Mailbag: Has Ruben Amorim ruined his reputation?

0:00Hello everybody, welcome to the Football Ramble Mailbag. Ruben Ammerim, managers on the move and renaming stands of the orders of the day. It's Tuesday, 6th of Jan. I'm Marcus Speller. I'm Luke Moore. And I'm Jim Campbell.

0:24Hello, everybody. Good to have you with us for the mailbag. All right. All right, bruv. How's it going? Yeah, good geese, you? Jim, you all right, fella? Yep. You all right, Traycle? How you doing, boss man? You all right, chap? Yeah, good. Never understood boss man. You're elevating the person you're talking to, possibly to an unnecessary status. Yeah, Marcus never understands elevating the person he's talking to. He needs to be in the big seat. That's not true at all. There was a guy that ran the local shop when I used to live in East London who for a long time called me my friend, which I really enjoyed.

0:56But I was upgraded to boss. I was like, okay, that's good. I don't know what I've done to earn this promotion, but I'll take it. It's good. It lifts you up. Okay, fair enough. Maybe I'll try it. Luke got called big boss. The big boss, yeah. kebab band once. Ocean Breeze kebab shopping. Gosport's not there anymore. Yeah. But did you remember the one in, the one in, Belly Busters? Yeah, the guy, one of the guys who worked there was obsessed with Only Fools and Horses. Yeah. Lovely jubbly. He used to say, yes please, lovely jubbly. And he used to say, if you did something wrong, he would go, you plonker mate.

1:23Rodney plonker mate. Yeah. He thought, I think he thought Rodney from Only Fools and Horses was called Rodney plonker. What on earth could you do wrong in a kebabie? Give him the wrong change. Give him the wrong change or something. Yeah,

1:35cheeseburger. It's delicious. It's delicious. It's delicious. Remember, you can ask us anything for this show. Kebabs, tactics, the lot. Get in touch. Probably not tactics. Yeah, I was going to say, let's stick to what we know. Just kebabs. Long balls and kebabs. Yeah. Get in touch with us on xbluescar or Instagram at footballramble.com. Comment on YouTube or email us at footballramble.com. And of course, friends of the Ramble, get priority, patreon.com forward slash footballramble or sign up on YouTube. Now, Peter has got in touch on the Discord. Is it our Peter or? Not our Peter, no. He's on the Discord.

2:08Yeah, if he's on the Discord, he's our Peter. One of our, yeah. We've got a surplus. Yeah, loads of Peters. Loads of them. He simply asks this. Does Ruben Amirim leave Manchester United with a permanently damaged reputation? That's strong. It is strong, isn't it? It depends who you ask as well. Yeah, I mean, with the obvious caveat that he might have a long career and who knows where it's going to go. It's tempting to look at that and think more likely yes than no, right? Because it's a huge job. We all know that. He came in with a big reputation. Man United themselves trumpeted that a lot, made a lot of noise about how he's this forward-thinking young coach.

2:49He's got this particular system that's been sort of incredible in Portugal and so on and so on. And his shortcomings were exposed repeatedly and quite brutally over time to the point where their own sporting director is insisting that he abandoned the plan that got him the job in the first place. He was obviously very resistant to that. We know that managing Man United is very difficult and it's very fresh news that he's left. Is there perhaps a situation with Ambrim where people who might want to hire him think there's a bit of a stubbornness there, think that he is unable to see when things aren't working?

3:26That's certainly now attached to his reputation. So I would be intrigued to see what level of job he's able to get now. We've seen it happen so many times haven't we when a player comes with a big reputation from somewhere like Portugal. Andro Villas-Boas is probably a kind of good example of that as well where it didn't quite work out at Chelsea so then you're not in that bracket again afterwards and I don't think Amarim is going to be any different from that. So what you're saying is he might go to Spurs? Well AVB had lots of other priorities didn't he? He did like becoming a rally driver. Yeah yeah.

3:57I mean, yeah. I disagree with Jim a bit. Go on. I think that the way football tends to work is that managers of certain reputations will get jobs. We know that. I know you're not saying that's not the case, but that's kind of a little bit of context. And I think that anyone with even a passing knowledge of football at that level will be quite easily able to look at the environment Amarin was working in and say, okay, he's not showered himself with glory and he's reacted to quite intense pressure, occasionally quite badly, and he has been stubborn, as you say. But I don't think it's going to stop anyone else giving him a job.

4:34Can you imagine his agent saying on the phone to whoever he's talking to quite a lot, yeah, but the environment, the environment. If you're in earshot of Ruben Amaroom's agent at all, you will hear him say the environment. Yeah, but you could just name the managers that couldn't overcome it. It's genuinely quite a big factor. He's by no means the only manager to have these problems. I think, you look at his league record, it's worse than those other managers. Yeah. But those other managers have all encountered the same type of problem and perhaps dealt with them slightly differently. And it may well be that his confidence and his ability is undermined from doing it.

