Mailbag: What is going on with ticket prices for the World Cup?

0:00Hello everybody, welcome to the Football Ramble Mailbag. World Cup tickets, Unai Emery and Premier League records are the orders of the day. It's Tuesday, 16th of December. I'm Marcus Speller. I'm Luke Moore. And I'm David Carledge.

0:24Hello, everybody. Good to have you with us for The Mailbag, a very special show, of course, at The Football Ramble, where you can ask us quite literally anything. and one or two of the questions later in the show will testify to that. So get in touch on xbluesky, Instagram, at FootballRamble, comment on YouTube, email us, show at footballramble.com, and of course, friends of the Ramble, you get priority because you're our favourites. Patreon.com forward slash FootballRamble or sign up on YouTube. Let us begin, gentlemen, with this from Bertie, who gets in touch on email. He says, hi, Ramblers.

0:56Following on from your chat about the World Cup ticket prices, I was chatting with a friend in the US and I wanted to share their perspective. They told me the prices were unsurprising given that there are much higher wages in the US and that sport is a luxury good there. Even before FIFA is involved. Looking around the studio, I think I know what your answers are going to be. It's just tedious, isn't it? It's tiresome. I carry on, Luke. This might explain why the tickets have been priced higher than previous World Cups. Might explain it, Luke. Doesn't. Does it not? No. Okay, this leads me to ask two questions, Bertie.

1:31It's good for two questions, Marcus. How do you feel about that? Is he a friend of the Ramble? Well, I think the first one is going to be answered quite quickly. Okay. Firstly, is this in any way justifiable? That's your practice question, Bertie. And the answer to that is no. So get rid of that one. By the way, just saying no, very polite way of going about that question. And secondly, what impact do you think this will have on the atmosphere of the tournament's games? Online amongst England fan groups, there is a slight fuck off. I think it's a slight FIFA vibe with fewer people planning on travelling to the US than for previous tournaments.

2:03Is FIFA shooting itself in the foot by making the greatest sporting show on earth look less of a spectacle with more neutral crowds? Bertie's monopolised this whole show. Much like FIFA and the World Cup. But to give you a couple of little comparisons from the previous World Cup, which we've already done, but just to refresh your memory. In Qatar, group stage fixtures had set prices. £68.50 was the cheapest ticket. OK,£219 was the most expensive ticket for group stage fixtures in Qatar. For England's matches, the cheapest tickets for Croatia, Ghana and Panama are£198 for Croatia,£164 for Ghana,£164 for Panama.

2:46Most expensive ones are£523 for Croatia, which is a huge markup from£219, of course. and then 447 for Ghana and 462 for Panama. So you can see the price up there. In the final, the cheapest ticket of a final ticket in Qatar was 450 quid. In the US, the cheapest final ticket is over 3 ,000 pounds. Okay, so just to give you some quick comparisons there, if you've forgotten or you weren't aware. So that's what you're dealing with. That is why you've had such an outcry. These ticket prices are often four or five times more than what they were in Qatar. there has been widespread disbelief among football fans across the world.

3:29A lot of journalists have been reporting that privately, football associations and federations around the globe, of those who are competing, are shocked at this. But none of them, of course, have bloody well come out and said it yet. Everything they do, they do privately. I was going to say. Which is the problem. But I'm just trying to say that that is the mood. If you check good old X or any kind of social media, you will find a number of fans, presumably based, or a number of people based in the US, who are saying, as Bertie says, well, what's the problem? In fact, you think you'll find that US wages are a lot higher, or well, this is just the price of welcome.

4:02Welcome to the big leagues, guys, and so on. I mean, Miguel Delaney is often your man to go to, I think, for a lot of this kind of chat. Some of the replies... Because he's got the appetite to actually reply to everyone. Yes, but you see some of the replies he's getting and so on, so I would refer you to his Twitter feed as well. It's just fucking bollocks, isn't it? Yeah. It's bollocks. like people on Twitter are saying certain shit because they want to be contrarial they think they know better it's nonsense it's a fucking massive symptom of why the society in which we live is so poor these days like it's so the rhetoric is so bad like people just want to have a say they don't know what they're talking about they're missing the point entirely anyway because the whole point of the World Cup is supposed to be I mean even in FIFA's most kind of terrible moments they're still trying to at least claim that football is a game that could do great for everyone.

4:50It's a global game. And also it's worth remembering that FIFA also do everything they can in their power to absolve themselves of any responsibilities within that nation in which they're hosting, including things like paying tax. And the third thing I would just say on that specific point is that FIFA is supposed to be a not-for-profit organization. So there's absolutely no motivation to do it anyway. And the sad direct answer as to why this is happening is because they think they can. They think they can do it, so they're going to do it. And I would also add the vast majority of people who want to go to these games are going to be people who aren't from the United States anyway.

