830 million spondulicks

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1:00Luke Moore: We ask podcast fans where they take the most notice of a brand. The lowest scoring answer is repetition inside a single show. But move that identical message across audio and video podcasts, across podcasts and social media clips, or having several creators talk about it, and your campaign will get a 10-point increase in brand recall. That's just one finding in the latest Podcast Pulse 2026 report from ACAST. Download it for free at acast.com slash pulse.

1:55Luke Moore: Hello, everybody. Good to have you with us. And thanks to Friend of the Ramble, Fresh and Minty, for giving us that very relevant intro line. If you want to submit an intro line for a future episode, then become a Friend of the Ramble on our Patreon. You'll also get an extended edition of the Ramble today. And every single Wednesday, we call it Ramble Uncut. Oh, do we say some things? Do we massage our figures and do all sorts of nefarious things? Just for a second, which camera? We don't massage our figures. Carry on, Marcus. We massage our shoulders. Yeah, you massage shoulders very well. You're well known for it.

2:27Luke Moore: Thank you. Get Tony Fernandez in here. Click the link in the show notes to sign up now. You're potentially the next owner of Man City. I totally forgot about that. It was like a scene out of Ghost, wasn't it? Yeah, it was. It was like moulding his shoulder fat. Yeah, but there was lots of other innocent people in the room, though. Sexier than Ghost. Yeah. Yeah, that's true, actually. Less sensual, but sexier. There were two actual people in the room for the Tony Fanatio. There is that, there is that. Oi, listen, we've got Vishen now. Oi, for the Man City stuff, the big howitzers here. Here he is.

2:56You've got the pop guns, now you've got the bazooka. Yeah, I thought Jim was sitting on the fence on Monday, so I've come in to...

3:03Luke Moore: To shove him off. To clean house, yeah. To shove him off. This is the real egregious thing about this whole Man City affair, because for the second show running in the great autumn international break of 2026... England are getting bumped. England are getting bumped down. And you accepting that is huge. You've accepted that without a complaint. I can't think of any other situation where that would happen. I've accepted it on condition. And the Premier League, no, my condition. We were at 6am negotiating with Marcus. I said, no deal. And then they said, deal. And I said, okay. Right, the Premier League, they released their official statement on Manchester City's charges.

3:40Luke Moore: Many of you would have read this. Many of you would have seen the highlights. Summarize it for us, Marcus. The word sham was used quite a lot, quite enjoyably. They said the independent commission found Manchester City arranged sham contracts with a number of its commercial partners as a part of a scheme to disguise secret funding of more than£830 million. It found that the club relied on sham agreements to artificially inflate the club's revenues and reduce its cost. City recorded£360 million in sponsorship fees in the three seasons they won the Premier League, of course, 2011-12, 2013-14 and 2017-18.

4:20Luke Moore: But only£43 million of it was legitimate. The rest came from their owners and was disguised. They said the sham scheme devised by Manchester City allowed the club to avoid recording what would otherwise have been the largest single season loss in Premier League history. and that was in 2009 and 10. So they also confirmed that Manchester City have been found guilty on all charges related to breaches of Premier League financial rules between the 2009-10 season and the 2017-18 seasons. The commission also said that a number of important club witnesses gave false evidence in key respects and that some knowingly gave untrue and dishonest evidence.

5:01Luke Moore: 830 million of the Kingspondulics. 830 million boys is a lot of boys. It's a hell of a lot of boys. A lot of boys. A lot of bags. It's like the other side of the Al Capone tax evasion thing. You're taxed a fine, it's everything else. What have you been doing? You've paid a lot of tax. You've paid a lot of tax, well done for that. 830 million. What's 830 million pounds of unfriends? But then with the mis-selling of image rights as well, that's close to a billion. A billion. Do you know how many clubs could... Not mine, Manchester United. Yeah, it is astonishing. I think the most damning line in the report, which the Premier League released was, none of the matters raised by the club provided it with a defence to any of the charges.

5:56Luke Moore: Yeah, wow. But they have evidence, though. Well, irrefutable evidence. They should have used it. To be fair, Jim's right, they probably should have used that, shouldn't they? Is the position that Man City hold that the, quote, comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence, end quote, was submitted to the Premier League but dismissed, and therefore the debate is over whether that evidence is valid or not? Because the Premier League have basically dismissed that evidence. Well, the Independent Commission. It's an independent commission. Yeah, the opposition can't dismiss it. Is that it's irrelevant?

6:32Because to me, I think a lot of confusion would be, perhaps with Man City fans, would be like, well, if we have got this evidence, which is honourable from being the worst Premier League club of all time, the biggest offending Premier League club, I think you can extend that to English football history, by the way. To drag the entire English national game into disrepute. Can we please see it? Because if you're holding it back, now would be a pertinent time. It's not that whole thing. The best time to show the comprehensive evidence would be, as soon as you had it, the second best time is right now.

7:04My dad used to say that to me all the time. Where is it?

7:07Luke Moore: Has anyone got anything to refute? I mean, obviously with the very famous Aguero moment, it was last gasp. Are they like, let's get the appeal, and we'll do it then to rise the drop. We're waiting for Martin Tyler to get in. KALDOON! I love the idea that it does actually exist, but just Mario Balotelli took it away with him. That would be good. He's under his shirt. Yeah. He's going to lift his shirt up. But in the same way that the Aguero goal was his only assist in the Premier League. Right, yeah. Yeah, you only need one. That's the Gibral C-Sage music. Oh, dearie, man. Look, I've changed my mind somewhat since Monday.

7:45Yeah, let him off? No, I just think now, having seen that statement and the sheer volume of the money and the way they've behaved, maybe I'm just a bit slower on the uptake than the rest of you guys, but I just feel like, no, they've got to be totally dumped out of the league. I've changed my mind about the retrospective punishment they have to have their titles taken away they have to be given what Daniel Taylor said just the heaviest possible punishment they need to get it done they need to get it done because this is hanging over everyone we've got a ridiculous situation here where Man City have started the best of all the teams in the Premier League this season we're in the great autumn international break of 2026 we won't always be in there these beautiful things like that they are fleeting

8:27Luke Moore: I'll tell you what Man City fans you were all very critical of that break. Join me. This is your safe place. Yeah, but, but, I mean, it's sort of semi-prediction from me. If they don't kind of remedy this soon, it's going to be a bit of a sham as a competition anyway. Yeah, yeah. But it is. You're absolutely right, Luke. You're absolutely right. Go to Liverpool next or something. Oh, they're away to Anfield, aren't they? Oh, wow. But it's going to feel like a completely ridiculous, Yeah. Like almost like a Patonkin village of a tournament, of a competition. Well, so there, I mean, there's a bit of a problem when you say, you know, dumped out the league in terms of what happens this season.