5:10Because we look to see what happened with Eric Ten Hag. I mean, he went to Leverkusen and then was gone in five minutes. So his reputation now, you would say, maybe is permanently damaged because people think... I think he'll always have a landing spot in Holland, you know. Fine, no, fine. To rebuild. So it's regional then. It depends on the place. It depends on the status of job you expect the managers to get after that. So you just mentioned Ted Haag back to Netherlands. Ruben Amorim will be able to get a job in Portugal. No worries. Let me go further. I think, it's very early to say, I mean, this news has only broken very recently as we're recording this.

5:40So, you know, we can't predict the future. But I could see Ruben Amorim picking up a job in continental Europe outside of Portugal and doing well. So that's what I was going to ask then. I think that his reputation at the moment is going to be damaged in England. Could you see his next job being a Premier League job? Well, the sample size for him as a manager is quite small anyway, right? Yeah, exactly. Take Unai Emery, right? Probably a bigger reputation and more to credit him in Europe before he comes to England, comes to Arsenal in a difficult situation. I think probably in retrospect, you'd probably say it didn't go quite as bad as people thought at the time, but it wasn't great and he ended up losing his job.

6:18Again, environmental issues there as well, which weren't really his fault. Massive environmental issues, yeah. And he ends up going to a club who are perhaps in a different moment, to use a European manager's phraseology, and are perhaps not quite as fancied, and he's able to flourish. I don't think it's outrageous to say that he could be really good at someone like Brentford or Brighton or Bournemouth even, in the same way that managers of a similar profile have been. I just think he's been chewed up and spat out by a Manchester United machine that basically chews up and spits out everyone. and as a result, yes, he's going to be damaged because no one likes losing their job in such embarrassing circumstances.

6:57Yes, he's crumbled under the pressure to an extent. But beyond that, I mean, if he wants to get back into management, I think in five years' time, this is all going to be forgotten about. I think the key difference with him and someone like Emery, though, and let's stick with him as an example, is obviously Emery was a lot more experienced by the time he got to England. Definitely, he had more to credit him, as I said. But you also, you know to an extent what you're going to get from Unai Emery, right? there's a lot of positives about him as a manager and they've been tried and tested over a long, long time.

7:28I think a club looking at Amarim now might reasonably think we're not really sure what we're going to get from him here. A Premier League club in particular I think Portugal is such a different kind of standard that it's hard to know how that's going to translate. And again, Man United is such a basket case and also he's had the problem that so many Man United managers have had in the past and that the next one will have as well where the squad is a bit of a Frankenstein's monster of a lot of different managers' types of ideas. Word of a certain Frankenstein's monster and not Frankenstein's well.

7:57Yeah, it's unforgivable to say a Frankenstein at this point. You should know better. So should Dr. Frankenstein. Well, he should have, yeah. Because it was always going to end in tears. Well, I want to throw it back to Marcus, if I may, Marcus, because I don't want you just to ask the question and not get a say. How do you, in the cold light of day, assess Amarim's period at United? How do you assess it overall when compared not just to people who've come before, but what was expected of them? I think it's been poor. And Amarim even said that. Yeah. You go to the league final though. Yeah. And they got beaten by that Tottenham Hotspur side.

8:32Their run to the final was more impressive than Spurs' one. They beat bigger teams. And then when they play a very, very average, in fact, poor Tottenham side, you know, it didn't happen. If you look at the managers that came before him, you've mentioned Ten Hagel. well, Ten Hag won a couple of trophies. Even, you go back to Van Gaal won a trophy. Okay, Solskjaer didn't. Another one who lost a European final to Emery's Villarreal. I think that, I don't think many Man United fans will miss him. I think that, total guess now, I think some will understand that it's not all his fault and they think that their club is all over the shop.

9:08Absolutely right. With regards to his reputation, his next job, wherever he takes it, is going to be very, very important. and it will depend on how badly his reputation is damaged. I would have thought in continental Europe, obviously they're going to be, you would think a football club, a big football club in particular, would be more studious than this. But I still think they'll go, but he was chosen by Man United, a huge club. He was there for over a year. He had improved from the first year to the second year. So I think that yes, Yes, his reputation will be damaged at some point. I think in England, it will be damaged quite a lot at the moment.

9:49And I think it would be, I would be very surprised if his next job is a Premier League job. Particularly if it's quick. Because I think he will be bruised from this. When I said about the type of club he could feasibly flourish, and I didn't mean straight away. Sure. I meant later. Yeah, no, no, I wasn't putting words in your mouth. I think he will be bruised from this. I mean, the cultural change in all manner of ways, but just in a footballing context, the cultural change to go from sporting to Manchester United is enormous. I mean, he was saying, and bearing upon a second language as well, he was saying, blimey, you know, I've never done so many press conferences.

