Glentoran 0 Linfield 1: Weekly Review

Jason Burke is joined by David Graham, Haydn Milligan, and Mo Brown to discuss Linfield's dramatic win over Glentoran to win the League Cup for a 13th time.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:17

This is Jason Burke for the Windsor Way podcast after Linfield have done the decent thing and beaten Glen Torn, the pride of East Belfast, the self-proclaimed biggest club in the world with the biggest fan base on the face of this earth. We've beaten the 1-0 to win the League Cup for a 13th time. And with me to discuss it all is David Graham, Aiden Milligan, and Mo Brown. We are going to do things slightly differently this evening in that we've got no agenda. We've asked you for your questions today on social media, and so I'm going to pick through some of the best ones. Did you enjoy yesterday?

SPEAKER_03 1:09

For about five minutes. You can't beat that feeling. But ultimately, despite what uh big fat Tucker McKee says, it was a penalty kick. Chris McKee took it really, really well. Two minutes to go. Lim feed one, Glenn Tornell. Yeah, right round the lottery. Right around us.

SPEAKER_02 1:41

Aidan, you were in the hospitality suite. You probably enjoyed it more than most.

SPEAKER_00 1:45

Yeah, well, I I I I did. Um, yeah, I was able to have a a couple of Guinnesses or Guinness, whatever the plural is of that. Um, spoke to a few people. Um, it was a bit, I mean, I didn't want to watch it, but I wanted to watch it from outside. Was sitting in the primary seats for the first time, had a pretty good view, um, especially whenever the teams came up to how to get their medals and so on. I was literally within touching distance of them. So it was a it was a good it was a good view and a bit different um from the normal um thing. But the the weird thing was um it seemed to be in the hospitality section in that in the Premier Seat, so I think about 95% of the ones in there were Glen men or else were neutral. So um I think I was already. Don't get a comfy seat that often.

SPEAKER_03 2:34

It must have it must have confused them a wee bit actually having a proper hospitality uh section as opposed to um one of those transit cabins or whatever the hell they've got over in East Belfast.

SPEAKER_00 2:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:47

What about you, David?

SPEAKER_02 2:48

Did you enjoy yourself yesterday?

SPEAKER_01 2:51

Well, is the Pope a Catholic? Um very much so. I uh yeah, it was uh great time had by all. Uh wasn't a classic game by any stretch. Um the great irony was that I thought from a neutral point of view, um the centre half that gave away the penalty was arguably the best player in the pitch up to that point, which I found amusing. Um I mean Healy's game plan I would say worked. It neutralized Lynn Torin, even though they had opportunities. Uh our good friend Jordan Stewart missing, I think probably two on another day would have maybe scored. But uh yeah, good time. Box eight loyal was loud and proud at the end, as always. And um, yeah, listen, hopefully this just builds a wee bit of momentum that was probably needed to close off the season in a positive fashion.

