Ballon d’Or glitz, Carabao Cup drama and an EFL roundup: Football Weekly

24:01I think there's basically some quite good PR-ing, unlike Paul Heckingbottom's PR. I think Peter Risdale's championship playoff revamp has got some quite good PR-ing in the press that makes it seem maybe more likely and popular than it is. I'd be pretty surprised if it happens. And even if you look a tiny bit closer, the the reasons that they say it's popular i'm not sure they really stack up either right so it says like oh there's a feeling that the championship is currently unfair on parish on non-parachute payment teams objectively true and the but this feels like an odd solution to that because it just gives two teams one more match to maybe win promotion but it probably you know there still probably won't be very many non-parachute payment teams that win promotion it doesn't feel like an obvious solution to that if you ask me and then the other thing that people keep mentioning is that there'd be fewer dead rubbers at the end of the season because teams in 10th and 11th would still be gunning for that that seventh spot or eighth spot again I'm not sure this is a big issue I we don't we sometimes talk about dead rubbers at the end of a season on not the top 20 but generally we're not that worried because there's still loads going on that's really exciting so that's big news for Preston right I know they're doing all right but it's big news for Preston who are as 11.

25:17Max Rushden:Yeah, who Peter Rinsdale is the director of, by the way. I mean, Millwall, I think Millwall have finished eighth three of the last four or five seasons. So they would have had a real tilt at the Premier League in this scenario. You've got to think, right? So last season it was Blackburn and Millwall, seventh and eighth. Is it in the Premier League's interest for Millwall to be in the Premier League? That's what you've got to ask yourself. And I would say no. I would say they really wouldn't want them in there. I don't know if the Premier League would ever agree to that. If you look at the National League last season, St.

25:48Max Rushden:Barnett went up as champions. York finished second and had to go into the playoffs. And Oldham and Southend ended up in the playoff final. Oldham finished 23 points behind York. And Southend finished 28 points behind them. Oldham ended up going up. And they're currently 11th after nine games with 13 points. so they're doing fine in League 2. I think a lot of people who are criticising this idea, I don't think it's a terrible idea, I don't think it's fine as it is as well, they're saying, oh, you could have a team that finishes eighth going into the Premier League and making a show of themselves, but that wouldn't necessarily be the case.

26:31And also, lots of teams that come fourth, yeah, can show themselves up, don't they? Also, before we end part one, just to protect you, Sammy, you were saying the Premier League wouldn't want Millwall in the Premier League. You weren't saying you yourself wouldn't want Millwall in the Premier League. Oh, no, I think it'd be great if Millwall went up. I think it'd be brilliant, you know, just to keep mealy-mouthed apologies. Keep crumbling. You know, look at the teams that have strong fan bases. They are what make the Premier League exciting. You know, Crystal Palace is a great example. Sorry, Millwall, to compare you to them.

27:01Make it worse. But, you know, you've got a great set of fans there. So Millwall in the Premier League from a colour and that side of things would be great. I just think the opposition, the other clubs are self-serving and it's not in their interest for Millwall to go in. And just by the way, as a competition, I think you're devaluing the competition. And I don't think Barry's point quite works because, yeah, as you said, the disparity between Championship and Premier League is massive compared to the disparity between National League and League Two. So I'm not so sure. All right, that'll do for part one.

27:30Part two will do League One and League Two.

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28:57Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly. Ali, is Bradford, Stevenage, Lincoln a surprise top three at the summit? It's a great top three at the summit, Max. And definitely a surprise. I mean, we do our pre-season full league table predictions. We had Stevenage and Lincoln something like 8th, 9th or 9th, 10th. and said, these feel like the sort of teams that could be dark horses, but we weren't brave enough to actually put them in the top six. And the reason they both felt like and have been so far dark horses is they are, as I mentioned with Lincoln earlier, they go for kind of continuity and consistency.

29:35They've got really smart people running the club in the right way. Both teams, Stevenage and Lincoln. They've got young managers, Michael Scubala of Lincoln and Alex Revell of Stevenage, who are improving the longer that they manage the clubs, right? So instead of sacking them after their first poor run, they've been backed instead. And the club have come out the other side stronger for it with a manager that has real authority and has feet under the table. These are all things that are quite unusual and therefore notable in the EFL. And probably it helps you start well because everyone's kind of ready to go.

