Diamond Dog

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4:20Luke Moore: Sweet Caroline, everybody. Welcome to the Football Ramble. England, Gub, Croatia and Scotland are up and running. It's Monday 5th of October. I'm Marcus Speller. I'm Luke Moore. And I'm Pete Donaldson. England.

4:44Luke Moore: Hello, everybody. Lovely to have you with us on this marvellous Monday in the kingdom. Oh, hey. What about that? What about that? We'll get to that in just a minute. What a salve. Incredibly, though, this is the final week of the great international break of autumn 2026. It will live long in the memory, though. It will, yeah. You can never take the memories from us. Certainly not. Certainly not. Manchester City's fried, but you have failed. Once again you have failed. Someone argued they made it more memorable. The good news is, of course, from an England point of view, we're still only three quarters of the way through.

5:16Luke Moore: That's right. Got a game on Tuesday. Got a game on Tuesday. But I think you'll agree we've had an absolutely brilliant time together over the last couple of weeks. This skirt wasn't in my bit. And if you have enjoyed it, and I know I have, even if you've fractionally enjoyed it, come on, be honest with me. If you've enjoyed it. If you're a Wales fan, you got a good victory against Norway. Scotland fan, good victory last night. England fan, get out. Northern Ireland. It's us. Exactly. Everybody. Ireland had a good win as well, didn't they? Ireland did, yeah. Yeah, but I'm just saying, they're our brothers.

5:50We've got a lot of listeners in Ireland.

5:52Luke Moore: I know we do, yeah. But I was going to do the kingdom first. Yeah, then we can do the republic. Well, you did do the kingdom. Right, okay. You did England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Yeah, you're absolutely right, Luke. You're absolutely right. What I'm saying, Irish people, give us a five-star review. Get on with it. You ask an American who our brothers are, and it'll be France, Germany, the Europeans are all sort of clubbed together. So all of the results are also our results as well. But Pete, it's still technically a World Cup year, so we can't be part of that. Good point, actually.

6:16It's still technically a World Cup year.

6:18Luke Moore: No, World Cup years work like school years. Oh, okay. So it's over now. It's over now. But it's a Nations League year. So I can't be rude about French people anymore. Well, it's a Nations League year. It's always a Nations League year. Well, anyway, yeah. Give us a five-star review, wherever you are listening. It helps the show massively. It allows us to find even more people to join in the fun. Can I also put a bit more meat on that bone? Yeah, it'll make me happy. Because I... Can I have some fat and connective tissue as well? Yes, you can. Yes, you can, David. Thank you. You might think to yourself, how can I support the Football Ramble?

6:47I subscribe, I listen, I watch, whatever, but I can't afford to be a Patreon subscriber, you know, all the rest of it. This is a way you can do it. Yes. For free. We're an independent show. I'm proud of it. Still, almost 20 years on. You want to help us compete with the big dogs, but you haven't got any money. Fair enough. It's a tough time for everyone. Leave us a five-star review. It helps. And other people will read it and go, fucking that show sounds great. I'm going to listen to that. And tell your friends as well. I was playing 11th and 5th football two weeks ago. We'd just lost 10-0. But you got sent off?

7:16No, no, no. Just lost 10-0. Oh, so you got sent off and you lost 10-0 in the same week? Yeah, in the same calendar week. Nice. And at the end of the match, a lad came over and said, are you Pete from the Football Ramble? After I'd lost 10-0. As if he could be anyone else. so what I'm saying is somebody told him about the football ramble yeah and I'd like him to tell three friends and if his three friends tells three friends yeah that Pete is a bad footballer yeah does it undermine some of your opinions on the show do you think I think my opinions undermine my opinions well I think your opinions like a Taurus knot I think your opinions undermine your performances in the football pitch which then in turn undermine your opinions again yeah it's like a never ending it's like a Mobius strip of bad football and bad opinions snake eating a snake's tail yeah yeah there we go We got there in the end.

8:02Auroboros you're looking for? Is the word you're looking for there, Peter? I said Taurus not, so... Northern Lights, I call them.

8:08Luke Moore: Right, let's move on. Croatia, 0, England, seven brackets, S-E-V-E-N. Do we need the S-E-V-E-N? I didn't see this coming, I'll be honest. No. You've got to have a bit of faith. Well, I do now, as Michael said. Indeed. Harry Kane said, after the Spain game, we've not put a 90 minutes together under Thomas Tuchel. We've had a 20 minute sort of spell against Spain. They still haven't. It's 87 minutes. Unless you scar in massive amounts of injury time that you always get in these modern football games. Without a doubt. It took them eight minutes to score as well. Yeah, without a doubt the best performance England have put in under Thomas Tuchel.

8:43Luke Moore: I understand it's the Nations League. I understand that Croatia are not the side they were. But, you know, Portugal only just pipped them in the knockouts in the World Cup. And I understand that the atmosphere was quite strange. You had a few thousand school children who... There was a loophole there, apparently, because it was meant to be played behind closed doors. They looped in. Exactly, yeah. The kids looped in. Crawled for a little loophole. I do like that, though, because it is a bit of a shame if it's played behind closed doors and there's nobody there. Why not let some schoolchildren in?

9:09Because the Croatian Football Association need to be punished for the behaviour of their fans. No, no, I understand. It is the answer. No, of course.

9:16Luke Moore: No, my point is, why not let some schoolchildren in? Oh, I'm not against... That's always the answer to everything. Yeah, I'm not... Careful. Careful.

9:28I'm having a house party. You get to reign him in. No, Peter. Marcus, if you don't reign him in, he gets on like that. That's what I thought. I bought too many Battenberg cakes. Bring some school children in. That's good. That was... Sorry, you're still going, are you? Yeah. I bought some puppies. Right. Come on, crack on. You're the host.

9:45Luke Moore: No, no, I'm not, Peter. Right. You need to learn. You need to self-discipline. Great coverage of this game, by the way. Luca Modric played. He's not a child. He hasn't been for a long, long time. No. It's fair to say this wasn't the game for 41 years. I felt a bit sad for him. I did too. Bad for a Luke. He said, he said, he said the, it's the first time in 200 odd caps that he's felt shame. 205. After playing for his, for his nation, which is very sad, but you're right. It was a catastrophic night, he said, and I get that, but I think, as it's the Nations League, I think they'll move on sort of fairly quickly from this in the way England did when they got batted 4-0 at home at Molineux.

10:20Luke Moore: Against Hungary, yeah. You, you, you, you just do. Nothing good in football happens at Molineux these days. That's not true. Raul Jimenez is down there. True. You know? But anyway. I had to tack on these days at the end either because I forgot like for a second they were a really massive club back in the day. Beating the Hungarian side. Was it Honved? Yeah. To win this sort of unofficial club World Cup. They got a plaque up. I'm sorry they bloody should. But going back to this Croatia game. Hungary took it away when they won 4-0. I'm struggling to keep up all these different points that are being made.

