Give us a howl

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2:43Luke Moore: I'd rather dance with you than talk to you, everybody. Welcome to the Football Ramble. No penalties for Leeds or Bournemouth, but joy for Rob Edwards. It's Wednesday, 4th of March. I'm Marcus Speller. I'm Jim Campbell. And I'm Luke Moore.

3:07Luke Moore: Hello, everybody. It's a wonderful Wednesday at the Football Ramble. and thanks to friend of the ramble jtd tla for giving us that intro line rolls off the tongue

3:17Marcus Speller: that i'm gonna call him j for short yeah yeah you should and i also think that um you're the ideal person to read that intro line oh yeah you are very adept marcus if you don't mind me saying

3:27Luke Moore: at both talking and dancing oh thank you very much i feel as the older i've got you waiting for the sting in the tail or not oh okay i was going to give a little sting in the tail well i was gonna say the older you get the worse i think you get at dancing but the more confident you are. That's true. Yes. Very true.

3:42Marcus Speller: You're still confident in your Michael Jackson impression.

3:46Luke Moore: Specifically dancing impression.

3:49Marcus Speller: Yeah, I should have been absolutely clear. That was contained entirely in the dance floor itself. Marcus was not to my knowledge indulging of any other alleged behaviour that Mr Jackson may or may not have conducted during his short time on this earth.

4:03Jim Campbell: And this is again unrelated. Marcus is always happy to bust out the worm lately. Yeah, he is. Not now though. He wasn't so much when he was younger.

4:10Luke Moore: No, no. the confidence has grown still talking about the dance floor absolutely still talking about the dance floor

4:14Marcus Speller: he busted out the worm again that's our border

4:17Luke Moore: we were abroad it was warm now if you want to submit an intro line for a future episode and get an extended edition of today's show then become a friend of the ramble on our Patreon it's as simple as that yeah don't delay do it just head to patreon.com forward slash football ramble to get involved now another Wolves victory so soon after the last one they beat Liverpool 2-1. You wait all day long for a walk. And two come and howl at you. Oh my goodness. They're 11 points from safety.

4:48Marcus Speller: Well, do you know what? I'm not going to say it. Tell me what. I'm not going to say it. I'm not going to go all the way there, Jim. Come on, why not? But I will drive us all halfway to the destination. Okay. And see if we like it so far.

4:59Jim Campbell: Stop off at our services. Yeah. See how we feel there.

5:02Marcus Speller: Stop off at our T-Bay services. It would be on the way to Wolverhampton, but it is the best services.

5:07Luke Moore: But I'm sure there's a little chef somewhere.

5:08Marcus Speller: I would just say two, yeah, I'm sure that little chef will be bought out by Starbucks now

5:12Luke Moore: and more's the pity

5:13Marcus Speller: you see those Starbucks on the runway which are in those kind of interesting looking buildings they're all old little chefs

5:18Luke Moore: shocking

5:19Marcus Speller: there's two things I would say if you can beat Aston Villa and Liverpool it's a fair in consecutive games in the Premier League yeah then you've got something about you and I would also say just look at the games they've got left in this domestic season

5:36Luke Moore: yeah but do they want easier games or tougher games

5:39Marcus Speller: because they've proved it. I don't know why I said domestic like they're in the Champions League. But the league games they've got left, right? Brentford, West Ham, Leeds, Spurs, Sunderland, Brighton, Fulham and Burnley. I mean, it's not, it is a stretch to say because they've been broadly terrible. But on paper, it's possible for them to win every single one of those games.

5:59Jim Campbell: it's teams who are also fighting for their lives and therefore, you know, aren't that good. Or teams you don't have so much to play for. That is perfect, isn't it? That is ideal conditions.

6:09Marcus Speller: and I think you chuck into the mix and part of the reason I believe that Wolves are doing okay now is because it's like there's no pressure on them absolutely

6:15Luke Moore: you can see that they are it is like oh we've been given a free you know handful of months in the Premier League to do what we want

6:22Jim Campbell: let's be honest most of this game was terrible but the last 20 minutes including this sort of added time was end to end and was brilliant and Wolves seem to really enjoy that aspect of it and obviously that's where they that's essentially where they get that winner because they believed that they could and it essentially didn't matter if they conceded a goal chasing it because of the exact situation you're talking about

6:41Luke Moore: it's one of the most heartening and wonderful things you've seen this season in the Premier League Rob Edwards face when that winner went and he sprints in the Mourinho oh man he was so joyful he was drinking it all in

6:53Marcus Speller: wasn't it at the end as well it was good

6:54Luke Moore: but do you know what though a number of weeks or months ago probably months when Wolves they couldn't win they were people were talking about them as if they were in contention for that unwanted Derby County record

7:08Marcus Speller: Derby County fans are raging after the 13 points tally that the Wolves now got.

7:11Luke Moore: Indeed, yeah. Well, 16 points, Luke. Oh, sorry, that's 13 before. Sorry, yeah, you're right, yeah. We thought, you know, this is going to be a historically bad season for a team in the Premier League in the form of Wolverhampton Wanderers. And Matt Doherty came out and said, what he said after the game, he was just like, we just need to try. And you thought to yourself, I really felt for those Wolves fans, particularly the season ticket holders, you think, well bloody do you keep going I mean of course you do but you're just turning up going we're just going to waste our time

7:42Marcus Speller: we did that in March it's been shit and we'll keep turning up but we're just there's nothing we can do about it really now

7:51Luke Moore: but it was so depressing you know you go back to when he was still at the club when Strand Larsen misses that penalty was it the home game against Brentford forgive me if that's wrong but it was definitely a home game I think they lost two in the end they lost two in the end back in December yeah and he missed that pattern it was so depressing now yes they're still bottom of the league but it was like just give them something to cheer about well i'll tell you something beat in a local rival if you will in aston villa and then beating lest we forget the champions in such fashion yeah well

8:18Jim Campbell: obviously they've got the draw with arsenal as well which is going to sort of play into that as

8:22Marcus Speller: well and the manner of that draw was actually really encouraging too from their perspective they were the better side from for the last half an hour absolutely does that point seem that bad

8:28Jim Campbell: now jerry yes it does from tuning up absolutely that's the most annoying thing about that you can't objectively look back at that and go oh actually no it's like no we absolutely messed it up ourselves yeah one of the weird things about this is the Jürgen Strand-Larsen move seems to have been a brilliant move for all parts which is something else I wouldn't have expected part from Oliver Glasner who's

8:48Marcus Speller: it's making Palace better which is making him feel worse and less likely to lose his job which he wants to get rid of

8:54Luke Moore: he's still Glasner all over yeah not glad all over have you done that already this season if I haven't then I'm sorry everybody yeah but better late than never I love that you explained it afterwards yes

9:02Marcus Speller: Yeah, that's my favourite kind of joke. It is. You like Stuart Lee. I am.

9:07Luke Moore: Very, very, very similar.

9:08Marcus Speller: Many different ways. Yeah.

9:10Luke Moore: Yeah. But one or two similar.

9:11Marcus Speller: When I saw Stuart Lee, this is boring, but very quickly. When I saw Stuart Lee, he walked on stage and said, I know what you're thinking. Bloody hell.

9:18Luke Moore: It's Marcus Speller.

9:19Marcus Speller: Stuart Lee's let himself go, hasn't he? That's good.

