Mailbag: Which club has the most at stake this season?

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3:12Explore further at rangerover.com. Take this as your sign to go. Just get out there and go. This summer at Best Western, get 1 ,000 bonus points and a chance to win 250 ,000 bonus points. Life's a trip. Make the most of it at bestwestern.com. No additional purchase necessary for sweeps. See bonus points, TNCs, and sweeps rules for details. Give me fuel, give me fire, give me that which I desire! Welcome to the Football Rattle Mailbag. It is Tuesday, the 5th of August. My name is Petey Donaldson. That was my favourite Oasis lyric, and my name is Luke Moore. And I remain Jim Campbell.

4:04Oh, lovely stuff. It's speaking of, before we get into the show, the mailbag, if you will, speaking of hard rockers, the Deftones. Don't talk about the Deftones. You won't stop talking about them recently. They're having a moment. Zig and Zag did a promotional Los Angeles tour where they inexplicably went skiing. And they basically found a band that would be willing to be on telly and basically perform while Zig and Zag were doing tricks on their snowboards. And the Deftones said yes. Was this in the 90s? Again, a very 90s thing. Yeah, because this is great. It's Zig and Zag, the Deftones they have met.

4:41And also at Soundchecks, Cina Moreno and the band used to play almost the entirety of the Weezer Blue album. And if you ever hear them playing Say It Ain't Soar, it's a real dodge. Yeah, they love Weezer, don't they?

4:55Jim Campbell: Weezer were like Chino Moreno's Beatles. He's absolutely obsessed with them. And on Zig and Zach, this is also very, very 90s. Do you remember Zig and Zach are Irish? Yeah. That's because they were... It started for an Irish chapter, I think. Exactly, yeah. And they were, I think, kind of a bit stolen, which is just yet more terrible treatment of Ireland by the English. So that's something we should all acknowledge. To go with all the other imperialism. They always sounded like they had blocked noises. I didn't care for the win. All the people who've emailed and messaged in for this mailbag today are absolutely kicking themselves, waiting to hear their message read out, that they haven't messaged about Zig and Zag.

5:31Completely agree. Or the deft terms. If you want to get involved with the mailbag, you can, of course, tweet us on X at Football Ramble, messages on Instagram and bluesky at Football Ramble. Email us at shaw at footballramble.com. And, of course, friends of the Ramble can get involved and prioritised, let's not forget, on the Discord. You can also leave a comment on the YouTube. From Cameron, let's kick things off with Cameron on your email. Who has the most at stake for the 2025-26 season? Shall we start with you, Lucky Moore? Yeah, I mean, it's a great question. And I think, without being too cheesy and being too, you know, praising of the dear leader, I think one of the great things about the Premier League is that you can ordinarily think of a reason why every team in the Premier League has a lot at stake, right?

6:14I mean, I won't bore everyone to death by going through all of them because that would also steal Jim's answer. But if you just take them, I'll just do the first few in the alphabetical order, right? Arsenal, second place for however many years. The Arteta project is coming to a pivotal point. Arsenal fans are going to start to get impatient. They've made a few new signings they needed. Can they kick on that final step? Aston Villa dropped out the Champions League. What are they going to do? How's Emery going to kick them on? There's loads for them to have a stake in. Bournemouth. You know, what can Bournemouth do this season, given that they are now doing a really good impression of an established Premier League club?

6:53But Iriola's been there a while now. What's he going to do to keep things fresh? How are they going to strengthen between now and the end of the season? Now at the end of the transfer window, there's just loads of narrative. If I were going to give you one team, though, I'd probably say, you know, I would probably go Manchester United. And I'll very briefly tell you why. so Jim can have his bit. May and I have been a basket case for a while. We know that. They've been a bit of a laughing stock. We've had a great time chatting about them and laughing at them and all the rest of it, including on yesterday's show, for example.

