The Preview Show: Cycling freak

0:00I tell myself, it's not about comparing. But then I start wondering, what can they lift? Are they adding more weight to their barbell than I am? And suddenly, I'm not training. Then I realize, my journey is not theirs. I've earned every step. So I smile. My smile is the shape resilience takes to keep me moving. To put more smiles out into the world, Colgate has supported female athletes for over 50 years with the Colgate Women's Games, the nation's longest-running indoor track and field series for girls and women. Colgate, your smile is your strength. I'm Jake Stouck, co-founder and CEO of Serval.

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1:12We guarantee you'll automate 50 % of all tickets, and we'll prove it to you in a free four-week pilot. Go to serval.com slash ACAST. Acast. That's S-E-R-V-A-L dot com slash Acast.

1:33Aston Villa are off to Istanbul and Real Madrid are off to a desert island to reenact Lord of the Flies. Welcome to the Football Ramble Preview Show. It's Friday the 8th of May. I'm Luke Moore. And I'm David Cartlidge.

1:57Yes, indeed. Welcome to this Friday episode of the Football Ramble. I'm Luke and that's David. We are Bill with us today, David. Just the two of us. Indeed. It's Lord of the Flies here, isn't it? It is a little bit, actually. We've killed the rest of them off. Marcus's carcasses over there on the floor. There's bones just buried in the sand, bleaching in the sun. But you know, like Bill with us said, we can make it if we try. We can. You and I. And we will. So let's do it. Let's do it. But without further ado, let's go straight into what happened last night at Villa Park. Aston Villa 4, Nottingham Forest 0.

2:25Villa win 4-1 on Ag to take their place in their first European final for 44 years. Since, of course, they won the European Cup in 1982, beating Bayern Munich 1-0. And it was a pretty comprehensive performance from Villa in front of the future king of this nation. So it was technically, by its very nature, it was a beautiful evening in the kingdom because we got three teams in the three European finals. We'll come on to the others in a minute. And we had the future king of England in the stands pumping his fist when Villa's goals were hit in the back of the net. What do you make of it? We've got the future king of, well, Villa Park, haven't we?

3:04John McGinn. John McGinn. My word, that was emphatic. Yeah, he scored twice in three minutes to seal the win, effectively, didn't he? Yeah. The 77th and 80th minute to really make it, make it happen. Exactly. It was a bit of a plodding start, I thought. And then Watkins took a bump on his head, got bandaged up. Why does this keep happening? And then came out like a savage, scored pretty much straight after. And then there was a bit of a lull in the second half as well. Forrest tightened up and then Villa came out again and it was inspired by McGinn. I thought he was just a whirlwind in midfield.

3:34He was the best player. And Bwende was excellent as well. Golden ball in the World Cup? Yeah, absolutely. Get your money on it. It's worth a point. I know. You say that. I thought it's funny because my notes said they started pretty well I mean there's early chances from Brendia Pau Torres had like a flicked header from a corner there was a lot of energy I thought the atmosphere was massive yeah yeah exactly I think atmosphere and a bit of chaos kind of gives you the idea that they're fully just swamping them but I thought Forrest stayed pretty tight early on and they were looking decent but they did the thing a lot of teams do and they just began to retreat even more and more deeper and Pereira was trying to tell them to get out I think Milenkovic was trying to tell them to get out as well but they just wouldn't and it was too half I thought Villa were absolutely brilliant.

4:14I mean you mentioned Mlenkovic there. One of the most brain dead decisions of the season to be grabbing a shirt and throwing someone on the floor. I mean I know he plays in that way and that's his style of defending. No, it's not your style of defending. It's not allowed. You literally can't be your style of defending. When I think that's bad it's definitely bad. So yes he shouldn't have been doing that. Yeah absolutely. What style of defender are you? Well I like to grab a shirt. I like to throw people on the floor. Mostly in the penalty area. I'm not signing you as a player then. That's not a style of defending, David.

4:43This is a man who was asked, who's your favourite centre-back of all time? And he said, my top three, he goes, Nemanja Vidic, Nemanja Vidic, and Nemanja Vidic. And Franco Brazzi. Right, so you know what you're going to get. Yeah, exactly. I was also confused as to why the referee didn't see it the first time. I was like, sorry, you need a second look at that, do you? That was really bizarre. Again, I thought on first look, oh, wow, yeah, he's in the wrong. It was, it was, I think the thing, I say brain dead. I think I genuinely do mean brain dead because, you know, there was a period of football when you could get away with this kind of stuff, right?

5:12Where, you know, there were certain defenders who would develop a bit of a sixth sense for knowing where the referee was, his position, what he was looking at, what he wasn't, and they stick the elbow in, and they grab people by the shirt, and they get away with it. We are quite a long way into the VAR era now, right? I don't think it's wise to be doing that kind of stuff. I was going to say this Roberto Ayala style of defending. Great mention. Yeah, I'd say honestly He was one of the first Santa Box And he was all Any interview with the striker They all was like Yeah, you should just Give you a little dig in the ribs It's a little elbow Just a little nibble Every now and then There's so many classics The classic I always used to hear about Was the old When you go into a striker And you both end up on the floor Get up as quick as you can And then grab To help pick them up But grab their armpit hair And pull it as hard as you can Armpit hair So it looks like It looks like you're helping them up Then they lash out And you go Referee arms Try to help him That's good It's all about hair pulling these days.

6:05So maybe, yeah. It is, isn't it? Maybe Amper Hill might come back. And that to me is one of the biggest examples of the game being gone. Yeah, I couldn't agree more. Grabbing hair. I think it's unacceptable. Oh boy, Dan Ballard got done for it as well. He did. Yeah, he did. I also love the old, back in the day, you could put your front studs in the heels of the striker's boots. Yeah. And when you jump up for a header, he jumps up for a header, he leaves his boots on the ground. Yeah. Classic stuff. Classic dark art stuff. Nobody wants to get caught there as well. I'm telling you. But they didn't really need any dark arts, did they?

6:35I mean, Forrest was struggling big time. It was a game too much for them, really. Obviously, it now kind of justifies Unai Emery's decision to play a disgraceful side against Spurs, which basically let the country down. I think, you know, I've got no particular affinity towards Spurs, nor do I have any animosity towards them either. But it is unequivocally the case that Spurs being relegated would be a massively hilarious story for us neutral. Yeah, yeah, of course. And Aston Villa, I'm going to say it, in front of the future King of England, possibly, they let the country down against Spurs. They did, but they didn't want to let the King down.

