Mark McMahon is joined by Neil Allen for the latest episode of Pompey Talk
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00:00 Hello and welcome to the latest edition of Pompy Talk, my name is Mark McMahon and joining
00:04 me today to discuss the latest goings on at Pompey is Chief Sports Writer at the News,
00:09 Neil Allen. Neil, thank you for your time. How was your journey to Charingdon on Saturday?
00:17 It was a pleasure to be here. How was your journey to Charingdon there and back on Saturday?
00:22 It wasn't too bad. We went the Gatwick route which is an hour's journey. We got there before
00:26 one o'clock so that was the main thing. There's been a few long journeys in recent weeks such as
00:33 Carlisle there and back in a day and Fleetwood there and back in a day and Port Vale there and
00:39 back in a day. A lot of people have done themselves. So, yes, the Charingdon is quite a close one
00:45 compared to some of those. I can't complain because the fans travel in great numbers to
00:52 those games as well and also do them back in a day, don't they? So, yes, the long journey but
00:57 we've seen plenty of good football in Windsor this season so everyone's happy. It's nice, isn't it?
01:01 Yes, it is. It's nice to be very positive. Can we stay positive? Let's stay positive.
01:08 What was your analysis of the game on Saturday? An overall points picture,
01:13 bearing in mind that both Derby and Bolton dropped points at the end of the day on Saturday?
01:18 Considering how that second half went, I was glad for a point, to be honest. I think
01:25 the sort of look at going blow the whistle referee. Obviously, there was late on with
01:30 Pert Harris came on and he had that one-on-one and it's interesting. He had the one-on-one and
01:36 one Cheltenham player tried to trip him up and he survived that and he's in the box and he's
01:40 thinking shoot, shoot and it was a great…it was either a great covering tackle by Gillespie
01:46 and he was or perhaps he should have shot earlier. We can argue about that but it was a great
01:52 opportunity. Probably the best of the game for Pompey other than striking the bar. But in the
01:58 end, how the second half went, Pompey was very uncomfortable for the opening 20 minutes and
02:05 I think he's just taken a point and that's even before we consider results elsewhere.
02:10 So, you would have taken a point beforehand?
02:14 Yeah, I mean, Pompey cannot win every game. Let's be realistic here. This isn't
02:20 championship manager and football manager or tracksuit manager even going back to
02:25 Spectrum days. This is real life. You cannot win every single game, especially away from home.
02:32 The whole cliche is you win your home games, you draw your away games or whatever. Pompey
02:40 are in a really good run at the moment. They were denied a win at Oxford obviously in the last
02:44 minute but they've won elsewhere on the travels since the turn of the year and it was a tough
02:51 match for them. They found it tough. Charlton were well drilled with two very good performances and
02:56 useful points for them before they played Pompey. Obviously, you want Pompey to win the game but
03:05 I think it's a very, very useful point. Bear it in mind, this is the real world and you cannot win
03:10 every single game. So, yeah, I thought, take that, definitely move on and then you have to
03:17 win your home games, don't you? We'll talk about the injury situation in a second, Mike, but
03:22 scrolling through some of the comments on social media immediately after the final whistle,
03:27 there was a few people saying Charlton 20th in the table without a win since the 20th of November,
03:34 which prior to the game was 15 games without a win. Struggling for form, could they have been
03:42 reasonable to suggest that Pompey should have been going there as league leaders and beaten Charlton?
03:47 Yeah, fair enough. Charlton had gone 21 games without a clean sheet in the league.
03:55 As you rightly say, they did last one in October in the league.
04:02 But you expect Pompey to go there and win. But that's football. We saw the game the other day,
04:09 yesterday, with Chelsea against Liverpool and Liverpool, all those kids,
04:12 reasonably expected Chelsea to win that. Pompey went to Barzani in the season and won 3-2,
04:19 one of the best first stars I've seen from Pompey this season. Nobody expected that. Come on,
04:24 this is the real world. You can't expect Pompey to win every single game. It doesn't work like that.
