Ted Lasso star Brendan Hunt talks about the World Cup at SXSW – Football Weekly

21:14There we are. How are they going this season, Alex? Listen, Woodland Timberlakes have had a lot of trouble finding the right TAM players to match with their DPs. They're making a late play for... Oh, boy. Who? Help me out. Who are the... Alessandro L 'Opiro. Yeah, there we go. They're getting him. Ted Lasso, Jason Snedek has said about Ted Lasso that in light of Trump's rise to power the first time and he made the character kind of kinder and more optimistic. Is that... That's quite an interesting thing to do, I guess, is to make this... Was he not as kind and optimistic or was there a direct...

21:55Was that you guys thinking we need to make this super positive because of what's happening here um well in in a way yes like the first um commercials that we did for nbc which are still on youtube listened under an american coach goes to london um are still i think pretty funny but it is definitely funny in the way of a comedy sketch like it is a uh rootin tootin you know loud ugly american um uh proudly not knowing uh what he is delving into and um and uh and it's a bit of a hoot and then the second commercial a year later when they had us come back we sort of like accidentally found this more like sensitive curious side of him and that was what made it interesting enough to be like okay let's try to do something with this later and then by the time we're writing the show in 2018 um and uh there was a uh a certain uh unpleasant administration uh happening um we talked a lot that was not the kind, that kind of America that was going out to the world was like not the kind that we felt as the most authentic version, you know?

22:59And like, and that can lead one to inauthentic versions as well of sort of like a Jimmy Stewart kind of like mythology, but like there's something sort of just Midwestern and curious and, you know, perhaps basic, but also just nice about the guy that is like the teachers and mentors that we were familiar with. So it wasn't exactly an attempt to try to be consciously kind and smiley, but definitely trying to be different than what was going out there at the time. And now it's back. So that's fun. Yeah.

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24:09You know, coming to the States and, you know, being in the immigration queue and like checking, deleting emails and deleting my Twitter and thinking, oh, you know, and then, and then just getting waved through because there was like 3 ,000 people trying to get in and one poor bloke going, yeah, whatever, you're totally fine. And we've had listeners, you know, getting in touch saying we shouldn't be here doing this, listeners saying we shouldn't go to the World Cup. And, you know, Alex, you've written about this. You wrote a really interesting piece after what happened in Minneapolis with ICE before Iran and, you know, before who knows what happens between now and the World Cup.

24:42How are you sort of feeling? Like, you know, and you're talking about advocating for football, advocating for football in the US And now you're in this sort of dilemma, I guess. It is a dilemma, yeah. It is a dilemma that I deal with on a pretty much daily basis anymore. I wrote about this in the piece, but it's basically, you know, you spend your whole time in American soccer, whatever your function is, hoping to grow the game. And in my particular position, I really want more people to be into soccer so that they read more journalism about soccer, which gives me more money. money uh you know but also just ability to do cool stories just like all the great journalism that i've read about baseball and basketball and football over the years i really think it deserves that level of coverage um but for that reason you know the world cup is just one of these like exponential events where you everybody's counting on the interest rocketing up after the world cup or during the world cup and everything is going to get a bump and for that reason everybody's excited and i'm excited and the world cup is the best thing in the world it really is however it is taking place at this moment in time with this current administration and the more stuff i saw happening in minneapolis was where it was really the moment where i just was like i don't think fifa is going to take away the world cup from the u.s i don't think that's a realistic expectation there's like about 100 200 things that have to happen before we even get to where we can talk about that as a realistic possibility but if we get there if it happens I feel like it's kind of justified.

26:07You know, like we have federal agents in the streets killing unarmed civilians for looking at them the wrong way. And now we're going to war against a country that has qualified for the World Cup that is scheduled to play all three of its group games in the United States. I think under any other circumstance for any other country, maybe for any other sporting tournament, we'd be talking about moving the tournament. And I think we have to be honest about that. We really do. it doesn't mean like let me be clear I do not it's I'm not like cheering for this to happen I don't want the World Cup to go away from the U.S.

