0:00

This podcast is proud to

0:02

be part of the TalkSport

0:04

Fan Network. TalkSport. Powered by

0:06

fans. The

0:08

TalkSport Fan Network is proud to be

0:11

partnering with Lotto from the National Lottery.

0:13

You know that Lotto is basically the

0:15

OG millionaire maker, right? You can get

0:17

involved and play every Wednesday. Crazy. Imagine

0:20

you won this Wednesday's jackpot. How wild

0:22

would that be? Rules and procedures apply.

0:24

Players must be 18 or over. At

0:28

FedMGM, we know how to put on a

0:30

show. So we don't

0:32

just do offers. We do golden offers

0:34

like this. MGM

0:37

Millions. Our super-sized jackpot where right

0:39

now, you could win over 21 million

0:42

pounds. Get

0:44

ready for the golden era in

0:47

online casino. FedMGM, it's

0:49

showtime. Minimum 10p

0:51

game stake. Terms and conditions apply.

0:54

18 plus. Please gamble responsibly. Croixa,

0:58

hello. Welcome for the 200th

1:00

time to Rob Ryan Redd.

1:02

The Rexham podcast brought to

1:04

you, you know by now surely, Redd

1:06

10 People Development The Music,

1:08

brought to us by Rexham base

1:11

band Hypnotic. On today's special episode,

1:13

we'll look back at the formidable

1:15

home record Rexham have after wins

1:17

over Lincoln City and Exeter City.

1:20

We will look ahead to the

1:22

January transfer window and the two

1:24

big decisions Rexham have to make

1:26

even before it opens. And

1:29

myself and Nafe also play a

1:32

special game towards the end to celebrate

1:34

our 200th episode and to celebrate, well

1:36

160 years of Rexham Football Club as

1:38

well. All that and more on this

1:40

show. Rob

1:48

Ryan Redd. So,

2:05

Naif, we're recording on the

2:07

Wednesday after Rexman's win

2:09

over Lincoln City, which was, well, over

2:11

the the Bake Off final, the scabbiest

2:13

win of the evening. I'm still furious

2:16

about the Bake Off result. Rexman's

2:18

win though, nitty gritty, not

2:21

very pretty, but we got another three

2:23

points and this is what Rexman

2:25

do. We don't score, we don't have a goal

2:27

scorer, but we score goals. We

2:30

concede a lot of chances, but we

2:32

don't concede goals and the underlying stat

2:34

merchants won't be happy because Rexman win

2:36

again and who would have guessed it?

2:39

Well, firstly, I want to say I

2:42

was very surprised to even see you there.

2:44

I thought Bake Off final trumps all else,

2:47

but there you were. It

2:49

was very much enjoyed it. It's sort

2:51

of going down. It's been a while, obviously, you've

2:53

been here there and everywhere, as people who've been

2:55

listening know. The

2:57

first thing when I came away from that result was

3:00

obviously buzzing. It was a great win. Another clean sheet.

3:02

I think that's 10 in 17 now. 10

3:05

clean sheets from 17 games. Mad

3:07

when you think that's the last season where the

3:09

first few games were shipping five goals a game. Crazy.

3:12

Even when we went down to Wimbledon, I think that was

3:14

one all wasn't it? Clean sheets were very,

3:16

very hard to come by for a while last season. We've

3:18

got 10 from 17 this season. I think

3:20

if you'd have offered me that at the start, I would

3:22

have told you that you'd been way, way too optimistic and

3:24

that's coming from me. But

3:27

what I thought about that game last

3:29

night is it's one that

3:31

won't really be remembered come the

3:33

end of the season, but they are the type

3:35

of wins that get you a promotion. They

3:38

are so sort of awkward

3:41

to the eye and sort

3:43

of not memorable, not full of big

3:45

moments, but they're so crucial. So while

3:48

you had Saturday, which was a dominant

3:50

display against the best defense in the

3:52

league, which is now ourselves, but Exeter

3:55

at the time were you've blown the

3:57

doors off Exeter and Lincoln,

3:59

I think show. you similarly to Huddersfield that

4:02

they are just very very formidable at the

4:04

level. They're very difficult to break down and

4:07

yeah the first things that came to mind for

4:09

me were Bromley at home, which was a January

4:11

game. It wasn't a November game but January when

4:13

James Jones puts us ahead it's a

4:15

2-1 win. Very very important after an

4:17

FA Cup. I think we played

4:20

Coventry, it came after Coventry so

4:22

we're on the high of the FA Cup and it was a massive game and

4:25

I also think of a

4:27

game where we played Sutton last season

4:29

where Elliot Lee scores in the 89th

4:31

minute. It's a huge three points at

4:34

a point where we had great momentum. So games

4:36

like that where people might be thinking I can't

4:38

fully recall the ins and outs of those games,

4:40

that's the point. These games are hard and

4:43

you just need to win them and we did. That's

4:46

the real sign I think that this is

4:48

a special football team we're watching week in

4:50

week out because I know there's been in

4:53

so many games a season those decisions,

4:56

those split second moments that have maybe gone

4:58

our favourite times but there's been so many

5:00

that haven't as well and we've still got

5:03

through it and this is a Rexham team

5:05

now like you said who just don't concede

5:07

goals. I know there's obviously

5:10

the start of last season's got the quirks

5:12

to it with the goals we've conceded but

5:14

what Rexham have played 17

5:16

games this season in the league,

5:19

we've conceded less goals in 17 games

5:21

than we did in the first four

5:24

matches of last season. Absolutely

5:27

wild and

5:30

yeah we won't score many goals this season

5:32

but we won't concede many either and I

5:34

thought you know the formation

5:36

was interesting across both games it's

5:39

sort of 3-5-1-1. I quite

5:41

liked it. I think it could be a more

5:43

robust system that we could use away from home.

5:46

I think that's quite promising although we have got

5:48

as we said this this run of home games

5:50

coming up anyway that we're involved in now anyway

5:52

it's only Burton and Bristol Rovers we play away

5:55

from home this calendar year but

5:57

you know going into the new year it's going

5:59

to be interesting to see if Parkhy does. adopt

6:01

this free 5-1-1 and a couple of players I

6:03

think have stood out that we maybe want to

6:05

get into in deeper analysis. I

6:08

mean talk about robberies,

6:10

never mind bake-off. Lewis Brunt,

6:12

where is your mile of the match award?

6:14

You're just gonna have to let the bake-off result

6:17

go. I'm not gonna spoil you because anyone's still to

6:19

watch it. You might have to just let that go.

6:21

I know you're upset. I've seen you earlier today. It

6:24

was still very upsetting for you

6:26

then. I'm speaking to you tonight. It's still

6:28

very upsetting now. It's okay. But yeah, Lewis

6:30

Brunt, one

6:33

of them where when it

6:35

was the sponsors picking, it was easy to say, well, they

6:37

just want the shirt. And

6:39

that's normal. That's gonna be a close up now in the

6:41

country, the same people. The mully went through that phase of

6:43

just winning it every single week when people wanted a shirt.

6:48

When the fans are voting for it, obviously, democracy

6:51

rules. But what

6:53

are people? How did Lewis Brunt not win back

6:55

to back? Did he even get mad at the

6:57

match against Exeter? I don't know. He should have

6:59

had it both times. I'm really, really confused. Was

7:01

it Olly Raff, was it Olly Raff burning at

7:03

the Exeter? It was at Olly Raff. But Lewis

7:05

Brunt didn't get it either time. confused.com basically. Yeah,

7:07

I thought he was excellent. And particularly that moment.

7:09

I mean, what I love is

7:13

every time Rex and Wynn, the opposition fans

7:15

say, you're crap, the referee was on your

7:17

side. The referee was against Rex and I'm

7:20

choosing that. I thought he booked Brunt after

7:22

about three minutes or so for the most

7:24

innocuous sort of coming together. And then didn't

7:26

give any more yellows sort of for didn't

7:28

give any more during the game. I can't remember but

7:31

there's a lot of cynical foul tackles going on if

7:33

there's nothing else. Lewis Brunt played the entire game on

7:35

the yellow card. And he was just

7:37

so, so, so smart about about the way

7:39

he did it. There's that moment where there's

7:41

a massive overlap for Lincoln City and he

7:43

sort of won the ball in the edge

7:45

of his own box and then went

7:47

and won the ball on the halfway line again, he stopped

7:50

as being exposed to the ball. And

7:52

it's such a fascinating headache

7:54

now because prior to the

7:56

Stockport game, anyway, we nervous would have had Lewis

7:59

Brunt anywhere near. Not anyone near our starting

8:01

11, but I don't think we would have had him in our starting lineup

8:03

for now. And we've seen

8:05

again, and he's the latest sort of player that Park

8:07

is signed, taking a little while to bed in. And

8:10

now you can't really see Lewis Brent coming out of

8:12

the team anytime soon. Rich, I was saying there would

8:14

have been a moment I was sat in the cold

8:16

road and the mould road for this one. So it

8:18

would have been better place from where you are in

8:20

the Tech End, but there was a moment just after

8:22

he'd got booked where he looked like

8:25

he didn't want to dive in. He couldn't

8:27

dive in because they'd had a similar overlap. And

8:30

I thought to myself, oh no, that's like

8:32

really compromised his game, but credit to him

8:34

because after that he really settled down and

8:36

it would have rocked a lot of players

8:38

that early booking because you go, well, now

8:40

what? I'm not getting massive protection out of

8:42

McLean, who I think did play well actually

8:44

last night. I know he got mad at the

8:46

match. He did play very well. I would still

8:48

give it to Brent, but I thought McLean was good at

8:50

both ends, made some key decisions defensively

8:52

and got forward and it was his cross for the

8:55

goal. Yeah,

8:57

I think Brent particularly really settled after

9:00

it doesn't go in, doesn't want to make a challenge. Lincoln

9:02

looked lively, but seemingly had a magnet either side

9:05

of the post because they just couldn't. I

9:07

think they had 14 shots, one on target, I think something like that.