9:07Luke Moore: I mean, there, you could give them, you know, a hundred points deduction or something and just, you know, you have to play out the rest of your fictions. But that's separate from an expulsion though, isn't it? Well, it is. I mean, punishment aside, or the details of it, I actually agree completely with Luke. I think when the charges were given all those months or decades ago... It was blue moons ago. Yeah, exactly, Jim. Well played. I think, sadly, we're somewhat conditioned to incredibly rich people, incredibly powerful people. They just do what they want. And there's a punishment, but we all know, blah, blah, blah.

9:39Luke Moore: Well, suddenly this has happened. And even on Monday, when we were talking about it, I thought, even then I was a bit like, you know what, they'll probably be given a points deduction, which still makes them somewhat competitive in terms of surviving relegation in the league, they'll get£50 million fine and then it will be an enormous inconvenience for them. Every article I read, you know, every journalist is spitting blood about this. And my anger grows with every paragraph I read about it and I agree that I think the punishment has to be on a level, and it will be on a level, of course it is, on a level of severity that I don't think any of us thought would actually happen when these charges were brought forward.

10:20Luke Moore: This is beyond a disgrace. I don't think either of you need to be particularly harsh on yourself for not realizing the severity of it, because part of Man City's tactic throughout all of this is death by process. So they've been kicking the can down the road. They have been trying to bore people, basically, to the point that ultimately they did a brilliant job. If you look at how clear-headed a lot of their ex and current players, execs and current managers seem to be about it, it's like it never happened. It's like it's everything that, you know, it's a conspiracy against them. Well, this only came out because of a leak.

10:55Yeah, but, well, exactly, yeah, which again is, well, you know, you can't necessarily use that as evidence because it's been obtained illegally. No, that's not quite how it works. The other thing to say about it is, if you look at the language used in the Premier League's PDF document, it's clear for a reason because it has to be accessible to every one of us around this table, people who are just fans who have a curiosity. This is one of the rare times I've seen something of this nature. I've never seen anything of this size, obviously, but something of this nature where extracts have been put out in the papers because it is easy to digest.

11:34The numbers are very clear to get through. You know, Project Longbow about that essentially a shell company Fordham that was part of Project Longbow, that's really easy to digest. And I think the other thing that, you know, probably shouldn't laugh really, but the way that the initial part of the Premier League's report is essentially telling everyone, do you know how much bullshit we had to weigh through? Do you know how much bullshit they put at our door to basically just sandbag us? Like, this is what we've done. and it's actually, you know, to read between the lines, they're clearly fucking pissed off.

12:11Yeah, absolutely.

12:12Luke Moore: The word sham is a really, really interesting choice because it's repeated. It's clearly something that's been discussed, the language of that. I like the writers room for the Premier League. Yeah, that's what it feels like, isn't it? Yeah. Like with some lawyers in it, presumably, but it's deliberately shaming. It's really, really fascinating to finally see all of this play out. And are you guys surprised by the amount? Because it did happen over a long time. and obviously like, you know, totals up at about 900 million when you kind of pull the kind of... What's interesting about the amount, to me, is it opens up a whole new sort of period of conversation because it feels really obvious.

12:51It feels like a really obvious amount. If you go back and compare to how genuine, I mean, with, I'm not sure my city does have any respect, so I'm not even going to say with respect, but with genuinely big clubs 15 years ago and then compare that to the sponsorship that City were reporting. It's farcical. I mean, it's a farce. But Arsene Wenger called this out. He called it in 2011. He did, yeah. But via some kind of UEFA thing.

13:15Luke Moore: But it's interesting to look back and think. So it's kind of interesting on one level how they thought they'd ever get away with it. But then, you know, I do take Richard's point with the Premier League and Jim's point about how angry they seem. And I understand that they're angry because of the way Man City have behaved. Ultimately, you know, the Premier League should also know at the back of their mind they're asleep at the wheel. They're very embarrassed. They're asleep at the wheel because they, it wasn't for football leagues. This whole thing doesn't start going. Premier League have allowed this ownership to take over a club in the Premier League.

13:48They've waved it in. They've not really, I mean, I know it's too strong so they have turned a blind eye but they've certainly allowed it to happen. It's not as though as soon as for one season Man City massively reported over inflated sponsorship revenue they're like, bang, we're on this now. that's bollocks. Bullshit, as Carl Pilkington would say. It's just rumbled on and on because it's been such a laissez-faire attitude because the priority for the Premier League has been the product, the marketability of the product. And there's an aspect of them that likes it when Aguero comes to the Premier League or De Bruyne or whatever it may be.

14:23So they are deeply conflicted as well. And this may precipitate a real deep dive into the governance of the game that's needed to happen for a long time. but ultimately you've got to deal with the crocodile nearest the boat right and that is the fact that city are you know it seems to be bang to rights they can live in this weird alternative universe as much as they want but the the conversation but the reality is the reality the conversation i think is interesting now is how the fans of city react because you know ultimately it's a slightly different situation but i'm going to bring it up because a couple of people on Twitter were mentioning it to me yesterday, is when my team went to the war financially, there was a certain amount of delusion among the Portsmouth fan base of that it's not our fault, it's someone else's fault, it's not the ownership, it's not this, it's not that.

15:15To the point where there was like a pocket of fans at Fratton Park around when Portsmouth were about to go bankrupt singing there's only one Peter Story, who was the CEO who oversaw the whole thing and he had done quite a good job to, in my view, stupid people by saying, oh, it's not our fault. You know, I'm the one keeping this all together but everyone else was a bit like, hang on a minute and now, you know, Story wouldn't be able to walk into Portsmouth. You know, he'd be run out of town. With the Man City ownership here, at what point does the penny drop for City fans where they go, hang on a minute, we're embarrassing ourselves here.

15:50This is like totally delusional. Nobody ever wants

15:52Luke Moore: to own up to embarrassment. But I think you asked seeing, well it's interesting because we disagreed on this and Vish and I said in the corridor earlier I said we're seeing this happen now you said you weren't you said you weren't sure about that so I guess it depends when the tipping point comes, if it comes yeah and I suppose it depends because that's what will drive the ownership out by the way that's what will make it unsustainable right yeah 100 % I mean I said that anecdotally really in terms of the Man City fans that I know I've not really seen it at all, I've seen you know a lot of people just shoulder arms to it but yeah I've not seen it It's so difficult to say.

