Will you join us in the rumpus room?

0:00Luke Moore: It's not about forcing happiness, it's about not letting the sadness win everybody. Welcome to the Football Ramble! Arsenal are in the final! It's Wednesday 4th of February. I'm Marcus Speller. I'm Jim Campbell. And I'm Luke Moore.

0:24Luke Moore: Hello everybody, it's Wednesday. And thanks to Friend of the Ramble, Tim Vyland, for giving us that intro line. If you want to submit an intro line for a future episode and get an extended edition of today's show, then become a Friend of the Ramble on our Patreon. On last week's Ramble Uncut, we heard about the time that Wayne Rooney went to watch a game at Old Trafford wearing his pyjamas. This time round, we may well talk about our favourite hip-hop lyrics, Luke.

0:47Marcus Speller: We probably won't do that, will we? Tim Vyland is an American fashion designer, disc jockey and entrepreneur, as well as the co-founder and creative director of the Timo Weiland brand. So hello to you, Tim. Thanks for being a member of our Patreon.

1:01Luke Moore: Yeah, and welcome to Miami.

1:02Marcus Speller: There's a chance he might be a different Tim Weiland, but we don't know. We just don't know.

1:06Luke Moore: Well, don't delay. Just head to patreon.com forward slash footballramble to get involved now and ask Tim yourself.

1:12Marcus Speller: Yeah, and he could be the brother, I suppose, or the son of... Also called Tim. The late, great Scott Weiland.

1:17Jim Campbell: I see, yeah. It seems less likely than the first one.

1:20Marcus Speller: Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver. Velvet Revolver, yes. I mean let's find out we'd love to hear from him again

1:26Jim Campbell: it's not a name you hear very often

1:27Marcus Speller: it's not which is what got the old synapses firing for me

1:30Luke Moore: it really did yeah did Kai Havertz winner last night get your synapses and juices flowing Jim Arsenal won Chelsea 0-4-2 on Ag Arsenal are in the final yep that was a very

1:43Jim Campbell: enjoyable performance from where I was sat obviously man did Chelsea

1:46Marcus Speller: play for a 0-0 yeah it was and it failed

1:48Jim Campbell: yeah I mean that's the that's the main problem isn't it

1:51Marcus Speller: even if it hadn't have failed they still would have gone Yeah.

1:54Jim Campbell: Well, that's been very interesting coming back from the stadium and seeing the narrative has been mostly about Gary Neville saying it was a tactical masterclass until it wasn't. Yeah. And it was actually very pointed the way they set up. And I think, obviously, it hasn't worked, so you can't give it the credit. But you do see what Rossini was trying to do is that the idea was essentially, you know, keep the game really, really tight. And nick a goal. Score after about an hour or like from an hour onwards and then take it to extra time. Obviously, in hindsight, that wasn't the right thing to do because they couldn't manage to do it.

2:24Jim Campbell: But the way they set up in that first section was really interesting because obviously Arsenal, when they have the ball at the back, as most teams do, they are waiting for a forward to move to find that trigger point to open up a passing lane. And Chelsea's players simply weren't moving. They were just standing there. And that meant Arsenal was shuffling the ball around the back quite a lot and not really much is happening. And in theory, before that game plan that did not work, that actually makes a lot of sense and it made it a really tight game and it kind of made Arsenal very predictable and they ran out of ideas, but kind of, well not so much ran out of ideas, but just didn't really have a lot to work with.

3:01Jim Campbell: And then when you get to that section...

3:02Marcus Speller: Or as he's named, Giocares.

3:04Jim Campbell: Indeed. Although I thought he actually had an alright game, you know, in the circumstances. But yeah, so after that hour, the problem was that it just didn't really work that way, did it? Obviously it's Arsenal that scored the goal.

3:16Marcus Speller: Joking aside, I do get the idea of keeping it tight because you're a goal down. You're not out of the tie. The statistics go against you. If you lose the first leg of a two-legged game at home, the statistics say you are almost certainly going to go out.

3:31Jim Campbell: Yeah, you've got to try and do a job on the opponent, surely.

3:34Marcus Speller: And I quite liked how Lee and Rosinha try to kind of approach it. I kind of found it interesting as well. I don't know if you saw that he was obviously trying to make the whole thing quite confrontational. By which I mean, have you seen the footage of him before the game?

3:50Luke Moore: Well, yes.

3:50Marcus Speller: where he's basically berating the Arsenal players for warming up in Chelsea's half of the pitch and making it a big deal. And I noticed that when players are subbed off, it's a big bear hug. It's kind of... I wonder if he's... I'm not suggesting he will be able to do this, but it does kind of... It is reminiscent of the kind of siege mentality thing that Chelsea's best era of the modern time...

4:12Jim Campbell: Yeah, they thrive under that as well.

4:14Marcus Speller: Yeah, so I kind of got that. And I thought, maybe he's just thinking that we can frustrate them here and let them know that we're continually in a tie and we can nick something.

4:23Luke Moore: Get the stadium a bit nervy.

4:24Marcus Speller: Yeah, it might work. And I think obviously it didn't work. But then to be fair, Arsenal did score like a 96 minute or something in the breakaway game. Yeah, exactly. At that point, they're throwing the kitchen sink at it. So I don't think it necessarily you need to read too much into that. Other than the fact that it's great for Havertz to score.

4:37Luke Moore: Again, against Chelsea.

4:39Marcus Speller: Yeah, against the old club. I don't think it's, you know, the fact that it's 1-0 is kind of whatever. But it was interesting and intriguing for that reason. It was an intriguing game without being necessarily an entertaining one.

4:50Luke Moore: Well, I have to say that there'll be a lot of people who will think, well, it was balmy the way they sat up. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, Paul Merson was fuming on Sky Sports. I know our very own David Cartlidge had his say on social media.

5:04Marcus Speller: But they're two peas in the pod, though, still.

5:07Jim Campbell: Paul Merson is a Chelsea fan, isn't he? Which is easy to forget. Is he really? Yeah, yeah. That's why he was so angry. I thought he was a Pompey fan. Right.

5:15Marcus Speller: You know how he speaks about Pompey? Mate, he absolutely loves him. He does. I thought he was a wall-saw fan. He loved it when he played for Pompena. He always talks in glowing terms about it.

5:25Luke Moore: I'm sure he does. Well, look, he was fuming. A lot of people said, look, come on. And I think it's one of those ones, I can understand why he did it, but it hasn't worked, and therefore the criticism will rain down on him.

5:35Jim Campbell: Well, everybody was expecting, myself included, that they would essentially fly out of the blocks, try and put pressure on Arsenal, try and score first, and then try to see what Arsenal's mentality is made of, right? And they didn't do that. and again I mean Rosinha said after the game himself that if he tries that and they go 2-0 down by getting caught out on the break or what not then everyone says it was the wrong approach and that's just his job and that's fair enough I agree with him but yeah I mean in hindsight maybe that would have been a better approach probably a frustrating watch for Chelsea fans I would imagine

6:03Luke Moore: indeed I wonder if he was a little bit wary after that first leg where Chelsea were poor and actually lucky to only lose 3-2 yeah well I thought Arsenal probably should have as much as one can like like Man City they should have had at least another goal yeah sort of effectively put the tie to bed one might argue and I think he's thinking you know we came up against them that's what they did but of course Chelsea under him have actually done alright I think he's done pretty well so far in the job he's not excelled or anything but he's done okay look he took the approach he did one thing I did want to ask you is what did you think of his first touch when the ball came to him yeah it's deserted him it's a shame to see that I mean it was a tough one to take I think we need another incredibly high looper to come his way because I wouldn't want to judge him.

6:45Luke Moore: It's a small data set, for sure. It wasn't Dragon Stoicovic where he battered it, if you remember that. Yeah, that would be brilliant. It's the goal. It's the goal, yeah. That was incredible. And it wasn't sort of Carlo Ancelotti. That was legitimately better than a lot of goal.

6:56Marcus Speller: Yeah. Like actual goal. The technical area should count.