9:10

Callum Burton, busy, but not that

9:12

busy in all seriousness. But

9:15

yeah, Lewis Brent, I spoke to, I

9:17

can't remember if I said this last

9:19

week, but I spoke to an academy

9:21

coach recently and he'd worked with Brent

9:23

before Villa. He

9:26

said that he felt like Brent was better suited

9:28

or more equipped for

9:30

Rexton when they're in the championship. He just

9:33

got the skill set. He's just better than

9:35

basically a lot of other

9:37

Rexton defenders. I think you're seeing that

9:39

now in games where Rexton will have a

9:41

lot of the ball and he's allowed to come out with

9:43

it at times. The

9:46

term Rolls Royce gets thrown out a

9:48

lot, but Parkinson in his comments after

9:50

Lincoln said just a

9:52

really, really accomplished performance that from Lewis

9:54

Brent. And the funny thing

9:56

is, I know Tom O'Connor played poorly at Stopport.

10:00

but he wasn't alone. I actually think

10:02

the depth defensively is superb because I

10:04

think Dan Scar is very good, he's

10:06

not a bad player at all

10:08

by any stretch. Tom O'Connor is not a bad player.

10:11

I still think Tom O'Connor is very, very, very talented

10:13

and Max is brilliant and O'Connell

10:16

is good as well. We are spoiled for

10:18

choice and heck, Colin Burton is the second

10:21

choice goalkeeper. I'm sure Arthur O'Conqui is watching

10:23

these clean cheats rack up going, oh

10:25

my, this isn't the sort of

10:28

understudy that I need right now.

10:30

No, this is like the

10:32

most confident I've been in a backup goalkeeper

10:34

for maybe my entire time supporting Rexxum really.

10:36

I know we've had people who've been good

10:38

as backup choices but Burton, you know, he

10:40

got promoted with playing to the championship. There's

10:43

actually an argument that he's a better shot

10:45

stopper, like pure sort of no-nonsense

10:47

goalkeeper than Arthur O'Conqui. And

10:50

you know, that's a ridiculous debate to maybe

10:52

to have but that is such a privileged

10:54

position to be in now that even when

10:56

O'Conqui is back and fully fit, he doesn't

10:58

automatically go back into the team, which you

11:01

know, is crazy to say. And I

11:03

agree with you on Brent, I think him and

11:05

Max are both made for the championship. It's whether

11:07

it's with Rexxum or not and at the moment

11:09

it's looking, you know, slightly like a good thing.

11:11

Are they locked for you now? In that back

11:13

three, are they locked? So they, because every team,

11:15

I think as it goes on, as the grind

11:17

of the season gets on, you do need a

11:19

level of consistency. I don't think you can be chopping and

11:21

changing all the time. No,

11:23

but for me, the

11:26

quirk of it is I think it depends on

11:28

your opposition because I was about to ask you

11:30

who your back three are. I think we both

11:32

agree that it's Max Lewis and it's out of

11:34

Scar O'Connell kind of depending on what team you're

11:36

playing. Because if you need a no-nonsense centre

11:39

back, you go for Scar, if you want to be playing out from

11:41

the back, maybe at home, you potentially have

11:43

O'Connell. I think that could be the same away

11:45

from home at times where Max has definitely come

11:47

on leaps and bounds in terms of physicality. He

11:49

can hold his own against anyone in the league.

11:52

Lewis Brunn is a very good ballplayer in

11:54

centre back. I'm not too sure how he'd

11:56

cope against some of the more British forward

11:59

lines in the division. vision, but saying that he's

12:01

done well against X2 and Lincoln are two of

12:03

the best. So he's certainly doing

12:05

well enough for now. I was thinking some

12:07

of those horrible Tuesday night games maybe do

12:09

go a bit more no nonsense back then.

12:11

I'm not too short, but I think long

12:14

term they both have to be. The

12:16

thing is for Parkinson is though, that's

12:19

now become the easiest decision in the world,

12:21

the back three, which seems slightly perverse, but

12:23

it's actually the easiest decision because who would

12:25

change what manager would the salt would change

12:27

about three that's got a clean cheat back

12:30

to back game sheets. I know

12:32

it's not the same one, but 10 clean sheets and 17.

12:34

The longer you keep racking up these clean sheets,

12:36

that's the easiest thing to pick. Same again, same

12:38

again. I was surprised it was an unchanged 11

12:41

because and I think Parkey alluded to himself, Mattie

12:44

James, we're going to come on to him in a

12:46

second. Very surprised he had it in the tank, but

12:48

fair play. You know, a few days later, he hasn't

12:50

played a lot of football and this

12:52

season and we only brought him in

12:54

a few weeks ago, brilliant. Friend

12:57

of ours, James, he was a man of

12:59

match for him. For many others

13:02

that watch and as well, Mattie James played really well.

13:04

To not change it,

13:06

to keep mowing on the bench, fair

13:09

play to Parkey, he's freshened it up, he's changed

13:11

it. He's shown he's not as

13:14

stubborn maybe as he's been in the past.

13:16

He has shown a willingness to try something

13:18

a bit different to drop your

13:20

best forward and I think it's paid off big

13:22

time. I don't think it has. It's paid off

13:25

big time for him. The evidence

13:27

is there, isn't it? No

13:29

matter how last night went, I mean,

13:31

we missed some big chances in that second half.

13:33

The Palmer one, which he somehow put over the

13:35

crossbar, but we got the result

13:37

and it's very easy. Can I

13:39

ask Rachel, sorry to interrupt you again. Can I just

13:42

say quickly on Ollie Palmer, great for him to break.

13:44

We mentioned last week about the 12 game run,

13:47

we haven't scored or gotten an assist. He

13:49

ends that against Exeter. What

13:51

a ball, you know, assist of the season

13:53

that'll be. It won't get goal of

13:55

the season because of Jack Marriott against Wickham, but

13:57

it'll get assist of the season. Great ball in

13:59

from Barney. header. But

14:01

we had a conversation with somebody yesterday, didn't

14:03

we? And I came away

14:05

from the game thinking about it actually, about Ollie Palmer

14:08

wearing the number nine and this kind

14:10

of acceptance that five

14:12

goals will be fine or six

14:14

goals will be fine. When he's

14:16

missing as big chances as he

14:18

did last night, that one in

14:20

particular in front of the tech

14:22

end, he can still

14:24

do a lot better, I think. I think

14:27

he's done well. He does a lot of the dirty

14:29

work, but still he's finishing. We're going

14:31

to need him in big moments. And if he's going

14:33

to be the starting center forward in a system where

14:35

it's just the one up top and it's attacking midfielder

14:37

off him, he'll have to become

14:39

more clinical if he's going to continue to

14:41

be that lone forward. It's

14:44

a tough one, because you know what you get

14:46

with Ollie Palmer. I think he's already exceeded lots

14:48

of people's expectations. We spoke with

14:50

someone last night who's notable in the Rexxum community,

14:53

let's say he might have used to play for

14:55

the club. And he was

14:57

saying he doesn't agree that

14:59

players should get as much praise as they do for their

15:01

work rate, because that's the bare minimum you should have if

15:03

you're a Rexxum player. So whenever we

15:05

say, Ollie's put a shift in and he

15:08

does, and he does really cover the ground

15:10

well, the person we spoke to was saying

15:12

that's what you expect of a Rexxum player.

15:14

And if you're a striker, the lone striker,

15:16

ultimately that's what he's in the team to do.

15:18

And even more so when it's Palmer

15:21

up top by himself, I think if he's in part of a front

15:23

two, I personally

15:25

think he's fine to be a facilitator. But

15:27

when he's the lone striker, there has to

15:29

be more scrutiny on his actual output as

15:31

a goal scorer and as a threat. And

15:33

it was, I

15:36

don't know, I've not seen the replay of it, but I

15:39

think he had to hit the target with the one in

15:41

the second half last night. But

15:43

we still won, we still find a way to do

15:45

it. And again, that's why you can't really argue with

15:47

the changes. I think he would have changed it if

15:49

we had a game this weekend, though, Parkey, but it's

15:51

the fact that he knew, get these players through another

15:53

sort of 70 minutes, at least for some of them.

15:56

And then they've got their week off. So,

15:58

you know, we've come through that. and lots

16:00

of players, you know,

16:02

Saturday, play the game, Sunday, Monday, sort

16:05

of recovery sessions. Anyway, the players will

16:07

would have been raring to go. So

16:09

I think it was easy

16:11

to say in hindsight, the right decision from

16:13

from parking very brave one to do because

16:15

there's obviously the temptation to change it up.