7:28But I think it's getting to a point now where it's pretty serious for them financially and for reasons of status and ability to attract players, etc., etc. if they go too much longer without, for example, being a Champions League club. They chucked all their eggs in that Europa League basket last season because they really had to, and they ended up losing the final to Spurs, and now they won't be playing Champions League football next year, and they won't be playing any European football next year, which for a club of that size is kind of mortally bad. It can't continue like that. so for them I think this is a really really key pivotal season there's quite a lot of other reasons why you can chuck a load of other teams in the mix as well but I'll leave it there and just say for me on balance it's probably Man United yeah I would sort of my thoughts on that are

8:24Jim Campbell: that I think they do have an advantage in not having European football if you want to look at it that way Ruben Amarum has talked about wanting a smaller squad so that they can just really sort of attack the games that they do have. I think there's a sense they need to get kind of at least the Europa League. I think even the conference league would be frustrating and considered to have fallen short. But there's a lot to aim at within that, you know. So I think actually if they fall short of that, then that's disastrous. And I think that would possibly put pressure under Amirim. There is a massive, massive kind of caveat about this conversation, I think, as well, which is obviously Man City's charges.

9:03Jim Campbell: so yeah a lot of investment funds are very in a terribly worrying state with Newcastle United that doesn't seem to be going in the way that they wanted it to be because of the you know the amount of money they're not allowed to spend and also Man City there's just a lot of investment funds worrying Jim aren't they yeah I think broadly speaking they'll probably be okay in the long run but the Independent have reported that those within the club at City think the case could go on until at least October before there's an outcome So it's very, very possible. It's absolutely wild. Yeah, it is mad that it's taken this long, but it sounds like there is a possibility that we will get some sort of result on that this season.

9:40Jim Campbell: So if that goes badly for Man City, then, I mean, it's hard to say exactly how severe these punishments will be, what they will mean, if they'll be meaningful at all, if they'll happen at all. We really don't know. So I think that just has to be taken into account. I do think at the same time, though, if Man City don't really challenge this season, it's the end of an era, clearly. I think we're all looking at Pep Guardiola. He's got two years left on his contract. He's saying he'll leave at the end of it, as he has many times. But it does feel like it's actually winding down now. They have to plan for a new era without it.

10:12I think if the charges don't stick, is there that much at stake?

10:17Jim Campbell: Probably very, very short term. Other than that, maybe it's okay. I think it probably is Man United. Now, I mean, I think it's easy to look at Arsenal and Arteta in particular and think if they don't win anything this season, then you probably think already that the era under Arteta is defined really by falling short. But, you know, they're in rude health. There's a good squad with a good age profile where a lot of those players are tied to good contracts. So, I mean, as disasters go, they've had worse recently. So I think it probably still is Man United. And I think that is just, unfortunately for them, the burden of the status they have.

10:52Jim Campbell: It's just massive, isn't it? Yeah, I would. Yeah, I think so. And I think Man Utd just sucks so much of the gravity in for the Jupiter of the Premier League, in that kind of area, really. A couple more in the mix-up, though, because we just talk about Man Utd all the time. Obviously, the promoted sides can't speak for themselves. You've got Spurs under Thomas Frank. Spurs in that endless 18-month managerial cycle. Is Thomas Frank going to be different? Thomas Frank's reputation rests on him being at a club for quite a long time and delivering success by their own standard, essentially making Brentford a top flight club established when they have really no history of being so.

11:35So if he can do bits and pieces for Spurs, it's massive for them. Obviously, they go into the Champions League again as well for the first time in a wee while. Chelsea project remains interesting, doesn't it? I would say that Maresca's outperformed expectation last season, but they've got the specter of financial issues probably hanging over them as well I mean Pete your very own Newcastle United I mean going into the Champions League again struggling to strengthen their squad absolutely pivotal month for them and there's just always so many narratives at play in a Premier League season Crystal Palace going into European football for the first time ever you know there's so much going on that it's pretty interesting Fulham you know properly rolling out the Riverside stand you know that's a huge talking point for us and will be when Marcus comes back on Friday.

12:23So, you know, there's loads to get stuck into, guys. And if you're new to the Ramble, and this is the very first episode you've ever listened to, this Mailbag episode, stick around because we will deliver quite ill-informed, regularly unfunny takes about all these different stories. Very emotional takes as well. Yeah.