9:23Luke Moore: That's good. But back to the game, Rodrigo Gomez, who scored the first Wolves goal. A lovely, got a little dink. An angled dink. Yeah, very impressive one. It's very difficult to pull that off. A dingle?

9:34Jim Campbell: A dingle?

9:35Luke Moore: Oh, yeah.

9:35Jim Campbell: What do you call it?

9:36Luke Moore: A Charlie dingle. A little Charlie. What's the word when you hit one with the outside of your foot, but you kind of cut across it?

9:47Marcus Speller: A traveller.

9:48Luke Moore: Is it a traveller? Yeah, yeah.

9:49Marcus Speller: It was kind of a traveller finish, wasn't it? I think traveller's got more vellum in it than that. Okay. Yeah. Okay. You need to kind of find a way of categorising that particular finish.

9:56Luke Moore: A dink traveller.

9:57Marcus Speller: Well, let us know. It was a bit like that, yeah.

9:59Luke Moore: Maybe. Anyway, we'll leave it up to you. but Gomez said after the game maybe a little late but we need to keep going and keep this momentum we're playing good we're doing unbelievable things we need to keep going and believing in ourselves we need to give everything until the last minute and win games there's suddenly a little bit of belief there is

10:14Jim Campbell: and also I think it's easy for this to get lost but at 1-0 I think it was 1-0 Jose Sarr made an absolutely amazing save from Rio Angamata and he's there was an amazing stat in the commentary which is that they'd kept four cling sheets all season and he was responsible for all of them and hadn't been playing for a large chunk of the season as well. So, I mean, him coming back into form is a massive thing for them. He's a decent goalkeeper. He's one of the players in their squad where you think, okay, he'd probably get a move to another Premier League team. And he stepped up there as well, which is absolutely massive.

10:49Jim Campbell: Yeah.

10:49Luke Moore: But even the way he celebrated the winning goal with the camera saw, it was that kind of, hey, he got out of that! Unbelievable! Oh my goodness! Especially as, you know, It's not like a, yes, that's Nick, we're going to survive. It is that kind of free hit. Look what we went and did. Yeah, exactly.

11:04Jim Campbell: Absolutely. But I mean, particularly because they scored the first goal and it's a brilliant goal, as you say, and the game's been, nothing's really happened in it up until, you know, that kind of period. Then obviously Mo Salah scores his first goal since November and it all seems very familiar. It's like, ah, that's a shame. They've let it slip so quickly. But to then, you know, go back to the well and have the energy and have the gumption and have enough about them to sort of keep attacking it and actually get something was brilliant. And again, they opened the game up. It was such an open game in that last section.

11:35Luke Moore: The second goal that Wolves scored, Andre, I mean, okay, very lucky with the deflection, et cetera, et cetera. But when he strode into that space in front of the box, nobody put a challenge in. No. I couldn't believe how lax the Liverpool defender was. They're quite passive a lot, Liverpool.

11:52Marcus Speller: It's sad. Even though they come off the back of a good run of wins. are fine. They destroy West Ham. But the Nottingham Forest game they got out of jail late on.

12:02Luke Moore: It's not been that convincing. No.

12:04Marcus Speller: And the Sunderland game, you'd say that's a hard-fought win because Sunderland are good at home generally until Fulham came along and gave them a good old-fashioned lesson.

12:11Luke Moore: Thank you.

12:12Marcus Speller: But they've not been fluent at any point really this season, have they?

12:15Luke Moore: No, they haven't. Absolutely right. Fluent is the word. I think they've been very disappointing. And yes, they're still in contention, of course, for Champions League places. Chelsea, three points prior to them with the game in hand. But with Liverpool, I mean, it's funny what Slott said after the game. He said, how would I sum it up? Same old story. Recently, we are picking up points because we scored many times from set pieces. But what did not change in the last five, six, seven games is that we struggle and find it very hard to score from open play chances that we do create. Now, that's fair on one level, but it's just on another level, it's like how are this, this is largely the same team as it was last season.

12:52Jim Campbell: and also the new attacking talent is really good and they are some of the better performers he sounds as confused as I am

12:59Luke Moore: because none of this seems to make sense yes and which suggests and I know Liverpool fans a lot of them are kind of annoyed, bewildered whatever word you want to use about how the team have done and are doing this season but if Slott is coming out with that kind of thing and fair enough he's honest he's just a Dutchman though isn't he he's speaking English as a second language and he's Dutch therefore he's more honest that's what I'm saying so that's what it comes out with stuff so I give him credit I'm not saying he shouldn't have said that it's not one of those but if he you know he's admitting this and you can see where he's coming from of course it's his team you do wonder whether he'll be there gone this summer particularly with Xabi Alonso being available

13:37Marcus Speller: but I think Champions League is the minimum for them if they get Champions League which will be five teams I mean we did talk about this

13:42Luke Moore: to be fair on a mailbag recently but they're so you know they have possession of the ball but he's right they can create a few chances but despite Despite scoring five goals against West Ham the other day, it is a bit listless. It's a bit aimless. West Ham still had chances. And they scored two goals. I understand Liverpool won the game comfortably, but there's no real cutting edge. They are lacking ideas. And it is a shadow of the team that we saw last season.

14:10Marcus Speller: I think there's been a lot going on, though. I think they've tried, they've had, I can think of, just off the top of my head, three big things that have happened. One is obviously the sad death of Diogo Jota, which is going to have an effect. We've talked about that.

14:23Luke Moore: We saw the sort of the tributes last night. Of course, because he plays both clubs.

14:27Marcus Speller: Second is the whole Mo Salah issue. Despite him scoring last night, it's been a problem. It's been a problem through his behaviour. It's been a problem through absence. It's been a problem through how he fit him in the side. The fact that he scored a goal last night is kind of irrelevant to that. And the other point I would say is they've made big, big signings for lots of money, some of which have been pretty disastrous so far. And that affects the blend, that affects the mix. And then you throw into the mix the idea, the inertia of winning a league title again for the first time in front of their fans in 30-odd years.

15:02Marcus Speller: Obviously, they won it in 2020, but that's slightly different. I don't think it's that surprising, what we're seeing. I think if they can get to Champions League football as a minimum, that wouldn't be a terrible season, all told, given what's gone on. I'd also say, as we keep saying this, but it does bear repeating, Liverpool used to have seasons like this on the clock. We used to have conversations quite a lot about... Yeah, but I think... They'd come like fifth or sixth or whatever. Sure, but I think the style of the play.

15:29Luke Moore: I think that it's... But the style of the play,

15:32Marcus Speller: but Marcus, if I may, the style of play for basically every team in this league is shit. So it's not a massive surprise.

15:40Luke Moore: Yeah, but I'm kind of enjoying that in some regard.

15:43Marcus Speller: But you can't level it at Liverpool. you can't lay at their door and not acknowledge that the way the football is being played in the Premier League at the moment is garbage it just is

15:53Luke Moore: lockdown at Craven College

15:54Marcus Speller: well they may be the last shining beacon the shining city on a hill the true neutral

16:01Luke Moore: would acknowledge that I'm sure well I mean Slott did say when you're talking about that that Premier League games are no longer a joy to watch and he's very much playing his part in that he said his football heart doesn't like the emphasis on set pieces this season even though Liverpool are very much involved in that he did say it's always interesting because it's so competitive that's what makes this league great because there is so much competitiveness everyone can win against everyone which to be fair I think he actually has some of that which is the second part of that as a neutral in title race and hopefully will remain a neutral in the relegation battle I think that is really fascinating

16:34Marcus Speller: he also said in the rest of the quote if you saw it he also said as a Dutchman this is very difficult for me to take I grew up watching Burt van Marwijk's 2010 Holland side. So it's a big departure from me.

