Latest / The PCR Sports Show / The PCR Sports Show - Friday 6th February 2026 - with Tim Woodward, Chairman and Phil Brown, Manager at Peterborough Sports FC

Transcript

The PCR Sports Show - Friday 6th February 2026 - with Tim Woodward, Chairman and Phil Brown, Manager at Peterborough Sports FC · The PCR Sports Show

0:16
Welcome to PCR Sports. Good evening everyone.
0:20
This is the PCR Sport Show on PCR FM and this week we're very
0:24
excited to be live once again from the Turbines Tavern, home
0:28
of course to Peterborough Sports Football Club.
0:31
We're kicking off another sporting weekend with our very
0:34
special guest. This evening we have owner Tim
0:37
Woodward and the gaffer Phil Brown is with us too.
0:40
It's midterm report time as we've entered the second-half of
0:44
the National League N season, and we'll dive into that journey
0:47
so far, the challenges and the ambition driving Pittsburgh
0:51
sports forward. Stick with us.
0:54
This one is going to be 1. You won't want to miss, but as
0:57
always, it's the headlines first this week.
0:59
Brought to you by DIPAM. Hello mate.
1:02
Hi Nigel, thank you very much. Good evening everyone and here
1:05
are your sporting headlines on PCR Sports this evening,
1:08
starting with football. Peter United suffered A32 home
1:11
defeat to Hudsfield Town last Saturday.
1:13
The Posh fought back from two goals down through Cairo Lisby
1:17
and James Dornelly but conceded an 89th minute winner.
1:20
They return to action tomorrow when Wigan Athletic visit
1:23
Western Home Stadium followed by a trip to Mansfield Town on
1:26
Tuesday. Peter United Women recorded a
1:28
comfortable 6 nil victory at Lincoln United in the National
1:31
League Division One Midlands. Jess Russo scored twice with
1:35
further goals from Poppy Brown, Rebecca Mears, Hayley James and
1:38
Evie Driscoll King. They're back in action on Sunday
1:41
when Sutton Coldfield Town visit Pyms Park.
1:44
Peter of Sports had mixed results, winning one nil at
1:46
Chorley thanks to an early Max Booth goal before A52 defeat
1:50
that filed on Tuesday. Shaquille Cowhurst and Luka
1:53
Miller were on target for the Turbines.
1:55
Sports host Kirsten Ashton next in the 3:00 PM.
1:58
Kick off tomorrow and travel to Buxton on Tuesday.
2:01
In ice hockey, Peter of Phantoms had mixed fortunes against
2:04
Sheffield Steel Dogs last weekend in the double header.
2:07
The Phantom suffered a heavy 71 defeat in Sheffield on Saturday
2:10
but bounced back to to a convincing 7 four win at Planet
2:13
Ice on Sunday. This weekend the City side
2:16
travel to Basing State Bisons tomorrow before hosting Leeds
2:19
nights on Sunday with a face off at 5:30 PM.
2:22
In field hockey, it was a tough weekend for the clubs.
2:25
We'd sit with for the clubs. The pizza at the City of
2:27
Peterborough Hockey Club according to Dave Simpson.
2:29
With six wins and 10 defeats across the sides, the men's
2:33
first team restarted their National League campaign with a
2:35
four one loss at Saint Albans, despite Gareth Andrews giving
2:39
them an early lead. 15 year old Oliver Drake also made his
2:42
National League debut. It was better news for the
2:45
women's first team who thrashed local rivals with speech 10 nil
2:48
with four goals from Lily Craven to keep their promotion push on
2:51
track. Elsewhere there were wins for
2:53
the men's Force and the men's six teams, the women's seconds
2:56
and the 15 and the under 16 boys.
3:00
Overall the wins were six one against Camp S for the men's
3:03
Force, the men's six won ten one against St.
3:05
Ives, the women's seconds won two nil against Bourne, the
3:09
women's fifth four nil against Wisbech and on Sunday the under
3:12
16 boys beat Harleston Magpies 32 and in the losses the men's
3:16
third lost 4, two against Born Deeping, the men's fifth eleven
3:20
one against Pelican seconds, the men's 7th 32 versus Kettering,
3:24
three no defeat for the eights against Cambridge Nomads.
3:26
The women's third went down to one against Cambridge Nomads and
3:30
the women's 4th 51 against Whisbeach seconds.
3:33
And on Sunday, the results for the men's over 50 fives lost six
3:37
nil against Bury St. Edmunds and the girls under
3:39
fourteens lost against Ipswich and the under sixteens girls
3:42
against Norwich. This week's fixtures, the home
3:44
fixtures are on Saturday at 10 AM.
3:46
The men's fifths versus Ely seconds, 11:30 AM the men's
3:50
fourths versus Kettering seconds, 1:00 PM.
3:53
The men's seconds versus Kettering firsts and in the
3:55
afternoon continuing is women's. So women's seconds and against
3:58
Newmarket firsts, the men's eights against Kettering and
4:01
5:30 evening kick off men's sevenths face or should say not
4:05
kick off men's sevenths against the Cams.
4:08
So you can catch all that on Saturday and then on Sunday home
4:11
match men's over 40 fives against Harleston Magpies.
4:15
Onto Martial Arts Peterborough Hicks at Martial Arts Club made
4:18
a superb start to the year by producing 3 English champions at
4:22
their first major competition of the season club.
4:24
The club also picked up several other podium finishes, with
4:27
fighters delivering strong performances across the age
4:29
groups against tough national opposition.
4:32
Coaches praised the team's efforts and attitude, describing
4:34
it as an excellent opening outing for the year and a great
4:37
sign of what's to come. And finally in athletics,
4:40
Peterborough and Nien Valley Athletics club Angus Bowling
4:42
secured a joint 4th place finish at the South England Pole Vote
4:46
Championships with a clearance of four meters. 25 Henry Jarvis
4:50
of Wellington Joggers finished fourth in Sunday's Frostbite
4:53
League race at Borzee County Country Park near Kings Lynn.
4:57
The 30 year old former schoolboy champion, now back at running
5:00
seriously for the past couple of years, produced the club's
5:02
highest individual finish in the series for several seasons.