7:15No, they didn't. And they absolutely rescued it against Forrest. I thought Brandia, the aforementioned Brandia, was crucial for Villa, wasn't he? Those feet for that Watkins goal. Joe Cole, I'm going to say it now, Joe Cole almost ejaculated in the commentary box. Yeah, he did. It was exactly his type of feat. It's what he was known for, wasn't it, Cole? It was. I was going to say, it was a bit of a Gary Neville noise on the way there from Coral Boy. No, he did it discreetly, though. Yeah, yeah. Just in his pants. No one knew about it. Wasn't performative. No, exactly. Crucially, it was just because he enjoyed it.

7:48Yeah, Wendy is a fun player. He really, really is. And I mean, what? He's had a few injuries through the years and such and lack of consistency. Is it consistency with him? That's what it is. I think it is. It's consistency. Because from a player point of view, he is. He's lovely. and he suits that Villa team very, very well, I think. And when you look at their attack, what they've got. So I didn't think Rodgers was particularly good last night, but it didn't really matter because Buendia stepped up so much and obviously McGinn did. But in terms of that line of attack, I thought it was Buendia who ran the show.

8:14You mentioned McGinn. I thought Buendia was mad at the match. Yeah, yeah. But either way, I'm happy with either. Fine, okay, good. So Villa will march on to play Freiburg in the final, who beat Braga 3-1 last night, 4-3 on aggregate. Freiburg, they've never won a major trophy before, but will Villa be fearful of the 2001 South Baden Cup champions at Freiburg? I don't think so. I think they should be extremely confident. I think it's a lot more difficult for Palace versus Rio. We'll go into Palace in a minute. Palace versus Rio in the other final but I think Villa should beat Freiburg. I think it's going to be a bit of a basketball match which Emery will really, really like.

8:50Is that how Freiburg will be? Yeah, I think it's going to be exactly that. I think there's going to be a lot of open. If you look at that first leg, the way that Forrest set up and how they played, that was what Emery does not want to face. He wants to face a team who is also going to be stretched as well. And I think Freiburg will give him that. Freiburg have won the Baden-Württemberg Oberliga in 2017, so it's worth bearing in mind that they could be dangerous. But overall, it was a good performance by Villa. Great to see Emery doing his thing in his natural habitat. It's a bit like David Attenborough celebrating his 100th birthday this week, of course.

9:22It's a bit like a nature documentary watching Emery in the Europa League. It's basically him in the wild. This is how he would behave normally. His natural habitat, as you say. He's out there. He's hunting wildebeest. He's popping out the river, grabbing a wildebeest in the shape of Nottingham Forest and throwing it into the river and stuff. He's going to be winning that competition when he's about 75, 85 or something like that. Honestly, he's going to stick around. He's going to be taking a Greek... I was going to say, when he dies, we're not talking about death at the moment because it is David Attenborough's literally his 100th birthday today.

9:55So we should probably mark that in some way after the show. maybe go out and take a photo of a parakeet or something. They're all over London. But I do think when Emery finally shuffles off this mortal coil, you know, leaves this veil of tears, when fate breaks his stride for the final time, they could name this competition after him. They might well do, yeah, I was going to say. Because you think there'd be big favourites against Freiburg in the final. Anyway, enough of that nonsense. Let's move on to the next game on this running order, which is Crystal Palace are through to the final of the I watched the highlights back this morning, league, beating Shakhtar the next 2-1 and 5-2 on aggregate.

10:34Crystal Palace reached their first ever European final. And I love this. After 119 years without a major trophy, they're one game away from winning two major trophies in two seasons. If you want to call the Europa Conference League a major trophy, do you want to call it a major trophy? I think it is a major trophy for clubs of a certain size. That's not what I asked. That's my caveat. that's where it is so to me it's not a minor trophy because it's European in its nature so what level is it? it's not Anglo-Italian in European nature it's not Intertoto so to me it sits above Intertoto but obviously below Europa League but what's your cut off on major and minor?

11:16I think calling it a minor trophy is quite disrespectful it's definitely not a minor trophy like you said I think it's just in that rung in between. I mean, the end of the Total Cups are a joke. Come on. You can't put it anywhere near that. I used to go and watch sports within the Anglo-Italian Cup in the 90s. All right, okay. Yeah. But they'd have like this invitational thing. Have you heard of this? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. For those listening who are a bit younger, it was like an invitational cup between certain English and Italian teams for what I can, for absolutely no reason I could make that.

11:49I don't know the reason why. No, there was no reason to tell me. I was going to say. There was absolutely no reason. Back when football was just people liked it. Yeah. so we just do it it wasn't all about money all the time yeah we hate it now don't we so you'd literally go and like you'd rock up on like a Tuesday night right and you'd go and watch like Portsmouth play Perugia that sounds good that sounds good from memory I'll have to check later but from memory it's like in the middle of the season as well it's incredible anyway Crystal Palace did beat Shaq to have the next 2-1 5-2 on aggregate I do like to steer away from just describing goals in this show because I don't think what the show's all about but I cannot stress enough how few people have watched this game last night.

12:25So I am going to describe a goal. At one point, Egwinaldo, the amazingly named Egwinaldo, who's a Brazilian at Shakhtar because of course he is. Of course, of course. He scored a goal last night that was exactly the same as Harry Kane's goal against PSG, but miles slower. And it was an amazing metaphor for what the Conference League actually is. So it's football, but not as good. Yeah, they can provide magic as well in that competition. No, come on. No, Shakhtar were very decent for quite long spells. They really were, but... So you watched this? Did you dual screen it? I've done my research, man.

12:56I've done Andy Brasslin. I had both screens on it. I knew I was coming on here this morning. Did you? Not really. I've been moving house, so I don't know what's going on. So you slapped on your Montclair Gile with Andy. Exactly. And you double screened it and watched this game. And the Shakhtar Dunets were apparently quite good. Some garish pants. Big gold watch as well. I was in full brass mode. So yes, Shakhtar were decent in places. They really were. But look, the result the Palace got from the first leg, they did all the legwork there to get that, to be in this position what they were and Palace eventually they're just so clinical with the players they've got they're really Sars just unbelievable he scored again last night didn't he six goals in his last five conference league games I'm sure he scored all of his goals in the knockout stages as well I think it's about nine and like twelve or something like that he would definitely be a top scorer in the Anglo-Italian Cup absolutely he'd be the best player there he's got 19 goals this season which I think's gone under the radar that's a very very good season considering if you look at Palace I think the 15th in the league right now you know in where they've been and troubles they've had let's go under the radar 19 goals is very good across all competitions two things you've said there have gone under the radar and if I may say so that means it's excellent broadcasting from you David well done that goal telling from Isla Asart is actually quite unbelievable and secondly Crystal Palace aren't technically safe from relegation no which is baffling to think of it's a bit weird we've just been talking about Villa and I always remember Emery when he was in charge of Sevilla going for the Europa League they didn't win all year away from home and it's almost it's like this in terms of like Palace are kind of like we're chucking the league we want the big European nights and everything like that which I get which I like we want the big European nights but we can't get our admin right behind the scenes to get us actually qualifying for it fans want pots and yeah they do Glasner said we're going to win a pot and that is what's happening there and they might they're favourites for a problem it's going to be a tricky final like I said I think Ryo's a great side they play Ryo Vekanahura basically a mid-table La Liga side because they beat Strasbourg 1-0 last night and I think they've got one of the next very good slash great European managers in your goal peros.

