On this week’s podcast, YP football writers Stuart Rayner and Leon Wobschall join host Mark Singleton to discuss the relegation of Sheffield United – confirmed with a 5-1 defeat at Newcastle United. Where did it go wrong for the Blades and where do they go from here?
On a similar theme, Huddersfield Town are also heading down – save for some goalscoring miracle – after a 1-1 draw at home to Birmingham City effectively condemned them to relegation to League One. Is Andre Breitenreiter the man to lead them back up or will he make way for yet another head coach?
Staying in the Championship the team also assess the respective promotion hopes of Leeds United and Hull City.
On a similar theme, Huddersfield Town are also heading down – save for some goalscoring miracle – after a 1-1 draw at home to Birmingham City effectively condemned them to relegation to League One. Is Andre Breitenreiter the man to lead them back up or will he make way for yet another head coach?
Staying in the Championship the team also assess the respective promotion hopes of Leeds United and Hull City.
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SportsTranscript
00:00 Hello and welcome to the latest edition of Football Talk from the Yorkshire Post, where
00:15 we will be discussing some of the latest talking points from the world of football with members
00:18 of our football writing team. On this week's episode, we are joined by Chief Football Writer
00:21 for the Yorkshire Post, Stuart Rayner, and Football Writer for the Yorkshire Post, Leon
00:25 Walshall, to discuss all of the latest developments affecting our local clubs. Don't forget,
00:29 you can keep up to date with all the football news across Yorkshire and beyond by logging
00:33 onto our website at yp.sport@nationalworld.com, as well as checking out our various Twitter
00:38 feeds, the main one being @ypsport. If you search for Yorkshire Post Sport, Yorkshire
00:44 Post Football, or even Sheffield Sport on Facebook, you can find us there as well. And
00:48 if you have any questions for our writers, you can get in touch using those various Twitter
00:51 or Facebook pages, or email us directly with a subject matter as Football Talk Podcast
00:56 at yp.sport@nationalworld.com. Yorkshire Post.co.uk.
01:02 As mentioned earlier in the intro, this week we are joined by Chief Football Writer for
01:05 the Yorkshire Post, Stuart Rayner, and Football Writer for the Yorkshire Post, Leon Walshall.
01:09 Good morning guys. Morning. Morning. Right, this week we saw Middlesbrough claim an impressive
01:14 4-1 victory over Cardiff City. Rotherham United lost 2-0 to Bristol City. Sheffield Wednesday
01:20 claimed a much needed 3 points with a 3-0 win over West Bromwich Albion. Don Casarova's
01:24 confirmed their League 2 playoff spot with a 2-2 draw against Gillingham. Barnsley secured
01:29 their place in the League 1 playoffs with a 1-1 draw against Northampton Town. Harrogate
01:34 Town shared the points in their 2-2 draw with Salford City. And Bramford City missed out
01:39 on a place in the playoffs despite claiming a handsome 4-1 victory over Newport County.
01:45 However, let's kick this week's episode off in the Premier League, where Sheffield
01:48 United fell to a spirited 4-2 defeat to Manchester United, which was then followed up by a 5-1
01:54 thrashing when they travelled to Newcastle United, which confirmed the Blades' relegation
01:59 from the top flight. Now, what were your thoughts on the two performances and how did the team
02:04 prepare for a new season in the Championship, Stuart?
02:06 Well, as you said, they did show some spirit at Old Trafford. Obviously, they gave a poor
02:17 Manchester United side by their standards a bit of a scare. Lots of teams have done
02:24 that recently. But, you know, showtime fight made it worth the while for Sheffield United
02:29 fans making the shortest trip to Old Trafford. But I think it was more the Newcastle game
02:36 which was just a reminder of why things have happened the way they have this season. Yes,
02:43 they took the lead. You know, Chris Wilder was saying they probably should have been
02:47 3-0 up at half-time. But ultimately, in the final reckoning, that squad is just so far
02:55 short of Premier League level. Injuries have certainly played their part in that. I mean,
03:01 there would have been a much better squad, for example, had John Egan been fit. But really,
03:08 they've gone into this season with a budget that just gave them no chance whatsoever.
03:15 Obviously, we've seen a lot this season, the consequences of teams spending money blindly
03:24 when the money isn't there. But it was just such an unambitious way to come into the season.
03:36 The quality just hasn't been there. The leadership within the group just hasn't been there, partly
03:41 because of those injuries to experienced players, partly because they haven't been able to buy
03:46 enough players with that quality, experience, that confidence at this level. It's just shown
03:54 far too often. Even Chris Wilder, you see some managers trying to almost comical alley
04:02 you with their post-match comments about things. There's no pretending, there's no hiding it.
