It’s been a fantastic fortnight for the Grecians, with two wins on the road, new faces in the January transfer window and some brilliant post-match celebrations and Park Life is back to dissect it all.
#ECFC #ExeterCity #SemperFidelis
📺 Make sure you SUBSCRIBE 👊 https://ecfc.co/YouTubeSub
📼 View more videos 👉 https://ecfc.co/YouTube
🔎 Find us online:
📌 Facebook 👉 https://ecfc.co/Facebook
📌 Twitter 👉 https://ecfc.co/Twitter
📌 Instagram 👉 https://ecfc.co/Instagram
📌 Snapchat 👉 search ‘officialecfc’
📌 Website 👉 exetercityfc.co.uk
📌 Club Shop 👉 shop.exetercityfc.co.uk
🎟 Buy tickets 👉 ecfconline.co.uk
📧 Ticket help 👉 tickets@ecfc.co.uk
Is the goaler he’s been picked out s St to his ankle picks out STV that’s the hattick and that’s what dreams are made [Applause] of hello everybody and welcome to park life the official exter City Podcast oh how things have improved since our last show two massive wins against Bristol
Rover and barnesley plus we finally got our hands on a striker there’s plenty to get through before our second Clash with Rovers this weekend so without further Ado let’s get started coming up in today’s show I’m joined by Park life regular Sam parks to dissect our recent victories as well as
Get his opinion on city’s new signings City Defender Czech diarte also joins me to chat about how he forced his way into the starting 11 and how the team have turned things around in recent weeks we also get the lowdown on Saturday’s opposition from the gas casts Max Alderson before the club sustainability
Officer Travis Bramley talks us through what you can do to support Green football weekend first up then I’m joined by expression FM Sam parks to get his opinion on a big week in City’s season Sam welcome to park CLI things have changed a bit since we last had you on
The show before that game against Cambridge at the Abbey Stadium uh City had gone 12 League games without a win now we’ve won three of our last five in League one what a turnaround yeah a really good turnaround you know you’ve got to give credit to to Gary for the
Club for sticking with him as well and you know above else the the players as well you know they’ve really put a shift in and we’re starting to see some goals and really strong defensive performances yeah I mean it’s been a hell of an upturn in form such a a good display
From The Lads on the weekend against Barnsley and before that against Bristol Roes what do you think it is that that’s caused this upturn in form you know a few weeks ago we were sat in the relegation zone now we’re up to 14th what do you think it is that that’s
Turned off form more round I think it’s belief uh more than anything you know we’ve always had quality on the pitch and during that spell there was chances that would come and they wouldn’t go in the back of the net but now you know ever since those first goals have gone
In that Wickam game probably being the turning point you know City and now feeling like they could shoot a bit more and they’re getting the rewards from that and winning games I know that you were at the Memorial Stadium for the Bristol Rovers game where if we’re being
Totally honest you know I think we played them off the park um what did you make of that performance it was a heroic victory for City yeah the first half especially it was it was all city um should have been you know it was one should have been more than one rys Cole
Off the post uh a few other good opportunities second half we we kind of sat back and defended the lead a bit but you know it was a really good away performance a very Spirited One and um I think City deserved the three points that they came away with Sonny Cox
Getting another goal what a sensation he’s been since returning from his lone spell at yville town he just looks such a different player doesn’t he yeah he he said in a few interviews you know he left a boy came back a man and he’s just re look really really sharp especially
That second ball in the penalty area you know he’s always first on it he gets all his goals off that and that’s what you need as a club that may not be getting those goals straight from Shots you know he finishes up the Second Chances yeah and then another clean sheet for Vil
Calo I believe that’s 10 in the League this season which is absolutely unbelievable really considering uh you know where we’ve been this season one thing that’s remained pretty strong throughout is our defensive resilience I’ve got CCH diatte coming on in just a a little bit how important has his
Performance been to to this upturn in form yeah Czech spren absolutely brilliant you know fans have praised him Gary’s praised him I think everyone’s going to praise him you know he’s been Rock Solid really good with the ball his feet and above all really dominant in
The air and he really offers us that you know kind of strength that I think he need as a as a defensive unit I mentioned that win against barnesley on the weekend a huge Victory which very few would have been brave enough to predict maybe we rodar like a little bit
In the latter stages of the game but those two strikes from Jack hon and REE Cole were certainly worthy of the victory you must have been immensely pleased with that one too right yeah L please you know it was really good to see Jack hon get his goal he’s been
Working really well the last few games I think him and sunny work really well as a pair so really good to see him get a goal and REE Cole you know one of my players of the season so far a lovely finish and then good defensively in the
Second half as well to see it out orbe it by conceding one but s out and uh well since that Victory against Barnsley things have only got better because the long search for a striker is finally over and well like London buses to come at once Mo Isa an out and Out Center
Forward with a proven goal scoring record in League one and Melena CI who we know Gary is is Keen to see play through that that Central Channel he certainly mentioned that and he’s also proven his goal scoring ability in the National League let’s start with Mo Isa
Um when I saw him in the red and white stripes yesterday I couldn’t help but get excited he’s a man who certainly knows where the back of the net is yeah Tom we talked about it and you know I’m really excited to to see him play you
Know he scored goals in League one before you know he was good at sheltonham he was even good last season at MK Dons even though they went down he grabbed 10 last season and you know that was in a team maybe not with the same quality as us so I’m really ex excited
To see him play he’s fast he can hold the ball up well and you know I’m really excited to see him through the middle yeah absolutely and uh well he’s he’s a goal scorer and I think that that is certainly what we need and uh he could
Well partner Sonny Cox’s up top there’s a lot that sonny can learn from from an experienced Striker like Mo iser that partnership up top maybe with Luke Harris and Jack heson in behind I think that’s pretty exciting yeah really exciting you know you’ve got a really experienced efl Striker who know these
Who knows these leagues like the back of their hand and you know Sunny Cox just coming into this league same with Harris it’s the perfect player to learn off yeah and just on a side note I I did notice that that’s now 12 different nationalities represented in the exor
City first team obviously moisa just signed he’s sudin I think it’s quite nice to see so many nationalities represented at our football club yeah really really nice you know it just shows how diverse the the group is and they all work really well together so it’s amazing to see and our second
