Arsecast Extra Episode 715 - 04.10.2026

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1:32Hello and welcome to another Arsecast Extra. As always, we're James from Gunner Blog. James, good morning to you. Good morning. How are you today, Andrew? I am fine. I am unslimed, ungunged, might be the best way of putting it. How are you?

1:47Andrew Mangan: I'm ungunged. I am, yeah, I got gunged on children's television yesterday. You certainly did. You certainly did. Some people have asked me what gunging is. I think maybe it's not a term they're using on the other side of the pond. I think if you'd said slimed. Slimed, that would have. They would have got it, yeah. It would have translated. But, yeah, I mentioned on our waffle pod. Yes. Which is available to patrons, of course, that I was up for the public vote in the gunge off. and I won, I guess. I didn't get that bit because I literally had the TV on. I was recording it on my Skybox in case I didn't catch it.

2:31You wouldn't want to miss it. I did not want to miss it and I didn't miss it, but I didn't get the buildup. So it was you and another guy from Horrible Science. What was the process through which the young people and indeed some of our Patreon members apparently were able to vote for you to get gunched slash slimed.

2:52Andrew Mangan: I think it's like an internet vote. I think you went on a webpage and you voted. Gone are the days of the sort of three pound text message. Call 0818. Yeah. But yes, I don't know if it's a compliment or a diss to be gunched. Do you know what I mean? I don't know what that means the kids feel about you. Do they gung the people they like? Do they gung the people they dislike? Hard to say. Who knows what kids are these days. I got gunged big time, big time. You did. It was very funny, actually. It was very funny. They sat you in a chair. Can I lay this out? They sat you in a chair and two people, the presenters, dressed as, well, what's her name?

3:46Claudia Winkleman. Claudia Winkleman, yes. Who presents the Traders show that I haven't watched. Isn't that right? Yes. Right. And they gave you questions, and if you got a question wrong, you got a bucket of slime thrown at you by the guy. And you started well. I think you got the first one right, and then went downhill a little bit from there. It did.

4:13Andrew Mangan: What happens is, Andrew, there's kids. There's a studio full of kids screaming. So you actually can't hear the questions. Then, of course, you've got slime in your ear holes. So it really does. It's not exactly mastermind, you know what I mean, in terms of sort of the environment that you're answering these questions in. But yeah, it's, they give you a big talk before you're slimed about it's shockingly cold. Please don't swear. And was it? It is cold. Yeah. And it's, what's funny is after you're slimed, they sort of come out and they wrap you in bin bags, basically, and escort you to a shower room.

5:00Andrew Mangan: And they say, our advice is you just get in the shower in all your clothes. In all your, that's weird. yeah i didn't follow that advice um i i stripped them off and got in the shower which i think was way more efficient when i came out of the shower they were like that's the fastest anyone's ever done that and i was like i think it's because you're making them shower in their clothes like wringing the slime out of their clothes um but yeah it was you know an experience a once in a lifetime i take my place in a great british uh television tradition and it was i think i think this weekend was the 50th anniversary of the start of kids live saturday morning tv which would have been swap shop i think swaps yeah i think it was it called the multi-colored swap shop i think very possible when i was a kid back then and then it It was going live, then live and kicking, and so on and so on and so on.

6:01Andrew Mangan: And I was very honoured to meet an iconic British figure yesterday in Mr. Blobby, who I did not know was going to be. I was quite starstruck about Mr. Blobby. Right. I mean, is it the same Mr. Blobby that's always been Mr. Blobby, or is it just some random dude in a suit? What do you mean suit? Andrew, it's Mr. Blobby, of course. It was very funny because the producers of this live TV show were very worried about having Blobby on set. Like he's known to be a real loose cannon and they were like, He's a maverick. Yeah, yeah. They were like, you know, how are we going to contain Blobby? You know, what might he do?

6:46Andrew Mangan: There was a genuine jeopardy and fear around that, which I found very funny. Right. But yeah, listen, I think as I said on the Waffle podcast, The good thing is these days I have a very wipeable head and the slime flowed off it beautifully. But I'll drop a picture in the Discord chat because it is a sight to behold, really. It certainly is. And fair play, you're a good sport. I very much enjoyed the answer to the question when she said, who was voted off? And you just went, Steve. I felt proud almost of that answer. That was so funny. Yeah, I mean, I did not know the answers. So they asked me a football question.

7:29Andrew Mangan: I did get that right. That's true, yeah. It was about who scored for England, wasn't it? It was like who scored in both Nations League games. And actually, it holds true this morning because Harry Kane and Anthony Gordon, I think have now scored in all three of England's matches in this international game. Yeah, we had a question, actually. I don't know if it was on Blue Sky or if it was from the Discord. Someone said, is Anthony Gordon the one that got away? I saw that one. Let me see if I can find out. It's from Whoop Whoop. It's the sound of Solis. Yes. They're missing the, the, should that not be?

8:07It's the sound of the Solis? Anyway. Yeah. Anyway, they say, arsenalviews.bsky.social, is Anthony Gordon the one that got away? Having a good season, isn't he?

8:18Andrew Mangan: Yeah. He's having a good season. and, you know, the Barcelona move seems to have worked out well for him. I think I'd stop short of saying he's the one that got away. That feels like too sort of emotionally loaded a term to apply to Anthony Gordon. I can't quite, you know, surely Vinicius is the one that got away. Well, we'll talk about Vinicius in a moment because, well, maybe in a while because the internet's gone crazy. It's the interlal and people have gone mad. Have you seen this? I haven't seen this, so I look forward to hearing about it. Okay. But Anthony Gordon, I mean, we definitely liked him.

8:58Andrew Mangan: And I think, you know, we definitely wanted him at some stage and followed him pretty closely over the past couple of years. But he did always seem to have his designs on going abroad. There was a lot of talk of Bayern Munich. And then obviously Barcelona have come in. But he, yeah, I mean, he's always struck me as quite an Arteta player. There's that sort of work rate, the focus on the off the ball, the pressing ability. But one that got away, yeah, I don't know. Ask me again at the end of the season. What do you think? I just don't think he's handsome enough for our team. That's it, you know.

9:33That's it. That's why Arteta's like, he's good, but can't have this guy on posters. No way. But England went goal crazy last night. Hey, guess what film I watched? last night?

9:51Andrew Mangan: Is there any way I can guess? Like, is there a clue? There's a clue in the England game. The Magnificent Seven? Not quite. Lose the first two letters or first two words. Seven? Seven, yeah. Seven. Well, before the England game? After. Simultaneously too. I had no idea about the England result until I finished watching the film. So, I mean, do you think Thomas Tuchel's you know he had this dressing room like you know brendan rogers and the three envelopes and thomas tuchel instead he had a box yeah and harry kane was like what's in the box do you think yeah i think that was maybe inspired the team it could be yeah instead of three names in an envelope it's someone's head in a box yeah someone's wife's head i mean it's unconventional but it to have worked he's known for his unconventional man management uh well yeah kind of a crazy result really um 7-0 in croatia yeah i only watched the highlights but it seems that croatia were very very bad i mean you have to be very bad to lose 7-0 i think you can say the other team can be very good but I also think at this level to lose 7-0 you have to be very very bad on the night.