6:59Jim Campbell: Yeah.

7:00Marcus Speller: How about that for a rule change? Oh, that's a great idea. That'd be nice. But it's funny because it does show his mixed approach to things because clearly he's gone for a super conservative approach at the Emirates from the game.

7:11Luke Moore: Yeah.

7:12Marcus Speller: But he had the option in that touch to just not go near it.

7:15Luke Moore: You can't blame him.

7:17Marcus Speller: He's right by the green.

7:18Jim Campbell: He just said,

7:18Marcus Speller: I'm a manager now, I'm not going to...

7:20Jim Campbell: He's trying to live every kick with his team though, isn't he?

7:22Marcus Speller: Yeah, I suppose, but he didn't show that Cavalier approach for his team on the pitch. So he's just a bit of a mixed bag. He's settling. He's still settling. To people who would, perhaps Chelsea fans, who would say, you know, we went out with a bit of a whimper. We didn't kind of give ourselves the best chance. I would just simply disagree because I think Arsenal are a better team than Chelsea and they're at home and you're already down in the leg. there's no point in the tie story from the first leg there's no point getting picked off which would almost certainly have happened

7:49Luke Moore: but I think the last sort of 20 to 30 minutes I know there was a couple of subs and what not but I thought there they were still trying to shake off what they'd been doing for the first hour or more it is hard to change

7:59Marcus Speller: your mindset I get that it is

8:00Luke Moore: and I think that was where it was kind of I know Arsenal are defending deep they look comfortable and so on but I don't know a little bit more

8:07Jim Campbell: I'm glad you mentioned that because Arsenal did look very comfortable as they did against Leeds on Saturday which is a feeling that's returned that, you know, when they are under the cosh, they actually like it a bit. There's certainly been times earlier in the season where they are like celebrating tackles and really kind of enjoying that mode of the game. I thought all of the defensive players, like the four defenders, Rice and Zubimendi, were really, really strongest today. And I mean, they have essentially gambled that that's going to fail. But all of them stood up really, really well.

8:40Luke Moore: And I think this is one of the criticisms that people have of Arsenal is what we've been, I say conditioned to certainly in the last handful of years, but actually you could go back much further. A team that goes on to win the title, to win trophies, tends not to be defensive. They tend to excel up front as well. You can have it all across the pitch, of course, as we've seen. But Arsenal, I mean, they became the first club in Europe's major leagues to record a 20th clean sheet in all competitions this season. that is much more of a telling stat or an accurate sort of portrayal of Arsenal if you like at the moment is defensively when they're on it they are magnificent and going forward they're good but in terms of teams who are challenging for Champions League Premier League they're nothing particularly special if you see what I mean compared to say you know with what Mo Salah and Liverpool did last season to a lesser extent but certainly Man City and Liverpool before them and I think that is what people they want more with Arsenal going forward.

9:36Luke Moore: Look, they're in the final... Only Man City have scored more goals than them in the Premier League and it's only three more goals. I'm talking about Man City under Pep when they were winning titles. I'm talking about this rubbish. Sure. But I'm talking about the lay of the land now. It's not like they're not scoring goals. No, of course. But I'm saying though, compared to...

9:51Marcus Speller: But they've famously got no big outstanding goals. Sure, yeah.

9:54Luke Moore: And again, compared to those sides we're talking about. But look, Arsenal... My complaint about them

9:58Marcus Speller: wouldn't be that. My complaint about them would be the sheer obnoxious fans they've got. Right. That would be my big complaint. It's one who speaks on behalf of all of them. I'm looking at it. Give him one. Producers one as well. Disgrace. How dare you be happy for reaching a cup final? You read this in the telegraph. I know you're a subscriber. I take it every morning. I get it delivered. And I read it over breakfast while ignoring my family. That's how a challenge is. That's how they want it. You still have to pay for it even though you've got a column. Yeah. No, I choose to. I want to put it back.

10:28Marcus Speller: Let's give it the economy. That's how top Gs start their day, Jim. so just take a leaf out of my Telegraph book the question I had was Arsenal are through to the final now first cup finals in 2020 quite and they'll have a good chance of winning of course because they're a good team do we think the prize money will change them

10:45Luke Moore: well possibly I mean they're up for the 100 grand yeah I mean say that slowly

10:50Marcus Speller: Marcus say the proper amount into the camera so people can get their head around it

10:53Luke Moore: 100 ,000 pounds down from 150 grand I believe in previous iterations of this tournament there are rounds there are I mean how many rounds on who wants to be a millionaire yeah that would be more lucrative if Miguel Arteta had a go on that

11:08Marcus Speller: £150 ,000 is

11:10Luke Moore: no£100 ,000 this year

11:11Marcus Speller: sorry£100 ,000 is basically just about enough for the deposit for one person on a moderate London home

11:18Jim Campbell: yeah is Winston Bogart still on that at Chelsea you would you probably could find a parking space that costs more than that in London

11:25Marcus Speller: yeah you probably could

11:26Jim Campbell: I reckon so but look Arsenal

11:28Luke Moore: they're in the cup final you can't take that away that's in the back is the potential

11:32Marcus Speller: of the prize money going to distract from their league campaign that's the problem I want

11:35Luke Moore: I think it's something that I think will spur them on but it did end a run of four successive semi-final defeats for Arsenal and I think there is something in that and absolutely that has been

11:43Jim Campbell: an issue for Arteta would you call it a hoodoo? well now it's broken yeah let's call it a hoodoo a retrospective hoodoo because you know his record in knockout competitions has been kind of left wanting in the past so this is an important mental hurdle

12:00Marcus Speller: Chelsea are a good cup side as well they are exactly as well and obviously

12:03Jim Campbell: they're under a new manager and he's trying some things out that clearly haven't quite worked and obviously he's aging men he's aging men don't age them too much they won't be able to play absolutely but I just thought it was very interesting how tactically and kind of performatively robust Arsenal were against that it was just like okay this is what you're going to do

12:20Luke Moore: fine I think you have to give them credit because they went through and they went through pretty comfortably without too much of a fuss they were Saka and Odegaard were injured I don't know, Chelsea. Well, I mean, they benched a couple of...

12:31Marcus Speller: They also changed their keeper and they changed their left back. Nice to see Kepa. He's not their first-year left back, aren't they?

12:36Jim Campbell: No, although he's played there relatively... He played a bit, yeah,

12:38Marcus Speller: but I mean, Califuria... Fair amount recently. Yeah, you know, they've got other players.

12:41Luke Moore: You've got to give Kepa credit for keeping a clean sheet against his old club, Luke.

12:43Marcus Speller: Yeah, and have acts for scoring against his old club.

12:45Jim Campbell: I mean, Kepa is one of the most storied Carabao Cup keepers in history. Do what you want,

12:50Marcus Speller: but do not try and sub him off.

12:53Luke Moore: Yeah, I wouldn't have thought they would do that. No. But didn't they sub him on once for penalties? It didn't work.

12:58Marcus Speller: Yeah, something like that. Will he sub himself off? He refused to come off under Sarri. That's right, yeah.

13:03Luke Moore: As Jim says, though, when it comes to the League Cup, he's a very well-storied goalkeeper.

13:09Marcus Speller: Yeah, if you're a top-level professional football player, would you like to be a player that's synonymous with the League Cup? Probably not. I think I take it from where I am. I just said if you're a top-level professional football player.

13:21Luke Moore: I think that's not so bad. Yeah. I think there's 70 worse things to be synonymous with.

13:25Marcus Speller: You're not committing to it, are you? No.

13:27Luke Moore: Oh, I am. I want that under a grand. Yeah, we all do.

13:29Jim Campbell: I want my slice of it. If you get invited to the Ballon d 'Or ceremony as, say, a plus one, you're going to feel a bit out of place, aren't you? You're going to be a bit embarrassed there. So I know what you're saying. Well, I wouldn't.

