Sheffield United plan for their date with destiny as they prepare to take on Sunderland in the Championship play-off final at Wembley, with our panel of Stuart Rayner, Leon Wobschall and host Mark Singleton assessing the Blades’ chances of securing a return to the Premier League.
They also ponder what is next for Hull City after the sacking of head coach Ruben Selles, who despite keeping the Tigers up on goal difference on the final day of the season, still found himself clearing his desk at the MKM Stadium.
We also cast an eye over the heartache for York City and FC Halifax Town, who both fell to Oldham Athletic in the National League play-offs, before they review the respective League one campaigns – all disappointing – of Huddersfield Town, Barnsley and Rotherham United.
They also ponder what is next for Hull City after the sacking of head coach Ruben Selles, who despite keeping the Tigers up on goal difference on the final day of the season, still found himself clearing his desk at the MKM Stadium.
We also cast an eye over the heartache for York City and FC Halifax Town, who both fell to Oldham Athletic in the National League play-offs, before they review the respective League one campaigns – all disappointing – of Huddersfield Town, Barnsley and Rotherham United.
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SportsTranscript
00:00Hello, and welcome to the latest edition of Football Talk from the Yorkshire Post, where
00:13we will be discussing some of the latest talking points from the world of football with members
00:16of our football writing team. On this week's episode, we're joined by Chief Football
00:20Writer for the Yorkshire Post, Stuart Rayner, and Football Writer for the Yorkshire Post,
00:23Leon Wattrell, to discuss all of the latest developments affecting our local clubs. Don't
00:28forget you can keep up to date with all the football news across Yorkshire and beyond
00:31by logging on to our website at yp.sportatnationalworld.com, as well as checking out our various Twitter
00:37feeds, the main one being at ypsport. If you search for Yorkshire Post Sport, Yorkshire
00:42Post Football, or even Sheffield Sport on Facebook, you can find us there as well. And
00:47if you have any questions for our writers, you can get in touch using those various Twitter
00:50or Facebook pages, or email us directly with a subject matter as Football Talk Podcast
00:55at yp.sportatnationalworld.com. YorkshirePost.co.uk.
01:00As mentioned earlier in the intro, this week we're joined by Chief Football Writer for
01:04the Yorkshire Post, Stuart Rayner, and Football Writer for the Yorkshire Post, Leon Wattrell.
01:07Good morning guys.
01:08Morning.
01:09Hello.
01:10Morning. Right, this week we saw a number of news stories affecting our local football
01:14clubs, which we will be diving straight into, starting with the news that Sheffield United
01:19will go head-to-head with Sunderland for a place in the Premier League. Now, how do you
01:24see Chris Wilder's side going into the play-off final, Stuart?
01:28Well, pretty much as well as they could do under the circumstances, I think. You know,
01:34we were sort of saying for a lot of the season it'd be difficult for the team that finished
01:38third to get themselves up for the play-offs, but I think the timing of when they dropped
01:44out I think has given them an opportunity to reset and to refresh, and not too long,
01:50like Sunderland, who've had a really long drag to keep ticking over, so I think that's
01:54been good. They've got everyone fit bar Oli Artblaster, so that's good. They've played
02:03a little bit differently against Bristol City, so we don't, or Regis Lebris doesn't quite
02:08know how they'll play in terms of whether they'll go 4-4-2, 4-2-3-1, go a bit more direct,
02:13play a bit more. So again, that's good. Obviously Sheffield United don't know what they're going
02:16to do. So yeah, I think they're in good shape. You know, there's all this talk, the history
02:25of the terrible record in a play-offs, terrible record at Wembley, but they're not short of
02:32inspiration at the moment. Newcastle have won the League Cup, first domestic trophy
02:36since 55, Palace have just won their first trophy. You know, there's plenty of inspiration
02:43to be taken there. I think they're in good shape. It's going to be a tough test because
02:50Sunderland are a good team, we know that, but in terms of how they are going into it,
02:55I think they're in pretty much the best shape they could expect to be in, really.
03:00Yeah I think it's fascinating, isn't it? We all wondered about Sheffield United, obviously.