10:48So first of all, kids in the stadium falling in love with football, good. Fans not behaving and FA not holding them to account, therefore having ban on fans attending games. Bad. England, good. Yes. Croatia, midfield, bad. Absent. But also annoying, slightly annoying, when England do this in a game that doesn't matter. The thing that got me was that... His face there! Marcus, you have to admit that we are the only football team who can beat someone 7-0, Which can make their World Cup look worse. Yeah, exactly. Do you know what I mean? I don't agree with that at all. Yeah, his face when I said what I said there, it's like someone who put like a human shit under his nose.

11:34Stamped a battle bag.

11:35Luke Moore: In a way they did. I just... Can I let some children in to cheer you up? Once again. Their ruddy faces might cheer you. You're not going to be a traveler to Luxembourg at this point. You've got a no-fly list. Yeah. By the way, fantastic on Friday. I have to say that. Great performance. Amazing performance. Robbie Keane was an all-timer. Robbie Keane was just something else. Well, I was very kind of you. You'd have known about, what, at least nine of them. Yeah, I didn't think you were all 11 in the locker. It was the Indian one. I got the locker. That was incredible. Not after the performances you've been putting in the start of the season.

12:06Luke Moore: Yeah, well, there's some very, very... Big moment for you. There's some big conspiracies. But this was your 7-0. That was your 7-0. It was the 11-0. Yes. You know, you got there. But I mean... Well, look, England, they were brilliant. There's no doubt about that. But again, I understand the context of it, but it is always good to win a football match. It's always good to win 7-0. And a clean sheet is always pleasing, Peter. Although it shouldn't have been, because I don't know how Kovacic missed that chance. Amazing. It should have been 10-1. It should have been about 10-1, yeah. I think it's only the kind of miss that probably happens for a player of that quality when the chips are so far down.

12:39Luke Moore: It reminded me of Torres at Old Trafford, if you remember. Yes. He thinks he's already scored. Exactly, but I think the context here is slightly different. I just think his brain's scrambled by what he's having to put up with, basically. Probably. At the time, I think it was only 2-0, but still, you know, the right was on the wall. Great first start for Alex Scott, who sadly pulled out of the England squad, sort of breaking news. And he'll be out for about eight weeks with a thigh injury, which is a great shame for him, because he puts in that performance against Croatia. And you're thinking, right, can he go?

13:05Luke Moore: You'll probably start against Cechi, you would think. It's absolutely ideal for a player in his position to be a part of this. Because he's like, okay, so the best England have played for many a year is when I've been right in the thick of things. Yeah. And, you know, he did a lot of things that I don't know enough that Modric used to be very well known for, which is playing the pass, which makes the player play the pass to score the goal. Yeah. The pre-assist. Yeah, the pre-assist. In NHL, you get an assist for that, actually. Greg Carr. Thank goodness you don't in football. Imagine the stats.

13:35It'd be crazy. But he was very, very good. They were all good. I think, obviously, Bellingham looked like the world's best player. That's not an exaggeration.

13:41Luke Moore: Roy Keane was saying he could go on to be one of the best players in the world. He said he'd gone... Of all time, I think. Of all time. And it was praise. He is already one of the best players in the world. Sure, but I'm saying for Roy Keane to give that amount of praise, you know, it shows you. You look at... The thing with Bellingham is that it's the two things that come into people saying stuff like that, I think. The assessment for me would be he's only 23, so he's got a long time left at the top. And it's just so clear that his ceiling is so high. He never looks lost. He never gets swamped in that part of the pitch.

14:10he's always so good technically he's always and Keane was making the point about how good he was without the ball as well which I guess is important to a player of Keane's background or it is important to every player really but I just do think it's obvious that he he can his ceiling is just so so high there's no one whenever Bellingham maybe doesn't play as well as he should the impression for me is it's because of him because his mind isn't quite on it or he's frustrated or something The only thing that ever restricts Bellingham is Bellingham. And I think that's a massive part of why people rate him so highly.

14:46You never really see him get lost because he's a bad player or he's having a bad day. It's just because his mind isn't there.

14:53Luke Moore: I think with Bellingham as well, he's the type of player you could put him in any team, in any league, and he would do what he does. He bends it around him rather than the other way around. Yeah, there are some players who were at the top of the game, but obviously they played in certain systems. and this is not a criticism, but they would maybe need a certain system or certain players around them. Yeah. Because they'd be on a different play. But Bellingham, he has that raw ability, those kind of, as I say, those skills that he has that would translate anywhere, but he can also fit into a system and appreciate the bigger picture.

15:27Luke Moore: Because if you think about some of the other players England have had in those sort of central, particularly attacking midfield positions over the years, sometimes they might not want to be in that system or they won't fit into it or they think, well, you know what, I'm going to try and do it all myself or whatever, and it maybe disrupts it. He's in there, and just every time he plays for England now. And some may say that this could be a result of the way Tuchel kind of made sure he sort of hammered him a bit at the start and then he knuckled down. Others might say that was a bit unnecessary.

15:55Luke Moore: Whatever it is, Bellingham in England teams before, but I think particularly this England team, he is just magnificent. I've been critical of Tuchel, you know, for different reasons, but I do kind of support him on that point. I don't know obviously what happened behind the scenes but I think that when you've got a player of such obvious star quality of that character because he's a different character to Kane. Kane and Bellingham you'd say particularly on this occasion are the standout talents in the England squad. They're very different characters, right? They get on very well. Yeah, fine but that's not the point I'm making.

16:30The point I'm making is that Tuchel probably needs to make it clear that he is still the manager. Like, he can't be overrun by, like, a superstar player or any kind of player power. So I have sympathy with how he wants to handle that, and it does seem to have worked, right? But I think England started well, and they just carried on and carried on. And what happened was they were totally ruthless. They didn't kind of let up because there's players there who are playing for positions, you know, players who've had a little bit of criticism because of what happened with some of the performances defensively, for example, recently.

17:00But then coupled with that, I just thought there was a, you know, large parts of Bilic's selection were the suicide. I mean, playing a 37-year-old Ivan Perisic at left back, and then playing... I know Modric is a special player, and he's been amazing, one of the greatest players to ever play the game. In our generation, he's won a Ballon d 'Or. He is one of the guys, I get that. But you cannot play him in that way, in a two alongside a less than mobile Kovacic as well. We'll see 32 now. And you've got quite an inexperienced kid playing in the hole as well. just in front of them, they just got overrun, totally overrun.

17:38Luke Moore: I wonder if Bilic is harking back to yesteryear thinking, you know what, Modric is technically more gifted than some of these England players. I mean, Bilic is another factor in this as well because under Zlatko Dalic, I can't imagine Croatia losing this game 7-0. They would lose games, but they wouldn't lose games like that. Oh my goodness, because their home record is very good. So yeah, you're right to bring in Bilic into this point. I mean, Bilic, they were beaten 4-1 by Spain, but it was a proper, you know, perhaps could have and should have been more. And you wonder, he's not been in the job that long.

18:03Luke Moore: And the stability, I know he was there before, but the stability and the success Croatia had under Dalic, you know, Bilic will be having a, he will be under pressure very, very quickly if this continues because this is really, really piss poor. But from England's point of view, P.T., you had Elliot Anderson in there with Alex Scott. And as I say, we've mentioned Scott and sadly he has pulled out of the squad and he's going to be injured for about eight, which was a great, great shame. But Tuchel called him the complete package. And of course, he played with Elliot Anderson at the Euro Under-21s last summer when they were victorious.

