Colin Millar hosts the Weekly Review

Colin Millar is joined by David Graham, Mo Brown and Haydn Milligan to discuss Glentoran 1 Linfield 1 and to answer your submitted questions.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:17

Hello, and welcome to The Windsor Way, a podcast for Linfield fans by Linfield fans. I'm Colin Miller and I'm standing in for our regular host, Jason Burke. Now, don't worry, Jason will be in the hot seat for the next pod. And we do have our usual suspects for the panel today. Yes, I'm joined by David Graham, by Mo Brown, and by Hayden Milligan. Now, um there's a few things to get through on uh on today's show, but we should probably start off uh with Saturday's events at the Oval. Um we're a Linfield team, probably fair to say that it's a pretty patched up side that we had out um away to Glent Horn. We ended up with a 1-1 draw. Mari Yitz's uh first half goal was cancelled out by an Iron McInneath penalty. Now it's probably fair to say, in the circumstances, that this was both a pretty decent performance considering the players we had out. Um, and it was also much more significant, probably for Glen Horn, who's probably had one eye on on Lorne in the title race, and that's been derailed a little bit. But look, we'll we'll obviously focus on the blues for this. Um, David, what did uh what did you make of the game and and the performance?

SPEAKER_03 1:27

Yeah, I think I think Colin it was probably similar to the weather, where it it went from being actually quite a nice, almost, dare I say, summery afternoon through to a bleak midwinter, all within the sort of sort of half an hour period, and really in a way in a way it kind of reflected our season. Um I mean, really, in a way, you're going in at halftime thinking, uh, how on earth is our former player Ross Clark not scored from six yards out, um, a crack and save, albeit straight at Walshe. You're then thinking, How on earth is Fitzy not scored uh at the other end? Um and then Mattie Yates has scored uh a really nice goal. And I think on the wider, bigger picture, uh, since Boxing Day, which I think was a very frustrating game for us, and symbolically a very you know difficult and bitter pill to swallow. Um since then, even though to be quite honest, we've been dominated and outplayed by Glenn Torren across the following three games, the two league games and the Cup game, um, they're they're yet to beat us or didn't beat us in those three, and that must be incredibly frustrating for them. Um, and you can hear certainly uh hear the sympathy in my voice for our friends from Ms. Belfast. So look, I think overall, first half almost you could say could have gone either way. I think second half, look, we're a Linfield podcast, but trying to be as neutral and balanced as possible. I think a draw overall was a fair result. And the reason I say that is because I think and feel we had our foot in their throat at the start of the second half, had the chance to kill them off and didn't. And in many ways, like the weather, the game probably summed up our season where moments of you know promise and positivity, and then sort of moments of madness in the tackle for the penalty, and just almost a general kind of frustration. And it it it galls me to say, but you know, the fact that we were all probably so anxious going to the oval and leaving with a draw or so relieved, probably in many ways uh sums up just where we are right now.

SPEAKER_02 3:36

Yeah, I think I agree with that, and I think you're right, David, in that obviously we've played Glen Torn three times in quite a quite a short sequence of time, and in each each of those occasions it's been a positive result for us, and it might not matter too much um at the end of the season from a Linfield point of view with these league games, but I think it's certainly had an impact on Glent Horn. So I guess I guess that's one thing. And and I actually think from this match, Jamie Mull grew um with a starring performance, really. I mean, Jamie won't thank me for highlighting this, but he is um he does turn 40 uh in a couple of months this summer. Um but he played in 90 minutes in this game. Uh and and again, I think he he was running the show. Um, and I think we can all agree um on Jamie's future that he's out of contract um at the end of the season. And I think kind of the thing with with Jamie Mulgrew has been at the end of each season, we've we we've allowed him to make his own decision on whether he's going to play on and stay at the club or whether he might he might call it um a day. I actually was thinking that with with this sort of big turnover of players that that we're expecting, it might actually make more sense for Jamie to stay, um, in the sense that he he adds a lot more in terms of leadership and in terms of a lot of qualities that might not be he might not be in the starting 11 every week, but he's really important for that dressing room. Um and Hayden, I was wondering what what your thoughts were on this as well. I mean, obviously Jamie's a bona fide Linfield legend, he's he's not going to be able to go on forever, but um do you think we can maybe we can maybe persuade him to stay for another season or so?