04:32 I know some people want him to win every single game and demand him to win every single game.
04:36 Come on. So, yeah, Pompey, rightly, before the game would have expected to win it,
04:41 but they didn't. Move on. Useful point. And look elsewhere. Who would have expected Peter
04:47 Bridges to lose four in a row before the weekend? Who would have expected those results for Bolton
04:52 and Derby at the weekend? It's football. It's how it works. Come on.
04:56 Yeah, definitely. It does then bring the question, just how well is Joe Masino doing,
05:03 bearing in mind that he had 11 first team players out injured on Saturday and the run that they've
05:09 been on with that injury situation. There's a lot of credit deserving of the manager, isn't there,
05:14 and the head coach and Rich Hughes. I think it's been on at Pompey a minute.
05:17 To have that amount of injuries, they definitely deserve a lot of credit.
05:20 Huge, huge credit because they were going through that sticky spell, weren't they,
05:26 around Christmas, as usual? And I saw people saying that he should be sacked. I actually
05:31 saw that on social media. He should be sacked. And here we are. They reversed it. They're on a
05:40 really good run at the moment. Undefeated in that run as well. The only ones they've drawn was
05:45 obviously Cheltenham and that late draw at Oxford. They started to look like league leaders,
05:52 proper league leaders. They play with a swaggering game, scoring goals, especially at home.
05:58 And their defence is very, very strong. There's so much to like about this team.
06:04 After that blip, I mean, we didn't know it was a blip at the time. We hoped it was a blip at the
06:09 time. And it's proven to be the case. It was a blip. Every side goes through their blips in
06:13 promotion seasons. Harry Redknapp's side did it when they got to the Premier League. Paul Cook's
06:19 side did it. When Frank Burrows got promoted, his side went through a blip of winning four games in
06:27 14 in the league after being in the top two most the first half of the season. Even promotion sides
06:34 have their blip. Ipswich had it last season, I remember, post-Christmas. It happens. And
06:40 probably have had theirs, hopefully. Hopefully that's it now. There won't be another blip.
06:45 But they've had theirs and they've come out with the strongest squad in the transfer window.
06:49 And they're still chalking up the wins, despite everything going wrong in terms of injuries.
06:54 Big players. If I was listening to Pompey's five best players this season, I would have
07:00 Robertson in there. I would have had Paul in there. I would have had Morel in there. They've
07:05 gone out for the season. But Pompey's still getting those wins, aren't they? They really are.
07:12 And here we are, seven points clear with 11 games to go.
07:16 What do you put that change in fortunes down to? I think it's 20 points out of 24
07:23 since that 3-0 defeat to Leighton Orion. What do you think has come together,
07:28 gelled? What's John Massino done to get that team firing all cylinders again?
07:32 It's tested what they've created in the training ground. But it's also
07:36 the recruitment. They had to recruit ready players in that transfer window. They had to.
07:45 Players that could come into the first team and play straight away with experienced players.
07:50 There wasn't time to bring in kids on the off-chance, on loan from the Premier League
07:54 clubs. They might be good, but it might take them time to bed in. They had to recruit correctly in
08:00 the transfer window. Callum Lange, what a revelation he's been. He could have straightened
08:05 the team. That's for one. Lange is coming back now as well to strengthen the team and the bench
08:12 and the options. We've seen that. Owee Moxon, what a signing. He needed to be made, didn't he?
08:20 He's coming now and he's an important player because of the injuries. They've done that,
08:27 but it's also credit to the players. The players have got on with it, led by,
08:32 for me, probably the best captain since Michael Doyle. Nobody's going to disagree with that,
08:37 are they? Surely. It's a whole team. The team spirit's good. We saw that in the summer. I spoke
08:45 about it at the time, about the team spirit around the camp and in the staff, among the staff.
