MNC: Man City’s comeback & Howe under heat?

27:53Chappers, was I listening on the radio on the way to Old Trafford when you said about the handball rule? Was that you, or are you talking to me in my dreams again? I don't. What was it in relation to? The handball rule or law, I really think that you change the name from laws. I think it makes them far more portentous and ominous and pretentious than they need to be. The handball guideline, it used to be seven sentences, and it's now 200 or something. Oh, that's probably right. Now, they've had to change it so much just to the technology that's available. The rules were not written to be administered in this much scrutiny, and football has to confront that because what they're doing, and we saw it at Anfield, is they are walking themselves in circles to a point where what you see on the pitch does not make sense to the people who matter the most, who are the fans.

28:41Just in all the pedantry, Rory, that we were talking about, a Liverpool fan in my ear said that Alisson did go up for a corner at West Brom when the scores were level. Oh, that's a fair point. Yeah, okay. Just to clear up more, every bit of penance. Yeah, just so. It's still, I think it's a relatively unusual circumstance.

29:03Hello, this is Matt Jolly's Urgent Questions, your daily dose of political mayhem from the heart of Westminster. Order, order. I call Matt Jolly. I'm a supporter of flags. It turns out time is finite. Government doesn't want to be involved in this.

29:40Three Premier League managers really feeling the pressure at the moment. Scott Parker and Fabian Hertzler to come, But we'll start with Eddie Howe, booed off the pitch after losing 3-2 at home to Brentford on Saturday tea time. Newcastle fan Pete got in touch with us and you can as well, mnc at bbc.co.uk or 85058. And he said, this feels like the beginning of the end. There is staleness and dreadful body language. Bruno Guimaraes was right to call this a mess a few months ago before being called out by his manager. A tactical approach that has outlived its welcome and loyalty to some that has been many a coach's Achilles heel.

30:20It feels a change is just around the corner. What do you make of that, Shay? Strong. Yeah, surprises me. I know there's a bit of unrest, of course, because of the results have been so inconsistent. And Eddie's not shied away from the fact that the results have been up and down and they can't seem to string a run of form together at all. I mean the Champions League's been relatively successful and you would imagine Carabag in the knockout stages they would go through over two legs but again the Premier League I think the ownership was brought in to challenge at the very top every season and I mean by that is at least qualifying for Champions League every season so if you look at their league position at the minute then it's what's 12, 33 points whatever it is so it's a long way from 4th or 5th whatever the top 4 or 5 is at the end of the season to try and make up that ground and sitting here tonight you would think that's going to be a major struggle to get back into Champions League football this season so again to attract the players and the PSR and all the different financial sort of restraints on the club they have to be really getting into the Champions League every season but I'm surprised after 70 years of domestic hurt last season he brought a trophy Eddie to the North East which at one stage when I played there for 12 years thought the club was jinx because we just could never get over the line and he's brought that trophy and again he's got Champions League football this season obviously for the second time in three years there's lots of pluses in the first time in the history that the club's ever been to a knockout stage of a Champions League as well so there's lots of positives and if you took a step back from Brentford at the weekend and it's frustrating that you know that I think Alan got a spot on actually and I've thrown him under the bus on Saturday night and matched the day he said that the recruitment in the summer you know they spent a lot of money and you have to you know say the owners have backed Eddie in the summer but especially in forward areas, they've really, really struggled with the recruitment in the summer.

32:14And neither, not a lot of them players have brought a lot to the party at the minute. Pete says staleness. Luke Edwards in The Telegraph said it will be catastrophic if militant Newcastle fans force out a great manager. Like how Kevin Keegan and Bobby Robson left after supporters agitated for change. The result was a precipitous decline. It cannot happen again. then Rory yeah I mean I don't think it'll be the case that the supporters force Eddie Howe out I'm not sure that the Eddie Howe is the is the cause of all of the issues at Newcastle I think that from the outside and you know the fans are the people who watch their team most religiously so I wouldn't claim to have seen every minute of Newcastle this season but my sense is that the way Newcastle Eddie Howe's Newcastle play when they're at their best is not a thing you can do when you are also in the Champions League.

