Finesse - Football magazine - April 2023

A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

Hi everyone,

It’s my pleasure to present you the latest edition of ‘Finesse’, jam-packed from beginning to end with exciting content. It’s been a highly successful month, in many regards, most notably Arsenal FC letting their huge lead slip at the top of the table, and Erling Haaland (and Man City) capitalising superbly to clinch the title in style. However, as a Spurs fan I’m in no position to taunt, and as you’ll see I’m keen to get to the root of just what is going on at my club. Elsewhere, we hear from OH broadcasters, former players, as well as the first staff-submitted article!

I hope you enjoy, and as ever do not hesitate to get in touch..

All the best,

Ezzie and the Finesse Team

CONTENTS

Premier League

What’s gone wrong at Tottenham?

Will Messi sign for Villa?

What will Pochettino bring to Chelsea?

FPL insight

Women’s FA Cup

National League

Play-Off action

Interviews

Play-Off action

Kyreece Lisbie

John Margerrison

OH Rob Nothman

PREMIER LEAGUE

WHAT’S THE PLAN FOR TOTTENHAM?

A CHAT WITH SPURS CORRESPONDENT AND WRITER AT FOOTBALL.LONDON

What do you think has been the main issue since Mauricio Pochettino’s departure from the club?

A lack of clear direction. They’ve been headed in every which way, appointing a manager in a very different style, then going to another manager in a different style, then another one, and they don’t really have an identity anymore. We’ve seen Harry Kane coming out in recent weeks saying that he feels the club have lost these values and he’s absolutely spot on. This was the thing, whether you agree or not, (with the departure of Pochettino), some would say it was the right time, some might say they should have been given more time. They’ve just made a mess of it since they haven’t had a clear idea; and that’s evident on the pitch.

Do you think that has also been evident in our recruitment of players recently?

Yeah. I mean, definitely if you’re going to keep appointing different managers, your recruitment is going to be a mess because you’re building squads for very different

managers and the next manager has a load of players that don’t fit what he wants to do. So that’s absolutely right on Fraser Forster. I would say with Fraser Forster he was brought in to be a backup goalkeeper and to be fair to him, he’s probably done that role. He’s been absolutely fine in that role. I don’t think he was ever seen as a long-term Lloris replacement, whereas Gollini was definitely meant to be, and Nuno (Espirito Santo) thought he was going to be the man.

He didn’t really impress enough on the pitch or in training, I don’t think, to really justify that kind of belief they had in him. But it looks like this summer will be the one where they kind of bring in their Lloris replacement for the long term. And yes, there’s a shame for Lloris obviously. Eleven years at the club has done a lot of very good things. Unfortunately, it’d probably be remembered by some for the way it ended, which is a shame.

Who would you like to see as our first-choice keeper next?

I like the idea of David Raya; I think he is a very good choice. I was kind of watching him quite closely in Saturday’s game, just to see kind of the way he moved, what he

did with the ball, what he did with his feet, especially as well. Obviously, he couldn’t do much about Kane’s goal, that was just incredible. But yeah, made a couple of good saves at the end as well from Richarlison.

I think looking at the ones out there, I personally would quite like someone with Premier League experience and I think Raya obviously ticks that box as well. I would have maybe gone for Jordan Pickford if Everton had gone down. Of course, they still could, but I don’t think they will at this stage. But Spurs might end up helping Leeds out at the weekend, which would send Pickford down, but we’ll see!

What to do with loan players? (such as Tanguy Ndombele)

The manager has to ultimately be a big chunk of the decision-making process, but then also I guess the players as well. Look, I’m Tanguy’s biggest fan. I love Tanguy Ndombele. I’ve interviewed him a few times, had some really good interviews with him. I know what a talent he is. But also you’re looking at his situation - four years into a six year contract now and it’s a bit like if he’s going to make it, he probably would have already made it. And I think I’d be stunned if he really believes that he could be a success at Spurs still. I mean, I’ve even seen links with him and moving to Turkey. So, I think there are so many kind of issues there with different players. There’s also Destiny Udogie coming in, he’s a new face brought in, which was meant to be for Conte. The issue is, can he play as a left back? What if your new manager doesn’t play with wingbacks and he’s been playing as a wing back at Udinese, so you’ve got him. Sergio Reguilón is a natural left back. Does this now open the door for him to come back and actually have a part?

Lo Celso, I would say, is probably the one that’s got the most interest in him right now, especially from Aston Villa, so they actually could get a decent fee, which reminds me a

bit of when way back when Pochettino first joined Gylfi Sigurðsson was sold within a week of him joining, and Poch admitted later he would have actually liked to keep him, but the problem was his situation. He just wanted to go, and they got a really good offer in from Swansea. So, a lot depends on where the players head’s at, where they really, truly do want to be at Tottenham anymore, and obviously for the club, whether they can just get them off the wage bill. Because a lot of those players you mentioned are on big wages as well, which doesn’t help.

Which players would you like to ideally see join in the summer transfer window?

Funnily enough, ordinarily I’d be able to answer this quite easily, but the thing I would say is that this time more importantly than any name, this summer has got to be about signing the players that the coach wants. That, for me, is the key thing. So this is difficulty, I could stay players I like, for example Alessandro Bastoni would be a brilliant centre-back. But obviously Inter

having an amazing season, Champions League final, quite frankly why would he want to come to Tottenham right now? And he’s Inter through and through as well. But for me, I think the key is whoever comes in, the players that they see that fit their system, just let them just get them what they need. If it is Arne Slot, I know there’s a couple of those Feyenoord players that he really kind of has taken to new levels. Bring them in if that’s who he wants! - That’s the biggest issue for me with Spurs over the years, they’ve compromised on a lot of their recruitment and they’ve ended up not with players that don’t quite fit exactly how the manager wanted to play.

How is Harry Kane reacting to all this?

Harry Kane is very professional; he doesn’t really portray his mood in either way. He was interviewed after the game on Saturday and yeah, he wasn’t really giving anything away. He keeps coming back to this point that he wants to talk to Daniel Levy and find out exactly what’s going to happen and give his side of things and how he wants the side to improve. Like I say, he keeps saying that the club’s lost something since the Poch days. Personally, I would imagine he’ll probably stay for next season and then we’ll see what happens with his contract. If I’m Spurs, rather than being worried about him running out his contract, I’d see that as another twelve months to try and convince him to stay. Because, funnily enough, I was just writing a piece where I was saying that some people might see it as ‘oh, but you can’t let him go for free. You’re chucking away 80 million pounds’, or whatever it is you get through. Personally, I’d pay 80 million pounds for Harry Kane to play for Spurs next season. He scored almost half of their goals this season, and if they didn’t have his goals they’d be in a relegation spot! So I don’t think you can guarantee anyone you bring into replace him will get anywhere close to what he does. So, yeah, personally, I think maybe get another year out of him and then we’ll

see what happens. My big fear is a certain Argentine going to Chelsea and maybe trying to convince him in a year’s time to come across with him!