SPEAKER_00 5:07

I'm sure that we can. Um I think what was significant on Saturday, uh I wasn't able to get to the game, unfortunately, but um the fact that he played the whole game. Now we've seen quite often this season where he's come on as a sub, or maybe he's played for a while and then he gets substituted. So I think it was significant that he was able to play the whole game. But I can imagine the opposition, uh any opposition at the start of the game looking up and saying that Jamie Mulgrey is in the Linfield team. It's bound to have an influence on them. It's a bit like looking down the other end and seeing a goalkeeper who is at least seven feet tall, and you're thinking, How are we going to get the ball past him? So he's a big influence um for Linfield uh every time he plays. And I I think it's bound to have a psychological impact uh on the opposition as well. I think um he will stay next season. Um I don't think any any problems about giving them a sort of a season by season deal. Um but I think he needs to have someone really in in his mould coming through to eventually replace him. Um he's really doing a sort of a coaching role, and um I imagine he will continue to do that, not uh unofficially as well as officially, because hopefully the players playing with him and around him will see how he plays. You know, he appears to only have the one foot, but you know, like Kirk Kirk Miller only appears to have the one foot. But um Jimmy knows how to look use that foot a bit better when he's going the other way on his left foot than than Kirk does. Um so the other thing is, of course, it often tied it, is he a future manager at Menfield? Well, uh maybe he just have to hang around long enough before the before the position becomes available. Um but but I think that yes, it's definitely a role, there's definitely a role there for him, playing for as long as he feels he can, and mentoring the young players. And um especially, you know, he mentioned it could well be quite a high turnover of players this season, uh this uh uh end of season. So I think he needs to be there to sort of knit things together, link things together for new players coming in.

SPEAKER_02 7:26

Yeah, and I I think I agree with that. And one of the things that always strikes me with Jamie is that I'm I'm based in London, so you know I don't I don't get home too often. So most of the times I see Linfield, I do see them on TV and on streams and so on. And and you do, I mean, that's obviously much better than nothing, but I think they appreciate Jamie's real quality. You have to be at the match and see how he talks other players through the game a lot of the time and how he's he's telling them where they should be on the pitch and what sort of runs they should be making and so on and so forth, and that's that's invaluable, that's very, very difficult to replace. Um, Mo, I'm gonna bring you in here because um I think you might think that whenever Jamie does ultimately decide to hang up his bits, he he might have a future career running the Winter Way's uh social media pages.

SPEAKER_01 8:08

Oh, I know, yeah, absolutely. He does. Um I'd actually give him the club account if Matt Rex listening in, just give Jamie the login details and let him rip. Before I come on to that though, you you know, Hayden mentioned Jamie Mulgrew only has one foot. The man only needs one foot. You know, you had don't watch it in the foot game without that Jamie Mulgrew outside of the boot past. Uh uh if he doesn't play, you know, even now as he comes to the end of his career and he starts to wag down, you really appreciate that whatever he just looks up. Sometimes it comes off, sometimes it doesn't, but it's certainly part of his play. Um but yeah, as for the social media at the weekend, it was fantastic. Um social media and bringing it to the winter way is what I always see myself doing as a team. Um but one of her friends from the Belfast took to X, formerly known as Twitter over the weekend, and he had asked to you know essentially create a caricature of Jimmy Wilkrew as being essentially over with and a moan to which Jimmy simply took that picture and to chat GPT or whatever his choice of artificial intelligence is, um, redo this picture to round up in my trophies, which then led me to go and look and watch his Jimmy won. Um whatever you look at at least 11 RH Leagues under his belt, um, seven RH Cups, five League Cups of Think Off the Hand, you know, and a couple of Phantom Jeans there as well. I mean, for a Glen Torrent fan, uh of all the players to pick on, you don't pick on somebody that's played for Linfield at the highest level and captain the sky for well over a decade. Um, whenever Jamie Mulgruge won war trophies and the whole Glen Torrent team put together. Um phenomenal piece of content, uh one I thoroughly enjoyed, sure and elsewhere. And yeah, no, Matt, if you're listening, give Jamie the login details and let him do a takeover for the day. That would be great.

SPEAKER_02 9:57

I actually think as well that that a lot of Jamie's personality is quite similar to David Healy, and that they're driven on a lot by the criticism and by the doubts. Uh, and I think there's something that maybe then will make a future a future boss for Jamie. But but we'll we'll we'll see that that's a little bit down the line. The upshot of of Saturday means Linfield stay fourth in the table. Five points off Colrain, who are in third, there's seven uh from Glenn Torren in second. Now, there's only four games of the regulation season left, so it does look like Linfield are destined for uh the European playoffs. Now, let's just clarify quickly how the playoffs work because I think there's maybe a little bit of of sort of sort of doubt on exactly how this all pans out. So, what we know is that the top two sides in the league uh qualify for Europe automatically, they'll go in regardless. Now, the third spot will be the winners of the Irish Cup. Uh, this becomes slightly complicated. If the Irish Cup winners have already qualified through the top two positions in the league, that could be Lorne or Colry in this season. But uh if they do win it, it will go to the third spot in the league. And if Dungan or Cliftonville, who are still remaining in the competition, if they were to win it, then obviously that'll mean the team who are third go into the playoffs as well. So the fourth spot will then be the playoff winners. Now we know that Linfield will be in the final, regardless having won uh the League Cup. So that's a kind of that that that's a that's a bit of a safety gauge, I suppose, for Linfield, albeit that they'll that'll all rest in that one match, right? And David, I'm gonna bring you back here because I guess that in terms of the importance of European football, obviously winning the League Cup was great, and you know it's a great day out, great to beat Glenn Torn in the manner they did, but ultimately if Linfield were to get into Europe for next season, having won a trophy, and we can all kind of accept this might have been a bit of a transitional year with the injuries and so on, that's gotta be down as we we would definitely take that at this stage.

