Episode 1 Late Kick Off London and the South East

From the four corners of the south- east they have come to follow with

pride. They are the club that refused to

die, marching on. They rise and reach towards

limitless Sussex skies. They battle, deep inside, they find

a way to survive and strive for more.

COMMENTATOR: What a goal, Kevin Nolan! For them, the glory of

winning England, its greatest prize. Bald Eagles swooped on the city to

keep their club arrive. And now they soar...

COMMENTATOR: Darren Ambrose! What a brilliant goal. An outstanding goal

from Darren Ambrose. From the valley of despair, they

forged new hope. In barking ham her blue they grew

beyond their forefather's dreams. And from Hertfordshire goals of old,

they once upheld the best. From the green lawns of the garden of

England where they fly the flag for Kent.

COMMENTATOR: It's in! To the south coast, where they found their way

home, at last. East to the orient, where they

stood the test of time. COMMENTATOR: The mission goes, it

is all over at Wembley. Way out west, they don't dim their spirits.

They keep the faith. COMMENTATOR: What a beautiful goal!

Made in Dagenham, red and blue, two clubs became one to scale new

heights. And enter the den, hear the lions

roar, the 12 man cheering, cheering on their team.

Their teams, 14 teams with 14 dreams.

The one and only, Barry Davis, taking us through the teams. We are

following them between now and May. I'm dauk Dan Walker delighted to be

with you. In the studio, we have Mark Bright and Sam Allardyce. Here

is what is coming up on the programme. West Ham's push for the

Premier League gathers pace, we speak to Big Sam about the big plan.

We discover the secret behind the Wimbledon's success.

And we ask how far League Two Crawley can go. We are the best in

Britain, behind Manchester United in terms of wins.

And remember when an injury crisis at Watford, led to a footballing

nightmare. Since this show is mainly about the Football Leagueing

league, Sam, I know you will not want to be here next year, but how

much are you enjoying London life? Very good. Settling into a

wonderful style of living in Canary Wharf. Me and my wife, Lineker. Not

too far from the training ground of up the on park, so comfortable, and

of course, more important will with the team's minuting -- winning.

Well, we start with AFC Wimbledon. Every single Dons supporter played

a part in getting in the league, but one fan did more than any to

complete the return. This parks the drbg mashes the

failure of a decade long plan by the fans to reinstate the team.

COMMENTATOR: Luton take theirs first... Courtesy of goalkeeper Sam

Brown! It's been denied! It was an emotional day. There are probably

about 1 million and one photos that I could do without being splashed

over the internet with me in tears. All too much for the Wimbledon man,

his parents are life holders of AFC season ticket holders.

Here, they are hoping it will now get them the goals to keep them

there. Growing up as a fan you must have watched this guy? It is crazy.

Everyone is so excited he has joined us.

Jason, are you feeling it? I think it is good to have that little bit

of pressure. It Spurs you on a bit more. For me it is about coming and

enjoying the football. The time being back with the fans and the

players. Well, it is a busy life as the

Wimbledon number one. Where are you off to now? Off up to Roehampton

University to study sports science and coaching.

What are your lessons today? Psychology and nutrition.

What you are learning on the course, did it help on the penalty shoot-

out? It made me think about anxiety. How the little things can make

people not concentrate that little bit. Everyone knows about the

little piece of paper. It puts a seed of doubt, does he know what I

am going to do. We are in the media, waiting for MK

Dons waiting to come back. We have to play it, that is our

responsability as professional footballers. With a supporters head,

I am definitely of the side that I would not want to be anywhere near

that game. Like you say it almost justifies the existence of that

club. That is something that I think that

the whole thing of AFC Wimbledon was against.

Did you see that approach on the player. Is he a player looking to

learn? He works with the goalkeeper and coach very hard.

He knows as far as football is concerned as well as his education

he has a lot to learn. There is not much to teach Seb

Brown about the art of saving penalties.

