Latest / The PCR Sports Show / The PCR Sports Show - Friday 3rd October 2025 - The Peterborough Sports Special with Tim Woodward and Phil Brown.

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The PCR Sports Show - Friday 3rd October 2025 - The Peterborough Sports Special with Tim Woodward and Phil Brown. · The PCR Sports Show

• 0:00
  Good evening and welcome to a very special edition of PCR
• 0:04
  Sports broadcasting this evening live from the Alton Gate Sports
• 0:07
  Bar right here in Peterborough. And we're joined by two men at
• 0:11
  the heart of one of the city's most exciting football stories.
• 0:15
  Tonight we'll be talking to Peterborough Sports owner Tim
• 0:18
  Woodward and manager Phil Brown. Welcome to our two guest this
• 0:23
  evening. We've got Phil Brown here,
• 0:25
  manager now of Peterborough Sports.
• 0:27
  Phil, welcome. Good evening.
• 0:28
  In the city on a front Friday night.
• 0:30
  I've been got some business tomorrow anyway.
• 0:33
  Just a little bit high, no, It's big business for the club.
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  It's big, big business for their club as well.
• 0:38
  So looking forward to the game to tell you the truth.
• 0:40
  So Phil earlier on in the season, then Tim found himself
• 0:45
  in the need of a new manager and I think he first started talking
• 0:49
  to each other over an issue with a red card and Peterborough
• 0:54
  Sports Michael Gash. Have you met him?
• 0:56
  And then unusual circumstances. And I think Gashi was in the
• 1:00
  middle of it, to tell you the truth.
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  He was staring at a red card which the referee had given him
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  when we played, you know, when I was kidding, kidding him into
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  Harry as manager. And the red card stood.
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  And I think the chairman was trying to alleviate the pressure
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  on Gashi at the time by trying to get it rescinded.
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  And it became a, a conversation that had to involve referees and
• 1:22
  reports and stuff like that. And eventually we, we dropped
• 1:25
  the case and Gashi had to serve the suspension and, and that
• 1:29
  hurt the club because he's, he's a stalwart.
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  He's, he's one of them players that I think supporters like,
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  remember, because he, he wears the shirt with passion and
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  pride. And, and when you're doing that
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  and managing at the same time, it's a really difficult gig.
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  You know, I've done player coach, player manager.
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  I've been caretaker manager. I've been right the way across
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  the, the whole spectrum of management and I know, I know
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  what's hard and, and you need backing, You need support, not
• 2:00
  just from the chairman financially, you need backing
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  and support from your players, understanding that when you
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  cross the white line with them, OK, you're a player for that
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  moment, you know, 90 minutes or whatever it is.
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  But when you've got to go back in the change room, you've got
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  to be telling them certain things that they don't want to
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  hear or they don't like to hear. But that's management and
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  Gashi's decided to choose that line and, and good luck with it,
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  you know. But he's back in the changing
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  room as a player now. That for me is the the strangest
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  part for me. But at the same time, testimony
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  to him, testimony to the chairman and testimony to
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  hopefully me being able to handle that.
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  Because it's never difficult. It's never difficult and it's
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  never easy at the same time. But it's one of them situations
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  that we will grow, hopefully together, and he'll support me
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  as much as we need him to support me.
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  I don't think it can be on the field at play at the moment.
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  It's going to be off the field more importantly, and that's
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  where I see Gashi at the moment. We'll, we'll come on to those
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  injuries a little bit later. But you of course brought
• 3:02
  Kidderminster 2 Pimms Park last year.
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  So when you got the call from Tim, what what were your first
• 3:08
  thoughts? It was.
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  There's certain things about it that that were enjoyable.
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  In the conversation that we had, we were talking on the same page
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  and it's very difficult for, to explain that one because it's
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  only to a, a successful businessman in a, in the walk of
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  business that he's been involved in.
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  And that's a, as a tradesman. And I'm a tradesman served me
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  time as an electrician. So I'm going back to my time
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  when I was on the banks of the town and, and it, it takes me
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  back to, you know, memorable and a memorable era in my time.
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  And we were, we were sort of broaching subjects that we both
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  had relative, you know, we could, we could feel for them,
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  for them kind of eras. And and then we find ourselves
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  bumping into each other when we're in, we're 60s with a lot
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  of experience, but still a lot of enthusiasm and a lot of
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  passion and a lot of feel for the project, if you want to call
• 4:03
  it. I hate the word project, but
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  Peter of sports, like any football club is a project.
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  And it's something that has a beginning, a middle and an end.
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  The end product is what I'm interested in.
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  If we can actually afford to get to that Wales.
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  My tenure, you know, is in place.
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  It's difficult because a manager's tenure is still 14
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  months, you know, So two months over a year, we'll probably be
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  having a, a strict, you know, a more serious conversation.
