Jonny Drury and George Bennett bring you the latest episode of the Bescot Beat.
Due to podcast account issues, this week's poddy is a full video one as the boys discuss the international break as well as Trivela's takeover of a Danish Superliga club.
They also look ahead to the clash with Wimbledon and whether Mat Sadler's men can banish the memories of last season.
Due to podcast account issues, this week's poddy is a full video one as the boys discuss the international break as well as Trivela's takeover of a Danish Superliga club.
They also look ahead to the clash with Wimbledon and whether Mat Sadler's men can banish the memories of last season.
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00:00Hello, Saddles fans. Welcome back to the latest episode of The Best Got Beat. My name is John
00:07Dury. As always, joined by George Bennett. A little bit of a different episode today.
00:15All video and audio, but it won't be available on SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple, or wherever
00:21you get your podcast, as we've got a little bit of an issue with our podcast account.
00:25But we're still going to bring you a 15 to 20-minute episode, and it's all going to be
00:29on video. I should have done my hair for it, really, George. I didn't think. George is
00:33just doing his hair, then, just as I am.
00:35I'm just going to pull it out now.
00:37How are you, mate? All good? International break? Nice and refreshed? Ready to go again?
00:41Yeah, indeed, mate. Yeah. Nice little break. Yeah, ready to, well, hit the reset button
00:47and ready to go again on the weekend.
00:49Definitely, mate. Definitely. I'm sure Sadlers and Matt Sadler won't want to hit the reset
00:54button. They want to continue where they left off as they take on Wimbledon on Saturday.
00:59We'll talk about that. We'll talk about a few other things that happened over the international
01:03break. Plenty of Sadlers players in international action.
01:08But we'll start at the top of the conversation with the massive news, really, the big news
01:14yesterday that Sadler's owners, the Trevella Group, have added another club to their portfolio.
01:23They are set to buy an 80% stake in the Danish Super League side, Silkeborg.
01:31There was a press conference yesterday held in Denmark. It is expected to be approved in December.
01:36They need a two thirds majority vote at an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders of the Danish
01:43Super League. They're fourth in that division at the moment.
01:46George, pretty, pretty big news.
01:49Up until now, Walsall were the big boys in the Trevella portfolio.
01:54It now looks like they're going to be demoted to second.
01:58What did you make of the news that came through yesterday?
02:01Yeah, I mean, it'll be interesting to see how they operate.
02:06I understand that, you know, it's kind of been met with some scepticism over in Denmark because of kind of,
02:12you know, the controversy of multi club ownership in general.
02:17And, you know, Mats Sadler, Ben Boycott alluded to, you know, maybe the perception that some American owners have in world football.
02:27But, you know, I think it's also important to recognise, and he mentioned it himself about, you know, being open minded.
02:36It's important to recognise that, you know, Trevella have showcased with Walsall and then later with Drogheda that,
02:46you know, so far, it's definitely on a smaller scale than your sort of traditional multi club ownerships that we've maybe seen.
02:52It's the higher level of European football and that so far, really, it has worked.
03:00I mean, you look at kind of the collaboration we've seen between Drogheda and Walsall so far,
03:06and we've seen the transfer of Evan Weir and how that benefited both clubs with him going back on loan to Drogheda for the second half of last season.
03:15Douglas James Taylor's gone over there on loan, scored plenty of goals, scored in the cup final, which they won the other day,
03:23and played a key role in keeping them in the League of Ireland.
03:27So, you know, it's clearly been beneficial for both clubs.
03:31Ben Boycott mentioned when I spoke to him in the summer that sort of either project is prioritised in front of the other.
03:40And I can imagine that will very much be the case again with Silkerborg.
03:43However, you know, I guess time will tell.
03:45And I understand that Ben Sadler and Ben Boycott will be releasing a video statement really in the imminent future,
03:55either later today or tomorrow, to sort of outline what those plans and what that takeover will mean for Walsall.
04:02So I guess really until then, it kind of remains to be seen.
04:06But yeah, it's another club that Walsall could potentially have scope for collaboration.
04:10In the summer, we saw Walsall go over to Ireland and play Drogheda in the Traveller Cup, which was a great occasion for both supporters.
04:18So, yeah, I see from a Walsall perspective, it's an exciting opportunity potentially.
04:23Yeah, potential pre-season trip over to Denmark.
04:26I'm sure that's one that the Sadler's fans will be happy with.
04:29You mentioned there about the trepidation in Denmark.
04:31Yesterday afternoon, the news had broke.
04:34George was off yesterday, so I wrote a story.
04:37And then all of a sudden, I had a producer from a Danish TV station jump into my DMs on Facebook.
04:43Within an hour, I was on Danish TV, which was quite strange, but talking about the impact that Traveller have had at Walsall.
04:51And there was a lot of their questions were very much loaded to the fact that a lot of the fans don't want this.
