The Jersey Football Podcast

The Jersey Football Podcast Episode 12 - with Chris Gill and Sam Quail of Jersey Wanderers

• Andysheppard299

Share episode

Send us a text

Robbie and Andy are joined by the management team of Premiership 1 leaders Jersey Wanderers. They diplomatically discuss potentially controversial questions raised by a listener as well as the season so far and their aspirations.

We hear from Jack Cannon as he prepares his squad for the U21 Muratti. It's safe to say he has full belief in his players. 

Fixtures | JFA Combination League

Jersey Bulls Football Club | Fixtures


Speaker 3:

Hello and welcome to episode 12 of the Jersey Football Podcast. I'm your host, Andy Shepherd. Joined as always by my co-host Robbie Wi Whitaker. Robbie, how you doing?

Robbie:

I'm all good. Thanks Andy. Yeah, number 12, we've, we're counting these up, aren't we?

Speaker 3:

I know that's three months nearly

Robbie:

and no complaints. A couple of little complaints, but nothing major. So we're still recording, which is good.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, not too bad. And this week at least, we're a little bit more prepared than last time. Yeah.

Robbie:

Although I enjoyed last week, mate. It was good. It was, I've had some good feedback from people saying it was quite in depth and, quite challenging subjects and stuff. Yeah, that was quite good.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. I must admit, I've had quite a bit of feedback from players and coaches around. Sort of respect agenda. Both sides of the argument actually around I got some comments around some players going over the score, some players being very sensitive to things. However, the, a lot of people talking about specific instance of referees saying, or acting in such a way that wouldn't be accepted the other way around, which I think was the main point. Yeah, everybody wants to work towards getting work towards everybody enjoying football. And I think that was one of the big challenges that I'd certainly had. But I think moving on from that, were, look, we've got another really busy week of football. We've obviously got the under 21 Mirati on next Sunday. But what we'll do, as we normally do, we're gonna run through the games of the last week. We'll have a chat with our guests and then we'll look ahead to the next week. And we're very lucky this week. We've talked at length about the Premiership one pace set as Jersey Wanderers, and we're delighted to be joined by their management team. We've got Chris Gill and Sam Quail with us. How are you doing, gents?

Chris:

Yeah. All good. Thanks both. Yeah. Pleasure to be here. Yeah. Good mate.

Speaker 3:

Good, good. Rob, it's an opportunity for you and I to maybe try and get an inside scoop on what's worked well so well from this season. And I suppose we're not outnumbering the guest this week, so we're gonna have to be on our best behavior.

Robbie:

It's a square go now. This week

Speaker 3:

is I can fight sleep we're in trouble. Just looking at the games in the last week, in Premiership one, although I've seen Premiership one, there were no league games on there were two games involving Premiership. One clubs. First of all, we had grovel went over to Sey and the Jeremy, they played rovers and they beat them five too. A great result for grovel,'cause they seem to be picking up just a little bit of a head of steam after a slow start. It is a match that because we were so badly organized, Robbie last week, we didn't preview it. Because some that the JFA and GFA need to sort out, they don't show it on each other's websites.

Robbie:

That's so annoying. I was trying to look for fixtures and everything, before our game in Guernsey a couple of weeks ago, and you can't get anywhere on it. Like I thought, I felt like a 90-year-old man trying to use a touch phone. It was embarrassing. It really was.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. But yeah, five two out there is a really good result. Yeah. Great result for them. A couple of goals with Joes Ganny, Harrison Moon got one and a few others. And I think, as I said, hopefully for them it's a start of them just building up a bit of momentum.'cause I know it's been a bit of a struggle so far. Chris you guys played them first game of the season which is probably up until last weekend. Was the only point that they'd managed to get how did you find them?

Chris:

We actually, we played them twice. We played them in Charity Cup final and then we played them first game of the season, which I was actually on a stag do for. So Quo will probably be better placed to say for that game, but certainly for the final, yeah it was actually similar to the final, the year before. Very well organized, full of experience. And definitely the, where they are on the table at the moment isn't a reflection of their actual ability. So yeah, I'm expecting we've got Google next, actually on the 22nd, funnily enough. So expecting another tough game and it's up at their ground as well.

Speaker 3:

Oh good. And Sam, what did you think?'cause I was up at the league game and we spoke very briefly, but what did you think of them when you played them?

Sam:

Yeah, mate, it's one of those things in it, you look at results and how they've been. However, from what they did in that game, I thought they were really well organized and especially after just losing to us in the final. So they're naturally gonna be so up for it. And I think, with all the strength and the players that they've got, their strongest 11, they're easily gonna pick up points. And I think, they turned up in the day and it was, I heard you spoke about Arthur's penalty might have been a deciding factor, but overall I think we were good against them as well. But I think they're always gonna take points off teams no matter how you look at it.

Chris:

A moment of magic from Casey. Saved after Arthur's blushes a little bit. But I remember being in stock pools ground, actually, and I was I was watching them against Burton Alion and I had our game up on our phone and I just watched Casey's goal and I was the only one shouting in the stadium when that went in. It's a good memory. But yeah, unbelievable goal. Yeah,

Speaker 3:

I was,

Chris:

but yeah, as you said, only teams take a points off us so far in the league, so we're fully aware qualities that they have and I'm definitely not gonna be underestimating'em before the 22nd.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, definitely. And then the other game Robbie, I think you best placed for that, a really good win for your St. Paul's side. A away to St. Adss and the JFA cup. Looking at the elevens, there's a strong umbrella lad side there. And another goal for Paul Mackay as well, who we spoke about last week. What, how did the game go?

Robbie:

Yeah. What struck me about that game or, when we come out to warm up, it was just how big Bre Lads was, physically. I was looking at them against like, all my young lads and thinking, wow, we better not be giving away any silly set pieces or corners'cause we're gonna struggle. I think Tom's our only player over six foot. The rest of them are all hobbits. I think we, we handled ourselves well. We, I thought we, we took control of the game first off. We went tune up and looked really good value. I thought we were gonna just not coast it, but, get another goal and then that would be it. And you could, start to enjoy it. But they get a goal back. And then two, one, it's a, different landscape, different team talk at half time. We come out, we've got a goal to go three one up. Joey O'Toole got two Fergus Boyle's trying to claim the second goal for us, but it's taken a massive deflection, so definitely a known goal. So if the JFA are listening don't listen to the team sheets or the scorers, it's known goal, please.

Speaker 3:

Was that Brenda that updated match day?

Robbie:

I, Brendan was away, so I had to text him. Ah, and I said, Fergus has scored, but it's definitely an own goal.

Speaker 3:

It definitely says Fergus on match the app. So yeah, I'm not having that.

Robbie:

And if he's claiming it, he's gotta be embarrassed.

Speaker 3:

Yeah his dad's done my favor, aren't he?

Robbie:

Definitely. But now we're good value for it. Second half, they they decided to go a lot more direct and long put us under a lot of pressure. But I have to say all the lads were brilliant, like young Imar was superb again. Just such a disciplined performance from him. We had young Louis Robinson as well. He got an assist, so I was delighted for him. His work rate was phenomenal, so he ended up tiring after about 65, 70 minutes. So we bought on Jack McKenna just to shore it up on the right side. Asked him not to go forward, just literally break everything up and give the ball to the ball players, and he did it perfectly. Yeah, delighted for the lads and into the next round of the cup.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. Jack's been like that since he was a kid. I remember about 14, 15 you'd give him an instruction and he'd just follow it. Just do it. There's no ego to it. There's no side of that. I want to get the ball, I want to do something. It's just, he's been given a job and he does it and he does it well. Yeah. Yeah. He is a really good lad.