5:06
And then veteran runner Henry Waller walked rolled back the
5:09
years with an excellent run, while Yaxi's Katie Longfoot was
5:11
the first local lady home with another impressive displace.
5:16
And those are your headlines. Back to Nigel.
5:18
Amazing stuff. Thank you, dipam.
5:20
This is exciting, isn't it? We've been let out of the studio
5:23
once again. We have it doesn't often happen,
5:25
is it? This is really good, real plush
5:26
surroundings here in the the Turbines boardroom where it all
5:29
happens, no doubt off the field and it's great honour to be here
5:32
and thank you for for sports for hosting us this evening.
5:35
Absolutely, Absolutely. Yeah.
5:36
And we'll once again, we seem to say this every week, but lots
5:41
going on, especially at the City of Peterborough Hockey Club.
5:44
Never ceases to amaze me how many games they got on down
5:46
there. I tell you what their their
5:47
fixture secretary must be a full time person because honestly,
5:51
they have got multiple teams at all levels, men's, women's,
5:53
boys, girls playing across various leagues at various
5:57
against various opponents. I tell you what I do take my hat
6:00
off to the person who organizes that because it is absolutely
6:03
phenomenal. And overall the club, you know
6:05
are doing an excellent job off on on the pitch as well as off
6:08
it. And you know, success is is
6:10
normally, you know, around them, but most seasons, which is good.
6:14
Absolutely, yeah. And the the, the Ladies first,
6:17
they're leading the way, aren't they?
6:18
Top of their league and looking quiet.
6:20
They've been topped for some time now, aren't they?
6:22
They are absolutely, they're pushing for that, that top spot,
6:25
which would be brilliant for them.
6:26
And then again, another coup for the club.
6:28
And I know the men's team have been doing well over the last
6:31
few seasons, so the women's and women are now putting their ants
6:33
and say look, we can do this as well, which is fantastic.
6:36
Amazing. Thank you so much, Dipam.
6:38
OK, we're going to take a short break now.
6:40
We'll be right back. We've got Peterborough Sports
6:44
owner and chairman Tim Woodward. We've got the gaffer Phil Brown,
6:48
who's currently fighting the evening traffic, but hopefully
6:52
he's going to be with us here very soon.
6:53
But Tim will hold to four, I'm sure, right after this break.
6:58
You're listening to PCR sports. OK, welcome back to PCR Sports
7:12
show then. We're live every week from six
7:14
till 7 on PCR FM and you can listen on one O 3.2 FM in
7:19
Greater Peterborough on Crystal clear DAB.
7:23
We're on your smart speaker, just ask it to play PCR FM and
7:27
we're online at pcrfm.co.uk and through the PCR FM app.
7:33
So there's really no excuse not to listen, is there?
7:35
OK, let's not waste any more time then.
7:38
Let's bring in Tim Ward, Board owner and chairman here at
7:41
Peterborough Sports. Hi, Tim, How are you doing?
7:44
Evening boys, Evening Peterborough.
7:45
Yep, we're doing very well. We've struggled together, a few
7:49
good results. Tuesday night was a little
7:51
different but however a very, very, very good side, absolute
7:55
quality. So we we can't complain at that.
7:58
We've had a a great month. Indeed, indeed, we'll come on to
8:02
that a little bit later. But first of all, we always get
8:06
our guest to pick a song to lead us into the show and one to lead
8:10
us out again. We just played Jigsaw and Sky
8:12
High, what's the story behind that?
8:15
When I first came into the club and took it over, that was
8:19
playing in the background somewhere and it just stuck with
8:22
me. And I, I sing it all the while
8:23
and then when I drive down here, I'll put it on.
8:25
It's just, you know, it's crazy little things I do it just we've
8:29
blown it all sky high. So yeah.
8:32
That's an amazing story. Amazing.
8:34
You told me another story just before we came on air as well
8:37
about why it's orange. There's orange everywhere in the
8:41
boardroom here at Peterborough Sports.
8:43
And that was your choice as well, wasn't it?
8:45
It was, yeah. And the background of that, I've
8:48
got a a poorly 6 year old granddaughter and her favorite
8:53
colour is orange. And yeah, you know, she's
8:56
struggling in life and will do, but you'll see her.
9:00
She turns up in a little motorized wheelchair here.
9:02
She's got orange hubcaps. She's had made for it.
9:05
She wears a big orange bow, you know, and that's why I did it.
9:09
Really. It's.
9:10
And I like orange anyway. So, yeah, we needed to change.
9:13
We couldn't be blue. We couldn't be paid to be
9:16
annoyed. I know it's a different shade of
9:17
blue before everyone starts jumping in, but no, we needed
9:21
our own identity. Absolutely.
9:23
I mean, the, the shade of colour, I know going back a
9:26
famous story when Bill Shankly took over Liverpool FC, you
9:30
know, way back when he changed the shirt colours from white to
9:32
red because he signified the red stood out better on the pitch
9:34
and it was more of a danger colour for the opponents.
9:36
And orange isn't far off that sort of shade.
9:38
Is it really in that sense? And I'm not sure your singing
9:40
goes that deep, but the byproduct of what you've done is
9:43
potentially there. Yeah, I mean, I've, I've told
9:46
you the reasons why it is. I mean, it does look good on, on
9:48
on the pitch as well. It it's, it's a vibrant colour.
9:51
You can see us coming, you know, everything's badged up orange.
9:54
You know the future's bright. Exactly.
9:56
You certainly see us coming. OK, We're joined by Phil the
10:00
gaffer. He's made it through the
10:01
traffic. Horrendous.
10:02
I've got to see it now. It's horrendous, but I'm here.
10:05
Excellent. It's great to see you.
10:06
Great to. See you.
10:07
Thank you. Can I just say obviously
10:08
someone's told him it's fancy dress love.
10:13
I'd I'd refill it as well. So we'll get we'll get the fancy
10:15
dresses. No problem, no.
10:18
Problem. OK, midterm report then boys.
10:20
I think we're just over halfway through the National League N
10:24
season. Bit of a recap of the season
10:28
vote. So far it's been 1 of
10:29
challenges, hasn't it? Few injuries, big results, tough
10:32
spells, great spells, stand out performances.