33:07There's this really obvious rhythm to Newcastle's problems that when they're in the Champions League, they eventually run out of that intensity that makes them so special when they're not in the Champions League, if you see what I mean. When they are just playing once a week in the domestic cups, they can sustain that. When they throw in those extra 8, 10, 12, 14 games in the season, plus a decent run to the semi-finals of the Carabao, it's really hard. And they seem to have hit that same wall again that they did two years ago. I think it's probably a failing of Eddie Howes a shortcoming of Eddie Howes that he's not been able to find a way around that to make them a bit more sustainable but I think the sense of stagnation the frustration that the fans are starting to direct towards Howe is partly results it's partly the recruitment wasn't great in the summer and it's partly the general stagnation around the club which is not to do with him, it's to do with the ownership Because if Rory says you can't play like Newcastle can play with Champions League football as well, Chris, there will be plenty who will say, well, you can't play how Newcastle play with the players that they brought in in the summer.

34:17Yeah, and I get all those things. The one thing which really, I mean, I think football's gone crazy now, I do, because this is the first sort of really indifferent spell Eddie Howe has had as manager. And when you go, I mean, don't really use the phrase, be careful what you wish for to Newcastle fans. When you go back and look what he came into and what he took over, and I know subsequently Newcastle is supposed to be the richest club in the world, but the PSR thing has no doubt affected them. But he took over a side who could have got relegated, gets them 11th place, gets them to a 4th place finish, 7th place finish, 5th place finish.

35:00I mean, that's amazing in itself. You add the League Cup onto that, then this season hasn't gone as well as they would have liked. Newcastle aren't going to go down this season, but a League Cup semifinal, Champions League progress. He's had a lot of injuries to contend with. So the way that Newcastle have had to try and stay on the right side of the PSR hasn't helped Eddie Howe. They spent over 200 million in the summer. Yeah, they did. But then when you think what they lost in terms of Alexander Isak and all the shenanigans at the start of the season, that had an impact. And a large part of that 200 million was Valdemar and Visser.

35:48And Visser's taken a hell of a long time. He came injured, didn't he? And he's still not up to speed yet. And Valdemar was never a direct replacement for Isak. they don't play the same way. That has had a massive impact on the team and the way Eddie had. And that, Chris, was sort of the point of the question was to say, I know PSR gets thrown around. I know it meant that's why they sold Elliot Anderson a couple of years ago and so on and so forth. And I do understand that the rules can restrict clubs with newer, richer owners, okay? So I take all of that into account. But it's their recruitment at the moment that has done for them, isn't it?

36:29Yeah, probably. And that's where he needed a bit of luck and maybe a bit of help. But I can't stand what football is becoming when you actually – I'm repeating myself now. When you look at the job which he has done, where Newcastle were before them, I think when they got up to the Premier League, three seasons, 13th, 12th and 12th in a relegation battle when Eddie Howe took over. So Eddie Howe, Newcastle where – They're 12th now and it's a disaster, Newcastle fans or some Newcastle fans are seemingly saying. And this is his first. What about having a bit of faith in a manager who sort of built the club back up and he needs a bit of support and a bit of help now?

37:15I just think football has got so short term now. And it's not just Eddie Howe as a manager, but it's all about instant success. and if you can't maintain that, then we'll change. But I think, you know, Eddie, how Newcastle fans need to have patience. They need to understand that the squad is stretched this season and cut him a bit of slack. I mean, Che said, you know, was it 56 years, whatever it was, you know, for Newcastle, was it 56 years, the first time they won a cup or something like that? It was 70 domestic years, yeah. I mean, that's amazing in itself. So I just, I don't know what the world is coming to with regards to the way that managers are sort of viewed now.

