- 5 months ago
Sunderland promotion chat with Jeff Brown ahead of play-offs
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00:00hello everybody welcome to the raw podcast brought to you by the sun and echo my name
00:21is james copley no phil smith today no jason jones either but i'm very happy to be joined
00:27by the bbc's jeff brown jeff how you doing i'm doing very well thanks james yeah yeah good stuff
00:33good am i still allowed to say the bbc's jeff brown you're still you're still involved aren't you
00:36you're still there yeah yeah i'm hanging on in there by my fingertips yeah i mean i left full
00:41time uh at the end of last season the end of end of may but um i still actually go in on a monday
00:47do a half shift just to help out with putting the monday night team talk slot together um because
00:53people used to often ask what do you do all day you just like go on about six and read the news
00:57no i physically edit the pictures and write scripts for them um and i'm still doing post-match for um
01:05for look north so i i'm trained up to use a camera as a as a video journalist um and i take the camera
01:12along and ever since they dropped out the premier league um and we didn't automatically get all the
01:18interviews from match of the day i've been going along and filming the post-match press conferences
01:23so i'm uh i'm still doing that keep me involved it feels to us jeff that nothing's really changed
01:29because you're still at every sutherland home game so you're still around filming next to simon
01:33or your colleague from the from itv so from our perspective you've never left no i'm still clinging
01:39to that press pass i see yeah yeah it's um it's been yeah and it's been good i've enjoyed i mean
01:46i didn't want to make a complete break i wanted to to do something different i'd done uh you know
01:51i've been there i've worked 42 years and i as a journalist and i worked 21 years so half my working
01:57life at the bbc and it just seemed like a good time to to leave when i had other things that i wanted to
02:03do absolutely and you've been enjoying those other things as well tell us about your play that you've
02:08got going on at the moment okay that's a very early plug thanks very much for this we'll do it again
02:13later don't worry yeah well why not you can sort of see it in the background that that's the um so
02:18that was the uh the first incarnation the place called the bench um it was on at the customs house
02:23in south shields in 2023 it's basically it's about we the strapline is it's it's a moving tale of love
02:31loss and football because they always say right about what you know um so it's a story of a black
02:38footballer born in africa raised in france who comes over to play for a struggling premier league
02:44team and you probably guess which one that was when i started writing it in about 2017.
02:49um and on a on a park bench he meets um he spends a lot of time on the substitutes bench
02:55you see see what i'm doing here and on the park bench he meets a single mum who is on benefits and
03:00they appear to be from completely different worlds but yeah she's a bit of a lost soul with no money
03:05and he's a bit of a lost soul with a lot of money um and it got a great reception uh which i must say
03:13wasn't all down to me the cast were fantastic and are fantastic and it ran for six shows over four
03:21nights at the customers house to say september 23 and and loads of people who saw it said you can't just
03:27let this like be the end of it it's got to go on so it's taken it's taken me and um carol we is my
03:33producer 18 months to put a tour together but um this is it the bench is uh is we're at started
03:40rehearsals this week i've just i've just left them actually at uh at the gala in durham so it starts at
03:45the gala in durham on uh may the 22nd and yeah may the 22nd and it runs for a month over across the
03:55whole of the northeast uh and a couple of cumbrian dates as well uh so we're at places like we go to
04:01the exchange in north shields we'll go to middlesbrough town hall bishop oakland town hall washington
04:07art center um queen's hall in hexam annick playhouse live theater in newcastle which is a big one because
04:15that's where i did the playwriting course and um and the customs house in shields but it also comes to
04:22monqueamouth academy which is which is very close to my heart because that's where i went to school
04:27um and they've just had a major refurb they've turned the old school hall into a community
04:33theater with bleacher seating and proper movable stage um so yeah tuesday june the 17th i'm taking
04:41it back to the uh to the school hall where up where i once i would i hesitate to say starred once uh
04:47appeared in the sixth form review in about 1978 i think that was alongside melanie hill who who
04:56did actually go on to have a good acting career i was going to say you've done all right between