16:19

And even now, though, I know you want

16:21

to get onto midfield, which we'll do at some point, I'm still just

16:24

not sure what you what you're doing attack

16:26

because part of me really

16:28

does want to say just play Paul Mullen

16:30

from the start stick with him. He'll come

16:32

good. He's always come good for us. It's

16:34

Paul Mullen. He is the

16:36

sort of poster boy of this new era

16:38

of Rexxum. Give him the chance give him

16:41

the confidence. He's you know, confidence is so

16:43

important for strikers. One goal, that's all he

16:45

needs off his backside or something and that

16:47

could that could like unleash him. Part

16:50

of me wants to say just play Paul Mullen

16:53

every second of every game. But

16:55

then he comes on, still looks a

16:57

little leggy still just doesn't

17:00

quite look up to speed. And it's

17:02

such a dilemma. I really am torn about what

17:04

to do with him at the moment. What do

17:06

hostile force? I think now

17:09

at this point in his sort of

17:11

development, it seems he needs to be

17:13

in a partnership. He needs someone to

17:15

do the dirty work for him. And

17:17

that's not because he's shirking it or

17:19

doesn't want to do it. I

17:21

think you'd be flogging him a little bit, putting

17:23

him as a lone striker, just having him head,

17:26

you know, hair after defenders because you do see

17:28

the beat. I mean, look at the size of

17:30

Lincoln last night. I thought it was really quite

17:33

telling you look at people like Porto O'Connor and

17:35

and I didn't get the names of their other defenders,

17:37

but they were they were gargantuan. It felt like I

17:40

mean, that on set pieces, they were huge. And it

17:42

was notable that we did end up getting it from

17:44

across but a low cross where we were making them

17:46

play with their feet and not their head. And obviously,

17:48

the guy kicks into his own goal gets it horribly

17:51

wrong. That reminds me, there was

17:53

a really good important save from Burton early on, wasn't

17:55

there? Because they had that chance from the corner. Yeah.

17:58

And that was a huge opportunity. I

18:00

was like, how has that guy got an unmarked

18:02

header? And it seems to happen in slow mo.

18:04

And yeah, again, shout out to Burton because he

18:06

sort of pushed the ball far enough

18:09

away. But I do think we rode our

18:11

luck a lot. I

18:13

think on the on the mulling thing, I'm I

18:15

when it when I saw the team drop, I wasn't.

18:19

I wasn't angry or anything. That's way too extreme.

18:21

But I was thinking, I was thinking, I bit

18:24

like you, I would like to see a bit of

18:27

persistence with Mullen. But at the end of the day,

18:29

that is

18:31

that the best thing for the team

18:33

right now? It might be best for the team in

18:35

the longer run. But right now, it's not.

18:38

And I have to say that the

18:41

Christmas do, which I thought was a little

18:43

bit early when they went to Ireland and

18:45

had a few scoops in Temple

18:47

Bar and had a little trip in Dublin

18:49

after the stop port defeat, we've

18:51

gone back there with two wins. So if

18:54

that lifted the pressure, lifted the mood, lifted

18:56

morale a little bit, job done. And what

18:58

you're saying is just send them on just

19:00

send them to Ireland for the week now.

19:02

So I mean, they've got with

19:04

this is out on Thursday. They're not playing at

19:07

the weekend. So another little joint Ryan Air flight

19:09

over to Ireland. Couple

19:11

of scoops back on Sunday. Ready to go on Tuesday. I

19:13

reckon what can go wrong. Midfield,

19:16

like I said, my James thought he was excellent

19:19

in midfield again. So calm,

19:21

composed, makes really key exceptions

19:23

and just reads the

19:25

game superbly. He he really impressed

19:28

me. And by having him in

19:30

the holding role, you free up Dobson in a

19:32

more attacking role. It's his

19:34

incredible run that tees

19:36

up the only goal of the game. He

19:38

just had that confidence, that sort of unpredictability,

19:40

I think, because because Dobson is a little

19:42

bit gangly and a little, you know, he

19:45

always has sort of his head down when he's running.

19:48

He's got that unorthodox

19:50

dribbling style. The

19:52

defenders don't quite know what to expect from him at times. Often

19:55

he doesn't look like he's totally in control

19:57

of his own body, but he sort

19:59

of just. glided like a

20:01

gazelle through the midfield, poke

20:04

the ball through with like sort of the

20:06

last sinew of his body, goes out to

20:08

McLean, gets the low crossing, we get the

20:10

goal. And Dobson, it's a tuck and

20:12

roll. I didn't know he sort of

20:14

had that in him, but he looks like a proper

20:16

threat, you know. He looks like he's just got a

20:19

bit about him with those driving runs. As

20:21

my mum said on the way out, the lad with

20:24

the gelled, slicked back hair is very good, and

20:26

I would concur with that. The George

20:28

Dobson with the gel there is very good.

20:30

I think now though, it's open. I mean,

20:32

we said last week, didn't we, try and

20:34

get Matty James in there because at Andy

20:36

Cannon was suspended, we said, does Matty James

20:38

come in? I think you've seen that he

20:41

can play that deep line role as a kind of screener in

20:43

front of the back line, differently

20:45

to how Dobson did it, a little

20:47

bit different. He even slicked him. He's a

20:50

bit of a Dave Jones, isn't he? We

20:52

only saw glimmers of Dave Jones before he

20:54

just sort of became a full-time coach. But

20:56

there's something about him where he just seems

20:58

so... He's just that calm level head, the

21:00

anchor of midfield. The anchor, whatever cliche you

21:03

want to use, the conductor, the quarterback, whatever

21:05

you want. But he has

21:07

such... And I think with... He

21:09

has such good vision on the pitch,

21:11

James, that he's played at a higher

21:13

level, he's played at a better level,

21:17

and the game slows down for players like that. So

21:19

even when I saw him running at times, I thought he

21:21

looks a little bit heavy almost

21:23

at moments, but actually, no, he was

21:26

just... He didn't

21:28

need to sprint around like a headless chicken because...

21:30

He frees the game so well, doesn't he? The

21:32

game is slower for him where it isn't for

21:34

others. And now I think Dobson

21:36

in that more attacking role, I think it's

21:39

really opened up this midfield group now because

21:41

you're looking at three options

21:43

for that deeper role now, which

21:45

is James, Dobson,

21:49

or Evans. And

21:51

then really, the other two now...

21:53

I know Lee's

21:55

been playing further forward of late,

21:57

but just take him into the

21:59

mix. The other two now, I

22:02

think... I think all up for

22:04

grabs between Dobson, Cannon, Rathbone,

22:07

Lee and who else? Am I forgetting someone else

22:09

there or the four of them? We can play

22:12

McLean there, can't you? We can play McLean. McLean's

22:14

definitely going to play every week, probably at the

22:16

left wing back. It seems like Revans maybe won

22:19

for next year or the

22:21

back end of the season. But just say

22:23

those four, just say Cannon, Lee, Rathbone and

22:25

Dobson and say you're playing James or Evans

22:27

and the other one. They're

22:30

all different in a way, which

22:33

is good. They all sort of offer you

22:35

something different. I would say out of those, Rathbone

22:38

gives you the greatest work rate. I

22:40

still get quite frustrated at some of his decision

22:42

making because some of it's absolutely superb. Some

22:45

of it maybe I'm just overly critical. Dobson, like

22:47

you say, he's kind of got this weird ability

22:51

to not look in control, but he's very

22:53

much in control and can break the lines

22:55

really well. And again, he's got a good

22:58

energy, good engine, but not quite as good

23:00

as Rathbone. I think probably Andy Cannon might

23:02

be the most

23:04

sort of comfortable as

23:06

a more of a box to box. I

23:09

think he just looks a little bit more comfortable. And Elliot

23:11

Lee, he is the

23:13

most creative of all four. I know it's not

23:15

clicking for him right now and he looks very

23:17

frustrated. Look, Elliot

23:19

Lee doesn't need to tell me to tell him

23:22

to relax because I feel like if you ever

23:24

tell someone to calm down or you

23:26

say it's all right. It's the last thing they want,

23:28

isn't it? It's the last thing they want to hear

23:30

when they're already stressed out and pent up. Just say,

23:32

just chill out, just calm down, just get the red

23:34

rage, the rage you've more. I think it's one of

23:36

those where similar to Mullen, it

23:39

is about back to basics. Because

23:42

you can almost be guilty trying too hard if

23:44

things aren't clicking for you and you're trying things

23:46

just to you always look for that killer pass,

23:48

always looking for a nice shot goal. He just

23:50

cares though, you know, he just cares a great

23:53

deal. And not just about his own. It's not

23:55

a selfish. He just cares a lot. You've seen

23:57

all his quotes over the years that he just

23:59

wants to be. at Rexxo for the rest of

24:01

his career. He'd be willing to be the kit

24:03

man. He loves Rexxo. He loves everything that we've

24:05

been able to give him and he's given us.

24:07

And you think back to scoring

24:10

on that debut against Eastley and what

24:13

a ride it's been for him. And

24:15

if this was to be it, say this was

24:18

league one was all we had, then he's brilliant.