Signing of the day was Millen Ali from Halifax town a Winger who’s found the back of the net seven times in 21 games this season he’s never played at this level but do you think he’s ready to to take that step up I think this signing
Is a really good B City and it it screams of the future you know a two and a half year deal a bit like Harper we saw in the summer you know coming up from the national league looking really exciting and I think it may seem like a
Big step up on paper but you know the if you just ease him into the team you know give these chances he looks a really Dynamic player who can play in all those you know attacking positions which is really exciting for City and you know you’d expect him to come on Leaps and
Bounds at a club like us you’d certainly hope so uh and players who we’ve signed from non- leue recently um especially this season they’ve managed to take that step up pretty well Vinnie Harper looks a natural at this level Rees Cole he’s been one of our best players this season
Maybe the step up isn’t quite as hard as some may seem yeah you know I think a lot more credit has been given to National League in the last few seasons you know away from our club teams like rexam and not County they’re smashing League throughout the park at the moment
And they’ve just come straight up from the national league um so you know a lot of credit has to go to that league and the players that are in that League because there are really quality players and hopefully Alli is another one of those yeah one of the one other player
That I’ve seen him compared to is uh Randall Williams who we had a few seasons ago of course there’s a few similarities a real flare player great dribbler but he also knows how to find the back of the net and uh well of course that backflip celebration as well
I suppose we could be looking at a player who maybe is a bit similar to Randall Williams and if that’s the case it’s going to be a great signing yeah really exciting signing it’ll be you know Rand was so good and he’s now off at Bolton you know starting in a team
That’s top of League one so you know uh a really good signing and if if it he’s anything like randelle then you know we’re going to have a very exciting prospect on our hands well yeah certainly um Alli unfortunately won’t be available for selection on Saturday due
To a slight knock uh but one man who certainly will be is mois is signing of course strengthens the squad ahead of Matt Taylor return to St James Park he is of course a manager who this club owes a lot to um you can tell immediately that there’s immense respect
From from that towards the club we gave him some of his best memories playing the game and also helped launch his managerial career and then he gave us some fantastic memories of course including that promotion that night against Barrow um I think everybody’s really looking forward to to welcome him
Back on on Saturday yeah he was he’s an absolute Legend at the club and you know we all appreciate what he did for us and I guess he appreciates what we did for him as well it’s a really really nice relationship and you know he gave the
Fans some respect when we were away there um the other week you know came over clapped us for a little bit which was which was nice to see but you know I think it’s just a really really mutual appreciation between you know the club and Matt Taylor which is really nice to
See and I suppose it’s quite a good time to reflect on how much the the squad has changed since Matt’s departure there’s not many who have who have stuck around I guess or not many that we’ve managed to keep hold of Harry kite Alex harridge Czech diarte Carl Taylor I think they’re
The main ones but there’s been so many changes and whil I I suppose it’s always hard to say goodbye to those who have decided to move on it’s interesting to compare the two squads now that Gary has really had a chance to to stamp his authority on on this team yeah really
Really interesting you know you got Pier Sweeney still in there of course yeah of course yeah sorry still W but you know it is really interesting you know quite a lot of Matt Taylor’s players that he signed and were at the club have gone on
To to bigger things to be honest um you know bigger teams up in League one LS of Archie Collins and then you’ve got a whole host of players playing in the championship as well you know Josh key n of course but you know it’s not a bad thing um player managers always get
Their stamp on squads and it’s nice to see Gary you know finally making this squad his own yeah but there is little room for sentiment during a 90-minute football match we know know how tough It’s it will be to to beat Rovers again you know we had to work quite hard last
Tuesday but on Saturday it could be a completely different game we’ve got to be our best if we want to get three points on Saturday yeah I think it’s going to be a bit tougher than uh on the Tuesday night you know Chris Martin looks like he’s back he scored at the
Weekend he’s Rover’s you know best player the season and he signed a new contract as well they’ve got some Midfield signings as well in for Grimsby looks really impressive you know I think it’s going to be a different look Bristol Rover team and they’ve got the players that could hurt us they just
Didn’t turn up on the Tuesday that we played them but you know City can do it you know they’ve showed how they can play against Rovers and I think there’s more in the tank for for the boys yeah and since then they’ve only gone and beaten Oxford United 3-1 promotion
Chasing Oxford which isn’t absolutely fantastic result they’re a good side and we’ll have to be our best to beat them but with with Mo ier in attack uh perhaps we can do so um let’s finally look forward to P bre United who visit the park on Tuesday night we all know
How good they are they’ll be battling for promotion come the end of the season it’s also a return to SJP for two Academy graduates archley Collins and Joel Randall are you looking forward to seeing some familiar faces back at the park yeah Archie especially you know a
Promotion hero and he was so good last year um Joel rall an interesting one you know he’s been injured didn’t play down here last year and he didn’t really play in front of fans for City you know he was during that Co period so we we
Didn’t see much of Joel Randall um who left before the promotion season which is really really interesting but yeah I guess both of them will be you know happy to be back and there’ll be some you know joyous reunions between some of the players and and Archie and and Joel
Yeah well we’ll have to wait and see but once again I suppose this is quite similar to the Portsmouth game back in December where we did manage to get a point from let’s not forget we’ll have to be our best to beat them it’s going
To be a tough tough game game to to get anything from but if we are to do so we’re going to have to be at our very best yeah look I think at home against a good team City can have anyone on their day we saw it last season we’ve seen it
This season you know we played really well against pompy we only just lost to barnley in the 90th minute as well right back in October so you know on a Tuesday night um against Peter BR you know you you’d have to you know hope City can get
A point and if not more yeah well absolutely and well we’ll have to wait and see we uh two big games coming up at the park in a matter of a few days so plenty to look forward to Sam thank you so much for joining us on Park life yet