Robbie:

Yeah. Delighted for him. And we took him to Guernsey, couldn't get him on and, a couple of games. He's been an unused sub, so I was pleased he got a good 20 minute run out and actually contributed,

Speaker 3:

yeah. Good stuff. Good. I don't know if you know who you've got in the next round yet. I'm sure the cup draws are out there, but I haven't a clue. I haven't seen him, so I'm not

Speaker 8:

even It's you, is it is o or Peter Reis. Yeah. So come on, Peter's resis. Yeah,

Chris:

it's I guess you could, yeah, you can see the tree on the website. The fixture tree. So it looks like it, it is Oz, yeah.

Robbie:

Sound or Peter Reis of. Yeah. I'm not even gonna try and navigate looking for fixtures anymore. I'll just wait till each game comes up, I think.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. No, good. I, again, if we're looking at entertainment and football, you've got two games in the league. An average is six goals per game. Certainly plenty of entertainment if you're going to watch. And the same can be said if you're looking at Premiership two as well. Where Dragos got back to winning ways. After losing to Trinity last time out, they, they beat St. MAs four three. So really good result for them. Sports Club, surprisingly lost two now at home to Trinity. It's like another great result for Trinity, but Sports Club start to fall away bit. Robbie, we spoke earlier a few weeks ago. They were on the edges of a promotion challenge alongside IES and Rosell, but maybe fallen away a bit.

Robbie:

Yeah, they've had a couple of not great results and have they recently, so hopefully it's just a little blip for them and they can get back in the mix and make that league a bit entertaining or a bit more entertaining, should I say.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. And then we also had St. John went at home to sport and Aki AKIs kept in momentum up at the top with a nine one victory. So a really dominant performance from them. And again, just making a statement is really gonna be between them and Rozelle going forward as to, I think, as to who's gonna win that league. And then I'd imagine they're both gonna go up and barring a collapse from either one of them, I think.

Robbie:

Yeah, definitely. They look well placed, don't they? Like you say, we've sports club, just having a couple of bad results. It's, there's a little gap up here and there now, so Yeah. See what happens with them.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. And just running through the other fixtures we had umbrellas, reserves three st one Reserves eight. That was a Thursday night under the light. It's at st one. There's every possibility. We mentioned that game last week. I can't actually remember'cause we. As I say, we were fine with the seat of our pants

Robbie:

and 20 points in

Speaker 3:

Ville Reserves one, one Reserves. Now that was on that Tuesday evening of this week. About the shock there. It was Dean Nunez with the golf for Grl. But Grl Reserves deserves have generally been strong over the last couple of years, but some more have been really strong. Yeah, a bit of a shock there. Te tell me, Robbie, is Dean Union's class, the first team player? We can't be, we can't be having that.

Robbie:

I think he's all right. He's in and out, isn't he? But

Speaker 3:

he's up and down. He is. He's a hybrid, isn't he?

Robbie:

Yeah, definitely. He's a quintessential club man. He does a job in both camps, but ones res. He's losing that. Yeah, a bit of a shock. They might need to go and sign a few more players just to increase the 200, so they've got more to pick from.

Speaker 3:

Not that we're better.

Robbie:

Yeah. Yeah. But

Speaker 3:

yeah, and then, and the championship too. We had Groove lc lost four one at home to St. John's Reserves. We had in the JFA ball, we had Trinity over 30 fives against Rosell Reserves was a two zero win for Relle and one C with a 12 four win over Trinity Reserves. So a very strong performance from I dunno if that's their first game since they lost to your reserves Robbie, but certainly a quite a big stamp they've put down there on that performance.

Robbie:

That just sounds a crazy game, doesn't it? 12 four, like Yeah, I want, I dunno how the scoring went. That'd be interesting to see.

Speaker 3:

It sounds like. Yeah. It sounds like the keeper started running forward trying to get a ball. Yeah. Over 30 fives or Rosell two. Grl two. Again a good entertaining game. To the, looking at the women's division because we've spoken quite a lot about this. Robbie Rosell Beat Sports Club five two. Now probably quite a comfortable win for Rosell, but that's a big step forward for Sports Club in terms of keeping that game competitive in terms of giving a good account themselves so that as much as it's you'd obviously never want to lose, I'd expect that's something that can be potentially build on. But the other result and a massive shock, certainly from our perspective, from what we've seen so far was Peter's beat, Jersey Wonders four one that we've had cases as season Peter struggle to put a team out. It's been really difficult for'em, so that must be a huge confidence boost for them.

Robbie:

Yeah, we didn't see that coming. Did we? Quail, were you in charge of the women's team for that day or

Sam:

not? No.

Robbie:

Nah that's a great result from Peter. It's say that would give him massive, like confidence and, to go forward and it must be, must come down to availability of players, because they've haven't been able to build their team a couple of times and then they go out and put four past wanderers yeah. Good to see.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. Do you, Chris and Sam, do you guys get a feel for how things are going with the women up at Wanderers is a, I imagine especially in the winter, you probably don't see much of each other'cause of different training nights and different venues and stuff, but do you get much a feel for it?

Chris:

Not particularly, to be honest with you. We train quite distinctively from the women. So we train Tuesdays and Thursdays. I believe they train Wednesdays. Don't quote me on that. But no, it's very much, the senior men and women's are are distinct. So yeah, not too much exposure, but obviously quite an eye. Go up and watch whenever we can.

Speaker 3:

Excellent. And moving on to, Bill's had two games this week. They went to hasek. I, I dunno if any of you saw the highlights of that. Just as a side note, Hasek looks like they've got a, an unbelievable setup. It looked like a really good ground and everything around it looked a really good setup for that level. But the bills went there and they won. They picked up a two L victory, a really good result. Lon Bickley with a double. And then they followed that up midweek, unfortunately with a two one defeat to Broadridge Heath Broadridge Heath move up to eighth with that win. So I suppose that makes'em another top 10 team that the bill's about to play and just reinforces the difficulty, the start that they've had. Which you then throw in, I think the level of the league where I don't think they'll have any easy games that they'll play. Disappointing that they've, they've lost that one seemed to be a penalty for either side and a quite an outrageous lob for the other golfer hassock. But yeah, a disappointing one for them.