16:25I mean, I have a lot of sympathy for some of them. Because, I mean, you try and put yourself in that situation. Like, I'm a supporter of my club. It doesn't mean I defend all their actions.

16:36Luke Moore: No, but I mean, you're talking about, obviously, Portsmouth, different situation. But I think the big thing is the fact that Portsmouth won an FA Cup. So it's such a cherished memory around that time. You don't want anything tainted of that memory. You want it to be preserved. And with Manchester City having won all they did in this time, to look back and go, ah, we were sort of being hoodwinked. I think there will be some people who will never accept it because it's too unpalatable. You just can't do it. I've seen a little bit online of the tide starting to turn of City fans, and they tend to be older City fans, saying, look, we're bang to rights here, and a bit of anger at the owners and the board coming out.

17:17Luke Moore: And I think that's kind of probably where this is going to go as more and more City fans kind of actually see the writing on the wall and see how serious the Premier League are about punishing them here. And, you know, they were a club before all this and that is surely something that needs to happen as well. If anything is going to save the soul of Manchester City, those owners can't be around anymore. I could totally agree with that. The sanctions will probably be so extreme if it goes the way people are thinking it will go that they will be in a pretty terrible situation once they start again under new owners.

17:48but that is, I think, kind of reasonable given the scale of the cheating. I said the same thing yesterday with Portsmouth. Portsmouth took their medicine, right? They had no choice to take their medicine. The club went to the wall. They spent a considerable amount of time in the fourth tier and lots of people who've supported that club all their life didn't know if they're going to have a club to support anymore, right? So there was a certain amount of soul-searching that had to happen and this will inevitably happen for Man City fans at the right time. what's going to be fascinating now is an extension of what you were saying on Monday Jim which is this idea that they've played a really high stakes game and they've lost they've gone all in they've said basically fuck you we're right you're wrong we'll win this and there may be an element of them that still feels this way

18:32Luke Moore: and if it wasn't for that pesky kid they would have got away with it well quite but the PR approach now is going to be fascinating from the ownership because they're either they're either posturing publicly to keep the pressure up to say, we've been wronged here, and then behind the scenes, they're coming to the table and going, what can we do here? Or they are realistically going to go... Well, it's one of three things they can do. That, they can do double down, double down, double down, we'll take you all the way, and we're not going to accept this, and we're going to go down kicking and screaming.

19:00Or they're going to be crisis comms now, right as we sit here right now with a PR firm, a good PR firm going, right, how do we best manoeuvre ourselves through this?

19:10Luke Moore: The policy is clearly not to blink, and they've taken that very literally. we'll come on to in a bit. That Soriano video. Yeah, if anybody's seen that leaked video to club staff with Man City's CEO Ferran Soriano, when he's talking about the guilty verdicts are Premier League conspiracy theories. It's, what is it, a three-minute, four-minute video? And he doesn't appear to blink. But yes, Jim, sorry. Just on a slightly separate note, I think, I keep thinking back to 2008 when they came in. So I looked at the money they spent in that time. So in the five seasons before FFP came in, which was in 2013, City received 984.8 million in owner funding, which was perfectly legitimate at the time.

19:54Luke Moore: And it just makes me think, did they even need to do this? They put so much investment into the club, they've got themselves in a really, really good position. They've got a really good academy that they've massively improved and is bearing fruit all the time. If they'd just been a bit more patient, even if they played by the rules. They would have been fine. But you come from a background of never being reined in. Sure. We all know people in our lives who are problematic adults because they've never been reined in in their lives, right? So to me, it was just smacks of that, really. This whole thing, the thing I keep coming back to is it needs to be remedied as soon as possible.

20:33The problem is, I'm not in a position that say, I'm not saying you guys can't be objective, but I'm not in a position as an Arsenal fan or a Man United fan that's directly affecting, you know, I could have won that title. But I am a football fan.

20:44Luke Moore: Are you a sham football fan? Hang on a minute here. I'm a Fulham fan. And if Man City get relegated this season, that massively helps Fulham. Yeah, it does. So don't leave me out of this. Yeah, the problem is I don't really want to play them next season. No, but the point is that this is... If people don't understand or they've not considered it in depth because they care about football and they don't care about governance, fine. It's a perfectly legitimate viewpoint. But this undermines the fabric of the games. It's the national sport of this country. You're basically saying the last however many years has not been legitimate.

21:15Everything we've watched has basically been almost like a glorified sporting-themed soap opera where none of the results are actually real based on the Independent Commission's findings. And that's a massive problem. That's the only thing you need to consider when you talk about punishing the transgression. because the transgression isn't just about Man City win the League of Man United when Mourinho's there. I don't give a fuck about that. As an isolated individual I don't fucking care who wins the Premier League.

21:46Luke Moore: We need to hear from Mourinho. But what I do care about is that when I'm paying money to watch a game at a stadium or through Sky Sports you know, et cetera that what I'm watching is a pair of teams playing by the rules that we've established and if they're not doing that you might as well not do any of it. I think all the energy that people put into sneering at, say, Serie A after the Katsopoli scandal, that needs to be turned right around on our own league. And I say our own league because I take pride in being a Premier League fan, like being an English football fan, having a Premier League on our doorstep, feel blessed in many ways.

22:24But if you're from the outside looking in, you must think, fuck, we've never seen anything like that. Even Katsopoli is totally different.

22:32Luke Moore: You're right to mention that because, I mean, the Premier League rules the roost in terms of, you know, broadcasting deals and all this, we know that. But every empire, you know, comes to an end. Now, I'm not saying it's going to come to an end and get that drastic. But the Premier League will be acutely aware of how this will be seen around the world. And, you know, Serie A was the top league in the 90s. And again, there are a number of reasons why, you know, the landscape changes in the footballing world. But Calciopoli was a factor in that. And with the Premier League, you know, one of the things that Premier League, it absolutely rakes in betting money from all over because Premier League is seen as a clean league.

23:06Luke Moore: One of the things that did it for Serie A, now Serie A's had a bit of a tag for that for a while, but around the world, you know, and it's things like that, that some people say, who cares about that? The Premier League themselves are going to be scrambling around and saying, how do we save face on this? But the problem is, we touched on it before, you dance with the devil and that's what they've done. You open up the league. how controversial were these owners when they came in? You know, the same with Newcastle United the same with Chelsea and they were, you know, punished not like this but still This is saving face though, isn't it?