13:39Marcus Speller: I'll be covering it for The Telegraph. Sure, of course. I wouldn't feel out of place. I feel like it's my role to do it, yeah. Exactly. I was going there with Sophia Money Coote. Is that her name? Yeah. She got pelters from us before, didn't she? People got upset about it. Yeah, I forget why. Yeah, yeah. You don't know Shears, do you? Keep it that way. Yeah, okay. Don't ask any questions.

13:56Luke Moore: I know who Declan Rice is, though. Declan Rice says, we have a group who really want it. Whatever team comes at us, we're ready for it. We deserve it. The last three or four years, we've been at the top of the Premier League competing and got really close, but haven't been good enough. That's why this season, we have the extra desire and fire in our bellies.

14:13Marcus Speller: Oh, good.

14:14Luke Moore: To go one step further in every competition.

14:17Marcus Speller: Has he got his head in the freezer? I assume so. Probably not. You've got to balance it out somehow.

14:21Jim Campbell: He's got all the kind of hair product deals, hasn't he? He has. So he probably wants to keep his head relatively unfrozen. That is a good point, Jim.

14:28Marcus Speller: I mean, no. Well, arguably, head in the freezer freezes the hairstyle in place, makes it look much more robust for the aforementioned product.

14:36Luke Moore: Is hair also a bit like jeans? You know, some people have that chat about jeans that you shouldn't wash them in the washing machine. You put them in the freezer or something. Yeah. Is that right? I've heard that. I've never done it.

14:45Marcus Speller: People used to wear jeans in the bath when they first bought them, weren't they?

14:48Luke Moore: Oh, it was a long time ago.

14:49Marcus Speller: to get them to malty your legs and stuff.

14:51Luke Moore: It was a different time, Jim. We all enjoyed it, though. Yeah.

14:54Marcus Speller: I've never done it, but I probably would enjoy it.

14:56Luke Moore: Yeah, and that's where, you see, if you had the old communal baths in football clubs, you could have a whole advertising campaign there, but there we are. Some things are best left in the past. Now, Cole Palmer came on. Nice to hear you finally admit that. I said some, but a minority of things. He'll decide which things. Yeah, of course, yeah. Cole Palmer came on for Chelsea and couldn't impact the game the way he wanted to. But he is impacting his neighbourhood. Yes. Some would say in a negative way because his neighbours have written to Surrey County Council to express their objection to a new outdoor gym that Palmer wants to build in his garden.

15:33Luke Moore: The neighbours said this, we right to object to the application on the basis of reduced privacy and noise. The proposed building is right up against our border which will involve removing two mature trees which mean we are no longer screened from the house it belongs to.

15:47Marcus Speller: Yeah.

15:48Luke Moore: That's an excellent NIMBY voice.

15:50Marcus Speller: It was kind of a superson of Winston Churchill about it.

15:54Luke Moore: Don't all the best voices?

15:56Marcus Speller: Yeah, I enjoyed it. I liked it, yeah.

15:59Luke Moore: A previous application for new entrance gates was given the go-ahead despite a neighbour's objections over the use of high explosives during the construction. That I have sympathy with.

16:08Jim Campbell: Well, I mean, presumably that explodes

16:11Luke Moore: once or twice and then that's the end of it, right?

16:13Marcus Speller: Is that so bad? Get a cup of cocoa and have a watch. Exactly. Yeah, it'll be fine.

16:17Luke Moore: Were they digging it and thought, that looks like something that was used in the Second World War. Oh, it was. There we go.

16:22Marcus Speller: There's one thing that British people are absolutely world class at. It's like complaining about shit that other people are doing. They need to be involved.

16:30Luke Moore: Yeah, but how do you not know that other nations are not worse? I mean, you remember Mad Jens Lehmann. I mean, he literally took a chainsaw to his... Yeah, but he's known as Mad Jens, isn't he?

16:38Jim Campbell: So let's assume he's an outlier. Here he's known as Mad Jens, whereas over there he's just Jens.

16:42Marcus Speller: I've taken an example of a German man at random, which will be absolutely indicative of what German people are like. Jens Lehmann.

16:50Luke Moore: Would you not be sad to lose a couple of mature trees? I would. I absolutely would.

16:55Marcus Speller: I think you're within your rights to say, I like those trees. But unfortunately, I think, if the trees are in Cole's garden, I think he's been in his rights to have them chopped down. I mean, I could tell you a story about this if you like.

17:05Luke Moore: Well, before you do, what would be great if Cole chopped them down and then popped them over the fence? They are.

17:10Marcus Speller: If you want them, here they are. Timber!

17:13Jim Campbell: The thing with Cole Palmer, though, is that he would do that with such a straight face you'd think no he absolutely is entirely sincere about this he thinks we want the trees

17:20Marcus Speller: I don't think he knows what's going on I think he probably had a catalogue in his hand and went Jim

17:25Jim Campbell: yes

17:26Marcus Speller: and then some other people just went okay

17:27Jim Campbell: have you seen the list of things that's already in his house

17:30Marcus Speller: no I'd love to hear it

17:31Jim Campbell: so this is him from the article about this it also has a master bedroom with a dressing room a first floor staff flat and gym a study boot room and even a bonus room

17:41Marcus Speller: a bonus room what's a bonus room

17:42Jim Campbell: that's like a rumpus room I guess so, or a den.

17:45Marcus Speller: Do you remember rumpus rooms back in the day? No. A rumpus room is like a posh-like room. Sounds like a shagging den. No, it's for games. Oh, right. So you'd retire there for a bit of charades after a dinner, and then the bloody lads would probably have port and cigars or whatever. But when we're all together in the rumpus room, we can play a bit of Risk. A bit of backgammon. Yeah, yeah, quite. The rumpus room.

18:11Luke Moore: Why rumpus? Where does that work? I don't know where it comes from. It just sounds quite posh, doesn't it?

18:14Jim Campbell: Yeah, I think it is very posh.

18:15Luke Moore: A ruddy good rumpus.

18:16Jim Campbell: I mean, maybe one day it's a rumpus room, maybe one day it's something else. Maybe the staff that live in the flat have the job of changing the bonus room every day, like a sort of elf on the shelf style thing, just all year round.

18:27Luke Moore: Maybe it's a room you don't realise is there, so there's like a... You think it's a cupboard. Yeah, you know what I mean? You go in there, yeah.

18:33Marcus Speller: Oh, it's just where he keeps all his bonuses.

18:35Luke Moore: That's tricky. It's just in cash. Yeah. Possibly. The mind boggles quite frankly. The tree story I've got is

18:40Marcus Speller: there was a tree in the neighbours over the back of me to the left. There was a tree there and it was massive and it was going to fall down onto mine and my other next door neighbour's garden. But you caught it. I didn't catch it. I went round there and said...

18:54Jim Campbell: You're quite literally not in my backyard. No, yeah, yeah, yeah.

18:57Marcus Speller: I went round there and said, can we chop this down? Because I'm being told this is going to fall. And they were like, oh... Bring your own saw. Yeah, we'll chop it down but we think that everyone should pay for it. And so everyone had to pay for 800 quid. They negotiated well then, didn't they? it down yeah i really needed it down it was written all over my face they had me over a barrel yeah i couldn't be nonchalant about it couldn't you have yeah there's also a lot of legislation around um certain trees but you have to make sure the council agree and it's not protected and all the rest of it you've got to be very very careful before so if you listen to this and you're thinking about chopping a tree down look at what happened with the sycamore gap right yeah those people went down for that and they should have rightly so awful but a lot of

19:35Jim Campbell: certain trees are protected yeah clearly yeah carl needs to hear about that carl palmer is actually claiming that he's not even going to need to knock them I didn't think you were going to start some sort

19:44Luke Moore: of rebellion of get out there and chop the trees down your head I'm saying don't do it yeah indeed I mean producer Rory

19:49Marcus Speller: is literally writing on my screen shall we move on yeah

19:51Luke Moore: a bit rude what did he write underneath that

19:53Marcus Speller: he said that Sophia Money Coote said that Prince Andrew should hyphenate his surname to be down with the kids

19:58Jim Campbell: I mean that's a good way of putting it isn't it yeah that's before the recent photo

20:04Marcus Speller: tell you what you get caught on the first aid first aid day at Epstein's Island and you labelled a prat.