03:0690-plus points, just been pretty unlucky to miss out on the top two, a bad week really
03:12as we've mentioned many times, that's all they were guilty of really. And could they
03:16go again? Obviously they had the disappointment against Burnley, but they parked it pretty
03:21quickly, finished the regular season okay. In terms of, I don't know how much you can
03:28read into a final, but it's been a dream of a semi-final for them, wasn't it? I mean,
03:32it was a pretty seamless progression. I know there was a bit of conjecture about sending
03:39off this, that and the other, but it looked a couple of games too far for Bristol City
03:43and managing the minutes of players, so everyone's got a taste of it, haven't they? Yeah, I mean
03:49the vibe there will be good, but then you sort of look at Sunderland, there's more of
03:53a bit of an emotional rollercoaster there. Obviously they went to the well against Coventry,
04:00a couple of huge moments at the end of both legs and the unbelievable scenes at the Stadium
04:09of Light. So I'm, just like many playoff finals, I'm struggling to sort of call this one. I
04:15think the start will be particularly important. I mean, Sunderland have got a lot of young,
04:19energetic players. If they can sort of settle on the spaces of Wembley and get a bit of,
04:25the fans provide them with that sort of adrenaline and they start off well, it could be a long
04:30afternoon for Sheffield United. But conversely, if Sunderland don't settle, they seem to have
04:35got a bit more experience in Sheffield United's ranks. They can hopefully control the game
04:41in the way that they've done many games in the regular season. So for me, the start will
04:47be particularly fascinating. If it's a bit of a cagey start, then I wouldn't be surprised
04:50if it went the distance, to be quite honest. Yeah, it's one of those finals which are the
04:56best ones really, where from both teams' perspectives, you can make a really strong
05:01case for winning it. You know, Sunderland, I'll be thinking, almost name on the cup with
05:05the way that the two legs went. You know, Sheffield United, obviously it derived from
05:10the league position and what they've done over the course of the season. And as Leon
05:14says, you've kind of got the youthfulness of Sunderland and then you've got a lot of
05:19Sheffield United players who've been down this road before, one way or another, you
05:25know, whether it be in another division or in the Championship or what have you. So yeah,
05:32I hope it'll be a really good final. I certainly think it should be a really close final and
05:41hopefully a good advert for the Championship. I think when you've got no skin in the game,
05:46I think it's always nice to see the two highest teams in the final because they've sort of
05:52earned the right. So yeah, it should be a really good occasion and I do get the sense
06:01that, as I say, Sheffield United don't have this sort of trepidation around it, that people
06:07who were just looking at the history books and the omens and all this sort of thing might
06:13read into it.
06:14Yeah, I mean, I think they've got it out of the system, haven't they, what sort of happened
06:18at the end of last season? And I just think Chris Wilder as well, he won't be talking
06:23about the records so much, but he'll be really motivated to become the first Sheffield United
06:28manager. We've spoken about all the disappointments and he had one personally, didn't he, and
06:32it was a different sort of play-off, the relegation play-off against Bristol City. He wasn't particularly
06:37keen on talking about that at the time and I don't blame him, but the football, the competitive
06:43side of Chris Wilder, which is so important in terms of his make-up, he'll want to personally
06:48turn that around, won't he? And he's got some players as well, they've been one or two part
06:55of the story, the game at Nottingham Forest a few years ago, which will have hurt, sort
07:02of flipping that around. So yeah, he just hoped that it's one of those, isn't it, the
07:07best, it's not about being the best team, it's just getting through, isn't it? And come
07:13what may, whether it goes to penalties or whatever, it's just having that game management
07:20in those critical moments, which will happen one way or another at Wembley and coming out
07:24on the right side of them.
07:26And they've got a good mix in the group, Wilder being a case in point in terms of positive
07:30and negative experiences. As Leon says, Wilder's had that negative experience as a Sheffield
07:36United player, but he won the play-offs with Oxford, so he's seen both sides of it. And
07:41then you've got players like Hamer who missed out in the Championship play-off. I was talking
07:45to Calum O'Hare the other day about the disappointment he had with Coventry City at Wembley against
07:50Manchester United in the FA Cup semi-final. For those guys, it'll really drive them on.
07:55For other guys, it'll be, look, we've seen what we need to do, this is what we need to
07:59do. So, yeah, there's a lot in their favour in that squad, but equally a lot in Sunderland's too.
08:08Yeah, there's Burrows as well, I noticed at Peter, but they had a couple of years on the
08:12top where they sort of missed out. And it's probably a little bit strange for Sunderland,
08:16I mean, they're a huge football club and once or twice in the past they've gone to these
08:21play-off finals and been sort of big favourites, haven't they? And they've sort of come proper,
08:26so a little bit different for them. But yeah, Sheffield United, they've coped with plenty
08:33of big games in the regular season and been conditioned really. I mean, obviously, we've
08:38spoken long and hard about the bad week they had, but they've also won some big-stakes
08:42games as well, haven't they? And shown that they've had a strong jaw. I mean, you think
08:46about the Steel City derbies as well, huge footballing occasions after not having them
08:53for the previous few years, a great load of expectation and spotlight on that and they
08:58managed to navigate both those games. So they should be conditioned pretty well in that regard.
09:03And then the defensive platform they've got as well means if you're not quite at it,
09:07if you're taking time to acclimatise, you've got that base that like Leon says, if it can
09:12be a cagey start, that's a good thing for them. So yeah, it'll be fascinating to see how it pans out.
09:18Yeah, yeah. And next, we take a look at Hull City, who have parted company with
09:23Ruben Seles after just six months in charge of the Tigers. Now, a couple of things. Firstly,
09:30what do you make of this decision by the club? And secondly, what do they turn to now, Stuart?