38:00And if, you know, the first sign of trouble, oh, get him out, get someone else in. What's a new voice going to do at this stage of the season to Newcastle if they want him out now? You know, January's gone. But, you know, what's a new manager going to come in and change? I don't get it. Tomorrow's game's horrible, isn't it, Shea? Spurs, Newcastle. Yeah it's a tough one I mean I think Newcastle have had two wins away from home all season out of 12 I think it is it's not very good for Newcastle at the point of view they bounce back after a you know a big defeat at the weekend at Brentford at home the next four games actually is away for Newcastle which doesn't bode well here for building it back up again but I suppose you look at Tottenham and the position they're in the league they're not pulling up trees in it and I just look at the table and maybe Tottenham fans won't appreciate this but you know No, they're only six points.

38:53Was it above the relegation zone? So they're not flying either. So it's interesting to see how tomorrow night, it's hard to even call. You're asking me how it's going to go tomorrow. I don't really know. If Newcastle turn up like they did in the first half at Anfield, then they've got a great chance. If they turn up like they did maybe in the first half against Brentford, then they'll probably struggle. Doesn't the, everything with Newcastle, Rory, does it not come back to the summer and maybe the ownership here, really? which was they operated this summer without a sporting director that's right isn't it without a ceo i think if memory serves me right all of that was on eddie howe and they were trying to deal with the alexander isak situation and also i've read a couple of articles on this this week as well there's a sort of all of a sudden there's a slight question mark on the direction that that sports or clubs linked with Saudi investment are going in.

39:46And that may be Liv. It might be Ronaldo and the Saudi Premier League. You can throw Newcastle in there. You can throw an e-sports Olympics that I think is not going to take place in Saudi now. They're in a perfect, or they were in the summer, in a perfect storm. Yeah, so I think there's two separate things and one is maybe more important than the other. But the Izak thing, this is not going to make me popular in lots of port cities. I don't think anybody involved with the Izak thing played that well. And I don't think anyone has come out of it well. I think it's terrible for Izak's reputation.

40:21And even before the injury, which obviously is really unfortunate, has cost him a season. And it will probably cost him a World Cup. I think Liverpool, you can make a very strong case, shouldn't have spent£125 on a striker. Not when they had Ekotique. I think they could have used that money elsewhere much more sensibly and not be in the position they're in. And I think Newcastle were hamstrung by a quite pig-headed refusal to confront reality and accept that there was a point at which he maybe had to do a deal. Hang on a minute. Just on that, right, what did – I understand what you're saying to some extent, but what did Newcastle actually do wrong in that situation?

41:03I think you should absolutely, in that situation, delay as long as you can to try and drive the price up. That is the sensible thing to do. But I think there is a call you have to make at a certain point where you think either we're going to see this through and keep this player, or it actually works for us to say, all right, we've kind of held Liverpool's feet to the fire for as long as we can. The price is sky high now. Let's start talking. I think the way it's played out, it cost Newcastle a lot of time to get the most use out of that money last summer because Chappers is totally right, that their squad has not had the kind of depth and breadth that it needs, but£125 million under PSR, which is no longer a thing, they've abolished it, it's going to be SCR, everyone can invest what they like, isn't it wonderful?

41:51Let's see how we all enjoy that. But they had£125 million times by five, effectively, to invest in the squad. And because they held on and held on and held on, they ended up kind of emergency shopping. and that wasn't ideal. I think Valtimaad is a really good player. I think he will come good. I think Whistle was quite a smart signing. I'm a bit surprised that Olanda's not really done that well at Newcastle. Does that look like a kind of dead sir almost? It just hasn't quite clicked. I think looking back, everyone involved in that deal would probably play it differently. I don't think anyone's come out of it well.

42:22The bigger issue is that there is a lack of direction from the ownership and I read the same pieces that you will have done, Chappers. Johnny Liu did a great one in The Guardian. if you look at the Saudi sports investments in fact if you look at Saudi investments more broadly you know Neon which was meant to be the great kind of shining light the city in the desert it looked like a kind of dystopian horror show but for some reason it was meant to be attractive they are they're pulling out of loads of that because of the cost they're starting to kind of remove themselves from certain sporting commitments it looks like they are changing tack a little bit and that's always the risk when you are owned by the sovereign wealth fund of a nation of a nation state that at some point they think well actually our investment priorities are changing it's really hard to look at what they've done in Newcastle and think that the promise that they arrived with has been lived up to to be perfectly honest there's the plan for the stadium still a plan there's no new training round the investment in the squad has come they spent a lot of money but have they as you know Chapa said like they didn't they went into last summer without a sporting director that's not brilliant work I think they were between CEOs for reasons that were outside their control.

