Episode 13 Late Kick Off London and the South East

Tonight we're live from broadcast house. It is the time when dreams

can be made and hopes can be dashed. We will follow every twist and turn

Coming up, they had to win, highlights of West Ham's trip to

Leicester tonight. And the Crystal Palace manager joins us in the

studio. Barnett hope their old dogs old tricks can keep them in the

league. It is not all about Martin Allen, but the players and myself

and the supporters. We pay tribute to a London football legend. Said

John Steel could manage any team anywhere. Evening, the Championship

season ends this Saturday. For the man joining us there is one more

game to go, it is Dougy Freedman. You can tweet us your questions as

well. First up West Ham, earlier they kicked off at Leicester,

knowing they had to win to alive their hopes of automatic promotion.

Anything less would mean the play offs and send Southampton to the

offs and send Southampton to the He weighs in with so many goals,

0 Leicester City. Germaine Beckford, unmarked back post and Beckford

gets his 15th of the season and West Ham's bifrd for automatic

promotion has suffered another dent. applause from Sam Allardyce, don't

West Ham are in front. Jack Collison with a screamer. On the

half-volley, West Ham take the lead for the first time tonight.

Automatic promotion is still a make it 3-1. Schmeichel blocks. Of

all people again, Kevin Nolan's the man you want in this position. It

comes to this - West Ham have to hold on for a few seconds longer.

Morgan with the header. Appeals for a penalty. But the referee saw

a penalty. But the referee saw nothing wrong. Ray We stay with

with a slim chance of automatic promotion. At the moment it is not

in our hands. But who knows on Saturday. It is a strange old game

and there are some strange results can happen. Let's hope Coventry can

do us a favour and we can win on do us a favour and we can win on

Saturday. Here is the table. Reading are up already. Southampton

two points ahead of the Hammers. Both teams have a game to go. The

Saints play Coventry and West Ham Saints play Coventry and West Ham

play Hull. Lou do you rate their chances of avoiding the play offs?

Well not very good to be honest. You have got to say Southampton are

in the driving seat. It was a miserable March for West Ham. Eight

fixtures, five draws, two wins and a loss. The five draws that the

fans will look at at and it was Donk ste, Leeds, Watford, Burnley,

Bristol City. Just one win would have put them in the driving seat.

Reading have been in fantastic form and Southampton are just managing

to stumble over the line. But West Ham fans will think there is an

outside chance. But Coventry have only one wons - once away.

other managers surprised West Ham didn't stay there? You have to give

credit to Reading. We all had eight games in March and found it

difficult. But Reading put a run together. West Ham I think, they

have got to look at that March form and hold their hands up. Big Sam

sat in that seat in January and said I need to get this team up

automatically. Even the play offs won't be good enough for some fans.

Promotion was his target. They can still do it through the play offs,

but last year Swansea finished third and went up. The year before

the third placed team didn't. Four out of the last seven years the

third placed team have gone up. Kevin Nolan said he fancys -

fancies them if they go up. But you have to go again. They know they

have done everything they had to do tonight and go into the final game

and they have to win. If they don't, they kick on again. They get

themselves together and they have a great squad and you know, I would

fancy them. Now in recent years, Barnett seem to have spent most of

that time doing one of three things - fighting relegation, appointing

Martin Allen as manager and then getting angry when he walks out.

Here is their version of Groundhog Day. # Put your little hand in mine,

there ain't no hill or mountain we can't climb. Allen has been in

charge of Barnett and joined the Griffith Park outfit. I wants to

coach at a higher level. I would have thought after last time he

would haven't behaved in this way. They should be grateful. When I got

there, that club was dead and buried. I said Martin, this is for

three games, do you want the challenge or not? His answer was

yes. Groundhog Day, whatever you want to call it, the man they call

mad dog is back at Barnett. There was only one person who I felt

could do the job in these circumstances. If you want somebody

to motivate you, certainly in the short-term, there is not many

managers around at any level who can do what Martin does. He won't

be everything's cup of tea, but he will bring everyone together.

you understand inis galling for supporters this a man wh -- who has

walked out twice. Ask them what they really feel. Of course, there

will be some that think there is hypocrisy going on. But you find

out. So we did. Last year he was there for eight games and walked

out after three and still claimed the credit for Barnett surviving.