SPEAKER_03 11:54

Well, I think, and I I know we have a sort of an item agenda to kind of um have a follow-up review of the the Roy McGivern podcast uh and and some of the the feedback we've got online social media. I think it's fair to say um in reality, we at the very very least need to qualify for Europe um in some capacity. What I would say is in the wider point, and this isn't just about Linfield now, I think the three teams above us as well, um and us included, our entire model is is around winning the league. Because in fact, I actually go further now, our entire model or the entire model of success in Irish League is to make at least the playoffs of the conference league, if not the group stages, because financially um Europe, I mean, let's be honest, and and again I don't want to sound negative, but you know, if we get a sort of a difficult draw that's costly in terms of maybe a two-night stay and a charter play and etc., we mightn't have a huge amount to show for that um if we're knocked out in the first round. So, you know, this is at the very, very least, um, I suppose a pass mark is a trophy and qualification for Europe. One of the things, and I have sat down, Colin. I know you and I were going back and forth with sort of a wide range of scenarios. Um I think I've worked out probably the worst case, if you bear with me for a second, listeners, is if first and second will qualify automatically, and first and second, uh let's say it's you know Lorne and Corey, and let's say if if they don't win the Irish Cup, and let's say then Dunganon or Cliftonville win it, um there is a scenario where because you would be waiting for the Irish Cup outcome to decide for the third place in Europe, the first playoff game would be the Wednesday after the Irish Cup, but we obviously are already in the final, which would mean that there could be another playoff game on that Saturday, which means that if we were to sit out worst case scenario in the final, we play our last game against Cliffinville on the 25th of April, and by my reckoning, not play a competitive match for 17 days. Um so obviously that that's probably the worst case, I think, in all honesty. We we probably all want someone in the top two to win the Irish Cup, probably makes it slightly easier. And and in best case scenario, we then make third, uh, which by my reckoning we then get into Europe. But it's it's certainly looking at it scoring through the NIFA website and things today, everyone knows how many scenarios and how many plates that we're juggling, and therefore that's gonna be really difficult for not only David Healy but Tysley but all managers to try to maintain some level of significance for the rest of the season. And bear in mind, too, we've already mentioned the turnover here. Uh, folks, you know, if we have a lot of guys who are out of contract, who are trying to get a contract elsewhere, they're they're not going to be you know breaking legs for Linfield, whether we like it or not. Um, so there's there's a lot of challenges uh ahead before we can uh put our feet up and enjoy the summer.

SPEAKER_02 15:14

Yeah, no, I think that's right. And I think one of one of the things maybe about this season and with Linfield is that a lot of the a lot of the really disappointing results and performances have have come in the games where you're sort of R away from home and against teams who you maybe think we should really be winning those games. I think in the defeats at Glen Avon and and Portadown and Balomina earlier in the season, and those were sort of a recurring theme where it's actually against the the sort of top teams in the league, but we've done all right. So it's gonna be it's gonna be interesting to say if we do go into those playoffs, what what ultimately the outcome of that will be.

SPEAKER_03 15:45

The one thing I'd say, Colin, again, this is my reading the only way we would be away from home in the final is if we end up fourth and third aren't qualified. So let's hypothecate that um that's Glen Torn, for example, um, and uh Cliftonville or Dungan have won the league. We then in theory would be away to the oval if they were to get through the other rounds. So uh we're not guaranteed a home league if we're in the playoff, and I hope we're not, but um percentage-wise we should be at Windsor.

SPEAKER_02 16:25

Yeah, that's right. I think I think that the home advantage is essentially given to the team with the highest league ranking. Now, obviously, there could be a situation with Glen to wanna go into the the playoff semi-final and get defeated in that, and then whoever goes through. So let's see how let's see how that all that all pans out. And and David, you meant you didn't mention it, obviously Roy McGivern, uh the club chairman, was on the podcast uh last week. Um I thought it was a really interesting discussion. Um I think first of all, we probably do need to give Roy uh credit for making himself available, um, for coming onto the pod, for talking to us, answering some pretty pretty tough questions, I've got I've got to say, and at a time when maybe results aren't going particularly well, it would be easy to come on and we're winning the league by however many points. But I do I do think Roy is a is a good ambassador for the club, uh, and I think he deserves credit. But what I want to ask you guys is you were obviously all on the podcast, you were obviously asking specific questions that you had on your mind. Um did did we learn um did we learn a lot from from Roy's appearance, or do we still have questions that that we think need to be answered?