16:50Luke Moore: We want more yellow cards and fly kicks to the chest.

16:53Jim Campbell: What do you guys think of the idea of there being an emphasis on set pieces in this season? Because to me, it looks like they've essentially league-wide been identified as something that's maybe been undervalued in terms of the way teams prepare for them and use them as essentially a route to a goal. And that's why we're seeing far more sort of complicated routines and the long throw obviously is a result of that. But, you know, you get corners in games. You get free kicks near the box that you're going to pump in. What do you think of this idea of the emphasis? I think it's really interesting.

17:30Marcus Speller: Can I make a point, which is a slight rehash of a point I made on Twitter yesterday for those people who still are in that cesspool? Who are you going to slag off this time? No, I wasn't slagging anyone off. I saw a little thread from Oliver Kay, who I like at The Athletic, talking about set pieces and stuff. And I think that part of the complaint that's going on about set pieces is actually that not just the fact that there's an emphasis on them now, but the fact they take such a long time to be taken and the referee needs to interfere and it's got a lot more physical, partly because, as you said, Jim, and people have decided that's a kind of a marginal gain to be taken advantage of.

18:13Jim Campbell: Game within a game at the moment.

18:14Marcus Speller: Yeah, but also because referees haven't been strong enough on there. But to me, I can find something to enjoy. I find quite a lot of things to enjoy in the maelstrom of a penalty area when the corner's being taken and all the kind of games it goes on. I don't think that's necessarily something that should be dismissed because we're all amazing football purists here in England, which I think is mental. But I do think if you look at the statistics, and I've been banging this drum, for at least three World Cups now. Give it another bang. Well, it used to happen in... Thank you, Jim. That was a very unimaginative bang of a table.

18:47Marcus Speller: Yeah, well, I didn't have a drum, did I? You brought your own drum in. Sorry, mate.

18:49Jim Campbell: It's your drum, to be honest. Leave my fucking drum alone.

18:53Marcus Speller: He's trying to help you out. I pointed this out about three World Cups ago. I said, in World Cups and in big tournaments generally, it takes a fucking long time for free kicks to be taken. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I think, at the time, I thought it was because referees, referee games from all over the world in different ways and there's almost like a kind of a levelling out and they don't really know what to do so they just let people take as long as they want and I was timing them because I'm that sad some of these free kids were taking like a minute and 40 seconds to be taken now in the Premier League this season someone ran some data and you can look it up and it was a cumulative per game amount of time that different teams were taking to take set pieces it was longer than the Irishman it was well not quite but Arsenal were the worst ones yeah it's a minute isn't it

19:36Jim Campbell: an average I think

19:37Marcus Speller: it was something like it was minutes and minutes and minutes in total every game and that's what's pissing people off if the game was quick and it was fluid and all this other stuff was going on as normal and these stoppages weren't so long I don't think it would be as big a deal

19:53Luke Moore: well you know that ironically my point there

19:56Marcus Speller: took a long time as well didn't it

19:57Luke Moore: you know that iFabulous or iFab as everyone calls them no short for iFabulous yeah they have we're talking about this in this chat isn't there to have a sort of a you know like a basketball a shot clock kind of thing do you think the Premier League

20:09Jim Campbell: are worried about it because you know they market it as the best league in the world and this great product and it's like everyone's gone full on poolish it's like when

20:18Marcus Speller: all those Americans bought Cadbury's

20:20Luke Moore: that was a shame

20:21Marcus Speller: yeah all those Americans well yeah probably a handful of them

20:25Luke Moore: turned up with pitchforks at the factory we'll take it from here on their way to Iran we'll make it taste like sickness and dust yeah Well, look, I understand what you're saying there. I do think, though, that there are a lot of football purists talking about this. I mean, before we move on from this set-piece chat, I mean, here was a stat from old Op to Joe, and he said there were more goals scored from corners in Arsenal 2, Chelsea 1, which scores all three goals, than there were in every Premier League meeting between Guardiola's Man City and Klopp's Liverpool combined, two in 16 games. Now, Jim, I think you sort of had the answer within the question you were asking minutes ago that you're always looking for where the current trends have overlooked certain things.

21:09Luke Moore: And so we're so used to 4-3-3 now that 4-4-2 was the thing, and oh, but actually if you pay an extra amount of midfield. And in time, you know, we already see back threes coming, you know, it's quite standard. You'll find people starting to merge. 4-4-2s, particularly in defensive shapes, are coming back. And with that, with the lack of set-piece goals, people are thinking, well, hang on, clearly teams are practicing this so you've got to exploit wherever you can

21:33Marcus Speller: I don't think it is just that I think it's a factor I think it's a factor as well but I think the biggest factor in this is that teams have caught on to the fact that the game is now overly refereed and so the VAR factor that if any infringement at all happens and the build up towards something or there's a coming together it's now going to be checked by a video referee whereas before it wouldn't it was impossible for an individual referee and one assistant to see everything that was going on in the penalty area before. Now everything is poured over. So you know that if you get right amongst it, there's a chance you're going to get a decision.

22:08Luke Moore: Tell that to Chelsea and Leeds fans. Anyway, we'll talk about Leeds in a bit.

22:11Marcus Speller: Well, I'll tell it to you if you want. I'll tell that to all of them now. All right. Yeah.

22:14Luke Moore: Go down to Ellen Road and say that to all their faces.

22:17Marcus Speller: I've been to Ellen Road. I've seen Pompey win there. Next. All right. Yes, it was quite a long time ago.

22:23Luke Moore: Okay. But the memories live on. Well, it was a good win for Wolves, nonetheless. It was. People were poor. They need to get more set pieces. They play each other at the Molyneux again in the FA Cup on Friday. The Molyneux? I like that. I like that. That's quite grand. At the Molyneux. Yeah. Or Molyneux, as people call it for short. Rob Edwards said that, oh, we might have angered them, though. He's just taking the piss. They're just enjoying, you know.

22:47Marcus Speller: I would love to see... Look, the FA Cup is a free hit, right? Fine. But I would love to see Wolves maintain that momentum, continue these performances, because they could genuinely be on the cusp of the greatest escape ever. It would be the greatest. It would be like when Tyson Fury was knocked out cold and still got up the 10 count against Deontay Wilder. It would be the greatest comeback since Lazarus.

23:09Luke Moore: Yeah, if Wolves scored, if all the goals scored by Wolves between now and say their survival were set-piece goals, would that take it away from you anyway?

23:20Marcus Speller: No, it wouldn't cheapen it at all. But what I would say is if Wolves do manage to stay up this season, it would be the greatest comebacks it's Mr. Pigden

23:31Luke Moore: yeah fair fair shout oh Sir Bozlaug's new haircut

23:34Marcus Speller: before you go to a break oh yeah Sir Bozlaug debuted a new haircut I didn't like it the way he's playing though

23:38Jim Campbell: he can have any haircut he wants can't he yeah Luke

23:41Marcus Speller: he's brilliant he's one of the best players in the Premier League for sure who is the you guys aren't going to know this that's really annoying me who's the like Texan white rapper with the grill Texas Pete who's really shit and he was at a massive moment about seven or eight years ago, it looks like him. Has he? Huh? Post Malone? No, not Post Malone. Post Malone, no, no, no. Not as big as that. Pre Malone? Paul Wall? No, not Paul Wall. Put it in the comments if you know who I'm talking about. He has cornrows and a big grill. He's broadly terrible. He really, really reminded me of him.