09:36Well, I mean, we discussed this a bit, didn't we, the week after they stayed up? I think by
09:43Ajahn El-Hajjali's criteria for managers, they were right to sack him. The problem is
09:50that criteria is bonkers. Hull City are in a much better place under El-Hajjali than they were
09:59before. But he's got to get real about what he expects from managers. You know, he's very open,
10:05he's very clear in what he wants. He wants entertaining, throw the kitchen sink at them,
10:10high tempo football and results. Well, I'm sorry to break it to him, but he's the chairman of
10:16a championship club, gates of about 22,000, capacity not that much bigger, financial fair
10:24play restraints to work with. You know, in a part of the world not far from where I grew up,
10:30it's not Monaco, it's not London, it's not Barcelona. There's a limit to the sort of
10:37manager you're going to be able to get. I mean, I get the feeling that if Pep Guardiola were to
10:43get the job, he'd be sacked by Christmas because his football is too patient. If El-Hajjali had
10:49been manager of Tottenham this season, he'd have got all the entertaining football and Posta Kogli
10:53would have been out before Christmas because of the results. You know, it's good as a football
11:00club to sort of reach just beyond your reach and try and be ambitious, but you've got to be
11:05realistic when it comes to assessing managers and Hull have got to build themselves up to be in
11:10that club. Some of the football at the back end of the season, as I say, was not the most thrilling
11:15football I've ever seen in my life, but he kept them in the division with a squad that was bottom
11:21of the table when he started, loads of injuries. And if he'd have played really attacking football,
11:28again, he had a squad with a top scorer with six goals, they'd have got battered because they
11:33wouldn't have been able to put those chances away. It would have been perfectly legitimate
11:37for El-Hajjali to call the players over to Turkey and say, look, you've kept us up this season. I
11:42want more next season. I want more entertainment. I want better results. But it's got to be a
11:47process. You can't just flick a switch and it happens in six months. So in terms of where he
11:52goes next, he's not only got to be realistic in terms of who he picks, which I think he will be,
11:58he's got to be realistic in what he demands of them and how much time he gives them to do it.
12:05And that, I think, is the big thing that's holding them back because, I mean, it was sort of laid out
12:11for everyone to see, wasn't it? Strasbourg were a 99th minute penalty away from qualifying for
12:16Europe on Saturday with Liam Rossini as their manager. I think it's plain to most people who
12:21even take a passing interest in the championship that sacking him was a big mistake. El-Hajjali
12:26will say it wasn't because of the brand of football, but it was. I'm sorry. It just was.
12:31And that's a case in point. Seyed Rossini are good managers. And when you've got a good manager,
12:38you've just got to give them time to build things. And the first step might not be what you want.
12:42Pep Guardiola didn't win the league in his first season. Jurgen Klopp didn't win the league in his
12:46first season. But you lay a platform and then you gradually improve and your recruitment gets better
12:52and your squad understanding gets better and so on and so forth. I think to Saxleman for what he
12:59did over the 16 months when, as I said last time we were discussing it, the form was the 14th best
13:05in the league. They were points off top-half form and top-half football is what he was demanding.
13:11Yes, he missed the target. When you miss the target that narrowly and when you show promise,
13:15I think you earn the right to go again and be better next time. And I said that more than
13:21choosing the right manager, it's what Illajali's got to get right next season.
13:26You just wonder about some of the players. They're the ones who've been there for a few seasons and
13:30want the sort of mindset. How can you sort of grow a culture when you've got this sort of
13:36approach? And every manager needs a peak season, don't they really? You came in,
13:41Salah's came in, what was it, early December? Yes. You know, December's probably historically
13:46the busiest, if not the busiest month of the season. He's straight in having to navigate
13:54games and he's straight into the January transfer window. He might have had a week here and there in
13:59the March international break but he's had precious little time to sort of really bed
14:05down his principles. He's just having to sort of work on the job ultimately. He'll have been
14:10so looking forward to pre-season and then really sort of going to town and implementing
14:17a side in his own image and he's been denied that. It was a huge dogfight down there. Don't
14:22forget where Hull were when he took over. I mean, was it the one three games in 18 or something?
14:27Yeah. That was basically within a 10-day window in mid-August. Sorry, in mid-Autumn.
14:36The rest of it was just proper relegation statistics. Yeah, I mean, he sort of steadied
14:43the ship and kept them hooker by crook. It wasn't pretty at times and obviously issues with the home
14:49form which that stretched back, didn't it, to his breeders. So, yeah, I mean, it was a decision of,
14:58I mean, Stuart sort of, you know about Ila Kelly more than me really and I'm sure he's an
15:05amiable man who wants the best for Hull City but it was a decision of a non-football person.
15:10Correct. And somebody who hasn't particular respect or knowledge for the division that his
15:17clubs operated in and it was just so disappointing for a young coach and football really. I mean,
15:23it'd be interesting to see. There's a lot of rumours about, you know, Huddersfield Town sort
15:27of sniffing around sellers and I'm sure it'd be an excellent appointment if he ended up there
15:33and he certainly deserves a break because, you know, the remit of his job to keep Hull City in
15:38the division, he fulfilled that brief and he, you know, fully expected to have a, I wouldn't have
15:42thought to have a crack at it next season and then build a side in his own ethos but there you go,
15:48that's football. I mean, they risk making the same mistake as last year. If you think to this
15:54time last year, they sat Rossini very quickly after the end of the season. Tim Valter didn't
15:58start work, I don't think, until July. Recruitment was very slow to the point where I think there
16:04were four players in, I think, by the time the season started and then about 10 came in during
16:09the season and we saw the effect, you know, that was the message inherited. Now, from here,
16:16it will be possible to get a manager in quickly, don't forget Ducks in line and all that sort of
16:20thing but it's difficult, you know, and Ilha Jallian said and quite rightly said that they
16:26won't make any signings until the coach is in. I think that's a good thing but it does,
16:31it will slow the process again and they've got to, as Leon says, I spoke to Sayers after the
16:38Portsmouth game and he was really looking forward to having a proper pre-season and getting things
16:42it's important that the next manager gets that and not what Tim Valter got because for all his faults
16:48Tim Valter picked up a team in pre-season where I think he'd lost 15 players in game two so,
16:54you know, he barely had enough players to do proper training sessions, never mind anything else.
