The Preview Show: St. Eddie’s Day

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1:33Pete Donaldson: It's your breath in our lungs, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Football Ramble Preview Show. The FA Cup quarterfinals are here. It's Friday, 3rd of April. I'm Marcus Speller. I'm Jim Campbell. And I'm Pete Donaldson.

1:57Pete Donaldson: Oof, Easter weekend FA Cup quarterfinal weekend And it's my daughter's birthday And Eddie Murphy's birthday Eddie Murphy? They're having a mixed birthday Doing a joint thing Yeah, at a play village near my house

2:11Jim Campbell: Is this the actor Eddie Murphy Or just the bloke you know called Eddie Murphy? You don't know it, Petey, do you? No, you don't. I bet Edward Murphy would be like an Irish bloke. Yes. I'm Eddie Murphy. Not that one. I swung off a truck in a film one. Not that film. Sick of people saying that.

2:29Pete Donaldson: Do you laugh, Eddie? He had a good laugh, didn't he? Different one. He, he, he. Oh, right. Okay, there we've gone. Different laughs. Different celebrities. Now then, Peter. Yes. I think we should move on from that. Okay. And then talk about the opening FA Cup quarterfinal match of the weekend's action. It's kicking off at quarter to one on Saturday. Manchester City hosts Liverpool. That's a big tie. Yeah, the FA Cup dragon is opening its mouth and we're looking at all of the little teeth. Exactly, we are. There's no seeding in the FA Cup. No, there's no seeds in between the teeth because dragons don't eat seeds.

3:06They famously eat people.

3:08Jim Campbell: And there's only eight teeth in the whole mouth based on this analogy. So it's probably quite a lot of gaps. yeah it's not going to be able to withstand the heat of the fire I imagine with that kind of behaviour

3:19Pete Donaldson: but we do thank St George for getting rid of a lot of those dragons but International Week is over now but yeah Manchester City hosting Liverpool of course has I got rid of snakes or is that another guy no that's Patrick Eddie Murphy Eddie Murphy from Ireland yeah the Beverly Hills snake killer yeah well you didn't actually kill them you put them on that plane I did Samuel Jackson got done by them different birthday of course yes man hence the different birthday now will I want to look at the grander picture here not just this game will both or either of these managers Jim Campbell Arna Slott Pep Guardiola be managing Liverpool and Manchester City in their current jobs it'd be unlikely a job swap I appreciate will they still be in their jobs come the summer

4:05Jim Campbell: if I had to give a really quick answer on that I think Pep is quite likely to leave in the summer and I feel like Liverpool will keep Slott on. Yeah, me too, actually. I think there's a sort of point of pride to it.

4:18Pete Donaldson: So what's Slott got to do to make sure he stays on?

4:20Jim Campbell: I think Slott does need to get them into that fifth position at least, or any Champions League position. And I think they'll sneak into it. Yeah, but Pep, I think, might call it a day.

4:30Pete Donaldson: Yeah, but certainly if he does the, as Pete has coined it, the dickhead double for some reason, if they were to win the FA Cup and the League Cup. I mean, the domestic treble is still on for Manchester City, lest we forget. But for Liverpool, I mean, look, if, you know, Gerard Houlias, you know, almost like, you know, if they could go on and do great things this season, Champions League, FA Cup and, well, it didn't really matter if they were, they would finish in the league. It seems very unlikely they're going to win the Champions League. The FA Cup is still on. They've got a tall order away to Manchester City, despite.

5:00With the PSG match kind of probably in their thoughts more, you would think. And then, of course, where does Mo Salah fit in all this?

5:09Pete Donaldson: because we know he's leaving at the end of the season. We haven't seen him play for Liverpool since he made that announcement. And Steven Gerrard said recently that he had to talk Mo Salah down off the January transfer window ledge. Because he was obviously fed up. He made those comments all the way back after the Leeds United game. He talked to him and said, don't leave under a cloud.

5:30Jim Campbell: Didn't Gerrard say relatively recently that he was available in any capacity for Liverpool? So clearly he's become like a player liaison officer. Yes. Right, yeah. It seems to be putting in light bulbs for people and stuff. Yeah, yeah. He's learnt a lot. I'd say that, like, it's less about what their current manager is up to and what he's achieving. I mean, I think you're right, Jim, the bare minimum is Champions League, you know, fifth player or whatever, but it's very much whether they fancy Alonso and signs and sounds and noise and smells and aromas coming out of Liverpool, Fenway, is it FSG?

6:03Fenway Sports Group? Probably sounds about right. They reckon they don't fancy Alonso because he favours a back three, but he didn't really do that at Real Madrid, did he? All the time. Yeah, there was a lot of stuff he sort of couldn't do at Real Madrid. So very much, it sounds like Alonso would be willing to relax his love of the back three for a little while.

6:26Pete Donaldson: What's wrong with a back three? What's wrong with a back three? Back three's been dragged through the mud by Ruvian Amorim, let's be honest. Give Virgil van Dijk more work to do. That's what I say. I'll stick him in the middle and you might do slightly less. He might prolong his career a bit more.