10:19And he was kind of joking and laughing about it. What you could do, you know, if I'm going to act as a sort of agent at the moment, you could say he now has massive club experience. He now knows the pressures of being at a big club. Da-de-da-de-da. I think that's, again, to spin it in a very favourable light. I'd be slightly surprised if he goes back to Portugal, if I'm honest. But I don't think his reputation will be damaged there because you see what he did at sporting and he did a brilliant job there. And you saw them doing pretty well in the Champions League as well. I think there are plenty of clubs that would go for him.

10:51I think that he needs, I suspect he'll probably give it a bit of time because again, this has been a bruising one for him. Yeah. And I would hope it was just for his own sanity. I think part of the problem is that he's clearly a project manager. And I think if he can find a job in kind of one of the other top five leagues where there's a lower expectation and he's got time to do that again, he'll probably flourish because he didn't end up with that job for no reason. It's just very difficult to do that, man. It's very difficult to get that time. The thing that goes against him, though, is what he was saying about, well, I'm the manager, not the coach, and being at odds with the sporting director.

11:23Yeah, he's just lost his head. Yeah, I mean, he might have done, but some clubs might go. Is that not just an exit strategy? Maybe, but some clubs might look at that and go, okay, what type of character is it? I like the look of him in Italy or something like that. No, I do as well. He loves the tactical side of the game. He loves, and that's obviously lends itself to Italy, which is still, although it's changed a lot over the years, it's still very tactical as an environment. It feels like it would suit him quite nicely. This is really, this needs to be the nadir for Man Utd. In terms of points per game, in terms of post-Ferguson manager, as we know, he's way down there.

11:53He's not adapted to it. He's not adjusted. But the reason I'm saying that I think he'll be fine and in time, this will all be forgotten about is because I do just think it's almost like a replication of the Chelsea thing, right? imagine come and go at Chelsea they have done for 20 years that's just how it is and you go in at Chelsea and you come out again and so fucking what no one cares like Fias Boas is an interesting example but I do think that he had other ambitions outside of football he came in very young he took the Chelsea job I think a year before he wanted to he was convinced to do so he was younger than some of the players he was and so I think that's a bit of an anomaly generally speaking if you're a big decision maker in football at the top end that's just what Chelsea do well do you know what it's what Man Utd do as well now in however long it's been 11 or 12 years since Ferguson's gone they've had what I think they've had 10 managers if you include the interims so they just turn around managers quick and that's how it goes if Glasner leaves Palace at the end of the season they are Ruben there's a team who are well equipped playing in the back three you'll love it there it would be a massive it would be massively surprising would it sure yeah it would be a bit of a surprise I think it would be a bit of a surprise but anyway we wish Yammerim all the best and have some R &R man for crying out loud yeah before totally and he's got plenty plenty of bank notes to rub on those wounds.

13:06But before we go just mindlessly guessing where he might go next, because I think that's pretty boring for people, what I would say is, I really want to lean into this idea that it's going to take, if I'm being generous, it's going to take a very, very special character indeed to be able to do this job. And I've said it a year ago, and I've got quite a lot of stick for saying it, I think they're unmanageable. And I think the reason they're unmanageable is because they've grown into this huge, commercial globe straddling entity that you need to be so on point with your structure to be able to isolate the manager just to take care of the football stuff.

13:43And he needs to be big enough as a character to manage Manchester United on the football pitch, but humble enough to say, okay, I won't complain about going on these post-season tours or doing these ridiculous demands or doing 5 million press conferences or doing whatever the sporting director tells me, which by the way, changes 14 times a year because the ownership can't work it out. The only way this works as a football club is if the structure is rock solid, airtight. And it hasn't been. We've seen so many jobs come and go underneath an owner who doesn't really have any idea how to run a football club, who's coming off the back of a bunch of leeches and vampires taking all the money they can at the football club.

14:23So in many ways, when you break it down like that, it's not actually Amrim's fault at all. But nothing's going to change going forward until they stop becoming and this unmanageable entity. Well, what you're saying then is they need a sort of a yes man who has a lot of experience for that job. It's a combination which is unlikely. I wonder whether there's something in. Yeah, it is. But I wonder whether there's something in what we talked about yesterday when it comes to Chelsea. I wonder whether the future of this, and we've seen green shoots of it already with Herzler and Andrews and whoever, there's loads of them.

