The Preview Show: No Sleep Till Lisbon

0:00It's still hip to be square everybody. Welcome to the Football Ramble Preview Show. Goose eggs at the Emirates and the FA Cup third round is upon us. It's Friday 9th of Jan. I'm Marcus Speller. I'm Jim Campbell. And I'm Luke Moore.

0:24Hey, it's Friday, everybody. Doesn't it feel good? Don't worry about the weather. Feel the warmth from us. Yeah, that's exactly the right way of looking at it, Marcus. That's the correct attitude. It's cold out there, Jim, but it's warm in here. Absolutely. Do take appropriate clothing out with you, but also listen to us while you're wearing it. Both will see you right. Should Marcus and I do a version of Baby, It's Cold Outside? I could be the coquettish woman and Marcus could be the... Tom Jones. I'd like to hear that, actually. All right, all right, I'll start. Just warming up the vocals. He does sound cold, actually, when he's doing that.

0:59like he's warming his hands around a fire did Tom Jones do a version of that him and Keris Matthews didn't they no did they oh maybe they did I don't know have a little grok yeah I'll have a little grok about it I'll have a little grok before we came on I've heard Dean Martin I think I might have even heard Buble do it Buble? I think John Legend did it but they changed the lyrics yeah it was a bit controversial wasn't it but the lyrics they really overthought it they really really worried about it Buble did it with the Velociraptor yeah he's trying to get the Velociraptor not to leave the house because it's cold outside.

1:30Not a heard room for a while. You do worry, don't you? That is a deep cut. Oh, man. People should Google that. So good. That was when the internet was a bit better. Yeah, it was. It's like the Wild West. A little bit. Nothing vicious. No, you had to really go some to find a shootout. Pete. Pete, yes, basically no Pete. Yeah, it's all his fault. Jim, last night you were freezing your what's-its off at the Emirates. Did you go with Rory? I did. Nice. Did you like it, Rory? Was it good? Yeah. Thumbs up. Right. He does love a clean sheet, that man. That's the first protocol. And there were two clean sheets he saw.

2:02Arsenal nil, Liverpool nil, of course. Yeah, clean sheets on both sides. Absolutely. Arsenal remain six points clear at the top of the Premier League. That's it. You're done with Liverpool in the Premier League this season. They've won one nil on aggregate. Yeah, annoying that. Thank you. But, you know, it's all about, you know, when you get to the end of the season and you tally the points up, in the spirit of Steve Clarke, then who's on top? and currently it is Arsenal. Let's talk about the game in a minute. Let's go straight to Gabriel Martinelli. Yeah, that was silly. Is that a points deduction, is it?

2:35That was silly. I don't think it's going to be a points deduction. I'd be quite annoyed, actually. I might get on board with a conspiracy lie if there was a points deduction for that. You and Matt Scott banging the drum outside FA headquarters. That's a disgrace. It's a disgrace. To be fair to Gabriel Martinelli, he has apologised for it, which I think we wanted to see, right? Yeah, absolutely. And I think actually in the stadium, I wasn't aware of exactly what was going on, even though that happened sort of in front of us. For those who didn't see it. When he dropped the ball on Conor Bradley, I was like, oh, what's he doing now?

3:09For those who didn't see it, obviously, Conor Bradley is running back to get the ball and he's, what is he going to sort of hook it away up the line? Anyway, he clearly goes over on his leg. Turned his ankle, yeah. You can tell straight away that's potentially a bad one. Because if a player goes down with no one around them, yes that tends to be the case and obviously he's down on the ground it's in the dying minutes of the game and Gabriel Martinelli is rather unhappy about this trying to get the game going again and he then sort of push him off the pitch quite literally you know get off the pitch so we can carry on with the game a lot of people were very very angry with his actions I was angry at the time I thought it was disgraceful you and David Cartlidge thought it should have been a red card I think well you thought it was a red card I assume David David would agree David's quite hard to pin down because sometimes he loves a punch up and sometimes he kind of pulls back a bit but he thought that was a disgrace and a lot of people did.

3:54I think it's, my initial reaction was quite a severe one just because I think it's almost, there aren't that many taboos left in football. Yeah. I think when a player is injured, seriously, I know Martijn has said since he didn't realise and there had been a lot of time wasting going on. I kind of totally understand the fog of war, he just called it wrong. But at the time, I thought it was, yeah, it was disgraceful because Bradley was clearly hurt and I couldn't see how Martijn couldn't see that. and I actually thought the Liverpool players reaction would have been more severe than it was I know it was fairly tempestuous but I thought I mean Gary Neville saying one of the Liverpool players should punch him was probably not the best bit of broadcasting I've heard this season I heard he said that what was sounds like a silly question as it comes out of our mouth but what was the context in which Neville was saying because Neville obviously as an ex-player Neville is clearly kind of addressing what I would call is like a bit of a taboo which is if a player is seriously injured you need to give them the room they need and get the treatment to them as quick as possible and I think at the next player he probably felt that quite keenly maybe as someone who's had injuries before and he just spoke off the cuff saying essentially that Martigny's behaviour was so bad that Liverpool should do something about it One of them should lay him out I think it's fine for That's a turn of phrase what he means is When you're working for Sky Sports the actual broadcast of the Premier you can't be telling players to punch other players We don't mind it as viewers though I can get on board with it as an individual but I think objectively it's quite poor.

5:23I think, well, do it or don't do it. Commit to it. I want to hear Neville calling that out for that sort of behaviour every week. Pick a player. Pick a player that needs to be punched every week. Start the game. You know what? I just don't like him. I really want someone to just lay into him. Gary Neville would be the best person, the most ironic person to pick that person to be punched every week. He was probably one of the most punchable players in his career. He's safe in the gantry now. I thought what Arna Slott said was very fair. Very sensible. Defused the situation. Yeah, he said, I don't know Gabriel Martin.

5:49he comes across as a nice guy the problem for him and it's a problem in general in football is that there is so much time wasting in the final parts of the games that sometimes you can be annoyed when you want to score a goal and you feel a player is pretending to be injured and I think that's absolutely right and I also think this is why a yellow card was a sensible punishment for it because I think the referee has correctly assessed what's gone on there yeah I lost my head at the time and called a red straight away yeah I was incensed by it I was incensed by it yeah I was I mean I thought but to that an enormous credit for Arna Slott's saying that Yeah, massively.

6:20The opposition manager saying that. He doesn't need to. I don't think any other manager would... Well, Sir Alex Ferguson would have said he could have been killed, Jeff. Yes, yes. That's what I mean. Any other manager, I think, and kind of understandably, would have gone massively into it. But well done, Arna. The game itself, though, what you said at the top of this, Marcus, is pretty interesting to remember, I think, and to keep in mind when we have a discussion about the game, because Arsenal are six points lit. I know that Sir Bosley scores a world-class goal to separate the teams last time he fancied it a couple of times last night as well he wasn't letting that free kick go unnoticed I'll just follow that over the bar yeah the second one particularly he threw himself at it the second one from where we're starting it looked like it'd gone in oh did it really it was much closer to the first one a proper sinking feeling but I think Arsenal in the position they're in they're not obviously going to be in this mindset because I just don't think that's how they go about things but in the cold light of day not losing to Liverpool given the weekend given the midweek that's happened with Man City and Villa, it's got to go down as a good result, particularly given how the second half went.