26:39I would really like for it to be here I want to be a country that people want to come to I like that we have been a country that people want to come to for a lot of years but you know we're not right now and I think that's justified how does it make you as a just a purely as a football fan Brendan how does it make you feel I mean since the U.S. was awarded the World Cup, I've so looked forward to it as being like, because at that time, you know, mathematically, there was no way that we'd still be in a Trump administration. So, like, okay, by that point, it'll be, oh, gosh, it's going to be the 250th anniversary of the country being born.

27:16That's going to be great. And it'll be our first big international event where we welcome the whole world to our shores, and we can give everyone a hug and be like, sorry about that guy from before, and, like, it's all better now. And that has all gone completely to shit. But I do still cling to, like, people will come here and they will meet us and we will meet them. And what's great about hosting an international tournament is opening your arms to the world and the world meeting you in return. And I still think that, you know, people trump governments. If you'll pardon the verb choice there, but still.

27:56so I still think that once it comes down to it it will happen and it will be a net positive in more ways than we can even think of right now and not just for soccer but for understanding Barry it's the idea of a boycott it's different for different sets of fans so half our audience is in the UK and half is around the world but a lot of England fans listen to the pod and go through the four yearly or two yearly pain with me of getting close and then getting knocked out but if you're an England fan you're going to qualify for probably every tournament so you could make a political stand and say okay I'm not going to go to this but if you're a Scotland fan you know you've called it or a Cape Verde fan where you qualify for the World Cup like this doesn't happen ever or often and now someone's saying actually mate don't do that yeah well I mean we had the situation at the Qatar World Cup

28:50Max Rushden:where Harry Kane as England captain was going to wear the rainbow armband in solidarity to the LGBTQ community. And then it was made clear to him that if he did that, he would receive a yellow card before the game had even started. So he backed down, or the FA backed down. And I get why they did it, but I thought it was weak on their part. let him take the yellow card. But I think it would be massively unfair to expect, you know, for many of these athletes, it's going to be the highlight of their lives. There's a player who lives in Dublin who plays for Shamrock Rovers. He qualified for Cape Verde through his father.

29:41Max Rushden:And for him to go and play in a World Cup is just incredible. And I would hate if someone asked or put pressure on him to boycott it. And you ask the question, should we be here? Should we be covering? I think journalists have a duty to cover these things. I'm looking forward to being at the World Cup. I wouldn't have a problem if The Guardian decided we shouldn't go. We all know what Donald Trump is like. He's not going to change. But my big problem is the manner in which Gianni Infantino, the FIFA president, has buried his way up Trump's rectum and appears to live there now. Pops out every now and again.

30:27Max Rushden:FIFA are, to hand them a prize of some description, FIFA is supposed to be politically neutral and they're not. and they're an awful organization, but they're the organization we're stuck with for the time being. And ultimately, I think, you know, there were reservations over the World Cup being in Russia. There were reservations over being in Qatar. There will be reservations over the one in Saudi Arabia. Rightfully so, there are reservations over this one. But ultimately, for all the political meddling and for FIFA's cozying up to Trump, they can't change what happens on the pitch, and I'm pretty confident that will be good.

31:13I think it raises a lot of interesting questions about the involvement of politics in sports, and I was talking with somebody else about this a couple days ago. They were asking, like, you know, don't we want sports and politics to be separate, or is this a proof that they're, you know, inexorably linked? Obviously, it's the latter, but I do think that there's a pretty big difference when we talk about the opportunity that these players have to play in a World Cup, and I think about this a lot with Iran specifically, I think that there's a big difference between allowing players to speak out on political points and do things like wear a rainbow armband and allowing a situation where the teams are allowed to be used as political pawns, which is really what you want to avoid and what is going to happen with Iran and what's going to happen with a lot of these teams as their federations and confederations have, you know, maybe increasing conversations about boycotting the World Cup or not going or making some sort of stand.

