Peterborough United host Cardiff in the Carling Cup today Tuesday 24th August 2010 at 19:45. Manager Gary Johnson gives an opinion on the Craig Bellamy signing and Steve Thorpe from Free Kicks Foundation talks to Andy Gall about the game and more. Broadcast at 08:20 on Tuesday 24th August 2010 in the Peterborough Breakfast Show on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire.
AG: Posh take on Championship side Cardiff City tonight at London Road in the second round of the Carling Cup. It could mean an appearance by Cardiff loanee Craig Bellamy, who signed last week from Man City. And Posh manager Gary Johnson has mixed feelings about the transfer. (TAPE)
GJ: Dave’s one of my best friends in football, Dave Jones, and from Cardiff’s point of view it’s a coup, it really is. He lives next door to Dave Jones, a couple of doors away. He’s a Cardiff fan. We’re putting out an SOS for any Premier League players that live near me or Barry to come and make contact with us. I don’t like the situation, because I think it’s poor. What it means is people, if you’ve got friends in the game let’s say, then you can get some very good loans at the minute, because those clubs are obviously not paying the wages of these players. Of course they’re not. I feel we’ve got to be careful, because it’s the first sign for me of having feeder clubs for the Premiership. (LIVE)
AG: Feeder clubs. There you are. You heard it there. Gary Johnson. Let’s talk to Steve Thorpe. Good morning Steve.
ST: Good morning Andy.
AG: What do you make of that from Gary then? He sounded very sombre and considered and thoughtful for a moment there.
ST: I agree with him. The Bellamy thing is a bit dodgy. Being as Cardiff a couple of weeks ago had a transfer embargo and weren’t allowed to buy new players, and all of a sudden they’re getting players from the Premiership and Penn and whatever ..
AG: When he says feeder clubs does he mean that .. what does he mean by that? That they’re just actually creating a false kind of economy for the lower leagues?
ST: Yes I guess so. I guess what he means is because of the new thing coming to the Premiership where they can only have a twenty five squad, and then they’re obviously going to farm … obviously these clubs have got huge squads, and they’re going to have to farm players out on loan to other clubs. I think Manchester United used to do it, and they used to send players over to Belgium to play for Antwerp, and things like that. So whether Gary thinks that sort of thing is going to be more common now because of the squad reductions ..
AG: It’s interesting isn’t it about the tendrils of a particular club, how far they reach out, and where they go to?
ST: Like Gary said, people have friends in football, but obviously we’ve got Barry Fry, who claims to have numerous friends in football, so you’d think we might be able to get some of these players as well. (LAUGHS)
AG: (LAUGHS) The FryMaster. If he can’t do it. He’s full of it, isn’t he? So let’s have a look at tonight’s game then. Firstly, do you think Bellamy will play?
ST: I did read a report this morning that he probably wouldn’t play. Although I believe Chopra who is one of their star strikers has been injured, so whether that may change things, but I did read that he won’t play. So I think Cardiff are more interested in going up from the Championship this year than having a run in the Carling Cup. But they’ll put a good side out, and it’ll be a good game, and obviously when we think about Cardiff, remember last year, the four four game at Christmas.
AG: Indeed. Now just quickly, because we have to go in a few minutes, tonight, do you think that there’ll be any differences from the team that was successful against Huddersfield?
ST: I don’t think so. I think he’ll keep the same team. They played well in the second half on Saturday so I can’t see that he’ll change it just for the sake of it. He’ll want to keep the same team together and keep the winning run going hopefully.
AG: And you recently appeared on a Posh fan’s new podcast. What’s that all about?
ST: Yes. A couple of friends of mine Jamie and Chris have set up the podcast, and they’ve done three so far, and they invited me to be on last week to talk about .. it’s basically just three of us sitting in a pub talking about Posh. And obviously I got a chance to publicise the Free Kicks work as well on it. But yes, it’s a very good idea, and I think so far it’s been really really successful. I think they’ve had over two thousand people download it, and it’s on iTunes now. It is a very good listen.
AG: Steve. That is good gravy. Just you and a couple of other chaps yacking about football.
ST: That’s right. Yes. And you can get two thousand people listening to it, which is amazing really.
AG: (WHISTLES) Well done. I bet it won’t be long before the three of you scratch a considered chin and go hmmm, two thousand. What would that be if we charged?
ST: (LAUGHS) Exactly. Yes. I think there’s a new one coming out, I think they’re recording it tomorrow night, so there’ll be a new one out on Thursday. They’re having different guests every week.
AG: I can hear the ringing of a till for some reason in the background. All the best with it Steve. Thank you very much for talking to us, and let’s hope for the best tonight at London Road.
Standing on the Glebe – The Unofficial Posh Podcast
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