606
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- ♪ - BBC Sounds Music Radio Podcasts. - Are you ready to have your say in the UK's biggest football debate? Your teams, your views. Get ready. This is 606 on BBC 5 Live. ♪ - Yeah, evening all, welcome along to your first 606 of the new season with me, Aaron Paul. 70 of the 72 EFL teams are up and running. And to take your calls with me is a man who's been involved in many an opening EFL weekend. Philip Brown is in the building. You're looking good, Gaffa. - Good evening, Aaron. Oh, yeah. 46 preseason's about Aaron. What about that? I don't know how many times I've been on 606 first time, but I'm telling you, I'm looking forward to it. - Which was your favorite? - Oh, dear me, when we got promoted, whole city's got to be. - Not kidding, it's tough, just now. - You're telling me about how your players run 200 miles each? - 223 K on average. - Every player has run at Kirimanzari's in the last six weeks. That would take us from Kirimanzari's to New York City. Where we'll be gone at the end of the season if we get promoted. - Oh, I love it. - Good win yesterday. - Great win, I was opening day at Darlington away. We showed up, to be fair. Sticky pitch, hot conditions. Typical first day, but we showed up. - So much to talk about this. - Yeah, very much. - Let's look at that result, that we've just witnessed that at, I was going to say, Oakwell. It was Hillsborough, it was not Oakwell. It was the Owls, Hillsborough, beating, Wayne Rooney's Plymouth Argyle. That's right, WRPA is what they're called now. By four girls, Stonyl, Sheffield Wednesday fans, coming out of Hillsborough. Danny Raw is a special, special man. He has united your football club over the past year or so. How optimistic are you for this season? We love to hear from you. It's about 8.5, 909, 693. But for Wayne Rooney this evening, that's sinking feeling. - First game of the season. Where there's a win, there's got to be a loss. Yes, we want to hear from Sheffield Wednesday fans for sure. Because that's an astounding first day as victory, 4-0. So you've got both ends of the pitch, absolutely bang on. It must have been a great game. I've looked at the stats. They've had over 30 shots on goal. It must have been one-way traffic. But for Wayne Rooney, first game of the season, you'll be thinking, what was the preseason all around? Have I done something wrong? Have I picked the wrong team? Have I got the wrong players? Have I got the recruitment wrong? You'll be thinking all sorts on the coach going back home. And I'll tell you what, four-nil drummen, first day of the season. Nobody wants that. And I mean that. Nobody wants that. Our goal fans, it is Wayne Rooney, the man, to keep you in the championship this season. Oh, 8.5, 909, 693. Leeds 3, Portsmouth 3. What a showing at Ellen Rodriguez. They're the late late show, Brendan Aronson salvaging a point over Daniel Fark aside. Leeds fans, are you going up back via the playoffs this year? Well, you're going to go up automatically. Give us a call this evening. I'm Pompey fans. How good is it to be back in the championship? Apparently, best away fans. They've heard of Ellen Road in a long, long time. They are class on there. They are class. And I like John Massigno. I've got to say it. The manager, he knows what he's doing. He knows the football club inside out. And he's had a couple of years at it already. And I'm telling you, Portsmouth, they're a big club on the so-course. We've talked about Plymouth already. There's maybe an even bigger club on the so-course who could be heading for the Premier League. Who knows? Some of them fans, I want to know, how do you pronounce your manager's name? 08085, 909693. I've had Reggie Lebris, Regis Lebris. So many different options. Who cares? You were two-nil winners yesterday in Cardiff. But will you be going up automatically if you can bag yourself a striker? Give us a shout at 85058 on the text as well. We're taking calls from EFL fans. Plus we'll be looking back at the Community Shield. But there was a Manchester derby at Wembley yesterday. It's Manuel Akanji. He's got a chance to win the Community Shield for Manchester City on his right foot. And he scores by down the middle under the crossbar. And Manchester City win the shootout 7-6. Yet City took the Community Shield after an entertaining penalty shootout, united that kick off the Premier League season against Fulham on Friday. And I've got fans of Premier League teams. Is your club ready? Are you a little bit sure? Have you got too many Chelsea fans? I'm looking at you. Phil, it's going to be interesting. Can City go four in a row? No doubt in my mind, Akan. I think the biggest hurdle, maybe, Arsenal getting a little bit closer to them, but not quite there yet. Maybe Liverpool, the new manager, I don't know. But I'm not too sure about Manchester City. I think they in transition, no change in management. Everyone always expect the change in manager, but change in the backroom staff, change in the whole fabric of the football club. New players coming in, players that they relied on, going out. It's just, it's very, very hit and misunited at the moment. But they showed up against Man City. 1-1 draw, got beat on penalties. I think there'll still be 20-25 points between these two clubs at the end of the season. Well, that is the wrong answer. The question is, can they go four in a row? You should have said, well, they've done it already. They're going to go for five. Five, correct. Correct, correct. I thought you got that one wrong. I'll ask them, I'll ask them, I'll bring some challenge to City this year. OA 5, 909693, the number to call to that. We're on air with you until eight o'clock this evening myself and Phil Brown. Yeah, there you go. Looking forward to it. It's going to be good. Absolutely. 100%. You just need a couple of good callers, don't we? You know what? I want to go straight to a Sheffield Wednesday fan. Why not? Is an out, Richard, were you at the game this afternoon? Sadly, not Aaron. I was out, but I'd got it on to a different radio station and listening to it. But what a result for the owls. Tell me about Danny Roll because this man, he just, he's brought you together. I mean, there's the problem you guys have had is there's been no conduit between yourself, the supporters and the hierarchy. And I'm looking at Dave on Chan Series. It feels like whatever he does, the fans have to put up with. But Danny Roll just seems to be that he is the WD-40 of Sheffield right now. Yeah. I mean, last year, he obviously amassed the mind of the great escape. And yeah, OK, one game, but great result. Let's hope we can get. I don't know, flirt with the playoffs and finish top off. That would be good enough for us. But also, I mean, you guys are aware from a previous call. About my son's a Plymouth boy, and I did call in and Robby gave me a better stick because I just said, what the hell are Plymouth doing signing Wayne Rooney? I did say at the time, I said, I'll disagree with you, Robby, and get me on at Christmas early to have a serious go at Mr. Rooney. But yeah, I'm worried for my son's team. Well, Richie, I'm surprised the family seems split already. One support in Sheffield Wednesday, one support in Plymouth. That must have been one household today. But there's one team gone home very, very happy. And the other team, well, you've got to ask your son, was it the right move to bring Wayne Rooney in? And what has pre-season been like? I just love to know I haven't done any research on Plymouth with regards to pre-season because as a manager, I look at it and it's a means to an end. You just work and to try and get your players fit. And at the starting line, you know, like fit, healthy, ready for action, and then incomes, Sheffield Wednesday, 4-0. How on earth do you deal with that one? That's going to be a real nasty surprise for him down there, isn't it? I mean, obviously, this isn't Mr. Rooney's fault, but he was at the World Cup when he got signed. So he had to leave there early, whereby Danny Raul obviously had, what, four, five month last year plus all pre-season, everything like that. So we've had the favours of the gods from that perspective. But after Wayne's problems at Birmingham, he was the reason that they went down last year and both Plymouth and Wednesday stayed up by the absolute skin of the two. Richie, managers always get the blame, you know that. And I want to talk to you about Sheffield Wednesday because it's a great result. Great start of the season. I know, you know, Aaron's been talking about your manager and utilizing about him. I've got a vested interest there. You know, Dean Windes' sons playing for you. What was Josh Lake today? To be honest, because I only had it on the radio, but I did hear, you know, all the front line played well. And quick shout out as well. I know he only came on a sub, but Liam Palmer, what is it? Four hundred and thirty games or something for the else? Yeah. No, great serve for us. But, and again, Phil, I know you're talking about the manager always gets more stick than he gets credit even when they're doing well. So let's not go to town on it. But will you at Hall when when you broke our hearts and stopped us going into the Premier League last time? I don't know if I was six years ago now. It can't be me. I'm sure it wasn't me. I hope it was. I tell you, if we went in the Premier League and you didn't, I do apologize, but that was me team at the team, you know. Hi, Richard. Just bringing it around to this season and you finally look like you've got a squad that's going to be able to compete and really give this championship season a go. Yeah, let's let's hope so. I mean, it sounded like I can't remember his name now. The guy that played alongside Bannon in McSield. So Bannon's, you know, old, wise head, but probably I got the lakes anymore. But this lad came in from the hands of Rostock and he lost the joint. That's the one. Yes. And he lost the joints apparently. But then, you know, Danny with all his contacts and his history and his managerial stuff with Germany and the German national team, et cetera, what a great piece of scouting. That's obviously going to be Richard. Richard, one one last one and it's a one word answer. Yes. Oh, no. Are Sheffield Wednesday going to make the playoffs this year? Just outside. That's two. We can't have that. Richard, great hearing from you. Richard is a happy out. Oh, eight five nine nine six nine three the number to call. If you are making your way out of Hillsborough this evening, how good was Sheffield Wednesday? On the flip side, if you are heading away from Hillsborough and you are a Plymouth Argyle fan, you can tell us how bad they were. Come on, Jack. Hi guys. You're right. It's been a tricky, tricky evening. The Janet's coming up there. Yeah, it is worrying early on. What are the signs, Jatlin? Well, you're saying it's worrying. You must have been going there very expecting of getting something from the game. Maybe a point and at one nil, fifty eight, fifty nine minutes on the clock at one nil. Did you have a foothold in the game? Because the stats are saying it was one-way traffic. Thirty shots. I think Sheffield Wednesday had all the way throughout nothing. The results, you know, speaks for itself. It could have been could have been five. You know, so four nil. And this season is a gamble in so many ways. I mean, it's pretty self explanatory. The gamble about the ownership of taking with Wayne Rooney, because we will back the ownership of course, but, you know, would be appointment of Ian Foster back midway through last season. And, you know, heads will roll, to be honest. The fun base do get a little bit touchy sometimes. If it's a early sign to like this. And it's a gamble in terms of loans as well. The loans have been taken. I don't know if you know, but essentially on proven European, maybe second division loan signing. So look at Sheffield Wednesday, for example, tried and tested. Jamal Lowe, good, good signing. Tried and tested in championship with gambling, managed eerily and gambling with the loans as well. But, you know, we've given the benefit of that only first. First game of the season, but, you know, you can't not be concerned. You know, that's just a natural human reaction. Do you think you've done enough in the transfer market, considering how the back end of the last season finished and just staying up? Have you done enough to reinforce that squad this season? I think we've got to still be looking at one or two more midfield signing. It's got so overrun in the midfield today. So it was unbelievable. So we were playing a 442. So a bit of sort of Rooney 2000 throwback old school, but it just did not work today. So our fullbacks are essentially win winbacks. They prefer the