7:20Completely. There's a lot of positives to take from it, even though it's a frustrating result and a frustrating performance in a lot of ways. But it's another very difficult fixture out of the way. Now, whatever you might say about the season Liverpool are having, they're 10 games unbeaten now, right? And actually, Arna Slott himself has spoken recently about how he's had to make them a bit more predictable to kind of shore up the defence and get better results and that they're a bit more boring as a result of that. but that is just the way it is. And that is the Liverpool that Arsenal faced, right?

7:48It's not the Liverpool of that run of eight games where they lost seven of them. Well, they're already in 10-0. Yeah, exactly. So it's a different proposition and there's a temptation, isn't there, when a big team go through a rough patch that it's like facing one of the relegation candidates and it's so often not like that. This isn't the Liverpool of that earlier stage of the season. So it's frustrating from an Arsenal fan's perspective to not have performed better, especially with the pattern of the game because Arsenal were brilliant in the first 20 minutes. They were really like sort of besieged Liverpool despite not really making a proper clear-cut chance.

8:23They were getting in the box a lot, getting behind players and they were making stuff happen. But Liverpool got wise to that quite quickly and they managed to kind of counter Arsenal's press really well and really nullify it from then on. And in that second half, the script flipped completely. It was Liverpool that had all the territory, all the possession. Again, they had a couple of chances that they might have done better with that went over the bar, but nothing really clear-cut. So it was an interesting game where I thought it was quite low on quality in an attacking sense from both teams.

8:52You understand that a bit more from Liverpool with the players they've got missing. But actually, I think it was two very, very high-quality defensive performances as well, which is not what we want in a game like this, so we don't necessarily see it that way. Well, it's not what we've seen off the back of Newcastle leads. I mean, I was kind of slightly surprised, Arsenal, particularly in that second half. I understand your points are valid. I mean, you know, a number of things can be true in that, you know, it's not a disaster. It's a point. There's six points clear. You know, that's a good lead, especially at this point in the season.

9:22But for me, you know, it was obvious how Liverpool kind of set up. They didn't have a forward on the pitch, partly due to injury and one or two other reasons. But they set up to be compact. They set up to be defensive, all that kind of stuff. And I think for Arsenal, the thing I've had a bit disappointing from Arsenal's point of view is in that second half, It's just like, what happened there? Now, again, this game, this is not a kind of... I think the problem is when you talk about a title race, everyone really wants very memorable moments now. All guns blazing for 90 minutes in every game. Yeah, but even as neutrals, the neutral is desperate to say, that was the game they won the title, or that was the game when the title was lost.

10:02It was bollocks. It happens over a number of games in a number of weeks, of course, and we know how the season works. but with this I just felt that the three points were I know Liverpool were very very good and without causing too many problems and Connor Bradley hit the bar with a great effort but that was due to a defensive mistake I just felt for Arsenal it was like in that second half in particular there was a real lack of creativity yeah I think what happened was that early on their passing was off and it felt like the passing game in general collapsed and then they lost confidence in that So they were either rushing passes or dithering for too long.

10:40Liverpool adjusted their shape in a way that denied Arsenal space really, really well. And it felt like the knock that the confidence took from the passing game collapsing just affected everything else. And there were points where they looked all at sea. There was a 10-minute period where it's like, certainly how it felt in the stands anyway, it was like, they're just hanging on here. It sounded a little bit nervy on TV. Yeah, it was. It was an expectant atmosphere that suddenly went, oh, hang on. Expectant is maybe a bit too strong. I think it's important to sort of separate what you see online from how it feels in the stadium, because often it's very difficult.

11:15You see a lot of stuff online where it's essentially kind of children from other countries going, ah, we're going to smash you. And it didn't feel like that in the stadium. The atmosphere was good. They put the plastic bags out to do the big kind of, you know, the red and white kind of wall at the start of the game. So they made a lot of effort. The noise was good, but it did kind of, yeah. But, well, I mean, it makes the... Skylbury, Iceland. Yeah, obviously they were all waitrose. And we want them back. Yeah. I've got one with me actually. But yeah, the atmosphere gradually became a bit nervous.

11:49It wasn't like as angry as I've seen it in the past, but it was definitely, there was a sense that it was slipping away. I mean, I thought it was very interesting that Liverpool made one sub in the whole game, which was Conor Bradley right at the end for Gomez, which kind of suggested to me that it was a pretty pedestrian game. And that's the point I'm saying here with Arsenal. When they have... You look at what they had on the bench, though. I mean, it wasn't really an awful lot to achieve. No, but they didn't look exactly... With Arsenal, Arsenal made all their subs. Arsenal's bench is an embarrassment of riches.

12:21No, it is, Luke. But this kind of is another point I want to make about Arsenal, how it was a bit disappointing in that second half. They have the chance to reset at half-time and go, right, we know what they're doing here. Come on, we can go eight points clear with the victory. we are a better side than these okay fine Liverpool have not been brilliant this season and I understand they were on a bit of an unbeaten run but Arsenal are a superior side go and make it count and it was just tepid that's why I was a bit disappointed Liverpool I'd love to know what Slott I'm not tactically astute enough to know exactly what the little changes were at half time but I'd also love to know what Slott said to Liverpool at half time because when they came out in the second half they started to dictate but that's the problem but I think that's because you're framing that as Arsenal will be disappointed with that I'm framing it as Liverpool are still really capable and it's not a coincidence that for example Frimpong and Kerkes probably had their best games Frimpong was very good and Frimpong was played further forward in front of a very diligent defender in Bradley Gravenberch who is despite Liverpool's travails is basically a Rolls Royce in that area of the pitch as well he covers so much ground and he's so sensible with the ball and he's so strong if Frimpong had a bit more confidence and can improve his decision making, I think Liverpool win that game.

13:37Yeah, his final ball was lacking a bit and I agree, had that been a bit more on point, they'd have had a good chance. Because he broke the lines and kind of, I wouldn't say embarrassed in Cappier, but he kind of had him going for a good while. It was a good battle between them and they were always looking for Frimpong as the outball and then when Cappier went off for Myles Lewis-Gelly, Myles Lewis-Gelly looked very, very nervous facing him. Found it tough. Yeah, he did. Because Frimpong's pace as well. Kerkis, I thought, when you see Kerkis lining up, because I actually asked Rory yesterday, yeah, Rory likes Arsenal as well, you Jim, obviously, and I asked him about whether they play Saka and Timber on the right, and he said yeah, and obviously they did.

