- 5 months ago
Pompey Talk: Deadline Day Delight thanks to eye-catching Chaplin deal
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00:00Hello and welcome to this latest edition of Pompey Talk. My name is Mark McMahon and joining
00:09me today to discuss all what happened at Pompey on Transfer Deadline Day is the news's Jordan
00:14Cross. Jordy, have you caught your breath yet? It is Wednesday, but I'm still on a bit of a high
00:20from it all. I was going to bring that up, you know, Mark. Are we allowed to be excited? We've
00:28been around the block a bit now, haven't we? We've done this a while. I worked out, I think
00:32I've kind of, this was my 45th transfer window deadline day on the Pompey beat, going back
00:40all the way back to 2002-03. I think Dion Burson came in on the first one and the head of the
00:46championship winning division one, second tier winning season that then. We know all the
00:55stories. We know, I mean, there's the, uh, yeah, and John Acu ringing up our former sports
01:01editor, Ross wasn't there. Uh, and, and trying to, uh, thinking it was, uh, David Nugent
01:08and trying to sell him to Blackpool and giving us an exclusive on the way. I mean, there's
01:13been some crazy, you know, him not trying to sell anything. It wasn't nailed down and
01:16there was Asmir Begovic, Spurs a million and him going off to Stoke, wasn't it? And he was
01:22in tears at the training grounds. He didn't want to leave and all the other ones, but I
01:26was, you know, excited. It was exciting transfer deadline day. It was frantic. Um, and you know,
01:35you can go and ask the question about how, how it, I always thought it defined the window,
01:39um, which is not to disrespect the business up to that point, but it, it was always going
01:44to frame it and, um, it framed it really positively. Yes. And of course you're, you're
01:50referring to Conor Chaplin and yeah, that's, that's the first place we have to start today.
01:54Like really, isn't it? What a statement that was from Pompey on transfer deadline day.
01:59Yeah. Yeah. I mean, uh, sensational. Uh, I don't think it's over exaggeration to say,
02:05and I tweeted, I think most people were in agreement, um, that it is one of the best ever, uh, deadline
02:11day. And it's not exaggerating that to say next, when you actually work back, it sounds
02:15like a big statement, but one of the best ever deadline day signings, probably bearing
02:18in mind the windows being around since 2002 or three. Um, yeah, I just think that you,
02:24you are going back to Jermaine Defoe. I think we discussed, we discussed this as one of our
02:30sports desk calls. I think Jermaine Defoe in 2008 would be the kind of last one to supersede
02:35that. I mean, nod to Nadeel Bell had you came in on a deadline day. There was a, a couple
02:39of the season, the final season in the premier league. There's a late frantic flurry of Mike
02:43Williamson and a couple of others, Hassan Yebda came in, but in terms of, wow, wow factors
02:49and the fact that he, he, he was coming in and we were spending big bucks back then, but
02:54this is a deal that's kind of pushed the budget. It's, it's again, not exaggerating it to say,
03:00name me a better piece of deadline day business in terms of the championship. I don't think you,
03:04you go a long way to find a better bit of business. Um, and it accelerated so quickly
03:09and came so late. So that, that all adds to the excitement of, uh, yeah, as a, as a journalist,
03:14you know, we all, it's one of our business days, um, if not the business day, uh, transfer
03:21deadline day. And it was a really exciting one. And, um, the ecstasy in which it ended and the,
03:28the, the enthusiasm on social media, I know Twitter can be, uh, a febrile place sometimes.
03:35Uh, yeah, sometimes it can get a little bit crazy out there. So it was great to see the
03:38other side of it, the joy and ecstasy and everyone's so euphoric about it and quite right too.
03:43Yeah. I don't think anybody would have believed this if we had to put that out even on Monday
03:48morning, this was going to happen, let alone at the start of the transfer, although it absolutely
03:52just caught the imagine of absolutely everybody. But like, can you provide anybody with any insight
03:58into how this materialized on Monday?
04:01Late, late in the day. Yeah, I can. So, um, and this is, some of this is after the event
04:07that it falls into place, but my understanding was that it really did happen late, late in the day.