11:14Andrew Mangan: Yeah but there's some good players in that team I mean a lot of them at the older end you know you've got your Modric's and your Perisic's but then Ruskovic has had a good start to the season Vardial, Kovacic they're no slouch Croatians No that's true but maybe they're just sort of the Manchester City infection has run through that team, you know? Kovariel's head was gone. It was in a box, actually. Yeah, but still an absolutely mad outcome. Even though they've had some decent results in the crash, you'll remember Theo Walcott's hat-trick, of course. I won't remember that, no. Okay. And two for Bakayasaka.

12:00Which is good. First goal, where was he? tap in, centre of the six-yard box. We've talked about this a little bit, haven't we? Where we're sort of seeing him in that area a little bit more often this season for Arsenal and obviously for England as well. I think it's Jude Bellingham assist and he just taps it home and scored another one as well. Two goals on international duty. It's one of those where you're sort of looking for the positives from the international break. There've been some ups and downs, obviously, with injury, but two goals for Mikayo Saka, it's good for him and it's probably good for Arsenal that he's on the score sheet.

12:38Andrew Mangan: Yeah, yeah. I think I'm right in saying Myles Lewis-Skelly rotated out of the starting XI for this game. He'd begun the last two and Alex Scott came into midfield alongside Elliot Anderson, had a very good game. Myles ended up coming on quite late on as a left-back, yeah. But yeah, I mean, fantastic for Saka to get a couple of goals. He didn't have the, from the bits I saw, didn't have the sharpest start to the game, but certainly grew into it. You mentioned, woot woot, it's the sound of the Solis. But the sirens have been sounding for Christos Solis for a different reason. Yeah. Andrew, this week.

13:20Hamstring injury a while away with Greece. There's some reports that it's going to be two to three weeks, which is sort of normal. if it's just a regular run-of-the-mill hamstring strain, then it's usually two to three weeks. So that's kind of what it sounds like. So if there is going to be an injury, I guess.

13:41Andrew Mangan: Will we be near the end of the international break by then, Andrew? Well, I mean, it's got another three months to run. So the end of December is when Arsenal play again. So that's what it feels like, doesn't it? I'm kind of lost track of who's playing who and why anyone's playing anyone and why are they playing them again? you know but hopefully for Solace it's not too serious like if there is going to be an injury let it be mild let it be mild I agree I mean by the way I just want to throw a question into this conversation while we're on the international break cartoon Steve Boulds said on Blue Sky are you in Gunnar Block that's you Andrew looking forward to the return of the football or should we try and get this interlal extended so Havertz and Solis can get or put the boot into City for another couple of weeks.

14:35Andrew Mangan: And, you know, we're now a week out from the Premier League resuming. I was just curious, against this sort of strange backdrop of this protracted, incestual break and everything that's going on with City, how you feel about that? About what, football coming back or just, you know, perpetually sticking the knife into City? Yeah, Premier League resuming, yeah. I am ready for it, I have to say, you know. It feels like this has been a really long break. And obviously what's been going on with Manchester City has given us plenty to talk about and plenty to say. And it's been fascinating in many ways what's happened over the past couple of weeks, right?

15:13Since we got that story from David Ornstein about the charges and the guilty verdict and then the Premier League statement and then the way this is all played out across football media more broadly. It's been absolutely fascinating. And, you know, I still think we're at the very beginning of how it's all going to play out because we still have to wait for sanctions. And I think when something like this happens, right, there's that initial furore, right? The fire burns very, very brightly. But I think this is going to – the embers of this are going to continue for a while. But I'm ready for football again.

15:54I'm ready for Arsenal again. I'm ready to see us win games again and score goals again. And, you know, the international break is, when it's extended like this, it does feel a bit too long, even if we all kind of understand the logic of why it's been extended, you know, to have just two breaks rather than three.

16:17Andrew Mangan: Yeah, I too am looking forward to seeing Arsenal play Leeds on Saturday lunchtime. But I must say at the same time, I do feel quite... I have mixed feelings about the resumption of the Premier League itself. It does seem to me to be kind of absurd in some ways to just be like going back to the Premier League with Man City top of the table, given everything that we now know and that is going on. There does feel like something enormously, maybe even more unresolved than previously. So you're saying relegate them before the football starts again? That would be my ideal. That would be my ideal. Partly because they would bump us up to the top of the pot.

17:07But yeah, I know I just feel like, you know, we're sort of learning that we might have been watching a bit of a sham club and consequently partly

17:23Andrew Mangan: a sham competition. And it sort of feels like coming back to that with all that still up in the air. I'm finding it quite hard to sort of compartmentalise that and kind of get excited about wins, draws and losses. That's interesting. If you know what I mean. Yeah, it is. It's interesting though, because I think we talked about this a little bit last week, didn't we, about how you view, and I think you were a bit more sanguine about it, but obviously over the course of the week and with the revelations and the way things have played out, it's obviously had an impact on the way you're thinking about things.

17:55Well, yeah, I just sort of think it, yeah, I think it's hard to sort of see the competition

18:07Andrew Mangan: it's weird it feels like it's so the prevailing narrative and story at this point that it almost feels like it kind of supersedes the games maybe as soon as the games start again that will all fade away and will rebalance a bit but right now um yeah i i am finding it hard to sort of to look at that Premier League table and sort of accept it at this point in time. All that said, I am tremendously looking forward to the reception Man City will receive on Sunday at Anfield. I'm very, very curious and intrigued about that aspect of it. Yeah, we had a question about that, I think. Let me see if I can find it here.

18:58It comes from Joseph Nathan on Blue Sky. He says, what do you think Liverpool's TIFO will be on Sunday? A massive print with the letters Sham City or an image of Guardiola metamorphosized with Bernie Madoff or simply just gold cards spelling out almost a billion. I mean, I think that that is going to be absolutely popcorn stuff, isn't it? This game between Liverpool and Manchester City, not least because obviously all the managers will have had their press conferences and i think is there going to be a manager in the premier league who is not asked about this who isn't quizzed about what they think about what manchester city have done and what manchester city are now because of that right and where that leaves them as you say uh top of the table it feels weird they shouldn't be there based on everything that we know.

19:56They probably won't be there for a while if the sanctions are what we think they might be. But that is going to add real colour, isn't it, to this fixture, which is going to be spicy enough. And I think we said last week, their next game as well is against PSG. So you couldn't really write the script about who Manchester City were going to face but with all that with the manager reactions and you know maresca and iraiola and arteta as well i'm sure because of his connection there you know it might it might sort of blast off

20:31Andrew Mangan: again you know based on what some of these people say yeah absolutely um and i mean god forbid city get result i think that would really uh put the cat amongst the pigeons as well but i yeah i i am just sort of look I'm not enjoying the international break particularly and you know I do in principle welcome the return of club football and I'm sure once it's Arsenal playing I'll get invested in those games but yeah I am feeling like the revelations have kind of particularly the kind of Premier League statement that came out and sort of the scale of the offences is, yeah, they've sort of, they've taken the sheen off the competition for me, really.

21:25Andrew Mangan: And sort of, yeah, I'm finding it very hard to sort of take it seriously, I think. Like, well, sort of, you know, it feels like there's an asterisk against this season now for me until this is resolved. Right. I mean, it is a process, obviously, and it has to go to appeal. and then the Premier League have a period of time in which they can apply the sanctions. But I think what you're saying, and based on the conversations that I've been having with friends who support other clubs and on Arseblog and in the comments and all that kind of stuff, the onus really is now on the Premier League to apply the kind of sanctions that try and restore at least some of the integrity of the competition that has been damaged so severely by what Manchester City have done and the way that they did it.