16:59They can't fall into that trap again, they need to be a bit more on it when it comes to
17:06the recruitment of the manager and of the players because inevitably, after just surviving by
17:15relegation by goal difference, the new man's going to want plenty of new bodies, I should think.
17:20And next, let's take a look at York City who fell to a 3-0 defeat when they met with Oldham
17:25Athletic for a place in the National League playoff final. Now, what did you make of the
17:30performance by York City, Leon? Yeah, sadly they choked Mark, it was such a disappointment.
17:41Fair play to Oldham, it was their night, I did the game against Halifax last week and
17:48they were excellent. The intensity of the crowd and the players all bought into it and Halifax
17:54couldn't cope and wasn't quite to those levels but it was, you know, an outstanding away
18:00performance from Oldham. Mickey Mellon, a playoff exponent, bar none by the sounds of it, I think
18:09he's won four or five in low division circles so he knows how to set teams up for playoff football,
18:17you know, it's something that you can't really downplay and it's a skill to have, isn't it, really?
18:24You know, the regular season has gone, setting them up for these huge one-off occasions. I do
18:30feel, I don't want to really belittle Oldham's triumph because it was richly deserved, they were
18:36excellent on the night but I do feel for York in terms of the system, I don't know what Stuart
18:42thinks, but just the system being weighted against them, you know, they had to, the previous game was
18:4915 days before, wasn't it, the final day of the of the regular season. Oldham had played six days
18:56earlier, they obviously got that momentum game from a really good win against Halifax, the juices
19:03were flowing and, yeah, you just think of the York players, they must have expended a lot of energy
19:09sort of emotionally waiting for this game. You can have practice games, you can take penalties,
19:14this, that and the other but I just sort of think of the system and I don't know how you do it but
19:20I was sort of having a little think when I was driving home, funnily enough, and
19:25I don't know, maybe an idea, you know, the second, there's obviously six teams under this format,
19:32there's six teams who compete in these National League playoffs, there's obviously one automatic
19:36promotion place. What about second place, third, the winners there go straight through to the
19:42to the final at Wembley, then you could have fourth play fifth, sixth play seventh,
19:49the winners there, thinking of the top man a little bit, but the winners there play each other
19:55and the winners of that game play the team who've lost in the game between the second and third
20:00place team. So I think, did Rugby League have, they had, thinking a little bit off off pace,
20:06I think Rugby League had something similar with their playoffs a few years back whereas, you know,
20:12the teams at the top get a bit of a second chance at least. I mean, it was just, you know,
20:19second place, third, the winner goes straight through and the other team has another chance
20:22a little bit further down the line when the couple of playoff games beneath them are decided.
20:28It just seems, I mean, okay, you'll have the home advantage granted but
20:35I just think that waiting time as well, it's a long time between finishing your regular season
20:40then go in again and then 90 minutes, that could be it, you know, you could, that could,
20:45the season could be over. I mean, obviously they finished 23 points above Oldham in the
20:51regular season but it ultimately counted for nothing. I mean, York were, don't get me wrong,
20:55they were poor on the night, they just couldn't get going. Oldham's game plan was excellent,
21:01they were strong defences but they posed problems throughout at set pieces and it was like a
21:07classic away leg of playoff football and they scored at great times as well, midway through
21:13the first half and then they killed the game straight after half-time and that was it for York
21:18but yeah, they didn't perform on the night and Adam Hinshaw, fair play to him, he congratulated
21:26Oldham, he wasn't necessarily looking for excuses but I just think that the system,
21:30the system as it stands has been really hard on York. I mean, in fairness, I think a couple of
21:36years ago York were the sort of beneficiaries of it almost and I think they went up from the
21:41National League North when Brackley had finished second and they were about 20-odd points in front
21:47so it can work for you, it can work against you, there are swings and roundabouts but
21:51I just don't, I don't think in this sort of current format that this system is quite right and
21:59it was funny, obviously I dip in and out of York as Stuart does as well but I went,
22:08I think it was in March in the international break and I was speaking to Adam Hinshaw and
22:15it was when the three-up campaign, obviously we know a lot about that, but
22:19you know, obviously the National League clubs, you know, hankering for two automatic promotion
22:24positions and then he sort of three-up, three-down and he sort of said, well, at the end of the day,
22:29we could finish 20-odd points clear and lose out in it, we could have a bad night on the play-offs
22:33and that could be it and, you know, that's happened and obviously he'll have been surprised