He has come back and when I heard what has lapped I thought it was an

April Fool's day joke. What he has done in the past is not a concern.

What he does in the future is not a concern. We have three games to

save our season. That is what is important. I wouldn't have had him

back. But I wish him and the club well. The priority is the safety of

the club in the league. If he can How does it feel to be back for a

third time? Do you feel you have a point to prove? I have got three

games to try and help the club. I ain't got no point to prove to

anybody. I don't live u live my life like that. I will enjoy

working with the staff. Really look forward to next Saturday and gets

back on the training pitch and helping the players and supporters

and getting it going. He is work hard, but not the perfect start.

Another season fighting relegation for Barnett. How do you rate their

chances? I was looking, they lost five of the last six games, but

they played the top teams. That was tough. But they're playing two

teams that are mid table and you have to say they haven't got much

to fight for and then the teams below them. Wimbledon and burr ton.

Hereford I think have a tougher run in and play two teams at the top

fighting for promotion. By default I would say Barnett should stay up.

Because I don't think Hereford will pick up much against Crawley or

Torquay. You're having trouble remembering the names. I know.

voted the greatest player, after only one season. Bang on, yeah.Ed

- How big a blow would it be? I know the chairman well he has the

rate to do what he wants, he has been through thick and thin. I

believe if you have a very good chance of staying in the league.

Not because of Martin Allen, but what he brings before and people

will look at the motivation he brings and there is a possibility

he gets them to stay up. Martin brings that and I believe he will

do it. We have seen West Ham and Barnett, and now seven of our other

sides has something to play for whether promotion or for Charlton a

title secured the next. It was a happy Valley on Saturday. This

brilliantly taken free-kick sent the Addicks on their way. News of

Sheffield United falling behind at MK Dons was to follow soon after.

But celebrations were cut short when Stuart Bevan ordered in to

level the scores. They need of points was even greater than their

hosts. Despite dominating the second half, they couldn't hold on.

Substitute Dale Stevens got the winner just after coming on.

Wycombe, three points adrift with two to play. But for Charlton, the

celebrations could begin. They were well on course for just their

second home win of the year when Kevin Liz be headed in for his 11th

goal of the season. A win would have put Russell Slade's men on the

brink of safety. They looked set for the three points when Campbell-

Ryce powered down. But Liz be doubled their advantage. With only

eight minutes to play, Yeovil found a way back into the game. Andrew

Williams sweeping home to halve the deficit. Then in stoppage time, the

Brentford, both missed. First, Clayton Donaldson hit the bar. Then

Sam Saunders was denied by Chris Day. The Bees the chances of

reaching the play-offs then took a huge blow as they fell behind to a

Craig Reid strike. And Luke Freeman made it two for Stevenage with this

long-range effort. Saunders atoned for his miss from 12 yards with a

free-kick from nearly 25. But the Bees are now five before it - that

five points behind Stevenage, who occupied the final play-off place.

Promotion and survival were of equal concern at Victoria Road. The

daggers came back and in some style, thanks to Billy Bingham. The. Kept

Dagenham in the Football League and Crawley in the final automatic

promotion place. Gillingham refused to give up on their play-off dream,

taking on table toppers Winneden. Danny Kedwell flipped his side into

the lead with a looping header. The determination and will Tasadiq

doubled their advantage. No one is quite sure if he meant it or not.

Not that it matters. Alan McCormack made the final 10 minutes a nervy

affair for the home fans. But whelk Dale sealed the win from the spot

to keep the deals in 7th place. -- the gales. Gillingham's promotion

hopes are still alive. They released the first images of their

planned 15,000 seater new stadium. Not your usual new stadium shots.

There's the mascot. It will be close to the training ground if it

goes ahead. But the path ahead to bring these plans to reality will

Let's talk Palace. Lots of questions for you. First table,

first full season in charge. Mid- table safety at the minute. How

would you assess it with one game to go? It's been a fantastic season

for us. The mentality around the place is different. Now we've got a

winning mentality, not of lately but certainly of the relegation

battles we've had over the last few seasons. Now we are looking forward

instead of backwards, which is pleasing. It has been a good season.

Disappointing towards the end but there's many reasons for that. We

are building for the future, not just for the short term this time.

In the last game you managed to book Reading's party a little bit.