22:18And that's why I sort of share some concerns when people worry about political interference and that kind of stuff. But I think for the sake of the Premier League itself, they cannot be influenced by anything other than what City have done because they have to restore the integrity of the competition because it's been hugely, hugely damaged. And you can put as many asterisks as you like. You know, the fact is that for a sustained period, one club cheated and cheated and cheated and won success through that cheating. And if you don't punish them to the max, then, you know, not that you're letting them away with it, but you're going to find it very difficult to bring people back in, aren't you?

23:12Andrew Mangan: I think so. And I also think now is probably the moment of the greatest tension between, you know, what we're hearing and what we're watching. In the, you know, two months ago, we all suspected City of wrongdoing, but there was nothing final. There was no verdict. there was nothing in print final maybe not the word because nothing's final until the end of the process but um right now you've got this massive disparity between a team who are top of the premier league um and currently playing without any kind of sanction and the fact that um the scale of their deception and wrongdoing is is in the public domain like that is the that is a massive big disparity at this particular moment.

24:05Andrew Mangan: And yeah, it's, it's kind of the, it's something we have to go through, I guess, but yeah, it does create a slightly odd context, I think, in which to be playing Premier League games. Is the, the sort of, the fear of political interference. Yeah. Because of, you know, the, the relationship between the UK government and the UAE and the investments and all that kind of stuff, right. I've seen stories, oh, we're going to pull out billions of investment in the UK. If you punish Manchester City, we'll withdraw the investment that we were going to make. Is that not the greatest argument or evidence that you cannot allow states to own football clubs and that going forward, whatever happens, whatever is in play at this moment in time, the new rules need to be put in place, that you cannot have a nation state, a country owning a football club because, you know, you run the risk of a situation like this where even if there isn't that political interference, even if that doesn't happen, and even if the Premier League come down hard and heavy on Manchester City, which they absolutely should, you just can't allow sport.

25:18At the end of the day, this is sport. You can't allow sport or football to be leveraged in that way by powerful people, by governments, by nations.

25:32Andrew Mangan: Yeah, I do agree with that and said that, I think, on our show last week. I think that they need to make changes to who can own a football club. And I accept, by the way, that some independent owners, you know, billionaire types will in some cases hold as much political sway as certain nations. You know, I mean, they have outsized political weight themselves. but I do think when you are dealing with you know the question of international relations with another state it is so layered and complex and I must say I've you know I saw the prime minister's comments about the investment in the Manchester area that they've made as owners and how you know they'd be loath to lose that that that does worry me that does worry me that idea that sort of the political um dynamics will impede the the process or divert the process i mean we had a question on the discord from king thierry who was you know asking about that about worrying about political interference and whether that might impact the verdict and if if so what should he feel as uh as a football fan you know if city remain in the Premier League, which I don't think can happen.

26:58I just don't think it can happen, but I understand why people would fear that. He's saying, I'll have to ask myself, what is the point? Why should I spend all that money on season ticket going to games when it's openly admitted and accepted that we don't need to compete on the same terms as somebody like Manchester City, you know? I mean, I get that. It is kind of existential, in a sense, for the Premier League, because unless you hammer them, unless you come down as hard as you possibly can, then everybody is going to be, you know, asking the same questions as King Thierry or you or I or people listening to this who are worried about like, well, what have we all just, you know, committed to over the last however many years of our lives?

27:48and you can't even uphold the rules or you can't even apply proper sanctions.

27:52Andrew Mangan: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, look, it's obvious to us that they have to follow through. Yeah, I just hope that they can kind of, that they have the stomach for it and they can resist any external pressures that try to persuade them otherwise. But yeah, it will cast a huge shadow. It was already casting a significant shadow over the Premier League while we were awaiting a verdict. But I think now a verdict exists. That shadow, I think, looks somewhat darker. And until such time as we get a resolution or greater clarity, I think it will continue to do that. But, you know, when do we play Man City? That's a great question.

28:46Is it in November?

28:49Andrew Mangan: Yeah, I think so. End of November. We're at home. I mean, so what I was going to say was, you know, I think when Arsenal play in Leeds or Arsenal play in Lille or Forest or whoever it might be, you know, I'm not going to be thinking about Man City in the course of that 90 minutes and I'll be enjoying those games on their own merits. But I think outside of that, every time I look at that league table, it will rankle. And, yeah, that will be a very interesting occasion, won't it, at the end of November when City visit the Emirates? It certainly will. And who knows what the reaction to Manchester City is going to be, you know, over the course of the next couple of months by the time we play them.

29:33So, yeah, basically fuck them. Just to continue or just to move on from what we were saying, let's hope the Premier League do apply the right punishment and the right sanctions, ones that actually fit the crime. Back to the international break. A question from Selbridge Gooner. selbridgegooner.bsky.social Has this international break been perfectly timed for Big Vic? And can he use his international form to kickstart his season at club level? scoring three games in a row for Sweden during this international break. And I discovered from the Reddit Gunners, somebody said that he is the first player to score in six consecutive Nations League games.

30:23And if that isn't the greatest achievement in the game, I don't know what is.

30:28Andrew Mangan: Yes, that is correct. He's broken a Nations League record. So congratulations to Victor on that. yeah we had a few questions sort of saying what can be derived or drawn from his good form for Sweden what does that mean I must say part of me just thinks I said last week he plays in front two for Sweden it's a different dynamic, it's a different environment I also think it's a different level of competition like I think that in general in the Nations League I think he's going to be having an easier time of it than he is week in week out in the Premier League. So I don't necessarily, you know, international football used to be kind of the perceived as the top tier of the game.

31:19Andrew Mangan: I don't think it is anymore. And if you look at a lot of players' international scoring records, they are pretty favourable these days, especially compared with previous eras. but it's really positive that he seems to be coming back to us you know a much more confident player because we might need him we don't have much clarity yet do we on Kai Havers but I heard it's not too bad yeah with regards to Kai so that's positive but yeah I agree with you we are going to need Victor Jokeres you know we're going into a period where we're going to be playing every three or four days and we're going to need him.

31:59And if he comes back more confident and, you know, I think he even said himself that he needs to do better. I think part of that is showing the manager that he can still find the back of the net when he's on the pitch and has done so for Sweden. So I think any kind of positive international break for him can only be a good thing. Definitely. Definitely.

32:18Andrew Mangan: And yeah, with Kai, not too bad, which is it, you know, within the range of outcomes for Kai. I mean, And this is a guy who missed basically half a season with a hamstring injury at one point. So I can understand any anxieties out there, given the history. But yeah, indications are it's not that level of seriousness. So hopefully a timeline that's significantly shorter and we don't miss him for too long. Mikel Moreno. Yes. Also on the score sheet for Spain last night, scored in the 89th minute, having come on as a sub. David Raya got a game for Spain. Do you reckon, what's his name, De La Fuente?

32:57Do you reckon he was just sort of feeling sorry for David Raya? Just like, ah, you're really, ah, fuck. Go on, go on. Unai Simon. Yeah, you sit down there, Unai Simon, for a moment and let David have a go.

33:13Andrew Mangan: I mean, I'm pleased for him to get a game. I've seen a few nations rotating goalkeepers across this break. England have done it themselves, actually. Did they? I think so. Oh, yeah, Pickford played last night, but the other dude, Old Trafford. Trafford played the first two, I think, and they're sharing it. You know my opinion on Raya. I think he's absolutely outstanding. And it does kind of stagger me that he's not Spain's number one, but I must be missing something, Andrew. You must be. But Marino scored, so that's good. Zubimendi, he came on as a second-half substitute. We had a question from Thornley 29.

