you Hello and welcome to the latest episode of the Brighton Rock podcast, the podcast about the beautiful club within the beautiful game. With me, Russell Giver, doing a little bit of an ad hoc one, a little bit different to usual, because it's a mixture of a Chelsea review and a non-league. match day special a bumper two-parter with me and it's a two-hander with jack albion hello jack welcome back to the pod you're right how you doing
All right, better than you were earlier this morning. Yeah, I wasn't in a good way this morning. I had too many Ray and Nephews. It's a dangerous combo, that stuff. Oh, that's what it did for you. Yeah, that is lethal, that stuff. Pineapple and Ray and Nephews. with jonah sherman with the assistant manager in uh dead wax social in brighton which was quite a weird uh
Weird experience, but it was a great way to celebrate the win, I suppose. Fantastic. Yeah, I mean, that was great. And I don't know if you'll say on the record what he was alluding to. Mr. Maresca? He just shrugged when I asked him what he thought of Maresca, so I think, yeah, you know. Doesn't sound too complimentary, does it? No, I mean, it's just, you know, is Maresca a top manager?
Thank you very much. That's all you've got to say. So, yeah, no, no, it was a good night. Good win. Fantastic win, really. And rightly celebrating till the early hours. And the Albert before that, of course, as well. Yeah, yeah. Till about 1am, I think. They chucked us out.
out of there. So, I didn't go to the game, but obviously watched it on TV. You were out of the game, of course. Talk us through it, because, I mean, obviously, fantastic win, 3-0. Minta getting the two goals after Minta was sensational World Cup. finish for the first one.
I think they gave it to Mittema, the man of the match. But I think for me, it was Minto's performance. Not only for the two goals versus the one, but also the work rates. What were your thoughts on the game? Talk us through the whole thing. First of all, there weren't many changes. Yeah.
We had Dunk obviously out because of the injury. Webster came in for him. They, I think, kept the rest of the team as it was for the previous Chelsea match. So that's the setting for it all. Talk us through the game then, Jack.
um yeah there's a lot to unpack there isn't there yeah no i mean we just played really really well like we we did everything just right we were really we weren't we weren't that flashy though well i mean obviously then the tremendous skill but it was just like we did the basics Correct. And that's what we haven't really been doing. There was nothing over complicated about it. It was just playing pure football and just winning the game as we should do without any worries at all.
Yeah, I mean, I've been a bit of a hersless critic, especially after the 7-0. And this is like, yeah, this is so much different and better and just what I wanted to see, really. You know, I sort of said almost that he's got three games to kind of...
prove himself to me um and yeah he's he's turned up in the first two and done amazingly so i can't really can't really complain about that i totally agree with you but just the notion you say prove it to you i've just got this vision of you actually having an interview with him to see how he's gone after his
probation three games from now. He's got to prove it to me. I'm the one that everyone has to prove it to. You'll have to come into your intimidatingly arranged office somewhere. Yeah, exactly. You'll be on a high seat. He'll be in a deliberately... low-set seats. Looking up at you. I know. I'll give him his...
Appraisal. I thought you'd set arse on a plate there. Oh, yeah, no. Appraisal. That was it. So, yeah, no, he did really well. I think we were so tactically on point. I mean, Chelsea look crap at times. And it was so, like, we sort of just outplayed.
them it was so good like I say following on from recent weeks it's it's just a different world really yeah looking at it on tv i mean i kind of agree with you as well i think obviously the goals there was a flourish with the goals but in terms of the general play it was almost like a matter of fact
matter-of-factly dominant, efficient performance. It didn't feel like it was in... hyper gear it didn't feel like a sensational we played really well to beat them we just played well kept playing well it's more like that wasn't it just just calmly playing well
It wasn't a massively high-tempo game, in other words. No. Even the crowd wasn't as much, obviously, partly because of numbers. But, yeah, it just seemed comfortably dominant. And it was like, you know, you're saying Minter deserved man of match. I think every single player deserved man of match.
up for Bruggan who I have been quite critical of recently and I was you know there was debate should he be dropped for this game will it affect his confidence whatever and he was superb he made some great saves and he well there weren't many on target but I think they didn't have a single shot on target today Chelsea.
no they didn't to be honest no so they didn't have a single shot on target but you know he got the assist for the goal he was very assured every corner that came in he went and claimed that there was no sort of worry about it so yeah I just think Adam Webster a player much maligned by some people and he really showed what it's working but you know these are all good players they've just
You know, it's taken a while to sort of get the ideas across, and I think that was probably, if that's what Herzler wants to play like, that is perfect. Like, you know, it's exciting, it's attacking, and it's quite basic, really. It's nothing... that complicated. Maybe that's what we need at this stage.