5:32That's the whole point of this global football festival. If your team qualifies, fair enough if it's England, I mean, they qualify mostly all the time, so maybe it's slightly different. But if your team qualifies for this expanded tournament, it's supposed to be for the good of the game, so more countries and more nations could be involved. What is the point of doing that if you're going to price out all their fans and then tell them, well, don't worry about it because in America, wages are higher. Well, it doesn't matter if you're from Haiti or from Jordan or from wherever. It doesn't matter.

6:00Any country. It's completely ridiculous. You are not setting yourself up as a profit-making organization anyway. You're setting yourself up as custodians of the game, which affords you a monopoly to organize these tournaments. So you don't get to have it both ways. it's so so bad and anyone who kind of tries to be contrary for the sake of it isn't worth listening to it's not worth listening to it's pure exploitation it's diabolical and I'd you know what I mean I hate to say to people don't go and watch don't go and support your team but I'd actively encourage England fans not to go and make a point of it because it's pure exploitation that's exactly what it is it's nothing more it's nothing less that is exactly what it is sports fans anyway I'm not going to just keep it as sports fans sports fans fans of music they are all exploited in every single way look at the price for going to a gig now and things like that everybody's exploited for their fandom for their loyalty to that particular cause whether it be a football team whether it be a musical artist or anything like that these people see that and then they try to drain every single bit of money you have out of you it's absolutely deplorable I think what's going on with this and there's two tiers to it because one is what you're saying Dave which is absolutely right People say from England, who maybe have got a bit of money compared to a lot of other nations around the world, and they can make a choice to not go out of principle, right?

7:20The cynic in me would say that if they're not going to not go out of principle because people were dying building stadiums in Qatar, they're probably not going to not go because of money. That seems a reasonable assumption to make. The second point is a lot of people aren't going to be able to afford to go. To go to all three of Haiti's group stage games would cost a minimum of£467. that's more than four months salary for the average Haitian but it's in no way justifiable they don't want the average fan there though and this is the way the football is going I think the average fan is being pushed out of the game so that's been clear in previous World Cups so when I say about that in Qatar I'm not saying because the prices in Qatar were brilliant I'm saying we've always had this about ticket prices I'm saying you just need to go back to that World Cup to compare what's going on with this World Cup this World Cup is beyond taking the piss with the prices.

8:13Oh yeah, it's ridiculous but it's targeting a specific type of person. They don't want actual everyday fans there who love England. They want people from businesses, anything like this who have disposable income and disposable money available to them. That's the fan that they are targeting. They don't care about the everyday fan. Neither do people who, you know, the Premier League, Champions League, anything like this. The idea that these bosses care about the everyday fans is utterly ridiculous. They are pure cash cows for them and that is literally... So how will this impact on the atmosphere at the games then because presumably it'll be crap.

8:42It'll be shit. There'll be no atmosphere. Because FIFA are, as Bertie says, shooting themselves in the football and making the greatest sporting show on earth look less of a spectacle with more neutral crowds. It's the type of fan that you're going to attract the people who create no atmosphere. Have you seen the boxing in Saudi Arabia at the moment? Yeah. There's no fucking atmosphere there because it's a hand-selected crowd and people who can only afford it. So you haven't, and then switch it to a one in Madison Square Garden where you've still got New Yorkers going who love boxing. The atmosphere is absolutely off it.

9:06And the thing about that getting off topic, the thing about that, compared to say Madison Square Garden or to a Wembley fight or whatever, is that obviously becomes less and less likely because at the same time the Saudis have completely controlled the sport. So the only people who can make the fights are these people and then they effectively choose where the fights happen. Taking it back to the football thing, it's a wider point here. You asked the question about the atmosphere at the games. People should be deeply concerned about how the game atmosphere is going to be anyway because the reason that the ticket prices have gone the way they've gone beyond the fact that FIFA can just do it and Infantino has completely lost touch with reality.

9:45He's totally lost touch with reality. It's the only thing he ever was in touch with reality, but I take the point. But they say power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, right? And Infantino is an example of that. Part of it is because he's been spending time with Trump and the Trump administration. It's inseparable. I don't care if people don't want to hear about politics when it comes to sport. It's inseparable in this case particularly. and the atmosphere at the World Cup in the summer, unless things change drastically, and I'm talking to someone who goes there regularly who knows quite a lot about the country and has a lot of family there, the atmosphere is going to be quite dystopian anyway and the money side of it when it comes to ticket prices is one part of the story.

10:24The wider story I think is encompassed by two other parts which I would just say is one, look at what the American authorities, what the administration is demanding of people who want to travel to the United States for the World Cup. I mean, it's beyond belief the information they're asking for. The social media checks. It's not just that. It's way beyond that. It's details about family. It's details about addresses. It's details about, in some cases, even more information than that to have exactly as much information as they can get on each individual person visiting. What they're going to do with that information, God only knows.