Robbie:

Yeah, it's bittersweet, isn't it? They come off a two no win at Hassock and then get a two, have a two one defeat. But we've touched on it it's just about them find their feet within that league. We talked last week, I think was about how impressive their points per game and against a top 10 team, if they can, just replicate that they're gonna have set back. So it's how they respond after this result. Definitely.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. Without a doubt. And I think the, by and large, the season has been good. I think what is a real positive for them? I think this may be the last away midweek game of the season. Oh, brilliant. Which makes a difference because it's a big ask asking the lads to take at least a half day off work, if not a full day and then get back over on the first flight in the morning, straight into work for the next day to do that as often as they had a big ask. And again, it points to the commitment of those players on this, the subject of the Jersey bills. We always love feedback and comments from people. And we've had a couple of comments from somebody. Again the disa. One of the disappointing things with the system we use is, it doesn't give you a name or anything, so we don't know who sent it, but they sent us a couple of really good questions, actually. One around the bills and then one around the football in Jersey in general. And I think this is probably a good point to, to pick up and I'd be interested to get Chris and Sam's perspective on it as well. I think the question has the potential to be quite controversial. I don't actually think it is. So I'll read it to you verbatim. And then I'll get Robbie to give his bit first. And we can pin all the blame on her if we get any criticism for it. So

Robbie:

I thought we weren't doing the segment of Robbie rants.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. We'll see how this goes. But the question we've got was, the first and foremost is, are the Jersey bills good for Jersey football? If so, why do many clubs criticize the bills time? Is it time for a new perspective and approach by those clubs? Before I say f I'll put it out to you. Robbie, what do you think?

Robbie:

We spoke a bit before we started recording and yeah, it's good for the Jersey footballers. But it hasn't been good for the Jersey clubs. It goes back to when they were formed, I think, where they were just cherry picking players out. It's been a lot better since Elliot's taken over. There's been more communication, more, two-way street about talking and players and everything. So it's a lot clearer that way. But the damage was done when they were first formed and they were just taken players left, right and center with no real notice. No real thought for the clubs over here and what that would do for their match day squad. Big thumbs up to Elliot for the communication. For, since he's come in, it's been really good. We've been able to work around him. Like personally, I've spoke to him loads with, a few of my players getting called up and when they can. There was a little confusion I think last week or week before with Stan done getting called up where we had a midweek game. But Elliot was all apologetic and which was nice to hear, and he said, yeah we made the agreement that, if you've got a game that he won't take him. Yeah, it's a lot better now I think.

Speaker 3:

Chris how has it been from your side? Obviously, I think you'd spent time at St. Peter's and then into Wonder. Yeah. How have you seen it?

Chris:

Can I abstain or do I have to one? I'm joking. Yeah I echo what Robbie really said. It's fantastic for the players, having aspirations to play at a high level, having aspirations to play step football against better opposition, traveling away representing the islands. Fantastic, right? What an amazing sort of opportunity for players locally. But yeah, I think the real issue is, to be honest with you, stems in, in the local side sorry, the junior side of things. So this mentality of elitist elitist football and elitist football camps, and as we said before, if you are good enough, you will be noticed in Jersey. So it's irrelevant if you play for a St. Paul's Academy, Wanderers Academy or Bulls Academy, in my opinion. Because if you are truly good enough, you will be noticed. I know there's a lot more things other people. Who work or are involved in the junior side of things at Wanderers would like to say on it. And I'm certainly not in a position to, to say as much as those guys, but I know it is hurting. Certainly clubs like Wanderers where, sponsorship is becoming harder and harder each year. Subscriptions going up each year as a result of that, and a result of losing players to elitist elitist junior sections. So yeah, it can be really difficult, but I'm certainly not qualified to comment on the junior side of things. But that's, so what I've heard and what I've heard and what I've seen.

Speaker 3:

Yeah you raise a really good point there about sponsorship actually, and I hadn't even thought of that. You just have to look at the name change of the club for Yeah, exactly. As long as I can remember it was JTC, Jersey Wanderers and look, JTC have, it's their prerogative. It's their money. They all have their own sort of marketing budget and sponsorship. It's entirely up to them how they do it. However, that's one big impact to lose that sponsorship which I certainly hadn't recognized. From there, again, from Sam, your point of view, do you see much difference there in terms of bills at the start versus bills now and the relationship, with local clubs?

Sam:

I think as Robbie definitely said, I think the. For me and Chris, obviously Parleys was always at Bulls when we were doing the first team, so communication has a hundred percent gotten a lot better from our perspective as we heard what it was like when he was obviously at St. Peter's. But yeah, I think in terms of a stepping stone for young players, I think it's, I think it's really good. But obviously I can also see that point of from, our minis coaches, they're struggling a lot with it in terms of them always going away traveling and them seeing that as a club rather than playing that local as well as, now it being island stuff as well. But it's always gonna be difficult. You're never gonna please everyone. And I think it's all about the reaction from it.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. I think the way I I mean I was a balls manager at the time when the bills were formed, and obviously we lost basically our whole first team. But the one thing that I always looked at from it, and the way I looked at it was, if I was a player, what would I want? And let I hold no bones about if I was playing in the bill, in the bills that say, we want you to play, you wouldn't see me for Burst in the local game. I'd be playing for the bills there. There's no two ways about it. So there's, you've gotta always try not to be hypocritical about it. From that perspective, I think the bit about why clubs criticize the bills and whether it's is time for, is it time for a new perspective and approach? I think that does stem from the best part. Is it, there are three seasons, maybe slightly more of not a good relationship. Yeah.

Robbie:

Scars from the past, isn't it?

Speaker 3:

Yeah. It wasn't working. And for all the great work that Elliot's doing and the relations that have been built it's not going to. It's not gonna change instantly, and there's gonna be people who it never changes. And it's not unique to Jersey. I remember a few years ago, just before the bills were formed, we went over to rovers to play in the Jeremy. I remember talking to some of one of their committee members in the COP house afterwards, and I think I'd asked him how he thought GFC were gonna get on'cause we played early, so I think we'd finished just as A GFC was going on. He says, how do you think GFC are gonna go? He said, I don't care. And he just, and he said, he says I've never been to a single game. I have no interest in how they do. And if they lose every week, I'd be quite happy. And look, there's people like that in Jersey as well, and they've all got their own perspective and they've all got their own reasons and their experience of it. And some of'em will never change. Some of them, the damage has been done.

Chris:

Certainly from our perspective, as Quail touched on before, we've we're, this is our second season of VREs now, and this is Elliot's second season of Bulls. So we've only had that exposure to Elliot as, as Bulls manager. And I, of course, he's our mate, but we only have good things to say in terms of, he's taken, if he's taken an interest in some of our players, he's drawn up specific performance plans, for example, in some instances, working through with specific players in terms of this is what you need to hit, this is what you need to do, but first and foremost you need to prioritize your club. Yeah. And. From our perspective, that's fantastic. Promoting players to play for your club, dominate the local league first, then you know you'll be picked for bulls and that pathway is there, that pathway is open. And in my opinion, bulls isn't a bad, that senior team isn't a bad thing. As you said, if you are lucky to be good enough, certainly you'd wanna play a step football. But it's, it that sort of tone has to be set from the top. And Elliot's certainly doing that and Dan and the rest of the coaching team. We only have good things to say in, in that respect. And and yeah, long may it continue, but I think, as I said before, the, our actual, not our personal, but I think the club's issues are I think stemmed more of the junior side of things.