What was the thinking behind Danjuma and why has he hardly featured?

Yeah, he’s another one that comes back to recruitment issues. They saw a really good deal, thought they could run in there and grab it, but actually didn’t think about the fact that he didn’t fit Conte’s system in the slightest - it was completely the wrong fit. He’s a guy that can either play wide left or as a support striker and Conte doesn’t play with either of those two positions! So, yeah, we’ve seen a little bit of him in recent games, but he’s clearly not fit, that’s the problem. He’s kind of been on the side-line so much that he hasn’t got that sharpness you need. So you never know, but I’d be surprised if his Spurs time is much longer than this loan spell to be honest.

What would Arne Slot bring to Spurs if he came in?

Yeah, well, if he does come in, (it looks like at the moment he’s the favourite candidate) he plays with a 4-3-3. He’s probably the closest you’re going to get right now to recreating what Pochettino did at the club. He likes to play free flowing, fast kind of football with lots of pressing, high up the pitch, and high energy staff. Uses a lot of younger players as well, which obviously is something that spurs like to do. He seems to be quite a character in a good way, not a crazy way. I think some Spurs fans might maybe kind of remember Martin Jol and see a little bit of him in him as well. Seems to have a good humour as well, from what I’ve seen of his press conference this week, where the English journalists have turned up and tried to trip him up a bit, and he’s handled it very well.

He’s just a young, up and coming manager who is very good at communicating with his players, gets his message across. Every good coach you ever talk to will always say: 60% of being a good coach is getting your idea across, it’s the other 40% of what the actual idea is. You can have the greatest tactics, information and plans and system philosophy in the world, but if you can’t transfer that to your players, it’s meaningless. And he seems to be a guy that is a very clear communicator, everyone that knows him says that the players would walk through walls for him. So, yeah, like we said at the start, Kane saying that Spurs have lost a lot of their values, Slot seems to be the kind of guy that would bring a lot of that back to your club. And as long as you get in the right director of football, then he’s got a chance.

If the club were offered £80- 100 million for Son, don’t you think now might be the right time to sell?

I don’t if I’m going to be honest and purely because I think we’ve seen a very compromised Son this season. Conte’s tactics

were not good for Sonny, they pushed him out wide at times where he was almost playing as the left wing-back with Perišić ahead of him. And I think we’ve just started to see towards the end of the season a little bit more of what Sonny can be. Remember, this was last year’s Golden Boot winner. So, yeah, I’d maybe see how Sonny is next season under a manager. Like I say, if it is Slot, his formation will absolutely suit Sonny down to the ground on the left of that front three. I wouldn’t be stunned if he gets up to the 20 goal mark again very quickly next season. So, yeah, maybe hold fire on Sonny, give him the benefit. He’s probably earned enough benefit of the doubt and see what he’s like next season, for sure. And when you’ve got someone like Sonny, who is a Premier League experienced man, is guaranteed as long as, like you say, it’s probably purely confidence thing. Get him playing in the right position and you’ve got a man that, you know, can score 20/25 goals a season. So, yeah, you chuck him out there and you bring in a player for similar money, you might not even get what he was bringing you in the first place. So, yeah, I would say he’s got enough credit in the bank myself to give him a little bit more patience!

Do Da vinson Sánchez, Ben Davies and Eric Dier have a future at the club?

I would say some of those players have been maybe lumped in together and they probably don’t all deserve to be in that bracket. I would say Ben Davies especially, I think he is the kind of squad player I think you do need in a good side. Sometimes people have this idea that every squad is going to be like a Man City elite one where you’re going to have 100-million-pound players in every single position. It doesn’t really work like that in football.

Eric Dier has had a tough season, started really well, funnily enough this season and it’s just kind of gone off a cliff ever since. If I am Eric Dier, then I would probably be thinking, is it time for a fresh start? Because I don’t think the Spurs fans are probably ever going to really take to him. He was incredible for the first three or four years at Spurs. as a defensive midfielder under Poch which people forget. Then he stepped back into the middle of a back three in his third year, where he played very well, but unfortunately just hasn’t really progressed since.

Davinson Sánchez I think really has wanted to go in the last few windows, probably about three or four windows to get regular football. But unfortunately the club have needed him there as a backup. He obviously had that really difficult day at the stadium with the fans, which was really horrible and uncomfortable to watch. Yeah, I think out of those three, what I would probably suggest is that Sánchez and maybe Dier are the more likely to head off, Sánchez especially this summer. I wouldn’t be stunned if Davies ends up playing the rest of his career at Spurs, maybe becomes a coach one day. He comes across as a very clever guy, he’s very intelligent, he understands tactics and formations, which is why they can play him in any position. And I think if you’ve got that ability, you probably are going to show a lot of elements of being a good coach, so it’d be interesting to see. I wouldn’t be shocked if he started to do his badges, actually!

Finally,

They’ve all been very good to me. Even Nuno (Espírito Santo), who always pretty much sounded disappointed with me! He used to use my name a lot, ‘Alasdair Alasdair’, whenever he was answering a question. But they were all good to me, and all tried to give me decent answers. Pochettino was the one I probably had the closest relationship with, because I worked with him for longer and he was a good guy. José Mourinho was always very interesting tactically. He would properly try to explain things, which was very cool. I had a funny incident with him once, which kind of went viral, where we were doing a zoom press conference and he couldn’t hear what I was saying. And that’s unfortunate timing with the way it worked. I said, ‘can you hear me now, Jose?’ And he went, ‘No’, put his headphones down and walked off! I’m told that it wasn’t because he could actually hear me and said no, I’m told that he was answering someone else, but it went viral anyway. Conte was good, I got on well with Conte. He’s a very passionate, honest man. Often would look out for Antonio Conte first and foremost, which is fine. A lot of managers kind of have that ego thing. But I wouldn’t say any of them I’ve had any issues with at all. Once in a while they won’t like a question, which is fine, that’s part of the job, but they always kind of respect that. You’ve got to ask it. Stellini and Mason, they’ve got their different things about them that’s quite interesting. Stellini, we did a really fascinating interview when he was young, way back about ten years ago, when he was coaching a refugee team, and he actually broke down in tears talking about it, which was a really lovely insight into his life. So, yeah, it’s probably my favourite bit of it all, really, is the interaction with the managers, I find them fascinating.

you’ve had the opportunity to work with lots of managers at Spurs, especially in recent years. any favourites or best experiences?