SPEAKER_01 17:31

I definitely think there's plenty of questions to be answered, and like you say, you know, fair play to the chairman for coming on, Colin. But uh he gave an awful lot of chairman's answers. There was a few that he did say you know he he wouldn't mind regime change uh as it were, and some personal opinions, but on the whole, the answers are what we've heard before, what we would expect to hear from the chairman. And certainly from our point of view, we didn't want to ambush the chairman. Not whenever we know that this might be a Lymphite podcast for Lymphi fans, but we do know, and the stats are there and the IP addresses are there, that we do have um followers from the other side of the city and elsewhere in the country. Um but but but yes, absolutely huge credit to to the chairman for um putting his head above the parapet in what hasn't been an easy season. Um our questions I think were quite well researched. We all took um a good part on the team. Um so yes, it was it was a fantastic podcast. And hopefully Roy has now set the bar for other members of our leadership group, as I'm calling, to come on board. Um I'm sure you might well bring it up, but you know, heads of committees, the variant committees, the commercial group. I would love to get um Paul White on, calling Paul out now for um post ATM uh to see the because I know that obviously he done he uh conducted a very good election campaign last year. He got out and about, he spoke to the fans beforehand, and you could see the good work that he's done in the weeds. So he's had his year bearing in, and uh, you know, we should like to maybe post some posing some questions around how he's actually going to deliver on the good work that he's done this year, and obviously other ones that you know David might know the heads of committee a wee bit better than I would, but yes, huge credit, thank you, Mr. Chairman.

SPEAKER_02 19:22

I I do want to just come in just quickly on that. I think in in Irish League football, there's I think there's there's not very much accountability a lot of the time um in a lot of clubs. Um, and essentially we exist as a podcast because we are fans, we want to know what's going on, and we want to be able to maybe form a bridge between the club and the rest of the fan base. So, yeah, definitely give credit to Roy. Um, it would be great if we could get other people from the club uh coming on and giving their own um perspectives too. Uh David, did did you want to come in there?

SPEAKER_03 19:49

No, I think the only the only outstanding thing, and and again I echo everything you said. I actually I think we were all fair on Roy, and Roy was fair on us, in that Roy McGivern's the chairman of Linfield, but I can safely say having worked inside the tent and you know being more than aware of of how things operate, Roy McGivern is not the final decision maker, and he admits that himself. He said, you know, he is a vote round the table of 17 other uh men. In in reality, Roy has the courage to wear the blazer and stand up for what it means and what's responsible, uh, the responsibility and and as you ready to say, Colin, the accountability that comes with it. Um, and I think really, in a way, that's where the AGM is interesting, where you know let's forget about the Joe the Joe Cooper. Um, you know, Joe Cooper's been and gone. But you know, if we isolate things this season, you know, uh Kieran Offer started really well, he's had had injuries. For me, there's question marks over you know why Kieran Offord has been injured for as long as as he's been. Um that has to come around the medical infrastructure of the club. Um, you know, Callum Morrison clearly didn't work. That's fine. That is, you know, questions as to, you know, I know we went in for Callum Morrison uh previously and had him almost across the line. So we obviously went back again. There was clearly a decision that he offered something. Um really, I think the the financial side will be the question to AGM where you're saying, right, how much did we pay for Kieran and uh offered? How much did we pay for Callum Morrison? Um, plus agent fees on top of that, um, and then in return, how much did we get for Callum Morrison? Because bear in mind, folks, that's that's all happened within a season um and really across the year between AGM. So, you know, in reality, that that there has to be people that are held accountable for allowing those decisions to happen because you know if we're okaying sales or uh yes, sorry, buying players, we must be okaying selling them as well. So I can only hope and presume that whatever we paid for Morrison, we at least got the same back. Look, there's no point getting down to the weeds and saying, Well, how did we pay for his house? You know, what was his wage? Like, that's part for the course. But you know, if we paid you know two pounds for him and only get a pound back, we'll have lost 50% of the wage or sorry, of the fee. So someone for me has to be held accountable uh for that. So that's not Roy McGivern, and that's where there has to be more questions. And I hope if nothing else, with as you say, calling with the Windsor Way, it provides a platform and a confidence really for the fans to put their hand up and say, Well, look, you know, you are custodians of our club, you know, you're all happy to wear the Blazers. Well, you know, do we trust you? And trust only comes from building up a relationship. And I think you know, if you want to be trusted by the fans, not liked but trusted, then the winds are way is the first place you can come and uh earn that respect, as Roy McGivern did last week.