Again and uh well we’ll we’ll certainly hear your voice again on Park life in in the next few weeks thanks Sam no worries thank you Tom next I’m joined by City Center half Czech diarte to talk about returning to the starting 11 and how the team have completely turned things
Around after that 13 match winless run cck welcome to park life thanks for coming on you’ve had quite the couple of months if we look back to November you weren’t really playing as as much as you would have liked you were played out of position as a striker and not really
Getting those chances to Showcase your ability but fast forward two months and you’re one of the first names on the team Sheet you won player of the month for December and you kept four clean sheets that is quite the achievement yeah I’m I’m really happy of that
Achievement of course uh but yeah like you said start of the season was so difficult you know I wasn’t really involved I was questioning so much like it’s it’s really hard for a player to go through like a period like that uh and it’s the first time in my short career
That I’ve experienced like being in the position like that so obviously when Matt was here you know I broke into the team I was playing week in week out we got promoted I started the league you know up until I got injured uh same thing when I came back from injury I
Straight back in So for you know majority of my short career I’ve always been playing you know and this season was so tough mentally you know from the start of the Season all the way up until I say like December time I was questioning whether I was still good
Enough you know I didn’t really believe in myself I was coming into training not really happy not really wanting to be there um and yeah it was a difficult time but you know with patience you you can get through times like that you showed immense resilience to get back
Into the team and cement your place in the starting 11 that must have taken some real mental strength to to put yourself into that position and and keep going yeah um like to be fair you always hear stories where you know a player says oh yeah you know they’ve been left
Out like you hear this with a lot of EX players you speak to will tell you that this is just football you know gaffa told me when he was at celic there was always like you know three four other Center halfes and you know it was always
Competition for places and he never felt safe and I guess that’s that’s how football is and you know in in a way it does make you a better player um and I’m not obviously you said that I’ve cemented my spot um I feel like I haven’t do you know what I mean because
I know that there’s other players that are ready to take my spot if I’m not doing the job if I’m not doing what I need to do so that kind of keeps me on my toes and every game like I’m thinking like you know I need to perform well
Every single game so that I can keep playing cuz um for me I just always want to be out there on the pitch I always want to play 90 minutes um because that’s what I enjoy doing I love playing playing games you know when it comes to
A game day you know that’s that’s the day of the week I look forward to the most so I I obviously want to be out there Your Big Break came against Stephen it’s right um put back in position at Center back at the LX I was there and you were Unstoppable in that
Game what I saw more than anything in that second half particularly was the Deep passion you have for ex the City Football Club and I think everyone saw that when you celebrating yanex equalizer how much did that game give yourself confidence that that boost and and give you that self- belief that that
You can be a top Defender at this level well that game that day was just like it felt so good like the satisfaction I felt and I’m pretty sure all the other Lads in in the squad obviously I used to play for stevenage so going back to the
Lamics that’s where I got told I wasn’t good enough or they they thought I wasn’t good enough to make it into their first team and you know it’s where I kind of got released uh in one of the offices so for me the LX isn’t just a
Stadium it’s like where I got told by you know two people you’re not good enough basically so when I when I went there obviously I knew I was playing in my position again and I was like I don’t know I felt like I had something to
Prove to everyone to Gary to the fans um to myself to to to everyone really so that’s how I went out and I went out and I feel like this season that’s my best performance 100% um in terms of everything I was composed on the ball
You know I defended well I headed a lot of balls and I felt very good yeah since then you’ve recorded a few clean sheets that that one against uh Portsmouth was particularly impressive but the one against uh Bristol Rovers away and of course we played them this weekend as
Well two brilliantly uh brilliant performances uh and of course you can’t forget Cambridge at home um just talk to me about those last two games though um the morale of the squad must be absolutely over the moon at the moment because we’ve come through such a
Difficult period as a club 13 without a win to then win three and five I I suppose that the relief amongst the squad must be intangible really yeah you know like at the moment in the training ground and even in the change rooms before the games you feel like you know
The the squads like you feel like we have a lot of confidence right now um like you said we went through a crazy patch of games where we just weren’t winning where things were going against us um and yeah it was very very difficult um everyone was doubting their
Themselves and yeah it was it was a tough time it was a tough time but now you know the last two last five games I think we’ve been outstanding I think we’ve been we’ve been good we’ve been solid and we’ve shown what we’re capable
Of and uh we got 1 games left of the season so I think that that’s that’s more than enough games to you know do something good and end this season on the high so you know I’m looking forward to to the next 17 games and the goal now
Is to finish as high as possible yeah not just avoid relegation finish as high as possible um I know that Demi said that the wait he posted on Twitter didn’t he um that the gaffa challenged you to get seven points from the last three games and that’s exactly what
You’ve done did you genuinely believe that that you could go get those seven points when you looked at the fixtures that that were coming uh so yeah I genuinely myself I believe that yeah we could have done it um I’m pretty sure a lot of the ls you know I
Can’t speak for for the other LS but I’m pretty sure a lot of them believed it as well and that showed in our performances you know um Cambridge we should have won that game you know we had chances um we just couldn’t put it away on the day and
Then Bristol Rovers was you know it’s a tough place to go away but the way we played shows that you know we believed in what we was doing we believed in the manager tactics and we went and we executed it um and same you know to be
Fair when I saw um barnesley my honest opinion was all right they’re top five in the league but that doesn’t really mean anything like if we go and we we do what we have to do we’ll beat them and the gaffer was saying the same thing and