33:57Jesus, I need new glasses. Let me have a look. Yes, it's definitely Thornley 29, who says, Zubimendi hasn't started a single game for Arsenal in centre midfield this season. How do you see his usage coming, or how do you see his usage in the coming weeks?

34:12Andrew Mangan: Yeah, he started it right back, didn't he? Was that for... It was a cup game, wasn't it? Yeah. I mean, I think he's at a really interesting moment in his Arsenal career, Zubermande. And I don't want to overplay it because I think he's a good player. He has been used. He will continue to be used. But in terms of him becoming a regular presence or regular starter, I think he's got his work cut out right now. so I'm really intrigued to see what Mikel does with him over the next few weeks I feel like in the game maybe in our last game before the international break he came on quite early I remember that right there was certainly a game

35:06Andrew Mangan: last game before the international break we got battered by Brighton actually so maybe I'm not oh yeah Martin Zubemendi came on on the hour mark Yeah, a weird double sub from Arteta that I think we talked about it, didn't we? It was Marino and Zubamendi at a period where we were 3-0 down. It felt a little odd. And that was ahead of Lewis Skelly, which I sort of thought was interesting at the time. So I think he'll sort of take that, although it was a bad afternoon for Arsenal and a bad outcome. In terms of sort of his place in Arteta's thinking or in the pecking order, That was actually relatively promising for him.

35:45Andrew Mangan: But I think Rice and Bruno will be the first choice pair, as it were, alongside with Martin Odegaard as well, making up the three. I think Louis Skelly is still the next in line. And probably Mikel Marino ahead of Martin Zubemendi in certain positions in that trio. So, yeah, I still think it's quite a long way back for him to get to where he was at the start of last season, where he was an automatic pick, one of the first names on the team. Yeah, starting alongside Declan Rice, of course. I mean, Bruno Guimaraes has gone away to Australia and India with Brazil. So they've done quite a lot of travelling.

36:31but I guess we'll see what Mikel Arteta does on Saturday against Leeds. Tonight there is a game between Portugal and Norway. You going to keep an eye on this one?

36:45Andrew Mangan: Portugal and Norway. I'll keep an eye on it. I'll keep an eye on it. Yeah, kicking off at 7.45 and obviously it's the return fixture between these two nations having played last week when Martin Odegaard was subjected to a nasty, snide boot in the ankle from Bernardo Silva. And Odegaard was not happy about it at all, as we saw on the pitch and off the pitch as well. He spoke about it. So there might be just a little bit of needle in this one, you know? Yeah, and am I right in saying this is now a Portugal without Cristiano Ronaldo, who has dropped off home? Yeah, throwing his toys out of the pram in a big way.

37:35But obviously he can go fuck himself. But yeah, I do wonder how this one is going to play out because, you know, above and beyond Odegaard, But I don't think the Norwegian players themselves were particularly happy with what Silva did. Because, listen, I think we all understand if two players are going for the ball, you're a little bit late. It happens. There's no malice, no intent. If you are genuinely going for the ball, you can hurt another player. That's just part of football, right? But when it's as deliberate and off the ball as this, and when you sort of kick a guy from behind as well, it's both nasty and cowardly, isn't it?

38:20So you're probably going to open yourself up to a little bit of retribution, which if that happens, I'm not saying I'm not condoning any violence. I'm just saying that if it happens, that's, you know, the consequences of your own actions.

38:39Andrew Mangan: We don't want to see that, Andrew, by which, of course, I mean, we absolutely want to see that. Yeah, we 100 % do. you know you remember one of the games we played against manchester city last season maybe season before and i think from the kickoff it might have been away from home and erling holland just sort of ran up the pitch and jumped into i think it was saliba or it could have been gabrielle but i think it was saliba actually he just sort of ran and clattered him and jumped into him and Yes. I wouldn't mind seeing that. Erling Haaland versus Bernardo Silva. I feel like that would be a bit of a mismatch in physical terms.

39:24And the person who's likely to come out of that worse is Silva. So, yeah.

39:32Andrew Mangan: Yeah. I definitely think this is going to be worth keeping an eye on. I also think Portugal, by the way, look, under their new coach, a different team. And without Ronaldo, I think they'll be better for it. So, yeah, I think it promises to be, I think they beat the Netherlands during this international break away from home. And João Felix has apparently sort of rediscovered himself. So, yeah, I think this could be a good game and a bit of a needle in it. Yeah, yeah. Let's see how it plays out. Hopefully nothing serious for Martin Odegaard, who is obviously nursing that ankle injury. Do you want me to tell you what's going on with Vinicius?

40:15Please, yes. I was just looking at the Reddit soccer, the Reddit soccer Reddit. Is that what you call it? I don't know.

40:23Andrew Mangan: I think I probably muted Vinicius on all my media devices after, you know, it didn't go the way I hoped. Anyway, I was just looking for interlull stories that we might talk about during the podcast. And Yahoo Sports, did they replace Vinicius? The bizarre conspiracy theory going viral. And the story says, I'll read this a little bit to you. It says, an outrageous conspiracy theory has gained major traction on social media in Brazil, claiming that Vinicius Jr. is no longer the real footballer and that he was replaced by a lookalike after the World Cup. The theory began spreading through TikTok accounts and Brazilian forums where several users claimed to notice changes in his appearance and even argue that his tattoos do not match.

41:09The speculation escalated to absurd levels involving conspiracies mentioning the CIA and reptilian beings. Wow. I mean, this is full-on interlove stuff here, isn't it?

41:25Andrew Mangan: It is. And, you know, he has got a different jaw, Andrew. So I can understand the questions. The structure of his face. I don't think that is a conspiracy theory, is it? I think that's factual. It's not the same guy. Well, I mean, he's having a torrid time of it on the field, by all accounts as well. He struggled for form with Real Madrid this year. I've seen some Madrid fans lamenting the fact that they didn't cash in on him while they had the opportunity. Well, you had your chance. You had your chance. Maybe, yeah, I don't know. Maybe we dodged a bullet there. But interesting to hear, that begs the question, where is the real Vinicius Jr.?

42:09I don't know.

42:11Andrew Mangan: How do we free him from captivity? Yeah. Is that part of a medical, do you think? When they do, they test the knees and run on the treadmill and they're like, oh, your heart function is really good. unfortunately you're 82 % lizard creature. So he's failed his medical. Now, Andrew, famously, you can't fail the medical. Medical is only advisory. But I suspect if a Premier League club found out a player was a lizard person, they would not sign them. Man City might. They probably have. I saw our American listeners would doubtless be excited that they have a new youngest ever goal scorer. Oh, yeah.

42:56Andrew Mangan: They beat Mexico 3-0 and a friendly. And Cavan Sullivan, 17 years, 131 days, something like that, scored a goal to become. Cavan Sullivan. Oh, sorry, he's younger than that. 17 years, five days old. His name is Cavan. That's a county in Ireland. Cavan. Maybe it's Cavan. I mean, I'm guessing Cavan. Sullivan is quite an Irish name as well, isn't it? So I'm guessing if he pronounces it Cavan, well, fair enough. But Cavan Sullivan. Yeah. Americans quite like the pronunciation on the second syllable. Yeah, Cavan. Cavan Sullivan. Cavan Sullivan. Anyway, he is set to join Man City next season. So after sort of making his breakthrough international level, it'll be curious.

