, um but really my,
Speaker: overarching memories of that sort of farewell tour in his final season, which like was I've never seen anything like it really, because you would go to away games and he would sort of be doing full laps of the pitch where the home fans would also be sort of applauding him off at the end of every game. It's like, what, what is this? Like a testimonial season for this, for this man. I mean, it's very lovely that he is, you know, he was sort of universally, you know,
Speaker: I guess in football terms, not hated. So people would just appreciate him. um But I think it really didn't help. It sort of, it papered over the massively expanding cracks in our team as a whole at that point. And I'm not entirely sure it was particularly helpful. um But, you know, um he was obviously...
Speaker: quality player um and his class sort of did still show despite him being 138 whatever he just said he was. um And, you know, players that can play centre-back and striker are always quite fun, aren't they? Yeah. I mean, I don't think he played in goal, but he probably could have done.
Speaker: Dan, is this maybe the first example of the definition of, i mean, there are many definitions of great, but like the player that he was as opposed to the player he was when he was with us, maybe? Can I just start with the joke? They've certainly papered over a few widening cracks on homes under the hammer in their time. Yeah, that's you should have interrupted with that, to be honest.
Speaker: Just next time stick up your hand because that was good. Sorry, what was your question? Was Dion Dublin good? I am... i i am I'm surprised he's in the top 25.
Speaker: um It almost feels quite a patronising vote because he is such a lovely guy. People love him, um rightly so. entertaining big character but he was pretty poor in a really really poor norwich city team was he poor i don't know if it was he poor i'm not sure did we get relegated pretty much nearly the year after he didn't yeah but the year after so if anything he kept us up because he was papering over those cracks it was pretty paper indeed he did no no let's not i
Speaker: ah I reckon a quick survey will soon uncover that he wasn't papering over them those cracks very well. And there's probably a bit of dry rot behind those cracks as well. um Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I had zero against him.
Speaker: And obviously there is something to be said about like lighthouses in a storm, which I suppose he was that season. But it feels like the fact he's two places ahead of a man who scored at Wembley and against Ipswich in a playoff semifinal. um yeah i'm struggling with this this a bombshell announcement i bet you wish you'd been nicer about cameron jerome now don't you you know this one's coming um well i'm i will give my thoughts on uh on d on i'll i'm prepared on uh another podcast that you can listen to i'm prepared to be much more positive actually i I really liked him. But Jamie Munro said that Dion made it onto his list for being simultaneously our best striker and defender at the same time.
Speaker: Reference your papering over the cracks analogy again, Zoe. Chris Sutton did that for us when we were really good. So there you Where could he have been on this list? Teague, our friend, said he tried to mainly focus on their actual Norwich City spells, but couldn't resist throwing in Dion at number 25. So maybe he did get a few just kind of... A bit of a glamour vote. Yeah, it's like a Lifetime Achievement Award, this one, isn't it? I would like to remind you both that while he was here, he did headbutt Danny Mills. Oh, God, yeah, him at number one. I've gone about that.
Speaker: yeah fair play yeah i'll take that all back if you can edit that out and uh just just have me waxing lyrical about him smashing danny mills in the face that'd be great that is literally all it takes peter grant's comment after it was it wasn't a headbutt because if it had been mills would still be lying there which uh is a great line he can have our best only a scottish man can say that i feel cool i um and quiz question which i maybe we'll save this because it is so ridiculously difficult I think he is only one of only three England internationals that we signed that had played for England this century and who are the other two and I will leave that with the listeners and we'll come back to it next week I think because otherwise we'll we'll be here forever trying to work them out um
Speaker: The highest anyone put him at two third places from, whoa no good go you know, again, legend points. Richard Jones and Melissa Rolison, who suspiciously were back to back in the order that they sent them in. So I don't know if there was some Dublin had them in a room together. They were Dion Dublin up there. Oh, my God. This is what you could be getting on the Patreon, by the way. this is and I need a good line of my own, so I haven't had one yet on this podcast, or ever. Right.
Speaker: ah I think that's Dublin covered, so we shall move on to somebody who you might be a little bit more familiar with at number 22. Number 22!
Speaker: Yes, we've got this. We've got it going now. Brought a bit of energy back. Yeah, I am hyped. I should hope so. John Thomas Gordon Ruddy, his parents must have presumably been fans of Thomas the Tank Engine, was born in St Ives in Cambridgeshire in October 1986. He joined Norwich City in what year, Dan? 2010.
Speaker: and ten Excellent. From Zoe? Everton. Excellent. For £250,000, that's a snip, and was released in, let's go back to you, Zoe, what year?