04:59They don't like foreign ownership.
05:00They don't like this.
05:01They don't like that.
05:02And I think I got asked about four or five times about the job that Traveller have done at Walsall,
05:06which I said largely has been good.
05:07They're up the table.
05:08You know, they've recruited well.
05:10They own the stadium.
05:11You know, they've sorted out financial aspects here and there.
05:15So, yeah, that does seem to be the feeling in Denmark.
05:18Is there any early indications, George, of how it may affect Walsall?
05:22You know, could we see some Danish players lighten up League Two?
05:27Well, you know, I think just in the statement really kind of mentioned that scope for collaboration.
05:34So there's always potential.
05:36And I think I got a call from the same producer today because I made a little appearance myself.
05:43And, yeah, there is that trepidation.
05:46I mean, I guess from our side of the fence, it may be a lack of understanding of kind of how Danish
05:52officially operates possibly.
05:56But, you know, I feel in terms of kind of that trepidation you may have in terms of sort of those words of
06:02American-owned and multi-club ownership, it's something that sounds scary.
06:07But, you know, I can't really see how Trevella will sway away from the model in which they've really operated
06:16within with Walsall and Drogheda in their new project.
06:21Yeah, no, it will be interesting to see.
06:24But another one to add to the portfolio, there's four apparently now, there's Drogheda, Walsall,
06:31Silkeborg and a team in Togo called Trevella FC, which I wasn't massively aware of.
06:37It'd be interesting to see if there's any gems from Togo make their way over to the Beskot Stadium at any time in the future.
06:44George, massive week for internationals.
06:46Walsall are a hub of international players at the moment.
06:50Liam Gordon played both games for Guyana in a 9-4 aggregate win over Barbados to place in the Gold Cup preliminary round.
07:00David Akagbewe was in action for Ireland, Republic of Ireland, sorry, under-21s in a 3-2 win over Germany.
07:06Tommy Simpkin capped in the England under-20 side to a 4-0 win over rivals Germany.
07:12And it was back-to-back defeats for Montserrat.
07:14Brandon Connolly played in both and Donovan Daniels scored in the first, but was not involved in the second game.
07:21We've talked about, before, about, you know, international breaks and stunted momentum, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
07:27But you've got four or five players there, four or five key players, who've sort of been away on international duty.
07:33And it's not like, you know, maybe in the case of Tommy Simpkin, he hasn't had to do much travelling or David Akagbewe.
07:38But for Liam Gordon, for Brandon Connolly and for Donovan Daniels, you know, big trips to the continent, you know.
07:47Is it detrimental at some point for Walsall to have so many internationals?
07:52And that's, you know, it's a bit of a, not a double-edged sword, so to speak, I'm trying to think of the word,
07:58but, you know, a club that's gone from having no internationals to having five and a lot of them playing the other side of the world,
08:05you know, could we see any potential, I don't know, hangovers from that?
08:12Or, you know, do we just look back at the question we talked about last week with the absolute depth that Walsall have got that they're able to cope with this?
08:21Yeah, well, I think, you know, in Liam Gordon's case, he's been on a fair few international breaks now.
08:27And I think other than there was a game against Swindon where he came back at the start of last season and looked as if he was struggling a little bit.
08:37I've rarely seen any ill effects from him in terms of him struggling after international breaks.
08:46And, you know, Donovan Daniels and Brandon Connolly are kind of struggling for minutes at the moment.
08:50So the possibility for them to go and get 90 minutes under their belt at international level is probably going to help them.
08:56I know, you know, jet lag and kind of the travelling can have an impact, especially when you've got a game on Saturday.
09:02But I think it's good to be getting minutes into their legs.
09:05And in terms of, you know, that recognition from David Cagbuay and Tommy Simpkin,
09:12it's great to see two young players recognised by their countries playing for Walsall.
09:18I mean, you know, Tommy Simpkins put the armband on now a fair few times for England's under 20s,
09:23which is a great achievement in that 4-0 victory over rivals Germany at the top of the Euro Elite League.
09:30So really good to see that.
09:33And he wasn't involved, actually, in the draw against Poland.
09:37I think it was yesterday. But, yeah, good to see him get that under his belt.
09:42And, of course, David Cagbuay with a debut for the Ireland's under 21s, played a few times for the under 19s.
09:48I don't think he's been involved on the international stage in two years.
09:51I've spoken to him a fair few times about trying to target that under 21 cap.
09:55And it was great to see him finally get that.
09:57Wasn't involved in the first game.
09:59I believe they lost 2-0 against Sweden, but played the full 90 in the next game and on their trip over in Marbella.
10:05So it's great to see. But now I feel the depth across Walsall's squad safeguards them from that.
10:11And like I say, I think Liam Gordon's very much equipped now to kind of deal with the jet lag,
10:20with the travelling and with, you know, the mental fatigue that possibly those long trips can have on him.