12:40Jim Campbell: Worth noting, if you are a supporter of one of the three promoted clubs, we will just lump you all together. So you will get a mention. But you've only got yourselves to blame there because the league will lump you all together. That's another point though, isn't it? Luke, you touched on it, but genuinely sort of bigger picture. If it looks like the three promoted clubs are essentially going to be kind of whipping boys again, that becomes, it becomes an undeniable trend at this point, doesn't it? And that becomes kind of seriously worrying. Yeah, there was a really interesting debate on our Discord, which is available for our Patreon members, about the promoted clubs thing because we've talked about it quite a lot over the last season or so.

13:21And there's a couple of members on there who were saying, look, you know what? I don't actually think it is like that. I think it's just we've had a really tough couple of years. It's been a bit coincidental because of various reasons. It's worth going and checking it out. If you're not a Patreon subscriber, sign up and go and have a look because that was a really interesting discussion, which taught me a lot. But I think really, if it happens again this season, you have to start asking serious questions. I've argued that we're at the start of a trend. could be wrong been wrong before but what's also super interesting about that is that if Leeds, Burnley or Sunderland managed to stay up and our colleague David Cartlidge thinks Sunderland will stay up and they've of course made some quite impressive signings it brings into the mix who's going to go down and you know so that then automatically inserts a really important narrative for whichever team gets kind of drawn into it so it's hard to say at this point of the summer what's going to happen of course but there's loads of reasons why loads of clubs have a lot at stake this season and I'm excited for it.

14:22And also you sort of think that where is the spectre of relegation for a lot of these sides like West Ham, like Spurs, like Man United last season? How do you sort of measure Graham Potter's efficiency, who's going to have a massive season this season, because I think we've said on the show before, this is the season where we figure out whether he's actually a football manager in the Premier League, at Premier League level or not. Where's the peril there if there are no football teams going down and it's just the same old faces kind of coming up and going down. On that Potter thing, yeah, that's a fair point.

14:52That's a harsh assessment though, Pete, because obviously he did do a really good job at Brighton, was tempted by the Chelsea coin, and it didn't work out for whatever reason, and now he's trying to rebuild, right? Was the luster starting to go a little bit? Yeah, I think it was, but I think it kind of almost goes back to that that thing that comes up every so often and most recently came out of Aaron Ramsdale as a player. One of the most underrated skills you need as a manager and as a player, but particularly as a manager, is you have to make good decisions about the jobs you take. And if Potter goes, if Potter had to go overseas to build his reputation, to develop himself as a coach, he basically caught notice of people in this country from what he was doing up in Scandinavia.

15:41Then he builds his career slowly, does an amazing job at Brighton, obviously not jumping ahead and missing out Swansea entirely, but you understand the point I mean. His reputation became a national reputation because of what he did at Brighton. If you then follow that up with two just terrible decisions in retrospect of going to Chelsea when it's been a shit show and not been able to handle it for whatever reason, and then going to West Ham who've been a basket case for a while and not been able to swim rather than sink there either, then absolutely the luster's disappearing off him. But I don't think you could, I still think it's a harsh framing to say, we don't know if he's a Premier League manager or not.

16:19I think he is. I just think he might have made some quite boneheaded decisions in his employment opportunities.

16:26Jim Campbell: It's hard to kind of assess what his kind of average finishing position should be, if that makes sense. I think there's no doubt he's a Premier League manager, but it's just, you know, what area of that table are we talking? Well, it also might be, actually, to look at it a slightly different way, he's a guy who does projects, right? He's a guy that tries to get in and does things his own way. And if you're someone who goes into Brighton and gets the time and the space with a very understanding and well-respected owner in Tony Bloom and get the room across a number of seasons to do your thing, because of course Brighton were in the Premier League when he took over but they were you know their expectations were slightly different and then he had the COVID season I think pretty soon after right where you can kind of basically I mean for a manager like Potter that's probably ideal because you're just left alone to do your thing right yeah but then you go into jobs where the pressure's instant the fans are really demanding the ownership isn't very coherent and you're someone who's a thoughtful guy who needs room to do your work and not just a kind of let's get up at him type of guy, then it's going to be really hard.