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  But bottom line is I understand that that's that's the deal.
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  The only way to get out of that is to be more successful.
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  But if I take me, if I take me win ratio, it can even say
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  Harriers that doesn't even work nowadays.
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  So hopefully if I have the same 50 plus win ratio between now
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  and the end of the season, one thing's for sure, people of
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  sports will be in this division. And secondly, there might
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  actually be somewhere near a playoff place.
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  But I'm not I'm not boasting anything at this moment in time.
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  It's one game at a time and we've got to take on possible
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  league potential. I would have said they they'll
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  be thinking that they could win this league.
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  So we've got to put a put a spanner in the works.
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  First and foremost. We've got to look after our own
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  house and our own house at the moment is in, in, in not a very
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  good shape, you know, a bottom of the league.
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  Nobody wants to be there. But players look at that.
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  Players look at league tables. I'll look at league tables and
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  think what, what am I doing? But you've got a mountain to
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  climb, and I like climbing mountains.
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  Excellent. I think we've got one to climb
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  now. But so Tim bring you back in,
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  bringing Phil into the club was a really bold and brave move and
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  not to mention an expensive one. But was there one moment you
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  thought that we're we're really doing this, it's going to
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  happen. Yeah, when we sat in the hotel
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  bar in, in, in Banbury and I thought we were aligned then it
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  didn't nothing scared me away. We we, we both were talking the
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  same, along the same lines. And it was, yeah, there, there,
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  there was a bit of a connection there for sure.
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  And I thought, yeah, OK, we're going to do this.
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  And I walked away from there with the this is definitely
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  going to happen now. I'm not not going to let it
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  happen. It's funny when you talk about
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  alignment and synergy and stuff like that, you know, when, when
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  it comes down to conversation, 2 rooks in a bar having a paint.
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  That's what we're doing at this moment in time.
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  But we're on the same page now. You can tell you guys asking
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  questions and probing and, and there will be probing questions
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  and there'll be difficult questions.
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  As the season goes on, hopefully we'll be invited back and we'll,
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  we can, we can answer them difficult questions.
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  But there's one thing for sure. He can, he can walk into a bar
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  and answer a different question, difficult question.
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  And so can I. I don't mind fronting things up
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  and I don't think the chairman minds fronting things up.
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  We face problems and that for me is football in a nutshell.
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  Well, you're one month nearly into that 14 months.
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  Suzanne poster Cogley, I think he's on the same page any twenty
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  24th day and he that's that's singing for his head already.
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  Let's hope they're not singing for me tomorrow.
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  We'll we'll chart both your journeys.
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  Yeah, absolutely. So give us a glimpse into the
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  dressing room. It's been quite a hectic 3 1/2
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  weeks that that you've been here, hasn't it?
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  What's, what's the dressing room like?
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  Is is it Boyd? Oh, you better ask them that, is
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  it Boyd? After the first game where I
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  didn't have any preparation apart from one session on a
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  Thursday evening, I didn't name the team until the day of the
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  game, which is very unusual for me.
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  And then we win the first game and get to the next round of the
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  FA Cup, which is music to the chairman's ears obviously.
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  And then the draw wasn't too, too favourable.
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  But then we had this farcical Southport game which was just
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  turned ridiculous, you know, when a referee was unfortunately
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  under so much pressure he couldn't make a decision and it
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  took him 25 minutes and the rain was still coming down and he
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  wanted to go in in the changing room and sit there for 15
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  minutes and what, come outside and it's going to clear up it.
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  It just was you had to abandon the game. 212 nil 2.
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  It doesn't matter what the score line was, he had to do his job
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  and he did and then we've got to go back there.
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  So that was the bit of a bit of a farcical week, but it allowed
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  me and Charlie Tonks who's me assistant, that's great.
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  Came in another 2 training sessions and a game, 65 minutes
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  where we can actually get a video and, and some kind of
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  footage back that can feed it into the players.
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  And then we've got another couple of training sessions and
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  then we've got a cup game. And then we have a minute,
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  probably about, I'd say about 20 minutes in the second-half where
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  that unacceptable capitulation. I, I, I don't care who you are,
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  if you are in trouble, you stand by what you are.
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  And if somebody hits you, you, if you go down on the camp, you
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  get back up, you get back up. And we didn't, we, we stayed
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  down on the canvas and the second, the third, the fourth
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  goal went in. And that was the unacceptable
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  behaviour. And don't get me wrong, not
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  everybody can be brave, not everybody can take that punch.
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  But I have to as a manager when the score line's 4/1.