# Light up, light up # As if you have a choice

# Even if you cannot hear my voice. # Mark, they are one of football's

great feel-good stories? We say it all the time, a fairytale. From

disbanding or moving, starting up a new club. Moving through the

dwoigss into a feeb, they have had to struggle.

-- televisions into the football league. They have come off the back

of 12 games without a win to win at the weekend. So they have done the

double on Port Veil. So they have got back on track.

Mark Richards put them ahead in that game. Sam, it was someone on

loan from West Ham. This is the goal for Port Veil, but George

Moncur in his debut? It is great because development for the players

is most importantly, for me, it is getting them into somebody's first

team as quickly as possible. As his young age, he has ability. I don't

think he can learn a lot behind closed doors, so the chance to go

to Wimbledon, for all of the young players we have sent out. Robert

All is in our first team squad having gone to Oxford on loan for a

couple of months. Frank Noodle has been to Gillingham. So they have

all benefited from that, I am hoping that George Moncur will do

the same. The pressure at the football team at any shrefl what

they need. So, that is a couple of players for

the future. In terms of now, West Ham are doing OK. You are the top

of the championship, are they where you expected them to be?

difficulty was at the start of the season, I did not know quite how

good we were going to be. Because there are about 23 players left.

It is a remarkable turn around? is unbelievable. We had about 16

new players coming in, 14-16. So fitting that together, moulding the

players into a team is probably one of the hardest jobs in the game.

You have to achieve results almost instantly.

We had the worst start we could have ever had on live television on

the BBC, Cardiff at home. First game of the season, losing the last

minute. You wonder what the reaction may be, but as we have

grown through the season, getting the -- to know the players better,

they have formed partnerships and Kevin Nolan the captain, bringing

the dressing room together. We have a healthy squad. December, there

were too many injuries, suspensions, we ended up losing three out of

five. That was a blow as we were on a real good run in November. We are

over the injuries, hopefully we can continue to push on. A couple of

people I have spoken to say that they are doing alright, but not

playing in the West Ham way? get that a lot? When did West Ham

play the West Ham way, last? You know what I mean? I mean West Ham

have not played the West Ham way for years, now.

All they've been doing is struggling against relegation,

losing football matches. When I got there they will won two away games

in two seasons we have won eight away games now. Whatever you say

about football today all fans like to see the team win and win with

style. We play with a lot of style in this division but it is the

championship. There is less style in this division than there is in

the Premier League as the players are not as good, but we have

fantastic players with Premier League experience.

Let's have a look at some of the action. You talk about the

importance of Kevin Nolan, but Mark Noble has been important? Noble, he

is just 24, 25, he has been in the West Ham team since he was 18. He

scored every penalty this season. At the end here it was a winner.

Our problem at the moment, unlike at the start of the season, is not

securing the goals with the chances that we have created.

We would all agree that was the right decision with the referee.

In terms of January, you brought in George John, West Ham fans will

want to know how many are coming in. You said you made 22 out? Because I

have touched on the fact that we have created loads of chances,

loads of opportunities, we have not been clinical enough to finish them

off. I would say to do something on the front line a little more it

would help. It would bring us in a little more cutting-edge. I think

that the players that we have got will get back to goal scoring in

the early parts of the season. Now we have to get back to that

sort of quality in front of the goal.

West Ham are one of five championship clubs we are covering

here on Late Kick Off. Let's see how the other four got on this

The Seagull's boss provided this game and said it was the best of

the season. The team play helped and contributed to the second

finished by Will Buckley. They were told there will is more

to come. Dougie Freeman praised his side's

energy levels. Chris Martin back with his second

goal. This came on the stroke of halt

with the controversial sending off of Shaun Scannel. The ten men could

side were not good enough. Comings turning a century into the net.

Netted then again, the defeat confirmed by Adam le Fond.

The home fans laid the blame for this defeat on the officials. Harry

McCain going close. Curtis striking first, before

Shaken Larry red carded. The tall striker did not appear able to stay

on his feet. Went down easily. Leading to the second red card.