getting forward. And that was our system in a 343 last season. So our fullbacks naturally would be preferred to play wingbacks. And then we've only got those two in midfield because our wingers, again, in that 343 system would prefer to get further up and be playing as wingers as well. So Rooney did change the shape midway through and hopefully is just a few more midfield signing and hopefully a change of shape. Or at least we can work on that 442. I know it's early days. Jacques, why do you think the Plymouth hierarchy have actually gone for win, Rooney? I know it's a silly question, but you've been tried and tested, bringing young lads through young managers through and given them an opportunity. And even on the south caution, we all know you're a big club. We know Plymouth in a division that you're probably expecting to be high, et cetera, et cetera. It's always been the case. But the broad way in Rooney and when you say untried untested, I think where Rooney's concerned is success that he had a derby was in the face of unbelievable adversity. And he stood up to the message and he stepped up to the plate and actually responded to that. But when he got the Birmingham gig, I think the whole world was against them from minute one. It looks like this could be the same kind of gig. That's because John Eustace was doing such a good job at the time. I mean, they were in the playoffs and it was like groundhog day for them. We're like it when Gary Roward was moved on. John Franco's Ola was brought in, but this is a strange one. This is so it's just not really in the Plymouth DNA. You think of that and I call it the Plymouth DNA. It's something I've just invented on the spot, but you look back at what they did, bringing through Ryan Lowe's, Stephen Schumacher, the continuity you had, this is out the blue Jack. It is. Yeah, I mean, you're still going to have some element of constant. I just don't see it personally. No, it is just a huge, huge risk. You know, I was looking at it initially thinking, oh, maybe Paul Hackingbottom, Nigel Pearson, Alex Neale is what I was going back to about the tried and tested championship signing. Hopefully tried and tested championship managers like that. And I know Rooney had a really tricky time at Derby under the circumstances, but pulled through it really well. But then you look at the Birmingham fans, the Birmingham fans of Stephen vindicated tonight. I can tell you that, but we've got, we've got to back it. We've got to be constant. Clearly the ownership sees something because they, they had a fan forum recently and they, they said it wasn't a PR appointment. It was wasn't based on, I don't know, international money and the buzz, even though I'd, there is a part of me that does go overly excited. Sometimes it is wake up, wake up here that actual manager. That is a bit different, but you just got to back in some way. Jack, great to hear from you this evening. Thank you. Safe trip back down to the south coast. That's Jack Plimothar Garfan heading away from Hillsborough tonight. Very, very unhappy after his side were beaten for Neil by Sheffield Wednesday. Oh, eight, oh, eight, five, nine, nine, six, nine, three Wednesday fans. We want to hear from you. Are you going to make the playoffs? Is this another season of improvement under Danny Roll? How good were you today on the flip side? Plimothar Garfan's. How bad were you today? What did you see? Did you see any signs from that Wayne Rooney side? Oh, eight, oh, eight, five, nine, nine, six, nine, three, the number to call at five live sport on Twitter or X, isn't it? It is actually, you don't know your digital dinosaur on Twitter or X. And yeah, five, nine, nine, six, nine, three, the number to call this evening. Shall we hear from a Chelsea fan? Ian is with us evening in. Good evening. I didn't think it was a quick. Thanks very much. Great to hear from you. Yeah. No worries. Well, it's actually a couple of points. The first ones about the first, uh, uh, uh, no, this year. I mean, once the Plymouth thing, I mean, that might sound strange come from me, but I'm a friend in Belfast here who sports Plymouth. There were a few times watching them with them, uh, cause it's a nice part of part of the world. You know, Gavin and stuff like that. So it's just, but he was annoyed when Rooney got the job as well. It's just like this thing were united, you know, the old United have this thing where everything, you know, it's in the media. You know, the fernands and that was everybody seems to get a job, you know, because they were part of a successful team, but that doesn't, as he says, that doesn't make a good manager. It doesn't make a good pundit, you know, so it's, um, it's just a, he's not happy as a Plymouth fan even here. We're really getting the job, you know, because say Birmingham get rid of them and he wasn't good and he just doesn't seem a good guy for management. It's, it's, it's interesting what you're saying because back in the day when I was playing the Brian Clough phone call used to be enough to get a manager job. It's the Alex Ferguson phone call nowadays. I don't think so much at this moment in time. I think Wayne has now got his own managerial career off and running and consequently because of that, you get judged by results. You always do. You get judged by performance and as I go back to the Derby performance, I thought was nothing short of brilliant. I've managed to have it's a big gig. There's no doubt about it, but he started at the beginning of preseason. He started that year with three or four players and then he built a squad and he had a style of players. That was something that everybody talks about is the philosophy of the manager is the most important part of the game. I don't, I don't subscribe to that. The philosophy is all well and good. If it gets you another job or another position because you've been sacked or whatever, but you go into a Birmingham gig and I just, I just couldn't see why John Eustis was let go for the life of me. It just almost, it was almost the case of the incumbent and talking about the people who own football, the people who buy football clubs have decided. Well, it's not all about performance, sorry, it's not all about the results now. It's about the standard or the, the, the statue of the manager. I don't subscribe to that at all. And I'm not saying that when Rooney got the job at Plymouth because of the statue of him, surely you're going on the CV. Anybody that gets a job, surely as an interviewer, you're going on the CV. You know, you're a hundred percent, right? Because I do think it's this United thing that the media have. I really do. I mean, I know a lot of friends who are, you know, mostly, hopefully, like myself, Chelsea fans, but there's Liverpool fans and stuff. And it's just like a United thing. You know, you have hard graves. You have Ferdinand, you have a novels, you have all these in TV. Where's your John Terry's? All these people who are down this way. So you were brilliant football. No, but they didn't play for money. They didn't believe me. See if they played for money later. They'll be getting jobs. That is why it's at his time. He's now, he's now in coma, isn't he? He said he's at his opportunity. Don't forget he had a chance. More importantly. No, but he didn't get it. No, but there is a big thing we are needed. There is this thing that everybody falls over themselves. We're money-related. And I mean, it's just a load of mountains. I mean, because they were a good team in 1989 and they won the travel with a lot of luck. But when they travel, you know, it's only a good opportunity. Yeah, just a bit. Yeah. Yeah, well, they're dead. The main Jesus. Did you watch an end game? You heard cameras and penalties and suns off and hitting the par and, oh my God. I know that goes like it. But the United thing is just, and always a lot of people that are United fans, the media seem to say us with them, the, you know, the written on the, you know, the spoken media seem to say us for money, or even, or not, as well as say us for money. I mean, you're a Chelsea fan. Forget Manchester United. Would you rather have John Terry in charge of Chelsea than Enza Maresco? No. Franklin Park? I love John. I love John Terry. No, I don't know. Oh, no. No, no. I don't know. So there you go. Who's going to give the Chelsea boys a job? Yeah, but that's what I mean. That's what I'm saying. That's what I'm trying to say. You can't go. The players being great and you're superstars, you're heroes and the people you love. I mean, but it's just the media push these people, like, um, for a world, what do you call it? Who's at Burma? From the United? Michael Carrick. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They never make it primarily when, you know, you can't say that he's, he's doing a great job. No, he's doing it. He's doing a job when our team, but I mean, it's just United saying it just annoys everybody in it because I just think they'll be on there and all the people remain Brazil and all these players. How are you? How are your team going to go on this year? And fourth and maybe when I call because see, NATO, NATO is a new hazard. Remember, we heard it first, NATO is a new hazard. I love it. And great. Great. Thank you. Thank you. That's going to touch. Oh, 85909693, the number to call Plymouth fan Sheffield Wednesday fans. We'd love to hear from you also teams of, sorry, support the teams in league one, Birmingham, Bolton. They can one just wreck some, give us a call this evening, oh, 85909693, chart on athletic as well. Come on and talk about nice and just ox a United fans, definitely want to be here for them. All day long. Back in the championship after 25 years, give us a shout, kid him into the fans. Come on and talk to your manager. He's ready. Would you, would you be up for a little, meet the manager kind of thing? Oh, 100%. You got to meet the money. You got to go out and meet the supporters even when you get B four nil. Give him a call. Do you reckon you'll still be in the job Christmas? No, you can't. You can't ask questions like that. Can you? I can. I can. I'll show. I think you will. I think you will. Oh, 85909693, the numbers are cool. It's time now, though, for your news and sport here on five live. Here's Fraser Denton. Hello there. I'm out. That's the Bruce ball. Yes. Fantasy 606 is back. Every week we're going to debate and discuss all things fantasy Premier League. Chris, what are you most excited about? Well, tell you what, Bruce, absolutely everything. At this moment, I can't think of anything but everything, Bruce. We want you to come and play the game with us to get the code, listen to the first episode of the new season on the BBC Sounds app, simply search for fantasy 606. Go and find it. This is the UK's biggest football debate. This is BBC 606 on BBC Five Live. This is BBC Radio Five Live. Call free. 08085 909693. Text 85058. Text will be charged at your standard message rate. Plus, see our privacy notice, vbc.co.uk/fivelive. Welcome back to 606 with me, Aaron Paul and Phil Brown sitting in for Chris Sutton and Robbie Savage. We'll be back for the start of the Premier League season next weekend that loads to get through. We want the EFL callers tonight, don't we? Oh, it'll hit 599693. Come on and talk to Phil Brown. Wonder of fans, how much pressure is Ian Everett under this season to get you guys promoted? Birmingham City fans, I mean, what's the expectation there? What's massive? It really is. I mean, Kidderminster and the small club in the big area as it were with Villa just around the corner, Wolves, Aston Villa, sorry, West Bromwich Albion and Birmingham and everybody talks about the Blues and the Blues and the Blues and it really is, it's a pressure cooker situation building up in the middle of the country. I'm telling you, I'm really interested to see how Birmingham do this year. They should be known as BBB, big budget Birmingham because they have got money to spend. Elsewhere, Wrecks and fans, how glad were you about your win yesterday? How happy were you with that win over Wickham Wanderers yesterday? Oxford fans were here from you in the championship, Tuna win over Norwich City. Oh, 85909693, the number to call. Do you know what? I really wanted to hone in on something. Welcome. A lot of issues off-field. It's on 15 players in one day. It's not such a lie. Names include Hallam Hope. Do you remember Hallam? Yeah, of course I do. Hallam Hope, Ben Tollet, Leangol coming from Sutton United, Ross Millam, Paul Lewis, Adam Lewis, Luke Hendry, Harry Baguum, the ex-Walls Keepers in there as well. Derek Adams, I'm managing you, and he's a smart cookie, I'm telling you, but I've been one of them days. You know, sometimes in the pre-season, Aaron, it sort of builds up the pressure, you know, 'cause