04:59the pair of you haven't you there jeff yeah she's she's pretty good going on casually she's she's
05:04fantastic yeah and how do you go about booking tickets jeff we know where it is but how do we
05:09get there um well you can either go on the on the the the producer's website which is uh carol w
05:17productions it's carol with an e so it's c-a-r-o-l-e-w carolw productions.com um all the individual um
05:26uh theaters we've got their own their own websites as well so um i think monqueamouth set up some uh
05:33uh a ticket in a ticket agency so yeah massively excited um and then the play actually has changed
05:41it it's a it's a at heart it's about you know it's a love story but um there's a football agent in it
05:49um yeah yeah light and shade um and um yeah drawing on experiences as you well you'll know the same thing
05:59um and um and there's also an element of you know the especially after the the euro championships
06:07final the 2021s and the online three black guys took the the i was i was busy writing and rewriting
06:16it and so it's got a hard edge to it as well about the sort of stuff that black players in particular
06:21have to um have to put up with so um and actually because of that show racism the red card which is
06:27football charity based in newcastle they've they've endorsed it um they're going to be
06:32represented every show and they have got together with gala theater in derham who've been superb
06:39and produced an education pack which has gone out to schools so using examples from the play to try
06:45and spread the you know the anti-racism message so which is lovely you know there was never the
06:51original intention of the play but if it can have some it was just meant to entertain people but if it
06:55can have some wider community impact then uh then that's humbling really yeah absolutely we'll come
07:01on to the football in a minute as well but i've i've loved the northeast football and heroes as well
07:05on bbc sounds jeff how was that how was that to me because that that sounds like a like a podcaster's
07:11wet dream really it sounds great it it was lovely uh i have to say i mean they were they were all all
07:19bar one i would consider to be mates really yeah um am i mates with alan shearer i don't know but he
07:25knows me well enough you know i mean we'll have to kick you off the podcast i've interviewed him
07:31often enough um uh but the others i would consider like really close mates brendan foster steve harmas and
07:38um you know stephen miller the paralympian katie mclean who was just one what a lovely story a lot of people
07:48wouldn't know she was she was a primary school she's from south shields originally which was a
07:52primary school teacher at bex hill uh in sunderland when she captained england to win uh england's women
07:59to win the rugby union world cup for the first time in 20 years and it was and she said it was great
08:03going going back to school and then kids like because until he missed and she's become the black
08:09guy that knows all over but it just and she was lovely she was lovely katie um the only one i didn't know
08:15really was savannah marshall the um i've interviewed her before she's a good interviewer actually savannah
08:20she got better over the years oh so much yeah i mean her nickname was it was and is the silent
08:26assassin because yeah she was devastating in the ring but out of it you couldn't squeeze two words out
08:31of it and yeah um uh but she is obviously grown and matured and she was lovely and such a fascinating
08:38person to interview so yeah that was uh jeff brown sporting greats on bbc sounds still listen um and
08:45i hoping there's going to be a second series later in the year so uh yeah i've not been i've not been
08:51idle since leaving look north no absolutely not what one of my favorite um jeff brown moments that we
08:57we simply have to talk about i don't think i've even ever really discussed this with you but
09:01would be the paul instinct those yeah those who aren't aware we play southern played um
09:10reading at the time under tony mowbray at home i think we won one nil and reading turned up i think
09:15they had big andy carroll up front didn't they they were time wasting for minute one there was no
09:19sort of discernible game plan it was really shocking um sunday managed to edge the game and afterwards
09:26uh paul lince who's the manager at the time came into the press room and and jeff as he as he does
09:32led the led the question as the as the tv reporter and and asked what the game plan was in so many
09:38words and expressed in no uncertain terms that you didn't really see a game plan and paul lince
09:43disagreed with your assessment and a back and forth ensued to which i was completely stunned at being a
09:49little bit of a younger journalist as well i'd never really seen anything like that but i must say