Marlon King doubled the advantage. Four goals in the last 1 minutes

compounding the injury. Then King bagging his second and

Nathan Redman adding the third. So, it's a decade since you managed

So, it's a decade since you managed in this division.

It has gone quick that. No doubt you know where the

challenge is to come from, where are you worried about? It is

Southampton. Obviously, like Norwich last year they came out of

League One, straight to the top end and got promise olted again.

Everyone -- and got promoted again. Reading beat us 3-0. Cardiff, of

course, depending on whether they get injuries or to the Carling Cup

final, it may have a distracting effect on them, but they will be

there or theres about. Somebody coming from the pack. Maybe

Birmingham, now they are out of Europe. They may come strong. I

thought that Leicester might, but unfortunately, that has not

happened with their heavy investment and Nigel working out

the best way for that club to go forward, but a really competitive

division and you can never take anything from granted.

When I was asked which team I would like to visit. In true BBC style I

remained 100 impartial, but the Late Kick Off bus ended up in my

home town of Crawley. It was just the way it was. Let's start with a

geography lesson. 20 miles that way, you are in London, ladies and

gentlemen, welcome to West Sussex, welcome to Crawley.

There are various claims to fame, the Cure hailed from here, Kevin

Muscat was once a resident. Darren Southgate lid down the road and

rumour has it even Chico lived in Crawley as a teenager.

But the town has never been on the league match until now. We are

putting them up with the men who put them there, the chief executive,

the star player, and the boss. Where better to start than the man

who takes care of all of the off- the field playing in Crawley, he is

in here. The chief executive, the journey continues, sir? It does,

another busy year. What is it like being the top man a

team doing great things in a League Two situation at the moment? Well,

it has been a transition into the Football League. So a lot of work

behind the scenes having a platform for Steve to work off and move

forward. Is the club where you would like it

to be? It is exactly where we like it to be. Probably a little ahead,

but we are achieving what we want to achieve. Probably a little

quicker than we thought. We are pleased with that.

Matt Tubbs, I've been looking at your statistics, you tell me you

are not a man that looks at statistics, but they are rather

impressive. Social networks are cropping up,

telling me, Twitter, Facebook, they are reminding me that -- of that,

and I look at them, they look good. What are the up-to-date statistics?

My last stat was 57 goals in 57 games.

So, I want to keep that. What does it feel like to be the

most heated club in the Football League, considering this is your

first season in the Football League? I think it comes from the

perception. What people add to it. We don't

hear that in boardrooms or around the country nor the Stans that stay

behind here. It is becoming less and less. I

think that people arewiseing up. They are looking and seeing the

amount of teams that we play, the squad numbers on the back of the

programme, the people in our squads are 32 first-team players and want

to hide behind the excuses that Crawley has money, but we have done

the club proud. Cut out the cars, it has been unprecedented and in

terms of points, we are the best in Britain and behind Manchester

United in terms of wins. The club crest, a bit of Latin.

: Noli Crederi, is that your attitude, "Never give up."? Yes,

never give up. In my prayers I see the manager and

the coach screaming at the men to get into the line for the challenge.

We never give up. We may fail but we will never give up.

God luck in the Champions League! It might happen. Exciting times for

Crawley, but at the weekend a goalless draw.

Now, we have a striker and manager. Tubtstubtstubts did not get a goal,

but the record is impressive? Phenomenon al. He is 57 in 58 now,

but he will not get awhich with that one.

I think this is Scot Neilson having a few chances. They have had two

bids for him from born muth. He came in late from Salisbury. He has

just started to make the most of his second opportunity. As anyone

who scores goals, that is always sought after. If they can hold on

to him, the chance of promotion, fantastic, it if not, they have to

be careful. What about the manager? He backs

himself, gets in trouble, but he has done a great job? He has

learned his trade at that level over man, many years. I think that

his management style is getting the best from the players as well as a

good investment. We were talking earlier, with Brighty, the amount

of money that they made from the FA Cup and how wisely they spent that

has got them where they are. A good manager and a good manager running

the Football Club. He desetbacks the chance. Let's see how far he

Wickham await their first win of the New Year.