04:12Um, there was some noise, um, from the Ipswich end around the weekend going,
04:18Conor actually started his first game of the season for, so he's been coming off the bench
04:24and he started, but there was some noise there at that stage, um, that, uh, there could have
04:31been something in the pipeline. And I think that was confirmed actually when, when Conor
04:36did his first interview with the club, which, um, uh, went out last night and we're just, um,
04:41putting out the lines from that now. Um, so I think then it was just a case of wait and see
04:46from his point of view for, but from a personal point of view, it really came late.
04:50And it actually was, was about lunchtime, maybe 12, one o'clock on, on, on deadline day
04:56that the, the, the whispers started to, um, go around. So as you do as a journalist,
05:01you start to make the calls about it, try and stand it up. Um, and, uh, we were making
05:05some headway in that perhaps not quite enough, not firm enough to run it, but definitely there
05:11there were some bits and pieces flying around. Then I believe it was Mike McGrath
05:16at the Telegraph who reported that it was in the offing around the time that we were
05:20getting it firmed up. And, uh, I think you rang me up and I, yeah, full disclosure,
05:25I've just done a little kind of five minutes on the treadmill and jumped in the shower
05:28because I'm not going to do that all day. Um, and you, and the phone had blown up and you
05:32were one of the calls when I got out of the shower and I was like, Jordy, have you seen this?
05:36We chased that up, Mark. Yeah. Um, and then from there, uh, it really began to firm up my
05:45end and to the point I could kind of go quite strong and story that we ran at four o'clock
05:49that it was, you know, detailed, the deal was in place and done. We went strong.
05:53And then from there, Mark, that was about four, half four. It was, it was kind of a frantic
05:58sort of chase down, wasn't it? I did drop him a text. He didn't have much to say to me.
06:03And so we came back to me at half 11 on deadline day after it was done.
06:07Um, and then it was just, yeah, the club getting their bits in the can until the official announcement,
06:13which came a couple of hours after, after the, the 7 p.m.
06:16Probably enough of some fans to get a little bit tetchy, but I was always confident
06:20because the clue was there in that final space in the 25 man squad, wasn't it?
06:24That was there, kept open for Connor. And then 9.30. Boom.
06:28There he is back in royal blue, kissing the badge, Conor Chaplin.
06:33And as soon as that moment arrived, there was a huge sigh of relief, but there was such
06:38overjoying amongst the fans, which contrasts sharply to the Epswich end.
06:44Like I did a wee bit of investigation work yesterday and they are not happy with us here.
06:49While Pompey fans are celebrating, they're down in the dumps. They love Conor Chaplin at Portman Road.
06:54So yeah, it's an emotive, and I hadn't really thought about it that way, but it definitely is the case.
07:01It's, it's an emotive signing because he is one of our own.
07:05Um, he made such an impact. He's such a darling of Pompey fans.
07:08Um, and then flip side, he's had the greatest times of his career at Epswich.
07:13So it's an emotive one from, from their end as well. And, um, you know, they're cutting the sort of, um, the cord to, to their success there.
07:20We've, we've kind of go in the lights of Wolfing and moving on to, to Coventry as well.
07:24But as I said, Mark, and as I wrote in my, in my wrap up piece on, on the, on the deadline activity, take all the emotion out of it.
07:31This is a player in his pomp, 28 years old. Um, he, he banging in, you know, goes a league one and then the championship level.
07:39So 29 goals in that league one season. And it was all comps, 13 goals in the championship season.
07:45And a real integral part of that, that promotion winning it, which side, and then goes on to get 22 outings in the, in the Premier League.
07:52So, um, just really slightly surprised that Epswich were able to let him go.
07:58I hope that, I hope it's a motivation for Chappers as well, because I'm guessing they wouldn't have let him go unless they thought it was the right move and they could afford to let him go in terms of letting his quality out of the building.
08:07Um, I know they've got Smodic there and he will be the sort of the favoured option, but, um, you know, for my money, player in his pomp, 28 years old, really interesting quotes and kind of, kind of chaplain on that, on that subject that he feels he's in his prime.
08:19Have a read of those Pompey fans and that will make you, if you weren't excited enough already, this is a man that is coming home with, uh, coming home and mean in business.
08:27Yeah. And on that note too, when you say he's 28, he's still in his prime, he's playing Premier League football last season.
08:33Pompey have had to dig deep. It's fair to say, they get him. The Eisners, Turnante, have, have come up with the, the readies here, haven't they really?