30:12Everyone knows their jobs and what's going on. Whereas a team that maybe has a new manager and seven new starters and that sort of thing probably is more likely to start slow. So they're both built on really strong defences. Stevenage and Lincoln, not sparkling attacking teams, but effective, shall we say, and absolutely good for it. Both of them have had relatively kind fixture lists to start the season and things will get tougher. Whereas Bradford at the top have just been so exciting to watch. I mean, look at their scores. Their last three games have been 3-1. which I think really kind of sums them up.

30:45They've lost one of those and won the other two against Huddersfield and Cardiff. They've played Stockport and beaten them. They've played Luton and beaten them. So they've already beaten some of the leading lights. Four out of four at home. It's just an incredible atmosphere at the moment. And the team has loads of different threats, plays with great intensity, real confidence on the ball and they attack with speed. Defensively, they're not that good, but they're scoring two in every game so far. So it doesn't seem to matter that much right now. And yeah, they've just been absolutely magnificent.

31:18On Lincoln, Ben Fisher wrote a piece about them before the Chelsea game. They have a growth and innovation officer. And he said, there are always ideas bubbling away at the surface, one centering on using plant-based energy gels and other adjusting dressing room lighting to heighten performance. Producer Joel did notice that this article about Lincoln using AI was next to a Martin O 'Neill interview with the headline, expected goals is a clueless development. so you can take your pick. Cardiff, we've mentioned already as well, Sanny, the highest place side relegated from the championship. It's quite interesting actually, last season's playoff sides are struggling a little bit, aren't they?

31:51Yeah, they are. Just on Cardiff, one of my friends played with and played under Brian Barry Murphy, described him as the smiling assassin because he's very good with the media, he's very good with the players and really, yeah, like overly friendly with you when you want, you know, I remember the second time he interviewed me and he remembered my name. And I was like, oh, you've just spoken to the press office. And then he killed your family. Yeah, exactly. I've never forgiven him since. But yeah, he's pretty ruthless when he wants to be. And it is funny, his trajectory.

32:22Max Rushden:That's a textbook Corkman, by the way. Yeah, that's where he's from. Well, yeah, and his dad and all that, famously GAA and all the rest of it. Sorry, don't you have to be ruthless as a football manager and you can be nice at the same time? Isn't that proving that? or you know isn't that a good you're saying people that's a good sign people from cork or you just think are you saying that the cork type is friendly to your face and and not elsewhere i'm saying nothing max i've said all i want to say on the matter irish people will know exactly what i'm saying without me having to say it i feel i feel you have said enough sorry sally i interrupted you he can be ruthless when he wants to and actually got hounded out of Rochdale and has kind of like landed on his feet if you like through his rehabilitation at Manchester City working with the youngsters and yeah it's coming all together I guess it's the right mix whereas at somewhere like Rochdale he was playing maybe too many kids and with no resource and at Cardiff he's got kind of the right balance of kids and and some resource um you mentioned the playoffs yeah Stockport are 8th Orient are 14th Wickham 18th.

33:30Yeah, I mean, stop but I think will still come good. I mean, Orient always, I suppose it's always a team that have the playoff hangover and all that. Yeah, it is very early to see, what, nine games in. So some of those will come good. We came at a bit of a weird end to the season because by that point, Richard Kone wanted to leave, right? And he had a series of injuries that may or may not have been injuries. We don't quite know. I never really warmed to Mike Dodds, really. You know, going back to the laptop manager, he very much sounded like that. He just seemed like the wrong appointment at the wrong time.

34:04And it's kind of come to fruition because at the time they were doing really well. And Matt Bloomfield then left to Luton. And you didn't really need someone to change the story. You just needed to kind of carry on. But it didn't quite come together. He didn't really seem to win everyone over. I think if they'd have got someone in with a bit of a reputation rather than somebody just starting out, things might have gone a bit better for them. But he's out the door. And Michael Duff, who certainly does have a reputation, is in. And of course, don't have to change any of the lettering on any of the training kit or anything like that.

34:31So that's saved a little bit of money as well. So we'll see if that turns him around. I think Michael Duff knows what he's doing, doesn't he? I think he'll be all right. I think Mike Duxbury gutted not to get there. Mike Dean also upset. Mike Dean. At the bottom, Ali, as I said in the start, quite predictable. Burton, who are always sort of circling the drain, aren't they? Quite often come good late in the season at Cambridge's expense. Peterborough have had a shocking start. I've actually won a couple on the bounce. Blackpool, Rotherham, Reading, who perhaps we would have expected to do slightly better.

