F.A. Cup Recap - Macclesfield Makes History, Rosenior's Chelsea Debut, and Wrexham's first PL test: Men in Blazers 01/12/26

25:45And everyone reacts differently to grief, obviously. It's an intensely personal thing. But the fact that they were able to use it and try to use that one game to honour their teammates, someone who the manager, John Rooney, has described as kind of the life and soul of the party, a really kind of engaging, charismatic figure, is tragic and poignant, but it's beautiful. May his memory continue to be a blessing for all he knew him. But for Crystal Palace, I mean, we've talked about this brewing for the past couple of weeks. They've had a disastrous weather form over Christmas. Small squad, too many games, almost victims of their own success.

26:21Oliver Glastner, huge credit. He talked about afterwards he could not explain it away or find any kind of an excuse. He said to find an excuse would be completely wrong. Adding that it was almost like watching David take out Goliath. Those were his words. He unleashed Brendan Johnson, Will Hughes, Tyreek Mitchell. The Palace got one back after a quite stunning free kick in the 90th minute, but they would get no further. And Macclesfield became the first non-league club to eliminate the champions in 117 long years, back when Wolves, oh, well played, scriptwriters were knocked out by, wait for it, Crystal Palace back in 1909.

27:01Magical to watch the final with. So if you've not seen these scenes, find them. It'll make your day, your week, really. Rooney, the manager, embracing his assistant, Francis Jeffers, an Everton starlet who burnt out almost immediately the moment he moved to Arsenal. Wayne Rooney, almost crying in the broadcast booth as he interviewed his brother, just bursting with pride. The pitch invasion, accompanied by, this is my favourite part, the PA system, blaring, please stay off the field, fans. please stay off the field but if you actually looked it was the club's chairman the guy who brought the club after that four day drinking who was the first fan to charge the field it was all chaos cacophony joy it was beautiful yeah it was extraordinary and it's really hard not to be swept up into cliche and into hackneyed kind of nostalgia and that is what the FA Cup does it is one of those things that where just occasionally the everyman take on the elite and they win and it reminds you why for all that the competition status has changed in the last 20-30 years for all that it's not what it was in like the certainly the british imagination it's it doesn't attract the attention of the premier league it doesn't drive traffic and drive interest and all that stuff it's not an obsession there's a reason why third round weekend is is something that you look forward to i think of the first weekend of january regardless of context as fa cup third round weekend that is it is it's really you can't stress how much of a data is in the kind of football cultural mindset i think i think of it as a damp squib disappointment end of everton's uh extinguished hope that's so i'm being serious that i realized i didn't know i did um but it was one of the most outrageous outcomes that that the football has given us rule holders beaten by a team whose entire starting 11 is worth i think less than one million dollars combined um i'm terrible at ranking things you are much better than I am.

28:56This was instantly hailed as the biggest FA Cup upset ever, trademark. Quick one, was it? Well, statistically, yeah, because the gap between the teams was the largest of any upset that there has been, because there are 117 places below them, first sixth tier side to knock out a top flight side. So in a sense, I think you should probably look at it and say, like, rationally and calmly, yes, it is the biggest shocker of all time. It didn't feel that way to me I've got to admit just because we've got so used to Premier League teams not really taking the FA Cup that seriously you know Palace only started three or four first teamers so it kind of creates this impression that they don't really care but at the same time I think it's really easy to forget like Palace aren't bringing a load of academy kids who are 16 have never really played any senior football on they're bringing on players in to replace the first teamers who are vastly expensive on huge amounts of money and meant to be some of the most gifted footballers in the world and they're going to Moss Rose in front of a crowd of 5 ,500 people and being beaten by a team in the sixth tier.

29:58So it didn't feel quite as special to me as Sutton in the late 1980s, which is one of the early ones that I remember, or Wrexham beating Arsenal in 1992. But maybe that's because I was a kid then. Maybe it's because I'm an adult now. In terms of sheer numbers, if it's not the biggest, it's not far off. I agree. Clinically, it was the greatest of all time. but there was something emotionally dimmed by the fact it was Crystal Palace who were the defeated team. Normally, we like to laugh at the defeated team. We like it to be Arsenal. We like it to be Liverpool. We like it to be one of those teams that you can point out, like Nelson Muntz in The Simpsons and go, ha-ha, you can't really do that for Crystal Palace.

30:37They still have. It's like laughing at a puppy. So that took some of it off. But I will say the loss of Ethan McLeod gave this so much human depth. It's incredible how it resounded. I mean, the men in Blazers discord was utterly buzzing. Old Goat wrote, I have found my new favorite six tier team, which I just love. And I do believe the number of Macclesfield jerseys purchased in America over the course of the 90 minutes must have been magical. Also won a hail Crystal Palace, who quite classily allowed Macclesfield to keep 100 % of the ticket sales for the game rather than claiming their share.

31:18Incredible gesture by the Palace. They also gifted them the win of 28 % possession, no less. Ru, I'm going to give you the final word, though, on this and what it teaches. I guess, do you know what? The whole Palace arc in the FA Cup over the last year teaches us how much this competition means. It has been, Palace won't see it this way today, but maybe in time they will. it has been brilliant for the FA Cup because by winning it last season they kind of showed that none of these competitions have a set meaning they mean what we decide they mean so to Palace that was the most important thing in the world it was their first ever trophy their first ever major trophy in 120 years as a club so suddenly the FA Cup becomes this thing that is aspirational and desirable and important and I think there'll be a lot of clubs who are in similar lead positions to Palace thinking, quite fancy winning the FA Cup maybe finishing 7th instead of 8th in the Premier League, it's not that big a deal.