24:20

He's going to go down as a two-time promotion

24:22

winner. There's way more to come. I know he's

24:24

under contract. Don't get it twisted, but it's

24:26

just because he cares so much. I think he's just getting a

24:29

little bit beaten down

24:31

by the grind. Yeah,

24:34

that's absolutely fine. I guess what the

24:36

beauty of what he said now is we've actually got, we

24:39

have genuinely got sort of feasible alternatives to

24:41

him because in the past there's always been

24:43

the argument, well, we could restfully put other

24:45

people in. And we've maybe not had the

24:48

personal or the formation to make it work.

24:50

Now you'd say, yeah, there probably are opportunities

24:52

if required to do so, but it's

24:54

interesting because you lose a strike again with

24:57

Fielder and I suppose throwing

24:59

it forward a bit, Nathan, as we were going to

25:01

get onto anyway, January transfer

25:03

window at the time of recording is five weeks away

25:05

from opening. Mattie James and John

25:08

Dolly Bodvodson are both out of contract in

25:10

January, technically. Do

25:12

you extend any of them already? When do you

25:14

make your decision on them? Because that's

25:16

got to come into consideration even when

25:18

you're evaluating targets for for

25:21

the new year. Yeah, you've

25:23

got to be making decisions very, very

25:25

soon, because you need to be planning

25:27

for January now and you need

25:29

to be putting out Feelers with agents

25:31

of players and representatives that you want

25:33

now, because we're five weeks away, less

25:35

than five weeks now, five weeks on

25:37

the night we record, but less than

25:39

five weeks till the transfer window opens.

25:42

And I don't think Rexxum can wait until

25:45

a deadline day. I know it's a kind of,

25:47

well, players don't always become available. I do get

25:50

this kind of jockeying this negotiation. I think if

25:52

we want to, and if we've got the money

25:57

to do so, and it's within structures and, you

25:59

know, It's not putting us at risk in any

26:02

way. And I don't think

26:04

it is. I think Eric Allen's investing to spend.

26:07

I think he wants to go up as

26:09

much as anyone and grow

26:11

the club and that will involve spending. Now I would say

26:13

if you've got a

26:15

big budget in January, put it all

26:17

in one player. Go

26:20

to give you a bake off analogy, go for

26:23

a showstopper. You know, go for,

26:25

is that right? Get that right? Yeah, you're

26:27

living. You're living. Go for the

26:29

showstopper. Don't go maybe for like three or four bodies,

26:31

which I don't think you need. I just think you

26:34

need one gem that will

26:36

get you over the line. So if you're in the top

26:38

six come January and

26:40

there's a striker there that's gonna cost two and

26:42

a half million quid, I know that sounds mental,

26:45

two and a half million or three million quid. If

26:48

we've got the money there, got big

26:50

investment, it won't cause absolute chaos. Do

26:53

it and do it early. Just

26:55

do it. It'll annoy everybody, I get

26:57

it. But if we've got

26:59

a piece, this team is

27:01

so good. This team can go up. This team

27:03

can finish second in league one. They've seen, heck,

27:06

if Birmingham don't get their act together and they're

27:08

stumbling all over the shop at the minute, who

27:11

knows what? But I think, as I said

27:13

many, many weeks ago to you, I think

27:15

second is very much in play still. And

27:18

all right, every team that we come up against

27:20

says Rexham went very good, were they? Rexham are

27:22

hoofball, Rexham aren't very good, Rexham are rubbish, Rexham

27:24

are naff, Rexham keep winning games.

27:27

We might not play four, three, three, wanky

27:30

football and have a manager who wears bright

27:32

white trainers. But we're very good at what

27:34

we do. And that's absolutely fine. Rich, you

27:36

said to me last night that at

27:39

the pub, you said, imagine if we could score

27:41

goals regularly. Yeah, well that's the thing, that's the

27:43

beauty of it. We're second in league one and

27:45

the perception is we don't have a goal scorer,

27:47

we're in crisis. We don't score goals, what's happening?

27:49

If we had a manager who knew what he

27:51

was doing and players who could actually score goals,

27:53

we'd be the best two in the bully world,

27:55

wouldn't we? We're absolutely fine

27:57

and I really, it's. so

28:00

hard to strike a balance of I am actually

28:02

just happy to finish my table, but also this

28:05

feels like our best chance of getting out of league one

28:07

because we've got the momentum, we've got that belief and

28:10

after, you know, a failed promotion season or

28:12

two or three years getting

28:14

that momentum again, believing not having false dawns

28:16

is so difficult to sort of get

28:18

off your back and these players are

28:20

all winners. They're used to winning games that

28:22

ain't just gonna dry up overnight. So

28:25

this is why strike weather irons hot like this

28:27

is the chance that you said, go

28:30

out in January, be proactive,

28:32

sign someone, boil the piss,

28:34

be oil money rexum again,

28:36

just whatever it takes. This

28:38

is our opportunity. You've got to give it

28:40

your all. There is no point consolidating now,

28:43

settling back and being little old rexum saying we're just

28:45

happy to be here. This is our best ever chance

28:47

of getting out of league one for you know, we

28:49

just have to take it. The

29:02

talk sport fan network is proud to be

29:04

partnering with Lotto from the national lottery. What

29:06

would you do if you weren't a million

29:09

pounds this Wednesday? I mean, would you roll

29:11

up to the game this weekend in a

29:13

brand new ride picking up your mates like

29:15

some VIP chauffeur or better yet scrap the

29:17

car altogether and book out the entire first

29:20

class train carriage for you and all your

29:22

mates. I'm talking champagne flowing, your own private

29:24

waiter, the whole squad living it up on

29:26

the way to the match. Now that's an

29:28

entrance. You never know. You may be the

29:31

next millionaire. Lotto is all about those once

29:33

in a lifetime moments. Rules and procedures apply.

29:35

Players must be 18 or over. At

29:38

MGM, we know how to put on a

29:40

show. So we don't

29:42

just do offers. We do golden offers

29:45

like this. MGM

29:47

millions are super sized jackpot where right

29:49

now you could win over 21 million

29:52

pounds. Get

29:55

ready for the golden era in

29:57

online casino. FED MGM. It's

30:00

shorter. Minimum 10p game

30:02

stake. Terms and conditions apply. 18

30:05

plus. Please gamble responsibly. Right,

30:08

Rich. We're gonna answer the question because it just come

30:10

back out of an ad break there. But to

30:13

answer your question, Mattie James, extend till the

30:15

summer because I think, again, I would shove

30:18

all my poker chips into the

30:20

middle of the table for a striker. I would go all

30:22

up. That is what we need right now. I love that

30:24

we didn't answer that question. We didn't answer

30:26

it before the ad break, seemingly. But is

30:29

it, no, it's not harsh. I think Bodvar's

30:31

not, I've seen enough. I wouldn't extend because

30:33

I'd go out and get someone better. I'd

30:36

go out and get, and look, it was put to

30:38

us. I thought it was

30:40

slightly cruelly, given that someone came up to me

30:43

to say about sponsoring MoPhile, and then immediately followed

30:45

it up with, MoPhile needs to go out on

30:47

loan. So I

30:50

don't know. I think we might be fighting

30:52

over a signed shirt that's been worn two

30:54

or three times. But

30:56

no, in all seriousness, look, I think

30:58

Bodvar's and thanks to

31:00

the memories, maybe, I just don't

31:02

think he, he's not gonna take us

31:04

over the top. I'm looking at a player that

31:07

is championship caliber and

31:09

is on championship wages. And the average championship

31:11

wage for a player is about 20 grand

31:13

a week. That is, that

31:16

is lunacy for us right now with the

31:18

players we've got. But ultimately that could

31:20

be our reality in six, seven

31:22

months. That

31:25

could be the reality. The reality is that

31:27

you could be playing Everton or any

31:29

of these Premier League teams that come down that

31:31

have got players worth tens of millions, you

31:34

know, and we're thinking like, oh,

31:36

who are we gonna break the bat? We're gonna have

31:38

to eventually, if we really wanna do this and really

31:40

wanna go for it, we're a damn good team. So

31:43

respectfully, that's not really respectful, is it?

31:45

But Bodvar's, I'd be saying, ho,

31:48

Val. Yeah, I

31:50

do in Katina because well, achos.

31:54

I think Bodvar's is just a good league

31:56

one striker, a decent league one striker, he's

31:58

a good squad filler. The

32:01

ultimate thing is now, he

32:03

doesn't start for us. He's probably third or fourth

32:05

choice striker. If Jack Marrott is fit, he'd be

32:07

a place lower. Look

32:09

at the top six, seven teams. Does he start for any of them?

32:12

No, he's probably a mid table league one

32:14

striker. Sort of, that's fine. That's absolutely

32:16

fine. That's good to have in your squad. But like he said,

32:18

we're trying to go to the next level. As

32:20

ruthless as it is, I'd probably knock Stenbod Vardasen.