SPEAKER_00 22:52

I think um I'm sorry if I come in now. Um I think that what what it did show up with, and I thought Roy spoke very well, but I thought it did show up really um how we don't really get an opportunity for this sort of conversation during the year, not even at the AGM. Because with the AGM, we go through the uh normal procedures, the accounts, the review of the accounts, and so on, uh, voting in, voting out, whatever. Um and then it comes on to you know season ticket prices and so on and so on. Uh and then you get one or two people complaining about some's gone up by 2p and whatever. And then it doesn't leave any time to have a sort of structured set of questions. Um I thought one of the things that came out for me was he he he came out and he said that they wouldn't be paying any paying any transfer fees during the summer. I thought that was quite a significant thing to say. Uh he didn't mention loan fees, but um certainly no transfer fees. And um the thing is, the other thing I thought is, you know, if you're if you're offering somebody a three-year deal, for example, um then uh you and you only win the title once in those three years, um it it can be a bit of a uh you know, you're you're you're you're setting yourself up for to fail in a way on a on a longer deal. Um so it it I think it would be useful certainly, as the other guy suggested, to get somebody else in um just to get a different different take on things.

SPEAKER_02 24:31

And I think this is such a big moment for Linfield as a football club, right? So we we've had the transition from being a part-time club into a full-time club. And you can see in terms of of the difference that makes, maybe in terms of players' training and overall fitness, that that has to be going up, but that brings a lot of demands for the two on and off the pitch. Obviously, the increased workload and training sessions and whatever else, and recovery times. It it's such it's such a big leap to do, and then for a club off the pitch, how are you getting your finances right? What are the incomings and outgoings, who's overseeing things, what in terms of transfers. There's not really a sporting director in place. I know Willie McCone, um, his his job title is is about player recruitment and head of development. That that seems to me, that seems like quite a big role to oversee. I'm not sure, I'm not sure if that can maybe be broken down a little bit more, or there can be a little bit more clarity and on the process there. And as I said, I think it is a massive jump to do for any Northern Irish club that become full-time. And I think a lot of questions are just eminently going to come from that. There's going to be a lot of things that we do wrong, and that's fine. But I think as long as we learn from them and we have the accountability of this, that's the process the club are taking, and they're communicating that with the fans. I think most of us would be quite happy. And I do, I think there's quite a few listener questions this week as well, guys. And quite quite a lot of them are were actually linked to to sort of transfers and uh and and maybe as a result of Roy's appearance last week. Um, one of one of one of the listeners' questions from John Purse. Um he has asked, Is is Jack Jackie Grundy still involved in contract negotiations a year after um well after he was involved in in Joel Cooper's leaving the club? Say it properly, Colin. And if so, why?

SPEAKER_01 26:20

If we need to be further, Mr. Pirce, um if you're not comfortable, I'll read it. You're only the message. Is Jack Grundy still involved in contract negotiations a year after his incompetence led to Joel Cooper leaving? And if so, why?

SPEAKER_03 26:35

Well, I think what what I'm gonna suggest and propose here, gents, and you're right, Colin, you've you've you've almost answered the question for us. One of the challenges that I think we've got is that because of the 17 round the table, it's it's almost like you know, being blindfolded, throwing a dart at a dart board and hoping to get bills aye. Um I I think to be fair on this question, let's put a request into the media department uh and ask that question. We'll we'll maybe nuance it slightly, and we apologise, Mr. Pirsch. But I think that the question is, is Jack Grundy still involved in contract negotiations for players? Now, my understanding is, and picking up from what Mr. McGivern said last week, Jack Grundy is still chair of the team committee. Certainly in in my day, which was only a few years ago, but when I was at the club, um, you know, Jack Grundy and his assistant Paul Weir spent quite a bit of time in around the training ground. Um players that are there still tell me they're in and around it. So they they are, I suppose, the bridge from what I can gather between the professionals, as Mr. McGivern called them, with William McCone and David Healy and the rest of the board um finance committee, whatever the case may be. So let's let's ask the club, and hopefully by this time next week, we can get clarity in Mr. Grundy's role.