Yeah, I think we needed something like, you know, Deserby was like the opposite of that in a way, in that he was the most... I mean, it was great football to watch, I'm not dismissing him. But it was a prescribed thing. Yeah, yeah. You do this, then when they do this, you do this, or if they do this, you do that. Yeah. It was all kind of pre...
rearrange the drills, wasn't it? Whereas this seems more like set up, stay in shape, do this and look to counter here and look to do this and that there. And I was convinced we were going to lose. I just always think when you play teams twice in a week that it always...
bit like taking a second penalty after you score the first one isn't it like you know stuff always goes wrong but it worked really well so um yeah i know fantastic fantastic fantastic win really yeah just over the moon with it all yeah and as you said individual performances as well as the collective minter was brilliant
His tracking back's been fantastic. His defensive work and the pressing. It was almost like a back five. We were almost playing Veltman as a tucked-in centre-back. And, like, Minter was dropping so well. And Lamptey, you know, he didn't have the greatest game at Nottingham for it. I mean, no-one did, did they?
But, you know, he was fantastic again as well, like he was on Saturday. We will talk about what we said before and backtracking a bit. I said, I never want to see Lamptey play a left-back again after the Forest match. And he's been really good in both those games.
stepped on to the point where people i think including yourself and me have said we want to see his contract extended assuming he can stay fit that would be a good move well this is it like they're staying fit but this is the most fit he stayed i think i don't think he's he's
this is the point where he's played the most and he's looking really good. And I do think this kind of back five is the kind of way forward. It might not look like a back five to us all because of the wingers tucking in and stuff like that. But I do think it is the way forward.
I think, you know, hopefully we can crack on now and start looking up the table rather than that. And you know what, I think, I know this is going to sound really negative, but you know, that puts us on 37 points, I believe. I'd say that probably is enough to stay up. I'm not even thinking of it. I'm not thinking we're going to go down, but I always think every season...
Make your base first, which is the base for every season should be 40 points. I think that's how, you know, Ranieri won the title. He just sort of said, we want to get 40 points. Then we can look at other things. You know, and then you always have that sort of...
monkey off your back of sort of you know oh we could go down if it all goes wrong now we just we can relax it can be a little bit you know we can just sort of go forward and just build on the success I'm adamant that 34 would have been enough actually but 37 definitely would be yeah I mean yeah I guess it's not bad in a way because it's this whole one game at a time cliche, isn't it? Essentially. But yes, you've got to get to 40 points. It's a matter of...
If you do it quickly, then great. Then you can look on. Yeah, exactly. And that's what we were under Deserby. We were on 40 points and it was like, right, let's go and have some fun now. And we did. What's happened is we've had each season, we've had a good start to the season, fallen away a bit, and then...
To varying degrees, things have gone in different directions. Last season, obviously, not great. But the season before it, and this season, potentially, going in the right direction. What you said about Tarrant Lamptey, I think, absolutely true. He looks like he's playing happily.
happy with himself, with his body, with his performances, which is great. I agree with you about the five at the back. Definitely, Minty was dropping in. He was basically playing as a wing-back. Veltman was dropping in. You're absolutely spot on. It was symmetrical, wasn't it? They could both do their...
Yeah, it worked really, really well. The only issue we had was down the left side earlier in the game with Maduaki was causing problems with his pace. But he went off injured. That solved our problem, didn't it? I mean, that's the only thing you could say as a... as a caveat to things is if he hadn't got injured and was able to play the whole game.
Would it have been a problem? Maybe. Maybe, but I still think they've got, like, what, one of the world's best players when he's on his day in Cole Palmer? Well, he wasn't on his day yesterday. He wasn't. Two horrendous shots he had in the game. I think it's very interesting as well, like, watching it. We've been told that Chelsea are top four contenders this year, whatever. I'm not entirely convinced, but...
It shows that if you just stop Palmer, you stop the whole of Chelsea. They're a one-man team. That's all they are. And a lot of those players don't... There's a lot of square pegs and round holes. And players just aren't very... Some of their players just aren't very good. I mean, Kukrela was an embarrassment last night. delightful yeah i mean it was great um yeah there was some choice words being given to him from where i was sitting um yeah but
Yeah, it was fantastic. Fantastic win. As you said, I think there was something with the East stand as well. Someone said something. Definitely in the West, he was rightly smiling at someone in the West stand when he was picking the ball up for a throw at one point as seen on TV. And yeah, I mean, he had a
poor game. Sanchez didn't play at all because, of course, he's not the first choice of the league and he's crap. Casado was owned on toast by Balaba. Another brilliant personal performance there. Balaba, obviously, not Casado. And he just... him didn't he really it was it was fantastic looking five times as good a player i think yeah i know i know crazy and it's like
You know, I don't think Caicedo's too bad. I still think, I mean, I still stand by, I think he's the best player ever watched for Brighton, or he's up there at least with some of those. I mean, Matoma is. Matoma's the best player ever watched. That European qualification season, he was insanely good, wasn't he? Yeah, he was.
I do think that he's part of a cog of a machine. And if he doesn't work, then that machine is so reliant on Cole Palmer working that it doesn't kind of work. And it hasn't worked at all. And I don't think... He was dreadful, Caicedo, in both games. Definitely not over both games, he was probably one of the ones. But yeah, he must be looking at this going, what have I done? He's gone from...
you know being like the jewel everybody loved him at Brighton to being a pretty failing Chelsea team playing in the conference league when he could have you know you know if he'd stayed one more season he could have been off for the Europa League and everything would have been so different wouldn't it it's a bit like with Potter left
He could have been the history man. He might well have been the person to qualify for Europe for the first time. He didn't want to have that. He wanted to chase the glory and the money.
