The Bobby Williamson trail

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3:23Luke Moore: Oi, oi, everybody. Welcome to the Football Ramble. England face the Czechs and Scotland host the Swiss. It's Tuesday, 29th of September. I'm Marcus Speller. And my name is Luke Moore.

3:47Luke Moore: Welcome one and all to the Football Amble on a terrific Tuesday in the United Kingdom, if I may say. Luke Moore, the wonderful thing, the wonderful news and the latest update I can give you with regards to England's international break is we're not even halfway through it. It's beautiful, isn't it? The great autumn international break of 2026 knows no bounds. It's like being 10 years old in the summer holidays between school, isn't it? You think, bloody, I've been off for ages, but I've still got four and a half weeks to go. Amazing. Exactly. When you put it like that, Marcus, it just fills my heart with international football joy.

4:25I open the door to my heart and I bleed international football.

4:29Luke Moore: And the trick is, everybody, is don't support a team that can win trophies and league titles. Well, the trick is, just embrace it. We've seen that the Premier League has been undermined by cheating. Completely. It's a total farce for the rest of the season. So why not just mark your cards, your calendars, until the next England game comes around? Well, the good news is it comes around tonight. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. Before we got to him, did you see Roberto Mancini getting all antsy? Well, I had like a double contract. I mean, wait, what? Sorry, Roberto? Yeah. I also think that someone posted that they had cursed his team.

5:06So I got him on edge and he was struggling a bit to deal with all that stuff as well. It's very difficult to think coherently and understand what you're supposed to be doing when a man from Hartlepool of advancing years and declining health has crossed over to the dark arts and cursed you and your international team. I'd be angry about that. So it's understandable.

5:26Luke Moore: Advanced in years. Right then. England are away in Czech Republic tonight, kicking off at 7.45. On paper, you have to say, Luke, on paper, that this is the easiest game England could face or will face in this group. Croatia are obviously the other opponents. So a chance for England to get some points on the ball, because I want to remind everybody that the top two from the groups go through to the knockouts in the Nations League next year. And yes, I am very excited about the prospect of that. So because the Nations League has been such a smash hit, we don't just get semifinals, we get quarterfinals as well.

6:05Luke Moore: And it shows you the power of lobbying because I've managed to do it. It's needed. One thing we can all agree on is that is needed. Yeah. So, and it's, and the quarterfinals are two-legged affairs as well. Come on. So lots to enjoy next year as well. But in the here and now, England need to get going, Luke Maw. Look, I would just say that Prague is a beautiful place. Beautiful. Have you visited? You must have visited. Only for a few hours. But yes, I've been to Prague and I've had a little goosey gander. I've visited and I would say this time of year is a perfect time of year to go. Not too hot.

6:40beautiful autumn scenes so I hope England fans have a lovely time, the Charles Bridge 14th century bridge I've walked over that

6:51Luke Moore: I've spent time in the old town square I've had a lovely old time on the old on the old absinthe as well so be careful be safe, be absinthe safe what was the question? what did you drink in the Czech Republic so you've answered that beer and absinthe Yes, but England, they need to get some points on the board, as I say. Oh, yeah, they do. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. I mean, look, they had an incredibly entertaining game against Spain, as we discussed yesterday. And obviously Spain are the standout team, not only in this group, but in the world. So you have a bit of a push and pull with Spain, and you get a couple of goals past them.

7:27You know, there are positives to be taken. I'm quite negative about England generally at the moment. I will be a big enough man to concede that that's just because I find it incredibly frustrating when England come up short in the way they did again in the World Cup. And then knowing that I've got to wait two years for another big tournament with due respect to the Nations League, which obviously is a tournament. I wouldn't say it's one of the big ones. So I'm kind of a little bit talking through my hat on that stuff. But, you know, from England's point of view, they've got to win in Pride tonight.