you come back on the, say, first of July, season kicks off on the 10th of August. You've got six weeks of planning and preparing, and support as all they want to know. They don't want to know. They don't bother about how many males you've run, and what kind of pre-seasoned friends you've got. They want to know who you're signing, they want to know who's leaving, they want to know why they're leaving and why you're bringing them in, and what are the qualities that they're bringing in, and very rarely do you do two, maybe three. I've done three at one time. We've announced three in the same day, and everybody thinks you've done a lot. No, I couldn't. I couldn't remember it. I've done three in a couple of occasions. I must admit, and it's one of them where you just build everybody up and then bang, you release them. But 15 on the same day, I think Derek's been stacking them up. He's got to, being stacking them up, and he's been keeping them under wraps and then just releasing it as a big present to the supporters. To enjoy the photo opportunity. Sometimes you do. What was your favourite photo? Was it the arm on the shoulder? Was it the leaning over the table? What was it? It was the signing. Remember the old signing on the pitch? I used to love them. Why Robson is my famous one? Yeah, it was, wasn't it? The money plays in schedule. They took it till I was brilliant, they took a desk, a table and a desk on the table. They went into the slaining before again, threw me a feeling. I made it 5, 9, 9, 6, 9, 3, the number to call. We want to hear from you though, Sheffield Wednesday fans. How good were your team this afternoon? Just on Wednesday, I know I keep talking about Danny Royal, but considering where they've been, as a football club, Dave Runchan, sorry, the talks of him basically saying that he didn't want to put any more money into the football club, that the club was effectively available to purchase, they've kind of come for 360, it's not perfect, but it's working. He was making it personal, wasn't he, he was actually saying as soon as the supporters are saying too much, I'm just going to go the other way and it became a bit of a tug of war, you know, a love. It's almost that you buy the club and it becomes your love child and then all of a sudden you realise that there's a lot of supporters attached to this football club who have opinions and they've rightly so, rightly so, give their opinion, but then you get a manager who goes the other way, who gives everybody what they need to see, one, they need to see sayings, two, they need to see good football and three, they need to see winning football and he's providing that. I think Rule is doing a great job at the moment. It's a long-term project, he's got all season to do, but the first day at the office has been brilliant. Who's going to finish hard this season, you're not at a Wednesday? I see a chef, word. Really? I do, why? Do you think Chris Wilder should have stuck around at United? Because it's time for a change, it's time for a bit of a rebuild. You see some of the older faces have left the football club, Chris Basham going to Summer John Egan's left and they need a bit of a freshen up. It's got a little bit stale. It's a great result on Friday night, but again, we're going to probably talk to Preston North End fans, you know, how long has the manager got to stay in there? You know, there's a lot of talk about him in the background, you know, but Preston North End got to be two-nil in the opening game and it's one of them where the focus is on them. On a Friday night, you know, there's only too much is on a Friday night, Blackburn had a great result, but Preston got beat at home and it's one of them where pressure builds up straight away. Certainly when you lose your home games. Absolutely. We're taking calls from supporters of clubs all over the UK, by the way, it doesn't just have to be EFL, but we're concentrating on the fact that it is the opening season, opening weekend of the EFL season. Let's talk to Stevie in Glasgow Evening Stevie. What do you mean, how are you doing? Yeah, very well, thanks, pal. Yeah, my point may be I'm just watching my team on today, being quite easily, getting an ice, always good to have a good one in the start of the season and then, as I felt, they found, yeah, fantastic and wasn't out there, the team I'm playing just now. And I suppose my point was just about, as we enter the Premier's ship, which I don't know important, you know, I think some still be fine. I want to see the result being, and I said, I don't know really, then they can take the city, but I want to play this goal. However, as we did get there, it'd be Champions within five years per year, it's more of a first-creation. You're saying selling with Champions of the Premier League in five years? Easy, easy. Wow, no problem. I honestly can't even see Arsenal, who finished second in the last couple of years, being Champions. You know, it's... I know, I know, your point being Arsenal, Arsenal have been in the Premier League. A lot of ways are clean, all over the place, everywhere they go, they can play everywhere and 20,000 people turn out. With all due respect, Stephen, I understand what you're saying. When you're being in the Premier League a long time, you get to know the way they're playing and you get to that standard or you don't get to that standard. If you don't get to the standard, you go back to the Championship, you're saying... I'm talking about Scottish Champions now, Celtic. No, no. I'm talking about Celtic, not Scottish Champions, I'm talking about Celtic. Go on. I'm talking about Celtic as a football club. Yes, I understand what you're saying. And there's a possibility that you think Celtic can come into the Premier League and win it within five years. Maybe three. That's brave, that's brave. I'm not even sure Manchester United can say that. I'm not even sure Arsenal can say that, you know? The Manchester United are bigger than Celtic. OK, you're just talking size of club. I'll get you. Yeah? You're talking about Celtic. Celtic have more funds worldwide than any other club in the world. Phil made a statement earlier on on the football day. Maybe apart from Gallicace, India, Madrid. Phil made a statement earlier on on the football daily pod saying that Manchester City will finish 25 points of Manchester United. Could Celtic maybe sort of lessen that deficit? Do you reckon Celtic finishing between those two? I think Manchester City might be able to solve this stadium maybe twice a year. OK. Yep. Anyway, Stevie, great hearing from you, Paul. Thank you very much for getting in touch with us. Celtic fans, Rangers fans. It's really great. Let's talk to Jamie, a Sheffield Wednesday fan. A happy, happy hour. Come on, Jamie. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely happy. What an absolutely fantastic day. Whether it's really modelling Sheffield we've been out with. We've had a great time. So I'm all catching up with people that we know from year in year. Everybody was there. The crowd was fantastic. We were fantastic, almost to sell out as far as we were concerned. So, you know, we were we were hoping for a big performance. And I think that's one of the biggest performances that we've seen in a long time. And I've been supporting the club for I've been going for, you know, probably 50 years. It's nice to hear that you've been through the thick and the thin. This looks like it's a great day at the office. But going to the game, you said hope there. And we all hope for a great start. The game, what was your realistic vibe? What did you feel? Did you think the Wayne Rooney effect was going to have a bigger, you know, a big say on the score line or the way that Sheffield wins the approach to the game? I think it's very interesting. And I do like to listen to podcasts and we have a local podcast which has the opposition. A fan from the opposition comes on. And it's interesting to hear their side on that. I understand, you know, it's fairly early in these careers as manager. But, you know, results have overall not been that wonderful. I mean, obviously at a terrible time at Birmingham, I understand what you said. Darby was a bit of a tough call. But I think from their side, they were saying that they were it wasn't really that potentially a chance at King bottom, we used to manage our local rivals, used to play for us. And, you know, maybe that would have been a safe pair of hands maybe. I don't know. You know, play, but they're generally a well-ruled open. I think people have always sort of looked up to them. You know, we had one of our own managers who was fantastic. Manager Paul Sturicki went down there. And so I suppose a few Wednesday fans have got a little bit of sympathy for that. It must be very difficult for them to just match it season to come away with such a defeat. But, you know, I think the result, they can't really argue against it. But I think the result didn't plan to rose. I think it platted them a little bit. I think, you know, we had so many chances. I'm happy with Cornell, obviously. But I think there's going to be a few players that are going to be picking themselves. At the end of that, so I'm saying I should have been on the score sheet, you know, as well. It was just so dominant. It flew out, so dominant. But the thing for me, obviously, we just brought Mike Ikyo bow. That Mike to Wednesday's striker, which is fantastic. You might a little look excellent pre-season, what we've seen of him. And so you can't put all your legs in one basket. You know, you've got to say. It's an easy team effort. And, you know, we've got some cracking players in cracking positions. Last year, we had a situation where we probably relied a bit too much on certain people. And I think, you know, this year, we've got the troops in there. And we've seen some of the, one of the best things is that you see at the start of the season is when you get new players that come in and there really put the stamp on. Ingleson in midfield were absolutely brilliant today. I bet you could go through the team. Jamie, I want to ask you a question about the psychology of it. You know, because Sheffield Wednesday for me, a massive club, massive football club. 30,000 punters turn up today, absolutely brilliant. And you know it's going to be a good day at the office when that happens. But the target was on Plymouth's back because of Wayne Rooney. So now you've had a great start because it's an emphatic victory. And you're a big club. But when the target goes on your back, it's a different psychology to the game. Do you think your players can actually handle playing for Sheffield Wednesday at the top of the division? It's very interesting that because I think that has been an issue sometimes in the past where you pack out Ilsborough and they make a racket. And I know, you know, there's a few cracking clubs out there that have got brilliant support. But, you know, when does this known to be a grower for players? Because of the crowd and sometimes, you know, they'll say, "Oh, I played there." And it will frighten you. And at times, you know, it can be absolutely frightening for some. I think that we're now the pun that we're positioning is big enough. I think we're getting players that are big-time players. You know, the issue can sometimes be when... And we certainly had that in League 1 where we were up against some of the smaller clubs. And you just think... They just didn't look like they were up for it, if anything. You know, I think it's going to be really interesting this season, I think. We've obviously got in the League at home next. We've got leads, and that is going to be a big test. If we can... Sorry. Jamie, I was going to say, we've got to talk to Phil, the Liverpool fan in a moment. But Phil Brown sat next to me. He predicted that you were going to finish up our Sheffield United this season in the championship table. Would you back that? A book, Sheffield United. I thank them so much for their way. That's really good. I thank them so much for their way. That's really good. I think that... I think that the... Maybe it made Sheffield Derby knows that it's one of the biggest starbies you've got. Yeah. I'm married a Sheffield United fan, and all the family are. To be honest with you, when we first got together, when we did, we were doing well, and we started to get me head down, and not really spend much time going round their houses. So it's one of those things, and to be honest with you, no matter what we say, I mean, we all get away from the matches. But I think when it comes down to when diversity is now, everybody has to stay clear to each other. It's brilliant, isn't it? It's absolutely brilliant. He has an answer to the question. Come on, Jeremy, you have an answer to the question. You can't sit on the fence on this one. Are you going to finish above Sheffield United? Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. Good work. Jeremy, safe trip back from Hillsborough, Wednesday fans. Give us a call 085 909693. This evening, how impressed were you with Danny Rawls' sides at performance this afternoon? Let's go to Phil, a Liverpool. Are you a Liverpool fan, Phil, in Cambridge? Yeah, I am. I am. Even pal. Happy Sunday, afternoon, evening. Enjoy the sunshine, mate. Honest to God. I'm Phil. It's a bit with Andy Schlotz. We've only seen him put three teams. You know, in America, against Arsenal, United, and the civilian, first one, I think. But what Andy's done, he's picked up on the ability of Avialius, for example. And Avialius, when he got a game on the Jürgen, like when we needed a midfielder, when all the people weren't in the team. And Avialius got a game either, and everywhere. And he picked them, number 10. You met them passes. He's seen something in him that he's got. And did you see the passes that he set them goals up against Arsenal and Philadelphia? No, I didn't see it. I didn't see it. Oh, good grief. He set three goals. Well, jotter at the post on the last one, but he honest to God, he made some, like, tenet-old, least passes. And I'm just thinking. That's pressure. That's pressure. That, by the way, you're putting some pressure on his shoulder. Can he dagger these passes? No, not. Seriously, go watch the highlights on YouTube. We'll do. Avialius passing. Does the lack of recruitment fail? Does the lack of recruitment and the lack of income? Does it not worry you? Not in the slightest, mate. And I'll tell you why. Jürgen, and with God, I love that man. He's passed a squat dog that's done now for an open, coming geezer to get to the next level. I love it. And if you watch Jami Schlotz, see this, if you watch Jami Schlotz fighting hard last season and the season before, the Wetswei acts with Northangs and beat 'em five-nil. And he played. Do you remember Liverpool back in there with, like, Firmin or Salah? Yeah. Damn three, like, spearheads. That's exactly how far you know I've played that day against Ajax. I feel like players, young Dutch labs and that. And I think, and he's thinking, I've died and gone forever near it, and that it's in this group. Phil, I'm happy there. Phil, I'm going to tell you something here. When I was playing football, I had the honour of playing at Anfield. Yeah. And with Bolton wonders, and we actually beat you at two-nil in a cup game. And I turned. Yeah. We were doing our supporters after the game at the Anfield Road, and they turned round, and it was still 20,000 in the cup, and they were applauding us. From that moment on, you put a place in your heart for Liverpool because they've got so much class. The supporters have got so much class. But when you've said he's gone from Jurgen to Arnie Schlotz, it's heavy metal to geezer. I never put there two words to Liverpool in my entire career as a footballer, manager, coach, whatever. You never attached them. But they've brought an element of something almost street. You know, like heavy metal is you're going to a concert, your hair's out, you know, you're going crazy. Ten years ago, when Jurgen got the job, we didn't really have a clue what we were getting. Yeah, yeah. And I think it seems applying here, isn't it? Yeah, exactly. This, honest to God, he's Dutch, he's red, he's got a shiny edge, Arnie Schlotz. Phil, can I hear you? Great hearing from you this evening. Thanks for getting in touch with 606-08-5-909-69-3. The number to dial this evening, EFL fans, we want to hear from you if you are a fan of a Premier League club, and you're looking forward to your season, give us a shout as well. But now, it's time for this. ♪ You made me feel brown ♪ ♪ You knew ♪ ♪ For God ♪ Phil, it's your theme tune. That's the fact. I do still sing this to you, don't I? How you do? You sing it just a couple of minutes ago. You make me feel brown, you. This is a bit of a game we had, we had a bit of fun with about a year ago, where Phil has to have a bit of a guess at some clues we're going to throw him of a former player that once played for him. Are you ready for clue one? I am, yes. Fire away. You signed these players by the way. I did. You signed this back. So, you tell me. Uh, clue one, this player began his career 200 miles south of his birthplace at Torquay, before... Oh, I love this place. His birthplace at Torquay before spells it. Donkastron Bradford, before a half million pound transfer back to the south coast. 200 males south of Torquay. Yeah. Oh, thank God. I was thinking Paris, I was thinking all sorts. So, this player began his career 200 miles south of his birthplace at Torquay, before spells it. Donkastron Bradford, and then a half a million pound transfer back to the south coast. Oh, dear me. I have a couple of guesses. I've signed this player. Torquay, come on, come on. 200 miles. Yeah. How many players you signed in the career field? Oh, I'll say, I'll be three figures, minimum. Yeah. I'll tell you. I'll tell you. 100,000. 100,000. Yeah. And I've got a pick one over 100,000 that was born in Torquay and finished his career down there. No, he didn't, he wasn't born. Oh, sorry. Okay. He began his career. Hey, Torquay. He was just 200 miles south of the way he was born. I've got you. Come on, Pharaoh. Donkastron and Bradford City. And I'm, I've got winders from Bradford City, who's holding, holding bread. I'm trying to think who we're saying from Bradford. Please do. Second clue. Come me up in half an hour's time. Oh, eight, five, nine, nine, six, nine, three. Help Phil Brown out, by the way, eight, five, eight, five, eight. I know what the tune is, Staelistics, but ask me to spell the word. I couldn't have, honestly, I wouldn't have a clue. Staelistics. You make me feel brand new. Let's talk to Simon, a Sheffield Wednesday fan. You still got your voice, Simon? I have. He's coming back, but I wish out in a lot. How was that? It was a nice way to start the season. Every season you think that's what's going to happen, but he never does. So it's a good way to start this season. Simon, can you remember your first games? You know, when it's Sheffield 8, has it been as emphatic as that? You know, your four-nil victory over what is class? He's a Wednesday fan. I know, but I know he's a Wednesday fan. But see in that first game, you know, can you remember them first games? Because it's just excitement. If you're as excited as what those players and managers are, I mean, it must have been some atmosphere at Hillsborough. It was a brilliant atmosphere, 29,000. And there are a few Plymouth fans. I mean, and well done to them for making that journey, you know, Sunday afternoon, they've got to get back now. But mostly Wednesday, a terrific atmosphere. It was really, really lively. And I think the crowd are going to be there for the rest of the season supporting, hopefully, some more performances like that. Just looking around on social media and looking at some of the, you know, the quick snippets, the words tactical masterclass from Danny Raul, are being flooded around and banded about. Is that true? I think the first thing I think he's got the players, actually, the United, and they've got a belief. And I really think he's got individual players playing as well as they can. So he's really brought some players on who were underperforming, I think, in the early stages of last season, plus the new players in. But he's then making them work together. So, yeah, there's a nice shape. There's a lot of movement around. Is it four, three, three? Is it four, five, one? You know, it kind of doesn't matter. But a really high energy, really good press. And Plymouth weren't good, let's be fair. But we didn't give them a chance to be good either. We were in their face. How bad were they? Yeah, I think. And I'm not going to make a judgement on that. I think we just got on top of them. And we hurried them and harassed them. And we had more energy than that. They played some nice stuff. Second half of the second part of the first half. But we didn't really let them get into the game, if I'm honest. We had 28 shots, seven on target. Yeah, same. And everyone's telling us that he was playing, you know, I'm talking about, you know, the opposition. He was playing 4-4-2. And you talk about the midfield that you've just described there. Was it four, five, one? Was it four, three, three? That for me, it doesn't really matter. From me, there weren't enough individual battles out there on the field of play to win the game 4-0. So, you know, everyone wants to talk about systems and wants to talk about tactics. But if you haven't got the heart and you haven't got the spirit and you haven't got the fate, you've got no chance. Absolutely. And man in a match, Jan Valerie, a Frenchman, who we didn't have last season. He was out injured most of last season. He played a stormer, really pushing forward down the right, harassing, linking up with Gessama on the right. Max Lowe, you know, he's a good summer purchase, you know, championship experience. He linked up well on the side. But again, you know, putting pressure on there, their defence. And then Bannon with support by Engleton in the middle, who looks pretty solid, he's a bit shaky to start with. But, you know, you'd be nervous, wouldn't you, in your first game. But he settled in very nicely. And Windaff, kind of just behind the front front man. And Jamal Lowe, he's a great purchase as well. And we've got depth. You know, this isn't the finished article by any means. There's more players to come in. What's the hope for this season? How optimistic are you of success? And what does success look like? So, with one game, with one four nil, that's a really good start. No, I'd say I like to manage it, but it is one game at a time. But I think let's build on that. We've got a momentum from last season. Some cracking players, some players have come in in the summer who we haven't fitted in yet. And having tested out clearly what they do behind the scenes and on the training ground, we don't get to see that. So I hope that we continue to play with that energy. I hope we continue to play football, good football. And that, you know, Danny will clearly have that pedigree, that knowledge to kind of support the players and get the best out of them. And let's see where it goes. We don't have to actually predict anything beyond that at this stage, which is quite nice. Last season, you know, we were, what, one, three points from 11 games or something ridiculous, one point from 11 games. So, you know, we've already made a better start. So just keep it going. Cracking start, cracking call Simon. Thank you for getting in touch with us. That's Simon, a very, very happy Sheffield Wednesday fan after his side demolish Plymouth 4-0 up at Hillsborough. Our goal fans get in touch with us this evening. Where did it go? What wrong for Wayne Rooney up in Sheffield? Oh, wait, five, nine, nine, six, nine, three, the number to call. Let's first, though, get the news here. On "Five Life," his phrase of danger. Now, more 6-0-6. On "Five Life." All the ways are out, nothing. The results, you know, teach yourself. It could have been five, you know, so it's 4-0. At this season, it's a gamble in so many ways. I mean, it's three self-explanatory. The gamble about the ownership has taken with Wayne Rooney. 'Cause we will about the ownership, of course. But, you know, with the appointment of the inshaustre, that's the way through last season. You know, heads will roll, to be honest. For Sunday, you do get a little bit touching sometimes. There's early designs, like this. Call free. Oh, eight, oh, eight, five, nine, oh, nine, six, nine, three. One game, the great result. Let's hope we can get, I don't know. Flirt with the, uh, the playoffs and finish top half. That was good enough for us, but, uh, my sons are Plymouth, right? And I did call in, and, uh, Robbie gave me their stick. 