You know that’s what we we went and did we went and we you know done what he told us to do and it and it all worked um so yeah he set a goal and we achieved it yeah outstanding really um what do you think the turning point was um you know
We’re playing just as well as I’ve seen us play since you know many times during that promotion season sometimes during last season as well we were excellent but this is this is just as good as as as any of that and that’s credit to the players and the coaching staff but how
Did you turn it around that’s that’s a difficult question you know because a lot of people could say you know Stephen AG was was a Turning Point um a lot of people could say Wicken I don’t I don’t really know exactly I couldn’t tell you exactly
When the turning point was but um in in football momentum is important and confidence as well and from I’ll say from the Cambridge game even the Portsmouth game like getting a point at home to the top of the league I think that that gave us a huge boost and you
Know we were think personally I was thinking that if we can keep a clean sheet um against Portsmouth who are top of the league and our XG was higher than theirs as well we can beat anyone in this league that was my mentality you know
And I think yeah I think if I think of all the games all the recent games I think the Portsmouth game was probably like the turnaround and where we saw that we’re actually capable of you know doing good things and beating these so called Big teams do you know what I mean
So um I’ll say I’ll say that was the game where yeah it was like a turning point kind of um it sounds ridiculous now but you kind of have to avoid complacency after going on such a a good run let’s look towards the future Bristol Rover again on Saturday a chance
For you to do the double over them um what kind of match are you preparing for we’re preparing obviously this we we played them I think what a week two weeks ago now um so they’re going to they’re going to come more prepared you know they’re going to know exactly you
Know what we’re good at they’re they’re going to know um so we need to be prepared to you know do even more than what we did away from home uh because we we know that they know how we play now and they know what to expect as well
From us um so it’s going to be a I feel like it’ll be a close game um but I do feel we I do feel like we’re a better team than Bristol and I do feel like we’ll get the win we just need to you
Know do what we need to do and execute um our tactics um but like you said about complacency as well that’s one thing you can’t do um and I don’t think any of the lads in our Squad get complacent you know because for us it’s
When when we win a game we move on to the next you know we don’t think about it we just move on because in football games come thick and fast and you can’t dwell on whether you’ve lost or whether You’ve Won you can’t you just can’t do
That so obviously the Barnsley game was amazing now that’s in the past and we got to move on and look forward yep absolutely and uh we got two new players who are going to be a part of that Journey going forward Mo Isa signed uh yesterday or at least as as when we
Recording it and so did melen Calli have you had a chance to to meet the two new players yeah I met them today um MOA um I played against him last season uh he’s a good player and and Millen ali um obviously I don’t know too much about
Him but from what I’ve heard and from what I’ve seen from clips that I’ve watched of him he’s he’s he’s a good player as well so I think both of them will definitely add good quality to us and I think I feel like we do need that
As well um and personally I think with these two signings and the squad we have already I think we can finish on a High um this season and you know 17 games like I said it’s a lot of opportunities to literally change our season around
And see what how how high we can finish how high do you think we can finish no comment no comment no comment well you know whatever whatever happens will happen like you know I don’t like obviously I’ve got a prediction in my head but you know you never know what
Will happen like we we’ve got to keep on winning games we’ve got to keep on performing and you know I don’t think it’s good to look at the end goal you got to you know go through the process is we take it game by game and if we
Take it game by game you know by the end of the season we’ll see where we end up but it’s it’s hard work it’s not easy and you can say as much as you want oh yeah we’ll finish here we’ll finish there but if you’re on the pitch and
You’re not doing what you got to do you’re not you’re not going to get there so for me the most important is thinking about every game as it comes not the not the final result it’s all about the next game then brist Rover on Saturday and uh
Well it looks like the the squad a feeling quite confident uh but uh we’ll have to wait and see obviously brista R is a great side and uh onwards from there at the moment the the turnaround in form seems to to be doing us wonders
Uh cck thank you so much for joining us on Park life this week uh been great to hear your Insight all right thanks Tom cheers next up we get the lad down on Bristol Rovers from the gas casts Max alerson Max welcome to park life thanks
For coming on H it’s not been long since we last played Bristol Rovers last week in fact and I’m not sure if many would have predicted the outcome of that one Rovers weren’t in great form but nor we regardless City secured the 1-nil victory through Sonic Cox which has
Sparked a decent run of form for the team rois fans however must have been left pretty frustrated after an evening of disappointment how did you feel after that one Max yeah probably the angriest i’ I’ve felt all season to be honest um I felt that we didn’t have much
Character on our side at all um the conditions were horrendous I don’t know if you went to the game but the wind and the rain was just um the worst I’ve seen in many a year down the me which made you know playing football obviously a
Big challenge um the fact that you guys were obviously struggling a little bit and try desperate for the win to obviously push yourselves up the table um so the gaet was kind of there to to step up to the plate and and you know tackle the game head on but we just
Didn’t have any kind of character or personality about us to to to match you guys and yeah you deservedly um won the game I probably would have said a draw would maybe have been fair but I think when I’m looking at the character of the two sides and who wanted it more
I think no doubt was was ex to City so yeah I know it was a very frustrating game I was frustrated just by the fact that you know none of us none of our Squad really looked up for it which is one of the most disappointing things you
Can kind of witness as a fan but um we’ve sent spank back so I’m a little bit less angry um but yeah the game itself was frustrating for sure yeah well it certainly looked it um obviously you know joyous for us but but very disappointing for your lot you were
Missing a couple of decent players though a couple of key players uh perhaps some of the poor performance can be blamed on the absent of Chris Martin top goal scorer this season since that game he’s returned from injury and also signed a new contract with a club meaning he’ll be available for selection
On Saturday how much did you miss his quality last Tuesday yeah I would I would say yeah we did miss it but I don’t think we created a great deal either Chris is quite a uh he’s a finisher really he doesn’t massively create his own chances the the only