Speaker 3:

Yeah I agree completely on that as well.'cause I think. Bills aren't going anywhere. So you can, if you are involved at a club, especially at senior level and probably to the same a lesser extent at junior level, you have to deal with it and you have to build a relationship.'Cause your players are gonna want to play for them. And I think it's, I think time's a great healer. And I think we've seen things have started to settle down. Now off the back of it, I look at if we, again, if we take when Gue the FC were formed, I think they took the bulk of their team from St. Martin. And I might be wrong on that, but that's my understanding. It took St. Martin 10 years to win the league again. But now they, so effectively it's a generation of players that you need to replace and it takes the best part of a generation for that. But now they have a lot more stability there. I think relationships are good. And I think the important thing I think Elliot has done a lot of good. In the local game with the relationships that I think the relationship, the good thing is he had those relationships before he went into that job. So I think in terms of the question about is it time for a new perspective and approach by those clubs, I think that's already happening. But it, it will take time and you're not going to, you're not gonna bring everybody with you. Some people the damage will be done. It won't have it, it won't change. The second question that we got about, again, I think as an interesting one for a number of reasons, and again, I'll read this verbatim to you. It says that the senior men's game appears to be very competitive. How do we replicate that at junior level? Many age groups have one dominant team. How can that be fixed to improve the overall standard of football across all age groups? I think that probably speaks to some of the comments that you were talking about with the, in the junior game, Chris, in terms of the Yeah. The challenges that are faced there. I would possibly take a bit of issue. The first point there about the senior men's game appears to be very competitive. I think it is. I think it absolutely is. But I think it's only competitive and I've maybe removed you guys from the equation. I don't, I think wondrous have that strength. It's only competitive if all the players are available. And for most other teams, you take one or two players out those teams and then there is a drop in there. And if that happens consistently, you then potentially have, even at senior level and prime one, you potentially have one dominant team with that strength. So I think there is an issue there. I think personally the biggest issue for me is participation. I know that the JFA talk about, I think they saw the, a report last year about, talked about record numbers of participation. I'm assuming that's record number of players registered. I'd be interested to see what the numbers are in terms of actually playing. 10 games a season especially at senior level.'cause I think that number would be a lot smaller. But I don't know. Robbie, what do you think on that?

Speaker 9:

I think with the junior football, you're always gonna get,

Robbie:

just go wherever your mates are and it happens all the time. You'll get like clusters of friends that are good at football and they'll go to one team and a couple of others with them, and that team will dominate. And it's only as they start getting older that it evens out because the lesser players will improve, they'll fill out a bit better, so as they get older it should become more competitive. To answer the question, I don't know how they could do that. From what I'm hearing as well, there's a few clubs or a few, organization things that are promising the world to these kids to get'em to sign for them, which I think is wrong. I don't know the ins and outs, so I won't name clubs or name anything. But I think that's gotta stop and just let kids be kids and yeah, if they want to go to one team, let'em go to one team, but don't give'em promises of X, Y, and z if they do sign,

Speaker 3:

what

Speaker 9:

about you Sam? What do

Speaker 3:

you think?

Sam:

I think if I'm speaking from a like a teacher perspective, actually, I think nowadays kids, as Robbie said, are a hundred percent really mate involved, especially with all sports as well. And I think to keep that a positive, I think you just have to, like you said, let them do it.'Cause the moment you start going, nah, you are staying there'cause you, all of this stuff, you start promising things and then it starts creating more conflict. And especially you, I speak from Wanderers as well. We've had loads of lads who have left to do this academy. Thing up at Hope Ballet, which obviously has hurt us a lot. However, I think again, it's word of mouth, which is gonna help a lot. Just keep getting into parents, try out, and then at the same time you could maybe go, if you throw in extra coaching sessions, it might be more of a pull. You're asking more people who have got kids and families to give up more time, which, it's already a struggle.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. I think there's a difficulty as well'cause there's so many conflicting opportunities for kids as well.'cause the obvious solution be the say to clubs, right? And there's a restricted in the number of players you can register at junior level. But I think what would happen if you're one of those players that doesn't get to join the club, these mates, you just won't play at all. So then that's somebody in the future who could play is lost in a game because they might decide to go and play a different sport, or they might decide to do something else on a Tuesday or Thursday or just sit at home on the PlayStation. So I think that's really difficult. I'm not really sure what the answer is for that in terms of but I think, I do think that, I do think it has always been the case. I don't think it's a new thing.

Robbie:

No, I don't think it's a new thing. I think years ago when I was younger, which is years ago Guernsey tried to do something about, the registrations, but they could only have so many players that had represented Guernsey and it absolutely killed their league. Like players were losing interest left and center. And I think they ended up scrapping it after maybe half a season. I think I could be wrong on that, but yeah, I remember them doing something similar about putting a cap on how many island players you could have in your squad, and yeah, it just killed them.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. I suppose the other option is if they went back to the old way when it was double age groups, it relieves a bit of the pressure. Yeah. In terms, because obviously if you've got a team at under twelves and under, if you've got an under 12, under 14 it's one team. You need twice as many players as you've got under thirteens and fourteens. Yeah. If that makes, I think I've made a mess of the numbers there, but I think the point there you need twice as many players and that again, makes it more difficult. You'd probably get more of a spread. But a again I'm saying that without any idea the numbers involved in terms of if you have the number of teams if you like or competitors, what does that actually do in terms of numbers that are playing? And that's one to take if a pinch of salt, but yeah. When I was

Robbie:

Oh, sorry. And when I was playing junior. When I was playing junior football, there was three age groups. It was under fourteens, under sixteens and under eighteens. And that seemed to work brilliantly because you'd get into, the youngest age group of that of say under fourteens and then you might struggle a bit, but then you'd all grow together and play the next season of under fourteens and then you'd be getting a, looking at the under 16 lower levels. So there was always that progression, but you'd stay together, and I just thought that was so much more competitive now that there's an age group for everything, isn't there? I talked to some of our coaches up at St. Paul's and I haven't got a clue. There's an A and a B team. These lot are playing up, these lot are playing down age group. It is just confusing. Just try and simplify it.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I suppose one answer would be to, again, you could say move away from A and B teams, but again, potentially get players lo lost the game at all.'cause they don't wanna go somewhere else. So I think it is difficult and Chris, I think, like you said, I think. The having a, an academy who's not really in the league, but you're losing players to them, it just adds to the problem.

Chris:

Yeah, no, absolutely. And I think ultimately, obviously it's a bit of a silly statement'cause adults are the same, but kids wanna win football games, right? And they'll follow their mates and winning is number one. Obviously that's the same for adults, but perhaps it's somewhat high and with kids, so they want to go firstly where they enjoy the most, secondly, where their mates are. And third. Where they're winning. So if their team's bad or if their team's not winning games they'll leave. And we actually had an instance not to call out a certain club on this podcast but they play in yellow and black where some under under sixteens left last year, a group of them to go to that specific club. I, it's a very tough question and ultimately it's up to the discre discretion of the kids that are playing. And I think it's a very difficult one to try and control because ultimately, first and foremost, you want kids to enjoy their football. And if that means they're moving to somewhere else to achieve that, then so be it.

Speaker 3:

I'm not involved in junior football. None of us are. So it's maybe a difficult question to answer, but what's the representation like at sort of Jersey level from across the clubs? And it could be chicken and egg here, is it. Does the bulk of it come from a small number of clubs?'cause that's where all the players are, or are players going there to those clubs?'cause that's where they think they need to be to get selected. I dunno, is there a case there that, that could be part of the issue where certain clubs, if you're there you're automatically deemed seen as a better player or what would you think?