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  But there were certain things in that game that were really
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  enjoyable, really likable. There was an ability where the
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  players were concerned that I actually looked at and went, I
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  can work with this. But then the mentality when the
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  opposition have got the ball has to be better and that's what
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  we've been working on. Yeah, I mean, we, we were
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  certainly the, the score line sort of sounds a little bit
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  different. It was just that 15 to 20
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  minutes, wasn't it, where we we seem to go to sleep the rest of
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  the game. We were, we were in and that was
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  a disappointing thing for me. Well, if you're in control of a
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  game, and I don't mean literally, you know, you've got
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  more possession than the opposition because possession is
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  not just winning a game of football.
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  You've got to do the other thing.
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  The other thing that you have to do is put the ball into an area
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  that's going to hurt the opposition and then put your
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  head on it or or whatever, get the last touch.
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  So you're you're not only dominating a game of football by
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  keeping possession, but you're actually putting something on
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  the score sheet. We didn't do either, you know,
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  sorry, we dominated possession, but we didn't put our put our
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  names on the score sheet. Consequently, when they did, it
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  was one nil. Then we had this unbelievable
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  move, 2930 passes where Boothy and you know he, he takes a bit
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  of criticism but I tell you what, the lad's a player, he'll
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  get into the M6 yard boxes and if he keeps on getting into the
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  M6 yard boxes he'll put the ball on the back of the net.
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  So that's what we've got to do. We've got to keep getting him in
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  there and keep putting the ball in there and when he gets them
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  chances again he'll put them away.
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  There's no doubt in my mind. But he didn't put it away.
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  The scoreline stayed one. But instead of being buoyed by
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  the 2930 passes, being able to carve somebody open that at top
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  of their league, and we've done that on two or three occasions
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  in the first game against Hornchurch.
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  There's something to work with but it's got to be more
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  consistent in the game. It can't just be one phase of
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  play and that's it. We don't score a goal and that's
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  it. We need more of that.
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  We need more consistency in performance, we need more levels
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  of performance and maintain them levels of performance for more
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  than 90 minutes. Does that come with confidence
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  though and work on the training ground?
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  I bought both, I would have said, but results as well.
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  The most important part is the result.
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  I can hide behind the one nil victory if we were absolutely
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  rubbish. I can hide behind the fact that
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  we've won one nil and somebody will come in and and you can
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  hang your hat on a training session because everybody's
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  happy. You've won win.
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  Never underestimate winning. Playing well and winning is
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  fantastic. Playing poorly and winning might
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  hide a multitude of sins, but the supporter will always see
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  that and you've got to make sure that you play well and win.
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  So is this more of a mental battle then?
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  It's all I think it always is. I think the most important part
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  of the game of football is mentality and the ability levels
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  that I've seen and I've managed in every level, the ability
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  levels can be hidden by great mentality, but the greatest
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  players have got that great mentality and the ability, and
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  they're the ones that are at the top and they stay at the top.
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  And the reason why they stay at the top is because of the
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  mentality. So just before we go for another
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  break then Phil, you've managed at different levels, including
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  in the Premiership with Hull, I've seen you on.
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  The Premiership Rugby Premier League.
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  I stand correct. Sorry, I stand correctly.
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  Is not my. I stand correctly.
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  So you you have seen a lot of football at a lot of different
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  levels. You still get that buzz.
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  Oh, dear me. I it's fantastic.
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  It really is. I don't care where you are.
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  I don't care what. I've never been to Hambra.
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  Sorry, Hambra, I said Hambra Harborough.
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  I've drove past it many, many times, but I passed it this time
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  and I had to turn left and go in.
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  And when I went in there I saw a very well run club.
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  It had to has to be said. I think the first thing I said
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  to the chairman was that that club is sufficient,
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  self-sufficient, if you want to call it relies on a lot of
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  whatever. How it's run is what we were
• 13:08
  trying to find out a little bit more about.
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  But they have 74 teams that represent them.
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  That in itself is a project. That in itself tells you that
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  they've got success and they're pushing it through into the
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  first team and now the first team having success.
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  It's a plan that's been around for a number of years.
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  And when you get people that support that kind of a plan,
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  first and foremost, you've got to have the guys that can pay
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  for that and then the guys that believe in that.
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  And then you have coaches and then players, etcetera,
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  etcetera. And it produces, it produces
• 13:36
  players. It's fantastic to see.
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  Yeah, it was. It was very impressive.
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  So. So Phil's still got that buzz
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  then. Tim, I was lucky enough to sit
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  next to you at the Marine game and I know you've still got that
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  bruise because I've still got the bruises to prove it.
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  You kicked, you kicked every single ball and headed every
• 13:54
  single ball And that, that's the, this is really a big
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  project for you, isn't it? Oh, it's massive it, you know,
• 14:01
  I'm not underestimating the task that's in front of us, but I'm
• 14:05
  living every minute of it. To say last last weekend was,
• 14:10
  was a was a kick in the proverbial, Yeah.
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  Was I disappointed as much as I thought I'd be?