Chance he does create for himself is by being in a good position and be able to um use his wide range of different finishes and he’s got a cracking shot on him from any any distance really but where he really kind of thrives is in
That box and he kind of loose balls he PS us on so he does kind of need that service um and I just don’t think on that Tuesday night we we look like we were creative at all um until probably the last 15 minutes of the game where
Where we suddenly woke up but yeah we massively missed him it’s been good to have him back he obviously scored against Oxford on Saturday on his return signed a signed a new contract which is great news and yeah he’s been a really surprising signing because he’s not
Exactly a young man anymore um in the Twilight of his career um recently played for for our red neighbors across the river in South Bristol and um yeah that pretty much all of my friends who are Bristol City fans have said as soon as he signed that you’ll just love him
And I was like I don’t know man he’s a journeyman Striker he’s 35 he’s not exactly you know Young Blood energy that we need but he’s been fantastic he’s he’s in double digits for goals I think gotten going in September with not much of a preseason and yeah he there’s
Tricks in the old dog yet so yeah he’s he’s been pretty integral to the way we we set up um and we’ve kind of built our attack around feeding him and and it’s worked really well so I can’t really have too many complaints well Chris Martin signed a new contract and you’ve
Also strengthened Elsewhere on the pitch as well the signing of Camille con it even got for briter Romano talking he looks a great acquisition yeah no really exciting signing and and really smart to kind of jump on a player you don’t often see um players leave within six months of
Joining a club um because you signed for grimby Town um on a three-year deal and he’s only six months into that not even that I mean he signed in in the summer and it was January so yeah not not long at all and he’s already on the move
Again to us um so it’s quite smart business for us to to kind of see that he’s got a release claw see that he’s a hot Prospect and jump in before maybe the Summer where he’ll probably have a lot more interest probably for top end League one Championship Club so yeah I
Really like him he’s exactly what we needed to be honest um we’ve got a few injuries particularly in the Midfield um in defensive Midfield so Grant Ward who’s kind of our sitting um Jack of all Trade Center mid is is unfortunately out for the next month or two so he was a
Big player we missed against yourselves on Tuesday and I really felt that we lacked that kind of cover for the defense obviously you scored on a on a breakway and we were just backing off backing off backing off um and then it was just a bit of a defensive Calamity
So we kind of need that Guardian in front of that back line and camel con looks exactly like he can do that against Oxford City on um sorry yeah Oxford United on um Saturday he looked brilliant in that role he didn’t look like he had masses of energy he wasn’t
Busting a gut flying into tackles he’s not that kind of defensive midfielder he just kind of marks a man out of a game perfectly and then he’ll just slip out from the shadows and just win win the ball when when you don’t expect in series kind of quite a patient defensive
Mid I mean I’m only basing it on what the one game I’ve seen but he looked very calm very assured and we were look really solid with him in that Midfield so I’m very pleased with the signing 21 years old it’s just kind of ticks all the boxes really yeah absolutely and one
Change you made uh from the game against us to the Oxford game uh was your goalkeeper of of course I I think goalkeeper ARS kind of come uh just every year when when we play you at the me I think it was James Bel sure the
Year prior and and then Matthew Cox who spilled his effort into Sonny Cox’s path uh which gave us the the goal on Tuesday you replaced him with Jed Ward who was your number two for much of the first half of the season does he look a little bit more
Competent I mean I I hate to to really play down a player like like Cox who’s obviously a young professional England under 20 goalkeeper trying to make his way but he’s been a massive point of debate for the whole season um particularly being the one who’s kind of replaced James belshaw our promotion
Winning um player of the season from League 2 when we came up with yourselves um Bel obviously struggled in League one as you saw firsthand um both not just at the Memorial Stadium but St James’s Park as well with the uh he got chipped I
Think there as well um later on which is frustrating so yeah belshaw was obviously replaced this this keeper Cox on loan from brenford kind of boasted a more possession based keeper style sweep a keeper play out from the back good long range passing and it kind of started out
That way he looked pretty decent in early on but I think when kind of the fixture started to pile up and the pressure started to mount the manager changed this that the other um and we didn’t quite have as good a season as we thought I think kind of his errors have
Been highlighted and he’s not looked the keeper that we need um and I think yeah it’s been frustrating that we can’t have a keeper who wins you points we have a keeper that’s unfortunately lost us some points and I think the the game against yourselves on Tuesday was
Was the straw that that broke the camel’s back really that that made Matt Taylor say you know what we’ve got a really good young goalkeeper in in Jed Ward 20 years old um who’s W of our own I think it’s got to the point now where we’re probably safe um you would think
Um with not much of the Season left to play there’s enough breathing space there below us and unfortunately too much distance to kind of catch up in front of us that we’re kind of looking towards next season already so it’d be great if Jed can get you know 15 20
Games between now and the end of the season to just kind of get that experience um and and kind of potentially be number one for for next year because ultimately what as good as you know it is to have a young professional like Cox he’s not been good
Enough and it’s now at the point where we’re just developing someone else’s player so that’s kind of why Jed came in and he looked brilliant he made some fantastic saves um unfortunate not to keep the clean sheet was a hand ball goal by Oxford deflected uh effort but
Yeah he looked really really assured and yeah I’m excited to see more of him he’s a local lad and yeah you could you could see what it meant to him to get man of the match as well yeah he certainly looks a good young Talent um you’ve
Mentioned Matt Taylor a couple of times and of course naturally every exto city fan will be looking straight towards the dogout on Saturday because it’s Matty’s first game back at St James Park since his last managing exitor which as you know was was funnily enough against
Bristol rers um talk to me about your opinion on on Matt what he’s done for the club since he he joined in December and uh and and everything else that that comes with Matt Taylor because he’s a great man we all know that and he’s also a decent tactician as well yeah he’s
What kind of struck me early on is the the fixtur list he kind of inherited um I think we had Portsmouth at home Bolton away and Charon at home uh and we won all three um you know good wins and I think what kind of stuck out was the