08:41And they deserve a lot of credit from, from being told this opportunity arises, to sticking their hands in their pockets and going, yeah, here's the money.
08:48They're going, yeah, here's the money to bring, to make that deal possible. Fair credit to them.
08:52Yeah, because they've taken their brickbats on, on transfer budgets, haven't they, and spending and they, and they've had a heck of a lot of flack for it.
08:59Um, yeah, let, let, let, let's have, have it right.
09:02That Pompey aren't all of a sudden sort of flying up the, uh, the championship hierarchy on the spending because it's a bonkers landscape.
09:09And we know where it is this season. We know that we've lost the likes of Plymouth.
09:13And we're gaining the likes of Birmingham erection, but Pompey have had their budget. It's gone up.
09:18And it was obvious, uh, without even having the conversations that again, they've had to, to go beyond what was in the already increased budget.
09:26I'm guessing without having the details to hand, but what will happen now is there will be benchmarking where Pompey will do a return and it will then place them in, um, they, they know themselves where they are in terms of, of terms of the spending.
09:39So, um, it will get them, it's starting to get them closer, uh, I think to, to other clubs around there, uh, when they, when they bring in someone of Connor Chaplin's caliber.
09:48Um, so yeah, transfer budgets go up, plan budgets gone up. They spent on fees.
09:52They didn't quite get to those fees that we were anticipating.
09:56And John Massino himself talked about two and a half, three million, um, as much as that.
10:00But if we had to kind of 1 million signings and then they'd gone big, big on the, uh, on, on the Connor Chaplin deal as well.
10:08Is it raining at your end Mark?
10:10I'm not quite sure where it is.
10:11It sounds like we're being attacked by a swarm of locusts.
10:14There's, it's gone.
10:15Ever since you mentioned it, there's, it's gone.
10:17Um, was, was the Chaplin deal the difference between a decent transfer window and a great transfer window then?
10:24Yeah.
10:25Yeah.
10:26Yeah.
10:27100%.
10:28Now that's, that's not to disrespect the, the, the, the work that's been going into that point,
10:34because what is it, 11 through the door, uh, this window and a decent business.
10:38But I kind of John, John Massino really kind of touched on it last week when he said that in reality,
10:46Pompey hadn't quite replaced Matt Ritchie going out of the building.
10:48So that, that really kind of explained where things were.
10:51Um, we know the likes of Mackenzie Kirk, Franco, who's there, we're coming in.
10:55We can touch on those in a minute.
10:56Yeah.
10:57We're coming in.
10:58Yeah.
10:59And when we put those names out, they, there was, there was an underwhelmed, um, response,
11:04which I understand, but that that's, let's be fair to those lads as well.
11:08They're coming in as young, up and coming players.
11:11And when you look, look at those things, I mean, the, the Mackenzie Kirk one got took a bit of a panning
11:15because Pompey wanted a, uh, Pompey fans wanted a more experienced striker, but look, do your homework
11:21on Mackenzie Kirk and you'll see Peter, Peterborough being panned as Pompey were in a race with Peterborough.
11:27This is Peterborough that has signed many, many good strikers, the Ivan Tonys and Asper Longer
11:32and all these other ones over the years.
11:33So there's no, you know, that's not a bad thing to be in the transfer chase for the likes of Peterborough
11:38for a young striker, believe me.
11:39So, um, but by that token, it was always going to be for me, uh, um, the, the deadline day business,
11:48which really not defined, but pretty much kind of framed what was going on.
11:52And, um, and yeah, so it four, four through the door, good, good keeper, good experience keeper,
11:58a striker and up and coming winger.
12:00And then of course that final star, so it really elevates, uh, uh, a sturdy transfer window to, uh, really,
12:07as I say, I put the question out on, on, after the, after the business, I didn't have one negative.
12:13I just had pure euphoria from Pompey in terms of what they, how they rated the window.
12:17Yeah, of course the transfer window itself took on a huge, uh, I don't know how to say,
12:24it was maybe more successful by the news that Josh Murphy remained at Pompey too.
12:30Let's not forget about that there.
12:31That made it a great transfer window that Pompey were able to hold on to him.
12:35Bear in mind, Leicester coming in with bids.
12:38You could see where the player may have been tempted a bit up there at his age as well.
12:42But for Pompey the, the cling on the Josh Murphy, again, it's a bit of a statement too, isn't it?