SPEAKER_02 28:00

Yeah, there's another question in um on on transfers and realistic targets um from Deal Orr. Now, before we hit out Deal's question, um Roy, when he was on the podcast last week, did say that there was uh a player who had been had agreed a pre-contract with Linfield. He obviously didn't say who the player was. Um this is one of the complications with Irish League transfers at this time of year is that you have these players signing pre-contracts elsewhere, um, and they're obviously still with their own employer and so on. So it might be a little unfair to speculate on who that might be without club confirmation. But Deal does ask which players within the league um would be good additions and realistic targets. Deal says he sometimes feels that we don't sign enough established um niffle players. He would like to see hungry players from within the league uh that would see Linfield as a major progression and have that hunger and drive. Uh, Deal looks at Reese Neal at Bangor as one example, um the drive and competitiveness in itself would be an addition. He also says about Johnny Addis, um I think it's at Cliffinville at the moment. Um and like, I mean, I guess this is one of the things, right? That it's difficult to strike a balance because most of the Irish League is still part-time. Uh, and I don't think it's really a secret to say that wages within the league itself have gone up quite quite a lot in the in the past three or four years, and not just at the full-time clubs. So I think I think it does make sense to to to have players who maybe understand the league and who don't really have any settling in phase, they don't need to worry about moving over to Northern Ireland or anything like that. But there are other complications, right? And then and the Irish Premiership still is quite a small talent pool. We probably aren't particularly high in the list of in the list of leagues, certainly with full-time clubs in them. So I guess it's all about striking that balance, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 29:42

I think um as far as bringing other other players in, if you look at our main competitors that are full-time, they have pretty big squads. And as a Limfade fan, you don't really want to be thinking, well, we'll take their casts off. But realistically, that's probably the market we're gonna be in this summer. That there's a possibility that one of those three might not make Europe, and if they don't make Europe, um they're then gonna go to their investors again and ask them, is that model sustainable for another season or another 18 months or whatever? So it's it will depend, I think. We might have one or two, and obviously, like I said, Colin, we're not gonna speculate on what we've been hearing in the WhatsApp groups in the last couple of days. Um I wouldn't like to be taking anybody from Glenn Torres. Certainly you wouldn't be like liking to take any of our old players back, probably you wouldn't see Jordan Stewart again. Um, certainly not Cami Palmer. I'll bring that up. That man has scarred me for life after his back pass against RFS. Um, but you do look around, is there anybody from Colane perhaps if they don't make Europe um like a Matthew Schevlin type character, something like that? Um we're still unsure what's gonna happen with Matthew Fitzpatrick, whether he's gonna stay, whether he's gonna go and get back down the road here to Hazelwood and take up his role as a as a PE teacher again. So I I think it's a wee bit like the playoff situation where we're gonna play a game, what the other three full-time squads are are are gonna look like, and then it might be almost like a mini merry-go-round within the four of us.

SPEAKER_03 31:19

I for what it's worth think that Paul McGovern at Glenn Avon, Harry Lynch at Banger, and Razor Braden at Crusaders, in my opinion, are all good enough to go across the water to somewhere like a kind of actually I'd probably rate all three higher than I would rate Connor McMeneman, but less than I would rate like a Stuart Dallas or Trey Hume. But I think those three I think Linfield provides a really good opportunity for players like that because I think with respect to someone like Paul McGovern, he's gonna probably struggle to kind of get to the level of training and the level of exposure at a Glenn Avon that he will at uh a Linfield. However, I caveat that by saying that's a you know it's it's a tough place to go. I think Cami Palmer and Mo, I don't want to fall out for you, but I thought he was excellent in Saturday. I also thought uh Jordan Stewart was excellent as well, and part of that was because um the the weight of the jerseys lighter in these Belfast than it is in in South. Um so I think you know it's it's actually really, really difficult to uh recruit from within the Irish League. I think that Fitzy, let's be honest, took a good chunk of time to get going. That's you know, let's not rewrite history. Um we signed him when it was, you know, he's going one and two in Lynn Avon, and the view was well, Kirk Miller will be sticking the ball into the mixer, so he'll score one you know all the time. That's that's not how it works, especially not infield. Um, and I think like for me this season, one of our biggest problems, and actually a little bit like Northern Ireland and uh last Thursday night in uh Italy I've always sort of yearned back to kind of someone that we looked at that we knew would score us goals, and Fitzy's not necessarily that type of striker, and if we lose Fitzy, we lose a hell of a lot. I think it'd be really, really hard to uh replace. But one thing I do think we need next season is is goals and someone that we can rely on for you know 15 to 20 league goals to to keep us in and around the the the title race.

SPEAKER_01 33:28

Yeah, but I'm not gonna fall out being over over Caly Palmer at all. In fact, I followed the the man's career um actually ironically through your other podcast contribution with Heart and Hand whenever he went out to I think it was Orange County in the state. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And he came signed for Linfield. And I think it maybe raises something you highlighted earlier about he's another one of those players, and we've already covered it on the pod, that for whatever reason couldn't stay fit at Linfield and then all of a sudden moves over the city and they get 25-30 games in a row out of him. Um so yeah, that's that that's one that ties into the two.