18:37Luke Moore: Did you like that? Does this put pressure on the likes of Declan Rice, Miles Lewis-Scarely? Dare I even say Cobby Mainu, although he seems to be without pressure because he's without any kind of favour in Thomas Huck's eyes. If he puts pressure on Cobby Mainu, Pete, what Marcus is asking is, will anyone notice? No, yeah. He wouldn't exactly... I'm thinking less diamonds. I'm thinking more like a s'more. Yeah. Squelching out of it. Squishing out the sides. Squishing out the sides, yeah. He just kind of seems to be quite a chilled out guy. A very chilled out guy. His brother? Not so. His brother was doing the protest.

19:09Free Cobby Manus, wasn't he? Yeah, free Cobby Manus. Oh, okay, yeah. Was it his brother or his half-brother or something like that? I can't remember.

19:14Luke Moore: Yes. Someone connected to him. Someone connected to him. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you know whose name? I mean, it's an overstatement to say his name will be synonymous of the Great Autumn International Break of 2026 because it's the thing that we've invented. but one player who will come out of this who will be synonymous with this period Gerald Kwanzaa in England no it's going to be Anthony Gordon Anthony Gordon has taken this international break by the Scrufford and their because coming into this international break he was getting a little bit of stick for some of the things he said in interviews but he's really put his money where his mouth is he was fantastic again goal and assist you know I mean we would be raving about that had Kane and Bellingham not played so well Kwanzaa again bounced back you've got to give him a huge amount of credit because he not only does he go back in there and it looks boring and it feels boring after Alexander-Arnold's excitement, right?

20:03But he actually puts it across and he's Alexander-Arnold-esque for a goal. So, like,

20:08Luke Moore: I think Gordon had a word with him. He said, you see what Trent did? Just give it a go. Just give it a try. Speaking of players who were brilliant about the ball in terms of Bellingham, Roy Keane on ITV said, you know, Bellingham, so good without the ball now, you know, all the rest of it. And he pointed that out and I thought it was an interesting bit of insight. I would say a great example of how good Gordon is, is it's not just when the ball's coming down his side. When the ball's coming down the other side, he breaks his neck to get on the far post. And you find a lot of wide forwards don't do that these days.

20:39And he is getting a lot of joy. He's getting goals. He's getting involved in the play. He's getting assists by doing that. His assist is because of a poor cross, isn't it? But he's on the back post and he puts an amazing touch and puts the ball back across because he's in that right position. He busts his balls all the time, Gordon. He's not just really quick and got an eye for a goal. and his career's in the ascendancy, but he works so hard as well, and that is a real testament to him, I'd say. Lewis Hall on the overlap as well. He was great as well. He was absolutely amazing.

21:06Luke Moore: Well, I mean, Lewis Hall, you've got to say, he's taken his chance as well. They've all been pretty good at this. You know, this could be, I guess every time, this could be the thing that makes this England team, but... Propel us to Nations League glory. The only thing that can get in their way of winning the Euros... Is themselves. ...is Spain. ...is having to play a genuinely important game. Yeah, that is it. And a team that doesn't leave lords of space behind them. Yeah. Well, indeed. Which is what Gordon exploits every time. And when he can't get past this player, he gets a little bit frustrated.

21:36So that'll be the test for me, watching quite a lot of him, whether he has genuinely changed his style of play. But he's just been astonishing.

21:45Luke Moore: He's been very good. I mean, probably should have had more than one goal. Yeah. But, you know, it all has. Jordan Pickford back in goal. He was. He made an important interception quite early on. Yeah. And then obviously he got rounded. but I thought he was slotted in quite nicely again it was no ricks yeah I think with Pickford it did feel like oh yeah the number one goalkeeper is back in goal but that's just familiarity is that just a bit of England's Blarney though isn't it it's probably familiarity you've got to manage a transition we talked about this last week in the context of Kane there's been no transition manager at all whether they end up playing Bellingham as a false nine or Gordon goes a bit more central whatever they've got to do something at least with this you can say you know they've played Trafford Tuchel for as long as he's in the job obviously thinks Trafford is the next guy so he's got to give him a chance in some competitive games some difficult games to get used to it because otherwise it's like it just feels like après moi le deluge doesn't it?

22:40What's going to happen? No one knows.

22:42Luke Moore: Nobody knows. Rico Lewis has been added to the squad for the home game against Czechia. Forgot about him. Yeah. Little Rico. So he's going to be in there. So yes, England play Czechia tomorrow night myself and Vish will be previewing the game tomorrow oh can I just before you move on can I just say quickly the point that everyone has been making about Man City players having a nightmare and making mistakes because they're so worried about what's going to happen Kovacic there you are did he miss that because he thought is my agent going to call me later to get me out of this is that why Rico Lewis has joined us please get me away I need a shop window we all need shop windows Tuchel did say that it's been a big topic of conversation among the squad I imagine it has I bet it has just a load of like you know, inside I kind of come and play for us kind of vibes.

23:27It's lovely. You love it. You love it, mate. That's my impression Declan Rice. You love it. Go buy it. West Ham.

23:34Luke Moore: You don't play there anymore, Declan. Boris not in the squad. Poor old Bowen. Yeah. Oh, dearie me. Right. Coming up after this, a dog was spotted on the pitch this weekend. Yes, please.

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27:24Score, you sexy cunt! Yeah!

27:30Luke Moore: What was that? If you didn't quite catch that, rewind it and have a listen again. You sexy cunt. Yes, that was a fan, a Portsmouth fan, before Portsmouth, Adrian Segacic takes a free kick and scores. Yeah. Was there anybody you know, Luke? I don't think so. I can't rule it out. And I would say that I think Selicic is quite a sexy cunt, though. So it makes sense. It does make sense. It makes sense. It resembles a skate. It makes perfect sense. Very good, Peter. Very good. Well done, Peter. Speaking of the championship, did you see, I like these extended international breaks because you do tend to get the...

28:02No, not because of the international break itself, but I very much like that clubs will do their fun friendlies. Borough did one where they brought back all of... I can't remember what it's called. It's called like the legacy match or something. What, Middlesbrough did this? Yeah, Middlesbrough. And they're like, were they 150 years old? Maybe 125? Anyway, Juninho came back. Be serious? Juninho came back. Ravanelli, Yakubu, Karanka was managing one of the teams. Mikel Beck got a hat trick. Mikel Beck. Come on. That's nice. Has he still got his hair? I don't know. I didn't actually see the actual...

28:37Well, I saw Juninho take a penalty. I saw Juninho do some running. That was basically what the Middlesbrough Instagram... Is he still in good nick, Juninho? He's looking a bit barrel-chested these days, but he can still move. Bit of a young mask. A little bit me, really, to be honest. Little fellow with a gut. Speaking of which, Mead also played. He's a big fella. And Phil Stamp as well. And the two teams were called Iremus and Ionopolis. No, Ionpolis. That's weird. No idea why, but Tony Moeberry managed one of them. With his chocolate bars. Phil Stamp's doing very, very well.