32:06I just think that puts everybody in an uncomfortable situation. And it'll happen to the U.S. team as well. In the not entirely unlikely event that they do well, you'll find Trump inserting himself into this as he's already been doing more and more and more. And he's going to keep injecting himself in the tournament. And that is one of the things I dread the most. Well, I mean, he won the Club World Cup. I mean, if you... He was right there, man. Yeah. I was at the stadium for that and the reaction among the press box was just like one of... It was a 50-50 mix of total uncontrollable laughter and gasps of horror because they couldn't comprehend that this guy just like did not know what to do in that moment or was intentionally doing this in that moment.

32:48In Cole Palmer's defense, he's literally never seen Donald Trump before. He has no idea. No idea who any U.S. president is at all.

32:55Max Rushden:Very strange occurrence to him. And the thing is, at that presentation, he pocketed one of the medals. Yeah. And wouldn't give it back. And then scene, Rhys James is asking him to leave the stage. And he just won't do it. And Infantino's just off screen, too, trying to drag him off. Didn't the Juventus players were invited to the White House? And a couple, so they had Mr. Pulisic and... McKinney, Weston McKinney. and a handful of other players in the Oval Office. One of the Ways, or yeah, Timothy Way, was it? Yeah, Timothy Way. They were not happy about that. Yeah, that's exactly the kind of event that I'm talking about.

33:35Like, they were basically wallpaper for Trump to say, like, look at these players that are here, and I'm associated with this great team and these great American players that are playing in this great tournament, and blah, blah, blah. But then he turns and talks about how he's going to restrict the rights of the LGBTQ community in all sorts of terrible ways. And, you know, Tim Weah himself said afterwards, you know, it was pretty weird. You know, we really didn't know that was going to happen. And that's bad. That's really bad. To be fair to Trump, actually, Chelsea did sign him as an attacking lift.

34:06And put him on a 10-year amortized contract. He just doesn't get in the 25 for the Champions League squad. So, yeah, I mean, that's the thing, isn't it? because you went to Brazil 2014, didn't you, Brendan? And it's like being the host country and when our host country does well up until a certain point, that is so important. If Canada, Mexico and USMNC go well in this tournament, it will be an amazing place to be because it just, every game, it sort of exponentially grows. Yeah, so I didn't get into football until I moved to Amsterdam in 1999 and then Holland and Belgium co-hosted Euro 2000 and by then I fully had the bug, but I was exposed not only to a proper mania around one of these tournaments, but then hosting it as well.

34:52And when that country does well, Holland made it to the semifinals and had literally to this day still the worst loss I've ever seen for any team. It was so stupid, and I'm still so mad. But regardless, ever since then, I've been telling people, if you can get to a country that is hosting a World Cup, and it's a country that really gives a shit about the World Cup, which is, again, every country but ours, you have to do it. It is a legitimate cultural experience. And, you know, the permeation of this event in every walk of life while you were there is unavoidable and fantastic. And and if we get that because in 94, we didn't give a shit about it.

35:26Like, as I was telling these guys yesterday, I literally didn't know the World Cup was happening until I slipped through channels one day. I was like, oh, oh, the World Cup is starting. And it was a mile away from where I was in Chicago. And I had no idea whatsoever. but if this thing can come off and come off in a good way it's going to be a really really wonderful thing and has a potential to be a really wonderful thing and it's a wonderful energy to experience but I have a pretty strong notion that it's going to be a little more fun in Mexico that it's going to be here and Canada Mexico is going to beat us both of us yeah yeah very likely yeah I actually suggested because we need to be sort of west coast for the time zone to be able to watch every game and do the podcast afterwards we do daily pods during the major tournaments And I checked and the Cook Islands was there.