10:36
I've watched your general view Phil on the the season so far
10:39
since you've been there. You've nailed in that sentence
10:41
to tell you the truth, But that's, I think that's the tale
10:44
of most people's seasons. You know, you go through good
10:47
spells, bad spells, indifferent spells.
10:49
You know, I'm watching, I watch Sky like everybody doesn't watch
10:52
the Premier League and Newcastle, A get drubbed and you
10:56
know, Swanland's my team. When Newcastle and A get drubbed
10:58
in the semi finals and everyone starts questioning the size of
11:01
the squad and the transfer windows closed where they're
11:03
concerned, it's a totally different argument at this
11:05
level. Transfer windows still open and
11:07
we can still trade and we can still do business, but we still
11:10
have the same problems. You know, we still, everyone's
11:13
looking for a squad of about 2425 that are going to be
11:17
competing for places week in and week out.
11:19
And I'm not saying we haven't had that, but everybody's at a
11:23
different level and I've got to go back to it.
11:26
Nigel, I think I really do think it's a different sport, part
11:30
time football compared to full time football, something I've
11:33
been used to for 40 odd years. It's totally it's mind boggling
11:37
some of the stuff that players are coming out with and coming
11:40
up with and and they can't perform because of it.
11:43
You know, and I don't want to elaborate on on individuals or
11:46
anyone given problem, but getting a good strong eleven
11:51
week in and week out, if I can get me best team out there, put
11:53
it that way, we can give anybody a game of football and we've
11:56
already talked about that, you know, the the mirth as of this
11:58
world 65 minutes into that game. We had to make a change and it,
12:04
you know, it wasn't the the sub coming on that made the
12:06
difference. It was just, it weakened our
12:07
hands. You know, Marcel Oakley's been
12:09
playing right back for us all all season, more or less since
12:13
he arrived at the club, whether it be wingback or, or full back.
12:18
And he's been a Starwood signing, you know, he's been a
12:20
very good signing. Same with Conor Wood on the
12:22
other side. But soon as you weaken that
12:24
hand, the opposition smell it just like you do in any game of
12:28
football. And they came after us and they
12:30
they beat us 2 nil and and the rest history as it were.
12:34
But you've got to look at it and focus on, if you're a manager,
12:36
you've got to focus on the positives and the positives.
12:38
We're there for everybody to see for the 1st 6065 minutes, we're
12:41
competing against somebody that's top three.
12:43
Same at South Shields. We go goal down after a minute
12:46
and give them a really good run for the money.
12:49
And at the end of the the game, how we've lost that game, I
12:51
just, I don't, I don't know. We were pushing and Chauvin and
12:54
right the way up until the final whistle, as it were, to get
12:57
something from the game and then kid him and Sahari as who are
13:00
top 4, and that was the early part of the season.
13:03
So right the way through from start to now, there's highs and
13:06
lows, but that's going to continue.
13:08
You know that that will that won't go away.
13:10
The last you know the business end of the season is when you
13:14
really understand your players and you understand the mentality
13:17
of your group. When every game matters, when
13:20
every point matters, when every three points matter and what we
13:23
can even get from a drub and had failed on Tuesday.
13:26
And I don't mean that in a negative way.
13:28
I'm talking about we've been beaten 5 nil by Scunthorpe and
13:31
we learned something from that match.
13:33
The three-game. I said this to the players on
13:35
Thursday night. The chairman wasn't there, which
13:37
is a rarity, but he couldn't make training and we were.
13:40
We were training Thursday night. Afterwards my presentation was
13:43
all about learning. What a manager learns about you
13:46
is better when you're learning from a defeat as opposed to the
13:50
three wins on the bounce. When you three wins on the
13:52
bounce, players that haven't been there or hiding in the
13:55
background or not being present, they come to the party.
13:59
But in games like failed away, we were still going, we were
14:04
still running at the end of it, we were still breathing life
14:06
into the team and. And two goals as well.
14:09
And two goals in the second-half.
14:11
So a lot of, lot of people are looking at, well, you know,
14:14
we've gone through a drought, a dry spell, we're now coming
14:17
through a spell where and you can see whether I've stumbled
14:20
upon it or whether the suspension to Mark Jones has
14:23
been the reason for it or whatever, it doesn't matter.
14:26
Sometimes as a manager you do, you do get lucky.
14:29
But chuckle first. I've known since many days at
14:31
South End which we know he came on loan from Tottenham Hotspur,
14:35
which tells you he's got pedigree and he when I first
14:37
came here that that Shaq was injured, there's there's no
14:42
doubt about it. He was injured for a couple of
14:44
months and that that takes time coming back from it, you know,
14:46
and when, when you come back into the first game, because
14:49
it's part time, Tuesday, Thursday, you play on the
14:51
Saturday, everybody expects you to hit the ground running.
14:53
And when you've been used to Pro Football, that doesn't happen.
14:57
You know what it takes a a number of games and and to be
15:00
brutally honest, I've been brave stick sticking with him when he
15:03
was drawing a blank and then all of a sudden he gets a hat trick
15:06
and breathes life into his game. And the team and Max Booth and
15:11
Muzza who are all on the front line and creating opportunities
15:15
for us. But we're putting them away at
15:16
the moment. And even a 52 defeat against
15:19
failed shows. We got something, you know, we,
15:22
we, we know they were a better team on the night.
15:24
I'm holding my hands up and we know the budgets are massive but
15:28
you know, bottom line is there's nothing wrong with rolling your
15:30
sleeves up and competing and that's what we did.
15:32
So we can take that from the game if anything.
15:34
So coming to the the final stages, coming to the latter
15:38
stages, I think we're in a good place.
15:41
I think we're there's life in the team.
15:44
I'm happy with what I'm going into games with on a sad day.
15:47
I think we've got potency, I think we've got a good mentality
15:50
and the re emergence of Charlie Hickenbotten back in the side
15:53
having been out for three months, these are important,
15:56
important land landmarks as far as I'm concerned as a manager.
16:00
But that settled side that you talked about there, that started
16:04
to happen, didn't it? The three games on the bounce,
16:06
bar Elliott, who couldn't play against Macclesfield because
16:09
that was his parent club, the pretty much the team was the
16:12
same. And three wins on the bounce,
16:14
which I think the first time we've done it in in since Tim's
16:17
been here. And that just shows a settled
16:19
team. It is what we need.