08:51 Excellent team spirit there. They're a very close-knit group and we're seeing that. Despite
08:56 all these setbacks, these players being injured, Regan Paul, wow. What a player Regan Paul was
09:03 before his injury. They've just shrugged it off and they've carried on, ploughed on. Could any
09:08 other side in the top eight cope with such losses? Probably not. Pompey are. Somehow,
09:14 they've done it. Are doing it. I'm going to ask you later on about Owee Moxon.
09:19 You've mentioned a few players there that were Pompey's players of the season up until their
09:25 injuries and the players that have stepped up. Is there anybody in particular though that has
09:31 caught your eye over the past six or seven games that you've went, 'Right, he's on top form and
09:36 when he's on top form, Pompey can deliver'? They've still got that ability to just get this year
09:43 done, get them over the line. Who stood out for you the most? Paddy Lane. Paddy Lane
09:52 throughout the season. He's had a very good season. He's just got better and better and
09:56 better as it's gone on, hasn't it really? Especially since Christmas. The goals he's
10:00 scoring, the performances, the confidence. Abu Kamara is another one who's grown.
10:05 Starting the season, a lot of fans, or sorry, not a lot of fans, they were fans questioning
10:10 his inclusion with his early performances. But he's grown and grown. Marlon Pack,
10:16 since he came back from his injury after that awful tackle on him at Wigan, has been absolutely
10:22 outstanding and Pompey need him because they've only got two central midfielders that are fit.
10:27 So, their players are definitely… Sean Raggett, coming in since Regan and Paul got better and
10:32 better. He's been magnificent. Seannessy, Shocknessy, if you want to call it correctly.
10:38 What a revelation he's been. So, the players are improving as well, aren't they, as the season's
10:44 gone on? But yeah, for me, Paddy Lane, especially in recent weeks, has just got better and better
10:50 and better. So, there's so much to like about this team, about this squad really, because
10:56 they just keep responding to setbacks, which is a sign of a good team.
11:02 I was going to ask you about Raggett.
11:04 Well, can I just say about Will Norris? I was reading some bizarre criticism of him on Saturday
11:09 night. I just don't get it. He's absolutely outstanding with his distribution. I think we're
11:15 a bit spoilt with his distribution really because there have been some good Pompey keepers over the
11:21 years whose distribution has been really poor. Wow, Norris's distribution, the amount of clean
11:26 sheets he's got as well. And there's people questioning him, which I just don't get really.
11:30 No, it's hard to keep everybody happy, isn't it, all the time? I was going to mention about
11:36 Sean Raggett, but you did mention one player there and I'm sort of like, I'm a wee bit surprised
11:40 because since his return from injury, again, he's been absolutely sensational and that's
11:45 Conor Ogilvie. For him to come back into that team after that and those injuries,
11:49 and just as if he's never been away, fair play to Conor Ogilvie as well.
11:54 That's actually spot on. I've missed him out. He's one of the reasons why they've picked him
11:59 as well since that blip has coincided completely with his return. At the end of last season,
12:06 they're trying to encourage Conor Ogilvie to be a more attacking left back. We saw that game
12:12 against Wickham. He should have had a hat trick. He missed chance after chance. And John Messina
12:18 spoke afterwards about how they're trying to get him to bomb down the left more. Since he's come
12:23 back, they've not really asked that much of him. Because they've got Paddy Lane in front of him,
12:30 who's done very, very well. And do you remember years ago, I think years ago, the combination
12:36 between Lee Brown and Conor Ogilvie really, really well, didn't it? And Paddy never quite
12:42 had a left back and left winger combination like it, but they work very, very well. This one,
12:52 mainly asked to defend. Forward and put a couple of balls in. But he's mainly asked to defend
12:58 because Paddy Lane in front of him is playing so well. And as a defender, Ogilvie is rock solid,
13:04 incredibly reliable, good in the air. It's just like the Limboid Primus thing, really,
13:09 isn't it? Playing a right back for those years for Pompey. He's just an excellent defender.