Chris:

It's a very interesting question. It's one of exclusivity, isn't it? So if you're not part of a specific group or not part of a specific club you seem to be not at that level. So we talked about Bulls, for example. If a parent is going through financial hardship and they can't afford a thousand pound trip away to wherever it may be in the uk or multiple trips for a thousand pound, however much it may cost, is that gonna prevent their child from opportunity? And is that the message that we wanna send to parents that are going through financial hardship that, that want to give the opportunity for kids, but simply just can't, and the one thing I'm proud about at Wanderers, and likewise probably with you at Clements and St. Pauls, is, we give kids a safe environment to, to grow to nurture it, to good human beings. Yeah. And play football, that's the thing. Win, lose or draw. You shake hands at the end of the game and, you forget about it and move on to the next one. As long as you play with a smile. You know that's all that matters. Yeah. Do you really wanna prevent kids playing football, elite, elitist prevent opportunities because they don't play for elitist clubs? I don't think so. And, having two boys of our own, Robbie, for example, is something to think about, isn't it? If they get into their football a hundred percent, what would we do? Because, if they turn out to be good at football would we prevent them that opportunity because all their mates and all their good player, all their good teammates play for who whatever really is the academy is now. Is one's definitely, that's a controversial subject and I know that the message that JFA have been putting across as, football for all. And I don't think perhaps these academies promote that as much as as much as they should.

Robbie:

I think it's, is it the under bulls, under fifteens or sixteens? They're away every, it feels every weekend.'cause we've got a couple that we're trying to bleed into the senior football, but they're constantly away with the bulls. It's costing their parents 150 quid a week to send them away. Yeah. And I was thinking so if they go away three weeks out of the month, that's 450 quid. I was like, I'm gonna need to get, not many can afford that.

Chris:

Yeah. Not many can afford that, Rob.

Robbie:

Jesse's gonna take up chess, I think. Yeah. If he gets too good at football.

Speaker 3:

Oh, good. Thank you to whoever it was that sent the questions. There's apologies, it doesn't give us your name. Some really insightful questions. And we'd love to hear more from people in terms of what they think. I'd love to hear a potential solutions to make junior football more competitive as well. So please get in touch. Moving on, we've got Chris and Sam with us. And I think it's a really good opportunity to, really have a chat about Premiership one and obviously wanderers in, in, in more detail given the start I've made to the season. And to be fair the kind of pickup last season when you, in your first season to pick up from the season before. But you're now well into your second season here. You've won a couple of trophies as a management team. What are you making of time at Wanderer so far?

Speaker 10:

Quail, do you wanna start us off?

Sam:

Yeah I think the contrast of the two seasons has been night and day. I think the first season was a, definitely, probably a rollercoaster of emotions as Chris can probably admit as well. I think from, I was starting the season with winning the charity cup and then, in the league winning that one. Did we win the first game, Chris, or did we lose the first game?

Chris:

We have three points at Christmas

Sam:

that's first game. I think we be beat Peter. Yeah. And then, yeah, it was definitely a bit of a decline from there. And then we got to that back end of the season. I remember sitting down in the Ken of age engine rooms of eu, Chris after playing Madeira, after being a, oh yeah, good one. One of their lads sent off. And then to draw two all at the end was a bit, it was Robbie. No, it

Chris:

was Robbie. Robbie messaged me. It was a hundred percent. I asked Robbie, how did you get on with I think they were playing, I think they were playing IES or something. He's oh, we've lost to ies. And we sat in the changing room for a good five minutes thinking we were down. And then Robbie was like, ha. Only joking, mate. We won three, two. I was like, you've,

Sam:

I was like, you're hitting

Chris:

me.

Sam:

Yeah. That was definitely a probably quite a low point for us. Actually, about five minutes

Chris:

was the worst. Five minutes of my life. Very low

Sam:

point because we were like, brilliant. We've just taken over'em, we've sent'em down in their first season. Fantastic. But the, this season obviously much better start for us. And I think all the lads have bought into what we're trying to do really well. And I think a key thing for us is that we're not just trying to, make a first team. Really good. It's building a whole club around it as well. And I think, so far we can only, give a lot of positives about it, especially this season, the, biggest steps that we're now taking, bringing in more depth a much better social life around the club, which I think all the boys can admit to as well. And yeah it's, the second season's always gonna, hopefully anyway be a bit better than the first.

Speaker 3:

Yeah I was there last season, the night down at IESs when I think you, you won there, which secured safety, which must have been a bit bittersweet for you, qua.'cause I know you'd spent some time down at Ays, but how did that feel when you fi when you finally knew you were safe?

Sam:

Do you know what it was? It was a bit weird'cause after Christmas we were, we'd be putting a really good stretch of results. And I think, we had Josh Osh and Jambo telling us, don't worry about it. We always kick on in the second half of the season. So we were naturally very nervous going into that game, but I think after it, it was just, massive sigh of relief knowing that, the lads really turned up when it meant the most. And just putting a absolutely unbelievable performance, I think probably one of the best, most complete we've had.

Speaker 10:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

And how does the dynamic work between the two of you? Who takes on what responsibilities?

Chris:

I'll let you join on that. Yeah, it's a interesting question. I think I did actually a interview with Sportscast recently and Dan asked the same question. And it gets you thinking in terms of the split of responsibilities. And I think both Quail and I, we bring our own strengths and certainly we have our own weaknesses to, we self admit them, but we do compliment ourself in terms of, my strengths quell quail's weaknesses and vice versa. In training for example we split sort of the delivery of that. So whether I do activation, quell does activation, and then the other delivers the main drill. Or main other drill or however we structure it. And then on game day, quell typically does a warmup. We decide on lineups and tactics beforehand. And then I do the admin such as team sheets and tactics on the board and and whatever else. Where, on match day were aggressively early in terms of, for a 2:00 PM kickoff. We're at the club for 10:00 AM just'cause we love it. And we like being organized and I think we're very OCD when it comes to that sort of thing because we like everything to be perfect. We can't do anything different. So in terms of our responsibilities, yeah, we compliment ourself quite well in my opinion. And and yeah any strengths are counteracted by the odds weakness. So yeah, it is a good relationship, I think. And long may it continue, eh?

Speaker 3:

Yeah. And who's the motivator and who dishes out the hair dryer treat.

Chris:

Chris has gotta be the grumpy one. May I don't have a hair dry. Are you kidding me? You know what?

Sam:

I actually think if you speak to all the lads, all of them might actually say we're probably a little bit too nice at times. But I tell you what I remember, and Robbie will remember this as well, we were up at St. Paul's, we were a four one we four, one down at halftime, something like that. And yeah, I think emotions got the better of me. Absolutely lost my head. To be fair, came out. Still lost five four. But in terms of reaction Oh, reaction. Yeah, it was a

Robbie:

great

Chris:

reaction.

Sam:

You've gotta do it at some point, don't you? You can't be. Yeah, it's big

Chris:

confusing moments really, don't you? But we tend to as que said we're not that sort of management duo, we understand that this is, of course we wanna win. Of course we want to put on the best performance every single week, but it's not realistic. So we're we understand lads are giving up their Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays to do this, and the last thing they want is, some balding bloke and some ball bloke and some other bloke. Absolutely. Hammering them. So it's important that it's important that we pick and choose our moments in that respect.

Speaker 3:

I think that, those days are actually gone as well. I think you can probably do it once or twice a season, otherwise it just loses any sort of effect. And you're quite fortunate, you've got quite a, a se you've got some senior players in that dressing room who can probably manage it themselves.