Speaker: 2017? Excellent work. After which point he joined, Dan? Wolverhampton Wanderers? We've got a full house. Great work. We are big fans of John Ruddy on this podcast. He had the task of replacing the popular Fraser Forster as City's Keeper when he arrived, but played 45 times and came second in the Player of the Season Award in the Canaries promotion season in two thousand and ten eleven He was the first Norwich City player to be selected for an England squad, albeit Roy Hodgson's Euro 2012 England squad, since Chris Woods at World Cup 1986. I should say a tournament squad, but he broke his finger just days before the tournament. He then played every minute in the league as City were relegated to the championship in 2014 and every minute as they were promoted back to the championship in 2015. Dan, it's our first goalkeeper. Obviously, I'm going to stay very tight-lipped.
Speaker: under the most extreme interrogation about whether we've got any more. So um just an objective take from you on Ruddy, the man, the keeper, the all-round big fella. Yeah, he had big ah literally big old gloves and shoes to fill when Fraser Forster returned to his parent club, who I've forgotten who that was. Newcastle. Sorry, I don't need to come in, you're fire. After an excellent season in League One, had a shaky start to his time at Carradine Road, but then i think sort of matured and developed into a a really excellent goalkeeper. And in that, the Hewton, Hewton's first season, he
Speaker: was at times, I can't quite remember when his injury was, but at times was probably our our best player and fully deserving of England call-ups as well. i think he sort of commanded his area really well.
Speaker: He got down to low shots excellently. His distribution was was fine for what goalkeepers were required to do back in those days, a whole like 14 years ago, whatever it was, 15 years ago. um But then he had that greatpe quite bad injury. a cut Was it a knee injury? us sorry Didn't his groin like fall off?
Speaker: nice Either it was something fell off him and and he can no longer like he didn't quite have the same athleticism to get down to low shots as Nelson Oliveira took advantage of. when he scored from about 40 yards against him and very slowly into the bottom corner against Wolves.
Speaker: But yeah, I thought, yeah, sort of we've we've been blessed with pretty good goalkeepers this century. um I would argue there's a couple that probably ahead of him, certainly one that's ahead of him, but very much deserving of his place in this top 25, think.
Speaker: Yeah, just had quick Google. He broke his ring finger right before Euro 2012 and he, it says here, tore his thigh muscle off the bone. It came off, I told you. It came off the bone.
Speaker: It was hanging off, I remember that, yes. God, how did he that? Did he actually didn't have to move that much in goal, do you? maybe can tell us one day. Zoe, had I'd start. I hadn't finished the question that I'd written here in the script, but it just says there were good times and bad for Big John. And maybe I just would you like to elaborate on on that? Oh, why yes, Steve, I would. um Yeah, i mean he...
Speaker: He was, when he was good, he was, he was very, very good. And he was, he was a really core part of our team for, for some really big years, um, and impressive years. Uh, but he did have his moments, obviously the injuries, um, that must've been sad for him and also um,
Speaker: um
Speaker: My mind went blank. the The fight that he had, um the he ain't worth it, John moment, which is obviously sort of one of the the lingering things that we take with us because it was so memorable, which seems a little bit unfair and on everything that he achieved as he was our goalkeeper. um But I think he was a part of that sort of that side...
Speaker: um under Lambert and then under Hewton where it kind of felt like we knew them all quite well. I think it was sort of the early days of Twitter where things were a bit friendlier and you sort of got a little bit of more of personality.
Speaker: Holti was a big driver of that. It felt like he sort of gave you a window into some of the other players. um And so I think that... A lot of people will feel quite sort of connected to him and and other players in that team because of that.
Speaker: um And I think, you know, those special moments where we were sort of achieving things that nobody really thought we were capable of. I think there's that sort of connection there um of him being part of a special side. But yeah, also the having a fight in the middle of Norwich. Didn't he have back Danny Mills, though, did he, as far as we know? He did. Didn't he have some to do with John Terry away at Chelsea? So again, you know, deserves to be in the list for that alone. um i saw him the like not that long before on that night of the fight. I think I was ah out with them Ben Mouncer, who at the time was at the club, and he came over and said hello.
Speaker: ah we might have been in ZZ's or something like that and then woke up the next morning and there were headlines of i don't know if the two related but did see him did you wind him up a bit did you get him going yeah you know you've only got a shot save percentage of 63% don't you While you were thrusting a garlic bread at him.
Speaker: ah Does he like garlic bread or was that Azizi's reference? That's Azizi's reference. okay correct he seems like a man ah like you who would like ah a good garlic bread though.
Speaker: Yeah, I'm sure he does. Well, who doesn't? never Everyone likes garlic. Yeah. In fact, you know, on on Premier League wages, he probably would would go for a flatbread over a garlic bread. Hopefully neither if he's on a Premier League diet. But, well, ah I guess he was doing worse than that that night. So James Morgan said massively brackets in both senses, consistent goalie capable of crucial saves. think that's that's pretty accurate. And Joe just simply says he's one of two legendary goalkeepers.