36:12And we could, but the Wi-Fi just didn't quite hold up for my eight week trip to the Cook Islands. Okay, then can the US, how well will the US do? What do you think, Alex? That is the question, isn't it? I am sort of of the opinion that there is almost no US finish that would completely shock me. Other than I don't think they're going to lose all their games in the group. and I don't think they're going to go to the final and win it. It's a very bold prediction there. I know, I know. Listen, I'm going out on a limb here. We're being recorded, so I'm saving my spiciest takes for other times. But yeah, I think they can be reasonably confident of making it out of the group.

36:55I think Australia and Paraguay are two really tough teams. That is some dogged. Paraguay-Australia is going to be a dogged old game. It is, it is. But the thing to know is that Paraguay, Australia, and if Turkey is one of the teams that is in the European playoff among one of the four teams that we might play as their third group opponent. And if it is Turkey, who are the strongest of that group, all three of our group opponents will be teams that the U.S. played in friendlies in 2025, which is, I think, an incredible advantage. I think, you know, you have at least one, you know, run out. You get an idea of how the team might play and you have something at least to base it off of.

37:31I think that could be a really big advantage. so i think they'll get out of the group although they will have played you it's true it's true but like they won't all have played each other yeah yeah um so i think they'll get out of the group and then from then on it's knockout football you know who knows uh anything could happen it all depends on who they end up facing and how the rest of the groups go and uh and how all that works out but i feel confident they'll get out of the group probably win at least one knockout stage game have you plotted the route brendan i certainly have okay i've i've ambitiously purchased a couple of flights accordingly because I'm a dummy.

38:04But when the draw came out and the U.S. avoided sort of the worst possibility in each pot, it felt very festive and celebratory. Like, we got this! But then sort of reality set in. We also didn't get the worst in any of these pots. There's no mugs. There's no tomato canes. And if Turkey, I found out if Turkey indeed wins their playoff and comes through, that on average of FIFA ranking, we have the hardest group in the uh in the whole shebang um so uh i am daunted i am very daunted the the fact that most of the third place teams get through is is uh is obviously very helpful but also kill the jeopardy of the entire group stage but we'll put that aside um but um there's something to having you know your home fans around and uh and cheering folks on there's a reason why so many home nations have had their best performance in the tournament that they were hosting.

39:02So I think it would be a real disappointment if they didn't get out of the group. And then I think again, some things have to go their way and all but like why not the... I can curse on this, yeah? Why not the fucking semi-final? Come on! Things can go their way and our best 11 is a pretty solid 11 nowadays. So I think it's I think it's worthwhile to be optimistic about, because if you're not optimistic about it, then why are we doing this? I have to say I was really surprised at the reaction to the group draw, because it was entirely based on, as you point out, Australia being, you know, the quote-unquote weakest of the pot two or whatever it was teams.

39:43But it's not as if we, like, steamrolled them when we played them in the friendly. Paraguay is always a really solid team. They're tough to break down, especially in international competition. And, you know, all four teams in the playoff have the potential to draw an upset. It'll be a group of four teams who all think they can get out. That's the problem. Which is kind of the dream, honestly. How are you feeling about the tournament, Barry? I know there's one thing that really hangs over you during these things.

40:10Max Rushden:Yeah, well, we'll get to that. Every tournament has a dark horse before the tournament starts. Everyone picks their dark horse. A team that might do well, sneak under the radar. It's usually Turkey and they invariably have a disastrous tournament. I think this tournament star courses might be Norway. I think they've surprised a lot of people with the ease with which they won their qualification group in Europe. They finished miles ahead of Italy. They've got Erling Harland. They've got Martin Odegaard, various other decent players. They're obviously the two star names. I think they might surprise a few people.

40:51Max Rushden:I also think the heat is going to be a major factor in this tournament. It won't decide the winners. I think a few teams could come a cropper on the back of just the bad luck of the draws they've been given and the locations. We can't pick Paul Scholes again. It's just too fair for this. I think Portugal is going to hurt them. Germany are another team that have to play in sweltering conditions. My boys, the Republic of Ireland, haven't qualified yet. we might, and if we do, we are absolutely going to get slaughtered. The last time Ireland played in the World Cup in the USA, they famously, they played Mexico in Florida.