8:04they have I mean ultimately Croatia you know you say Czech Republic are the easiest team in the group I'd agree with that but Croatia aren't going to be pushovers so it really does come down to beating Czech Republic home and away really so tonight they have to get off on the right foot I still have huge issues with how England look like they want to play I mean maybe tonight it'll be they'll dominate the ball I'm sure and it might be horseshoe of death and if they don't get an early goal it could get sticky but if they do get an early goal it'll be really easy to me it only ever feels like either of those two outcomes when he's playing a team like Czech Republic so I mean let's wait and see what happens I'd love to know what type of team we are I understand that's difficult because a lot of time as you said yesterday I think fairly you know a lot of times England just roll over teams and they don't play against teams better than very often so don't get an awful lot of time to practice it but you know other teams manage to be good so hopefully we can we can do that as well at some point but but I'm looking forward to the game England should win um I don't know how they're going to set up the couple of injuries in the squad and and all the rest of it I mean what's your what's your early um thoughts on on the game tonight well you obviously

9:17Luke Moore: referenced the Spain game as a lot of us have been doing I did find Thomas Tuchel's comments quite interesting as I often do interesting is not always good um Thomas Tuchel said strangely enough when we had the ball this was against Spain we were the biggest danger to ourselves around the box. Yeah, it's hard to know. So look, my broad brushstroke opinion on Thomas Tuchel. Go on, have a little brush. Yeah, I'll have a little brush. Have a little stroke. Slip in a brush. There you go. I would say that sometimes the fact that English is his second language, coupled with the fact that he's very forthright and can be quite brusque, it can come across probably a little bit harsher than he means.

9:59But at the same time, I do think he is quite a harsh bloke.

10:02Luke Moore: I was about to say, at the same time, he is Thomas Tuchel. Yeah, I think he's obviously got that reputation. You know, things go south after a while when he's in club management. And, you know, we did speculate, didn't we, that when he took the England job, it would be less contact with players, less time to build up any animosity. And, you know, there would always be resets available. So, I mean, broadly, I think that's what's happened. But some of the time, I mean, to be honest, I would say possibly the majority of press conferences, international breaks, interviews, he'll come up with something that's just unhelpful.

10:35I didn't think the Cole Palmer thing was very helpful either.

10:38Luke Moore: Well, that's interesting. Yeah. He said, he's saying about what I'm trying to, what I'm trying to do is find a way of giving him a pass on that specific quote you said, because I think what he's trying to say is we, we, you know, we are, we were the architects of our own downfall. We've made mistakes. He's not said, as far as I'm concerned, Mark Gay, he's a fucking dickhead. Do you know what I mean? He's saying we, yeah, we were a danger to ourselves. We made it difficult for ourselves. Ultimately, if Gareth Southgate came out after a game like that and said, when we had the ball, you know, we made it difficult for ourselves around our own box, that wouldn't even be noticed.

11:10So I think we have to give him a little bit of grace about how he phrases things, given he's speaking English and second language. However, the track record on diplomacy is poor. You know, he's made mistakes in the past, quite high profile ones as well. And the thing he said about Kyle Palmer, I just thought was like super unhelpful. Everyone knows, and Thomas Tuchel certainly knows, that Cole Palmer is managing a long-term chronic problem, which limits his minutes. I totally get he could be frustrated. I totally understand that there may be something going on between Tuchel and Palmer we don't know about.

11:44I mean, there could be a conversation that's been had. We could be talking about attitude around the camp. I don't know that because I'm not there. But I thought it was quite an insensitive way of talking about it. I don't know how you felt about it.

11:54Luke Moore: Well, I think it's, you know, remember, a doctor in the England camp has to sign those players off. So if anybody thinks that Cole Palmer's kind of just phoned in from Chelsea and gone, yeah, I got a little doctor's note here. So sorry. You know, they do have to be checked out by an England doctor. And, you know, because clubs can't hold players back and hold them to ransom. You know, you get into all that kind of thing. It would be to ransom. That would be very strange if the FA were trying to play Chelsea. Yeah, you can have him. Yeah. 100 grand. Unmarked bills.