43:47Andrew Mangan: I'm interested to see how he gets on in sort of conference league. Yeah, you'd be looking at the contract you signed there, wouldn't you, going, not sure about this now. Maybe not. Actually, I've got a question about that. So maybe we'll keep that question for part two, will we? We take a little break? Okay. Why don't we take a little break? We will come back with your questions and more in part two right after this. Oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh.

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47:25Welcome back to the ArseCast Extra. This is part two of the show where we answer the questions that you send to us on bluesky at gunnerblog.bsky.social and at arseblog.com. I'm also on the Arseblog Discord chat server, which you get access to if you are an Arseblog member on Patreon. Another little drive to tell you that the Arseblog apps for iPhone and Android have been updated. Loads of new features. You can now leave comments on the Arseblog news stories. We're trying to integrate the Arses for Arseblog.com posts as well. There's all kinds of stats and bits and bobs. You can even have a gold icon now because we're champions.

48:06So it was quite interesting. Simon, who did the app, gave me some stats. And the gold icon is being used by like 85 % of people who are using the app. You can change that in the settings if you like. You can go back to the classic red. But lots of people like the gold icon and lots more features to come as well. So do download the app from the Play Store or the App Store or the whatever the fuck it's called. You know where it is. Go get the Arsbog apps. So there you go.

48:35Andrew Mangan: Very cool. Yeah, you've got to celebrate the gold wherever you can. I bought an Arsenal kit this season. Had to get the Champions badge on it. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. There'll be a good market for the sort of 2002, was it, or 2003 away kit? Was it 2001 or 2002? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. 2000... Sorry, I said yeah, yeah, yeah, but I didn't really know what you meant. What do you mean? I mean the one that we won the league at Old Trafford in. Oh, the gold. Yeah. 0102. 0102, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's a beautiful kit. I have seen one of those in the wild recently. But I think you're looking at like 300, 400 quid for one of those these days.

49:21What? Yeah.

49:23Andrew Mangan: Wow. Unsell shirts go for a lot of money. It's big business. Wow, the classics. There's even a, I don't know if I drenched this, but I think there's a Classic Football Shirts, you know the website, the Classic Football Shirts website. I think there's a shop in Dublin somewhere. Really? I think so. I'm almost certain I walked past it last week or the week before, but I could also have been dreaming. So, I don't know. That is the nature of dreams. That is. I'll go retrace my steps perhaps a little later and see if I can find it. But as much as I like it, I'm not going to pay€300 or€400 for one of those shirts.

50:04Fair. Entirely fair. Yeah. Oh, I found one actually. Oh, Jesus. It's on the Classic Football Shirts website. 2001-02 Arsenal away shirt. Henri 14. Size XL. Too big for me. Have a guess how much. in euros or pounds euros i think 400 euros higher is it wow 500 euros higher no way

50:35Andrew Mangan: uh 550 lower okay well five to five higher $539.99. Wow. That's a lot for a fucking football shirt. Some serious money, eh? Yeah. Yeah. Like I say, it's big business. I've got a bag full of old Arsenal shirts, like, in my shed. Please don't break into my shed, guys. I used to. I think I gave them all to Ginger's for Limpar's mum. Okay. Seems a noble cause. I think she was collecting shirts for a charity endeavour and he was looking for donations. And I'm pretty sure I gave most of them away because I can't find any of my old Arsenal shirts. So I assume that's where they went. Because I remember that as a thing, but the details, they're beyond me.

51:30Shall we do a question? I was going to ask you a question actually because we were talking about something towards the end of part one. Rupert Pupkin 86. Is that the king of comedy? It is the king of comedy. The king of comedy himself. Nice to have you along, Rupert. He says, or asks, I know we're all probably getting tired of the city questions, but this one might be for James, as I've not heard much about this. Do players tend to have exit clauses in their contracts that would allow them to cancel their contract if their employer, i.e. the club, were in breach due to various circumstances? If so, could we see a scenario where city players just cancel their contracts in the event that they get relegated?

52:14Hmm.

52:15Andrew Mangan: I think I heard a sports lawyer talking about this, possibly on stick to football. But I think it's sort of implicit within a contract between employee and employer that there is a kind of bond of trust, basically, whereby, you know, it's a fundamental of the agreement that your employer acts appropriately and sort of within the boundaries of decency and the law. And if they stray outside of that, I think you would have a case to contest the contract. For example, I know when, I'm not sure what the outcome was, but I know when Southampton last season were found guilty of Spygate. Oh, yeah. There was a, the Southampton players kind of rallied and pursued some sort of legal action against the club on the basis of like lost earnings in terms of them not going up to the Premier League and what that would have done for their salaries, etc, etc, etc.

53:35Now, I don't know where that's at, but I know there was definitely some organisation towards doing that.

53:44Andrew Mangan: So I think you probably, you might have a way out of your contract, I would say. Right. Depending on, yeah, depending on, you know, appeals and what have you and how the situation ultimately ends up. I don't think it'd be as clear as a release clause per se. Do you think that's maybe something City have considered themselves? You know, if we take as read that the, you know, this wasn't just one rogue dude doing bad stuff at Manchester City. This was systematic. It was from the top. You know, it was a strategy from the owners and the people that were running the club. So in the event, like, do you think they considered, well, maybe one day we might get caught?

54:28So if that happens, let's make sure that in the contracts we give to the players subsequent to this, that we make it really difficult for them to walk away in the event that somehow we get caught. You know, not least because when did the Football Leagues thing come out? It was 2014, right? Yeah. Right. So it's been going on a long time. Now, the players have gone into this club with full knowledge that this was going on. But I do wonder if it's something that City might try and mitigate, you know, when you sign an Erling Haaland or whoever it might be, that within that contract, you know, there's no easy way out, let's say.

55:12Andrew Mangan: Yeah, I mean, hasn't it been suggested that City were aware of the findings in the course of this most recent transfer window, in which they also spent a ton of money and brought in a load of new players? So the question of what they were telling those players or how they addressed the situation in those contracts is really fascinating. Yeah, it's sort of, you know, Buadi arrives at Manchester City and, you know, like everything's on fire over there. Is everything all right? No, no, it's fine. It's fine, don't worry about it. Yeah, I mean, exactly. So, yeah, I think, you know, we're in uncharted waters to some extent with this in the Premier League, but I don't foresee City players

55:59Andrew Mangan: necessarily taking those steps to extricate themselves from those contracts. Do you not? Like, I mean, let's say the sanctions are applied and let's say that City are kicked out of the Premier League or let's say they're given such a points deduction, you know, over the course of X amount of seasons. You know, they could be given 60 points a season, every season forever, you know, or relegated or whatever it might be. Ain't no way those players are hanging around, you know? Yeah. Whatever payments they might be receiving. Exactly. Exactly. And however they might be receiving them in whatever bank accounts and whatever currency they might be getting them, you know, they're not going to hang around.

56:38Erling Haaland's not going to play in the, as you said, the Conference League North. It's just not going to happen. So there could well be an exodus if the punishment is harsh enough. But I mean, until that, it's not going to be, I mean, wouldn't the agents right now of those players not be doing their clients a disservice if they weren't actively preparing for something like this to happen?