We went to Reading and played well. A fantastic build-up. I think there

A fantastic build-up. I think there were 25 passes involved there. A

Reading came very strong. They were trying to win the championship.

Reading, the power that they've got, especially for two headed goals

that are difficult. This is a difficult one for me because I know

young to Jonathan Parr... It was accidental. The power and the pace

they have got. We came back a very strong. I think we outplayed them

for most of the game. Glen Murray got a deserted goal in the end. All

in all, good for us. Johnny Wellens has come through this season, Kyle

da Silva. The youth policy is excellent at the club. How

important Willerby to hang on to Clyne and Zaha? It's not really my

job to decide we are going to hang onto them. It's my job to produce

them. This season, I felt we produced Wilfried Zaha, the best

player in the temperature by a million miles. We will produce

Johnny Williams next year. That has been the highlight of my season. I

think that is what I was brought to the club to do, to change the

mentality, to have a good feeling fact that for people to take its

serious. But also to produce fantastic young players that will

go on to play international football. I on Twitter, do you

football. I on Twitter, do you think in the run in the Carling Cup,

which he enjoyed, prevented you from getting in the play-offs?

didn't think it helped us. I didn't think we have got the strong enough

squad. The time wasn't right. We are recruiting team and growing

club. That was a fantastic occasion, the Carling Cup. Especially up at

Man Utd and the two card games for experience for the club. I wouldn't

say it was the only factor stopping us. We've got to build a strong

enough squad to go in there. But while it was going on it was

fantastic. It was good for the club to get that exposure and get the

young players through. Add a couple of quid for the club. A comment

from Dan Winter on Twitter. He says, I don't have a question for Dougie,

can you just tell him I love him. That is nice to hear! Like Crystal

Palace, four of our other teams didn't have much to play for on

Saturday. Caroline and Chris are genuine relegation candidates. But

they've now 15 on the spin. Andy Keogh opened the scoring with a

little help from Tommy Smith. It got even better when Liam Trotter

slammed home a half clearance to double the Lions' lead. The

Millwall keeper produced his second penalty save in five days, before

Keogh rounded Barrett and rounded off the scoring to move Millwall up

to 16. Brighton, now without a win in seven, and their hopes of taking

three points from their final home game of the season took a blow,

when Birmingham Academy product Nathan Redmond let fly. With six

minutes remaining, the Seagulls ensured they would at least avoid

defeat. Ashley Barnes sleeping -- sweeping home his 14th of

unimpressive season. -- of an impressive season. Lee Tomlin

played against a run of play which dominated the first half at London

Road. They deservedly drew level. Wasted opportunities would come

back to haunt the Hornets, but Sean Murray put them ahead with his

second goal in five days. How is this for a well-worked corner? Paul

Taylor applying the finish. Watford were held to a fourth consecutive

draw. You suffer only made it onto the bench after Wimbledon back of

keeper Jack Warner was injured in the warm-up. But in the driving

rain at King's Medal, the super sub came on to put the Dons ahead. As

the clouds cleared, George Mann KERS sealed the points. A win

against promotion-chasing Torquay also doing the Dons former non-

Not MK Dons, by the way. Excuse me, FC. Football would be nothing

without the fans, but these days it's rare to see a packed stadium

outside the Premier League. In the age of austerity, we have been

finding out about the challenges facing our Football League clubs as

they look to keep the fans coming through the turnstiles. They're

almost 23,000 fans here at Brighton today. They are one of the very few

teams in the Football League that sell-out every week. Football

League attendances as a whole have been falling, and that has meant

some clubs have had to come up with new ways to try and bring fans into

grounds. If you look across the four professional leagues over the

last four years, we've seen a slight decline in attendances of

about 400,000. Maybe that is due to the economy. But when you go down

lower, at the Premiership is quite insulated, not surprisingly, but it

is when you go to championship's and Leagues One and Two that you

start to see some of the fans drifting away. In a competitive

catchment area, Millwall have had the lowest average gates out of any

of the London championship sides this season. But they have made

concerted efforts in recent times to draw in new fans. Like most

football League clubs, we Ra family club. What we've done over the last

couple of years is changed the family area and concentrate on

bringing more families to the ground. We have changed this

section we are in now to a more family friendly one, in terms of

the foot offered and the facilities. The famously took 45,000 to Wembley

for the play-off final. I fully understand that when most people

playing big finals they take a big support. But the key to us is

getting some of those occasional fans here more often. It is

challenging but of course we'd like to have another 3000 on our Gade on

a regular basis, because that really would impact on the Budget

that the manager has got to put better players on the pitch. Clubs

have got to really understand to their fans are. And then

specifically communicate to them with things that they want to hear.