16:20
And that's when you get Joe Blogs or Janus Blogs, whichever
16:23
on the touch lane saying I could manage that team now no problem.
16:27
You have to work through that phase to get to that stage to
16:30
say that that's your best team. And I still, I still say it's
16:33
not the best team. I still think there's there's
16:35
people coming that haven't been in the side that are are
16:39
knocking at the door. If Nigel, have you ever been
16:41
training yesterday at the training session, you'd look at
16:45
Jeff as in go, why is he not playing?
16:47
You'd look at Malik Carrigan, you'd say why is he not playing?
16:50
And there's certain ones that I just thought Strong Brown, who's
16:53
on loan from Donnie, as we know, he's been out injured, His
16:56
time's coming again. And so you've got people pushing
16:59
now for the team that's just won three out of four.
17:02
And Tim, if I can bring you in there, you must have some
17:05
highlights so far. I mean, I'm going to throw mine
17:07
in Southport away with who doesn't love the last minute
17:11
goal? I think that was about 97
17:13
minutes, wasn't it? That was probably one of the
17:15
greatest nights of my life, I think.
17:17
Well, what about highlight for you for the first half?
17:20
For me, it's, it's two weeks ago Macclesfield here from being 31
17:25
down and coming back and beating them 43 just after I've beaten
17:28
Crystal Palace and everyone's raving about them and we played
17:32
them, didn't we feel we, we, we gave them a game and, and in the
17:35
second-half they didn't get a look in.
17:37
It was like from three one down to come back.
17:39
The calibre, you know, the quality of the players showed
17:42
and the togetherness was absolutely brilliant.
17:45
And, and and I'll be honest and I said this to Phil, I said when
17:48
I sat there, when it was came back to three two, I sat there,
17:51
everyone's panicking around me and I'm thinking we're gonna win
17:54
this 4-3 and that's probably the most chilled.
17:57
I've been sat here watching them all season and I'm like
17:59
everyone's looking at me thinking he's losing it now.
18:02
But yeah, for me that was the highlight.
18:05
Well, I sit in the tower just above where you sit and I'll see
18:09
you kick and head every single ball.
18:11
So if if you were chilled out then then maybe we need a few
18:14
more wins. I just like for me as well the
18:19
defeat of Merthyr. The mood around the club seemed
18:22
to really change after that and then the three wins.
18:25
It's just great to see a buzz about the place again and people
18:28
smiling again, isn't it? It means the care and I'm
18:31
talking about the players now. It means decay.
18:33
You know, when you you go to Mertha and listen, it doesn't
18:37
matter. Any game of football, you can
18:38
walk into in the Premier League and you're walking up against
18:41
Manchester City. You, you think you're going to
18:42
get hammered. Next thing you know, you've got
18:44
a lifeline because you're playing well, etcetera,
18:46
etcetera. I was having a bit of fun with
18:48
the chairman who was a Spurs supporter, as we know, and and
18:50
that was the Man City Spurs Game 2 nil up.
18:52
I'm doing BBC Radio Manchester and two nil up at half time.
18:56
It could have been four and then just a subtle change that I know
19:01
quite a bit about about management.
19:02
You know, I've had a few games in me time and I just looked at
19:06
the removal of a club captain first and foremost, but he's a
19:09
little bit of a a nuisance. If truth be known, Romero and it
19:13
it took him out of the back 5, changed to a back 4, started
19:17
hitting the front line a little bit earlier and the change was
19:21
palpable. It was just around the stadium
19:23
and I know it's a great stadium, it's fantastic, but as a manager
19:27
that's visiting, doesn't matter what level you're at, you can
19:29
learn something from a game of football.
19:30
Doesn't matter who you are, what you are, you can learn.
19:33
And I learned that day that you're never out of it.
19:35
You're never out of a game of football.
19:36
And we showed a couple occasions as the chairman's made reference
19:39
to Macclesfield and yourself, Southport as a manager on a
19:42
touch line. You never want to be 31 down at
19:44
half time. And if you remember I was in the
19:46
in the tower beside you and at the three one stage I'm running
19:49
along the pitch trying to get a little bit of information on to
19:53
Charlie about a change possibly at half time or whatever.
19:56
And it went 32. I remember my ears are still
19:58
ringing. Yeah, but it went 3-2 and then
20:02
you know, that's a lifeline. You're going in second-half,
20:05
you're coming out second-half and you're breathing and then
20:07
you get equalising goal. And like, like the chairman
20:10
said, there's a, there's, there's something about the
20:12
changing room that I like and it's, it's a never say a die
20:15
attitude. It's a hard working mentality
20:19
that I'm happy with at the moment.
20:21
Fantastic, thank you very much. This is great stuff.
20:23
So we'll be back after these adverts, 17 games left.
20:28
We'll talk about those with Phil and Tim.
20:42
You're listening to PCR sports. OK, welcome back to PCR Sports.
20:50
We're here with Tim and with Phil Fascinating chat tonight.
20:54
I'm loving this one. So 17 games left.
20:59
I got a very stern telling off last time you were on for
21:01
mentioning the R word, but like or not, I think we are in a in a
21:06
bit of a scrap down the bottom there. 17 left eight.
21:10
It's roughly the same split eight at home, 9 away.
21:13
Doing very well at Pym's Park. I understand the magic number
21:16
we're trying to get to is 50 points.
21:19
If you aim for a 50 point and you get relegated, it's a
21:24
disaster isn't it? I think you've got to be a
21:26
little bit more ambitious and may make game for 5253.
21:30
That for me is equivalent to seven wins.
21:32
And you know, if we get seven wins from the last 17 games, it
21:38
might be job done, but it might not be.
21:39
You never know because everybody's in that survival
21:42
mode and there's 8 or 9. But it's it's better than coming
21:45
into a club that was rock bottom, out of sight, everybody
21:49
cast off as relegated. Done deal.
21:52
Yeah, and it's very tight, isn't it?
21:54
And it's now we've dragged every time we, we had a win and
21:57
whether it be a cup competition or whatever, it was a, it was a
21:59
marker for us, you know, because we, we were trying to bang this
22:02
drum that we can play, we can take on the best we can,
22:05
whatever. But you've got to have belief
22:07
where that's concerned. And belief comes from the wins.