13:14 And when Pompey played these real tough games against promotion rivals, I would have
13:21 Conor Ogilvie at left back and Jack Sparks. Because of his defensive solidity, his consistency.
13:29 He's such an outstanding, consistent performer. And yeah, that's been a key thing as well,
13:35 coming back. Well, like we have mentioned Moxon. So again, he's a player that you said has grown
13:42 into that role. He's been thrown into the deep end well and truly, hasn't he? I don't think Pompey
13:47 were really wanting to play him as often as they were. When they signed him, they sort of
13:51 always seen him as a long term project. They're like Paddy Lane, I suppose, if I'm correct.
13:55 But he's really had to step up. And again, Sardey was another good performance from him.
14:00 Yeah, the idea with Moxon is they strengthened the incestual positions in the transfer window.
14:06 You know, come on, they needed another goalie, didn't they? They needed another centre half.
14:12 They needed another winger. They needed an attacking player. They needed these things, didn't
14:17 they? Desperately. And they also decided to get a centre midfielder in. Primarily because they saw
14:26 him as one for the future in case Lowry broke down. I mean, morale got injured around the same
14:36 time, didn't they? The season when they'd already agreed to bring in Moxon. So he was going to be
14:41 an extra one. And the thought with him is because he's played for Carlisle, who struggled this
14:47 season, bottom of the league, haven't had a lot of possession, or has probably played a lot of
14:51 possession, they thought it would take him a while to get used to having a lot of the ball in games,
14:57 dictating games, dominating possession as a team, trying to break sides down. He's not used to that
15:03 with Carlisle this season. So it's new to him. But he had to be played. And he's done really well.
15:10 I thought it was superb first half on Saturday. Second half, he faded. He looked a bit leggy,
15:16 couldn't control the ball a couple of times, just missed out on making a tackle. But first half,
15:22 he was superb. Probably his best player by far first half. And that sublime volley, which was
15:29 a great save by Harry Oisted, just came out of nothing. I threw into him, knocked it up and
15:34 volleyed it from the edge of the box. Wonderful shot. So he's been a real good player so far.
15:40 And as you mentioned, he's growing into that role. He's growing into new life at Pompey. So
15:45 there's clearly a lot, lot more to come from him over these last 11 games.
15:49 Yeah. But you said also, I think you pointed out today on the website that he's one of those
15:54 players that's on a disciplinary tightrope. He's only at yellows. Got three more games to go. If
15:59 he picks up any more than two, that's how he's suspended. Again, the last thing in Pompey.
16:04 If you read the story, it's two games.
16:08 Two games, right. Okay.
16:11 Two games to go. I'm sure you read the story. I'm sure you who report our stories and enjoy
16:17 all the stories that me and Jordan write. The many stories we do every day.
16:21 Must have been a tightrope or something then.
16:24 Yes. Clearly, they happen all the time. So you can be excused for that. But
16:32 you can excuse, but no, it's two games. So basically, how it works is that if you get 10
16:44 bookings on or before the 37th game of the season, you get a two match ban. As it stands, Owen
16:53 Moxon's on eight bookings. Pompey have two games to go before that passes, that amnesty, if you want,
17:02 which are Oxford and who's the other one? I can't remember who the other one is now.
17:09 Blackpool.
17:09 I've written about it.
17:10 Blackpool.
17:12 That's it. That's it. Blackpool. So yes. So that should be my stories really, shouldn't it?
17:19 But yes. So basically, if he gets booked in both of those games, he will get two match ban.
17:26 Will be the only available midfielder for Pompey.
17:30 The next game after that is Burton. So once he doesn't get booked twice before Burton,
17:39 they're fine. But it is a concern. Although I would like to say that Owen Moxon played
17:45 five games for Pompey so far and not been booked.
