NCS Shorts | #9: Opinion

Shorts. The podcast where the only lane we intend to stay in starts with the word meadow. Right, I'm joined on the podcast with Rich and Tom. Rich, been up to much?

Hi, Cole. Yeah, I'm enjoying life up in Bonnie Scotland again for another couple of days, so being able to record this from the hotel room with nothing much better to do is certainly a welcome for break from the mundane day to day stuff.

Yeah, we've talked about Alan Partridge vibes, haven't we? A little bit in the nicest way. And, Tom, we all know you've been a little bit busy. How have you been?

Yeah, I'm good, mate. Hope you well yourself. I've been back at uni this week, so it's been actually quite busy. I've had a really busy timetable and obviously had a few I don't know if people have seen it, but a few tweets on Twitter may have sprung across a few people's attention, so had that to deal with as well. So, been a busy few days, to be fair, busier than most of my Sundays tend to be. Sunday Mondays tend to be, yeah, I can imagine.

And if anybody's not aware or understands that my slightly flippant introduction to this podcast and the things that Tom's making reference to, we're, of course making reference to a Twitter exchange involving Tom and Notts County's Connell Rawlingsen. Now I want to give Tom the opportunity to just give his account between us in an independent forum to be able to talk a little bit about that. And then I think it's important for us to kind of take this topic a little bit wider and talk a little bit more about why we've chosen to talk about this before going on to some really fantastic conversations. About where Notts find themselves in the table and some of the key takeaways ready for the games that we've got to look forward to. So, Tom, I think it's only right that I pass over to you.

Firstly, I just want to say thank you to everyone that's posted. Any supportive comments have messaged me. Thank you to you too. Obviously, we've got our WhatsApp chat and it's been a great help and very lucky to have a very good support base around me, not just close knit, but also a wider community. And people that follow me online have been amazing and I am indebted to them because I think that had I not had the positive response, I may have not been able to deal with the situation. It may have really got to me mentally. So I think that I have to say thank you and I'm forever in death to people. The way they responded, it was amazing and, yeah, I'm forever grateful for that. I also wanted to address why I felt it was right to talk about it, because I know I've had a few comments saying that, keep bringing it up. And 100%, I want to sort of use this as a forum to sort of draw a line under it and move on. But we are a Notts County podcast. Other podcasts have spoken about it and I think it's a big topic for the week with Notts fans online, and obviously it involved me as well, so it had extra layers to it that I want to talk about it. Obviously. I woke up on Sunday in complete shock at the tweet. It was particularly shocking because the tweet in question was about a response to boxing, which I never thought me tweeting about boxing would have any sort of response, to be honest. If anything, I just sort of tweet out because I was online at the time and was watching the boxing and thought I'd tweet out about it. I never thought that in the morning I would wake up to that tweet. It was really bizarre, to be honest. I didn't know how to react to it at first. It was like a bit taken aback. You never want an exchange like that with anyone online, and believe me, I get loads every day. It's just the nature of what we do, and I think that's an important point to stress. And the reason I bring up the boxing is because if I had put a tweet out criticizing someone and they came back at me, I would 100% put my hands up and take that. It's like if you dish it out, you got to be able to take it. But from my point of view, it was kind of like totally out of nowhere and it wasn't expected. Like I said at the time when it came out, I don't want there to be abuse piled on any individual. I'd never want that in any walk of life, let alone someone that plays for our football club. And I've got no problem with anyone having issue with my content. I understand that it's not for everyone, not everyone's going to enjoy what I do. And I've had managers before who have done comments on their teams, but they've messaged me privately and said, given me constructive criticism in terms of, oh, you've got this slightly wrong about the way we play. We do X, Y and Z. It's not this, but keep doing what you're doing. So I think it was mainly shocked. The main takeaways from it for me is just I'm really grateful for the amazing support from everyone. I think it would affect anyone if a player of their team kind of came for them, let alone a player that I've defended in recent weeks and even defended at the weekend. So, yeah, mixture of emotions, a bit of a roller coaster. Yeah. But the main point I want to get across is that I'm really thankful for all the support and I want to draw a line underneath it. And this weekend, if Connell's in the start eleven, or if he's on the bench, I'll support him no matter what because he's a Notts County player and at the end of the day, I want Notts County to do well.