22:10
And that sounds obvious, but it, it really does grow as a, as a
22:13
group. But to get 3 on the bounce, it's
22:17
grown to the extent where we thought we could even go to
22:19
failed and give them a run for the money, which we learned
22:22
quickly in the first half that that wasn't going to be the
22:24
case. So there are exceptions to the
22:26
rule. Don't get me wrong.
22:27
They're all winnable games without a shadow of a doubt.
22:29
And you mentioned it at Pym's Park.
22:31
I think it's brilliant. Yeah.
22:32
Not only teams that come here and are beaten by the
22:34
surroundings. We were one of them, by the way,
22:36
when I was managing Kiddermin Sari.
22:37
I was beaten by the surroundings.
22:39
So all, all the chairman's investing a lot of money in the
22:41
ground. I'm trying to hold them back on
22:44
that one. Don't invest too much at this
22:45
moment in time because we still need it to be an intimidating
22:49
place, you know, where you know you you're not going to get a
22:53
free game. And again, going back to the
22:55
Spurs game, all the big boys go to Spurs now and see a lovely
22:58
stay in wonderful stadium and they step up to the plate that
23:01
Spurs this challenge. Our challenge is making sure
23:03
that it's ugly at times, but also we can play when that when
23:07
that service is conducive to a game of football, we can pass
23:10
the ball as well. And what is it about P, Ms.
23:13
Park, you're saying obviously teams hate coming here?
23:14
What is it about it that that teams don't like?
23:17
Proximity more than anything else, you know, the houses are
23:19
just past the stand, as it were, but the the crowd are right next
23:22
to you. And that's an only mentality
23:24
anyway, you know, But you just be picking the ball up to throw
23:27
in harmlessly to to your team, you think, and all of a sudden
23:29
there's there's a fan in your face, you know, and he's telling
23:32
you exactly where to get off, you know, but but that's, that's
23:36
the level. That's not only football.
23:37
That's something I love about the game that you can actually
23:42
get somebody's opinion that's standing right next to you.
23:44
You're embroiled in a game of football and he's handing you
23:46
the ball and sometimes he throws it in your face.
23:48
But that's, as I say, that's life.
23:50
But Pimms Park, I don't know. We came here nearly two years
23:55
ago now, isn't it? We came here nearly two years
23:57
ago, flying high in the National League North and a bigger
24:00
budget, all of the, you know, the attributes that you're
24:04
required to get promoted from this, from this level.
24:07
And then we'll run into Michael Gash.
24:10
That was enough. That was the intimidating part.
24:12
Gash, he was playing that day and the beaters scored, I think,
24:15
didn't he? He scored, The Beatles won nil
24:17
and OK, it was, it was the cup and I'd made eight changes.
24:21
Is that an excuse for playing poorly?
24:23
No. Is that an excuse for being
24:24
intimidated? All of these things are part and
24:27
parcel of Peter. Was what?
24:29
Happens, you know, like like we talked about earlier, Crystal
24:31
Palace going to Acklesfield completely.
24:33
Game over after 5 minutes. They've seen they've seen a bit
24:35
of claret from the the club captain who went into an aerial
24:39
challenge and came out the worst for it, apparently because he
24:43
had a cut, cut head and, you know, bandages go were going on.
24:46
But he came out the best at this level because you see the claret
24:50
and boys step up to the plate at this level when they see claret.
24:52
When you go to the Premier League in the privileged areas
24:55
of the, the, the upper echelons of football, they sometimes
24:59
shirk at at the sight of a little bit of blood.
25:02
But you know, it's it's always been part and parcel of the game
25:05
as far as I'm concerned and will never change.
25:07
And and beating Macclesfield, of course.
25:09
That means that paper sports are better than Crystal Palace and.
25:12
Yeah. Absolutely.
25:14
So we'll bring. We'll bring you back in there,
25:16
Tim. We talked about the, Phil talked
25:19
about that investment in the ground and just this last week
25:22
seen two of the biggest outside buildings I think I've ever seen
25:26
appear at Pimms Park. That's all about the new people
25:29
coming in, the strength and conditioning coaches, the
25:32
physios. That's about having a a room for
25:34
them, isn't it? In space for them to work in?
25:37
Yeah, they're 214 1/2 meter portal cabins that we've
25:44
inherited from the NHS and they're, they're quality units.
25:50
There's, there's plenty of office space in there for
25:52
everybody, for me, for Phil to have a separate offices now
25:55
instead of me being camped in the boardroom here.
25:57
But I love it in here and yeah, for the physio, strength and
26:02
conditioning coach, goalkeeping coach, there's room for
26:05
everybody in there and, and to push the club on in in this
26:09
professional manner that we're we're striving to go towards.
26:13
And, and that includes taking us from part time to at least
26:17
hybrid, if not full time, which is the plan.
26:19
And and we've got to sit down in the Gaffrey.
26:22
We've got to have a little chat and see how we're going to
26:24
structure that because it's, it's got to be structured right
26:27
or we'll fall flat on our face. And we've gradually built this
26:32
season and it's, it's all kind of happened this last month,
26:35
bringing the, the strength and condition, the new physio
26:38
goalkeeping coach. And, and it's, you can show that
26:41
you can see the difference that's made in this last sort of
26:44
five or six weeks. So taking it forward is is is
26:47
got to be where we've got to get it right.
26:50
A lot of people will think what are you talking about?
26:53
A couple of portacabins have arrived and this and you know
26:54
that, but it's it's the quality people that that the chairman's
26:57
talking about who need to see a club moving in the right
27:01
direction. That is that is key.
27:02
It's key to in, you know, investment in the in the playing
27:06
stuff. When you see a player come in
27:07
here, why is he coming here? The reason being he wants to be
27:10
involved with a successful team, but it's on and off the field of
27:14
play. You know, you build off the
27:15
field of play to promote on the field of play what you're trying
27:18
to achieve. And that's when a game of
27:19
football, but also staying in this division and also planning
27:24
for longer term futures, you know, as in hybrid or full time.