SPEAKER_02 34:04

I think I saw a stat as well. This season was Linfield's lowest goal scoring season in the league since 1998. So that's so that does sort of indicate where the issues are. I'm not I don't think that's just personnel, by the way. I think there's a lot of games we we set up and and it's intentionally quite low scoring. But I think actually we we we've generally signed quite well within the league. Um even and I know I know Isaac Burr's maybe had a little bit of stick this season, but he's a guy who's come in, obviously he's had a quite serious injury quite young, but he's he's still a very young player and he's able to adapt to a full-time model. He's obviously enthusiastic about that model and and trying to test himself. And you know, it's not like you're you're in your late 20s, early 30s, and you might be walking away from a full-time job for full-time football. So I think that's kind of you're kind of looking at that sort of player, right, who's in the right age bracket, who's got the the enthusiasm to join the club. And and again, if they can add a bit of a goal threat, that's that's all the better.

SPEAKER_03 35:00

Well, and what I would say is that um it's actually we we and look, we we never appointed a head of transition at Linfield, which probably would have been quite an astute appointment to say, right? A little bit like as Mo pointed out last week in great detail. Here's the five-year plan, who's accountable for making it work day in, day out. Um, we don't have anything like that, so again, it's you know, blindfold throwing the dart. What what I would say though is Jamie Mulgrew is two weeks older than I am, and we're both turning 40 in June. And Jamie Mulgrew has adapted better than anyone has to the full-time model. So I think you know, when we talk about people like Paul McGovern and others, that these are boys who are probably almost training as much uh uh during the day as as Infield will be doing. Because I think I I told the story where you know Crusaders uh you know go to a local gym and I said that Declan Cadell uh is this the Academy boys who's one of those diverse team lads, and there's virtually you know 75 to 80% of them are in there. So I think there's if we're gonna sign someone in the league who is an established Irish League player who we're signing for a specific reason, it's probably gonna then be I keep looking at Glenn Avon here, like we're trying to read more in view, but it would be someone like a Peter Campbell who is an experienced competitor who was at us as an Academy boy player. But really, in reality, if we're in the Irish League, you're gonna be looking at players that are realistically late teens, early 20s at most, unless there's a compelling argument like there was with a Matthew Fitzpatrick or others.

SPEAKER_00 36:34

Yeah, the thing so the thing is is that that um there may well be very some very good players out there who are currently playing for part-time teams, and uh, you know, they would have to sort of face the same decision as Matthew Fitzpatrick faced, as regards do I want to either suspend my full-time job I've got at the moment, which I really enjoy, or give it up with a chance of going full-time. Um that's that's a big choice for people to make. Not so bad if you're just a young kid, but you know, you're married with family and and so on and so on, it's harder. Um whereas probably if you're getting players coming over from England or Scotland, they are already full-time and used to that model. Certainly, you know, we've seen the improvement full-time can make. Certainly on Matthew Fitzpatrick, as we said earlier on, you know, he wasn't so hot the first season. We thought we were going to get more goals out of him. But I've seen his play in uh increase, uh improve dramatically as far as holding the ball up and laying it off to uh his teammates. So the question is, you know, really, can we afford to take someone on who's who's part-time and spend a year grimming them as it were, um, for them to sort of come up to standard, or do we get someone who's already full-time who may not be required by his his club at the moment, um, be it Larne, Corine or the Glens, whatever. Um, but the thing is it depends what formation we're playing, because it could well be that somebody could be with Larne, who is a good player, but doesn't fit into the formation they're playing, three at the back, for example, whereas we'd fit into four at the back at the blues. That's another thing to consider.

SPEAKER_02 38:27

Yeah, yeah, completely agree, completely agree. And I think as well that um with with this with the transfer talk is gonna be something that we are we we'll probably cover in in quite a lot of detail over the the weeks and months uh to come. Uh we'll we'll just have time for one more question. I think um uh and Melissa uh posted in saying, Do you think that some of our fans, not all, um, act like they're entitled, um, given all our success and expectations? Um I would actually I yeah, I mean I can I can see both I can see both arguments to this. I think I think one the the first thing you've got to bear in mind is that Lindfield are the biggest club in Northern Ireland by by quite a distance, I think it's fair to say, on pretty much any any measurement that you could put in, whether it's historical, the fan base, the potential, everything else. And I do think that even if we are near the top of the league or the attendances might be slightly more than elsewhere, we should always be doing more. One of the things I do want to point out though is that you see a club like Shamrock Rovers, who are pretty much regulars now in a European group stage, even Shelborn, who got there this year. I don't really see why in the next sort of five, six, seven years we can't aim to be a club at that level because I think the ingredients that Linfield have should propel them to an equal level. I know it's you I know you're not in the same league, I know it's a little bit more difficult, maybe in terms of some of the income that you get. But I think the ingredients are there that if you do have a little bit of investment behind you, you can be quite a powerful club.