09:54paul lince came back with both barrels but jeff brown did not budge an inch which was fantastic
10:00to see yeah it was it was a weird one i mean i'd obviously any sunday fan who's watched the game
10:08since dropping out the premier league the time wasting has got worse and worse as you further
10:13you go down the leagues and um it's like and so many teams especially you know teams who in in league
10:22war in the lakes of accrington and fleetwood and people like that he was never played in the state
10:26clearly turned up thinking we're going to leave here with something yeah time wasting used to really
10:32boil my mind but it still does when it happens now i try to look away i try to read the program
10:36the season was also wasn't it and they got instant come up and that was just ludicrous but the reading
10:42one it just got worse and worse and worse and then of course um if you remember it was patrick
10:47grobik's nicked a goal for a mistake five minutes from the end and suddenly paul lince is running for
10:52the ball and tapping his watch i can't believe this and i would i wouldn't normally do it but i was
10:58just boiling and i'm gonna i'm gonna let i'm gonna ask you what and i did you know if he'd said because
11:06reading were were struggling at the time if he was under pressure he was under pressure if he turned
11:11around and said look we've got a transfer embargo we're really struggling we're going to you know
11:16hands up we'll do anything we can to get a point even if it means completely spoiling the game but
11:21he would not have it he completely wouldn't have it and and he he took it really personally and i thought
11:28actually you know what i'm i'm not gonna let you get away with this um a lot of people came after
11:35and said oh well done i said yeah there's three rows of journalists between me and him
11:38and of course the funniest thing was he went out and about 30 seconds later tony mulberry came in
11:46he said who's been upset nancy so he'd obviously had word and apparently this carried on in the in the
11:52director's room as well the boardroom as well he was still bowling about it um and i was trying to say
11:57look people pay good money and they want to you know they yeah they want to see some sort of game
12:03um and and again the funny thing was in years gone by you know because obviously i started reporting in
12:10the 80s years gone by people would have had a bit of a laugh at it maybe one or two might have alluded
12:16to it in a match report or something but that would have been probably been the end of it so i literally
12:22got to my got to the car park at my car in the car park put the camera away and my phone's going bing bing
12:28bing and it's all over twitter and within about within about quarter of an hour the the transcripts
12:35there and everyone's analyzing it and then obviously we ended up putting the putting the film out as
12:42all because i was filming at the same time yeah and um i the nice thing was i mean obviously you
12:48as you do online you get one or two sooner who's he trying to make a name for himself but
12:52and i wasn't generally i just i just felt for the fans who had to sit through that and um and the
12:59nice thing was that the vast majority of people said you know thank you for for saying what you did
13:03including the reading fans the reading fans were saying we travel all that way you know the football's
13:08terrible and he's he's given us that and um and their radio guy got a lot of grief because um
13:15they were saying why don't you ask these sort of questions oh god but but i fell for him because
13:19that's difficult when he's gonna have that relationship hasn't he yeah of course you have
13:24um and he did the the their local bbc guy the next week i saw something online and that he he had had
13:30a go inside and be very happy and i think within about two or three weeks yeah it was going pretty
13:37good yeah maybe the catalyst jeff i thought i thought that it was there was a moment actually you
13:45mentioned paulance going out and mowbray coming back in there was a moment just before that
13:50happened that nick barnes the room went silent and nick barnes turned around and went what did paulance
13:54ever do to you jeff everybody had a good laugh and i did i i thought the report it was bizarre actually
14:03to be reporting on something that had happened in the press conference with a fellow journalist it
14:07was very strange i remember as it was unfurling thinking like like can i write anything about this like
14:14the same this seems a bit like two behind the scenes i don't think i should say anything about
14:18this really but as you mentioned i don't think anybody really from our our end did but it was
14:23the reddened papers that got hold of it and then before you know it was just everywhere and as as you
14:29say when it catches fire on the internet it it doesn't show any signs of stopping quickly does it no no