Fine, whatever. But, yeah, De Zorbi will always have that part in our history now. And in the same way, Caseta won't have that. Other players will. Whenever we manage to... to produce and go from here with yeah which is which is which is great what else is remarkable is like you watch the the pipeline we've had from i would say from dale stevens
to Belieber it's amazing how we just get better and better with these central midfield players and yeah they've just got better and better and Belieber looks the real deal you know if Caicedo is 115 million god knows how much Belieber will be worth because he's he's got everything that Caicedo
And more, in my opinion. And by the time the next transfer window opens, his value could have gone up even more than it does when we sit here talking now. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And, like, you know, who knows? Chelsea would probably be stupid enough to pay £190 million or something ridiculous. So, yeah.
Our personal bankrollers. Yeah, exactly. But yeah, no, no, it's a great night. Great night for the football club. One or two more words I will say about the game as well. But before I do, I'm sitting here in a pub.
in Dover, and you're wearing a red top. We'll just leave that hanging there for a minute, and we'll explain why in a few minutes' time. But going back to the game, the atmosphere, I wasn't at the match, you were. Obviously, we didn't sell out, and there's various reasons. Balance night same opposition we just played 8 p.m far too late for getting away from the stadium again
And the fact that it's a Friday night possibly is not a good thing as well in general. It's not ideal, so we didn't sell out. I did actually resell my ticket successfully. You did actually resell it, yeah, fair enough. A lot of people didn't.
To be honest with you, my seat neighbour wanted to bring someone along, so that helps, because then you pick the seat, don't you? My mum did exactly the same. She was on holiday, so we knew someone. I think that's where the issue with seat selling is, and I think there has been a problem with it. of people my mum was quite reluctant to sell her seat she didn't want a random person next to me because i'll probably have an argument with them if they're a chelsea fan
So, yeah, for me, it's a bit of a strange thing. But, you know, like I said, there's many caveats. It's 57 quid a ticket in West End, so you're not going to be able to sell that as easy as you can. So, yeah, yeah, it was an interesting night.
But it didn't feel that empty. The atmosphere was really good again, like it was at a Chelsea Cup game. It's weird, isn't it? Sometimes when not everyone turns up, the atmosphere gets better. I mean, there were no Chelsea fans left by the end of the game, were there? So they basically all disappeared, yeah. on their team quickly though they were singing we want our chelsea back by about the 20th minute into the game so that was that was massively surprising but um yeah obviously uh
I do have some sympathy with Chelsea in a way that they used to be so much better. And it seems that since the new owners come in for whatever... Their foibles are. That's a new word. Foibles. It might be a debut for the pod, that word. You know, they haven't been delivering success, so I can understand their frustration in a way that, you know, every club's on a different level.
not getting the success which they're used to then I imagine they'll be quite unhappy so yeah this is the paradox and why they're always accused of entitlement yeah bigger clubs are expected to win trophies based on their own experiences based on the profile of the club based on
spending based on the attitude of the owners perhaps as well they're expected to i'm not sure that's a bind i would want to have really i quite love where we are we're a club of a certain size we've got aspirations we're able to push
as far as Europe which is great but consistently being the Premier League and to have our ups and downs but it does make the ups all the better doesn't it and I know you had your question whilst about Fabian and he's still got his preparation coming up with you and also like I'm I'm I'm
fickle like I'm like every football fan like you know I think people obviously you're going to lose if there's any time and I've said this on a few times on various different podcasts is you know if there's ever time to lose your head with a cat There's a... If there's ever a time to lose your head, it's when you're 7-0 down. So, yeah. And also, of all the people I can...
Stuff I complain about. I want these people to prove me wrong. I want us to win games. I think the idea that we should, you know, that I want us to lose so they get rid of the manager. I mean, I've never been accused of that, but, you know, some people have seen it. And, you know, it's... We want them to win, and I want them to prove me wrong. And he's doing that. He's doing that very well. It's so much easier when that happens. But I should clarify here as well, because...
You were certainly a dissenting voice after that Forest game. And rightly so, it was an awful game, an awful performance, a bad set-up. There's certain reasons why certain players weren't available, but nonetheless awful. And you were sort of like, oh, fab out. And then you were very ironically, but also sincerely, fab in after the cup win. Yeah, of course, of course. But that is the nature of a football fan as well. Exactly. Nothing wrong with that as such. My issue with the meltdown moment.
as I called it, isn't actually, I'm not talking about you. I'm talking about people that are just, Catastrophizers. Catastrophizers. Yeah, of course. Who actually were... I didn't like him in the first place. Yeah. Or there's nothing I like about him. You knew it was going to fail. Those kind of guys. You're not that. I backed him for a long, long time.
And your concerns were genuine. It was to do with set-up in Shambolic. Genuine concerns, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I think it was, you know, he's changed that set-up and I did quite like the reports, you know. He set fire to it because I think I wanted to personally set fire to it after that.