14:54We'll save that for your foreign muck show. We will. There's a British link though. Irola tried to bring him to Bournemouth but I think the Brexit rules are the passports and what have you couldn't get him over. So he would have been over earlier but very, very good coach. So he's going to be one. Him versus Glasner is going to be a great in the final because very big clash of styles. And Glasner will crucially actually probably quite care a lot about this. Massive. Because he's not cared that much about the Premier League since he's wrapped his hand in. Yeah, and I'm a big fan. I love Glasner.

15:19I think he's absolutely brilliant. Do you have any insight into where he's going to go next? I mean, there's a lot of talk of getting a decent job in Germany as well. And I mean, who knows? If Dortmund continue to fall away or anything like that, then you know they might just fancy a change there. But there's a couple of big clubs in Germany where it can go to. And is there any precedent for an Austrian to conquer Germany? That's fine. He's experienced in Germany. Let's not get rid of that. Hey, Tom, little Hitler joke for you there, mate. You keep that one in there if you want. Yeah, keep that one in, yeah.

15:45Can I also just wrestle this back to actual football? Sorry about the nonsense, everyone. What did Marcus normally say? Oh, sorry for the bollocks. Sellers Park was pumping last night as well. Brilliant. So we've got three English sides going to the three European finals. And Arsenal, Villa and Palace were all absolutely rocking for each of those games on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. It was incredible to watch, actually. I heard Jim talk about it on Wednesday. So it's the best atmosphere at the Emirates that he's ever witnessed, I think he said. It really came across on the TV how pumping it was there.

16:18Oh, massive. And I actually think that the Emirates is a bit underrated these days. I think everybody's in unison and everybody's, you know, going on this, not being disgruntled at different things. Then, yeah, everybody's on the same wavelength. And of course, you create a great atmosphere. But look, Villa and Palace are an unbelievable atmosphere as well. I mean, Palace is no surprise. I think they've got some of the best fans in the league. And they're one of the teams who's actually got a really good home atmosphere. I don't think many clubs have in the Premier League. And they actually have in the way that they're generated.

16:42And I mean, for the final for them, they're going to travel en masse. I mean, there's not going to be any left in South London for that, I don't think. Maybe Glasner could just stay. Get it done. Win the trophy. Cheers. Take that back to South London with you. I'm staying here. He might. What happens if he wins though? It might be one more year chance and he might go. He's not going to do that. No, no, he's not. He's not going to do that. No way. He's probably like, oh, I'm going to lose Wharton. I'm going to lose Sarr. He's like, I'm not doing, I'm not doing any more Pilates with Steve Parrish.

17:06Yeah, exactly. It's not happening. I've done my last, I've done my last Bikram yoga session with Parrish. I'm not, I'm not sticking around. By the way, you mentioned Iriola earlier. This is an interesting story that came out last night. Iriola is apparently close. Is El Chiringuito in Spain a reliable source? No. A joke. A set of clowns. Okay, right. Yeah, yeah. Honestly. They are reporting that Iriola may join Crystal Palace. Are you putting any stock in that whatsoever? No. Because that would be an incredible get for them. I thought you'd go back to Athletic Club. I said this a couple of weeks ago.

17:38Yeah. But that is an incredible get for Palace if they get him. absolutely astonished I'm not told as well I thought I didn't even bother calling him up so which really surprised me so I'm not too sure where he's going to go I don't think Palace is the right move I don't really get that you're not putting any stock in that at all no it's from Chiringuito if it was from somebody else then I might actually okay what about if it's from a bit of Romano no likewise no no no who's your favourite source Orny Orny it's Orny Orny and nobody else if it comes from Orny then that's it I don't even trust anybody I honestly don't trust anybody else it's literally Orny so okay local election results coming through this morning you need to hear it from Ornstein you need to hear massive reform gains needs to be ratified instantly by David Ornstein he's never got it wrong honestly listeners tell me a time where Ornstein's got it wrong and I'll hold my hands up and say oh he's got it wrong but I don't think he has there was a while back where he reported something big I forget what it is now but I knew I know Ornstein a bit as I'm fond of boasting about on this show and I know for a fact when this big news broke that he broke first he was on holiday in Disney World with his family That's incredible.

18:40That's how good he is. That's how good he is. That's mad. I like to picture him in the Disney Beach Club resort, right? Laptop open, curtains drawn, the sound of kids playing outside, and he's like, fucking new contract for Mikel Arteta. And I'll get on the roller coaster in a minute. Actually, I like to think of him on Space Mountain. I was literally about to say, I'm picturing him in the queue for Space Mountain, and he's got Fast Pass tickets, where he's been waiting in the slow queue. And his kids are like, dad with me Whitney for two hours. No, don't talk about his kids. He's not a bad dad.

19:11He's a great dad. I was talking about generic kids earlier. I was talking about his kids. He's an excellent dad. I'm just saying breaking big news from Disney World is some fucking nasty work. And I rate it. I absolutely rate it. Anyway, Palace are at home to Everton on Sunday. Does anyone care about that game? No, they don't. Astrid are at home to Burnley. No one cares about it either. What games do we care about? Let's find out after the break. Oh, can Liverpool condemn Chelsea to a seventh defeat in a row. I really fucking hope so. Yeah, we care about this one.

19:51I'm Jake Stouck, co-founder and CEO of Serval. We built Serval to automate the IT work that slows companies down. Onboarding, password resets, access to applications, my laptop stopped working. While employees wait for help, their real work is put on hold. IT desperately wants to automate this work, and that's why they need Serval. You just tell Serval what you want to automate in plain English, and it's built. No drag-and-drop workflows, no expensive consultants. Employees get unblocked, and IT teams go from drowning in tickets to building what actually matters. With Serval, IT becomes the AI engine powering the entire company.