14:34and it's out there forever it's uh yeah it was crazy and the other nice thing was a couple of you
14:39know i can understand people not wanting to get involved because it's um i've seen it before i remember
14:43being at um being at a newcastle press conference when craig hope i think it was from the daily mail
14:49oh yeah that is infamous that is brilliant was having a spot with steve mclaren i think it was and
14:54and he ends up shouting at steve as mclaren's walking out the press conference and we filmed it
14:59we had it all and we went back and said do we use this yeah is it a bit all sort of you know yeah it's all
15:05it's all a bit in-house um but yeah nice there was a couple of a couple of the guys came up after
15:12us and said like the next time i was at a press conference and said sorry i i probably should
15:18have said something stood up for you but i was just so shocked you're in the zone jeff i don't think
15:23anybody was getting i remember i remember that game actually because it it makes me think of the
15:30preston one this season it stands out for a couple of reasons as we mentioned the game was absolutely
15:34horrible and you're not really supposed to celebrate in the press conference and and i
15:38generally don't because well yeah you're not really supposed to but i remember standing up and giving
15:44it a fist pump and shouting out and i don't think the stadium of light was as full as it usually is
15:49it was a midweek game wasn't it yeah i don't think the concourse was open and phil smith my colleague
15:55who's a very brotherly figure but you know he's only a year older but he's a sort of he's a wise
16:00head on older shoulders isn't he he came after the game and says look you know james we can't
16:05celebrate goals like that and i was like yeah sorry fella i lost it for a second he's like yeah yeah
16:11no harm done don't worry we've just got to remain professional all that anyway you know it does happen
16:15i haven't haven't spoken haven't spoken about it since to phil but come preston at home with the time
16:22wasting remain bundles goal flies into the to the top right hand corner i look over my shoulder and phil
16:28smith is stood up fist bumping and shouting and i looked at him and thought do i see anything here
16:34and i haven't and i haven't since actually so this will be a test if he listens to this like i'm still
16:38waiting to have the word with him about him standing up it's funny and nearly at that at that press
16:44conference i thought should i should i ask again and and actually um uh a guy from i can't remember
16:52was bbc radio because it was all heckin bottom it was wasn't it it was paul heckin bottom yeah and
16:57someone from radio sheffield led off as as they do and asked him all about it and he blamed the ref
17:02he's blamed the reference what you are kidding and i thought about it and i thought nah i can't he's
17:09answered it he's he's not going to give any any any other answer than this so um and of course all that
17:15that that's now that's now not going to happen again i'm not going to be in that position again
17:19because for the last so for the last six years uh for saying i've been i've been filming all the post
17:25match press conferences as part of the press conference but just for the last from the last
17:31couple of games in anticipation fingers crossed we've been shunted around we are now going to get we
17:40get separate interviews and we don't get to speak to the opposition manager we uh we get regis labris
17:45and a player um because they're trying to give them some sort of media training should they get
17:51into the premier league because as you know the chance to get to speak to players over the last few
17:55years has been minimal yeah and they're suddenly realizing that oh in the premier league you've got
18:01to speak to the cameras and these guys need a bit of a bit of practice so um yeah i'm sort of
18:06am i disappointed not really that i don't have to listen to any away away managers making excuses
18:15what would uh what would be uh your other sort of press conference highlights in in the job i think
18:20one of mine actually this season and i couldn't believe he was saying it but was when mark robbins
18:25brought stoke up here in the fa cup and he just went off about the attendances and so sometimes if the
18:32opposition managers being in after or before labris you saw your mind's elsewhere isn't it you sort
18:36of just like listening on the periphery and i was typing something up and i could hear him in the
18:41background and i thought is he really just said that and i had to go back i had to listen to the
18:45tape a couple of times when i was transcribing it and i was like he has just said that that's quite a
18:49strong line and that was quite memorable for me those those that don't remember he sort of he had
18:54to go at the attendance and questioned where the fans were and it was was quite yeah and the whole