43:27But there is a little bit of a lack of direction. It looks like there's an uncertainty, a kind of absence of vision at Newcastle. And I think Eddie Howe is suffering from that. And that's not to say he's not made mistakes. He has. But until you solve that, I'm not sure there's any point changing the manager. On to Burnley then. Scott Parker, emotional after the Turfmoor crowd turned against him and the team during their 2-0 loss to West Ham on Saturday. This is what he had to say to Five Live after the game. Well, it wasn't at the end of the game. It was after we conceded one goal. And whether that was the players getting clearly told that they're not good to wear their shirt or whether that was me that I'm getting sacked in the morning, that was at 1-0.

44:06I think I referenced it on Friday in my press conference. Before a ball was kicked this year, there was a challenge. There was no person, no fan, no player, me included, that didn't realise what the challenge was ahead of us. And that challenge at this present moment time is here. And like always in these moments, it's easy to understand a challenge when it doesn't hit you in the face. It's easy to say the right things, behave the right way, do the right things when it isn't there. When the challenge hits you in the face and you're in the midst of it, that takes something special. To actually get through it and face up to it.

44:45I feel my players are doing that, but no doubt that today at times I was testing for them. And that makes me sad. That's the way it is. Burnley fan Natalie Bromley from the No Name Never podcast joins us, been on Monday Night Club before. Evening Natalie. Good evening. Before we delve into everything Burnley related, just when you hear him talk like that, how does it make you feel? It's really uncomfortable as a human being to hear somebody be that upset. And I think football is in a really challenging position constantly with narratives such as this. because it's a very, I think you can't be committed to a football team and be a supporter, not just a fan, without it being incredibly emotional for you and without you really caring.

45:36And that brings out the best and the worst of our fellow human beings. And it's particularly difficult with Scott Parker because he's clearly an incredible human being. I mean, his presence around the club, his moral compass, his commitment to the community the way he is as an individual you don't want to see him in that level of pain but there's a reality that comes here and if you are a an elite sporting manager if you want to compete at the highest level then there are higher expectations of you and there comes from that a need to have a slightly thicker skin and if you listen to Scott Parker's press conference there in isolation for people who haven't been following Berlin's journey this season.

46:23It feels harsh and saying, oh, after 10 minutes, they were booing already. Now, a quick pause there. I don't like it and it's not something that I do, but I'm also conflicted because I can understand why it happens. This isn't a knee-jerk reaction to just a team going 1-0 down from home. This is an accumulation of a really deep-rooted problem that's happening at the club and a point where fans have just said enough is enough. How vitriolic has it been? Because I would say in my experiences of watching or listening to Burnley games around Christmas time and into January, it wasn't a sort of booing players for making mistakes.

47:05It wasn't even at that stage that you're not fit to wear the shirt. It was a general, it felt like to me, a general exasperation of basically not getting the ball forward, not showing some kind of urgency, of it all being very deliberate. You know, even if you were a goal down or 2-1 down, like that kind of frustration from fans of like, for crying out loud, go for it. That's exactly right. But has it become more vitriolic in the last two or three weeks would you say? It's been a build-up and you've got to bear in mind that we haven't seen us win since October and I think there's an accumulation of problems here.

47:44I think the fans are frustrated about the way that the entire season has gone. It's not just about Scott Parker, it's not just about his team, it's about decisions that they're border-making, it's about the direction that the club is going in, it's about the lack of communication and addressing concerns that the fans have had. We are told constantly when ALK took over that they consider themselves to be a Premier League club. We were, you know, an established-ish Premier League club under the Sean Dyche era, and we had back-to-back seasons in there. And then since ALK have taken over, we've gone down, up, down, up, and we're going to be going back down again.