32:12But then the magic of the Cup gives and the magic of the Cup takes away, doesn't it? Because then what happens over the weekend is you are reminded once again of the ability of this tournament to kind of surprise us, delight us, and make fools of us all. And you get this moment that isn't just for a team and for a fan base, but is for a town, the town of Macclesfield. And to be honest, it's for all the small towns who've got non-lead teams. Because one day it could be you. Do you remember the lottery adverts here, Rog? No. When we launched the National Lottery in the 90s, there was a giant finger that came out of the sky in the adverts and it pointed at someone's head and went, it could be you.

32:49I think it was Bob Hoskins doing the voice. Good Lord. It could be you. And that's what Macclesfield say. If your team is in the fifth or sixth tier of English football, maybe even the seventh, you might get your day. The FA Cup might give you the platform to do something that echoes through the ages. God bless. It could be you, not you Everton. By the way, Palace, real moment of existential angst for them. Nine games without a win, all competitions. You've got the manager, Oliver Glasner, said to be thinking about his next move, refused to sign a new contract. Mark Gahey, linked to every major club in football.

33:25You nailed it. For Palace to saw so high last season, to beat Manchester City in a final, win first ever trophy, delirious scenes, memories forever, and then soil themselves so completely at the first hurdle. It's a reminder that in football and in life, joy is fleeting, nothing is forever, darkness and light are intertwined. You've got to savour the high with all your heart and not take a second for granted. I read a beautiful piece this morning. Someone who works in the club's commercial department, it was a man called Bob Trafford, said, what we did at Macclesfield this weekend will outlive us all.

34:03When we're dead and gone, people will still reflect on that day. It's the closest thing to immortality you will ever get. That's a reward for all the hard work. That is true. And it is utterly beautiful. That's what we saw on Saturday. From that to something else beautiful. Hope for Chelsea fans. Charlton 1, Chelsea 5, cometh the hour, cometh the slightly unexpected man. Liam Rossini swooped into the Chelsea hot seat, looking, sounding less football manager, more kind of like New York Times cultural critic at large, declaring he can prove himself to be a success as Chelsea's new head coach, claiming, I'm not arrogant, I'm good at what I do.

34:48And you asked my mate, who I'm still friends with, going to school in Bristol. I managed the school team at 11. I was doing shapes with a coach on the school field after school. These are powerful boasts. They're almost like Ricky Gervais, David Brent, the second set. And I don't know what you thought of his opening press comments rule, but I did feel like we're seeing a man, a gent who is definitely intelligent, empathetic, ambitious, but he has managed less than 100 games. It's almost like seeing someone try and fake it till he makes it. Yeah, I don't want to be harsh, Rog. I don't want to kind of pick up on the things that he said in what must have been a really stressful, really difficult situation and read too much into them.

35:28It felt like there was an element of self-justification about them, which made me slightly awkward. And I'm not sure is necessarily the sort of thing that will go over well either with Chelsea's players or, and it might be even harder to win over, Chelsea's fans. That's the bit where I think there might be a problem. the players will decide if you speak to any player they will say that they will know within the first 10 or 15 minutes of training whether Liam Resenia is right to be Chelsea manager if they will respond well to him and if that goes well then he'll have the players with him for as long as he can ultimately there's a point where that might not happen anymore but he will win the players over I think the fan base will look at a guy who's 41 who's only ever managed either in the Championship or in France who's been parachuted into one of the biggest clubs in the world and see him justifying his position.

36:20And I think that might make some of the fans certainly a little bit cynical. I think it goes well when as long as the results go well, the comments will be forgotten. But the moment we hit turbulence, they're going to be flung back in his face. And I think he's really meant to be. People I know who know him say he's a fantastic human being. It's really about whether he's a fantastic Premier League manager. That's what we're about to see. He is, I will say, is unexpected a hero to me, plucked from obscurity to stave off disaster. Again, I don't like to be hyperbolic. I was trying to think what it reminds me of.

36:52And it's like in that series Chernobyl, there was that kind of random low-level Soviet engineer like Alexei Anonenko or someone like that who volunteered to enter the flooded kind of radioactive depths of Chernobyl's power plant to open the valves and stop there being a second larger disastrous explosion. Again, don't like to be hyperbolic, but that's how I see Liam right now. I do want to say there is a real power in his appointment that we have to note. He is just the 12th black manager in Premier League history. Let it be noted, Chelsea were the first Premier League club to appoint a black manager in Ruud Gullit back in 1996.

37:28There should be so many more when you look at the player pools in football, Roar. Only other one right now is Nuno at West Ham. Yeah, I know it's been a long-running, ongoing stain on English football and European football more broadly, but particularly English football, that the sheer number of black players in the game for the last 30, 35, 40 years has not translated into managers. And early on you could kind of say, well, look, it maybe takes time that you need the generation of players to come through first and then they will develop into managers. We are way beyond that point now. We are way beyond the point where it should have started to translate.

38:03the fact that it hasn't is I think down to I'm going to be naive and say like a tacit cultural prejudice rather than an actually outspoken one but it's it's time for it to change and hopefully even if you take away the club kind of loyalty element to it hopefully Liam is the start of that yeah to a time very soon when we don't even have to note this anymore It is hard to note too much for this game against Duffer's Charlton. Seven defeats in their last 11 in the Championship. This was, for Chelsea, a much-changed team to the one that lost at Fulham midweek. Adebayo, Caicedo, Andre Santos kept their place.

38:44But we don't know how many of these players were starting because Rosinha loves them or because he was resting them for the Arsenal Carabao Cup semi-final that looms midweek. The game kind of over the moment. Hato flashed home on the streak at half-time. God bless Liam, coaching genius. First goal for Hato, 19-year-old Dutchman, who'd honestly struggled under Maresca. In that moment, it was like, go away, rubberneckers. Nothing to see here. Cunninghead of Fontosa made it 2-0. Felt triumphant for about seven minutes. Charlton got back into it. Myles Lieber smacked through Jorgensen. A lovely moment for Charlton.