20:12Jim Campbell: Didn't you see me all the time? Your title is removed

20:14Luke Moore: and you re-labelled a prat. Yeah. Coming up after this, an England star heads to Monognew.

20:34Luke Moore: If you're asking me whether Harry the Horley, who I presume is the mascot, should dive in that way, I think it's disgraceful. What about the football ramble, everybody? Presume is the best bit of that. It's my favourite bit of that.

20:46Marcus Speller: What are the other reasons a gigantic Hornet could be at a football match for a team nicknamed the Hornets? I don't know.

20:54Luke Moore: I simply do not know. What I do know is that...

20:56Marcus Speller: Leave the football before the football leaves you, Roy.

20:58Luke Moore: Indeed, indeed. Transfer deadline day was an odd one. It was crap. The lowest spending ever in the Premier League. Still outspent all those other sluggy little leagues.

21:07Marcus Speller: We should probably celebrate that, though, shouldn't we? Because it's mad at how ridiculous it is.

21:11Luke Moore: It's also mad how much more money the Premier League's got than other leagues. I know it's obvious, but my goodness. It's becoming clearer and clearer with each window that passes, isn't it? Well, it is. And to the point of, like, with the domination of the group phase, if you like, of the Champions League and so on, you can see, if not already, I'm sure resentment will build. Although, I'm not sure. Do they still... I know that in Germany in particular, they used to say stupid English money. because in that they've paid goodness knows how much for that player. I mean, it's the trickle-down effect.

21:45Luke Moore: The Premier League is literally shoving cash into other leagues because they can cherry-pick him. But anyway, all that aside, there was one man who wanted to move the other way from the Premier League to, indeed, Serie A in this case, but it didn't happen, Jean-Philippe Mateta. This is quite sad for him, actually. Yeah, it is. His move to Milan collapsed. Obviously, Juventus were interested in him before that, Nottingham Forest quite oddly were as well, but Milan seemed to be the one. But he's got a knee problem, and he has since November, and he's been playing through pain, which perhaps maybe helps us understand some of the performances.

22:18Luke Moore: I don't think he's been terrible or anything like that, but maybe not firing as much as he has done in the past. But he seemed really sad about this, as one would, and it seems like...

22:28Marcus Speller: He's had to go have surgery, hasn't he?

22:29Luke Moore: Well, it seems like he's going to have to have surgery on it to kick this into touch, because it's a World Cup year, and he's recently had a few caps for France and that's playing on his mind how long does the surgery take how long is the recovery you know we're into February now so it's a real tough one for Mateta and the fact that Palace still spent

22:46Jim Campbell: 48 million pounds on one goal Jürgen Strand-Larsen that transfer for me is bonkers absolutely but doesn't it suggest that actually Mateta might be out for some time and they might already be looking at like you know what happens if he can't come back at the same level

23:00Marcus Speller: I would be very wary of an opinion informed on the back of Palace's admin. Fair.

23:06Luke Moore: Because they are mad. We'll get to that in a second. But staying with the striker situation, Mateta, I think it's obvious, is going to go. His contract is until 2027. So whatever happens come the summer, I think he'll be looking to go. I mean, obviously, it is fair to say that actually, will he have big clubs like Juventus and AC Milan interested in him come the summer? We shall see. But I think Palace would be keen to try and cash in on him if that is still a possibility, which you would imagine it probably was because he's a good player. But yes, it does. With Strand-Larsen going there for that amount of money, it shows you that they wanted a new striker, whether he was staying or going.

23:43Luke Moore: I think Strand-Larsen's a good player. I think this season has been mad. 48 million's a lot of money. And I think Wolves have done well because bearing in mind, Newcastle wanted him in the summer after he'd had a good season with Wolves the previous season. And what did they offer? 55 or something like that. In that region. and I got it from Wolves because that would have been an admission of well we're definitely going down obviously it's the way that Caesar transpired they also had him on loan

24:09Marcus Speller: at the time and he was going to be a permanent and they didn't want that to be scuppered either

24:12Luke Moore: yeah they couldn't have taken that unless it was ridiculous money which Newcastle didn't go to so now we fast forward until end of January where Wolves that could be a miracle if they don't go down

24:23Jim Campbell: yeah I mean they're clearly sort of disaster planning

24:25Luke Moore: to get 48 million for Strand Larson at this point I think from their point of view and even that he's only scored one goal so Rob Edwards could rightly say well do you know what guys he's not actually done that much this season for us 48 million pounds for a team who are pretty much destined for the championship you can absolutely

24:41Marcus Speller: understand the move from Wolves I don't think that's the debate

24:44Jim Campbell: they brought Nigel Kwasi in on the free as well didn't they so they're obviously playing for the championship

24:48Marcus Speller: Nigel Kwasi that's good yeah Nigel Kwasi listen I can't sit here and slag off Nigel Kwasi he's a bit of a legend probably he loves it he absolutely loves a relegation

24:57Luke Moore: what I think Wolves fans are going to be safe with the knowledge is the board are definitely going to spend that money wisely. Oh yeah, for sure. Yeah, are they even going to spend it? Probably on the eSports team?

25:06Marcus Speller: Or just blokes called Gomez or Bueno.

25:09Luke Moore: Yeah. To be fair, yeah, they've got four Gomez's in it.

25:12Marcus Speller: They could do, someone was saying they could do a back six of four Gomez's and two Bueno's.

25:18Luke Moore: And what they should do, the next time they play at home, halftime show from the band Gomez, surely. Yeah. Is this a result of it?

25:24Jim Campbell: but it still works. Like a gentleman's bet in the rumpus room?

25:27Marcus Speller: Yeah, it could be.

25:28Jim Campbell: We can stay up. With players only called Gomez and Bueno.

25:31Marcus Speller: Kinder Bueno's everywhere as well.

25:33Jim Campbell: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

25:34Marcus Speller: Rumpers ruin business, that.

25:35Jim Campbell: They are big time.

25:36Marcus Speller: I think Strand-Larsen is an insane amount of money for a player of that quality.

25:41Luke Moore: Well, he's gone.

25:42Jim Campbell: And they've got Adam Armstrong in to replace him. I mean, that's not far off the Nigel Kwasi joke, is it?

25:48Marcus Speller: Yeah, it's the modern day version of him.

25:50Luke Moore: Well, he's one goal away from equaling Strand-Larsen to tally the Premier League. That's true. That is true.

25:57Marcus Speller: If Adam Armstrong is the answer, I'm not sure what the question is. The question is,

25:59Jim Campbell: can you buy someone from Southampton Football Club? Yeah. Yes, you can. I think we moved on quite quickly from Angel Gomez. No, we're still in the Wolves chat, Jim. I'm building up to it.

26:07Marcus Speller: Jim, we're very much still in the Wolves chat. We're in the Rumpus room. Yeah. The discussion of the day is Wolves. Okay. I want to get stuck into Strand Larsson in a way that will undoubtedly come back to haunt me in about six months' time. You can do Gomez now first if you want. I'm happy to do it.

26:19Jim Campbell: Great, yeah. I'll take the bonus in the bonus room and just say that I think it's going to be intriguing to see him in the Premier League, obviously, because most of, let's be honest, most of us have seen him playing for Lee Carsley's England in that fever dream from not so long ago. And actually, he looks quite a tidy player. He didn't look out of place. Played every game under Carsley. Love that. Not been seen since. And obviously, he's an unusual profiler player because he's simply so small. You kind of don't see football as small as that. He's a tiny man. He's a tiny, tiny man. How tall do you reckon he is?

26:47Jim Campbell: I think he's going to be... He's probably taller than you'd think because footballers are all large. so I reckon he's about 5 '2", surely. No. 5 '2"? That's what he looks like to me. Maybe the aspect ratio is wrong on my telly. Yeah, it could be. But Vakaya Saka is 5 '10", and I can't wrap my head around that.