04:09 It's just so blatantly obvious. There's a big rebuild job ahead for them and I don't
04:14 necessarily think it will be a one-year job. Oliver Arblath, the captain of the team in
04:21 both of those games, a young 20-year-old lad, I think that says a lot about him and his
04:25 qualities and how he's going to be a big part of the rebuild. It says a lot about the other
04:29 10 as well that Chris Wilder felt a 20-year-old was the lad to turn to. I think there's going
04:38 to need to be a big overhaul around players like Arblath, trying to find more of that
04:43 shattered United spirit. I do think there's a clear idea of where they want to go, what
04:50 sort of team they want to be. That's an important starting point, it's only the starting point
04:56 but at least there is that. The next thing will be the patience to see it through because
05:01 as I say, we've seen this season, parachute clubs quickly bounce back and people might
05:09 take for granted that it's going to happen again but I don't think that is a given at
05:13 all with Sheffield United next season.
05:15 Yeah, they had a small budget to spend with, didn't they really? I think they came in with
05:22 one arm tied behind the back really. Obviously, they sold Nadal and Berg, brought in a couple
05:30 of players, I suppose, not the right for right replacements but Hamer and Archer. Obviously,
05:37 Archer's not particularly worked has he? We've spoken consistently on this podcast about
05:43 them being deficient in terms of defensive options, that was exacerbated by the bad injury
05:48 that Egan sustained. I suppose it's one of those, if you do have a small budget, you're
05:54 coming up from the, comparatively small budget, coming up from the Championship to the Premier
05:58 League. I think getting a firm, solid foundation is probably more important than everything
06:05 really, isn't it? Okay, don't get me wrong, it's not particularly ambitious but I think
06:10 the height of Sheffield United's ambition this season would have been to finish fourth
06:13 on bottom. With retrospect, it's easy to say that at this current juncture. They might
06:22 have been better served getting a couple of strong central defensive options but that's
06:28 for the future, isn't it? I just think Stuart's seen a fair bit more than I have. They've
06:34 just taken so much punishment, haven't they? If you look at some of the beans that they've
06:38 had. I look at the remaining games and you just hope that they can lift spirits but finish
06:48 the season at Bramall Lane with a little bit of something. They've obviously got a game
06:53 against Follies which will have big ramifications on what happens at the bottom. They've got
06:58 Tottenham, haven't they, on the last day? Yep. You look at the beans they've taken at
07:04 home. Arsenal, Aston Villa, Newcastle, Brighton, they've had some really, really torrid episodes.
07:12 So just for those supporters who've stuck with them through pretty much thin and thin
07:17 this season, you hope there's something there for them before they start back and life in
07:23 the Championship. I've spoken before as well, a big summer for Chris Wilder but I suppose
07:29 it's something that he's sort of seen a little bit before when he came back to the club the
07:36 first time around. I think I remember the last game of that season, the Sheffield United
07:42 players did not necessarily a lap of honour but a lap of dishonour where they were actually
07:48 booed by their own supporters. Obviously Nigel Atkins went and finished straight after that.
07:54 So a huge summer for Sheffield United and I agree with Stuart, you look at the potential
08:01 make-up of the Championship next season, they might not have quite as many big hitters as
08:05 this season but there's still some pretty good clubs there. I think in Sheffield United's
08:10 defence, if you looked at the squad on paper at the start of the season, obviously there
08:15 were big upgrades needed. I think if you looked at that back three of Akrahodich, Egan and
08:20 Robinson, they perhaps felt they could maybe get away without changing it. In all fairness,
08:26 this time last year, one of those three I was probably most worried about was Jack Robinson
08:31 and he's gone on to be the best of the lot. Akrahodich hasn't lived up to the hopes we
08:37 had. He hasn't handled the step-up. No, and then obviously Egan injured. I think with
08:44 a mixture of hindsight and looking at the time, I think they needed to replace Tommy
08:48 Doyle as the holding midfielder to give them that protection better and perhaps more strength
08:54 in goal. But obviously, hindsight tells us they needed more depth back as well.
08:58 Vinny Fuso I think was the most expensive of their pre-sales signings, if you understand
09:07 what I mean, the ones before. And Berg went and he's been okay but he's not been brilliant.
09:15 With all of those signings, £20 million wasn't really going to stretch very far.
09:20 It was a question really of making do and where they could and they've just not been
09:28 able to do that. You see in every division every year, clubs pulling out brilliant signings on
09:34 tiny budgets. In Luton's case, the wages would have been high but look what they've done,
09:40 bringing in Barkley and Andros Townsend for example. Sheffield United needed some sort of
09:45 magic like that but it's asking a lot and ultimately they just push their luck too
09:51 much. They've been deficient on all areas of the pitch. As Leon says, if you're going to pick and
09:57 choose, you want to secure your defence first and foremost but they've just been found wanting
10:04 everywhere. I think that's a perfect phrase, mate, to augment Stuart Dey. He only had a
10:09 certain amount of money to spend. They were always going to be light a little bit, weren't they?
10:12 Certain areas, it's proved to be the central defence that we've spoken about. They needed
10:18 everything to come off, didn't they, as well? And it didn't. I think another factor as well,
10:22 you look at, not just Sheffield United, probably other clubs who go up. If you're going back to
10:29 wanting to buy the best from the Championship, that costs money, doesn't it?