27:28
And it doesn't happen overnight, but there's a lot of work going
27:31
on behind the scenes that we're hoping that the players are
27:33
seeing. And the investment from them is
27:36
performance without a shadow of a doubt.
27:38
But we've got a a lot of meetings on my hands to to see
27:42
what people actually want. You know, Brian Stormans are a
27:45
wonderful thing, but sometimes a backroom staff member comes in
27:49
and he hasn't really understood what the project is all about.
27:53
And I hate the word project because it sounds like what a
27:56
work in progress in this. And every time you come into
27:58
work, you should be projecting yourself and projecting the
28:01
football club to to try and improve.
28:04
And if you don't, you're just floating.
28:06
You're just, you know, you're not part of a something that's
28:10
going forward. And that's what we that's what
28:12
we're trying to implore on people that are coming to the
28:14
football club and impress them to impress others that they're
28:17
coming as as well. And I'm hoping the supporters
28:20
are seeing that on the field. And it must be fantastic to have
28:23
a chairman like Tim here because I, I know a few weeks ago the
28:28
talk was around, there's a few injuries, a lot of hamstrings.
28:31
We need more strength and conditioning work.
28:33
And in true Tim Woodward style, straight away you've got a
28:36
strength and conditioning coach and the Tavernier is follow up
28:39
with gym equipment. We not only had a strength and
28:40
conditioning coach exactly, we had a gym.
28:42
And there's a lot to lot to be said for the room next door.
28:46
If you've been to Pyms Park, you know what I'm talking about.
28:48
The you know, you've got the the boardroom and then you've got
28:50
the bar next door which covers a multitude of sins.
28:52
You know it. It caters for the Peterborough
28:54
Women Football Club, it caters for us Tuesday, Thursday, but
28:58
inside now is catering for us as a gym.
29:01
Strength and conditioning place a place inside because the
29:04
weather is inclement outside, we don't have to go running around
29:07
looking for a gym and costing a fortune.
29:09
It's now invested in here and people are going to get service
29:13
and service to me as a footballer would be get me on
29:16
the field of play and help me to keep myself on the field of play
29:20
and my quality out there will keep me out there.
29:23
But if I'm going to pull up with a hamstring 5 weeks into it or
29:25
whatever, I need to know what you're going to do for me.
29:28
And they're getting investment now from a physical and
29:31
technical and tactical point of view, as well as financially.
29:34
From a player's perspective, having you know, services and
29:36
and availability of those sort of things in house, it kind of
29:39
removes that little bit of mental and almost physical
29:41
fatigue, doesn't it, of driving to gyms and going to here, going
29:43
here, it gives them a bit more of a smooth ride in preparation
29:46
for the matches. Yes, we've, we've still got the,
29:48
the, the problem of that as it were.
29:50
But again, the chairman, this is a long term plan.
29:52
Now we're talking about next season and beyond investment in
29:55
possibly an Astroturf surface that we don't have to go and
29:59
look elsewhere. So come Tuesday or Thursday or
30:01
come Monday, Wednesday, Friday, if we do go full time, we're not
30:05
looking around for a facility to go and waste a lot of time,
30:09
effort and energy before you actually start playing football.
30:12
So I've got, I just want to touch on this.
30:15
You talked about going hybrid and then full time.
30:17
Maybe what are the implications of that for anybody listening
30:21
who you know, they might think that's a really, really simple
30:24
step, OK, you're going to trade every day instead of a couple of
30:27
days. I would imagine the implications
30:29
is are amazing, yeah. I'm telling you Nigel, the
30:31
difference is, is palpable. It's phenomenal.
30:33
As far as I'm concerned, you're talking about only a couple of
30:36
days because the majority of pro clubs have a Wednesday off or
30:39
have a day off, maybe the day after a game.
30:41
But the warm down procedures nowadays, the feedback
30:44
procedures, important video sessions, all of these things
30:48
that players are actually asking for to be fair to them, You
30:50
know, I have a meeting after every training session, feedback
30:53
from them, feedback from me. But if I'm giving them feedbacks
30:57
directly after a game of football on a Saturday, the next
31:00
time I don't see them until Tuesday.
31:03
If we've got another game. If we've not, we've got a
31:04
training session. I'm going to be wasting my time.
31:07
And I don't mean this negatively.
31:09
On a video session for an hour and a half before and then I've
31:12
only got 3540 minutes to work with them because we've only got
31:16
a couple of hours with them and then they've got to go home,
31:18
they've got travelling. So there's all sorts of issues
31:20
and problems that hybrid will actually get rid of and then
31:24
full time will absolutely enhance the whole product.
31:27
And Tim, what, what's your view on that?
31:28
That's that's a lot of work for you off the field, isn't it, To
31:31
put all that in place? It's a tremendous amount of
31:34
work. And like I said, we've, we've,
31:37
we've, we've got to sit down and work out how we do it and what
31:41
the best way to do it is, which is the most key financially
31:46
viable way of doing it. And we, we, we've got to keep
31:49
our eye on, on the, on the purse strings.
31:53
And obviously Phil talks about a possible 3G pitch out the at the
31:56
back there. That's a possibility.
31:58
It's an awful lot of money. We, we've just got some quotes
32:02
in and then we're talking 950,000 just for the, for the
32:06
big training pitch. So that's a bit of an Ouch, but
32:09
it's depends what funding's available.
32:11
Having ladies play here absolutely kicks into the, the,
32:16
the, the funding, the, the, the foundation money, they, they'll
32:19
put some in. So that's key to to have women
32:22
around you. And I guess the bottom line is
32:24
we've we've talked about filed on Tuesday evening, they're a
32:28
full time club. And that was part of them being
32:32
so good on Tuesday, wasn't it? The fact that they're full time.
32:34
I think 6 out at the top here are full time and that tells you
32:38
a lot. But don't get me wrong, you know
32:40
the the mentality having a management team that are full
32:44
time, the mentality I'm talking about now to in inject a little
32:48
bit of something better into the players.
32:50
You know, because missing out on a pre season is a big miss.
32:53
And then a poor start to the season is a, is a, is a drain on
32:57
resources in terms of what you can give.
32:59
So as a player, you're first and foremost your thought processes.
33:02
I'm coming to Peter for sports because of.
