- 1 year ago
Mark McMahon and Jordan Cross joins forces to discuss Paddy Lane's departure and the loan arrival of Florian Bianchini from Swansea.
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00:01Hello and welcome to this bite-sized edition of Pompey Talk. My name is Mark McMahon and
00:06joining me today to discuss the latest developments at Pompey is the news's Jordan Cross.
00:11Jordan, a lot's happened in the space of the past 12 hours.
00:16Yes.
00:17Paddy Lane has gone. Pompey have signed Florian Bianchini from Swansea on loan. So definitely
00:25a lot's happened. But let's talk about Paddy Lane. What's your thoughts on that, first
00:29of all?
00:30Yeah, I'm glad we're starting with Paddy Lane. I know it was like a quick flurry last night
00:34and it was the first news, but I think that's where we should focus. And literally just writing
00:40about that at the moment, sort of doing some due diligence on Bianchini and now kind of
00:47writing a really sort of, it's like a nice walk down, nice warm walk down memory lane in
00:54a colour piece about Paddy. And that's how he should be, I think, remembered at Pompey.
00:59His time at the club, his contributions to the central contributions, in fact, actually
01:04to the League One title success. And yeah, just looking back now and how he kind of, it's
01:11easy to forget how important he was. 20 goal contributions, 12 goals, 8 assists and some
01:18really important moments. I can go through and reel them off actually looking back now.
01:25I mean, three goals in three, starting with a really good goal at Barnsley earlier, you
01:31know, which was probably a central, do you remember when we went to Barnsley after the
01:34derby draw early on?
01:36Yeah.
01:36It was kind of a central moment in the season really, going next to Barnsley, were real contenders.
01:41He got the opening goal and he absolutely roofed it. It was one of his best Pompey goals,
01:45undoubtedly. But that was probably one of the key moments of the season, the key nights,
01:49that win at Barnsley. And it set Pompey and Pompey were a winning run after that. And Paddy
01:55was central. And onwards as well, wasn't it? Like I say, eight goal assists. I think it
01:58was two, two assists at Reading were a big moment. So there was two assists at Cambridge
02:04at home. Hitting the gritty. I now, I've got an eight-year-old son, so I now know what
02:10hitting the gritty is in celebration at Carlisle with the winning goal. And for me, the, probably
02:21the high watermark that season in terms of quality is when they went to Northampton and
02:26put four past and in freezing conditions in December, I think it was minus three or four
02:31that afternoon. But it was unbelievably high level and dominant level. And Paddy was central
02:39to that with two goals as well. Yeah. So lots of, lots of seminal moments and I'm not
02:46even, not even got to the, I'll let you ask the questions probably about, about the ones
02:49that we all remember the most.
02:51Well, I'm just going to say like, better than me that season he had, I had a 12 goals,
02:57seven league assists. I don't know if that's me wrong or what, but he played such a key role
03:02for Pompey that season. And like, if you were to think back to that season, you're probably
03:07talking him, Shaughnessy, Pack, some of the, Colby Bishop, some of the standout performers
03:13that year. He was a huge player for Pompey that season, wasn't he?
03:17Yeah. Yeah. And Paddy was, he was a keen reader of our ratings. And I know he didn't always
03:25agree with him, but I think he did. I think as Neil Allen pointed out last night on socials,
03:29I think it was only, I've got the likes of Marlon Pack and one or two others that got
03:34above, above Paddy in terms of the season for ratings. And that was quite, quite well
03:39earned. So we've got to be honest, I'll talk about this because I want to end on the, on
03:43the, the memories of the, the Barnsleys and everything that came after that. So yeah, he
03:47didn't step up to championship level. That's a fair criticism and it didn't work out for
03:51him last season. Then it could be a number of reasons that maybe the time wasn't right
03:56for Paddy. He was, he kind of struggled in a start where the whole team struggled. He
04:03wasn't, as John Cena rightly said this week, no one came out of that kind of winless 10
04:08game start with any credit. And Paddy was one of those. And I guess it was when Matt
04:13Ritchie came to the fore that he kind of fell out of the way there with me and, and the wind
04:18started. So he actually did get on a bit of a run. I think it was Swansea and New
04:24Year's Day and going into the sort of early part of the new year where he did have a bit
04:28of a run and was fine and his feet. And then obviously the season injury, ending injury
04:33arrived at Blackburn with a knee injury. So no, it didn't work out for him. And sometimes,
04:37you know, there's a number of factors and sometimes like players aren't ready to step up. I mean,
04:42some are. Connor Ogilvie, we didn't think he was going to step up, but I was certain in
04:46fact early on. Look at how he did. And yeah, the number of contributing factors, but it
04:51didn't work out for Paddy. Now that's not to say, sorry, Paddy, I'll call you back.