• 14:17
  No, I wasn't because it's work in progress and we were looking
• 14:20
  to see what we've got, what we're picking up from from the
• 14:23
  previous management team. But yeah, I'm under no illusion.
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  It's it's a big task that's going to take a lot of time and
• 14:31
  a lot of effort, a lot of money. But we're we, we're on that
• 14:35
  journey. We're we're on the bus as as one
• 14:38
  of our supporters say, we're on the bus or get on the bus, he
• 14:41
  says, doesn't he? Jeff knows that.
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  But yeah, we're on the bus and we're we're moving in the right
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  direction. Fabulous.
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  OK, we're going to go to another outbreak now, we'll be back soon
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  and we're going to talk about the big game tomorrow.
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  Kidderminster Harriers are in town, which was called Phil's
• 14:55
  Old Club and might get a little bit spicy.
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  You're listening to PCR sports. Welcome back then and we're back
• 15:17
  with Phil Brown and Tim Woodward from Peterborough Sports.
• 15:21
  Phil, we'll bring you back in here again.
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  Kitty in town tomorrow. They're all big games.
• 15:27
  We mentioned on the the pre match interview last night that
• 15:30
  they're all big games from now on and that's what you're going
• 15:32
  to tell me. But this is a little bit bigger
• 15:35
  than than most. Isn't it?
• 15:37
  They're all big games. This one's a little bit bigger.
• 15:40
  The next one is if you keep on winning.
• 15:42
  That's the main part of it, you know.
• 15:45
  But we've got to take each step as it comes, you know?
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  And it's a big game for me from an emotional point of view.
• 15:51
  But the most important part is that control, that it's a waste
• 15:55
  of time me losing the plot in the touchline.
• 15:57
  When you've got 11 players out there, every reason to lose the
• 15:59
  plot, you know, if something's going wrong.
• 16:02
  But if they see a manager on the touchline that's in control,
• 16:04
  then you'd expect them to be in control.
• 16:07
  We've got one or two that can put it out there as it were and
• 16:12
  and can run that that risk of losing the plot.
• 16:15
  But I've just got to manage that at the same time.
• 16:19
  Was I disappointed by getting the way it ended?
• 16:23
  I was the way it ended at Kidderminster is it was it was
• 16:26
  almost disrespectful of of me as a, a manager.
• 16:31
  I had a a conversation going with the owner who wanted a
• 16:36
  project for three to five years and that project for three to
• 16:39
  five years to was to get into the AFLI.
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  My project was two years. So I didn't achieve my project.
• 16:47
  So I've basically I've sacked myself.
• 16:49
  But his his project was three to five years.
• 16:52
  I was well and truly in In Sync with that is, you know, we've
• 16:56
  finished what is the last game of the season.
• 16:58
  We missed out on automatic promotion and then anything can
• 17:02
  happen in the play offs as you as you well know, but moved on
• 17:07
  big time. I didn't think it was going to
• 17:10
  come round the corner as quickly as what it has.
• 17:13
  But I'm I'm thankful to the chairman for giving me the
• 17:15
  opportunity to settle a score if I can do that tomorrow.
• 17:19
  But it's not down to me, it's down to the players.
• 17:21
  And you'll know the Kidderminster team inside out.
• 17:25
  You're expecting a physical game tomorrow?
• 17:27
  I wouldn't. I wouldn't know it inside out.
• 17:30
  I know the manager. I know what he's about.
• 17:32
  I think I know what he's about. He's faced the character he
• 17:36
  likes players that can mix it. The ones that he's kept that I
• 17:41
  had there are technically very gifted.
• 17:44
  There's one or two playing in the same position as in the same
• 17:47
  system as what I was trying to enforce.
• 17:50
  And they The one that doesn't surprise me is Amari Morgan
• 17:56
  Smith playing upfront. He had to force his way into a
• 18:00
  manager's. He's not easy on the eye, Amari,
• 18:03
  but what he does do, he wears his heart and his sleeve and he
• 18:05
  actually commits to the cause. Once he's in, he's in 100% and
• 18:09
  it's a great example of that in the at this level.
• 18:12
  But he's lost his sidekick in Ashley Hemans.
• 18:16
  Ashley's gone on to picking better things, hopefully at
• 18:19
  Dagenham and Redbridge, but losing Ashley Hemans would lose
• 18:22
  a little bit of Amari's ability to work the changing room, work
• 18:27
  the lines, work the opposition, the supply to them, the one on
• 18:31
  the same page. And he's looking for that now.
• 18:33
  And they brought one or two new players in to try and do that.
• 18:36
  But there's I would, I only say there's probably 5060% of the
• 18:41
  players that I had in a in a squad, 2324 man squad.
• 18:44
  There's only about 5060% of them left.