17:39So I'm confused at this point as to why he doesn't take decisions around his employment with that in mind. But for all the reasons we just talked about, that goes back to Cameron's question. Then West Ham have got loads at stake this season because if they don't improve massively, they're going to be in danger. Can we go after this? Statute chat and we plan Tommy Tuchel's 2026 parade.

18:05This is Nick and Jack from The Best One Yet, and we are excited to tell you about Walmart business. Staying ahead of business trends means moving fast and adapting quickly. Walmart business helps you simplify operations so you can focus on building the next big thing. Find exactly what your organization needs with their ever-expanding business assortment and everyday low prices. Keep your momentum going fast with reliable shipping and fulfillment. Eligible organizations can take advantage of tax-free shopping, both in-store and online, saving you more while getting you everything you need. It's Walmart built for your business.

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19:15This summer at Best Western, get 1 ,000 bonus points and a chance to win 250 ,000 bonus points. Life's a trip. Make the most of it at BestWestern.com. No additional purchase necessary for sweeps. See bonus points, TNCs, and Sweeps rules for details. In 2023, a source sent me a tip. It tied baseball's biggest star to a vast, illegal sports betting operation. Shohei Otani! But then someone surprising confessed to me. His best friend.

19:50Jim Campbell: I'm Epey Mizuhara, and you do have permission to record me. From 30 for 30 podcasts, this is The Betrayal of Shohei Otani. Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts.

20:28barrel of bronze into. Yeah. I wish I did have a big old barrel of bronze. A big old barrel of bronze. I've kicked it over again. That's the floor ruined. I've got bronze in the kitchen. Don't let it dry. Don't let it cool down. Stop picking up your hands. It's hot. This is a really, really good question. A really tough question because I think if we were in a situation where Spurs didn't win the Europa League with Son as captain a couple of months ago, it would be an open and shut Harry Kane, right? He's a top scorer, pivotal, but an England captain for so long while he was at Spurs and all the rest of it.

21:05And I guess you could probably throw into the mix that what also throws it into a bit more of a question of doubt is that Kane has left, right? A lot of the time, it's not just that players make a big contribution at a club and get a statue. They are one club men, for example. I'm not saying that's always the case, but it can be. Bill Nicholson and Keith Berkenshaw have obviously done amazing things. So Nicholson, everyone knows, you know, double winners for Spurs and Berkinshaw. For those who don't know, delivered back-to-back FA Cups for Spurs and helped them, or was the manager when they lifted the UEFA Cup in 1984.

21:39So that's what he's done. But put that to one side, Poster Coggle lifting the Europa League, put that to one side. The question is about who means Son and Harry Kane. I think I would probably still say Harry Kane. I think when we talked about Son yesterday on the show, we talked about how Son would have got even more plaudits as a Spurs player had Harry Kane not been around at the same time. And I think that implies that Kane is a bigger, bigger at Spurs despite Son lifting the Europa League for Spurs. So I think I would just about go Harry Kane. I'm really interested to hear from Spurs fans about this.

22:15Maybe just follow up with a few comments and let us know what you think. But for me, Jim, it's probably just about Harry Kane still.

22:21Jim Campbell: I would agree with Kane and that is for the reasons that he obviously came through their academy which is a massive thing and it's a thing to be proud of. It's a thing to celebrate as well and not only has he come through their academy he's gone on to be England's all-time top scorer and absolute icon in the game. Those are massive massive things that any club should be proud of if they produce a player who actually has a legacy outside of the club while playing for them. So I think Son would be really nice, wouldn't it? And it'd be lovely for him to be commemorated in that way. But I think it might raise a few eyebrows if it were to happen.

22:56Jim Campbell: If Kane were given a statue, I think most people would go, yeah, fair enough. That makes sense. And obviously we know there is a Harry Kane statue knocking about somewhere. Maybe they could just use that one, the one that went missing in East London for a bit. When he inevitably retires from England duty to give it to Spurs. I think, Pete, you also hit on something yesterday when you dished out, I can't exactly remember what they were, but you dished out a stat or two about Kane and Son's ability to play together and how kind of symbiotic they were. So maybe there's something in that as well. Maybe you've got the fact that Son lifted the Europa League, Kane's had all those achievements and come through the academy.