'Cause I just said, "What the hell are Plymouth doing Stein and Wayne Rooney?" This is BBC Radio "Five Life." Call free. Oh, eight, oh, eight, five, nine, oh, nine, six, nine, three. Text, eight, five, oh, five, eight. Text will be charged at your standard message rate. Plus, see our privacy notice. BBC.co.uk/FiveLife. Yeah, you heard it. I'm eight, oh, eight, five, nine, nine, six, nine, three. The number to call. We are with you until eight o'clock tonight here on 606 with me, Aaron Paul. And him over there, Phil Brown is in the building. Loads of Sheffield Wednesday chat in the first part of the show, Phil. Who do you want to hear from in the second half of the program? Well, you mentioned born one. As I'm talking, born one was Oxfordinated. Bolton stayed in the first division, Oxford went in the championship. I mean, where would you rather be? Obviously, winning on the first day, both sides, you know. There's lots of teams that I need to speak to. Honestly, the championship for me could be anybody's race. And at the top end of that division, where you're going to be at the end of the season has got to be. So many candidates in the championship. Let's get them all on. Stockport fans, Wreckson fans, Crawley Town fans. We'd love to hear from you this evening. Charlton Athletic fans as well, are you going to snip under the radar this season? Has Nathan Jones got something cooking down at the valley? Interleague two, big, big wins. But Cheltenham, Doncaster over fans. What a job grant mechanism. That came the last season. The one form they were on, Luke Molinew. It's such a top-end lead two player. Agile, what about Wes Plummer-Jarnin? Players scores three, yesterday. Yeah, you only scored one last season, you scored a hat-trick in the first game against QBR. Wes Romage Albion fans, what chance are you going to win the title this year? Charlton fans, give us a call. Port Vail fans, are you guys going straight back to League one? Give us a shot. Wimbledon fans as well, big 4-2 win at Plough Lane over Colchester United. We'd love to hear from you tonight. We're taking your calls until eight o'clock tonight. Let's go. Are we going to next? Let's go to... Let's go to James, a Manchester United fan. Evening, James? How are you? Very well, thanks. How has your Sunday been? It's been great, thanks. It's been great seeing the family in the past couple of days. It's been working in London. It's been two weeks. Thank you. Give us your verdict on the Community Shield yesterday. Promising performance, but disappointing result, no? Definitely. On the back of the second half, especially, even after the changes and stuff, I was a bit skeptical with them. You know, the players, I think, play out position. This is our new event. I think the old... Old and wide has topped every last minute. Aren't all into it. I think it was super on looking not to. We've got a couple of goals more in that second half. Maybe a bit of rush death because it's pretty seasoned. Maybe some nerves. I think it was great. James, who's your go-to men next year? I think it's going to be a couple of big players in your changing room. They're probably already there. Once it comes through the ranks, I think it's going to be an absolute world beater one day. I think the fitness levels of Luke Shaw, if they can get him out there for 30 odd games next year, I think he may be a big player for you as well. Who's your go-to players for Manu to carry the flag next year? Well, I'm at Diallo, one player. I keep them saying they've passed a couple of seasons, especially when I'm long. It could be like an excellent little method. If you're actually watching play, observing closely and stuff, the space that he creates himself, like no matter what position he's in, he's touched on the ball, he's a awareness. You know, if Wing Cup play, it's on the other. That kid is fantastic. Direct to watch. With just some part of the last season, he got the injury that he did in pre-season. You know, but let's just all be kicks on. I mean, it's still a young lad, you know, so you don't want all the weight on your shoulders. But I think whether someone like Xerx, he's coming in, I think that was a good signing. You might not get your other goals, but he's definitely going to create you some. We just need the players coming, you know, like off the back of him. You know, obviously we've got Ghan actually, who's just, I mean, like, people criticizing, you know, like those two, much like Ronaldo. This time, you know, like, you know, always celebrations. This time, you know, he didn't have one yesterday, but, you know, he can do whatever he wants, that kid. James, who are you? Who are you? Who are you? I know you're talking about the, and it's always innated. They're talking about the positive ends, aren't they? The wingers, the strikers, who are the creative players? Who are you? Who's the rock? Who's the one at the back that you're going to build this church on this foundation? Who are the go-to players at the back that you can rely on? Hopefully Martin has kept it. You know, he played our position yesterday, but he had to say him again. He did what he did. You know, he's clearly not a fallback. I mean, you know, like, if Martin has can keep it, hopefully you all can come back in. You know, like, I'm still a bit skeptical. You can part the Martin as at the back because, I mean, we're having big changes at the club, but the big changes ain't happening soon enough. I mean, like, the kept Johnny Evans on for next year. I mean, I hear someone say not many, you know, fans are too forced to bow that. I definitely am. He plays a lot harder than we need out. He's not good enough. I remember why, you know, the biggest critic of him. I don't like him. Really don't. I wish him we never signed him. Even before we were signed, I'm like, do not buy that player. He's terrible. He played better than Johnny Evans yesterday. I don't know why he come off because I would have preferred him to stay on the pitch because Johnny Evans was shocking. He kept on giving a ball away. Put his under a lot of pressure. This Samuel, but Johnny, it's not his fault. You know, he's been offered the contract. You know, you're going to take it. You know, I'm a bit disappointed that we're getting rid of Wanda Saka before Dallow. Yeah. And I'm a big Portuguese fan, you know, but Dallow, he's just not there for me. You know, like. He offers a bit more attack, though, doesn't he? In comparison to Wanda Saka, he offers that a little bit more going forward, which is what Eric Tenharg wants. But in terms of defense, two new incomeings on route. Delicked and Mazarid. Do you think that's business done for United for the summer? Oh, hopefully not. You know, I think we need to replace the midfielder. I mean, it's come up some a day. I absolutely love the kid. If you know how you threw him through. Unfortunately, he just knocked out the collar. You know, it's all like, I would want us to replace the midfielder. I mean, like, we've had a couple of options in Korean. If you're not getting the money that you want, you're going to have to let the kid go. You know, I think, because we need something different in there. Yeah, we scored some last season. But somebody else got to come in and score back then. Maybe more. Someone would have created more. Often more to the pitch, you know, on the pitch, contributing a bit more. But, you know, so I hope it's not the end of our transfer window. The ball is deleting. Yeah. But he's not wearing like injury concern. Last season, we were absolutely red-old with him. Yesterday, you mean, like, we have to start with Johnny Evans and McGuire. It's under a, you know, and bringing the lane, you know, it could be the same issue. I mean, if Martin gets injured as well, then the league gets injured. We could be playing, you know, in November, December. We've all stood at center half. I mean, like, I ran up initially because one of you said, the United are going to be 25 powers. And I'm like, you are. Off the back of the water. That was me, James. I'll do that. James, that was me. Honestly. I want you to see, I want you to obviously argue against me. Of course I do, but where Man City are concerned, they're the finished article. If they bring anybody in, it must be the pec, you know, top of the pec in order. But where Man United, they're still a work in progress at the moment. And they've had two games. The last two games, obviously, the end of last season, they're called final and now Charity Shield. You can see that in 8th, it can pitch in against Man City. But it's the other games I'm worried about. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it depends if the team gets complacent, I mean, like, this is why I don't like plays like Donald and Tom and I, you know, like, you mentioned Luke Shaw before, he should have gone. You know, we need to get rid of him. He's been injured more days than he has played. I mean, like, yeah, it can be a good, you know. They tried to replace him in Malaysia, didn't they? They tried to replace him in Malaysia. No one's seen him in over a year. I know. I don't like the kids gone. It must have been a bad injury, you know, because we've not even heard anything from him either. Absolutely. Look, James, it's going to be a fascinating season. Keep with Five Live because, you know, we are across all of the Premier League here and I'm sure we'll be with Manchester United. As the season progresses, hope you enjoy it. Let's go to a Wreksen fan. Pod, you're on the Costa del Landudno. Tell us about your Wreksen side yesterday. Back in League 1. Absolutely amazing lads. Massive buzz around the plate at the moment. All my mates are saying, oh, we've heard favourites and all this, but I look at it in the real picture. Like, if we finish in the top 10 and hold our own the first season, it's a hell of a difference going up to another level. Personally, if we get in the playoffs, I'll snap your hands off. Now I'd love to get in the playoffs. I think it'd be a great season, but top 10 will be realistic, really, to what people are thinking. Pod, I must be crazy here, but I'm predicting how I'm saying. Wreksen's going to go again. They're going to do it again. I'm telling you, they've got momentum. They've got a manager who knows what he's doing at every level. You know, he's been in the divisions. They've got a backroom stuff. Yes, you've got the furrow of the owners and it all looks glamorous and sexy at the moment. I've been to Wreksen. It's a great atmosphere. And you're winning games on that atmosphere, but I looked at the team and you've got strikers coming out here. Yes, who are going to score goals for you? I honestly think Wreksen can go again. I hope you're right, mate. I can know, really. There's massive clubs in that league. Birmingham, Huddersfield are all going to be up there. But, as you say, our squad flight for us, Jordan Davis has gone out on loan. There's good players who can't even just get in, like, on our bench now. The bench now is calling. Normally, you'd have three good players and a couple of, you know, young lads coming through or whatever. But now, like, even just to get on the bench is like hell of a decision for Parkinson. But it's just the squad now. It's just like solid like it. They look at proper decent teams. There's a massive buzzer on the town. The fans, it's just unbelievable. These owners, like all my mates players were saying, "Oh, they're only in it for a couple of years." That's a load of rubbish. The money they're spending and the club puts kids getting off the streets, like playing football places to go. And it's just like unbelievable. It's like... You keep winning promotion. They'll be around for a long time. I'm telling you that now. But it's just like exciting, like... You recruited well this summer. You recruited well this summer. You recruited well this summer. I said you recruited well this summer as well. A con quo coming back is big. Lowest branch of Kraken sign-in. For me, George Dobson, I think, could be just an unbelievable sign-in. If he can pair up with Rathbone in midfield, that's one heck of a midfield. I know. And then you got, like, Canon, who was my player in the season last year. Bit of a false, really, because Mullin was out for quite a good while last season. And he come in and he was on fire. But Canon, Elliot Lee, and Max were, like, brilliant. And they've done a silly thing, really, because the player should, I think, should have maybe decided to play the year. But they've done it. So all the foreign, like, fans from other countries obviously went mulling, mulling, mulling. But Canon was absolutely amazing last season. I can, for these new players even, to come in now, it's going to be hard for them to get in before that. Elliot Lee, George, Canon. But a lot from Robert, it's what a sign-in he is. Absolutely, Rathbone Kraken sign-in. Pod, great hearing from you. Thank you very much. Enjoy the season. That's Pod, a rexom fan. Let's go to Josh, a Mansfield fan. Josh, happy to be in there back in League 1. And what a cracking start for you guys, Friday night. Yeah, absolutely. Thrilled to be back in League 1. You know, I was saying to a friend of mine who I went with on Friday, you don't really know what to expect. You know, we went into every season in League 2, thinking, are we going to get promoted this year? This season, you just don't know what to expect. Personally, before Friday, I'd have been pleased with just staying in the League, but we looked like we belonged on Friday. Barnsley, one of the promotion favourites, we outplayed them