39:19And a young man who came through the Chelsea Academy. Symmetry felt interesting. But then Mark Guiou restored order. almost immediately. Pedro Neto, off my line, lashed home late off the bench and an Enzo penalty. Last kick of the ball gave a triumph winning start. He's going to win it all raw. He is the first Chelsea head coach to win his opening game since Antonio Conte in 2016. He was clear post-game. He did nothing tactical, nothing technical. Those were his words, a suggestion. Ultimately, this half season is going to be about confidence building, man motivation, Ruk. Yeah, he kind of seems to say that the problem that led to him getting this job wasn't to do with tactics or technical ability.

40:01And I think the technical ability thing is obvious. I mean, Chelsea have got loads of good players. He seemed to kind of allude to it being maybe more to do with morale, happiness, contentment, understanding, communication. And look, the main thing you can say about beating Charlton in the FA Cup is he has managed to sidestep that particular trap. The problem is for Liam Resenia that, as you say, you have a Carabao Cup semi-final coming up, you have Premier League games that will not be quite so kind. The issue will be how does everyone respond when he gets to a difficult patch. It's fine to say it's all about communication and squad building exercises for now.

40:41At some point, someone will want him to be able to outthink Mikel Arteta and that is a really high bar. Yeah, I mean, I thought it was fascinating too. He was really quick to praise the quality of the squad that he's inherited. Also, he praised at length Maresca's management. As you've said, the slightly more complex Carabao Cup clash against Arsenal midweek is going to be fascinating than Brentford next weekend. And I agree, the test for Rosinha is going to be how he handles, frankly, how he survives the first losing run. You know, multiple game losing run when all of this is thrown back into his face.

41:17He's a charming man, super articulate, super intelligent. But that lack of experience is going to be flung back into his god by the media. Make a, you know, what will be a storm for a normal manager will be turned up to a barbaric hurricane. It's going to be fascinating to witness. As was talking about managers, Manchester United 1, Brighton 2. Oh, there is no respite since Ruben Amarim's firing last Monday, which appears honestly to have taken about 10 years off the Portuguese facially. He looks incredible. He's walking around beaming. He's like a man reborn. I guess being fully paid out will do that to you, but not you, United.

42:00They've gone back to vibes, Roar. DNA. Midfielder Darren Fletcher with Johnny Evans alongside him as an assistant. Almost a return to the historic days. It's a very United move. We've seen it a lot in times of turbulence. I look at it and I'm like, restoring a relic will no more bring back the glory for Manchester United than excavating a fossil and holding it up and saying, I'm going to bring the dinosaurs back. Have you not seen Jurassic Park? That's exactly what happened.

42:34Do you think Sir Jim Ratcliffe thinks that's a documentary? He might think that's like a hard-hitting documentary. Maybe that's the problem. Get me Attenborough! Get me some Amber with the genetic code of Nicky Butt in it. I don't know why, that's a weird image, sorry. Amber with a bit of butt. Yeah, we're able to solve it. No, so I'm torn on this, because I think to an extent, when you fire your manager, and you could definitely make a case that Amberim should have been fired, you need someone who's kind of in the club who can just take charge of things for a bit. What I find baffling is that United are going to replace one interim with another interim who's exactly the same interim.

43:11it's either Oli Gunnar Solskjaer or Michael Carrick, who are ticking the same boxes. They are people who have Sir Alex Ferguson's phone number, who link United to the past, and will kind of muddle through until the end of the season, I guess, if they can, if that's the plan. But it's such a strange way for a team that is, at least in its own imagination, and by some metrics, the biggest club in world football, to behave. It's such an odd thing that they're back here again. Yeah, they're like, meet the new boss, same as the old boss. And they're taking that so literally. It's just insane. And for what it's worth, the game, Kobi Maynou started for the first time since that Carabao Cup exit to Grimsby in August.

43:51He was quite quiet. Brighton manager Fabian Herzl rotated heavily. United opened brightly, which was a reality that preceded unfortunate events on 12 minutes. Danny Welbeck, talk about him in a minute. Fine run. cut open the left flank floated a ball to Ruta who heartfully headed cleared off the line only for the young German Brian Gouda to sweep home United had plenty of possession but no composure Old Trafford became this was the astonishing but utterly silent no noise anything even before Danny Welbeck killed off the game muscling off Euro's challenge bashing the ball home with joy he's 35 he's irrepressible remember he joined the Manchester United Academy aged 8 played for the first team there for just under six seasons and has come back to haunt United, scored against them eight times, I think his joint most in his career.

44:42And he loves nothing more than to celebrate those goals. The rules, you can celebrate a goal against your old club when that old club is Manchester United. In fact, you're compelled to. Do we know how long Welbeck has been celebrating goals against United? Because I was quite struck by the fact that he did. Danny Welbeck is a boyhood Manchester United fan. and I think he's always been one of those players who who is kind of indelibly associated with Man United even while he's been playing for Arsenal and Brighton you still sort of think of him as being a Man United player as though he's on like a spiritual loan that at some point he'll go back so it was odd to me that he chose to celebrate but maybe this is where we are now maybe enough time passes I mean I don't know do you have to not celebrate your first couple of goals and after that it's been alright this is a bit silly now let's just get on with it Listeners, if you know how it works, write to us at meninblazers at gmail.com.

