Clap for footballers

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3:35Luke Moore: And just like that, the weekend was over. But don't worry, another one is on the horizon. We have got a magnificent Monday for you here at the Football Ramble, and it's all down to those professional footballers that did their stuff on the weekend. Thanks to them. Once again, we thank them. Without them, this show wouldn't be half as good. We should clap for them, really. Bang your saucepans. I'll tell you what, everyone listens to the Ramble tonight at 8 o 'clock. We'll get out onto the doorstep. There you go. We'll bang our saucepans for the professional footballers. Yes. Maybe 7.55 so you don't miss United Brentford.

4:07Oh, yeah, true, yeah. Because they deserve the claps as well. They do. But they'll get the claps at the end of the game. So two sets of claps, 8pm on a Monday, and then about 10pm on an also on a Monday. I think we should give footballers all the extra money that the nurses earn. Because they do their shift, and they give the money to the footballers. I think they should be giving nurses. They should get a nurse each. Yeah. And if you're really good, you score the winner, you get a consultant surgeon. Not in the Samir Nasri way when he did that tweet, but just get to do what you want. Yeah.

4:38Luke Moore: Well done, footballers. Don't tip nurses, tip footballers. Yeah, absolutely. Right, first of all, a reminder that we are hosting a huge watch along for England's first World Cup game. We're taking over 40 foot brewery in North London on Wednesday 17th of June for England versus Croatia. There will be massive outdoor screens that we endorse screens as well, I'm led to believe. Exclusive merch, top tier food, live pre-match chat, and our brand new World Cup lager, my fizzy aunt. It'll be pouring all night, hopefully down most of your throats, with your consent. No, dent is chair. Gaza. Gaza will be there.

5:17Luke Moore: Gaza will not be there. I was about to say. I was about to say. Tickets dropped last Friday. Over three quarters of them have gone already, so there are still a few left. Don't miss out. grab yours now via the Eventbrite link in the show notes you've no excuse yeah I think if you're waiting for payday which will be Friday probably won't it for people yeah it might be touch and go it might be touch and go take out a loan or whatever you've got gamble it yeah this show is brought to you by Wonga.com and there's no but I'm just saying 75 % already gone if you go on the Eventbrite page itself it says in the big red letter selling quickly So just don't delay, because we'd love to see you there.

6:01We'll also have our own separate Ramble resale site. Yes! For just half a minute. Exactly. You can come and watch.

6:09Luke Moore: Just outside Black Horse Road tube station, I will be touting. Are you coming Vish, by the way? I am coming, yeah. Is he? He didn't come to the photo shoot, did he? He didn't need to. He's a man for the main event. It's day one of the oval test, so I'll be coming from South London to North London. So you'll be on the source all day? I'm working. so he has to go half the day just answer the question I don't want to hear all that shit exactly bugger off alright it's going to be great though and we'll do a little ramble before the game will we do a quick mini ramble whatever you want a sing along a ramble along we'll do it yeah not a sing along strip along the lot right oh give us another ramble go on last time come back on football ramble and carry on playing yeah no last time we talked about doing a sing along Marcus started singing about Churchill Bob and Tuchel's mum so it got a bit carried away.

6:57Luke Moore: We're definitely having a chorus on that. Absolutely. One thing I guarantee anybody wants me yeah, don't worry about that. It's all take care. Now, I'll do a dance routine and everything. Now, let's... Normally Jacko. Whatever you want. You can't do that these days. Mark is the only person I know whose dance impression has been cancelled. And some of his voice impressions. I think... Now then... Listen, for 22 quid including booking fee you can come and watch the game with us you can see a man in his 40s dance like Michael Jackson while doing an impression of Nick Hewer at the same time I'll do Sir Jimmy Savile as well if you want oh yeah I knew you were going to take it there what a great Monday morning Rory's fuming look at him he's rubbing his eyes he can't believe what's happening people are going did you not see what happened on the Premier League there was FA Cup semi-finals get on with it well we will let's start with the Premier League relegation Nottingham Forest got us underway in terms of relegation run-ins and battles and so on on Friday night.

7:57Luke Moore: And my goodness, I don't think anybody saw that coming. 5-0, they beat Sunderland at the Stadium of Light. Sunderland, who have been so good defensively all season, shipped five goals at home. When Sunderland themselves have, like a number of other teams, hopes for European football next season, for Forrest to turn up and bash them 5-0. Four goals in 21st half minutes. I mean, it was Brentford versus 10 Hags Manchester United-esque, Luke Morrie. It was quite something. What a nice reference. Man United thinking, how are we getting the strays out of that? Just lest we forget for tonight's game.

8:32Two marriages ago, you're going that far back. It was an incredible performance in the first half, particularly from Forrest. It started with a pretty fortunate goal. Goal I hadn't ever really seen before. Yeah. Where he tries to head the ball back across the goal. It comes off of Trahoum's head, bless him, and goes into the far corner. Lovely. But they didn't really recover from that. No. And, you know, But Forrest were kind of marginal favourites going into this game, which surprised me a little bit. Because I thought, well, Sunderland, I know they've not been as good at home recently, but generally speaking, they're pretty strong.

9:00And then, weirdly, for large parts of the second half, Sunderland were actually quite good. But, I mean, the game was absolutely toast by then. Yeah. But Forrest have got that kind of performance in their locker, I think. They've been in really good form recently. They haven't lost for ages now. They haven't lost in the league since the start of March or something. So it's a great time for them to be in this rich vein of form. I mean, obviously, they beat Burnley 4-1 last time out as well. So, yeah, it was a proper Friday night treat, this.

9:31Luke Moore: Well, not if you were a Sunderland fan. Well, I'm not a Sunderland fan, Marcus. So it was a proper Friday night treat. Yes, indeed. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Morgan Gibbs-White, Vish. Is he on an Ollie Watkins-esque turn of form? Although Watkins, of course, didn't score at Creighton Cottage. But is he thinking, man, I have to do something big to try and impress Thomas Tuchel from now until the World Cup because he's playing like a man possessed. Yeah, I wonder, you know... And there's that whole thing trying to keep his club up in the Premier League as well. Yeah, there might be that. Yeah. Lads, can we just remember I'm auditioning for the World Cup?

10:01Yeah, yeah. Look, if it keeps in the Premier League then so be it. But ultimately, can we rally behind me? If I win, you win as well. Just remember, pass me the ball. Don't complain if I shoot. Stop doing that. You're a fan of him. Me and Elliot have got something to play for, yeah? Elliot's all right. Elliot's absolutely phoning me. You leave me out of this. Yeah, he's fine. Elliot's fine. I'm not making a tackle today, but you leave me out of that.

10:24Luke Moore: Yeah, but Gibbs White, though. Yeah, incredible. I think Pereira deserves a bit of credit for that, actually, because I think maybe because the focus is a bit narrower, because you know they needed results, so he wants their attacking players to be more engaging, and yeah, Gibbs White has been the beneficiary of that. They really did slap the shit out of them in that first. Well, they did. That's the only way I can put it. Over and over again. Yeah. I mean, that's stupid. You know, trying to play out the back like that. I mean, it's not obviously common. We see it all the time now. Sure. And both sides are a little bit goal shy, it's fair to say, this season.