• 18:46
  But there's enough left to understand how they play and how
• 18:50
  they will play tomorrow will be I would imagine they I wouldn't
• 18:54
  say they've got a score to settle.
• 18:55
  I would imagine they've got a point to prove, shall we say?
• 18:59
  And I get the chance to talk to you on a Friday.
• 19:02
  I usually ask you this question on a Thursday and you you can't
• 19:05
  answer it because we talk a lot about being at a part time club
• 19:09
  now and that you don't have that day-to-day interacting with the
• 19:12
  players. But what, what about our team
• 19:14
  for tomorrow? Can you give us any idea what
• 19:18
  it's going to be like? What the interviews are the
• 19:20
  players? Yeah, we've got, I mean, you
• 19:22
  mentioned before we came on here, there was three players
• 19:25
  that you mentioned, Mustafa. So, so the the three players we
• 19:31
  were talking about are the the players that have been long term
• 19:34
  injuries, but really with a backbone of the club at the
• 19:37
  start of the season. So it's Kane feelings, it's
• 19:39
  Gashi and it's Shaq. Gashi, as we well know is is
• 19:43
  well and truly out the out the equation at the moment.
• 19:45
  It'll probably be, I think Christmas before he puts a pair
• 19:48
  of boots on. I hope I'm wrong, but it, you
• 19:51
  know, it's, it's a long road back with age, not, you know, in
• 19:55
  his favour. And he won't thank you for
• 19:57
  saying that. But I never thanked Sam Alladice
• 19:59
  when he was telling me I was finished at 38.
• 20:02
  But it's one of them. You're you're afraid to put it
• 20:04
  down. The two that you mentioned prior
• 20:06
  to that, which is Shaquille Culthurst, who I've worked with
• 20:09
  beforehand, Shaq came to me at South End from, from Spurs.
• 20:13
  He's got great pedigree and he's been for a scan today and it's
• 20:18
  all massively positive. Behind the scan and you've,
• 20:21
  you've got to be careful what you say to medical people behind
• 20:24
  the scan. He's already trained 5 full
• 20:27
  training sessions, including the warm up on Saturday before the
• 20:31
  the cup game. So Shaquille is ahead of the,
• 20:34
  the schedule. Then you do a, a scan and the
• 20:37
  medical people all can, they can only read the scan and, and tell
• 20:40
  you what they think. But he's way ahead of it
• 20:43
  already. I've, I've had a conversation
• 20:44
  with Shaq tonight. He's very, very positive.
• 20:46
  He wants to prove to everybody that he's been a good signing
• 20:50
  and it's from the previous management team and I think it's
• 20:52
  a great signing. I think the fans listening
• 20:54
  tonight will be really buoyed by you saying that because I think
• 20:57
  you'll agree to him. Shaq at the start of the season
• 21:00
  had a good kind of game before he got injured and people were
• 21:04
  really excited about him being a sports player.
• 21:07
  Absolutely and I'm excited that we managed to attract someone of
• 21:10
  his calibre there as well. To be honest with you wouldn't
• 21:14
  have expected him to to wanted to come to to Peterborough
• 21:17
  Sports. I can't wait for him to to get
• 21:21
  back. He's fired up.
• 21:22
  I I talk with him, I go to every training session so I have a
• 21:25
  chat with him and see where he is.
• 21:26
  He he cannot wait to get his boots back on and get back out
• 21:29
  there. He's.
• 21:30
  The same as the chairman, but he gets his boots on every training
• 21:32
  session. I'm saying no, you're not
• 21:33
  playing today too. He's one of the very few people
• 21:37
  who people who haven't got a game so far.
• 21:39
  Yeah, he's talking well in boots here, by the way.
• 21:43
  So and, and the last one of those trio then came Felix,
• 21:46
  unfortunately injured in the first game of the season away at
• 21:49
  Chester. And and that was really
• 21:51
  disappointing as well because we seem to lose a lot of pace.
• 21:53
  But that's that's management for you.
• 21:55
  You know, you're mentioning 3 players there that would have
• 21:59
  played a big part in the management team keeping their
• 22:01
  jobs. And I'm not thanking them for
• 22:04
  getting injured by any stretch of the imagination.
• 22:05
  I'm just saying that's management.
• 22:07
  If you keep your best players out there, if you can maintain
• 22:10
  that level of, I don't know, level of training commitment
• 22:14
  before you actually play them. But Kane's available tomorrow.
• 22:18
  So that's two out of three that you've just mentioned on the
• 22:21
  first game that I take control Hornchurch, I have three players
• 22:25
  go down. Aaron Powell goes down in the
• 22:27
  1st 20 minutes of the game. And then I'll lose Jonesy up top
• 22:31
  after 35 minutes and then I'll lose Mustafa in 51 minutes.
• 22:35
  So I'm I'm running that risk of probably pushing them too hard.