10:56Secondly, look at the chances of you wanting to travel to particularly the southwest of the United States to watch your team if you are, say, from an Hispanic background or from a non-white background with what's been happening on the ground there over the last kind of, basically for the calendar year of 2025. It is a deeply intimidating, oppressive and frightening atmosphere for anyone who is of that background and of that ethnicity. And you were going to be, you'd be just basically rank stupid to visit there knowing what's been going on there with ice and stuff like that. So the ground has been prepared for this to be a very, very difficult World Cup unless things change drastically, not just financially, but societally as well.

11:42And we should be concerned about it. Well, we should. And I think that all of this stuff, and we've obviously been focusing on the ticket prices because of the question, but you've got to bring in that, Luke, and other things, is here we are talking about the World Cup and your fans are meant to be so excited about this. and fans have just been whacked in the face with this. And this is the organizers being completely and utterly out of touch, as you say, because they have a responsibility. If they're a non-profit organization like they say they are, well, even if they were, you have a responsibility.

12:11You are the custodians, FIFA, of this wonderful thing that is the closest thing you get to bringing the world together. Now, you might think that's a load of nonsense. It's the biggest cultural impact of any other thing. Exactly. People say, oh, well, look, how much people pay for a Taylor Swift concert or an Oasis gig or whatever. Well, that's not got anything to do with it. That's totally, you're comparing apples and oranges there. Absolutely. And so, again, there's no point in talking about that. So with this, you have a responsibility as the custodians of the World Cup to make sure that the fans, everyone is up for this, that you don't take the absolute piss.

12:52And now, take Scotland fans. absolutely buzzing. Their first World Cup in donkey's years. And now it's kind of like, okay, well if you want to go, then you're going to have to shed a fair few grand for this. And you kind of go... You understand that airlines are going to kind of pump the prices up. You understand that hotels are going to do that. And I think that's a bit piss poor, but fine. That's a, you know, that's just how sometimes things work sadly. But FIFA have a responsibility here to do the right thing or to do something with a little bit of integrity. and the word integrity when you're talking about FIFA it's laughable that I even tried to say that.

13:29That ship's disappeared I was going to say they began tarnishing competitions in their name a long long time ago. Of course they did and do you know as I said that I just felt defeated. This is where supporters groups are already just like can't believe it. The Football Association and all the other FAs and federations around the world just need to go no. The only thing that's going to change it will be if big nations pull out of the tournament. Yeah. And that's not going to happen. And that becomes and the annoying thing Lucas is that we could say this and we've talked about in the Premier League you know we have these problems with tickets at home you know you say well fans don't turn up well we saw this in the Club World Cup with a bit of fiasco and all that bollocks there whatever happens FIFA and Infantino and Trump they'll declare victory they'll declare it was a great success of course they will they'll end up giving away tickets last night or something in the stands and then they'll pay for the venues and the way that this all works is because they just essentially trade over and over again on how much people love football.

14:24That's why it's so powerful. But the ground has been laid for this for some time now when it comes to FIFA. There was absolutely no justification to give the World Cup to Qatar in 2022. It was morally and ethically absolutely appalling. And everyone had to go along with it because they liked football. And people turned a blind eye to deaths and to terrible conditions and to the system of employment there. And we also sucked up them moving it to winter, which is completely unjustifiable as well because they had to do that because they fucked up the organisation in the first place. They've also just done a 2030 World Cup with closed bidding to the Saudis in which case it'll be exactly the same.

15:01Sorry, 2034 which will be exactly the same. So we're in this, we're all in this, we're all in this same cesspool. We're in it, we don't think for any fault of our own but in some ways, you know, everyone's complicit in this because everyone decides they love football more than they love changing their morals or their principles. Of course, and that's how sports washing works this is where you need your football associations to do the bloody honourable thing why do people sports wash because it works yeah it's there for the taking but this is why you need your federations to kind of go no we need to speak on behalf of our people but it's like oh maybe they're not the upstanding moral citizens that we hope they are as well it pisses me off with the English FA because the thing with the English FA is they spend years and years sucking up to all these people not even wanting to make peace with the fact that they fucking hate you that all these people hate you they ask for things things like, can you rename the FA Cup after me?

15:52And if you do this for me, and Jack Warner says, if you send England to do a friendly in Trinidad and Tobago, I'll vote for you for this. And he goes and votes for Russia anyway. They hate you. You've got nothing to lose. England, one of the most powerful nations, possibly the most powerful nation still for what they represent in football, possibly along with Brazil, maybe Germany, one or two others, Argentina perhaps. One of the really big nations, right? They have more power than they think and they should stop sucking up to this bullshit. They should really. It's never worked. It never will work.

16:19And that's the thing, Luke. it's not like oh yeah but that would upset the relationship that would we therefore won't get all the nice little nuggets that we get which I don't think is a good enough reason anyway what nice little nuggets are they but they don't get any it's Luke's point I couldn't give a shit what I would get again the most important thing are the fans and look we're talking about the FA and things in the World Cup in America they're happy to do over their own people for FA Cup games and playoff games and things like this so they're not going to care about the bigger picture David are you not pleased though that the US they earn a lot of high wages and therefore they should be able to spend it it's absolutely great Wait, fine.