27:02Marcus Speller: Yeah, that's mad.

27:03Jim Campbell: The thing is, we've seen Saka grow, haven't we? So you forget how big he is now. That is true.

27:08Marcus Speller: Ágil Gomez is 5 '6".

27:10Jim Campbell: I'm not having that.

27:11Marcus Speller: Which I think is the same height as Diego Maradona.

27:13Jim Campbell: Oh, right.

27:14Marcus Speller: Well, there you go. Small. Yeah, he's definitely small. 5 '2 is going too far, though. Why do you think he's gone to Wolves?

27:20Luke Moore: I mean at Marseille it's only alone isn't it it is alone obviously that's smart at the end of the season that's why do you think shot window do you think he's thinking to himself why not if it's some sort of outlet to see if Tommy Tooks

27:34Jim Campbell: is interested it's either that or there was no other option surely if he's not playing much for Marseille which I believe was the case I think you've

27:41Marcus Speller: hit a nail on the head with the first point you made shot window I think you come into Premier League for six months or whatever it is you don't the team are I mean it's basically done isn't it so I mean there's no pressure really he's such a neat and tidy player he uses the ball well I think he could stand out as well and then when it comes along when the summer comes along he gets a permanent move to another Premier League team I think he could definitely play for a decent enough Premier League team I don't think he's very what I've seen of him which isn't a massive amount I admit but I don't think he's necessarily absolute top level yet but he can definitely play in the Premier League and I love the type of football that he is and we don't see many players like that that are English so it's an interesting move I'm looking forward to seeing him play it's whether he can keep his head while all around him have lost theirs as Kipling would say and stand out but I think it's an interesting move and I like him as a player

28:30Luke Moore: yeah he does have an exceedingly good turning circle

28:33Marcus Speller: not that Kipling

28:34Luke Moore: oh okay

28:34Marcus Speller: but always nice to get a mention we know how much we love a Battenberg you like a cherry baked call as well? I like them all

28:40Luke Moore: yeah unless they do like mint ones

28:42Marcus Speller: the angel slices? yeah the angel slices are good yeah I said all You open the pack of six.

28:49Jim Campbell: Have you tried the whole range of Mr. Kipling? I imagine it's quite wide-ranging. Yeah, I need to have a look at this.

28:54Marcus Speller: You open the Mr. Kipling angel slices. There's six of them, but they're in packs of two. Yeah, yeah, that's right. There's no way you're doing less than two in one opening. It's impossible. They're so good.

29:02Luke Moore: We're going to have a deep dive on Kipling and Ramblin' Cup.

29:05Marcus Speller: Okay. Strand Larson, though, before we move on.

29:07Luke Moore: Oh, here we go. I thought he'd be all right.

29:08Marcus Speller: I understand that the fee is just a fee because it fits a need for what a team wants, right? I get that, like, you know, Palace are in free fall. They want to stay in the Premier League. They've got a lot of upheaval. The manager's leaving. They thought they were going to lose a striker permanently. They've definitely lost him to injury. They've lost a lot of other good players. I get that. But I think that it's an extraordinary amount of money for a player of his record.

29:33Jim Campbell: Yeah, you'd have to say Wolves have done well with hitting that amount. And I mean, it's Palace's record transfer fee by some distance as well. They'd already broken it for Brennan Johnson earlier in the window. Which people thought was quite high as well.

29:43Luke Moore: I mean, they've spent quite a lot of money on those two players. I think it is high for Johnson.

29:46Marcus Speller: I don't think, I think Johnson's, I said this before, I think he's a very limited player.

29:49Luke Moore: Yeah. Well, let's talk about Crystal Palace and their admin and all that sort of stuff. Because they nearly had Dwight McNeil on loan. His loan-to-buy move to Crystal Palace fell through at the last minute. He'd been offered a four-and-a-half-year contract by Palace. And the BBC reported that McNeil had completed a medical. Palace had submitted a deal sheet before Monday's 7pm deadline. And unfortunately, even though Everton had apparently filed all the necessary paperwork, the deal fell through because Palace did not complete the required documents at their end. I am feeling less sympathetic about this Europa League, Europa Conference League business.

30:24Luke Moore: Yeah, what's going on?

30:25Marcus Speller: Info at CPS, Cedar Cup at UK.

30:27Luke Moore: They didn't let him know, did they? That's the real story from this, and that's just an absolute sickening of that. Yeah, it was radio silence, his partner Megan Sharpley said, and she criticised Palace for messing with McNeil's mental health. And this is something that perhaps we don't maybe consider too much with professional footballers. because Megan Sharpley, Dwight Millwall's partner, said, to have something promised to you, to have been dragged along an emotional rollercoaster and to be toyed with until the final minute, for that to be torn away from you at the last second, with absolutely no explanation going from everything to radio silence, no phone call, no communication, and to be left broken-hearted with nothing but confusion has hurt more than I can say.

31:05Luke Moore: And then she says, you know, we live in a world where everyone is aware of what a problem mental health is. So in football, why do we find it acceptable? Because these young men are on a lot of money, and that's okay to mess and toy with their mental health. And that's just a part of the job. An interesting point. I mean, McNeil himself said, whilst even now I'm still left in the dark, what I do know and have been supported with, I am an Everton player and I will use this as motivation. And Everton, to their credit, posted on social media on Tuesday, the day after, still one of us and a few big months ahead.

31:33Luke Moore: Everyone at Everton is behind you, Dwight. An interesting situation, which we don't really think about it too much. I mean, you know how stressful it is to move if you're moving just up the road. You're talking about a guy who's in Liverpool. He was thinking, right, we're going to relocate to London. He's got his partner with him. Thinking about saying goodbye to your teammates. Probably started doing it. Well, the whole shooting match, you know. I mean, yeah, it's a bit like players who, I think it was, was it David Luiz when he was playing at Benfica? One minute he's off to training and then the club call him and go, no, no, no, you're off to Chelsea.

32:03Luke Moore: And it's like, right, pack your bag. And it's going to happen quickly. Now that obviously does go through and he's made a big move already in his life. but these sorts of things look I'm not proposing another system here on how to do things but I think from Palace's point of view that's really piss poor of course it is regardless of what else

32:21Jim Campbell: is happening anywhere it's just common courtesy isn't it

32:23Marcus Speller: yeah I think Megan Sharpley I didn't know she existed until yesterday to be fair but I think what she said is eloquent and it's spot on and I think that football has a lot to answer for when it comes to treating human beings like human beings you think about how academy prospects are treated or up till very recently how they were treated when they were deemed not good enough or whatever, the pathways they were shown, the help they were given has been lackluster, to say the least. And I think what you said at the start of this, Marcus, about, you know, we don't consider this much. It's true. And, you know, this kind of story highlights it and something we should be more mindful of because they're human beings.

32:57Marcus Speller: I don't think Dwight Menil's got any children, but a lot of football players, for example, have got kids in school and all the rest of it. And to uproot your life at the last minute and contemplate moving to an entirely new city and starting again and leaving all the community you've got behind and then being told, not even being told, but it's just falling through and you can't do it. I've had conversations with ex-footballers before saying, you know, look, it's really difficult because I'm not good enough to choose where I play. Sometimes I just get sold on. Well, most aren't. And then you have the situation where kids go through three or four different schools and you can't buy a house and live in it.

33:33Marcus Speller: You've got to rent all the time and you don't have that stability. Now, of course, it's a life of amazing privilege for lots of different reasons and clearly that's got to be said as well because there will be people listening to this saying, well, I'm fucking really struggling. What are they learning about? But there is a human element to all this stuff and I think it is important to remember it and I feel sorry for McNeil because I think clearly it's hit him hard and he's decided that he wants to come out and say something about it and I think rightly so and I think Crystal Palace in this case, who are a club that carry themselves with a lot of credit in lots of different areas, in this case have been found wanting and I think they should think a bit more carefully about how they treat people for sure and that stuff has been going on for ages when it comes to young people in academies as well.

34:09Marcus Speller: And we have to say that.