10:58Luke Moore: Obviously, Sunderland, it's kind of worked in terms of... No, but the last couple of weeks, Forrest have been amazing. Well, that's what I was going to say, that Pereira takes immense credit because the way they came back against Burnley and really put them to the sword. But 5-0, I understand it's a rare result. It's a bit of a funny one. But still, though, you know, goals win games and also it breeds an awful amount of confidence. It does. It's great momentum. And they've got the Europa League as well. On Thursday, exactly. The Chris Wood goal you just mentioned there, it's a lovely bit of awareness and responsiveness from Gibbs White and then Chris Wood finish was really good.

11:28The fact that Roos makes a mistake is fascinating because it took Sunderland a long old time to recover from that. They conceded another two goals basically straight away off the back of that and then the game was basically over. I know it's a killer going two down. The statistics will say if you go two down, it's actually really hard to get anything out of a game but to go four I mean that's it really exactly yeah

11:49Luke Moore: it was perfect for Forrest I mean you couldn't believe the luck and in the second half just nice and easy lads but suddenly they were actually decent in the second half they kind of sorted themselves out a bit yeah they were and obviously had the ball in the back of the net it was disallowed but where'd you make of that by the way yeah because to me you're talking about the Ballard goal obviously yeah I'm talking about the fact that he gets given onside marginally and then his follow through or someone else who, I forget who it was now, essentially is a judge to stop, to be stopping Matt Sells getting to the ball.

12:20Luke Moore: Yes, yeah. To me, it felt a bit like there are consequences to moving bodies in an area. Like you can't just decide, right, they're moving because they're trying to get the ball or whatever. And at that point, they have to stop. And if they follow through, it's not acceptable. Obviously, if you go into something with full intention of hurting someone and you know the momentum's out of control, and there's already legislation in place to stop that. With this, it just felt a bit like, well, I mean, bodies are going to come together. I don't know if he's getting there anyway. But obviously, the video assistant thought that sales was impinged.

12:58Yeah, I know that.

12:59Luke Moore: And if he feels like that, then, well, he would have got there otherwise. Do you think he would have got there, though? I don't know. I'm sure he would have. I'm not sure. If you think he is going to get there, then I can see why it was given. But we can't get away from the idea that in football, and this has always been the case, goalkeepers quite simply can use their hands. Yes. And it's a massive advantage. It's designed in that way. Right. I don't know why we give them so much leeway. Okay. Well, the goal didn't stand. Even if it had a done, Forrest would have still been... But it made a marginal difference.

13:26Luke Moore: Marginal difference. Forrest's remaining fixtures, Chelsea away, in the Premier League, I should state, Chelsea away, Newcastle home, Man United away, Bournemouth home, not an easy run of fixtures. But it does seem like everyone down the bottom has quite a tricky run in anyway. They've got a little bit of an air gap, Forrest, haven't they? Well, they do. and that was such a vital victory because they are now five points above Tottenham Hotspur and just three above West Ham in 17th. And let's talk about West Ham themselves who got a vital, vital winner in injury time. My goodness. They beat Everton 2-1, of course.

13:57Luke Moore: Callum Wilson coming up with the goal, Vish. Oh, my giddy aunt, my fizzy aunt. You've got to say that. Lovely plug, yes. If West Ham can do it and stay up, this goal is just ginormous. Yeah, huge. There was obviously that period of time when Kinn and Dewsbury Hall had equalised for Everton against West Ham. Spurs had taken the lead. Spurs were 17th. And then for that to happen, to just come back from the blow of conceding the way that they did before that equaliser, probably a mark of where they are and where they've been for, I suppose, more than a month or so now in terms of they look like...

14:37Yeah, they look like they shouldn't be in this position, the way they're playing.

14:40Luke Moore: Well, the way Nuno's got them going, yeah. It's an absolute night and day from the first period when he was there, when we thought, well, get rid of him. Yeah, 100%. And then now they're just gobbling up the points. And also just the buy-in from the fans, that might be one of the few times that someone would have looked at a game happening at the London Stadium and think, well, that looks fun. Yeah, I know what you mean. I mean, what I was impressed with West Ham, what you've just said there, when Dewsbury Hall equalises on the 88th minute, it was coming, Everton were putting on pressure. Yeah.

15:07Luke Moore: for West Ham to kind of adjust and go, right, now we need something and then go and get it. Because you, you know, the, I mean, again, it shows you how Nuno's got them, but also they are acutely aware of their situation. You can't then go, ah, we've conceded an equaliser. All right, just let's settle for the point. You have to go and go for it. It's excellent behaviour, Marcus. It's the kind of behaviour that keeps you in the Premier League. Excellent behaviour. It is. That's the kind of thing that keeps you in the Premier League. I'm not saying it will. No, it is. That's the kind of thing. You're spot on.

15:38And what it shows is, weirdly enough, even though Spurs got their first win for ages, what it shows is the kind of danger of the Spurs predicament. Because what Spurs are now realizing is, you can go and win away from home. Again, it's against Wolves. But you can go and win away from home. And actually, it doesn't matter. Because if West Ham and Forrest both win, you're out of luck anyway. And if this happens, if we see all these teams go on this amazing run where they're just fighting for their lives, and everyone does the same thing, Spurs are relegated

16:06Luke Moore: yeah the best you can do is match their results exactly and that's not enough and just going back to the West Ham game briefly I actually I'm not sure enough has been made of this I actually thought that decision to not give a penalty for the handball from Mateus Fernandes was astonishing oh I think a lot has been made of it I was talking to the lads in the office this morning they were like oh yeah you know you can see it given see it not given he's punched the ball out of play they were just winding you up he has quite literally punched the ball out of play I thought it was extraordinary not to give that obviously Vars they looked at it again Vars said it was just a grappling motion.

16:37Come on.

16:37Luke Moore: I mean... If you're in the penalty area and the ball comes... Right, we've seen this before. Luke, I agree with you. We've seen this before, Vish, particularly, I think, against Man United from memory more than once. Or certainly in games involved with Man United. Was it Ten Hag's Man United? Probably. Normally was. Ball comes over. Ball comes over from a wide position. There's loads of players in the penalty area. They jump up to get momentum to head it away and it hits one of their hands because they're using their hands for momentum. Penalty. Yeah, yeah, yeah. How is that? He's punched the ball out of play.

17:00Luke Moore: I thought I couldn't believe... The way they officiate the handball law these days means that has to be a penalty. But the grappling thing is like, say if his hands were on his body and the ball then, you know, hits the hand and it's sort of flat on the body. I can understand that not being given. But as you say, there is motion towards the ball. I understand he didn't mean to do it, but he has done it. And it has massively affected the play. I thought it was extraordinary that he never gave that as well. I also like that idea that like, reading between the lines of that, that reason given for not giving the handball is the idea that, you know, grappling's always been part of football.

17:33It's bullshit. I looked up the laws of the game, and not one mention of grapple or grappling anywhere in the documents. Don't give me that fucking bollocks.

17:43Luke Moore: What about gripple? No, I didn't check for gripple. I can't if you want. So I wouldn't be surprised if when they were coming up... There's loads of stuff like ticket prices in there. What is this about Liverpool always playing at midday on Saturday? Can't enforce that, surely. What that reads to me is someone put, well, we can't put grabbing, because then that'll be a foul. Thesaurus, grabbing, grappling. That'll do. People will forget about that. He's turned to be upside down. He can't honestly, you just can't say that the way the game is officiated that we've seen every single week this season, that's not a handball.