23:37Luke Moore: This is the Premier League accepting that there are going to be repercussions in terms of reputation but basically making sure it will never happen again But it's still a stain on the league and the fact is it was a young lad who leaked it You know, a very, very well-known journalist often says if you see something that seems unbelievable in sport it's probably unbelievable and with the financial stuff that was going on with this 830 million and what not and as you say sponsorship deals back in the day how on earth did nobody just go we're just going to ask a few questions they had the chance to govern it properly then they did but you know what Juventus have never recovered from Calciopo I mean both within Italy in terms of reputation you know they're still taunted about it all the time in big games in Italy they've still become part of their brand as much as they've tried to shake it off and they've also never recovered in the European stage.

24:26Luke Moore: Well, I mean, they have reached the Champions League finals since then. But that's not what I'm talking about. Juventus were a team who were massive always, and they always had, I mean, what have they reached? Eight Champions League finals or European Cup finals in total, right? If you look at their record, say, in the Money League, they were massive before Calciopoli. They were one of the biggest clubs financially. And there's obviously other reasons for it, the advert in the Premier League and the fact that Serie A dropped off for a number of different reasons. But Juventus have never fully recover from it.

24:53They get taunted by other teams, fans of Serie A every single week. So, if you're a City fan here, you need to strap yourself in because this is going to follow you probably forever. And whatever happens to the outcome of this, we all know now. Everyone knows. So, strap yourself in.

25:10Luke Moore: But that's the thing, look, as you say, it will happen forever with certain generations. You could say it will live forever. Indeed. You absolutely could say that. But they're just going to have to run with it. I can't wait to hear what Liam Gallagher says in the Netherlands next year. I'm sure the word spunk bubbles will be present. I imagine it will. This is it. Looking into the abyss of what this has created, it's too strong, which is why there will always be... I just want it back to the way it was. And it's not the cat is out of the bag, and they're going to have all of the books in every single library thrown at them, as they should.

25:46Luke Moore: Ah, deary me. Right, shall we go for a break and we can talk about England? Yeah, why not? Excellent. Sounds good. Come on, come after this. Yes, we finally get to talk about England.

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27:41Luke Moore: I'm back to the football, everybody. Matt and Tyler there. Yes, commentating on an Argentina reserve league who left auto-tune on to Ready Ready. Why has he got auto-tune on in the booth anyway? Brilliant, isn't it? Absolutely brilliant. What's that booth being useful when not football commentary? I hate to think. But a T-Pain. T-Pain's favourite recording studio. Right. Czech Republic 0, England 2. Not now. Come on. Not now. I do like that after all that Man City Digest, you just want to lie back and think of England. Yes, exactly. Lovely way to be. It's a lovely way to be. England get some points on the ball.

28:16Luke Moore: Little palate cleanser. Little palate cleanser. Now we move on to the main course, finally. Yes, victory in a place where they haven't been victorious, of course, in recent times. 1908 was the last time England won there, I think. There you are. How about that? Jimbo, before you were born. Yeah. But yes, I mean... When Man City first started inflating their sponsorship revenues. Yes. 1908. That's what they did. Over-inflating their rations. 1908. Come on. The bubonic plague, another one. Yeah, in between those two, they're rushing in there, bubonic plague. Where was Longbow? Agincourt. Over-replaying Agincourt.

28:54Luke Moore: Yeah, more of a Project Strongbow man yourself, of course. Trent Alexander-Arnold started the game, Jim Campbell! Yeah, it was enjoyable. We called for it, Jim, yesterday. We called for both fullbacks to be the fullbacks they were. England won. Why don't they listen to us more? I think we are a really strange spot with England, aren't we? I think we will acknowledge that England are just below the elite. But we've been like that for quite a while now. And that used to be exciting. And now it's kind of like, come on. It's the only way down from here. How are we ever going to punch through? It's a slightly confusing watch.

29:30Luke Moore: And I think one of the things that we need, if we're going to kind of get a bit more excitement back, is a settled defence, really. That's been part of the problem, isn't it? I think it's six games without a clean sheet going into this game. I think it was just four in 13 games this year before that game. And obviously they go a man down, so you can possibly put a factor in there because they still made some chances on the break, didn't they? Who made an error early on? Elliot Anderson. Thomas, for the next game, no Manchester City players, please. You said it like Agent Smith in The Matrix as well.

30:02Oh, I might have done. Mr. Anderson.

30:05Luke Moore: Yeah, so I think that's the glaring issue at the moment, isn't it? The defence looks very unsettled. and like it's going to be different every game. Do you know what, Jim? I mean, everybody, yeah, it's obvious to see, but you're right to point it out. I think one of the things when Tuchel took over from Southgate, everyone was thinking, ah, we're going to play more exciting attacking football. And I think everybody thought that the defensive displays that England had under Southgate, you know, for better or for worse, whether you liked it or not, England were pretty solid defensively under Southgate.

30:33Luke Moore: And I think everybody might have just, or a number of us may have thought, well, that's safe, that's in the bag, right? So you don't have to work on that. You really do, actually, because, as you say, defensively, England are all over the place. Czech Republic probably should have gone a goal up early on. Yeah, maybe even two. Yeah, and you're thinking to yourself, bloody Nora. Now, I actually was a bit disappointed. I mean, it was a red card all day long. And Sulic knew that. And to be fair, he didn't complain. Did you definitely think it was a red? Yes. As did the man who committed the foul.

31:03Yeah, yeah. I just thought there was a little bit of a doubt in my mind that it wasn't like excessive force or like I wouldn't have been I don't think I would have thought about it much if it just stayed a yellow. Why do you hate

31:15Luke Moore: your own country? Yeah, that's true. I've already detailed that in quite a lot. On quite a lot of occasions. Yeah, he has been talking about Portsmouth a lot. Mostly because I sit opposite Marcus every week. Well, it's not fair on me or the king. But with... Well, it's the same thing to me. Yeah, I thought it was a bit annoying that they got the red card, because it totally changes the game. It's a test down, isn't it? Exactly. Yeah. Exactly, yeah. And then the game kind of plays out as you kind of expect. But why do you, I mean, devil's advocate, why do you care? I mean... But again, because I don't hate my country.

31:48No, but it's like, I mean, they got a man sent off early, therefore it's not a test. I mean, so fucking what? No, but it was just part of it was like, okay, fine. You can sit out this bit if you want. No, I don't want to do that. I want to poke from the sidelines. This has become my personal brand. I was more annoyed about the red card because of how badly England started. I mean, I don't know what they were trying to do at the back. You explained it there, it's a bit like a duvet that's too short. You know, up top it's fine now, but now the feet are cold.