45:34When you said he's on a spiritual load, I cannot wait for Danny Welbeck to be interim manager after they fire the next guy. Get Danny in. Player interim manager. Ancelotti was crap. He doesn't understand us. Get Danny in. Danny Welbeck, enter. Cesco gave United fleeting hope, but United's day of frustration, really summed up by two yellow cards in two minutes for young Shea Lacey. yet 18 year old right winger who grew up supporting United reminds many Academy insiders of one Phil Foden who's coming on the show this week he dazzled midweek Lacey against Burnley gave a little pattern of youthful entertaining DNA youth being back but in this one two yellow cards in two minutes first for a challenge on Ayari second for slamming the ball away in frustration off he went optically harrowing The fans gave him a round of applause as he was red-carded, but he was not the only one to exit early.

46:32Brighton march on. United, these statistics are shocking, out in the third round for the first time since 2014. The United correspondent at Andy Mitten tweeted, the latest stinking result at Old Trafford sees Manchester United exit the FA Cup at the first hurdle. Same in the League Cup. It means United will play only 40 games this season, the lowest number in 111 years, abysmal. Also, earliest in the season that they've been assured of finishing trophy-less since 1971. Raw, it is generationally bad. And to lose to Brighton, a club who are so organised, so structured, who get everything right, managerial appointments, recruitment, overachievement, it almost stings more.

47:16Yeah, Brighton are kind of the club that have everything that Manchester United just can't have, effectively. And obviously, United have got the history and the power and the money and all that stuff. But Brighton are the gold standard for how a club is run. And United must look at them and think, how on earth do we get from where we are now to what they are now? It seems a world apart. It's astonishing. Obviously, the scale, one cannot be the other. But also, how, at this point, we're asking, how have United created a culture that's the opposite of everything? Brighton, over the past 13 years, every appointment's felt like chain reaction knee-jerk worse than the last.

47:52Sped up under Ineos, the new controlling owners who backed Ten Hag, then sacked him. Appointed Dan Ashworth to the front office, then quickly sacked him. Promised Amorim three years, then sacked him on a full payoff. The club's worst results in 50 years. The plan for replacing Amorim and managed departure has seemed glaringly obvious for at least a season. No plan in place. 15th place finish. No European football. And now this season of two cup games total domestically, shortest season in 100 years. Raw, it still feels like they're making it up as they go along. Yeah, there doesn't appear to be any kind of plan.

48:30And I think this has been said before about United, but the next appointment is vital. There is a point where you have to stop getting things wrong. You can't keep on kind of trying, failing, starting again without losing an amount of ground that eventually becomes insurmountable, no matter how much money you have, because those teams that are ahead of United, they're all still moving forward. They're signing players, they're recruiting managers, they're putting plans in place. United seem to consistently, constantly be like scrabbling just to tread water. And I think there's a moment where that doesn't become enough.

49:05And it creates this sort of cycle around the club where everything feels so intense and so pressurised and so urgent all of the time that you can't make good decisions in that kind of ecosystem, in that environment. United have to find a way to break it. But I don't know how they do it, and I don't think they know how to do it. I think they should appoint whoever hacked Bruno Fernandes' Twitter account and spent much of last night tweeting things like, let's get rid of idiots. But whoever that was had a whale of a time. The highlight of that, and obviously this is a crime, and we don't approve of it, Rog.

49:37But the highlight was Manchester United put out a tweet from their own official account saying, Bruno Fernandes' account has been hacked. the phrase is something like supporters should not interact with it supporters should not interact with it and the first reply was from the hacked Bruno Fernandes account that just went they said something along the lines of oh no I'll let everyone know and then he came back and said let's ratio Manchester United and he promptly ratio Manchester United it's it's remarkable symbol of this moment I'm pretty sure I don't like to to be a snitch but I'm pretty sure the hacker was Alejandro Garnaccio.

50:13It's got his fingerprints all over it. I mean, the only thing I'd say, Roger, is there's an awful lot of famous people who claim to have been hacked when maybe they haven't been.

50:23That theory. I just love, God bless Manchester United, who are currently the only club in football with more own goals even than the Arsenal. This loss, the continued defensive vulnerability. I think Sully's the glimmering prospect that Darren Fletcher can prove he belongs. Rumours this morning suggest former club icon Michael Carrick will return to Manchester United to be the interim to the interim, which you just can't even make up. Carrick's experience, three seasons at the championship level with Middlesbrough. Godspeed to him. There's obviously rumours of a grown-up appointment being permanent after the World Cup.

50:59Carlo Ancelotti Thomas Tuchel, Pochettino abound. But I do think true haters will find real pleasure in the fact that Marcus Rashford won the trophy. that Spanish Supercoppa the very day United were doomed to be trophyless which reminds me of that great Muhammad Ali quote I believe in the eye for an eye business I'm no cheap turner I got no respect for a man who won't hit back you kill my dog you better hide your cat I don't know what it means but I'll love it Manchester City awake next weekend what could possibly go wrong and talking to Man City oh Manchester City 10 Exeter City 1 City have no chill against League One NPCs.

51:40I mean, I would say City needed a morale boost after three straight draws in the Premier League. They got that and then some. I think this was the biggest ever win of the modern era for City. Headline of the game, Anton Semenyo. First match following his$85.8 million move from my beautiful War Cherries of Bournemouth. I guess impossible to understand exactly what he's going to do at City, but he did get an assist and a goal and had Pep Linder's post-game say he had something that we really need. We'll talk more about him in real games, I guess. But two things are amazing. If Man City sign Mark Gahey in January as they're linked to, rumoured, that would mean Pep Guardiola will have signed an entire starting XI for over$670 million since last January, which is like a Kardashian-Jenner level makeover.

52:31Yeah, there's been a huge squad rebuild at City, almost unnoticed, strangely. because they've done it over, I guess, because they've done it in three windows rather than just kind of doing it all at once. But they had four or five last January, another few in the summer. And as you say, Semenyo, and then now potentially Gaye. You're looking at the stories that someone like John Stones, who's been the kind of stalwart of the Duardiola era, might leave in the summer. There is a transition happening at City. And I mean, I guess you could say that maybe the slight unpredictability and results this season is evidence of that, that there is still a process ongoing.