18:17It's bizarre.

18:18Luke Moore: Was David Moyes, when he spoke about this post-match, thinking, oh, I don't want to get a fine here? He was very reasonable. I mean, that was absolutely, it's gone, it's gone, essentially, for us. yeah oh no sorry against them sorry yeah he did use the management stabs it depends which current job yeah it's gone against us and it doesn't matter now we're not getting relegated who gives a shit yeah probably well the actual quote was I'm amazed that that's not been given as a penalty kick it would have been harsh on them but I'm amazed it's not going to be it wouldn't have been harsh on them it's a bananas decision now some might argue though that Everton got away with one when Jordan Pickford clattered into, was it Castellanos, I think it was, earlier in the game.

19:04He didn't help his cause by them berating him about 10 seconds afterwards.

19:08Luke Moore: I might have snapped your ankle, but get up. Most players in that situation would have retreated back to their position, tried to keep a bit of a low profile, hope the referee's just given the corner or whatever and we can move on. He's standing over him, screaming at him. Double down. Yeah. Yeah. Do you think the reason why it's not been given as a penalty is because it's happened? It's momentum. It's the same as what I said with the Forest thing. Pickford has a lot of momentum. Yeah, it's in his locker. You can get as much momentum as you can. A lot of momentum up there as well. I hope in the World Cup that he has a momentum grace period.

19:37Luke Moore: Which is about 20 seconds after the action. And about 40 yards. You're telling me you wouldn't like to see him do that against Desiree Douay or something? Of course you would. With the same non-penalty given. I wouldn't mind it. Yeah, exactly. He can be so impulsive in the way he talks. I'm really worried about him getting through immigration over there. It's true. You really have to cower and almost... Thank you for letting me into your wonderful country. No, they'll have to do what they do in the film Commando, where he's allowed to get Arnie to sit next to him in the plane. That's Predator.

20:07Luke Moore: Sorry. Sorry. Knock him out cold. Yeah. And just show the passport and say, oh, please, my friend's tired. Yeah. Kind of thing. And then get through that one. Yeah, but not kill him like he does in the film. Yeah, I think he says he's dead tired. He does, yeah. Don't kill him. Yeah, don't kill him. Like that. It's very clear, yeah. He's dead tired. Yeah, that's it. With a little glint in his eye. Yeah. Eyes to meet you. Oh, it's a different film. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But he'll be back. There's a freeze coming. Don't say your name. Also, don't give him time to react and do something before you attack.

20:36Luke Moore: West Ham's remaining fixtures. Brentford away. Arsenal home. Newcastle away. Leeds at home. Leeds have got to play everyone down there, by the looks of it. I like it. You mentioned it before about, like, you know, there's no easy games for the teams down there. Yeah, because they play everyone above them because they're that bad. There is that. There is that. Spurs have already played Wolves. That's done now. Oh, yeah, it's an excellent point. Yeah, so, I mean, again, with Brentford in the mix for European places and then Arsenal, I believe they're going for a title. Again, it was must-win for West Ham and they won it.

21:07Luke Moore: It was also, fair to say, must-win for Tottenham Hotspur at Molineux. They beat Wolves 1-0. Their first victory of 2026 to end their 15-game winless run. An extraordinary sentence to utter when you're talking about Tottenham Hotspur, but this is that season. A couple of decent injuries in the bin as well, though, so that's a part of path of the course isn't it? What the heck where did they find this monkey paw to win the Europa League and why did they not think of the consequences? There's a lot of talk that it's to do with potentially to do with the retractable pitch and because it's happened to Real Madrid as well a lot of Real Madrid players are getting knee injuries but then this one happened to Simmonds and then Solanke we don't know what the severity of Solanke's is but Simmonds is now at the World Cup rush with ACL it happened at Molineux it didn't happen at the Spurs stadium and you saw his face as well I know Simmonds has been emotional in the last few weeks and whatnot.

21:55Luke Moore: Oh, it's sad. But, oh, my goodness. You saw him and I just... Seeing the footage, you thought, oh, that's bad. It's gutting. I hate this part of the league season where... Yeah, when that happens. These injuries are dream killers. Yeah, it's awful. It really is. I mean, he's still basically young enough to bounce back, but obviously it won't feel like that now, will it? It'll feel terrible. No. Also, what do Spurs do now? He's been the one, I suppose, consistent, in inverted commas, a creative force for the last, you know, certainly this year, despite the fact that they haven't won. They've had an issue with ball carries through the middle.

22:29Now they've lost him. Like it's...

22:31Luke Moore: Vish, you lean into your strengths. And if that means Raul Polinja tackling the ball into the net, then so be it. And it was a tackle, wasn't it? It was. It was a perfect tackle. That's what you got to do. The man has the longest legs in the world. That's what I'm good at. I'm just gonna do it. Make use of them. Yeah. It's quite a subdued celebration because he really wanted to get the man as well. Do you know what? The celebration was interesting because he scores, obviously, with eight minutes to go. Ran over there and you jumped in and he's remembering the previous week and the criticism. He's like, all right, we've got a job to do and so on.

23:02Luke Moore: But it's... Had they not have won this game, I think everyone would be saying that would be it. But there'd be five points in the muck if we had four games left. But they did win the game and it was nice for Kinski to make a big save at the end and get some positive headlines and played his part. I actually think he's a good keeper. I think he had a tricky thing. I was fearful that he would have to take some time out because he got a blow. But apparently, obviously, he didn't need to. He was good in this game. This is massive for them. But the thing is, there's two problems with this. One is that the other team's won, so you won't necessarily feel like building the momentum.

23:38And the second thing is that two really key players have been injured. I mean, Solanke, he's taken off. it looks quite precautionary and there's not been any news come out about at the time of recording how serious it is but obviously Simons is done as Vish says that's a big problem for them and they all feel like that's killed their momentum as well and they play Aston Villa away next

23:58Luke Moore: like I mean that's a big big tough game that yeah I mean their hope is of course Villa are you know Villa maybe feel that they're safe with regard to Champions League also it sandwiches that Europa League semi-final with Forest as well exactly yeah so there's your kind of But I just, that's fine. I get that. But Villar, first of all, used to be playing, used to be playing these kind of this schedule all season. Yeah. Two, they're actually very good. I know they lost against Fulham and they weren't that good and Fulham were at good value for that three points and that goal they scored was coming for ages.

24:30They weren't great. But generally speaking, they're a fucking much better team than Spurs. Of course they are. I've got 24 more points than that.

24:38Luke Moore: There's a lot of teams that are a lot better than Spurs. They'll be in a, a real kind of rhythm. Yeah, you look at you look at say Rogers coming into form and Watkins coming into form I could first to pieces I could rip them apart. Of course they could be that, of course Luke. Yeah, so I mean it's They did lose to Fulham. I know. Fulham were good weren't they? Fulham were decent, yeah, solid. I mean They were decent, solid. They were fine. When they scored it was coming. Yeah, I mean it was a fairly uninspiring game, but you're right and I mean Tammy Abraham missed the chance and it could have been a little bit different, but yes quite clearly Aston Villa, they're fifth in the table.