29:12Luke Moore: Go on, Stampy. Thanks to Friend of the Ramble, Ashley, for sending us that Portsmouth-related clip. 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. Now then, North Macedonia 0, Scotland 2. Sebastian Pocignoli scored his first, or secured, rather, his first win. Scotland's first win. Yeah, well, if you like. He's not even Italian. I know. It's an Italian surname. It is. It's an attacking substitution. I'm bringing myself on. Yeah, I'll do it myself. They won 2-0. They're third in Group B. Four teams, isn't it?

29:47Luke Moore: Yeah, four teams, yeah. Always the same. When you say they're third, we're used to pick a league table than that, aren't we? They're not in the Premier League. They're not in the Premier League. Kieran Bowie scored his first international goal. He was the star man, Peter. Nice. Is he a Bowie or a Bowie? He's a Bowie or a Bowie. He's a Bowie, like the original. Right, okay. I don't know. Yeah, it's got to be Bowie, hasn't it? Yeah, it has to be. I don't like people who say Bowie. I think that's poor and his daughter David Bowie's daughter Zoe he's not calling her Zoe Bowie is he no could be Zoe Bowie couldn't it oh I never thought of that never thought of that but yeah Kieran Bowie scored his first lovely goal it was a beauty lovely goal it's one of those goals that you think go on son yeah but can the keeper do better it's right in the corner but it's from a long way out Bowie's asked a question he has and he's not been able to be answered does he I don't think you can never felt like it took like five years to get in the fucking corner what you want from a striker like Paxman ask the question yeah so all you've got to do is ask the question exactly the goalkeeper's got to answer it as Big Pav would say I don't mind anyone taking the chance in the final third but Pav he said he said there you are under pressure yeah he said he's not bothering doing the puns at a football he's just going to say the names of the songs he's just singing songs he was under pressure yeah work it into a sentence all we're asking for is a sentence you might say he was under pressure yeah you've ruined it now alright okay yeah yeah yeah well he was he was a hero oh yeah and there you go You see, working in like that.

31:09Luke Moore: Just for one night. It is work.

31:13Just for one night. How old is the squad? How old are the young dudes?

31:21Luke Moore: All of them. Yeah, you should have said how old are all the young dudes. How old are the young dudes? Bloody Noro. No, you can't do it. Let's not do the workshop on the pod. No. Yeah, just do this beforehand. But anyway, he scored his first... Andy Robertson, on his 100th cap, was a man on a mission to score a goal. He was. It was relentless. Did you hear Pat Nevin on the radio? Pat Nevin said he came off the bench for Kenny Diaglis's 100th cap. And he said that basically, I'm paraphrasing, basically all the chat of the players before the game was, we've got to get Kenny a guard. And that's all they did all the game.

31:53Luke Moore: It was a bit like that. Well, this was, I think, I forget who was on CoCom. I think he's had more shots in this game than he's had in the entire Scotland career to hate. Did get one though. Did not get one. I thought North Nutschers only were very poor, by the way. They were piss poor. Yeah, really, really poor. I mean, this game really probably should have been sort of three, four, five. It felt like North Macedonia, again, would just, it was a sort of level of performance of a side, the size of, say, like the Faroe Islands or Andorra, or something like that. Which is mad, because they've qualified the stuff.

32:20Luke Moore: Indeed they have, yeah. I mean, they beat Italy not that long ago. Wow. As is the way. As is the custom. But yeah, well, I mean, I suppose with North Macedonia, you know what it's like with some teams where, you know, sort of much smaller population, obviously, you know, you would say probably more limited resources, and certainly not big national leagues, that they can have phases, of course. We know this. And North Macedonia, when they did qualify for the Euros, that was obviously a good little period in their footballing history, whereas now they're obviously lacking. But even so, you're right, Lukey, they were very, very poor.

32:52Luke Moore: They came alive a little bit towards the end when Scott McKenna got himself sent off. But even then, the game was done. I think they're struggling to get over the painful loss of Goran Pandev. Ah, well, there's a man who could go on and on. He would still be playing up front for Croatia if he was Croatian. Grabbing a Macedonian dragon and kicking and screaming through everything. Yeah. But what did you think of the penalty? Did you think it was harsh? Well, there was two big penalties. Yeah, sorry. The one that was actually given was the handball, but he had his arm like... I thought it was a touch harsh, if I'm honest with you, because Ben Ganondiak obviously went down and was a judge to have...

33:24Luke Moore: well, I can't remember, did he get a book in or not? It was. I think he voted a book because he got up really fast, like Lazarus. Lazarus. That's not a very boat song, is it? It is. last album. You've been looking it up? Yeah. Yeah. Stay quiet. Stay quiet for long. He went home to get it. Two minutes of nothing, right? Because he's been Googling songs that are on the most recent David Bowie album. The most recent one? Yeah. I had to go search the Wikipedia, you can't trust bloody Google. I, this morning, typed in, I just wanted a match report from the Croatia-England match in the World Cup, and Gemini told me they didn't play in the World Cup.

34:00It's enough to send you Fucking loopy. It's good, isn't it? Because at least they'll end the end human existence on the earth. Yeah, just getting it wrong. I don't mind dying in like a fiery inferno of robots firing fucking flamethrowers in my face. But I'd like to be in possession of some basic facts. Exactly. For the benefit of it. The fiery flames in the face. I'd like to know what a Guardian journalist said about the creation match. The robots will burn you in the face with a flamethrower and then they'll lie about the temperature of the flame. that's what will happen it was 20 degrees

34:31Luke Moore: I like the sound of these but with regards to Bowie in Scotland all was hunky-dory in the end it was because they got the three points although the match did have to be stopped for a dog a dog running on the pitch for a fair few minutes actually yeah the dog sort of strolled on the pitch the dog was wearing a collar that's got an owner who's taking the dog to the football well see I just think it just had a collar because it had it had like a blue collar it was a great dog it was a proper addiction it had a blue collar dog but it had been It had like a sort of emo flesh tunnel. Like, you know when you tag like a homeless dog?

35:03No. Well, they tag homeless dogs. I think the ones that have been neutered, so they don't reproduce. Oh, I thought you meant they play with them. You're it. Could you guys perhaps say it was a diamond dog? You probably could, actually, but it was a good lad.

35:16Luke Moore: That was an open goal, P. That part of the world just has a lot of beautiful stray dogs that are big and healthy and frequently fat, and I'm big into them. Most parts of the world. Let him cook. carry on I'm just saying I like big fat stray dogs I can't believe I'm saying this but what history do you have with the stray dogs of Macedonia North Macedonia but I think it's like that part of the world like where? when we went to Kiev Voldova Marcus when we went to Kiev as well during the Euros we saw a bit of that it's true we've talked about stray dogs we're usually on Ramble Uncut no game is not improved by the sight of a dog on a pitch completely agree there we are speaking of Ukraine They were beaten 3-0 by Northern Ireland.