53:06I'm not sure whether them beating Exeter to 10-1 makes them more or less of a threat for anything. But if you look at the depth that they're starting to build, you wonder if maybe they've learned a little bit of a lesson from Arsenal. God bless. A quick one on Semenyo, by the way. The way he left Bournemouth, not just the four goals in six games and the heroic last second winner against Tottenham in stoppage time, but also taking out a full-page commercial in the Bournemouth local paper, thanking the fans and the club. We don't see this a lot in football, Roy. it's almost proof that there is a right way to leave a club and cement your legacy as a legend there forever yeah i don't know whether he he had the chance to have those extra few games because like the clubs were negotiating and the deal didn't hadn't just happened but the fact that he didn't you know pick up a convenient injury the fact that he didn't say look i've got a move coming i don't really want to be risked plenty of players would would look at that situation and think i'm gonna withdraw myself from from selection here so many are played on and he got the goodbye that he'd have wanted and that he deserved, to be honest, that last-minute winner against Spurs.

54:08It's how you would want to go out. Second, Exeter City. God bless them. Their manager, Gary Colwell, said that when they scored their one goal, it was their 19-year-old academy graduate, George Birch, who netted it. By the way, they took 8 ,000 fans from the tip, the southwest tiptoe of Devon to Manchester City for this game. To see their 8 ,000 fans celebrate was stunning. And Gary Caldwell said, I've never celebrated a goal at 9-0 down in all of my life, which I just love. Like how many times you have to wonder, well, has Gary Caldwell found himself 9-0 down? But Raw, some consolation of$335 ,000 earned from the game.

54:49Have to say this, Manchester City, in distinct difference to Crystal Palace, rejected Exeter's request to share more of the gate money. but it will still help the club who are fan-owned there's a trust who own Exeter City and went into some heavy debt I think they got loans of over$800 ,000 to pay off from the takeover so even a 10-1 beatdown can be of human good in the third round of the FA Cup right yeah and that's the other massive advantage of of the cup that if you're if your club is lucky enough to get that sort of draw whatever happens you do get a massive cash infusion and there are plenty of teams throughout the kind of lead one, lead two, down into the national leagues, who are basically kept going or have been able to build stands because of the FA Cup.

55:30It does have that impact. Some of us, Rog, would say that a financial model where a team has to rely on the luck of the draw for money that keeps it going is not really ideal. And maybe some more of the money from the Premier League could go down a little bit further. But for Exeter, yeah, it was... I mean, 10-1's not great. It will sting for the players, but the money will come in extremely handy. Up the Grecians, which is one of my favourite nicknames in all of English football. Talking about hope and false. So Portsmouth won Arsenal 4 and low. Arsenal became the first top flight side ever to play in four different competitions across 10 days.

56:09Premier League, Champions League, Carabao Cup and now FA Cup. Modern football, it's just a diarrhoea of games, Roar. Fortunately, they've got the squad to cope with it, Rog. Yes, if anybody does, Arsenal did, because that is how they are still chasing all four major trophies. Played with a reinforcement midfield, Eza Waniere. They meet Chelsea in the first leg of the League Cup semi-final in midweek. But to this game, game which fleetingly threatened to be interesting, almost said Cup set briefly, Portsmouth. A cellar-dwelling 21st in the Championship opened quite fearlessly, it's got to be said.

56:44They pressed Arsenal into rearguard action. Chaplin swept a shot that Kepa could just parry and Cody Bishop drove home. Cue vibes of Portsmouth glory and dreams. I do believe life is about celebrating the joy while you have it, even when it lasts just three minutes because that's how long it took for Arsenal in their 10th cup game of the season, undefeated in those games, two strike back, pair of goals from corners, first by our friend own goal second by Martinelli but God bless it was so funny to watch in the first half raw Arsenal almost saying Championship Portsmouth if you want to get to the elite high level Premier League here's how you do it this is the tactic that we play at the big boy level corners here's the one thing that Championship lead one lead two teams should be able to match Premier League teams at is set pieces because they're all roughly the same height and those elements of the game have always been really important lower down.

57:44So it was slightly unusual to see Arsenal's edge play out. As I watched it, lads, if you want to play at our heights, learn to do the long throw-in thing, and now it's a body bastard that set pieces. It was confounding. It's a world inverted, Rog, that's the problem. It is. This is where we are now, modern football. None of the fancy stuff you play in the championship. Nani Madweke won and then missed a penalty. Dude's got to be careful. Watch this penalty. It's a kind of feckless form that is going to draw the attention of Everton scouts. They love penalties like that. Before he knows it, he'll be lost on the bench at the big dick.

58:19Martinelli got a hat-trick in the second half. First senior hat-trick, I think, for old Mart. First off, a quickly taken free kick. Second off, a corner set-piece again. Ole, ole. But a really joyous end to a very difficult week for Gabriel Martinelli. He became football's public enemy number one following his self-admittedly. He's apologised for this. He's ill-judged, Fracca, with a terribly injured, as it turns out, Conor Bradley now out for the season at the end of Arsenal's Royal Liverpool midweek. It felt like the opposite of the idea of reward and punishment for theologians watching, Rook.

58:53Is there a way that karma works backwards, Rog? That if you do a bad thing and apologise for it on Instagram, then really nice things happen? Are we saying that that is maybe the way the world works now? Insta apologies lead to redemption and glory. Yeah, I think if you just put, as long as you're making content out of it, then you're fine. This is amazing. Digital content is the new confessional. This is how theologies are founded. God bless and also Godspeed to poor Connor Bradley, who is out now for the season. Arsenal set piece of salt sealed the day. Interesting, in a week in which news broke that Arsenal have turned to the world's leading throwing coach.