25:14Luke Moore: They are, you know, I don't think anyone would argue that they are at least the fifth best side in the country. Someone might say they're maybe third or fourth. But, you know, the league table and the Europa League table doesn't lie either. So Spurs have got it all to do. Those injuries are a sickener. Yes, they won the game. Okay, it was against Wolves. Fine, but three points is still big. Roberto De Zerbi said, I believe we can stay up. Well, he would say that, of course. It's not 10 points. we're just a couple of points from West Ham West Ham are a good team but we are a very good team is what he says but when you look at the fixtures that Spurs have remaining you've mentioned Villa they've got Leeds at home that is your must win game Chelsea away and then Everton at home their record at Stubber Bridge is diabolical it's terrible and Chelsea under Mr McFarlane or Stuart get the manager up get the manager up now under Callum McFarlane they already look like a better side than they were under Liam Razini.

26:11Get the LinkedIn guy out the way.

26:12Luke Moore: Exactly. Get the Twitter guy in, get the LinkedIn guy out. And Chelsea will be well aware of Spurs' predicament. They may well be able to relegate them that day depending on how it goes. Right now, if you're looking at it, I think it's hard to make a case for Spurs staying up even after that victory. I broadly agree. I think, you know, Forrest and Leeds, you would say they're away now. I think there's enough daylight and also in the form that they're in. It's just, I think it's a shootout now between West Ham and Spurs. I would agree with that. I think you look, it's five points. Five points for Forrest and Spurs.

26:46It's not a massive amount of daylight with four games left for Forrest, but they are in such good form. You go away from home and you win five zip.

26:53Luke Moore: Yeah. You know, and you're playing in a semi-final. It's a great time to be a Forrest player. It's not a great time to be a Spurs player. Yeah. If you're one of the only Spurs players left after your regiment's been decimated with yet another real advised offensive over the top, morale is not high. No. It certainly isn't. It certainly is not. Right, coming up after this, our FA Cup finalists have been decided.

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29:56We'll cover more ground than Drew Bellingham in a Champions League final with conversations sharper than an Arsenal set piece. For fine margins, fun debates, and full-blooded tackles, Football Weekly. Listen wherever you get your podcasts and watch the full episodes on YouTube.

30:15This is a championship venue so no VAR tonight.

30:19Luke Moore: Woohoo! Welcome back to the Cup Moral everybody. That is exciting as Danny Murphy ever gets. Yeah. It's a friend of yours of course Luke. Nah, not well. Yeah. And acquaintance. We're big pals. Acquaintance. Yeah, we spent the weekend together. We Christmas together sometimes. you go. Right. Manchester City are in their fourth consecutive FA Cup final. They beat Southampton 2-1. Get boring, isn't it? Oh, Southampton. There was a few minutes where we were all dreaming. Every single one of us, Luke Moore, were dreaming. I can't relax until Southampton have been knocked out of the FA Cup. And to be fair to them, they've got a fairly good record in the FA Cup.

30:59I mean, it's not the first, I mean, it's not as good as Pompey's, obviously, but it's semi-finals. They've done three semi-finals in the last nine years or something.

31:08Luke Moore: It's pretty good. No, it's not too shabby. There's only one team in the South Coast who have won it in recent years now. That's true. Exactly. The Portsmouth boys. Still suffering the consequences from that, you could argue. But Southampton, yeah. Was it worth it? Yes, actually. Oh, when Finners has scored after 79, that turn and shot. What a waste of a banger. It's a great goal. It's going to be forgotten now, isn't it? That is, it reminded me a little bit, and fortunately Palace can look back and laugh now, but when, was it Jason Punchen who put them 1-0 up? Against Manchester United. In the final.

31:42Luke Moore: Yeah. Scores a goal, batters it in the back of the net. No one did a silly dance. Yeah, I wasn't focusing on that. But they score, and suddenly they are dreaming, and they only got to dream for about two minutes or two and a half minutes, whatever it was, because Jeremy Dock, who sneaks one in off the defender. but look when Southampton scored I was saying on Friday I was saying I think people think in this game is a foregone conclusion right they were all right because Man City had gone through but I thought Southampton are going to give them a game here because the way they've played against Arsenal most notably but even Fulham another Premier League side they know what to do against Man City they're so good with the ball they're a really good team yeah that's the thing if you don't follow the second tier much you may not be aware but they are the momentum having team in the championship and it's not I mean it's not beyond the realms of possibility they'll go up for the playoffs anyway I mean they were making a really serious tilt going up automatically at one point that's not going to happen for them now if there was five games left in the championship you'd think that they're going to go up in second yeah I don't think it's still mathematically possible because they've got a game in hand but ultimately we're not on Ipswich though yeah it looks unlikely yeah it does look unlikely but they are definitely the team going into the playoffs with all the momentum in the world they were decent in this game to hold Man City at bay and as Visser to be so good with the ball as well the problem is Man City are almost inevitable in the FA Cup at the moment but it was a shame the goal was but the winner was a beauty you can't take anything away I think Gonzalez put that to bed if anyone is moaning about that goal get a load of this because the Doku one was fortunate yeah do you know Doku in the post-match on the BBC he didn't actually realise it took a deflection they said shall we have a look at your goal and he goes oh go on then he was talking quite eloquently and he's been very open and stuff about the game and his play in general.

33:31Luke Moore: And so he's pleased to see his go and he went, oh, I didn't realise it took a deflection. What? Did he not see the path of the ball? What's he talking about? It took like five minutes to go in. Well, Michael Etch just went, yeah, it wasn't clean. And he went, oh, I didn't realise. Oh, well, not to worry. It went in. I was happy anyway. Is he all right? Didn't realise he got a deflection. I know. The frustrating thing I feel like for St. Hampton isn't necessarily even that goal. It's the idea that like Rodri's replacement, who hasn't settled can just hit a banger from 30 yards. I know. It's a stunning goal to win the game.

33:59If you were being absolutely harsh on Southampton which I'm very happy to do they were tired they didn't get out to him. Oh come on. They didn't get out to him.

34:08Luke Moore: Yeah but if Nico Gonzalez They're not really the team for the big moments are they? It's not Kevin De Bruyne. If Nico Gonzalez who's obviously a good player and evidently has that in his locker. Yeah but did you know he was going to do that? Yeah right. If you're thinking that's Nico Gonzalez who's winding up one for what? 25, 30 yards out. Yeah we've probably done our job here. Bearing in mind what's happened before. Shirkie's over there. Dockie's over there. Exactly. We've got it all covered. Harland and Savina are over there. Come on, Luke. This clown of a defensive... Oh, he scored. I mean, Luke, you did say...

34:34I hope I got Savina. You did say... He wasn't that good on the weekend.

34:38Luke Moore: You did say if I'm being harsh on Southampton. I think you were being a little harsh there. I think if they're looking about... If they're looking at things they could have done better, if they should, because they've gone home... Then they... But they'll be saying that. They'll be saying that we should have got out to him. Put it this way then. If that's in the fifth minute, they get out to him. But in the fifth minute, they've not been bombarded like that. That's what I'm saying. That's the point. That's the point I'm making. They're tired. I also have a bit of sympathy with being like, he's not even one of the Avengers.

35:10Yeah, he's not even one of the main ones. He's not even one of the main ones. It's a great goal, though. I think you can make that point without taking anything away from Nico Gonzalez's strike. It's a beauty.