18:59history the fa couple yeah exactly and he he had a point to a degree but there was there was other
19:04factors that i think it was minus three on the day or something it was it was really cool but what
19:09would be your memorable sort of press conference moments or spots down the years uh wow i suppose
19:15managers press conference like the arrival press conferences roy keen was had to be one of the one of
19:21the best where you're thinking wow what is this guy gonna gonna come out with you know and he he's
19:26sitting next to he's sitting next to now couldn't hate each other don't they yeah and i've still got
19:31the notebook because i i was doing it for telly i was making notes so i knew where i could you know
19:36which were the best clips to instead of listening the whole thing i just spoon through it and um
19:42and typical roy just said yeah it's all sorted now yeah that was years ago that was uh and he just
19:48brushed it all off as he did and i i got a one-to-one with them down on the touchline afterwards
19:53um and i said i said to him uh i said i have to say right yeah you you come across a lot different
19:59to what i thought and he said i'm not as bad as you think you know and then and and he was good
20:06he was good for us all all the time although you go to press conferences and when he had that you seem
20:10to be able to grow this big bushy beard overnight yeah if you had the beard on you thought ah he's in a
20:16a bad mood um but no he was he was good that was one of the ones i really look forward to one of the um
20:23and i do also remember the uh the stewart donald and charlie metham one yeah that one's their first
20:30ever one because i got to ask the first question because they kicked off with tv um and at the time
20:36you remember the club was in absolute free fall and and a mess and who were these guys and well and not
20:43only that but they were doing interviews left right and center weren't they oh absolutely they
20:46were everywhere yeah and but for the first official one the first question at the press conference i got
20:53to ask him was um why sundland and i meant it like generally have you not seen the state of this club
21:00and the look on his face it it it clearly was obvious that he didn't have a clue what he was getting
21:07into yeah and he just said well why not it's a fantastic club and i'm sitting i thinking you
21:13haven't done due diligence you haven't really seen what's what you know you can't feel the vitriol
21:18that's around the place and um yeah and i remember coming away thinking you're you're going to be you're
21:25going to go one of either way you're going to if it goes well you are going to be astounded at the love
21:30and the passion and the support of these fans if things go well if it goes badly you are going to be
21:36absolutely like what is this and he really really fed off that love and support initially didn't
21:42he before it turned sour yeah a bit like mike ashley you know mike ashley i was talking about this with
21:47it with a mate the other day um you know mike ashley comes he's the big savior he's in the crowd with
21:53his shirt with his shirt and drinking his pint and then within a few weeks he didn't even go to the
21:59game you know it's yeah we're passionate a lot up here the um the alex neal one when he when he did a
22:06bunk to stoke a couple hours before the game were you around for that one i was yeah yeah i mean
22:11that i missed that one actually my colleague joe at the time he went he went on that one but that
22:15must have been a bizarre situation turning up thinking you're going to speak to a manager and
22:18suddenly he's nowhere to be seen no that was and that was disappointing i just i i still think that he
22:25he he missed a trick and the club because he he just i mean he was a funny bloke it was it took
22:35you time to get to like him because he was always like a little bit what's that you said a bit
22:41combative and a bit in your face and um um but when you got to know him you thought actually he's
22:46really he's straight and he's and he knows what he wants and i think he got what the club was about
22:52um like tony mulberry obviously but tony would anyway because he's from the northeast but alex
22:59neil just just got it and i was really disappointed when he left and he thought really you want to go
23:04to stoke is that it i know it's loads more money but and it was close to his home he was still living
23:10over that side but um and then when he came back the first time and i think they won 5-1 didn't they
23:155-1 yeah yeah um and i tried to get it and he he said i don't know why the fans you know
23:22they're so nasty to me and i said well because because you never really explained nobody explained
23:27why you went and he just said well i don't want to get into that i don't want to name names but clearly