10:35 We mentioned Heymar who I think arguably was the best player in the Championship
10:41 last season. But a really good, high quality Championship player, that's going to cost you
10:45 £10-15 million, isn't it? You can't do it in the budget bargain almost, can you? It's going to take
10:54 a pretty hefty amount of money just to be competitive at that bottom end and it's
11:03 something that Sheffield United didn't do, as you rightly said.
11:06 Because of parachute payments, that'll be the same next season. You look at Leicester City
11:13 being able to afford Harry Winks. Those clubs have got parachute money. I think it's years back to
11:20 when Middlesbrough had that big splurge under Gary Monk when they said the likes of British
11:24 Son Belonger. Even coming down, they're not going to be the big fish in that pool. So,
11:30 they need to be more shrewd about how they spend the money. They need to be better in terms of
11:37 their facilities and preparation and everything to make sure they get the maximum number of minutes
11:44 out of the players they've got. Those are the things that really need addressing first and
11:50 foremost before you get onto the short-term things of just buying players in. Certainly buying more
11:59 durable players, definitely.
12:00 Next, our attention turns to Hull City and the Championship, who claimed all three points in
12:07 a five-goal showstopper when they clashed with Coventry City and won 3-2. This was then followed
12:12 by a 3-0 draw with Ipswich Town, which helped keep the Tigers' slim playoff hopes alive.
12:17 How do you see Liam Rossini's men going into their trip away to Plymouth Argyle,
12:22 knowing that they still stand somewhat of a chance to get into the playoffs, Leon?
12:28 They're still in it, aren't they? That's what you've got to say. They've certainly taken this
12:33 at the start of last season. It's important we mention it a few times to remember how
12:38 the direction of travel and how far they've come. When Rossini got the job in November 2022,
12:46 they were on the fringes of relegation. First and foremost, he had to steady the ship
12:52 and get them right defensively from a sounder base, and he did that. But they weren't particularly
13:00 going anywhere, were they, in terms of the league table? Last season's lower mid-table
13:07 weren't they this time at the end of last season? It's been a good story at Hull and
13:15 lots of progress. They've obviously brought in a few marquee loan signings. They're creating links
13:23 with quite a few big clubs at the top end of the Premier League. Their players are well served
13:29 going to Hull. It's an attractive style of football. Players seem happy there. It's a happy
13:38 ship. They play lovely football. In terms of the here and now, they've just got to do what
13:44 they've got to do. They're going to be a pretty nervy home crowd. It's home park on Saturday.
13:50 It means a lot to them down there in Plymouth in terms of retaining the second tier status.
13:56 I think, was it 10 or 11 years or something, that they've been striving to get back to this level.
14:00 It's obviously there in the mix of a relegation battle there with Birmingham and potentially
14:07 Sheffield Wednesday. There's going to be plenty on the line. Hull have just got to do their job.
14:12 They've been strong away from home. I think they've won about half the amount of games that
14:16 they've played. They've come in off the back of a lot of fights against Ipswich, which for me was
14:24 one of the games of the season on Saturday. It was a terrific advert for the Championship.
14:29 A good win at Coventry as well. West Brom are the direct rival. Hull are competing against West Brom
14:36 They're not in the best of nick, are they? Unfortunately, neither of the teams are playing
14:40 in Preston. On the positive side, Hull are more than capable of going there,
14:45 playing on the nerves of the home crowd and doing their bit. Then they've just got to hope for an
14:52 almighty favour. It's the Hawthorns from Preston. I think it's important to remember how far they've
14:58 travelled this season. It looks pretentious that they will miss out, but you never know.
15:05 I still think there's a fair bit to look forward to there.
15:07 Yes, if Hull get there, there's nothing for them to be scared of. They arguably outplayed
15:15 Leeds over Easter, although they lost the game. They're going to be facing them or Ipswich,
15:22 as we've just heard, they had a terrific game. It's just making that last step for them.
15:27 They've had many a game this season where they've played really well, but just not quite been able
15:33 to finish it off. It would be emblematic if West Brom lost and Hull were only able to draw,
15:43 because it's draws that have held them back this season. They've got this chance, they're certainly
15:53 well capable of doing it. As Leon says, they're chasing a team who are really stumbling
15:59 in West Brom. It's all to play for. If you'd offered a Hull fan at the start of the season,
16:07 this is going to be the last day and you're going to be in it. They've taken it every day of the
16:11 week. It's just the fact that they've been in it all season in playoff contention, the fact that
16:17 they had that big journey, I think that really raised expectations that they could see things
16:23 over the line. Leon's spot on, you've got to look at it in the wider context.
16:29 I mentioned with regards to Sheffield United before, it certainly applies to the whole city.