23:31Maybe it's a double-edged statue. We don't have enough bronze. We don't have enough bronze. We can do chest upwards. That's all the bronze we've got, all right? Do it in wood. Do it in wood. Give it a good lacquer every six months. For crying out loud. It's interesting because I guess like Harry Kane left at the height of his powers to go to another club for a lot of money. And Son chose a club, stuck with a club and played until his legs were no more. So there's probably that in there as well, maybe. I think Kane was, I know that Kane's knocked everyone over in Germany and that's what happens when you're of that quality.

24:08but I still do think there were signs that Kane was slowing down a little bit. I wouldn't say peak of his power. I mean, Jim, you might disagree. You might agree with Pete. Clearly, his numbers are still really good. So if you're just looking at numbers, the reality is Kane dishes out more goals, I think, in his final season at Spurs than he did the season before. So clearly, the numbers are still good. But there was sort of a little bit of a sign that he was perhaps slowing down a little bit. Those ankle injuries were perhaps taking their toll. He's definitely had to adapt his game slightly. And then, of course, when you go into the Bundesliga with Bayern, you just knock everyone over, right?

24:48Jim Campbell: To be fair to him, though, is that not more informed by his performances for England when he wasn't fully fit? I'm not sure that that is necessarily how it was when he was at Spurs. We're getting away from the point, though, Pete. We need your answer about the statue. Are you going Kane like us? I think you kind of have to go. I don't know. I think Kane's gone to Germany. He's not learning any German. You see Son getting interviewed by German television and the Europa League, and he's speaking German. He's speaking English. He's speaking Korean. It's language skills that have clinched it for Son.

25:19Yeah, I don't know.

25:21Jim Campbell: It's sponsored by Duolingo, this statue. It's got a little button on it that says phrases. Yeah, the Duolingo owl is on Son's statue's shoulder. If you unveiled the Harry Kane one, and Son's dad would come along smack it over the head with a corner flag. Yeah, let's get a cane one, but during the month of August it recedes into the ground and then it appears on the 1st of September. I think that myth has now been fully put to bed now, Peter. Right, okay. Do they even have Augusts in Germany? We don't know. I don't speak German. One further point on this. I mean, what type of statue are you having?

25:59Jim Campbell: Because I'm not sure if you saw the Vinicius Junior statue that was unveiled recently, but it just looks exactly like him. It's terrifying. It's like a little bit Westworld. You would not be surprised if it just started walking about. Yeah, I had that problem with the Michael Jackson one because it was in colour. It felt like it was something other, you know? Yes. Yeah, not right. I mean, I guess nowadays you can 3D scan people. You can, you know, 3D print statues. I mean, you can do all of this stuff to make it hyper-realistic. But that's not art, is it? It's just not art. You've done that to my head, haven't you?

26:32Jim Campbell: You've got a little 3D printed version of my head in your apology shed somewhere. A long time ago, that. The 3D printer wasn't quite there. I think we might need to be starting to look into doing tie-ins with Madame Tussauds about this stuff. Oh, right, okay. Just borrow some footballers here and there. Well, because what I've found is that, for example, there's a lot of statues of people in modern public life that are, in retrospect, being perhaps ill-advised or cancelled or have to be pulled down for whatever reason. When I was at UCL, there was a big campaign to get Gandhi's statue taken down for all sorts of reasons, which I won't go into here.

27:05If you do a Madden Two Swords wax work... Just melt it down. You just slice it up, boy. Enjoy it, yeah. Stick it in the back of the van. The heat of the anger to that person could melt it. Do you know what I mean? You just get people to shout at the statue, the wax statue, and the wax statue melts. Yeah, don't worry about getting the statue pulled down. It's going to rain tomorrow. Exactly. Would that make it better, wouldn't it? Not sure. No. Well, it sounds like we're very much going for Kane. We've answered that question. Let's move on. So well done, Harry. From Joe Harrington on Discord, Serena Vigman had Burner Boy.