6:36Jim Campbell: It's a back five as well. It's become known as a back three now, when in many ways it is a back five. Yeah, but is that too much, Jim? It sounds too defensive. Four is the sweet spot. Yeah, a back three sounds really exotic and kind of forward-thinking, but if you call it a back five, it is fundamentally the same. It sounds really conservative, doesn't it? How much of a signal would it be, though?

6:57Pete Donaldson: So Salah is a bit of a race to get fit for this game. He had a slight injury, so we're not sure if he will feature or not. but if Salah just turns it on at these last however many games they've got depending on cup results and he is Salah of last season he scores like the same amount of goals as he scored the last I think he's been their top scorer like seven seasons in a row hasn't he Salah he'll not get this season sure

7:20Jim Campbell: I don't think I'm obviously not a Liverpool fan but I think I can understand from it from their position enough that I don't think they'll be sickened by that Marcus I don't think they'll be a sickener I think they'll be thrilled surely you're right reversed it. You're right to point out that this is going to be his first game since announcing his departure. If he plays, yeah, which is absolutely massive. So perhaps there'll be a weight lifted. Perhaps all of the sort of drama that happened earlier in the season will be kind of forgotten and there will be an opportunity for essentially everybody to appreciate each other.

7:53Jim Campbell: Maybe Salah will play with a bit more freedom and we will see the kind of the Salah of old. Because he's still been getting in the positions. He's not quite been firing in the same way, has he? Maybe this will be a really positive thing for them for the run-in. He has a little crown on his head like a little you know like when wrestlers get king gimmicks. Yes. Like a match of King Randy Savage that you were talking about before the show. A little tiny sort of tiara sized king crown on top of Salah's head would be a lovely bit of work.

8:21Pete Donaldson: It would be. Probably against the rules. Probably.

8:24Jim Campbell: The squares at City Hall

8:25Pete Donaldson: wouldn't like it. No. At Man City Hall. Although they've got a lot of other admins to be getting on with. Or will Arna Slott say, Mo, I appreciate that you're leaving. You're one of the finest players in this club's history. But remember, it's not all about you. Bench. Bench, yeah. Oh, you might do. Isak's on the bench. We're going to bring him on. And obviously, Eketike can't play where... Obviously, that will annoy Eketike. And Eketike will probably have to play where Salah plays. You can't have a bit of that. Well, you mentioned Alexander Isak there. Reportedly back in training. Yeah. Which is something we haven't seen him.

9:01Pete Donaldson: I'm happy for him. It was a terrible time to have that injury. Yeah, you're happy. You're just starting to sort of score the odd tap-in. It's easy to be happy for someone when they're not playing though, isn't it, Peter? Yeah, but I don't think Liverpool only can't regard themselves as peers in this situation, even though Liverpool are having a terrible season. By their own standards. You have to say, Peter. But yeah, I mean, I read half a stat that, and that's enough for me, to be quite frank. If Liverpool scored five goals in each of their last seven league games, they wouldn't match the totals for the last two seasons.

9:33Like they are in need of goals and lots of them and a player like Isaac can certainly do that.

9:39Pete Donaldson: Well, I mean, it's Salah's goals that they're missing ultimately, really. But Isaac, I mean, he's been out of action since the 20th of December when he scored that goal for Liverpool against Spurs and got injured in the process of doing it. So it would be good for him to get back in there. With bone injuries rather than muscle injuries, they do tend to come back a bit quicker, don't they? I mean, I always refer to you on such injuries as well. I've got so many myself. The bone boy. You can't keep a good Peter down, is what we've... Skeller Donaldson there, Carly. Now, speaking of strikers, Norway boss Starla Solbachen admitted that he gave Erling Haaland special treatment during the international break and allowed the forward to sit out of his side's 200 feet to the Netherlands in Amsterdam on Friday.

10:18Pete Donaldson: Yeah, is anyone in the Norway camp complaining about that? What do you mean, as in like... Yeah, come on, boss. Go and talk to him yourself, then.

10:26Jim Campbell: No one's complaining about Haaland getting special treatment. Also, the other strikers are probably thinking, finally I have a turn.

10:32Pete Donaldson: Yeah, exactly. Like Saul of Atletico Madrid. Can I play up top? No, you're still on the winger. You're a winger. You're a giant winger. Yeah, we're playing Stran Larsson instead. You do get the feeling with Haaland though, he's not a player to be... He kind of likes to be played into form a little bit, so I don't think it serves his club side to be rested. Well, I don't know, so...

10:54Jim Campbell: There's maybe something in that, because his form for Man City hasn't been great. No, I mean, he's got five goals this calendar year. So three in the Premier League, two in the Champions League. That is the four-man city, that is. And he's got 30 for the season in total, which is... No, he's still top of the chart. Don't worry about that. I think it would have served Man City. I think, I'm sure there's gentlemen's agreements happening all over the football, you know, European football.

11:15Pete Donaldson: Well, indeed, a rest, I think, is something that he's played a lot of football. It's still involved in so many competitions, obviously, out of the Champions League now.

