Sky Sports Premier League Podcast
The Football Show - Mason Mount, Nathan Jones, Paul Merson and Gary O'Neil
12 Jun 2020
Chapter 1: What are the latest headlines in the football world?
Good morning. Welcome along to the football show here on Sky Sports. You can get involved using the hashtag Sky Football Show. Plenty coming your way over the next couple of hours. Going to catch up with Nathan Jones, going to hear from Mason Mount and speak to Gary O'Neill and our very own Paul Merson. Joining me from the outset this morning, Don Goodman and Keith Andrews.
Gentlemen, welcome along once more. It's been a long week. I've missed you. Don, what have you been up to? Well, a bit more golf, as you can probably imagine. Should be getting that handicap down soon. But no, just really preparing, getting my schedule for when football returns and getting really excited, actually, five days away from the big restart.
I know there have been problems in the world, but I do think football is going to help people just get a little bit of good back in their lives and a bit more excitement. Keith, for you, are you sharing the same sense of looking forward to it all kicking off again?
Chapter 2: How does Nathan Jones feel about returning to Luton Town?
Yeah, very much so. Just echo what Don said there, I suppose, waiting for that vote on Monday, Tuesday from League 1, League 2. What would happen probably materialised how we felt it would, if we're being entirely honest. So, we've got playoffs to look forward to, obviously. So, yeah, delighted to see it come on back next week. Really excited for it. So that's from our point of view.
We can get the views now of Sun, who has voluntarily gone back inside the managerial madhouse. Nathan Jones has returned to Luton, a place he knows very, very well indeed. Nathan, first and foremost, congratulations on the role. And how have the first few days been?
Yeah, it's been good. As I said, it's a little bit of a condensed because you have to sort of come back in after sort of 10 weeks off and then prepare a team to go back into championship football, which is difficult because it's, you know, it's a real intense, intense time. But it's been good. The real good group here.
Chapter 3: What challenges does Mason Mount face in the Premier League?
I knew that that was one of the main factors of me coming back. So, no, it's been good.
Obviously, it's one of the stranger times, shall we say, with regards to getting back into football, especially from your point of view, Nathan, right in the centre of what's been going on, obviously, on a global scale. How did it come about and how quick was it to get sorted?
Yeah, look, I'd had a call. Obviously, I knew the previous manager left and I had sort of made my peace with Luton a while back, which I needed to because it was a little bit of an acrimonious exit. And then I got a call a few weeks ago and said, look, would I be interested? They felt... that I was right for the club at this stage, not just to try and keep them up, but obviously for the club.
And it came about there and I sort of had a few conversations with people I already knew and sort of I've got a good relationship with and then was obviously offered the role.
Nathan, there's a couple of things really that you've already sort of touched on there that I wanted to ask you. Number one, what has been the fan reaction? I know there's no sort of not been football, so you haven't had a game at the stadium, but social media, the local news, etc. Have you had a good reception? And number two, you alluded to how difficult the championship was.
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Chapter 4: How has Paul Merson's experience shaped his views on the Premier League restart?
Obviously, you've done really well with Luton in League One. I've noticed that the three teams that were promoted from League One last season are in the bottom three of the championship this season. Is there a massive gap or is it one that you think that those three teams perhaps should be doing slightly better?
Look, it's wrong for me to comment on three teams that I haven't had anything to do with this championship season. But it's definitely a step up. A step up in quality, athleticism. It's relentless leagues and real good teams. A lot of ex-Premier League teams and so on. So it definitely is a step up in quality. We recruited a certain...
type of belief that could that was that was going to be adaptable for the championship we were all obviously needed to add a little bit more quality as as as well but we felt that there's a squad here that's that's capable of of staying up now that's going to be tough from from this position but we're going to give it a go i mean as for the fans and their frustrations.
I understand certain things. When I left, because we were in a magnificent place, I had a wonderful relationship with them. One of the best points per game that they'd ever had and so on.
Chapter 5: What insights does Gary O'Neil provide about the evolving role of a football manager?
So a lot of those and a real good feeling around the club. And then suddenly I was gone and I regret that side of it because I could have done that exit better, if I'm honest.
Well, Don mentioned there, Nathan, about the size of the task in hand. Let's just remind ourselves exactly where Luton are at the specific moment in time before we get back into the fixtures. Now, there they are, 23rd, six points away from safety. But as we've seen and as we know, how quick, especially more so now, how quick fixtures come along in the championship.
The bit's certainly between your teeth there when you talk, Nathan. You know it's going to be a challenge, but the man that we've got to know over the course of the last few years is absolutely not scared about something such as that, are you?