17:48 So it's not panic stations then, is it?
17:50 No. So there's no suggestion that he will get booked from that. But yes, bookings are
17:58 specific and he's the only one in danger of being suspended at the moment. So two games to go.
18:05 Wait and see now.
18:08 At least, please.
18:12 Yeah. What about Pompey's running then? Let's talk about the chances of Pompey celebrating
18:18 another league title success. What do you think of the running? There's some tough games there,
18:22 isn't there?
18:23 There are. But as I keep saying to people, they're looking at Pompey going,
18:28 we've got some tough games ourselves. We've got to play Pompey at Threaten Park.
18:32 They should be more worried than Pompey for me. I know Pompey have got to go to Peterborough.
18:39 Pompey have got to go to Bolton. But Barnsley have to come to Threaten Park. Derby have to
18:44 come to Threaten Park. Who else is there, would you say?
18:48 Oxford, Arsenal, Leeds.
18:49 Oxford have got to come to Threaten Park but they've gone, haven't they? Stevenage is over.
18:53 You've got Shrewsbury as well then, yeah.
18:58 So Pompey have got a tough running on paper, without question. However, they've also got
19:06 the points on the board. If Pompey think they've got a tough running, other clubs will be looking
19:10 at Pompey thinking, we've got a tougher running. We've got the league leaders. They've been the
19:15 league leaders since September for all but one week. They've all come to Threaten Park.
19:22 So let others worry. Let others worry because
19:26 Pompey have to derby at Threaten Park. It's a massive game, isn't it?
19:35 Pompey going to Bolton, massive games. Don't get me wrong, they're massive games. But let's not
19:39 worry about the running because they should be more worried about facing Pompey. Because as it
19:47 stands, Pompey are still on target to make more than 100 points. Let them worry about Pompey.
19:52 Derby won't be relishing coming to Threaten Park. Barnsley won't be relishing coming to Threaten
19:57 Park. They'll be more worried than Pompey. I've noticed today that Pompey have got six
20:03 more games at home and the last four are already all sold out. So the Threaten and Faithful are
20:10 already anticipating a party at some point between now and...
20:15 Yeah, but you'd expect them to sell out, wouldn't you? It's standard, isn't it? Threaten Park's
20:20 normally sold out with their home fans most weeks. You'd expect that. You'd be very surprised if the
20:25 plus four weren't sold out, wouldn't you really? So yeah, it depends on if the away ends, what
20:32 the away fans bring along, isn't it, Rian? But we've seen some good attendance this year because
20:38 the grounds... Yeah.
20:40 The capacity has reached towards what it was. Obviously, it's not surpassed it, but to what
20:44 it was many years ago. So there's great capabilities there, isn't there, and potential for filling the
20:50 ground. But yeah, it's going to be a cracking end to the season, isn't it?
20:54 Are you expecting it to go to the wire? Are you thinking, literally,
20:58 linking on the final day of the season, things will still be up in the air? Are you hopeful?
21:03 Or maybe you're... Yeah, what's your thoughts on that? How far will it go?
21:07 You want a little story out of me for that, don't you, you see?
21:10 No, I don't!
21:10 I know what you're thinking. I'm not stupid. I'm stupid, but I'm not stupid enough to say
21:17 it's probably going to win promotion before the end of the season. Not a chance you'll get that
21:22 from me. It could well get to the wire, isn't it? There's games in hand, aren't there? These
21:29 pesky games in hand. We'll have more after Tuesday night about how clubs get on. If Bolton and Derby
21:36 again slip up, that target, points target, that they probably need comes down again, doesn't it?
21:42 So it's the outcome of other teams, other games, isn't it? You beat Derby, you're closer,
21:49 and you lose to Derby, suddenly it changes. It's difficult to do. There's 11 games to go,
21:54 aren't there? So, yeah, we're in for a cracking end to the season, hopefully.