for half an hour on their own pitch. You know, we cut them open so much they had to make a silver after 25 minutes of the new season and match our tactical plan and structure. And we look like, like I say, we look like we belonged at the level. And the new sign-ins look like they're really going to add something as well. So I might raise my expectations a little bit and say aim for a top-off finish. Josh, everybody's talking about, you know, Cluffy and what he did in the second division last year and in the year previous. And he said, well, take us two or three years to get there. And he did. He did exactly what he said on the tin. He had the biggest budget. Everybody was saying he's got the biggest budget. Well, he won't have the biggest budget in the first division. That's for sure. Do you think that's going to affect him? Has the additions that he's brought in already made any difference? Or is it just the strong squad that you had in the second division? I mean, he didn't have the biggest budget. Rexham were in that league. They got a bigger budget than some championship clubs. And they'll have a bigger budget than it was again in this league. But Nigel Clough's been there and done it all before. You know, I've come on the show last year and said he's the right man to build something long-term at Mansfield. You know, he's managed more games in League 1 than he's managed in League 2. And he knows what it takes, the additions we've made are quite shrewd. You know, Lee Gregory up front was sensational on Friday night. And, you know, a couple of others in midfield. Back us, the Australian international. I've never heard of him, but he looked absolutely incredible the other night. And he looks like the sort of player most teams in this league would look out. So, yeah, I'd like Nigel to do it. And I think he's made some shrewd additions to what was already a very strong squad. How did Will Evans get on 25 goals last season for Newport? He'll be a big miss for them, but a cracking signing if you can get him scoring. Yeah. I mean, he came on for the last 25 minutes, took him a little bit of time to get up to speed with the game, but he barely had a preseason because of injury. And he obviously came into the club only this week. And he showed some really promising signs. He looks like he'll bring a bit of energy, a bit of physicality. You know, he's got a bit of pace as well. He taught all the attributes. He needs score goals at this level. He was unlucky with the cross that he just couldn't quite get the right connection with the other night. So, you know, you can take awfully Gregory and bring on Will Evans. You're not doing bad, are you? Absolutely. What's the ambition? What's the hope for this season? What do you reckon? Got feeling? Top off. I'd have taken staying in the league. But Friday night showed that we can match teams at this level. So, the top half, I'd be happy. I'd be happy with staying up still, but I think top half we can achieve. So. And you know that the Radford will back Nigel Clough all the way. I hope you get that third stand sorted as well. Thanks. You're cool. Josh, great to hear from Josh and Mansfield fan this evening. 725 Live 606. It's time for this. You make me feel brown. You can't beat your water tune. I've had a text in from Danny. At Palomine, Danny, you said that you made me feel brown. He goes, "I've got a massive smile on my face here in that track." It's nothing like it, Phil. Classic. It is your theme tune. All day long. Okay. So, we heard clue one. Do you want to hear clue one again? Yeah. I've got a couple of answers for clue one. Okay. Let me give it to me. Who won again? This player began his career 200 miles south of his birthplace at Torquay, before spells at Doncaster and Bradford, before a half million pound transfer back to the south coast. And I'll give you a clue too. Go on as well. You made this player your biggest signing outside of your 17 buys as whole manager when you paid a reported 400,000 pounds for his services to shore up a leaky back for. You were hoping to make it a happy new year. Oh, give us your guesses first. Well, the first couple I had was Ben Reeves. I took a lad called Ben Reeves. And it wasn't at all. So, straight away that knocked it out there. He was on the south coast. He was at South Hampton. But the economy, but he lived on the south coast. The second one was Wil Atkinson. I took Wil Atkinson from Bradford City. And again, these are just lads who are hard. This is your biggest signing outside of your 17 buys as whole manager. Outside of the 17 buys, 400 grand. It's good job I'm spending somebody else's money. Nothing yet? Nothing yet. That'll come. Come on, it's got to come. How many more clues do I get? 85058 on the text. Come on and help fill with this clue. Please, both of those guesses, by the way, incorrect, as you can probably imagine. We'll let this rumble on, and I'll give you a third clue soon. But the second clue to you make me feel brand new. You made this player your biggest signing outside of your 17 buys as whole manager when you paid a reported 400,000 pounds for his services to shore up a leaky back for when you're hoping to make it a happy new year. Oh, wait, wait, five, nine, nine, six, nine, three. Give us a shout this evening. If you have been to football this weekend, we'd love to hear from you. Any kid who mince the fans, come on and talk to your manager. Give him a shout. We are taking your calls until eight o'clock tonight. Let's talk though to John in Coventry. John, you want to talk about Plymouth Argyle? Yeah, I do. Yeah, I'm very concerned after today, to be honest. I feel there's been a lack of investment in the middle of the part, to be honest. For sure, it was a good player, but he was very pedestrian today. And we haven't signed a lot of experience and I feel we need the experience this season. I'm probably beyond Wayne Rooney, but we don't. And the other point is Morgan Whitaker, yes, great season last year, but this year, I feel like we can get rid of him because he's a luxury player for a team that's in our position. Very interesting analogy that you're saying, midfield, you need a bolster midfield. And I think in the game today, there was 30, I believe Sheffield Wednesday had 30 attempts at your goal. So it looks like from the outside looking in, John, and all I can say is never watched the game. So if you've watched it, if you've been there, you've got more in opinion, of course you have. But if you're looking at the stats, 30 shots, whether it's 10 on target, 20 on target, it doesn't matter. 30 shots means there's something not right with the team, not just the midfield. Yeah, I can get that. But I mean, the problem is I think experience is the big issue. And there seems to be a lack of heart today as well, which is surprising from, you know, Wayne Rooney as a player. But it's all horrible to me. So I was a bit disappointed, I can take losing, but to lose without putting what looked like effort in, is very disappointing for me. Well, Rooney himself told BBC Radio Devon, I'm disappointed, angry, surprised. I think from everything we've seen from the player's shrapnel season today was a surprise to me. I think the basics of the game today were not good enough. And for me, that's not acceptable. I mean, it's early days yet, John, it's very, very early days. They need to go back into the market, open with our goal. And they need to get some business done and some experience because, again, it's all well and good recruiting and a new style and bringing in players like a darker GRB who feels like a bit of luxury signing now. But they're going to need to go and get someone and maybe a couple of players who can just give them a bit more solidity, a bit more strength. Absolutely, that's, that's, I mean, like I say, I'm a big fan of Morgan Whitaker, but he might score your 10 goals, but he's not going to do up and down. And that's where our issue is going to come, I believe, because I think a lot of teams are going to have the ball more than we are judging from. I mean, I'm going on a very small sample of today, but that's how I feel. We just didn't get older the ball and we need that experience and probably in the middle, a bit more legs. John, I always listen to what the managers see after the game and what, when Rooney is actually seeing this, the preparation in pre-season was absolutely bang on the way he wanted it to be and obviously results or performances in pre-season friendlies. But again, I keep on saying this to people, it really counts for nothing because what comes out of the game or the changing room on the first day of the, of the season, the real season is a different animal. It's a different, you know, it's a different mindset. I look for players with much de-eyes, the ones that look at you, steel-y-eyed, knew exactly what you want from them and they carried it out. But when they cross the way lane, they don't need to look at the manager. They don't need to hear what the manager has to say at halftime. They know exactly what is required and that's what it looks like. Plimited during pre-season was successful and today was very unsuccessful. We also played a different system tonight. It was a lot of during pre-season. We played three at the back. And he's gone 4-3 today. Yeah, well, 4-2-3-1-8. So, yeah, I think the three at the back may work better for us because seeing as we have 1,000-cent in half, then three mid-fielders. It didn't seem as if it was a system failure today. It sounded as if it was a heart in the job. You know, they didn't look as if they had the spirit to go to Sheffield Wednesday on the first day of the season. 30,000 punters there and step up to the plate, you know, because that would be worrying as a manager. Yeah, I agree. I mean, I think the problem is for us as well because we're in the spotlight as well with Rene as manager. So, normally a 4-0 defeat for Plimited for, you know, nobody be talking about it like they are today. But because Wayne Rene is manager, we're in the spotlight. Well, there's tests to come. Plimited to go to Cheltenham on Tuesday in the EFL Cup and then take on Hull City at the weekend in the league. So, yeah, we'll see how they get on under Wayne Rene. The stewardship of Wayne Rene. And what goes on as the window, the transfer window progresses. John, thank you for your call. Let's talk to Steve. Steve, you went to the Millwall game yesterday and I understand you want to talk about the tributes paid to Matthias Sarkis, the late Millwall goalkeeper. Yeah, how are you? I've been to Steve Sullis there, actually, we spoke before. Yeah, bigger picture stuff, really. Obviously fans are doing an obsessed with their team winning and losing and I went to the den as a neutral yesterday. And it was just really nice to see another club just play, you know, play the real sort of ethics of life. And I put a banner out of obviously Sarkis is there, which was, I just fall really classy touch lads and I just thought I'd mention it. And I'm a Brighton fan, but I went to den as a neutral and I just thought, yeah, I just thought it was worth mentioning for this. It's been really tough at Millwall, two tragedies in two years. First losing their chairman, John Berlson, last summer, and then now Matthias Sarkis this summer. But that club, I mean, you can say what you want about them. They really are family and they know how to come together in times of difficulty. Yeah, and I think obviously one thing just flipping this back to the Watford fans. So who's thinking about that? And it was just a really, I thought quite a sum of the day, you know, tough, tough action. And I actually thought it was tough at the Millwall goalie who's probably been building up to that himself all week. Yeah, so I just thought I'd mention a big well done to the Watford fans. So seeing a bigger picture for this. Steve, I think it's a big thing for Watford myself. You know, everybody talks about Watford being, you know, you're talking about the revolving door of management. They've had a number of managers over the last short period of time. Tom Cleverley, one of their own, to a certain extent, played for them has come through the ranks and now he's managing them. It'll be quite interesting to see how much loyalty won the incumbent, you know, the hierarchy short to him. And two, the Watford fans and the Watford players. It looks like he's getting a tune of them, 90th minute winner. It's normally a good day at the office when you get a last minute winner. But they've gone to Millwall and it's never an easy gig at Millwall. And they've stepped up to the plate. Yeah, to know what the game was, I mean, Millwall, it was the post three times. So it was fine lines and it was a lucky deflection for the winner. But Watford had super powerful