12:33Luke Moore: So, but one thing that was interesting under Gareth Southgate was apparently injured players still wanted to join up with the squad because of the good vibes, because of those good vibrations. And perhaps that's not the case at the moment with Tuchel. So maybe he's commenting on that. I don't know. But I don't think we should spend too much time talking about a person who's not even in the squad, but I understand why he brought it in. I think with England tonight against Czech Republic, I think they've got to win. I don't think there's any doubt about that. And obviously a good performance would be very, very welcome.

13:09Luke Moore: But England should win this. You know, under Southgate and now under Tuchel, England, what we are now used to with this, with England since really 2018. you might say is England beat the teams they should beat. And they even win games where they're playing a decent opponent, but not quite as good as England. It is in those 50-50 games or playing a slightly better opponent. So I'm not particularly worried about tonight. What I do find interesting is how Tuchel goes about it and how England play. Because England are going to have more of the ball, so they're not going to do what they did against Spain, you know, try to sort of play deep and sort of bait the opponent or whatever.

13:52Czech Republic will be very happy to sit in.

13:55Luke Moore: We've seen this time and time again with England. It's all about breaking them down. So who are England and how are England going to go about that? That is something I find quite fascinating. You know, is Gordon's pace going to be nullified if Czech Republic play a little bit deep? You know, that breakaway goal we saw against Spain and we thought more of that. Again, are England going to have opportunities that much to do that? So we're going sort of over old ground. And one player who's going to be involved, you would think, is Lewis Hall. Now, as we saw at the World Cup and to, you know, an extent against Spain, Thomas Tuchel doesn't seem to care for actual fullbacks.

14:31Luke Moore: Nico O 'Reilly, we know, plays left back and he's good. But as time goes on, we expect to play midfield. Gerald Kwanzaa is more of a centre half than a right back. It does appear that Lewis Hall may start at left back, probably because Nico O 'Reilly is out for the game. Are you excited, Luke, that we may see an actual fullback in an England team? I mean, excited is probably stretching it. We're in a way game against the Czech Republic. But, I mean, I acknowledge the question. I respect the enthusiasm in the question. Right. I don't think – I wonder if he'll play Rodgers tonight as well. I wonder if he'll play Rodgers and Saka.

15:12Interesting. And then Bellingham behind Kane. a little thought I had oh yeah

15:17Luke Moore: is that because Anthony Gordon is going a little bit high performance with some of his quotes in the media now well England have got a lot of good players and you know clearly if Gordon scores against Spain and plays well like he does he expects to play again but ultimately Tuchel's got his own agenda which is to you know best players for the best for the challenge in front of them and Rodgers has started the season in incredible form and I think you know given that the only reason he didn't play against Spain is because England have got so many good players I wouldn't be surprised if he gave Rodgers a chance against Czech Republic to be honest so I don't even know if Gordon's going to play, maybe he will, maybe I'm talking shit on the Lewis Hall thing I would most of my attention and ire towards Tuchel in terms of full backs has been focused on the right back position as you know, I'm not sure I've got the resources to take up another battle against him on a different front but if O 'Reilly's injured, Lewis Hall seems to me it makes sense for Lewis Hall to play I don't actually necessarily agree with your point about O 'Reilly.

16:15People say, oh, he's a midfielder, he's a midfielder, he's a midfielder. Look, he's a midfielder till he isn't. He plays left-back all the time. He plays left-back all the time for England. As far as I'm concerned, we can treat him as a left-back. You can treat him as a proper full-back. A lot of players play a lot of different positions. Lewis Hall is absolutely a left-back, so great. I think he'll have way too much for, well, he would have been Sufail who would probably play right-back for Czech Republic. He's much better than him, so that could be a furrow to be ploughed for England. He's more of a left back than Phil Neville was.