Nottingham Forest game. Yeah, he set forward to his team plan for the one midfielder thing, which never worked. I mean, it sounds rather kind of traumatic, but that might have actually worked in terms of... obviously other stuff during the week, but maybe that just sort of set a tone, look.
I'm prepared to accept I've got that totally wrong. This is the symbolic burning of it. This is the actual statement saying, I fucked that up and I'm owning it. And as well, I think it looks like the body language you can tell that the squad have done a...
bit of soul searching and they've sort of changed stuff up and yeah it's good because body language at forest was the thing i was concerned with from what i've heard from reports yeah yeah yeah and the atmosphere was good still some good funny songs as well yeah
I think, yeah. I'm thinking about Cucarea, yeah. You're just a shit Brighton out of Albion and Cucarea stuff, obviously. Yeah, yeah. And what a waste of money, of course, and all the other stuff. Yeah, it was great. It was great. Crowd-wise, it looked like, because I think I had just under 24 for the cup game. Was it about the same for this? No.
I'd say there was more than that. It looked pretty full, by the way. Pretty full, yeah. 27, something, 28. Yeah, well, they never release it, do they? They'll go down as 31,000, whatever it is. Pretendants. Yeah, pretendants, because everybody's sold their tickets, haven't they? Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
isn't it I think it's it was a good attendance in the end wasn't it so yeah and then we're on to what's next Saints isn't it yeah of course we're going to lose that game that's what we do and the meltdown can recommence that's what we do you know we get a great result against top
six side and then lose to the team which is possibly on track for the lowest ever points total in premier league history you're going i assume yes i am yeah and we've got a new section haven't we yes we're in the corner aren't we or something yeah the corner or the opposite corner the opposite corner
the stand where the camera is, and then the near right-hand corner of there. Well, it was a great away end at Southampton. You can really make a good atmosphere, so they've probably done the same as us and decided to move it for those reasons, which we need to hurry up and do a lot quicker, I think, in my humble opinion.
It is what it is. There we go, there we go. Anyway, that's enough about that for now. We might talk a little bit more Albion later, but I've alluded to the fact we're in Dover and that you're wearing a red top. I should also mention you've got an alarming-looking figure standing on a... It's a hawk. On a ball. It does. A bit like an eagle. I know it isn't an eagle, but it makes me...
Slightly agile. I know. The other Whitehawk shirts I've got, well, I've alluded to who we're watching, Whitehawk, actually have Whitehawk FC written on it. This one has decided not to have Whitehawk FC written. The irony is it says Kingspan rather than...
Hawkspan. Hawkspan would have been better, wouldn't it? Yeah, it would have been better, yeah. A lot of people seem to think Whitehawk is like a prog rock band rather than a football club. And they don't know the area. It does sound a bit like it. Yeah, you know, this... Lemmy played for, you know, White...
in Whitehall for five years in the 70s, I believe. But yeah, it's down in Dover towards the Hawks. Yes, indeed. I've been to the enclosed ground. I've seen Whitehall play the playoff game at Boreham Woods many years ago now. And this is I think my third time to see them. I might be more actually, I'm not sure. But it is a new ground for me, not for you, but for me it is. Dover, it's my 198th ground. I'm hoping to come inside my 200th with the 92, of which I have two clubs to do, but we'll see.
You've been before, but not been in here. We're in the Cricketers' pub near the ground, by the way. Looking forward to the match. And this is going to be interesting, isn't it? Interesting game. How have Hawks been doing? Because you watch them, along with all the Sussex sides, you watch them a lot, don't you? I do.
Whitehawk is my Sussex team that I do like it's the closest one to my house so you know by the same rules in terms of non-league yeah in terms of non-league yeah it's slightly further than the Amex I think so Brighton still is the nearest team to me but anyway oh sorry um
Yeah, no, we haven't been doing great this season. We started pretty badly. We got a new manager in. It just never clicked with him. I think he was a good guy, but he was trying to play passing football. And if anybody's been down to the enclosed ground, playing passing football with your goal... keeper it's just not happening so we sacked him around November time we were bottom of the league on 20 points or something
Brought back the old manager, Sean Saunders. I mean, sure, if you follow Sussex non-league enough, you would have heard of, or probably watched the Sean Saunders team at some point. I do like people with alliterative names as well. Yeah, that is great. That's a thumbs up. and yeah sort of he's comes back brought back a lot of his old players that we had last year um and yeah we're kind of you know we've
out the relegation zone now. Five points off from bottom of the league to five points clear of safety as of today. So, David's going to be a hard one, so I'm not... You know, they're around the top. But, you know, we've had a really good run of results, so it's now just kind of...
focus on trying to stay up and take it for the rest of the season, really. So, yeah. And this is me and Prem, for anyone that doesn't know. And, like I said, I saw Whitehall, but they played Boreham Wood, it was quite a few years ago now. It was an away play-off final, I think. National League...
south. They could have been playing the equivalents of the Rochdales and Oldham's of this season. It would have been huge back then. Is it extra time they lost? I think we lost 2-1 in extra time. Julian Moraes I think scored. And new train driver, Jake Robinson, scored for Whitehawk that day. So, my colleague. So, yeah.