No, look, and you can't be, but the big thing for me was I came into a group that I knew, an environment that I...
you know i probably wouldn't have done it for for other other other clubs if if i'm honest or i would have taken a different route a different because it's a difficult one but i believe that we can do i believe that we've got a squad here that can get a certain number of results now if we get those results it gives us a wonderful chance of staying up we can't affect and we're not going to worry about anyone else we will have a target of getting to a certain level of
of points and that's a realistic target and if we get there it'll give us an opportunity and as I said for me it's all about the group and the environment I have here the culture because I know that because that's it's not too different in terms of the people the personnel from when I left.
Nathan it's obviously well documented the tough time at Stoke we would have spoken about it myself and getting yourself off camera and at length about it tough times
The predicament you find yourself in now with Luton, and we've seen it with other managers that have been sacked, have gone through tough times, coming out the other side, I suppose, what can you take from it into the next chapter of your career? Is there something in particular that you learned that can really benefit from you?
Keith, I look back now and I've been very conscientious in writing the journal and certain things like that.
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Chapter 6: How does racism continue to impact football today?
It's been a wonderful learning year. I mean, look, I'm really disappointed that I didn't do the work at Stalker that I did at Luton, for example, because that's what I believed we could do. Now, I wasn't able to do that, but I learned so much. I was given enough time. I had a great owner, great owners, a lot of good people around the club. It's just a lot tougher job than I envisaged.
Now, I went in, tried to do exactly the same as I did Luton in terms of changing the culture, the environment, because it needed that change. But I actually not forgot, but didn't place enough emphasis on just getting results. If I just got results, I would have had enough time and still a lot of work to do there. It was a massive learning curve, but a great, great learning curve.
And I said, ironically, I'm a better manager now than I was when I went to Stoke. And that's been the big learning curve. Look, I'm not saying, look, it's been a wonderful year for me, because it hasn't, and it's been tough. And I'm sorry I didn't do that work and get Stoke to the place I felt I could. But for me, I'm in a fine place in all aspects of my career now.
Chapter 7: What are the expectations for the upcoming Euro 2020 tournament?
Don't touch on you. You've obviously know League One very, very well. You've coached all throughout the leagues. You've coached at Premier League level. I suppose what I'm getting at is the level of player. You have to tweak the way you manage players at different levels.
You do, but characters, it's more characters. I don't think it's players. I think it's characters. You have to manage different characters. Now, look, I had been, and people say, yeah, but you worked at, you know, in League Two, League Two players. No, it's not, because I worked with you at Brighton. You were a Premier League player. You're an international player.
I knew what I was going to get from you day in, day out when you came in to train.
Chapter 8: How do players adapt to playing without fans in the stadium?
I knew exactly where from you, Matty Epson, England international, Leo Joa, you know, all these international players. So I've worked with a higher, you know, a top level player. It's just what I enjoy doing better than anything is working with a top level character. What we did at Luton was we managed to recruit every single...
Every single human being was hungry, wanted to get the best out of their career, their life, every single thing. And they would do anything to get there. And we had that environment. And that's why we did so well at that time.
Dealing with egos, Nathan, I can only relate to how that feels sometimes, especially with the likes of Mr. Andrews and his mood swings. With regard to Luton hitting the ground running, hopefully from your point of view, we talk about, as I said earlier on, fixtures come thick and fast in the championship, but it's going to be a very... Different way of approaching it.
I mean, look at the fixtures coming up. Big games pretty much from the off between now and the end of the season. Are you looking at each game separately? Are you looking at this block of games and working out who's going to be used where? And perhaps, as maybe sometimes managers can fall into, pick the games where you're going to be looking for the result rather than with regards to other games?
Look, in all, I'm very methodical and OCD with my planning, but look, at the minute, you have to take every game that comes, especially in this environment, because, one, you've had minimal time to prepare a group of players for Championship football, which is as intense a football as you're likely to have in the world.
Secondly, there are a cluster of games coming up where you're going to have to, with travel arrangements, which are totally different from before. We haven't got the luxury here of being able to fly to games and things like that, but hotels, we don't know yet what kind of preparation we can have with hotels. Thirdly, We are tested twice a week. Any positive tests can have an impact on squads.
So with all due respect, I plan, I do 12 hours, 13 hours a day. I practically live at the training ground. But we will plan to the best of our ability for every individual game. But we're going to have to be adaptable as I think every other team.
team are going to be at a meeting the other day about sort of with the managers about I don't think it's an unrealistic start date but to then prepare a championship squad for nine championship games in 29 games was very difficult so we've had a little bit of a leeway with with no midweek game in the first thing but it's going to be very very difficult and I'd be very surprised if the playoff final championship playoff final that both teams play in their best team that's going to be that's going to be interesting
Nathan, you touched on the size of the task right at the start of this interview. It is a big task, but do you take comfort in the fact that actually Luton, pre the break, had just started to pick up? Is that a positive that you can really focus on? And have you set yourself points target.
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