35:58Luke Moore: A brilliant away victory. New Orleans still haven't conceded a goal in the Nations League. And they won't with stuff like this. They really took the game by the scruff of the dog neck. An excellent away shirt from Northern Ireland as well. Big fan of that. Do you know what? I actually really like the Ukraine kit. I really like that. It's very hard to be harsh on Ukraine, isn't it? No, totally. I mean, they were beaten 3-0. Yeah, but it's harsh to be on them. Can you be harsh on the goalkeeper? I saw that. That was an absolutely bizarre approach to it. It bounced through his legs and he was like...

36:30I think it's such a bad error, you can't be harsh on him. I couldn't even understand the mistake he did.

36:36Luke Moore: He could do that a thousand times and he would get it right and that wouldn't happen. Was it Villanova Rover 50-esque? It was, completely like that. Don't know that Bowie song. It's a good one. It's the Peter Gabriel collaboration. As the CoCom said, you know, Brown is now on a hat trick. I didn't think I would be saying that sentence. which was quite something. Kieran Brown got a brace. I'm freestyling here. Technically got a brace. I'm freestyling here, but with the last hat-trick for Northern Ireland been a score by David Healy. You put me on the spot. I think that's a good... Let's ask Gemini.

37:07There have never been any hat-trick scored in football, ever. David Healy is not a footballer. He was a shoe with wheels in it.

37:19Luke Moore: Look, Ma, we've been reliably informed by producer Rory that Isaac Price got one in 2024. Four. Four Northern Ireland? For Northern Ireland. Fantastic. Good on him. How about that? Yeah, I think everything in price of nothing. Yeah. Something like that. It was apparently, it was against Bulgaria in the Nations League last time around. Well, they're cursed this week. I was going to say, Peter may see a hat-trick against Bulgaria tomorrow night, but more on that in due course. Wales lost at home to Denmark. Yeah. The third defeat in the Nations League. Their goalkeeper, Danny Ward, was at the centre of it all.

37:51Yeah, Jim should be here for this. Jim is the most passionate man about Danny Ward I've ever met. He has such big opinions on Danny Ward.

37:56Luke Moore: Do you find that with Jimmy? He saves his big opinions sometimes for... For Wales goalkeeper Danny Ward. Yeah, and Carlos Tevez. Oh, yeah. He's a veteran of Carlos Tevez. But Danny Ward did do Danny Ward things, by which I mean, he made two world-class saves. Yeah, brilliant saves. And then completely lost his mind. Well, twice as well, because not only does his poor kick go straight to the Danish player. Yeah, he then just takes him out. Yeah, and you just think... And for the hat-trick, he starts complaining quite loudly to the referee that he definitely played the ball. Yeah, which... He was nowhere near the ball.

38:24Luke Moore: The replays didn't. I mean, you might say, again, some people might say it's harsh. The referee's never going to overturn that decision once it's been given. No, there's a penalty. And that is the difference in the game. Because Wales were, they were hanging on in there. Denmark started to turn the screw, particularly that second half. Well, Bellamy said, didn't he? Bellamy said they were exhausted after the Norway game. Yeah. Because they gave so much for themselves for that and for the win and stuff. But, yeah, I agree. But when the only goal of the game comes through that avenue, it is very frustrating.

38:51Bellamy looked absolutely raging when it cut to him after that Danny Walburstay. Back in his seat, he was proper... Old Craig Bellamy.

39:00Luke Moore: Younger Craig Bellamy. But as in the rage was inside him. Because he's an older age now, he doesn't have the energy to get up and do it. He's trying to be a bit calmer and a bit more positive and encouraging. He said the other day, didn't he, that Wales were a small country, we should all have each other's backs. And he's like, yeah, I did say that. That's testing that theory to the very limit. That's ruined my fun there, hasn't it? But it was disappointing. Because I think you probably would have said, if you beat Norway and draw 0-0 with Denmark, you'd take that all day long. They were very close to it.

39:28Luke Moore: Well, indeed, they would have taken that all day long. And as I say, that's the only goal of the game. I understand the goal changes the game. But Denmark was turning the screw, and Wales were distinctly second best. But there was then a little period where Wales started to come into it a bit more. And you can think, well, okay. A point would be good, but you never know. You might just nick something, and then Ward does that after keeping them in the game. So brilliantly. Those saves were great. Particularly the second one. Oh, they were Luke! Which is why it's so disappointing for him, particularly.

39:55Luke Moore: Because he probably, if the game had carried on like that, he'd have been man of the match. But football could be a very cruel mistress. That's the problem with playing that position, isn't it? And a very cruel mister. What's the male version of mistress? Mister... Master. Master. Master. I've taken a master. That is the opposite, isn't it? That sounds horrible, doesn't it? Football could be a very cruel master. A bit subdom kind of relationship, isn't it? The Barry Horns Brass Band were playing there, pumping out the tunes for the Home Faithful. Yeah, they've got a five-point mission statement called the Barry Festo, haven't they?

40:23Love that. Barry Festo.

40:25Luke Moore: Oh, we don't mind this brass band, but the England one, all you're into them, aren't you? Yeah, because they sing songs that are a bit war-adjacent, and I like it. Yeah. What's wrong with that? It's fair enough, Mark. Tucker Carlson over here. That was a stain on your history, wasn't it? You've asked me a question. I've responded. Do you want to hear the five-point Barry Festo or not? Yes, I would. Get a Barry Festo. Point number one, to unite Welsh football with the power of horns. Point number two, to put tunes on the terraces. Point number three of the Barry Fester was to bring hope where there is mathematical impossibility.

40:57Point number four, to replace plastic hooters with brass ones. And point number five, to win at life when we can't win at football. Is that an anti-Vivuzela point? Might be. Could be. They're three most well-known songs, apparently, this is according to their Wikipedia article. Come on. Can't Take My Eyes Off You. Do you want to give us a line? Give us a line of each one. Yeah. Exactly that. Second one is Just Can't Get Enough.

41:35I like the tongue roll as well. Yeah, I think it's very good.

41:37Luke Moore: I thought you were going to go for the riff. I was a proud brass player when I was a child. And the final one. Proud brass player. Children again. We've got the brass. Bring in the school children. Final one for now. You know they're named after Barry Horn, right? The player. The final one for now is... How did you work that out? Zombie Nation. Yeah, well, that was the one last night.

42:07Luke Moore: Nicely done. That really sounds like a horn. Sounds like you're underwater. But overall, very good effort. What was the name of the song? They play at football grounds. Dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun It's Papa's got a brand new bag, isn't it? I don't know. Is that Papa's got a brand new bag? No, that's James Brown. No, like that 90s dance show. There was a remix of it. There was a remix of it. Anyway, I heard that one pumping away. But they had a skeleton with a trumpet in the video, didn't they? They did, yes. You were saying to me a while back now that no one plays Skeleton's ribs like a solophan anymore.

42:39No, but I'm enjoying it. So Papa was saying that to me. It's like an 80s thing, wasn't it?