14:13I thought Kerkis will find it tough because he's probably going to have Gakpo in front of him. And early on he did, to be fair. Yeah, but then he really grew into it. I was super impressed with him. And I just think Liverpool didn't win that game basically because Izak, Eketike and Salah are out. Well, oddly, I I think it would have probably served better if Salah was inside because defensive wise, you know, so maybe it depends on what version of Salah we're talking about. Yeah. Yeah. Look, ultimately it's a point. And again, league titles are not one on one particular result, you know, unless it's a very unique situation, right?

14:47But you know, barring extreme circumstances, I think Arsenal, they take it and they move on. They're still six points in front. The, the other thing though, I was a bit surprised is it was the lack of, I don't know. I mean, again, it's kudos to Liverpool how they set up because Arsenal maybe couldn't exert themselves. But they've only got Portsmouth on the weekend. Well, they have been good at finding a second gear, which they never really hit in that game. So maybe they've saved it all for Fratton Park. Yeah, could be it, yeah. I know want to hear that. Yeah, well, we're going to park the Premier League for a weekend, which is good.

15:19What's really annoying is I love third round weekend. Yeah, you do. I enjoy it this weekend. This is your favourite weekend of the footballing calendar. Pompey aren't playing until Sunday afternoon. It gets Arsenal. If you win, I dare say you will enjoy it on Monday though, right? Oh, big time. I think you and I will be having a conversation that I won't enjoy very much. I'm penciled in for Monday, Sean. Let's see how it goes. He's bringing his cowbell. But I would say that Portsmouth's preparation for this game against Arsenal on Sunday was quite literally on social media yesterday announcing four separate injuries in 15 minutes.

15:48Just bang. Is that a big fight at the training ground? Oh, another one's down. Yeah, it was like they were burying bad news with more bad news. Oh, you topped them in disguise. It was what it felt like. Well, since Arsenal won the FA Cup in 2020, of course, Mikel Arteta's first trophy as an Arsenal manager, they've been knocked out in the fourth round twice and knocked out in the third round three times, Luke. So maybe Portsmouth don't have an enormous amount of fear against the best team in England. They have quite a lot to fear. They can't defend. They can't score. And the midfield is a problem to Portsmouth at the moment.

16:20And they've got quite a lot of players out. I mean, when you frame it like that, it's difficult to find any kind of positive angle. Yeah, and Portsmouth record against Arsenal is abysmal. Can they shackle Victor Djokovic though? Yeah, oh yeah. That'd be fine. I'm not worried about that. If they can, that will be, let's say, a line in the sand. Is that right, yeah? That's properly, I just want to see something. Yeah, it won't be them shackling Victor Djokovic. It'll be the Portsmouth centre-back delicately placing a piece of straw on a camel's back and then everyone collapsing. That's right. I mean, he should probably play, Joffrey.

16:57Yeah, I think he should because, I mean, clearly he needs some goals. And with respect to Portsmouth, it's a lower level at which he has scored goals. But then the thing is, if he gets a hat-trick, everyone's going to go, well, there you go, he's a championship striker. So he can't really win at this point. And if he doesn't score, then the knives will be out. And Portsmouth haven't beaten Arsenal since 1958. And in that year... I'm surprised by that. Yeah. You know what happened that year? Sweden reached a World Cup final. They did. Wow. That's very good. nice night you see to be fair to Portsmouth and I've got absolutely no reason to be fair to them but to be fair to Portsmouth they have picked up some creditable draws during their stint in the Premier League and it was funny because I remember without going too far down memory lane Portsmouth records say particularly at home against some of the bigger Premier League sides like for example Man United was actually pretty good but they never kind of cracked it against Arsenal when was it so there was a game wasn't there at Fratton Park I think where Portsmouth nearly got something but there was a someone basically kicked Robert Pires his head off, didn't they?

17:55It was like one of the worst professional fouls you'll ever see. And Arsenal got the penalty. Do you know what, yeah, do you know what the real, the real kicker for me in the Portsmouth Arsenal pantheon is that the, the invincible season. Oh, yeah. That's when that happened, yeah, yeah. Pires dived, didn't he? That's right, that's what you're talking about, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was shocking. It was really bad. It was such a bad dive. Because when you said that, I thought you were being serious because I was thinking, Ben Thatcher? Was he? Yeah, that was on Pedro. So when you tried to be fair to Portsmouth in this time, which is happening in two days' time, you said that when Portsmouth were in the Premier League, the last time I think was 2010, they got some credible draws.

18:35They did, yeah. Okay. Any of the players left over from that era? No. But the fans remember. And that's the difference. Well, this fan remembers. The 12th man will get them over the line. The thing that really sticks in my core about this whole fixture is when Henri scored twice against Pompey. Yeah, you hate this thing. An FA Cup win. They won 5-1. And the Portsmouth fans decided that the thing they'd most like to see was to give Thierry Henry a standing ovation and get him to wear a Pompey shirt for a bit. And then Thierry Henry gave an interview saying how special the fans were. And all the Pompey fans were really happy with that.

19:09And I was like, are we fucking serious here? Have we got any self-respect at all? Did you not find an element of the romance of football about that? I did not get into supporting football to be patronised by a Frenchman, thank you very much. Yeah, you put it like that. I don't think anyone can argue too much. Well, Arsenal won at Fran Park in the FA Cup in 2020. We could be doing this all day, by the way. You know, at least the times that Arsenal have beaten Portsmouth. I think we can all agree that Arsenal are favourites for this game. But of course, there is still such a thing as the magic of the FA Cup.

19:40And will Uri Geller sprinkle some of it? Is Uri down there, is he? Is he down there? You need everything. You need all the help you can get. if Portsmouth gets something we'll hear that Yuri was there yeah of course we only hear about it in retrospect if you saw Yuri in the crowd at Fratton Park on Sunday you'd be like we've got a chance here would I? yeah that is as relevant as you say we've got some credible draws in 2009 the way it's going if I flick on the telly because I'm not going to be there and I see Yuri getting a start and up front I'd say we've got a chance here what if you saw Geller and Speller in the home there you two Oh, there's a double like we didn't know we needed.

20:19The Geller and Speller, big man, little man combo up front. Isn't Uri Geller about 75 years old? Yeah, that's fine. Old man, slightly younger man. Also, you've lost a yard. I played five or so a few weeks ago. You've lost a yard as well, so. Yeah, I'm trying to get, I'll gain it back though. When I get into my 50s, I'm getting that yard back. Deary me. I think it's going to be a blowout. I think if you gave me, you know, a 2-0 defeat now, I'd probably take it. Would you? Yeah, yeah, because I think it could be embarrassing. What about another 5-1 loss? No. And Victor Djokovic is a standing ovation.