• 22:39
  So even at 66 year old and being in management for and football
• 22:43
  God say 45 years more than that, you're still learning, you're
• 22:48
  still being educated by the modern day player and what he
• 22:51
  can and can't do. And albeit that the game is
• 22:55
  beautiful, the game always will be beautiful and everybody's
• 22:58
  trying to play a beautiful way. I think that long ball, you
• 23:01
  remember that Channel ball that I used to play on a regular
• 23:04
  basis, get it away from our goal as far as you possibly can.
• 23:07
  I think that's coming back. I think long balls coming back.
• 23:10
  I think long throwings are coming back.
• 23:12
  Don't get me wrong, I'm still a believer in the passing game.
• 23:15
  Absolutely. If you've got possession of the
• 23:17
  ball, you've got more chance of winning a game of football.
• 23:20
  But vary it. You don't have to always play
• 23:22
  that way. You don't have to beat Pep
• 23:23
  Guardiola to win, you know, the National League North or the
• 23:26
  National League South. Just in fact, I'll put the
• 23:30
  challenge out there. Would Pep win the National
• 23:32
  League North and National? Sorry.
• 23:33
  What a question. What a question that is.
• 23:35
  Just in terms of talking about percentage football,
• 23:37
  effectively, there's long ball and there's long ball, isn't it?
• 23:41
  There's playing it into channels, it's utilising the
• 23:43
  pace that you might have up front, but it's also winning
• 23:45
  those second balls I guess. Isn't it the.
• 23:46
  Second ball is important but you know that the modern day way of
• 23:50
  analysing a game. If I put a ball behind the
• 23:52
  defence and the defence are doing nothing but face their own
• 23:55
  goal under pressure, if they have the next touch, you as a
• 24:00
  full back have lost possession, well hold on a second, you might
• 24:03
  have had to put down for a throwing.
• 24:04
  We've got the ball back and it's going into your penalty box.
• 24:06
  So there's a way of playing football, you know, put it into
• 24:09
  an area that's going to hurt the opposition.
• 24:11
  If that takes 25 passes to get there, so be it.
• 24:14
  If it takes one pass, why not? So, Tim, I just want to bring
• 24:19
  you back in here and talk about the the players in and out of
• 24:23
  the club over the past month, six weeks or so, it's been a
• 24:27
  whirlwind. There's an unprecedented number
• 24:29
  of players coming in. How much should that has been
• 24:32
  your decision? It's been a bit of a joint
• 24:36
  decision to be, to be honest, between me, Phil and and CC.
• 24:41
  He's very, very knowledgeable guy.
• 24:43
  I'm impressed with, I was impressed with Charlie within
• 24:46
  the 1st 10 minutes of meeting him.
• 24:47
  When you brought him along that first night and, and said, have
• 24:52
  a look at him and see what you think. 10 minutes in, I'm like,
• 24:54
  well, he's going nowhere. He's coming here.
• 24:56
  He's he's, he's knowledge of players at this level and, and,
• 24:59
  and a touch up is phenomenal. And between us, we've decided
• 25:05
  who's come in. They've put players to make me
• 25:07
  and and we've brought 4 in there, probably, possibly 5,
• 25:12
  maybe a little bit later and it's working.
• 25:15
  It's who's got the biggest squad in the National League N this
• 25:20
  year at this present moment, Peterborough Sports.
• 25:25
  We've got 31 players sat in that squad at the minute.
• 25:29
  That's not sustainable, though. It's absolutely not, but I'm
• 25:33
  absolutely prepared to bring people in before we inevitably
• 25:38
  have to move people on if we're not not hitting the right spot
• 25:41
  with them. But I think you've got to go
• 25:44
  that way about it. And you know, we'll see as we as
• 25:48
  we push on. I'm sure it's all going to turn
• 25:51
  around pretty quickly. And it's football.
• 25:54
  It can change in a nanosecond, can't it, from, from what we're
• 25:58
  trying to do. But we're filling and Tonksy,
• 26:01
  analysing what we've got, what we need and how we're going to
• 26:06
  proceed. I've got every confidence in
• 26:08
  what we're going to do with these boys, 100%.
• 26:11
  Fascinating stuff. Well, unfortunately, we have to
• 26:14
  go to another outbreak, but we're going to be back with Phil
• 26:17
  and with Tim right after this this.
• 26:21
  Is PCRFACRFACRFACRFAP. CR.
• 26:27
  FA you're listening to PCR sports.
• 26:40
  So looking ahead a bit further past the Kidderminster game
• 26:43
  tomorrow then, and we've got a little bit of time off, a little
• 26:47
  bit more time to work with the players, haven't you?
• 26:50
  Because of FA Cups and Darlington's involvement in the
• 26:53
  FA Cup, there is a spare Saturday.