04:57Yeah. I'm saying nice things, Paddy, honest. That's not to say it can't, it can't one day.
05:04Paddy's 24 years old, so he's got time on his side and he may well make that step up soon.
05:09But yeah, it didn't work. And on that note, I just think it is, you know, right, the right
05:16time to say goodbye and move on. I think that's, Pompey's shown that, you know, even with the
05:22Raggets and Rafferty's went last year, it's, you know, it's transient in the way football
05:27works. And that's just the way it is. It is sad to see. And it's another link to that, that
05:33central link to that team severed. And, you know, his mate, his sidekick, Riley Childer's
05:38gone as well now. And I think, you know, they face each other actually, Lincoln and Reading
05:41this weekend, don't they? Yeah. This is a subplot there. His roommate and his, his, his
05:46Bessie, one of his Bessies there, Riley. So, but yeah, I mean, onto the great memories of
05:53Barnsley, hopefully as well. Yeah. No, we'll definitely talk about Barnsley and the celebrations,
05:57but just quickly, were you surprised how, how quick this emerged? Bernie Mendy played
06:03against the Hawks on Tuesday night. He scored against Brighton on Wednesday in that behind
06:09closed doors game. You got a feeling that Paddy Lane may not be a Pompey player at the
06:16end of this transfer window, but just the, how quickly it all materialised, seemed to catch
06:21everybody off guard. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, it's the fact that we, yesterday did the
06:26story sort of with John Messina speaking after the Hawks game, talking about, about Paddy
06:31and being a Pompey. Look, I mean, not, you know, this is what, this is how it is. Personally,
06:37I've known for some time, it was inevitable that Paddy Lane was going to be moving on.
06:41I've known for probably a couple of months that that was going to be the case. And that
06:46was a feeling I got and all my sort of contacts pointed to, he wouldn't be here come the end
06:52of the summer window. That's what, what my, my sort of feeling and sort of insight was
06:59to that. So no, but you're spot on. I mean, I thought that it was a surprise at the speed
07:05at which it came out and the Reading move happened from our point of view, my point of
07:10view. But I just thought with Paddy, with the winger situation at the moment, Pompey being
07:15light, he might just be, it might be one of those that would play out later in the window.
07:22He might be in his feet in every pre-season game. He's been on a good run and which is
07:26coming off the back of the knee injury is really good for Paddy. And I thought probably
07:30won't start at Oxford, but he might well be on the bench and around it. So, but obviously
07:35there was interest from Reading. He's got a three-year deal. We don't know the ins and
07:37outs, but we probably will do at some point about whether that's Pompey taking a hit on
07:42their money there or they've got their money back on Paddy. But if it's a three-year
07:45deal, then, you know, they're probably paying a bit for Paddy Alder-Fort Reading. So we're
07:51looking to that and whether Pompey are continuing to, you know, they're not making big returns
07:55and it's not this kind of all singing, we're going to sell the players for millions and
07:59sign for take me, but they are returning profits on the likes of Christian Sadie and the
08:03other lads that have, you know, contracted lads that have Riley Towle is as well. And hopefully
08:08that's the case, but we will find out. But yeah, it's, you know, Pompey will be able
08:13to get being Keeney in and they will look to keep strengthening in that area as well, I
08:19believe. I don't think, you know, I was suggesting Pompey are doing this on the cheap because they've
08:23signed a loan player. The premium players, but I think there's going to be a premium player
08:28still coming in that department and it's where Pompey need to focus their budget.
08:33Paddy, I'm going to call you back in a minute.
08:35You've never heard of the silent button on your phone.
08:39What did it the first time? Okay. So yes. Yeah, go on, ask a question.
08:44Well, no, no, just let's, let's move on a wee bit. But before we go into the Bianchini
08:49one, nobody seemed to enjoy that there are League One celebrations more than Paddy Lane being
08:56carried across the pitch, being interviewed by BBC Solon the day afterwards, I believe there
09:01may have been a wee bit of alcohol still in the system, but he really reveled in that
09:05there, didn't he? And rightly so, because he pissed.
09:07Yeah, I always get the impression Paddy kind of cringes a bit about that, but he shouldn't.