32:16You saw, actually, it was a good comparison, because Chetier, even when they went down to 10 men, were still trying to play out the back. And they seem to do so with a lot more conviction than an 11-man England. Certainly England, 11 men, with a man advantage even, didn't necessarily need to do it. The Czech had tried to make it physical. They tried to get stuck in. They really threw themselves around there, didn't they? Yeah. And my point about why do you care is just because at this point in the international cycle, you know, it's an away game. England have to win it. It makes it easier to win it.

32:45Great.

32:45Luke Moore: Yeah. But I mean, I suppose the way I'd refute that would be that I thought in the period of the game before the red card happened, though the Czechs were trying to play out, I thought England's press was really, really good. And it was very interesting to see that. they're obviously going to have to work on that and then it just became irrelevant that is a comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence I should have just used it earlier the reason why I care and perhaps that will be Man City's defence why do you all care because I support the team but also imagine that, why are you so obsessed with us?

33:18Luke Moore: no but I've just said it makes it easier for England the reason why I care is because the game then plays out like so many games do for England in qualifying and we've seen it so many times that England need to unpick a team who are playing very, very deep. Whereas, you know, against Spain, that kind of test is the word we always use that England rarely get. And in the early stages of the game, despite me thinking, blimey, you know, England look a bit short at the back. Well, you're playing against the proper side who, not great, but they got to the World Cup and, you know, you're playing at home and you think, okay, this could be quite an interesting game.

33:50Luke Moore: Let's see how England overcome this. Well, they were given a huge helping hand by a poor tackle by one of the Czech Republic or Chechier, if you like, their best player. So, you know, but that's the way it went, and England went about their task. Into the second half, Trent Alexander-Arnold provided the moment which we wanted him to do. Beautiful British pass. There we go. I mean, and of course, against Spain, Gerald Kwanzaa was picked over him. I said, well, one of the huge, you know, people talk about Trent's, you know, lack of defensive abilities, and I think Kwanzaa is a better defender, and so Tuchel obviously went with that against Spain.

34:27Luke Moore: and I understand that. But when England got into the final third, that's where you saw the real difference. And that's what Trent can give you. Such a good pass. Well, I think to myself, if it is going to be chaotic at the back and it can't defend very well, well, you might as well have a guy in there who can actually do something at the other end of the pitch. It's that age-old kind of brinkmanship, really. It's about how much you give the other team something to think about and how much you kind of go conservative and go, we're going to keep this as tight as we can. I agree with you. I think if England are in a moment where they're not quite that coherent at the back and there's other aspects of the game which are strong.

35:01Given that, you know, playing these so-called better defenders, as men, England have lost 3-2 anyway, why not just give them something to think about? Why not just say to whoever's playing left back or on the left side, a good team, fine, we're just going to give you this big X-factor player. And you know, different managers have experimented in different ways with him, haven't they? They've gone, right. We are a bit worried about the fact that he leaves the back door open, so we're going to tuck him into midfield and have a right back behind him or whatever. With this, we did say it yesterday, Marcus, you and I, the opposition last night wasn't realistically going to hurt England in a way that was unable to deal with it.

35:38So it made sense for them to do it. And of course, the way that England scored the first goal last night is they catched Czechia really cold really early on, straight after half-time. There's a gap left there. They're not quite sure what they're doing because they were a man down. And Gordon makes an amazing run off the back post. which is a great header as well, because the ball comes at him quick and he's not known for being a great header at the ball. So it's a fantastic goal. And more power to Gordon, by the way, who's now starting to, you know, we talk about these interviews he's given, the way he's talking about himself and perhaps taking the piss out of him a little bit.

36:09He keeps scoring goals for England. He's going to be undroppable and it's going to be almost like he's wheeled into existence, it feels like.

36:16Luke Moore: He's on the team sheet now before Saka, I might even say. Yeah, he's been brilliant. Saka's still number one right winger, but that's how I think he feels established there. Saka's not contributing as much as Gordon has at the moment. No way. No, but my point is that... No, sure. I mean, Roger started instead of Bellingham, which I thought was fair. I thought, you know, unlucky when he hit the post and he looked pretty lively. But that sort of front three and then the one behind. We know now that Gordon has cemented that place when there was previously a bit of competition there. Because Rashford was right involved and there was one or two others.

36:47But Gordon's really... Yeah, this show was calling out for Gordon a lot longer before it actually came to fruition. So you're in 2024. Yeah. You go all the way back there.

36:54Luke Moore: And it did take him a while to get into this kind of rhythm for England. And it's really impressive. I think it's clearly he's absolutely loving life in Barcelona. You can see it has put a spring in his step. And it's really aided his confidence. And I couldn't help but look at his performance last night and think back to a conversation we've sort of got our eye on in the distance, which is what happens when Harry Kane retires from international football. And at the moment, I think it's going to be Anthony Gordon. It's going to be Anthony Gordon playing through the middle. I was inexplicably getting a little bit annoyed about that last night.

37:24I just suddenly thought about it. Because obviously Kane scores that classic Kane snapshot kind of goal and, you know, is 89th, whatever the fuck it is. Millionth goal for England. And I did, a part of me, because I'm in a bit of a negative mindset about England at the moment, as I've mentioned, part of me did start to get a bit annoyed that we haven't taken the opportunity to properly blood a new striker through. Whoever that's going to be, and maybe it's a paucity of options and the manager who's been in charge, whether it's Tuchel or Southgate or Carsley even, has thought, well, there are no other options because, you know, a Liam De Lappe's dropped off and a Calvert-Lewin can't stay fit and a Watkins is done now and Tony's gone to Saudi as well.

38:00Like, it's difficult to know who it is, but to me, it feels like looking back on it now, I don't think we're quite in the position where we've just been pandering to one superstar's ego to score as many goals as he can in an almost like die at Cristiano Ronaldo fashion. But actually, over the last few years, we have had opportunities to say to Kane, you know what? you don't have to go to the Czech Republic. You don't have to travel here. You don't have to play in that friendly. You don't have to do this. And we've not really done it. And I think it's going to come quick when Kane stops. And it's going to hurt us.

38:31Isn't it more that no one's emerged as a serious option? It's partly that. It is partly that. But I think it's chicken and egg, isn't it? Because you say... I don't know if it is. Well, it might well be because you've just said, well, look how much Gordon's loving life in Barcelona. Look how much he's used to playing for England. If you gave a striker who was at the time in really good form, I don't know, it's Watkins three years ago or whatever, and you go, do you know what, actually you're our guy for this game, this game, this game, for England, you're definitely going to play. What does that do for his confidence if he scores a few goals?

38:58It's a different story. It's at least a sliding doors moment. We can agree on that.