23:34you know fell out with with carol didn't felt he didn't get a good enough reward or big enough
23:39contract for for taking the club into um in the championship so but you know he did do that so you
23:46and i know when when he was there the other week they were i think it was one there was one anti alex
23:52neil chant and i thought well yeah i hope that i hope that eventually fades in the distance because
23:58you know he did he did get the club out of league one which was such a horrible place to be it was and i
24:05think that that run as well towards the back end of league one does get forgotten a bit it was he
24:10he performed miracles really because i know that the club was second when with a second or i can't
24:14remember exactly where they were when lee johnson got sacked but it was um yeah we got he got sacked
24:20after the bolton game didn't he and then they lost a couple against was it doncaster and chelton
24:24or something yeah um so they dropped out of the division but the run they actually went on to get
24:30in the playoffs was magnificent um yeah yeah absolutely uh that leads us nicely on really
24:36because we've we've talked for 24 minutes but we haven't actually talked anything about current
24:39affairs i mean this is just us sort of reminiscing a little bit but there is an outside chat actually
24:45that sutherland could meet alex neils millwall in the playoffs it goes down to the final day they're
24:50in with a shout you know if bristol don't do it against preston you never know you just never know
24:55no but they've got millwall they've got burnley haven't they and they have on this
25:00massive unbeaten run you know just equaled the uh number of um record number of clean sheets and
25:06if any top the top four divisions 29 i think they've got um he did 15 goals this season it's
25:13ridiculous uh it is crazy especially when you when you think suddenly should be beat them one should
25:18have beaten them twice but yeah who's it who's it gonna be i mean it's interesting that you're the
25:26the middlesbrough have got a chance on paper you would think will will millwall get anything at
25:32burnley probably not will blackburn get anything at chef united they might do chef united are on a
25:37on a bit of a spiral and then it's up to middlesbrough to beat coventry so i mean in the minute it looks
25:43like suddenly the bristol city doesn't it which i think most fans for all it was a draw and a defeat this
25:49season against bristol city i think most fans will be will be happy with that rather than you know a
25:56derby with middlesbrough or coventry who just yeah nobody wants to play because they seem to have a
26:02bit of a bit of a curse uh on the team and and in terms of sunderland at the moment which which side
26:09of the fence he is sitting on because there's been a lot of talk about momentum versus getting players
26:15fit and the momentum stakes are really dire at the moment because we haven't won in five and we've
26:20lost four in a row which isn't ideal heading into a playoff campaign but there's a lot of discourse
26:24about being able to turn on the tap when it comes to the playoffs and don't tend to think it's that
26:29simple however i do accept that when there's jeopardy on a game um it may be a little different
26:34but i'm i wasn't too worried but i was concerned by the manner of the oxford performance given the
26:40players that were on the pitch to be honest well that's right i think everyone expected oh well
26:44fair enough you know labris was making changes he wanted to give people seven changes yeah fine
26:50here's the first time ah that's even worse than previous games yeah it's i mean i can see the logic
26:58you know and ultimately even losing the qpr won't matter at all really in in terms of the play and if
27:07the playoffs are one then everyone will say can i remember that losing five in a row or four or five
27:12in a row and then winning at wembley and then that'll all be forgotten um i do slightly worry that you
27:19know a run like this even if you're not in the team you know if you're being rested it's not great it's
27:25just not great for it's not great for fans morale apart from anything um and there have been times over
27:31the last few weeks where it's been really quiet at the stadium because the fans need the players to
27:38give them a bit of a lift and and it's not been it's not been happening um so yeah i'm a little bit
27:47i'm a little bit worried but then again and and when you look at the league table you know it's
27:51it's it's for a long time it was oh top two top twos in reach 23 points behind 23 points behind
28:00leeds and burning when did that happen you know and 13 behind chef united and yet you know look how far
28:08they are ahead of of seventh place they're gonna finish at least seven points clear in the in the
28:15playoff zone and with at least 76 points i i did it i did a thing for um a friend of friend of mine
