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The second Square Ball Podcast, recorded 19 January 2010, dropped into a particularly low point of the League One promotion campaign. Dan Moylan, Michael Normanton, Daniel Chapman (Moscowhite), and Paul O’Dowd (Oddy) reviewed a fortnight that had tested the patience of anyone expecting a comfortable march to the Championship.
White Watching covered two sobering results. The Wycombe draw at Elland Road — a 1-1 after Pittman equalised on 63 minutes — was frustrating but survivable: Leeds remained top with 57 points from 25 games, a plus-30 goal difference, and six points clear of Norwich with a game in hand. The Exeter defeat was something else. A 0-2 loss in front of 8,500 fans in the pouring rain, with Beckford heading over from close range as the clearest chance created. The LUTV highlights package said everything: six minutes, no commentary, no crowd noise. Just footage of a miserable afternoon, shortened and stripped of context, as if to limit exposure.
The talking points were dominated by the Beckford transfer saga. It emerged that his request had been submitted before the Manchester United game — and that it wasn’t even the first time. Agent Nick Rubery was named as the driving force, and the hosts noted that both times Beckford had been talked round, it happened while he was away from Rubery’s influence — in Ireland, or in Exeter. The club’s response was Grayson-typical: say nothing publicly, let it resolve itself. There was genuine sympathy for Beckford’s position — his wages at Leeds didn’t reflect his output — alongside frustration at the timing and the method.
Part three turned to a retrospective on David O’Leary, pegged to an upcoming Danny Mills interview in the magazine. The hosts’ diagnosis of what went wrong: O’Leary had stumbled upon something brilliant — playing the youth players George Graham had ignored — without really understanding why it worked. When the results turned, he had nothing to fall back on. The drift toward spending for spending’s sake, Ridsdale’s enthusiasm for the spectacle of a big club, and signings like Michael Duberry and Fowler were presented as symptoms of a project that lost the thread of what had made it special.
Enoch Showunmi, who had just departed for Falkirk, received a warm and slightly confused tribute. “He’s going to be one of those players people will talk about in years to come — in a sort of Christ, did he really play for us sort of way.” His Darlington goal, his willingness, and that one moment where he fell over his own feet attempting a backheel before going on to provide an assist, were noted for the record.
Looking ahead, the hosts offered loosely held predictions for the JPT Northern Final first leg against Carlisle, the FA Cup fourth round at Tottenham (ITV coverage, 25 quid tickets — actually cheaper than some category A league matches), Swindon away, and Colchester at home. Nobody was confident, and nobody was pretending to be.
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