Will Lionel Messi sign for Aston Villa?

Mr Clark argues the impossible might just be possible

Picture the scene, a scene that has happened in numerous Elstree History and Politics classrooms at any time between 2002 and 2022. “Sir, which football team do you support?” There is silence as they await an expected answer of Arsenal, Tottenham, Chelsea, Manchester United or perhaps Liverpool. The response, however, is always proudly the same. “The mighty Aston Villa.” Strange looks follow for the class, a farrago of bewilderment and pity, as the students try to comprehend why an otherwise seemingly respectable and respected schoolmaster would put himself through so much pain and misery supporting a team of such perennial under-achievers.

It is true, that Aston Villa FC has seen more than its fair share of glory since when in March 1874, four members of Villa Cross Wesleyan Chapel Cricket team met under a gas lamp in Handsworth, Birmingham and decided on setting up a football team as their way of staying fit during the winter months. The Claret and Blues have won seven Football League titles, seven FA Cups, five League Cups and, mostly glorious of all, in 1982 after Peter Withe’s shot rebounded off the post and into the goal in Rotterdam to defeat Bayern Munich, they became Champions of Europe. But for most of the 21st Century and for almost all of this author’s 23-year service in the Bourne Building, Aston Villa have been the most dozy and docile of sleeping giants.

Apart from a Intertoto Cup and a League Play-off win, there has been no silverware for the famous Birmingham club in over 25 years. Between 2011 and 2022 the Villains finished no higher than 11th in Premier League. In 2015-16 the club finished last in the Premier League and were relegated after only winning three games. They only regained promoted to the top flight after three seasons in the Championship. However, fortunes have changed for Aston Villa Football Club most dramatically in 2023. Villa is set to finish in Premier League top ten and at the time of writing face the possibility of European football in 2023-24. And on the morning I’m writing this, there are reports that the most iconic player on the planet may be coming to Villa Park next season. If some rumours are to be believed, deep bonds were formed between

Argentine goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez and legendary Argentine Captain Lionel Messi during their nation’s successful 2022 Qatar World Cup campaign. The Albiceleste goalkeeper played a key role in leading his country to World Cup glory. Martínez saved two penalties in a shoot-out a quarter-final shoot-out against the Netherlands. In the World Cup Final, Martínez saved a 1 on 1 shot from with Randal Kolo Muani in the last minute of extra time, then save saved a penalty from Kingsley Coman in the shoot-out, helping Argentina win the World Cup via a 4–2 shootout victory after the game had ended in a 3–3 draw. Martínez was awarded the Golden Gloves prize. He marked the occasion with a now infamous celebration which involved him putting the Golden Glove trophy against his groin and making an

unusual facial expression. Lionel Messi celebrated his own award of Player of the Tournament in a much, more sober and conventional manner.

The two stars have had a contrasting relationships with their respective clubs since Qatar. Under manager Unai Emery, Emiliano Martínez has been at the heart of an Aston Villa revival that has seen the team go from 16th in the table under previous manager Steven Gerrard to 7th. Martinez has kept clean sheets in this time against Everton, Crystal Palace, Bournemouth, Chelsea, Nottingham Forest, Newcastle and Fulham. In January the goalkeeper, the Villa Vice Captain, signed a three-year contract extension which will see him contracted Villa until the end of the 2026–27 season. Martínez has said “Why should I leave? It’s massive, the club. I’m proud to play for Aston Villa, I’m really proud, I love it here, I’m trying to bring my Argentinian friends to Villa! I just feel at home.”

Meanwhile, Lionel Messi, often seen as the greatest player of all-time, the winner of seven Ballon d’Or awards and a record six European Golden Shoes, has fallen out of love with Paris Saint-Germain. Whilst he has won another Ligue 1 title, scored his 700th senior career club goal in La Classique against Marseilles and achieved his 300th career assist, Messi has clearly found life at PSG frustrating. On 2 May 2023, Messi was suspended for two weeks and fined after taking an unauthorized trip to Saudi Arabia with his family as part of a promotional commercial agreement. The next day, it was widely reported that Messi would leave PSG at the end of the season, following the expiry of his contract. The assumption has been that Messi would join a club in Saudi Arabia like his longterm rival Cristiano Ronaldo or an emotional return to FC Barcelona with whom he won a club-record 34 trophies, including ten La Liga titles and the UEFA Champions League four times. However, Emiliano Martinez has raised directly the possibility of his friend and Argentine national teammate joining Aston

Villa. Martinez told a recent media conference: “If Leo is whistled and leaves PSG, I will bring him to Aston Villa. I would make him matte tea and cook for him every weekend, ask people to make him little flags to have a good time. I’m ready to reduce my salary for Messi if necessary.”

So is the Greatest Of All Time about to join Aston Villa? Will he soon be preparing for next season alongside Tyrone Mings, Douglas Luiz and Jacob Ramsey at Villa’s Bodymoor Heath training ground? Football is about dreams and fans of Aston Villa and other clubs can dream away. But this suggested transfer would seem highly unlikely. So far in his career, Messi has turned down many numerous attempts to lure him to the Premier League, including a trial at Arsenal in 2003. If he was to play for an English club, a reunion with his former mentor Pep Guardiola at Manchester City or joining newly minted Newcastle United would seem more likely than hooking up with a Midlands club with a reputation for under-achieving. There are clearly big money deals on the table for Messi from clubs in Saudi Arabia, China or the United States. Some of the figures quoted are frankly eye-watering.

Personally, as a soppy old football romantic, I hope that Leo Messi resists these lures and brings down his distinguished career by returning to his roots. I’d like to think that

football is still about something more than just getting as rich as you can as quickly as you can. A return to FC Barcelona would give Messi the chance to wow again the loyal fans at Nou Camp who cheered him on for so long and to pass on his considerable football wisdom to a new generation of talent at Barcelona’s legendary youth academy, La Masia, which Messi joined when he was just 13 years old. Or going even further back, how about a return to Messi’s boyhood club in his hometown of Rosario, Newell’s Old Boys? Messi is unusual about Argentine football legend in never having played a single game for an Argentine Primera División, What better way would there be of rewarding his compatriots loyalty and faith?