10:28Yeah, Stuart Bee's asked a similar question, and we've had sent in just our only question.
10:32Will the postponed fixtures for internationals be impending bad weather?
10:35Fixture issues disrupt the momentum, which kind of answered the international one.
10:39Hopefully the snow goes away and we don't have any games that are called off because of the weather.
10:47We'll have to see on that one. Hopefully the weekend's game is not the case.
10:50Walsall take on Wimbledon.
10:54George, chance to show their progress, really.
10:56You know, lost 5-1 on the final day of last season at Wimbledon.
11:01I don't think it's going to be like that on Saturday.
11:03And I'm sure Matt Sadler's certainly hoping it's not going to be like that at the weekend.
11:07Yeah, well, I think the weather's going to be similar because I remember the rain after the game just compound the misery after what was,
11:14yeah, a miserable end to a season of progress.
11:17I know it kind of tailed off towards the end with 11 points from their last 11 games.
11:21But there was a point where Walsall really did look like they could have made a push for those playoffs.
11:25And unfortunately, you know, they were mercilessly obliterated that day.
11:30I think in the end it would have worked out had they won.
11:32They still wouldn't have broken into the playoffs.
11:34Nonetheless, you know, it was a real miserable end to the season.
11:38And Matt Sadler was sort of trying to clutch for the positives from his debut campaign.
11:42And there were plenty of them.
11:43But yeah, just unfortunately they fell short.
11:45But they found another gear this season.
11:47And, you know, the recruitment's been good, losing someone like Hutchinson.
11:51The replacements, the sort of collaborative replacements across midfield, you know, jealous coming in.
11:56Charlie Lakin was a really shrewd signing after, you know, off the back of a goal laden loan spell at Sutton.
12:06Jack Earing, you know, struggling to kind of get those starts when prior to his injury at the back end of last season,
12:12he was having a really good run in the team.
12:15George Hall scored his first goal in the 3-0 win over Shrewsbury.
12:19Can he now start to sort of push in and try and stake a claim for a starting spot?
12:24So the options across midfield are fantastic.
12:27We've spoken about the defensive deck with Donovan Daniels and Osher McKenzie trying to work their way back in with Harry Williams out the last couple of games.
12:36And of course, the options up front, Nathan Lowe requires no introduction and fantastic loan spell for him so far.
12:44Adoma, Danny Johnson, Jamil Matt having a really good season.
12:48So the progress across the board, and I've not even mentioned Connor Barrett yet.
12:52So, you know, talking about the improvement across the squad,
12:55it's very clear that this is a very different Walsall team to the one that ended the season.
13:00And yeah, it is a chance to kind of showcase how far they've come since then.
13:04Because, yeah, it may have been six months ago, but a lot has changed since then.
13:08Yeah, one thing has changed is the weight, like you said, the away form.
13:12And just how key has that been, George?
13:14You know, winning your home games is massive.
13:16But, you know, any key to a promotion campaign surely is being very good on the road as well.
13:23Exactly that.
13:24And I mean, last season, the away form was very indifferent.
13:26I think it was much better than the season before,
13:29but still not the type of form that's going to kind of lift you into that playoff or promotion picture.
13:34And yeah, it was a kryptonite last season.
13:38However, that's not been the case this time around.
13:40Started with that thumping 4-0 win against Swindon, a couple of defeats in there.
13:44But I think, you know, ultimately they've been solid on the road.
13:46And the key difference has been the way in which they've started games away from home.
13:50I think last season, 19 of their 23 games they conceded first.
13:54That's not been the case this season.
13:56I think four in seven, they scored the first goal.
13:59And, you know, that's massively important.
14:02They've sort of built a solid platform in games away from home.
14:07I think they're a third of the way, 12 goals to their total of 36 away from home last season.
14:13They're already on 11 points and seven games away from home.
14:15They got 23 the whole of last season.
14:18I think they got the best offensive record, five goals conceded.
14:22So, you know, all of those things bode really well.
14:24And when you consider how good Walsall have been at home to be picking up the points that they are,
14:28it's the sixth best record in the division so far.
14:31You know, it's going to put them in a really good position.
14:34Obviously, consistency is key and they're going to need to maintain that.
14:37But yeah, they've set some really good habits away from home so far this season.
14:43Yeah, they certainly have.
14:45Sadlers fans, that's all we've got time for today.
14:48We will be back on our normal channels next week on Spotify, Soundcloud and Apple.
14:54Unfortunately, with this episode, you're going to have to stare at me and George for the best part of 20 minutes.
14:59Unfortunately, but George, enjoy your day out on Saturday.
15:03Hopefully the Sadlers can keep that winning run going because I certainly enjoy doing these podcasts
15:08when Walsall are winning rather than when they are losing.
15:10So long may that continue.
15:12Thanks again for listening and until next time from me and George, goodbye.