11:22Jim Campbell: I also think just the international managers are looking at this particular window, thinking, hey, it does make sense. to just rest players because you don't want them getting injured now ahead of the World Cup. Yeah. So I think this is probably an example of that in play as well. You would have thought so. With Harland, you sort of think that if he is left alone to his own devices, he will YouTube. And he has been YouTubing. Has he? Yeah, his latest one was he looked at old football sort of memorabilia. Not really memorabilia, but the sort of stuff that old footballers would use, you know, in the 20s and the 30s.

11:50Like old. Like old.

11:54Cigarettes are like, and the sort of speed you can only get on the front lines in the world wars. No, the... I bet that went on post-world war. Everyone's brilliant. They're all on the fucking crank that they brought home. It's got it from the pharmacy. Yeah, like old, like, Etonian footballs and stuff from the 1920s. The gay good press used to be called the Blitzkrieg. Yeah, but too far. They were on drugs!

12:18Pete Donaldson: They were on drugs! They were on drugs during the Blitzkrieg! Do you not know that? Would you like to see a non-enhanced war? Is that what you're saying? You want a clean war? I was going back to call the Nazis the German army. No, the Nazis, they were on all sorts of stuff. That's why the Blitzkrieg, they could go out through the night and so on. Remember Hitler sort of jumping up and down on his pet pills? Probably. Yeah. What do you mean do I remember? Jump in the video. Oh, I see. It's quite realistic when I do it because I have Hitlerist ball structure. But anyway, where were we? He's looking at like bits of knee cartilage they've taken out of like 1950s footballers and stuff.

12:53He's going, this is disgusting. And he's like webbling it around in his arm. Who does that? Is that how he's so good?

12:59Jim Campbell: He's eating other footballers. Yeah, he had Bert Troutman's neck brace. He's licking it.

13:04Pete Donaldson: That is a great reference. During that chat, Jim glanced at producer Rory a lot of times. We'll find out later. We'll find out what pickups. But if I may, circle all the way back round. Do it nice and clean for the edit. If I may. so obviously Phil Foden plays for Man City right he has struggled a bit this season for form at the club that's been reasonably well documented I think that he's spoken about some off-field issues which we don't know we don't seek to know Thomas Tuchel said he was excellent in training for England he turned up his attitude was great a big smile on his face but obviously noted that he did struggle to produce for England but a number of players did to be fair he said Foden wasn't guaranteed a place in the World Cup squad.

13:50Pete Donaldson: And Phil Foden is a funny one this season, isn't it? Because he, like a number of the players, haven't really done it. And you wonder if Tuchel's saying that to say, look, go on, earn your place. I would love to see Foden, you know, obviously neutral when it comes to these kind of things, but I would love to see a bit more from him this season, you know, because again, we know what he can produce and for whatever reason, he's been below par this season.

14:16Jim Campbell: You're right. I think actually Tuchel's comments are surely to put a fire on him like that, aren't they? It just depends on whether Pep Guardiola will give him the opportunity to do that in this game. I think based on the England game, certainly I don't know how much that will come into it, but there's no guarantee that he's going to start this one. I think they've got more sort of dynamic options at the moment. I think that's the thing with Foden, isn't it? He feels uncreative in a way that is not typical of him. But players like Rodri are playing flat for Man City. And if you can't get Rodri, right?

14:45It wasn't the other weekend, mate. Well, I was about to say, terrible example. But I was going to... For last weekend.

14:50Pete Donaldson: Well, I was going to bring up the League Cup final because actually there you saw Pep get his tactics spot on against Arsenal. I mean, absolutely, you know, just... Proper bespoke job that worked out perfectly. That's what I was struggling on saying, Jim. Absolutely right. And it was pretty remarkable how Arsenal, once Manchester City basically set that trap, Arsenal couldn't get out of it. And I wonder how they'll prepare for this one with Liverpool. Liverpool are not as good as Arsenal as we know. Will there be a bespoke job or will he try and, you know, at home, the better side, you know,

15:22Jim Campbell: try and go and express themselves? I think that home advantage is big, isn't it? Because Liverpool have been sort of, they've struggled to control games quite a lot. They've also been quite wasteful in front of goals. So you think the circumstances of that favour Man City quite heavily. I think this will be a Man City win, personally. What are your feelings on that? Yeah, I agree.

15:41Pete Donaldson: Yeah, I think so. I wouldn't be surprised at that. I think the League Cup win going into the international break, that gives them a huge bout of confidence, you know, which whether or not they needed, they certainly got it. And I think if my team was still in the Cup and didn't bomb out to a championship side, I would have probably, you know, I'd enjoy the weekend, Easter weekend off. I would be wanting Liverpool to win this game. Yeah. I mean, it's obvious, isn't it? You know, but particularly from your point of view, Jim, as an Arsenal fan, the last thing you want is, you know, Arsenal are playing Southampton.

16:13Pete Donaldson: We will get to that, of course. They're heavy favourites for that game. But it's great news for the other sides in this competition that one of these teams will go out. Yeah, absolutely.