Thanks for that Tom. And I know how difficult that has been. Like I say, we share a WhatsApp group and I understand the journey that you've been on. Now obviously you want to draw a line on it and I want to be respectful to that. So I don't want to ask any kind of further questions that's going to push you on that. But I do want to kind of take the conversation a little bit wider and then maybe even wider still. So one of the things that I think in this situation you always want to give is the opportunity for that, for that response. I think as an independent observer or as independent as I can be, I think Notts have had the opportunity to respond and so far haven't taken that. I think we should see one should respect an awful lot in terms of the response that that tweet was taken down and I think that's an acknowledgement or an admission of responsibility certainly. But there has been that opportunity, I think, to vocalize and to talk and that so far at the moment when this podcast has been recorded, that opportunity hasn't been taken. So I think there was an opportunity for the club or for somebody to respond. They haven't taken it. And so therefore that opportunity of balance just isn't there. Obviously, if there was the opportunity of balance, this is the point where I would read out the statement or I would link to those sort of things. And who knows, after this has gone live, maybe they'll take the opportunity to do that or maybe they won't. Because I think the other thing, and this is where I take the conversation a little bit wider, is there's probably some conversations, some questions in people's minds. I can almost see the comments underneath this podcast once it goes live. Things like why are you bringing this up now? And not just you Tom, but I think us as NCS News and I think it's absolutely important to emphasize that that's where this is coming from. This isn't Tom's podcast. This is NCS News. This is a podcast that we regularly put out and like you correctly say, this is a bit of Notts News that we're focusing on in the same way that we might talk about a signing or an injury or those sort of things. And I think why bring this up now? You've touched on a couple of points. It's already been discussed on other podcasts over our fellow Notts County Content podcasts. And I think it's only fair and it's only right that if it's been taken in one avenue that we're equally able to talk about it again in the same way that we would talk about a transfer or a player injury or some other form of Notts. News I also think, though, that this is where our independence as a Notts County kind of provider of information or focus on Notts County comes into play, because we have got that freedom to do. We we are determined when we first came up with this and when we talked know, with Rich taking the Notts County stats and turning it into a much more kind of broader perspective, it was about offering that opportunity. Not just for us sat around on this podcast, but obviously the people who write the content for us at the moment. All right, we've got Lucas, got Ollie, those sort of people who are writing content as well. I think one of the things that we need to bring this up is it's Tom now, but it could be anybody. It could be any of us on this podcast. It could be any other content provider for any other club that could go through this. And I've understood through the WhatsApps that we've had the difficult journey that you've had for balance. I think we need to the fact that I don't have that same access to Connell Rawlinson or to what was going on there that influenced that. So I think it's important that we mention that. But this really does throw into question or challenges this issue of having an opinion. And it's far wider than just Connell Rawlinson. I think this emphasizes the difficulty that everyone's going to face in a social media space of offering an opinion on a game that we love. This is a game of opinion, and I'll take my stance on it first and foremost, is without opinions on football, this game just becomes a dispassionate reading of results if no one is allowed with respect, and I think that's the key thing here. So long as opinions are expressed with respect, then I can't see a problem with anybody offering an opinion on a performance which, let's face it, has gone on since the first ball was ever kicked. In terms of it's a spectator sport. These conversations would have happened on radio in VoxPop. It's important to remember that radio providers were doing this and TV providers were doing this well before social media was doing it and capturing these moments and these fans opinions. I think also the pubs were full of this. And although there's still a pub culture and there's still some of that's less and that's diminished, and quite a few people are using the social media space to express their own footballing opinions. And the last thing that I want to bring up on this particular question of why bring this up now or why continue to talk about it, is the question around validity. There's been a question around who is allowed an opinion on football. And there seem to be, without wanting to bring it back to just this tweet because I think it's bigger than this, because I've seen this before. I've seen this before with all sorts of content about who are you, what's your credentials, et cetera. I want to offer the fact that I play football at a decent standard. I coached at academy level, I'm still involved in football now, as you guys know, and as we talk about in our other identity as analyst Bar, does that make my opinion more important than anybody else? And the answer categorically, and I will defend this until my last breath, does that make my opinion more important than anybody else's? No, it does not, because this is a game of opinions, all right? It's always been a game of opinions. There might be some opinions that I don't like to hear, there might be some opinions that I disagree with, but the right to an opinion is something, so long as it's expressed respectfully, is something that I think is everybody's issue, not just a Tom Williams issue, and not just an issue in this particular context. And to summarize it before I pass you on, because I've waffled on, it's ironic that I'm saying everyone should have an opinion, and I've basically dominated this little bit, but everyone's got an opinion. And just because I've got a microphone in my face at the moment and we're on a podcast, it doesn't make my opinion on Notts County any more important than any other Notts County fan just because I played it a little bit of a higher standard than your average fan, but certainly not as a professional standard. Does that make my opinion more important? No, it does not. Rich, what about you?