14:54Young managers coming through, just being coaches. They can relate to the players because they're young. They're spot on with their detail. and they run it in that way. Chelsea are looking to do that with Resenia. That's clearly what they're looking to do. They want someone who's not going to be big and bold enough to kick off, but who's going to just focus ultra detail on the football stuff, and that's it. I wonder if, they're giving it to Fletcher till the end of the season. I wonder if, you know, I don't really know that much about Darren Fletcher specifically's coaching credentials, so it may not specifically be him, but I wonder if the future of this for these big super clubs might just be young, hungry, super energetic, detail-driven, tactical coaches.

15:33And that'll be where they'll go. And there won't be any talk of getting Ancelotti back from Brazil and there won't be any talk of using... Ducal. Yeah, someone like... Southgate. Yeah, that might be the way it goes. I don't know if you feel the same. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I suppose it's not that unusual for it to be like that in Spain. Like the situation at Barcelona where I think very few managers have ever done longer than three seasons in Barcelona and that's just normal because that kind of culture exists there anyway. So we've got kind of... It's hot and they eat their dinner really late.

16:04Well, exactly, yeah. It's just unsustainable. But I think kind of taking it back to the idea of the structure being kind of unmanageable, they have made big efforts to change that. Obviously, they've brought Omar Barada in from Man City who are one of the best run clubs in the world. So he's got an experience of... Well, I suppose, you know, certain things pending that may not be the biggest question. We'll remove ourselves from the rule-based system and then we can run ourselves wherever we want. Sure, right. But if you look at things like their talent ID and various conditions. But the way they brought in Guardiola, the structure was done when they brought in Begiristan, they brought in the people to create the environment for him and then they slotted him in it and it's worked.

16:42Exactly, right. So Barada's obviously got experience of doing that and Wilcox is highly rated. So they've tried to change the setup so that it works in that way. It's not done that immediately but these things rarely do work immediately. so it's very possible that Amaroom's just actually really unlucky in his timing because that hasn't bedded in and he's just essentially an experiment so you know James on the Discord says who would be the best next Manchester United manager for the Ramble oh for the Ramble Wayne Rooney oh that would be great yeah that would be great you've got to have like like a teensy bit of reality you know because you can't say Mr.

17:17Blobby or something indeed so like you know Rooney yeah no I can't even say physically Rooney is the savoury give it Giggsie for 2026 isn't he really I'd love to see Rooney do it I'd love to see Roy Keane do it Gary Neville come on then you think it's so easy come on Gary I don't think he does think it's easy and he's shown it isn't easy I just to re-fill up on Jim because I've already kind of answered that question but I'm happy to expand on it but on the Jim thing about you know the structure and everything they have made really big efforts to sort the structure my argument is that they've just done it in a bad way and they've changed it too much I mean you can say they've made really big efforts to get a sporting director in right Dan Ashworth came in in July of 2024 and he was gone by December sure yeah for loads of money that's not a structure that's a fucking shit show and so on the question though look I don't think it's necessarily the worst thing in the world to have is this for the ramble or make of it what you will okay Given the specificity of the club they are, is it the worst idea in the world to get like a super-judged Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in?

18:28No, I know you're talking. A Roy Keane, a Wayne Rooney. I'd love to see Wayne Rooney do it. He's been absolutely terrible as a coach. Yeah. But it might just click. The magic might be there. I want to see more of Wayne is what I'm saying. In the curious case of Frank Reichard's managerial career, sometimes, sometimes, that's a perfect example. You go somewhere and it just happens. And everywhere else, it's pretty crap. Yeah. But my goodness. And that sustains you for another four or five jobs after because of what you've already done. It's funny, isn't it? Because they've already done the kind of the Rooney slash Giggs-y thing with Solskjaer and it's now difficult to think of something they haven't tried.

19:03Yeah, exactly. Hence my point. Well, I think that's it. I think Luke's onto something there. Because you try this, you try that. Yeah, when I say that and people disagree with me, what they don't say is what they think is the alternative. Yeah, totally. Because with Amorim, I remember thinking, oh, yeah, that's a good idea. I thought that the same. I thought that when they got Ralph Ragnarok as well but I thought you know when Amarumi young manager all the rest of it blah blah blah blah no I think you're right this idea of a young energetic coach who's just got to do his job who can't believe he's managing Manchester United you do that and so on it's almost with similar transfer policies of the massive clubs buying lads in their early 20s or late teens for the potential for the raw energy for the we'll mould them and shape them etc etc anyway let's see we shall it's exciting times though it is For us, it's great.

19:49Oh, yeah. The drama is what we live for. I don't know what it's like for everybody else, but it's great for us. I don't care what it's like for everyone else. Not when that studio door's closed, Marcus. I'm all about focus on the ramble. Everyone has their own self-interest. Coming up after this, more managerial upheaval.