16:22Jim Campbell: And also, as you allude to there, with my Arsenal bias, I would absolutely love Man City's confidence to be blunted a little bit in this sort of game. But again, I do think they are looking good. They're looking canny. Home advantage is big. Again, as I say. They don't have the Champions League fixture like Liverpool. Yeah, they don't have that to keep an eye on as well. So I think all of those things go in their favour. But yeah, I mean, you're right. It is great that these two big beasts are playing each other

16:46Pete Donaldson: in the James Milner derby. Or the Craig Bellamy derby, if you will. Yes. Yeah. Took you a moment, understandably. I tell you. My biddy aunt is coming up soon. Yes, we've got that later today. I wanted to mention Craig Bellamy before we go for a break because he caused a bit of a stir during the Wales-Northern Ireland game on Tuesday, of course. And we've been enjoying, Bellamy, this new phase of Craig Bellamy. Well, he... The mask fell off, didn't it? The mask fell right off. You forgot to count to ten, Craig. I got to nine. At half-time of the game, apparently he let rip, as one report put it, started slamming the table.

17:28Oh, right, okay.

17:29Pete Donaldson: Come on, Peter. Started slamming the tables. He said, it was the first half-time I had a go and really had a go. My hand's still hurting from hitting the table. Yeah. Was it like a kind of... Like... Well, I assume... Wolf of Wall Street. Oh. Remember that famous scene where the man, Leo DiCaprio from Wolf of Wall Street goes... Like that? Or was it? Yeah. He just starts doing it on the table, doesn't he? Something like that. I was thinking more... Cruise driver at the UN. It's not that. Right. Shoe in hand. Karate Kid. Trying to do a chop. Right. Remember when he's trying to do it and he can't, and his hand is really hurting.

18:05Jim Campbell: But instead he's telling off Brennan Johnson.

18:07Pete Donaldson: Yeah. Who's the Mr. Miyagi in this? I suppose it is Bellamy, isn't it? No, it would have to be an older, wiser Welshman like Sheen. Yeah, Michael Sheen. Why not? He's been there before. The drumming film. The drumming film. Are you trailing or... Whiplash.

18:23Jim Campbell: Whiplash. Is anyone in that Welsh? I don't think so. No. You thinking of J.K. Simmons and Miles Teller? Yeah, but they bang the table when he gets something wrong. Right, okay. A table with... You're leading, Peter.

18:33Pete Donaldson: We've moved on from that. We were doing the Karate Kid analogy. that you introduced.

18:37Jim Campbell: This is the football ramble, not the Ralph Macchio one. Yeah, and then you took it away from him and now you're having a go at him about that. What's happening here? I don't know.

18:49Pete Donaldson: Anyway, Craig's back.

18:51Jim Campbell: Craig's back.

18:52Pete Donaldson: That's good, isn't it? Yeah, watch out. Man City, Liverpool promises to be a cracker. Lock up your golf clubs. Coming up after this, Mark Cucurea makes a classic mistake.

19:10Are you really buying a car online on AutoTrader right now? Really? At a playground? Yeah, really. Look at these listings from dealers. Wow. Your search can really get that specific. Really? And you just put in your info and boom. Cars in your budget. Mom needs a second, honey. You can really have it delivered? Really. Or I can pick it up at the dealership. One sec, sweetie. Mommy's buying a car. Mommy, look. Uh, I think your kid is walking up the slide. Kyle, again? Really? AutoTrader. Buy your car online. Really?

19:47Human beings sometimes need to get punished. Welcome back to River Island, everybody.

19:53Pete Donaldson: Never get bored of that. Would you like to be punished by a clock one day? I don't know. I think it's... It'd be for my own reasons, I think. It'd be for my own fault and my own good future. I'm on new asthma medicine. I am accessing parts of my lungs that I did not know existed. There are thoughts. There are feelings. There are words. They're in my lungs. Okay, well, channel all that for this one. We've got Chelsea versus Port Vale now. Okay, nice. Saturday at 5.15. Port Vale, of course, knocks Sunderland out to reach the quarterfinals of the FA Cup for the first time since 1954. You'd fancy if there's going to be a upset, it would be an ear.

20:30Is this the one? I think this is the one.

20:32Pete Donaldson: I think this is the one. Well, I mean... Chelsea are in kind of... certainly in financial disarray and... Are they? Yeah, I mean... They announced the biggest pre-tax loss in Premier League history. Can they sound like they're under-16s to themselves or something? And you cast on United move. They did that this week, didn't they?

20:49Jim Campbell: Essentially, if the Premier League haven't thought of it, they could do it. Yeah. And then Premier League would go, ah, what can we do? Can we sell ourselves to ourselves? Yeah. We've sold the colour blue to ourselves for$50 million.

20:59Pete Donaldson: Yeah, it has to be higher than that. There's nothing written down. We just got to let them do it. Well, they are not in good shakes, Peter. So perhaps you might be onto something here. I mean, Port Vale are away at Stamford Bridge, but Chelsea went into the March international break on a four-match losing streak in all competitions. So not great. And all is not happy in Camp Chelsea. According to reports, some Chelsea players haven't been happy with Enzo Fernandes' antics since becoming captain in the absence of the injured Rhys James. and Fernandes' vice captain, of course. He's apparently been rather vocal to his teammates after recent losses and has even been berating some of them on the pitch.