12:47I think we had our call on Monday morning, um, sort of when we kind of just setting the scene,
12:53uh, for, for the transfer deadline.
12:56And I, and it went from saying, I'll say that kind of, we knew the names that were coming in,
13:00the Kirks and the Umes, and we knew a goalkeeper would be there.
13:03And I said, are Pompey fans going to be underwhelmed if this is the case?
13:06And then all of a sudden the Josh Murphy situation.
13:09I said, now it feels like if Pompey get these young lads in and keep Murphy,
13:13it would feel like a good, good day without knowing what was going to develop with,
13:17with, with Connor Chaplin.
13:18So that shows the importance of keeping Josh Murphy.
13:21And when, when a team come out of the Premier League and they come for your player,
13:25um, and Josh Murphy's an ambitious player,
13:28and they would come with kind of, um, the readies to kind of, uh, improve on what he's earning at Pompey,
13:34no doubt about that.
13:35And also Josh is an ambitious player, uh, player.
13:38He's 30 years old.
13:39He knows you probably get more realistic crack at the Premier League with Leicester,
13:42probably than he would with Pompey this season.
13:44So, um, so there's all that in the mix.
13:47So he would have had his head turned, but Pompey were firm in their stance.
13:51Um, and it wasn't bluster.
13:53They, they meant it.
13:54Um, so when, you know, my understanding that when, when the bid came,
13:58it was, it was not a head turning figure for Pompey.
14:01What was being spoken about?
14:02No way.
14:03No way.
14:04Not, not going to mention the figure, but out of respect to where it came from,
14:07from my sources.
14:08But believe me, it wasn't, it wasn't going to get to where Pompey would, would say yes.
14:14And also yes.
14:15So late in the day, I don't think it left them that probably would know where to move.
14:19If it had been three weeks ago, two weeks ago, they might've had a chance to kind of get things in place,
14:24but, uh, it was just too late in the day.
14:27He's too integral to what Pompey's, uh, approaches, uh, 21 gold contributions.
14:32He's a star man and they're just under no pressure to sell.
14:34And that, and that's not bluster, bluster from the, from the Pompey hierarchy.
14:37John, John being told that on Saturday, he's been told it with John Lang.
14:41He's been told it with Colby Bishop, no pressure to sell.
14:44And they meant it.
14:45And in the end, what we thought was going to be the big story of the day,
14:49kind of just ebbed away in the end, didn't it?
14:52In the end.
14:53Yeah.
14:54So yeah.
14:55Were you ever worried at all?
14:56Burnham, man.
14:57What news broke on Thursday night, we spoke to Messino on Saturday.
15:01We got the club stance, but was at any point over those four days,
15:05were you panicking that Pompey could be going into the Southampton game
15:10in the 14th of September without their best winger in George Murphy?
15:14Panicking?
15:15No.
15:16Um, but of course, there was a revealing quote from, from John after the game.
15:21I mean, he, he set the scene that there's no panic, just no pressure to sell.
15:25Um, he'd been told that focus on the football by the board and to,
15:30not worry about them selling Josh Murphy.
15:33That wasn't really the case, but you have to, and this is a factor which played
15:37into Connor Chaplin coming home as well.
15:39The players thoughts on the subject are significant.
15:43So I don't think Connor Chaplin would have been coming to coming out of it for too many other
15:47championship clubs apart from Pompey because of his emotional link to the club.
15:51Um, likewise, Josh Murphy is an ambitious player.
15:54So the quote was something along the lines, you, you never have complete control of a,
15:59of a player's destiny from John Messina because it's in their hands to an extent.
16:04Now I know some popping fans will think, okay, we've got a contract, you know,
16:08Yeah.
16:09Yeah.
16:10We could do that.
16:11You don't want a disaffected player.
16:12Um, and once they, once they want to, you know, we, we know the balance of player has,
16:16power has swung so far in the way of the player from the club in transfer stories over the year.
16:22And we've only, and you have to look at what's going on in the Premier League in recent days to,
16:25to see that, haven't you?
16:27Uh, but John, uh, Josh is a, uh, extremely diligent professional.
16:32I'm sure there would have been a conversation.
16:34Um, and he's not someone who's going to kick up a fuss.
16:38He's not someone to agitate.
16:40I mean, what you, what you pop fans will hear about Josh Murphy is, is all spot on.