Yeah, you make some really interesting points there, Colin, and I don't disagree with you at all. And the whole thing about validity for me, I have very similar feelings to yourself. From my point of view, as someone who started along the football analytics road with very little knowledge, just giving it a bit of a go, doing a few Excel charts and seeing where it went, I had to make a decision. If I was going to make it something that I was going to do to the best of my ability to try and provide good content, I would have to be critical at times. Is it something I wanted to do? Because the key thing here is anybody, I mean anybody around the world who is not necessarily a professional in the game, and if anybody's looking when I say in the game, I've got inverted commas there. Anybody who decides to go down the kind of football content creating route outside of the game, wants to have their voice heard, puts their heads above the parapet, takes the flak, but pays for it out of their own pocket as well, because they're wanting to make sure that they improve. They're wanting to make sure that the content they create is good, that doesn't come for free. It all costs money as well, and that's all coming out of the back pocket, and it's a very, very difficult thing to do and a very brave thing to do. I've lost count of the number of times I've had people comment to me on various platforms about mistakes I've made in analysis, I might have got a number wrong, I might have got a date wrong, the score wrong, or whatever. They're like typos and you just have to take it. What happened with Tom the other night I find extremely difficult to take. But equally, I understand there's always other circumstances that can be at play, but the key thing for me is when you're putting your work out there, you're exposing yourself massively for criticism and it's an extremely brave thing to do. And I've just posted just now the stats report from the weekend, and if everybody remembers, the week before I was jumping up and down singing the praises of Aidan Stone, particularly his distribution, well, his distribution in the game against Forest Green Rovers, I'm sure even he would admit wasn't at the level it was supposed to be. And I've made a comment to that in there. But you know what? For the first time I've sat there and thought about, can I be making this comment? Where is it going to lead to? Is it going to be taken in the spirit it's supposed to be taken in? And these are the things that people need to understand as well. We're not getting paid thousands of pounds for doing this. We do it for the love of the game and for the love of what we're doing. Collectively, the three of us together have built a really good friendship that's allowed us to do other things in the game, actually, which I must say has happened with the analyst bar. So if you are looking for some validity and somebody wants to contact me directly, they can do on Twitter or whatever, and they'll tell you about all of the and I'm doing the inverted commas again professional in the game work that the three of us have done over the last twelve to 18 months. So there's definitely validity there. It's a sorry state of affairs. I think Tom's been very magnanimous in his response tonight to it and I just feel that it's unfortunate that that sort of thing has to come out, especially towards somebody who has done nothing but promote this club, Notts County, in a massive way through his content over the last 1824 months. And I've seen on Twitter or X or whatever you want to call it now, people saying always deleted, it's done and dusted now and everything storming a tea court, doesn't matter, blah, blah, blah. Well, it does matter because it's impacted a young person emotional and mentally as well. I know that that's had an impact on Tom, and Tom's an extremely positive person. For something like that to impact him the way it has, it wasn't great. We do it like I say, we stick our heads above the parapet. All of us do. There's us three there's loads of content creators out there. Tom and George on lots county Talk, they do great work, they're always out there, easy to be popped at if somebody wants to have a pop at Magpie Circle. You know, Paul Maze, he does a fantastic job with what he's doing but again, they're to be popped at and I've seen people having a go as well. But people need to understand the sacrifices that content creators make that aren't necessarily in the game because they're not necessarily getting paid for it. A lot of it is just off their own backs, their own time, their own money and the last thing they deserve is the kind of stuff that Tom was subjected to a couple of days ago.