33:04
And then you find yourself 4 points after eight games that
33:07
will kill anybody's expression, that will kill anybody's drive
33:11
or determination to win a game of football.
33:13
The change in management, albeit Michael Gash is still at the
33:17
football club and he's contribute his contribution.
33:21
I've got to say it, I've got to mention this, to go live has
33:24
been nothing short of brilliant because the man's been removed
33:27
from the management role and now he's back as a player.
33:30
He's working tirelessly behind the scenes to try and get
33:32
himself fit so he can contribute on the field of play.
33:34
And I think take my hat off to him.
33:36
But the bottom line is removal of one, bringing in somebody
33:39
else. There's a change of the whole
33:41
process of how, how to try and win a game of football.
33:44
But to move from part time to go full time is a massive change.
33:48
And people, some people might feel that if you're a footballer
33:51
now and you're earning a lot of money off the field to play as
33:53
well as you're getting a backhand or you're getting money
33:56
from the, the football, your drive and determination is
33:59
probably to, to, to cater for your family, to look after your
34:02
family. That's important.
34:04
And your daytime job is doing that.
34:06
The nighttime job is part time. We're going to say it's now
34:09
going to be a daytime job. Now that's financially, that's
34:12
contractually, there's all sorts of barriers and hurdles that
34:15
we've got to try and first and foremost feigned.
34:17
And we're going to stumble into them, by the way, because it's
34:19
blameful at the moment, but we're going to stumble into them
34:22
and then stumble through them and hopefully come up the other
34:25
end a better club. Brilliant.
34:26
Well, I've certainly got the right people to do that.
34:28
I think, OK, we're going to go off for another break and we'll
34:31
be back with Tim and Phil in just a few minutes.
34:35
You're listening to PCR. Sports.
34:47
OK, welcome back. Final part of the show then.
34:49
We're here with Tim and with Phil and Tim.
34:53
It's raining. It's been raining most of the
34:55
day. This must be a real headache.
34:59
You know, fans get a game called off.
35:00
Yes, it's annoying, but they'll go and do something else, won't
35:03
they? For a club like sport, having a
35:05
game called off it has big implications, doesn't it?
35:09
Yeah, it does. I mean we, we, I mean, if you
35:12
look look at Hereford at the moment, they've now got 23 games
35:18
to play and that is every date they can play on.
35:21
They can't afford to to not that's going to affect them.
35:24
And unfortunately they're the teams that will have to go there
35:26
on a Thursday night as well now as opposed to a Tuesday.
35:31
That'll affect them as well. But us, yeah, we've plotted on,
35:34
we've we've not done too bad with games being called off.
35:38
I think we've only had one through ice, haven't we?
35:41
If it's air pitch drains pretty well.
35:43
It does get extremely wet and puddles up.
35:45
But as you well know, and I can see you're sitting there
35:48
grinning at me. You've, I've been out there with
35:50
the wet and dry Hoover, yes, everybody a wet and dry Hoover,
35:54
Hoover and water up and taking all the puddles off.
35:56
And that was the Macclesfield game that was in great danger of
35:59
being called off and it was on. It works.
36:02
That was, yeah, that, I mean, that's the great story going
36:05
around the place at the moment, Gaffer said.
36:08
He wanted the game on and you said right, we'll get it on then
36:10
and you're out there hoovering up the waters.
36:12
And the three one down, Yeah, it was a disaster at the end of the
36:16
game. Well done, chairman.
36:17
Well. Done.
36:17
Exactly, Exactly. But you know, that's, that's the
36:20
spirit of this club, isn't it? I've definitely noticed that
36:23
since I've been here. That is the the whole spirit and
36:26
the whole thing about this club is that people want success
36:29
here. Yeah.
36:30
And the support mechanism stretches far and beyond that.
36:33
Any other place I've ever been to, you know, in terms of the
36:37
support from the backroom staff, the support from the players,
36:39
the amount of time we've been here over the Christmas period.
36:42
And we had a game, we had a training session that was
36:44
cancelled. And there was six or seven of
36:46
the players turned up to see if they could get the game on,
36:49
turned up with pitchforks and whatever.
36:50
You know, one of them just walked in.
36:51
He's in my quiz team tonight. That's Dan Jarvis, who's
36:55
probably about a week, 10 days away from returning to the team,
36:58
which is great news for everybody.
37:01
But Dan was certainly one of them.
37:03
But that's the spirit that we've got, you know, the backroom
37:05
staff, anybody that's involved, the bar staff here, the, the
37:11
boardroom as all the way up to the chairman that, you know,
37:15
they're prepared to get their hands dirty to do whatever it
37:18
takes to try and win a game of football.
37:19
And first, first thing you've got to do is try and get it on
37:22
so that we can take the opposition on.
37:24
And that'll, that'll probably extend till about 6-7 o'clock
37:27
8:00 in the morning when we've got a pitch inspection at 8:40.
37:31
So let's see. Let's see.
37:33
Indeed, let's hope, let's hope it's on.
37:36
OK, then we'll we'll just finally talk about those games
37:40
that are left. Is it the home games that you're
37:45
really targeting? Is that where you think we're
37:47
going to pick the points up? I know we touched on this about
37:49
being being good at home. So any particular areas of the
37:53
final part of the season that you're targeting to get those
37:56
points or is it, is it really just you're going to tell me
37:58
every take, every game, is it? Absolutely, Nigel, absolutely.
38:01
And it's, it's boring, but it's, it is something that managers
38:04
have to do. And sometimes I've, I've not
38:07
known what the next game is afterwards, you know, and was
38:10
travelling down to or across to failed on choosing the whole of
38:15
the board, you know, the chairman's mates, etcetera.
38:17
They're all in the coach and they're talking about what about
38:19
this game and what about that game?
38:20
I have no idea. All I was doing is focusing on
38:23
failed and that's all I can do. And I know it sounds a little
38:26
bit ignorant when somebody does ask you the question, but you
38:28
really do have to focus that deep because soon as you start
38:32
distracting the players, they're looking further down the line,
38:35
They're not looking at what's in front of you and even the next
38:38
pass. And that's how much you need to
38:40
focus on tomorrow's encounter. Fingers crossed the game will be
38:45
on and hopefully can get a three-point win against Kurz and
38:49
Ashton. If you remember rightly, you're
38:51
talking about travelling. We travelled well that day.