24:16Luke Moore: Okay.

24:17Marcus Speller: Yeah, wasn't worth it saying that, but there we go. Not to worry. You can't have them all. You can't have them all. No, you can't. Not every joke's a Mr. Pigdon joke. Indeed. Not every joke.

24:23Luke Moore: Not every joke. Coming up after this, Better news for the city of Liverpool. Everton finally win at home.

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27:05Jim Campbell: We must make digital literacy tools available in our schools. We must work with mental health professionals to support children. And we must empower mentors, educators and parents to keep kids happy. Learn more about our commitment to finding lasting solutions at empowerourfuturecoalition.com slash solutions. Paid for by the Coalition to Empower Our Future.

27:33I have to admit, I'm not light like a butterfly.

27:37Jim Campbell: I don't look unbelievably cute and sweet when I jog. I have to admit this so for that the lesson that I learned I will never ever jog on the pitch again but I don't think a red card should be shown

27:49Luke Moore: oh you big dirty bugger

27:51Jim Campbell: that's simply not true Daniel you are unbelievable cute and sweet you just are he's just like a massive adorable care bear

27:59Marcus Speller: is he claiming that he got a red card because he round the pitch in a quite unesthetically pleasing way I think the referee

28:04Luke Moore: was terrified because he was thundering towards him and again as I said the worst that's going to happen

28:09Jim Campbell: is a hug

28:10Luke Moore: yeah but I don't know

28:11Marcus Speller: I'd be excited if that was him come on then you big cunt

28:15Luke Moore: I know you would let's have it out but if you thought he was angry with you and he was going straight for you the only defence you've got is the red card

28:22Jim Campbell: I don't think he can look angry I think he can look disappointed at most he always looks angry no he doesn't

28:26Marcus Speller: he's got a vibe of that that bear in the Toy Story movie who turns out to be evil

28:32Jim Campbell: yeah except without the turning out to be evil that's just impossible

28:36Marcus Speller: no but he's got that it's under the surface absolutely yeah That was of course... Sorry, he also looks like he just watches a load of porn during the day on TV. Oh, dear.

28:47Luke Moore: Daniel Farker there when he jumped on the pitch after he's sending off at full-time against Manchester City. Leeds lost at home again. 1-0 to Sunderland this time. Back-to-back defeats. The six points from the drop ahead of the games this evening. Sunderland were awarded a penalty after Ethan Abadou was adjudged to have handballed the ball. Leeds United were not happy. Jim Campbell, how did you see this one?

29:14Jim Campbell: I thought that was a penalty because at that point, it actually, it appears deliberate by then, right?

29:20Luke Moore: He's got enough time and he makes a deliberate movement of the arm. Granit Xhaka was absolutely adamant. He was either telling the referee to watch Trainspotting or saying that it hit his forearm. It was, you know. See you after. Yeah. See you after. It was stunning stuff, yeah. you can see I understand from a leader's point of view it's really annoying I was surprised there was so much chat around it some people would be going mad hearing this because people

29:44Marcus Speller: are pissed off about this shit generally indeed

29:47Luke Moore: and it's a soft but whether he meant to do it or not you can see why it's been given because the ball is in the air Ampadu's probably just about in control of it but it's there to maybe be challenged or whatever and his arm goes towards it he essentially controls it with his arm yeah the boffins

30:03Marcus Speller: if the arm or hand goes towards the ball the boffins don't like it. The boffins don't. They'll give the nerds will give it straight away.

30:10Luke Moore: Yes.

30:10Marcus Speller: It's like getting some it's like getting like off some death in Dungeons and Dragons or some technicality because you rolled the dice wrong or something. That's what they like. The people who love Dungeons and Dragons good luck to them. I've got no beef with them. I think nerds should inherit the earth generally speaking.

30:25Jim Campbell: Well it's not going well though that is it. No.

30:26Marcus Speller: It's because they haven't inherited the earth that's why. If you give them to the nerds there'll be no wars.

30:30Jim Campbell: Yeah but they are. But they're fighting wars for it. That's the problem.

30:34Marcus Speller: These Dungeons and Dragons, yeah, well, fair. They're tech nerds, though. Slightly different. The nerds I'm talking about... Swap the swords for drones. Yeah, that's what they have done. They are now taking over football, and they've taken over the rules of football. And we've given them too much ground.

30:47Jim Campbell: But isn't moving your arm deliberately towards a ball and then touching the ball with your arm the definition of handball?

30:53Marcus Speller: I think that's fine. It's an isolated situation. I think that's fine. I don't think it's a particularly controversial decision, this one, in isolation. All I'm saying is, if you are complaining about it or you're not happy with it because you don't like the handball rules in general, a position I'm broadly sympathetic to, it's because the hand or the arm moves towards the ball. They hate that. And they'll always give that as a pen.

31:12Luke Moore: What if, though, the ball is put into the box and then you are grabbed around the neck and sort of hauled to the ground? Should that be given a penalty? Because Pascal Strzok certainly thought he should have.

31:22Marcus Speller: Ask Declan Rice. I'll tell you what, I'll do that as well. I'll let the ball hit my elbow just on the way through. Just a little cherry on top. who knows mate who knows

31:31Luke Moore: Pascal should have got a pen there shouldn't he he should have that was outrageous there should be one

31:35Marcus Speller: in the Bournemouth game as well which we'll come on to this is the problem spoiler when you forensically assess every single decision in the penalty area as a sport you are going to surprise surprise find inconsistencies and be pissed off about it

31:47Luke Moore: yes Luke O 'Neill was the player who grabbed a stroke around the neck I mean yeah I thought that was a penalty was that the worst thing he did all game or was it when another ball came onto the pitch when leads were coming forward. And the ball, as he sort of jogged, the ball was at his feet. And instead of turning around and booting it out of play, he kicked it towards the action. That's so dirty. That's cheeky. Really cheeky. And he got booked, and rightly so. And he complained like Mariel.

32:15Marcus Speller: It's one of the things that, you know when people talk about those cynical halfway line fouls on the breakaway? Oh, man. The yellow's not enough and the red's probably too harsh. It's like one of those.

32:22Luke Moore: Totally, yeah.

32:23Marcus Speller: I am broadly sympathetic to Luca Nian because he's had an amazing career. he's come up the hard way he's waited a very very long time to play in the Premier League he's earned it he's 31 now started off at Wiccan Wanderers in League 2 played his way through the divisions with Sunderland finally got a chance to play in the Premier League he's not been starting an awful lot hasn't played a massive amount the standard is probably a touch too high for him but he deserves a chance at the Premier League so I'm broadly sympathetic to him because of his career but that was ridiculous that was ridiculous

32:56Jim Campbell: Eventful night. There was a point where he was going to take a throw in, but Sean Longstaff had nicked the towel and was sort of like, essentially just jogging off down the other side. Acting like a Moroccan ball boy. Yeah, very much so.

33:06Luke Moore: Theory me. Granit Xhaka said that Sunderland's hunger is big as they got another victory. Up to 40 points, they're safe.