16:50I'll tell you what. Charge them fans who have all said that. It seems like they're going to get all the social media details, right? See what it seems like they're doing. All those people who said, oh, we've got higher wages here and everything like that. Charge them. Everybody else can just have nice cheap tickets. That's fine. That sounds like a decent solution. Yeah, means test them. Means test them. So you basically want a socialist solution in Trump's America. Yeah. I'd be up for that as well. I think a lot of people wouldn't be. So there we are, Bertie. I think we've answered your question and tell your mate from the US to shove it up his hole.

17:19right coming up after this what's more important football or love

17:33alright welcome back to the mailbag episode this is from Dr Tofnar on YouTube good name but I haven't seen any of his other output so I'm not endorsing him or even criticising or his surgery no exactly I'd love to know where he got his medical degree I'd be very interested to find out Oh, he's joining the strikes next week. Outside of Pep, is Unai Emery the best manager of the past five years in the Premier League, given the financial resources he's had to work with? David's probably the best person to start off on this. Unai Emery has had quite a lot of financial resources, and that kind of implies that he hasn't.

18:05So it's probably worth remembering that at least. But what do you think? Yes, Villa spent quite a bit of money, I think, but it's obviously less than the other teams who have been above them. So I actually think he is. Yeah, I think he is over the past couple of years. past five years though Jürgen Klopp's won the Premier League in the last past five years yeah but well just put it out there you're duty bound to say Arnie Slott has as well what about, I mean look at Mikel Arteta I know he hasn't won the league and people go come on but outside of Pep and let's say outside of I think in the spirit of the question he's also saying outside of Klopp as well answer the question David and make sure the answer is the way that Marcus and I approve it otherwise we won't be accepting it So Emery has spent£340 million on 21 players since joining Aston Villa, and they have done well.

18:53He's turned them from a relegation candidate under Gerrard to a team who we are... Champions League side. A Champions League side, not this season though. True. But he's done well, obviously, and a team that we're desperate to talk about as Premier League title contenders. But has he achieved enough, and are there any other candidates outside of Guardiola that could be worthy of that mantle, I suppose, is the wider question. I think you'd have to look at managers at Irola at Bournemouth, for instance, and such, that sort of level of manager, who have not perhaps had success, as it were, with European qualification, but more working on a budget and what players they have improved and where they've gone on to as well.

19:34Irola's only been there like a two and a bit year. Yeah, that's the thing. He's spent a few quid for a Bournemouth manager, I suppose. And he's raised money as well. He's raised a lot of money, come on. Yeah, he's lost a lot of players. He's done a fantastic job. Oh no he has I just I think though That I would put Emery Above Iroia No I would as well I'm just saying I'm just trying to think Of people who are Close candidates to him And Iroia There's Iroia I think Hard push to think Who else Everybody else gets a I mean Marco Silva Has re-established Fulham as a Premier League Silva's a good shot But look Emery's definitely There I think I mean Oliver Glasner again I mean I suppose If you're strictly Saying the Premier League Then you can't bring in the FA Cup win.

20:15Glasner's on the trajectory of that though. Yeah. If he were to stay at Palace for a few more years and achieve exactly the same what he's doing, which he won't, we all know he's probably going to go to some point and Palace will gradually sell off more assets. Sure. Then he'd be in with a great shout. But yeah, I think it is. If Nuno hadn't left Forrest in the way he did, you might have even mentioned him. But I think Emery's definitely in there because as you say, Luke. Of course he's part of the conversation. Yeah. To me, if you are going to go specifically Premier League, then that's slightly different, I suppose.

20:45But for me, I mean, I don't... I'm always a bit concerned when people are quick to forget what managers have done. Because I know that Liverpool are a bigger club than Villa. Liverpool and Man Utd are, for me, the biggest two teams in England, right? I don't think that's that controversial. Villa are a big club, right? They've underachieved for a lot. And I think, you know, Emery comes in at a decent time and when they're struggling and he delivers them. A decent time in terms of not a tough act to follow. That's what I mean. Exactly what I mean. Yeah, but a tough time in terms of trying to turn them around.

21:22So immense credit. They're an established top club. They flew up. Sure, but let me make the point because I just wanted to broaden it out and they finished seventh, fourth and sixth under him, right? They're good. Those positions are kind of, I know the game's changed a bit since then, but those positions are roughly commensurate with kind of where Villa were able to finish in the 2000s. I mean, they finished six three times in a row. They finished in the top 10 a number of times. And the highest they finished, I think, was about six. If you go back to the 90s, they finished fourth. And in the very early 90s, they finished second.