SPEAKER_01 39:58

I I know we spoke about this whenever you were um within the tent, as you put up whenever I was in talking to you about innovation, about how we actually see Linfield as the country's club. And Colin, you're you're absolutely right, that's where the potential is for Linfield. Um that actually means the bigger piece of work isn't actually on the pitch, it's off the pitch. Um, and again, we covered that in in depth last week around how we attempted to grow with Joan that we can do it for cup finals and the bigger games, um, how do we get more interaction with um the local community and around South Belfast? Um Roy said last week around the work that they're doing on Sandy Row um and around Donegal Pass and around that part of South Belfast and the village as well, or the village, as the Lord Mayor currently calls it. Um however, for one of the uh it was the last midweek game we had, forgive me, I can't remember the opposition, that the guys that were actually giving the tickets to, the tickets were given to them until that afternoon. So there was an X amount I know the number, I won't say what it was, it was X amount of tickets given out, and they actually didn't have time then to find people even within the local area. So yes, great idea, great venture, but there's more management that needs to happen to it around you know, behind the scenes, getting those tickets out in good time, making sure we know who's coming, making sure there's people there to meet and greet them. The amalgamation, I know, do an awful lot of good work there at the minute. I'll call out my good friend Darren Barrett here, who does an awful lot in there, and Peter Mullen as well. You see him up and around the top concourse too, doing bits and pieces. So the volunteers are there, the the work ethics there to get it done. But it it requires somebody in that Linfield office full time to help the other full-time staff in there to do this. We know we've got a game on Tuesday night, we'll know these the fixtures, who are we going to yearmark these 50, 100, 200 tickets for? Let's get them in. Do they need a handwith of travel and logistics to get down there? What are we going to do for them when they get in? All those operational and logistical questions that realistically currently fall on either a volunteer who's probably been on his work all day or one of the board who might be retired. I know we've covered the average age in our own internal WhatsApp group. Um, David, I'll let you uh share that share that statistic later on.

SPEAKER_03 42:19

Um but but but listeners, you can you can feed in for next week. There's a bonus for whoever gets it right. So, what's the current average age of our 16, to be fair, 16 board members because one of our older trustees retired uh earlier this season?

SPEAKER_01 42:38

But but in answer to Melissa's question, you you know I am entitled, absolutely I'm entitled. I've been brought up a Lymphfield fan, born on the Omer Road, moved over into East Belfast, took terrible jet from the Glen Thorne fans I went to school with in the 80s and and and early 90s, and then you you know was brought up on Gary Peoples as a teenager, he was my hero, greatest team on the board at Sitting Murray and Dizzy Gorman, Pat Finland, then comes back to work at the club, yeah, and then you go through the Gary Halocks, and and then you then go into the David David Jeffrey era, and we've just came off not long off 15 years worth of total dominance. We've every right to be entitled, just in the same way that in England, Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal, all those clubs are well entitled in Scotland. You've got Rangers and Celtic, in Germany, you've got Bayern Munich, you've got the UVs and the Milan teams as well. Every country, part of my language here, it has that big bastard of a football club. And in Northern Ireland, that's an Emphil football club.

SPEAKER_03 43:36

Yeah, I'm conscious time, and I know guys we always say, take the old uh panic in and the WhatsApp group, what I want to talk about all summer, you know, when there's no matches to talk about. I think as you can see in the last 10 or 15 minutes, we we'd have no bother putting a a podcast in it uh every week. What I would say though, about going back to the Shamrock Grovers, um, Shamrock Grovers have clearly made um The the decision at the highest level there, Club, that there is money utilized from winning in Europe to go directly into the academy. And one of the things to go back to what Roy McGovern said last week, I said, right, how much what percentage do we hear, Mark Mark? And there isn't a percentage because quite frankly, unless someone wants to tell me differently, uh I don't think we put firstly any money in. Um, and that's our problem. We can't magic players, we don't just magic Braden Graham, Keity Go'Neal, and others. They they've been made by volunteers in our academy, and that's reality. And until you know we are prepared to invest in the future, both on and off the pitch, um, we we'll continue to be entitled and we'll continue to get questions about feeling and being entitled because less and less success will come.

SPEAKER_02 44:46

I think the uh average age question, just to give a hint, it is double figures, not triple. Uh just in case anyone's making any in. Um guys, listen, I think that's all we've got time for. Uh this week, uh, we've caught a lot of grinder, uh, as you can see. Uh Linfield aren't in action this weekend. Um, it's Irish Cup semi-finals, I think. So not back in action until we're back uh in Dunganon uh next Tuesday night. And I do believe we'll be planning uh another podcast uh for next week, which will cover that game and other topics. Thanks for uh all the listeners for sending in questions. Do keep those coming in. Um they are they are very, very good and they provide a lot of talking points. Uh thank you to David, to Mo and to Hayden um for all your help and analysis this week, and thank you to you, listener, as well. Um, and hopefully we'll see you next week.