21:58 And the management and the players have done superbly to get this far.
22:04 They really, really have. And they deserve a lot of credit for that. Now they have to get
22:10 Pompey over the line, just like Paul Cook's team got Pompey over the line, didn't they?
22:13 With a swagger, with some great football goals. Fantastic. Let's hope for more of the same.
22:19 Yeah, I was looking at some of the pictures from the Notts County game, the Cheltenham game back
22:24 in the 2016/17 season, and you were just going, how great would it be to see those scenes again?
22:30 Not that nobody's allowed on the pits, by the way. I'm not condoning that,
22:33 they were sort of pitch invasion. But those scenes were just fantastic, weren't they?
22:38 Yeah, but I love pitch invasion when teams win things like that. Notts County was special,
22:43 Cheltenham was special, and they were special because of a pitch invasion.
22:47 I always said that if the trophy had been at Threatened Park for Cheltenham,
22:51 nobody would be on the pitch. They'd have a stage there, wouldn't they?
22:55 Yeah.
22:56 Players come on with a stage. Because the stage wasn't there and the trophy wasn't there,
23:01 so they couldn't be presented with it, the fans were on the pitch. So the players are
23:05 celebrating in the directors' box, weren't they? The fans were like, wonderful, wonderful scenes.
23:10 So, yeah, pitch invasion. But funny enough, I was actually speaking to Gareth Evans the other day,
23:17 last week, and we were just talking about just great, great days. And his team, Ratcliffe,
23:25 are looking for promotion this season as well. But yeah, special times, weren't they?
23:32 If you look at Pompey's post-war history, they haven't been promoted too many times.
23:36 So, yeah, any promotion was bound to be special. It's not like Wigan, who go up and down every
23:42 couple of years, do they? And Roderan, for that matter. So, yeah, hopefully, we're in for a
23:50 special end of the season.
23:51 Yeah, no, definitely. Between now and then, hopefully, we'll see some of Pompey's walking
23:56 wounded returns. Suppose you've got the likes of Swanson, Stevenson,
24:00 Anderon, and Larry, obviously, we'll speak about him in a second. But
24:05 could you expect those players who have been out for quite a while to come in and be able to make
24:10 an impact? Are they going to be a bit rusty, like Angeline, for example? It took them, what,
24:16 six or seven games to get up to even half speed and they didn't get injured again. So,
24:20 how much can Pompey rely on them to bolster their ranks between now and the end of the season?
24:25 It's difficult for them to come back from injury and come into the first team, isn't it?
24:29 Larry did exceptionally well, really, when you think about it. He was out for five months
24:35 with a knee injury, operation, ligament injury. And then he came into the team, I think he was sub,
24:41 not used or something like that. And then he came into the team, didn't he? And he played,
24:46 you know, those successive games. There was always a concern that he'd break down,
24:50 as was proven. But he did very well. But generally, these players can be difficult
24:56 to constrain to the first team. It improves the bench. You can rotate it a little, perhaps.
25:01 But, for example, Angeline, he was strengthened in the squad. But will he strengthen the first
25:07 team, bearing in mind how long he's been out for, his injury record? Yeah. But he would definitely
25:14 strengthen you bringing him off the bench, wouldn't it? That'd be something. Larry,
25:18 again, you've got to be careful with. Stevenson, they've got to be careful because he's another
25:24 one that's come from injury, isn't it, after a knee operation. I think it was an operation anyway.
25:30 So, it's just difficult. I don't think you can rely on them to come straight into the first team
25:37 after injury. You always knew that Ogilvy could do it because he never gets injured. It's been
25:44 a free season for him, isn't it? He's such a robust player. Robust, that's a real Danny
25:48 Calley word, isn't it, actually? Robust. Some of these people are robust players.
25:55 That's normally Ogilvy. Larry is not a robust player. Angeline is not a robust player.