20:51Well, I mentioned earlier getting patronised by a Frenchman would be bad. Getting patronised by Victor Djokovic would be beyond the pale. Although it would be very, very funny if the Portsmouth fans did that as a sort of dig at him. As a piss take. Yeah. That'd be nice, actually. That's a little throwback. That's all we've got left. That's all we have these days. But actually, that's not true. We have something else for you Arsenal fans. We have a brand new show to tell you about which has to go straight into your podcast rotation. Today marks the very first episode of The Thing About Arsenal, a brand new Arsenal podcast, which that guy, Jim Campbell, is launching alongside an incredible cast of voices.

21:29If you want to understand what all the fuss is about, go and listen to the trailer, which we shared on the feed this morning. It promises to be a very entertaining listen for all you Arsenal fans, and the first episode is out this afternoon, So search The Thing About Arsenal in your podcast app or on YouTube. And don't forget to hit subscribe. And I should say, Jim, that obviously you're doing this new podcast, but you're still going to be involved in the Ramble, given your hot, sexy takes about Arsenal. Absolutely. Yeah, nothing is going to change on that front. So I'm sorry to disappoint a sizable number of you.

22:01It's always Bears fans who've gone through enough already this season. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The Thing About Arsenal will be great. Definitely subscribe if you're an Arsenal fan. Can't wait to get started. Coming up after this, non-league Macclesfield face Premier League opposition.

22:24You know, when we come to these places, you know, we are allowed to actually fight. We are allowed to actually try and win. That's all it was. Not usually the managers, though. No, no, no. We just did a couple of things. I said nothing, absolutely nothing that should be out of the normal. It's just two managers fighting for their teams, wanting to win a game. There's nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong with that, everybody. There's nothing wrong with that. Well, we're at Football Ramble. Forest was a way to Wrexham tonight. We'd love that. I'll put that in your documentary. Surely Dyche will be seeing that as some kind of audition to get the Wrexham job and be in the documentary.

22:55Absolutely. Because Sean Dyche 100 % sees himself as the Ryan Reynolds of football, doesn't he? That's harsh on Ryan Reynolds, that. Yeah, it probably is, actually, yeah. I have to say, I don't get all the Dyche hate. I quite like him. I think he's funny. I like that you like him yeah I think he's I like him as well so you're outnumbered I'll listen to him on the Arsenal show you can't talk about school on Dyche now I'm sure he'll get his venture at some point we've got Dyche away soon so yeah yeah yeah yeah now tomorrow at 12.15 Macclesfield hosts Crystal Palace the FA Cup holders Crystal Palace that is yeah they're away to non-league Macclesfield they're the lowest ranked side left in the competition Macclesfield that is and I tell you what I love it when you see a non-league side celebrate the draw when they get a big probably.

23:42Yeah, yeah. That is the magic of the cup. I watched it together in a pub by the looks of it as well, which is great. Oh, but it could have been the clubhouse maybe. It could have been the clubhouse. It was the clubhouse. Lovely clubhouse if it was. Yeah, it was brilliant. I can't get enough of that. Like proper scenes of celebration if they've scored like a last minute win, you know, it's great stuff. And this one will be on the telly, of course. Oh, it would be an upset, wouldn't it? Non-league beat the whole Being holders? It feels very unlikely, but let's get on board that train. I'd love to know when that last happened, I mean, because that is an incredible, that'll be an incredible situation.

24:15I mean, Palace are not in a good run of form, right? So could you imagine what a disaster this would be? And also, Macclesfield have been, had their trials and tribulations to say the least. Oh my goodness, yeah, haven't they just? They're feeling it's far better than 2020, now playing National League North. You know, you have to be pretty hard-hearted to not want them to do well. Great for them to be on the... Even given their Robbie Savage links. to be fair they sort of in a sense Robbie Savage did a really good job there right and I think that awful saying that it is awful saying that but they've been involved in kind of rehabilitating his image I mean he obviously has been involved he's undermining that all the time constantly but that's where he that's where he does his best stuff in non-league or lower league football just not broadcasting you know what I will say though that he's great when he's talking about Wales during tournaments yeah credit where it's to you I find it remarkable that he's currently Forest Green Rovers manager he still manages to do 606 every week.

25:07Yeah. Get him off it. Yeah. Get him off it. Yeah, that's fair. It's not responsible to Forest Green Rovers. It's also not responsible to us, the listener. But he has done a good job, you have to say that. They clearly will benefit from the TV money. Yes. We're going to come onto a team that's not going to benefit from TV money a bit later, but it's a great way to open up your Saturday on third round weekend. Definitely. Having said what I said about finding it hard to enjoy this weekend because of the personal situation with Portsmouth, it's going to be on my mind. this kind of fixture to kick things off is absolutely perfect.

25:38It is. If we can see Macclesfield get an early goal, put Palace under pressure or whatever, it could be really interesting. No, absolutely, yeah. And of course, Macclesfield, who were they managed by? John Rooney. Yeah, exactly. I forgot about that. The younger brother of Wayne Rooney. That's brilliant. I don't know which brother it was, and it almost certainly isn't true, but I do remember a tabloid rumour when Wayne Rooney first broke through that one of his brothers was working as a Wayne Rooney lookalike. Yeah, that was a big chat at the time. If that was John Rooney, I'm glad things are going better for him now.

26:10There was a brilliant photo during the rounds the day before yesterday of Darren Fletcher, right? And I think it was something that maybe a May not a fan group put out or something on Twitter. And it's Darren Fletcher playing for like the under-18s for Man United. And it was something like, started off here, now he's here. And had a photo next to him in the dugout at United, right? In the background, the photo of him is like a 17-year-old. is an absolutely terrifying looking 14-year-old Wayne Rooney. Playing for Everton with a one-to-one shot. Amazing. Yeah, looking like he's bearing down and about to completely snap him apart.

26:41He always looks hard, Wayne Rooney. Yeah, he did. Yeah, it's brilliant. And incredibly, as he gets older, he just looks harder and harder and harder. Yeah, I mean, do you remember, obviously Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was known as the baby-faced assassin and people were calling him the assassin-faced baby. But we'd be, I love Palace, they're my local side, but we'd be cheering for the Silkman, will we, tomorrow? I mean, with John Rooney, who's a young manager himself, and played for Macclesfield, of course, in the dugout. I mean, sorry, Palace, we really enjoyed your win at the FA Cup last time round, but I think you can understand.

27:11Yeah, the neutrals have to go for Macclesfield here shortly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Now, Oliver Glasner has said that Mark Gay could be sold this month if the club's threshold for a deal is met. I mean, that's just how football works, of course. Have you seen that Arsenal are interested in Mark Gay? Although, it seems to be more if it happens at the end of the season. Yeah, I think that will be partially because they spent so much last summer. So they'll have an eye on any potentially good kind of free transfer. I know that, you know, wages and signing on bonuses and agent's fees and things like that mean that they're still quite expensive to do in some ways.