22:41by what happened on the night, he wasn't expecting that but I think deep down he'll have known that
22:47this sort of thing might have happened and it ultimately has but yeah, just very,
22:52very disappointing for York, hopefully there's, there are examples of teams that this has happened
22:57to, it happened to Barnett last year, they lost Fournell at home and they've obviously
23:01regrouped and York have, when the pain subsides, starts to subside, it'll take them a few days,
23:09it's still been a season of, you know, remarkable progress really, isn't it, 96 points in the regular
23:15season, they'll be hurting at the minute and they will go again but yeah, just old and
23:22worthy winners and good luck to them at Wembley but I just feel a little bit sorry for York in
23:27terms of the system, so being sort of weighted a little bit against them but there you go,
23:34I suppose you know the rules at the start of the season, people will say. Yeah, I mean, that is the
23:38thing but yeah, it is difficult because it's obviously designed to help the second and third
23:42place teams but you feel like it doesn't really, I mean, York actually managed the league side of
23:48it quite well but their last competitive game, the last game that meant anything for them
23:53was March 22nd, you know, when you've got six teams in the playoffs, more often than not,
23:59the team second and third will qualify with a bit to spare and that only extends that
24:06difficult period. I mean, as Leon says, the biggest issue really is there should be three up, three down,
24:10it would do good to League Two to have that, to be refreshed by those teams of such quality
24:18and it would obviously do good for the conference. I mean, I think though
24:23the brutal reality is, as Leon says, they knew when they reported for pre-season what the rules
24:29were, they hadn't changed. The harsh truth is, if you don't like it, finish first and, you know,
24:36York will be having the sort of discussions that League United players were having this time last
24:40year. Remember how this felt, don't let this happen again, don't let it lead to chance,
24:48this team, they've got a really good owner there, they've certainly got a really good manager,
24:52you know, if you think when he came in at the back end of last season, of the previous season,
24:57they only stayed up on the last day of the season, they've made huge strides, you know, they may well
25:02lose players, Ollie Pearce obviously with 31 goals, I imagine there'll be people sniffing around him
25:08but they've got people like Josh Stones ready to come in. I think if everyone keeps the calm
25:14and sticks with it, the opposite of what we've just been saying about Hull, they can do what
25:18Barnett did, they can go again and they can do it because, you know, you look at the division
25:23next season, particularly if Oldham win the playoffs and are out of it, Carlisle will be
25:30coming down, lots of American money but that hasn't done them much good the last couple of
25:33seasons, big name manager in Mark Hughes, he was staying but he doesn't know the division,
25:39teams that come down generally, you know, you think of like to Chesterfield and Notts County
25:44and teams like that, they generally need to bottom out, it takes them a while to come back up,
25:49so you're not so much looking at Morecambe, Carlisle as the big threats. I think if you
25:53take Barnett and Oldham out of the equation, York will have as good a chance as most, if not all,
26:00of those teams of going up, I say if they just stick to the plan, stick to their belief and go
26:07at it, this can be the fuel for them that really, you know, powers them to a good season next season
26:14but yeah, desperately disappointing after such a good season, 96 points and you end up with nothing,
26:21not even a day out at Wembley, never mind a losing day out at Wembley, it was a real kick
26:25in the teeth and I imagine Oldham will be on to Lyon soon if they can get into the final,
26:30he's done great goods for them unfortunately. I think that York will be, I agree with what
26:36you said there Stuart, I think they'll be prettier. When the pain does go down,
26:42they'll be quite happy that if Oldham get promoted early, won't they, because that's one side who,
26:47you know, they'll be right up there for next season but yeah, that's just ultimately the way
26:54the cookie crumbles, so I'll have to get my train ticket for Wembley.
27:01But I mean, there is a sort of wider point as well, you know, we've seen York move this out
27:07with 96 points, Sheffield United with 92, Leeds with 90, the other, Sheffield Wednesday, good
27:14shout, yeah, the leagues are becoming much less equal than they were, it's a real, it kind of
27:22highlights the problem, we need to sort of even things out a bit more and make it a bit more of
27:27a level playing field. It's great if you're the guys at the top but, you know, say you're Leeds,
27:31it's great to go up with 100 points but you soon realise the other side of it when you go up the
27:36next season, so I think that's, it's a wider point, it's probably not something to get into
27:41now but I think that's something that the regulator needs to look at. It's not right
27:44at the minute is it? No. And now we turn to Halifax Town who suffered a heavy 4-0 defeat
27:51when they clashed with Oldham Athletic in the National League play-off semi-final. More Oldham!