And anyway, even if Messi did join Aston Villa, he’d be joining the one club whose fans know that the Greatest Football of All-Time will always be Republic of Ireland defender Paul McGrath.

What will Pochettino bring to Chelsea?

ALI HASSAN

After a long 6 weeks of searching, Chelsea’s managerial search is finally over, and whilst this season has brought mostly despair for Chelsea fans, there is finally something to be optimistic about again. Former Spurs and PSG manager

Mauricio Pochettino has agreed a 3-year deal with Chelsea and will formally start work on the 1st of July. But what can Chelsea fans expect from the Argentine, and should any cause for optimism be halted as it stands, I’ll explore what he can offer and whether next season will see a change in Chelsea’s fortunes.

Mauricio Pochettino was first introduced to English football at newly promoted Southampton, and in his first full season at the South Coast, took the club to 8th place, whilst developing players such as Luke Shaw, Adam Lallana and Morgan Schneiderlin. Pochettino shocked English football and implemented his extremely aggressive front foot pressing football in no time at all. In fact, Southampton’s 13/14 team recorded the most distance covered by any team in Premier league history! Rickie Lambert described his time under Pochettino as the “fittest” he’s ever felt in his career, Pochettino is one of the most well-known figures for modern revolutions in football based around sports science and using technology to improve training sessions. He and his staff have a video database of every training session they have run since Espanyol, and regularly refer back to footage in order to review their methods and tailor feedback to individual players. Chelsea already have some of the infrastructure in place to facilitate this approach — drones have been in use

at Cobham to capture aerial footage of drills for a number of years, for example — but Pochettino’s set-up will have its own specifications. Pochettino speaks highly of the importance of “changing habits” and likes to establish a mentality at his clubs where his players can push themselves further than what they think they are capable of. He likes a hungry squad, motivated to do better and be willing to learn from his brutal training sessions. Yet perhaps with Pochettino, it’s his unique blend of an extreme focus on tactical sessions whilst forging strong relationships with his players that sets him apart – a rare combo that only the likes of Guardiola and Klopp can say they possess in the modern game. He isn’t one to stand for poor attitude and those who aren’t willing to buy into his plan will surely get sold off promptly, with the likes of Hakim Ziyech, Christian Pulisic, Edouard Mendy, Mateo Kovacic and Ruben Loftus-Cheek all expected to leave this summer. If Chelsea give Pochettino time, I am confident he will succeed, this is a man who achieved 86 points with Tottenham in the 16/17 (more than Arsenal have this season) and took Spurs to their only ever Champions League final without spending a penny in the previous two windows. It may take some patience and time to adjust for the Chelsea fans, but I can assure everyone reading this, that if he is properly backed, success will come in no time. And who knows, perhaps even a certain English striker from a certain London rival will be tempted to make the move to Stamford Bridge and break Alan Shearer’s all time goalscoring record in the colours of the Chelsea blue and finally win his first ever trophy at the Pride of London.

CHESLEA EDGE UNITED IN CLOSE CONTEST

Sam Kerr’s 21st goal of the season in all competitions was the nail in the coffin for the travelling Mancunians as Chelsea stormed to a third consecutive FA Cup trophy. An astonishing 77,390 spectators were present inside the prestigious Wembley Stadium, draped in either red or blue, ready to watch an enticing clash between two of the Women’s Super League’s (WSL) most enthralling sides to watch.

Amid various rail strikes disrupting a very pleasant, warm day in the capital, a close-to-capacity Wembley was host to numerous broken records as Emma Hayes’ Chelsea side completed the three-ina-row of FA Cup trophies, making this tournament one of their own. The Blues won the competition in 2021 after a three-year recess, beating Arsenal 3-0 convincingly, with Sam Kerr the hero. It was the Australian star again, pitching in with another brace

to fend off a well-managed Manchester City side by a narrow 3-2 scoreline.

Chelsea came into the game as favourites, a star-studded lineup that had battled hard but dropped out of the UWCL with a loss to eventual champions Barcelona. Manchester United bared the unstoppable duo of Ella Toone and Alessia Russo, who have become the main stars to watch in Manchester but also on the international stage for the Lionesses.

Marc Skinner’s United side started the game on the front foot, forcing the Blues into immediate mistakes with a high-press initiating from the frontline. Within 30 seconds, Russo located Toone, who spun away intelligently from her marker creating space to find Leah Galton who slotted cooly past Ann-Katrin Berger in between the sticks for Chelsea.

The goal was quickly flagged for offside but was a warning sign to Hayes’ team that United weren’t messing around.

You wouldn’t have been able to tell that Manchester United have never been in a major cup final, let alone beat Chelsea under current manager Marc Skinner. They were backed by a sea of red in the stands, their press was inch-perfect and they were able to counter Hayes’ tactics, edging them as slight favourites entering the interval.

However, just as the Red Devils started to gain momentum, there was only one player that could come to spoil the party. None other than Sam Kerr, on hand to place the ball beyond Mary Earps’ reach with an impeccable outside-of-the-foot finish off Pernille Harder’s low cross from the right wing.

Chelsea were then able to impressively guard their lead up until the final whistle, despite a few scares from the opposition. All in all an excellent encounter.

FPL INSIGHT

FPL (over)enthusiast Zain shares 3 of his favourite FPL related websites and briefly outlines how to effectively use them.

1. LiveFPL.net

This is the first FPL related website that I used but I’m going to say it here; it’s my favourite. I put my recent upturn in form predominately down to this website (in addition to a great deal of good luck). This absolute gem of a website enables you to plan out your transfers over the next few weeks based on a season ticker (a fixture list sorted by the difficulty of a team’s fixtures over a changeable number of gameweeks: see above on the right) among other things however, the function that I particularly like about the site is the live rank viewer which summarises how your gameweek is going/has gone informing you of your live rank when autosubs are made, the impact of your differentials, the EO (expected ownership) of the players in your team compared to the Top 10K of FPL managers as well as those managers at around the same rank as you (helping you decide whether to protect your rank or play more aggressively with higher risk for greater rank swing reward) and the impact of certain players on the colour and magnitude of your gameweek arrow. Just saying all that has made me tired!