35:18Luke Moore: Yeah. I didn't like the way, did you see how it kind of sat in the net after it hit it the first time? Was that a camera that did that? I don't know. I don't know, but it felt like a bit of the stitching. I didn't like it. It seemed like a glitch. I'm glad you noticed that. Do you like it when someone rifles one in and it flies back out the goal again? Do you like that? No. I don't like that either. No. It needs to nestle for me. Yes, yeah. Yeah, you do need to... Well, you know, it's the crucible at the moment, the snooker. It's like when it just goes into the pocket. Yeah. Stay in there. Stay in there.

35:44Don't come out. I mean, famously, the pockets of the crucible, the balls come back out again all the time, don't they? Yeah. No one knows what's going on.

35:51Luke Moore: I find it extraordinary when a Stuka player, you know, just hits the rim and it bounces back out like a basketball. Yeah, same. But when they hit the backboard and it goes in. Happens all the time to Bishop. All I'm saying, okay, Steph Curry, right, widely regarded as one of the greatest shooters in NBA history, right? If you get out to him, is he less likely to score? Yes, he is. I don't think we're disputing that. It sounds like you are, though. No, I don't think we are. OK, fine. I think we're just sticking up for Southampton. Well, don't do that. It's pointless. There we go. We got him, everybody.

36:23Nothing club. No point.

36:24Luke Moore: Well, Southampton fans were given extra tickets after Man City couldn't sell out their allocation. They did support their team better than Man City did. They were just damning them with the faders of game. I don't think we should fall into this trap. I don't think we should either. And you didn't let me finish. It's so fucking expensive, isn't it? It is. I'm not saying that... Yeah. Sorry. So there were still empty seats in the upper tiers, including an entire vacant section in the Man City end, which is a disgrace and a stain on the city of Manchester. That's what I was going to say. On the blue side of Manchester.

36:52Thank you Vish for letting it mark us. To be fair, on the... You know, people talk about City fans being... from more working class backgrounds than Manchester United fans. So actually it's a stain on the working classes. If you want, if you want. Why are you asking Marcus about the working classes? Yeah. If I was going to find an ally in having a go at the working classes, I'd have to look to my left and the right.

37:13Luke Moore: Yeah, the guy knows what he's doing. Well, joking aside, do you not think the Man City should be selling the relocation? Because to me, is it about expense or is it about... I think it is about expense. Is it about complacency of having so much Wembley action? I think it's inevitable. As Vish says, the trains in this country are at a ridiculous price and also those... Even when you got into London over the weekend, I totally agree with the TFL strikes that are going on, but it would have been a fucking mission getting there. There's so much outlay now just to come and watch. The Senators have to come up and they've sold out so much.

37:46Yeah, I think there is a rarity of it as well. I don't think you're incorrect saying that. I also think, why are we still playing the games at fucking Wembley? Why are we still playing the semi-finals at Wembley? There's no reason to be doing that. At the start when we were doing it, There was a vague understanding from the FA that it was to basically recoup as much money from the building of Wembley. Surely it's fucking paid for it.

38:09Luke Moore: Yeah, but as I've mentioned many times before, FA Cup semi-final has been played at Wembley for years before, new stadium and all the rest of it. Yeah, but we know about... Let's deal with the countries it is right now. The infrastructure, certainly around transport, is so bad. So where should a semi-final between Southampton and Manchester City be? The Etihad Stadium. There you go. I'd have played this game No At the Etihad I would have played it About halfway All things considered How long will it take The fans Each set of fans To get there Wembley is probably The answer If we're being true Because you get Trades from Manchester To London Can I just say Or Watford Watford maybe I had an experience Vicbridge Road Yeah I had an experience When did Northampton town play Do you remember The League Cup final Between City and Chelsea When Kepa refused To come off On the Sarri Oh I do Oh, I remember that.

38:58A load of Man City fans have left that early. I was at the station and half of them was hanging around there.

39:05Luke Moore: Yeah, I knew it was done. There's a massive amount of complacency involved in this and you can't just say it's because of prices. I think prices generally are ridiculous. I completely agree with your infrastructure point. I think it's really, really hard to be a football fan, harder than it's ever been and fans are put upon totally. But you do not see 95 % of other clubs, whatever level they're at, not going to massive semi-finals and you do with Man City and it's worth saying. An entire section was empty. An entire section. But against a championship side who, you know, other than me and maybe some Southampton fans, everybody knew they were going to win.

39:39Luke Moore: It's their fourth consecutive FA Cup final. Buy three and get one free. Fine. Well, that's what it should be. But they've also just played in a League Cup final. I have a little bit of sympathy. I think it's a bit of a shame. Perhaps then, you know, if you've been in three FA Cup finals before, maybe the ticket should be, you know, a tenner each or something. I just think if you... Like a punch card. There you go. If you lord it up and regularly take the piss out of everyone else because you're not getting charged for these 115 charges and you love holding it over everyone that you've got massively rich owners and stuff like that, support your fucking team.

40:12Support your team as well.

40:13Luke Moore: Right. That's all I'm saying. There we are. So you've got the plethora of opinions there, everybody. Choose which one you like. Yeah, exactly. No need to give us any feedback. Just with that last bit, Luke has moved me a bit closer to him. No one is happier they beat Samhampton than I am. Trust me. Trust me on that. Do you think Pompey would have picked up the slack on City's allocation? Give us a call. We'll come down. It's just a different shade of blue. That's all it is. And we've got a very, Portsmouth have got a very, very proud record. See how quickly he turns there. I think of all the football league clubs in terms of percentage of seats sold, Portsmouth are number one.

40:48Yeah, there is panic on the streets of London there, guys.

40:50Luke Moore: Yeah. Yeah. We love Oasis too. Right, let's go to... The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Yeah, fine. Let's go... Let's quickly go to the Premier League, or back to the Premier League. Because, while Manchester City were getting themselves into another final arsenal, naughty little sausage were creeping ahead in the Premier League title race. Just when people's backs were turned. Furtive. Underhand. Uh-huh, they kept a clean sheet in doing it. Can we play an extra game? No, we'll do it anyway. Honestly. Yeah, they beat Newcastle United 1-0. Arsenal, they've got a three-point... With a corner routine that Arsenal fans were fuming about.

41:27I love it.

41:27Luke Moore: And then they scored from it. I absolutely love it. Set-piece FC, you ain't seen nothing yet. Do you know what? You have to give a little bit of credit because they, obviously, we're used to their corner routine and so on. They mixed it up. And that is the reason why they won the game. Yeah, and also, what should be said is when you do mix it up, you do actually need the back catalogue of having the traditional corner in the box to get that opening. Yes. And you can only really use it one or two times. You can only switch it once or twice. Exactly. They nearly wasted it when Eze fired wide and then he got that beauty.

42:04But because they get three cracks in it, because they've done the traditional cross in the box for so long, that Newcastle were like, they'll lump this one. They're trying to fool us.

42:13Luke Moore: Oh, he's a 1-0. Shit. Yeah. That was it. The only goal of the game. Didn't get out to him quick enough, did they? They didn't, Luke. I think we can all agree because it was only the ninth minute. Exactly. And it's Ebereche Eze who's capable of that as he showed. Again, anyone watching that game thinking, oh, Arsenal, they've gone 1-0 up early. That's a confidence boost. Now they're going to go and win 2-3-4. It's not the season for that. It is all about winning now. They might have had the referee done his job properly with Nick Pope though, some would say. But yeah, it's funny. When Nick Pope did this, was it in Marseille?