Speaker: He did state who the other one was, but again, we'll stay tight on that. The highest place anyone put in, but we've got our first, first place. Kit Marsden, with no explanation given as to why Ruddy's first. So Kit, this one's for you, you maniac. Two people, him in We've barely scratched the surface of these two massive stallions. So if you'd like to listen to more scratching, we'll be satisfying some itches over on Patreon for our bonus subscribers, where Dan and Zoe will be getting their heads round the pairing that I'm calling Dijon Duddy.
Speaker: Kind of works. Thank you so much to everyone who's signed up to the Patreon so far. And again, thank you to Teague. Follow him at TeagueHip on Instagram.
Speaker: Can you just walk me through what Dijon Duddy means? Yeah, I don't know what that means. Just a combination of their two names. oh ah Dijon's an actual thing, so it' is Duddy an actual thing? Dijon, Dion. Dijon, oh, Dijon.
Speaker: like D John. Yeah. yeah I thought it was going to, thought you were maybe saying that Rudd, ah that Duddy was an abbreviation for mustard.
Speaker: They're both mustard. They're both absolutely mustard. Write in if you understood that. to um I might have to write in, I think. I still do. I think i think it would work better written down, maybe. say that for the whole of my script. We've clarified that Dijon has nothing to do with, it's not a mustard pun. There is no mustard, unless, no, Coleman's, I don't think, was sponsored. It's just the start Dion Dublin's first name and then the the whole of John Ruddy's first name, yeah D. John. Yeah, yeah. That's literally all it was. I don't get the second bit still, but I feel like I know enough.
Speaker: Can we talk about Hugh Jackman now, please? A Dijon Duddy might be something like, you know, you get in Bolton like a bum or something like that. It could be a Norwich mustard bun or something like that, maybe. Did either them play for Bolton?
Speaker: Are you just trying to help me out here? Yeah, just trying to help you out, yeah. No, was rubbish. I'll go to Carrow Road and get the local Dijon Duddy. Really experience the local cuisine. I'd buy it.
Speaker: Maybe that's what um Big John liked to have at ZZ's instead of a a garlic bread. And maybe his insistence on asking that for that at ZZ's got him kicked out. And that's what launched his you know his incident that evening. Because he was hangry. Yeah. Because he hadn't had his duddy. Are you trying to say John Ruddy? No, I'm trying to say Dijon Duddy.
Speaker: Hugh Jackman is in and talks to buy a stake in football club. According to Hugh Jackman. This is Kenny the Visitor World now, by the way. He told TalkSport, I'm very, very interested in talking about it right now. i believe he said to the Times that we were going to win the Premier League.
Speaker: I don't know in whose lifetime. Maybe ours. so Even I don't think that.
Speaker: He's proper delusional then. What do we think? do we like this? as Or is it just is it a attention we don't want?
Speaker: It's hard, isn't it? Like, I don't know. i'm moan enough about those Wrexham lads that I can't suddenly be excited about this because ah you don't want it to, I just, you know, without wanting, excuse the pun, but I don't want it to be a circus. And like, i want we are a proper football club and I don't want it to be weird.
Speaker: ah But also he seems like a nice guy. He's always said that he supports Norwich. A bit of extra cash isn't going to go amiss. Yeah. Yeah. The revenue thing is quite important with, you know, rules about sponsorship and stuff. And so, you know, if we, if he can bring in more sponsorship deals, just our association with him, then, then great.
Speaker: As always, said I think it's an important distinction distinction with the Wrexham lads that, uh, he is a Norwich fan and, you know, his mum is from Norwich, uh, and I think maybe lives here still. I don't, I don't know if that's still the case. Um,
Speaker: So, it yeah, it's easy, especially for me, to turn but your nose up at it. You know, he's not the ah not the coolest of actors either, Hugh Jackman, I don't think. He's not uncool, though, is he? he's not Yeah, but he's also got a bit of a naff CV, I think. qui He's got those big claws, though, isn't he? see me um But also he he does seem like a nice guy.
Speaker: So I'm for it. Bring it yeah bring him on bring em on the pod and then we can chat to him. Yeah, I mean, it will be it will be Patreon only, just so you know, guys. If you want to for it, I would sign up for Patreon now. I think we'd have to discuss that.
Speaker: have Steve, have you ah checked the entries to the top 25 to see if a Hugh Jackman or or an H Jackman contributed? Or a Jack Human, if he's using a pseudonym. That obviously is ah a real sign of a proper fan if he had done that.
Speaker: Yeah, great question. I will check that out. And if I will be straight on to him if if he has. I think he's in for like, is he cooler than Ryan Reynolds? I would say yes. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and he's yeah. Is he cooler than Ed Sheeran?