57:04Andrew Mangan: Yeah, I'm sure they, I'm sure they'll be looking at their options. They must be. They must be. And it wouldn't surprise me if, you know, they did pursue some sort of damages from the club at some point in time. Yeah. It's so fascinating because, like, we've never really been here before. So we don't know how it's going to play out. But I don't see all these lads going down to playing the championship, that's for sure. No. Or beneath. No. Bring Bernardo Silva back. He can play there. That's what I say. Here's another quick City one from GrahamA1B2. It says, Morningfellas, how do you think the guilty verdicts will affect City on the pitch in the short term?

57:53Andrew Mangan: Will it create a siege mentality, or will the players find it impossible to give 100 % knowing that it will almost certainly mean nothing?

58:03I mean, I think there is, as a team, the siege mentality thing is what you would be looking for, right? Um, but there, you know, everyone's reaction is individual. There are going to be players who are probably more capable of compartmentalizing it and say, well, it is what it is. I still have a job to do on the pitch. Maybe others will be a little more, uh, a little more impacted by it. Um, which I guess depends on the characters in question, but I don't really think it's going to have too much impact.

58:39I just don't really see it being that much of a distraction you know if anything it's probably a chance for them to to sort of put it to one side and concentrate on what they're they're good at for want of a better way of putting it which is playing football right but I don't see this being some sort of psychological collapse I can't really envisage that can you

59:05Andrew Mangan: I mean I don't know you look at Fardio in action for Croatia last night and you begin to wonder um I think I think surely it will impact motivation like psychologically it can't be a healthy thing for them to be experiencing and I'm sure Maresco will be saying all the right things about you know we need to do our job and shut out the noise i'm sure many people at city like when we talk about pursuing legal action against the club or i think many employees at city until recently have had a kind of blind faith in the ownership and have sort of trusted them when they've said no no it's fine it'll be fine we'll sort it and maybe there are still some of them kind of clinging on to that um but i think it will have a an impact i do i think i think these things do i think healthy happy dressing rooms fare better and it's it's it's a wildly different situation and in some ways i'm wary of making the comparison but I remember Liverpool last season you know obviously they suffered a terrible trauma with with the loss of Diogo Jota and a lot of people were like yeah but you know once the game starts will it affect them and then you look at how their season played out and maybe it's correlated maybe it's not but something in that dressing room of course was carrying that with them and while this is not a personal loss in the way that Jota was and not tragic in that fashion it is a huge thing that will surely be in the minds of the players I would be astonished if they're able to set it to one side yeah entirely oh we just got another three points that they're going to take off us exactly yeah you know maybe like you're right you know I do get you know what you're saying about a happy dressing room you know if everybody's pulling in the same direction if you know there aren't distractions if there aren't off the field things to deal with that's obviously ideal um i just think that they yeah i i feel like it might be a way for them if they are so inclined because there might be some who who are looking at it and thinking well okay i believe them but now you know i have to think about this differently and does it have an impact on the way people are going to perceive my career and perceive what I've done in the game maybe there are people who are unhappy about that you know yeah there might be people there who feel betrayed or lied to or as you say concerned about their legacy um yeah it's just an unhealthy situation so So if Maresca is able to overcome that and, you know, win lots of football matches, you know, I don't take any pleasure saying it, but that would be a massive, massive achievement in my eyes because I just think this is so big.

1:02:30Andrew Mangan: It's kind of unavoidable. Yeah. I mean, listen, don't get me wrong. I would love for it to have a hugely detrimental impact on them. I really would. Like if they fall apart, if they collapse, if the fans get, you know, divided, if the players lack motivation, if the results are terrible, if they're getting hammered and, you know, all and sundry, whatever ground they're going to are giving them pelters for 90 minutes and beyond. Don't get me wrong. Like hook it to my veins and all that kind of stuff. but I just you know yeah I just I'm not 100 % sure it will be like that but I hope it is obviously what about this question moving away from Manchester City Jamar Solis on the discord what do you make of the report that they decided against expanding the Emirates does this show that the club want to capitalize on its current success and atmosphere before having to play elsewhere for a season or two.

1:03:30And I did want to ask, I don't know if you know, but there were reports that Arsala brought in like outside consultants, right? To look at the business and I guess to streamline operations maybe, or to just have a general overview of how things are going to see if there are ways that they can be more efficient, et cetera, et cetera. Is that connected with this decision? Because as far as we're aware, and certainly from what I had heard, they had gone down the road quite a bit with this, not to the point where anything was imminent, but certainly in terms of looking at how it could be done and the extent to which it could be done.

1:04:12And my information was they were talking about maybe 10 ,000 more seats as the option that they were going to go for in terms of the consultation they had with people who are experts in this kind of stuff. But obviously, you've decided against it. Do we know if those things are connected?

1:04:34Andrew Mangan: I don't know that they're connected. I think the kind of streamlining consultancy is about efficiency and, you know, cost cutting to an extent. Probably there will be people who lose their jobs through that process, I would imagine. You speak to people in business more generally and they say, well, this is not unusual. You know, companies grow and then shrink and grow again. And it's about efficiency. Equally, I totally accept the point that in a period where you're bringing in record revenues and you've just won a Premier League title, it does feel slightly counterintuitive to then be in a situation where you might have to lay some people off.

1:05:25I don't know that the stadium is associated with that. But of course, it would be expensive to do.

1:05:34Andrew Mangan: I think as well as big a part of it as anything is that I think it would be very impractical to do. It would force you to vacate the Emirates. And we've spoken quite a lot about this idea that Arsenal have sort of a window of opportunity right now, maybe even more so off the back of this Man City stuff, to capitalise and build something really substantial and dynastic. And I don't think there's great appetite to take Arsenal out of the Emirates in that window, which I think almost any of these expansion plans would require. And so my understanding is that the focus will be on sort of finding ways to increase revenues within the existing capacity.

1:06:33Andrew Mangan: So we've already seen a bit of that. I don't know how much you've paid attention or noticed this thing of these sort of new corporate-level seatings behind Mikel Arteta's dugout. Are you aware of this? Not especially, no. Oh, these are like super seats you can buy, right? Exactly, yeah. So you get to – I noticed it at the first Premier League game, I think, because there was all these people on the pitch before kickoff or like around the pitch. It's something City have done for years. I always noticed it at the Etihad, like the idea that you get to sort of wander around pitch side and you get your little umbrellas to protect you from the sprinklers.

1:07:14Andrew Mangan: And then you sit directly behind the dugout. So it's like, I actually don't know the prices, but it's sort of a new tier of corporate seating. I guess the idea being to extract more revenue. And I think Arsenal will also be looking at not only how do we get more fans in, because it seems for the time being that they press pause on that, but how can we encourage fans to spend more time and therefore money in the stadium. So obviously the new cash ring contract has gone out for this season, But I think they'll be looking at the experience, the match day experience. How can we, what other sort of retail opportunities are there within the Emirates footprint, for example.

1:08:06Andrew Mangan: Which is probably like, it's kind of a regulatory necessity. Arsenal have to generate more and more revenues through the stadium to remain competitive. But it's not great news for our many fans who try their hand in the ballot, you know, week in, week out and are desperate to actually get access to the stadium. That's still a challenge. so yeah I mean what's your reaction to to this development not surprised I think when Mikel Arteta was asked about it a few weeks ago maybe it was a bit more than that he was not particularly he didn't sound like this was something he was particularly keen on because why I can well imagine that yeah of course why would you want to give up home advantage you know the work he's put into exactly engendering that atmosphere you know yeah for sure and then you've got to play at Wembley which is I don't know it's just not a great place to be you know unless you're in a cup final um so I completely understand why the idea that they want to have people spend more and spend more time around the stadium makes sense to me.