16:35 They know how they're trying to go about things and what they need to do. Whilst they might
16:41 have to lose a couple of players in the summer, who knows, because of financial issues,
16:45 they could see games potentially going on. Definitely, but at least they know how they're
16:50 going to rebuild and how they're going to go about it. It won't be a case of having to rip
16:56 things up and start again. I think there's reasons to be positive for Hull fans, come what may, but
17:03 obviously when you get this close, you just want to get over the line and worry about the rest of
17:09 things later. I was on a Leon Massin's interview recently, he was quite interesting. He was saying
17:14 that he's obviously conscious of this suggestion that they bought in players just through money in
17:21 January. He said that the players that he got in had other choices in the Championship and
17:28 they've gone there and it wasn't necessarily to do with money. I just think looking at Hull,
17:33 they've got an identity, they play some lovely football. If you're one of the leading Premier
17:42 League clubs and you've got some good young players and you're looking at loan routes now
17:46 of young players, they might have a go in League 1 and League 2, then they go in the Championship,
17:53 in the top ones. You look at some of the clubs, where are you going to go and send them out to?
17:58 I would look at Hull and they'd be really high on that list. You look at them at Middlesbrough
18:04 as well probably. They're two destinations, you can go there and they've got young, bright young
18:08 managers who play Premier League football. You mentioned that to me the other day, Stuart. I
18:16 agree with that. They play almost the Premier League style of game and the brochure is a good
18:22 one there. I do think that Hull are probably likely that they do miss out. They've still got
18:31 a good pitch for next season and I don't necessarily think that the division will always be strong.
18:37 Don't get me wrong, the Championship always is and there might be one or two who come from the
18:41 pack. You look at the teams coming down and the teams that are going up and there's a fair chance
18:48 that one of the big hitters in, if it's leading the play-offs, is Southampton, one of those,
18:52 go up along with Leicester. There's going to be room for perhaps a couple of teams
18:59 next season and why can't one of them be Hull City? But as Stuart alluded to,
19:05 they might have to take a bit of a hit with one of the players. I could see Grieves going.
19:10 He's had an excellent season. He's at that age now where he's probably as loyal as he is to Hull
19:16 and how much he's enjoying it. He's got to a stage where he's probably going to have to test himself
19:21 now if the level above somebody else comes in. I'm sure that Liam McEnear and everyone's aware
19:27 of that and have contingencies. But I just think there's quite a lot to look forward to at Hull.
19:34 Even if they do just miss out this season.
19:36 And Leon mentioned in Loans there, obviously Liam, the laps injury has been a big factor,
19:41 probably tipped things for Hull City. But let's be honest, there's been so many injuries across
19:46 the board this season. Lots of clubs have got hard luck stories like that. You've got to deal
19:52 with it. But you do feel that ultimately might make the difference if they do fall short.
19:57 Next we turn to Leeds United who fell to a surprising 4-0 thumping when they travelled
20:04 to Queen's Park Rangers. This now means that the Whites cannot afford any more mistakes
20:08 and they will be reliant on results elsewhere going their way if they are to go up automatically.
20:13 Now Stuart, what was your assessment of the game and where did it go wrong for Daniel Farker's
20:18 side on the night? My assessment of the game was probably like a lot of people's, just shock.
20:24 I really did not see that coming. We've talked quite a bit on this podcast earlier in the season
20:31 and I certainly have about how strong Leeds have been mentally at difficult times. It's really
20:38 deserted them in the last few weeks and never more so than at QPR. They just never got going.
20:44 Sloppy passing, you look at the first two goals, the amount of space the QPR players were in,
20:51 the fact that they conceded two goals from set pieces in the second half,
20:55 just everything about them and about players who have been really good for them this season was
21:00 really poor. You just didn't see it coming. We're in a position now where
21:06 they don't need that much to go their way, to go up in terms of if Ipswich lose, Leeds go up,
21:13 they'll be fine. But they're playing Huddersfield, you often see when teams are relegated that
21:22 they might win the next game. But Leon's seen a lot of Huddersfield recently and just from reading
21:28 his reports and looking at the highlights, they just look a broken team. They don't look
21:32 to have that in them. So I think it's a particularly good game for Ipswich to have to
21:38 seal the deal with on the back of that really important performance for them over Coventry.
21:47 Danny Parker was talking at Loftus Road quite rightly about not wanting to talk about the
21:53 play-offs, not wanting to throw the towel in. I always remember Howard Wilkinson famously
22:00 sort of throwing the towel in in the '92 title race, I think after Leeds lost 4-0 to Man City.
22:05 And it sort of took a bit of the shackles off Leeds and put the onus on Manchester United.
22:10 And it was Manchester United who blew up and Leeds, it went stronger from there. But
22:14 he always says he doesn't like to play mind games, he doesn't want to do that.
22:20 But yeah, I think the challenge, and we've talked about this long before we knew who it was going
22:28 to be, the challenge for that team that's pushing and pushing for automatic and ends up in the
22:33 play-offs is always to get your head around the new situation and buckle down for the play-offs.
22:38 And it's doable but it's difficult. And it looks like that's going to be the challenge for Leeds.