09:12It was the kind of epitomised celebrations and, you know, he wasn't like he wasn't a part
09:20of things and was a fringe player. He was front and centre, he earned that part, he earned
09:23those celebrations. And that's part, that's a big part, you know, a significant part of
09:29his legacy. It's not the only part, this is what I'm writing now, but you think about
09:33him being carried on this sea of hands across the pitch after Barnsley. You think about the
09:38celebrations and all the videos and fans clips of O'Neill's and around and Paddy's there
09:42kind of in all of it. And then the BBC interview the next day of the dinner at Fratton Park where,
09:50you know, he was leathered. But, you know, he can do that because he had 20 goal contributions.
09:59He was central. He was a proper, you know, proper player in that success. So he doesn't
10:05need to feel too silly about that because that's all central to his legacy. And yeah, when we think
10:11about Paddy Lane in years to come, his place in Pompey folklore is assured. And that is
10:17his talent, his quality, his contribution, the kind of memories and all that is what we
10:24will think about with Paddy Lane and quite right too.
10:27Yeah. And just finally on Paddy Lane, he's a character too. He'll be a big character. He
10:31was a big character in the Pompey dressing room. So that type of personality is going to
10:36be messed up. Oh yeah. Yeah. Um, again, with all the socials and all the clips, I've just
10:43seen some sort of video stuff from Paddy and like from some fans and different people and
10:49often from the club as well. And, uh, he's front and center. You're never short of material,
10:54material with Paddy. Um, and that's what part of the sadness, isn't it? Yeah. You, you probably
10:59have got other characters and they will step up now. They're not short of those, but that's
11:03part of the kind of why you get a little bit romantic about that, that period. And because
11:07he, you know, he captured the zeitgeist of, of, of that team and, um, and that period.
11:13And that's why we're kind of, we're getting a bit misty eyed when, when we're saying goodbye
11:16to Paddy.
11:17Yeah. Okay. So looking forward then, Pompey have brought in Rory on being keenness from Swansea
11:24on loan. Um, I have to met Jordan. I don't know too much about this guy. I'm hoping you
11:30could fill in the blanks for me. Well, yeah, I can to a degree, hopefully. Uh, look, um,
11:38I've seen the first thing is, well, I'll get this, but it's been a bit of an underwhelmed
11:43response. It must be quite demoral, not demoralizing, but it must be a frustrate, the element of frustration
11:47to the Pompey football operation. They do these deals and they kind of, they see this kind
11:52of underwhelmed response. Now I get it because when you look at it with being keen, he's got
11:59three goals in 38 appearances last season. And that's the nuts and bolts of it. That's
12:02what Pompey fans will look at and think, Oh, okay. Um, but I don't, you know, probably
12:08when I did that, I kind of, Oh, okay. I did the same. I spent a bit of time, um, looking
12:13at, I remember him from last season actually. Um, and he did, he, yeah, he played as a kind
12:19of mania as a, as a number nine for Swansea. I think of his 38 appearances, he's only five
12:26foot eight, uh, because he's not a big lad, uh, but he played as a number nine, but I
12:29think he was signed as a winger. And if you look at them, he played like eight games wide
12:32right, was a kind of right-sided attacking midfielder, probably about four or five left
12:38and then the majority through the middle. But it's interesting that Messina, John Messina
12:41quite immediately is saying that he's signing him as a winger. So that's where they obviously
12:45see him playing and reading between the lines. I expect that's probably where he sees himself
12:50playing for Pompey to come out and make that clear into, he wouldn't be coming here
12:53if he's been told he's going to be playing as a, as a, as a nine. Uh, but when you watch
12:57the video of him, you can see why, why Pompey are interested. Um, like I've watched quite
13:02a bit, um, this morning, not just to his goals, uh, the free goals last season, but going back
13:07to his time in France. He's, um, he's very direct. I mean, he can play as a nine, his goals
13:15last season, there was a kind of a poachers header against Sheffield United, close range,
13:19uh, from a, from a free kick in, I think from the left. There was a smart volley, a very
13:24smart volley against Leeds. And I think the other one was against Oxford where he made
13:30some really good number nine movement actually to kind of find himself a yard of space and
13:33receive a pass in the box, uh, in, in space and putting an unerring low finish. Um, so
13:39that was, well, yeah, that was interesting. But going back further, when you kind of look
13:43deeper, he plays, you know, off either wing, he looks like he favours his right foot, he can finish
13:48with either foot. Um, he can kind of, yeah, drop in and go inside as a winger. He can go outside.