SPEAKER_02 3:46

I have to say, um I I I didn't enjoy much of it yesterday in terms of the the weather. Um, I shivered from minute one to minute 120 or whatever it was. Um I got wet because I was sitting towards the front, and I think you had a towel on you as well, Moets, at one stage. So the the weather was was horrific. Uh, the game itself wasn't wasn't great. It it sort of exploded into a bit of life in the second half. But when I was thinking about it, it was almost a bit of a carbon copy of the game that we played against him the other week, and that they they sort of dominated much of the first half. They had three or four decent opportunities. Most of them seemed to fall to Jordan Stewart yesterday. They probably they probably should have gone in one or one or two-nil up. I don't think anybody would have felt too aggrieved by that. Uh the communication in our own WhatsApp uh group chat was that Linfield were moving the ball a bit too slow, that something maybe needed to change for the second half. Um I don't know what changed at half time. Um I wish Dean was on here, maybe to give us his tactical analysis. Sometimes it's difficult to see when you're in the stand, especially for a big two game and you're sort of caught up in the in the emotion of it, and you're maybe not following formations and players as closely as you ought to be. But something definitely changed at halftime. He has he didn't change personnel, but he he he must have changed shape, but certainly attitude changed, and the second half it seemed to go a bit more end-to-end. It was a bit more of like a basketball style game, which um I don't know who that suited more uh to be quite honest. But we seemed to get more opportunities and more chances from it. We we looked far more uh like scoring in the second half uh than we did in the first half, um, and then ultimately towards the end of the game, I I felt both teams just got very, very tired. And at one stage it just looked like both of them were really not playing for penalties, but both of them would have been happy enough to get through uh two penalty kicks and take it from there. There was a great moment actually whenever it did go full time, and I don't know if anybody's seen it, but David David Haley having a team talk with the coaches, yeah. Um and I was trying to I was trying to sort of second guess what's he saying down there. He gathered the coaches around him, even the boot boy got involved at one stage. He had a he had a uh quite a uh a frantic conversation with the coaches before he went and spoke to the players, but at that point the team looked like they were dead on their feet. And and I thought maybe if I was in the manager's position there, I'd probably be speaking to the coaches and saying, you know, how on earth are we gonna get this team through to full time in extra time, you know, with whatever we have left on the bench. Um and and and and the bench actually was crucial uh in the end uh for Zell and not for the first time, come on and change the game as he did down in Lorne. And I know in the last podcast, Hayden, you said about the potential for Frizel maybe to start the game. Uh he didn't start the game for whatever reason, maybe he's just not quite up to fitness or whatever, but he certainly makes a difference whenever he comes on. I think did he come on for Archer, if I remember rightly, but not that Archer had a poor game by any stretch. He I think he ran himself down to the ground. But Frizzelle was it was for Bird. It was for Bird. It was for Bird, you're quite right, you're quite right. Frizzelle was knitting things together in a way that the midfield weren't doing uh up to that point. Um Kirk Miller had a bit of a patchy game, and there's a few people around me getting on his back as as they as they tend to, but he he got brought off and then substituted for Chris McKee. I think it was a direct replacement for McKee, who then, as we know, ultimately makes a difference in the end. So from the manager's point of view, I think David's quite right. He he had a he had a great game yesterday, uh, not only in how he set the team up initially um in an attempt to neutralise the Glens, but he had a great half time in whatever was said and whatever was changed there, and then his substitutes, I think, then ultimately uh won us the game uh in the end. And I have to say, you know, I I felt a different emotion actually yesterday whenever we won that trophy, because having done this podcast over the last few months, you know, you're watching the team in a different way. I feel as if I'm watching the team uh in a different way, and we've been we've been critical at times, and maybe rightly so. I think if the manager was sitting on here as well, he would have criticized the teams after certain games. We look at Limovati uh uh as an example. But yesterday I felt really, really proud uh of that team to have done what they'd done. They're young lads. I know we talked previously about the average age of the team, but when you look around that team, they look they look quite young. Uh David Healy dragged a performance out of them yesterday, uh, and it seemed to mean a lot to him. There was tears on the bench there yesterday from I saw a photograph of Boot Boy, actually, uh Gary Eccles in tears at one point. So that meant a lot uh to not only the coaches but the players yesterday. It felt like a an outpouring of of relief uh and joy there, Mo, actually, whenever they got that one over the line yesterday.

SPEAKER_03 8:42

Yeah, no, um I seen a piece of footage today actually from the end of the game where the manager got the the entire staff and group together in a circle, and it was an emotion you don't normally see from David Healy. Um, I'm sure that the players would see it in the dressing room after the game, etc. But it was great to see that on the pitch. And if I actually watched it back a couple of times, you could actually tell how much it meant, and obviously we've then uh found out as well that um David's mother isn't doing too good and is up in the hospital after an operation, and then the League Cup made a whip made its way into East Belfast after all, but not to the place that it should have been. But yeah, no, I was that was that was great to see. Um we could talk about the players, we could talk about the substitutions, but at the end of the day, Linfield's name's on the cup, and yeah, there's plenty of tears over that part of the word last night. You can you can tell, you can sense it from me. There is no better feeling than slapping it right up bad shard.