32:24

I don't know what's going on with Steven

32:26

Fletcher. So I can't, you know, offer too

32:28

much on that. But at the moment, well,

32:30

he was on his Instagram story, chipping

32:32

golf balls into a, so

32:35

he seems to be a home playing golf. A Spanish

32:37

press with Gareth Bale, you, aren't you? Yeah, yeah. I'm

32:39

just saying golf, well, I can't remember what that thing

32:41

was. What did it say? Wales Golf

32:43

Madrid. Wales Golf Madrid, yeah. Yeah. And

32:46

it was carried on. But strikers were a bit short,

32:48

look, if I'll cannot get off the bench for, I

32:51

don't know, did you see last night where Farley had

32:53

to be coming on? Yeah, he was ready, wasn't he,

32:55

with, was it with Cam? He had a

32:57

word with Parkey that did not look friendly,

33:00

did not look cordial. Now frustrating,

33:03

to be frustrated, to be, you know,

33:05

for frustration to boil over, I get it, we've seen

33:07

it with Lee coming off the other day, Foul, no

33:09

doubt frustrated, because he didn't come on against Exeter. Where,

33:14

I mean, where is he in the pecking order?

33:16

We're talking about Bodvarsson, we would get rid of

33:18

Fletcher, we don't know what's going on. Foul can't

33:20

seem to get any sort of even garbage time

33:22

minutes. He can't even get the finals. Sam Dolby

33:24

scored for fun in Scotland. Sam Dolby scoring for

33:26

fun in Scotland. I wouldn't recall Sam Dolby. I

33:28

saw somebody message that. I wouldn't recall Sam Dolby.

33:31

Jake Bickerstaff not doing much at all. We're

33:33

not even getting on. I think he came

33:35

on the 89th minute for them on Tuesday

33:38

night. So you're down to Palmer, you're down

33:40

to Mullen, Marry it, we're not expecting until

33:42

maybe February. Splashing

33:44

the cash. That was an initial prognosis, wasn't it?

33:46

Splash the cash on a

33:48

ready-made gold machine. They don't

33:50

come cheap. Well,

33:53

again, as we've said previously, Parkey, the reason Parkey

33:55

doesn't like loan signing is because he likes buying

33:57

a player who's part of his project for two

33:59

to three. for years. And that's what

34:01

you're doing with a striker now, because we've said time and

34:03

time again, we may be,

34:06

I don't think maybe over the Marriott,

34:08

we've got a championship level striker in

34:10

the squad. Even right now, Marriott probably

34:12

isn't quite there, just because he was

34:14

injured, he's been there previously in his

34:16

career, but he's not been in recent years. So you're

34:18

essentially saying that in six months time, we could be

34:20

in a championship with no championship strikers. And

34:22

that is terrifying. So you've got to spend big

34:24

at some point, and to ever get

34:27

to the championship, we need that difference maker and

34:29

attack. I think we're

34:31

in agreement, Bodvard's in, time

34:34

to go, Mattie James extends to

34:36

the end of the season at the least, and then evaluate again. Yeah.

34:39

But let us know what you

34:41

think, robironred@gmail.com, robironred.com. You can get

34:44

us on the contact us

34:46

page there. Right,

34:49

Rich, let's round out episode

34:51

200. Now,

35:03

we put the feelers out, so who could we

35:05

get? How could we make it special? In the

35:07

end, I thought, what's better than just you and I?

35:10

You didn't think that. We put lots of feelers out and people,

35:12

we wanted to say no. But I'm just trying to pretend, yeah,

35:15

a lot of people just said no, actually. But

35:17

eventually I came out and I thought, you know what, why did I

35:19

put the feelers out? I should have just gone, you know, you and

35:21

I, this is the good stuff right here, from

35:23

episode one to episode 200. So I thought,

35:26

why don't we play

35:28

a little game, a draft, if you will,

35:31

for you and I to draft our,

35:34

I guess, all-time Rexxam 11. Now,

35:37

I'm not gonna come on here and pretend that I'm gonna

35:39

pick Tommy Bamford up front. I'm gonna try and pick players

35:41

that- Wait, so this is my team. I'm

35:44

gonna try and pick players that are alive or,

35:46

you know, players that are past players that maybe

35:48

were a little bit before my time, but are

35:50

still knocking around now. So let's see, I've got

35:52

a lot of players I wanna pick. We're

35:55

gonna do it in a kind of ABBA. I don't

35:57

know if they do that anymore with the penalty shootout,

35:59

but they should. No, it was trialed, but they got

36:01

rid of it, didn't they? Got rid of it. There was

36:03

so much research that going first means

36:05

you win the penalty share, I said,

36:07

for that. Okay, interesting. Well, you're a modern era

36:09

rex, is that what you're saying? Modern-ish, yeah. We

36:12

will allow one or two. I mean, I'm just

36:14

going to make my own rules. I go, I've

36:16

got players I want to pick, and you might

36:18

pick them as well. You

36:20

are going to have, because I'm being gracious for

36:22

episode 200, you are going to have the number

36:24

one overall pick. You can obviously pick any position.

36:26

It doesn't need to be an order of goalkeeper.

36:28

And are we setting a formation? Do you want

36:31

to set a formation for us? Because then people

36:33

at home can do their own team. I

36:35

reckon 4-4-2. Okay,

36:38

4-4-2. I

36:41

reckon 4-4-2. You know where you're at with that, don't you? I

36:43

mean, you can vary it if you want a bit. If you

36:45

want two wingers

36:47

in midfield rather than sort of midfielders, I'm not

36:49

asked, really. Just choose 11 players. As long as

36:51

you've got a goalkeeper and 10 outfield players, it's

36:54

vibes, mate. Okay, so you have

36:56

the number one overall pick. Who are

36:58

you going to pick? I

37:01

mean, there's only one player, isn't there? He should

37:03

have a statue. He's my captain. Joey

37:05

Jones. Okay, okay. That

37:07

was okay. I've got the next two picks. That was

37:10

going to be, okay, that's

37:12

a blow. Yeah, for me, it's just got to be Joey. We go

37:14

on every week, I think, about how he's

37:16

just, he transcends Reksom. He

37:19

is just, he is the football club.

37:21

He's achieved so much in his career.

37:23

He's had multiple spells at

37:25

the club. We

37:27

all love Joey. And yeah, for me, he

37:30

can play wherever he wants.

37:32

He's got a captain's armband. He is my team. I

37:35

don't care the other 10 are. I've got Joey Jones,

37:37

mate. Yeah, what an absolute body blow that is. You

37:39

expect me to choose up Louis Molt or something, weren't you? No, no. You're

37:41

going to take a few more, do you? Jerry

37:43

McDonough. Yeah, Jerry

37:45

McDonough. Yeah, Tyler

37:48

Reed or something like that. I'm

37:50

going to go with my first

37:53

overall pick. But the second overall pick, I'm going to

37:55

take Paul Mullen. Let's not overthink this. Paul Mullen, 100

37:58

plus goals, you know, very,

38:00

very recent I get, but of

38:02

kind of my era, there aren't

38:04

going to be many better strikers I could pick,

38:06

so I'm going to pick Paul Mullen, that's one

38:08

of my striker spots sewn up, and for my

38:10

second pick, the third overall pick, I

38:14

need a bit of grit and determination in there

38:16

now, because you've gone for Joey.

38:20

I'm going to go, I'm going

38:22

to go Brian Carey actually, at center

38:25

half, big Bri, big Bri, think

38:27

he's just going to give me a great level of physicality, he's

38:29

not Joey, but I'll take

38:32

Paul Mullen up top and Brian Carey. Okay,

38:36

I need goals, Joey Jones is superb,

38:38

I can't just have Joey Jones versus

38:40

your bunch yet. Up

38:43

front, got to be Gary

38:45

Bennett, I know he's maybe a little

38:47

before our time of going every single week because he's

38:49

more of a 90's hero, and I tell them you

38:51

only have to look at the video on YouTube, we're

38:53

not that old yet, but Gary Bennett, you know, again,

38:55

another player who sort of transcends and wrecks him growing

38:57

up, but everyone just knew

39:00

who Gary Bennett was, like he's very

39:02

famous in the lower leagues, obviously scores

39:04

some very important goals, called the 93

39:06

Welsh Cup Final, goals that got

39:08

us promoted as well back then. So

39:10

yeah, for me, Gary Bennett up top, I

39:13

do appreciate Paul Mullen, I think a scouser

39:15

in the strike force, just works for XM.

39:18

Now where do I go? Because I not

39:20

only want my players, but I want players that you

39:22

will have got. So I'm going

39:24

to go for probably the player who made me

39:26

fall in love with Rexxum as a kid, because

39:29

I think it's very easy growing up

39:31

in North Wales to get sort

39:33

of sucked into the Premier League world, isn't

39:35

it? And you know, that is natural. Don't

39:37

say it. But Rexxum had a

39:40

player. Don't say it. Called Carlos

39:42

Edwards, who was just

39:44

so cool, so

39:46

good at football. Okay. Yeah,

39:49

Carlos Edwards for me. Absolutely love him. That's a blow, that's

39:51

a blow, because I probably would have gone for him, but

39:53

he wasn't the next pick that I

39:55

would have taken. So that's okay. So

39:58

you so far got... Joey Jones,

40:01

who I desperately wanted, he would have been

40:03

my first, first, first pick. Gary

40:06

Bennett's very good pick, and

40:08

Carlos Edwards. So, and I've got Paul Mullen. Yeah, I'm

40:10

having to type these down, by the way. If people

40:12

are watching on YouTube, I'm not being rude. I'm trying

40:14

to make my notes here, So

40:16

I've had Paul Mullen and

40:18

Brian Carey. I'm gonna take

40:21

Carl Connolly, play him

40:24

at left wing, left mid. Goes

40:27

without saying King Carl, incredible

40:31

player. When I look back, I think

40:33

if I was, if

40:35

I could go back and watch one player home

40:37

and away regularly and just really root

40:40

for, would probably be Carl Connolly.