41:35Max Rushden:You had all these pasty white Irish fellas running around. You could hear their skin crackling as one by one, you know, Tommy Coyne and Steve Staunton got stretchered off. they had buckets of water thrown over them at least this there was no heat breaks then you weren't allowed to send bottles of water onto the pitch they had like little fun fair goldfish plastic bags of water that you know if you were lucky you might catch one with a few drops left in it if it was thrown from the touch line so i do think that heat's going to be a factor and And obviously I can never enjoy any major football tournament, truly enjoy it until, because I'm an Irishman, until England have been knocked out.

42:22Max Rushden:And I always start getting the fear a few months in advance that England will win a major tournament. And I really, really, really don't want that to happen. So we've watched every major tournament since 2018, World Cups and Euros. So 2018, England got to the semifinal. we lost to Croatia on in extra time didn't we and they were meant to be tired and they weren't tired and at the final whistle Barry I'm saying river danced in front of my face he rejects this but there was definitely some sort of jig Euro 2020 we lost on penalties in the final to Italy there is a filming we watched it in my flat we did the pod in my flat and someone's filming the last penalty and I can't remember if Italy scored or England missed it.

43:14I can't remember. I think England missed. And the video pans round and I'm gutted and Joel is gutted and John Bruin's gutted and Ellis James is a proud Welshman, just looks at the camera with a little wry smile. Barry is absolutely giddy. And my wife, who hates football, Jamie, she just said, have Italy won? This is like 20 seconds later. And she's like, is everyone all right? And Barry just goes, I'm fucking fine. So then World Cup 2022 was England-France. I don't remember that was sort of, that was, you weren't that giddy about it. But then 2024 was the chef's kiss. Sort of a famous moment in Football Weekly history.

43:55We started being filmed. They film podcasts now because we're too good looking. Yeah. And I can't remember if it was the semi-final or the final. It was the semi-final. I think Holland scored. Javi Simmons scored for Holland, didn't he? Was it not the Spain game? I can't remember but one of them the opposition score and I'm obviously devastated and Barry just does a chef's kiss like this so after then we record straight after I say look you know Barry was like I didn't mind whatever whoever wins and I said you did a chef's kiss and he was so adamant that he didn't do a chef's kiss that I started to doubt myself that he'd done a chef's kiss yeah I was looking at him in the eyes and he'd done a I know what a chef's kiss is right you and I know that I know the emoji I know a human being sitting five yards away from me doing it he said he didn't do it and so I was like okay well this seems weird but fine then I went home and then the producers are in the back and I just get this message on whatsapp at like two in the morning going we got him and it was like it was like the fbi was like it was so oh it's one of the greatest moments of my life so you actually said yesterday I think that you think the us might win the world cup before England win a world cup did you say that to me I said nothing of the sort.

45:04Oh, who said that to me? I like the take. This is the chef's kiss moment. Maybe I just make this shit up. I have no idea what's going on. Listen, I like the take. I do. I don't know that I have it, but I like it. In 2001, I did a two-hander at the Edinburgh Festival with Seth Meyers, who had to leave the festival early because he'd gotten this job in New York. But it was called Ironic Yanks. And basically, the central premise of it was that we felt the US was more likely to win a World Cup in our lifetime than England was. And I love that in 2026, that is still in mind. And do you have the fear of this tournament?

45:40Or do you think you'll be out?

45:41Max Rushden:Do I have the fear that England will win? I do, yeah. I mean, they're a brilliant team, some brilliant players. Obviously, there are other brilliant teams. And England, they're just getting closer, aren't they? They're knocking on the door. But yeah, I very much have the fear. yes it'll really be something if what turned out that England was missing all those years was a German coach yes that's magic should we do some Premier League stuff like it was a big week you're an Arsenal fan so you know you're doing okay and you know we there's so much to talk about in the Premier League but this is the thing that made me smile the most this weekend this photo we mentioned earlier Haaland and here he is just booting the ball into I mean oh yeah I think it might be one of the greatest football photos of all time you called it Brendan if you look at Thomas Suchek who is the guy in the middle in the West Ham shirt he is Suchek is thinking like oh bro you are a meme for me it's all about the 50-50 nature of the of the impact like you've you see photos like this on occasion, you know, when you look through photos as often as football journalists do, but it's rare that you see a true like half and half ball and face situation.