16:45He's a really consummate professional and he would have perhaps had his head turned by what's going on.
16:49But by the same token, when, when he realized it wasn't happening, he'd be getting down.
16:52And he's loved that pump.
16:53He's happy here.
16:54We've seen that.
16:55Uh, I think we've sort of spoke on previous Pompey talks.
16:58I was walking along South Sea Promenade in the summer.
17:00He's pushing his boy along with his other half and on a trike of this loving life.
17:04And he'd been really, you know, starting to get his career going in the right direction again at Oxford.
17:10And then really, I need to appreciate it.
17:13And then Pompey play a way that suits him.
17:15He's not gonna worry about that.
17:16He knows if they could play in a way which gets the best out of him.
17:19He's gonna be the main man here.
17:21He's got a manager that knows how to get the best out of him and play with him.
17:24It all ticks too many boxes.
17:26So I think that's all, all it was all in the mix as well.
17:29Yeah.
17:30Yeah.
17:31It's funny how social media, they react to this.
17:34After the game, there was people saying, I've seen him on the pitch, waving goodbye, getting his pictures taken.
17:39Again, that just starts a whole frenzy of speculation.
17:42Like, so yeah, a successful outcome in the end then for everybody.
17:47Yeah.
17:48Yeah, definitely.
17:49Yeah.
17:50Just like staying with Murphy and Pompey's forward department.
17:54Like, in an ideal world, Bishop, Murphy, Chaplin, Segetich, Lang, whenever he's back.
18:02But that's, that's a front forward that should get Pompey fans on their feet every Saturday, shouldn't it?
18:08Well, John Messina is a Spurs fan.
18:10So, do you remember?
18:12Yeah.
18:13Yeah.
18:14He's not, he's not in that fact, by the way.
18:15There's no, there's no secret there.
18:17Growing up, he watched Spurs.
18:19And I've, I've referenced a couple of times under, do you remember under Aussie Ardili's when they had that kind of attacking, they just, they just played with their attackers.
18:25It was kind of like Klinsmann, Sherinham, and Anderton, Nick Barnby, they threw them all in, just chuck them all in, go on, and they go.
18:34And they were like, yeah, losing 5-4, winning 6-5.
18:37And yeah, maybe we can see something like that because it's, it's a really powerful lineup.
18:43You know, how that's going to, how Connor Chaplin really elevated that.
18:47It's gone from Pompey fans kind of bemoaning the fact that there's no one under, under Colby Bishop to kind of, wow, like, okay, we've got some, we've got some
18:55real options here.
18:56So, Callum Lange to come back into the mix as well, haven't you?
18:59You've got Uma, you've got some players coming back who are young up and coming players.
19:03So, yeah, what's your strongest one?
19:06What's your, you know, how do you, how do you go?
19:08You go with Colby up front, probably, don't you go with Josh, go with Chappers, maybe, and then maybe like Segatic and Lange on the wing, isn't it?
19:15Or maybe it's, you've got, you've got five really, for those four attacking positions, you've got five really strong options now.
19:22And then, and then some people around it as well, haven't you?
19:24I mean, they've got those players, you know, that came in alone, being keen, he's been starting so far, and it's not really happened for him.
19:31But, yeah, how would you fit them all in?
19:34I'm, I'm a massive Callum Lange fan.
19:36I think he's absolutely fantastic.
19:38But I have, I've been so impressed with Agent Segesis since he's come into the building.
19:42He just seems to knit everything together.
19:45Close control.
19:46I, to me, I haven't been as impressed with a new Pompey signing in quite a while.
19:51Yeah.
19:52And if I'm picking that starting 11, with everybody fit, I'm sort of like going, I can't believe I'm saying this.
19:57Lange's on the bench, unfortunately.
19:58Whoa!
19:59Whoa!
20:00That's a, that's a major call, like, but I'm just going, Chapman Segetich, Murphy behind Bishop.
20:08Like, I feel bad for selling it, but yeah, that's, that's what I'm thinking about them all up.
20:13What's been though, isn't it?
20:15That's, that's really, that's really encouraging to hear that.
20:17Well, I mean, two things on that.
20:19What was the, what, after the Oxford game, I came up, I came up, I bumped into Mark Catlin, and it would have, if I heard this once at this point, I probably went on to hear it sort of eight or nine, I think you might be one yourself to say it.