20:30This is a new way to run IT. We guarantee you'll automate 50 % of all tickets and we'll prove it to you in a free four-week pilot. Go to serval.com slash ACAST. That's S-E-R-V-A-L dot com slash ACAST.

20:57Have I ever criticized Mo Salah on the pitch? what a couple of weeks ago you said his legs had gone no I don't grasp that as that's something that happens to every player welcome back to the Football Ramble here on a Friday it's the preview show of me and David that is a classic from Cara I love that honestly one of the moments of the season where do you rate that alongside him spitting at that car I like it better than him spitting honestly it was just because it's more in situ yeah yeah exactly he hates that doesn't he yeah he's really got bugged about that yeah yeah well speaking of Mo Salah.

21:31Liverpool host Chelsea on Saturday at lunchtime, 12.30. Tomorrow, in fact. Yeah, Chelsea, as I said, trying to avoid a seventh straight loss in the Premier League. I kind of felt like, I don't know how you feel, David, but I felt like Liam Rizini was basically just getting in the way with his kind of his LinkedIn nonsense, his Jake Humphrey adjacent nonsense. Yeah, he did get out of the way, to be fair to him. I mean, he was made to, but he did do it. It wasn't like a Donald Trump thing. He didn't say, right, get down and fight or you're not going to have a football club left anymore. where he just left posted a LinkedIn post about all his learnings about how there's an opportunity for growth and then they fucking lost anyway so it didn't actually make too much difference but then as I said that Liverpool aren't most very reliable either so how do you think this is going to go?

22:15I think it's going to be a bit of a mess I think so it's going to be one of those games where you really really see where both clubs slash teams are at in their current development in their current stage and how many changes are needed in the summer and such are we in the phase now David where like it's like right we're just playing for next season now that's literally oh come on players already on the team bus looking at because Liverpool are going to get Champions League aren't they Chelsea are completely fucked their record recently has been appalling I mean it's an absolute disaster it really is I told you before I think it's a time bomb at that club I think it's going to be a mad mad revelation soon I think so I completely agree I'm sorry but no team can circumvent through the amount of losses they had and I don't care about all the contracts that they had and how they're structured and everything that is an absolute mess on and off the pitch.

23:01I don't think anything's going right there. And there's noises keep coming out about, oh, they're going to buy a bit more experience this summer. And I think, I don't see it. I don't see it. And also, what player who's 26, 27 is going to want to go there anyway when the ones who are the older statesmen, your Enzo's, your Cook-Orella's, are the ones who's complaining the most about the current things there. It's a really, really weird situation. And I brought this up again the other day, but if I was a fan of Chelsea, I'd just be incensed at what I'd be protesting every week yeah but they are protesting to be fair to them yeah they are they're being good I tell you what Chelsea fans are good like that because it was the same with the Super League I think they were one of the most vocal when that came to the fore as well and they've been really good like that but my word what a mess and what a state to see your club especially when you go I always think of Chelsea Mourinho comes in they change the entire identity of that club of being a laughter to being winners yeah consistent strong team they used to be parking cars behind the goal exactly they were an absolute joke other London clubs laughed at them and then Mourinho changed that entire identity and then they're willingly now throwing that away to become this London-based version of Brighton with no disrespect to Brighton, by the way, but it's that sort of model that they're operating in.

24:12Well, a lot of people who live in London and get rid of it do move to Brighton. Yeah, yeah. Brighton's London on sea, really. Yeah, exactly. So maybe that's what they're looking at. I've got two questions for you, David. One is, will a win in the FA Cup and the prize money involved cover the£700 million loss? just a quick yes or no no and is there anything in the fact that some people are frantically trying to link Xavi Alonso to the club no that's pretty easy sorry enjoy you so much Chelsea fans just a yes or no question obviously regardless of which type of Liverpool turn up obviously Anford is quite an intimidating place to go but Liverpool well not really I don't know why I said that but Liverpool are also expected this is the I mean you talk about Chelsea terribly run abysmal time bomb of a fucking operation going on there.

24:58I totally agree with what you're saying. But Liverpool are briefing out that Arna Slott is probably going to stay, which I find... I mean, Xavi Alonso is literally right there. He'll want the job. He'll do it. I don't know if he's going to be good or not. I mean, obviously, his time at Real Madrid turned out to be difficult. Obviously, he lost his job in January. That is not a reflection on him based on what we're about to talk about at Real Madrid in a minute. But Leverkusen is obviously sensational. He gets the club, which I know this is like a proper cliche thing to say. And, you know, the sports horn guys, you know, the exploding heads guys will just laugh at this if they ever hear it.

25:36But he does get the club. He knows the club really well. And to Liverpool fans, that's really important. And I think the underpinning disappointment with Slott, despite the fact that he won the league last season, is that he just doesn't seem to get it. He doesn't seem to understand. And not as bad as this, but it's almost a bit Roy Hodgson energy, despite the fact that he lifted the league title last season. And Alonso is obviously not going to be there. And he's literally standing right there. All you've got to do is walk up and shake his hand. Yet they're going to probably stick with Slott, they're saying.

26:06I find this very surprising. No, I do as well. And look, as long as he stays there, I think the chances are that it creates more toxicity increase. Because if Slott stays there, and Jabby Alonso by hook or by crook stays on the job market, he is constantly going to be there and everybody's going but Xabi is there but Xabi is there you can't complain Xabi is there and that's all they're going to be like all the time and have you seen enough from Alonso to think that he would be able to make an impact 100 % completely forget everything that happened at Real Madrid we'll maybe touch on that but we are going to touch on Real Madrid in a minute for sure so forget that he is a brilliant brilliant coach and whoever gets him next is probably going to have him for three to five years and he's going to change a lot at a club and he's going to win a lot as well.

26:51I think he's a brilliant coach. Real Madrid are one of those clubs. Weirdly enough, it's like the aforementioned Chelsea. As a manager, you can go there, it can go to shit and you don't really suffer reputationally because it's like, well, it's Real Madrid or, oh, it's Chelsea, you know, and that's just how it goes. It just is. I was going to say, you get your reputation enhancers, if anything. Well, not always. A lot of them do, though. If you look at a lot of the managers that have been kind of ousted from there over time in acrimonious circumstances from even winning stuff and then getting let go their reputation a lot of them have increased straight away after well let's talk about Real Madrid yeah we might as well there's plenty to talk about because fifth apparently I had to double check this number but apparently it's true a frankly ridiculous 50 million Real Madrid fans slash just people on the internet and I think it's important to have that distinction in there have signed a petition demanding that Kylian Mbappe be sold after he took a holiday with his girlfriend to Sardinia.