47:10It's like, it's like even today, I don't know, what is it, UK time? It's like Monday night. He's still lying in bed with the ball on his face. That is now him. Like he, like he comes on the pitch and his face is a football and forevermore, Mavropanos is sort of football man, like one of the worst Marvel superheroes. The fact that Harland is taking the shot as well is perfect, right? Anyone else, it doesn't have the impact. But, you know, he's a Norse God who can kick the ball. And it looks like that's exactly what he intended. Yeah.

47:40Max Rushden:The way he's looking at Mavropanos is this. I meant to do this to you. Also, if you just sort of isolate Mavropanos's head and then is that O 'Reilly? Yeah. Yeah. him um if you picture that as a movie poster it's almost as though o'reilly is maverick potas's face and it's just coming out the back of his head and it's a john woo situation and i'd see that movie in a heartbeat because south by southwest as you all know is a big networking event barry and i were on the open top duck bus tour of austin um we didn't really seem to meet any movers and shakers on there. But we were following the Arsenal-Everton game and it was nil-nil after 73 minutes.

48:25I was like, this has got last minute winner for Arsenal written all over it. The spawny bastards. And that's what happened, Brendan. Did you start to fear during that game? Were you like, oh, this is the bottling moment? Oh, I came in with fear. I fear, you know, from kickoff onward. And particularly, I remember a few years ago, there was a match, you know, it was one of these runs toward second place that we've had. And there was a match at Everton when Everton were particularly bad where Arsenal gave up two goals in the last like five minutes. So like I still have Everton PTSD. But I got to say when Max Dallman comes on, you start to feel a little excited, a little interested.

49:06And sure enough, the lad came through. It's sad when someone good is a third of your age, isn't it? That's like, oh man, this is really, this is bleak now. How come you are Arsenal fan? How did this happen? A few things came together. I'll give you the fast version. But yeah, so I moved to Amsterdam in 1999. I had basically zero interest in football before then. But I was like, all right, I'll give it a shot. There was no broadband. I couldn't just keep up with the Bulls or the Bears. There were Dutch players on Arsenal, so I sort of gravitated toward them. I was like, all right, these guys are fun.

49:36They play what I now know to be called attractive football. Not anymore, mate. Hey, easy. But also at that time, I read Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby, which is about being an Arsenal fan. And though I knew no reference at all in it whatsoever, even FA Cup confused me. He's just such a good writer. And I just identified with it as like talking about being a sports fan. And so, but that drew me closer to Arsenal. And then one day I'm passing a pub with my visiting aunt. And TV is on outside and it's 2-0 Chelsea at the bridge. And there's like 20 minutes left. And I'm drawn in just enough that my aunt says, oh, why don't you stay and watch this?

50:17I'll go into this internet cafe and check my email, which was a thing at the time. And in that last 20 minutes, Canu scores a hat trick. That's the Canu gold. Yeah, yeah. With the third one in particular. And, you know, still to this day, one of the best golds I've ever seen. And, yeah, that was, you know, check, done. All right. These are the guys. And I've been stuck with them ever since. Yeah. So this could be the year, right? You're in such a great spot. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a good one. We'll see. We'll see. It's been a while. We'll see what happens. Brimming with confidence. I mean, you know, starting we'll start with Sunday and this League Cup situation and see what happens.