27:45But I think it will be a market opportunity they'll just be looking at if there's any potential. I'd be surprised if it actually happened. Well, yeah. what does that look like though because like a lot of Arsenal's identity and robustness and success has been built around Saliba and Gabriel and what clearly works for them is playing all the time right and you've seen the situation at Arsenal when Gabriel's out the side and I think Saliba's missed a game or two as well yeah Gaye's not realistically going to go there is he well that's what I would think I mean a lot of the defenders Arsenal have are capable of playing at full back and centre back Gabriel and Saliba are the only two that aren't and they're by far the best.

28:23So Gay's not someone who you're going to play as a left-back or a right-back, is he? So he would have the most limited kind of scope in terms of getting into the team. He's a brilliant player. There's no doubt he could force himself in if he got an opportunity. But maybe it's just a case of us trying to drive the price up for City. I mean, Liverpool are the side that really could do that. I think Mad City are Liverpool, but whatever happens, Gay has his pick at the clubs. Well, City need him badly now. Well, they do. and this is a tricky one for Palace because quite clearly if they lost Gay halfway through a season it's a bit of a signal but they would get a fee for him.

28:58Yeah. He wants to go. Yeah. And he's very close to going of course before so we shall see what happens there. Now turning our attention back to Olive Glasner on being linked with Manchester United he said in my contract there is one paragraph I am not allowed to bet and I don't look at the odds. I cannot also give insider information because then I'm also breaking my contract. That is magnificent. That's an absolutely magnificent ploy. I think it's one of the most Austrian things I've ever heard anyone say. Just explaining how contracts work. Well, he said he will have time to discuss a new contract with Palace during their upcoming break in matches, which presumably they're week off after this game, if you see what I mean.

29:40It's funny, isn't it? Because there's a few managers that we talked about this on the Mailbag, I think last week, was it? Or maybe this week, where come the end of the summer, you would think there's quite a few Premier League jobs Iriola, Silva, Glasner Yeah and Man United who are they you know going to get in if those managers you say sort of start to move on one might think the Spurs job might come up pretty soon as well Probably within the next 48 hours or so because they ain't beating Aston Villa boy Yeah so a fascinating one where Glasner go but he's clearly coveted You know sometimes what's really helpful to look at in terms of eventualities is the betting odds on stuff.

30:20Yes. Ryan Clasin can't look at that. No, he can't, but I can. All right. And our listeners can hear about it, whether they like to or not. But the problem is with the betting markets for manager jobs, the betting companies tend to pay out if a manager's there for 10 games. Right. So it kind of affects the odds a bit because if you look at the Man United next permanent manager markets, Solskjaer is the favourite. But then the thing that's upsetting it all is Darren Fletcher because Darren Fletcher's in position. Yeah. He looks good in the dugout as well, doesn't he, Fletcher? I think it suits him a bit yeah but the fourth favourite the point I was going to say was when United kind of move past emotionally if they're ever able to the idea that it has to be a Man United person Solskjaer, Carrick, Fletcher Glasner's the next the next favourite basically is he yeah he won't worry about the stench of Sir Alex Ferguson still kicking around the place like Roy Keane mentioned recently that was brilliant you see Daniel Sturridge's face yes the thing with Roy Keane though is we know he's got an axe to rhyme with Ferguson yeah which is almost Shakespearean how perfect he is yeah it's brilliant he is actually right on one level because we were talking earlier in the week about isn't it weird how there's not been a clamour in years gone by for Ferguson to get the job back again but Ferguson has done a thing where he kind of he kind of looms large over everything and it's not just the fact that he goes to every game and I know he's an ambassador I'm not saying for one second he hasn't got the right to do so but like I think it was someone like it might have even been Carragher maybe years ago made the point on the back of Moyes saying David Moyes goes to work driving down Sir Alex Ferguson way, sees the Sir Alex Ferguson stand, goes past all the trophies they've won under him and then has to listen to him chat in the game, in the room afterwards probably as well.

31:55And it makes it very hard to breathe. Just at least put your teat away. No, leave your teat. Just put your teat like a glory hole. Yeah. Jim, you on board with that? I am on board with that. Yeah. Good to know you're on board. I just went about the photos. Yeah, I was like, yeah, I knew we were going to sink here at some point when we arrived. Yeah. It's just Red Warren for a while. Glaser's not interested in the teat and that goes against him I think Glaser would like red wine the Solskjaer can't wait for another sack I can't wait no Solskjaer asks one for his parents for his birthday every year it's absolutely what sustains him isn't it when Oligar Solskjaer opens his birthday card for his parents every year it's just a drawing of a nipple and a plane ticket it's all it is yeah it's all it is I did think that I did think red areola yeah the areola's out of contract as well yeah I was going to say yeah he's with Claret and Blue I did think when obviously when Amorim went there was a lot of clamour on social media about how Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been spotted in Manchester and I just thought he's probably there once a week for his to suck on the tee anyway just his weekly bludgeon appointment isn't it well moving on from Manchester United and staying in Manchester Man City host Exeter City on Saturday at 3pm League One Exeter City asked Manchester City for a greater proportion of the gate receipts for this game as a statement of solidarity due to Exeter's ongoing financial troubles.

33:21Now, Exeter, of course, Exeter City, a fan-owned, they have been for 20 years now, I think. So both sides get 45 % of the gate receipts. So it's split. And then the other 10 % goes to the Football Association. Exeter, I know recently they had a fire damaged quite a bit of their stadium. Yeah, it was just 100 grand. and it was 100 grand to the tune of and they're in a bit of financial difficulty hence asking this question. Manchester City have turned down the request. What do you think of this? Yeah, I think essentially Exeter City have gone to Man City. Modern football's this is tough, isn't it?

33:58It's a bit much. It's kind of not what it used to be. Can we have a bit more money? And Man City have gone you know what? This might shock you but we actually quite like the way it is. We love the status quo so no you can't. You absolutely cannot. Just every other parasite will be after some money if we let you do this. We can't set a precedent. We can't be dishing out money to everyone all the time. And it seems to have been really unpopular among Exeter City fans as well. What, the fact that they asked? The fact that they asked, yeah, from what I've seen. I can understand that on one level, but at the same time, I mean, the big kicker for Exeter is, of course, the game hasn't been selected for TV.

34:28Which is really surprising. That's a shame. Yeah. Because so many of the games are on TV, it's very surprising that this one's not. I mean, I can understand why people would be raging about this, and I can understand why people go, come on. It's a fair split anyway. Yeah. And also, it's a pretty desperate situation there, right? So they have to do things they're not comfortable with sometimes. Yeah. I think... But let me state for the record, I would have loved Man City to have given them a few quid. It's a nice thing to do. Yeah, of course. You just dropped 60-odd million boys on Antoine Semenya.