59:33quite legendary Thomas Grunmark in an effort to start to weaponise the marginal gains from their throw-in now in their push to win the Premier League. It's all joy for Arsenal. Kai Havert subbed on, 16-year-old baby, Marley Salmon also came on. Even Arsenal's substitutions give them happiness right now. From North London light to North London darkness, Tottenham won, Aston Villa too. Spurs stumbled in after losing to Bournemouth in the league by that last second Semenya strike. We talked about Cue Bournemouth fans singing, Champions of Europe, you're having a laugh. And this game began with Villa fans taking the piss.

1:00:15They burst out with a rendition of Thomas Frank is an Arsenal fan. If you didn't see this, Coffee Gate Raw, listeners, I'm sure you saw this. Before kickoff at Bournemouth, Thomas Frank was set up by somebody We do not know who. Probably the same person who hacked poor Bruno's Twitter account. I mean, just taking over football. Anyway, Thomas Frank photographed strolling around the Vitality Stadium brazenly without knowing that his coffee cup had Arsenal's logo on the front. Everyone originally thought it was a Photoshop and that it was insane in the membrane. Turned out it wasn't Thomas Frank's fault.

1:00:53He apologized. He said he had no idea. But, Roar, it is crazy. Results are killers on the field. Style of football matters. But ultimately, to be memed devastatingly like that, as your reign seems to be lolloping towards inevitable soon demise or a painful decision. Third Tottenham season is six, in which a caretaker manager beckons mid-season. The Arsenal Coffee Cup. that's how this Thomas Frank here is going to be remembered right like Amarim and his tactics boards against Grimsy coffee cup optics yeah it's amazing how quickly those images sort of move and also how much they mean how deep they cut I think that's really significant that he obviously won't get sacked because of the coffee cup but it does kind of sum up everything that's happened for him at Tottenham that sense that everything has gone wrong and that stuff matters because it's on those images on the backs of those images that fans faith like erodes completely and it does i don't know that it it's really unfortunate he he must be furious that it happened but it's it will kind of become the defining image of his reign i think and that's a real shame i like Thomas Frank i'd love him to turn it around i as far as we know as we record rog no decision has been made on his dismissal but it does feel as though he's very much standing on the brink and that might be the thing that just nudges him over.

1:02:20It's so devastating. Whoever did that, you are a bad man. This game, grim for the host. Villa broke the lines, always underrated, big buttocks of John McGinn. By the way, beautiful fan banner that Villa fans travel with, which has a photo of his face and underneath it just says, oh, meatball, which I just love. He freed Marlon. He fed the excellent Buendia to crash home with Charleston. Oh, limped off of what could be hamstring knack. Tel coughed up the ball Rodgers flick trickery and Brendier interchanged and Rodgers slapped home cue the boos the Spurs fans came to deliver Tottenham stepped it up a little bit their game plan had been like let Xavi Simons do stuff Solanke returned for his first appearance since August Odebeck got them back into it with a goal but really the most fight Spurs showed came in the full squad brawl at the final whistle second straight year on the run Villa clip Spurs 2-1 in the FA Cup final.

1:03:17Villa, 13 wins in 15 games. Emery takes this FA Cup journey very seriously. Talks solemnly of the, quote, responsibility of trying to bring a trophy back to Villa. FA Cup, they've not won since 57. But as I watch this game roar, I realise just how much Villa have totally usurped Spurs places, the stylish, aspirational Champions League contender. That was Spurs in the Potts era. They've been left for dead. They used to aspire to challenge. Now, they seem to be just permanently cowered in the recovery position. Yeah Spurs I think are in a really interesting point because they have and it struck me actually on watching that game on Saturday that they have this huge beautiful stadium they have, you know memories of being in the Champions League, they've got players that they've spent tens of millions of pounds on, they have all the pressures of a team that is expected to be winning titles but they are so far from realising that, that they are always going to be falling short and that is always going to force them, like Manchester United to make short term like immediate your decisions.

1:04:18Whereas I guess because Villa have come from further back Villa are a huge historic club but you could have a very interesting and slightly inside baseball conversation, Rog, about whether Villa or Spurs are historically the bigger team. People come here for theology not for that kind of thing. No, people don't want that nonsense. You could also make some pretty aggravating TikTok content about it that would annoy at least one half of the conversation. But they're sort of similar clubs historically but because Villa got relegated and sank so low they've been able to kind of reshape and retool and they've hit the top flight and then just gone straight through it.

1:04:49And it feels like they are a club going somewhere. They are almost certainly going to be back in the Champions League next season. They'll do quite well in the Champions League. They made the quarterfinals last year. They've got a manager who is good at Europe. And crucially, and I know Spurs won the Europa League last season, but it does feel like Villa are kind of closing in on a trophy. The draw for the FA Cup obviously will determine a lot. If they get Arsenal away, then that'll be a problem. but there's no reason to think they couldn't make the FA Cup final the way they're playing. They're probably favourites for the Europa League.

1:05:19They are a club going places whereas Spurs do feel like a club trapped in a cycle that just keeps repeating. January 12th and Tottenham are out of the Carabao Cup, out of the FA Cup, 14th in the Premier League. The season boring miracle is essentially a challenge for European football next year. West Ham, visit at the weekend and have the chance to do the funniest thing. Let's go to more joy, though. Wrexham 3, Nottingham Forest 3. Wrexham win. 4-3 on penalties. Back in time to Friday night. Proper FA Cup tie. End-to-end. Sluggers slugging. Sean Dyche, as to be said, left out a lot of his first string, saving them for the relegation dogfight to come.