42:43Luke Moore: An 80s thing? I thought it was more like a... It might have been, yeah. It was sort of a warring tribe thing from the sort of 15th century. No, but you'd get a skeleton in some kind of kid's TV show and at one point someone would play their ribcage like a xylophone. Okay, yeah, TV's not what it used to be. I, yeah, look, this was a bad loss for Wales. Craig Bellamy spoke in sort of sombre tones about his team's performance and then talked about the lack of energy in the team, as you mentioned there, Luke. But he was informed during the press conference that as Portugal beat Norway, Wales are not bottom of the group.

43:17Luke Moore: They're sitting third on head-to-head. And he replied, that's actually quite nice. That's brightened up a real rubbish moment. A little bit of honesty and it's good to know he loves the league table as much as you. Is he still wearing his jacket? He was wearing a jacket, I think, last night. An overshirt, certainly. Tis the season. Tis the season. Right then. Ireland won, Israel won, played in Serbia, of course, after the Irish FA requested that it be played in a neutral venue. Right. So it wasn't played in Ireland. I was actually asking Peter why that happened earlier. I didn't know that. Yeah.

43:48Luke Moore: So I think that was requested a little while ago for, you know, obvious reasons. Big Troy Parrott got on the score sheet again. Troy Parrott can't stop scoring for the Irish. Good penalty it was as well. Nice pen. Right in the corner. He's earned his cracker. He has.

44:07Luke Moore: Yeah. Yeah. He repeated the feats. so he now leads the goal scoring in league b with with four goals um but that's clearly not the story of this game there was a clash between the two teams at halftime island uh head of athletic performance damon door allegedly had been spat at by an israel player um on the incident haimer hal grimson said after the game i don't want to get involved in that but it's been like this these two games it's tense it's a lot of emotions i felt like they were trying to intimidate us from kickoff, but I give a lot of credit to the players to stay calm. Hal Crimson also said that due to the ill feeling that this match has conjured up, he's saying that perhaps in future both teams are kept apart.

44:52Luke Moore: He said that's obviously a decision for UEFA, which I think you're in tricky territory there. So there is precedent for it before the illegal invasion of Ukraine by Russia, before that happened, Russia and Ukraine were kept apart, weren't they? Some qualifying groups, I think, under UEFA rule. So there is a kind of precedent for that. But I think the problem with this is, regardless of what you think about Israel and how they've behaved, for the record, I think it's appalling. But you can't just... If they're being sanctioned by the governing body to play in this competition, you can't just say, well, effectively, we don't really like them very much, so can we not play them?

45:31You can't really do that.

45:33Luke Moore: You have to leave it to UEFA, which is what Al Grimson eventually said. But it comes back to what we talked about last week, about the lack of leadership by the organising body of what's supposed to be happening here. You know, so it's a tricky situation for sure. I mean, obviously Ireland have got a huge history of being supportive of the Palestinian cause, and that's kind of fuelling part of this. I actually thought the press conference was interesting as well. I mean, Ken Early from Second Captions did a brilliant job of tying the Israeli press officer up in knots. It was just his rank hypocrisy around the game.

46:05It's worth checking out if you've not seen it. The journalist who, you know, asked that question. The Israeli journalist. The Israeli journalist who asked the question about the Dubai-Tel Aviv flight. I thought that was bananas. Well, he, I mean, he asked... It's just desperate pathetic. Yeah, yeah. And then... He's asking,

46:23Luke Moore: for those who didn't see it, he asks Haimahel Grimson about... About the attempted terrorist atrocity on that flight and another journalist sludge that Irish players had called the Israeli players sludge in the first match. An FAI official repeatedly insisted that that was completely untrue. The press conference ended at that point. But I mean, I'm struggling to see where rock bottom is with the representatives of that country at this moment in time. In football, outside of football, I'd love to know. I think we said about two years ago, or a year ago, that Israel shouldn't be playing international football at this point in time, and they certainly shouldn't be playing in a UEFA competition.

47:02Is that fair? Would that be fair to say? I said that last week as well. I think if basically if they're not being kicked out for what's already happened, I don't see why. Yugoslavia got kicked out, Russia got kicked out, Germany, Japan, like there is presence for kicking, you know, teams out for that very reason. On the press conference thing, Pete, as well, the Ken Early thing I was talking about, he basically, when, so basically before the first game against, between Ireland and Israel, the Israeli press officer and I think maybe one of the players, possibly the manager said, we don't want to answer any questions about politics because it's nothing to do with football.

47:39And then when Israel fans were chanting in support of the IDF Ken Early asked the same people well, do you not think it's the Hippocratic position? And then the guy tied himself up in knots and then just completely refused to ask the question. I mean it's worth remembering, answer the question, it's worth remembering the reason there's such a ill feeling between Ireland and Israel is because, according to the UN, Israel have killed more than 21 ,280 children, as well as 274 journalists, the vast majority of which are Palestinian because Israel won't let international journalists into the Gaza Strip.

48:16You know, a lot of these journalists were killed in their homes despite Israel keeping a record of every person, every residence in Gaza, again, according to the United Nations. the ill feeling here is because of the way that Israel have behaved in Palestine according to a UN report from their Human Rights Council in June of this year in which they have deliberately carried out acts inflicting death and severe bodily and mental harm on hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children and the killings have continued even after last October's ceasefire in Gaza yeah maybe they could go to the AFC where they started and see how many games they want to play there

48:53Luke Moore: Well, indeed. All right, coming up after this, Manchester City prepare their body of irrefutable evidence.

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50:57Luke Moore: Welcome back to the Football Ramble, everybody. Right, Manchester City time. Are we state-owned or are we not? We don't know yet. We don't know. We've got Schrodinger's owner. Sometimes it's state-owned, sometimes it isn't. Depending, Marcus, on the argument we're trying to make. Well, indeed. It's quantum ownership. Never has that sort of turn of phrase, depends who's asking, ever been more relevant. Yeah, Manchester City have confirmed that they have lodged an appeal against their guilty verdict. Their statement reads as follows. The club's firm position is that, on multiple grounds, the opinion contains clear material errors of law, principle, and fact, and is unsafe.

51:32Luke Moore: The club is innocent of the accusations made by the Premier League, and a comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence exists in support of all its positions. It's out there somewhere. In the ether. Relating to, I loved Lars Simonson's tweet. This body of irrefutable evidence. Is it in the room with us right now? It fucking should be. In some kind of binder, I would say. A folder, perhaps. The best bit of that whole kind of like trying to kick the can down as long as you can and, you know, chuck it the long, long grass with the first time out. They put all of the documents on a website that you couldn't copy and paste from.

52:05To make it harder. To make it harder. It's a lovely bit of tape.

52:09Luke Moore: And so the final line in this statement is, we will continue to respect due process and are necessarily restricted in what we can say further until all proceedings are complete. We want to respect due process. That's why we want it to go as long as possible. We love the process. We want more of it. A nice long bath of process. We're totally innocent, and the evidence we've got will exonerate us, which is exactly why we are behind the scenes threatening to pull out of UK UAE bilateral trade deals. Yeah, exactly. Because there's nothing weird about that. Nothing at all. Nothing at all. You've got the Prime Minister absolutely freewheeling.