50:53But it could be interesting. It's very satisfying when a X player comes to your club, whatever that is in any sport and takes over. Because then it feels like a validation of a of this, you know, ephemeral of a DNA of a culture. And like, what does it actually matter? But so that's one thing that's exciting. But then on top of that, to have like the struggle and the inching forward every season and even last year, like, yeah, second place again, but a Champions League semi for the first time in a long time. So you have this like addictive, you know, whiff of progress going forward. And rarely do either of those things pay off actually in something.

51:29And now they might both pay off. And it's really a tenterhooks time. And like I've not quite had this exact feeling for any sports team that I support in the multitude that we have here on offer. And so it's incredibly tense and exciting. Barry, what's the ultimate finish to this season for the neutrals, would you say?

51:51Max Rushden:Well, it's become apparent to me. Well, it's kind of apparent to me anyway, but I'm quite physically, I'm quite a big man. But I'm in so many other ways, a very, very small man. And I think ultimately for the neutrals, what we want is an Arsenal collapse in the Premier League so that they come second again. Neutrals want, well everyone, not just neutrals, everyone who isn't a Tottenham fan wants Tottenham to be relegated from the Premier League to the Championship.

52:33Max Rushden:I think I think everyone would quite like Arsenal to win one of the small cups so the Carabao Cup and the FA Cup but nothing else that's the neutral stance and I don't know why it is maybe it's because the team I support Sunderland their season is more or less over now they got knocked out of the FA Cup two weeks ago by the worst team left in it but as one of my friends who also support Sunderland said that wasn't even the most in the top 10 most embarrassing things to happen Sunderland in the last 5 years so our season is over so all I have now is enjoying the misery and stress of others and it's not a good place to be but it's where I am We should talk about Wrexham for a second there's been a massive story in the US and it's sort of mad for you know for a cambridge fan right to see a team that you basically sort of almost look down like oh we're a team we're actually better than go on this sort of mad journey and a very public journey and what's interesting is everyone's like oh this is cool and this is fun and these guys aren't like you know i i don't think you know rob mclenany and ryan reynolds have like a are a nation state and have a terrible human rights record unless there's something i've missed but you know like we know these seem like good guys they're doing a good thing they're good in the community and as they get good you're like actually screw this i hate this i hate these bastards they've got this money and i want it but how how has their journey been viewed over here uh they have made they are one of i think two recent if you want to think about them as like properties along with ted lasso honestly that i think has turned on a lot of people in the u.s to the sport generally and i think part of that is the you know the hollywood star star power that you mentioned but i think what's really important about them is that they've done such a good job of storytelling.

54:26They have the show, and the show is actually really well made, and it introduces this human drama element that is a real thing, so you feel like there are real stakes happening. And they have really taken advantage of the structure of the English League and leagues all over the world and their use of promotion and relegation. There is actually like a Cinderella element that can literally take place. You can take a team like Wrexham that has a ground that isn't up to snuff, that has a, you know, a really strong place in the community, but just hasn't been a major team in a long time. And you literally can't take them to the Premier League.

54:59They might actually go to the Premier League. That is actually crazy. And I am a certified journalist and a hater. So for a while, I was just like, why is everybody paying attention to Wrexham? They're literally not that good at football. If they were, they wouldn't be in the fourth division or whatever. It's driving me crazy a little bit that this is a thing that turns people on. But then there's also the sort of angel on my side that says however people get into it is good because they might get into rexham and have that introduce them to the magic of football and everything that contains within that and then they'll go you know maybe take an interest in their local team like i really want the u.s to have a thriving local scene and if rexham can be a door to that then that's that's amazing to me and as you point out it becomes harder and harder it becomes harder and harder honestly for me to like be cynical about about rex and because they're they're kind of owning the club that you the way you would like a foreign owner to own the club they have provided with resources they've connected with the community and they've gotten out of the way of the sporting decisions which i think is really important uh by and large and uh you know all power to them i think

56:04Max Rushden:it's great you think they might go up this year i do yeah and if they don't this year it's only a matter of time I as soon as those two guys the was Rob and Ryan yeah they've been around their names are out there yeah yeah yeah well they mean Ryan speaks Ryan Reynolds speaks well of you Barry they maintain a very low profile um as soon as they got involved I thought yeah they are going to end up in the Premier League in within 10 years it could be half that time um they seem to genuinely loved the game. They have done so much for that part of Wales, creating jobs. There is a bit of a backlash against them.