1:05:59Wrexham sat back, soaked up the early exchanges. Ryan Reynolds watching gloriously, wearing a custom jersey, just with the word Elheny on the back. Rob's name without the Mac attached. Wrexham waited for Forrest to make a mistake in Pounce, which he did twice in the first half alone. 2-0 halftime, Dreamland. Premier League, yeah, having a laugh, the chant that rang out the Stoke Kairas. Deitch, by the way, quite brilliantly used the postgame to call out the mediocre players that his director of football, Edu, has brought in. He didn't seem that arsed. He's just like, yeah, not my fault, terrible footballers.

1:06:37He threw on Morgan Gibbs-White, Nicholas Dominguez and Nico Williams, and their quality made a massive difference. Forest battled their way back into the game from 2-0 and then 3-1 down, ended 3-3 to penalties in which Arthur O 'Connor, a beautiful man, he's been on this show many times, 24-year-old goalkeeper, kid who left Arsenal's academy. A lot of people laughed. He'd come through with Bakayo Saka, come through with Flo Balog and Yunus Moussa and joined Wrexham in League Two. Why are you doing that? Why would you go there? It's career-ending. but he's been one of the most dominant forces in their rise to the brink of the Premier League that he intends to play in.

1:07:15Two massive saves in the penalty shootout to send Wrexham into the fourth round. Their first win against a Premier League side since 1999. To me, Roar, this was optically a massive moment for the club since Rob and Ryan took over. There's been a lot nearly five years ago. They've ended the 15-year hiatus from the Football League. They've achieved three quite delirious consecutive promotions. But this, this was hope is a waking dream level crap. The optics, the echo of history, the sense of what might be to come for the town, this team, the entire region of North Wales, Roar. It was beautiful. Yeah, I suppose first and foremost, it's like a glimpse of the Premier League.

1:07:57It's not me, Nottingham Forest are in, you know, they're in the relegation battle, but we think of them as a Premier League club. They're one of the biggest clubs in the country. it was the sort of occasion that Recton will be hoping for. That's it. Psychologically, I think it's probably really important for the team to be able to beat Forrest even with changes made. You're still dealing with a, as we said with Palace, you're still dealing with a load of internationals. That's what they're throwing on. They're not putting the academy out. And I think that's probably really important for the rest of the season.

1:08:27But I think the other thing that's interesting is this was a Friday night game in the FA Cup third round. there are people watching, certainly in Britain, who will have been watching that game, who are probably sort of aware that Wrexham have got Hollywood ownership and sort of aware that Wrexham are coming through the leagues. You access a much more mainstream audience on FA Cup third round weekend and they will have seen the Stoke Tyras going nuts at beating Forest. They'll have seen this thrilling game. They'll have seen Ryan Reynolds. And suddenly you kind of permeate the mainstream a little bit more.

1:09:01I think that the FA Cup does that in a way that we don't fully recognise because we're too in football. But it suddenly exposes your story to lots and lots of other people. It felt big to me, Wrexham beating Forest. It felt moderately predictable, but it felt big. It felt big to me. But for your first point, optically, we can do this. We will get there and we will beat teams. It did feel like, wow, we are real. Remember, this is a team who, 9th place in the championship, just a point off the Premier League playoff, five games undefeated all comps. What Phil Parkinson, their manager, who started with them in the National League, is doing is it's heroic, heroic, remarkable, transcendent stuff.

1:09:42Lots of talk now about January transfer in Cummings. If you will, the Premier League can be no dream. Please God. Two other games. Grimsby 3, Weston Supermare 2. God bless Sixth Tier National League, South, West and Supermare. I think top three English town names that sound most like a 1970s prog rock band rule. Yeah, I think Bodnar Regis could probably do a couple of kind of critically acclaimed concept albums. That feels like a thing that might happen. But West and Supermare, it's a glam rock. It's heavy metal infused. That's what they're offering. West and Supermare definitely have a floatist.

1:10:19they are a team we should say part-timers also builders teachers labourers lecturers facing Grimsby fourth tier fish lovers who beat Manchester United in the Carabao Cup in August and have now gone further than United in both the Carabao and the FA Cup I'm just saying happiness at Wolves it is possible Jorgenstrand Larsson netted a hat-trick as the Wanderers continued their Wolves naissance they thump lead two sides Shrewsbury Town 6-1 Leeds came from behind to win 3-1 at Derby. Aaron Ramsdale, shootout hero as Newcastle edged out beautiful Bournemouth in a real thriller. On penalties, the on loan Southampton keeper save from Ev Nielsen, Alex Jimenez and I think the TK to seal a 7-6 shootout win.

1:11:06And West Ham came from behind in extra time to avoid the humiliation of losing to Queen's Park Rangers. Crisis averted! Dot, dot, dot for today. At Glenn, a West Ham fan in our MIB Discord Gord said, I'm now rooting for a West Ham-Mackelsfield final. And I read that and I was like, not so fast, Glenn, because on form, six-tier Mackelsfield would absolutely batter West Ham, wouldn't they, Rul? Yeah, I think West Ham and Wolves are both quite interesting because Wolves, who've essentially got not very much to play for anymore, might as well have a real crack at the FA Cup, Rog, to be honest. Wigan won the FA Cup in 2013, the year they went down.

1:11:42Wolves don't even have to worry about trying to survive, despite the fact that they're suddenly quite good. I know, I watch Wolves and I'm just like, when you know you're already dead, you have nothing to lose. They're a free radical, they can do what they like. Whereas West Ham, I suppose that win against QPR staves off the sense of impending crisis. But the last thing they need is to get distracted by the FA Cup. If ever a team needed to get knocked out of the FA Cup so it could think about what really matters, it's West Ham. but then I suppose maybe there is a psychological benefit to win it, just to win in a game Oh my god, talking about winning By the way, Liverpool round off the FA Cup third round they played this evening against Barnsley team languishing 17th in League 1 the FA Cup now the sole focus for Silverware for this season on the slot of course made massive changes in his club's Carrawao exit and was massacred by fans, I doubt he will dare do it again.