52:45Luke Moore: I can't take my pension money away. Can we have the one back that doesn't like football, please? Everyone desperate for a Prime Minister who actually likes football and knows how to talk about it. Oh, no, we don't want him now. Yeah. Well, when the government and obviously the civil service, they knew about this in the summer because the man's city owners knew about this was coming, a delegation has been very much prepared to go to UAE and they'll be on the charm offensive, yeah. Hey, don't worry about football. What about trade? Our relationship was always built on trade, wasn't it? That's the cornerstone of our thing, not football.

53:24I feel like people are also slightly missing the point here by saying that, well, they have invested a lot of money into the area in Manchester and put a lot of investment in and they've, yeah, that's why they're doing it. That's how this works. That's how this works. They are deliberately doing that to muddy the waters, which is why it's not that good an idea for state-owned organisations to own football clubs. Because it's not about parking their money somewhere. It's not about making money. It's about laundering their reputation. Once you get in, it's quite hard to get out again. Because it's all tied up.

53:59I mean, this is the problem, right?

54:01Luke Moore: This is the sticky nature of politics. From someone like Andy Burnham's point of view, again, someone is offering to maybe rejuvenate an area or build and make it all nice, new and shiny. If you don't think that comes at a cost, you are mad. Some people think it's worth the cost. And again, I don't want to sort of get into the weeds of all that. This is what you get when you mess with us. But here we are. And the fact is that this process, they say we will continue to respect the process. They just haven't respected the process. That is one of the reasons why so many non-Manchester City fans are so mad about this.

54:36Luke Moore: We said it literally ourselves, Luke, at the start of the week, was it last week or whenever the news broke, we were saying, you know, and I'm thinking to myself, okay, maybe give them kind of a 30, 40 point, you know, and a deduction and a fine. So they're still competitive this season. They probably would stay up a huge fine. And then you start reading it and the anger grows and grows. Jonathan Wilson's wrote some good stuff on the RT. He's just saying, you cannot just leave this. It's getting worse and worse. Totally. And for all this doubt, I don't think threatening to undermine, potentially fatally, the entire national sport of this country should be viewed on kindly by whoever's dishing out punishment.

55:15But I hope we are not seeing what I think we're about to see, which is essentially the Abu Dhabi United Group or whoever it is, because they changed their mind depending on what point they're trying to make. So don't...

55:29Luke Moore: Just call them Man City owners. Don't have a gut at me for not being accurate, because they're not accurate. Is now trying to expand this out beyond football to make it much more of a geopolitical conversation than just a football one, to give themselves a better chance of being viewed leniently. It's effectively just a threat. It's effectively just saying, oh, that's a nice trade deal you've got over there, which is worth X amount of money to your economy, which is already struggling. Be ashamed of something to happen to that, wouldn't it? By the way, we're participating in the process. What needs to happen is a understanding and a kind of recognition from the authorities who are making these decisions here in football, in England, to go, they are essentially bullying us now into doing what we want them to do or to punish them more leniently or actually what they want is to be exonerated, which will set a completely unimaginable precedent for the sport.

56:20And what needs to happen is it needs to be stood up to. And sadly now, for it to be stood up to properly, it's not just going to be the Premier League it's going to have to need the UK government's going to need to stand in lockstep with the Premier League and say enough if you want to do this we'll take that hit we have to because actually the wider implication of losing probably the most successful British export of however many years in terms of the Premier League is far bigger than what you're saying here not Oasis not Oasis no and if you want to do it this way good luck to you but you're going to have no one to play if you want to go and play in the Spanish League or the French League, good luck to you.

56:59Because you can't do that here. You cannot behave this way and do it this way. And if you've got this evidence you keep talking about, well, the deadline is clear. It's 12 weeks or whatever it is. Provide it. Show me your body. And it's got to be new evidence because it can't be accepted otherwise. Ah, that's a shame. Well, the appeal process means as far as I know, it needs to be new evidence. And if you've not got it, say you've not got it. Yeah. You know, because then we can all move on with our lives. I worry badly here that the Premier League in lockstep with the UK government is going to try and do some kind of fudge.

57:30Luke Moore: I don't think they are, Luke. Well, they better not. They better not. It's because of the lack of respect with the process. I honestly think that is the bigger thing. That's the way it should work, but we are so financially compromised in this country. But the Premier League aren't financially compromised. The Premier League's a big, wealthy beast. Yeah, but the UK government, it's a bigger story than just the Premier League. It is, but ultimately, it's the Premier League who will decide. didn't that? We're massive pressure for the country in which it operates. They'll be put under pressure, yeah, for sure.

57:58The Premier League is a cruel masters. Yes. Is that right? Nice. I also think, by the way, there should be some serious pressure. As sad as this sounds, and it's not their fault, but they're part of it, there needs to be an understanding from Man City fans as well. Man City fans' instinct may be to be annoyed for all the obvious reasons. There's many of them, but just a couple. One would be, well, it's not really fair because these other clubs did what they wanted before these rules came in and they're picking on City. I get the instinct. I get that you love the club and you have your whole life.

58:31I get all that. And I get that you'll love it after this goes away. I get it. But ultimately, the reality is that the owners of your club are threatening to undermine the national sport of this country rather than hold their hands up and say they cheated. And if you've not got a problem with that, you may be a Man City fan, but you're not a football fan.

58:48Luke Moore: Well, indeed. I totally agree with you. I mean, Jim said, you know, it is the process of grief they're going through. Yeah. And so you can, for the first week or two weeks or whatever, maybe you can say, well, okay, fair enough. I mean, on the point about, you know, they're trying to make it, the Man City owners are trying to make it a bigger issue. That's why when you get that massive Manchester City fan account on Twitter saying, encouraging the owner, right, put up the oil prices, see how they respond. It's that kind of stupid idiot, a helpful idiot that they want. But you also said... I think a little bit of people would like some control about the oil prices, to be honest.

59:24I was about to bloody say.

59:25Luke Moore: Have you seen them? But, you know, you said yourself, Luke, what Manchester City fans need to do is they're the ones who have ultimately been hoodwinked the most out of everybody because they're the ones who've been turning up to the stadium going, oh my goodness, we're brilliant, this is great. And it's been, the rug has been pulled under their feet and it's the actions of the owners. But again, I go back to the sort of the way Manchester City, that the owners have kind of, it's the sort of entitlement of we'll break the rules and we don't care. You can argue if the rules are anti-competitive and all that kind of stuff.

59:55Luke Moore: But you signed up to them. But everybody signed up to them. Okay? And if you want to have that argument, then, you know, do it. But you don't have the argument after you've been found in serious breach of them. And I honestly think the real kicker is the way they've responded. I think that... Of course it is. I think that is... Tells you everything you need to know. Exactly. Exactly. And we could go on and on about that. You've had a crack. You've been caught. Yeah. Take it on the chin. Exactly, yeah. Otherwise, it's going to have serious ramifications. not just for this season, but for beyond.

1:00:23And I think...