42:45Luke Moore: earlier on in the season. Yes, yeah. It's what pushed Newcastle fans towards Ramsdale. Yes. Never has such a boring looking bloke been so mad. It's like the quiet guy in the office. Do you fancy going out for a drink? Yeah, just to let you know though, when I do go out, to quote a former footballer, by the way, who will remain nameless when I do go out, though I don't often drink, but when I do, I like to have about 18, 20 pints. 18, 20 pints. Pints. William Hague, was it?

43:19But anyway... What's Pope doing now? What's the referee doing? Well, Pope... He's technically not a goal-scoring opportunity if Jokarez is on the end of it.

43:27Luke Moore: That's true, that's the only loophole. Do you feel that the defender's got him though? No, he's got an opportunity to score. The clue in Dogso is goal-scoring opportunity, not goal. People get this confused. 100%, yeah. It's not about whether a goal is going to be scored or not. it's about whether an opportunity is going to present itself as a result of it and indeed and one of the conflations of the last man has been that if there is someone there then it cuts down the opportunity no no no but it stemmed from the conversation about what an opportunity is and has been just for some reason come into the vernacular oh but he wasn't the last man exactly but that's not what I'm saying I know you're not so what I'm saying is that if the referee feels that the covering defender was going to get the ball and then stick it in Rosehead or up the other end of the pitch, Jocherich does not have that goal-scoring opportunity.

44:15I think the... I agree with you. I think that's why they didn't give it as a red card. But I think the only reason the defender becomes more likely to get the ball is because Jocherich is hampered by Nick Pope.

44:27Luke Moore: Well, so if that's the case, then it should be a red card. Because when he goes down, the defender is favourite for that. But he has been prevented from actually running onto it by Pope. So I thought it was a tricky one to call to see who would have won. It's not a tricky one to call because the only reason And I would have gone for a red card too Good, okay, great Vicious spot on The only reason Guilacres isn't 100 % favourite for the ball over the defender is because Pope is Pope basically takes him out and Guilacres stays on his feet Now the only thing I would hear the only remonstration I would hear against it would be that the ball is very wide It's a very wide area so maybe it's not going to quite maybe the argument is he's going to square it maybe That's the only thing I can think of But it's a red card.

45:11Luke Moore: Right. It's a red card. Do you think Nick Pope... What's he doing out there anyway? He's just being Nick Pope. Well, do you think he was too quick to get out to him? Maybe. Don't go on holiday to a dangerous country and complain you get beaten up. You shouldn't be there. Yeah. Stay home. Don't go out drinking with somebody who likes to have 18, 20 pies and then go... Stay in your penalty area, Nick. I never wanted a kebab. Yeah. Right. Arsenal, though, top of the league. Top of the league. Easy peasy. They've got Champions League this week to look forward to as well. Back to the FA Cup, though, because there was another semi-final.

45:38Luke Moore: That's how it works. There's got to be two of them, hence semi. Chelsea beat Leeds United 1-0. They join Man City in the FA Cup final. It's an all-blue affair. I would have quite liked to have seen Leeds do the business here. Leeds with a surprisingly bad FA Cup record. Wembley record, playoffs, everything. They hate Wembley. They've not been in the final. No, Wembley hates them. They've not been in the FA Cup final for 50-plus years. Yeah. And you said that about Leeds. That's a surprising stat because Leeds are a massive club. And you'd think they'd done a lot more in the FA Cup than that, actually.

46:07playoffs as well look don't forget the playoffs yeah I am going to forget the playoffs because we're talking about the FA Cup this was quite a shit game and I knew it would be quite shit when Leeds had a really good early chance as Aronson went through one on one oh yeah it's a good save from Sanchez it is a good save but I'm not sure he should have been given the chance to save it I think Aronson needs to put that away and if he puts that away it becomes really interesting

46:30Luke Moore: well Cavett Lewin also had a header as well which is food and drink to him straight at the keeper wasn't it yeah in the second half yeah yeah I think Leeds again go to Wembley come away losing and have their regrets I think yeah I think they were really disappointing I felt bad for them and at the same time I was like nah you've I think you've botched this do you know I don't know if it was stage fright I don't think it was stage fright I think it was just a bit of I don't know I'll tell you what the X factor was that Chelsea got rid of Rosinia they got out of their own way Chelsea got rid of Rosinia and the club just remembered how it does things no matter what's going on here other than Rosinia we managed to kind of bore our way through big game players.

47:09Yeah, 100%. And you've got to

47:10Luke Moore: hand it to them. They won the game and they were effective. That is, you know, part of their recent history is, you know, not being afraid to get rid of managers as and when. And also, just the team immediately after that coming together and being like, you know what? We're all pretty good. Why don't we just like, why don't we just work it out when we get on the pitch? Yeah. And it's totally uninspiring. It's funny, isn't it? I mean, Enzo Fernandes obviously scored, took his goal well back in the side after Rosinha and again the way they were all kind of you know some of the body language was yeah yeah yeah this is much better without him there which I think is a touch harsh suspended wasn't he because he didn't take a fight with his matchelato and put it on LinkedIn something like that I know big suspension Dominic Cavett-Lewin pulled Marco Correa's hair he's panned it forward yeah he's panned it forward it's just of course maybe it's a curse it just goes on I mean Dominic Cavett-Lewin was very keen for Lissandra Martinez to be sent off when Manchester United played Leeds and then he goes and does that don't do it to a Spurs player they'll do an ACL do it to Marco Correa and it just makes a funny comical noise presumably yeah like that yeah it's a weird given that Calvert-Lewin is a haresman himself yes you think he'd show a little bit more solidarity well I thought he would but I think he's shown his true colours there Robert Sanchez we talked about the saves he made then he sat down in the second half presumably because he was very pleased with himself and there was an altercation between a lot of the Chelsea bench and a lot of the Leeds United bench who felt that there may have been a bit of gamesmanship going on.

48:38Luke Moore: Danny Murphy on comms was saying, this is why you should have to take the keeper off if he goes down or take a player off. People would stop doing it. It's a loophole. It is a loophole. You can't really criticise Chelsea for it necessarily because every team kind of does it and it's seen as a way of getting some instructions across, taking a little bit of a breather. Did you like that Ampadu tried to get in the way of those instructions being told? But in a way though, I actually think that's probably fair game. I thought it was good. It's not an official break for tactics. What he should have done and we just kept saying like, just shouting really loudly, or if...

49:08Don't do that.

49:08Luke Moore: Don't listen to him. If McFarlane... La la la la la la. Yeah, just saying loads of numbers, loads of similar words, but slightly different. But anyway, Romeo Lavia wasn't having any of it. That would be interesting. If say your team is 2-0 up, and this kind of break happens, which is not an official tactics break, and you're cruising, and the team you're playing against are trying to really get an advantage back, all the players should just go and stand over there. You can't stop them. Just go and stand in the middle of it. We want to hear what you're doing. You're not in the fucking dressing room.

49:37You're on the pitch.

49:37Luke Moore: Yeah, that's it. They circled around the opposition manager. Why not? That would be great. Come on, a bit more of that, please. Nothing like the scenes, though, that we saw in the Spanish second division. Yeah, I rated this. Did you see that? Yeah, I rated this. They were playing Huesca, and the keeper, Esteban Andrade, received a red card. And in response to this, he'd been given the red card. And normally what happens, what happens with a red card? Sometimes a bit of moanage. They eventually leave the pitch. He went the full Barton though, didn't he, this guy? He went the whole thing. Set up a Twitter and everything.

