The J-Talk Podcast

J1 made its long awaited return on Saturday, and Sean Carroll joined Sam and Ben for a full review of J1 Matchday 2.

We begin with the Osaka derby and Hiroshima making it a dirty day for Kobe, before heading to Kanto and wins for Kawasaki and FC Tokyo ahead of Wednesday's Tamagawa Classico (to 43:20). Then a Musashi Suzuki (and Chanathip) inspired victory for Sapporo, the goalless draw at Saitama Stadium, Nagoya and Sendai winning on the road, and Oita ruling Kyushu.

To support the podcast on Patreon, please visit patreon.com/jtalkpod.

Typical - you wait four months for a J.League game, and then 20 come along at once. Feeling a bit overwhelmed? Don't worry. Jon & Stuart are here to hold your hand, and guide through the first weekend back.

 

Plenty of analysis on:

- A game for the ages in Ehime - Substitutions- Praise for Makoto Teguramori - Head injuries - Ippei Shinozuka - Poor set piece defending - Why Gunma should be worried - Derby day in J3On behalf of Jon and I, it felt really good to report on some actual football. I really want to thank all of you who have listened through the barren time of no J.Leauge, and I hope that we can enjoy the J.League together for the rest of 2020. 

 

Thank you everyone - and enjoy the podcast!!

Stuart - @sushi_football

Jon - @J2KantoBites

Patreon - https://patreon.com/jtalkpod

The wait is over... It's baaaaack!

Alan Gibson and Scott McIntyre join Sam and Ben for a full preview of the J1 Matchday 2 slate.

In Part 1 (to 46:26) Alan shares his thoughts on the Osaka Derby, Hiroshima's visit to Kobe, Shimizu hosting Jo-less Nagoya, and Oita entertaining Tosu (though whether the game will be entertaining is up for debate) in the Kyushu Derby.

Then Scott joins us as we look ahead to Yokohama F.Marinos' trip to Urawa, Kawasaki and Kashiwa at home to Kashima and FC Tokyo respectively in tasty looking ties, Shonan hosting Sendai and Sapporo visiting Yokohama FC.

To support the podcast on Patreon, please visit patreon.com/jtalkpod.

What's that? There's football this weekend in Japan? Well, thank Christ for that! 

Stuart Smith & Jon Steele take you through the storylines that permeate the restart of J2, and the start of J3. They include:

- A big time manager head to head- An already crucial clash in Kyoto- The Tokyo Classic- An "elevator game" in Kanazawa- And why Imabari FC are the most important team in Japan this year....As ever, thanks for your support & feedback, we really appreciate it. If you have anything you want to say to us, drop us a Tweet. 

But in the meantime, please enjoy this episode! And, as always, thank you for your support.

Stuart - @sushi_football

Jon - @J2KantoBites

Patreon - https://patreon.com/jtalkpod

#Originally posted as a Patreon-exclusive podcast at the end of April#

Part history lesson, part thought experiment, all round fascinating listen.

Cesare Polenghi and Alan Gibson guest to draft their all-time J.League XIs, and you'll love being a fly on the wall for it.

The Patreon posts with Gibson FC and AC Polenghi laid out in formation and with career and honours information are now out from behind the paywall, so after you've listened please check them out, and a Twitter poll (pinned tweet @JTalkPod) will follow in which we want you to choose which team would win a one-off game between them, but for now, sit back, relax and enjoy.

For access to other exclusive podcasts and posts, please consider supporting the podcast for as little as $1 a month at patreon.com/jtalkpod.

Who's ready for a financial facts & figures party? You are? Great, because Stuart Smith & Jon Steele deep dive into the finances of Japan's third tier and the discussions moves into some very interesting places.

 

- Where do clubs get their money from?

- How bad financially is the drop from J2 to J3?

- To what extent are private companies involved with clubs?

- What does it mean to actually be a supporter? Do you have to go to games? Is it a fan club membership? Is it wearing club colours?

- How important are the traditional supporter aspects - going to games, buying shirts etc - to the bottom line of the club finances?

 

As always, if you have any feedback, please send it this way. We really appreciate the support and with the J.League kicking back into full swing soon, we will be hitting our stride very soon indeed! 

 

But in the meantime, please enjoy this episode! And, as always, thank you for your support.

Stuart - @sushi_football

Jon - @J2KantoBites

Patreon - https://patreon.com/jtalkpod

The harsh realities of a full season squeezed in to six months were laid bare to all J1 clubs and supporters on Monday evening when the top flight fixtures were released, and Jonny Nicol, making a storming J-Talk debut, joined Sam and Ben to discuss our major takeaways from the biiiiiiig reveal.

Jonny's Gamba Osaka blog can be found here: Gamba Osaka blog in English, and its sister Twitter account is @BlogGamba.

As we seemingly do on every episode these days, Dan Orlowitz's terrific work is referenced several times here, you can find his extremely informative pieces on the J.League's Restart Protocols and the Fixture Reveal on his Japan Times archive.

Governments prefer to do this on Friday afternoons when people are either in the pub or completely disconnected from important stuff. We, however, want our listeners to be informed as much as possible. That's why we've crammed a lot of recent events into this week's episode. Jon and I (Stuart) talk: 

- The latest Covid-19 update- J2 opening fixtures released- FC Tokyo U23 out of J3- Kyoto Sanga fine for Nazi-themed flag- No banners in empty stadia, but cardboard cut-outs ok? 

Programming note - the J3 finance special (that is 'special' used in the very loosest of terms....) is coming at you next week. We thought you needed a break from the financial stuff after last week.

But in the meantime, please enjoy this episode! And, as always, thank you for your support.

Stuart - @sushi_football

Jon - @J2KantoBites

Patreon - https://patreon.com/jtalkpod

After Sam and Ben begin the episode with a smidgen of K League chat, and housekeeping following announcements last week from both the J.League and AFC (to 15:08), they welcome back frequent guest Alex Bishop - one half of the FC Tokyo Kai-Guys from twitter - for a chat on FC Tokyo winding up their Under 23 team before the start of the new J3 season (to 42:10). The guys then move on to discuss how Tokyo (and other teams) might handle such a gruelling set of upcoming fixtures - with The Gasmen potentially playing between 45 and 50 games in less than six months - ahead of the release of the J.League fixture list next Monday.

...must be funny? Not really if you are JEF United or FC Gifu. But luckily there are some teams that know the difference between value and cost. 

Welcome to the deep dive on the financial state of J2 and the clubs contained in it. Stuart took the time over the weekend to assess the J.League financial report for 2019, and has translated/crunched some numbers to try and answers questions including:

Who squeezes out the best value for money?

Who punches above their financial weight?

Who is in trouble financially?

Who disappoints?

Where does the money come from?

What is "other"? 

Jon & Stuart go over these questions, and try to provide some insight into the numbers. If after listening you have any questions - please feel free to me or Jon a tweet. 

As always, we really appreciate all the support & feedback we get from you listeners. We hope you enjoy this episode! But don't gorge on it - the J3 financial podcast is on the horizon, and that is one hell of a document!

Stuart - @sushi_football

Jon - @J2KantoBites

Patreon - https://patreon.com/jtalkpod