20:29It's like, Adrian Segetich, that reminds me of Conor Chaplin.
20:34Everyone was saying that, weren't they?
20:35He plays just like Conor Chaplin.
20:36He's just like Conor Chaplin.
20:37Yeah.
20:38So how ironic that now he's in the building.
20:40What I would say with Seger is, he's a young lad.
20:43He's had a fantastic start.
20:45But there's going to be peaks and troughs along the way.
20:48Yeah.
20:49There will be, there'll be dips in form.
20:51He's kind of flown, flown really high.
20:54And I hope he keeps soaring, but you've got to plan for the situation.
20:58And John, John, you know, the football operation will be well across that and understanding that, you know, he's a young lad adjusting to a new culture.
21:07It's going to take time.
21:08So long may that start continue.
21:10But I think that it's, you've got to say that it might be a point down the line where he needs to rest when he's come out of it.
21:16He's going to be flying on all the adrenaline at the moment, but it's a long way in.
21:20And we go into those sort of dark winter months and that, that's going to be a whole new thing for him.
21:25He's had a, he's had almost an Australian summer here so far, isn't he?
21:28Yeah.
21:29I'm thinking, what's all this about the rubbish English weather and stuff?
21:32He's a, he's off sitting down at still in Western Old Ports with taking photos with fans every two minutes.
21:37All the booze is important.
21:40Drinking orange juice, by the way.
21:41Yeah.
21:42Yeah.
21:43Yeah.
21:44The question is going to be damp, winter's night and Stoke.
21:47That's when we're going to be able to judge him 100% then.
21:50Yeah, you've got it.
21:51You've got it.
21:52Yeah.
21:53Well, like we mentioned Ume and Kirk, the two forwards, the young forwards Pompey brought in from St Johnston and Crystal Palace.
22:02What realistically can we expect from them this season?
22:06Are they probably going to throw them in at the deep end?
22:08Is it going to be a nice project transition season where they're introduced and hopefully they'll flourish?
22:14What is the long-term you are?
22:15What is the end of the season for those two?
22:17Yeah, good question.
22:18So Mackenzie Kirk, I would suggest, by both projects, I would suggest they would have been sold in the fact that they can impact the first team now.
22:27I just think that the vibe I was getting was that Wardingham was back up to Bishop and then Mackenzie Kirk will be in and around that challenge to get into that second berth.
22:42But you do your homework on this lad, all right?
22:44And I know he got a bit of slack and I use the term prolific with him because when he's coming through the ranks at Hearts and he had a loan at Hamilton, his goal record was outstanding.
22:55Now, it was outstanding at sort of their academy level, which is the lowland league.
23:00Not a fantastically high level, but he was doing to do that.
23:04But he was 20 playing in the SPL last season.
23:08He got 11 goals.
23:10So...
23:10A snuggling St. Johnson team in the SPL last season.
23:12He's been rock bottom.
23:14So don't underestimate how significant of a return that is for a young player coming through.
23:20So, yeah, he's got promise.
23:23Just look at...
23:24And I've referenced this a couple of times now.
23:26Pompey fans, look at the goal he scored against Celtic last season because it's an absolute rocket.
23:31He gets the ball.
23:33Just one shift.
23:35Ball's right.
23:36Hits the ball flat.
23:37And it's just lasers into the top corner from sort of 30-odd yards.
23:43He hits the ball well.
23:45He can play across the three-out, through the middle.
23:51Yeah.
23:51He can sort of move off the shoulder.
23:54And just then play into those spaces and look for those spaces in behind the fence.
23:58So something to work with there, certainly for Pompey.
24:01And, yeah, don't underestimate that.
24:04And I'll just reference again, you know, the sort of...
24:06It was a little bit of snobbery about the teams that were being mentioned in Peterborough.
24:09Peterborough had a half a million pound bid, not back for this lad.
24:15So that's...
24:16And obviously, so Pompey have paid well upward of that, I would suggest, to get him in.
24:21If Peterborough are looking to spend that money, that's a seal of approval for what a promising young striker this lad is.
24:29Oh, definitely.
24:30Definitely.
24:31Unfortunately, Joseph Bursic is going to be the player everybody seems to forget whenever it comes to the pub quiz in 2008.
24:39In 61, who was the fourth player Pompey signed on transfer deadline day?