27:41When people say Burner Boy, you kind of have to say Burner Boy, don't you? So who is coming out to surprise Tommy Tuchel when we win the World Cup next year? I mean, wow. I was absolutely charmed to see how pleased Serena Vigman was when they announced Burnable was coming out because she's quite studious. She's quite a measured character. I think she seems quite severe in the way she interviews and stuff. Very serious. And obviously her results speak for themselves. She's won three European championships as a manager, right? Incredibly successful in her profession. I have never seen her happier than when it was announced Burnable was coming out and then she had a little sing and dance with him.

28:25So I love that. That was very charming. The question is about Tommy Tuchel. Jim I'll throw to you but before I do for me it's got to be as many members who are still left alive of Kraftwerk with the with the plinths and the light display and if you don't got them left alive do the robots and a full Kraftwerk gig with no let up so when they go to Trafalgar Square on the tour on the open bus tour they get to Trafalgar Square all the lights go out it's a laser display it's a full two hour long craft work performance. And at the end, Thomas Tuber comes out and just does the model or something. And then we all just go home.

29:05Jim Campbell: Yeah. That'd be quite intense. Wouldn't it? Really intense. Maybe craft work could do winds of change or something like that. Something very like 99 red balloons, something very, just a sort of very, very German medley. I, my initial thought was it should be Oasis. It would be Robbie Williams. Cause he just seems to sort of get himself into these areas. So, so easily somehow. But I do quite like the Kraftwerk idea. Maybe we get some British icons and we make them do a sort of Kraftwerk kind of tribute band with all these German songs. Yeah, or like a pop band like Tokyo Hotel. Have you ever seen those guys?

29:42They've got an interesting, very beautiful front man.

29:45Jim Campbell: Any love for Childish Gambino? Well, he will never pick up the call. We keep ringing him, keep on just asking him, demanding that he becomes a part of football Polar. He's been so emotional for Peter. I know! Why won't he do it? We'd look pretty silly if he finally did rock up. I could imagine Tommy Tuchel being a little bit of a scooter, kind of like Euro dance monster. Yeah, I can see that. Techno Viking kind of vibe. I can see that. I also think this is why people who don't support England hate us because have you seen some of the performances under Thomas Tuchel and this is what we're talking about.

30:23You won't be in a job by the time he gets to the fucking wild card. This question's somehow making it through the net. I can't. You know what? I honestly can't wait to see the depths we're going to plumb in the next international break because we have been atrocious under Tommy Tuchel. Get out of the way now before Marcus gets back on Friday and shuts down any dissent. Yeah, exactly. Completely. I think he's even got Marcus a little bit worried. All right. Randy on Instagram. Randy! Would you throw some money down, gentlemen, on Reuben Amorim? being sacked by Christmas. Many happy returns, Ruben.

30:56Jim Campbell: I would suspect that given the outlay they've spent on him and the players that he wants, and also the extremely low bar that he has to clear based on what happened last season, I'd be amazed. Yeah, indeed. Bruno Fernandes has had to set up. I'd be astonished if they're in a position where by Christmas that it's that bad. But that said, I mean, it went so much more badly than I expected it to when Amarim came in. You kind of never know with the chaos at Man United. But I think the only reason I can look at Man United and assess them and engage with this question in a way where I think that Ruben Amarim will be under pressure come December is precisely because of the chaos that's happened before.

31:44Jim Campbell: I think if you look at it sort of dispassionately, they look like they're in much better shape already than they were towards the end of the season, certainly towards the point where Amarim came in. And I think... Just won the Premier League Summer Series. It was absolutely. Yeah, exactly. Two old Roggens Everton. Oh, how short people's memories are. Winning trophies with draws. I mean, that is galaxy brain. Winning tiny trophies without winning games. Exactly. Tiny in the middle, wide at the top, like a ball. Yeah, I think that... I started a new Premier League betting column just off my own back for fun for this season.