27:57Now, where did it all go wrong for the Sheyman, Leon? Oh, where do you start? I mean that was,
28:04myself and Stuart have done a lot, we cover a lot of football games in a season but
28:10I don't think I've, off the top of my head, I can't think of one where a side had just been
28:16blown away, not necessarily just by what they're encountering on the pitch but in the stands,
28:22the atmosphere at Oldham last week was tremendous, it was sort of almost,
28:30you know, a group of supporters really announcing that they've got the club back and it was
28:37absolutely pumped up and it was, you know, a tremendous atmosphere, I mean,
28:41Halifax brought a good following, there were nearly 2,000 who, I know it's a relatively
28:45short distance but it was, you know, it was above Halifax's average crowd for a season,
28:51you know, I think it was just under 1,900, an excellent turnout but they were just blown away
28:57by Oldham, it was, you know, a real trump style of football, they were getting crosses in, they
29:04were winning headers all over the place, I mean there's been a few Oldham players who I've been
29:09impressed with in these two games, none more so than Mike Fonda before with his,
29:15bit of a journeyman in his career before he joined Oldham, had spells at Halifax funnily
29:22enough and Guiseley and God knows how many other clubs but he, talk about a centre-forward leading
29:30the line and scaring opposition defenders witless, Halifax couldn't cope with him,
29:36Vimal Yoganathan on loan at Oldham from Barnsley, he's had two tremendous playoff games,
29:41he was here, there and everywhere and they just couldn't cope, Halifax, and the game was over
29:47after 10, 12 minutes which was such a shame, obviously pointing to the huge following but
29:54yeah, I just sort of look at Halifax and, you know, qualifying for the playoffs is no problem
30:00is it? They've done it sort of four times in the last six years but where do they sort of want to
30:06go as a club? I mean he spoke afterwards, Chris Millington, you know his understanding of the
30:12downcast and he's done so much good work for them, he can spot a player, he can polish them up and
30:18develop them into really good high-class national league players but then at the end of the season,
30:25you know, Halifax finishing the playoffs, get beaten, then the best players leave,
30:29you know, obviously there's an issue with the contractual length of the players there,
30:33most of them just seem to be on 12-month contracts and then they'll sort of go to pastures new
30:39at the end of the season if they do well and the players will probably know that as well,
30:44obviously they'll want to do the best for Halifax but you think, you know, their agents and at the
30:48back of their minds they'll be thinking, well, hopefully we'll do well with Halifax and we'll
30:52progress but if we don't then, you know, there'll be somebody else knocking on the door to maybe
30:57take them into the football league or with a football league club or they'll go to a national
31:04league club who are really sort of intent on putting the money in to go for it and there's
31:08enough teams who you can bracket on those levels, you know, Rochdale have a bigger budget than
31:15Halifax, York, there's Oldham, there's various others as well, Halifax's budget doesn't particularly
31:21compare with any of those clubs so yeah, Chris Millington, I did feel for him, I think he's done
31:28a tremendous job over the last few seasons, he's taken on the baton from Pete Wilde who, you know,
31:35he actually left for a similar thing, didn't he? He probably thought, how can I take Halifax
31:40further? He'd got them in the playoffs, he's developing players but what's the next step?
31:46How can I sort of, how can we sort of recruit players, keep them for two or three years,
31:50sell them a bit of a dream and then grow incrementally? But they're just not doing
31:55that at the minute, Halifax, but there is such potential there, like I said, nearly 2,000
32:00supporters, not many conferences, there's a few league clubs I think wouldn't have took that
32:06level of support in a playoff game even though it was relatively close and it shows the potential
32:12and the hunger for league football there but yeah, another consistent season in regard to
32:21finishing in the playoffs for Halifax but you just wonder sort of medium to longer term,
32:28what are their sort of ultimate hopes and aspirations as a football club rather than
32:33just finishing in the playoff each year and then start players leaving? Yeah, I think they need to
32:38sort of come up with a master plan really around the Shea. I mean, Huddersfield Giants are in the
32:45process of buying the Shea and putting in an artificial pitch but that's a stopgap for them,
32:51you know, they'll be moving on. Really at that point, I think Halifax need to have all the sort
32:57of ducks in a row to really kick on from there because as we talked about in the past, you know,
33:02the playing surface there has been a real hindrance to the type of players they want to develop,
33:08you show a play around York City's ground or the Shea, you know, it's not too harsh to say
33:16you're going to be more impressed by York City's ground. So, Halifax have just got to,
33:22yeah, as Leon says, have a think about what they want to be, how they're going to do it,
33:27you know, as a Phoenix club, they can't go nuts, they can't spend money they don't have
33:35but it's just a matter of maximising what they do have. As Leon says, the contracts thing,
33:41if you could sell more players as opposed to losing them on free transfers, then you can
33:47reinvest a bit and it's just, it's a difficult position because of this only being two up,
33:55two down, because there's no spending restrictions or certainly nowhere near the level of the AFL
34:01in a conference, it's a real wild west in terms of the, you know, big, big clubs, I mean Oldham,
34:07you know, Leon and I can remember watching Oldham in FA Cup semi-finals, League Cup finals,
34:12playing in the Premier League, you know, and clubs like Southend and Rochdale and, you know,
34:19in recent years, Chesterfield, Wrexham, Notts County, so many big clubs in there,
34:26yeah, so many clubs with big budgets as well, you know, whether they've got the history or not,
34:30it's a really difficult division to compete in and Halifax, Halifax have found a way of
34:36being different that gets them to, as Leon says, gets them to be in the playoff stage,
34:42it's what they can do to take it to the next stage and probably needs a cleverer football
34:46mind than me to work it out, but they need to have some serious thoughts about it and hopefully
34:52come up with a vision that a, Chris Millington drives and b, is on board with, so as Leon says,
34:57they don't have that sort of Pete Wilde situation again.
35:02And finally for this week, we will conduct a review of how League One has gone for Huddersfield
35:07Town, Barnsley and Rotherham United. Now, how would you describe this season for our teams
35:13in League One and what do they have to do to have more success next season, Leon?