Thanks Rich, I agree with you. I mean if I was doing it for kickbacks, my vintage collection would be going up astronomically rather than me having to wait to sell things just to sneak items past my wife. Rich, I know you've had a little look at some of the things that were standouts of those performances. Is there anything that you want to share in terms of the stats report and the things that you've identified?

Yeah, sure Cole. I put the stats report up just before we've done the recording. Actually, I think all of us that were there came out of the ground feeling a few years older than what we did when we went in after that second half. Which funny enough, I did have somebody comment on Twitter. I posted something during the game. Well, after the game, sorry about the second half. I showed the momentum chart and basically said, god, that second half was a stuff of nightmares and somebody know, well, we won sleepy heads and all this sort of thing. But obviously they didn't really understand the context of what I was looking at from an analytic point of view. Yeah, it looked like the stuff of nightmares, especially if you were Luke Williams for example. But the one thing that stood out well, there were several things that stood out and I'm not going to go on about letting the three goals in. I think enough's been discussed about that indirectly anyway, there was so much to enjoy about the goals we scored. Some key players really kicking in. I mean for Macca's goal for example. Everybody I know Tom actually put something on Twitter mentioning the way that didzey managed know he had three players around him, got the ball out wide to Jody Jones, half step back, is in space, puts in the perfect cross and there's the goal. But before that happened, the ball out from the was the ball was with I think it was with Cammie. He passed the ball to John Bostock who was halfway in his own half facing his own goal and in one turn and pass, David McGoldrick was in that threatening position he was in. It was absolutely unbelievable. So that was the first thing I wanted to just mention, because if anybody looks back at the goals, that's one thing I want them to look at. The second thing that I had to look at was Macca, but not for his goal scoring shooting antics, but actually for his defensive play in that game, because we were under the Kosh at times in that game. They really brought it second half, and every single one of the Notts players on that pitch would have felt that because it was brutal at times. But if you get chance, everybody please have a look at the stats report. I've done a focus on McCauley Langstaff, but particularly about his defensive duties and the defensive work that he's done in that game and what he does in most games. Have a look. His stats are phenomenal, only topped by the way that he was able to have the quick feet and the quickness of mind to take hold of that ball from Matty Palmer midway in his own half again back to goal turn, see Jody and send out the perfect pass for him to take it in his stride and the rest is history. So, yeah, for me, they were the big takeaways. I could go into loads more detail about stuff. I don't think we need to I think we just need to enjoy the fact that we're top of the table and it was just a fantastic game of football. If you were a neutral, that is.

No, I think that's a fair point. Yeah, definitely. I certainly aged a few years in that 90 minutes or so. One of the things that I think is quite fitting as well is I don't know if you've seen it, but the latest episode of welcome to REXHAM. And just because I've mentioned REXHAM, I'm immediately seeing the comments straight away underneath this pod when it goes out. So hello. One of the things that I think is very significant is Parkinson's opinion of Langstaff, where he said that basically he just does his work between the posts. And I understand that what he was talking about was him as an attacking threat. Obviously, the defense didn't listen to them because obviously I think Langstaff scores within 13 minutes of that particular game. But I think it's very fitting for that episode to go out. That demonstrates Macaulay Langstaff's attacking prowess. For us to then have a game within a week or so of the release of that, that demonstrates that he is far more than just a poacher. Okay? He is far more than just a poacher. And one of the things I love about stats in particular is that it very often supports the fun experience. So I remember when I was watching I Have My Lads With Me, I was talking about the importance of pressing, and there were several moments where Langstaff got rounds of applause for the absolute graft he put in in pressing players down occasionally. He didn't win the ball, but what he did do is he forced avertive action and Forrest Green having to go elsewhere because he put them down under that aggressive press. And it's that less than glamorous work that I think typifies the Mccordley Langstaff that we know and love, and I think that that was I mean, don't get me wrong, obviously, welcome to Wrexham. That is all filmed and edited with a pro Wrexham stance, but I felt it didn't do Langstaff justice with that comment of, oh, he's just a poacher, he's just between the posts, that's all he does is work, when actually there is far more to that man's game. And I think Luke Williams has talked about it, hasn't he? About the man's a machine, talks about his physical qualities, he talks about kind of how fit he keeps himself and the fact that he constantly is going and going and playing with that love of the game and that drive and the love for the club as well. I think he does that for the fans, and the fans have reciprocated for that kind of level of commitment. Thomas, there anything else that you wanted to pick out in terms of the positives with Forrest Green? Any particular player, anything that you thought, you know, right, that's something that going forward, I'm looking forward to seeing, because I then want to start thinking about the games to come.