Just the the way we nullified the opposition um and we just looked like we were doing the basics a lot more Taylor’s massively simplified things down he’s gone back to basics he talks about Basics all the time as you probably know um but this his postmatch interviews refreshingly honest and you
Can just see what he’s trying to do he’s just trying to keep it quick keep it efficient in in tight areas and what I’ve noticed most of was kind of the overloads all over the pitch we’re playing a five at the back or three at
The back of 343 and there just seems to be options everywhere every time a player has it there’s at least three open options and it’s just it’s just so great to watch it’s it’s been not without its difficult periods as you can see we’re not in a great bit of form at
The minute but I think a lot of that is down to injury um needing Fresh Faces in needing yeah some new signings and unfortunately needing some extra staff as well because he’s not been massively well supported since he coming in he’s he’s brought in Jamie McAllister um on
The coaching staff but not much else and coming into the January window we don’t have a recruit recruitment department or anything like that so he’s literally doing all off his own back so it’s been of a strug been a bit of a struggle for him unfortunately that’s just how it’s
Gone with Barton pretty much having his entire setup being his kind of guys from the recruitment team to the physios to the coaches so when he left all of that left unfortunately so Taylor is really working with the bare bones here and I think overall he’s doing a pretty good
Job yeah it certainly sounds like it and of course Jamie McAllister is somebody who we know quite well um from exto city as well so a couple of them linking up another former exto city Defender at least and obviously Matt and Jamie both being Defenders too um another who will
Be returning to St James Park I believe for the first time in his career um his City Academy graduate George friend who lines up against his Boyhood club uh for the first time since you know he left the club in 2008 he had a a lone spell a
Couple of years later but he’s never played against exter city which I find astonishing really um what’s he been like for Rovers since joining in the summer because I know Gary admitted that we had spoken to him about potentially returning to city but he opted for for
Rovers in the end yeah he um I think he he’s got a lot of roots in Bristol as well he played for the Rover Academy as as a young lad as well um played for Bristol city as well I believe um so I think he has got tires in Bristol which
May have played a part in the move but yeah unfortunately he’s suffered from a lot of injuries um not really had a consistent run in the side but when he’s kind of been called upon he’s been you know pretty solid um he played in a back three against Oxford which I don’t think
He’s done this season um maybe only once or twice um usually under Barton he was at left back um but yeah he kind of played left Center back and looked really really good um vocal good leader solid I just wish he could kind of keep
A bit um bit fitter in terms of his injury record but that’s going to happen at his age as it’s happened with James Wilson as well um we’ve just been really unlucky this season with injuries and it’s kind of hampered us but I really like George friend I’m interested to see
What Taylor will do with him in the summer because he’s I believe he’s out of contract so it be interested to see if he extends for another year or if um he kind of drops to leaves for another club let’s move on to Saturday then and
Uh well St James Park hasn’t been the happiest of hunting grounds uh for brista Rovers in recent years in fact since the turn of the century Rover have won just one in 10 games at the park and that was all the way back in 2012 so I
Make that 12 Richard scored in that game I believe you may be right you may be right um I don’t have that off the top of my head this did do did did take a little bit of research um but that was all the way back in 2012 so that what so
12 years since your last win at St James Park old well yeah um do you think this is the year that you can finally end that window streak I hope so I hope so I mean I’ve looked back and there’s been some great games down there I can
Remember some that we’ve been really unlucky in and some that we’ve been really lucky in so I thinking back to I remember uh I believe it was when we got promoted from League 2 last time and Stuart Sinclair scored an absolute screamer ran the length of the pitch in
The rain and knee slid in front of the Rovers fans and then um I can’t remember who it was you had a young lad who who’d come back from loan and he scored a deflected effort and injury time to to earn yourselves a draw I’m sure some of
Your listeners will be able to recall but I can’t remember his name off the top of my head so I remember that one being really gutting and then on the flip side I remember last season Ryan Loft an injury time um scoring to to
Earn us a 2-2 draw so yeah it’s always a good game it’s always um a really exciting one the only one that kind of raises alarm Bells was was the 4-1 um four-nil down in 20 minutes I think it was two under Barton but yeah I’m I’m optimistic this time that that we’ll
Give you you know hopefully a really good game and bring home the three points I think particularly because we’ve played you in the last week we’ll be I hope the players and the management team are as angry at that result as as us fans were um we’ll be wanting a
Response we’ve got some bodies back in Martin and Conte now in the middle solidifying that and uh yeah hopefully we can under better weather conditions give you a better showing of what we’re about because unfortunately we we really did not show you anything close to our
Best so I’m optimistic that we can kind of show up and at least you know give a good account of ourselves always expect wonderful weather down in Devon um but of course you know City are in good form it’s going to take a lot to to beat our
Side you know humbly I say but we have been in in decent form the win against Barnsley um on the weekend I’m sure raised a lot of eyebrows in League one that that must be on your mind of course yeah no you can’t underestimate anyone um
Rover’s for the last I don’t know how many years in League one obviously we had a quick stint in League two but we’ve always shown up against the top six top 10 top half teams and we we’ve kind of played better against teams who are higher up in the table maybe because
There’s more space to exploit maybe because you know teams are coming at you more and you can counter more but our Achilles he for the last decade or so has just been we are terrible against bottom half teams um no disrespect meant there um but everyone is you know rovers
Are on the verge of being a bottom half team themselves but that is where we fail to step up to the Mark is when we play teams who are fighting for their lives really um and fighting to stay in the division um it seems that we kind of
Struggle in that mid-table obscurity to kind of have that same motivation as teams down there um and unfortunately yeah we we haven’t really shown up and beaten teams that you would hope on paper that we would um but yeah I’m definitely not saying that this is one
On paper that I would expect us to win it’s a tough game and if you ask me now I’d be happy with the point so um yeah I’m definitely expecting a tough one well Max thank you so much for joining us on Park Live this week it’s going to