Yeah, so he scored for the Hawks, but yeah, we couldn't quite make it, but it would have been quite something to see them in the National League, I think. I mean, people are surprised that ground used to be step two, let alone potentially half an hour away from being in the National League.
play there yeah yeah 100% like we've got all the grading I think it's just the approach is the main issue and it's the it's the slope the slope of the pitch people don't really there's it's a weird loophole the slope in that there's not really a a fine rule. How much is too much? How much is too much. There was a team in Scotland that got fined for it. But we are 13 foot from goal to goal.
bloody hell that is a lot isn't it so that is the slope and it is you can tell when you go down there so but yeah and that but that's what it is you know Sean's come back in he knows how to play the pitch with the team that he's got and that's why we started getting results we're doing really really well ironically
There was a connection between Whitehall and Dover of a different sort from my memory as well. When I went to the enclosed ground, I can't remember what the game was. I think it was a pre-season friendly. I've watched Brighton there in a pre-season friendly. It might have been Brighton, actually, yeah. And I know at the other end of the ground, there was some people walking around with some beers.
in a tray, or I think it was beers or something, carrying to their seats, and they got twatted right... Yeah, that was pre-season Brighton. I actually, I have met the man who got knocked out. Oh, have you? Yeah. He's knocked out cold. Knocked out cold. And there's a guy I know whose nickname is...
Dover, who is a nurse, who attended the scene. So that's a tenuous link to White Hawk Dover, isn't it? The most important man who attended the scene was Kasper Ankergren, who I believe replaced all the beers...
that the man lost. That was the important point. Yeah, that was the important point. Regaining consciousness of secondary to that, obviously. Yeah, and that was, you know, it's so different looking back at that. Like, when we used to have pre-season down at Lewis and Whitehawk and now we're going to Japan and stuff like that, it's...
It's a crazy sort of world that we've come from, isn't it? Like, I think when we did the one just after I'd been to Japan. Yes, that was when we made your debut, wasn't it? And yeah, we sort of, you know, it's a different world now, isn't it? White Hawk and Lewis to Japan, isn't it? It's a bit of a difference.
Just a bit. I mean, I've seen us play Bugs Hill, you know, and all that sort of stuff. Worthy and all sorts, yeah. Stansted as well, my God. The Gary Hart game. We probably got that for, we had to go do that, didn't we? It was quite a few years later that we eventually did it, actually. Yeah. Yeah, it was. So, yeah. So, looking forward to the game. We'll have a bit more content on that later. But bringing it back down to the album, one thing I've just realised we didn't talk about was...
Just how fucking good that first goal was. The mitt of a goal. I mean, Jamie Carragher was on co-coms and he described it as Messi-like.
Other people have said that Messi might not even have scored that type of goal. He would have done something different with the ball. Mitema, for quite some time, I've been revelling and drooling over his first touch. It is impeccable. Every single... I don't think I've ever... seen him miss control a pass including a long pass not not that comes to mind at all and the amount of long diagonals that have gone over to him he just brings them down as if he's just
smoothing them onto a carpet and just goes off with it from there and that was just that was the pick of the crop wasn't it the first touch he had a little kind of like a weird drag movement with his foot which kind of wrong-footed the defender a bit another touch to take it further away from him. Stupendous. I mean, if I'm being nitpicky, it could have been further in the corner. And the keeper maybe could have done better with it. What a goal, what a goal. Goal of the season again maybe.
For us, for match of the day even, maybe. Quite possibly. I mean, for me, I just think he's an obscene football player. His first touch... It's filth, isn't it? Yeah, and I think it's like... I can't think of a player in world football who has a better first half. Maybe Messi. Maybe Messi is the one. That's about the level we're looking at. Yeah. Genuinely. I've never seen him. Who is it?
Bruno had a good touch but who's the guy Craig Noon Craig Noon had a really really good first touch I think that goes under the radar because he was a mismatch of bits and pieces some bits were good some bits weren't good but this is a totally different level to not only
to that. But as you said, to virtually everyone else playing the game. People were talking about Bergkamp a lot in comparison as well. He had a good touch, didn't he? He did. He was quite good, wasn't he? Ronaldinho was a good player as well. There's elements of his game which might not be up to that level.
in terms of his first touch. Fantastic. He's starting to really rack up the goals in the Premier League for us as well now. He could end up being our record top five goal scorer at this rate if we can hang on to him. I think as well, like, you know... I would say he's come into a bit of criticism, Mitomo. Lots of people have sort of been alluding that he's not contributing enough and not good enough. And I do think, like...