33:15Marcus Speller: I'd say they are probably safe, yeah. Not a great time for Leeds to lose back-to-back games. They went for a period over November, a disastrous November, where you thought, okay, these conversations around Daniel Farker's ability to manage in the Premier League which are only ever just below the surface you know God bless him they've gone away a bit because they've been so good right it's kind of gone under the radar lost two games between December to February but this is not a good time to start to lose your momentum right

33:47Luke Moore: yeah you're right I mean yeah so six points above West Ham obviously West Ham have got a game in hand away to Fulham tonight so I mean the biggest story

33:55Marcus Speller: is Spurs getting relegated we all have to agree on that of course

33:57Luke Moore: well that's it and the fact is that right now Leeds are above Spurs, Forest and West Ham in the table that shows you how bad Spurs, Forest and West Ham have been but it also shows you that Leeds a side who I think a lot of people worried about in terms of relegation before the season and during a large part of the first section of the season were concerned they have given themselves a fighting chance they're still in the mix it would be gutting if they went down I think and I think I think that is a neutral perspective, which I tend to try and suggest that I am the spokesperson for the neutrals, Jim, being a Fulham fan.

34:30Luke Moore: Absolutely, yeah.

34:32Marcus Speller: Amazing the impression you have of yourself.

34:35Luke Moore: What's that?

34:35Marcus Speller: It's quite remarkable how you see yourself. Yeah, indeed.

34:39Luke Moore: Yes. I forget how literal you take everything. But Leeds, you know, it would be because they've done it through proper kind of good old-fashioned football tactics and all the rest of it. Yeah, they've not spent the kind of money that Forrest and Spurs... I think they've given themselves the best chance, though.

34:56Marcus Speller: Of those teams you've listed, the worst team in those teams is Spurs. Yeah. They're the worst team. Yeah. So if it comes down to that, they might just about have enough, right? They might be okay.

35:05Jim Campbell: Yeah.

35:05Marcus Speller: You get the impression with Spurs that maybe if they win one, they might be all right.

35:10Jim Campbell: Yeah.

35:10Marcus Speller: But they can't get anywhere near winning one at the moment. And the other teams around them have all got things to credit them. either in Crystal Palace's case at points in the bank or in Leeds' case, you know, they've shown themselves to be quite tough to beat. You know, Forest are looking bad now, but it's not that long ago they were picking up points and Nuno is in position and, you know, he has done it before. The West Ham thing you worry about, but Spurs are in a really bad spot and you shouldn't disregard that just because they happen to be called Spurs. That's what I would say.

35:46Jim Campbell: I would say, On Forest though, I mean, they play Man City tonight so you probably, you wouldn't expect them to get anything out of that and, you know, not unreasonably so. But, the way they played against Brighton, they don't look like they want it. They don't look, they don't look determined to get out of this situation. Forest are very poor. Perhaps this is a harsh assessment of it but there are a lot of really good players in that squad who would get moves elsewhere if Forest were to go down and they'd obviously be away from a quite mad environment. So, you look at that and wonder, are all of you completely committed to this in the way that you need to be.

36:19Jim Campbell: But you could say that

36:19Marcus Speller: times 100 about Spurs. True.

36:21Luke Moore: Yeah. Sadly, another side who are looking doomed are Burnley and they lost 2-0 to Everton. All their good work against Brentford despite that loss came to nothing in that game and there was nothing in it for them in this game. I mean, Scott Parker was very downbeat after the game and said we were never in it. He said, I'm going to have to really have a look at this because they were poor. I mean, Everton got their first home win in the Premier League for nearly three months and it was a lovely little bonus for them because they've been poor at home as those stats have suggested. On the road, they've been pretty good.

36:51Luke Moore: I mean, Moyes said that, didn't he? You know, that we've given the away fans for Evertonians something to cheer about but finally a win at home but they weren't up against Magic in Burnley. It was... Which is a shame after their last performance against Brentford, isn't it? Yeah, I know. I know. And James Tarkovsky disrespected his former club by celebrating his goal. How dare he, Luda?

37:12Marcus Speller: Did you see how much David Moyes loved it? I like this. It's a real Bain element to David Moyes about this new set piece thing. Ball gets whipped in. Tarkovsky, massive, gigantic header. Great to see. Moyes is like reveling in it. There's no, there's not a single brain cell in his head that's thinking, oh, I'm going to have to answer a question after the game about set pieces now. He's like, no, I was born in this.

37:31Luke Moore: Yeah, but when they have such a lovely move for Kean and Dewsbury Hall's goal. Lovely goal. You're not just talking about the set pieces. I loved your guy's story

37:36Marcus Speller: about Dewsbury Hall and Brendan Rodgers, by the way. Yeah, incredible stuff. I wish I had the show for that. Absolutely incredible stuff. Can that be true? Well, that's what he told the story. I know he told the story, but that's his perspective on it, isn't it?

37:46Jim Campbell: It's much funnier if it's not true. He's just making that up about Brendan Rodgers afterwards. No, but I mean,

37:51Marcus Speller: Brendan Rodgers might have had his own reasons. It might not have just been centred around a game of Paul, is what I'm saying. Sure, right.

37:56Luke Moore: He's got to be careful, because Brendan Rodgers, have you seen him recently in the full Saudi gear?

38:00Marcus Speller: Yeah. What was he holding?

38:01Luke Moore: It was like a musket or something.

38:02Marcus Speller: Yeah, I think it might have been a traditional Saudi Arabian weapon, yeah.

38:05Luke Moore: Yeah. Yeah. You don't want to be lying about that guy. No.

38:07Marcus Speller: I imagine Brendan Rodgers made quite a few phone calls at the moment though. You could tell up at Everton.

38:13Luke Moore: I won't DJ, I'm blimey.

38:15Marcus Speller: But I do think your point about Everton's home form is an interesting one because they've clearly struggled a bit to adapt to this new stadium. And that was the biggest fear I think that Everton fans probably had was, look, Goodison Park is a fortress, right? When you speak to ex-pros, talking about the hardest places they went to play, a lot would say Goodison Park. Proper tough atmosphere. And when you lose that, you lose something. I would be desperately worried, even though ironically they've been quite shit at home recently, if Portsmouth moved away from Fratton Park, they would lose something massive.

38:46Marcus Speller: West Ham? West Ham's exactly the same.

38:49Jim Campbell: That's an extreme example though, isn't it?

38:50Marcus Speller: Yeah, it is. But I just mean the danger of not redoing your old stadium and moving to a wholly new place. It's a reset, isn't it? And I think in time, I do think it'll be fine for Everton. But it's quite noticeable how long it's been since they've won a home game up until they're playing Burnley. They're not up against much. Burnley are toast. We know that. But it's just quite jarring to read because you always think of Everton as being a good home team.

39:15Luke Moore: Well, yeah, I mean, this is an interesting point. They're likely to finish the season having played just three Saturday, 3pm kickoffs at home. Yeah. And some Everton fans have said that this has made it harder to adapt to their new stadium. Now, people might think that's a bit of a silly point, but...

39:28Marcus Speller: You want to get into a routine, right?

39:29Luke Moore: You want to get into a routine as well. And, you know, where the stadium is, it's not next door it involves travel

39:36Jim Campbell: I have a bit of sympathy with that it's the fifth Premier League home game in a row that's been on a weeknight as well again that feels especially when you're trying to settle into a new stadium that's a terrible rhythm really on the stadium thing I would say that this is normal isn't it every single team who moves stadiums takes a little while to settle into it I suppose I haven't and it just takes its time for that to become the new normal to hark back to that awful phrase. Sorry, everyone. But yeah, I mean, the problem with all these night games and kind of the later kick-offs is that you've got kids who possibly can't go.