• 26:57
  You know, we haven't got a game on the Saturday.
• 26:58
  Now that's a little bit of breathing space and that's all
• 27:01
  of a sudden that's a time for a player to see.
• 27:03
  I'm not too sure about that gaffer.
• 27:05
  What? What do you mean by that?
• 27:06
  We haven't got a game on a Saturday.
• 27:07
  So now we can go through that. We maybe have a practice match,
• 27:10
  we can maybe play somebody behind closed doors.
• 27:12
  Peterborough United haven't got a game.
• 27:14
  Hopefully they're listening. We'd love to play them on the
• 27:17
  Saturday. I've already spoke to Leicester
• 27:20
  City. You know the the the wheels in
• 27:22
  motion for to get a game. But if there's no game available
• 27:26
  from local teams, we'll play the ladies.
• 27:29
  We'll play the ladies and see if that works because they might
• 27:32
  give us a one or two lessons because I've seen them training
• 27:34
  and they're different class, by the way.
• 27:36
  Fantastic. Yeah, We've got a couple of
• 27:39
  questions about the ladies actually when we bring Tim in in
• 27:41
  a minute. But just just to talk about
• 27:43
  football in October. Then we've we've got that free
• 27:47
  Saturday. Then you've got a a Saturday,
• 27:49
  Tuesday double at Pym's Park and that's Alfreton who are also
• 27:55
  down the bottom end of the table there.
• 27:57
  But Buxton are a little bit further and then Kurz and Ashton
• 28:01
  trip to Kurz and Ashton at the end of the month.
• 28:04
  Really 3 winnable games I would say.
• 28:07
  One at a time, as you always see.
• 28:10
  And I'm not even looking that far.
• 28:12
  Seriously, I haven't looked after.
• 28:14
  The only reason I've looked at the next fixture was because it
• 28:17
  was postponed. And when it's being rearranged
• 28:20
  and everybody's pressuring me for the, you know, shall we have
• 28:22
  it on this day or shall we have it on that day?
• 28:24
  If they're not pressured, the opposition, let's take what time
• 28:28
  with it, you know, let's maybe change one or two players, maybe
• 28:31
  get one or two more signings in. And then the release, what the
• 28:35
  chairman's talking about of the players that are existing at the
• 28:37
  football club that are not contributing.
• 28:39
  Because all players surely must want to contribute.
• 28:42
  And if you're sitting there doing nothing, not contributing,
• 28:45
  surely you want to be going playing somewhere else.
• 28:48
  Is that the hardest thing to manage then with the size of the
• 28:50
  squad that you've got the managing, not the the 1st 11 or
• 28:53
  the the bench, but it's the rest of the squad effectively week to
• 28:56
  week. Deadwood in any walk of life is
• 29:01
  a waste of time. If you are no longer of any use
• 29:05
  to anybody, you move on and if you don't, you just drift.
• 29:09
  And if you've got no purpose in life, you need to move on with
• 29:13
  your own way of life as it were. And that's not being over
• 29:17
  critical of anybody because we all fall into categories.
• 29:20
  You know, we're we're good enough for one person, we're not
• 29:22
  good enough for the next. And that in management applies
• 29:26
  to everybody. I'm looking at a group of
• 29:28
  players that are 3030 plus at the moment in terms of size and
• 29:34
  there's only space for 11 on a Saturday.
• 29:37
  And then you've got 7 on the bench that are reasonably happy,
• 29:40
  reasonably happy. But two or three that are in the
• 29:43
  squad that are not in that 11 or 18, they'll be banging at me
• 29:48
  door saying I want to get a move, I want to go somewhere I
• 29:50
  want to. And if they're not, what are
• 29:52
  they doing? That's what I'm asking myself,
• 29:54
  what are you doing? Where's the ambition?
• 29:55
  Where do you want to be? Where do you want to move to in
• 29:57
  life? Where do you want to be in life?
• 29:59
  And they've all got different, you know, things going on in
• 30:02
  their life. But bottom line is surely you
• 30:04
  just want to play, and if you're not playing, you got to find
• 30:08
  somewhere where you want you are wanted to to play.
• 30:12
  And, and overall you talk about that commitment that you need
• 30:15
  from your players. Are you seeing that from the
• 30:17
  current squad overall? 100 percent, 100% if we weren't,
• 30:21
  if if you wanted to bring cameras down in radio stations
• 30:24
  and stuff like that to the training ground just to watch
• 30:27
  your session. The one thing I would emphasise
• 30:31
  to the players is what you do on a Tuesday and Thursday, you have
• 30:33
  to do on a Sunday. If I'm saying brilliance on a
• 30:36
  Tuesday and Thursday and not saying brilliance on a Saturday,
• 30:38
  there's got to be a reason for that.
• 30:40
  Now, is that pressure, is that bottle or is that just the
• 30:42
  ability to carry a game across the white line?