Be a good game I’m sure and uh well um best luck for the rest of the season obviously not on Saturday but that doesn’t need to be said it’s going to be a good game and uh well I mean there’s always a little added uh sort of twinge
To this one because it is a a semi loc rivalry I guess uh so lots to play for absolutely thanks so much for having me on finally I’m joined by City’s sustainability officer Travis Bramley to talk about what you can do ahead of City’s Green football weekend this week
Exter City celebrate Green football weekend and whilst that name probably need a bit of a rethink For Us slot in the red half of Devon it’s incredibly important to consider how us football fans are impacting the environment to explore this topic further I’m joined by the club sustainability officer Travis
Bramley now Travis firstly just tell our listeners about what the green football weekend is all about sure yeah well first of all thanks very much for having me on Tom it’s an absolute pleasure to be here um yeah really excited to kind of share more about the green football
Weekend and also more about what guess the club is doing in the area of su ability so yeah to answer your question green fot weekend is a essentially a it’s a nationwide campaign um there’s about 80 clubs who take part each year looks like it’s going to be a similar
Amount there year so it’s a big thing and basically it’s all about trying to get as many fans and stakeholders from across kind of the club’s operations to engage in more sustainable behavior and and trying to kind of change the mindset when it comes to what is sustainability
And and kind of trying to drip feed it into every everyone’s lives and not make it a real chore to to do and try and make it a little bit more fun and accessible as well in terms of you can score goals or make pledges for your
Team and that’s kind of the whole premise behind it is you make your team um go up the leaderboard or or down the lead board and depending on on how many fans pledge him that’s kind what it’s all oriented around is is trying to get your team to win the green football
Weekend trophy or cup at the end of it um and I think we’re currently sitting in in ninth position as as a recording um for for this weekend so yeah it’s going well so far for us EXA and whilst you know a lot of people when they hear
About climate change and the problems facing our environment at the moment you see uh images and videos of forest fires and and everything else that’s on the news it’s all quite quite a lot isn’t it but in actuality the solutions to a lot of these problems can just be done from
From home you know turning off a light bulb uh turning off the tap when you’re when you’re brushing your teeth whatever it might be these are big things or little things that can help solve a big problem yeah for sure I think um when you alluded to the the really big um
Kind of scary problems like wildfire flooding that kind of thing it can it can sometimes feel quite either quite abstract so it’s not something that we immediately think of in our daily lives and that’s quite it means it’s it’s quite difficult for us to think how can
We actually have an impact um but also you kind of feel quite powerless with it as well like you can’t do anything immediately to change it but I think what pledge ball and and Planet league and the green football weekend is trying to do is is put the kind of the ball in
In our court and actually make us and feel empowered and realize that small actions can actually add up to substantial totals and we know our fans are competitive right we we know that for sure so there’s always got to be uh an incentive to to get our fans to to
Get involved in this scheme and I suppose that’s exactly what the the leaderboard is for City currently sit ninth in the green football weekend League table ahead of some big clubs like Arsenal Liverpool Manchester City um they’re going to have to work hard to stay ahead of those teams yeah yeah we
Are I think so a few days ago we were actually had a Chelsea as well so um but Chelsea seemed to have had a bit of a a late run of form and and there a few few positions ahead of us at the moment but
I I reckon we can get get them back by the weekend if we if we put in a good shift and and get as many people on to the the green football weekend website and and making those pledges and kind of scoring those those Eco goals for us
Yeah what is it that the city fans can pledge uh to get those points on the leaderboard sure yes I mean so the the way it works is there’s two websites you’ve got pledge B and you’ve got Planet league so you go on to on onto
The pledge B site first and foremost all through the green football weekend kind of portal um and pledge ball is just a oneoff so you make pledges kind of um for the year so you say that you’re going to to walk or cycle to games or you’re going to eat vegetarian once
Twice a week things like that basically take public transport to to a game or or something something similar along those lines and it’s like a reverse carbon calculator so it then tells you how many kilograms of carbon dioxide that you will save by doing those actions and then that translates into the green
Goals that we have that kind of that push us up and down the leaderboard um and that’s kind of that will literally take you five minutes tops you feeling the detail you tick the boxes you’re done and that’s your kind of contribution to helping exit to hopefully climb that about leag table
But if you want to get more involved and you want to kind of get your family and friends involved and have a bit of a maybe a friendly rivalry with with a mate or something like that you go back onto the green football weekend website and then head across to Planet league
And basically that um allows you to to basically do daily actions so there are things on there like using um alternative milks so switching out cow’s milk for example to something like oat milk or rice milk or something whatever um or perhaps uh like yeah riding riding a bike to work or
Using a reusable water bottle um even downloading the green football weekend cookbook actually earns you a green goal like it’s really that simple um so it really really varies like in terms of what you can do and also for Planet League have to take a photo of what
You’ve done so you kind of have to prove a little bit of evidence as well to prove you’ve actually done it and that can be quite quite good fun to to get the especially the younger members of your family involved as well and and getting them thinking about their
Everyday behaviors and like I said you can do that pretty much daily and score more and more points and you still see yourself moving up the leaderboard as well as the the the club so yeah it can be quite addictive I think yeah well for sure and uh well City aren’t just asking
The fans to do um its work uh we’re also doing a lot of things ourselves um we’re giving for example a free tea or coffee to every supporter who shows a public transport ticket that has been used on the day to get to the ground uh we’re
Giving giving them a free tea or coffee and we’re even swapping out the default Hospitality menu option to vegetarian to give supporters the the option of a bit more of a sustainable lunch those little changes like like we just said which can make a huge difference yeah I think it’s