What are you watching sometimes? Everything that we do is good comes through that man. And if he plays badly, the whole team plays badly. He's not going to play on peak all the time. Of course not. No one does. Really? No. But he's just fun. Do you know?
every moment that we have watching Matoma I don't think there's a better moment in you know they're the player I've enjoyed watching since Knockhart maybe Knockhart was the sort of player and you need these players these players are the reason you go to football yeah there's people that get you out of your seat especially on bloody on friday night
Yeah, yeah. On a Friday night, you know, that's why, you know, I do stupid things and drag myself up to Newcastle on a Sunday 1.45pm to kick off, which is still not very happening. On a convoluted train route. Yeah, on a convoluted train route.
watch that kind of play so yeah yeah yeah it's delightful stuff and in terms of the table we've we've only been out of the top half one week and we have guaranteed that we're certainly not going to be in the in the bottom half at the end of this weekend's results because we've gone six clear of Brentford We are actually only, I think it's four points, oh no, six points off the Champions League, well, six points off fourth.
Yeah. I'm not saying Champions League, but, you know, that puts in perspective how quickly this can change back round. Well, yeah, exactly. We're in that transitional period of the season where the results accounted for a lot at the moment because it's quite tightly packed. Yeah. And we're, I think we're... Is it three off?
No, well, we're in eighth. So we're technically in a European place based on what the coefficient will probably throw up. But I think we're three points off the next side, is it? Something like that? Yeah, something like that. So we're pushing back into the right area.
But it's about consistency and it's about getting that result at Southampton. Yeah, I mean, we've got to get that result at Southampton. We've got to show that... Because that's been the problem, isn't it? We can get these good results, but we can't consistently keep it up. I mean, last night I did famously say, sort of, I don't think we're good enough for Europe. But, you know...
opens it up again, doesn't it? Are we good enough for you? I think there's a lot of traffic between them. I think there's a lot of good sides, but I'm struggling to think of eight. I think Fulham are our biggest threat to sort of get in there. Yes, I agree with that. And we can't beat them, so they'll definitely get three points.
Yeah, you've got to play them. Like, we are cursed against Fulham. So I can see every opportunity. But, you know, Bournemouth having a great season, Forest having a great season. So if we can get ourselves up and in that mix, then the world's our oyster to a certain extent. Brentford...
having a similar season to us where they have very good spells and very poor spells. They're very good at home, Brentford. We've still got to go there, which will be a hard thing. So, you know, let's just enjoy the rest of the season and see where it takes us.
We sort of wrote it off a bit after the Christmas period. But let's, you know, let's just ride through it. Let's not have expectations. Let's not have any bloody Champions League songs where... Yes. Or Europe again. Yeah, or like, you know... I seem to be solely cursed with us going 2-0 down, literally as we start singing them. So, yeah, let's just enjoy it for what it is.
whatever we get out of it is a bonus. And, you know, FA Cup, for example, we're still in that. I would love us, love us to win. I think if we won an FA Cup, I don't think I'd ever stop going on about it in my entire life. Neither would I. No.
We've got every chance in that. We're all acutely aware of the fact that we've got to get there before Paris do. They've had an absolute breeze in this tournament. We've got to sort that out. Speaking of the FA Cup and looking at the aggregates for Chelsea...
7-5 on aggregate over the season. Who would have thought that when we were 4-1 down at Stamford Bridge? Yeah, I know. Eventually 4-2. It's funny though. Revenge has been administered. It was funny that game at Stamford Bridge though, because when we were 4-2 down at half-time, I really did think we could get back in there. I wasn't impressed I was impressed with Cole Palmer he was obviously magnificent but I was watching it and I was sort of in the mindset of I don't think they're going to
I think if we can nick one back, I think we've got every chance to make this four-all, and obviously it didn't. I think we had a couple of penalties turned down, which seemed very... And they took a free kick from way too far forwards. Yeah, exactly. But we've exercised those demons. We've got the aggregate win.
you count the cup do you know it's funny you say that even if you don't count I think we still would have lost that game but it's funny you say that that like you know he took that free kick further forward it's like we still conceded three more goals and it made me laugh there was someone on the train back from Forest
ranting off his mind about how the penalty they gave wasn't a penalty. And I was kind of like, well, we did concede seven, so it doesn't really matter, does it? And it also was a penalty. Yeah, it was, and it was, yeah, so, yeah, so, I don't know whether that one's... matters too much towards it. One or two other bits just to round off on the Albion for now. We've avoided having the double done on us by Chelsea. We're down to three now. It's Fulham.
It's Liverpool, of course, and it's another team that we don't like to swear about. Left to do. And I'm not so confident about them. Liverpool, obviously. Fulham... Fulham will do the double over us. It is what it is to potterise. But although, you never know. I mean, we're at home to them. If we could just get a draw in that game, I'd be happy enough. Especially as they're rivals in the table. We had the same thing with West Ham for years. West Ham just...
couldn't beat us and then one day they just did let that happen this season yeah exactly because records are there to be broken you know as much as it I think we are a bit cursed at Villa Park that's probably one place where we just can't seem to get a win with fans for love or money of course the one win we get there there's no fans but the Chelsea game and also the Fulham and Liverpool we mentioned are all home games and all we've got after that is we've got an away game
one away game that is where the double can happen and that's the Palace match we've got sort that game out and I don't mind about the other ones and then we'll be alright won't we I'll be happy with that yeah I'll be over the moon with that over the moon so yeah
Fantastic. You've just been saying hello to a couple of orcs, I presume, in the pub, so we'll be chatting with some people in a minute, I'm sure. Yeah. So, yeah, that wraps it up for now. Yeah. We'll do some more content out of the game, I'm sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
As we go 4-0 down. At Crabble. Not the Crabble. Crabble. Crabble, yeah. Actually, I don't think he's playing today, but there is a Brighton link with Dover. Their goalkeeper is a former Brighton player who played one game for the first team.