20:12All right, Big Con on the Discord. Shout out, Big Con. Big contributor to the Discord. Great to see him get a question in on the mailbag. He says, could we see a significant amount of managerial change come the end of the season? Big Con has actually said this before Amarim's gone, but he's obviously seeing which way the wind is blowing. He says, Pep will potentially leave Man City. Arteta could potentially go if Arsenal can't win the league. Are Arna Slott and Eddie Howe going to stick around? He mentions Amarim. Obviously, Amarim's already gone. Thomas Frank is struggling. Iriola, Glasner and Marco Silvers are all out of contract, I think, at the end of the season as well.

20:50I think it's a really interesting question. Yeah, I do. It taps right into the zeitgeist of where we're seeing football going in this country at the moment. I would also just add that Tom recalling Nuno's still in the job, but he may not be by the time this show comes out. So there's another one there. I mean, if you look at it that way, that's basically half the Premier League. Well, I mean, West Ham of the latest is that they are saying that... The Forest game is the big game, right? It's understood that they have no intention to sack him and that their January transfer plans are centering around what he wants.

21:20But other people are reporting a lot of it depends on what happens in the Forest game. Of course. But look, that's what we're going on. He's still in the job. Unless, you know, they... Unless he's still there for the Forest game and they win the Forest game and there's some great escape and there's a massive upturn in form, I would be surprised if he's there gone this summer. you said yesterday you think surely they're going to twist if it carries on well yeah and I thought they might do before the Forest game because you think that's a game we might win actually do you know what it's so demoralised at the moment with him in the job you might as well just you know almost like what Chelsea did let's just get someone else in but anyway that specific situation aside we are going to see quite a bit I wonder if Pep goes I think if Manchester City win the league he probably does go you'd go out about high the Maresca thing suggests that they're succession planning anyway way that it's possible I suppose they would do that two seasons out but it seems unlikely.

22:14Well he's available. Well indeed. But that suggests that there is a very real possibility that this is Pep's last season regardless of what happens. I think Arteta will stay at Arsenal whatever happens. If they finish first or second I think he stays and I think he is one of the safest ones because they've built everything around him. I don't think they're firing him it just might be he's run out of steam and he wants to move and do something else but that seems unlikely. I agree with you guys. I just think with Arteta you know yes it's possible that they win the Premier League and the Champions League.

22:42But him at Arsenal, it's not like, say, Peppermint Man City, where I know he's been there for a little while, especially in big club terms. He's been there a long time at Arsenal, you could argue. But I think he would think he wants to make Arsenal almost like a sort of a dynasty now, doesn't he? He thinks, if we win the Premier League title, he's not going to go, right, cheers, lads, I've done it. That would be madness. And in fact, it would be really, I think he would damage his reputation almost in a sense if he did that. I think he wants to win it again and again and again. Well, first time you need to do it and then again and again.

23:13But the other ones, yeah, I think we could. I think it's going to be really, really interesting to see what teams do come this summer. I think it's going to be a real big shuffle. I think there is. But what you were saying, Luke, about the idea of the sporting director and the Yes Man. I know sporting directors have been around for ages. And in this country, I still sense, even though a lot of people, perhaps maybe younger football fans, they know that's a part of the footballing ecosystem. There's still a few, maybe people our age, are still not sure about the idea of a sporting director or whatever.

23:41But I think you might see more younger managers be given a chance. Luke's already mapped that out when we were talking about Amarim in the first part of this pod. But fascinating to see where people go and what happens. I still think it's also about timing and about cycles, right? Yes, it is, yeah. It just so happens, I think, this summer, based on what big cons identify, which I agree with, it just looks like there might be a bit of upheaval, you know? If you go through them in almost an alphabetical order in terms of club, you know, Is Emery going to have learned his lesson and realised that his best landing spots are at these types of clubs or is he going to be tempted because he's going to be on people's radar because he's done so well.

24:17Well, at the start of the season, you thought, oh, okay, could this be his last season at the club? Irreola is out of contract and he's fancy. I don't know they've been in a terrible run recently, but he's fancy. Marco Silva, I hate to say it. Silva is a similar situation. Glasner's, I mean, the jungle drums coming out of Palace about Glasner have been going for ages. Yeah, yeah. He was seeding out there that he turned down Bayern Munich because he loved Palace and then all of a sudden and he's getting upset about Gahey, and then there's talk of him, you know, perhaps moving on, and that stuff doesn't happen by accident.