35:01It's a nice PR move. Yeah. And City are probably, whether they realise it or not, which they absolutely don't, given all the stuff that's hanging over them at the moment, it's not the worst thing in the world to get a good bit of positive press character witness someone at Exeter we'll give you this but you've got to make sure you get out there and defend us I just think that you're talking about seeing both sides of it Marcus you have to make sure though that you acknowledge the context of what modern football has done to clubs the size of Exeter right the reason that not the only reason but one of the main reasons that all these lower league teams are struggling well have I mentioned Macclesfield not Macclesfield town anymore as they were many years ago Exactly.

35:39It's not a coincidence that so many of these smaller clubs go to the wall because there's no room for them to breathe. They've been strangled out of any kind of possibility of being successful financially. Yeah. Will Man City field their new £65 million signing? What you could do is just let them win. Let them win. We won't give you more money but we'll let you win. Yeah, how about that? Can't get a replay either. No, you can't. Exactly. That's the other thing. Another example. You should get a few more quid if you take them to extra time and pens. Yeah. Extra time. quite a sort of... No, no, no, you get like the Premier League side.

36:11Like you're filling out a time sheet. Kind of. Yeah. The Premier League side, if you take a Premier League side to extra time, they lose 5 % of that 45%. I reckon they should lose... So you get 50%. And if you take them to penalties, they lose another, say like 10%. No, I reckon they should lose a percentage point of the money for every minute they're behind in the game. Oh, well, that as well. That as well. Yeah. Because that way, if you're extra and you're ahead for 60 minutes... First minute, you're bombarding them. Yeah, yeah. And you get paid back at the end, you still get a load of money.

36:38Yeah, I like that. Yeah. Why doesn't anyone in football come to us to solve these problems? I like it, but I know who won't. No. Yeah. Manchester City will probably have a real problem trying to work out the value of the investment anyway. Is that right? Yeah. Well, you would expect them to rest some players. Manchester City for this one in disrespectful fashion. Yeah. Interestingly, against Brighton, Man City did start 20-year-old Max Elayne just after he had been recalled from a loan spell at Watford. It's a shame Vischer's not here because his dad played for cricket for England. Marceline. I remember him, yeah.

37:14Let's get that in before he comes back. But yes, it will be a rotated line-up. I would have thought because the news just breaking today was that Manchester City have indeed finally signed Antoine Semenho. I'd be surprised if he featured in this game although it would be quite a soft introduction. Yeah, maybe off the bench. I mean, he's in an amazing rhythm of form, isn't he? It might not be the worst thing. Great sign off for Bournemouth as well with that goal. I mean, pretty much his last kick of his Bournemouth career was a late winner. On his birthday. Incredible. And what a finish it was.

37:44Against Spurs to win their first game in 11 games. I do hope that when they do come up against Manchester City, Bournemouth, he gets booed. What have you done for us lately? Boo. Boo, boo, boo. Another side struggling with finance, of course, Sheffield Wednesday, very well documented. To say the least. To say the least. That's putting it incredibly lightly. they host Premier League opposition in Brentford. They won't get any TV revenue if the game is on Saturday. Who is picking all this? Yeah. It feels like Gianni Infantino. Again, they've been allowed to choose who goes on TV or not. It's like, ha, ha, ha.

38:15What's the most evil thing I can do? I mean, the problem is, again, it's like the TV broadcasters, they will say, in the name of capitalism, we're not charities sort of thing. Sure, yeah. And you'll have all that kind of chat. But also... Whatever your opinion, it's gutting for those clubs, Exeter, City and Sheffield Wednesday particularly, that they're not going to be on TV. But from a TV perspective, we all know that, you know, Premier League teams have the largest audiences, right? So the intriguing nature of a team from a lower league facing a Premier League team seems like an easy win for TV for me.

38:44But to be fair though, Jim, and I loathe for me to defend this because I broadly agree in terms of a large sample size, this time around they have picked, I mean, they've picked Tottenham against Villa on TV, which is boring, and May or Nota versus Brighton because obviously there is a temptation to show a Premier League fixture by another name. but a lot of the other games they've picked for TV are quite interesting games you know Macclesfield Palace is one Preston Wigan tonight on TNT yeah on Discovery Plus they've picked West Ham QPR as well I think and Liverpool Barnsley on the Monday so there are kind of narratives here it's just they can't pick every single one of them can they to be honest I'm not sure why they can't pick every single one of them these days because in terms of like the championship with Sky Sports Plus and stuff now you get so many games to choose from so I don't know what the reason for that is with things like Red Button and stuff like that but anyway I do think it is worth considering teams like Sheffield Wednesday teams like Exeter teams like Maccasford as they have but the good news for Sheffield Wednesday is they come off the back of probably a defeat to Brentford knowing they've got a lovely little voucher the following game because they're playing Pompey the only team they've beaten this season so there we go they will have to deal with Igor Thiago presumably he'll play the game because that man is in scintillating form he's an insatiable for goals it's ridiculous he'll be desperate to play he's such a great finisher as well he's a guy that if he's bearing down on goal yeah you back him every time totally yeah all types of finishes brilliant player what a signing Brentford have made yet again yeah it's got 75 million to Man City written all over it really does doesn't it yeah I mean Man City nah not Man City probably Arsenal Arsenal cycle Arsenal do a great line in players let's sign a player for loads of money ah I've gone off him now can I have another one in the same position for loads of money don't they Jim?

40:31Yeah They do come on Give me an example I'll give you plenty of examples if you want because I've got them written down here Do you want me to? Yeah sure Well they signed Ben White for 50 million Yeah Then they went and signed Timber for 40 million That's not that's a terrible example That's about depth Califuro But that wasn't because they didn't like Ben White Califuro for 40 million Also about depth King Capier for 60 million Also about depth Ramsdale None of those are examples Ramsdale And then Raya But Raya was a reasonable upgrade and actually he wanted Raya before Ramsdale came in. Jesus, Jesus for 45, then Havertz for 65, and then Giocares for 65.

41:07But they're like seasons and seasons apart and Jesus was injury prone. I don't think any of those count a push. Eze, because you can. Yeah, which is great, good. No problem with that. I'm not saying it's bad or good, I'm just saying they drop money after money after money on player after player. Why have you not said Nicholas Pepe? Pepe's a good one, that's too long ago. Is Pepe a good one? It's too long ago. Yeah, because they signed him out of outrageous money and they were like, no, he's rubbish, get rid of him. Yeah, but part of that was because it wasn't what Emery actually wanted for his playing style.

41:33Jim, what I'm saying is if you want your own Arsenal show, don't leave the back door open because I'm coming for you. I'm coming through the back door with a fucking sledgehammer. Right, let's move on from this, you know, psychotic behaviour. Coming up after this, Jose Mourinho doesn't want his players to sleep.