27:49He's injured at the moment. Yeah. Presumably he's allowed to go on holiday when he's injured. I don't know, what injury has he got? I'm not too sure what injury exactly it is, but... It's not precluding him from going on holiday. Oh, no, exactly. But the issue that a lot of Real Madrid players have is that, and this is something that's been put in the Spanish press, he's been going to see his own doctor. So it's one of those things where he's been going privately to somewhere, not a team doctor, and then things have come out in the French press criticising Real Madrid's medical department. So people's like, oh, that's coming from Mbappe.

28:22That's been going on for a wee while, right? There was a big thing where none of the players would talk to the physio. Yep. And the physio... She's come out and said all sorts. Like basically asking people... She was saying, oh, they've been asking AI about certain injuries and things. All just ridiculous, ridiculous stories. So it's off the back of that, the criticism that Real Madrid's medical department are getting and what have you. But yes, generally speaking with Mbappe, Look, Real Madrid fans have not taken to him. The media hasn't really taken to him. Top paid player there. Everything that everybody thought about him at PSG and how he was a bit of a torment in the dressing room there, a bit of a diva and all this, has transferred to Real Madrid.

28:58So every worst fear that people had about Mbappe at Real Madrid is kind of being realised. Well, the petition reads, Madrid Easter's make your voice heard. If you believe change is needed, don't stay silent. Sign this petition and stand for what you think is best for the club's future. I wondered whether Mbappe was just heading to Sardinia on a boat because it's the safest place for him given how much fighting's going on at the training ground. Yeah, it's the best place for him. I've already upped myself. I don't want to get chinned as well. Because, I mean, the tensions at Renwood would have been compounded by reports that Mbappe was involved himself in a confrontation with a member of the club's coaching team.

29:32Apparently, he spoke angrily in insulting terms to a member of staff who called him off siding a training game. And it's like an episode of a reality show there. I mean, all they seem to do fight at the moment. I mean, we talked about the players versus the physio. I don't think there was a suggestion of a physical altercation there, but it was a bit of a row. Chiomeni had a fight with Fede Valverde. So they had, this was a great one. And this is what I'm saying, it's like Lord of the Flies, right? No one's allowed to talk unless they've got the conch, which in this case is a football. And they had a little dust up, Chiomeni and Valverde.

30:03So then one of the coaches put them on the same team in the five-a-side to stop and fight so they worked together, which basically just put them in closer proximity to each other. then they had a massive fight to the point where Valverde had to go to hospital with a head injury after Chirmeni presumably chinned him. Yeah, but that's what people are saying. I mean, Valverde has come out, oh, it's all been exaggerated and everything. Valverde, obviously, tough little Uruguayan. He doesn't want to be seen if he's getting chinned by anyone. I'd be briefed if that was me. If me and you were having a fight, actually, I'd be Chirmeni in this because I'm bigger, aren't I?

30:31Yeah, So if you and I had a fight in the Ramble studio, you're Valverde, I'm Chirmeni,

30:41But you're immediately briefing to Ornstein that you didn't actually get hurt. You know, you actually booked in the hospital for a routine appointment anyway for an ingrown toe now and it was nothing to do with the fact that I chinned you. Exactly. That's what Valverde's doing here. You're briefing to Romano. And this is what they do at Real Madrid. You say they brief to different sources as well. Of course they do. Which is another big issue. So it's a mess. Valverde's thinking, I can't be on the wrong end of a fight in a World Cup year. No, absolutely not. And also the sources are saying that apparently some of Valverde's challenges on Chiuameni were an attempt to try and put Chiuameni out of the World Cup.

31:15I like that. Unbelievable. Vicious. The scene is so typically you're a guy. There was also Antonio Rudiger versus someone recently as well. Carreras. Carreras, ex-manning at Benfica. So yeah, they had a little to do and apparently Rudiger gave him a little slap as well. So it is just a complete and utter mess on different levels at Real Madrid. And look, a lot of this anger stems from earlier in the season just being talked about Javi Alonso. where certain groups of players took sides. And from what I understand, a lot of the French players were with Xabi Alonso and wanted to stay. And Valverde was apparently the ringleader of the gang wanting Alonso out.

31:51So there's a lot of just built up tension from across the course of the season here. So presumably, if he got his own way, why is he still fighting? Well, apparently they don't like Abelot now and there's two different camps for that. No, I'm not even joking as well. There's a gang disliking Abelot and undermining him and then there's others who are behind him it is an absolute disaster even by Real Madrid standards this is a serious serious disaster and it's a terrible season for them on the pitch as well right yeah absolutely and they've got a small game upcoming though a classico yeah right exactly I mean Barcelona won't ever do anything just have a turn up they're licking their lips yeah exactly I mean if I'm Barcelona players I'm really really jibing them about this and just saying oh why are you fighting me why don't you want to fight one of your players they can really go in that's a zinger that that needs some work though it needs to be punchier than that back to Liverpool they're looking to recover from a 3-2 loss to Man Utd it is a difficult game to call because neither team is particularly reliable Liverpool haven't shown themselves to turn up be able to turn up on big occasions this is not a big occasion anyway and their season is effectively over because obviously they're going to finish in the Champions League Chelsea are in total disarray it will be a Saturday lunchtime treat I sometimes feel like the Saturday lunchtime games are a bit sluggish and you get up and you're really up for it and you settle in and you time your son's nap perfectly to watch the kick-off and then they turn out a terrible nil-nil or something.

33:17And do you remember those Liverpool-Chelsea games from back in the day? It was an amazing rivalry when Liverpool and Chelsea were both actually good but the games would always be so fucking shit. Can you remember one of the UEFA officials said, oh, these are the two top teams in England. This is shit on a stick. Shit on a stick. That was the great shit on a stick quote, wasn't it? Those games were brutal, like really, really brutal. I wish Liverpool would have some fights in the training ground. Yeah, yeah, exactly. lighten it up a bit oh no just quickly before we move on there have been surely fights in training grounds at top clubs every single week since we started the show of course there has yeah but why so why do people lose their mind about it because because every now and then because someone's been hospitalised yeah exactly it's gone too far I think somebody's been hospitalised the size of the club as well to Real Madrid so I imagine people are fighting up and down the country at League 1 League 2 sides all the time and they're probably looking at this going Jesus Christ that's nothing what happened with us and everything like that.