SPEAKER_02 9:46

So, as I say, we're gonna do things slightly differently this evening. I put it out on social media that we were keen to have your questions uh on what we're gonna do. There's no agenda, we're just gonna go through. I'm just gonna pick some of the best ones. I'm just gonna throw them out to uh our panelists this evening uh and we'll see what comes back. So let me see. I'm gonna go, we've got a private group uh on Facebook, the Windsor Way Podcast. For anybody who's listening who is not part of the group, join the group because you can get involved in the conversation before and after every episode that we're doing. But that's where the questions were coming in and on Twitter. But I'm gonna look at the the the Facebook ones first. Um well on the theme of yesterday, here's one for you, Mo. Uh, what did what did Mo say to the event sec personnel yesterday?

SPEAKER_03 10:33

Um is that from my good friend Sam Long by any chance, Jason?

SPEAKER_02 10:42

It is, it is. I didn't know if we could read out names, but yes, that one's from Samuel Long.

SPEAKER_03 10:46

Yeah, uh well, let's let's just say that events sec didn't set up um to make it the best view for anybody in the first couple of rows. Um there was a young guy who was later described as uh a runner or something, he was deployed, and if anybody ran onto the pitch, he had to go and chase them. Um I asked him um politely to move in the best way I know fit. He then turned around and said, Who do you think you're talking to? or words to that effect. Um, obviously Glenn Torn, red rag to the pool, and I got up into his face and told him exactly what I thought of him and what I thought of his employers. And then he was whisked away. Um, a slightly older gent wearing black came over. Um we had a proper conversation, and then everybody in around me that working for events sec was provided with a nice wee seat to sit down on, and means that everybody in the front row could enjoy the match thoroughly.

SPEAKER_02 11:43

Great synopsis of that situation there, Mo. Thanks for that. Um, the next question I think has already been answered. Um, a couple of the same theme there is Tucker McKee all right today. Now, unfortunately, Tucker McKee's not on the show to give us his thoughts. There was some chat on Twitter that he didn't think it was a penalty. Um, I mean, even Declan Devine thought it was a penalty, so that I think that tells you everything that you need to know about that situation, but enough about Tucker McKee. Um, there's quite a few questions about strengthening the team, so I'm just gonna throw that out there. Based on what we've seen this season up to this point, we've got a few matches between now and the end of the year. David Healy's talked about a rebuild, we've covered it many times. Where do we see this team needing strengthened across the pitch? I'm gonna be throwing my two pence worth in here first. I I had a hunch whenever Leahy was saying, because Lee's a left-sided defender, I think he's maybe primarily more a left back than he is a centre back. I might have got that wrong, but the bits and pieces that I've seen online, that made me think that Ewan East might have been on his way out the door. Um, I'm not sure what the contract situation is there, if he's one of the ones coming to the end of his contract. Um, but my hunch was that he was a replacement for East coming in there, which means we could be in the market for at least one central defender. Um, given that we've lost Sam Roscoe and given that you're moving Lee possibly uh to left back there. So possible one, possibly two centre backs. Um right back has been a problem for us. Um we've been a victim of our own success at right back because Trey Hume was there, obviously, and then we lost young Matthew Orr, and both of those went across the water. We've brought in Sean Brown. Um Sean Brown is a young lad, he's been thrown in, um, he's got a big future ahead of him. But I think we're probably in the market for perhaps a more experienced uh right back in which Sean Brown uh could learn his trade from um as I make my way through the team. Midfield is probably our strongest area of the team. Um I mean, these are these are just my thoughts and my opinions. Um, but there's a bit of succession planning to be done there when you think of the age of Chris Shields, he's gonna come back from a pretty serious injury. We don't know if we're gonna see the same type of Chris Shields uh whenever he does return. Jimmy Mulgrew, of course, not getting any younger. He comes on yesterday, he makes a great impact on the game. But there's a bit of succession planning to be done in the midfield there. We've brought in Frazel, obviously. My sense was that Frazel was a right-sided midfielder again. From the bits and pieces that I saw online about him, he seems to be playing a bit more centrally, uh, but that doesn't mean that he the option isn't there to play him out wide, but he's not an out-and-out winger, I don't think. Um so uh what am I trying to say? There's probably a space in centre midfield uh for someone if we're doing a bit of succession planning. Um there's chat about Matthew Fitzpatrick um and whether he wants to remain at the full-time model uh because he's a teacher. So if Matthew Fitzpatrick was decided he was to go back to teaching, that would free up a space uh up front, where you probably only have Kieran Afford as your only senior centre forward, if I'm not mistaken. Um and we probably depending on what formation he's playing, you probably want to add at least one winger to that situation as well. And we're losing a goalkeeper, so we probably need a reserve goalkeeper. Um so in reality, you're looking at players right across right across the playing spectrum spectrum there. Um, and that's before you even try and bulk out the squad then with with the lone players that we have who are gonna go. There's plenty of people who are out of contract in the summer. Um so yeah, that that that was my driving home in the car thoughts today whenever I saw that question coming in. There's no short answer to it. There's a big job of work to be done. It might not even be done in one transfer window. Arguably the work has already begun in January there by bringing in Leahy and Frazelle. The question is, are we going to have the money to recruit the type of players that we need to bolster this team? I mean, we need players to come into the starting 11, let's be clear, not just to flesh out a squad. Uh but Hayden, what do you think in terms of trying to strengthen what we already have there going forward?