48:18And we're being told that they consider themselves to be a Premier League club. The chairman wants to be challenging for Champions League, which, you know, we kind of have a little bit of a funny eye roll at him. But, you know, it shows some ambition, it shows some passion for them, which is great. And then you look at that, So you think, OK, well, that's what the ambition of the club is. And then you look at what's happening on the pitch. We've just been a nothingness this season. And it's just been, it's a really confusing thing for fans to get their heads around. We think, well, show me a manager.

48:46As much as we don't want anybody to lose their job, show me a manager who's had the results that Scott Parker's had this season and an inflexibility with his approach to games, the repetition that he tries every single game, which clearly doesn't work, and been allowed to keep their job. it just feels like he's not got the ruthless and the competitive edge that you need to succeed in elite level football it's an unforgiving league um he's very defensive I'll give you a quick example before we move this forward um Manchester United at home this season that was a really poor week for United they just got rid of Amarin we managed to get a point uh with seven minutes to go we were taking the ball into the corner at home against a side with not chasing a win we got a corner in two minutes into stoppage time and our centre-halves, Esteve, was saying to the boss can I go forward?

49:37And Scott Park was on the touchline saying no, no, no, no, no, stay there, stay back. And he came out after the game and said you've got to recognise how important it is to keep hold of a point against United. And the fans are going we're seven points clear of safety what are we clinging on to here? You're not seven points ahead of the game here and that's when it turned for me. And also, Chris, you had a caller on 606 on Saturday night, a Burnley fan, who was so good at describing his emotions as someone who was, he said he probably thinks he spent five grand this season following Burnley home and away, going to the Sunderland.

50:21A Sunderland game was a Monday night, wasn't it, Natalie? And he said, you know. Oh, that was awful. Yeah, but finishing work, going up to Sunderland, watching that, coming back, two or three hours sleep or whatever, and then in work at 6.30 on the Tuesday morning. And therefore, for all Scott Parker sounds emotional and doesn't want, if you are spending that amount of money and investing that time and not getting any thrill back, people accept defeats if there's a bit of thrill and excitement, then you can understand the frustration, can't you, Chris? Yeah, totally. I mean, but it's not the problem.

51:01Sunderland and Leeds have made a fist of it this season And in previous seasons, you know, the promoter clubs from the championship, they've all been in the same boat where they've all been sort of scratching around at the bottom. And the Premier League has been too big a gap to breach. So Burnley fans are looking at what Leeds have done and they're still competitive. By the way, Leeds have still got work to do to stay in the Premier League. And they've been absolutely flying. And you see what Sunderland are doing and you're thinking, well, why can't that be us? But, you know, just from afar and, you know, the criticism of, you know, of the ownership and what have you, on the face of things, is it just because you haven't got on the right side of the recruitment?

51:45Has that been the thing where that gap has been too big? For example, last season in the championship, I think you had 13 goalless draws, something like that. Leeds scored 26 more goals than you. So you thought that's an area where, you know, everybody's looking for a top centre forward. Broia hasn't really happened for Broia, has it, in a Burnley jersey. So all these things, and it sort of amounts to a tough season. And then Scott Parker, I think, fair enough, he's saying, well, you've actually been in games, but you needed to turn those draws into wins, a bit like you're getting at the Manchester United game.

52:21But can you not see Scott Parker's side as well, sort of, you know, in the United game and thinking, well, If we can't win it, then don't lose it. I've got sympathy for him, I've got to say. Yeah, I do too. But I think probably the best way that I could summarise this is that it's not one person's fault. It's not Scott Parker's fault. It's not the player's fault. It's not the fans' fault. It's not the board's sole fault. It's a massive melting pot at the moment of lots of problems all across the club. And it feels like we are at a crossroads at the moment where I'm not 100 % sure what Burnley Football Club's identity is anymore.