42:00Tottenham Hotspur face Aston Villa tomorrow at 5.45. This is one of those games where if you get this for both teams you get this in the third round you're just like oh come on for God's sake. Obviously Spurs aren't in the best form and Villa will fancy this and have a good chance of going through but it's still that is a really competitive difficult game whatever the outcome. Not ideal for either. I think Villa will knock Tottenham over fairly easily personally but then you know I'm a fan of the big hot take that comes back to bite me so who knows do you think one of the funniest things that could like one of the best gags Thomas Frank has got the chance to make walk out the tunnel with a last of a cup no full Arsenal gear on it would be it would set fire to his first crew obviously he's already done that he's already done that do you not think he's already smoking isn't it it's like the you know when the Suez Canal was blocked up yeah that big barge sort of went in the side it was the barge it was like a big cargo ship oh a cargo ship sorry yeah it was a little canal boat As soon as Canal could deal with the barge.

43:01Could deal with you and your missus and your boat in the holiday. It's not like Norfolk Roads. It's a bit hot. It's very hot. It's that heat wave. So yeah, so when they managed to get that one and get it going, like the funniest thing, one of the funniest gags in the history of humankind would have been the second guy just going Yeah, do it again. Yeah, right. Frank's not going to do that, Marcus. I've seen him mocked up with AI being interviewed by Robbie from AFTV as Ty with the headphones and the hat and everything he's already getting dogs abuse but the thing is that you saw it so it could have been real so I think Richard Keyes told me it was real is that right Richard Keyes retweeted it okay well I don't think Frank's going to do it Richard Keyes retweeted it in a touching tribute to Terry Yoris come on that was bad wasn't it yes that was bad from Keyes he won it particularly bad sad to hear of Terry Yoris oh absolutely legend of the game absolutely legend of the game yeah but yeah Richard Keyes yeah did a Richard Keyes yeah all I'm saying is if Thomas Frank wants to have an audition to get on the football round ball, that's how he'll pass it.

44:01I don't think he does. I don't think he does. What you need to be doing, Marcus, is moving from those kind of social media posts to the one Christian Romero did. Ah, yes. Because that was excellent. So that actually happened, yeah. He called out the Spurs hierarchy in the post, which has since been deleted and then reposted. He said, at times like this, it should be other people coming out to speak, but they don't, as has been happening for several years now. They only show up when things are going well to tell a few lies. and it was in the second version when it was deleted and then reposted that he removed the to tell a few lies bit.

44:33Yeah, it's very flicked with Mac. I like it. How about that? Richarlison and Pedro Porro replied in the comments section. Porro said, Amen. Keep going, brother. We have a lot of battles left and Richarlison commented with a praying hands emoji. I don't think anyone really at Spurs has showered themselves with a massive amount of glory but it's good to know that the three most boneheaded Spurs players have all stuck together. Porro, Richarlison and Romero. So do you disagree with them? I don't have the information to agree or disagree, do I? So you think that the... I mean, it's quite clearly the hierarchy he's calling out.

45:04You're calling for the defence of the Spurs hierarchy. No, I'm not calling for that. I think it's funny that they've gone public and I think the three players that have gone public are exactly the three players I expected. Yeah, yeah. There's simply no point in anonymously leaking it because you'd just figure it out immediately, wouldn't you? One of the other lines in the post was, especially at times like this, keeping quiet, working harder and moving forward all together is part of football keeping quiet you're quite literally not doing that it's not the first time he's done this is it Romero every now and then I think this is just part of the deal of having Christian Romero as your player is that he will pipe up there was a point when under Ange Postacoglu where he was quite vocal criticised the board for a lack of investment a couple of years ago as well now just who he is the problem is they're signing players like me that's not good enough I need to invest in one I'm mad.

45:55Also, Porro and Van de Ven, as we mentioned earlier in the week, we're having a good old dig at some of the fans as well. Yeah, there's a big confrontation. It's a bit of a shit show there at the moment. I think the issues are multifarious. The thing around the injuries, my God, it's got even worse since I had a rant on Wednesday about it. Well, that was crazy. Yeah, I mean, look at the stuff like, as I was saying about Kolisevski. It was yesterday, it was Thursday. Yeah, yeah, right. Barely 24 hours. Kolisevski was out, quote, with a knock for 10 days in May. Not been seen since. Romulus madness, isn't it?

46:27Yeah. Speaking of Spurs' struggles, Thomas Frank said, and you said that Spurs, and you and David Carpenter were saying that Spurs need a bit more inspiration, and Frank perhaps is not the guy to do that. Well, he said this on their struggles, in a storm, some are building fences and hiding behind it. Others are building windmills and getting stronger and getting more energy and learning from it. I've never heard of anyone recommending building a windmill in a storm. No. I haven't heard that either. No. It'd be impressive if you could pull it off, though. I'd watch it if it was on like Discovery Plus and I saw that as I'm flicking through I'd be like hmm not if Thomas Frank's presenting it oh I don't know are you mad absolutely yeah that's a good point that is you've put an Arsenal Tifo on that it's gonna fly away his little Arsenal cap having a bother all keeping warm I think he should have instantly resigned I think it's like could you imagine if Nicola Murray did that in the thick of it it's basically Thomas Frank's quiet back people that yeah there's a little bit you can't he should have a man dressed as a pork chop outside the training ground saying, are you for the chop, Mr.

47:28Fred? I know I shouldn't be taking what you're saying at face value. But if you actually resign in that moment, then that defines you forever, doesn't it? You can't. To me, it's the modern Christian Gross tube ticket. Sure, yeah. No, no, no, no. It's different to that. Christian Gross, when he did that as Spurs manager... He started out a bit. He started out. Was that not his unveiling when he started going on about, I got the tube train here, and he was waving his ticket. He said, this is a ticket to my dreams, he said. Yeah. Because he was late from Heathrow, wasn't he? Because Alan Sugar said, you know, after the events, as he's often quite wise after events, he was like, oh, blimey, what have I done here?

48:03I've signed this. You know, we've got some lunatic running the club. But anyway. I just think Frank is not going to be long for the Spurs world. I think if Pete asked me about it earlier in the week and I wasn't quite sure, but I haven't thought about it. I think that if it had been Levy still doing it, with the caveat that Levy kind of became quite sentient about how bad his reputation was for firing managers. Peak Levy, Frank's gone ages ago, I think. Just because of the way they're playing. As I said this on Twitter yesterday as well, you can sometimes come back again and again with winning games ugly, right?