Chris:

Absolutely. We've got, we've. Some really senior heads. Our leadership group comprises of Jamie Morran, who's actually not played as much as we probably hoped this year. So he is been, he actually played in the Mirati and then that's right. And picked, unfortunately picked up an injury and it should not be in the same since. And then in terms of his, in terms of his recovery, and then unfortunately his hamstring he felt felt something in his hamstring. So he is been out, so I think he's only played two or three games this year. But he's, so with Chris Mor leaving last year, Chris did a great job for us in our first year. It was always a point of sort of a, a shoulder to throw eye on if we needed it, AKA, the the game where Robbie told us that they lost.

Speaker 7:

So

Chris:

he was there for that and, he was a great captain Chris and a role model for the younger ones coming through as well. And then, we elected Jamie to be our captain this year. Unfortunately, Jamie's not played as much as he hoped, but he is coming back to it. Slowly but surely. He was training yesterday, with that, we've got the likes of Josh who stepped up to vice captain as well. Josh, put in some fantastic numbers last year and it's part of his progression and testament to himself how he's carried himself last year and this year to, to get that. That coupled with the likes of Cayman, Cayman's got over a hundred appearances for the Bulls. That speaks for itself. And I don't really have to say too much more that came in'cause he's played at a higher level than me and Qua will ever manage at. Going to those boys for advice is critical for us. And is in his testament probably to how well we've started this year, but also navigated the back end of last year too.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. I had Josh under 16, so to hear him describe as a senior player, a leader, that makes me feel really old. Yeah. What are your sort of. What challenge do challenges do you see ahead? And I'm looking partly at your season, but what about the league and senior football as a whole? Where do you see it going?.

Chris:

So challenges I think, we're in quite a unique position where, you know we've said to the boys on numerous occasions, to win titles, to win opt-ins, to win multiple trophies that we want to win. You need a squad of 20 to 25 people. And in order to have that squad of 20, 20 to 25 people for us, certainly, we don't want a drop in quality if we need to, if someone's away or if we need to change something up. So challenges would be an interesting one because for 90%, 95% of clubs on the island, it would be availability, so I think challenges for me personally and probably quail as well, would be navigating unknown territory. In terms of, making sure that we're fully equipped and, we go into the back end of the of the season or we're not even actually halfway'cause we got three rounds of fixtures. But, just making sure that we keep carrying on, keep setting sort of an example from the top. Attending every training session, making sure that, commitments fully there even in the winter months when no one wants to train. Even when, if we've got a bad result, making sure the boys turn up every single week. And really digging deep in moments that in moments that might be challenging. And, one thing me and Quail are quite proud of last year is, as we said before at Christmas. This time last year, Quala and I were, sat in a car, genuinely thought we were gonna relegate wanderers and it was that was my personal worst nightmare, because Woody who's the CEO at Wanderers he took a risk and he took a gamble on Quala and I, c team managers promoting us. The first team managers actually effectively just taking pun and letting people down, letting people down at the club, letting people down that work so hard. The likes of Julian, who's the groundsman to Lynn, to Graham, to Woody, to Libby, to everyone. So that was what I feared and all I wanna do is do justice to this club because, it gets under your skin in terms of how great it is, from the top to the bottom. So it's important that. We keep that momentum second half of the season. And navi, as I said before, navigating unknown territory now in terms of keeping hold of a lead at the top and trying to maintain and actually extend that gap will be my main challenge.

Speaker 3:

And what about men's football in general? If we look at the open age, what challenges you see coming ahead? Do you think availability is still the big one? Is it potentially gonna get worse or better? How do you see it?

Speaker 10:

I think

Sam:

in terms of availability I can't see it. Changing much to what it's, how it already is. You got lads and especially the lads that are currently now obviously getting a lot older. Then start having kids, wives and all that, and then that's naturally gonna be problematic as is. But I think, if you can get a good group of players, if you can get a good number, especially I think you're always gonna be in a a bit of an advantage compared to other teams which might struggle. And then I think that sort of ties back into point and the, about the junior set up in terms of, those top teams attracting players. And I think, naturally yes, it's gonna happen. And you know that, teams that are, like some ones who maybe in the first team aren't as strong as they are in that reserves and sea team, but they're depth in the club. Every other age group is absolutely quality. So I think, yeah, it's always gonna be like that, isn't it? I think I can't see it changing much over the next few years. But yeah, you've got certain clubs like yourself, you guys have got a lot of juniors some pools who are especially in the under sixteens, under 18 to looking very good. And yeah it's always gonna be one of those, isn't it? So it's gonna be that. What if we get enough here, can we, scrape results and all of that sort of thing, isn't it?

Speaker 3:

Yeah. Good. Great stuff. Good stuff. Just gonna move on. I had to do it last week, but we're gonna ask you now and we'll probably might get a few arguments here. We're gonna ask you to pick a joint Mirati five side team.

Chris:

No, we never argue. Like we said, KO and I, we always find a middle ground. So we've discussed this already. We know exactly what we're

Speaker 3:

doing.

Chris:

And Robbie, I know you love banging on about you being in a Mirati squad, but you are not in it, mate. Sorry. That's

Speaker 8:

fine. That's fine. Yeah.

Chris:

But you wouldn't even make the, didn't make the final a hundred mate. Sorry.

Speaker 3:

Yeah,

Chris:

I'll take hundred first.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. As always, the only stipulation, it's a five side Mira team, a goalkeeper, four outfield players, and they only realize you, you must have seen them play. So start all, start us off. Who have you got and goal?

Speaker 10:

Chris, you

Chris:

I'll do the goalie, shall I? We've got you in goal. I think that's a common theme for a lot of people that have been on the podcast, right? Probably played in arguably the biggest fixture in Jersey football in recent years. And that playoff final one was fantastic. I think it's a no-brainer doing.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. Yeah. Top who's next?

Sam:

I dunno, it depends. Chris, are we going to center offs or are we going into two midfielders and a striker

Robbie:

Can't go

Chris:

two center. Let's go attack him. Why not?

Sam:

Yeah. We'll go one center off. Luke Campbell speaks for itself, especially for me. I haven't only been 23. I haven't watched too many tis. But he's always a standout. What he gives always gonna be absolutely rock solid at the back. Never gonna lose a header as everyone says

Robbie:

he's brilliant at both ends, isn't he? Yeah.

Sam:

Ah, quality man. Always. And he'll step up and give you a penalty and when you need it as well.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. Yeah. It's that sort of threat at the attacking and as well as timing and his aggression to go win the ball. Yeah. Yeah, certainly a, another very popular choice.

Chris:

Third choice, I think, where you

Speaker 3:

go for

Chris:

we went for Watson. Again, another popular choice. I don't think I need to touch on too much what others have what others haven't said already. But yeah, a fantastic sort of servant for Joie football and been a pleasure to watch him when I have over the last couple of years. It's especially,

Robbie:

yeah. Is that Luke Watson that we're trying to get on the podcast? Yeah. Just so I'm clear.

Chris:

Yeah. And then I'll do the next one. We actually went for, we were gonna pick. And then we realized that he didn't actually play in the Morati, so we'll go to strikers firstly. Lo Bickley again, fantastic. This is an ERAS thing, right? I think I think a couple of the guests, a couple of guests you've had, have gone back to 90, eighties and nineties, but this is i'm a little bit older than Qua, I'd like to say I'm still in his era. So yeah we've gone on prolific golf scorer, unbelievable player. And again, don't have to say too much more than that.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, big game player as well, isn't it? Big moments.