34:10Jim Campbell: From a sporting perspective, I think they've actually missed out on a really good player as well in Dwight McNeil. I think he's very, very underrated. I think if he can either force his way into the Everton team on a more permanent basis, which will be difficult because of Njai in front of him, or get a move to a place where he is a nailed on starter, I think he'd start posting good numbers. I think he's a really good player.

34:30Luke Moore: Well, it was a welcome comment on society by Megan. Absolutely, yeah. Something not everybody. I wonder if Oprah asked her was it radio silence or radio silenced anyway we move on quickly to Axel de Sassi who left Chelsea's bomb squad sometimes spell the surprises you with a popular culture yeah yeah yeah

34:48Jim Campbell: such a specific one as well

34:52Marcus Speller: isn't the Simpsons or Bruce Forsyth

34:57Luke Moore: de Sassi has left Chelsea's bomb squad and didn't he do well speaking of like the way

35:03Marcus Speller: that players are treated right

35:05Luke Moore: bomb squad It's like, I know that, you know. He was putting in an entrance at Cole Palmer's the other day.

35:10Marcus Speller: Yeah.

35:12Luke Moore: But he's joined West Ham on loan now.

35:13Marcus Speller: Yeah. I mean, it's funny because, you know, these players who are, I mean, you saw the same thing with Raheem Sterling, right? I mean, clearly he's made a load of money and, you know, he's going to be comfortable for the rest of his life. But, you know, life isn't just about that. And for him thinking, well, the clock's ticking, I've only got a few amount of years left in my career and I want to play football. And I'm literally being stopped playing football. is clearly not a position you want to be in. And does Arcee, I mean, is he a good player? I can't remember. I cannot remember. Because he's not played for Chelsea much the last year and a half-ish.

35:45Jim Campbell: He was on loan at Villa last season, wasn't he?

35:47Marcus Speller: Yeah, he came in. He didn't really play much for Villa either, but he came in around the time when Chelsea were just signed loads of players. It was difficult to identify who was who and what was going on. And so, at least at West Ham, we'll hear about him.

35:59Luke Moore: Well, I know some Chelsea fans have nicknamed Axel Disaster, didn't they? Yeah. which suggests that he wasn't highly rated. That's unkind. But it is unkind, ultimately, Luke.

36:06Marcus Speller: Yeah, it is. We're not being unkind today.

36:08Jim Campbell: Again, it's potentially a good move for West Ham because he's obviously far from perfect if people are calling him Axel Disaster. Several caps for France, though, Jim. Yeah, well, sure. But, I mean, centre-back is a big issue for West Ham at the moment. Fair to say. I mean, Maximilian Kilman is another one who's getting a lot of stick from his own fans. Dinos Mavropanos can be a little bit unreliable at times as well. Tadibo's the same. Kind of everywhere you look at their centre-backs, you're not quite sure about any of them so he's going to come in and at least make it competitive I think that's a good move

36:38Luke Moore: something that is without a doubt positive coming out of the West Ham camp if you like is it's been revealed that Nuno Espiritu Sander can be can be sacked without compensation if West Ham are relegated to the championship so they've done they've done the paperwork well that's good to know yeah

36:52Marcus Speller: crystal pass take a leaf take a leaf out of the book yeah

36:56Luke Moore: it's that kind of forward planning that makes a great football club

36:58Marcus Speller: yeah exactly exactly

37:03Jim Campbell: say one thing for us we are ready for disasters we are ready for things that could go wrong no compensation

37:08Marcus Speller: you'll never see that most time fans that'll keep them warm

37:12Luke Moore: very warm when they're in the championship next season I should say so will they be playing Sheffield United in the championship next season you would think they would yeah probably would will Calvin Phillips make his loan move permanent there because he's gone there

37:24Jim Campbell: are we going to see Calvin Phillips playing some football it seems that way because it's easy to forget that he was at Man City this whole time

37:30Marcus Speller: I like that he's now been there this season he's got to such an extent that he's realised I can't play in the Premier League at all anymore I'll go Championship

37:38Jim Campbell: I mean it's incredible isn't it I mean that West Ham loan was really damaging for his reputation in that sense because it was an absolute disaster I mean what hasn't been damaging

37:46Luke Moore: I mean he's joining a side okay they're seven points above the relegation zone in the Championship but you know by definition they're only a few wins off the playoffs of course that's how it works but I mean you know sorry to go all misty-eyed here I mean what, five years ago or nearly five years ago starting in a Euros final for England he was an England starter gets that move to Man City on merit on merit, exactly

38:11Marcus Speller: what's the situation with Marcus is the situation that he's been at Man City for so long because the wages are so good he just doesn't want to move

38:15Luke Moore: well I think as Jim said I think he's tried and I think with West Ham it was a disaster that move and it was a great shame and I think confidence has been low perhaps no one's come in for him a number of things I don't think he strikes me as the type of lad who goes yeah I'll just pick up the wages and I'll be fine with that. I think when you have such a troubled move as he did to West Ham in terms of on the pitch and then he wasn't being selected by them they got him in thinking, okay, let's try and rejuvenate him and then I think it was David Moyes, wasn't it? It was a bit like yeah, this is not really happening and suddenly he becomes just a squad player there when you've gone on loan to play football.

38:48Luke Moore: That's got to knock your confidence and also it's got to, you know, there's a reason why Sheffield United thought, I think we can get him and they have.

38:55Marcus Speller: Rebuild, it's probably part of the world that he knows well and perhaps that's part of the reason away from the kind of bright lights the Premier League rebuild your career and see how you go.

39:06Luke Moore: Yeah, but he's 30 now, Luke.

39:07Marcus Speller: I know, and the thing is...

39:08Luke Moore: He was on Ipswich Town as well not that long ago, lest we forget. So I think that Man City, it's one of those ones where who can stump up a fee for him and Man City will not want to sell him off for cheap. They've essentially waited

39:25Jim Campbell: and things come along, right? I know. and also he signed

39:29Marcus Speller: such a long contract from memory as well 2028 right so he's still got two years on this deal that's crazy that's crazy

39:35Luke Moore: so you know let's hope he plays and let's hope he does well there quite simply with that one this is an interesting one Jim transfer news isn't over just yet because Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is a free agent and Martin O 'Neill is trying to get him to go to Celtic

39:50Jim Campbell: I like that as a fit but I also desperately want Hearts to win the league so I feel torn about it

39:57Luke Moore: Hearts have got to stop getting men sent off before anything happens. Won't help. I mean, Oxlade-Chamberlain going to Hearts would be a lovely old job. It would. But Mikel Arteta hasn't ruled out re-signing Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, which seems extraordinary. He's currently trading with their under-21s. But read the actual quote.

40:14Jim Campbell: We explore every option. Is that not ruling it out? Because that doesn't technically rule out signing Mikel O'Mudrick or KSI or me.

40:23Luke Moore: Is he not saying we explore every option with regard to Oxlade-Chamberlain? No, I don't think he is saying that. What are the options? Well, we sign them and we don't.

40:29Jim Campbell: Because this is from a wider thing when he was asked about the transfer window in general. And people started putting two and two together and came up with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain somehow. Who's not even a number.

40:40Marcus Speller: Who just does podcasts now.

40:41Jim Campbell: Yeah, exactly.

40:42Marcus Speller: And he's actually quite good on podcasts. Oh, yeah, he's very good. Yeah. I mean, the thing about Oxlade-Chamberlain is, what annoys me about this is, right?

40:50Luke Moore: Are you going to go all the way back to Pompey's Academy?

40:51Marcus Speller: Well, he's from Portsmouth, right? He's from Portsmouth, right? Just hear me out. He's 32 years old. He hasn't played much in the last year. I think he finished up at Besiktas last season.

41:03Luke Moore: But he loves Arsenal.

41:05Marcus Speller: No, but his dad's a legend at Pompey. We need players. Here we go.

41:09Luke Moore: Here we go.

41:10Marcus Speller: All I'm saying is if you're going to go to Celtic and basically not play. Similar size of club. Come to Portsmouth.