24:43He's obviously going to be fancied as well. You know, there's loads. I mean, the teams who are going to get relegated will probably change manager. But you know what I'm saying? There's a couple of clubs, maybe Newcastle United won't be one of them. Where? Well, that's another cycle-based thing. Do you stick or twist? Exactly. I think they might move past Eddie Howell. It really depends on how they finish the season, doesn't it? Of course. Because, you know, they have been disappointing in the league, and with the amount of time that Howell's been there now, getting them back into the Champions League is really really big but surely by now the ownership will look at that and think look we want to be in the Champions League all the time at some point someone has to get us into that position and I think Howe's possibly running out of time depending on how they finish the season Thomas Frank is probably more likely to go than not at this point I think I think that the fans just aren't having him and if you look at the stats around how they play and what they're doing, I think it becomes, the best way of looking at it is it becomes very, very tough with the experience he doesn't have and the type of football he does play to win those fans over.

25:50I think even if they go on a mad run where they win a load of games, they ain't going to be doing any kind of style and they're still not going to win the fans over. What's he going to deliver them realistically? Eighth? It's not going to convince them that he's a great manager though, is it? And I think it's about more than the players they're missing as well. Of course it is. Obviously, every club struggles with missing their best players, but it's the style, isn't it? It's the style. This is the thing. This always comes up and I always say the same thing. Spurs have been without players for injury for literally six years.

26:20It doesn't happen by accident. No, sure. I think though, having said all that about young managers and so on, it is interesting because you'll have a fair few clubs where they think, we're not too happy with the manager, but hang on, in the summer, can we tempt this guy, this guy, this guy, you know, because Irayola and Glasner would be two very highly rated managers. I'd put Marco Silva in a similar bracket as well. Spurs will probably be after all three. Manchester United maybe will be after two or three of them. Do you know what I mean? We could see, like Jim says, musical chairs, a lot of managers just shuffling around in the Premier League.

26:53It happens a lot anyway. I mean, it's only really in 2023-24, we only had two seconds, right? And it was Heckenbottom and Cooper. And obviously later in the season, Hodgson resigned from Palace. That's an anomaly. Generally speaking, I mean, managers change around all the time. I just think it feels particularly febrile at the moment for timing reasons, for reasons of luck. These days teams tend to go through cycles, don't they? Eddie Howe's a good example of that. You think it's probably coming to the end of the line with him, given their league form. Their ambitions mean they'll want a lot more.

27:25And so these things just tend to happen. Sometimes they're just a victim of circumstances, really. And there's no guarantee that Arna Slaughter will be Liverpool manager. I think he'll stay. Yeah, I would be surprised. I think he'll stay. I think they'll get fourth and he'll stay. Yeah. I think that's a fair prediction. Next question, Jimbo. Yeah, so Henry Robinson has been in touch. He says, long time Patreon subscriber here and love the show. Thank you, Henry. Thanks, Henry. Following the chat around players of the season so far based on vibes alone, if you had to change one manager for a former player of that club purely for the vibes, who would you pick?

27:55I'll get a soul shot to burn your life. I'm semi-serious. You can put that on repeat every three months. I'm semi-serious. That's a good one for obvious reasons. It is. For me, it would be, obviously it'd be Kevin Keegan at Liverpool. Just the circumstances of it. He's just in his house going, but I don't want to. I don't want to. And there's like a fucking genie in the kitchen. You just have to. You just have to. Dragged up the tunnel. Like a fucking tiger at a circus. But aren't these things hypothetical? Not for you, Keegan. Not for you. You have to do it. Mine would be, I mean, don't get me wrong.

28:28Vibes can be good. Oh yeah. But vibes can also be bad. But they are still vibes. John Terry Chelsea. Yeah, well. I was going to say Frank Lampard. That's the most Chelsea. John Cherry's more Chelsea than Frank Lampard. But Frank Lampard's a manager, though. I know Terry's probably got ambitions. We touched on it last week, though, but he is Mr. Chelsea, as we say. The manager has to work within a set structure. He might actually be okay with that. I think a big part of the Chelsea fan base would be excited by that. Yeah, I think they would. I think there would be a lot of them that would be nervous about it, but secretly be like, I think this is going to fucking work, you know?

28:56John Terry did an absolutely outrageous video the other day off of the golf course. He was on the golf course, yeah. Saying he's not going to be Oxford. Is he rapping again? no sadly he's not going to be Oxford United manager you know where that's where that's where Link's come from he's never spoken to the club he wishes them all the best but it's not for him the only thing that would have made that video better would have been at the end of it the easter egg would have been because I'm coming Chelsea go to Chelsea go to Chelsea yeah and Chelsea could do another song couldn't they that just goes Chelsea Chelsea Chelsea and that works for John Terry as well Terry Terry yeah so it's got to be it's got to be John Terry at Chelsea for me I like the Soul Sky I shout.