Chris:

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

Sam:

Who's your

Speaker 3:

second taker?

Sam:

Geez, I'm gonna have to pick the other striker. That nice one Chris.

Speaker 3:

I'm loving this one. One two.

Sam:

So I'm not gonna pick another striker, I'm another sentiment. I'm gonna put Trotter in the mix.

Robbie:

Love it. I

Sam:

think mate Trotter, honestly watching him play for St. Paul's as well and tis bulls, he honestly unbelievable on the ball. Outstanding. Got an absolute engine on him as well. I think he's unbelievable and arguably, I'd say quite underrated for the player he is.

Speaker 3:

A hundred percent agree on that., He's like Inspector Gadget with those legs as well. Players think they'd get past him. Those go-go gadget legs. Just the octopus slide in, take the, yeah. Sorry, go on Robbie.

Robbie:

Go on. I was gonna say, this in the nicest possible way, if you were to think of a natural footballer, you wouldn't think of Trotter. Would you like the look of him? And I mean it in the nicest possible way. Like you've got Lauren Bickley who just personifies a senate forward, big, strong, good in the air, good both feet. But Trotter just in the, again, in the nicest way, doesn't look like a footballer, but wow. What a footballer he is.

Speaker 3:

He's one of the few players I've seen that can physically dominate the midfield on his own. Just gets about and. You talk about having an engine on him after that 15 minutes, he looks knackered. Yeah. Like he's about to start, but that's, it's just his demeanor. But he just carries on and on. That goalie scored, I think it won goal of the season for the bills last season that goalie scored was unbelievable. It was just, it was filth just flicked out. I don't even know why the keeper was diving. It was just a, that was an insult to truck. That was an insult to had them diving for that. A ridiculous goal he's called, but no, a good team and always good to see something new. I don't know, I think, I don't know if that's the first time Trotter has being picked.

Robbie:

Jack Cannon mentioned him, didn't he? Yeah. Was it Jack?

Speaker 3:

Yeah. Yeah. I can't remember. I feel like somebody has mentioned him, but I'm not sure who he was. Yeah. Yeah, he's a I, and I'd agree with you very underrated. But not by the, and you're gonna,

Chris:

I'd say if you were gonna pick a second striker as well Carl Hines has to be up there for me. Unbelievable player. Certainly at local level 40, 50 goals will give you, I think he's on 1820 or something already. Absolutely ridiculous. Yeah. But I think, Carl is, with the amount of goals he gets still criminally underrated, there's more to his game than just than scoring goals. When we played Clements, I think last it was in the cup for the penalty shoot out game second half particularly dropping deep Lincoln up play and there's more sort of chinks in his armor than just scoring goals. Yeah, he's unbelievable player. And represented Jersey obviously at meti level, but dominated local level as well and definitely deserves a shout out.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, definitely. I think his ability to hold the ball up and hold a player off, given his sort of stature and his frame is massive under rated. You can't get round him. Yeah,

Robbie:

he's smart, isn't he? He's football smart.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. He's very intelligent player. But no, a good team there. And so some good shouts. So looking ahead to next week we've got a lot going on and can I just, can I, in, I've

Robbie:

got shoot off'cause we've got training now we're on the graveyard shift, so I've got a shoot off, but Sam, Chris, cheers for coming on gents. Okay, no problems. Bye. Worries buddy. Cheers. Enjoy. Catch you soon.

Speaker 3:

Alright. So yeah, looking ahead to next week there's a lot going on. We've obviously got some big games. First and foremost though the weekend of the 15th and the 16th of November the fa have the silent support weekend and all junior and development fixtures. So that's an initiative where they're really encouraging parents and spectators to watch silently to see, positive encouragement and praise from coaches. But that's been about, it's really the, I think the initiative is really around let kids play, just let them go out and play without too many instructions. And I think we've all seen it where you as a coach, you set the team up, you give them instructions, you tell'em how you want to play, and then before the game starts, the kid gets called over to his dad and his dad tells him so completely different. So I think that's a great initiative. And I'm sure Chris and Sam, I'm sure you've seen it before as well, where the other side of the sort of silent support. So I'm sure you'd be Yeah. Very supportive of it as well.

Speaker 8:

Absolutely. Yeah.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. So fingers crossed that all goes well. Hopefully everyone pays, heed it and the kids enjoy it. Hopefully it's really good. But looking forward to next week, we've got. There's a number of games on across all the divisions, obviously on Sunday. And we'll start with this. We've got the big one, we've got the under 21 meti. I caught up with Jack Cannon earlier on just to see how the preparation was going and what his hopes were for the game.

I am joined by Jazzy Manager Jack Caron as we prepare for the under 21 Mirati on Sunday. It looks like it's gonna be a really tight, competitive contest. Jack, how's the week going with training with the lads? How are they shaping up?

Jack:

Yeah, we're looking we're looking good. We had a session last night and we had 17 of the 20 lads selected. We had a couple with the bulls and one off island. The 17 lads that was were present last night, trained really, we really well. And we're keen. We're looking forward to obviously training again tomorrow night and Friday ahead of the game Sunday.

Andy:

Within the squad the lads must be really excited about this. Some of them all played in under eighteens tis before, but the under 21, tis, the first senior, ate the first one that they might feel like really counts. How important do you think that the experience they had in the island games this summer was for them in terms of geling as a group, but also getting used to that, playing at that higher level of competitive football?

Jack:

I think it's really important. I think we spoke about it last night in the changing rooms and I said to them, you've been exposed to the, obviously the tis in the last sort of 14, 15 months I've been in charge. In terms of the semi-final, the mirati last year, the Mirati final itself, I think we ended the game with four under 18 players involved. And then in the island games we had a really youthful squad. I think the big thing is. The performances they put in the island games have shown them what they're capable of. And I expressed my what I felt. Was achievable on Sunday. And I said to them, look there's no getting away from this. I fully expect to win this game, especially with the players in the squad. And that's no I'm not being disrespectful to Guernsey'cause they'll probably feel the same, especially being at home. But I just feel like with the squad we have, with the amount of players that play senior football and at the highest level in terms of the Channel Island standard, and they're in a lot of the Jersey balls squads as well. I feel like we should be yeah, I feel like we should be winning this game.

Andy:

And how do you approach this game? Is this one where you're going to look to, to sit in and try and hit the counter, or do you plan to go there and dominate the ball and try and dictate the play?

Jack:

It's, it is, it's gonna be what it's gonna be. I think everyone has a game plan and I think we wanna play on the front foot. I want to, we wanna be assertive. I wanna make chances. And I said to lads, look you've got obviously embrace the occasion. Enjoy it. That's the biggest thing. And, go there and really enjoy the occasion and hopefully we come way of a win.

Andy:

Excellent. Who are your match winners? Who are the players you think could make a difference out there?

Jack:

We've got a lot of really good players, to be honest with you. You've obviously got Miguel Cavallo plays a lot of the Jersey Balls games. And then you've got the likes of Harry Scott, Sean Olgan, Casey Nixon, Callum Gilroy Joey O'Toole stand, dun. There, there's a lot of attacking threat within our squad. And so I don't have any complaints there. And then it's just about giving these lads the opportunities and the freedom to go and play. And that's what we'll be doing.