SPEAKER_00 16:18

Well, obviously, we don't we don't know about the money situation. That that's not our job. I think one way to look at it is probably look at yesterday's game as an example, because that's probably going to be the the most toughest um uh team we're gonna come up against in this league. Where were we lacking? Well, we were not lacking in defence. I thought the defence yesterday was absolutely outstanding. Uh, and when McCulloch came on, he bolstered things down that side as well. Where we spelt we're lacking is creative midfield. Um, because when Seals is playing, he can do the sort of defensive bit, although sometimes he falls back too much, I think. We definitely need a creative midfielder, probably even two, really. Um, and we've also got to decide well what formation do we actually want to play? Because you know the the manager messed around with three at the back last year, and I don't believe you you can't switch back four players to be back three players. I think you need to have three tall um mobile guys in to play playing a back three. I'd like to stick with a back four really. Um and you mention you mentioned Fitzpatrick, he might wait, he might well be off. I got the impression he wanted to stay. Um you know, will Taylor be off after his lone spell? Probably. There's an awful lot of um there's an awful lot of places to fill, really. I mean Archer's come on well this season. Um I'd certainly like to keep him. I feel sad for McKee really because uh he's never been played in his right or rarely been played in his right position. I mean, he is an attacker, he's not a number ten or anything like that. But the formation isn't set up to accommodate him. What what can he do? So I I think that we definitely need to strengthen the defence because East may well be gone. We need to think about um injuries. Um central midfield, certainly. And you know, you mentioned Kirk Miller earlier on. I thought he had a poor game. I just wondered whether he was carrying an injury of some sort. Um, you know, and he keeps coming back on his left foot, which he hasn't got. So, you know, he shouldn't be doing that, he should be out on the right. We all know that. Um, so I think we need another centre forward type person because Offord was injured again. He won't be back until August, I don't think. Um there's a lot of space there for people coming in. Uh uh I don't know really where to start, apart from all the questions.

SPEAKER_02 18:48

There's a lot of work to be done there, and and Mo will maybe come to you because there has been two or three questions about Chris McKee, actually. Um, and I mean if newspaper reports are to be to be believed, um Chris McKee has already made a decision on his future, and that future looks like it's going to be elsewhere at the end of his contract. But there's a couple of people asking there um based on the events of of yesterday, and possibly not possibly even more so because of the interview that he gives after the game, where you know you cannot question his passion and enthusiasm for the club. He talked about it being a boy who dreamed to score that goal against the Glenns in the final, the way he celebrates the goal, he goes for the badge. We all know his his father comes to the matches, you know. He's Linfield through and through, the family's Linfield through and through. He seems to have made a decision to go. It begs the question what why do players like uh Chris McKee, who clearly bleed blue, why do they think that their future lies elsewhere?