13:55Um, so he can seem to be able to do a bit of everything. Um, so I can see why there's an
13:59appeal there with Pompey. His stats are reasonable, if not mind-blowing. But when you break down his
14:04stats per 90 minutes, rather than because he's been coming off the bench, he kind of, they're
14:09comparable to Callum Lang in terms of dribbles and contributions to games, even around not too
14:15far off, um, not in terms of goals and assists, but contributions to games, not far off Josh Murphy
14:19actually. Um, so yeah, that's kind of what I was seeing. In terms of a crosser as well, he's not
14:26one of the, everyone's got this obsession with whipped crosses nowadays and they've got to be
14:29whipped at pace. And I've always been a bit like, I don't really care about that. If you can find a man
14:34with a, with a pitched up flighted cross, don't worry about hitting the first man, get
14:39the ball in the dangerous area. And he likes to flight the balls up. Um, he's quite a languid
14:44dribbler as well. And he does that. So, um, yeah, that's kind of what I see of him. Um, so let's see
14:51what it brings. He's a loan signing and Pompey've got one in the door and it won't, and he won't be
14:56the first and, uh, sorry, he won't be, he's the first, but he won't be the last in that, in that
14:59department between now and now and near close of the summer window. Just on that point alone,
15:03like normally when a player comes in on loan, the parent club wants assurances that there's
15:08going to be game time. He's going to be playing regularly, but you've said yourself, you don't
15:12expect this to be the one and only sending from Pompey in this position. So are you expecting
15:18Pompey then to bring in a guy that's going to be frontline or a guy that's basically there are
15:23no, the two of you fed it out for this position.
15:25Um, not any depth there, don't they? As I say, I think Pompey, Pompey will be looking
15:29to, um, invest. I mean, look, simply like you've lost Paddy Lane, Matt Ritchie's going
15:35out the door. So those, those places need filling straight away and probably, you know, you might
15:39miss work out. Let's just get some insight from Pompey about whether they would want another
15:43one on top of that. But, um, now it's, you know, John, John has said this week now that
15:48the focus is on the, the winger department. It's not the first time he's said it. Um,
15:54uh, you know, he's said it more than once about where Pompey are in terms of their
15:58spending, spending. They said, he said back in March about the need to press on from the
16:021.27 million paid for Hayden Matthews. Uh, the insights I seem to get at Pompey now could
16:08be looking in, in the region of two to two and a half million. Let's see where that ends
16:12up. I mean, apparently Matson was someone they were looking at, weren't they? Um, I think
16:17they had a valuation on him that wasn't quite the same as Silke books, but again, you were
16:21getting into that region of that two, two million pound region for where, where Pompey
16:26were looking to spend. So yeah, I know there's been a lot of kind of, not a lot of this, there's
16:31been a degree of consternation about it being alone and where Pompey's spending, but I think
16:35you will still see, uh, as I've kind of, the term I use is high tariff positions and they
16:40come at high tariff prices. So I think you still need that. And I think that's what we
16:44will still see from Pompey in this window.
16:46Okay. And there's only a week to go to the opening day of the season. Just, just trying
16:52to get a general opinion on you. What's, what's your thoughts on Pompey's squad situation at
16:57the minute ahead of that third game?
17:00Yeah. Um, work to do still, um, for me, you know, when you, when you're going to recruit
17:06from abroad, there's a little bit of a hesitancy about how Pompey start the season because when,
17:14when you, you know, you do get these new players bedding in, um, you know, your two, your two
17:19defensive midfielders, your two central midfielders don't know the division. Um, obviously John
17:23Swift does, Segersich doesn't. So, um, and then you've got being keen as well and you see
17:28what happens with the one. So there's a little bit of a, not a little bit of a kind of hesitancy
17:34about how Pompey might start the season potentially. That said, you've got players that know the division
17:40well and, and there's been good signs in pre-season about where Pompey are. Um, so
17:44they've got the kind of, they've got their solid systems already around the group that
17:48know the division inside out. So I hope that can, that can, that can carry them through
17:51the start of the season. So we're certainly in a better place than we were this time last
17:55year anyway. So, um, yeah, um, I think in the round, uh, kind of, uh, quietly optimistic
18:03with, with the kind of a few questions to be answered. But I think that Pompey are quite honest
18:07about that. I mean, they've discussed the fact that when you recruit from a board, it's
18:10going to take time for them to bed in. That's Pompey looking at that and that won't be something
18:14they're ignorant to. Okay. Well, this was meant to be a bite-sized one. We've nearly
18:19went full blown, full episode of Pompey Talk. Your overtime check is in the post. Thank you
18:24again, George. You're right.
18:27To be giving away, Arshig, it's just yet. Well, thank you, Jordy. And thank you all for
18:32watching. We'll be back again soon. Goodbye.