16:44Well, Phil Neville was a bit of a... Did Phil Neville go into midfield later, though? He did.

16:49Luke Moore: For Everton later on. I think Nico O 'Reilly will do. Yeah, well, fair point. Probably not for Everton, though. I think Nico will be delighted to be compared to Fizzer. All being well, not for Everton. Marcus, are you worried that comparing Nico O 'Reilly to Fizzer might put a bit of undue pressure on the young lad? I think we should show some respect. It's a little bit like when any Argentinian player who came through was called the next Maradona until Messi actually did it. Yeah, that'll be the next Messi. And then they'll be the next whoever they produce. But what I'd like to say is just to...

17:18Luke Moore: Go on, say it. You know, just to pick up on something else you said. Yeah. You know, what I'd like to see is England move the ball quick. Okay? What we need to do, if they're playing against a team like Czech Republic, to stop it getting sticky, as I said earlier, get the ball high and wide, get the wide forwards out there where they can cause the most damage, move the ball fast. You know, if Czech Republic are defending solidly and that kind of low block defending deep type thing that teams can do, they'll have two midfielders in front of the back four from what I've seen move the ball from side to side quick make those outside to inside runs recycle the ball fast don't let it get messy don't let it get into that kind of horseshoe of death, horrible shit that is a tedious thing to watch for half an hour, that's what I'd like to see him do and I'd like to see him pick players who are most suited to that because I think if you look at say when Bellingham looked best against Spain, it was when he grabbed the ball probably midway in his own half and he could drive past Spanish players, which is an amazing thing to see given that Spain are the best international team in the world.

18:19He's clearly able to do it at the very highest level. Is there going to be any space for him to do that in this game? Probably not. So they need to be able to work out how to play in a different way to unpick that lock and get the first goal. Once they get the first goal or two, if they can, it's different, obviously. But that's how they've got to approach it. And I also wonder whether Tuchel will give a couple of other players a little look tonight. To me, it feels like something that frustrates me, and I mentioned this last week, is you pick players because you want them to be around the camp or you want them to get experience, and that's fine.

18:55But sooner or later, you're going to have to play them. And I want you to play. I want him to play Alex Scott probably at some point. I want him to play James Garner again. I want him to play. I'd like him. I mean, obviously, he's not there, but I'd like him to have played Adam Wharton just because these are really modern midfielders who offer something a little bit different, who can recycle possession quick. If you look at a couple of those players, they're really good at forward passes, right? They're progressive passes. And when you've got a situation where Declan Rice isn't there, use them, use these players.

19:25I'd like to see them do that as well. So I think if you get into a position even where you are a goal up or two goals up and half an hour to go, you bring on these really young, hungry, progressive, modern midfield players. They can really hurt teams. It's the last thing the opposition team wants to see. If someone is really good with the ball, really careful with the ball, keeps you from it. So I'd like to see him use those weapons as well. I don't know how you feel about that.

19:47Luke Moore: Yes, I feel very good about that, Luke. And I think this could be a game for Trent Alexander-Arnold. Because you would think England would be on the front foot in this game if he's in the squad, as you say, playing. At the right back? Yeah, you know, why not? That's going to upset international football's most bizarre love affair, though, isn't it, between Thomas Tuchel and Gerald Kwanzaa? Yes, that is. But I would still, I would like to see Trent start tonight. Let's put an oval peg in a round hole. I'll put him at right back. An oval peg. There is no hole for him. He's an oval peg. He hasn't fit in any hole.

20:21Luke Moore: He's an oval peg in a square. But I think he's small enough to go in any hole. So he fits in any hole? Yeah, I would say so. You play him up front if you want. But, yeah, the chat will go on. I just think that if the one thing that was really stark, I thought Kwanzaa did okay against Spain. I don't want to rehash all that chat and examine his performance. But one thing I would say is in the final third, his lack of know-how in the final third was pretty obvious. And I don't blame him for that necessarily. That's not the type of player he is. He's being asked to do a different job. I just think that's where you could get a bit of joy with Trent.