21:58But you're not really comparing apples and oranges there. To me, I feel like the fact that Jurgen Klopp came in at Liverpool, which I understand was over five years ago, but within the last five years, he's won the Premier League against a universally accepted, world-class Manchester City side who some people would be happy to say is the best club side we've ever seen. Definitely in England, possibly in Europe maybe. There's other candidates for that, I understand that. It's definitely part of the conversation. And I also think that Klopp's Liverpool were unlucky not to win more than one Premier League title in that period of rivalry.

22:33And I think Liverpool had a monkey on their back when it came to their league for a long, long time. And the emotional load it would have taken to get rid of that would, for me, still put Klopp up there. Because I think you have to factor in that there's nothing plucky about the way Aston Villa have done it. They've done it by spending a lot of money. Okay. And Klopp's net spend is like 350 million or something across the nine seasons he was there. But transfer fee outlays was higher than that, of course. Philip Coutinho helped out. Well, quite, exactly. But that's part of it, right? That's how it goes.

23:07You talked about Bournemouth and Ereola there. They've raised a lot of money by selling players and then having to refresh them. So it's all part of the milieu. Don't forget Villa sold their best player in Jack Rielish as well. Yeah, for 100 million. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's part of the hierarchy of how football is these days. I'm not taking anything away from you. I think if someone said to me, we've all decided that Emery is Emery, then I wouldn't necessarily take issue with it. For me, I would probably say Klopp just because he's won it. If Villa had spent less money and maybe even, this is hard to say, but even won the league, then it'd be a fucking no-brainer.

23:34Well, I think, yeah, with the question, if that was, look, the doctor has said in the past five years, so we've got to go on that. I think that maybe in that question, he wasn't taking into account Jurgen Klopp because Jurgen Klopp is obviously the answer. If it's post-Klopp, then I think that's a more trickier one to find because you might say Arteta, for what he's done at Arsenal, basically taking them into a side who post-Wenger, they were floundering and floundering for a fair few years. Partly because of Emery. well maybe and then obviously he's turned them into a side who are now competing for titles every season I know they haven't won one yet but still but you've predicted they will and you're very rarely wrong so you predicted they'll win it this season so I have predicted so please get that right for my sake for crying out loud your look on your face when I said you're very rarely wrong there it was a real picture to behold yeah because you don't need it said to me I fucking am you're incredibly generous there so I think Arteta's in that conversation and I think Emery is because of what he's done at Villa what do you think David?

24:38if you had to come down one side of the fence or the other it's Emery okay yeah it's Emery yeah yeah I think what would have tipped me for Klopp he just simply had to win another Premier League title at least I think just I think they're unlucky enough to do so I don't know about unlucky but yeah he should have won another one alright and then Klopp I suppose did have very quickly Klopp did have seasons where they kind of dropped off they almost had like a season off in the league a couple of times didn't they? which is part of it I suppose true anyway no mention for Rude Van Nistelry he can also no no mention for Rude Van Nistelry or of course the great Rob Edwards or Ruben Hammer himself or any Spurs manager maybe Klopp wants to claim that Arna Slott title seems that pretty much was his so there we go I absolutely love this question and I think it should be a permanent segment but here we go this is from William Witt on Blue Sky William Witt the Younger my girlfriend and I got together in April.

25:34In that time, my team, Wolves, haven't won a league game. Do I need to break up with her to stop the rot? I suggested we go on a break for the Forest game a few weeks ago, but she took it badly. I wonder why. What do I do? Do I need to choose between love and football? Yeah. Yeah. I think... It's a very superstitious message. Yeah, it is. I do like it when we use as agony aunts. And I said at the start, people will ask us quite literally anything. That's why Bruce Guy is so successful. It's full of people called William Witt. That's not real. I think, William, that you've left it too long because if you were to choose football over love as a Wolves fan this season, you're an absolute idiot.

26:15It's gone, mate. It's over. You know, I don't blame her, but I think that you choose love. Your football team, you need to learn how to love them again. You'll learn that in the championship next season. I'd love to have been in the household when Igor Jésus scores that goal after the 72 minutes for Forrest to beat Wolves and him just looking around going, I told you, we could have had a, Oi, if you weren't here. Oi, did she do John Joe Shelby on Focus? That's your fucking fault that is. Yeah. That's your fucking fault that is. So he's going, Yeah. I think it's, I think it's probably no more than a coincidence, William.

26:49Yeah. William Witt does sound like the kind of guy who would have a superstitious nature about him. He sounds like a kind of Victorian scientist. Yeah. David, Luke and I have tried to be a bit level-headed and fair. What are you going to say? perhaps the opposite yeah go with get rid it's a coincidence it is it's a coincidence like Wolves are always going to be shit he could be with Dua Lipa right now it wouldn't really matter Wolves are still shit you know fair enough fair enough well there we are William the Younger we've answered your question there well do keep us posted on your relationship status though because I mean this message was probably presumably sent through before the was it sent through before the Arsenal game Finn because there's a few green shoots there it's sent through before the Arsenal guys we'd love to hear William's current status post the Arsenal game and if he I mean let's be honest William is going to eventually end up alone I think we can all agree on that please steer with her see through let's see if he stays with her all the way through to the end of the season they don't win a single game that would be well I tell you what they've got Brentford at home this on Saturday this coming weekend that'll be an engrossing game if they fuck you now go out with your girlfriend instead and watch that game are you not annoyed that's on 4.30 Super Sunday anyway so I think that if Wolves can get something out of that game, maybe William's given it a flick.