50:07Luke Moore: Went over to Jorge Polito and punched him in the face. Yeah. Didn't use the glove. He used like the sort of the cuff. So there was no cushioning. Was it from behind though? Sort of from the side. Yeah, I didn't really write that part of it. No, he came up to him and he turned as he threw. I think Polito knew what was going to happen. Yeah. Do you reckon he'd get an extra game for that? Thanks for a few games, I imagine. He would actually, you can't review it because you've already got a very curve. Yeah, exactly. I will not intervene on that. In the Segunda division. It was a grapple. It was just a grapple, mate.

50:35Yeah, it was.

50:36Luke Moore: It's the ultimate moment of like, you think I've punched him. Well, I think you have, and you're being sent off. Well, I'll fucking punch him, then. I'll punch him, then. Well, yeah, at least I get my money's worth. You owe me. You owe me. Rick King pretty much said that about when he got sent off with Alishira. Yeah, money's worth, yeah, yeah. I didn't even do anything. Yeah. Oh, dear. We don't... Oh, we do like to see it. I don't know. As long as nobody gets hurt. Are we excited to see a Chelsea Man City

50:59Luke Moore: really tricky is I'm so excited for it. I just do not know who to support it. It's just... Man of physics fans are saying that. It could be... Generally could be... The first FA Cup final would have been an empty fucking stadium. Yeah, it could be one to miss. Is that the COVID final? Nah. No, it wasn't. Not Portsmouth fans, eh? Portsmouth and Fulham fans should turn up. That'd be great. Yeah. I think so. I think so. All right, coming up after this, another reminder of why we love football.

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52:56We'll have chat more out of the box than a Dominic Sobber's Live free kick, more panellists than Chelsea of players, and unlike VAR, we know where to draw the line. For fine margins, fun debates, and full-blooded tackles, Football Weekly. Listen wherever you get your podcasts and watch the full episodes on YouTube.

53:18Luke Moore: the back post it goes. Callum Howe, head towards goal, scrambled in, is it over the line? It's there! We've done it! We've done it! We have done it! York City have done it! Now it's their turn to invade the pitch! Can you believe that? We have done it! We're going back to the football league! Oh my word! The Saints! The Saints! Get in there! Oh man, the Saints! The best bit of that is, and now it's their turn to invade the pitch. Yeah. You've had yours. We've done it. Yeah. We've done it. If Americans don't understand, a lot of people into American sport, they go, but I don't get the whole thing, you draw a game, and you're happy about that, yeah?

53:59Luke Moore: That's all it was, it was for draw a game. On Five Live, the morning after they got that commentator on the radio. Was he still a... And the deadpan presenter, I forget who it was, but the presenter deadpan said to him, so are you a York City... And he was like 45 years or something, yeah. Thanks to friend of the Ramel Andrew for sending us that clip on Discord. You can become a friend of the Ramble too. Search patreon.com forward slash football ramble or click that join button on YouTube to get involved. Yes, York City promoted to League Two. They're back in the Football League after an incredible showdown against Rochdale.

54:31Luke Moore: At the start of the day, York City won 107 points and Rochdale won 105. Yeah. 105 or 106 points they finished the season. Rochdale, not enough for automatic promotion though. All York City needed was a draw, of course. Rochdale needed a win to secure automatic promotion. And if you haven't seen this, what have you been doing with your life? in the 95th minute Rochdale scored which prompted a pitch invasion from the home crowd you score in the 95th minute and you need a winning goal I'm sorry but you can be forgiven for going absolutely flipping mental but York City used the time wisely didn't they?

55:03they used the time wisely

55:05Luke Moore: so amid the chaos there were quite horrible scenes Hiram Boateng appeared to be pushed to the ground by a pitch invasion after getting back up he then managed to get a lovely little punch on the fan which I think I think that is good to see I thought that was outstanding Nailed it Lovely stuff If you're going to step into the arena Yeah Be careful what you get Right What are you doing? The man is an athlete I'll attack him Yeah Because Because there's like an unspoken Yeah Kind of imbalance about that He's a player So he's not going to do anything Yeah So I can do what I want Yeah I can shout what I want I can say what I want And now Oh I'm by him I can just attack him If I was the FA there I'd say no case to answer Yeah I would have No case to answer Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.

55:48Might fall in between jurisdictions, actually, because you go from the National League into the league.

55:52Luke Moore: Get away with it. Is that the loophole? Final day of the season, if you're about to go up. International waters. Yeah, exactly, exactly. Should have gone up again. In fact, until the fixtures are published, probably still in a bit of a hinterland, go around this house. Follow him. Follow him. I'm just tired. Do it here at Cantona. Yeah. It's like you're enjoying the World Cup in there. Well, after a lengthy stoppage to clear the pitch, the game resumed. and York City they all just piled up didn't they all the players were on the halfway line they play it back to the goalkeeper and he boots it up and if you watch the highlights I thought the goal obviously came from them no there's still like a couple of minutes where the ball is they're throwing it goes back and forth now before it when it was 0-0 I forget which York City player it was oh he missed a sitter yeah he did an absolute sitter he's about 8 yards from goal and he's got the goal at his mercy and he's it was a good save I think it was Josh Stones oh it was Josh Stones it was the guy who ended up scoring the equaliser That's right.

56:47Luke Moore: It was Josh Stones. Yes, because he said, yeah, I thought it was over. The boys say never say never. I missed a chance at nil-nil and I thought that was that. If we'd have lost one nil, I wouldn't have slept for days. Now I'm not going to sleep for days. In a good way. There was seen 24 hours a night. It's still in their full kits outside a pub. 100 % brilliant. On the tables. Brilliant, yeah. Damn right. Yeah. Absolutely damn right. Did it go in? Yeah, it definitely went in. I think it went in. If you look at the angle from the left, it's miles over the line. It has to be miles over the line.

57:13Luke Moore: For the lino to give that. For the lino to give that where there's no goal line technology. There was definitely a moment where I was like, can you just like, in that moment, because the melee is such, do you reckon the manager in the break was like, right, if it's near, just everyone fucking run off and celebrate. Yeah. There's no VAR. He hasn't got a watch. I've checked his referee's not got the watch. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just go fucking mental. The lino is well, it's brilliant. But it was about two feet over the line. Indeed. But you have to say, at the right call, I completely agree, but you have to say, in the context, the amount of bodies that were in the box, bearing the mind that there's been a pitch invasion, for the lino to have kept his head, to do his job and to spot that, yes, it was a good call and it was an obvious call, but you have to give a little bit of credit there.

57:59Luke Moore: Especially as... It's the kind of thing you wouldn't want as a lino to go into that game. The last thing you'd want. The home fans right behind you, it was in Rochdale, of course. Also, it happens on the lino side as well. Yeah, it does, yeah. If it's on the other post... Oh my goodness. Well, Fish, I'll tell you something. It would have been one of the great controversies of English football if it hadn't have been given and there was, you know, but bloody hellfire. A lot of people are saying that these two teams have been so good all season that there should be, I mean, it's unbelievably harsh that Rochdale don't have to go into the playoffs.