29:32That's a great one. Nigel Rio Coker to West Ham. Well, I was going to say Julian Dix. Get Julian Dix in at West Ham. That's the ultimate West Ham vibe. Rio Ferdinand to QPR. There you go. Joey Barton to QPR. No, I can't say. I don't really want to comment on that. You can't talk about Joey Barton now, can you? Which he loves because he wears a badge of honour being cancelled. Anyway. Any more for any more? No, let's go to the break. Okay, fine. Okay, fine. Jürgen Klinsmann at Spurs. coming up after this do it by Zoom I've got to front up to the fan imagine that an iPad on a Segway in the dugout throw your seats together out of fucking Zoom who's got the controls keep it still coming up after this he's gone oh he's gone to the loo why didn't you change it earlier Jürgen I was on mute we'll see you after the break

30:32So we had an email in from Will after David Cartlidge mentioned the flats around Brentford Stadium last week. And Will says, Hi Ramblers, I felt I had to email in and correct David's point on Brentford being a nice club and letting people watch from their flats. My pal lives in one of those buildings and one of the selling points was the fact you could watch matches from their roof terrace. Well, you could see three quarters of the pitch. After a couple of nice afternoons watching with some cans, those miserable NIMBYs issued a notice saying the roof terraces were going to be closed during match days at the request of the club.

31:03Another reminder that football is increasingly joyless and we can't have nice things in this sad little world. That's shocking, isn't it? They should be compensated or something. Totally. I mean, it's especially bad that whoever owns the building listen to that. They surely don't have to. That's so piss poor. I'm going on what Will is emailing us here. but if the club said you can't do that because maybe like too many people but what we can do is you know we can offer you a discount for some couple of tickets some sort of incentive some sort of to me even that I don't think it's good enough I think this is piss poor in the highest possible degree if you're bothered about it put a big screen up you know like just get on with your life yeah what are you complaining about like why do you want to stop people having fun I know but what are the selling points to get in the flats.

31:57I'd be surprised if people would be hugely encouraged to buy something because of that but it's possible that somebody did. If you're a big Brentford fan you have a flat you can afford. And that is it will be an enormous sum of money to buy one of those flats. It's so bad. It's also a really easy win for Brentford in terms of how they look as a club. It's a really unusual noticeable selling point about that stadium and it could so easily be used as a good one. It's so disappointing. but if the PR is so piss poor but then they're probably not that bothered you know they're not a huge club some people who aren't going to the games anyway can watch a bit of it for free and we can't have that wouldn't it be great though if like the Brentford football club said to all those who have bought flats in there you would say right well if you're up on the rooftops we're going to send you free shirts or something so you can support us with the colours on that's what they should have done I just can't believe that it seems particularly mean spirited and it's a big PR and goal as you say whatever money they...

32:55I mean, because whatever money... Presumably the argument is these people should be buying tickets and we're missing out on people buying season tickets because they're sitting in their balcony watching it instead. On the roof terrace specifically. On the roof terrace. Is it because they're inviting friends up and there's like hundreds of people up there? Because I'm sure we would have noticed that if there was. But even if there is, that's their right. They've bought that. Yeah, exactly. It's piss poor. I hate that the management company of these buildings have listened to that. It's your roof.

33:22Who'd have thought it? Who would have thought a management company working in property in the UK would make a horrible, mean-spirited decision about people? Maybe we'll invite Brentford to respond. Silly little slugs. Okay. Gentlemen, we're going to finish with this message, or this question rather, that Paul Hanna has emailed in. After Nottingham Forest announced the renaming of a stand after the legendary John Robertson, do you think there are any current slash retired or recently retired players that would be in with a chance of having a stand named after them? I would think the Tom Kearney stand.