Gary Waddock felt decisions went against his side and had Stuart

Bevan's head been allowed to stand, the outcome of this could have been

different. If the Blues are to stay away from relegation trouble, they

have to improve at the back. Goals all coming from corners. For

the third and the last of Preston's goals, Stuart fuellishly barged

Craig Morgan. Preston had Stephen Smith sent off, but Trotter's

second amounted to a consolation effort.

Russell Slayed described David Maddy's opener as one of the best

goals he had seen. Bottomside Chesterfield grabbed an equaliser

and Leyton Orient had this one down too.

Brentford struggles at home persist. Marcus Bane could not beat Jimmy

Walker. At the other end, Simon Moore did

well to keep out John Macon as the Banes drew for the tenth time this

season. Despite the freezing conditions,

Barnet enjoyed their first away win since mid-November at Accrington.

Ricky Holmes getting things warmed up. It was over when Sam Dearing

took his second bite from long range. The Bees' cushion from the

drop-zone is now five points. John Steels dagger's second game

unbeaten run came to an end. They were unlucky not to snatch a point.

Then Wood a lrbg l could not force a fourth league game. All eyes now

on the replay match with Millwall. I must point out that Gillingham

are in the pink shirts. Luke Rooney's shot was saved by

RossFully any. Then Mark Wright made it 2-0.

So a good win for Barnet in League So a good win for Barnet in League

Two. A memorable league for the top of

League One. It is difficult to talk about your friend if they are not

doing well, but they are doing well, what has he got? Well, he has sat

everybody down, 18 players, this is a goal with Sheffield Wednesday,

they had not lost at home. He sat everyone down and say that this is

their target, to be focused to go through the season, to look for

promotion to get out of the division. A good staff around him

and the team gelled. Everything is happy and pulling one way. You

can't, if you score goals like they do, they have got a good line at

the back. They are looking like they are on the way for promotion.

They are hotly chased by both Sheffield clubs.

Sam is learning a lot as his first time as a manager.

My first job was Limerick in the Southern Ireland league. I had to

go that low down to start cutting me teeth on management, but if he

as trance formed from being a player to a manager, that is a

highly dedicated professional. He worked his way up. Brighty told me

he started playing the Crystal Palace. He started to play for

England a couple of times. He has been waiting and waiting. Of course,

Charlton is a club he loves. He has the affection for it. So I would

say probably more machine management style and getting the

players bonded together. He has got talented players of course, but you

have to get them all pulling in the same direction. At the moment it

seems to be working well for him. They got rid of Sheffield, but

Sheffield United are coming up. We are out of time. Before we go,

more from Sam is on our Facebook page at:

Or follow us on Twitter at: Hopefully you have all of that. All

of the regional versions of the Late Kick Off are on iPlayer every

single Tuesday morning. Live action on the BBC this week, commentary of

the FA Cup between Millwall and Dagenham & Rebridge, Diamond

Jubilee radio on Tuesday night. The winners at home to Southampton in

Round Four. Well, that is it for this week.

Well, for every moment of glory, there is a miserable one. We have a

look at one of thoughs days where it has gone horrible wrong for

someone, somewhere. Please, sleep My Watford nightmare, the 1987 FA

Cup final. A couple of weeks before the game. Tony Coaten got injured.

We thought we had Steve Sherwood in reserve. He got injured as well.

COMMENTATOR: Gary Plumly, answered the call.

This season, the football has taken a back seat.

He has nothing to lose. After ten minutes, Clive Alan had a

shot. I'm not ashamed to admit it I burst

into tears. The second goal in off a wicketed

deflection. Paul Alan beat him at the near post.

Lashing in to make it three in half an hour.