1:09:34I guess improving the quality of the offerings in the stadium is part of that, right? I know they did like two-for-one beer deals, didn't they, in previous seasons? Maybe they need to do a little bit more of that. I mean, the pubs around the ground won't thank them too much for that kind of stuff, but if that's what they want to do, then that's how you're going to get people in. Um, you know, offer them something rather than just sort of give it a lick of paint, metaphorical paint and charge more. That seems like the way everything goes these days, right? Um, we make it look better, but charge you more for it rather than offering better value or more value, you know, to people who are already paying a lot to be there, right?

1:10:21whether it's their match ticket, their season ticket, their travel costs, all of that kind of stuff, you're already paying plenty to go to an Arsenal game. Maybe if the club want to, you know, there's a way of doing it, let's say by offering better value. I don't know if that's something that any corporation or business or organisation will actually really consider, you know.

1:10:42Andrew Mangan: Yeah, I know. It doesn't feel like it, does it? It doesn't feel like it. It's what we try and do at Arseblog, and it works okay, you know. Like we haven't put, we haven't increased the price of our Patreon since 2018, since we launched it. That's eight years ago. Everything else in the world goes up and up and up and up and up. But you know, there's value in actually offering people value in something that is good value without trying to wring every last penny out of them. And I kind of feel like a football club like Arsenal, you know, what match day revenue, I get it for corporate stuff, right?

1:11:13These super seats that you can buy, it's wanky. And I think it's kind of unfair that you can just sort of buy your way in. But that's the nature of sport as entertainment these days. But I don't think that it should preclude the idea that you can for the average Joe, the average football fan. You don't have to rip them off. You know, you can, you know, match day income is not such a massive, massive part of your revenues that you can just, you could if you wanted to give people a bit more that's all i'm saying but um you could yeah and i

1:11:50Andrew Mangan: think the sort of interesting thing is that arsenal i think the regulatory environment it provides a great rationale doesn't it especially in the wake of all this man city stuff um you know i'm not saying it's something the club can necessarily hide behind but it's certainly you know if you are driving prices up or you are sort of encouraging greater expenditure in the stadium it's a great justification for it but yeah I think your average Arsenal fan would want there to be more seats available in the ground but would they want that at the expense of being in that ground for potentially a really successful brilliant period over the next five years yeah I don't know I don't know I mean the the thing about that was as well when I when we heard about this first it's not just the investment in the infrastructure changes that you have to make right the development of the stadium like basically take the top off and add however many seats you're going to add and put the top back on which makes it sound very simple and reductive but you know it's a huge investment in time and construction and all that kind of stuff But what it also means is that you have to invest in a team which is going to fill 70 ,000 seats.

1:13:19And as we saw not too long ago, when the team was not at the level, there were a lot of empty seats in that stadium. A lot of empty seats for a lot of games because, well, we weren't playing in Europe or when we were playing in the Europa League. You had games against teams which were not attractive for people to say, well, I'm going to spend all that money and I'm going to get home at whatever time of night it is after an evening game against whoever it was, FC Carl in the fucking Europa League. There would be 20 ,000 empty seats. So the investment that you make to put another 10 ,000 seats in isn't the end of it.

1:14:00You've got to make sure that for that investment to pay off, you've got to have a brilliant team. And that also means a commitment to keeping the level of the team as high as possible. And that sounds counterintuitive, doesn't it? Because that's the whole point of having a football club and a football team. But as we know, things in football are cyclical. That you can be at the top and then, you know, you're not. And then you've got 30 ,000 empty seats in a stadium, which looks bad. It looks bad on TV, looks bad for commercial partners, those kinds of things. You're not attracting the best sponsors because like who wants to sponsor, you know, a stadium that's two thirds full or half full for certain games.

1:14:46You know, it's a bad look. So I think there was another aspect of that construction, that investment that I think, I'm not saying they've decided we're not doing this and we're not going to invest in the team, but I think that was certainly another part of it. I mean, as sort of an aside to that, Super Beans on the Discord said, what are your thoughts on drinking being allowed in the stands or potentially being allowed in the stands? As a supporter from the US, I think it's crazy. I don't know if he means it's crazy that it would be allowed or it's crazy that it's not allowed as it is.

1:15:22Andrew Mangan: He means it's crazy that it's not allowed because I had a friend come over from the States for a Premier League game recently and it blew their mind that they couldn't take their pint out to their seat. It's so alien, I think, in the US. am I right in saying that Andy Burnham Prime Minister has talked about this potentially changing he's a football fan himself and like many politicians seems keen to play that up and yeah he's talked about that as a possibility I think I suppose what I think is if you can have safe standing I don't see why you can't have drinking at this point. Like if you've arrived at the conclusion that standing can be reintroduced, I feel like probably you're in a place where alcohol can, but maybe the combination of the standing and the alcohol is, is the problem.

1:16:30Andrew Mangan: I must say I never really am like, it doesn't bother me, you know, anymore or at all really. because I'm so used to it. You know, if I go to a game as a fan, I might have a pint before. I might have a pint at half time. I'd probably go to the pub and have a pint after. I suppose Arsenal would love you to be able to buy pints all the way through the game. Speaking of these revenues. Yeah. I do wonder, like, I mean, I'm the same. You know, when I go to a game, generally you're meeting in the pub beforehand, right? But typically I won't really drink that much before. I might have two pints. One is because I want to remember the game.

1:17:08I want to remember the experience. I want to be able to watch the game properly without the sort of alcohol haze or, you know, the way it impacts your memory and things. The other is more practical. I don't want to have to be getting up and down and going to the bathroom every like 20 minutes, which is something people will have to get used to, particularly for fans of a certain vintage for whom the canister needs emptying more frequently than it did when you were younger, right? Yeah.

1:17:37Andrew Mangan: And I don't want to get up and have to go and queue and buy a pint halfway through the first half either. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. So it's like – Is there the danger as well that I think, you know, we've seen it, you know, at certain tournaments, particularly summer tournaments where when a goal is scored beer is thrown is that something anybody is really interested in I don't want to go to a game and end up with a pint over my head because some wanker is sitting beside me drinking and then throws it in the air when we score a goal like I get it, celebrate a goal, jump around but I don't want to be covered in your beer or anybody else's beer I mean that might sound a bit I don't know if that sounds like a bit footy-duty or whatever, but, like, who wants to be covered in fucking someone else's beer?

1:18:30Very few people, I would say.

1:18:32Andrew Mangan: Not the people paying several thousand pounds to sit behind Mikel Arteta. No, that's for sure. That's for sure. Yeah, I mean, look, I don't really – I'm not, yeah, I'm not, like, agitating. It's 45 minutes, and then you get a chance to have a beer, and then it's another 45 minutes, and then you can go and have as much beer as you like. Whatever they decide, they decide. But like, it's not something when I go to a game of football that I'm like, if only I could sit here with a beer. I just, again, like you, it might be that we're used to it. But I think it must be that we're used to it. Because as I say, I think on the other side of the pond, they are bemused by it.

1:19:10But I mean, it's like, as well as really expensive. I remember going to the game against Real Madrid. I think it was in Washington, D.C. or outside Washington, D.C. in one of the preseasons a couple of years ago. And like for a giant can of Bud Light, it was like$24 or something. And I know that's American stadium prices, but who owns the club? Who thinks they're going to get a good value beer if they can have a beer in the stands? You know, there'll be like a dude going around with these giant cans. and you'll be paying through the nose for a beer for the privilege of having a beer in your seat when you could just like wait till after or wait till halftime.