This website’s merit comes from the wide range of player data it has for a multitude of different sports but even focusing solely on football is there an abundance of data.

Scrolling down to “player standard stats” for the current Premier League season takes you to a treasure trove of data garnered over the season. The most useful perhaps is by scrolling right looking at the stats “per 90 minutes” with the most informative (well at least for forwards and midfielders and to some extent defenders) being npxG + xAG/90. Now, before you run away screaming, this scary looking stat isn’t so bad as it looks at first glance. A click on and then a quick hover over this stat causes a pop-up to appear which outlines that this stat means non-penalty expected goals and assisted goals per 90 minutes. This is a bit of a mouthful but acts as a useful composite comparison between players and between the expected and actual npxG + xAG/90 of a player to see whether they are under or over performing.

In addition to this nifty feature, another useful thing that you can do is check the “nailedness” (ie. How likely the player is to play the full 90) of a player by looking at starts and number of full 90 minutes played. This is particularly useful at the congested period located usually during Christmas or in the latter gameweeks where double gameweeks are usually situated where this data can be used to help decide on a transfer on the grounds of

who is most likely to play such as that experienced a few weeks ago in small DGW 36 when trying to decide between Callum Wilson (more explosive but less nailed for minutes) and Alexander Isak (consistent returns with fairly regular starts). (In hindsight this backfired horribly for me; take a guess which one I brought in. Hint: His name was not Callum Wilson)

Sofascore.com

Finally, we have Sofascore, a website whose strengths don’t lie with a detailed array of statistics but rather with a clean and clear set of essential data which enables a quantitative viewing of the player that is more manageable than the highly quantitative methods used in FBREF.com. Some FPL managers are very data driven and enjoy pouring over sheets and sheets of statistical data while others prefer to watch the game noting impressive player performances and is known in the FPL community as the “eye test”. Personally, I believe that both need to be used in combination in order to get the best possible chance of success however if forced to pick one or the other, I’d err towards looking at statistics.

Anyway, the main benefit of Sofascore for me is the heatmap of player movement over the season as well as during each game played which can be a great guide to see which positions they tend to adopt so enabling you to have an idea of their attacking threat and can be used to find out-of-position players which can have a massive impact on one’s team (think of Lord Lundstram

a few seasons back) especially at the beginning of the season. FPL websites that provide free heatmap data are few and far between so this website being able to do that makes it a really valuable and unsung tool. All in all, Sofascore provides a really solid summary of player data which can act as the final confirmation before making a transfer decision and has swiftly become a key tool in my FPL arsenal.

Now the FPL season has ended (by the time you are reading this), take stock and evaluate both the positives and mistakes made this season. This has been my first FPL season of playing properly and I have thoroughly enjoyed it as despite some pain (not having Callum Wilson, benching dilemmas and missing out on a 0.0% owned Mitoma to name but three) I have certainly seen some (rank) gain through March, Shaw and Rashford in particular all of whom have been phenomenal for my team.

BARNET

STUNG BY BOREHAMWOODPLAY OFF MISERY FOR THE BEES

The scene was set for what promised to be a thrilling and decisive encounter, with the Hive buzzing long before kick-off. This was to be the 13th contest between the two local rivals, and by far the most significant in both histories of the clubs; the Bees looking to regain promotion for the first time since 2018 and Borehamwood seeking access to the football league for the first time.

From the opening stages, it was clear that no love would be lost, as a scrappy affair ensued in the first ten. Both sides struggling to string together proper passes, Barnet looked more likely to go ahead, with a succession of corners providing early pressure. On minute twelve Kanu’s corner was agonisingly close after the resulting header drifted wide.

The visitors however stood strong and tenacious, which prevented the desired opener. All quality lacking thus far was certainly compensated by the roaring atmosphere.

Against the run of play the opposition took the lead on minute 20 with a well-executed counter and smart finish from the in-form Ndlovu. With the away end in pandemonium, Brennan looked to instil some calmness and belief into his players. With the hosts coming close time and time again, it looked as though luck really wasn’t on their side in the first half. Just to rub salt into wounds, The Wood doubled their advantage, after a surging run from Ilesmani, who put it on a plate for Ndlovu to bag his brace. The Bees had it all to do.

On 56 however the hosts were right back in it, a brilliantly crafted move was lashed in by Pritchard, giving a glimmer of hope. The dynamic of the game had completely changed, with momentum on the bees’ side, as both sets of fans were right behind their respective players.

Kanu led the charge for the equaliser, as the Bees probed they came close on several occasions. The winger who impressed all night, was once again thwarted by Ashmore.

The Bees had many half chances in the last 10, a remarkable endeavour from Kanu to get to the bi-line, very unfortunate to be on the losing side. Despite good effort, it just wasn’t to be for the Bees, who really had to do more to take in to extra-time. Getting promoted after finishing fifth remains an unprecedented achievement at this level.

Post- match, Barnet coach Dean Brennan gave me his thoughts on how the team can go about preparing for next campaign after a loss like this:

‘Yeh look listen you gotta learn from this we gotta learn quick, I know who I wanna recruit in the summer, I know the ins and outs of the football club as part of the job, so we’ve got to come back stronger’.

Borehamwood then agonisingly missed out on reaching the final, losing to Notts County, who were subsequently promoted back to League 2 after beating Chesterfield on penalties at Wembley

FROM SUNDAY LEAGUE TO PRO, THE 19-YEAR-OLD HAS EMERGED AS TIK TOK PHENOMENON, INSPIRING HIS MANY FOLLOWERS WITH STORIES OF FAILURE AND SUCCESS.

Yeah, definitely. I feel like the only limits and limitations you have are the ones that you set on yourself. If you told past me, when I was sixteen playing in football college, that I’ll be at Brentford right now as a professional footballer, then I don’t think anyone believe it. So it’s pretty much just how much you believe in yourself, and you can go as far as you want.

Trent Alexander Arnold has launched an initiative called ‘The After Academy’, to help those who don’t make it pro- What do you think of this?

Yeah, I think that’s a brilliant idea, giving kids an opportunity to make it pro, like we said about the stats and how hard it is to make it pro, Trent is given an opportunity for kids to get out there and showcase their talent and I think that’s a wonderful opportunity that he’s created.

With social media being something that you value highly, with lots of following on Tik Tok especially, can this ever be a distraction on the pitch or do you feel like it’s part of you as a footballing personality?