34:07We got in a fight on a night out or whatever it is when we were drunk or whatever like that. Balotelli and Mancini at City, I remember. That was a good one. Remember, what was it, Harton and Bercovich? That was always the famous one I remember as a youngster because that was the first, I think that was my first. You booted him in the fight? Yeah, yeah. That was the first time I saw something like that as a kid and it was all on the paper and splashed over. There was a great photo of the boot actually connecting with the fight. Wasn't there, that was on the pitch when the Shearer against Neil Lennon.

34:36Yes, that was right. Yeah, that was it. But the Manchini-Baiateli one came about, I think if I remember correctly, that came about because there was a public footpath down the side of Man City's training ground and photographers kept getting in there and taking photos. And they had to do something about it in the end. I think they might have even moved. They have moved now, haven't they? Because they're not there anymore. But that was the reason that kept coming out. It kept leaking because the proximity the photographers could get to the training ground itself. Anyway, what about, before we go for a break, why don't we talk about your beloved Sunderland?

35:04They play Man United this weekend. it's actually been announced David great news for you it's been announced that Sir Dave Brailsford not at the realm so be respectful has left his role as a director at Man United a year ago when Man United announced David Brailsford was stepping back from his role you tweeted the best move they can make getting some little cycling freak away from football absolutely you weren't a fan of the appointment in the first place absolutely not you can fuck off back to his leg right now and he's 6 million in your salary 6 million just to go in and TED Talk and waffle your way through sports so he gets paid 6 million by Ineos to sit across all their different sporting things and just say stuff just say high performance shit marginal gain shit all that absolute fucking waffle it's a lot of money isn't it it is it's a ridiculous amount of money it just goes to show it is waste will some of them put Maynard to the sword to remedy that I don't know I mean we'll see we'll see I'm not too confident about it to be honest with you but it's one of those where I think players are on the holidays and what have you It's funny because Sunderland basically, I know this is like disrespectful to the season ticket holders who've paid money to go and watch them and the integrity of the competition, etc.

36:13But Sunderland's season is basically just over now. And I do think in practical terms, it is difficult to probably raise that level. I don't think people fully understand the absolute peak level you need to be at to win a Premier League game unless you're playing Wolves at home or Burnley at home these days or whatever. But you know what I mean? the reason that Sunderland have dropped off in recent weeks is basically because they know the job is done the assignment they set themselves at the start of the season is done now does that excuse you losing five in New Orleans, Nottingham Forest? No it doesn't but it's not surprising they are now losing games is it?

36:53No no of course not I think it's that mentality of like oh like you said job done, why do more? They're just happy, they hit the 40 point mark that was kind of it they were safe probably long ago really and I think that's where you are in your head and it's a case of again looking at where you're going to go on holiday and honestly it really is that and I mean look Manning Haidt's job is done as well so this is just going to be a bit of a love in for Ahmad Diallo really I'm on board with that I'm on board with that he's a mag alright coming up after this let's talk about the title race it's still going on

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39:08All right, welcome back to the Football Ramble preview show. Let's do Man City first then, because let's do it chronologically, because Man City play Brentford on Saturday tea time, and obviously Arsenal are playing on Sunday. Man City playing before Arsenal means a win would close the gap at the top back to two points after Man City drew with Everton on Monday. Earlier in the week, Pep Guardiola said that Rodri still hasn't trained with the team. But then Brentford have been, like Brentford have been amazing. They've honestly been amazing this season. I'll give you a little spoiler alert here when we do our prediction reveal towards the end of the season.

39:42I actually predicted Brentford to be relegated this season. No, I totally understand that. Overall, they've been so good. I had lots of chats with people about like, who's the teams who aren't coming up who are going to be in the danger? Everybody was like Wolves. and then Brentford I was another one I'm happy to go on record and say as well I thought Brentford were going to be knee deep in trouble but they've been brilliant they really really are the players they lost in the summer yeah it's a tale as old as time though they lose players they bring other players in to replace them and they also extract a bit more from certain players already at the club as well yeah but it's that and then there's what they went through I mean the amount of goals it was losing the manager this time wasn't it they lost Frank so people thought oh that's kind of like a brick too far but it's also I know Visser I know Visser's been a bit of a forgotten man this season massive for them absolutely massive for them Norgard was big for them too and I think you know if Arsenal do fall short this season some people say you know use Norgard much when they could have you know they've run say Zubimendi into the ground or whatever I mean they may still win the Premier League and the Champions League so who cares what I think they also lost Mark Flecken who's their keeper I know that a lot of Brentford fans think Flecken was a bit limited I think they've got a better goalkeeper it's still unsettling to lose two big scorers a defensive field player used to play all the time from what I remember and your goalkeeper in the same summer and they've improved I mean it's bonkers I was going to say I think they got I think they got a better goalkeeper and they got a better centre forward than Wisser in Igo Thiago as well which is clearly being seen and this is what they do they replace well they replace really well they can lose whoever it is they can lose another two or three this summer I'm not too sure who would go but they can lose another two or three and you'd probably back them to be good again and to bring in some random player from Belgium or Germany who will just turn into an absolute star and that's just what Brentford do and look Europe's still on as well and especially with the Villa situation as well so Villa win Europa finish fifth which is looking like they will then that opens up the next slot so Brentford your Brentford your Bournemouth are going to be going hell for leather for this and we talk about that's the thing we're talking about teams who have got nothing to play for now we're talking about Brentford, Bournemouth they've got a lot to play for they have but you know what in the last six games I know they won last time out but some of the results they've had recently though have been so disappointed by their own standards.

41:55Like, drawing it home to Wolves, drawing it, I mean, drawing it at Ellen Rose is not a terrible result to be fair. Drawing it home to Everton and drawing it home to Fulham in one of the worst games of the season. You pick up, turn two of those into wins, right? You're right up there and it's possibly, I haven't said what I just said about how brilliant they have been, which they have, at the start of the season you absolutely would take it but, you know, the opportunity was there for them to do something absolutely seismic, you know, because they could have finished fifth and they're not going to finish fifth now.

42:27No, I don't think so. I don't think so. I really don't. And like you said, they had some of those results. And it's funny, I spoke to a few Brentford fans. There's a few people like still kind of, Keith Andrews' football is absolutely dire. Right. So there's like still a few little... He looks great though. I mean, yeah. Great hair. Oh yeah, lovely locks. Lovely locks. Some of the best touchline locks in the league, I think. I think you'd have to say so. Yeah, I mean, Iriola's got a very, very thick head of hair. Decent, but it's not as nice as Andrew's. It'll start turning grey when he's in South London paying nine quid for a pint.