33:57And if you build a block of flats after that, you can have a look. Yeah. I mean, that goes for every suggestion we're going to make, I would argue. I think if Man City named the away end the Emmanuel Adebayor stand, I'd have to respect it. I would have a James Milner stand at Leeds United, Newcastle United, Astorville, Man City, Lillian, Brighton and Hove Albion. This put me in mind of a question now for you, Jim. is there an Arsenal finger stand at Arsenal the stands aren't kind of named like that because it's a grandstand isn't it so it's technically one thing so you've got the north you've got the north bank and the clock end and everything else is kind of more generically named but they renamed parts of Anfield and Old Trafford after old figures there's nothing that I'm aware of there might be certain like there are different bars at club level and stuff that all have different names that's not worthy of the great man it's not it's not worthy of the great man however he has a statue outside there you go those former Man United and Liverpool managers though did they go on to work for FIFA and come out with some of the stuff that can come out with now it's a fair point and he has he has kind of come out with some stuff I totally get that but to me I'm not an Arsenal fan so maybe this is this information is of poor quality but I feel like from the outside looking in the Emirates really is the stadium that Wenger built and it's built on Wenger's legacy I think yeah I mean the statue's huge though a club like Arsenal I wouldn't I don't think it's outrageous to say that it shouldn't I mean why shouldn't it be called the Arsenal Bigger Stadium I suppose to back up your point outside of the Emirates I really like what they've done with the outside of the Emirates actually there's a lot of of course there's loads of former players named and artwork and current players as well and so on you've got a few statues Herbert Chapman the great Herbert Chapman is there and Birkham, Henri and Tony Adams sorry Tony Adams he's a good player but you know Tony Adams Ian Wright be fuming with that Ian Wright was fuming when he wasn't given a statue there's been a campaign to get him on which is sort of off the point look what I would say is if Arsene Wenger can match whatever Emirates pay for the naming rights I'd be all for it yeah I get what you mean so it's the price of everything and the value of nothing you prefer Emirates to Arsene Wenger yeah at the moment yeah yeah yeah exactly no but I'm not suggesting they should do this I'm not trying to be you know clickbaity but I'm just saying it wouldn't be outrageous to say that it could be called the Arsene Wenger Stadium right and for sponsorship purposes fine it's called the Emirates whatever but he like he had a hand in the actual physical design of the place in English football there isn't a stadium that is more intrinsic in terms of a modern stadium to a figure than Wenger I mean that is the house that Wenger built surely though having been the first to deliver them a trophy for so long surely Howe and Tindall have got to get something that's nice come on the Howe and Tindall the Jason Tindall cock at clocking getting his end away in his own end but Jim is there not a movement to get Venge named a standard or an end or something like that not that I'm aware of start one then yeah I mean Paul Stretford did well to get the standard Old Trafford name didn't he I mean he was Wayne Rooney's age maybe he's one to really good guy apparently all accounts really good bloke yeah so I think there's some nice suggestions in there absolutely what about Portsmouth Harry Redknapp probably not Harry Redknapp probably not we've got Jimmy Dickinson in the Fratton end in this seat artwork the legend at Portsmouth that's nice there's a bit of that going on don't worry with a bit of Mattie Mac Taylor is that too much of a stretch a bit obscure yeah okay I'd love it but he's one of my favorite ever players the Luke Moore end now you're talking hey Luke Moore and Sam Matterface to commemorate my great south run Sam Matterface the Chelsea fan I know he cut his teeth in Portsmouth though 107.4 the key we'll never forget it yeah yeah yeah really high profile Portsmouth fans other than yourself Anthony Minghella was Anthony Minghella who directed The English Patient he's passed away now he did the co-commentary on the final game of the season when Portsmouth got promoted to the Premier League it was amazing I don't know why he got involved but he did he's from the Isle of Wight but he's a big Pompey fan I'm sure there's others and as we know General Montgomery was president of Portsmouth for a time and he delivered he presented the league winners trophy to Portsmouth I think in the 50s as well there you go oh right so you've got options I'd go with a Luke Moore option myself it might be a bit weird a bit weird kind of giving Monty a stand it'd be a bit strange we've had plenty of chances over the years but Mason Mounts, Pompey fan Mason Mounts that would be strange I think get him back tell you what get him back and if you come back you can have a stand true what about Robert Proseneky stand that'd be great there for one season Paul Mercer baby down the road though Matt Letizia end welcome to it welcome to it get some kooky characters is he allowed back in the stadium now I think he's been welcomed back in now absolutely no idea there is a big culture of bars and like the Shearer's Bar and that sort of thing surely Jamie Vardy's got one of those oh Vardy yeah definitely yeah yeah that's a great show yeah surely the whole stadium should be named the Jamie Vardy stadium there was a while back that Portsmouth fans were trying to claim Will Ferrell as a Pompey fan but I don't think that's true no I can't imagine that's true but the Tom Hanks end at Villa Park would be nice that'd be lovely Prince William King William it could be when it comes in yeah that'd go down well yeah why wouldn't it right thanks for listening to the Football Ramble part of the Acast Creator Network please do send us your responses opinions and questions for next week's mailbag and become a friend of the Ramble to join the conversation on our Discord let's just say not everyone shares your sentiment when you start a show with another wonderful day in the kingdom that's all I'm saying I like it you're putting words in the villain's mail I like it.

39:42Well, I'm just saying, I don't think 100 % of Astrid River fans are monarchists, is what I'm saying. No, I don't think you have to be. I don't think that's controversial. No, I don't, yeah, I'm not saying it's controversial. But it has been another wonderful day in the kingdom. Marcus, would you agree? I always agree with that sentiment, despite what the newspapers might tell you. And I did say newspapers, because they're still around. There we are, everybody. Lots of love. We'll see you tomorrow.

40:15The Football Ramble is a Stack Production and part of the Acast Creator Network.