SPEAKER_03 19:48

Well, Aiden's Hayden's early uh approached it slightly. You know, he's not played in his regular position. If he's played at all, um the tie the two what you were saying around what Linfield's starting team will look like next year, and what you've covered off with Chris McKee. You know, it's it's it's pretty clear, it's pretty evident. You you know, we we believe who we want to believe that Chris McKee, Charlie Allen, and David Walsh are all heading up the M2 to Balomina. But if he's not at Lymph next year, I mean what what a way to go out. You know, he proved as a centre forward, he's won the penalty, he's taken the ball into the box, he's beat the defender, defenders brought him down, he's got up, dusted himself off, put the ball in the back of it in front of the Linfield crowd. Um, you know, that is Royal Rovers, that is what what what dreams are made of, and and fair played him. Um, like he said in his interview yesterday, you know, he would he he was nervous and and rightly so, you know, you speak to his father every now and again, um, you look at the range of clothing his father brought out um along the lines of the club, you see that well represented. It was fantastic to see. But ultimately, you know, footballers want to play football. And if Balomina are guaranteeing them a decent package and more regular football, then then they're all part to him, all part to him. You know, you just can't expect people to stay just because they're they're they're blue men. Obviously, if I was uh if I was ever as talented as what I dreamt of being, and somebody was coming in with a better package, and you're as a young family, you may be looking to buy a house, you may be looking to do all those other things, and you're being offered the money elsewhere and the way of life and the lifestyle, then he should take it. Um in wider team perspective, you know, I think you can maybe only maybe look at half a dozen players where you think you would want to see in a starting infield team next year. You know, you go Chris Jones, Ben Hall, Ethan McGee, um, Kyle McLean, Frizzell, Kieran Offord. You know, because even if Jimmy gets get get gets another year, you know, we could see that the legs just aren't there. He's great to have around the place. If you could have Jamie Mulgrew even you know playing till he's 50, that would be fantastic. Um, still to be the center to how Chris Shields comes back after exploding my own knee 25 years ago. I never never recovered. Nothing was playing football to any standard anyway, but you know, that's tough to come back from at any age, never mind in your mid-30s. Um, Kirk Miller, another year older. And you just said earlier on about the average age of the squad. I think we're what 27 and a half looking at that um graphic it came out. We need to caveat that with Jimmy Mulgrew, Chris Sheals, you're really bringing really bringing that average up. There is a lot of young players or younger players in there. Um, and I think we could see maybe up to a dozen new faces coming into the team here in June, July time.

SPEAKER_02 22:47

Which which is difficult for any team to try and beat a lot of players in like that. You only had to look across the water at Liverpool, who won the league last year, and they're trying to bet in several players. Just for the benefit of the listeners, David Graham has dropped off there. There's having some sort of technical issues and he can't get back on. Um, but we're going to power on ahead uh regardless. Just picking up on some of the other questions here. An interesting one, which I think is really difficult to answer, actually, because without knowing the inner workings of the club, it is it's just difficult to answer this question. Uh, this is from Paul Gibb. Um, is there or perhaps should there be a shake up in the coaching staff? And I don't mean David Haley. So presumably he's talking about the coaching staff around David Haley there. Again, a lot of these guys come in for criticism without us really knowing how good or how competent or otherwise they are behind the scenes. For whatever reason, George McCartney seems to get a lot of stick, and I don't know why, because I've never seen George McCartney coaching. I can only imagine George McCartney being a quality coach, having played at the highest level in the Premier League. He knows a thing or two about defending. I would love to have George somebody like George McCartney coaching my defence if I was the manager of Linfield, and the and the others that are that are around David Haley as well. The same goes for them. They come in for a lot of stick, but we're not there on the training ground, so we don't know what's being said, how these guys are coaching or otherwise. But I think the premise of the question is that somehow things have got stale. But my response to that would be that the coaching staff has changed over time. This isn't the same coaching staff that David Haley had whenever he first came here 10 or 11 years ago. There's Darren Murphy was that was there at one stage as well and moved on and tried his own hand at management. You know, there's been different people in and around uh David Haley. Uh, and we always think about people like Alex Ferguson, Sir Alex Ferguson, who was a master at this. If he felt that things were getting stealed, he would change the people around him uh in the dressing room. A serial winner winning league after league after league. David Healy, of course, played under Sir Alex Ferguson, and so he will know this better than anyone. But I'll just throw that question out there um to either of you who want to chip in on that. Do we do we think that something needs shaken up in the background there beyond David Healy?