35:19Mediocre, I think that's the...
35:23Yeah, it's especially how it finished, I mean, to be fair, Rotherham's season never got
35:30going at all, did it? There were a few moments for Barnsley and I suppose
35:37Huddersfield sort of titillated us a little bit, but I think their descent has been as bad as
35:42anyone really and they're just, I think all three of them just look clubs who sort of lost the mojo
35:47a little bit, haven't they? And fans are going to games and it's becoming a sort of, you know,
35:55endurance sadly and they've just got to find their identity again, get the mojo back and
36:04get supporters enjoying going to football matches again in the short term before you sort of think
36:10about stuff such as sort of promotion, this, that and the other. I mean, I think with Huddersfield,
36:16the need will be more pressing. They've spent a lot of money there and the chairman's made
36:21no bones about he doesn't want to mess about in League One, but it's been a really, really poor
36:30season. Huddersfield have had a big clear out this summer and you sort of look at the work
36:39that the new manager who's going to come in and I think they've got to get a new director of
36:43football first. You'd think that the director of football will come before the head coach and then
36:49they're going to have to get heads together and they're going to have to make some decisions
36:52pretty quickly. I mean, you look at the players that they've let go, some big characters,
36:58experienced players over the years, they look like they need a back four for a start. Huddersfield,
37:02they need a centre forward. There's a hell of a lot of work to do and, you know, fans have just
37:07been turned off, haven't they, by a lot of the events, particularly in the second half of the
37:12season. I think the word that you probably describe for all three of them,
37:19different sort of issues, but some commonality as well. You know, difficult, poor performances
37:25at home, so Huddersfield had that sort of run, particularly in mid-season where,
37:30you know, they were struggling to get shots on target, never mind goals really.
37:34And then they sort of lost their edge and it unravelled their
37:40problems away from home. They've been hysteric, but they've sort of struggled at home as well.
37:46Barnsley's problems at home have stretched back, you know, the best part of a season and a half,
37:51really. And I suppose the good thing, you know, with Barnsley and particularly Barnsley and
37:57Rotherham, they've got individuals in, young, driven managers who care for those football clubs
38:05and I think they'll work every minute available in the working day. I mean,
38:12they'll obviously, Matt Hamshaw and Connor Horahan, the good guys, and
38:18they're young and driven. I don't necessarily see them having long holidays in the Mediterranean.
38:24I think it may be a week here and there and then they're just going to be bang at it again,
38:28aren't they? I think they're conscious of there being so much work to do, obviously, at the
38:33minute. They'll be talking to the players who are free agents. I mean, I dare say another thing
38:38with those three clubs, you'd imagine they might be after the similar sort of players in the three
38:42agent market. So if you're Huddersfield, you don't want to be back in the queue, do you?
38:48Yeah, that's the thing. I mean, there's not going to be too much money with the new regulations
38:54slushing around League One and those players, you know, good players available on three transfers
39:00are going to have a lot of, I suspect, a lot of competition. So yeah, the clock's ticking for
39:05Huddersfield. But I just think in general, they just, you know, just bring some joy and enjoyment
39:11back first and foremost. And then in the first part of the season, let fans really re-engage
39:17with their football clubs and then you can talk about the sort of promotions and this, that and
39:21the other a little bit further down the line. But there's a lot of bruising at the minute at those
39:26three football clubs.
39:27Yeah, that's the thing. I think for all three football clubs in this season just gone,
39:32I think they were entitled to expect their team to be in the promotion shake-up. But for this
39:37season coming, as Leon says, it's about rebuilding and starting again for all of them. And, you know,
39:43Leon came up with exactly the right word when he talked about identity. It sounds like one of those
39:49footballing buzzwords that doesn't really mean anything. But, you know, you think back to
39:53Huddersfield under, you know, under Hoyle and Wagner, you knew what Huddersfield were about.
39:58You know, you think about Rotherham under Paul Warne, you knew what Rotherham were about. You
40:03know, Barnsley, it was a bit more fleeting in terms of the Balearian Isabel time. Before that,
40:08you know, there was the Danny Wilson side. And that's the thing. Again, Leon's absolutely bang
40:15on. It's about joy and that's why the home records of, you know, Huddersfield and Barnsley in
40:21particular being so depressing. But it's about having that energy, that direction. I think,
40:29as a fan, you don't mind your team falling short if you see that they're moving in the right
40:34direction. That's what I was saying about Hull before. You know, obviously football's all win,
40:40lose, but it's about the journey. And if you can see things moving in the right direction,
40:44absolutely. That's the thing. And as I say, if Huddersfield can find a manager of the ilk of
40:49Matt Hamshaw and Connor Horahan, young, energetic, good coaches who will develop players, I think
40:56that would take them an awful long way, particularly when they've got the, if they've got an experienced
41:01director of football to help them. And I thought it was telling the other day when
41:06Matt Hamshaw brought Richard Wood on board, obviously no brainer. I think probably a lot
41:09of us were thinking as soon as he retired, that makes a lot of sense. But the way Hamshaw was
41:14talking about it, about his main job is to bring the culture that he wants to the club. I think
41:19that's so important for all three because they've all lost their way. They all really need to rip
41:25things up and start again and just have a fresh approach to it. And I think that freshness in
41:31itself will bring fans through the turnstiles. And so long as it's obviously backed up by that
41:39sort of football, I think they can get the fans excited again and they can build towards it. But
41:44I wouldn't judge any of those three as harshly as I would in the season just gone,
41:50if they miss out on promotion next season, because I think it's about the end point.