26:02 The only one you can talk about is Stevenson. Stevenson's maybe the only one that you could
26:08 come in and just go, "Right, do your job." There's no urge and grace, no flair there.
26:12 It's just, "Do your job." I'm sort of seeing him as the only one that could.
26:16 They need backup in that situation, don't they? So, yeah, they will definitely,
26:22 after injury, will boost the squad without any question. So, imagine him coming off the bench.
26:30 I can't quite see how him and Pert Harries can work together, personally. I think they're very
26:36 similar from what I've seen briefly. But, yeah, having that off the bench is superb. We'll see,
26:43 but affecting the first team, yeah, it's difficult, isn't it? Because Larry can, but
26:48 would you risk it again? Larry, obviously, is a blow, but John Massino seems to be quite,
26:54 not a bit, what's the other... He seems okay about the news. It's not as though...
27:00 They were concerned. It wasn't the severity of the hamstring. It's where it was, which was
27:07 too high up the leg. It wouldn't put him out for longer. So, they're a bit relieved,
27:12 the fact that he will play again this year. He will be available this year,
27:16 but you've got to be careful with him because he keeps breaking down, as we've seen, time and time
27:22 again. But he did so... He always does so well in the first team, doesn't he? Yeah, yeah.
27:28 In that deeper midfield role, at one point, they tried to play him as a number 10 and that doesn't
27:36 work. You've got to have him in a deeper line role and he does very well. So, yeah, hopefully,
27:40 he can come back and just improve that squad because, law of averages, for any side, there's
27:45 11 games left. There'll be other injuries. So, even, you know, Ogilvy, Clash of Heads,
27:53 came off with concern. The manager said twice, it's not concussion, fine. But any player
28:00 can get concussion in the last 11 games and then miss a game or two games. It can happen, can't it?
28:05 So, yeah, they just need bodies back to boost that squad to cope with six losses.
28:12 How do you think John Massino's going to cope for these next 10 games, then 11 games? It's
28:18 all new experience for him. Is the pressure going to tell on him, on the team? How do you think
28:25 Pompey are going to just sort of keep a level head and just continue on about their business?
28:29 Is that going to be a challenge for them? Pressure affects people in different ways.
28:37 Paul Cook felt a lot of pressure at Pompey, especially after that crew game. But he got
28:46 them through that, you know. And that's an experienced manager at the time who'd won
28:50 promotion before. So, not an experienced manager, not won promotion before, but he's a very calm
28:58 person. Cook was, could be all over the place. High, low. I'm not saying he was disorganised,
29:07 Tommy, and all over the place emotionally. Kelly Jackett was very calm, level-headed,
29:12 nothing affected him. But then he still didn't get Pompey through the play-offs, did he?
29:17 So, it can affect people in different ways. He's very calm, John Massino.
29:21 Doesn't let things get to him. He's got a very good support group around him in terms of the
29:27 coaches. I mentioned earlier, they're very close. Danny Cowley, he's a workaholic, incredible
29:40 work ethic. But it was all on him. He didn't try to help other people and it was all him.
29:48 John Massino tries to involve more to ease the pressure in that way. So, everyone works in
29:54 different ways, don't they? So, to this point, he's coped with the pressure incredibly well,
29:59 John Massino, for his lack of experience in the role. So, you can only hope that that can continue.
30:05 Good stuff there. Well, we'll wrap it up at that point. It's been a good chat.
30:11 Loads of games still to come. Real interesting conclusion to the season. Hopefully, there'll
30:18 be success at the end of it. But then, thank you for your time, as always.
30:23 Thank you. Are we going to have more of these, are we?
30:26 Yes, we are. Of course, we're just slightly stressed resources. So, we can only get them
30:32 done when we have availability. But yes. We're still around, aren't we?
30:37 We're still around. A bad smell will linger. Thank you again. Thank you all for watching
30:43 and listening. Hopefully, we'll be back soon. We'll see you all then. Goodbye.