35:03I don't know. Port Vale, Wickham and Plymouth. So I suppose we didn't expect Plymouth to be down there. But what's your take on how the bottom of the table is shaping up? I think my take is that in League One over the last four or five years, there's been a group of quite small clubs for the level. Off the top of my head, Forest Green, Burton, you've mentioned still there, Aki, Morecambe. Sheldon. Cheltenham, Cambridge United, no, come on. No, it's okay. No, no, I don't disagree with you. And generally what happens is, particularly because there are four relegation spots, there's really nowhere to hide.

35:37Mostly those clubs hang around for two or three seasons max, maybe four, and then get relegated back to League Two. But there's been quite a consistent group of clubs that have kind of, not necessarily propped up the table, but you're expecting to see them in the bottom six, bottom eight. Like what you said about Burton. But now you look at the league and it suddenly looks quite a lot stronger. And I think that's a problem for teams like Peterborough and Blackpool and Rotherham and Reading, who have no designs whatsoever on being part of a relegation battle in League One, consider themselves way above that, but are actually in a league where, unless they buck up their ideas, they absolutely will be.

36:13And therefore, I think it's a really interesting league. So, you know, Exeter are 16th, but they've lost six out of nine. And I do think they will likely be battling relegation. Northampton started poorly but rattled off three wins in a row and are now 15. So the league table is still shaking up a bit and maybe Northampton and Exeter will drop and that'll be better news for the clubs down below. But yeah, for Posh, for Blackpool, there's been sort of slight panic stations to start the season. Both have one literal son of Sir Alex Ferguson in Darren and one sort of figurative son in Steve Bruce, who's manager of Blackpool.

36:51Whereas Rotherham have got a first-time manager in Matt Hamshaw, who's kind of a lifelong fan of the club, been a coach at the club, and he's really struggling at the moment, a lot of that down to injuries. So Noel Hunt is the Reading manager. I think he needs a win or two very quickly. I mean, they've won two out of the last three, which I think has been a bit of a stay of execution for him. But I don't think the fans, a bit like what Sandy said about Mike Dodds, don't think the fans are particularly convinced, although he's a club legend, that he's the sort of man to take them up towards the top of League One.

37:22So, yeah, needs a big few weeks. Ali, why do you think that's happening? Like, is that just because the sort of Birmingham-Wrexham effect that if you get out of Birmingham, not so much, but, you know, Wrexham are a team. You know, I'm trying to think why suddenly there wouldn't be those clubs that you'd expect to be sort of bouncing between League One and League Two, because they've got to have gone somewhere. Like, who's above them now? is it just takes two or three other sides, right, to push their way up for bigger clubs to start sort of slipping into that bracket, I guess. Yeah, yeah, it's a good question.

37:52I mean, it's always so hard to really like drill down on this. It's a big pyramid, lots of clubs, lots of different sort of factors at any given time. But we were speaking on a pod the other day. One of the listeners pointed out that if you map out the top four tiers by average attendance, which is you know obviously owners can change the financial reality of a club but you know a team's like organic size and revenues is generally best tied to average attendance right and size of the fan base if you map out the the 92 by by average attendance it has become very neat in the last few years there's been a bit of a sort of rejigging and rebalancing in some ways a bit like what i said about a lot of the smaller clubs that have dropped out of league one it's happened across most of the leagues now, and it is quite noticeable.

38:41The main outliers are Premier League clubs, right? So Bournemouth, if they were in the championship, would have the second lowest attendance. Brentford would be a bottom half attendance in the championship. But otherwise, across all four leagues, there aren't very many extreme outliers who are, by that measure, miles away from where they would naturally land, if that makes sense. Yeah. I only look at those average attendances when I'm trying to see how many tickets we're selling for a live show and see that actually more people go and watch Altringham. And then you go, is that bad for us? Or does that just show the power of football?

39:18We're one of the top ones and we can't do better than Altringham. Can I just shout up on Luton, by the way, who are mid-table. And I think if you are on sack race watch, I think Matt Bloomfield is on a very short leash now. Performance is not good. capitulated at home to Plymouth Argar, lost 3-2, lost away at Lincoln, and we've mentioned how well Lincoln are playing, but remember they've got the parachute money, albeit a lot of that's been absorbed into Stadium and all the rest of it. But Matt Bloomfield has quite a lot of time to kind of have things in place. I think Luton fans are expecting something big.