22:44 They can only hope that this was a massive kick up the backside for them, which is
22:49 probably come too late to get them in the automatics, but might sort them out for the play-offs.
22:54 It was just one of those bonkers results that you get from time to time. Leeds United,
23:00 they've thrown in historically for probably too many years that I can remember. And they've had
23:06 some rough days at Leicester Square Road as well, haven't they? I mean, there was the
23:09 famous picture of Bielsa, wasn't the slumped against the wall a couple of years ago. So,
23:16 I think the season leads fans would have thought, yeah, here we go again at
23:19 Loftus Road. Yeah, I mean, they've had a couple of wretched days, haven't they? Just when you
23:26 can't afford to have them. They had the one, I see, last Friday and the Blackburn home game as well.
23:30 And yeah, they go into the game against Southampton and it's one of those that got a
23:37 very slight chance. But I think it's very unlikely that it's which you're going to mess it up now.
23:45 I mean, what do you do? Do you go strong? Do you sort of on the off chance that something might
23:49 happen or do you sort of go a little bit half and half with your team selection? I guess he'll go
23:54 pretty strong again because Leeds will need, they've still got to finish there. They've still
24:00 got a week, nearly a week, haven't they, before the first leg of the semi-final. So, there's enough
24:05 time to recover and to get a good result and a performance and the fans can reset. But I think
24:13 that is my big concern with Leeds. It's just all the baggage that they've had in the playoffs
24:19 in the past. And in football now, obviously, social media, it comes to the fore. There's
24:25 going to be a hell of a lot of noise, isn't there, that Leeds end up in the playoffs with supporters.
24:30 A feeding story for the cells. A lot of them are saying, "Oh, this is it. We're not going to do
24:34 anything in the playoffs." They'll reference what happened against Watford at Cardiff. They'll
24:39 reference the Doncaster Rovers game. Even the older ones will reference what happened against
24:45 Charlton at St Andrews many moons ago. So, that is a big factor to contend with when you talk about
24:51 Leeds United in the playoffs. It's not a tangible on the pitch, but it's just there. It's the sort
24:57 of big elephant in the room almost, isn't it? But what I would say to Leeds, and I've got a few
25:04 friends who are Leeds United supporters, is that you've just got to go. You've got to park it and
25:08 go again and deal with the cards that you dealt with. Leeds will be the third.
25:13 The Finnish third. They've got every chance, the second leg at home, to get there and get to
25:20 Wembley. I think it was Brentford, wasn't it, a few years ago. I can't remember the exact
25:26 statistics off the top of my head, but they had an awful, awful record in the playoffs.
25:33 They got promoted to the Premier League by a Cameron Bruderby. It was Swansea, wasn't it,
25:40 or something like that. They actually got the millstone off the backs in that regard.
25:48 And they went up via the playoffs. So, it can be done. The story's there. It can be done.
25:53 But I just hope that the Leeds United supporters especially just summon up the strength not to
25:58 feel too sorry for themselves and just go again. It's a new season. Because they can still,
26:03 you know, they've still got every chance of doing it. But I do worry about the mindset
26:07 aspect of it all. Yeah, I mean, if you look at it rationally, what happened in 1988,
26:12 what happened against Watford, against Doncaster, against Derby has no bearing.
26:16 The problem is football's not a rational game and it preys on your mind, doesn't it? Particularly
26:21 when you've got a home leg and all these memories that freshen your mind. That's the issue.
26:27 But they've got to be strong enough to just say, 'Look, that's irrelevant.'
26:31 These things, as Leo's just pointed out with Bredford, these records are made to be broken.
26:35 You can look at the record of third place teams. You can look at the record of this,
26:40 that, teams from... team wearing white shirts, whatever. It doesn't matter. You've just got
26:46 to get on with it. Us lying in the media don't help, but that's part of it.
26:49 Exactly. It's part of the context, isn't it? And you do try and put it into context.
26:54 But yeah, I mean, in terms of what team they pick for the last day, I think he's got to go with his
27:01 strongest team. I think the question is, have certain players played themselves out of the
27:06 strongest team at Kew Park? So if there's changes, I think that's why there's changes, not to rest
27:11 players but to drop players. But I do think he's got to go with the team he thinks is most likely
27:16 to win. Because let's be honest, you'll be absolutely kicking yourself and you'd have a
27:21 queue of other people willing to help you out if you didn't pick your strongest team, you didn't
27:27 win that game. Huddersfield actually did you a favour, you'd be livid. You've got to throw
27:33 everything at it. If Ipswich win but you win 4-0 because you've thrown everything at it,
27:42 it gives you some positivity and some momentum to go into the playoffs as well. So,
27:45 as Leon says, they've enough rest. They've just got to go all out at it and see what happens.
27:54 Farka quickly, he'll be anxious to get back on track defensively as well. He's a manager who
27:59 likes order at the back. He conceded seven goals in two games. They were dreadful, weren't they?