SPEAKER_00 25:08

Well, I I do. I mean, I I've said on previous podcasts about um the style of play, I've also said about the set piece. That's it. I mean, I've got no criticism of the defence whatsoever. I thought they've been excellent all season. The figures are there to prove it, and um and they did you know so well yesterday. Um the the style of it, you know, but the problem is the ball is pumped up to Fitzpatrick, and uh yes, I mean Genson Kamara was their player of the game yesterday, I thought. Uh he made one mistake and it was fatal. But uh every ball that was palmed up, he was up above Fitzpatrick, and Fitzy couldn't do anything. Fitzie's quite a good jumper, but he wasn't he couldn't do anything with it. And anyway, even if he headed it, where can he head it to? There's nobody else around him. So the ball needs to be played into his feet, and he's proved over the last two seasons how much he has come on in the ability to control the ball, hold the ball up, and then bring somebody back into play. Um, and you know, we have to be playing the ball on the ground. It's just it just makes sense to me, and we have to be trying different types of free kicks and corner kicks. Um, because if you've got a big defender, and most teams are bigger than us when it comes to defending a corner, they're just gonna head it away. So uh it is stale. I think the coaching staff is stale, um, and I think it does need shaking up.

SPEAKER_03 26:37

I i I think if we're looking at that coaching management side of things, if we're going to invest in David Healy, and you know, we've spoken about that at length. Um and the one thing that unites Linfield fans is nobody can agree. I mean, here we've got three just casual Linfield fans, and we won't agree on anything. But if we've went all in on David Healy, um, I feel something had to change. I take your point, Jason, about um Jordy McCartney. Yeah, you know, he has played at the highest level, he's got a couple of hundred Premier League um appearances under his belt. I'm sure he's made his money. Um, but whenever you actually don't see, whenever we can't see what to bring, you would then shine the light on Ross Oliver, who has been by um the manager's side for the vast majority of his tenure, was very vocal in coming out and criticising those who dare to criticize the regime just the other week, and I'm sure he's feeling the heat as well. Because if you are making a change, you're looking at one or two out of out of those two. I wouldn't be against it. Um, and again, I don't take this argument of well, who do we get to? I mean, I mean the place is full of football coaches. Um, I'm not saying we'll go for a particular person, you don't rule anybody out, but it would be nice to see um a wee bit more coming off the train and pitching on, not necessarily through set pieces. Um you know, maybe maybe a set piece coach. It's that's gonna be a pipe dream at Linfee for for the foreseeable future. You know, the cash just isn't there for another full-time employee to come in, but definitely, definitely I wouldn't be against either um McCourtney or Oliver stepping aside and bringing somebody in there just for a fresh idea more than anything else, as long as David Haley remains a manager. I think what we're really saying is what we we want to see a recognizable style of play from Linfield.

SPEAKER_02 28:36

I made the comment yesterday, maybe halfway through the second half, that we weren't playing much football. We were we were quite heavy on set pieces yesterday, particularly the long throw, a few free kicks around the box, a few quarters.

SPEAKER_00 28:50

Even long throw, um Jason, the whole point of the long throw, as I understand it, is you have somebody on the near post to flick it on at an angle to somebody then in the centre, but we're not achieving that. We just sort of fling it in and hope that somebody can get to it.

SPEAKER_02 29:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:08

Um and it's not working properly. And and yes, it's a long throw, great to have a long throw, seems to be the end thing this season.