feel. I got, you know, I got Sasoko in Saint-Améres. And he's, you know, I was at X-Prima League and he's an absolute powerhouse. And I didn't know many of their lads to be fair, but they, you know, they were really strong and powerful. And I think they'll be one of the most athletic things in that league this year to be fair. Steve, really good hearing from you this evening. Thank you for coming on. And just a good match. I appreciate it. Steve Salas joining us, talking about the tribute page of the late Millwall goalkeeper, Mataya Sarkich. Oh, eight, oh, eight, five, nine, nine, six, nine, three. We're taking your calls on the EFL. If you've been to an EFL game this weekend, you want to talk about your team? You want to shout out a manager, a player? Give us a shout this evening. We'd love to hear from you. This is five live. Let's grab the news now with Fraser Dainton. On BBC Sounds, this is sports, strangest crimes. From the man who tried to buy crickets. One night, one game, winner take off. Twenty US million dollars. The kidnap of a super horse. It must have been terrifying. Of course it was. How we got through all of that. An ill-advised errands, changing F1 forever. It will haunt people involved for as long as they live. A trillion dollar takeover, which never took off. Broadsters of this level, they will never stop. The mysterious death of a superstar cyclist. Entering the world of professional cycling was like joining the mafia. And teammates becoming bitter enemies at one of the biggest football clubs in the world. Betray or plot. We've gone beyond women's footballing farms. Sports, strangest crimes. Listen on BBC Sounds. This is the UK's biggest football debate. This is 606 on BBC 5 Live. Welcome back to 606, this Sunday night with me Aaron Paul and Phil Brown. Phil just didn't... You look at the mass homework. He's got glasses on, glasses off, but I'm delighted to say, whilst we're trying to find out the identity of this mystery footballer, he has not once picked up his mobile phone. No cheating. I love that, Phil. He likes to play the game properly. It loads to come on the programme. We'd love to hear from you still. Oh, wait, wait, five. 909693. If you watched an EFL game yesterday, give us a call. Gordon Smart on the way from 8 o'clock live from the Edinburgh Festival. But first, we are going to speak to Katie, a Blackburn Rovers fan. Now, Katie, this is an interesting one. I'm sure people will say in Blackburn, they look weak, but they were anything but weak on Friday night. 100%. I think a lot of people have obviously written off based the fact of his last season very much. We've got to be honest. Philip has not kept up with Samus Maddox with his goal completely, and obviously with the whole turmoil, now with him, possibly going to go to Ipswich. Where is the goal? It's going to come from. So understandably, people are a little bit housed down there. You know what I mean? With your first game against Derby County, newly promoted, big club, etc, etc. Were you disappointed with that first fixture? Were you looking forward to it? I was quietly confident, Phil. For one reason, tell me why. Because I don't know if it's just like something switched on in the club a little bit in our few weeks, but obviously we've got to one point in the transfer windowing up and having no fadings. And then out of nowhere, it was like three or four in the door with intellect. We're going to 24 to 40 hours. And they seem to have done the research. They've had a massive whole lot of rollers, with like having new recruitment in director and all this included. So I was quite confident these new players will start to gel. I just didn't think that it would be this fast, but... Katie, we can beat that. We've had more come on today, and they had 15 signing in one day. In one day pre-season, Derrick Adams brought 15 plays in. So the impact of a new sign is brilliant. Put 15 on one day. I'm not too sure about Blackburn having been that lucky, have they? No, fortunately not. West, but yeah. Need a goalkeeper, Katie. Oh, God, yeah. We really do. And do you know, I think Paris, he is a good goalkeeper, and he does have real good qualities. But I think a lot of fans do not want the repeat of last season, with, you know, being in that position, obviously, so close. We could have trusted Wednesday at home. And I think those unfortunately, those two howl is just a really real road at the moment for him. And Sam's just not confident in his abilities. Tell me about Sami Schmodik. Is he staying? Is he going? Oh, I do know I'm really 50/50 with this, because I want him to stay. But I also understand, as a being really Blackburn fan, why he wants to go. He's happy here. He really is. But as you know yourself, you're a big footballer. You know, there is a time where you have to do give up the boots. And he's heading to nearly 30. You don't know how long you've got in your career left. And he wants to go and play up in one of the biggest leagues. So, I just wish, to be honest, and I think the majority of Sami's in the same thing, that they just sorted out. Obviously, the news report is saying they're very close, but they're just not budging. And it's just like, you kind of want to walk the heads together and just get it sorted out. You know what I mean? For the club clubs and for him and self. Katie, can you give me a little bit about the manager, John Eustis? Is he playing a different style of football from the previous management team? Is he the right man for the job? It's a great start to the first game for two, obviously. Tell me a little bit more about John. Do you know, I'll give him this, literally. I think he's a really, really good manager. Obviously, with John, the Northern, all that, that was really, really bad. And I think at this point, the overall remount in the dressing room was really, really bad. Very, very low. This guy has come in with just the ultimate thing. As you know, at this moment, you've got to keep us up. Like, keep us up. And he's really, really done it. And it's a fast play. You know, the stuff that I saw all the day, I've not seen from all of us in January and years. Things, things, like, sit in this place rather than going wrong because any fan will tell you normally when... It's like a running drug. It's like, when we normally go one day down, it's where you just complete 4/5 places. But we came back. Again, it's new, but he's a good manager, and he's a really nice genuinely beat to the fans. He takes everyone's goodness and inspiration, but he's really, really good. I think he will be here a long time. Katie, great call. Good luck to Blackburn this evening. This season, thanks for calling 606 this season. Good luck to Blackburn this evening as well as this season. Just one win. But thank you for calling us this evening on 606. That's Katie, Blackburn Rovers fan. Let's talk to George. George, you're a blue nose. I don't think you expected that yesterday. Did you? Well, I'm one of these fans who is not going to get too ahead of ourselves with this new style of play that we're implementing. A word on John Eustis. I think he's a good enough manager to keep them in and around the play hospital. I don't think he's a man to take a black bone forward if I'm honest. But he's a solid manager, so I wish him the best to look there. Just a quick word on our previous manager, Wayne Rooney. What an absolute travesty he is. Let's just put it that way. It was shocking football today. But we did say to Plymouth that you are warned. You are warned, but yeah. But you're today a current manager. Chris Davis. Oh, Chris Davis. The football that we're seeing is the football that obviously we want. It's going to be a long, long season because like Reddit and credit to Reddit, they came to spoil the show and the sport, the show they did. It was a bit lackluster from the back preseason. We've seen our center ass pink in 40 yard passes and there were no way to be seen to be honest. Sanderson was just caught in no man's land for their first goal. And obviously we got lucky with the penalty. Yeah, it's going to be a long season. George, I don't think it's two points dropped. I think it's a point gained. I think it's one of them tricky first games. You know, Reading's been in a club that's been in turmoil, et cetera, et cetera. Birmingham getting relegated. You've got to get a foothold in the competition 100%. You won't win all your home games. But it has to become a fortress, the home games. But, you know, when you talk about Wayne Rooney there, straight away, I think you've got hopefully a little bit more stability in the football club. Now that Wayne's gone, you can maybe give this kid a chance, you know, and maybe get a foothold in the competition before you start spending big. Yeah, to completely agree with your comments, obviously we've brought players in. I know we've been a very big spender and obviously people, you know, laughing at the result. But I completely agree with your comment about it. It's definitely a point gained. You know, I can't remember the last time that we had a crowd that big for our home fixture in the league if it's not like a big local derby. So it was nice to see the fans back. Yeah. The football that we're trying to implement, I think our final ball and our final pass and our final decision needs to be a lot better. But it's first game and we can't kick ourselves after the first game. So, yeah. How are we coping against Jordan? The point I was making at the start of the show and I'm going to make it again, Birmingham, are that big? They will have a target on the back all season. They've got to have players that can handle that. You're playing for a big club. You've got to be a big player. Yeah, we're in my personal opinion. I know we've got like the quality without the male front now. We've got the players currently, but it's just a case of killing them all together. And I saw that we're five to one favourites to be Wolves' points record. And I can't see that happening. I think it's going to be a very tough season. And people need to pull the finger out and not actually think that we're going to walk the league. I think it's going to be a very good test for us. But I think we'll do it. But like I said, we've got another 45 games to go. It's a marathon. I've spent a really tough division as well. League won. George, great hearing from you this evening. On 6.06, Blues fans, do you agree with George? O8, O8, 5, 909, 6, 9, 3, the number to call. Just a bit of an update on the cricket and at the 100, which you can listen to live over on five sports. Extra Manchester originals taking on the Northern Superchargers. Bad news for the Northern Superchargers. Ben Stokes has gone down injured, currently being helped off the field by two trainers through his gloves off. Infrostration could be his Achilles, could be his hamstring. He did that whilst running between the wickets for the latest head over to Radio 5 Sports Extra. Let's go back to the line here on 6.06, 15 minutes to go get your calls in. It's not too late. If you've been to an EFL game this evening, come on and have a chat with me and Phil Brown. Spike is in corner. You're a Wimbledon fan, Spike. Come on. Good evening, Chats. How are you? Good evening, Spike. Yeah, Wimbledon. Wow. God, I mean, if you'd asked me after 10 minutes of the game, yeah, today, I would have probably maybe not been able to say what many things on the radio. But, yeah, we turned it around nicely and feel pretty positive now. Well, it's not my club. It might be the guy next to me, but I'm not going to say that. I think it's a great start. When you're tuning, honestly, it's the world's worst start to a game of football. Let alone have been the first game of the season. Yeah. You're two-nil down. You know Colchester can play. They've got to manage that. Organize the team, not to get beat. And he's got a little bit of play in the side. But, yeah, comeback was nothing short of brilliant. And I think it's down to the strike force. You've got me and Aaron, we're talking about that. You know, when you've got four strikers, the biggest part of a manager's job is keeping the two sitting on the backside, keeping them happy. Would you agree with that? Absolutely. Yeah. Well, I think, just a shout out to our head of football operations, Craig Cope, who I'm a huge fan of. He's done a great deal of recruitment this year. And the four strikers we've got, you've got four very different types of players. But you can see how they can work in different sort of connotations, different pairings, and that kind of thing. And we started off with Matthew Stevens and the legend that is Omar Bouguil. He won that Aaron's also a big fan of his role. The gladiator. The king. The gladiator. Exactly. The king. He's the only football I've ever