1:00:24Luke Moore: But you know who's going to suffer? If they did go down to, say, League Two, let's just say that happens, the staff around the place. Everyone's... Everyone's... Well, sure, but a footballer... But you could say the same about Lehman Brothers and Enron and all these companies... Too big to fail. ...that have behaved and expected to have the rules not applied to them. It's very sad when people lose their job. Totally, but I'm saying that, again... But this is the right thing. These people who run the club, they'll still have their money. The players, it'll be sad for them, and I feel for Academy prospects and all that, those sort of guys.

1:00:54Luke Moore: The women's team. The women's team. They're always the first one to take it. But Elliot Anderson will find another big club. So will Erling Haaland. If indeed it goes that way, if indeed it does. But, you know, those who work at the club, the fans have more power than they think as well because they lose to fans. If the ownership loses to fans, there's nothing in it for them anyway. The whole project and the whole reason to do it is to do it. So we'll see what happens. You've got to watch the developments with interest. If they're pulling out of Manchester, if it's so important in Manchester and they suddenly, you know, don't want to be involved anymore well you know they're the bad guys aren't they and therefore it's undercut the entire sports washing process totally something positive has come out of all this Man City stuff because on Friday we played the Man City Malfeasance Marcus Marzipan mind game yeah I enjoyed it you didn't play the theme oh is it still there I think it's on like page 7 or something rightly so where all the important production is actually Pete's page yeah Pete's page top left I think as sort of loathed as I am to say this Pete can you fill for a moment Yeah, sorry.

1:01:51Do some more stuff on Doc. Let's dance! Put on your... Remember in that one he plays the guitar and he's got white gloves on? Yeah. So that's gonna mute the strings, isn't it? It's got a really good line in it. It's got a really great line in that song where he says, Under the moonlight, the serious moonlight.

1:02:09Luke Moore: Well anyway, we can't find it. Oh shit. He's got it. Rory's done it. Rory's done it. Put it in there. Who's even removing it? You never know when a marzipan malfeasance... what's that Brian Wilson sorry pet sound has been removed off the computer Liam Gallagher great he's referred to me consistently as a spunk bubble not that one not that one and this is it here Man City Malfeasance Marcus Marzipan mind game it's bad bad yeah it's poor I thought it got better as it went on the one that you've kicked up absolute Peter can you read the comment that Zoe's Journey on YouTube said under this Zoe's Journey on YouTube commented Marcus's no Marcus Zippan Spellar.

1:02:50Yeah. Doesn't really work, doesn't it? Marcus Zippan Spellar. But appreciate that. A massive win for Spell Jim. As a viewer, I was gripped.

1:02:56Luke Moore: Huge. Absolutely gripped. The Robbie Keane moment was right up there with your Christian Vieri back in the day. It was amazing. Christian Vieri. That was good. It was right up there. Very good. Right, well, speaking of Vish, in a way we were. Pete and Vish are leaving the kingdom tomorrow to go to another kingdom. Luxembourg's a kingdom, isn't it? I think it is, actually, yeah. Luxembourg versus Bulgaria, Tuesday, 7.45. Let's talk about this one. Luke, Luxembourg's only win so far in the nation. They came against Bulgaria. They won 2-1. You'd love to see a repeat of that. I'd love to see a repeat of that at home.

1:03:24Thank you very much. We're my favorite team, Luxembourg. You'll be the only people there, you and Vish. You might get on the telly. You probably will. There'll be lots of people there.

1:03:30Luke Moore: I said to them, I should let Luxembourg know. Yeah, you should. On a lovely autumn night. How hard was it to get tickets? Very, very easy. How much? Very stripped down. The flight was 30 quid. Tickets were like 24. I'm doing it next time. I can't, yeah. You two are like Neil Morrissey and Martin Clunes, though. You probably won't get to the game. Right, okay. Oh, yeah. Big session at the airport, wasn't it? No, Vish is very put together when it comes to it. Remember when we did the tour, Vish had this kind of like bag that he unfolded, because he travels so much with work. Yeah. He folded everything, and all of his stuff was in a really tidy thing.

1:04:01It's the anti-Donaldson. Yeah, I know. We've got an Airbnb together, so. It's great. It'd be a proper member home in Baddler. Love it.

1:04:10Luke Moore: Yeah. So, Pete, who are you most looking forward to seeing him play in Luxembourg, Bulgaria. Ooh, I very much... Daniel Sinani. Like to... The name of the only player in the running order. Yeah. Surprising that. It's the one you like, Pete. I'm just trying to throw you a little bit... Why is the matchup from Sports Mall not mentioned any single football player? That's unhelpful, isn't it? Just Wikipedia the Luxembourg team. That'll be out of date and I don't trust Gemini either. It's not out of date. Are you taking over... You know what? I'll just be at the match and I'll just be seeing who's good and who's bad.

1:04:37Good idea. Are you taking over the football Ramblin Instagram? If you've got Stoichkov scores, that'd be great. Are you taking over the Ramblin's Instagram? Good man. Well, worth it. That means he can expense it. That's why he's doing it. Not because he wants to do it. I can expense it, but we'll give it a go. I just do these things and then feel embarrassed about expense and things. That's why I'm poor. In many ways, he's the ideal business partner. That's why I'm cash poor. Sorry. Cash poor. In that specific way, only, he's the ideal business partner.

1:05:02Luke Moore: Cash poor. Well, Bulgaria, winless in the Nations League, Peter. Well, look. Hopefully, that'll continue. Will they be buoyed by that massive friendly win against the Solomon Islands? They did beat the Solomon Islands 10-2 at a friendly back in June. But they haven't won any of the last six competitive games. Is that the summer that Bulgarian fans were after? In 2026. You'll win a game 10-2. You're joking. Yeah, exactly. The two. I love the two. But if we played the South Pacific, what? Luxembourg are in better form than Bulgaria. There's no doubt about that, Peter. And they will be cheered on by yourself and Vituš and Ahan Faraja.

1:05:36Great stuff.

1:05:37Luke Moore: We very much look forward to hearing how you boys get on with that. And it's a lovely way, I think, to cap off the great autumn international break of 2026. The great autumn bash. Yes. Absolutely. I think it's a great way. You guys are going to... I went to Wembley, you're going to see a game as well. Yeah. A broad, marvellous stuff. Thank you for listening to the Football Ramble, part of the ACAR's Creative Network. We'll be back tomorrow to preview England's game against the Czech Republic, or Czechia, as I'm now calling them. I hope everybody follows suit. you don't always call him that because you call Czech Republic and Czechia BBC call him Czechia you mention it every time if it's good enough for auntie it's good enough for us it's good enough for auntie it's quite Czechia then hit subscribe so that you never miss an episode don't forget the five star review that helps us five star review we'd love that we'd absolutely love that it's a bit of a cheek to ask for after what you've just heard but try it anyway remember the bit where we asked you before you heard the whole pod will Pete and Vish be giving their Airbnb a five star review find out will I get more importantly will I get a five star review from the Airbnb and even more importantly will he be allowed back in the country to look after his daughter we hope so yeah he certainly does yeah thank you Luke thanks thank you Peter fairly well and good luck luck we picked a cake at the weekend it was passable the football ramble is a stack production and part of the Acast Creator Network.

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