32:19It's called anywinners.substack.com. So check it out if you're interested in that kind of thing. And I won't be putting up Ruben Amorim to be the first, because it's very difficult to bet on something, to take the actual question as it's written, would you throw some money on Ruben Amorim being sat by Christmas? Very difficult to bet on that kind of thing. But what you can do is bet on, if you're that way inclined, Mind you can bet on the first Premier League manager to leave his job. Right. And that might be something we look at on any winners. But just to give you some perspective, Ruben Amorim is currently seventh favourite to be the first to leave his job behind Daniel Farker, Keith Andrews, Scott Parker, Reg LaBris, Nuno and Graham Potter.

33:03so the market is clearly thinking that um there are loads of better candidates to lose their job um you know before him and if you think about it um we do tend to see one or two go what is it normally guys like around the kind of international break around november or something like that yeah that's when it starts to kind of bite doesn't it with the other exception here and there so look i think jim's spot on i think that's a great assessment i think you know we will see an improvement because we have to this year. The fact is that Jim mentioned earlier, didn't he, the fact that United don't have European football, so there'll be a bit more room to breathe, a little bit more to work on the training ground.

33:42And I think that's a key point because last season, Amorim was actually saying here and there, I'm not getting any time to train with these players. I've not come in with a pre-season. There's so many games. We can't work on anything. Now, he's not going to have that excuse if it is an excuse this season. But if he is worth what we think he is as a coach, who's achieved great things already as a young man, that I think we will see a much improved United. But even if we don't, I still think he's probably got some gas in the tank. Yeah. You sort of think that because of the set-up with Ratcliffe, he's been so kind of vocal about his interest in keeping Amirim at the club and how much he wanted him at the club.

34:26That's right. That kind of relationship is so close. Sorry to cut him, but Marcus's point, wasn't it? Marcus kept saying it. He was saying that it might be that Amarim walks away. Not that he gets sacked. He might be the first manager under this kind of era at United to actually quit. And it seems like he's considered that in the past already as well. Yeah. He's quite unique in the Premier League in that he's a manager who is almost demanding a smaller and smaller squad. And obviously that's held by the fact they don't have any European football to deal with. But it was a big sort of formation change for Amarim.

34:57he wants to play in a certain way and he admitted it repeatedly throughout the season he doesn't have time with his side. He's got the time now, he will have the time now so I don't know whether a smaller squad is going to help that because at the end of the day as you move further and further back in that side the more and more rickety that football team seems to get starting probably with the goalkeeper.

35:21Jim Campbell: Yeah, although I think part of that is the sort of rigours of playing on multiple fronts, isn't it? Which they won't have so much I think he's spoken about wanting everybody to feel involved in training. And he says that the quality of training drops if you've got three or four players or however many who know they're not going to be involved. So there's a bit of a cloud over them, which has obviously been a massive problem, particularly at that club with the various kind of players who've ended up being kind of outcasts a little bit. But I think to kind of put a positive spin on this, if you look at the formation that Amarim's talking about and you look at the players that he's brought in.

35:54Jim Campbell: and if you ignore the kind of like banter club narrative that is, well, so much fun to constantly kind of use around Man United, people could do it all the time, including ourselves. It's actually quite an exciting prospect. You know, that formation, if he can get it working with those kind of wide, high full backs and those creative players in the middle, it could be really, really fun to watch. So who knows? I mean, this might seem like a silly question come then. Oh, I found it all very fun to watch anyway, Jim. That's absolutely fine. Any route back, Jim, for Garnaccio, Anthony, Sancho? It seems to be he just has a massive personality clash with those players and he just doesn't want them anywhere near the first team training squad.

36:34Jim Campbell: Well, he said recently, didn't he, that if they don't end up getting a move, there'll be Man United players and they'll be treated as Man United players. So I think he's kind of laying the pathway for that, should they not be able to get moves. But I think what he really wants is money rather than any of those individuals. So I think there will be grudgingly, there'll be reintegrated, but I don't think that's what you want. No, completely agree. All right. Well, finally for now, our final little dispatch from George Ivemny. No, Ivemny, sorry, on Instagram, which Premier League manager would you get to cook you a three course meal?