39:53It's not coming together at all. And just looking at the fixtures, well, they've got Doncaster at home, Blackpool away after that, which is a winnable one, Blackpool right near the bottom. but then I think what could really be terminal is Stevenage away given where Stevenage are in the league it's not a derby but it's become a derby you know and if they were to lose to Stevenage when you think where those two clubs have been historically and are now I think that could be really really the writing on the wall for him so it's just not working at all I'm not quite sure exactly why I don't know you know there's a thing about you know players used to losing and clubs used to losing and that sort of side of things but it's just not coming together for him and yeah I'd be very worried for Matt Bloomfield In League 2 Gillingham top, unbeaten, 21 points from nine games.

40:34Salford and Walsall, two points behind. Then comes Swindon, Grimsby, Chesterfield, and then a clutch of sides on 14 points, including the mighty Cambridge United. Gareth Ainsworth, Ali, doing the business for Gillingham. Yeah, really, really is. I mean, they've conceded six goals in their nine games. They are incredibly strong defensively. They play exactly as you would expect if you watched Gareth Ainsworth Wickham side. That was a style of play and a style of man management that worked incredibly well at Wickham, taking them all the way to the Championship and then did not work at QPR, did not work particularly at Shrewsbury, albeit he jumped ship for this opportunity in the league below.

41:19And everything's lined up perfectly. Gilles needed this. Ainsworth needed Gilles and it all looks pretty perfect right now. They are not a side that are blowing teams away. It's generally pretty tight margin stuff. They've had a lot of fortune, one large bit of fortune in particular, against Bromley a couple of weeks ago where they were second best, 2-0 down and they equalised with a 96-minute penalty which was scored and Gareth McCleary was then banned by the FA for simulation or FA or EFL and missed the game. So an obvious admission that that penalty shouldn't have stood. They would have a loss in that column.

41:58Instead, they're 21 unbeaten. Ainsworth hasn't lost a league game since joining in March. And things are going very, very well indeed.

42:04Max Rushden:It is worth noting that Gareth McCleary is about 40 years old, is he? And was outraged at being retrospectively banned for simulation. He insists that while he may have fallen over, it was not a dive. It was just age. They just said he had a fall. He's of an age now where you don't fall, you have a fall. yeah he's that he's 38 but yeah anyone anyone over 40 knows you know you don't want to go to ground if you can help it because it's hard to get up isn't it Salford in second uh Ali could this be their time at whenever I focus on league two I whenever Cambridge are in it Salford you know you sort of think well they should be and I remember them hammering us once a few years ago and thinking like they're pretty good but they never make it yeah no I mean that is that is literally the story of their life in league two so far I think they've been favorites for the title They were like the first three seasons at this level and didn't get close.

43:03Now they've sort of, they're not necessarily the sort of hot topic of the league because of that. And I mean, Sani's on the ground a bit more in that region than me. I mean, it's kind of a funny one because the class of 92, the documentary, all that stuff is like still very much going on. Like Neville's heavily involved. They are now creating their own in-house documentary because I think whoever was hosting it before was like, yeah, no, I think we've probably done this now. And they had a very, very rich owner in Peter Lim who kind of helped Neville and the lads run the club as they wanted it.

43:37And then very clearly that was starting to not go very well. And they managed to find some new incredibly rich people to fund this club. So, you know, they're doing very well on the funding front, slightly less well on the football front, given the amount of money that they spend. and they have built for Carl Robinson a squad with lots of strong names all over the park, bought a couple of premium centre-backs, which has made them look much more solid defensively. At the top of the pitch, you know, they bought... You make them sound like Tesco sausages. They bought Daniel Udo, for example, who was starting for Wickham in League One and Salford were like, yeah, we'll have you.

44:16And he's dropped down and looks very, very sharp. So I kind of, you know, at the moment in League Two, I'm not really hanging my hat on any of these teams. You know, League Two is a real movable feast. The reason that the top teams in League Two almost always get way fewer points than the teams in the Championship in League One is because it's a much more equitable division. And because I guess players at this level find it harder to be consistent for a full season. And so, you know, you do get teams who start well and fall away and vice versa. is bloody entertaining, I tell you that. You had Cambridge at 18th, Ali, I think, and we're ninth.

44:52So, I mean, that's not really a humble pie, is it? That's just sort of, what is it? I don't know. It's something. No, I mean, very good defensively, Max, which I imagine you've enjoyed watching. Oh, I mean, you know, it's football. No, I think we're doing quite well. High hopes, Tani. Cheltenham and Shrewsbury at the bottom. Both two sides that were in League One pretty recently. so what's happening with them? Yeah, a bit like that thing on getting used to losing I mean Shrewsbury had that takeover proposed and it didn't quite come together and that's kind of left them in a bit of limbo so not much investment there Cheltenham sacked Michael Flynn and in his last post-match interview he was like, these are the results that get you sacked like he previewed his own sacking as if he knew it was coming How many games did Cheltenham go without winning or scoring last season?