You’ve come into this position through a remarkable amount of hard work, but given 99% of people don’t actually make it pro, do you think football clubs should be doing a bit more to help out those who just miss out?

Yeah, that’s a tricky question, isn’t it? Because you know the stat that says like out of 1.5 million people, only 180 make it pro. So, it does show that the competitive side of football and I think mostly it’s like individually because we can pass the blame onto other people, but if we look at ourselves and if we give ourselves the best opportunity to make it pro and work hard and compete, then I think we’ve got a good chance. But obviously, like you said yeah, I think there’s always ways that everyone can improve, providing kids more opportunities, considering the stats against to be a pro footballer.

From Sunday League to pro, does your journey show everyone that you can make it wherever your journey starts?

Yeah, I don’t think it’s a distraction on the pitch because obviously, like you said, anything in life, too much of it is bad for you. So it’s just all about getting the balance in between. The TikTok I do to help others and I get, like, hundreds of messages every day, people telling me how much I’ve inspired them and how they start football because of me, and how they’re not going to give up. So there

are so many benefits and positives that come from social media. As long as I do it correctly and I get the balance with TikTok and football, I think I’ll be all right.

Your dad, Kevin, being a former Premier League player, famously scoring a hat trick against Liverpool, given his experience, does he guide you towards where you want to be and how helpful is that?

Definitely. My dad’s been a massive, massive part of my journey and my family. I remember when I got released from Leyton Orient, my Dad was with me nearly every day on the pitch, helping me develop, taking me under his wing. There’s so much stuff that I’ve learned from him and that he’s been able to pass on to me. He’s been at the highest level, played in the Premier League, and the experience that he’s passed onto me and my twin and my brothers has been absolutely crucial on my journey so far.

Talking of your twin, do you hope to be reunited with Kyrell at some point in your career, do you think that would be the perfect ending? (Having played together lots before)

Definitely. I think I hope that the aim is for me and my team to be in the Premier League together one day and play at the highest level, even hopefully representing our country together one day. That would be the dream. Obviously, we end up in journeys after we left Watford, but hopefully we do meet at each other at the top!

Back in March, you had great opportunity to play against the Ukraine national team. How did it feel to face off against some of the most highly regarded players in the game, all in South-West London!?

Yeah, that was a massive experience for me and the boys, like you said, the big names, like Mudryk playing against him, I even got some Tik Toks of him as well! That was a massive experience, just seeing the quality, the leadership and just the way they play football, I was able to take a

lot from their game and that’s something that we can take with us in the future.

How beneficial is it to be at an academy like Brentford where you can interact with the first team and learn from them?

Yeah, definitely. I think with how close everything is, with our changing rooms right next to each other, we eat with the first team, we see them walking about. So it’s really close the B team with the first team. Like you said, in training, if the first team manager needs a player from the B team, he’ll call him over. So just being able to be so close with the first team on and off the pitch has been really good. It’s been a crazy experience as well, because when I was at Watford, the academies were completely separate and in different buildings, but being under one roof here at Brentford has been a real shock in a good way. Like, you walk in the building and we walk past Ivan, Toney, you walk past all these big players, big names, and it’s like it doesn’t feel real sometimes.

Playing under the coach, Neil MacFarlane, who’s got a wealth of experience from both playing and managing, what does he demand of you in terms of the group as a work ethic to bring you forward?

Yeah, top coach Neil, it’s the whole squad and the whole managers, everyone. Like you said, it’s the work ethic. That’s the most important thing. As long as the coaches see that you’re giving 100%, you’re willing to learn and take on information, you’re willing to run the extra mile, then I feel like that’s the beginning of a great player. . As long as you give everything every single day on the training pitch and it matches them, they’re happy and that’s something that they can work with.

What advice would you give those aspiring to play at the highest level?

So the advice I would give is you have to put yourself in the best opportunity, like we spoke about the stats before this, about the odds of how hard it is to actually make it as a pro footballer. So you have to make sure you’re giving yourself the best possibility. There’s so many factors and aspects, but you need to make sure that you’re doing everything you can possibly to give yourself the best opportunity of making a pro. You have to be willing to outwork thousands and even sometimes millions of kids, so you have to ask yourself, firstly, am I doing enough? And if the answer is no, then you have to think about plan or how you’re going to change that and do enough to make it. And so when you do get opportunity to playing front of a scout or you’re playing in front of a coach, that’s your opportunity to prove. So you have to give yourself the best opportunity, and when you do get opportunity, you take it.

Brentford at the moment in the Premier League having a great season - do you hope to potentially be playing some European football in the coming years? Is that something that you’ve maybe thought about?

Yeah, definitely. This is an amazing club. That my dream here, is to make my first team debut, to be a part of the first team squad, and that’s something that I’ll have to keep working hard to achieve and hopefully one day I achieve it.

Winning the Premier League Cup, despite the fact that you injured for the last few games, how that feel? Did It feel like a fitting end to a really promising season for the squad?

Definitely. I think that that was a massive achievement for the B team to be able to be a part of the squad, playing in games that I remember. Arsenal, Blackburn, just such good opponents, and it just shows how much quality we have here at Brentford. You know, to win that was absolutely massive. And to be a part of the squad is something that I’ll definitely take with me in my football career. And obviously, it’s one of my greatest achievements so far. It’s a massive achievement that I’ll cling on to for a long while.

Whilst you were at Fulham you played with George Best. What was he like on the pitch? And more importantly, off the pitch?

Off the pitch, he was just such a nice man. Such a nice man. It was just the shame how his career went. I got on well with him, really well with him. It was Rodney Marsh and they both turned up at the same time. George Best kind of took Rodney Marsh’s place in the side. He would sometimes not turn up for training, but when he played, you just sometimes used to think, ‘No, you can’t do that. No, you can’t do that, it’s too good! ‘; we were kind of in awe, just standing there thinking this is insane. We went away on tour once to Guernsey and had a bit of a night out, myself and George were the last two to go home, and he woke up the next day, nothing had happened - I woke up the next day, I couldn’t run!

What would you say was the pinnacle of your career?

I suppose everyone talks about the goal against Man United in the FA Cup, where we ended up drawing and We had to replay at Old Trafford. We arrived there, then the managers decided to drop me for that game, And I couldn’t believe it. I got on for about the last twenty minutes. There’s about forty odd thousand there, but that was something else just to say I walked out on Old Trafford in front of forty odd thousand fans.

How do you feel the game has changed since you played?