40:15Jim Campbell: You've got older people who maybe aren't up for that so much. You've got fans who travel from further away and it does upset that kind of rhythm.

40:26Marcus Speller: I mean, I don't suppose you can really understand the merit of that point until you know what the other team's about to deal with. is it just their rigor now or has Everton been particularly badly affected by it your stat seems to suggest that they've been badly affected by it I think only three

40:39Jim Campbell: 3pm kick-offs doesn't seem much does it

40:41Luke Moore: but then you know when all's said and done the two points off Chelsea in six you know there are European places up for grabs

40:48Marcus Speller: and that was the question I was going to ask you guys because I saw a really interesting comment from Jamie Carragher last week maybe the week before talking about how it's gone under the radar despite what we've just said about their home form how good a job Moyes has done at Everton because you look at that squad and you think there's no way that's the eighth best squad in the Premier League. And when you go through it, I think they look particularly light up front. I mean, there's not a striker there or even necessarily a forward that you can really hang your hat on, right? Their top scorers are the aforementioned Dewsbury Hall who isn't a forward and Teano Barry who is a forward but has been very inconsistent.

41:27Jim Campbell: I think Njai is really good.

41:29Marcus Speller: Yeah, he's definitely really good versatile forward player.

41:33Jim Campbell: I mean, he's not prolific, but...

41:34Marcus Speller: No, and then you look at like other key players like Idrissa Gay, he's 36 now. Yeah. Yafa mentioned Tarkos is 33. Michael Keane, his defensive partner, is 33. They've suffered a bit from Brantwight, not been available very much, etc., etc. Dwight McNeil's not really been firing at all, has he?

41:51Jim Campbell: He got a great reception when he came off yesterday, actually, which is really nice to see.

41:54Marcus Speller: I'm rightly so, but he's had an unavailable slash poor season. So I think it is essentially part of the story is going to be that they may be just a bit light on quality as well. The big positive for them has been James Garner, who's been their best player this season.

42:09Luke Moore: And Dewsbury Hall as well, you could say. He's been really good. But on that point about not having much up top, Moyes is used to that though. True. And he's showing it.

42:17Marcus Speller: Sean Dyche was lamenting it, wasn't he, when he was there.

42:19Luke Moore: They do find themselves in eighth position and they are in contention for European places. Yes, they haven't scored many goals. But what's Moyes good at? Not conceding goals. only Arsenal Manchester City and Aston Villa have conceded fewer goals in the Premier League this season so that is their strength very much so but yeah they are in the mix for those European spots and on the prospect of call of hand for Europe Moyes said it would be amazing if we could even get close which we are we're getting close oh he's ramping it up will it be amazing to get close use the V word it can get better than this they're on the verge they're on the verge alright coming up after this Jordan Henderson gets scrapping

43:25Jim Campbell: We'll see you next time. Download the Jerry app or head to jerry.ai slash ACAST. Over 90 of the top 100 U.S. accounting firms trust Bill to handle bill pay processes. Why? Because our tools are built on over a trillion dollars of secure payments. We're not just moving money. We're powering financial workflows for half a million customers. That's a level of expertise you just can't fake. Ready to talk with an expert? Visit bill.com slash proven to get started and grab a$250 gift card as a thank you. Terms and conditions apply. See offer page for details. You're a pro at running your life, at committing to your workout, at showing up every day.

44:06Jim Campbell: At Bombas, we're pros too. Pros at making socks. Our sport assortment has specialized socks for whatever sport you're committed to. Running, hiking, golf, Pilates, and so much more. Made with sweat-wicking yarns, blister-fighting details, and targeted art support. Bombas Sport is pro-level socks from the pros of socks. For another pro, you. Go to bombas.com slash audio and use code audio for 20 % off your first purchase. That's bombas.com and use code audio.

44:38Luke Moore: Bournemouth 0, Brentford 0.

44:40Marcus Speller: Two, wait, a scoreline no one wants to hear when listening to the football ramble.

44:44Jim Campbell: Oh, hey.

44:46Marcus Speller: Bournemouth 0, Brentford 0.

44:47Jim Campbell: Yeah, how's this in there?

44:49Marcus Speller: This is going to get listeners disappearing in their droves. I can't wait well Bournemouth up to 40 points now this is for the purists now Marcus now all the fly by night listeners are fucked off we can get into the real stuff Jordan Henderson got involved in a scrap at full time I saw that yeah I know so Jordan Henderson you're about to remind me of an incident I've totally forgotten I'm sure but I can't think of any time that he's been like that

45:11Luke Moore: no I think someone must have slagged off Saudi maybe maybe they did

45:15Marcus Speller: maybe they did after all the work I've done out there

45:17Luke Moore: fixing all those problems or someone slagged off Fabrizio Romano for his Saudi chat on Twitter the other day.

45:22Marcus Speller: I think what probably happened was, you know sometimes when players get subbed on and they give the captain a note? Oh. They gave Jordan a note and it was his tax bill.

45:30Luke Moore: And he's like, what? They lied. They lied. Keith Andrews on the scrap said, not really sure what happened there. I definitely didn't start it. Love that. Like he's been called into the headmaster. It was my players. It wasn't me.

45:45Marcus Speller: He was right in the thick of it as well though, Keith. Yeah, he was.

45:48Jim Campbell: Although him and Iriola seem to just look a bit bemused. to be fair to them both.

45:51Marcus Speller: Keith, I think, thought this is technically a set piece. So I'm getting involved.

45:55Luke Moore: This is my heritage. This is Keith Andrew's heritage. It is. It is. I mean, they were fortunate to get a point out of this game. Bournemouth battered them nil-nil.

46:03Marcus Speller: Hit the post twice at least.

46:05Luke Moore: Man, that Brian Christie chance

46:07Marcus Speller: would have been amazing at all that.

46:09Luke Moore: Well, yeah. But it's one of those ones. It's my pet hate in football where you see what he's doing and of course if he pulls it off, but he ultimately doesn't get the shot away when he could have got a shot away. And you're like,

46:20Marcus Speller: we'll never know there's also something really frustrating about it when you go on a run like that and you show so many good dexterous touches until the very final touch which takes it out of the play it was all there but the finish

46:31Luke Moore: it was all there but the finish yeah so I mean Bournemouth yeah I mean look they're going well nine Premier League games unbeaten now people were worried a little bit about Bournemouth at the start of the season all those months ago losing Semenyo is massive as well but they dealt with it really well but they're doing alright and they're in there showing you the quality of Iriola Sorry, Bournemouth fans, but will he be there in the summer? I hope he is, for their sake, because it's a great combo. And Bournemouth, though, should have had a penalty, shouldn't they, Luke?

46:58Marcus Speller: Yeah, it's definitely a penalty.

47:00Luke Moore: How has it not been?

47:01Marcus Speller: I know that... I don't know what's going on. Honestly, I just... It's baffling... It's so blatant. ...how you can look at it again and go, nah. Like, he's raked him down the back of his Achilles.