20:57Luke Moore: And just to see how he would fit into this England squad. because with his skill set, I think he is an asset. You know, I'm saying the other day on the radio that actually Trent's role for England, oddly, if England are a goal down and they need to bring a bit of chaos or they need to bring a bit of something, then he could be an impact sub at right back. Now, I don't know any other team that could do that. England could do that quite oddly because, again, against, say, take the game against Spain. Well, if Trent Alexander gets the ball, they know as well as we do what he can do with it. And so the defenders go, do we play that?

21:31Luke Moore: Do we now keep pushing up? Do we now keep squeezing him? So I think Trent has his uses, but you need to get him on the pitch to kind of figure out what that is. We know he's not great defensively, but what he brings in attack is something else. I think he is good enough defensively against Czech Republic. No, against Czech Republic, of course. You know, but again, I do, you know, at Wembley, you know, when England were 3-2 down and clearly not creating too much in the last 15 minutes, that's the type of thing where you kind of think... but a chaos factor, but a nuisance value. Do you know what I mean?

22:02Luke Moore: It seems odd to say that about a right-back position because you normally think of that as a winger or a striker. He's unorthodox. He's unorthodox, isn't he? And also, full-backs can be very, very impactful in the final third these days anyway. And Alexander-Arnold is very unorthodox, as we all know. And I can't quite remember the position I had before the World Cup, re-touch Trent Alexander-Arnold. I think you wanted him in there. Yeah, I think I did as well. And looking back on it, what seemed to have been the case was that Tuchel went for big strong lads, didn't he? And possibly because of the way the trend was going with set piece impact and all that kind of stuff at club level.

22:37So yeah, it's disappointing. I think he could definitely give you an X factor. Maybe he will feature today. And this goes back to what tonight, sorry. And this goes back to what discussion we had last week, Marcus, about there is a circus around Trent Alexander-Arnold because he clearly offers so much in a certain way that he gets a lot of column inches, a lot of chat about him in the media, us included. And I do think, I think the position I had before the World Cup was this as well. If you don't want to start him in a game, that's fine. But to suggest he's not worthy of a squad position for England, I think is ridiculous.

23:15And I will accept that it's been more than one manager that's decided that he can't start games for England. I get that's been going back for a few years, but the fact that he can't feature at all is, in my view, crazy. And I think it would be difficult watching for him, seeing Jarrell Quanta playing in that position against Mexico and against whoever else, when he's clearly not his fault and he brings what he brings, but he's a right-sided centre-back in a three-by trade and he's very limited in that position. And I think Alexander Arnau's got the right to feel frustrated. So look, maybe we will see them tonight because they can afford to have the handbrake off a bit and push for things and not worry too much defensively because Czech Republic don't have an awful lot of weapons.

24:02Could that come back to haunt them? Maybe. I doubt it will, but it could.

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26:57Luke Moore: will we see ollie mcburney starting up front for scotland against switzerland because i bloody hope so i want him to score i do want him to score we haven't seen him score this season for club or country. That's kind of, we haven't seen him slipcore for his country for about five years, have we? I know he's never scored for his country, I don't think. He's not played for five years, never scored for his country. It would be good if he, I mean, it would be great if he did. Of course, it would be a great story. He's a very likeable player. Switzerland are a difficult task compared to Slovenia, but I mean, Scotland should have won the game against Slovenia.