21:39Pete Donaldson: Oh, how dare he? I thought to myself, does that mean he cares? Does he care too much? He's in the other place. He also said in a recent interview that with regards to his future, we'll wait and see until after the World Cup, and also said in a recent interview that he really likes Madrid and he'd love to live there. Not helpful, is it? Not even vice-captain behaviour. It's not, is it? According to Mark, Real Madrid would prefer to sign Fernandes instead of Rodri, perhaps based on those comments. Although Rodri said something, didn't he?

22:10Jim Campbell: Yeah, basically the same thing. Like, if Real Madrid are interested in you, it's very hard to say no to it.

22:15Pete Donaldson: Come and get me. I'd love it, though, if you went, I really like Madrid. Well, of course, you used to play for Atletico. Yeah, but I went for Real Madrid. I cannot make this any clearer.

22:25Jim Campbell: Yeah. Again, there's been loads of comments like this from lots of players across different clubs where footballers simply forget that their words travel. They go on international duty and they say mad things. You've said I am competitively priced

22:40Pete Donaldson: in Spanish. Do you have sympathy though? Because they go, very few English people speak another language. They'll never know. It's like we're talking in code. And then Andy Brassel comes along and ruins it for everybody. It wasn't Brassel as I'm aware. But yes, Mark Cucreia was saying similar things. He said that he would find a move to Barcelona hard to turn down. Although, to be fair to Cucurea, he was asked about Spain. You know, journalists are always going to ask these questions, and he was fairly honest. And he said, look, Spain is my homeland. There's always going to be a bit of a pull.

23:13Want to get away from Luke Moore?

23:14Pete Donaldson: Yeah. Well, and he said, you know, it would be hard to turn down, but he stressed that he was happy in London, and he said he'd have to talk to his family first and so on. Whereas Rodri would rat up a drainpipe, You know, like a spine on his neighbors with his drone. It's like, I've seen everything now. I'm flying myself there myself. And he just...

23:33Jim Campbell: Yeah, and the Cucurero thing was interesting because he did say some other stuff about... He did. Essentially, Chelsea's youth policy or their policy of buying young players and then sort of selling them for profit. And he said words to the effect of how the senior players there want to win things sooner rather than later. So it does kind of affect them. And that obviously suggests that he's looking in the, you know, in the very specific direction of Barcelona and dropping that little nugget for good reason. But it is something, I think, if you've got senior players talking about stuff like that, the hierarchy, that they have to start listening to that, surely.

24:05Jim Campbell: Because, like, surely, Jim. The fans, well, quite, but the fans are all saying it. The players are saying it now. And surely at some point, they have to kind of change their ways a bit.

24:16Pete Donaldson: Well, Chelsea have been, of course, with their£10.75 million fine, handed a one-year transfer ban suspended for two years. So they've got to be very, very clear. so I would be surprised if they would let any senior players like him go he's a crucial player for them but that would be a sensible idea and I wouldn't put it past the Chelsea board to not do something

24:39Jim Campbell: I mean they are also all on long contracts right as we know they're in a strong position if they as you said they don't want to do that

24:45Pete Donaldson: they are but Chelsea are in a real bad state I understand that over the years we've they've not been like this but in terms of managerial appointments and so on. No matter who goes there, they end up winning trophies and so on. I think this is different because that was under Abramovich. Now, we know that they were cheating under Abramovich and they've been fined for that. This bunch of owners seem to be quite incompetent to say the least and Chelsea fans are sick to the back teeth of them already. So, Chelsea have got to be very, very careful. I don't think they're going to end up in a similar position to, say, Spurs but there's no guarantee that you carry on winning trophies or you carry on qualifying Champions League and so on and so forth.

25:27Pete Donaldson: They have to sort this out. And, you know, in the FA Cup against Port Vale, it would be unbelievably embarrassing. You know, this is a plum tie for them. They're at home to a lower league side. But everything that's been coming out of the camp is not positive. But look, one thing that Chelsea are good at is respecting the ball. Sure. Okay. And Marco Correia spoke about that recently and he spoke about Paul Tierney who stood in the middle of the huddle and he said, to me it was a lack of respect. He could have come and told us, look, you can't do that for this reason. But instead, he came and stayed in the middle.

26:00Pete Donaldson: I didn't understand it. I believe he wanted to have his moment. I mean, you can see why it's kind of confusing. I think the referee very much had every right to stand there. If you're going to stand around the referee, that's your business. Well, Kukure did explain. I know we've had a couple of explanations about this, but he said that the whole respecting the ball business was with regard to a coach that they have in the backroom staff. And he said he helps us to be better from the mental side of things. As we lack profiles of experienced players... There you go. So there's the comment again.