Yeah, echo the thoughts on Macca. It's not the first time this season he's put in, I won't say complete performance, but he was complete against Tranmere, I think it was he was absolutely brilliant and this is probably the closest he's got to that know, he's done a bit of everything in that game. Like Rich said, the pass out wide to Jody to spot him, the press in off the ball, like you mentioned, Cole, all sorts of facets to his game and a brilliant finish, improvised finish as well, which is typical Macca. What Parkinson was talking about in the documentary, it was in the box, it was a goal. The other one I wanted to highlight very briefly was Jody Jones. Both of the assists he got were absolutely superb and they're both maybe it is a case of I'm going to say here, this is why I'm not a professional footballer, because he made decisions that I disagree with. The first one, I saw Cammy on the left hand side of the box and I'm screaming, Go wide, go wide. Cammy's got his arms up and when he goes to play the cross, cammy kind of you can't obviously hear it or see it on the audio, but he justculates with his hands in the air, or what he's doing crossing that. And then actually it's an inch perfect ball, lands on Dan, crowd his head and it's a goal. And I too was like, oh, no, don't cross it. Oh, it's in. Never mind, I'll celebrate. Same for the counter second goal. He takes it and I'm going, go yourself, Jody, go yourself because you're in it. Don't pass it because they'll cut the pass out or they won't, because it was quite literally inch perfect. And I don't use the word literally very often, but I think if that was literally an inch closer to the defender, he cuts it out. It was a blade of grass between that defender. And it getting through to McGoldrick. And apparently there is a rumor that McGoldrick winked at the cop before he put it in the back of the net. Whether that's true or not, let's pretend it is, because that's brilliant, isn't it? And it's a great goal. And Jody Jones just continues to amaze me. And I can't wait to see him this weekend because I would imagine he's at the minute first name on the team sheet. Well, one of the first names, yeah.

He'S absolutely flying, isn't he? And a short word for Dan Crowley, whose head of goals seem to be the new Adam Chickson goals from last season. They seem to be occurring with frightening accuracy. And so, like I say, long may that continue in terms of the games going forward. Which brings me quite neatly onto the games that we've got to look forward to in terms of Colchester. So, Rich, I'm going to pass over to you. Is there anything that we need to be aware of in terms of Colchester? Any particular threats? Anything that Notts perhaps need to be aware of or maybe the approaches that Notts are going to take?

They've had a bit of a topsy turvy start to the season. Again, I think. They're a good team, they're a good footballing team. Very similar in set up to Notts. Generally play with a three at the back, either in a three, five, two or three four, three. They have played five at the back, but not so much. But on the attacking side of things, a real focus from them like ourselves on their wingbacks, they've got two really good wingbacks, but at the moment, the man at the moment for them is Joe Taylor up front, six foot tall. But I tell you what, that lad for a big lad. He can motor, he can hit the ball with either foot, and he's a real threat. Spearheading the Colchester attack, it's interesting that strangely, some of their better performances have been against the better teams as well. Obviously, they disposed of Gillingham at Gillingham, three nil a bit earlier in the season, which was a bit of a shock to the system for a few people. Managed to hold Mansfield to a draw at their place as well. And like I say, Joe Taylor, five goals and an assist to his name so far that we're aware of, because White Scout doesn't always give out assists in the same way that the rest of. US might, but yeah, he's the threat. And the two wingbacks is it Kazim's? One of them I think I forget the name of the other guy, but the two of them are rapid and they've both got really good balls into the and I say really good balls. I'm talking about crosses. Sorry, you're going to have to censor that one out, Colin. Sorry. This is one I'm going to leave.

It in and watch for the Twitter meltdown that you're going to have to deal with after that.

Get your balls out. Yeah, okay.