28:07 If you take it a bit further back, they've not kept that many clean sheets lately. They've been
28:14 strong in that regard defensively with Rodon and Ampadu all season. So I think the round head in
28:22 Farka will be wanting them to get back to that strong defensive side.
28:27 He did make an interesting comment after the match where he was saying,
28:31 trotting out the lines about them being inexperienced and all this sort of thing. He
28:36 said, 'Being self-critical, I did leave Liam Cooper on the bench. Maybe I should have brought him on.
28:42 That might be something that comes into the record. Because, of course, with Ampadu's versatility,
28:46 he doesn't even have to drop either of them. He can just move Ampadu into midfield. So,
28:51 it'll be interesting to see if he goes down that road or not. Obviously, Cooper's not really
28:57 featured much at all this season, but he has got that experience. Interesting warning.
29:02 Next we turn to Huddersfield Town, whose relegation was virtually confirmed after
29:07 their 1-1 draw with Birmingham City. Andre Breitenreiter had some strong words regarding
29:13 his players' performance, saying that they lacked heart and passion. He also referred to some of the
29:20 team leaving early. What were your thoughts on the performance and where did they go from here
29:26 to try and strengthen themselves before the start of the next season, Leon?
29:28 He just summed up the performance of the season. They did huff and puff in the second half,
29:37 but there was a massive lack of quality for me and it was all a little bit meh.
29:41 Birmingham as well, they were poor side Birmingham. I think their away record,
29:47 I think there's only Rotherham that is worse in the whole division. So, it was a good game in that
29:51 respect. I just think it's just been a perfect storm for Huddersfield. They had some desperate
29:58 luck against Bristol City the other week. I felt sorry for them in that regard, but
30:04 they're just numbers and everything has just stacked up against them in every way.
30:07 I think only Rotherham have conceded more goals. They've only got nine wins.
30:13 They've not really convinced all season and draws have been a massive part of the narrative,
30:18 haven't they? 18 draws this season. Then in the background, there's obviously the issues with
30:24 the players, which some of the players, not all, I think just a handful. Obviously,
30:31 Breitenmaier is coming and he's from German football and he's used to a strong element
30:36 of professionalism in every way on match day, in training, away from the pitch and
30:43 from what he's been saying, there's been players there. It was a damning call, wasn't it? He said
30:48 that there's stuff here that I haven't seen in 30 years in football. You look at some of the
30:56 games, especially the Swansea game recently, there were players doing their own thing.
31:01 There were some chasing back somewhere. There were pressing in different groups.
31:08 I just think all things considered, it's ultimately not that much of a surprise what's
31:13 happened. You look at the Huddersfield as well. They came to the Championship in 2011/12.
31:19 They've been here 10/11 years. Apart from the David Wagner promotion and the Neymar under
31:30 Coburn, it's been a similar story, hasn't it? Some years they might have finished 16/17, but
31:36 it's always been there in the background. I think they've had four of the last five
31:40 years in the Championship have been relegation battles. They got out of it with the magic of
31:46 Neil Warnock at the end of last season, but I think the stewards said last week,
31:51 you can only go to the well so many times. They just display all the classic signs of a team that
31:58 were going to get relegated. Let's be honest, they are relegated now. Some of the more optimistic
32:07 fans will be hoping for a favour from them at Ipswich, but you look at it now, you wonder
32:13 what side it will put out for a start. There are some players who he's clearly unhappy with,
32:18 who will certainly be going at the end of the season. I think there's going to be a big clear
32:24 out there. It may be seen whether Brian Reiter will be there. I suspect he probably won't be.
32:28 I suppose if there's one positive, it's probably the wrong word, but I think it will enable
32:35 Huddersfield to have a major reset, which they've probably been needing to do for the last few
32:39 years. There's some players there, senior players, who have reached the end of the road. There's
32:45 others who have come through who have frankly not shown up. Whoever takes charge there in the summer
32:54 will have the opportunity to have a big clear out and go again. I think the first thing will be,
33:04 when they do look to bring in a successor, they're going to have to be reasonably quick as well
33:08 to bring someone in and assess it. There'll be a lot of players that leave, but it reminds me a
33:14 little bit of, well I hope it's not like at Barnsley a few years ago. It's okay saying,
33:20 well these players will leave, some of the players with more value after relegation.
33:24 But it's easier said than done getting the price that you want, isn't it? There could be a
33:28 situation where they'll come back in pre-season at the end of June and quite a lot of those players
33:34 will still be there. Then the new manager is going to go into training and there could potentially
33:38 be quite a few of them feeling sorry for themselves. So that could be something to contend in as well.
33:43 Going back a little bit, I think the bottom line is that they can't particularly have any
33:49 complaints about what's happened aside from what happened at Ashton Gate, but that's only
33:54 a small part of it. To me, the most emblematic thing Leon said there was about the players
34:01 doing their own thing, the pressure in twos and threes. To me that's the story of Huddersfield
34:06 this season, apart from probably those three games under John Worthington. They've just not
34:11 been properly aligned as a club. I made a few notes here, at the start of the season you've
34:17 got Warnock at odds with the board about transfers. As the season gets going, you've got Kevin Nargles
34:24 tweeting about performances not being good enough. I think it was particularly the
34:28 Bourne over Fieke Norwich under Warnock, and then in no time at all Warnock's gone.
