Duncan Barkes

in the days leading up to him going off to Preston.

If we took our foot off the gas with training and maybe allowed the players a little bit more leeway with their leisure time and the ways in which they refuel,

You know, I'm not suggesting going back to the 70s when it was eight pints a night for the whole Chelsea squad, they say.

But if we were to do that, we would drop a few points because our foot would be off the gas.

But we might turn up every Saturday able to pick from a full first team squad because everybody's fit.

a gradual sort of uh change in mentality almost of clubs and coaches and and managers if we had fewer yeah if we had fewer substitutes and went back to just three say then managers wouldn't be able to tell some of their players you're going to have an hour which means you can absolutely go stonking everywhere because you're not playing the full 98

You're playing the 60, at least that is the plan.

So give it your all.

If players are all expecting that they're going to be out on the pitch for 98 minutes, then you've got to pace yourself slightly differently.

I know you want to talk about, and I really want to hear what you have to say about where Pompey sit at the moment amongst the fellow down amongst the dead men of the relegation thing.

What sort of danger are we in?

And you're going to go so far as to name your three that are going down?

Well, here's a pub quiz question for you that will last forever.

When was the last time a team won the championship of the English First Division and then a short time later ended up in the third tier?

Sometimes we forget the whole point of a league is that everybody is supposed to be more or less as good as everybody else.

It's a leveller.

No.

Let's grab another topic.

Grab another one.

And it's this.