26:35Pete Donaldson: Another dig. He gives us tips to project the image of a better team. So after that, Jim, did you feel they were a better team? Did you think, yeah, that's a side. I like them slightly more after that.

26:47Jim Campbell: I mean, I certainly like them slightly more after that. If they play that all the time, I'd be thrilled with it, to be honest. But I mean, he is the chaos muppet. Whether that's on the field or off the field, there is simply nothing you can do about that. I want to take it back slightly to the financial stuff, right? Yes. Because actually, these losses look very dramatic and they sort of grab a lot of headlines. But they are actually compliant with PSR and they say they're expecting income to be at record levels in their next accounts. they actually think it's not really much of an issue. It's just more an indication of how their owners do business in quite a sort of unusual way.

27:23Jim Campbell: But they're not really under any threat of anything.

27:24Pete Donaldson: But one of the reasons why is they managed to avoid things and so on was because they sold the women's team to themselves. Yeah, but that was in a different set of accounts. But it does come across as quite hectic. Sure, sure. So it's a record loss for a Premier League side. So yes, I'm not saying for a moment, accusing them, as you say, it's all above board in terms of financial fair play and all the rest of it. But record losses and, you know, how they've conducted themselves, decisions that are made at manager level, at player level. I mean, look, if I'm going to quote Cucurello again, which seems to be the order of the day, he was talking about Enzo Maresco.

28:01Pete Donaldson: With Enzo Maresco in charge, we were more stable. Yeah. He said he wouldn't have sacked him.

28:05Jim Campbell: Marcus, all I'm saying, again, not helpful, but all I'm saying is I think we can expect them to have a busy summer. I don't think things are going to be that different anytime soon. I do not underestimate

28:17Pete Donaldson: though how much the Chelsea fans are completely disillusioned with the board the ticket prices for the Champions League do they respect the board I think it's incredible I think they respect the team huddle way way way more than the board and that's saying something I think there's one happy London team out there isn't there really maybe a bit of Fulham I'm trying to think just a lot there's a lot of very upset consistent happiness joy actually joy is a much deeper consistent thing got that avocado subscription you just you know you're set yeah exactly and a beautiful view over the terms but I just I just hope that I mean obviously in the last round against Sunderland let's not forget Ben Wayne who is the son of a Geordie and a Newcastle United supporter he is a Newcastle United supporter himself and he scored against Sunderland with a header and did a Shearer celebration that's a real fuck you to Sunderland I just hope he comes up with the good to kill that was beautifully crowbarred in Pete that's all we got left Marcus that's all we got left

29:16Jim Campbell: medication hasn't affected that has it no no

29:21Pete Donaldson: I'd like him to so he paid homage to Alan Shearer there will he pay homage at the Stamford Bridge to Papacito Papacito just a little swinger yeah a leather it from nowhere a swervy swinger yeah exactly

29:34Jim Campbell: realistically though this international break came at a good time for Chelsea after those losses and we'd all like to see Port Vale get something here but

29:40Pete Donaldson: True, but it allowed those comments to be made. I fancy it. I fancy it. Yeah, well, the last time Port Vale played Chelsea was in 1929, the old second division. Port Vale won 1-0. Ooh. Hey, there's your omen. There is your omen. Coming up after this, Roy Hodgson prepares for his return to management.

30:07Pete Donaldson: Welcome back, everybody. Southampton host Arsenal on Saturday 8pm. Arsenal, of course, beat Mansfield in the previous round 2-1. Southampton beat Fulham in the previous round as well, much to my, you know, indifference. But the treble is still on for Arsenal after that League Cup final loss against Man City. What a way to spin that positively. But it shows you Arsenal going on all fronts, of course. A total of 12 Arsenal players miss international duty during the international break, of course, for injury. so that

30:37Jim Campbell: this is cheeky this is very cheeky I think this shows that the anti-arsenal anti-gym agenda is practically singing from the running order because that's been included that includes Mikel Moreno that who's been injured since midway through January oh he put the groundwork in one of them has got to do it

30:55Pete Donaldson: so it doesn't look too suspicious he's two players because he's midfield and four which should be 13 players you're right actually

31:02Jim Campbell: you're right so it's even worse Jim you talk yourself into that it is and also Martin Odegaard Eberit Chiesa and Julian Timber were all this is really weird all three of them were already injured but their countries called them up anyway so that's odd so yeah what I'm saying who said they were injured though Arsenal FC but they missed games before

31:20Pete Donaldson: and England were trying to call their bluff that's what they were doing let me have a look at that Riccardo Calafiore was on international duty with Italy less than about that the better for his sake did you see he refused to sign an Arsenal fans cardboard Premier League trophy I did I'm all for that because if he'd have signed that he'd learned from the video of his Italian teammates celebrating or happy that Bosnia had won the penalty sheet against Wales he thought if I'm seen signing that trophy then that heaps pressure

31:50Jim Campbell: and I agree with him on that because I'm not a superstitious person apart from when I am which is about things like this so don't do it because you will just look like a mug

31:59Pete Donaldson: yeah Southampton the only championship club left in the competition not the only football league side of course we just talked about Port Vale but if they win they'll reach the semi-final for the first time in the FA Cup since 2021 it's not that long ago really no it's not not that long ago at all these two sides played in an FA Cup final this century of course Jim Campbell have you got the jitters ahead of this game?