45:41like they you know that was that was that was then wasn't it last was it last year god it feels like a long time it was two years two years ago we were we were the team that got one point in nine last year yeah yeah god it's all kind of blowing together isn't it the funny thing just quickly about that Flynn interview that you referenced Sani is I'm pretty sure he knew he was about to get sacked and it's quite a yeah that's quite a fun scenario because he said uh this is the worst group of players I've ever had so he really went out swinging and you're fair enough yeah and I I guess that sums up exactly why they're there when you've got the worst group of plays ever had.

46:15One win at home, four defeats, nothing away. It's very, very bleak reading. And I think we see this in League Two. There's always at least one club that are kind of like fundamentally things are just not run, not being ran in the right way. And they just end up falling down there. Like it's quite hard to get relegated from League Two. Like it's only two spots and there's a lot of kind of middling sides. And as Ali mentioned, the points totals are lower because, yeah, anyone can beat anyone. You've got to really kind of go out of your way to get relegated. The amount of times I saw Bury be absolutely abysmal and we somehow survived every time.

46:53But so, yeah, I think fundamentally there's things off the pitch not working there. And that's kind of bearing fruit. And worryingly for them, there's not too many around them who are in that sort of situation. I mean, Newport have got a new manager as well who's a former Man United coach and he's kind of finding his feet. So he's got issues there. but around them, you know, it seems to be better placed clubs, really. So, yeah, a bit of a worry. All right, that'll do for part two. Part three, we'll begin with the Ballon d 'Or.

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48:35welcome to part three of the guardian football weekly paul writes am i the only person who couldn't care less about this an individual trophy in a team sport decided by a group of people whose combined opinion when we have actual facts and numbers to determine success a waste of everybody's time small cat he says my son sat down and watched the ballon d 'or ceremony in full Should we worry about the younger generation? He's 12. I mean, maybe we're wrong, Barry, for not having this right at the top. Usmana Dembele winning the men's award, Aetan Abomati winning the women's.

49:02Max Rushden:Yeah, insert Principal Skinner from the Simpsons gif here. Am I out of touch? I'm on the side of Paul. I don't really care who wins the Ballon d 'Or. I struggle to have an opinion on it beyond total apathy. to the best of my knowledge nobody ever used to care who won the ballon d 'or if if um you know and then you'd suddenly hear oh michael owen won the ballon d 'or oh well done michael you know whatever um uh so i think uh kids are way more invested in it than us old timers because a lot of children i think seem to be more invested in individual players than actual football teams so there I have a nephew in Canada he is obsessed with Lionel Messi he doesn't really like football but he's obsessed with Lionel Messi pretty good taste to be fair yeah yeah there seems to be a lot of debate over whether Ousmane Dembele was a worthy winner or not I guess he probably was I wouldn't have been upset if Lamin Yamal got it instead that seems to be you know why didn't Laminia Mal get it maybe it's because he's very very young and people think well he'll win it further down the line but I personally could not care less who wins the Ballon d 'Or.

50:30Debele was in tears on stage collecting the award at the same time PSG were losing one nil away at Marseille in the league but he was he was injured to be fair so he wouldn't have played in that game it was actually a lovely video of his first ever club and them all you know and them all celebrating that was a lovely moment um well I guess if you have the rights to cover this sort of thing then you big it up to be a huge thing. And yes, it doesn't bother me. But, you know, I guess if I was a player, I'd quite like to be the best one in the whole world. I always found it striking when Trent Alexander-Arnold, that interview came out, that he said his dream was to win the Ballon d 'Or.

51:02And that was when it kind of first really dawned on me that the younger generation have this completely different way of thinking about football compared to us. It's really strange. On the top floor of the National Football Museum in Manchester is George Best's Ballon d 'Or trophy. And we took our new sports journalism students there at Salford Uni on Freshers Weeks. They all turned up, like not even that hungover, which is amazing. And they went all around the museum and saw it all. And then on the final floor, and I just kind of like, I noticed it. I pointed out to them and they all like rushed over with the same like elacrity, if you like, as seeing the Jules Rimet trophy on the middle floor.