53:02You know, we got criticised heavily in the Dice years for being dinosaur football and it not being attractive and fans hated us, whatever. But at least you knew what you had. We had a defence back then of Nick Pope, James Tarkovsky, Ben Mee in that centre of defence. You know, Ben Mee would put his face on the line. You had Ashley Barnes up front trying to get goals. We were known for something, even if it wasn't pretty. I don't know what Burnley Football Club are known as. We are nothing in every single element of the park. there have been recruitment problems I'm sorry as lovely as a guy he is Scott Parker I think has a ceiling as a championship manager he's now proved consistently that he doesn't quite have whatever it is whether it's the tactical application whether it's the desire is maybe not the right word whether it's the ruthlessness and the decision making ability to succeed in the Premier League so maybe his ceiling is just as a championship manager and it's weird because he insists on playing five at the back, but then invites more shots than any other side.

54:00And I don't understand tactically why you would do that. Natalie, I'm going to move it on from Burnley, but thank you very much for joining us. Natalie Blomley from the No Name Never podcast. And it kind of comes on to a similar thing now with Brighton and sort of what their identity is next. If I asked you, Rory, what their identity is, would you know? Not immediately at the moment. I think what Natalie said about Burnley is interesting. That is important at that end of the table, because if you think about what they had under, not Deitch necessarily, but company, it was a similar season in terms of results.

54:33They were obviously going down from November, December, January, but there was that sense of attacking football, young players. It felt like they were standing for something, which I think is important to fans. Yeah, but they moan then. They did moan then. I would have wanted to ask Natalie which relegation kind of felt better, although that sounds a bit glib, but I think it's interesting to get that perspective. For Brighton, I think the issue is that there is still a style of how Brighton play, but it's not garnering results. And you combine that with the sense that the Brighton fans I know have, which is it's quite hard to kind of bond to the players because you kind of know they're going to leave.

55:17And it's interesting that the story of Brighton's season, the kind of standout figure of Brighton's season, is Danny Welbeck. And Danny Welbeck isn't going anywhere. And so for a fan, that's really important to think, well, that player will probably be here next season, whereas pretty much anybody else, you can't be 100 % certain of that. Well, and actually on that, this has come in from Ryan. I'm a Brighton season ticket holder. He emailed us mnc at bbc.co.uk. We've got a very good squad, but we play without intensity. It's incredibly frustrating to watch. Most teams this season are mediocre and games are tight, but there are baffling decisions.

55:57Minter not fit, but then Gruda sent on loan. 17-year-old Howell then starts. Kadioglu, our best player, shifted to right back. Coppola and Watson are then loaned out. And then you have the Milner sub in the game against Everton, which directly led to added time and their goal. We're usually a patient fan base, but yesterday was awful. There's a general malaise and lack of urgency across the team. and ultimately the buck stops with Hertelah. But I wonder, Shay, whether it also stops with recruitment as well. And the Gruda sent out on loan. Pascal Gross came back. That was a transfer. But then also Matto Reilly coming back on loan as well.

56:3617-year-old starting against Crystal Palace but no Minter. It just seems very uncertain and unplanned, which feels a bit unlike... I was going to say, yeah. It's very unbrightened. Well, I think Brighton was one of the shining lights, wasn't it, over the last four or five years of how to recruit players and get them market value and get huge sums for some of the best players. Look at Caseta, Chelsea, for example. Belieba could be the next one. But I suppose Rory's got a really good point. The fans, they get attached to a player and the kids put the name on the back of the shirt and then the next window comes along and they're gone to the hills.

57:11So that's not ideal. But with the ownership and the model he has, that's the sort of model that Brighton have and he has it, I think, maybe with Hearts as well and in our club in Europe, I think, where it may be. Yeah, Sanchez was in Belgium. I was really surprised by Gruda's. I thought Gruda has always looked excellent to me. He's young and he's exciting and he's the sort of player that looks very much like a kind of Brighton project player. I think the risk with that model, and Brighton have been amazing at it, with being a kind of trampoline club, is that sometimes the signings won't be quite as good.