39:01Luke Moore: I think even though if you did that, the sort of results, if you like, would be quite minimal because the strikers that you mentioned there are good strikers, but they're limited. I mean, you know, they have had a bit of the international biscuit. I think the one who I hope for is somebody that hasn't been mentioned, actually, is the young, and he's still a boy, Luxembourg international, Brian Maggio. I know he's only 17, and I know I'm going on the Super Cup. But my goodness, I will cling in a respectful manner. So you think it just hasn't been possible, and that's fanciful of me, basically? A little bit, yeah.

39:35Luke Moore: I mean, I think that, you know, with Kane, I mean, he digs England out of so many holes. I mean, even last night, you know, he gets the goal and he kind of puts the game to bed. If you're a manager, you're going to play him, you know. This is not Chris as McCain, by the way. This is about future proof. No, sure, but I mean, they're all sort of a similar age. I mean, but the thing is, Tony goes to Saudi Arabia. You know, Watkins has just gone to Saudi Arabia. You know, what are England to do with that? Watkins was only going to be a stopgap, wasn't he? I suppose the trust that Tuchel currently has in other England forwards is clearly very low.

40:07You know, exemplified by the fact that he takes Kane off on 70 minutes and just plays with a false nine for the rest of the game. Well, and that's been... He doesn't even think to bring on Calvert.

40:14Luke Moore: And that's been talked about in the corridors of power at the FAs. Like, is Bellingham the answer to push him further forward? The problem with that is, again, you're just looking at sort of one guy in a very specific system. And I think it also completely defangs what Bellingham is best at, which is picking the ball up from deep areas and going past 50-yard players. Yeah, driving, yeah. Well, again, with Gordon, I mean, I take what you're saying, Jim, but I want Gordon on the left going at players. Yeah, same. And I just get concerned. I mean, just pick up on what you're saying there, Vish, about Tuchel's confidence in the striker.

40:45I just think that it's going to come at us quick. Like Kane's going to go, possibly after the Euros, and then all of a sudden, what are we going to do? We'll be having conversations about the fact that we've got no fucking strikers.

40:58Luke Moore: Well, I mean, the only thing I would say is that I think Kane could be around. You know, you look at, say, Lewandowski or Edin Dzeko. I think he is going to be one of those star players. Because Kane is, to England, what those players are, to their nations. I know England are far... He's taken a lot more blows than Lewandowski, though, hasn't he? I think he's got a lot of miles on the clock. He's got ankle issues. He wants to play in the NFL. I was really impressed last night actually. But it's just as well he's at the Bundesliga now, because that, I think, could prolong it a bit actually. Yeah, maybe.

41:21Luke Moore: Genuinely, I'm not, you know, I'm being serious. That's a good point. I thought last night what he did really well was, at times, he just stayed out of the way. I think often when he drops back, you're like, oh, he's going to get really congested in there, particularly with the midfield that England picked. And then when he brought Eze on at half time, but actually, like, obviously he's just an incredibly intelligent player. My one worry about that is, yeah, he's got so many miles on the clock. his ankles will be shot to bits. He takes contact so often. Lewandowski didn't really do that. It's a big part of his game, Kane.

41:51Taking contact, getting amongst it, you know, tussling around, you know, and I think he has had a litany of ankle injuries around his ligaments, which do get, do need work on them after a while.

42:00Luke Moore: Well, it's been a while though, isn't it, since he had one of those, hasn't he? Yeah, I mean, he'd definitely been there at Euros and we'll, you know, talk about this as and when, but I mean, yeah, we're all looking at Liam De Lappe going, come on son you're at a club now where you're going to start more often than not you have an enormous opportunity here what a carrot that is though unless they do a sort of conscription thing where we just call up a civilian ooh don't mind that I'm interested you've got to be a fighting age you can volunteer surely yeah probably yeah you can have a broomstick in Gardner Village Green outside outside Webley Stadium if you like play for Dad's England yeah get one of those tinned hats on when there's an alarm the lap thing is interesting because he on paper looks like he's got all the tools.

42:41But I mean, I know we're having a dig at City at the moment. Chelsea, I'm having a bit of a break off Chelsea. But Chelsea have ruined it.

42:47Luke Moore: The thing is, and we're ultimately talking about a guy who's not in the England squad. I mean, Dominic Gavart-Lewin is the second striker in this England squad, really. So there we are. Good for Lewis Hall to get some minutes? Yes. He was good as well. I thought he was really good. It was a really positive performance from Lewis Hall. He was actually the one player I was very surprised Tuchel didn't take to the World Cup. But that's all in the past. and sadly very much still in our hearts and minds, but there we are. Is there something in this understanding that Gordon Hall have got as well? Well, there might be something in that.

43:14Luke Moore: I mean, against 10 men... Gordon referenced at the end of the game. Did he? In Spanish, presumably. No, in Jordy, actually, he's multilingual. Call me Jake. Jake, call me. Really long words. He also said he really wanted to play with Trent. And I love the fact that Gordon's been like, yeah, he's good. He's really getting into the, I don't know, into the groove of it all. He was always, it's interesting, He was always quite open about how friendly he was with a few Liverpool players. As in like genuinely... Well there was chat that he was going to Liverpool. Curtis Jones is his best friend. Really?

43:45It's a friendly derby mate. That's a good point, yeah. It's all just a big boys club isn't it? Sorry, can I just chat? Are you from Liverpool? And you wouldn't understand. Yeah. Marcus, carry on.

43:54Luke Moore: I do understand. I was going to make a joke about that, but then they, you know, I can't deal with it at their level. No, you get it. You would get it. There's no need for this. But it is the England section. There's no need for any of this. They're not listening. Yeah, exactly, exactly. Club of all country, they won't hear listening to this. One thing they might have been happy about was Rio Angamara. Thought he had a really good count. Yeah, there you go. That's it. Yeah, he's definitely in the mix now with England, isn't he? Absolutely. The raw... There's that rawness. It's very impressive, him doing that at his age.

44:24Luke Moore: He's still very, very young and it's going under the radar a little bit. Yeah, you look at him, you know, he's a proper athlete, you know, and he's at that age. And the way he plays and the pace... Makes good decisions as well. And all the rest of it, Jim, absolutely. There's always an aspect of an 18-year-old player. We've seen it for years. An 18-year-old player who plays in that position, it's a position more than any other where you can play with basically reckless abandon. You can't do it if you're an 18-year-old centre-back. You can't do it with an 18-year-old striker because you just get pressure to score goals.