40:42

Just the wizardry with how he

40:44

plays. I always find myself

40:46

watching clips back. And when you speak to

40:48

people like Brian Flynn and players that we've

40:51

been fortunate to have former players on, and

40:53

they all speak so highly of, obviously

40:55

Joey, but also people like Carl Connolly, Gary

40:58

Bennett, so you went for Gary Bennett, I've

41:00

gotta get Carl Connolly. So that gives me

41:02

my left winger, my striker. I've

41:05

got some bright characters in there as well. So

41:07

that's a heated dressing room so far. Brian Carey

41:09

can't- Sounds like your team is off to Ireland

41:11

every sort of week. These

41:13

are pretty much piss ups. These are probably off

41:15

to Abberiswood though, save the money. Yeah,

41:18

that's true. Who am I gonna go with

41:20

now? So

41:22

I've gone for Carl Connolly. I'm

41:25

gonna go for a player that

41:27

continued to play on after

41:30

dislocating his shoulder, dislocating his collarbone in a

41:32

game. I'm gonna go for central midfield. I'm

41:34

gonna go for Dean Keats. Yeah.

41:37

Dean Keats, Paul Mullen, Brian

41:40

Carey and Carl Connolly. The absolute grit and

41:42

determination in that team is gonna be, I

41:44

mean, Joey, you'll give it a good go,

41:46

but I've got some warriors on my squad

41:48

so far. Yeah, you

41:51

have. And yeah, that's

41:53

tough to beat because I've

41:56

got so many names here. It's just trying to, like I said, I

41:58

don't want you to be taking them all. So the

42:01

problem for me is at the moment, like I said, I've

42:03

got Joey Jones, Carlos Edwards, Gary Bennett, I've not got Emmett

42:05

Fielder there. I've got to

42:07

go down folks and sent them in

42:09

for me. Again, another player who is just

42:12

part of that, that sort of first Rexxum

42:14

team that I fell in love with and

42:16

someone who was just so reliable

42:18

and offered so much to

42:22

us. You know, he's just, I

42:24

loved him, absolutely loved him. I would have loved him to

42:26

become player manager in those final few years. I do think

42:29

it would have been differently. You

42:31

know, we always talk about how the

42:33

history of the football club could change. If

42:35

Darren Ferguson was player manager, you

42:37

can just imagine his dad, Sir Alex, would have sent us

42:40

loads of good players on loan, just to be like, I

42:42

can't have my son failing at Rexxum, basically.

42:45

So yeah, I've gone down folks, he's a very

42:47

good player as well. Anyone who watched

42:51

him there will know all about that.

42:53

And now I'm gonna

42:55

go. Hmm. So

42:59

I'm being a little cheeky here because I know

43:01

Joey played left back predominantly, but I want him

43:03

at centre half. That's fine. And then I actually

43:06

know Darren

43:09

Ferguson is being partnered in midfield. I'm

43:11

having Carlos Edwards on one wing. I'm

43:13

having Mickey Thomas on the other. So

43:16

you're in midfield basically so far, Carlos and

43:18

Mickey on the wings. Darren

43:20

in the middle. Yeah. Mickey,

43:23

I mean, the magic little man. I

43:25

love him. I absolutely love him because again, one thing

43:27

that... Great vibes in your dressing room. Great vibes in

43:30

your dressing room here. I love the thing, and this

43:32

isn't trying to sort of blow our own trumpets too

43:34

much, but it's gonna be to a degree. The

43:37

absolute surreal thing here is

43:39

growing up, Mickey Thomas was just so

43:42

famous, like the most famous Rexon person

43:44

I can imagine. He scored probably the

43:46

most famous goal in our history, even

43:48

though it's not the winner, sorry, to

43:50

Steve Watkins. He

43:52

is played for United, he's played for Chelsea, he played

43:54

for Wales. And now he's

43:56

our mate. We go to

43:58

watch United and he... He comes to us and asks how

44:01

we're doing. Asks what we think the score's gonna be. And

44:04

that is just mind blowing as well. And

44:06

he's such a nice guy. His

44:08

autobiography is absolutely brilliant. The

44:11

stories he's got to tell, being stabbed in

44:13

the bum with a screwdriver, escaping

44:15

from prison to go to the pub and coming back at the

44:17

end of the night, sleeping in Stamford

44:20

Bridge. Him and Joey,

44:22

they've gotta be in the same team together. Yeah,

44:25

for me, Mickey Thomas, I absolutely love him. Yeah,

44:27

I like it. It's a good pick. I

44:29

mean, it's great vibes. So I need now,

44:32

I'm gonna go for one of my favorite

44:34

players that used to drive to the ground

44:36

in a Mini Cooper, despite being about seven

44:38

foot five. I've gotta go for

44:40

Big Den. I've gotta go for Dennis Lawrence, Brian

44:43

Carey, Dennis Lawrence. Absolutely, when

44:45

I was a mascot in 05, loved

44:48

Dennis Lawrence, just grew up idolizing

44:50

him. So I'm

44:52

gonna go with him because

44:54

that center back partnership now is

44:57

just formidable, really.

44:59

And look, it'd be a little bit more

45:01

reserved, a little bit quieter, but

45:04

I've got some great characters in there. I've already got

45:06

Paul Mullen, I've got Carl Connolly, I've got Dean Keys,

45:08

I've got enough sort of warriors.

45:11

I mean, I've got Brian Carey, their big brides.

45:13

So I'm happy with that as a center back

45:15

partnership. I've got a great forward up front.

45:18

There is obviously my all time

45:20

favorite player that I'm gonna leave

45:22

on the board because you're not gonna pick him. So I

45:24

think I'm all right for now. I

45:27

am gonna go for a keeper. I

45:29

am gonna go for a keeper because

45:34

I'm gonna get accused of recency bias, aren't I?

45:37

But we've had some bad keepers as well.

45:39

I've had a lot of bad, a lot of, we've had a

45:41

lot of, no, when I'm thinking it, we've had a lot

45:43

of bad keepers though, you know, and I don't wanna throw shit,

45:45

I don't need to name them. One of the first three seasons,

45:47

I think we had four, didn't we? Dan

45:50

Backman was good, but we had

45:52

John Flatt, Luke Coddington, Cameron Belford.