28:06Maybe he has. But we'll see. Maybe he's given it a Tintac. We never know. The Spanish Archer. All right. Coming up after this, which Premier League record will last the longest?

28:26This is from Moon on Discord. Big Moon, come on. Always involved. Lovely to see Moon's name pop up as always. Now, Moon has said, what Premier League record do you think will be the hardest to break? Alan Shearer's goal-scoring record. Derby County's lowest points total. Chelsea only conceding 15 goals in a Premier League season. Or perhaps a team winning 10-0 or something else. So is the Premier League score record in an individual game 9-1? No, 9-0. 9-0, okay. Was that when the, that was against, well, you got a few to choose from, but like Man United, Ipswich was the early one. I didn't know if that was quite Premier League, but it was.

29:07But there have been others as you should well know. Sir Hampton losing twice to 9-0. There you go. Yeah, once when we were on stage at Newcastle, did a live ramble show. One of the best moments ever. People just go, it's 8! It's 9! We want 10! I tell you what, your ship came in that evening. It's great, isn't it? It's great. All of your ships turned up in the harbour that day. So to answer the question, I'll have a start and I'll hand it over. I think the individual game thing, I mean, you see anything can happen, right? I don't think that's necessarily a hard one to break. I don't think that's in the same category as the others.

29:36Yeah, winning 10-0, sadly. Yeah, because we get a lot of shit teams come up as well. Yeah, and we've seen league games in Europe, I mean, like Bayern, and is it, is it Ajax or PSV? Ajax not. PSV won 10, didn't they? Was it Cowboy Eagles? Yeah, so anyway, so that's going to happen. Derby's points. Well, it hasn't happened, but I get your point. Derby's points. watch this space well Wolves are on for it yeah they've got a few few games to go obviously but they're on for it to me like the two interesting conversations here and actually Dead Fox and the great name Jamhans on Discord through Ryan Giggs' record of 13 Premier League titles in there so that one the Shearer goal scoring and the Chelsea conceding 15 all season in the league they're the three interesting topics I would say what about the record Premier League points tally of 100 by Manchester City.

30:24No, I think somebody could do that again. I just think 13 titles, Giggs' 13 titles, is so difficult to replicate because of the lack of longevity, I think, in the game. You've been playing at the top end of the Premier League for 13 years anyway. That is ridiculous. Yeah, and you're relying on that team to be on top for that long. It just simply doesn't happen. We can see in the Premier League now, it's kind of up and down, Liverpool, Man City, Arsenal. It reminds me of that conversation of Paul Scarls getting pissed off with Jamie Carragher because Jamie Carragher was making another point and sort of tossed off that Paul Sculls had won six or seven Premier Leagues.

30:53Paul Sculls was choked on his water. He's like, 11? 11? And even that's not the record. Well, you've only won six or seven. Even that, it seems outrageous. But yeah. So I think that as an individual record, would you say then, would you say that... Should we separate individual and team, do you think? Yeah, I think so. But I was just going to ask, just to expand it, I was going to say to you guys, do you think 13 Premier League titles as an individual is harder than breaking Shearer's goal-scoring record? I know you have to be a striker to do that, but because that's again about longevity and about consistency of performance at the very top end isn't it but I don't see anyone claiming 13 titles but if Haaland were to stick in the Premier League he could probably smash that and Kane's about two seasons away from doing it if he came back yeah exactly so they're I wouldn't say they're on the brink but they are kind of just on the horizon I don't think 13 titles is on the horizon I don't know who's got the most right now who's potentially we won't be anyone anywhere near 13 it's got to be a City player right Yeah, you would think so.

31:51Let's take John Stones, for example. John Stones or Bernardo or somebody like that. Yeah, yeah. I mean, John Stones is six. Right. He's not even halfway. Not even halfway. Yeah, right. Now he can't get in the City team. He's not winning six more titles. He might not win three. And they have the record of winning the most in a row. Yeah. And he's had... They won four in a row, right? Yes. And he's had, you know, you have to say, especially in the modern era great longevity at that club where they've had possibly the greatest manager of all time managing them for a while he's still only 31 I know Giggs went on for a long time but at 31 it's conceivable to think he wins two more to equal it he's got to win the Premier League every year between now and 38 years old he's winning two more marks he's going to get older he's already had quite a few injuries and Pep's going to go and everything's going to fall apart exactly these are all my points I've already talked about the charges yeah will the record of 115 charges I was going to say now you're asking so yeah you look at that he might get some of his titles taken away from him yeah maybe it's possible so I think he might end his career on negative titles Marcus I mean Phil Foden's got six titles too he's a lot younger and he's 25 yeah so you know I mean you could see Foden staying at Man City his whole career what are you saying he's going to sign for Unai Emery's Aston Villa is that what you're saying get it done I think he's going to follow Brendan Rodgers to Saudi I can't see it happening him.