41:15Luke Moore: Come to Portsmouth.

41:17Marcus Speller: Come on. You're making out that it's mad. It's not mad. It is mad. Calvin Phillips just gone to Sheffield United. That's a bit different though.

41:25Luke Moore: because Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, I think, because he, nobody knows how he got on at Besiktas really. I know one could look into it scouting now. I'm not going to do that. Yeah, exactly. So that's why it's different to Calvin Phillips. We know that he's come up short recently. With Oxlade-Chamberlain, he has a chance to go to a side who sadly, after last night's defeat, but realistically, very realistically, are in a title race. They're still in European competition.

41:49Marcus Speller: But he's not going to play.

41:51Luke Moore: Is he not? I don't think he'll play.

41:53Jim Campbell: If they brought him in, it would be with the idea. of getting some juice out of him. He's even played before and scored at that stadium. They turned... For England, thank you very much. It's amazing, isn't it? Yeah, I know. Well, it's relevant, is it not, Jim? Is it not relevant? I just ignore it now. He knows the stadium.

42:07Marcus Speller: Besiktas, I think, paid him up his contract. Right. They paid him up his contract.

42:11Luke Moore: So he's free and fancy.

42:12Marcus Speller: Look, I'm not saying it's going to happen. You're confusing me saying it's going to happen with it being the most outrageous suggestion ever. It's not the most outrageous suggestion ever.

42:20Luke Moore: Portsmouth should have a look.

42:21Marcus Speller: Going back to his hometown...

42:23Luke Moore: On big wages, though.

42:24Marcus Speller: It doesn't need to be big wages, does it?

42:27Luke Moore: He may insist.

42:27Marcus Speller: It won't happen because the Portsmouth owners don't never put their hand there, Popper. But it's not a bad fit. It's a great fit. I'd like to see.

42:33Luke Moore: I'd much rather it than Celtic, okay? So I'm back in your bit.

42:36Jim Campbell: We'd all be behind it. But the thing is, I suppose when you're a player at that stage of your career, even if you have just had a contract paid up, you're looking at essentially the biggest number you can get for the remaining years.

42:47Luke Moore: Apparently he's a big friend of Joe Hart's as well and he's been in his ear.

42:50Marcus Speller: Get him in.

42:51Luke Moore: And also, it's a World Cup year.

42:53Marcus Speller: He needs to listen. He needs to...

42:56Luke Moore: You ready to move on?

42:58Marcus Speller: He needs to listen to what Paul Merson said about playing for Pompey.

43:00Luke Moore: Did he? Yeah. Before we go for a break, Ukraine's foreign minister has called Gianni Infantino a moral degenerate over his comments on Russia. Agree. In an interview... Yeah. Not just for those people. Yeah, I already thought that. Yeah. Yeah. Presumably, it's because in an interview on Monday, Infantino said, we have to, when asked if he would explore lifting the ban on Russia. So we have to look at it. Infantino said, the ban has not achieved anything. It has just created more frustration and hatred. He added that FIFA should actually never ban any country from playing football because of the acts of their political leaders, whilst also claiming that allowing boys and girls from Russia to play football elsewhere in Europe could help the situation.

43:46Luke Moore: Gentlemen?

43:46Jim Campbell: Yeah, I mean, he was given the Order of Friendship medal by Vladimir Putin in 2019, following the 2018 World Cup. So I assume that they're big pals in their rumpus room, secretly controlling things that happen in the world, etc., etc.

44:01Marcus Speller: Just imagine the optics of this now. Imagine the optics of him... I don't need to, because I just look at them. Exactly, exactly. Of Vladimir Pantino announcing in some overblown press conference that they're just welcoming Russia back into the international community of our football.

44:17Jim Campbell: Especially the idea that the ban has not achieved anything. The point of the ban is to show countries that you can't essentially invade your neighbours without consequences within the international community. So just going, oh, this hasn't really achieved anything, it actually gifts them something. It shows them that, yeah, actually, this is fine. You know what, we've just let our standards slip a bit because you're not going to stop. So yeah, cool, come back. Ridiculous.

44:42Marcus Speller: He's got such main character energy that he clearly thinks that not just football can solve every problem, but that he personally can solve every problem. He is desperate to be like this Uncle FIFA celebrity figure, isn't he? I understand he was asked about it, but at the same time, he has to hold the line. If you want to play some kind of big international kind of geopolitical guy, you've got to have an understanding of how these actually work. And my fear is the problem with it is that he's so pally with people like Donald Trump he feels like that's his most important priority and he has to parrot somebody's talking points.

45:17Marcus Speller: It's absolutely ridiculous that you would ever let Russia come back into international football based on what they've done. And it's not just FIFA and just football that's punishing Russia for this and rightly so. And the moment that people like FIFA stop holding the line it brings the whole edifice down. It makes the whole thing far weaker. Yeah, because other sports have banned Russia as well. Exactly. He's not qualified to comment on these types of things and he should focus on what he's supposed to actually be doing in a World Cup year.

45:44Luke Moore: He did apologise to British fans about his remark about no Brits being arrested at the Qatar World Cup. Yeah, I mean, that's the bottom of the list.

45:53Marcus Speller: It's the bottom of the list of things I need to apologise for. I don't mind the banter.

45:57Luke Moore: Yeah.

45:57Jim Campbell: What was this press conference?

45:59Luke Moore: Well, that was with the Sky News journalist to be fair. Yeah, he actually, he even, he said about to Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish fans, oh yeah, I didn't realise I, you know, but even that, it's kind of like, well, Scotland and Northern Ireland weren't there. It was the Wales fans you should be apologising to, really. But I don't, well, okay. But anyway, he apologised for that. So we look forward to his next little piece of banter.

46:23Marcus Speller: If you're going to do anything for the good of football, Gianni,

46:25Luke Moore: go,

46:26Marcus Speller: get Alex Oxlade-Chamley down at Fratton Park.

46:28Jim Campbell: Put some pressure on. I don't like the idea that he has that type of power. He just plays for them now.

46:34Marcus Speller: Yeah, well, it depends how it works for me.

46:36Jim Campbell: Oh,

46:36Luke Moore: there we are. Jim, Jim, everyone has got their price. Including this guy, because coming up after this, Cristiano Ronaldo goes on strike.

46:54Luke Moore: Hello, everybody. Now, Manchester City face Newcastle United tonight at 8pm in the second leg of the semi-final of the League Cup sponsored by Carabao. Jim, Arsenal lie awake in the final. It looks very much like it will be Manchester City. who would you rather your boys face? It's a good question.

47:14Jim Campbell: You've got to say Man City. Otherwise you're a coward. I don't necessarily agree with that. I think obviously it's going to be very difficult for Newcastle to get past Man City because they're two goals down. But you know let's be honest on their day Man City are a better team than Newcastle. Newcastle will be a very very sort of loud and intimidating proposition I think in the stands. You probably would want them to get through it to be honest but it's very likely TV Man City and you know you just you have to look forward to that I'm thrilled to be in the Carabao Cup final by the way I know most fans don't care about it but Arsenal have only won it I think twice ever which is absolutely mad like absolutely mad when you say most fans don't care about it that's actually not true because a lot of the big fans do most fans of like the non-pointless clubs right I'll see what you mean yeah nice

48:01Luke Moore: stick around for Uncock you will be listing who the pointless clubs are little spoiler on that Spurs is one of them naughty did win it recently though well fairly recently

48:12Marcus Speller: 18 years ago

48:13Luke Moore: yeah yeah okay now back to Manchester City you see talking of banter Pep was having a little bit of it wasn't he joking about Man City's transfer spending he said I am a little bit sad and upset because in net spend the last five years we are 7th in the Premier League I want to be the first I don't understand why the club don't spend more money I am a little bit grumpy with them they did spend the most amount of money in this January transfer window I believe

48:36Marcus Speller: and also I mean, has anyone been more likely just to be demob happy than Pep Guardiola? These kind of things are exactly why he's going to leave in the summer. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

48:45Jim Campbell: He's starting to fray, isn't he, to say the least. And they make a lot of money out of their academy, don't they? Which is a completely normal academy, just like every other club's academy. Smart business. Smart business.