44:56You can't do it as a midfield player because obviously you need positional discipline. It's ideal for an 18-year-old player. What will be fascinating is not just with him, but with one or two others that are there doing things, even a Max Dalman maybe, you know, one or two others, how they mature and how they start to improve when fullbacks work them out or centre-backs can rough them up or they go for a period where it's a bit of adversity because at the moment when you're that age, the sky's the limit and everything just feels like a bonus. And what I think happens with wide forwards when they break through young is how they progress maybe a couple years into their career when they're established.

45:31So for now, he just needs to enjoy it, right?

45:33Luke Moore: Well, indeed. And also, but I think the footballing education they get now rather than decades ago in this country. I think he's... With Iriola as well, I know we'll see if Iriola makes a good fist of it at Liverpool. But they'll also always be used much more at international level in that way because so much of international football is one-off games and so much of international football is like, can we just throw someone on who can hurt a player? And they know that particularly in the last half an hour or even the last 15 minutes, the last thing a full-back wants to see is... bright as a button, quick as you like, like X-factor winger.

46:08Luke Moore: And also as well, you're also looking at players, you know, how heavy is the shirt on them? I mean, in the pre-World Cup friendly against, I think it was Costa Rica where he came on. It was New Zealand and Costa Rica. I forget which. He may well have featured in both. It seems that long ago. And perhaps I was the only one watching them. But when he came on again, he's just a bit like, right, I know I'm good at them. This is what I'm going to do. And I'm going to bloody well express myself. And that bodes very well, because some players understand them. it's almost like a trial back at school or something you know you're not quite at the races that afternoon or whatever but he yeah he's settled into it very well by the looks of things so let's hope we see more of him in the next couple of games because we are just at the halfway stage in the great autumn international break of 2026 and elsewhere in League A sponsored by Manchester City yeah we wouldn't want that elsewhere in League A I think actually we would we really really would let's not taint something that's pure and good okay elsewhere in League A in the Nations League France France beat Belgium 1-0 on Monday, thanks to a Michael Elisse winner in the 88th minute.

47:09Luke Moore: Zidane, Zenedin Zidane, manager of France, was celebrated by running down the touchline and booting one of the spare balls. He's into it, he's into it. He's talking about a fit of abandon. He's living his cool. I hated that. Did you? I think he's too cool for that. Yeah, I know what you mean. Light up if you want, probably illegal. Light up! Don't do that. Oh, the flip side of it, though. Snow Patrol, yeah. The flip side of that is how good must it be being Michael Elisa knowing that you enlisted that reaction from Zidane Zidane. The technique was still good on the hit as well, wasn't it? Yeah.

47:45What do you think would be an on-brand celebration for Zidane Zidane then?

47:50Luke Moore: Well, that one he did without Gareth Bale when he sort of did that. Yeah, that was a good one. When he sort of flipped his hand. Ripped his trousers? Was that in celebration or was that just the… He's ripped his trousers before. Let's leave it at that. He did it like the Incredible Hulk. Did he? Right. But the lighting up, if he was wearing a tie, just like loosening the tie a bit, laying it down over a clothes horse, lighting up, sitting down. Kissing Fabian Barters on the bonks. Turning black and white. Yeah, exactly. What about a Diet Coke? Like that. He's not that type of man. It's not a sexual day.

48:23Luke Moore: That's, yeah. That is when Eddie Howell and Jason Tindall are in charge of England. Tindall's doing that. I hope so. I hope so. Come on. Well, when asked about it, Zendin Zand said, with regards to his celebration, I didn't even know what I did. I followed Michael's play, he went off on his dribbles and made an exceptional move. I saw the ball. I had to shoot it. It's a bit ridiculous. Well, he can't actually get on the pitch because he's still suspended, of course. Yes. That is the main reason why. So it'd be amazing if he... Do you not think he should come out of retirement, serve the three matches, and then go, ah, you know, I'm going to retire again.

48:55That would be great. They massively missed a trick here if he had to sit in the stands for the first three games. If anyone could get away with just breathing himself on for a minute or two here and there, that'd be him. It would be him. The French people wouldn't mind. They wouldn't mind at all.

49:08Luke Moore: All right, coming up after this, oh dear Scotland.

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50:35Luke Moore: Welcome back, everybody. Yes, Scotland 0, Switzerland 3. Scotland's heaviest home defeat since Greece in March 2025. It was a bad one. Yeah. Poor old Pocagnoli. He'd been looking forward to this. And then after, what was it, seven minutes or eight minutes, Jack Henry did the challenge on then. But by the time the red card was dished, it was about 11 minutes for bringing down Dan Doy when he was through on goal. It just does my head in this. What are you doing? Yeah, just let him have the chance. Even if he scores, you've got 80 minutes left to try and do something about it and you're at home. Have a bit of faith in Gunn.

51:19Yeah, I think so. have a bit of faith in Gunn, who was busy, let's be fair. But, you know, ultimately... He then let the free kick

51:26Luke Moore: past him on his side. That's the thing, isn't it? There was a big debate about whether it was a penalty or not. They eventually said it was outside the area. Ricardo Rodriguez, who apparently is still a thing. 34. Yeah, he's not even as old as I thought he was. He's only, yeah. Still quite young. He's been... I've seen him play at every international tournament since USA 94. I'm convinced of him. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And he just whipped one anyway. He's been playing for Switzerland since 2011. Yeah. Which is when Arsene Fenger, accused Mad City. How many caps has he got? He's got 146. Wow. Bloody hell.

51:58And that was a great free kick to get it up and down, that close in as well. He's had to practice. He has. It was on gun side though, wasn't it? It was, yeah. He actually, when he first started playing, he could actually just pick the ball up and run it into the goal. He's had to learn.

52:12Luke Moore: Yeah. Yeah, he's a remarkable man. He'll be still playing at the World Cup the next time round. He started out playing in the backyard with a fossil. Did he? Yeah. Him and his Cro-Magnon man brothers. He had four legs at the time, didn't he? Yeah, he did. He had to get used to it. One of the first tetrapods to come out of the primordial soup, Marcus. One of the puffer ones. They blew it up and kicked it out. One of the first headers was him coming out of the primordial soup, heading the fossil. Well, and I should say... Don't worry dinosaur! Oh, fuck, I've missed it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Of course, he's actually played for two international...

52:51No, it's the Big Bang, not the Big Bang, the thing that killed the dinosaurs. They weren't dinosaurs when the first tetrapods came out of the primordial suit. The Big Bang didn't kill the dinosaurs. Whatever!

53:02No, you love Pudisa! But there was rationing one there! Some history lesson, this! Did you go to private school? And then Connery's there and he says, don't worry. Don't worry.