51:43I just was quite struck by that it's quite a smaller kind of more you know less it's more austere kind of trophy but yeah I don't know I don't know if it's the age of the individual and all that side of things or whether it is actually in a social media age where we like debate and controversy and you know sports media is everywhere and we like that debate and conversation you know you get so many extra news lines from the Ballon d 'Or than maybe you used to you know how much debate has there been on well Salah should have won it how was she you know up there uh why did Alessia Russo not win the women's ballon d 'or when she won the champions league and WSL top scorer and won the Euros with England and it gives us more copy right so maybe it's a bit of both so maybe it isn't quite a younger generation thing maybe we're all just feeding into it but I did find it quite striking and yeah and I am with Barry I really I don't really care but I suppose

52:31Max Rushden:it's interesting and you know I work in sports news as well so maybe I should care more. can i ask when you take your undergraduates out on a field trip do you make them walk two by two while wearing high-vis jackets yeah yeah yeah just get them like yeah holding hands and stuff they've only just met but i've paired them up immediately and then one just vomits all over the other i was gonna say more importantly they're freshers did they all then do shots of wkd well out of the out of george best's ballon d 'or if if that is possible i don't know the i don't know the trophy one of them did get quite queasy at one point needed to sit down and that person got my absolute respect they were like you know cling on to the old ways and they will get a first out of interest could if we could uh hear more correspondence from uh the the uh person that wrote in about this who suggested that a num we could just pick the winner based on a number i think we've got numbers these days i think uh was what was said i was all metrics which that's yeah no that's a good point Yeah, but which metrics?

53:32You still have to choose the metrics and stats that you think are most important. Is that goals or is it goals and assists or is it trophies or is it team wins? Is it expected threats? Expected assists. Jules won. I'm a data guy. I would say being the leader in Europe in expected threat probably suggests that you've been the most effective player on the continent, but I don't think many people would agree with that. So there you go. You have to decide. The key decision here is, do you have to pick someone that won the Champions League? Because that's our continental competition that means the most to us.

54:06And generally, the answer is yes. And so once you go from that point, it is all a bit ridiculous. But honestly, it's actually not easy to decide who the best player is. When we had Messi and Ronaldo, it was easier because you just had to pick one of those two. But when there's not that absolute superstar, clearly best player in the world, which has been the case for the last few years, it's not easy at all to select who the best one is. Some great players just make other players look better. You know? CeCe Federico Chiesa. That is very helpful. Yeah, exactly.

54:35Max Rushden:The way it's voted at the moment, it's quite apparent that a lot of people who have a vote for the Ballon d 'Or don't take it seriously or else are completely stupid. So that's a kind of a flaw, but it's harmless fun. Lots of people take it seriously. Lewis and Rico was named Coach of the Year, PSG Team of the Year, Laminya Mild, Young Player of the Year, Bomati, the women, Serena Vigman got coach of the year Hannah Hampton got the goalkeeper award the Yashin Trophy an update finally from our US teen soccer sensation listener Spencer Haddad writes hi Max and Barry, here's an update from I-95 to Philadelphia aka, he's written Barry's but it was my mistake of the motorways of the United States Max is I-35 Keely may have a bit of the Diego Costa or Sergio Ramos what team does he play for, Barry?

55:24somewhere in Mexico, isn't it? given that she bodied this poor opponent. Here is a photo of her next to someone lying on the floor and didn't stop to check for a pulse. Everyone was fine, by the way, he says. Max is someone who spends much of his current life in a car with teen children. I might trade a 24-hour flight to Australia with two small children. At least you can drink on the plane. I can't drink in the car. We still haven't established if she's playing for the United States yet. So we'll get that. But anyway, still the best footballer who listens to the pod, aside from Harrogate's goalkeeper.

55:55But that'll do for today. Thanks, everybody. Thank you, Barry.

55:58Max Rushden:Our pal in Slovakia may want a word. Oh, yes. Guram. That is true. Guram Kishir, yes. With all due respect to Keeley and the Harrogate goalkeeper, whose name I don't even know. He's called James, I think. Yes. James Balshaw. Kishir did play at the Euros, didn't he? So look, we should give him at least a nod for that. Thank you, Barry. Thanks, Ali. Thank you, Max. Thanks, Ali. Thank you. And by the way, if Carell Prince, the HMRC of podcasts, is listening, everything I've said is facts, but please check the tapes on Barry's header. That's what we want next on this. Right. Yeah, no, no. I'm quite enjoying his stuff.

56:40Football Weekly is produced by Joel Grove. Our executive producer is Danielle Stephens.

56:49This is The Guardian.

56:55Thank you.