48:42If you're playing that type of football, that kind of shit-on-a-stick football, like when Spurs moved to a Mourinho-Conte type era, when they had Mourinho and Conte, obviously separately not together that would have been explosive it kind of rumbled on longer than it may have done because Mourinho was doing stuff like getting them to the League Cup final and they were playing shit but they were kind of winning here and there I don't think you can come back from chronically bad vibes like this yeah I think that there's probably a real possibility that this game is a bit make or break right because if you can show signs that you can put a cup run together as something that galvanised your season and turned things around a bit then great right and that is that's certainly something in the pro column but if they lose it then you know I just can't you never know if it was a one-off game but Villa are miles better than Spurs all I would say to Spurs is Ryan Mason's now available he is actually yeah sadly lost to York West Brom didn't he very sad Chelsea will have a new manager in the dugout for their game against Charlton at the Valley on Saturday 8pm Liam Rosini is going to be there and the Boffins are back with regards to this game I didn't get a Google alert about that well maybe you should set it up I've set it up how'd that get through the net switch off your computer and start again I will do yeah I'll do that later Supercomputer has predicted that Charlton will win this game 4-2 on pens after the game finishes 1-0 it's too specific I love that it's frighteningly specific I love it if this is correct we need to pull the plug on absolutely everything and just go off grid live in the woods yeah true that's terrifying I mean we're all fairly close to doing that anyway based on some of the new world events recently but I mean like just smash up your microwave Dave, kill your Tamagotchi.

50:19Any sort of electronics you've got, just get rid, because it's over for us. That Tamagotchi advice is specifically for Marcus, right? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Whose video game noise extends to Tamagotchis and no further. I never had a Tamagotchi and I still call video games computer games. That's true, he does, actually. That's very endearing, actually. I noticed that. How do you think video games are presumably too American? Yeah. Yes. Yes. How do you think the supercomputer sees Portsmouth and Arsenal? I don't need a supercomputer. That's the point. I don't need a supercomputer to tell you about that.

50:47it doesn't even need a calculator to tell you about that 2-0 Arsenal you punch in Portsmouth versus Arsenal in the FA Cup into a calculator and it's going to come back with 58 ,008 turn it upside down, boobs that's all you need to know so 2-0 Arsenal is what they've got they've predicted 2-0 Arsenal well I'll take that, I'm back on board there was a tweet during the rounds this morning that said Arsenal play diary of a CEO football and a 2-0 win over Portsmouth in the FA Cup would very much be that that's an absolute spot on observation So the Super Cup has done all the third round games and a lot of them are reasonably predictable.

51:23They've got a few upsets in there. So they think West and Super Mayor will go to Grimsby Town and win 2-1. Two seaside towns. Yeah, they think Sunderland will win at Everton. They've put that down as an upset. Yeah. Okay, Boreham would be Burton Albin, an upset they've got there. They think Wolves will beat Shrewsbury Town 5-4 on penalties. The big upset though. they think QPR are going to batter West Ham at the London Stadium 4-1 4-1 I think that's very that's very reasonable however my favourite prediction this is fantastic so they think so there's a few games they think are going to be decided that the Supercomputer thinks is going to be decided on penalties so like Man United and Brighton they think Man United will win 4-1 on penalties okay Swansea City 2 West Brom 2 West Brom are going to win that 9-8 on pens that's what the Supercomputer has gone for they get sucked into this terrible PR coverage I am into it I think Western Supermare feel sorry for them because their nickname is the Seagulls and no one thinks of the Seagulls as Western Supermare they think of Brighton the Seagulls can definitely go up and terrorise the Mariners because presumably that's what Seagulls do to Mariners you would have thought so I'd be surprised if Chelsea struggle here Charlton are 19th in the championship and haven't won in the last four games including that dramatic late loss to Portsmouth they'll have their crisps on the go they will Have a nice afternoon out.

52:44Don't worry about that. So it could be... Multi-packer, when you go walkers, they'll be fine. There you are. It could be a nice little intro for Liam Rosina as Chelsea manager. Pete was trying to get an angle saying that he's kind of delayed things so he can start off on the winning foot against Charlton. Well, he was worried about Craven Cottage and he had good reason to worry. He did. And he had every right to be worried. Absolutely. Before we go, former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has made his players sleep at the Benfica training ground after they lost against Braga in the Portuguese League Cup semi-final.

53:16Mourinho said, I hope the players sleep as well as I do, which is to say that they don't sleep at all. That's what I wish for them, that they don't sleep and instead think a lot like I'm going to. Can you imagine explaining that to your partner? For most people, right, your boss can't make you sleep anywhere, right? You are fully in charge of where you sleep. And more so to that effect. I think there are very few football managers that could successfully enforce that. and yet Jose's managed to do it. There will be senior players in that team who have had to call their partners and go, yeah, sorry, I can't come home.

53:49And they're explaining to the kids, yeah, daddy's grounded. He can't come home. By his boss. Yeah, by his job. Do you know what? I love it though. If he really doesn't want him to sleep and he's going to go full Mourinho on this, if he is outside... Bagging the pots. Yeah, doing that. But then... Set the fireworks up. But then, Luke, after a while where he thinks, right, they will be exhausted. They're going to drop off to sleep any moment now. he's waiting to hear the snores. Bashes the door down, massive stereo in his hand. Yeah. Enter Sandman Metallica. Blasted away. They'll think they're at Guantanamo Bay.

54:20He's got the eagle indoors. They're all in stress positions anyway. I mean, white noise played through these things. They're all basically Nicolas Maduro. Yeah, man. Mourinho's decisions are far better understood if you always observe them through the lens of a dad punishing a teenage daughter. Yes. I thought you were going to say mad dictator. Yeah, kind of. but he's very petty in his way that he does stuff. Yes. Like he's, he's essentially, you can imagine him keeping his son and daughter up all night the following night because they had a sleepover and got back late the night before or whatever and they kept him up so now he's going to do it to them.

54:53Like when I, when I, I think more of a nasty neighbour rather than a father. Kind of, but do you ever used to have this thing? He can absolutely be both. True. When I was a teenager I used to roll in late at home and my mum would be annoyed that maybe I'd woken her up or whatever and she would basically get the hoover out first thing in the morning and start hoovering the house. that kind of passive aggressive thing I can imagine Mourinho being like that with his players is what I'm saying oh absolutely I mean there was a sense earlier in his career wasn't there that this was all sort of 4D chess and it was about motivating the players to get the best out of them but he seems to have abandoned that side of it lately it's basically just it's top to bottom axe grinding all day now it is and I love the absolute emo drama of the quotes as well I hope the players sleep as well as I do which is to say they don't sleep at all come on right everybody My Biddy Aunt is coming up this afternoon it will be available to listen later today Luke has still got the belt I am going to try and grab it off him today have I got both belts again you are you're the lineal champions of Jack's Encyclopedia and My Biddy Aunt you are imperious at the moment it's a huge task for me but my goodness I'm going to have a damn good go make sure to subscribe do the football round with your podcast absolutely you do not miss that I haven't played since the Christmas Cup have I?

56:04I don't think I have I don't think you have yeah but you've been in good form thank you very much for listening to the Football Ramble part of the Acast Creator Network as I say we'll be back later with my bidyard until then thank you Luke thank you very much thank you Jim thank you and thank you Jose

56:23The Football Ramble is a Stack Production and part of the Acast Creator Network