41:55It's not the quick fix that it was for particularly Huddersfield and Rotherham having
42:02gone down and looking to bounce back quickly. Now it's like, this is wrong. We need to get back to
42:07first principles. We've got to build something. We discussed this about the ethos and the
42:17image for a club when Steve Evans got let go by Rotherham United because we were thinking,
42:25right, okay, going back to a manager that knows the club well didn't work. So what do they do now?
42:33Because now they've got to look at the team that's currently in place. Who do they bring in?
42:40Which direction do they want to go in? And as you said, only then will they be able to think about,
42:48okay, now we've got to bring fans back into the ground. Now we can look at doing promotion and
42:55this, that and the other. So it's definitely one of those core elements, the whole image
43:03idea of a club. I agree with that. Another facet is money as well, isn't it? You've got to think
43:13about it. Huddersfield, in particular, they've spent a lot. They've announced big losses in their
43:18last financial statistics. Kevin Nagel, I mean, say what you want about him. You can criticise
43:25the recruitment, this, that and the other, but he's spent a lot of money there. Again,
43:30their financial figures will be a big loss again next season. But obviously, with the rules in
43:35League One, they're going to have to be more cuter. There's not as much money you can spend.
43:42Rotherham and Barnsley, I think it's no trade secret to say there's not pots and pots of cash
43:49there. They're going to have to work hard with what they've got. I think one of the reasons to
43:55bring Connor Horan in, one of the criteria was developing the younger players. The academy
44:01players and historically, Barnsley have been very strong at that. You look at all the players over
44:05the years, the John Stones of this world. He blooded one or two towards the end of the season,
44:11the likes of Cleaver, Kieran Flavell. That's something that Rotherham have been deficient
44:16in in the past. They need to do that again. That's all part of the identity culture,
44:22bringing your young players in. Huddersfield as well. Historically, they've been good in that
44:29aspect, but there's not been too many of them coming through in recent times. It's all part
44:38of it there. There's going to have to be a certain amount of patience for sure because it's not going
44:44to be a quick fix at all those three football clubs. I think the important thing, the sensible
44:49supporters will think as well, what's the point of going up to come back down again? If these
44:55clubs see their natural home, people may disagree or otherwise, they see it at the bottom end of
45:02the championship. If you're going to stay in the medium, bottom end and build, you're going to have
45:06to do it by getting an identity and a culture. Those clubs are not going to do it by just
45:12throwing money at it because they cannot compete. They haven't got the natural advantages of a lot
45:18of clubs who are above them at the next level. They're going to have to be different in their
45:22model and how they do it. That's the challenge that all three of them face. I think the exciting
45:28thing, if you're sat at the moment thinking, should I take the Huddersfield job or not as a coach?
45:35I think all three of them, there's a fairly blank canvas. Normally when a manager comes in,
45:39we say, well, you've got to look at the players you've got and you've got to find a system to
45:42work with it. With the number of players Huddersfield have released, the number of players
45:46Barnsfield have released and with just where other clubs are generally, I think a manager can come in
45:51like Conor Horahan has basically inherited a back three squad and say, no, I want to play with
45:55wingers. I think under these circumstances, you can come in and basically play any way
46:00that you want to play, as long as it's effective and as long as the fans like it. There's a lot
46:05of freedom there to shape these football clubs in the way that you want to shape it. That's why
46:10when you've got somebody young and fresh like Horahan in Hampshire and not somebody who's been
46:15around the block and taken the hits like a Steve Evans, for example, I think they're at a very low
46:24ebb at the moment, but at the same time, it's potentially quite exciting because if, and it's
46:29a big if, they can get things right, this could be the start of something really special at those
46:36clubs. But the decisions that they make in the next couple of months are going to be so, so big for
46:42those clubs. I think just quickly, I mean, there's obviously players out of contract at both those
46:47clubs, but I think the players in contract who've maybe been there for a few years, there's an
46:53actual turnover shelf life of players. I think that's going to be a big consideration for all
46:58those football clubs as well. Not just players that were coming off contract, the ones who
47:02maybe have got a year left, but have been there for a few years, maybe got a little bit stale.
47:12Many thanks to Stuart Rayner and Leon Wobtrell who will doubtless join us again soon for more
47:24discussions on the Yorkshire football scene. But don't forget, you can keep up to date with all
47:27the football news across Yorkshire and beyond by logging on to our website at yp.sport at
47:32nationalworld.com, or if you search for Yorkshire Post Sport, Yorkshire Post Football or even
47:36Sheffield Sport on Facebook, you can find us there as well. If you have any questions for our writers,
47:41you can get in touch using those various Twitter or Facebook pages, or email us directly with a
47:45subject matter at footballtalkpodcast at yp.sport at nationalworld.com. As ever,
47:51many thanks for listening, look after yourselves, and bye for now.
48:11you