Everything’s different, like the fitness, the diets, the way they’re looked after. When we finished the game, we’d go over to the bar, the other side of the ground, you just have a chat and a drink with all the fans! I don’t know for sure nowadays, but they seem to be wrapped up in cotton wool. Coming from the people I’ve kept in touch with, nowadays they do everything for the players, as long as they turn up on matchday and they perform on the match day. It’s just a different world now, a completely different world. We could have a drink, have a chat with people. You see it and hear it today, ‘he was out doing this, he was doing that’; different players get caught out. Back then it was just a regular occurrence to be with the fans. Another huge difference is the pitches, you see the pitches now, when I was playing after a dozen games, there would just be a little bit of grass down the middle! Now, the pitches, they’re like carpets, aren’t they? People say, ‘could he play?’ - could George Best play now? And you just think, of course. He could because he was that good. He would get fitter and just adapt. All the modern players, looking at their control now, you see them fire the ball into each other, then the first touch now seems to be unbelievable. They whack the ball and it’s under control straight away. And then when I was at Barnet down at Underhill, it was unbelievable really, some of our training sessions (because it was semi-professional), the coach would say ‘right tonight is rolling the pitch’ so that we could play on Saturday! And we’d have to drag a roller across the pitch to get it ready. Even The Hive pitch that they play on now is worlds away from what we used to play under here with Barnet.

THE FORMER FULHAM AND ORIENT MIDFIELDER GIVES US A BLAST FROM THE PAST, AN INSIGHT INTO HIS INTERESTING CAREER IN THE 80’S AND HOW THE GAME HAS CHANGED DRASTICALLY OVER THE PAST 40 YEARS.

then it happened again after the Tottenham game, where perhaps Harry Kane was lucky not to be sent off. And Klopp again was angry. question about how concerned are you that your defense gave up so many chances to Tottenham today? I mean, it was not the hardest question as I said, I don’t think people should underestimate that these managers are successful for a reason, because they’re good at what they the world’s media and everybody expects them to behave with composure. And it’s not always that easy when people turn around and say, they’ve just been through and for some of them it is hard to be composed in the heat of the moment.

You were in this youth setup at Spurs with Glenn Hoddle and Graham Souness. What are your earliest and best memories of that time?

It’s weird because you’d come from school and in your little area, you think you’re something good, you’re a bit special, and then you go to start training, and then they’ve got boys from Scotland, Ireland, all over the country. All of a sudden you think, wow, there’s some good players around, kids like yourself. It’s kind of then you’ve got to try and prove yourself against another set of players that are a big step up from what you’re used to playing against. In terms of playing with Hoddle, bit younger than me so It wasn’t until the reserves that started playing with Glenn. And Graham Sounness was a little bit older. But we had a good side.

We used to win most of the cups, as I say, we won the FA youth Cup, which is the biggest cup of the youth teams. We used to go out to Holland and play in a tournament out on Feyenord’s ground. Teams from all over Europe used to come over and we used to win that more times than not. It’s great.I loved it. Just a shame when it comes to an end. You think when I’m around twenty oh, no, what’s happened? You’ve been given a free transfer. But from school when I was roughly sixteen up until about twenty-eight, kind of a professional. And then yeah, it was just everything I’ve dreamed of, really, I suppose. I never was good enough to play in Division One Premiership now, but we played against a lot of the sides. Just great fun, it was real great fun. I had some sad times when I’ve been given free transfers and been dropped for games when I thought I shouldn’t have been. But that’s just part and part of football.

What were your experiences with transfers?

A couple of years I first got in the side

was the man, and then he would drop me for some reason or another, and then, as I say, an offer came in. He called me in the office one day and said, Leyton Orient, they’ve come in with a bid for you. And it was kind of at the time, when I wasn’t in the side as much, so I thought, oh, well, I’ll give that a go (Orient in the second tier at the time). In the cup runs, you would play against division one sides, and I used to say there wasn’t great deal of difference between the players. Sometimes it’s just a little bit of luck having good day or cutting good games at the right time when people are watching you.

Finally, how would you sum up your career? I’ve had some had some good times, really good times. And when given free transfers, you think your world’s come to an end, but life goes on and you got to try and bounce back. Yeah. My grandkids now are both playing for the U9s at Cambridge. And yeah, it’s great.

And actually, the interview began the first two questions, he was fine, and I just asked him what I thought was a perfectly reasonable third question I’ve ever asked by a long chalk and he didn’t like that very much either. And again, he stormed off in the middle of the interview! do and they’re not used to losing. And when things don’t go their way, they find it difficult to take and immediately they’re pushed out in front say, ‘well, they’re well paid, they should behave better’. I don’t think that’s got anything to do with it, because it is about the emotion of what

BEHIND THE SCENES

OH ROB NOTHMAN, BBC RADIO 5 LIVE SPORTS BROADCASTER AND AWARD-WINNING PRODUCER, TALKS US THROUGH HIS EXPERIENCES IN THE INDUSTRY

Tell us a bit about your time at Habs

I was a Habs boy for eleven years, from 1971 to 1982, and I was in Calverts. I had a great time at Habs, and made lots of friends who I still see today from my cohort. And more than anything else, not only did I benefit from a great all round education, but I just think looking back, I feel blessed that there were so many strong and memorable characters in particular among all the teachers. They taught you life lessons as well as the academic studies that you needed to do. I loved every moment of it; well, I loved every moment of it, except for the cross country runs!

Where did your interest for radio and sports come from?

I think growing up from the age of about eight or nine, I remember hearing football on BBC radio and hearing the great Peter Jones and Bryon Butler commentating. And I can remember hearing them covering a football match and thinking, ‘this is marvellous, I love listening to this!’ It was so evocative and it made my mind think about the pictures that they were describing. And I was intoxicated from that moment on. I loved sport, and knew wasn’t going to be good enough to play it professionally - I was reasonable, but not an outstanding sportsman by any means. So when we played football in the playground, I would be playing and commentating at the same time. And all of my peers, who I still am, friends who I still see now, they always laugh and remind me that I was a particularly nauseating person to be playing with because I would always be talking and shouting about what was going on while I

Could you describe your little altercation with Jürgen Klopp?!