Yeah. And he's technically probably our best ever goalkeeper because he kept a clean seat in the one game, which was Mitch Walker. Oh, bloody hell. Yeah, if you remember him. He played for Whitehawk last year as well, so the connection between all three. And Luca Cocoraccio.
who is the centre-back for Dover, is a former Brighton Academy player. Fantastic stats. There you go. Also, you know, there's a few, a lot of the players who are involved at Whitehall, we go through a lot of ex-Brighton, people who've been on our books, so they're all...
They're all, you know, there's plenty of links. Also, I think Mitch, you've got to be a goalkeeper if you're playing football with that name. It feels like a goalkeeper's name. Yeah, yeah. Mitch is definitely a goalkeeper's name, isn't it? So, but yeah. Let's hope he has an offy today. Well, I think he's injured. Oh, he's injured? Yeah, I think he's injured.
injured today which is a real shame he left but he's like a club legend here at Clover he's made over 300 appearances so it's a real shame that we lost him because he was our best goalkeeper I've seen there for years so but you know I'm sure we'll be back Yeah, I'm sure. Let's see how the game goes. It's a bit of a free hit today. Oh, that's right. We'll break it off there for now. The bar beckons. Fantastic. See you later, mate. Love you, Wyatt.
Jack, full-time. Counter-attack at the end. Made it 2-0. 2-0 to Wyoming at Dover. Not bad, eh? Superb. Superb. What a win that is for the whole league and everything for survival. Everyone else losing. I thought we'd lose today, I thought we'd get smashed to be honest. So, on the hook!
Yeah, great result. Superb. 1-0 halftime, 2-0 full time. Ex-Brighton man Billy Clark was the goal as well. Exactly, yeah. Very few people remember that, but it is true. There's a few ex-Albion connections, but that was the main one. That was special, that was. Special. I need to send my tweet now. Yeah, I'll leave you to it. Second attempt on the counter anyway. Initially saved. He put it in on the rebound. That's 2-0. Goal and it's off. We do! Oh, I hope we love you!
So we're back in the pub, we're back in the cricketers post-match, having a chat with your mate who's a Y Talk and Chelsea fan. And we're all pretty happy because Y Talk have got a 2-0 win, a fantastic win, away to fairly high-flying Dover. Thoughts on the game, Jack?
Yeah, I mean, we had to defend. We were defending like, what did Kamara say? Defending like beavers. What the hell that made? Yeah, and I think we were, yeah, the first half, we should have been 2-0 up. I think we played really, really well. or maybe even three up the goal we did score really nicely finished really nicely finished by Harry Bridle and then second half we're under the cosh I've not seen since
Since the playoff semi-final at Sheffield Wednesday, four players go off injured. Like, forced changes. No central midfielders. I don't know what was going on at the end. And then we just got a 95th minute. Billy Clark, ex-Brighton Man. Ex-Brighton Man. If anybody can remember him being in the 21s, I'd be impressed. But, you know, ex-Brighton Man, ran away with it. Threw on goal. Took a couple of tries. Popped it into an empty net. Sorted. Pandemonium. It's huge because everybody else has lost.
in the relegation. So, yeah, it's great. And one game you wanted to be a draw was a draw as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Dulwich against Hastings. Yeah, so a huge result for Brighton. So, yeah, huge. And some people, certain people did seem to celebrate quite wildly, Jack. Yeah, I know, I know.
I'd celebrated, probably over-celebrated that one a bit, didn't I? No, no, he's not over-celebrating. 95th minute. What I love with non-league football is it's just exactly these kind of affairs where you get the win and the players will come over and all shake hands with all of the fans.
there's only 15 of us but it's still it's fantastic though isn't it it's great it was great yeah excellent superb do you want to have a word as well do you want a little bit for the pod as well state your name for the record sir hello my name is pete yep
And you are a Whitehawks and Chelsea fan, is that right? Yeah, that's right, yeah, yeah. We won't mention the Chelsea side of things, of course, because we know you're hurting, but you must be hurting. Let's talk about the Whitehawks stuff. It's life, isn't it? You live in South West London, you were saying, weren't you? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you've driven up for this.
Yeah, driven from this. I lived in Brighton 13 years and been going Hawks about six years. Yeah, used to be a steward at the Amex as well. Oh, right. That's good to know that, yeah. In the Poirot years.
Yeah, no, no. I'm doing only away games for Hawks at the moment, but I'm going to do the last few home games of the season. Ticking off grounds and all that? Yeah, yeah, do all the ones I haven't done. When you were in Brighton, were you in the Whitehawks area? No. Have you just tapped into Whitehawks? The non-league thing for Brighton. Yeah, just because it's the biggest non-league club in Brighton. So, yeah, I lived like near Preston Park.