Andy:

I'm sure it's got a be an exciting game and hopefully you come out on the right end of the result. But wish all the best for Sunday and good luck to all the lads.

Jack:

Thanks Andy.

Andy:

Cheers buddy.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. So a really big game and a really good opportunity for some of those players. You've, you guys have got players involved in the, in that game. How do you think it's gonna Go?

Chris:

Yeah, we've got, so we've got Harry, Scott, and Casey. We actually would do some play St. Paul's on Saturday, but I saw the fixture and I saw we were playing St. Paul's and I was like, you know what, St. Paul's is gonna have more than two people two players involved, so let's just get it called off early and get the boys a free week weekend. Nice and early.

Speaker 7:

Yeah,

Chris:

so I'm not sure if many of the listeners know, but if you have two of your players representing Jersey at any level you can request a postponement. So you have to unfortunately wait until the week of the fixture for that squad to be announced. So we knew that some pools, with the young team that they've got that they're gonna have more than two and we expected to have two as well. Got in contact with Robbie early and got that called off. But in terms of the game it itself yeah I would suspect it'd be tight. I can only comment on obviously what we know our side and obviously it's an incredibly talented team and players coming of age, certainly. Up to that sort of 20, 21, 21 age bracket. So the likes of, for our side, for example, Harry Scott's been fantastic for us this year. Output's being exceptional. You got a hat trick last week. Likes a Shawnee for yourselves. Andy really talented player, technically tricky, can't take a penalty, but we,

Speaker 3:

we know that No,

Chris:

but Unbeliev unbelievable player. Sure. And yeah, it should be, we should have obviously enough to win, but I dunno too much about the EY side.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I think as Jack spoken about before as well. I think the trip to the Island games is gonna be massive for this group. Because it was predominantly the under 21 squad that went. Just having that time away together as a group playing in higher pressure games and the experience for it, I think will be, hopefully we'll give them a real big shot in the arm prior to the game. So I think we, we have to, we wish them the best of luck. It's always difficult going over to Guernsey. It'll be a, as you say Chris, it'll be a tight game. But hopefully come back with a victory'cause we've certainly got a guy in Charles that knows one or two things about me at anyway.

Chris:

Yeah. Goodness man. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Good luck to the boys.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. And then looking ahead to local football there's a lot on we. As of, I think as things stand, I've not really, I've been a bit like last week, I've been absolutely manic in work this week, so I've not been as close to what's been happening climates this week. We are still scheduled to be playing a against Madeira. I have a funny feeling that may be called off again due to co-ops with, within the squad. But I think we're, I think they have to wait until the Thursday evening training session when he picks the final squad to confirm that. But a, aside from that, you've got one versus ville up at Keny which should be a, an interesting game given some given groove building up a bit of momentum. And so one very much that team where availability, if they get, if they've got everyone available, will be a challenge for anyone. We've also got. St. Peter's versus Simple Ad at St. Peter. Umbrella ad's coming off the back of a disappointment result against St. Paul's, but sounded like they created some chances of scoring goals. So again there's potential there for a really good game and a really competitive game. What are your thoughts there? You got to, I'm gonna do some different, I'm gonna ask you for a prediction for those two games. So one versus Grl and St. Peter's versus STIs. Quail. If you give us a prediction for some one vl

Sam:

I am going to go with, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna go three. One groove.

Speaker 3:

Okay. And Chris, what about St. Peter Ard, st. Peter?

Chris:

I'll go three. Neil Ard

Speaker 3:

St. I think it's gonna be quite comfortable for them. Yeah. Moving to prem two, we've got Roselle versus Drago. And then we've also got. St. John versus Vale, over 30 fives in the JFA bowl and Saint Bro ads versus St. Peter's, that's a midweek game. So that's actually the Thursday evening. And that's the two zero mor trophy up at Keny. And then we have up at Ken, we've got wanderers reserves versus climate reserves. Does that mean that because you don't have a first team game, whether there be some first team players dropping down to that Resis game?

Speaker 10:

Ah, you want them Saudi you have that Chris? No

Chris:

it's me and Qua locked up. Nah. I'm not sure. It's up to the Resis management. It's not our decision. Yeah.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. Cool. And then we've also got some one Reserves versus Peter Reserves in, again, in Champ one, and then we've got full card of over 35 games. So we've got Wanderers versus St. Lawrence Portuguese versus Central LA at cls versus one, Trinity versus Rosell and St. John versus ve. So a busy get a busy weekend for the old boys. On Sunday we've got Jersey Wanderers Women versus Sports Club, and the, and strangely we've got Wanderers Women versus Sports Club on the Sunday and then Wanderers Women versus Sports Club on the Tuesday up at Kennedy. So again, they love this twice in three days playing with the JFM, make the same teams play each other. That's the third time we've seen that in the fixtures. A really busy car, the football locally in Jersey as well as the me away from home on Sunday. The Jersey Bulls are at home on Saturday at four o'clock kickoff, which means that it'll be possible for people to go and certainly take in the vast majority of a local game and then head down to Springfield to watch the bills versus Deal Town should be a an interesting game deal. Deal company sets seventh with 28 points for 17 games. The seven points ahead of the bills and 13 who have played three games fewer. So two teams there thereabouts. If you look at points per, again either are either of you gonna get down to watch the bills? I put you on the spot there.

Chris:

Yeah, I'm.

Sam:

Go, Chris. Yeah, I tell you,

Chris:

I was just saying, is it on Saturday? Sorry?

Speaker 3:

Saturday at four o'clock.

Chris:

Yeah, could do. Yeah. I think we'll support our 30 fives or resis and then hopefully if we've got time we'll get down to the bull.

Sam:

Yeah. Yeah. I'm I'm meant to be watching that. I hear you can take beer's pitch side now, so I'd definitely be there.

Speaker 3:

Can you they change that

Sam:

apparently. It's what I've heard on the grapevine, not throw anyone under the bus max. Cool. But yeah.

Speaker 3:

Is that why you saying is if you hide it in your jacket to get past the security, then who can do good stuff? Yeah. So that, that, that's us for this week's podcast. I think, again, there's a lot of really entertaining games coming up alongside the bills on Saturday and the ate under 20 ones Meti on Sunday, if you're at a Luc end, get yourself down. Support football. I think there's some really good opportunities to see a lot of goals this weekend. So should be good to see. But just leads me to say thank you to, to Chris and Sam. Thanks very much for coming on. No, thanks for having us. Perspective and thanks.

Chris:

Yeah, thanks for having us. And I know Robbie's not here, but I never give Robbie praise or about anything. But you both are doing a good thing in terms of promoting local football and I know that you have a lot of active listeners and I get it all the time in terms of if you've heard this, if you heard that. Yeah, it is great to raise the profile and you boys are doing a great job of that.

Speaker 3:

Thanks very much mate. I really appreciated.

Sam:

Yeah, hundred percent. Mate, thank you for having us on.

Speaker 3:

Cheers. Thank you very much. As we say to, as we say every week, please follow the podcast where, wherever you get it and all as always, if you've got any comments, any feedback, feel free to give us. If you've got any suggestions about how, who you'd like to see on the podcast, then please let me know. But thank you very much.

Chris:

Cheers, Andy. Thank you. Cheer.