1:19:54I don't know.

1:19:56Andrew Mangan: Yeah, fair, fair. Yeah. Here's a football question. Okay. From Prashant. And they say, morning guys, what are you expecting from a well-rested Declan Rice? Arteta has used him a bit deeper this season with fewer box-to-box runs. I assume that was partly due to the amount of football he's played lately. Do you think that will change?

1:20:23Well-rested Declan Rice. Is like three weeks off well-rested? Is he dealing with a little injury? I don't know. But I'm glad he's not playing for England. That's all I will say. I mean, I hope he is sort of refreshed and revitalised. Have we seen the best of Declan Rice this season? I mean, it's early days. I don't know. I'm just expecting to see the same as we always get from Declan Rice, which is a level of consistency, which very few players are capable of, you know, in terms of the ground he covers in terms of, you know, what he brings to the team. I'd like to see a few more goals from Declan Rice.

1:21:02I think he's well capable of scoring goals and scoring more goals than he does. So maybe that's the thing I'm looking for. You know, I don't have too many complaints about his game. I don't have too many complaints about where he's playing. I don't have any complaints about his set piece delivery or his commitment or his defensive work or anything like that. Can he contribute a little more in terms of goals? I think so. So maybe that's it.

1:21:28Andrew Mangan: A few more free kicks I'd like. Yeah. Some of those top corner free kicks he was pulling out. Yeah. Michael Olesa free kick for France. That was very nice. Yeah. Well, we have to face him in a few weeks' time for Bayern Munich. So that'll be interesting. But yeah, I think, I'm not sure he'll, he's going to be released to run forward a ton, particularly if he's playing with Bruno. I think that will fall more to Bruno in that sort of pair. Because Bruno can't do the getting back in the way that Declan Wies can. Certainly not. Certainly not. But yeah, I'm hoping the rest is really beneficial to him.

1:22:13Andrew Mangan: I think he needed it. It was the right decision. I think he is nursing a little something, but definitely, you know, in the past, he's played through that and pushed on and we don't need him to be doing that right now. So yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing not a fully reinvigorated, but a partially reinvigorated Declan Ross. All right. um let's do a couple of quick ones to finish off here poorly drawn arsenal asks at what age is it appropriate to indoctrinate your child into arsenal fandom asking for a friend which of course he isn't he's asking for himself because he and his wife have had a new arrival so congratulations to poorly drawn arsenal and mrs poorly drawn arsenal and baby poorly drawn arsenal and as the father of a young child, you're the man to answer this.

1:23:06Andrew Mangan: Yeah. I don't think it's ever too early, particularly at the moment, particularly while we're so good. I mean, you're doing them a favour, if nothing else. So I think get straight on it. Tattoo?

1:23:23Yeah, I think a tattoo.

1:23:25Andrew Mangan: If you tattoo a baby... You should go to jail. a yes but b does the tattoo grow i don't know actually yeah just a tattoo or like a tiny drawn can you try something just one pixel on the left shoulder and then by the time the kid is like 18 wow where did you get that giant circle yeah exactly this is my question as the baby expands does the tattoo or is the skin do you just build more skin around your existing skin you know what i mean yeah i don't know we need to find find out i have to google this if you tattoo a baby does the tattoo grow yeah i'm getting an ai okay well they'll definitely know um yes a tattoo on a baby would stretch, expand, and become distorted as the child grows into an adult.

1:24:26That must be why people don't do it. Yeah, that's the only reason why people don't do it.

1:24:31Andrew Mangan: That's the reason they're just worried about retaining the integrity of the design. Yeah. You spend all that money, you don't want it to stretch and fade, for goodness sake. No, no, no, no, no. Go on, get your... All right, stand down, stand down. Yeah, okay. Final one, Sanket on the Discord says, Good morning, gents. I've seen some clips of David Ornstein's new Paddle with Football Celebs show. I'm not sure exactly what it's called. It's called Paddle with Football Celebs with David Ornstein. Truth versus Paddle, I believe. Truth versus Paddle? Truth or Paddle? Truth or Paddle. I'm not sure the title works, but it's called Truth or Paddle.

1:25:09Does that... I'm going to do the Simpsons thing. Like, if they don't tell the truth, does David Ornstein go, that's a paddling that's a paddling he bends them over his knees them over and gives them a good

1:25:22Andrew Mangan: pad I don't know I've not watched it but I assume that's what happens that's a show I might be interested in to be honest um but anyway uh it is obviously playing paddle which is what just kind of um tennis isn't it yeah it's tennis with a Spanish tennis isn't it with a plastic bat yeah um but they ask what sport will feature in Gunnerblog's version of the show um well i guess it would have to be truth or gunge truth or slime exactly yeah you know i ask footballers questions if they decline to answer they're slimed they're slimed and gunged uh yeah and i get gunged every week just for the hell of it just for the hell of it just for the kicks yeah wow um no i've i he's had gary neville and danny drinkwater on so far so i've not yet tuned into david's i've seen the social clips but i've not watched the full thing um i did yeah i did see the gary neville one i thought no but when he gets um you know michelle on to play paddle they're such great pals of course after we've won the league uh oh sorry i was thinking about gary Neville.

1:26:38Andrew Mangan: I don't know if David and Mikel are pals. It sounds like I just sort of gave away his sword. But yeah, if he gets Mikel on or you know. He was a very good tennis player, Mikel Arteta. He was as a child, wasn't he? Yeah, I remember him talking about how he had to make a decision about whether to be a professional footballer or a professional tennis player. So he could have been the another Rafa Nadal or one of those guys. Maybe. Any other Spanish tennis player that exists that I can't remember. In the clips I've seen, David looks like quite a good Padel player. Padel? Is that what we're calling it?

1:27:22Padel?

1:27:22Andrew Mangan: Padel. Isn't that a Kylie Minogue song? Padel. Padel. But I don't think he'll be leaving journalism behind anytime soon. He seems to be doing quite a good job of it. Yeah. For the time being. Okay. I'd like to see them play that game. Remember the one where you just had a pole in the ground and you had a tennis ball on a string? Swing ball? Swing ball. Whoever could get the thing around, you'd just stand there smashing it and whoever could get it to the top was the winner. Swing ball, that's what it was called. I'd be good at that. If we could do that, there's less movement involved in that, you know?

1:27:56Swing ball with Gunnerblog. Winner gets slimed. Exactly. Gungerblog? Gungerblog. A few people made that joke on the Discord, to be fair. Be careful.

1:28:08Andrew Mangan: Before you know it, I'll have trademarked it. I'll have my lawyers on it straight away. The merch is on the way. Yeah. Christmas gift for everybody. Right. I think we've done well. I think we've done all right. This Intel has been long. It has. Thank God for Man City, frankly. But I don't know what we would have done. Yeah. Talked more bollocks, I imagine. But anyway. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the show, folks. Thank you very much indeed, as always, for being here. And we appreciate you a great deal. Download the apps. Subscribe to the Patreon if you fancy, which is at patreon.com forward slash arseblog.

1:28:44For now, though, take it easy and we will catch you on the next one.

1:28:47Andrew Mangan: Bye-bye.

1:29:18We'll be right back. moving. Call 1-800-GRAINGER, click grainger.com, or just stop by. Grainger, for the ones who get it done.