53:16Luke Moore: Don't worry, wee laddie. I'm Jimsy Bondy. We Jimmy Bop. You know, Ricardo Rodriguez was the original Dr. No. Yeah, he was, yeah. But played for Pangaea before Switzerland. But anyway, let us move on. Dr. No vocal chord. Yeah, so he scored the free kick. Lovely free kick. From his point of view, not from Gunn's point of view, of course. But yeah, Jack Hendry, I mean, it's just a sick nap. The last time we saw a gun, of course, was when Archduke Franz Ferdinand was murdered. At the start of the First World War. There we are. When a meteor hit him in the head. Yes, yes. What's uncut going to be like this?

53:58This is the main show, this.

53:59Luke Moore: Right, I think we've got that all out of our system. I did 150 meteors heading your way. Polkoggioli's sitting with his headphones in thinking, what are they going to say about the game? Yeah, I'll tell you what. Switzerland head coach Murat Jakin, he seemed pretty pleased with the evening's work, didn't he? Did you not think it was a waste? I want to play XI. I'll never learn anything about my Switzerland team. That's true. That is very, very true. They're a good side, Switzerland, and I'm still annoyed that they got beat by Argentina. He's had quite an event for a week, hasn't he, Jakin? Go on, then.

54:26He had to sit out a training session because he went deaf.

54:30Luke Moore: Oh, I thought you were going to say he had shares in Man City. I don't know about that. I couldn't possibly comment on that. But he had to sit out a training session because he had some issue with the pressure when they flew over. Oh, right. And so he had to go and get looked at. I mean, maybe he had to get the old micro-section going on, I don't know. So, yeah, he was obviously there at the game, but he's definitely had an event for a week. He missed a press conference of all sorts. There's a bit of Mads Mikkelsen about him, I think. Yeah, 100%. I like that shout, Jim. Totally. Great shout, Jimbo.

54:59Luke Moore: But yeah, Scotland comprehensively beaten. Poor old them. I mean, oh, yeah. The sending's off, you know? But, you know, I suppose... It hurts you. But why do we care? Well, no, I care about it in this context. I didn't care about the point Vish was making earlier, which I think is my right. By the meteors. I like that one. Do more stuff about the Cretaceous period. Yeah. The Swedish meteors. No, it doesn't work. Anyway, moving on swiftly. Clever girl. There we are. We got there in the end. We got there in the end. Did we? Probably not. We got away from there in the end. Why do you care? Exactly.

55:37Don't let this become a fucking motto. Don't let this become a catchphrase you're going to put on a t-shirt. Why do you care? It'll be boring. Weekly segments of Donaldson's curse. Why do we care? Did Donaldson curse Man City? Has anyone checked that? Well, I think he should jump on the bandwagon. It's a knock-on effect. He curse Mancini. When I saw Project Longbow, I thought, oh, Pete. He's got Donaldson written all over it. Subsidiary chip bowl.

56:02Luke Moore: I don't know. Has Donaldson created a mini Caldudel Marlborough? Little Kaldun. I hate to think. Right, shall we finish with some Football League chat? Yeah, why not? I mean, sort of started with that, I suppose, really, Man City. But in the Football League, down in League One, Robbie Savage has reportedly been offered the job as Peterborough United manager. That would be a sickener, wouldn't it, if Robbie Savage, first result of the new era, beat Manchester City? I thought you were going to say it would be a sickener, wouldn't it, if Robbie Savage had rocked up at your club? Yes, it would. I mean, if he's managing in League One, it is genuinely legitimate that he could be managing Man City in a year or two.

56:45I found out about this news because I had a couple of friends of mine who live in Gloucester, Gloucestershire, celebrating that he'd left their club. Left their county. He's obviously left Forest Green Rovers now.

56:57Luke Moore: Well, he has. It makes it sound like they've made sure he's been banished from the city walls. They're quite old school in Gloucestershire. I wouldn't imagine that might be the case. There's still dinosaurs there, apparently. Maybe some fossils. We recently spoke on the show about Peterborough's mascots, Peter Burrow, which is a rabbit, and Mick the Skip, which was sort of Lego-looking type. Well, it's a skip, isn't it? It's a skip. Yeah, but we were disgusted, saying he looked a little bit like a sort of Lego. We were unclear as to what it was, and the best guess we had was it's Lego. I like that Peter Burrow is a massive attempt to avoid any kind of copyright infringement from Peter Rabbit, the Beatrix Potter.

57:34We're calling Peter Burrow. Yeah.

57:36Luke Moore: Well, we missed out on... We won't have Beatrix on the phone. Yeah, exactly. We missed out on another of Peterborough's mascots, Peabee, who is a builder. Okay. Great time there. They're having quite a greedy time of it with mascots, Peterborough. Yeah, maybe. I suppose... Are they thinking, oh, we've got a skip? We need someone who's going to put something in the skip. Yeah. Yeah. I see what you're thinking, Jim. How many are there? True enough. We need an inquiry. We do. So soon after the current one. Elsewhere in the Football League, this was quite enjoyable on the weekend. The referee during Oldham Athletics game against Salford City blew the whistle two minutes early for half-time.

58:16Luke Moore: The match a day, volunteers started setting up the goals for a half-time penalty shootout before the referee called the players back out to play to contest the remaining few minutes of the half. The referee's behaviour here was astonishing as well because he started out very arrogantly just going to everyone, relax, relax. The players are quite legitimately saying, you've stopped the half way too early this is at least four minutes at a time here and they're only under two minutes in and the referee just keeps going relax relax and then the fourth official says to him yeah you might and he's like okay relax relax you guys with the fake goals take them off we'll carry on credit to them though they got that set up very sharp they're on the clock big time it's like the Super Bowl halftime show get out there quick get it set up yeah the guys who do the pit stops in Formula 1 He's a bit on the train, yeah.

59:04Who's got the dizzy stick? Get the dizzy stick out.

59:06Luke Moore: Proper operation. Very underappreciated people in the world of football, I would say. Isn't old Mathletic Salford a bit of a derby as well? It could be. High stakes. Yeah, very high stakes. Very high stakes indeed. Thanks for listening to the Football Ramble, part of the ACAR Scroater Network. Friends of the Ramble, don't go anywhere. Keep listening for Ramble Uncut. We're going to be talking about a plethora of ridiculous things. If you're not a friend of the Ramble, sign up now, patreon.com forward slash football ramble to get involved. There we are. Thank you very much, Luke Moore. Thank you.

59:34Luke Moore: Thank you, Jim Campbell. Thank you. Thank you, Bedouji and Hantharajah. Cheers. And thank you, England.

59:47The Football Ramble is a Stack Production and part of the Acast Creator Network.

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