58:26Luke Moore: But I mean, yeah, but coming out of the Football League and going into the National League is such a damning thing to have three relegation spots. But the argument now is basically the National League is essentially full-time unprofessional now. That's true, true. And you've got big clubs down there, as these two proved. Yeah, I mean, but York City, 10 years outside of the Football League. Again, none of us can know what that's like, because we don't support clubs that have been anywhere near that. Not even my beloved Fulham. And to drop out of the Football League, it's such a tough thing. You could even say it's debilitating, it's embarrassing, whatever.

59:06But for York City, though, I mean, they've been a club for 104 years. Exactly. They're, I mean, they've hardly won a thing. They've won, I've got it here, they've been promoted from the third division in 74. They won the third division in 84 and they've had a few kind of promotions and playoff wins in that division specifically here and there. And then obviously they won the National League yesterday. I think they won the playoffs of the National League North and a couple of FA trophies. That's basically it. in like 104 years there's nothing vaguely even approaching a major trophy in there so they need to enjoy this moment for sure I think they still are yeah

59:43Luke Moore: absolutely I don't think that's going to be going to be hard but yeah a club who and by the way 10 years outside the Football League 5 of those were in the National League North so again you are a long way from the and York is a lovely place by the way a beautiful place you're a long way from League 2 but they're back in there gutting for Rochdale though as you say if you amass 106 points it's fair to say that you you can feel yourself unlucky that you've not gone up automatically 100 % especially especially as you were on the brink of 108 points as well but they don't want me to point that out did you see also did you see the statistics about how many goals that York City scored this season yeah I mean it's got 114 goals they've got a goal difference of plus 73 it's ridiculous absolutely ridiculous it's madness there were some great scenes this weekend in football I mean that was one of them the other one that I forgot to mention Daniel Munoz's goal Daniel Munoz's goal was great as well no but my highlight was just seeing regularly throughout the entire FA Cup semi-final between Leeds and Chelsea Daniel Farker just baking in the sun yeah great scene he was a black jumper on he's just sitting there massive head yeah like a fucking football Buddha just baking in the sun it was great during the day as well so he probably wished he was watching TV maybe he had his phone up watching something yeah Yeah Yeah You know they have those little iPads For the replays If you're like Yeah just watch it You put that on there Just watch it Anal Supermarket 3 Come on We don't have to do that By the way York City You don't have to watch The first two anal supermarkets Do you to get it No you don't really York City One of the only teams I think there's only four I might be wrong here There's only four teams With a Y That start and end With the same letter There you go I think it's York City Uh huh Alabama Northampton Town Okay Aston Villa Aston Villa And Liverpool I think Nicely done There might be a fifth But I can't remember what it is Evertoni Yeah Got a laugh didn't it Everyone in the room laughed Apart from you And we're doing this In front of a live audience What about Larsenel There you go Oi Join in if you want Yeah I don't want He can't think of one He can't can he Neverton We wouldn't have done that That was good You just gave it A little bit of a twist Deleague United There we go Joining in at last Portsmouth

1:02:05Luke Moore: Elsewhere in the National League, there were reports that a fan was ejected during Forest Green Rovers' match against Morecambe for allegedly bringing a bacon sandwich into the stadium. The video was baffling. You know the great thing about this? We know that Forest Green Rovers is a vegan-only club. It sells only vegan food at the ground and serves exclusively vegan meals to its players. But you can eat meat at the ground. I know loads of people who go there. No, you can't. This guy got chucked out. What are you doing? I got put in prison for eating a sausage thing. Yeah, he did. It's a local prison.

1:02:38And Marcus...

1:02:39Luke Moore: The bars are made of bamboo there. Marcus had to do community service because he had some wafer-thin ham. Just for being English. It goes in the thickness of the meat. It does. If it's wafer-thin ham, the punishment isn't as severe. You get a big fucking fillet steak, that's life, no parole. Do you know what? I actually brought spam in. Funny enough, I actually went to a steak restaurant not that far from Forest Green Rover Stadium in protest and I had a big old steak there we go I was like I have some of this he's had the last laugh yeah nice cut the fat off went down there chucked it on the pitch anyway Forest Green Rovers but you should get kicked out for chucking stuff on the pitch there wasn't a game going on I'm not a savage Forest Green Rovers made a public statement saying Robbie Savage who's the manager of course there you go very good the ejection was nothing to do with the bacon sarnie as they put it sarnie because they're cool more to do with over-exuberance on the last day of the season, and Rovers manager Robbie Savage went on the radio to confirm that there was no bacon sandwich involved.

1:03:38Luke Moore: It's fake news, fake news. He said it was fake news, didn't he? He said it was fake news, yeah. Did you see the comments, or rather the replies to Forrest Green and Rovers' statement on X, formerly known as Twitter? I'd imagine that they were supportive and understanding. Some were, in response to clear blue tick bots from the US, It's been like, oh, this is why England's going downhill. This is why the... And by the way... It's like, what are you getting involved with Porous Green Rovers? It's a no-go zone now. Something you said there, Vish, that just made me, you know, again realise the state of things.

1:04:12Luke Moore: We used to call them Russian bots. Now American bots. Yeah, exactly. Deary me. Deary me. Should we end with a story from the US? You mentioned that country. Portland Timbers had their training session stopped after Portland player Soya Dura attempted to juggle a loose ball and fired a shot towards the goal with his left foot, but it hit Phil Neville's car instead. Neville ordered the players to stop and reveal the culprit. In the words of one reporter, the coach did not notice Dürer's hand raised. So, every cup semi-final weekend, Arsenal go top again, big weekend of relegation as well. York City back in the football league for so long.

1:04:51How is this snuck in there? It's right at the end. That's right. This is Mark's time. This is his own time. Any other business?

1:04:59Luke Moore: Show some fucking respect. What a way to finish everybody and what a weekend it was. Was it actually his car though? Yes. That's amazing. Why is he parking by the girl? Someone is... Idiot. He parked the bus. Parked the girl. Someone's owned up and he's not noticed. Yes. Great. That's a proper iron fist that. It's brilliant. Yeah. Sorry, what were you saying again? Sorry, what was the question? Why are you raising your hand? You told me to. don't know again thanks for listening to the football ramble part of the Acast Creator Network Luke and I are back tomorrow for the mailbag so subscribe to make sure you do not miss that and until then thank you Luke thank you very much thank you Vish thank you well done York City

1:05:48Luke Moore: alright here we go be happy when the sun shines everybody welcome to the football ramble drama in the relegation battle and Man City and Chelsea are back at the FA Cup final it's Monday 27th of April I'm Marcus we could have done that it was ridiculous the last sentence I can't do what you said but we could have done it do it again have a run up at it I want more from you and I think you know you can do more more with less the football ramble is a stack production and part of the Acast Creator Network

1:06:25looking for soccer analysis more knowing than a Carlo Ancelotti eyebrow raise with the World Cup around the corner join me Max Rushton and the Guardian's expert soccer journalist on Football Weekly for all the latest soccer action and news throughout the week we'll cover more ground than Drew Bellingham in a Champions League final with conversations sharper than an Arsenal set piece for fine margins, fun debates and full-blooded tackles Football Weekly listen wherever you get your podcasts and watch the full episodes on YouTube It never happens at a good time. The pipe bursts at midnight. The heater quits on the coldest night.

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