seen. He could do well in six nations. He plays Robbie. He played. Yeah. He knocked out two of their center back teeth yesterday. He's a really good friend of his as well, Ben Goodliff. Yeah. I think I've heard that story this afternoon. Good friends. Great. When you do that, you're best made on the pitch. Yeah. I'd hate to meet someone he doesn't like. But just look at it. Sorry, go on, Spike. Finish off your point of recruitment. No, I'm just going to say the four strikers we've got. It's just going to be super interesting to see how we manage it. Because I think that's been one thing that maybe we've struggled with a little bit. We've kind of been reliant on one big name. The Ali al-Hamadi last year was a sensation for us. And he rightly got a high level championship move. But maybe the depth was not quite there. And now I think we've got that in space. So I'm really looking forward to seeing how it plays out. Spike, we were jogging early on, but we were talking about it. You know, handling the guys that sit on the bench. You know, you've got a jaw picker sitting on the bench. Sometimes it comes off the bench. And the motivation for him is to score a goal. He does that. And now does he expect to start in the next game? Well, the next game is probably a cup match. And therefore you can play with it to a certain extent. But it's the next league game that he's looking at, you know. And can he get ahead of them by scoring goals? Well, if jaw becomes a super sub, he won't be a happy bunny. Yeah. Well, that's the thing. Joe Piggett left after a few years ago as a club legend. And he's come back and he's currently, like you said, right in the bench. He's not going to be happy with that. But does he get the time to take his chances? And what does Johnny Jackson do when he does eventually score? Things can be interesting. What was the expectation? Because, I mean, a really disappointing finish this season when you arrive back in league two, and then a half decent one. But again, ultimately disappointing last season again in league two finishing tenth. This season is promotional bust, isn't it? Yeah, first season back. It's a bit of a cliche, but it always feels like you can try and consolidate and just not go down again. And then last year we dropped off. And yeah, it was a disappointment playoff. It would have been lovely. But this year it's got to be promotion. Automatics through the playoffs, whatever. Like that's got to be the aim. And if you don't get bad, I know there's going to be a lot of people who are very disappointed. Hey, Phil, you're talking to me about the midfield of those. Yes, from Salah almost. Player, proper player. Yeah, we played against Salah almost last year. And they played on AstroTurf, so consequently you look at them in their football and team. And that's what Wimbledon like. I think they like the lads that can play. But this lad can pass the ball. He looks a little bit lightweight at times. But when the rough and tumble comes together, you know, sometimes it does go a little bit missing. But he gets on the ball often enough to affect the game. Smart signings from the Don's. All right, thank you for getting in touch with us on Five Live this evening. Oh, eight, oh, eight, five, nine, nine, six, nine, three, get in touch with your calls. If you've been seeing an AFL game, if you're at the Community Shield yesterday, we'd love to hear from you. City United fans. Give us a shout just on a side note, an update on Ben Stokes. Now being taken away on a wheelchair after being helped from the field with a leg injury whilst running between wickets. We will have more for you on the BBC Sport website and app. Of course, for commentary of that game, the Manchester Originals versus the Northern Superchargers is available on Radio 5 Sports Extra. Attend to eight, though. It's time for this. You made me feel brown. Radio's most difficult quiz. It's most difficult. It's all about you as well. I know, I know, and I still can't get it. I mean, I don't really want to go through the two clues. Go on, please do. Do you have any guesses? Not at all. I think I just want a little bit of clarity. I didn't say this player for Hall is what you said, didn't you? Yeah. So it's a 400 grand signing outside of Hall. And I was at Bolton as an assistant manager, so I can't say the player there. Look, there are chairman right now, or former chairman of football clubs, just shaking their fists at the radio. It can't be. It can't be. Absolutely. They can't be done. Annihilated their checkbooks. Go on. Let's go. Let's get the third one. Let's have clue three. Sign by you from a team he later managed on New Year's Eve 2005. Sadly, your relationship was a short one, as you were no longer in your position. And he never started a league game for you at this club. There's a part B to this clue, by the way. It's just going to give it away. Darren. Darren Moore. Dave. Darren Moore. It is Darren Moore. Yes, thank you. As soon as you said 2005, I got it in my head. It took three clues. I would never get in it, honestly. But Brownie, you backed it. What a great guy, by the way. I've got to say it. What a great guy. Fantastic guy. He formed me up after, I hadn't given him his debut for Darby County. He formed me up and she said, "I've let you down." And I said, "Hall, you haven't played for me. I've let you down because that change in room was evil." And they didn't like you. And I should have done something about it. I should have played them. The back end of that clue, this imposing defender played twice the Jamaica and is currently manager on... A port vale. A port vale. A bag three points yesterday as well for the Vadirons. That is, you make me feel Brown new. Thank you very much, Darren. Thank you. Let's go back to the line. I'm at 5-9-09-693. We're on for another eight or so minutes. And let's talk to Dan. Daniel Middle's profan. Hi, I'm Mike, I'm nice to hear you both. And Phil, what's my good friend, Abi, the massive hall that he found. And you're still a hero in a... Thank you very much, Dan. Thank you. Good result for you guys, yes, sir, yeah? Say again. Good result for you guys. Start the season, we'll know, isn't it? Yeah, first time in 10 seasons that we've won, I think. Wow. It's the opening day. So, yeah, it was a great result. So, what's your expectations and where do you think Boro gonna finish this year? Do you know what? I think, I mean, definitely play off. I think, hopefully, maybe talk to you. But I'm just... I don't really mind, you know, because I think we've got such a good manager. And Gibson's, you know, he's always been a gem for us. And I just think the way that we've created it, culture, with some local lives in charge, it's just, you know, even last season when we didn't win the first day, nobody was worrying, I don't think. And he's just creating a really lovely, squadron culture around the area. I think he's saying it because I hope we can help, but, you know, who cares sometimes. Dan, it's such a big word culture in the game. And nowadays, and Ian, we had a call on earlier from Chelsea. Ian, who had this obsession with money and aid players getting jobs in football, et cetera, et cetera. And he mentioned Michael Carrick, and straight away, me and Darren, we almost balked in the studio. It's like, Michael Carrick's doing a fabulous job. I think he's cut from the right kind of cloth. I think, yes, he served his time. He's done his bit where Manchester United is concerned. But he was playing for the great club, because he was a great player. I think he's got a great chance as a manager. Some of the stuff I'm listening to, and certainly the way Bora are playing, I think he's got a great guy in charge of me, and you can't never forget Steve Gibson. What a guy in charge. Yeah, and Carrick's just done a new contract for me. And he clearly, you know, he's clearly invested in the team and the club. And actually, I've literally got nothing bad to say about it. And even when we've got beat, we've been playing nice football, or when we haven't played nice football, he's been playing the youngsters. And I think he's got woodgating as well, which I think was a brilliant idea. You know, I think he's, yeah, he's doing a great job, Carrick. I think, you know, hopefully he'll take Bora up, but if he doesn't, and you know, hopefully he'll stay for a few years, but he's definitely one who I think will be a top manager. What do you need squad-wise, or who do you need squad-wise, to ensure you are up there? Maybe not just in the playoffs, but challenging for automatics as well. Yeah, I think, I think, end of the goalscorer, because I think we did some early business, and we had Aidan Morris, who came from the United States. He looked good again with Aidan Hackney yesterday. I think we're a bit light up front. I think we've got Latte Lat, who's clearly a great goalscorer. But Josh Coburna-Love as a player is a local lad. But I think we need somebody else who's going to be able to bang the goals. And I think we're going after some different Bristol, who I don't know much about. But, you know, again, the recruitment team at Bora, and the majority of people we've brought in have done a good job or are just, you know, developing, because we've got some new players in. But yeah, so hopefully we can bring somebody up top and... Dan, great call, best of luck for the season. To Bora and Michael Carrick, last word on 6060 this week. Goes to David in York, and David, what a special night you have the other night. Welcoming Chesterfield back to the EFL. Yes, mate. It was very good. We were all a bit apprehensive about how things would turn out. We held our zone. We should have worn it. We should have been three and I don't buy half-time. But the rest, for someone known reason, gave away. Didn't give us the penalty that we should have had. It was blatant. It was late. Everybody saw it. If you see it on camera, you'll shake your head just like we did. But the new signings look good. And we're pretty fit. I know it's early in the season, but we did tail off in the second half, but a good day. Best crowd of the day in the late 9,200, so all's good. You had a fantastic year last year when you think about it. On the crest of the wave coming up from the National League, have you still got that feel? Have you still got that vibe? We were very fortunate when we were in New York place. We caught you, I think, you played your second team and you did a service and we beat you. But you could sense that the place was just on the crest of a wave. Are you still living off that? We've got the people in charge now are two fans. They've stabilized everything. Everything that we're doing now, it's all planning for the future. We're bringing young kids in. So, I think we'll be okay. We've got a good one that injuries to get over. I don't think one will be back before Christmas. But we'll see yes back. I think we'll start. More goals is what we need. I think that's what we'll get when he's back in this sport. Some really good signings though. Chay Dunkley. Plenty of experience, cracking edition at center half. Paddy Madden is goals. I really like the look of Vontay Daily Campbell. He's had injury problems, Daily Campbell and a struggle. But if you can get in playing, you've got yourself a really good right back, right wing back. How's Cookie getting on? Cookie is Cookie. He's a frustrated old man now. He's a good lad. He's a good lad. I like Cookie. He's known the fans to get behind the team and not show any frustration if we're at behind. I think that's what he wants. He wants everybody to get behind him. He's a Liverpool fan and he wants us to act like a Liverpool fan. I'm so pleased that he's managed to get himself back into the league after off that difficult spell at Ipswich. David, thank you for getting in touch with us on 606. And I'd best of luck to Chesterfield for the season. That's it for lip. Unbelievable. So quick. Two hours. Unbelievable. Really enjoyed it. Good luck to you and Kitty. Thank you very much. No Kitty fans were almost there one yesterday. Well, exactly. They got nothing to complain about. That's the thing. Thank you to all of our callers this evening. Of course, you can keep up with the EFL across the BBC Sport website and app Carabao Cup Action back on Tuesday as well. Phil, thank you for joining us. If two hours of Phil and myself is enough, we're on today's football daily podcast on BBC Sounds as well. Robbie and Chris back Saturday in the usual spot at 730 after live commentary of West Ham versus Aston Villa. Next on Five Live, Gordon Smart is live from the Edinburgh Festival. You don't want to miss it. 606 is a shooting-sharp production for BBC Radio Five Live. Have a great Sunday night. BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. [BLANK_AUDIO]