48:57Luke Moore: Well, look, Man City will be the favourites for this game, as you say, because they're the better side, they're at home, and they do have that 2-0 advantage. but also Newcastle they're still they're not really convinced so much this season but they are the defending champions Luke Moore how do you with all your Pompey and facade see this one going

49:13Marcus Speller: I don't think it's got anything to do with the fact that I'm from Portsmouth originally but thank you for the reminder to the listeners not at all I think Manchester City will progress to the final and then if they win that prize money Pep can have his way because they'll be able to spend loads more money won't they yeah exactly

49:28Jim Campbell: Marcus you are a Pep hater at the moment no no I'm a Pep realist

49:32Marcus Speller: he has been for a year I'm a Pep realist

49:34Jim Campbell: you're convinced that he's a fraud and all that ladies and gentlemen we got him he's a Pep sceptic he's a Pep sceptic I'm a realist I always refer to him as one of the greatest men in the history of football and I'm going to repeatedly ignore that until I get to put my question to you so as a Pep tic do you see any chance of Newcastle getting through here can you see sort of a Manchester City collapse

49:56Luke Moore: I mean I can even being possible I can it's possible but I think it's unlikely because Newcastle themselves have not really convinced that much. It would be... The neutral slash Newcastle United fan wants to see a Newcastle early goal.

50:09Jim Campbell: Yeah.

50:10Luke Moore: Quite simply. And people have gone on about the Emirates being a bit nervy at times this season and you saw that against Manchester United. But even in the build-up against the game against Manchester United, the Etihad's nervy as well. This is not the Premier League. The Premier League is clearly the one they want. I think if Pep was to win the Premier League, I think he'd go at the end of the season. I think he wants to finish on that high. And some would say he's earned the right to it. Well, fine. Absolutely. but I suspect that Manchester City will go through here because that's the odds that's obvious but Newcastle it is a chance for them to really if they were to progress tonight it would give them such a boost because again they've been very stop start this season but they have progressed in Europe they've got to go through the playoffs and so on so that would be my boring answer

50:56Marcus Speller: I think City are massively capable of losing control over games And I think if you were to overlay this onto Newcastle of last season, you might think, okay, there's a chance here. But as I said at the start of the show, the statistics around teams who lose the home leg in a two-leg affair first, they're pretty stark.

51:17Luke Moore: Especially by two goals as well.

51:18Marcus Speller: Yeah, and so I think it's unlikely. But when City lose control of games, they find it hard to get it back.

51:26Luke Moore: You're right to say that, but Newcastle themselves, do they control games? you know like even no but they've got it in their locker

51:32Marcus Speller: Newcastle have got it in their

51:33Luke Moore: I'm sorry about Man City

51:33Marcus Speller: do you know what I mean Newcastle have got the ability to win games against good teams they just don't do it that often they beat Man City at home in the league this season as well it's worth remembering that it was only 2-1 to be fair so that wouldn't be enough but they've got performances in them and Pete said the other day that he thinks they've only really played brilliantly well for like two games or two separate halves or something

51:55Luke Moore: it's been very very patchy yeah it has been very patchy but let's hope that they hit a purple patch tonight because it would make the game quite intriguing. They will have to do it without Jamal Lassell cheering them on. He's finally left Newcastle.

52:06Marcus Speller: Cheering them on. He can still cheer them on if he plays for someone else.

52:09Luke Moore: You know, he won't be on the bench cheering them on. He'd been there for nearly 12 years, but he's joined Leicester City on a short-term deal.

52:16Jim Campbell: That's quite amazing, isn't it? I mean, he's part of the furniture, really. Been there since having the championship.

52:22Luke Moore: Well, he's ready to destroy the furniture at Leicester City because he says he's pledged to run through brick walls.

52:28Marcus Speller: 250-odd appearances for Newcastle United. He's been around for a long, old time.

52:31Luke Moore: Newcastle called him one of the great leaders of the club's recent history.

52:34Marcus Speller: He's kept joking aside, you have to say. You do have to say.

52:38Luke Moore: Right, we're going to finish with another man who's been paid by Saudi Arabian people, Cristiano Ronaldo. He's gone on strike at Al Nasser, reportedly refused to play against Al Riyad, having grown dissatisfied with how the club is being run by the Piff Posse. Yeah, so it's all over Karim Benzema, isn't it? Well, indeed, yeah. I mean, they've done a bit of business recently. They signed Joao Felix, of course. We spoke about that the other day from Chelsea. I found Kingsley Coman. I forgot about that one from Bayern in the summer. But Al Hillel's pursuit of Karim Benzema is reportedly the reason for Ronaldo's frustration at Al Nasser because Ronaldo, to be fair to him, he's getting on a bit now.

53:20Luke Moore: He's in his 40s and he's thinking, who can do my running for me? Ah, yes, Karim. He's a waste of time. He's game.

53:27Jim Campbell: It's not actually about that. It's because... It is about that. Al Nasser... No, but Benzema was never tipped to go to Al Nasser. So Al Nasser, Al Itihad and Al Hilal are all owned by Piff. So they essentially like shuffle players between them sometimes. And he feels that Al Nasser are being a little bit neglected as the rivals are being strengthened. And it does appear that he is saying they should spend more money while he makes£5.65 a second. A second.

53:56Luke Moore: And that translates to£20 ,208 an hour,

54:05Luke Moore: £485 ,000 a day, £3.4 million a week, and£14.75 million a month. It's an annual salary of£177 million. I feel, and I worry for him, because if he is to move to another club, I think he's going to have to take a wage cut.

54:24Jim Campbell: Yes.

54:24Marcus Speller: You know that meme of that guy saying, I think corruption is a bad thing unless I'm involved. And if I'm involved, I will defend it. You've seen that meme, right? That's basically what the Saudi league is and what Cristiano Ronaldo is saying because he's saying that I don't care that the integrity of this competition is undermined by the fact that the same people own three different clubs and shuffle the players around them and prioritise different ones at different times. But I do care when I'm not getting the benefit of that. Yeah, sure. So what I need to see is not a change to the ownership structure of Saudi football.

54:56Marcus Speller: I need to be more prioritised over and above my almost£200 million a year salary.

55:01Jim Campbell: Because I want my thousand goals.

55:03Marcus Speller: Yeah, basically, yeah. Exactly. And I need other people to help me with that.

55:08Jim Campbell: Yeah.

55:10Marcus Speller: I know that when you talk about like people talk about whether Ronaldo or Messi were the better player. I know it should just be about ability and achievements but this kind of stuff doesn't help, does it? This feels a bit like a thumb on the scale of how we're supposed to judge Ronaldo versus Messi when he continually behaves in this way.

55:28Jim Campbell: Do you think that drives it in part though? Because he wants to get that thousand goals, he wants to get those numbers up as he becomes so obsessed with numbers because of that rivalry, because of everybody else comparing him in that way. I hope so. Could be a factor. I hope so.

55:39Marcus Speller: I really genuinely and sincerely hope that that is the case.

55:43Luke Moore: Anyway, it's his birthday tomorrow so we wish him happy birthday for tomorrow though. Yeah.

55:47Marcus Speller: 21 again, Cristiano.

55:48Luke Moore: Yeah, but 41 in reality.

55:49Marcus Speller: Yeah.

55:49Luke Moore: Thanks for listening to the Football Ramble, part of the ACAST Creator Network. Friends of the Ramble, don't go anywhere. Keep listening for Ramble Uncut. And if you're not a friend of the Ramble, head over to patreon.com forward slash football ramble to sign up now. Thank you, Luke. Thank you. Thank you, Jim.

56:03Jim Campbell: Thank you for some exceedingly good take. And thank you, Mr. Kim.

56:17Jim Campbell: The Football Ramble is a Stack Production and part of the Acast Creator Network.