45:55

Not in that, the Pan Amersh and after. Andy Coughlin

45:58

we've had over the years and, you know, no. offense

46:00

to these guys but you know they shouldn't even be

46:02

mentioned we shouldn't have even brought them up on this

46:04

this debate so it's

46:08

there is an obvious name that I

46:10

could pick or there is a more

46:12

recent pick and you know

46:15

what to rock the boat I'm gonna go with a more

46:17

recent bit I'm gonna pick a con qua in goal just

46:19

for his seal and his potential his talent yes

46:22

he's not the finished article and I

46:24

know the goalkeeper you're gonna pick and maybe the comments

46:26

will roast me for not picking that goalkeeper but

46:29

look I've got Dennis Lawrence Brian

46:32

Carey in front a wall basically

46:34

and I do I do think

46:37

a con qua is a good shot stoppers distribution is

46:39

not the best but look we've got wizardry I've got

46:41

wizardry in in Carl Connolly don't need

46:43

to distribute very far just roll it out to him and

46:46

we'll get on so I'm gonna pick yeah

46:48

Dennis Lawrence and Arthur

46:50

Conquo what I love

46:53

about you Nate is you've picked goalkeeper so

46:55

I can leave that blank now I could do

46:57

that on my left pick yeah so outfield take your pick

47:01

and there's a lot of names here and again same

47:03

as you I don't want to just get players who

47:05

are sort of just

47:08

too old because I'm gonna pick one

47:10

now who obviously was before my time

47:12

yeah Gareth Davis center back because he

47:14

arguably is you know the best

47:16

center back we've ever had so that is

47:19

why he's going in but for

47:21

me again growing up a

47:23

player who I absolutely loved and

47:26

I think you

47:28

know I find it a real shame that he

47:30

never went on to achieve more in his career

47:32

Curtis Obeng I

47:34

just loved watching him at right back he was he

47:37

was an absolute joy he was so good and I

47:40

know that when you talk

47:42

about the best ever 11 it's very say well the

47:44

team that plays in the championship the equivalent of

47:46

the championship in division two or even now the

47:48

squads how many rexman teams have been second in

47:51

league one the players now must be be better

47:53

to it to his group that but

47:55

Curtis Obeng in the National League days he

47:57

was just a wizard he was so

48:00

good at what he did. He was like

48:02

a modern day fullback back then though. He

48:05

had the delivery into the box. He

48:07

posed a threat. He got back, he trapped back. He

48:09

was so quick. Yeah, Curtis Obeng for

48:11

me is another player. So I'm having him and

48:14

Gareth Davis, please. If,

48:16

I mean, Obeng would have been one

48:19

of my picks. So I still need now,

48:21

I still need a left back, a

48:23

right back, a right

48:25

midfielder, a striker, and another midfielder. So we've

48:28

got Dean Keats in there. Got

48:30

Carl Connolly. It's gonna be Luke Young in there. We all know

48:32

how this ends. I feel like I

48:35

was gonna leave it to the very end. It's not,

48:37

unfortunately so. It's not gonna be Luke Young. He should

48:39

be, shouldn't he? Cause I'm doing him a disservice there,

48:41

but you know what? Screw it. I'll pick my all

48:43

time favorite Rexton player to go with Mullen in a

48:46

set. Juan Ugarte, just, I

48:48

mean, vibes in that front three. It's probably not,

48:50

it probably doesn't work in reality cause there's no

48:52

big man. I probably should need more of a

48:55

big man to go with Mullen, but it's just pure vibes

48:57

at this point. Ugarte,

49:00

favorite Rexton player. I can't have my all time

49:02

team without my favorite player in there. I just

49:05

have such great memories of him. And he's scoring

49:07

bunches. Okay, he wouldn't necessarily score every single game,

49:09

but he'd look up and he scored a hat

49:12

trick. He'd look up and he scored, what, five

49:14

at Hartley Pool. And

49:17

you know, there were, look,

49:19

Andy Murrell's probably hard done by there because

49:21

I, again, he's another bit like that. Mickey

49:24

Thomas, as you said, that where

49:26

you just grew up watching him in

49:28

the stands and the terraces. And now, you know,

49:30

he's posting on Instagram that he's listening to our

49:32

podcast for research. What the hell can Andy

49:34

Murrell learn? I thought

49:36

it was nothing, absolutely nothing. I don't know why,

49:38

but he does. And he supports and that's mad

49:40

to me. Blows my mind when stuff like that

49:43

happens. So unfortunately, no, I'm not picking Andy Murrell.

49:45

I'm going to pick Juan Ugarte. And

49:47

then, oh, I probably

49:50

need a, you

49:53

know what, just because we've got a lot of scouts in this

49:55

team, we've got pure sort of scouts

49:57

energy. I'll pick, I

50:00

watched him a lot and I was going to go for an older

50:02

pick but I'll go for Neil Ashton at left back. Okay.

50:05

So Neil Ashton and Big Bri on the left

50:07

side and then Dennis Lawrence and the Gap on

50:09

the right side. So yeah, same

50:12

as you really. I wanted to kind of go Neil

50:14

Ashton because I loved him.

50:16

He's so reliable. But

50:18

I just grew a filardi. Yeah, well

50:20

that's the pick I really should have made. Yeah,

50:23

alright. Yeah, shut up. But yeah, fair enough.

50:26

But I mean, Alan Kennedy's another one.

50:28

I know you only had a season with us. What

50:30

89.90 helped us avoid relegation. I think to lots of

50:33

fans he'll be right up there in terms

50:36

of CV. Alan Kennedy's going to be arguably

50:38

one of the best to ever play Drexham.

50:40

So for me, I've got both centre backs,

50:42

both full backs, both

50:44

my wingers. I need a centre mid, a

50:47

striker and a goalkeeper. And

50:50

I'm in the same position as you in terms of striker

50:53

because I know that I

50:55

should say Arvin Griffiths or Tommy Banford. I

50:57

know that they are the answer. But,

51:03

and it's a big but. I've

51:07

joked about it. They're

51:11

just not Louis Molt, mate. They're

51:14

just not Louis Molt. We're

51:17

going to get absolutely cooked by some of these people

51:19

in the comments. I love Louis,

51:21

but he was great. Like I said, I

51:23

know that the answer is Arvin or Tommy

51:25

Banford. I know that is the Banford suite.

51:27

Arvin Griffiths is, you know, he's

51:29

rex. We've got a kind of pick from what we

51:31

saw that what we've seen, you know what I mean?

51:33

Yeah, for me, that

51:36

anniversary team, that season, the only sort of.

51:40

The only thing going for it was the fact that

51:42

we had a bloody good set of kits and

51:45

Louis Molt was just the shining star

51:47

who who dragged us out game after

51:49

game after game. And he was scoring

51:51

all types of goals. He's got that

51:53

free kick away for us green. There's

51:56

the North therapy match where he still scores some

51:58

some stun. There's Halifax. which we went to the

52:00

first game you me ever went to Hallie facts

52:02

away. Oh god, yeah. Lou

52:05

molt scored to one of the superb header. And

52:08

yeah, I just loved him. And why

52:11

Louie molt makes a team for me is

52:14

because I was working for the media team

52:16

North therapy day when we lose at Wembley. And

52:21

we've I've interviewed hundreds of players my

52:23

football in my journalism career. Louie

52:26

molt was in tears crying his eyes out

52:28

doing the interview post match because it hurt

52:30

him so much that he hadn't been able

52:32

to deliver what he wanted to to the

52:35

recs and fans that day he felt he'd

52:37

scored twice he'd done his job. He done

52:39

what he was on the picture do he

52:41

scored two goals at Wembley. And

52:43

he still lost to North therapy United. But

52:46

he cared so much. And when I look at a recs

52:48

and team, I want players

52:50

who care as much as I do and play like

52:52

I wish I could play. And Louie molt

52:54

was one of them. And yeah,

52:58

he just holds such a special place in, in

53:00

my own experience of following Rixson. So for

53:03

me, Louie molt in there. And I know

53:05

he's not the right answer. But for me

53:07

he is. And that's why he's in my

53:09

all time 11. Therefore, he's the right answer.

53:12

The mate no, no issue whatsoever. So what am

53:14

I missing now? Also, because I'm not sure matias

53:16

pog, but I'm not sure what the legal situation

53:18

around him is at the moment. Yes, I was

53:20

thinking I actually did think for a second, I

53:22

was like, I might just say pog for a

53:24

joke, and we have to kind of somehow figure

53:26

figure out whether I need to edit that out

53:28

or not. And but no, Louie molt, very popular

53:30

pick, we've had him on the podcast, very, very

53:32

nice guy. So

53:35

I need now what a right back, a

53:37

right mid and a centre mid. All

53:39

right. I'm three positions away. Yeah,

53:42

so I'm three positions away. So

53:44

I've got Dean Keats in there. And I

53:49

mean, look, you've also got to understand that we're of

53:51

an age where we've watched basically a lot of non

53:53

league football. And one of the things that Mickey Thomas

53:55

gets into us about is saying that these plays are

53:57

great. And this plays are great. When ultimately, They've

54:02

done very, very little before the recent seasons.

54:06

So who am I gonna go for

54:08

then? I'm

54:13

just trying to think if I want a bit of creativity

54:16

or do I just go with Luke Young? Now

54:20

you know what? Because it was such a

54:22

good partnership, it's very industrious, but

54:24

I'm gonna hope that my creativity comes out

54:27

wide. So I would be a very

54:29

attritional team to watch. I'm gonna put Jay Harris in there.

54:31

I've basically just gone for a scouts teammate at this point.

54:34

I'm gonna put Jay Harris in there because at this

54:36

point I just wanna bully teams. My team is just

54:38

gonna bully the life out of yours. Yours has got

54:40

players I like in it, but maybe Joey

54:42

just knocks all of my lads out. I don't know, it'd be

54:45

a good fight to see. But I'm

54:47

gonna go for Dean Keats and Jay Harris

54:50

in the midfield. And actually I do need a

54:52

bit of creativity. And while this pick is a

54:54

maverick pick, he scored one

54:58

of the best goals I've ever seen. I'll

55:00

be disappointed not to have a goal yet.

55:02

Anyway, here is Vos, great dribbling by Dom

55:04

Vos. And still, Vos, he just missed

55:06

another one! What a goal! Dom

55:08

Vos! One of the

55:10

goals of the season. He has

55:12

toys in the defense there. You know, all the

55:15

time I've watched football at any level. So I'm

55:17

gonna go Dom Vos as a

55:19

kind of maverick, right

55:21

wing pick. I was expecting like

55:23

Elliot Lee maybe, but Dom Vos right wing.

55:25

Only because, only because. My team's won mate,

55:27

my team's won. That is a mad pick

55:30

now I've said it out loud, but I've

55:32

got to stick with it now. But I

55:35

just think on his day, I have

55:38

to say, and the day wasn't very

55:40

often, I get that. The

55:42

day was gated at home once when they had

55:44

10 men, but people forget about that. But he

55:47

had magic in his boots though. That's less

55:49

just people who he has. It's a crying

55:51

shame how his career fell

55:54

apart, basically, let's just call it what it

55:56

is. I have to rex him, it seemed like it

55:59

all disintegrated. It didn't work

56:01

out. That is the shame, isn't it? Like we

56:03

said, there is a world where you maybe

56:05

had Louis Moulton, Don Vos, and they could have

56:07

co-existed in the same Rexxham team together. And

56:10

that Rexxham team could have fulfilled its potential. And

56:13

people like, they're not in the squad, but

56:15

honorable mentions to people like Manny Smith, who

56:18

they deserve so much better. And I'm not going to choose

56:21

them in goal, but Rob Layton. Right.

56:24

In my actual time watching Rexxham, is probably the

56:26

actual best goalkeeper I've seen. You

56:28

know, I was thinking at one point to put

56:30

Bento, I'm getting onto honorable mentions, I could have

56:32

put Bento's range for the long throw. And what

56:34

that gave was a two-time promotion winner. Hey, Luke

56:36

Young maybe should have been in there, but I'm

56:39

going to go with Don Vos. That completes my midfield.