34:32 That then sets the fans against Nagle because they obviously wanted to keep Warnock.
34:37 They bring Moore in and the fans aren't on board with that. Then you've got Nagle tweeting again
34:42 about the quality of the performances under Darren Moore. You've got this transfer window where either
34:48 they didn't consult the manager over the transfers they brought in, or they consulted the manager
34:53 they were about to sack. Either way, not joined up. Then you've got the fans on Brighton Riders
34:59 back for the lack of substitutions at Rotherham, wasn't it Leon? Then you've got the fans turning
35:06 on the players in that Swansea game at every point. There's been elements of that club just
35:13 not aligned. Kevin Nagle needs to come out now with a real vision that people can buy into,
35:19 with a manager who's on board with it, with players who fit into it. It's a big ask, but
35:25 they need to all start pulling in the same direction. It's very, very difficult to achieve
35:34 anything if a club's pulling in different directions like that. Certainly, you can maybe
35:40 get away with it if you've got a huge amount of talent with just a couple of people not on board,
35:44 but Huddersfield haven't had that luxury. Theirs was another squad that looked under-manned for
35:51 the job ahead at the start of the season. They really need to get their heads around things.
35:57 Nagle's got a lot of persuading to do with the fan base. He's got to find a manager who can
36:04 deliver this style of play which he talks about, which I'm sure the fans will want to see and get
36:09 on board with if they can provide it. It's one thing talking about it, you've actually got to
36:14 deliver it. They need a leader, don't they Stuart? They do. Obviously, they want someone who's going
36:18 to be successful and implement the style of play, but they desperately need a leader, someone to
36:24 follow and whip them into shape. I think we've mentioned it once or twice, but I think especially
36:29 this one, they've gone through too many managers haven't they? Let's face it, if you include
36:34 Kertegs, he's eight in the last two years. It's a club who've never really, apart from the little
36:40 spell and the warnock at the end, they've got to gibs with what happened in the play-off fight a
36:44 couple of years ago. They just need the right footballing fit, the right character, the right
36:52 charismatic leader to pull them through this difficult time. He's one of those in League One,
36:59 it's not a case of a club going in there and just sailing through. That very rarely happens. If Huddersfield
37:06 do manage to pull themselves together and get up at the first time of action, it could well be the
37:11 making of them. Certainly, with Kevin Nagel's regime, a hell of a lot has got to fall into place
37:17 for that to happen. You just hope for all concern that they do. If Brighton-Righty goes, I think the
37:25 smart money is on that, to just really get this one right because it's imperative that they do.
37:31 And whoever comes in has got one hell of a task because like we just said,
37:37 the first thing that they've got to do is bring all these fragments of a team together.
37:46 That's the first port of call before even contemplating performances.
37:50 If I was them, quickly, it probably won't happen, but if I was them I'd just go and get Michael Duff
37:57 to be quite honest. There were issues before, there was talk about living up here, this, that and the
38:04 other, but he's somebody who's been in this situation with Barnsley, he's taken on a club
38:09 who have lost the mojo. He's experienced players there who are feeling sorry for themselves,
38:16 he'll find out who wants to play for that football club and then go from there. That's just my view
38:23 on it, but obviously we'll have to see what transpires. Somebody of that ilk and cut from
38:30 that sort of cloth would make sense to me. In fairness to Kevin Nagel, he has felt out and he
38:35 does know what he wants in terms of the football he wants to play, but he's tried to impose it on a
38:41 squad that didn't have the right pieces. Now there is the opportunity to get those right pieces,
38:47 to get a manager who will do that. The good thing about Duff is he's not really evangelical about
38:55 it. He'll try and head in that general direction, but there's a bit of realism about it which you're
39:02 going to need as well. But also, as Leon says, he knows the division, he knows the players and
39:07 he knows where to find the players to do that sort of thing. It's no disrespect to others to say that
39:14 the make-up of the squad that the managers have inherited this season, they weren't built for
39:19 the sort of football that Kevin Nagel and Andre Breitenreiter wanted to play. Now they've got
39:24 the opportunity for a clear-out to do that.
39:30 Finally this week, I look to Stuart for his player of the week before turning to Leon
39:34 for his team of the week. So, Stuart, who have you gone for this week?