SPEAKER_03 29:16

Um but for me, the big the biggest piece of play that frustrates the hell out of me is whenever you see Kirk Miller um coming off his wing, retreating about 30, 40 yards and take taking the ball off the centre half. And I mean, who does he pass it to? You know, right away you've taken a third of the pitch out because the person that you should be looking to pass out on the right hand, the right hand side, third, has has got the ball. It's clearly a tactic, it's clearly something that's been coached into the side, and I'm sure you know the the coaches, the money, the management see a point in it. I certainly don't think it would be certainly one thing that I would like to see change for next year. Kirk Miller does his best work whenever he just flicks the ball, gives himself a half a hour of space, and tries to get a ball in, and all the statistics point towards that.

SPEAKER_02 30:09

There's a question here from Derek Gordon. Um, any transfer rumours? Um, would it have been better to have David Graham still on the call if he had heard anything? Did you hear anything in the in the hospitality suite yesterday, Hayden, about transfer? I I haven't heard anything or seen anything written about uh potential incomings for Linfield this summer.

SPEAKER_00 30:28

No, it's now that you mentioned it's just been very, very quiet, nothing mentioned at all. Uh which is a bit strange because you come towards this end of the season, you sort of think you'd hear a few um, it's it's it's not necessarily a bad thing either.

SPEAKER_02 30:42

I I kind of I mean the Frizzell and Leahy ones kind of came out of nowhere. Um Stephen Beacon was kind of briefing that he knew that something was going to happen, he just didn't know what it was, and then bang, we just you know we announced two players sort of one after another, which was great. So quiet is doesn't always mean bad.

SPEAKER_03 31:01

Um and and we will the only the only one that I've heard half a rumour of has been uh Rand Nolan from Lorne. Um he hasn't really made the breakthrough of Lorne, don't know whether he was whether he was injured or not. Clearly has something about him, you know, because he's came through at inter Milan of all of all places, and again, you know, we'd certainly bolster the defensive options if that one was true.

SPEAKER_02 31:26

And I'll maybe just finish on this one then because it kind of looks ahead. Um, obviously with Carrie Grangers coming up on on Friday night, and then um and then we're kind of into the the the games post-split. So this question is from Nathan McLeod. Will winning the League Cup yesterday um lead us into great form in the split, or could it do quite the opposite? So I think what he's really asking there is this gonna propel us forward? I can't see a world where it would make things worse, put it that way. It's gonna give us great confidence, you would hope. Um, but but can but can it sort of steer his mo towards second place? Maybe can it propel us towards those lofty heights?

SPEAKER_03 32:10

Honestly, I I I can't see it. Again, I've I love it whenever Lymphy proved me wrong. Um, David Haley has been masterful at it. You know, we didn't expect to win the league last year. Lawrence should have kicked on, you know, maybe their running Europe done it. I I I can't see it. That's a decent Glenn Torrent team. We've dug in against them the last two games. We were very poor against him on Boxing Day, and again, the manager came out and proved the point, you know. The next two games against him. He's dug in, he's got two 1-0 victories and a cup to show forth. Um Cole Rain again have the Joel Cooper factor, the Will Patching factor, you know, they've spent a lot of money, and Lorne have had a blip. Whether that continues on, um it would be nice, but I honestly can't see this limit for us to have any chance whatsoever. We need not just go through the rest of the season unbeaten but win our games. I honestly can't see it from this score. No, I've said I I can't see it. I want to I want to say something else. But no, for me, the league will finish Lauren, Glen Thorn, Cole Rain, Linfeight.

SPEAKER_02 33:23

I I think it's it's absolutely going to give them confidence, it's absolutely going to galvanise the team. You see, you've seen that from David Haley when he had the team around him yesterday. I think he used the words that I'm your biggest critic, but I'm also your biggest supporter, you know. So he's uh Healy's really good at sort of generating that siege mentality, and you would just hope that that would would carry through. I think the frustrating thing from the fans' point of view is that you just don't know what Linfield team's going to turn up sometimes. Uh you know, we're we're going to Carrick Rangers here on Friday night. Carrick's a tough place for us to go at the best of times. Um excuse me, they they've they've turned over a uh a few of the big teams this year uh as well. And so, you know, it wouldn't be beyond the realms of possibility that we go here Friday night and get beaten and then we're back to square one, you know. Uh hopefully that's not the case, Hayden. Um, but um you can see a world where that where that does happen.