Like I said earlier on it’s all about making small changes that feel really manageable and and aren’t a huge kind of inconvenience because they they do add up and I think um it’s it’s all about getting people on board with sustainability instead of um I don’t want to necessarily use the word but
Alienated them against it because I get that it can feel like you almost have to be in one camp or the other but you really don’t like you don’t have to be an environmental activist to be interested and passionate about sustainability and caring about where we
Live and and and The Wider World in general and I think yeah I think from from a club perspective offering small tokens like that is is great to raise awareness for the for the green football weekend as a whole um but obviously we we hope that there’s going to be a bit
Of a legacy after the the green foot weekend as well from from certain sort Stadium activations um like for example we’re going to have some some charity bins for um secondhand children Sports clothing that are going to go down to to jelly in exitor um so that’s repurposing
Old Sporting Goods which is great um we’re announcing our partnership with train split which is a a train splitting um website company um and they basically for those of you not familiar with train splitting essentially you stay on the same train but the ticket is just literally split into two or more tickets
And that enables you to to save money on the regular fair so this website does that all for you so we’ve we’ve partnered up with them to enable ex City fans regardless of where you’re going it could be on your daily commute it could
Be going to a city game um but yeah you can save money through that portal so we we’re trying to to use green football weekend as a bit of catalyst for for Change and for good um off the back of it and there’s lots of work going on
Behind the scenes as well and that’s that’s largely what what my role is all about well yeah I was going to say this is probably quite a good time to bring up some of the work that the club have already done um because it’s we’re a club that pride ourselves on our green
Credentials and I think fairly so you know the canas for City scheme has been running for many many years and has saved thousands of cans uh from landfill the club also recently announced a new cup recycling scheme the bars around St James Park where fans can donate their
Their cups back to the club for reuse and then by doing so help save the planet and also raise a bit of money for charity these are the things that the club have have tried really hard to do to to help the uh the environmental course that the club supports yeah
Absolutely I think um you touched upon it there I think that the fact that we are we’re trust owned and we are a really integral part of our community and the community is a is a massive part of the club as well and I think that aligns really nicely with with the
Values of of sustainability and looking after not just the wider exitor area but but further outside side of that as well and sort of our responsibility in that sense is quite a um potentially quite a big polluter if we weren’t doing things right but I think yeah there’s there’s
Lots of things that that we’re looking into from you reducing energy usage to you water usage and all that kind of stuff um looking at how we can improve the biodiversity of of both our training ground but also St Jan Park as well obviously there’s a limited amount of
Space there where we can we can’t exactly PL a forest there for example but there are little things that we’re looking into and applying for AR some bits and pieces there um yeah there’s there’s there’s so much already going on obviously you mentioned that the cancer
City that’s been going on for years that massively predates me and and it’s fantastic to see the work that volunteers are doing the club and I think it’s it speaks volumes that I mean like Japan for example like they got worldwide coverage for for cleaning up the stands after their games at the
World Cup yet our fans do it every single game whenn Lose or Draw like it’s it’s amazing and the credit to credit to them um but yeah I think but a lot of it is is putting in systems in place that mean that we are um we’re taking responsibility for our actions going
Forward yeah I think we’re doing a lot of things right there are a lot of things we can be be doing certainly a lot better um and that’s reflected in our kind of score for the what’s called efl Green clubs framework I’m not sure many fans have heard of it but basically
It’s something that the efl have brought in um for every Club in the efl essentially a framework that you can score yourself against and if you get achieve above a certain score you become efl green Club accredited basically there only two clubs in the whole country that have been accredited so far
And you could probably guess one of them which is forest green and the other one is brist City and and our ambition is to to join those two clubs as soon as we can basically um so that’s kind of my role is to figure out what it is that we
Can do and get the best bang for a buck as well because not everything in like s sustainability measures can cost money and they can cost a lot of money so it’s it’s being smart about the resources that that we have available to us and a
Lot of things we can do with pretty minimal capital expenditure as well um and I think one of the biggest things for me so I started in November and bearing my it’s only it’s almost February so yeah it’s I’ve been here what two a a little bit months but the
The backing from the club and kind of the support that that you get when you ask a question even if it’s a really silly one in my case quite often but um people are very very quick to point you in the right direction and I think the the support that kind of sustainability
I think has at the top level of the club as well so we’ve recently um had a director of sustainability appointed which again is something that the green clubs framework recommends puts us in a really good stad because it means that there’s somebody the highest level of
The club sort of not fighting for sustainability but gives it a voice um and makes us consider that element when important decisions are being made um so I think that in itself shows the intention of the club going forward yeah well abely absolutely there’s so much
That the club is is doing really well it’s got to be said um but one thing that we can certainly agree on is that uh loads of fans need to get onto the The Pledge R site and and uh pledge some uh some time and some some things that
They’re going to do to help uh City climb that leaderboard and maybe overtake Chelsea which we can I hope to do I’m sure uh in the next few days ahead of our Green football weekend match against Bristol Rovers Travis thank you so much for coming on Park
Life um this week I think a lot of fans would have found that that conversation really informative and maybe will have inspired them to act a little bit more sustainable uh sustainably in their everyday lives so Travis thank you so much for joining us thanks for much Tom
Look forward to seeing all those pledges and green goals come flooding in after this thank you Travis cheers that’s all for this episode of Park life the official exas City Podcast let us know what you want to hear more of via our social media channels and don’t forget
To hit the follow button so you never miss an episode thanks for listening up the city is the goal scorer he’s been picked out soof down to his anle picks out STV that’s theck and that’s what dreams are made of