Before that, Lewis Road. So when I was at Lewis Road, I was like, oh, technically East Bright. But yeah, that's kind of... We could call it, can't we? Yeah, I know it well. I used to live in Patchen for a while as a kid. Yeah, Patchen. Yeah, yeah. So good news today. We're several points. Was it eight points? Eight points clear of trouble now. Looks like another season in the Ismin Prem, which is good. So more grounds to go to next season. You'll be doing it all again next season?
I'll be doing more next season if anything because I'm settled in I move back in it's all settled in so I'll be doing all the aways I can and come down more see mates in Brighton and that and all the homes so and you can do all sort of London based or around London area as well very good London Very London-based, the league, isn't it? It's like eight or nine, or London, or just by London. Yeah, I live Kingston, so Kingstonian look like coming up next year, so that'll be what I want to do.
Whenever there's a London game, I've got my WhatsApp group called White Hawk London. There were about 40 people in it, so I'll just hit everyone up in there. We usually get a decent turnout. Sounds like it's going to be bacon bodies around your place, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. Pretty much, yeah. Anyway, fantastic. And ground number 198 for me today.
Yeah, I'm creeping up, creeping up. Another one off the list. And for you, Jack, how many games have you been to now this season? I reckon we must... I'm going to guess you must be up to about... 120 because you said 105 a couple of two three weeks ago 120 this is of the season so far which is slightly insane Not slightly. And 121 tomorrow as well. Brighton women away at West Ham. Solid. Excellent. Can't wait. On that note, we shall break off. Fantastic. Good to meet you as well. Thanks mate.
And so to the final part of the podcast. We're now on the train home and well on the way on the train home, aren't we? Aren't we Jack with our... brudolph wingman you're my wingman i'm your wingman yeah nice nice nice draw nice artwork yeah nice artwork yeah yeah it's nice it's lovely job happy days the album have won And Brighton's other team, Whitehawk, have won as well. Everybody else lost, which is really good. West Ham lost.
And who else lost today? Crystal Palace lost. Two months in Everton. Everton, their bogey team. Yeah, so that's a pretty good all-round weekend for Sussex football. Seven points restored, eh? Worthing lost. That was disappointing. Let's not talk about that. Yeah, we were 4-0. 4-0? Yeah, I know.
going on but a 7 point gap Palace to Brighton and we've got Saints next weekend I know we've already said the usual the neurotic 10 points off West Ham though I know and I think one of my famous Twitter rants what if we give Evan Ferguson to West Ham when they finish above us. Well, that'll be a challenge now. They're doing a pretty bad job at that. Yeah, it's an interesting one, isn't it? And it's great to hook up with you for a non.
Albion last day as well. It's been good. I can finally reveal all my non-league nonsense, basically. I do this most weekends, really. I was thinking this the other day. Outside of football season, I don't think there's been a Saturday night. I haven't watched a football game for a long time. And you said you're on about 120 games this season. This is obviously including 18s, 21s, women's games. I think I've done 55 Brighton.
Brighton games of some sort, so that's women's, men's around the 21s. That's not a bad going, is it? Yeah, this season, yeah. And another one tomorrow, the women. And then another one on Tuesday. Tuesday, we've got Whitehawker playing Brighton under-21s in the Senior Cup. Yeah, quarterfinal at Lansing. Yeah, and that is El Jacico, they're calling it. So, am I getting this right? Season ticket holders can get in for free, is that right? No, it's at Lansing.
I think it'll be the usual... Whitehall gets to keep all the gate receipts. So it'll be at Lansing, not at the training ground, at Culver Road. I think we keep all the gate receipts, which will be really good. So a bit of money in the coffers. What's the under-21s? What's Whitehawk? It should be a good game. We've lost a lot from the under-21s. Whitehawk are in good form, so it'll be good to see the quarter-final.
I'm not going to let everybody know who I'm supporting. I won't say. I know, but I'm not saying. No, it'd be great. Either way, it's a win for me, Brighton win, or you get to see Whitehawk get... closer to a final at the Amex which would be great it would be great for the club if we could get a final at the Amex that would be amazing it would be a great occasion for everyone
Fantastic stuff. Superb. It's been a great day out. Loved your company as always. Loved the game. It was great. New ground ticked off for me as well. The beers have been great. They've been going down nicely. The Guinness was good. Dover's football club it was actually it was decent surprisingly considering I didn't let it settle yeah they just filled it up straight away so um
Yeah, they did pretty well on the Guinness, all things considering. Absolutely. And Dover, we didn't see much at Dover, but where the ground was, very nice. Yeah. Cracking stuff. Good day out. Fantastic stuff. Non-league special and Chelsea review.
done and dusted and we move on now in terms of the Albion to the Southampton game where we'll be doing a match day special again and I might see you there actually you'll be there as well unless I'm in some sort of beer coma somewhere so yeah well that's what I mean I'll see you there. Yeah, yeah. Passed out on a concourse. Until then, always a pleasure, Jack. Always a pleasure. Stand or fall. The Albion. This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network.