24:44That's just the nature of it, like, but can I just get your thoughts on Pompey now having four goalkeepers in the building?
24:50Does that surprise you?
24:53Yes and no.
24:54So I'll explain why.
24:56So, yes, because going into deadline day, you have the constraints of the 25-man squad situation.
25:04There was a number of ways Pompey could have played it.
25:06And one of those would have perhaps been to even, with three goalkeepers and Jordan Archer being talked about moving on,
25:15would have been to move him on and then sign an under-21 goalkeeper with permanent under-21 signings,
25:22not counted towards the 25-man total.
25:24But loan signings do, i.e. Mark Omani last season was signing loan from Brighton and counted towards Pompey's total.
25:32So there was a number of ways it could have gone.
25:34And one of the ways it could have gone was to sacrifice a keeper, an older keeper,
25:37and get an under-21 keeper to give him some manoeuvrability.
25:40So there was that side of it.
25:42But then speaking to Joe Perdomo, goalkeeping coach Joe Perdomo, when we were away in pre-season,
25:49and they said they wanted four keepers ideally.
25:53And that was certainly on their radar because it makes things easier from a training point of view.
25:58Now, I might be oversimplifying slightly, but I think it's just literally, if you've got three keepers,
26:05sometimes you've got two small-sided matches going on a certain drill, you need four keepers to make it work.
26:11So that was important.
26:13So in the end, Pompey went and got Ume, who was being talked about as a loan.
26:18He would have come in as a loan from Palace and counted towards the total.
26:22In the end, this may or may not have been a part of the factor in the 25-man consideration.
26:27They signed him permanently, so he didn't count towards that.
26:30Then that left a bit more manoeuvrability for Pompey in terms of the squad.
26:34So it works for Pompey and, you know, who knows what could still happen in terms of any people potentially moving on at some point there
26:45in further windows or whatever to leave a little bit of space in the squad potentially.
26:52But, yeah, this lad Bursic is a good, solid acquisition, isn't he, to that department?
26:57Obviously, Stingford Stoke, got a decent amount of loan football with the likes of Lincoln and Doncaster and Peterborough.
27:04I think there were a few.
27:07Pardon?
27:08Hebbs as well in Scotland.
27:09Yeah, that's after he went on to Bruce, didn't he?
27:11He didn't get into the first team there, but played for their second string in the Hibs last season.
27:15So I know he's highly rated coming through.
27:18So, yeah, again, Nico, well-established, but good options underneath.
27:23And from a practicality point of view, it works for Pompey in terms of training.
27:27Yeah, yeah.
27:28OK, then, I'm running out of questions, but I've still got three, and I'll add a couple more on the end of it.
27:35But we're always told Pompey want to be stronger at the end of the window than they were at the beginning.
27:42Have they achieved that objective this time?
27:45Yes, yes.
27:46Well, I wouldn't say, I mean, I'm going to caveat that with my answer.
27:51But if you look at the 11 through the door, I mean, what do we know?
27:57We know we can speak about Josh Knight.
27:59We can speak about John Swift.
28:00We can speak about Connor Chaplin.
28:02These are players that we know.
28:03We know their level.
28:04So the caveat to that is, and to a degree, being Keeney as well, we don't know Mark Kostnoski's level.
28:11We don't know, really, Franco Ume, Mackenzie Kirk, these guys.
28:15So there's more.
28:17I mean, Adrian Segisic, what our eyes tell us, we can probably have a go at that now.
28:21But there's a lot of question marks about these players because we don't know.
28:24And Pompey won't know how they're going to adjust to the level.
28:26So ultimately, your final judgment will come months down the line when you see how these players adapt to English football.
28:33But, you know, with Riley Taylor, Paddy Lane, Christian Sadie going out, Tom McIntyre, Abdu, and these 11 coming in.
28:42So you've got loans going back last season and the players released as well.
28:46Pompey now look a lot better set than probably people were asking a few questions in the last couple of weeks.
28:53But just with that deadline day business and Connor Chaplin coming in on top, just looks sturdier.
28:58But ultimately, as I say, proof's in the pudding, isn't it?
29:02Let's go and see how these players perform at championship level now.
29:05We've already discussed what Pompey's forward lane looks like and people missing out.
29:10But in general, Joe Messina's got a lot of decisions to make right across the team now.