56:43Max Rushden:I'm a very cynical man, but I like what they're doing. By the standards of the championship, their players aren't massively overpaid. Their highest earner, I think, is Kiefer Moore, the striker who gets 30 grand a week, and the next highest paid players in the squad get about 15 grand a week they have a young lad playing at fullback who came through their academy i think he's on about 500 pounds a week so uh they do spend a lot of money but they're not absolutely massively taking the piss brendan is there a of the two phenomena is it like anchorman is it you versus welcome to wrexham ted lasso versus welcome to I didn't mean to pitch you against him.

57:30No, no, not at all. Like, we are sister ships in the same journey. Like, I absolutely love what they're doing. I mean, it's not only the dream come true for a fan, but, like, you know, from the sort of, like, you know, championship manager standpoint, you know, you take your minnow and you make him bigger and bigger. And in terms of it being doing well here, I mean, everyone loves an underdog, but this country is literally built on it. And so to see that mythology, to see the Hickory High, you know fantasy become this this ongoing reality level after level after level is terribly exciting and uh and yeah and good on them for everything they've done and you've got a new you've just finished filming the new series of that's correct season four is in the proverbial can yes but not the not the bathroom the other one yeah and like how much is it still a total joy you're going to say yes obviously but yes everyone is wonderful nothing has changed uh no it's it i mean it's it's it's the best like everyone's really good fun it's a new uh a new crop of folks this year we're uh we're on the women's team now um and uh um yeah yay for women uh great a lot of women fans here that's nice um um but uh yeah supposed to come out um this summer we'll see if that's actually true um but uh yeah i'm pretty pretty stoked about it's great fun being back there.

58:51And yeah, we'll see how it goes. We have a minute left. You wanted to say, we've said stuff about Ted Lasso having never watched it. You wanted to say something about The Guardian. I don't know if you've ever read it. Actually, and a quick plug too. The last couple World Cups, the last women's, the last men's, me and Rebecca Lowe of NBC Sports have had a World Cup podcast called After the Whistle on Apple Podcasts and I'm here to announce we'll be back this summer as well. So please slide it over. If you want to listen to Football Weekly, you can. Don't listen less to this. There's room for both, everybody.

59:21But yeah, I'm here because I'm a fan of these fellows and of The Guardian and their football coverage in particular. For the fifth time, I moved to Europe in 1999 and trying to find my English language coverage, gravitated toward The Guardian, and have always found their writers, even Jonathan Wilson, to be illuminating and amusing. And so it is like my pleasure to be in these fellows companies, not just great podcasters, but great writers as well. And again, I've been reading The Guardian for going on, you know, 27 years. And I like it so much that just a few months ago, I started paying for it.

1:00:02Yes.

1:00:03Max Rushden:Hey, good man. You've read 850 articles this year. Now cough up. We found out that Football Weekly listeners are the most loyal and the tightest. So, yeah. And have you read Inverting the Pyramid? Yeah, man. Oh, wow. Because we haven't. Right, 15 seconds to say thank you to a lot of people. Thank you to Alex Abnos, thanks to Barry Glendening, to Brendan Hunt, to Joel Grove for producing this, to Danielle Stephens for execing it. Thank you to AI, who's hosting this podcast next year, to Alanis Morissette. She was great. Thank you to the stool in the Mockingbird pub that Barry sat on for most of the week.

1:00:33And thank you to the audience for staying here and not leaving during it. We really appreciate it. Thank you. And we'll be back on Monday.

1:00:44Max Rushden:This is The Guardian.

1:01:15Transcription by CastingWords don't sound like everyone else. With Grammarly, you never will. Download Grammarly for free at grammarly.com.