38:54
We went to Kurz and Ashton gave him a run for the money without
38:57
a shadow of a doubt. We had 24 shots that day and we
39:00
got beat one nil and that was a that was a bit of pill, that was
39:03
it. That was a hard one to swallow.
39:05
And that was another telling off that I got because I said that
39:08
day that we didn't play and and you totally disagreed with that.
39:12
My point was that, yeah, we did have the 23 shots, but we didn't
39:15
work their keeper. Yeah, enough.
39:17
And that's that's been if, if we're honest, that's been one of
39:20
our problems, hasn't it? Well.
39:21
It has been until of late and you know, the bringing in of
39:25
Sean Jeffers, I think, I'm not saying as a master stroke by any
39:28
stretch of the imagination because people want to see him
39:29
playing, they want to see him scoring goals.
39:31
But what he's done to Max Booth and what he's done to Shaq
39:34
Culthurst is exactly what competition is all about and
39:37
that's all we've ever strived for.
39:40
You know, it's not just the 11, it's the seven on the bench and
39:43
then there's a seven in the stand.
39:45
If the seven in the stand are happy, it's because we're
39:47
winning and they're getting a bonus or whatever.
39:49
But the seven on the bench, you've got to get off the Maxese
39:51
and push the ones that are on the pitch and that's what
39:53
happens in training on a day-to-day basis.
39:56
And the the three put of players since you've been here, the the
39:59
team has changed immensely. I look forward to my Friday
40:02
afternoon text now from Natalie saying we've got another player
40:05
to announce tomorrow. And how far away are we from
40:08
being in that team, being a field, you know, a field team?
40:12
I think we've we've got four or five still on the periphery.
40:17
You know Ryan Frights just came back from a loan spell and if if
40:20
he sees a brick wall in front of him in terms of centre half so
40:23
he'll want to go out on loan again.
40:25
Mark Jones is just on the back of a four-game suspension and
40:28
he'd be looking at the team and seeing who's scoring, who's
40:31
playing well and and and how well we've been doing in them
40:35
four games. So he might be banging me door
40:37
down for the go out on loan. You've got young lad Ben Mencer
40:40
who hasn't had a real opportunity because of Marcel
40:43
Oakley's. The emergence of Marcel Oakley
40:46
is a constant threat and and a good player in the right back
40:49
berth. And also we brought in Zach
40:51
Willis who can actually play right back.
40:52
So Ben Mensa looking to go out on loan.
40:56
Ethan Young's been out on loan, wants to go out again.
40:59
He just doesn't want to come back to training, which is good
41:01
for him. You know, at the end of it could
41:03
he could have had three loans at steps higher every time and
41:08
therefore his games improving every time and therefore he
41:10
could be 1 not to rule out left footed center back 6 foot three
41:14
young lad for next season. So all of these things are still
41:17
part and parcel of the building block process for next year, not
41:20
this year, but the only thing that we're focusing on is making
41:24
sure we're in this division next year.
41:26
Yeah, absolutely. And Tim is, is that a, is that a
41:29
focus for you now we've spoken before about having one of the
41:32
biggest squads in the National League NI think and you know
41:35
that's obviously not sustainable going forward.
41:37
Is that a focus for you as we look towards next season to get
41:41
that down a bit, make a bit more manageable maybe?
41:43
Absolutely 2324 man squad. As Phil says at the minute,
41:48
we've got a 32 man squad, but we've needed to do it that way
41:53
to bring the players in to, to, to get them to replace the ones
41:57
that we possibly don't see as as fitting or, or they're not
42:02
performing to the best of their ability.
42:05
So rather than, you know, put them out and then bring in, I've
42:09
allowed it to carry on the way it is.
42:10
Yes, it's costing a lot more money but I think it's something
42:13
that we had to do and now we look to build for next year and
42:19
and obviously that squad will have to be reduced and that's
42:22
something else that Phil will work towards.
42:24
He knows what he wants. If I cannot do that, Nigel, it's
42:28
it's the product when you go 3232 players, the biggest in the
42:32
league, why we where we are. It's the product of a management
42:36
change and it has to be reiterated that the management
42:39
change has been put in place. But the chairman, because
42:42
contracts are finished at the end of the season, you know,
42:45
players either one paying up, settled up, whatever it is, and
42:48
you know, you can't afford to just waste money like that.
42:52
If they're there, if they're still around in the change room,
42:54
you've got to try and find a way to use them.
42:56
And if they won't go out on loan or they don't want to go out on
42:58
loan or they're not good enough to go on loan, whichever the
43:00
case may be, you've still got to try and squeeze every last drop
43:03
out of every player that's here. And that's what we've been
43:05
doing. Absolutely.
43:07
And again, that's just another example of a supportive
43:12
chairman, isn't it? You know, we needed those
43:15
players. We needed to get them in and he
43:16
totally did it. I've no doubt in my mind that
43:19
the chairman would have supported the previous incumbent
43:21
without a shadow of a doubt and if Gashi was sitting here, we'd
43:23
tell you that. But when you start losing games
43:26
on a regular basis, and it was said after the game on Tuesday
43:30
night, and it has to be reiterated, it was probably
43:32
around about the time when we got beat 5 nil at home from
43:34
field when the change of management came about.
43:38
So was it a test of character the 52 defeat on Tuesday night?
43:41
Well, I put it to the players afterwards and the resounding
43:45
message that was coming back was that we gave up that day.
43:50
We gave up that day. And it's probably the reason why
43:52
the the the management changed. And that's not saying that the
43:54
previous management management are useless.
43:56
Any daff like that? We gave up that day.
43:58
On Tuesday night, we were still running in the 95th minute.
44:02
Exactly. Well, it's been fascinating.
44:04
I'm afraid we've run out of time, guys.
44:05
Thank you so much for being on the show this evening.
44:09
Next week we've got Sean Harley from Football Versus Cancer.
44:12
Lots of work being done behind the scenes to get this year's
44:15
event on insurance going to come and tell us all about it next
44:18
week. Thank you for listening.
44:20
We'll see you next Friday.