• 30:44
  That is the beauty of the game. When you can carry a game across
• 30:47
  the white line, you then reach a level wherever that level is in
• 30:51
  football, wherever that level is in life, you carry it across
• 30:54
  that white line and you keep on doing that.
• 30:56
  And then you get to 700 games, which is, I was, I was very
• 30:59
  lucky to get 700 games, but that meant a manager was picking me.
• 31:03
  In hindsight, I'm thinking I was good enough.
• 31:06
  I was, you know, the, the eagle takes over.
• 31:08
  But bottom line is it means a manager is picking you because
• 31:11
  you, you are rated. And if you're not rated, you've
• 31:14
  got to go somewhere where you are rated.
• 31:17
  Fascinating stuff. And Tim, I'm going to bring in
• 31:19
  we, I need to say this, we, we mentioned the ladies a little
• 31:22
  bit there and I watched them train a little bit on a on a
• 31:25
  Thursday evening. They cause play their matches at
• 31:27
  Pyms Park this year. It's great to see more and more
• 31:31
  stuff going on at the club and a ladies team for Peterborough
• 31:36
  sports. Yeah, maybe not next year.
• 31:44
  We'll we'll, we'll see. It's definitely part of the
• 31:46
  plans. There's so much we could do.
• 31:50
  You know you, you've got you. You've got to walk before you
• 31:52
  can run. There's so many things that are
• 31:54
  in my head setting up an Academy down there as well.
• 31:58
  And the people we're talking to that are, are interested in
• 32:00
  helping us with that. And we're talking formula
• 32:03
  former, you know, top class players that live in the area.
• 32:08
  Ladies definitely. I mean, when I came along, there
• 32:10
  was a a Peterborough sports ladies team and that went that
• 32:16
  went fantastic. The wrong really with with the
• 32:19
  people that were running it, I believe.
• 32:21
  And they moved away And now I don't think there's the same
• 32:24
  people are running that kind of setup.
• 32:27
  But I'm, I'm definitely up for a ladies team down there.
• 32:31
  And besides the posh ladies, I mean, I mean, if you look at
• 32:34
  some of the, the standards that we, we, they train on the next
• 32:38
  pitch on a, on a Thursday night, just, we can see what's going
• 32:41
  on. And it's, it's, it's pretty
• 32:42
  good. And I go down there and watch, I
• 32:43
  can't be there this Sunday, unfortunately, but I, I sit and
• 32:46
  watch some of them games and I'm pretty impressed with what I'm
• 32:49
  saying. I really AM.
• 32:51
  Fabulous and as as as well, I'll say about things going on down
• 32:55
  at the club. It seems to be all going in One
• 32:58
  Direction and I I really hate to to finish on a on a negative
• 33:02
  point, but that's just where we. Are I'm going to.
• 33:07
  What what happens if if we do get relegated, How does that,
• 33:10
  how does that affect your plans going forward?
• 33:14
  Can we just switch the microphone off a minute?
• 33:19
  This club will not be relegated, OK, We will not be relegated.
• 33:23
  We would not, not a chance. So I'm not even I don't even
• 33:27
  want to think about that. Nigel, thanks for your your
• 33:30
  question there. But that that will not happen.
• 33:32
  I'm confident. Nigel, one of the reasons that
• 33:34
  I'm here is, is quite simple. It's not just to keep a club in
• 33:37
  this division and beyond. It was because of the way they
• 33:40
  passionately played against Kidderminster Harriers and that
• 33:43
  was under a Gashi, A Gashi team. Gashi wasn't doing anything
• 33:46
  wrong, he just couldn't play at that level that he wanted to
• 33:50
  play at, you know, and he was getting players in that.
• 33:51
  We're trying to do that, but that passion is something that
• 33:54
  we need to rekindle and go on the field of play before the
• 33:57
  talent. The passion has to come first
• 33:59
  and that's what we're looking at.
• 34:01
  Well, thank you guys. It's been absolutely fascinating
• 34:04
  to hear from you. Thank you both for bringing
• 34:06
  your, your insight and your, your passion into into the show
• 34:10
  tonight. Very best of luck tomorrow
• 34:14
  against Kidderminster, Tim Real. Just best to look for the rest
• 34:18
  of the season. You, you deserve it mate.
• 34:21
  That's been a fascinating show. It's just absolutely flown by
• 34:24
  tonight. Really, really pleased that the
• 34:27
  guys have come. Let's hope that people get down
• 34:30
  to Peterborough Sports tomorrow. There isn't a game across the
• 34:33
  city, so if there's any Posh fans listening then please come
• 34:37
  along to Sports and have a look at what's going on there now.
• 34:40
  And we'll catch you again next Friday, 6:00 PM for another PCR
• 34:44
  Sports.