37:10If you had the run of a massive kind of industrial kitchen and you could have one Premier League manager, Luke, in there, who would you want? unlimited funds unlimited you know bits and bobs and ingredients to use which Premier League manager would you get to cook you a three course meal I'm catching strays again like yesterday I was about to have several seats at the Oasis gig now I'm needing an industrial kitchen to feed myself where's this coming from what can't be a normal kitchen that just is nice and roomy for you I'm not talking for Mike I want to wipe down that aluminium please yeah cleanliness is important I still resent it my answer is my answer is no one Dutch because as I said on the Luke and Pete show a while back the Dutch cuisine is the worst in the world so Arnie Slott can get out of here.

37:50No way I'm going to get into Dutch. And I think it depends what kind of mood you're in because if I wanted like a really, you know, accurate attention to detail pinpoint, you know, three-star dinner, I'm probably going to go Pep, possibly even, you know, Amorim. It's all about detail. Yeah. All that kind of stuff. If I wanted just a real hearty feed up, I'd probably go someone Italian like Enzo Moresca maybe. serve me up a big bowl of pasta please Enzo that would be lovely I wouldn't mind just Nuno serving me up 15 pastel donata either so there's loads of options any excuse every time we talk about anything Portuguese it's the pastel donata I told you it's when I first realised I wanted to work with Andy Brassel was when I heard about him before I'd even met him someone said oh Brassel's this Brassel's that and I'd consumed his content and I was a fan of his work Someone told me that when he goes to Portugal for work, which he goes a lot, he always has a little pot of cinnamon in his back pocket for his pastel donato.

38:56And I thought, that man is a serious operator. He means business. And I've been in love with him ever since. So I love a pastel donato. And I love Andy Brassel. I just kind of think that someone like Arsenal's Mikel Arteta would just overcomplicate things. He'd get too bogged down in the details and forget that he's making a lasagna. You'll ever cook chip of Tatas Bravas again, Mikel. Exactly.

39:17Jim Campbell: I do wonder if actually all of those kind of real obsessive kind of head managers would just be terrible cooks. I remember Jose Mourinho saying he's a disaster in the kitchen. He can't cook to save his life. And I think they're so focused on football, they'd all be rubbish. So I think you might have to go kind of a bit further down the table. I think Marco Silva looks like he'd be a very good suave chef, very comfortable in a kitchen, would knock you something up very, very, very quickly and easily, tidily. It'd be a very charming evening. I'd love to spend that long with Daniel Farker. I just think that would be an adorable evening.

39:51Jim Campbell: And, you know, maybe he'd knock me up a currywurst. You can't go wrong with a currywurst. But I do think probably the guy is Vitor Pereira, because I think he would do a great line in post-pub food. It'd be hearty. Yeah, really, really rich. You know, you need to soak up the pints because you've, you know, you've soaked up the points. There's something they have in Portugal called a francesina, which was, funnily enough, recommended to me by Andy Brassel before I went to Porto, which is, it's like a sandwich with kind of layers of meat in it, and there's a kind of spicy tomato beer sauce all over it, cheese all over it.

40:32Jim Campbell: You have it with fries. It is like, it's your day's calories in a meal. It is sensational. And it is like, it's not a sandwich with like fancy bread on it. It's just two slices of standard supermarket white bread. But it just creates this monster. Yeah. Jim, did you say a generic meat there? Because most Portuguese dishes have veal in it. It's always veal. Always hiding some veal in there. Oh, no, I've eaten veal again. It's very difficult to find any food in Portugal that isn't this kind of hearty fare. I don't understand how they all look so amazing. I know, right? It's all that legal cooking.

41:11Reuben Amarim, I think, the way that he prowls the touchline, he's always on his knees. He looks like he could be looking into an oven 24-7. He's always keeping an eye on things. I think he'd be pretty good at keeping an eye on the fairy cakes. Someone's got to photoshop him in on his knees looking at the oven and bake-off, surely. Yeah, exactly. We've answered that. We've answered that. Let's get out of here. This has been the Mailbag. Thank you very much for listening to the Football Ramble Mailbag Pet, part of the Aircash Creator Network. We're going to be back tomorrow for more of this. please do send us your responses opinions and questions for next week's mailbag and subscribe on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts we'll see you soon

41:56the football ramble is a stack production and part of the Acast Creator Network

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