28:23was doing a trailer for sky about sundland before the season and uh interviewed a few fans and journalists
28:29and things and and said uh right in one word everyone at the end of it said one word sum up
28:35your hopes for the coming season and i said survival based on based on last year and i've been watching
28:42sunday for a long time and always being a pessimist um and you know having this guy in charge that
28:49nobody ever heard of um i remember the first home game i was sitting with simon who wrote from tiny
28:54teas and he said uh he said you know this guy he's gonna be one of those coaches who in a few years
28:59time you're either gonna say oh rechise labrice remember him wow super or you'll say do you remember
29:05that french guy we had for about two months who was that and at the moment it's it's you know
29:12it's looking good you'd on paper you've got to say what an incredible turnaround and what a job he's
29:17done but um the last you know the last playoffs i tell this story often um when talking about tony
29:24mulberry i was down at luton doing the uh the vox pops you know interviewing fans after the game and
29:30usually they are the worst ones to do football fans when they've lost not just lost a game but lost
29:37a really like a cup final or a playoff or something like that um and without fail every
29:44sundown fan that i interviewed that night as they came out of kenworth road said uh said we lost but
29:49hey you know what it's been a fantastic season absolutely loved it never thought we'd get this
29:53far and it's just been great the football's been fantastic and oh yeah you know it's a shame but
29:59we didn't think we only had half a team and we'll be back i just think this time there's more
30:05expectation and it won't be quite as forgiving i think when the team's been up there all season and
30:10being top of the league for a long you know a long stretch at the start of the start of the season
30:16there's there's more expectation and and yeah i'm glad i'm not not doing the box pops this time
30:22put it that way it is isn't that that question of of expectation because that's been built really
30:28by the players good performance earlier on in the season and historically sunderland and the
30:33championship when we get a sniff of competing at the top end we tend to do quite well so there's that
30:37sort of inbuilt mentality within the fan base isn't it yeah yeah yeah and i think you know from early
30:45season a lot of fans will think good god this is it this is yeah this could be the time back in the
30:51the premier league even if you know you try not to look at it nicole you know i'd like a day last
30:57two seasons you know the three teams have gone up and come straight back down and there's every
31:00likelihood that that will will happen again but but then again you know who would have thought
31:06bournemouth would ever establish themselves as a brentford even brighton and brentford now i'm
31:12still like surprised to see them there sometimes yeah yeah not forest who you looked you know every
31:17year looked like they were just gonna drop um who knows i've got to be in it to win it
31:23how have you found regis because it's interesting you mentioned that conversation you had with
31:27with simon o'rourke because the the paper lads did pre-season we were down in bradford twice and
31:33then there's south shields gate said and one of the games at bradford i think we lost to bradford didn't
31:39we two or three one and you can't really take much from pre-season as you know it's your team
31:43building exercise and whatnot but liberese hadn't been in the job long and we spoke to him pitch
31:48side and he was just he was given nothing away he was cagey um i wouldn't go as far as being
31:55defensive but just weren't getting a lot from him and i remember thinking in the car home i was like
32:01this could be a long season could be a really really long season and like because he he's very
32:07calm and mild mannered isn't he which i think is a great strength of his but at the time i was like
32:11i think he could get gobbled up and spat out here but he's proved it'll be interesting to know
32:18from the players if he ever loses his temper because they've never seen even a even a flicker
32:24of it um i i really like him as a i do yeah i don't as a coach i don't know i don't i don't know how
32:31much he puts into it and how much it is but as a guy and as an organizer and just as a human being
32:38i find him a really really nice guy he works really hard um on his on his english he speaks
32:46really you know very decent english considering i don't think he's been learning it for that long
32:51um i did a uh i did a q a for the x players association at christmas which i always do every
32:58year at their christmas dinner at the stadium um and he came in and said he would do half an hour
33:03and i'd only ever interviewed him you know across the table or whatever so um i said can i just have