We see some clubs to put out a lot of information but it is focused on

one key group, the diehard fans who will come week in week out anyway.

It is about looking at the occasional Farnes. They are the

people they really have to get to. And then they need to enhance the

experience for fans. That is where a new stadium can have issued

benefit. Brighton are one club who have benefited from having a new

stadium. The basic it is no just the facilities that are bringing in

the fans. We are now opening hours Stadium at 1pm, so people can come

in, eat and get foot early. We keep the stadium open after the match.

Tonight, we will still be open at 11pm in one of the areas. They are

entitled to feel they are being well treated. At the end of the day,

people will spend money on something that is good. So the

product of football has to be better than anything else. And

there isn't anything like being at a live football match. Watching it

on telly isn't the same. It all goes well, Brighton could be

playing in front of 30,000 here at the Amex next season. With 3500 on

the waiting list, they certainly have the demand to fill the ground.

But for now, it seems like they are one of the lucky few.

I should say a big thank you do both Brighton and Millwall in that.

Dougie, you've done three family days where kids get in for a quid.

Does it make a difference? It makes a difference to the stadium because

there's more of an atmosphere. It's a great idea and we embrace that.

Making sure the community travels in the same direction we are going

in. Inviting the kids in, making sure it's a family day and it's

something to look forward to on Saturday afternoons. The Palace

fans a broken our Twitter account tonight. Where do you see the club

this time next year? Moving forward. Who knows where we are going to be,

you never can tell. As long as we keep moving forward. I would like

to take bigger strides but that is not the way football goes. As long

as we stay in a financial situation where we are strong, because I've

been at this club twice in administration, as long as we can

keep bringing the young players through and adding one Lord two

bits of quality. Charlie Cavendish, who is not an MK Dons fan, says,

what would be the highlight of your season? Many highlights for

different reasons. Me, being the person I am, it is pretty much

bringing the team together and getting their youngsters through.

I'm not going to tell you how well I've done in terms of producing

players, but it has got to do with the Academy, all the coaching. We

spend a lot of time coaching. That is the highlight, bringing young

players through. People that can look at their mum and dad in the

eye and say, your kit has got a future in the game. I'm within the

club as well. Do you think you've laid the foundations to move it

forward? The discipline, the feel- good factor that is within the club.

My aim is to take this club and build foundations. I think we are

starting to do that. I wouldn't say we are concrete solid yet but we

are building foundations for the future. Who knows, my manager could

be here to see it through. Or I might be moving on for different

reasons. That doesn't sound too good. You know what managers are

like, they come and go. But what I will say is as long as they build

the foundations with good, young players, financially stable, then

that is my highlight. Finally, have you thought about reassembling the

Palace side of the 1990s? Apparently Ian Wright is quite good.

Last Thursday, it marked eight years in charge at Dagenham and

Redbridge for John Still. We thought we would say Happy

Anniversary from all of us here at Late Kick-Off. Good night,

everybody. First of all, he's a gentleman. The second quality is he

knows how to handle players. I've never seen him lose his temper.

He probably has but I've never seen it. He is patient yet strong.

Johnny is an amazing character. He's got such fantastic knowledge

of the game, especially the lower leagues because that is where he

has spent most of his time. But I've always said John Still could

manage any team anywhere. There are plenty of clubs I know for a fact,

higher up than what Dagenham is, who would be after him. John has

taken the club a long way and everyone respects him. Wembley was

the main highlight. The whole family went down, it was great.

went out on the pitch playing Sheffield Wednesday, the players

looked round and there was 30,000, not 2000. John conned everyone down

in the dressing-room and said, you've earned the right to play on

the pitch. I just admire the man. We were going down at one time, but

John has picked us up. Not only has he done that, he's taken us up to

the heights that his club never thought they would reach. Thank you

Paul you've done for us, John. Keep it going. I don't care what anybody