57:45So they had a run of real hits. It's obviously, like I said, a McAllister, Mitoma, who obviously is still there, but at various points they could have sold for a lot of money. It's really hard to get players of that standard every single summer, no matter how clever you are and how much of Jamestown's data you have access to or the advice that they give you. They're really good at it, but there's no such thing as a sure thing. And I wonder if that is part of it, that it's kind of dropped off slightly. I think what the email said about every game being tight that's the other thing that within the Premier League there are so many games that are decided by one goal but it is a weird season and I think it is affecting the way the amount of pressure managers are coming under Brighton are eight points off West Ham in 18th they're also eight points off Liverpool teams are not putting runs together I don't know what it is at the moment there was a point a couple of weeks ago where the longest winning run in the Premier League was one team had won games back to back and that was it Everyone is coming in and out of form so fast.

58:45And it's not to delegitimize Brighton fans' concerns. So how's that affecting fans' behaviour, do you think? I think everyone, to be honest, is a bit dissatisfied. Everyone's just a bit like, oh, this isn't very good. Because, you know, you remember that you lost last week. Not ungrateful, but I just think it's making everyone feel like their team is out of form, basically. That seems to me to be the uniform sense around the Premier League. is my team, unless you're Arsenal or like West Ham at the moment, you kind of think your team's not playing very well. And that means because you're expecting so much that so many teams are so ambitious, that leads to quite a lot of dissatisfaction.

59:22The biggest problem, Mark, in recent times is they're underperforming their XG. Oh, leave it, I do. We've had an email in mnc at bbc.co.uk. Hi, Mark and crew. I wanted to express my utter shock after meeting Chris at Stansted Airport last Tuesday morning photo below as a Rangers season ticket holder I thought the conversation could be slightly awkward anything but what a lovely guy mistaken identity there can I see that picture which Chris? there's loads of Chris's such an enjoyable chat He even seemed to know stuff about football. So lay off him, Rory. Chris is a good guy and was even nice about you.

1:00:12Wow. Genuinely, thanks for taking the time, Chris, to chat. And by the way, he's wrong about thinking Hearts will win the league. From Adam. That's genuine. And I'm just to show that we do the praise and everything as well for you. That's nice. Yeah, that is nice. I really wish I had put the boot into Rory.

1:00:36It's also nice that you had the photo there because I still remember that time two Rangers fans asked you to take a photo of them and you turned the camera around to take a picture of yourself as a selfie. Didn't tell them and handed the phone back to them. Yeah, I enjoyed that. Shay would do the same. I've got a photo of evidence there, Chris. You didn't even show your teeth. It was a grimacing smile. FNC at bbc.co.uk. The last few minutes, Jack, Zach Grealish has posted a photo of himself in hospital on Instagram, having had the operation for his broken leg. He posted a video of him scoring a goal for Everton as well, with a blue love heart.

1:01:17His words, I didn't want this season to end like this, but that was football, gutted, surgery done, and now all focus on getting back fit. I know for sure I'll come back fitter, stronger and better than before. The support I've had since coming to this unbelievable club has meant the world to me. the staff, teammates and the fans have been incredible, I absolutely love representing this club, I'll be backing the lads all the way and doing everything I can to get back as soon as possible thank you again for all the love, you would have thought though Shane, the ball isn't necessarily in his court, is it?

1:01:48It's in Everton's Well, I don't know what's going to happen in that situation, obviously he's just thanking the fans for his contracts up in the summer is that right, Chabbers, or do we know when his contracts are? Well yeah, he'll get it, well he's done at Everton at the end of the season. No, but he's contracted City, I mean. City, yeah, I think so, yeah. Yeah, so it'll be interesting to see what happens next. Will he stay at Everton or will he have aspirations of going somewhere else? I don't know. As you said, I don't know which court the ball's in, but it'll be watch this space, I'm sure.

1:02:14Yeah, well, I think he's a great addition to Everton and it's good to see him this season back, smiling, playing, contributing, and just wish him a speedy recovery. The Premier League's a better place with him in it. Let's end it there. Always good to end with Chris praising someone for smiling. Thank you to all of you. See you soon. Chris and Shea and Rory, the next episode of the Football Daily will be with Kelly and have reaction to Tuesday night's Premier League games.

1:02:58Just a stunning score. One of the all-time great tries. The Rugby Union Weekly podcast will be daily throughout the tournament with all the best insight and analysis and the biggest names in the game. The Six Nations. Listen on BBC Sounds.