39:39 Well I was at Gillingham on Saturday for the last chapter in a story we've been talking about quite
39:48 a lot at the back end of these podcasts, which is the amazing form of Doncaster Rovers. Owen Bailey
39:55 was brilliant for them. He started the game, that completed the set, 46 starts the season
40:02 out of 46 league games. That was pretty commonplace 20, 30 years ago, but it's pretty rare now. We've
40:09 talked a lot about the injuries clubs have had. That says a lot about his professionalism, that
40:13 he's been able to be fit for all of those games, but it's not just been a case of being on the
40:18 pitch. He did brilliantly to set up the opening goal for Joe Ironside and made a great
40:26 goal-line clearance. He definitely came into my thinking. I think it's probably in my usual style,
40:35 I'm probably about to rain on Leon's parade here, but it's hard to look too far beyond
40:40 Sheffield Wednesday after the couple of results they've had. I look at a player like
40:51 Anthony Massaba, who was big for them at the weekend. As I've said here in the past,
40:56 he's one of those players which you often find with young wingers. They've got a lot of talent,
41:02 they can't always bring it to bear on the games, but on the games when they do, they can make a
41:08 really big difference. Just reading the reports and watching the highlights, it sounded like
41:15 that was one of those days for Massaba. In the reverse of what we were talking about with regards
41:22 to Leeds United, at this time of the season, if you can really bring your A-game to bear,
41:27 it makes such a big difference. I'm going to go for Massaba as my player of the week.
41:34 Yeah, I think that's a good choice, Stuart. Fair play to the lad as well. I did the Middlesbrough
41:41 game and he was one of the number of players who were lousy. I think he got bombed after that game
41:45 and he's shown a fair amount of character to get back. You have rained on my parade.
41:52 I shall forgive you this time. You look at the teams, and we've mentioned a few of these in
42:01 recent weeks. You can't ignore the Doncaster story. They won 10 in a row, equaled a club record,
42:09 and they didn't have to win on Saturday but they still had to seal the deal. They did that at
42:17 Gillingham, which was a little bit unfortunate, but they're sending off with a keeper. There's
42:22 so much to be proud of there, isn't there? What's happened there, it could be one of the stories of
42:27 not just the comeback stories of the EFL season, but certainly in the past few decades, it's been
42:35 magnificent. Bradford as well, you've got to give them a mention. Five in a row, they've won
42:40 six out of seven. They were going absolutely nowhere just before Easter, so they did a few
42:48 of those games and there was a crisis brewing. So they've only just missed out on the play-offs but
42:52 a much needed strong end to the season and something to buy into there.
42:58 Middlesbrough as well, they've finished very strongly. They had the result against Leeds but
43:06 the final away game of the season got to Cardiff and thrashed them 4-1. I think they've lost one in
43:12 eleven and like Bradford, they've only just missed out on the play-offs but they've not been too far
43:17 away. So they've got some positivity to look forward to in the summer if they can get the
43:22 recruitment right. But you can't ignore Sheffield Wednesday, can you? Clare did the game at Borough
43:29 on Easter Monday and it was difficult to find a way back for them but they've done a strong job.
43:38 They've had the whacks and the blows and they've come back and they've regrouped.
43:44 And was it three wins in five? Magnificent away day at Blackburn and they've backed it up with
43:51 an exhilarating win at a sold-out Hillsborough and it's there for them. They're the side that's
43:57 made that real strong move at the bottom, 11 points from 15 and it's about finishing off the
44:04 job. Stuart mentioned last week and he was absolutely spot on. What he liked about Danny
44:09 Rowe was the fact that he wasn't sitting on his laurels almost, he was thinking about the next
44:18 thing. I sort of like what Rob said about going to Sunderland, look we're going there to win.
44:25 Get a point and be okay but he's been really proactive in his mindset and he's targeting
44:33 the win. I think it's a winnable game for Sheffield Wednesday in the current vein of form.
44:38 I like that sort of talk and I like the talk before the game against West Brom as well. It
44:44 was really dynamic and positive. I think for everyone, obviously the Sheffield Wednesday
44:49 supporters would be fantastic if they did pull it off but I think for Rom as well he deserves
44:54 Sheffield Wednesday to stay up because he's produced one of the managerial stories of
44:58 the season even though he only arrived in late October. I think when we come to discuss it,
45:05 when everything's done, the manager of the season, there's some very strong candidates
45:10 for Yorkshire. Not just for Yorkshire manager of the season but for the manager of the season.
45:16 He's been outstanding performances.
45:17 YorkshirePost.co.uk
45:20 YorkshirePost.co.uk
45:23 YorkshirePost.co.uk
45:25 Many thanks to Stuart Rayner and Leon Wobbshall who will doubtless join us again soon for more
45:34 discussions on the Yorkshire football scene. But don't forget you can keep up to date with all the
45:38 football news across Yorkshire and beyond by logging on to our website at yp.sport@nationalworld.com
45:44 or if you search for Yorkshire Post Sport, Yorkshire Post Football or even Sheffield Sport
45:47 on Facebook you can find us there as well. If you have any questions for our writers you can
45:52 get in touch using those various Twitter or Facebook pages or email us directly with a
45:56 subject matter as football talk podcast at yp.sport@nationalworld.com. As ever,
46:02 many thanks for listening, look after yourselves and bye for now.
46:06 [Music]