32:22Jim Campbell: not really I'll be honest arrogant yeah I mean yeah no it's one of those ones where I think there is a dangerous sort of underestimate in Southampton absolutely because they are they are in good form they've won five and drawn one of their last six. So obviously they're not Mansfield. That is the danger that the players could fall into. But I think they'll be taking this seriously. I think it's really important to kind of essentially just get another game under the players' belts after the disappointment of the Carabao Cup final and the performance in that. So I don't think they'll be underestimating it at all.

32:56Jim Campbell: Well, they can't. No. It's going to be an interesting team that they put out though because obviously Noni Madueko is not available. Bikai Osaka will probably get a rest even if he is technically available so that I could see a start for Max Daumann so it might be quite interesting Martin Odegaard hasn't played since February but might be available again so it'd be interesting to see him there so it is going to be a little bit of a kind of kind of mishmash of a team for Arsenal so that would certainly play in Southampton's favour so I think this will be a late night ruck down on the south coast

33:27Pete Donaldson: Yes, one man who did have a decent international break he'll be at the World Cup in the summer Victor Jokeres Yes, he got a brilliant window, didn't it? Window? International window.

33:38Jim Campbell: You would think he would start up top? I would think so, yeah. After those four goals. And also possibly out of necessity as well. So, yeah. Interesting.

33:46Pete Donaldson: Before we go for a break, did you see that... Can I call Andrea Sharvin an Arsenal cult hero?

33:51Jim Campbell: Yeah, absolutely. Because of those four goals at Anfield. That firmly puts him in that bracket. And his website. Do you remember his website? It was mad. Was it? Is that Moritz Volz's website? No, no, it was Andre Arshavin's website. Oh, he had a weird one as well. I've got some great sort of quotes from it. He says that, you know, he'd have like a little section where you could ask a question. Oh, I do remember this. We spoke about it definitely on the round. Yes, I do remember this. It was a bit of a trope for a little while. Dron asks Andre, small question for you. What is your favourite animal?

34:22Arshavin said, a bear. Did you invent Windows 7? And he said, no. This is just quite honest Hey Andre, this is It gets worse, this is Jayhan here From India, I want to ask you what was the best way to meet you Personally in London, he says what is the Purpose of your question And he said Andre I just wanted to ask if your daughter decided that her Dream was to play professional football, would you encourage Slash support her in this, he said I hope It will never happen And it goes on from there and gets worse But it's good that he had A website back in 2012 He's quite an odd character. He is an odd character, yeah.

34:59There's a lot of juice there, I think.

35:01Pete Donaldson: Well, he appears to have swapped football, although he hasn't played for a little while, for Batgabon, a new footage found on his YouTube channel.

35:09Jim Campbell: He also likes to take pottery classes as well. Yeah, him and his mates sort of go on YouTube adventures, don't they? So he's got a channel where he just sort of messes about doing what he likes. And he also previously designed women's clothes. because he signed up to do a course at university, which was basically kind of fashion design, and him and his mate signed up because they figured there'd be loads of women on the course. And it turned out he was quite good at it. So he actually did it as a job for a bit as well. And he's also campaigned for Vladimir Putin.

35:39Pete Donaldson: Okay. West Ham United versus Leeds United. Sunday at 4.30. Tasty one, Peter. It's a tasty one, and I think whoever wins this match, we win. I'd like to see Leeds there. I'd like to see West Ham there. Isn't your would-be father-in-law a West Ham fan? All right, I'd like West Ham to be there. Think of French champions. Yeah, blimey. Blimey O 'Reilly. Think of Andy Robinson on the VGC podcast. Oh, piss off. West Ham reached the quarterfinals after a penalty shootout win against Brentford in March. And of course, if they progress, it'll be their first semifinal appearance in 20 years.

36:10Jim Campbell: Either of these teams at Wembley will be brilliant. So there is an element of that where Pete is correct to disrespect his own father-in-law. Would-be father-in-law.

36:19Pete Donaldson: Yes Well the last I have a real problem With my lack of sanctity in marriage Yeah same She wouldn't have me Marcus Well I'm She wouldn't have me mate I think I think That saying The father I'll sign up to a university course Because this girl's there She finds it problematic I think saying The father of your partner Just sounds a bit wank The father of my partner Yeah Right okay Just say Frank Champion That's who we are Alright That's who we are That's who we are We're team Frank Champions of Frank We know what we are the last time Leeds reached an FA Cup quarterfinal was in March 2003 long time ago but the last time Leeds were in a semi-final of an FA Cup was in 1986 it's mad isn't it when you think about these huge sides like West Ham and Leeds very storied of course these cups the ties are huge for these teams it's a massive opportunity