47:16Luke Moore: I understand it's not intentional. I'm happy with that I don't someone got sent off

47:20Marcus Speller: the other day for doing that in the middle of the park oh beautiful boy Lloyd Kelly Lloyd Kelly exactly he didn't even mean it so I know it's a different competition but these things look guys if I had to sit down with Howard Webb maybe Michael Owen's there as well

47:33Luke Moore: you have sat down with Howard Webb I have I've sat down with Michael Owen

47:37Marcus Speller: yeah there we go so between us we've got it covered yeah is he chucking apples at the bin he wasn't at the time I didn't do Michael Marcus did Michael

47:44Jim Campbell: I mean in your hypothetical situation yeah okay so I'm talking

47:47Marcus Speller: I'm sitting on Howard Webb, head of refereeing, who, by the way, is one of the people who said that Goodison Park was the toughest place to go as a referee as well. Is that right? Michael Owen's in the background, the corner of the room, throwing apple cores into a bin. Bravely. He's in a nappy. He's in one of those old-fashioned nappies with a big safety pin on it. Right. Like the baby from Rugrats.

48:05Jim Campbell: Yeah, again, bravely.

48:06Marcus Speller: Yeah, and his mum is in the other corner, but she can't say anything.

48:09Jim Campbell: She can't say anything. Because he gets it in. She cannot say anything.

48:13Marcus Speller: Simon Jordan's just nodding, confused. Anyway, I would say... Eddie Lucas. let's not get into that I would say to Howard Webb Howard mate look I know you've got a tough job but this isn't difficult stuff this is not difficult stuff no I don't the problem is ding

48:30Jim Campbell: got another one

48:31Marcus Speller: yeah

48:32Jim Campbell: quite distracting actually Michael can you stop that no

48:35Marcus Speller: I can't eat the apples quick enough because Michael just needs the cause I'm just going tearing through like it's a Hanna-Barbera cartoon just giving him the apple cause I'm getting other people in to eat apples quick enough Michael's mum's still not saying anything no she can't she's shaking her head I would say to Howard this is not tough this is not difficult stuff no you shouldn't even need a video replay to see this and then when you look at the video replay it's obvious it's not good enough and Keith Andrews was actually very magnanimous much more magnanimous than the referee and deserved I thought

49:08Luke Moore: I haven't watched it back is what Keith Andrews says oh fair enough then I'm not one to study clips afterwards to come out and give a really informed opinion but ultimately it doesn't really matter. Very magnanimous, Luke. Yes.

49:19Marcus Speller: Okay, yeah, fine. I thought he was kind of saying it. You don't really get the tone of that, though. I thought he was saying it the way it was like, look, it doesn't matter. It's done, kind of thing.

49:27Luke Moore: It's easy when you're the ones who get away with it, though.

49:30Marcus Speller: Yeah, I suppose so, yeah.

49:31Luke Moore: Very easy, I would say. Yeah. Now, former Bournemouth defender Diego Rico was in the starting 11 as Getafe beat Real Madrid 1-0 on Monday night. During the game, he was on the end of a tackle from Antonio Rudiger. And Rico said, if he'd caught me badly, he could have just left me there. He's trying to smash my face in. If it had been the other way around, I would have been suspended for 10 matches and wouldn't have played for the rest of the season. He was filmed dancing on the dressing room table in celebration at full time. Didn't he also suggest that he could have killed him?

50:00Jim Campbell: Yeah. And that line, he could have just left me there. There's a sort of dark poetry to that. I'm never getting up from there.

50:08Marcus Speller: It's quite Cormac McCarthy, isn't it? Yeah, massively. Have you seen the incident, by the way? There's nothing in it. No. There's absolutely nothing in it.

50:16Luke Moore: He does hit his face with his knee, but not in a way that's going to kill him. I understand Antonio Rudiger is a fierce competitor, but I think old Diego's been a bit nasty there. I said old, not L. Jim, you know what?

50:28Marcus Speller: You've seen the same footage as me. Let me know if this particular sentence is accurate or not then, just so we get a clear picture of where you are with it. He's trying to smash my face in.

50:38Jim Campbell: Well, he completed his mission, didn't he? And his face was unsmashed in. Yeah.

50:43Marcus Speller: So Diego was having a good old dance up, as Marcus said afterwards. It can't have been that bad.

50:46Luke Moore: It can't have been. It can't have been. Great win for a cafe, though. Yeah. Now, everybody, it's 99 days until the World Cup. 99 days. We've blown up 99. You've got your advent calendar, haven't you? Well, in the form of 99 red balloons, Jim.

51:04Marcus Speller: Yeah, careful. Where are you going there? We've blown up. Oi. Poor choice of words. Well, you said it. You didn't let me finish. Yeah, well, Jim interrupted you.

51:12Luke Moore: the PFA chief has said that England players are worried about being turned into political spokespeople at the World Cup a la Juventus in the Club World Cup

51:23Marcus Speller: I mean that that was bad that was oh bad

51:27Luke Moore: very rarely can or should one feel sorry for Juventus yeah that was very much the case

51:34Marcus Speller: no I still didn't feel sorry for Juventus I felt sorry for the players individually

51:37Jim Campbell: not Juventus as an institution no

51:39Marcus Speller: alright fair

51:40Jim Campbell: that's fair enough yeah I mean yeah apparently players have actively been seeking advice on how to handle that. And it's kind of understandable, isn't it, that if an individual player doesn't want to engage with that type of subject, given the situation that's going to be present at the World Cup. Now, the England players have been really, really good on talking about kind of social issues in the past. But the extremity of this situation with, you know, obviously the political situation in the US and the political situation in Mexico, also Iran probably pulling out and the kind of extremity of that this is kind of this is really really extreme and any player that answers a question in good faith might get a backlash regardless of what they say

52:26Luke Moore: yeah you're in a no win situation absolutely yeah

52:28Marcus Speller: and the problem is with this administration in the US you know they're all fruitcakes right yeah

52:36Jim Campbell: and looking to politicise everything they can.

52:38Marcus Speller: They're bonkers. And they'll just turn up. Look what happened with Trump at the Club World Cup. They'll just turn up. And Rhys James is put in a position there through no fault of his own. Fair enough, he's not... To be fair to Rhys James, he questioned it. Do you know what I mean? He's not come out of it badly. No, no, no.

52:54Luke Moore: And I'm not saying you're suggesting that.

52:56Marcus Speller: But I would also say, like, you know, the problem with this is you've got certain issues which some people would suggest are quote unquote political issues. And I personally would say they're not political issues, right? So you talk about the England team there. The England players didn't wear the armband going into the World Cup last time because they were going to be booked because FIFA decided that that was a political statement.

53:24Jim Campbell: Yes.

53:24Marcus Speller: When actually, I don't personally think it was a political statement. I think, you know, showing support for LGBT people is not a political statement. I think it's a human rights position and I think it's a perfectly legitimate one. My opinion at the time and my opinion now still is they should have just worn those armbands and taken the yellows and I don't think we agreed at the time or someone didn't agree with me or whatever but that's by the by. People will try and make things that aren't political political for their own ends is the point I'm making and this will be absolutely turbocharged this summer because of all the stuff we know about already.

53:53Luke Moore: I mean to be fair to you know and you're well within your right to say that obviously Jim was talking about something different there about very political situations and naming the countries.

54:02Marcus Speller: The reason I mention it is because Jim said the England players have been very good on this stuff. And I think that's an example where they actually weren't that good. Sure, yeah, yeah, that's fair. The only reason I mentioned it.

54:11Jim Campbell: I would also make the point as well that, you know, people are and have said that, you know, football and politics don't mix and shouldn't mix and sport and politics don't mix, etc. But, I mean, there's a good argument that literally everything is political, right? You can make everything political because it is. The air we breathe is politicised, you know?