42:53Scotty Parker's gone, so he can't have his hair. Parker's gone, exactly. He no longer exists to us. He is Julie Anderton. Brentford won at Man City in 2022. Do you remember, Ivan Tony scored a really, really late winner. If they win on Saturday tea time, I mean, it's going to be cloud nine. I don't think that's necessarily going to happen, but you never know. I mean, like I say, Brentford have definitely got it in there. locker. Yeah. They could stink the place out, as you would say, David, and get a result up there. Man City are renaming their stadium for this game, by the way. It'll be called the City in the Community Etihad Stadium as part of the ongoing recognition of the club's official charity.

43:32Just putting that charity work front and centre in light of these charges. Have I mentioned all the charity work that we do to try and get, maybe try and get a lighter sentence? Is that a cynical way of looking at it? Lovely club. Oh, is that right? Yeah. And Ruben Diaz is voicing travel announcements for the buses and trams on matchday routes as well. I don't think I've ever heard Ruben Diaz speak. No, I haven't. So I'm not sure what that'll sound like. Have we got an audio clip of that, Tom? No, we haven't. He shakes his head violently that we haven't. I just see him pictured with Maya Jama.

44:01Oh, is he with Maya Jama? I think he's with Maya Jama. I'm sure he's with Maya Jama. Oh, good on him. What a life. Yeah, yeah. The producer's not saying no, yes. He's up on his celeb gossip. I've never heard him speak either. I've just seen him with Maya Jama. He's completed life. Holy Trinity. playing top level football in the Premier League beautiful wife and voicing travel announcements for buses and trams on match day routes which is something that we'd all he's tall and very good looking as well I often have this my wife says to me who's the best looking footballer in the Premier League and I often say Ruben Diggs and if I was to offer you to rank these in an order so it's I know you're very happily partnered off and you've got a wonderful son and all the rest of it but just indulge me on this Maya Jammer is your girlfriend friend, you're playing football for Man City and you are voicing travel announcements for buses and trams on matchday routes in Sunderland.

44:51Where are you ranking those in order of preference? My jam is top. Yeah, it doesn't matter. The others.

45:00Excellent. Good answer. Man City, by the way, they also recently threw a leaving party for Bernardo Silva. I looked up the restaurant they went to. I couldn't find anything interesting about it. So let's talk about West Ham versus Arsenal on Sunday tea time. So it wasn't Wings? That's not Wings. I was going to say that. They went to a place called Louie's. They went to a place called Louie's, sorry, in Manchester. It was an Italian-American restaurant. I was about to say, is that Italian-American? Yeah, I was going to say. It is. It seems to be a very, very, I mean, obviously quite expensive because footballers are going there.

45:30But a pretty standard, you know, set menu Italian restaurant. I can just imagine a guy called Tony with all of his hair out and a medallion. They've always got... Comes out and takes the order. They've always got a... I don't know if you know this about Italian-American restaurants. they always have a portrait of the owner and usually his family on the wall. Yeah. And it's massive. Yeah. Honestly, there is a place in Connecticut. Where is it? It might be Hartford in Connecticut. Not far from where my wife's family's from. Called Frank Pepe's, right? And it's one of the 450 restaurants in that part of the world that claims to have invented the pizza, right?

46:06Right. Yeah. It's Frank Pepe's it's called. And Frank, I don't think, is any longer with us, sadly. But he started this restaurant way back in the day. And there is a painting of him sitting on a rock overlooking, I think, Naples, the Bay of Naples or something. And no joke, the painting, I reckon, is probably 40 feet long and 10 feet high. It's this massive long, like, panoramic painting of him. It just dominates the entire room. They always do that. I love that. Anyway, West Ham v. Arsenal, Sunday, T-Tom at 4.30. West Ham are currently on their best run at home since moving to the London Stadium.

46:41Six games unbeaten, three wins, three draws. For the crack, for the culture, I think we'd like to see a Man City win at home. I think we will see that. And then we'd like to see Arsenal struggle on Sunday at West Ham. Because West Ham are obviously fighting for their lives. And West Ham have got animosity against any other London club. We know that. It would be amazing for them to make this difficult for Arsenal, wouldn't it? It would. We had a laughing earlier in the week of Arsenal, mate, on the Ramble. We need to fucking get stuck into them now. I'm glad I wasn't there for that. So as a neutral, I want to see everything final day.

47:19I've honestly got no horses in this race, whether it be relegation or whether it be the league title as well. So I just want to see everything go down to the wire. I just want to see just absolute carnage on the final day. Well, so like, you're basically on tent hook seeing if Sunderland can overhaul Fulham and Everton and at the same time you're wondering who's going to win the Premier League. that's the thing I want everything at play wherever facilitates chaos on the final day is what I want on Wednesday Marcus suggested Arsenal would have one hand on the trophy if they win this would you agree with that I'd agree with that there'd be two games left right and there'd be two points clear if City win their game in hand I guess yeah I think he's onto something there and the games they've got left are better right yeah exactly no I think he's right about that I really do like if I'm Arsenal that Everton game was just absolute madness and that's really thrown everything up in the air.

48:06And I imagine, look, not all the pressure has been lifted, but Arsenal feel a lot better looking at that because they were probably just waiting for a slip-up because they felt the City juggernaut. And then for the City to get spun like that, then, yeah. What did you make of that City last-minute equaliser, by the way? Did you think that really changed the complexion? I mean, the nature of the goal from Docky was a great goal and everything, and it's dramatic. But in terms of the complexion of the title race, I thought it was kind of overblown because you basically can't be dropping two points like that in this situation.

48:35No, you absolutely can't. If that was a winner, obviously you'd go mad, but I mean. Yeah. No, no, you absolutely can't. But like, again, Arsenal fans were very, very nervy, I think. So they'll take anything they can get here in terms of a slip up. And it's not disastrous. I mean, is it disastrous? I don't think it's disastrous for City. And I still think they can be confident of an Arsenal slip up at some point. They'll just be hoping, look, Arsenal's got the Champions League final secured. They're there. Yeah. And that's later on. They ain't got to worry about that yet. Yeah, I know, but like, there's going to be one eye on that you're going to be thinking about it they want to play on that don't they you know you want to be in that Champions League final the irony of course yeah so you're telling the players don't want to get injured yeah that's a bit conspiracy that a bit Matt Letizia that mate I'd love to see you publicly on social media across this weekend arguing with an AI chatbot about whether Arsenal players are deliberately trying to get injured not get injured ahead of the Champions League final at 2am yeah please you'll be up at 2am you've got a very young time I'm sitting and watching American Sporting 2 and I'm not fucking talking to my eyes.