First of all, the job that I have done working in BBC Radio and covering sport, be it Olympic Games or World Cups or Premier League football matches or the Masters Golf, you do have a very privileged position of meeting lots and lots of well-known people. So, I have interviewed the likes of Tiger Woods, Roger Federer, David Beckham and it is a fascinating study. You only get a very tiny snapshot of what these people are genuinely like - not enough to necessarily form an opinion of exactly what their characters are, but you do see little things that are interesting. And certainly when it comes to the big Premier League managers like Jürgen Klopp, José Mourinho and Pep Guardiola, you can see them sometimes when they are at their happiest and when they are at their angriest, and certainly twice with Jürgen Klopp. Last season, I was covering the matches where Liverpool lost 3-2 at West Ham and when they drew 2-2 at Tottenham. And in that title race when Liverpool were chasing Manchester City with both clubs had an amazing points tally, so every game was pivotal. So, after the West Ham game, where Liverpool had lost, I asked Jürgen about the first goal that West Ham scored, where Liverpool had protested that there’d been a foul on the goalkeeper, Alison. And I asked him if he thought his goalkeeper was impeded? So he immediately said to me, and I could tell he was a bit irritated, ‘what do you think?’ And I said to him, ‘with the greatest of respect, Jürgen, the audience are not interested in my opinion, but they are interested in your opinion’. And that didn’t go down particularly well with him!

So I then asked him another question about, I think, how his team had defended overall, and he wasn’t happy with that question either. And eventually he said to me ‘Look, I am not your puppy’. So, in other words, he felt as if I was asking questions, knowing what answers he would give. I was leading him in a direction where I knew that he was going to get a bit cranky. And sure enough, he did get cranky, and he walked off.

And then it happened again after the Tottenham game, where perhaps Harry Kane was lucky not to be sent off. And Klopp again was angry. And actually, the interview began the first two questions, he was fine, and I just asked him what I thought was a perfectly reasonable third question about how concerned are you that your defence gave up so many chances to Tottenham today? I mean, it was not the hardest

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FOOTBALL AROUND THE WORLD

question I’ve ever asked by a long chalk and he didn’t like that very much either. And again, he stormed off in the middle of the interview!

But as I said, I don’t think people should underestimate that these managers are successful for a reason, because they’re good at what they do and they’re not used to losing. And when things don’t go their way, they find it difficult to take and immediately they’re pushed out in front of the world’s media and everybody expects them to behave with composure. And it’s not always that easy when people turn around and say, ‘well, they’re well paid, they should behave better’. I don’t think that’s got anything to do with it, because it is about the emotion of what they’ve just been through and for some of them it is hard to be composed in the heat of the moment.

Is that not the type of thing that makes for good viewing at the end of the day (Despite being quite intimidating!)?

I’m a great believer in asking questions that are fair and not deliberately inflammatory. But if we just go back to that Klopp example, I was working for 5 Live. The radio listeners have not seen the incident that I have asked about, so I feel it is entirely valid to ask

him, did he think his goalkeeper was fouled? And then it’s up to him to answer the question. But if somebody does get upset with you and gives you a hard time, experience tells you that that makes for pretty decent radio, and it’s interesting. Nobody is going to turn off at that moment; they all want to find out what’s up with him, what’s wrong with him, what’s happening there?

All I think that it is essential for all journalists to be is fair in asking a question. I don’t think it is fair to taunt or tease or put a manager in a position where the journalist knows they’re just going to explode just for the sake of good copy or good radio. I do also think players have a responsibility to speak to the media because actually, in speaking to the media, they are talking to their fans. However, many of them, as I said, are young and haven’t necessarily been prepared for that. And some people don’t like it, they don’t feel comfortable speaking in front of microphones, they’d rather let their feet do the talking. So I think there’s something on both sides here. I think football and football clubs have a responsibility for preparing their players better for coping with the media.

Who are the footballers or managers you have interviewed who’s presence really left an impression on you?

One would definitely be Jude Bellingham, just because

he is so impressive for somebody who is still a teenager. Funnily enough, I wouldn’t necessarily put Beckham quite as having an aura about him. He was again, very polite and very professional in the way he handled himself when he knew he had to do interviews. I mean, Mourinho definitely be another one. Especially in those early years when he arrived at Chelsea and was the ‘Special One’. I mean, interviewing him was so exciting because you never knew what he was going to say, and he was very good at manipulating the media. He knew what they wanted and he knew what messages he wanted to put out, and he would quite often take the media along that way. Arsène Wenger would be another one in a completely different way. He didn’t have a sort of blast furnace of an ego, which Mourinho has, but Wenger was relentlessly interesting.

Tell us a bit about the work you do with ex-professionals

So, over the last 20 years at the BBC, and also outside the BBC, I do some training with pundits to try to make them comfortable on both television and radio. There are a couple of things to say about this. First of all, training ex sports men and women is actually quite a privileged thing to do because you are working with people who are used to being coached throughout their sporting careers. So they relish feedback. They have spent their entire lives wanting to get better at something and therefore they really are a bit like pushing at an open door because they love receiving feedback. The other thing to say about pundits is that the job is a little bit more demanding than people think that it is. For a long time within sports broadcasting, a pundit received little or no training. And television in particular, but radio to a certain extent as well. It requires the brain to be very relaxed if somebody is going to communicate clearly and well.

talking about and also how the program itself is going to work. I don’t normally go into who I have worked with over the years, but it is fair to say that a lot of the people that you would see on Match of the Day and a lot of the people that you would see on BT sport I would have worked with at some stage over the last 15 or 20 years.

Thoughts on VAR?

I’m a big fan of VAR.It just needs to be used in the right way and with officials who understand exactly what it is there for. And we go back to that phrase which issued often about clear and obvious, and it is there for the clear and obvious mistake. And that is really how it should be used. And sometimes I don’t think it is used like that. I think there have been some improvements, especially since Howard Webb was put in charge of the PGMOL, which is the referee’s body. But there is still a way to go, certainly a way to go. Handball also just needs to be, I think, made clearer. And on that, on VAR, I think sometimes the danger of the super slow-mo replay the moment you are slowing things down to such an extent gives the impression that a player has got lots of time to get out of the way of the ball. Often they haven’t. And clearly there are times where they need to have their hands in a natural position. And sometimes nowadays defenders are tucking their hands behind their backs. But common sense needs to be used on all of that, and I still think the officials are learning about VAR and how to use it properly, but itis definitely something that should continue to be there.

One final thing to mention is that I’ve been incredibly lucky to have done what I’ve done in my career, to have been to the places that I’ve been to. I am genuinely grateful to Haberdashers for the education that it gave me and the life experiences that it gave me!