54:31Marcus Speller: A lot of people who say there shouldn't be politics in sport are people who are speaking from a position of such privilege that they're not actually political as people. They don't need to be. So if you were, for example, a wealthy, straight, white guy, you're more than capable of saying, well, I don't want any politics involved, thanks very much, because your very existence isn't politicised. It's a different situation when it's other people of different minorities.

54:55Jim Campbell: Certainly not from your own viewpoint.

54:57Marcus Speller: This whole World Cup, by the way, he's got all the kind of makings of being quite volatile to say the least. I mean, we haven't even talked about the stuff that's going on in Mexico. I mean, Mexico is an absolute powder keg at the moment. I did particularly like that one of the gang leaders of one of the cartels who was killed recently in Mexico is nicknamed El Mencho.

55:19Luke Moore: Yeah. A bit of you, that. I've said that a few times on the pod already. Good, good. I love it. You know, I think it's, yeah, 99 days away right now we are i think we're in correct me if i'm wrong but it feels like we're in the kind of territory that we've never been before absolutely ahead of a world cup the

55:40Marcus Speller: difference between the what's happening now what's happened in 2022 is that the 2022 issues were very important and actually quite shocking and but the but the problem the difference is that Qatar were trying to hide them push them to one side play them down etc etc everything's out in the open for this yeah and it's also bleeding into all parts of different society different territories around the world and it's it's it's easy to see how the whole thing is going to continue to spiral you know in ways that we don't quite predict you're absolutely right and this is

56:19Jim Campbell: an administration that likes this chaos, right? It thrives in it and invites it and wants to stoke it.

56:25Marcus Speller: And I think the way that Qatar and in the future Saudi Arabia are using things like World Cups or sporting tournaments for political kind of soft power aims, like sports washing aims, it's bad, obviously, but it's kind of, the whole point of it is it's supposed to be surreptitious and subconscious, whereas the length that this current administration, the US will go to to make hay off of this in a really brazen, obvious way is going to make it very difficult. And it's mad because I don't obviously mean this because I have very little sympathy for Gianni Infantino at all. But I do think he's in a pretty invidious position.

57:06Marcus Speller: I do think that Trump and his cronies have made it very clear that they will scorched earth this whole thing if he doesn't do what they say. If FIFA don't adhere to what they want, which is kind of a delicious irony because FIFA normally used to run a rough national governments everywhere. And the example would be

57:25Jim Campbell: them threatening to take games away from certain cities when that's not in their remit and all that stuff.

57:30Marcus Speller: And then you've got to throw into the mix, as I said earlier, the Mexico thing. It's just being beset with astonishing levels of violence in certain parts of the country. And you can't set your eye off the ball on that either. So it's a very, very difficult situation. And do I trust the organisers in terms of FIFA to carry it off? No. 100 % no. But it's not a situation I'd want to be in. Absolutely not. I mean, it's really, really tough.

57:53Jim Campbell: The scale of the World Cup has become a problem suddenly rather than a virtue.

57:56Marcus Speller: Yeah.

57:56Luke Moore: Gentlemen, let's finish with something perhaps a touch lighter. Talkie United and Neil Warnock. Yeah, he said that he would,

58:03Marcus Speller: he said he can't believe he's not been given a Premier League job.

58:06Luke Moore: Well, he's not in the Premier League. He's now in... He said he thought he'd be at Spurs. He's in the National League South. Plainmore, he's at Plainmore. Well, indeed, yeah. But he took charge of a two, in the two-wall draw against Farnborough in the National League. Farnborough Town, Marcus. Farnborough Town. There you are. Our old stamping ground. Where we met, sir. Yeah. Where we met.

58:25Marcus Speller: I think you could have done a turn for Farnborough back in the day. Oh, that's generous of you. Jim, do you reckon? I reckon so. That's very generous of you.

58:32Luke Moore: I know you were needed by Leatherhead Reserves. Yeah. Only three times did they need me, Jim. Yeah. But Neil Warnock said, you can only go to the coffee shop so many times. You can only feed the chickens and the ducks so many times. And you know, it gives you that edge. But he did say before the game, I had the heart pumping, nervous before the game, things like that, and you really forget. I even get quite stiff if I'm honest. Blimey, Neil. But I'm not really doing much running, but it's the adrenaline. It was nice to get a result with the fans as well because they've been superb.

58:59Marcus Speller: I love the way that the backstory to this is that the guy who's just left Torquay, Neil, got the job for him.

59:05Luke Moore: Yes.

59:06Marcus Speller: And then he's basically walked all over his grave once he's been given the tin tack and I'll do it myself. I'll just do it myself. But they do say, you know, without being too earnest about it, they do say, if you're in a job that you love, you should do it as long as you can

59:18Luke Moore: and if you're a job

59:19Marcus Speller: that you hate you should retire as early as possible Neil obviously loves it so good luck to him

59:23Luke Moore: well he was very annoyed because Torquay went behind in the 11th minute despite a Farnborough player being in an offside position letting the ball go through his legs which he argued left the goalkeeper unsighted now I think if you let the ball go through your legs and you're offside I think that's interfering with play but the ball the goal was given and Warnock had to go at the referee at halftime, but he said that he didn't have any interference. And he said, well, who told you that? Now, the linesman could not have possibly seen the ball go through his legs. So he's already angry. He's already back at the race.

59:57Luke Moore: He wouldn't want it any other way, would we?

59:59Marcus Speller: And also, this is a very conveniently situated club geographically for Neil, isn't it? So I imagine he'll stick around as long as he can, rather than like in Aberdeen, where he's like, oh, actually, fuck this. He also, in the interview he gave at Talkie United before he took charge of his first game, he was looking very relaxed in his training gear sitting back in a nice relaxed position in the chair bum bag full of signed photos

1:00:21Jim Campbell: presumably yes that's it

1:00:22Marcus Speller: talking about how he genuinely didn't agree with Paul the decision to let Paul Watton go

1:00:26Luke Moore: yeah

1:00:27Marcus Speller: it's like okay you step back you jump right in there but he's also saying

1:00:31Luke Moore: they've got loads of applicants for the job it's going to be a great job for whoever takes it over I love this kind of semi-retirement I love it I'll take it for the farewell tour but Martin O 'Neill at Celtics you know what I mean like and perhaps even this season we may see Harry Redknapp at Spurs doing it.

1:00:46Marcus Speller: Oh, that would be fantastic. The BBC puff piece about Warnock was amazing though. We haven't got time to go for all of it, but very quickly, I don't know who it was who wrote this, a guy called Brent Pilnik, never heard of him. Anyway, he says, some might wonder of a 77-year-old who's not managed for two years, still has what it takes to be in charge of a side in the professional game. But if anyone can do it, it's surely Warnock, who is still held in high regard by some of the world's best. And then, it's a lot of outdotes about how much Pep Guardiola loves him great press if you can get it

1:01:17Luke Moore: and he can get it and he can get it thank you very much for listening to the Football Ramble part of the Egghouse Creator Network friends of the Ramble don't go anywhere keep listening for Ramble Uncut and if you're not a friend of the Ramble head over to patreon.com forward slash football ramble to sign up now thank you Lou thank you very much thank you Jimmy thank you thank you Neil

1:01:42Jim Campbell: The Football Ramble is a stack production and part of the Acast Creator Network.

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