33:17I cannot see that happening. Do you know what though? With Phil Foden on six, I could see... He's got to win seven more to equal it. He's not going to do that, minus. No way! Yeah, but you've... Okay. No way! Gentleman's better. Listen, listen. Six months ago, the same geezer over there is saying that Man City under Pepin are done. They're done. Legs have gone. Yeah. What's that got to do with it? I don't think he's going to win it this year. Yeah, but you have to concede that Harry Kane is much closer to that record than Phil Foden is to this record. Yeah, okay. fair enough okay Kane comes back next year it's not unfeasible if he can stay healthy that he'll just about limp over the line and break it I wish he would as well he's two seasons away I'd love it to be taken from Alan that'd be one less thing to have to listen to Alan Shearer I'd like Erling Haaland to do it by the time he's like 27 well the thing about Haaland is people seem to think I mean you guys I've heard you guys talk about it on OTC it seems to be implied that Haaland's got this career path that he wants and it involves round the street and the rest of it right and so But what's interesting about Haaland is if he can somehow be convinced to not do that, he feels like he's done 100, which used to be a big deal back in the day.

34:25That used to be a pub trivia question back in the day. It still is a big deal. But he feels like he's still emerging. It doesn't feel like he's anywhere near hitting his proper straps yet. And he's going through them quick. He's broken the record for how few games easily. So he's probably looking at... The problem is he's probably looking at six more seasons. and he's not going to stick around I think he's only got half that left and City are I assume they're good as well so to agree with your point about the goal scoring being slightly less tough than say Ryan Giggs' record you can score goals at teams that are not going to win the Premier League as Harry Kane has done so I think on an individual ones we'll go with Giggs then maybe the two things between Ford and Haaland could be linked because Haaland needs to stay to score the goals to have four and win all these titles.

35:16Let's help each other out. They seem to be helping. They seem to be already doing that. It's as if they're teammates. But I think for team records, I think Chelsea conceding 15 is unbelievably difficult to beat. You went Clarkson again. That's how you know he really means it. Unbelievable. BBC. I think that to back that point up, bearing in mind it wasn't that long ago in this season, Arsenal, you couldn't get a shot away against them. We're 16 games in. Arsenal have already conceded 10, which is a really good record, by the way. But they've already conceded two-thirds of the goals at 16 games in that Chelsea conceded that season.

35:55I can't see that. In the last three seasons, the Premier League title-winning team have all conceded over double that, winning it. The closest it's been to it in recent memory is in 2022, when both City and Liverpool only conceded 26 goals. and that's still 50 it's over 50 % more than that I think the way the Premier League has gone and the kind of fast and frantic nature of it I feel like it makes it very very difficult to get near it and smaller teams have got better so your Bournemouths and such have all got immense talent now that can pick you apart whereas before in the past and even if they don't win they get a goal or whatever you mean exactly that I mean I often think that when we talk about Premier League title winning teams and the greats, you're always duty-bound to obviously mention Ferguson's United because there's so many to pick from.

36:46But there are more specific ones to pick from. You mentioned Guardiola's. You mentioned Arsenal's Divincibles. I think Mourinho's Chelsea are mentioned, but with 95 points, only conceding 15, and scoring a decent amount of goals. They had the best goal difference that season. I think sometimes people forget they lost that one game. If they didn't lose that one game, I think people would talk about that as potentially the most impressive title. Oh, it would have been better than the Arsenal Invincibles. Their Invincibles would have been better, but it wasn't. I mean, Man City's 100 points tally is like immense.

37:18But what I think about on that, I would use a different example. I would use the 2019-2020 season, which I know is the COVID season, which obscures it a little bit. The Liverpool's win. Yeah, because Liverpool won 32 games that season and they won the league by 18 points, right? Which is a massive gap. Yet they still conceded 33 goals. Yeah. They still conceded over double what Chelsea did in that season. I think it's very difficult to imagine anyone getting anywhere near that. I completely agree. So I think we're going individual records, we're going for Giggs' Premier League tally and then team records, Chelsea's 15 goals.