SPEAKER_00 34:18

Well, I think this coming weekend is massive for the top four teams because you you've got us going to Carrick, which you said is a difficult place to go to. You can imagine Carrick looks thinking, right, we're up for this, we'll have a go at Linfield, you know, they just won that trophy, let's let's see what we can do. Um then uh you've got the Glens against Colrain. Well, that's that's them fighting for second spot at that at that point. And uh and then you've got Lyon going to Glen Avon, who are possibly the form team at the moment. So um Larren looked pretty safe in in top top spit in top place. Of course, you've also got Wednesday night um the Glens against uh Glyphonball. So that just might have so it'll be interesting to see the reaction uh at the Glen Torrent side. Um but of course we're more interested in the reaction at Taylor's Avenue on on Friday night. We'll just have to see. Uh I saw that the um the pairings were issued today by Niffle. Um had a conversation um yesterday about that with some friends. Um I don't think they overheard me, but anyway, they've got them out today. And um, of course, it doesn't really mean anything until you find out um by the end by close of play on Saturday what the final positions are gonna be.

SPEAKER_02 35:39

Anyone go on Friday night?

SPEAKER_00 35:41

Yeah, I'm gone.

SPEAKER_03 35:43

Um it depends. I'm actually heading to Edinburgh here for a wee bit of a family break for a couple of days. Okay. Uh if I get in on time, I'll try and make my way down. Just looking at the table there, Jason, before you close off, even if results everything goes our way here the weekend, can have them doing Lauren and Glenn Tornoco rein drawn, you know, we're still gonna be burlying third, early in third, and still five points behind Lauren, you know, and that's if the three results all go our way. However, we're all old enough in this call to remember what happened in the early 90s whenever went into the last day in third place and still nipped it. So never never say never. I know I'm the pessimistic half at half-emphy guy, but it's a four-horse race, and I just think we're just slightly behind. Slightly behind. I mean, stranger things have happened.

SPEAKER_02 36:36

The only thing the only thing that we can ask for is that Linfield keep their heads down, get through the next few games unscathed, and that the other teams take take enough points off each other that we we can maybe sneak through there. But look, I I don't think any of the any of the teams in the top sort of three or four there would be would be classed as worthy champions this year. I think all the teams have got their flaws. Uh, there's nobody really has stood out. I mean, Lauren, I don't think, have been particularly great, you know, they've been clocking up the winds, there's no doubt about it. But the on the few occasions that I've seen them, they haven't really looked like champions to me. The Glenns have come on strong in the second part of the season, but again, you know, they don't really look like champions to me. Cole Rain are sort of quietly under the radar as well. But again, would you would you look at that team and say that they're they're champions? Uh, and I'm and I'm not sure that anybody's looking at that Linfield team and and saying, you know, um that they have champions all over them. But anyway, let's wrap it up there.

SPEAKER_03 37:33

Um blue jeans.

SPEAKER_02 37:35

We we'll be back next week with um, and I think I can reveal this now. We're going to be interviewing the Linfield chairman, Roy McGivern, next week. So our next episode will be recorded um probably in the middle part of next week where we will be going across to Windsor Park and putting a few questions to the Linfield chairman. Um and we're looking forward to a uh a good conversation with him. So until next time, please keep sharing the podcast. As I keep saying, the most difficult thing about this podcast is not me getting the guests on and not us having a chat, uh, but it's trying to get the word out there. So if you can share it with your friends, share it in your WhatsApp groups, share it with your supporters' clubs, you'd be doing us uh a massive favor. So until next week, up the blues.

SPEAKER_03 38:21

Alexa, play Joy Division.