29:16There's strength in numbers there, isn't there?
29:18There's going to be some disappointed people come a Saturday afternoon.
29:21Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
29:23Do you remember when Stuart Pearce, I think he was Man City, he went into the Man City management role and he sat there with his wife on the Friday night.
29:31He kind of picked a team and he went through and he said, that looks like quite a strong 11 to his wife.
29:37She went, you've left the goalkeeper out.
29:40She actually put the goalkeeper out at 12.
29:42So we were doing this with the Pompey squad, weren't we?
29:45I mean, this is what everyone's doing now.
29:46They're picking their best Pompey squads.
29:48You made a bit of a boo-boo mark, didn't you, when you were trying to work out Pompey's squad.
29:51You made some glaring omissions, didn't you, in a Stuart Pearce-esque fashion.
29:58Which probably forgot about Marlon Park.
30:00I don't know if I put my hands up.
30:01Totally forgot about Marlon Park.
30:03What does that show you?
30:07It shows you that, you know, it's going to be hard to fit them all in.
30:11And this is a good one for, I mean, it might be one or two questions about Pompey's next game when we reconvene next Wednesday with John.
30:19But, you know, a point to pick up on is how, you know, there's going to be players disappointed on the bench.
30:26There's going to be players disappointed left in the stand, isn't there?
30:29And probably a few when you try and try and work it all out.
30:34So, and that's a good thing.
30:37But we've seen how quickly these teams can quite, you know, quickly spin in terms of picking up injuries.
30:44And, I mean, look at the recent injuries and the number of them.
30:48John asked these players to perform in a certain way that takes them adjusting.
30:52And I think, yeah, they quite quickly get into the red zone with injuries because it's so high intensity.
30:56So, that's not a criticism, by the way, because I think it's been central to Pompey's success.
31:01But maybe you might pick up one or two injuries along the way playing that way.
31:04So be it, you know, the end results justify it.
31:07So, you're going to need that squad.
31:09It's going to be tested as well.
31:11So, yeah, I look forward to, which I haven't quite done yet, kind of trying to make them all fit and do a story about that in the next couple of days.
31:19Well, final question then, and this is probably a different sort of problem that John Massino has had in the past at Pompey.
31:27But how does he keep them all happy?
31:29What does he do?
31:32Sure.
31:33How does he keep them all happy?
31:34No, I think he's a shrewd operator, most, because they're squad planning for a reason.
31:43They're not going to, you know, they're going to be looking at where they are across the field.
31:47And he does quite a good job of keeping everyone on board.
31:51I can think of some managers and some of the very, very good managers in the past where they were brutal and the players were out of fact, like, not involved.
31:58They weren't involved, they were kind of dead to the manager and they'd become quite disaffected.
32:03Harry Redknapp, for example, speaking to some players, I remember, you know, because Harry's always, you know, known as such a great motivator of players.
32:12But then there was the other side of it that, you know, he was brutal to the ones that were left out.
32:17But I think John's a smarter operator than that.
32:20And in the past, I don't think you've heard too many stories of players being angered by being left out in the cold, really.
32:31They've all been kept on board.
32:32The ones that John wants to keep on board, apart from the ones that were deregistered.
32:36Obviously, there's a situation with Matt Ritchie where he kind of quite is quite upfront about we can't give you what you what you want in terms of your regular first time football.
32:43So on you go.
32:44So I think that, you know, it might be a couple of bumps along the way.
32:50There normally is.
32:51But I think John's smart enough to be managed that situation smartly.
32:56Good stuff.
32:57Well, Johnny, we've went over the half an hour mark.
32:59People will be nodding off as me and you discuss the ins and outs of Pompeii.
33:03Hopefully not.
33:03That was two minutes, wasn't it?
33:06It was dead like that.
33:07There's a couple of euphoria.
33:08Hopefully we kept you on for five minutes before you gone.
33:12But no, that's been brilliant.
33:13Thank you for your help.
33:15Thank you all for watching.
33:17We'll be back soon when no doubt the South Coast Derby against Southampton will be the focus of the pension then.
33:22But at the minute, let's just revel on a good ending to the transfer window.
33:26And hopefully everything clicks in the place for Pompeii.
33:29You've been watching Pompeii Talk.
33:30We'll be back again soon.
33:32Goodbye.
33:32Goodbye.
33:32Goodbye.
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