Seriously, that's the time sorted anyway. You did touch upon something, though, that I thought was quite significant and something that I threw on the kind of superficial look that I'd done. They seemed to be far better at home and it was something that I wanted to emphasize with Forest Green as well that we talked last week that Notts couldn't afford to be too arrogant. And I felt that there was a little bit of arrogance in terms of letting back know into the game, which obviously then I was delighted for Notts to find that gear again and find that standard again and take the game to its fruition. But I think the Colchester form at home is again, something that means we can't afford to go in there absolutely brimming with confidence that we're going to get something out of it. Because you've talked about some of the results that they've achieved at home. I'm not saying that there is a fortress, but I do think that that's something to be wary of, that they seem to be much more comfortable at home, which is the opposite of Forest Green because we talked about how they seem to be performing much better away from home. Tom, is there anything that you think we need to be aware of in terms of Colchester before we move on to predictions?

Richard mentioned Joe Taylor, is obviously a very good striker and he's on loan from Luton, I believe. And another loan player that's actually been performing really well is their goalkeeper, Owen Goodman, who's online from Crystal Palace. So another performer, and that might be frustrating for Notts. We've come up against some pretty good goalkeepers in the past and he's done pretty well this season. He's ranking very high, especially in terms of data. Cameron McGeean in midfield, signed after the deadline. He was a free agent. He's been playing abroad, I believe he's been playing in Belgium for Austend and he's former Portsmouth midfielder, way too good for the level one of those that kind of didn't find a club over the summer, so had to take a move way too good for league two. He has already elevated their midfield, so he's a key player for them. And yeah, just echoing Richard's thoughts, to be fair, obviously it's an away game, which obviously is always difficult. And we'll get into predictions, I think, because I've already thought my prediction and I was about to say it then. So I'll let you go into prediction because I was about to give it away there without him thinking, no, do you know what?

I'm going to pass back straight back over to you. Go for it. Go on. What's your prediction for the game?

Well, I was looking a little bit at the table. This is not a criticism, but it's just an observation. We've conceded, obviously, 14 goals, which is only one less than Tranmere, who are 23rd, and that doesn't mean anything because there's teams in the top seven who have conceded more than us. Rexam and I believe Crawley have both conceded more than us, so we're not even anywhere near being a team. It's not like we're absolutely like kevin. Keegan's. Newcastle. That's always the cliche people use, and we're not like that, but we are susceptible to conceding the goal. So I think Colchester will score, but I do think we're a better team than them. So I've gone for three one Notts. Quite a big score. I was going to go two one, but I thought, you know what, we'll add another goal in there, because our attack and play was good on the fence of 3231, but I'm going to go free one for Notts.

Rich, what about your good self?

Well, you're going to love me this week. Cole. I agree with Tom. I don't think we're going to keep a clean sheet. I think Colchester will score, but I struggle, seeing as winning for some reason, and I'm going to go for a one one. I don't know why, I just have this feeling that it might suit us, that they play a similar style to us or being a similar set up to us. So maybe it's going to be a case of two teams going toe to toe, and in that situation, I think we'd probably have the edge. But at their place, I don't know, I'm going to stick with the one one.

Colin interesting. And to be fair, I had something very similar. I mean, I'm relieved, first of all, that we've kept the draw conversation going. If we can just make sure that that's established and maintained throughout the season, then, like I say, we should hopefully have something celebrate at the end. But, no, I thought about this and I thought about the different approaches that clubs seem to take against Notts. So we have those teams that step off, we have those teams that cover the half spaces, play that slightly deeper line and know that Notts are going to have the ball in the hope of then turning that possession over and limiting Notts of spaces. I think we do less well, or we seem to be doing less well at the moment with those teams that play a very similar style. Because I think back to Forest Green, where obviously, again, three points, and that's not to be sniffed at all. But the performance, as Luke Williams identified, wasn't as strong as some of the performances that we've had previously. I also think about MK. Dons as well, who that was a tough game and had the lion's share of it in certain parts of that game playing and dominating possession. So I noticed that about Colchester as well, that they've got the potential for that, obviously, with some of the players that Tom and yourself have mentioned. So I was going for a draw as well. So I'm going for two. Two. So that's two draws and one win. Obviously, we're hopeful for a Notts win, but I think it's also important to remind ourselves about some of the things that we've talked about previously about the form and the relentlessness of winning, as much as it's exciting as a Notts fan, is not necessarily as intense as obviously the experiences that we had in the National League. So thank you everyone for joining us here on episode nine of NCS Shorts. Thank you ever so much for listening. Thank you ever so much for the positivity and the comments and the reshares. And we look forward to speaking to you after the Colchester game.