33:09a word with him beforehand um just to see what i can and can't ask and just really introduce myself
33:15properly and um and i said i said oh geez you know that's not jeff brown covered it yeah for 40 years
33:22and all that sort of thing um and he was really interested and i said i said look first question's
33:25got to be how do you pronounce your name properly and he says uh regis libri that's definitely libri
33:32right great just so i know so we went on the stage and i said ladies and gentlemen please welcome son
33:38and head coach and i said uh i said of course first question's got to be uh regis how do you pronounce
33:42your name and he looked at me and said you'll be forgotten already which was good which was funny
33:49it i it was it meant as a joke and it was it was just it he's just a decent bloke he's an affable bloke
33:55um whether he'll end up as a club legend i suppose much depends on the uh on the next couple of weeks
34:03really um but i i would hope that he will still be around certainly if uh you know if it doesn't if
34:11promotion doesn't happen um it will be it'd be interesting to see how it all how it all pans out
34:17and i'm interested jeff just lastly before we head off like how does this season feel to you
34:22because you've covered a lot of sunland over the years but also a lot of newcastle and middlesbrough
34:26as we mentioned with the playoff permutations it's a bit of a bizarre season really in a sense that
34:30sunland have been a limbo for a little while but i i do feel like sometimes in a in a playoff campaign
34:36you can just sort of smell it and get a sense of of what's going to happen you get a gut feeling
34:40and what what's yours about this this this season
34:42i'm definitely putting you on the spot i know i know um
34:51i do worry that that really it's a team that's even with all their first choice players in isn't
35:00scoring goals at the moment um i think that might be a downfall that the the worry would be that who
35:07whoever whoever they get in the first leg if like the the lincoln one remember the lincoln playoff
35:16if they come back chasing a two-goal deficit are there enough goals in that team and they start
35:21they're notoriously this team start slow away from absolutely and you know that whoever they get
35:27in that first game in the first 20 minutes of the home leg they are really going to going to be up for
35:35it um yeah it's it's i'd almost prefer that the whole that that the home game was first to be
35:42honest i thought myself because a lot's been made of having the home leg second but i yeah i mean i
35:48think it probably if you if you did the averages over the years it probably does balance out that way
35:52but it's not something that really keeps me awake at night that no no i know it's um yeah
36:00middles were being a funny one you know the times they've looked like world beaters and then
36:04all the time you remember when they had that that stretch from scoring about 15 goals in three
36:08games um yeah and of course newcastle it has just been quite a big story you know yeah absolutely
36:17the old term so i'm sure a lot of suddenly fans are looking on enviously thinking yeah be nice to get
36:23the trafalgar square yeah yeah well i think that's um that's that's my hope for this season really like
36:29you know getting beat the playoff final it's a bit of a lottery but i would just love to have that
36:32that trip to wembley again and because i think the the day before the game's almost the best bit
36:38isn't it really of yes yeah i mean wickham was was absolutely class but just sort of seeing your
36:43friends beforehand and stuff i think that that's what really makes it isn't it so i really really
36:47hope we can have that that experience again yeah yeah well we shall we shall find out very soon
36:55we'll try and reconvene maybe as jeff after the um after the season's finished and
36:58and do this again but thank you for joining me um please tell us again the name of the play where
37:04you can find it just once more it's the bench and it's uh coming to a theater and some village halls
37:11and all sorts of things near you carol w productions is where you'll find the uh the whole tour plan and
37:17the um and the various ticket websites and it all kicks off at the gala theater in durham 22nd of may
37:26and i'll be in most of them so if you want to come and say hello to that bloke who used to be on the
37:32telly and i'll more than likely be there fantastic and jeff's across socials as well i think you're on
37:38you're on x and and everything else like the rest of us but thanks again for joining us mate i really
37:43appreciate it you can head over to the southern echo website for all of your latest content ahead
37:47of the qbr game and we'll keep you up to date with the playoffs as well thank you once again for joining us
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