56:41

Karl Connolly, Dean Keats, Jay Harris,

56:44

Don Vos. I've got trickery out wide.

56:46

I've got magic magicians out wide. Although

56:48

one is far more reliable than the

56:50

other. So that just

56:52

leaves for me a right back. So

56:54

it's over to you. You just got to fill your team out now, probably.

56:57

So yes, CentiMids, it's

57:00

a tough one. Because there is pro

57:02

in argument to say someone like Elliot

57:04

Lee. Look at what he's actually

57:06

doing for Rexxham playing week in, week out,

57:08

national league, league two, league one. It's

57:11

whether if I'm going for a balanced team or

57:13

not. It's either Elliot Lee or

57:15

Gareth Owen for me, CentiMids field. Two

57:18

very, very different picks. Yeah,

57:20

I think I'm going to go Gareth Owen just

57:22

because the appearances he's made,

57:24

just how reliable and versatile he

57:26

was for the team. And

57:30

he's from that era that always feels like it's

57:33

remembered in such glowing terms, even though

57:35

we didn't always succeed and

57:37

achieve maybe what we could have done. So yeah,

57:39

I'm going Gareth Owen, CentiMids.

57:42

And then goal. Wow. So

57:46

again, it should

57:48

die Davis, what he's

57:50

actually achieved in his career. Of course he's got to be up

57:52

there. Rob Layton,

57:55

I absolutely love. Marriott,

57:58

I think for many, is the goalkeeper. but,

58:02

and I can't believe I'm saying this,

58:07

it's Super Ben Foster in goal. It has

58:10

to be, because that is my

58:12

favourite ever Rexxan moment, ever.

58:14

And without Ben Foster, there is no

58:16

promotion to where we are today, there

58:19

is no LDB vans. The two, arguably

58:21

the two greatest days of being a

58:23

Rexxan fan are both, got Ben Foster

58:25

in them. So for me, it's

58:27

Super Ben Foster in goal. That's my team.

58:30

I'll be honest, I was thinking

58:32

you were going to go with Mariette,

58:34

but I love that pick. Ben Foster

58:37

delivered the moment, which was that penalty

58:39

situation. Because you do get last minute

58:41

winners every single week. Check

58:44

your score apps, check, do you

58:46

like soccer? There's last minute goals

58:48

and winners every single week. I

58:50

know that's amazing. How many times

58:53

are there last minute penalty saves that win

58:56

you a league title essentially? When has that

58:58

ever happened? I can't remember any others really.

59:01

Ben Foster. Wow. That's like, I get

59:03

goosebumps just talking about that moment. It

59:05

was overworldly. Well,

59:09

look, I'm going to round my team up with

59:11

a right back, which is not a

59:13

glamorous pick in any way. People will be saying why on

59:15

earth has this person been picked? But

59:17

I need somebody that is going to

59:19

be available every single week. And

59:22

if any of my other lads get injured, we'll play in any

59:24

of these other positions. And I feel like he played every single

59:26

position except goal. And maybe he could have put the gloves on

59:28

if we were stuck. So I'm going to go to round up

59:31

my team. I'm going to pick Mark Carrington, Mr.

59:33

Available, Mr. Available scored his

59:35

goal at Stoke. Unbelievable

59:38

memory. Yeah, I

59:40

did say the anniversary season had nothing. It was

59:42

Louis Molt, Cara's goal at Stoke and the kits.

59:45

Yeah, that's the three things I'd go for, I suppose.

59:47

Yeah. So of your team, I will run it, we'll

59:49

run through the teams of your team. Run me through

59:51

your team because there's a few in there that I

59:53

wanted. Okay, so my team and like I said, this

59:55

probably a separate YouTube video as well. And if you

59:58

still listen to the actual podcast. I guess thank you

1:00:00

up to an hour now. Let

1:00:02

us know who your favorite team is. Rob

1:00:04

Ryan Red@gmail.com, rob Ryan red.com and comment on

1:00:06

Spotify perhaps in the comments below, Richard or

1:00:08

Naife on that. Might even do a poll

1:00:10

on the social as well. So my team,

1:00:12

in goal, Ben Foster, Centerbacks,

1:00:15

Gareth Davis and Joey Jones, the

1:00:17

captain, Curtis O'Beng and Phil

1:00:20

Hardy at fullback, Darren Ferguson

1:00:22

and Gareth Owen in center mid, on

1:00:24

the wings, Carlos Edwards and Mickey Thomas,

1:00:27

up top is Gary Bennett and Louis Molt.

1:00:30

So I had in

1:00:32

goal, Arthur Conquo and

1:00:35

back four of Neil Ashton,

1:00:38

Brian Carey, Dennis Lawrence,

1:00:41

Mark Carrington, midfield

1:00:43

of Carl Connolly, Dean

1:00:46

Keats, Jay Harris and Dom

1:00:49

Vos and up top Paul

1:00:51

Mullin and Juan Ugarte. Okay.

1:00:56

So there you go. That's round us out. There'll be a graphic

1:00:58

on social as I say, I'll try and do

1:01:00

a poll if I can figure out on Spotify. Let us know which

1:01:04

team would win. If those teams faced off, who

1:01:06

would win? Who had the better team? And

1:01:08

let us know as well in the comments maybe, who

1:01:10

is the one player you can't believe we didn't pick?

1:01:12

Like we said, I think we went through some honorable

1:01:15

mentions of players that we do understand probably should be

1:01:17

there or they're balanced, but I didn't want it just

1:01:19

to be full of players. I've never watched my lifetime.

1:01:21

Some of them I think are very valid. Others, I

1:01:23

know. We know it should be Alvin Griffiths and Tommy

1:01:25

Banford at frame. We do know that

1:01:28

before you answered, but like I said, for our own

1:01:30

personal reasons, you got to have to be in there.

1:01:32

Yeah, thank you so much. 200 episodes

1:01:34

of Rob Brown Red. We can't believe you're still

1:01:36

listening, especially to this episode because it's really dragged

1:01:38

off, but we really appreciate

1:01:41

everything and all your support. And

1:01:43

as they said, yeah, we would have liked

1:01:45

to have a special guest, but we

1:01:47

are so appreciative of you, wherever you are taking

1:01:49

time out every single week, not just to listen,

1:01:51

but to get in touch. I

1:01:54

know we say it a lot, but we do

1:01:56

read every email, every tweet, everything you send in.

1:01:58

We do read, we just... This is

1:02:00

a hobby for us and we try

1:02:02

and get back to you as much as we

1:02:05

can. We really appreciate it We appreciate red 10

1:02:07

people development because without them the podcast

1:02:09

would have stopped years ago Rexxon

1:02:11

bass band hypnotic. Thank you for the stings making

1:02:14

the podcast more fun. Thank you for that I'm

1:02:16

sure if people have requests for songs they want

1:02:18

you can do that as well nafe,

1:02:21

yeah 200 and

1:02:23

we're still here. Yeah mad

1:02:25

side like we said it before we probably get

1:02:27

to a hundred and you know We

1:02:29

had an agreement that we would do three

1:02:31

episodes and if nobody listened then we wouldn't

1:02:33

keep doing it and you know Yeah, just

1:02:35

I won't drag on to anything You said

1:02:37

you said it perfectly which was very very

1:02:39

appreciative of all the people that come up

1:02:41

to us and and reach out to us

1:02:43

and listen from from the

1:02:46

UK and Europe and the US and all

1:02:48

over the place and The

1:02:50

podcast has given us unbelievable opportunity to not only

1:02:52

go to games home in a way as we

1:02:54

were anyway But to go to Vancouver. I went

1:02:56

to North Carolina LA,

1:02:59

you know We're hoping to go out on the next

1:03:01

tour as well if we can and that is just

1:03:03

a real blessing So yeah

1:03:05

200 and there'll be some great

1:03:07

things to come In

1:03:10

the new year and you know, they rack up quick

1:03:12

rich soon It'll be 300 and 400 and I don't

1:03:14

know maybe if people don't tune out after this travel

1:03:16

people will still be going Yeah,

1:03:19

so thank you once again for listening. Whatever you

1:03:21

are in the world as always Please do leave

1:03:23

a like subscribe share it review. That is the

1:03:26

best way to give back to the pod Take

1:03:28

care. We'll see you again next

1:03:30

week The

1:03:40

talk sport fan network is proud to be

1:03:43

partnering with Lotto from the national lottery make

1:03:45

this Wednesday one to remember You've got to

1:03:47

be in it to win it Lotto

1:03:49

is the original millionaire maker where you could

1:03:52

become the next millionaire rules and procedures apply

1:03:54

players must be 18 or over And

1:03:57

then mgm we know how to put on a

1:03:59

show So we don't

1:04:01

just do offers, we do golden offers

1:04:04

like this. MGM

1:04:06

Millions are super-sized jackpot where right now

1:04:09

you can win over 21 million pounds.

1:04:14

Get ready for the golden era

1:04:16

in online casino. FedMGM,

1:04:18

it's showtime. Minimum

1:04:21

10p game stake. Terms and conditions

1:04:23

apply. 18 plus. Please

1:04:25

gamble responsibly. This podcast is

1:04:27

proud to be part of the

1:04:29

Torxport Fan Network. Torxport. Powered

1:04:32

by fans.