Speaker: Oh, God, yes. yes So we're already ahead. I mean, are we great arbiters of what cool is? Probably not. But Wolverine is much cooler than a hobbit with a guitar, let's face it.
Speaker: he's got a lovely head of hair as well, hasn't he? So, you know, good on him. I'm all in. i I did enjoy Connor in his question to Big Phil about it saying, you don't strike me as a man who watches a lot of films. I don't know. i don't know why he just made that assumption. What was his response? He laughed in a way that suggested, no, I don't. You're right. So I think he's not got the time to watch films. Surely he's seen like, you know, um goal and goal two.
Speaker: Fever pitch. Bend it like Beckham. I don't mean escape to victory. What's the football one that sounds a bit like escape to victory that had Pele in? That's escape to victory. Anything with Audrey Hepburn as she's the only actor I can think of from Belgium.
Speaker: Oh, Jean-Claude Van Damme. Oh, yeah. Yeah, the muscles from Brussels. Now but now we're talking NAF CVs. If I can pull you from Jean-Claude Van Damme to Yakov Medich, it's not that much of a stretch. Lone departures on the final day. So Medich to Utrecht.
Speaker: Manquois Fawson to Hapuel Beersheva, which is a football club and not a razor, apparently. And Liam Gibbs to Preston, which was amusingly announced during the second half of their game against Bristol City, after which point they lost.
Speaker: But Liam did win on on Saturday with them, which is good. do Are we going to miss these three or do we need to get minutes? Are we going to see them again?
Speaker: if I think we'll miss Liam Gibbs if we have an injury crisis because he can just plug holes. But I'm very pleased that he's got a lone move, I hope, and expect him to you know play regularly for for Preston as well. And i hope it goes really well. He hasn't really had a chance to mature into the footballer that he probably thought he'd become by now. He's still a young man, but he he's been at Norwich quite a few years now.
Speaker: um And Medici was, I think, a good centre-back for a team that probably spent a lot of time defending their own box, which isn't how Clement wants to play. and force and light he's He'll always have Coventry City, but it is genuinely hard to think of a more lightweight footballer that we've had over the last sort decade or longer than that.
Speaker: Yeah, really is actually. Yeah, racking my brains. definitely We could all pick him up. We definitely could all pick him up. yeah Even I might have a chance of picking him up. um I don't have much else other than to say we were talking about big Phil's outfits. Chris Wilder was wearing a jacket that looked like it just had ah his initials stuck on it, like his mum had put it to make sure he didn't lose it. It just had CW look like a sticker on it. So work to do that for him, i think.
Speaker: ah Big Shane Duffy in the away end at Bramall Lane as well, which, interesting. wasn't I didn't see that coming. oh know That's nice, isn't it? Yeah, it is nice. and Yeah, wouldn't want to be stood behind him, would you? Get in the way. Get on his shoulders, though. Like a festival. I wouldn't want to be in within a 20-foot radius of him, if I'm honest, in an away end. But that's just just me. Yeah.
Speaker: It's weird, there doesn't seem like I've not seen any video of him. just He posted a photo, right? a no as he had Has he had some sort of surgery to change, like facial reconstruction or something that no one noticed him? Because he's unbelievably noticeable and in this era of everything being filmed, I'm surprised we've not seen any evidence of it so far.
Speaker: And presumably has a thick thick Irish accent, which you would pick up on quite quickly in at Norwich City away end, I imagine. Yeah. Maybe he was wearing a balaclava. Very much enjoyed other people in the away end, being Andre Brooks's family. good. did a little a video of their day, which included them singing along with He Left Because You're Shit, which is, i think they're all from Sheffield. seemed quite a brave, quite a brave move.
Speaker: It was good when, yeah, Big Phil afterwards was saying, he's come back to this club that he loves. And then you see that video of them singing. Not that much. Yeah, that is a great video. Seek it out. I think you might have been on TikTok, but you can probably find it elsewhere. I'll tell you who else you can find elsewhere. Us.
Speaker: We're on Twitter and Instagram these days at otb underscore pod underscore NCFC. Your likes, follows and interactions are what keep us going. so if you've enjoyed this, then please do keep them coming. Otherwise, i think that'll probably do for today's pod.
Speaker: Thank you so much to our duo of guests tonight. Dan, thank you. Thanks, Steve. And best of love. I didn't know you cared. Best of luck to Norwich City legend Harry Kane, who's up for the Ballon d'Or on Tuesday evening.
Speaker: Well, it'd be he's got a lot of love coming his way, so I'm sure he doesn't need luck. Zoe, thank you. Thank you, Steve. Best of love. Can we always sign the podcast? Thank you to all of you as well. We will be back next week to look forward to another doubleheader after this doubleheader. Football there. Don't you just bloody love it? Until then, never mind the danger.