27:28What was great, and what I didn't say yesterday that I should have, that's the beauty of the round, but there's always another episode to put it right um i should have i should have given a little um capped off to billy gilmore yes came back in and was excellent and was basically what they missed in the world cup i mean a bit of a sickening for billy gilmore because he comes back in now and he plays really well and obviously he's great um and he could have been important for scotland in the world i agree with you able to

27:56Luke Moore: be there um and he shredded a lovely through ball to i forget if it was i think it was but yeah he he's exactly what they need in there. Yeah. And obviously with the absence of McTominay, because I think, you know, if you've got McTominay, McGinn and Gilmer in midfield three, because he played a 3-5-2 against Slovenia. If you've got those three in midfield, yeah. Yeah, Poccagnone, he loves a back three. And that's what we thought. I mean, if you're going to be really beardy about it, he likes a 3-4-1-2. And that's why I was saying about, some people said about Ben Ganandoak, it might not be the system in the formation.

28:29Luke Moore: He may be used more as an impact sub. It's a little bit of a shame, but let's give... Which is what he did against Sabino. He brought him on for Aaron Hickey on the right hand side. And so I think, you know, let's give Pocagnoli a little bit of a chance because then they have one game in charge. No, I say get him out. All right, fine. Who are you getting back in? You've got one game to save your job, Sebastian. Get Jurassic Park back in. Is that his real name? Well, it'll be his first game at Hampden tonight, Scotland manager. Yeah, he said he's really looking forward to it. You see some of the quotes from him.

28:57It's actually quite endearing. He was talking about how when he took the job, he couldn't stop thinking about how it would be to lead a team out at Hamden and, you know, the first home game. You know, he said it would be a really special moment for me the first time at home. I've been looking forward to this moment since I was appointed. It's the date in my schedule that I most wanted to experience. So he's really into it. I mean, he's really thrown himself into it. He's already calling himself the gaffer, which is great.

29:23Luke Moore: Switzerland are without Granit Xhaka and Ford Breland-Bolo this evening. So two key players not there. So Scotland's really pleased about that. Which is a shame because obviously Brilliant Bolo has never let Switzerland down in a key game. Key competitive fix, really. Ridiculously throwing himself onto the floor against Argentinean. Silly boy. I was watching that thinking, come on, knock these out. That's why I was so annoyed about it. I know. Because we are cowards. We are cowards and we want to avoid the big team. Do you remember that Julian Alvarez goal in that game? Yes, I do. What a goal.

30:00I mean, it's been overshadowed by Breerling Bolo's big story behaviour, but that was a brilliant goal.

30:07Luke Moore: It was a brilliant, brilliant goal. So anyway, look, it's great for Scotland that Swootsdam will be out two of their best players, obviously. So that's a chance for him to get up and running. I think, you know, Scotland are a massive home team, and we talk about this a lot. Teams, international nations the size of Scotland, and maybe perhaps that kind of not minnow but not kind of upper echelon team you need to be you need to build it around you need to do two things you need to build it around your home form make it an absolute cauldron to play in and you need to be able to punch above your weight and be great in the sum of your parts and i think that's why ponkoggioli's saying the stuff he's saying about hamden and about you know how excited he is and how much he wants to make it a part of it because don't forget towards the end of the Jurassic Clark era, it became very dour, didn't it?

30:58It almost seemed very negative and it almost seemed what's the point of qualifying for this tournament if you're going to approach these games in this way? And I think Ponga Gagnoli will do very, very well to be the opposite of that. Despite what results they get, he needs to make it a positive play.

31:16Luke Moore: Well, of course, Ponga Gagnoli was the one who got the call. Could have been somebody else because former Kilmarnock, Hibs, Uganda and Kenya manager Bobby Williamson revealed that he put his name forward to become the next Scotland manager. Apparently, reports are to be believed, Ali McCoy, Scott Brown and Kevin Thompson had all agreed to be his assistants. It's a mad story. I find that the most hardest thing to believe. McCoy and Scott Brown are the touchline together. Because Bobby Williamson, yeah, same. hands across Glasgow finally unifying the nation I'm sure it's happened before but you know I'm sure it has Bobby Williamson's career as a manager is incredible I mean he goes listen I don't think there's anyone in football or indeed probably any other trade that can claim they moved from Chester City to Uganda for a job Right, you imagine sitting down with the Chester City board.