37:53I'd love to continue this conversation because there might be some other team records in there that are worth kind of mentioning. I'm in danger of listing seasons now, but the season before... Will Fulham better their points tally a Premier League high for last season? We're on tenterhooks here. I don't need the whole seat. I'm sitting right on the edge every week I should say 18-19 both City and Liverpool again when they were both brilliant and City pipped them they both conceded very few goals 22 and 23 respectively so even that is still 50 % more than you need to get anywhere near it or to beat it so yeah what about a player scoring 6 goals in a game you could see that happening anything you chuck out there I think anything with an individual game is basically seems a lot more possible 20 goals in a game less so although no one's done 19 so it was 20 goals in a game to beat Alan Shearer's goalscoring record and to win your 14th Premier League title would be amazing but the thing is even if you did that in a whole season as you say you'd still be 12 short of gigs so again that shows you what that silly sword managed to do alright should we wrap up with this one then I think so from Ali on Insta yesterday my friends and I watched Bristol Rovers versus Swindon Town afterwards the Rovers manager was sacked last year we watched Bristol Rovers versus Reading afterwards the Rovers manager got sacked again we have seen two games at Bristol Rovers ever as a friendship group and both times the manager has been sacked what is your biggest football coincidence or are you a bad luck charm for anyone and how do you propose we use this new power we wield over Bristol Rovers well I would first of all say use that power to keep them in the football league because they're in big danger of dropping out the football league entirely Bristol Rovers great proud history club we would hate to see that hate to see any team get dropped out the football league I know it's a necessary part of English football, but nevertheless, maybe start there, Ali.

39:41But other than that, lads, what do you think? Well, when you talk about footballing coincidences or bad luck charms and so on, I immediately think of Aaron Ramsey and the goals he would score. People would die, wouldn't they? Yeah, the dictator. Well, there was Bin Laden, though, so I think we can agree that's generally a good thing. Yeah, but also some celebrities as well. David Bowie was one. Yeah, he was, yeah. Whitney Houston, Giorgio Armani, to name a few, and the aforementioned Osama Bin Laden Ted Kennedy as well yeah yeah been like Steve Jobs quite a list that was quite strange wasn't it stop scoring goals man can I interest you in Colonel Gaddafi I think you can Colonel Gaddafi he got the he got the bad news after Ramsey hit the back of the net keep me updated with the score would you oh no has this Ramsey thing really continued so even later on in his career when he scored goals has this still happened no I don't think this has happened I think he's lost his Whitney Houston rolled a seven after Ramsey bagged as well.

40:41There was a dictator thing about him. A friend of mine, this is not to do with football, but a friend of mine had something similar. He works for a company where he would travel a lot to some more, the nature of the work and it's not military or anything, it was in the charity sector, but I think it was whatever he was doing, he would go to places that were you know, not ideal tourist destinations, shall we say, but very much in the charity sector, as I stress. And certain places he would go and there were coups happening and all the rest of it. And I was going, are you sure this is just the charity sector?

41:15Everywhere he went. He's the Ramsey of the charity sector. Well, it seemed a bit like it. Has he ever killed Alan Rickman? No. Or the late great, come on. Yeah. Your man. Come on. Brucie. Now you're talking. He killed Brucie. He never, what are you talking about? He killed, Bruce Forsythe died merely a week after Alan Ramsey scored a goal against Leicester. Oh, okay. He's not mine, mate. I'm talking, Rambo I've got a massive issue with this a week I know they were stretching it the website I was looking at is massively stretching it to a week and also there was a big section on the page saying is the Aaron Ramsey curse real which people were expected to read but do you know what though when he left these shorts people thought that's that done but when he was playing for Pumas in Mexico it was Marmoney wasn't it yeah it was like what a couple of days after that was the most recent one it's supposed to be 72 hours it's supposed to be the cut off is that right yeah I say so yeah Giorgio Armani it was a weird thing that did take did take flight for a number of years are you a bad luck charm for Portsmouth because every time you see them play whether it's on TV or in the crowd someone is someone is I'm telling you no last time I went to Fratton Park Portsmouth won oh okay which was a surprise to me more than anyone what were you wearing did you do something different you don't want to know what I was wearing you were wearing clean pants I had a big hat on and a bell top off yeah yeah there we go So we say to Ali that if the manager's doing a crap job turn up get rid of him and reset Can they go to another team to check it out?

42:41Turn up to Spurs this weekend Yeah That would be interesting Let's see A bit of low-hanging fruit there Look I don't really believe this shit So I'm going to give them a chance to go and see If they really think it's the power they're wielding they should be going to Man United No I mean because that's not True You want to be going somewhere like Bournemouth and seeing they sack Iola for no reason at all after this Mo Salah stuff has all calmed down get yourself in the commentary see if they've sacked Frank Lampard hey leave Frank out of this alright fair enough yeah go to Liverpool and see if you can get the whole chat going again you pin it on Salah I didn't do anything I haven't made up with him oh really Ali and his friends were there alright well we appreciate you getting in touch keep us posted Ali let us know how you get on there and any other listeners if you are a good luck charm or a bad luck charm then do let us know as well yeah get yourself down to the FIFA house see if you can see you lay waste to that absolute shit show get everyone a fucking sack that's a great idea thanks for listening to the Football Ramble part of the Acast Creator Network please do send your responses opinions and questions for next week's mailbag become a friend of the Ramble too to join the conversation on our Discord pleasure everybody see you tomorrow

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