37:08Jim Campbell: I think West Ham were in marginally better form they beat Fulham of course and they drew with City Leeds Leeds have had a few draws lately but the results have slipped a little bit so it makes it quite an interesting one again I think home advantage is quite big with this I think it's got penalty shootout written all over it I think you reckon goalless draw penalty shootout definitely I don't know about goalless draw but yeah West Ham can't score Leeds are pretty chaotic yeah is there an argument that both these teams need to be concentrating on pulling away from Spurs and not fucking about with a cup I know you Tim

37:39Pete Donaldson: I know you let your own agenda creep into it there I think that a cup run for either of these sides would be wonderful I mean they've already had a decent cup run but that's the thing as you say You want to get to Wembley at this point, though, don't you? You really do, and I think it's enticing. I think people moan about the FA Cup semifinals being at Wembley, but when we talk about how you get the taste of the Wembley biscuit, it's not the worst thing in the world. As I say, it's happened over the years, all the way back to even the early 90s, when they were FA Cup semifinals at Wembley. What fixture are you going to be attending?

38:11Are you doing any hosting duty anywhere this weekend?

38:13Pete Donaldson: No, I'm a Champions League man, as you know. Only the best. Only the best. give me a seed in competition okay I am available for the FA Cup should anybody want me now let's go down to Roy Essendo over there well let's go to another Roy thank you Jim Roy Hodson will be returning to the dugout at 3pm today his first game back at Bristol City will be away to Nathan Jones as Charlton Athletic do you think I think Jones will have a bit of reverence towards Roy Hodson yeah until he doesn't yeah until it suits him not to have. Surely he'll be Wales manager one day. Oh, yeah. That might be fun, actually.

38:53Pete Donaldson: Although it probably means it's maybe something's not gone quite right. Bellamy of old has massively beaten Bellamy of new. And the next appointment would be Nathan Jones. Roy Hodgson has insisted that he's hoping to re-energise himself after returning to coaching. He said, I'm lighter, about five or six kilos lighter for a start. I've done a lot of work having time on my hands. I've got a gym in our apartment, so I've done a lot of walking. Asked about the possibility of taking the Bristol City job longer term, he smirked and said, no, I'm too old.

39:21Jim Campbell: Yeah, I saw, read an article about this whole situation, about him, you know, getting in shape and whatnot. And I'm just going to read this because it's horrified me. Roy Hodgson, 78, reveals body transformation that means he's fitter than ever as he returns to Bristol City. Don't talk about Roy like he's some Love Island contestant that you're stalking on a beach with your horrible pups. You disgusting freaks. Rubbing a dead mouse on his abs Before he eats it And why is Roy using the metric system? He's like a hundred years old Come on now That did annoy me

39:58Pete Donaldson: What's that in stone, Roy? Come on Would you like to see Roy in a boxing gym? Yeah, as long as he's not sparring with someone No, but like someone's holding the bag for him Yeah

40:07Jim Campbell: And he's given it Let's not take the piss here I think you are

40:12Pete Donaldson: I think he could pack a punch still, Roy old man strength yeah and the type of bloke at some point that surely deserts you though right yes but I think I think it hasn't deserted him yet and hence he's back at a job yeah so he's going to need to be so it pans out yeah love it I think it's I understand that some Bristol City fans might think this is all a bit silly but at least he's a proper manager and it's been within the last 20 years of him managing football club that he's back at the job yeah so

40:41Jim Campbell: the first team he managed isn't it

40:42Pete Donaldson: yeah that's right yeah famously quite something so we look forward to talking about Bristol City again on Monday whatever happens hey he's got you a mention again whatever's good for the Ramble may not be good for your club but it may be as well this sounds to me like Marcus like you think it's going to be a disaster no I think I think this is the sweet spot I think it could be good for Bristol City I think it could be it could be good for us Henshroy yeah

41:05Jim Campbell: famously he's quite experienced so hopefully it'll work out indeed

41:09Pete Donaldson: right everybody this afternoon my biddy aunt will be available to listen to later today It's Jim versus Petey! It is, yes. Make sure to subscribe to the Football Ramble in your podcast app so you do not miss it. Petey, are you feeling confident? I've been working out in the gym with Roy. Yeah? We've been passing each other Werther's and Monster Energy drinks and I'm ready to get going.

41:30Jim Campbell: I'm giving him a Monster Energy drink. I'm crying out loud. I've been trying to find out if this new Aspen medication is a banned substance or not. Probably is. I've not got confirmation but we'll see. You've got your excuse ready. Should you need it. Should you need it. Not before. I can't remember how Biddy Ant works. I can't remember how I administered it when I was looking after it. Right. As a steward, as a Roy Hodgson-style steward. But I'm lucky that I'm able to perform at the highest level still.

41:57Pete Donaldson: Indeed you are, and at this table. You have a chance to get your first victory, of course, in my Biddy Ant. That will be out later today, so do not miss that. Until then, thank you very much for listening to The Football Ram, a part of the ACARS Creator Network. I said we're back later this afternoon with my Biddy Ant. Until then, thank you, Jim. Thank you. Thank you, PT. Goodbye. Thank you, Roy Hodgson.

42:23The Football Ramble is a Stack Production and part of the Acast Creator Network.

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