32:20Yeah. Although, to be fair, he was sacked. So I guess there was a bit of a gap in between. But literally, he went from Chester City to the Uganda national team.

32:29Luke Moore: That's super. And then moved across to a Kenyan Premier League side because he got sacked from Uganda because they had a poor start to 2014 World Cup qualifying. absolutely rinsed it at Kenyan Premier League side Gore Mahia to the point where he got the Kenyan national team job. There you go. And then did that for a couple of years. And then, yeah, and then it basically hasn't worked since. And he thought he would throw it all in for the Scotland job. So, again, think of those names. McCoyston Brown particularly reportedly agreed to be his assistants. Reportedly. His European coaching license did expire 10 years ago.

33:12It's a long shot up application this

33:14Luke Moore: Yeah and he last managed Which was of course the Kenya National Team 10 years ago as well But he said his record of leading Kilmarnock To a Scottish Cup win And four regional titles with Uganda Is not a bad career and perhaps made him worthy But he did since admit That he didn't think his application was realistic But we wanted to honour Bobby By saying that the man has had a very interesting Career to date And who knows maybe another national team awaits for old Bob. I do actually agree that, you know, Kilmarnock winning a Scottish Cup is good. That's a good thing. You know, Kilmarnock don't win a massive amount of titles, you know, and we know why.

33:53And the second thing is four regional titles in Uganda. That's interesting. If you're not going to have a top level career in management, have an interesting one. Good, good for you. Does it mean you should get the Scotland job? No, but it does mean that you've had an interesting career. Good on you. Exactly, yeah.

34:09Luke Moore: And I think he did himself down there because, as you mentioned earlier, he did win the Kenyan Premier League too. Yeah. Don't hide it all under a big old bushel, Bobby. Well, he didn't because he tried to get the Scotland job, which he kind of admits himself was a bit of a piss take. Northern Ireland drew 0-0 at home to Hungary last night. Did you watch that one for the heads? Did you watch it? I had it on in the background. Yeah. I kept thinking to myself, talking of people travelling around interesting parts of the world, I did think to myself, if Simon Reeves got a new documentary out of the BBC.

34:40Luke Moore: I was like, okay, I'll just watch a little bit more of this, a little bit more of this. And I'll tell you what, actually, Simon Reeves could do worse. On his next documentary for the BBC, go on the Bobby Williamson trail. Yeah, that'd be good. Go around there. Yeah, follow where he's going. Six episodes, there's four of them even kill Marnock. So a bit strange for me. I'm starting in Chester, but don't worry. It will get more exotic. Although I hear Chester's a lovely place. Good night, Mothers in Chester. I do hear Chester's a lovely place, though, Luke, we need to say. I'm sure it is lovely.

35:09Luke Moore: The highlight of last night's proceedings for me was a banner that I saw in the Hungry End that read, Palinka is better than whiskey. Well, Palinka is like a very strong, snap, fruit-based kind of spirit. Yes, it's sort of in the brandy category. It's very, very strong. Oh, brandy, okay. Apricot is the classic flavour. You do get other flavours. Have you partaken? Oh, big time. Big time. Have you? Have you actually tried it? I have. You'd say it's nicer than whiskey? Yeah, I don't like it. It's just for the look. You know, I don't inhale. Just swish it around my mouth and then gobb it out into my plant pot when I was looking.

35:49Luke Moore: No, I have genuinely tried it. Yeah. I mean, you know me. Just, you know, tastes like beer. Come on. I'd love to see you absolutely neck a bottle of Palenka. A bottle? I don't think anybody. Don't know about that. half a bottle. Yeah, it's not as good as my fizzy aunt, is what I would say. That's very on brand of your market. But it certainly plays its part at a party. But my fizzy aunt is a different drink for a different occasion. Palenka to me feels a bit more like a nightcap. Oh, no. No, no, no. Palenka is... A Hungarian wouldn't be saying that. A palenka is for... or palenka, as how they would pronounce it, is very much for all occasions throughout out in the night.