49:34So what, with my son was my age, I watched a whole series of Love Island. That's going to be a Patreon special. And Arsenal win, obviously, ironically, would help Spurs in their battle for Premier League survival as well. That's probably not going to be on their agenda. No, they won't care about that. No. I'm going to be tuning into this game, of course. I think it would be fantastic for the culture, as I've said, if Arsenal were to slip up in this game. But we shall see. Oh, speaking of Spurs, by the way, before we move on to the championship playoffs, I want to talk about that. Did you see, speaking of Spurs, that Jesse Marsh, the former Leeds manager, current Canada national team coach, recently called Spurs manager Roberto Dezerbi an asshole.

50:15Do you know what? Asshole. This is because, and this is a bit of you, so there's a Canadian player called Ishmael Kone, right, who played at Marseille under Dezerbi. and there's some footage that came out of De Zerbe absolutely tearing strips off this Kone character. And Jesse Marshall seems to have taken it quite personally. The reason I mention this is because some of the De Zerbe quotes are really fucking funny. De Zerbe shouts at Kone, oh my God, when I say reduce the touches, reduce the touches. Then he threw Kone out of training saying, you can't play, go get a shower, go and get a shower, we are Olympic Marseille.

50:57and then he says as he's walking off call your agent call your agent I love that I love that Get to Real Madrid you fit right in I love that of course little fucking Ted Lasso doesn't enjoy it Ted Lasso is fuming he said it wasn't easy for Koniette with Deserbi at Marseille Deserbi was a total asshole to him but he stayed he stayed strong I repeat Deserbi behaved like a real asshole to him Marsh is a tragic bloke mind honestly why do you think that just because he's as the temerity to not be from Britain and managing the Premier League? Absolutely. That's literally it. I don't want any yanks in the Premier League.

51:32What about Landon Donovan? No, I don't want him either. I've got time for the juice and that's it. Ah, nice. I love Clint Dempsey. The juice... Oh, and McBride. I like McBride as well. Yeah, yeah. Oh, he's a battler. Yeah, yeah. Dempsey smashed a window at half-time in a Fulham European game and split his fist open, didn't he? Don't you know where he's from, dawg? Yeah, exactly. A bit of rapping as well. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Okay, would you respect Marsh more if he did some rapping? No. No, okay, fine. Make it worse. The Ted Lasso things radicalise me, man. That's all I see now. So maybe it's partly on me and Marsh is maybe a really, really nice guy.

52:07Is that partly funded by ESPN, who you work for? No, I don't think so. I hope not. It might have been. Right, before we go, look, we do need to talk about the championship players. They start tonight, they kick off tonight. Millwall travel to Hull in their first leg of the semi-final. Hull have only won two of the last nine games, somehow found themselves sneaking in to the championship playoff picture. Look, I'm going to put my cards on the table here. By the way, get this out of the way. Southampton travel to Middlesbrough tomorrow. Great. Millwall travel to Hull, as I said. I'm getting this right out of the way.

52:38I'm nailing my colours to the mast now. I really, really want Millwall to get to the preview. So do I. I am desperate. You can't make an argument against it, really, because all the other teams in that playoff picture, Middlesbrough, Stavampton and Hull have all been in the Premier League in fairly recent memory have all been basically shit and stunk the place out and Millwall have never had a chance and I think Millwall would shake it up not just their fans but they would shake it up it'd be brilliant to see them in the Premier League I'd absolutely love it I mean a big part of me would like to see Middlesbrough up another North East club but look I think Middlesbrough will be the favourites I think they will I think Middlesbrough got the best chance I know they finished below Stavampton and Millwall but I think I'll tell you who's a player Hayden Hackney's a player Oh, absolute class I think either way he'll be in the Premier League next year You reckon?

53:27Yeah, yeah, yeah Even if Middlesbrough don't go I think he's he's probably outstead he's welcome there sort of thing and I would say to any of the clubs going in here out of form going into the playoffs don't worry about it Sunderland took one point from their final six and we went up I just stayed there Yeah, exactly so don't worry about that at all that doesn't even matter I think obviously I think Mill would have been really good as well by the way I mean they finished third of course Yep So you don't even need to make the argument they've been the third best team in the league. I mean, they have literally.

53:53They've done well against the top sides as well. They have. They suffered. I mean, I'll tell you what's... I mean, sorry to relate this back to Portsmouth, as I want to do. But basically, had they not lost at home to Portsmouth about a month ago, in a period of time where Portsmouth were absolutely diabolical, it just came from nowhere. Portsmouth won 3-1 at the Den. It came from nowhere. If they had got even... I think they would have had to have won it. If they had won that game, they'd have been promoted automatically. Yeah, it's mad. They had a weird little spell of form as well because I thought when they beat Middlesbrough when Corburn scored the goals and I was just like, oh my word, they're going to go on after this and then they didn't and they messed up after that and it was a strange one.

54:34But yes, I'd love to see them up and look, Millwall at Wembley as well. Oh yeah, it's going to be a treat tonight. Watch that first game against Hull. I should say for Saturday, by the way, Hayden Hackney, the Middlesbrough player, is a doubt. He may not feature but overall he's been one of the best players and championship. He's a fantastic talent. And yeah, we'll see what happens to his career. All right, that's it from us for now. David, I've enjoyed your company a great deal. Thank you very much for joining me here. Not too bad, just the two of us, was it? I think we've done all right there.

55:00We've done okay. We figured the worst, but you know what I mean? It wasn't the best, but you know we hear. Pete used to say to us back in the day, this is Pete's like, when we used to have a discussion about whether our shows were any good or not, Pete always used to chime in with, is it the worst thing we've done? And if the answer was no, we put it out and in the spirit of that I think we've done alright I mean if you didn't like it Jackson Soccerpedia's coming up later on this afternoon it's Marcus V Vish a huge clash Marcus trying to take the belt off Vish Jackson Soccerpedia will be available to listen later on as I said make sure you subscribe to the Football Ramble in your podcast apps so you don't miss it thank you very much for listening to the Football Ramble part of the ACAST Creator Network it's all from me and it's all from David as well and I'll see you again soon

55:47The Football Ramble is a Stack Production and part of the ACAST Creator Network.

56:14Thank you.