36:34Luke Moore: So, do you know what? What time do you want me around? Yeah. Door's always open for you. It would, I think it, we need to double check this. I don't want to do anybody a disservice. Some would treat it like a whiskey. I think some people in Hungary would treat it like tequila, though, if you see what I mean. Okay. It sounds very versatile. Again, I'm on board. I think it is very versatile. I've been to Budapest for a stag weekend. I must have tried it. Oh, you would have done, surely. A long time ago now, but I must have. Yeah. If you can't remember Budapest, then that's a shame because it's a beautiful place and you've missed out on some memories.

37:09Did you know that Budapest is actually two cities, Marcus? Buddha and Pest separated by a river?

37:13Luke Moore: You've told me that before, actually. But I'm always appreciative to hear of it. Yeah. I am always appreciative. Let's finish with this. Jesse Marsh, a man that we thought we were done with at the World Cup. Yeah, we hoped. His Canada side beat Chile. or Chile as nobody pronounced it. I think we should be calling it Chile. Yeah, but like I did. You don't have to be so camp about it but you can if you want. Yeah, okay. You don't have to go Chile. But Chile is the name of the place. I've got a friend who's Chilean and he has no idea why British people pronounce it like Chile con carne. Well, why doesn't he?

37:59Well, doesn't he? Yeah, Chilean. Because he's Chilean.

38:03Luke Moore: Chile, yeah. Yeah, I think he should just get on with it, quite frankly. Do you think he should put a tie on, stand up straight and sing the national anthem?

38:18Luke Moore: No, you're talking. Well, they beat them 1-0. It's a good result for Canada, by the way. It's a brilliant result. Did you see the two sendings off? I hope you saw them. Yeah, I did, yeah. The first one was sensational. Do you think they were red cards? If you haven't seen it, you will realise. Well, the second one was the second yellow, to be fair. Yeah, true, true. No, I think they were. But the big story for my money was I promised David during his post-match interview. He was stung by a bee. Yeah, he reacted to it in the most Canadian way possible. What's that, eh? Yeah, he did say that. He said that.

39:00He actually got me, eh? He did.

39:03Luke Moore: Yeah. There we are, you see. For me, the highlight wasn't that, though. The highlight was the first sending off in which the Chilean player, I forget his name, was caught in a bit of a tussle with the Canadian player. Oh, dear. And then kind of almost like Chun-Li round-housed him in the head. And the referee looked at a bit of a weird angle at it, looked at it, thought about it, saw the Canadian player with blood streaming down his face and went, yeah, Red. Yeah. I don't think I need VAR for this one. Yeah, exactly. The blood has settled it for me. If you were the VAR, you would be like, let's send him over to the monitor just for a long.

39:43Have a look at it again.

39:46Luke Moore: Let them get the bandage on. And there we go. You can't use the monitor because it's been spattered with blood.

39:53Luke Moore: But well done to Jesse Marsh once again. Listen, as much as I'm, you know, I'm loathe to give credit to Jesse Marsh, who it's the last thing he needs, that is a good result for them. A very good result. Yeah, I mean, Canada are obviously in a bit of a moment, and to beat Chile at any time is decent, in my view. All right, then, Luke Moore. We'll end with some praise for Jesse Marsh and say thank you for listening to The Football Amel, part of the ACAST Creator Network. Luke and I will be back with Vish and Jim tomorrow. How about that? Exciting. To react to England's game. Blimey, O 'Reilly, I can't wait.

40:25Big guns out for an England game, and rightly so.

40:28Luke Moore: Yeah, absolutely. We're going to react to England's game against the Czech Republic. So get your ears around that lot. Lots of love. Thank you, Luke. Thank you, guys. And thank you, Jesse Marsh. See you tomorrow. Bye.

40:47Luke Moore: The Football Ramble is a Stack Production and part of the Acast Creator Network.

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