1:12:39Yeah, he seems to have alluded to the fact that he won't repeat the trick he pulled off at Plymouth last year and put out a team that's never played together before. I think there will be some changes. I am going, Rog. I am going in a private capacity rather than for work. Ed, my little boy, has asked to go to Anfield for a night game and he has been allowed to stay up late to go and watch Barnsley. And I had this sort of sense of dread about it and then I remembered why this morning because Barnsley knocked Liverpool out of the FA Cup in 2008. 2-1. You're such a good dad. I'm not sure why I'm putting myself through this or putting him through it.

1:13:13Taking your son to a game where you know his little heart is going to be shattered with the trauma that he'll carry with him and pass on to his children for generations. You were great, Dad, Roar. Which leads us, God, finally, to the last right on Everton's 2025-26 season. Everton 1, Sunderland 1, Sunderland with 3-0 on penalties. I said depleted Everton side. We've got to acknowledge this. Michael Keane out for hair-pulling-ish. Jack Grealish out for checks notes sarcastic clapping red card I honestly tuned in to watch us play Sunderland in this one, partly with excitement, partly with fear of the season ending, but mostly just to see what kind of red card Everton could conjure.

1:13:55It's like which player will make love to their teammate on the field in public or, we are to red cards at this point, Roar you know, the slapping one we did of our own team, all that stuff, we are what Marty Supreme was to film marketing. We are constantly pushing the boundaries of what has to be considered possible for a red card before we invented a new one. It's nice to have a thing, Rog. I know. It's nice to have a thing that you do, a reason to keep watching. Which makes me think one of the Everton players is behind Bruno Fernandes hacking. They're just training for the latest. Do you think there could be like a polymarket angle on it?

1:14:33On the hacking or on Everton? No, on the red cards. I don't fully understand how polymarket works, but I'm sure you could make money off saying, will a player get sent off for pulling someone's hair? Yeah, will one of the players pull out one of his internal organs with the world watching? I don't know how polymarket works either, Rob, but I do believe polymarket is to explain for 99 % of what we're trying to spend a lot of time pulling our hair out over, says the bald man. Sunderland took the lead on the half hour, long throw, not dealt with. And Le Fay, the one man you didn't want to be on the ball, apart from from a penalty, because that Penenka, dreadful Penenka memory, still lingering from last weekend.

1:15:10But my God, the way he shaped his body to arc the ball in was utterly, utterly stunning on the volley. It was just a lethal side foot spiral, artful. It was astonishing. Composure, technique, poetry. And I was like, oh, there goes that dream again. There goes Everton's season. We hadn't conjured a shot on goal in the first half. We were booed off at halftime. And you looked at the bench, I think seven outfield players on the bench had raw 25 games experienced between them. And bloody Tieno Barry had 23 of those 25. It's usually the rawest bench you will ever bench in your life. We went two up top down the stretch.

1:15:52It looked like we were sinking without trace, without any fight. One effort on target, I think. But then the ref interceded, gave a very soft penalty to Everton. Even I admit that for a foul on the quite bright cameo of Asnu. of Asnu. Garner scored. Game went out to penalties. Garner came up again. Went the other way and was blocked by Roof's really quite weak penalty to be clear. But, Roar, did you watch the Everton penalties? I'm not saying them, no. Oh, my God. Don't watch them unless you like kind of like snuff films. Tieno Barry stepped up. My God, his technique. He did like this skip and no look and then essentially unleashed a soft, sweet back pass to the goalkeeper.

1:16:34I mean, Tieno Barry plays football. I don't know how much you've watched him, but he looks like a man who's just discovered football and learned how to play only by watching it on EA Sports FIFA. That's very odd, just Tieno Barry is quite good at football in Spain, and yet the Everton seems to have got inside him somehow. So quickly, the Everton has got... By the way, if, Tieno, you're listening, if you actually try and fart the ball out of your anus next time, which I would recommend it will go harder and faster towards the target, I had never seen a worse penalty than Barry's for Everton ever.

1:17:05So respect Beto then for instantly one-upping it. I mean, these men are professional footballers. They're strikers. For three Everton players to completely just abort mission from the penalty spot. I will tell you this. This is the thing that summed it up. Many Everton fans left the stadium. I crap you not, while Beto walked up to the spot for the decisive penalty. Well, I suppose, I mean, that maybe isn't a damning indictment of Beto. Maybe that, you know, you've already missed two. The chances are the maths. They're doing a little bit of statistical calculation in their heads. They're thinking, well, this has only happened 7.4 % of the time as teams come back from this position.

1:17:44So we might as well start the long walk back into town. Oh, do you think they were more like, is he taking it out of his anus? No, this isn't one of the anus penalties. So we're not interested. That's a decision point. Anus? No, out of here. By the way. I've got to admit, I'm always baffled. So I get that players who don't often take penalties must get very nervous in penalty shootouts. And they maybe don't have, like, practice techniques for doing, for executing under pressure. But surely in that situation, you just kick it hard. That's what always baffles me. These are strikers, Ru. These are strikers.

1:18:19These are strikers. These guys have taken penalties before. It was remarkable. and the pain for me was that it's the end of another journey another season without glory and it stings we won a lot listeners Everson won a lot believe it or not when I was a kid when we won the FA Cup for the last time 1995 I did not know that would be it you know I write this in my book that when you're a kid you think World Cup's off you know just infinite and you The older you get, you realise, and I realised this in this moment, Roar, when that penalty from Beto just trickled limply and we were knocked out, I turned to my kid, I said, son, our days are numbered.

1:19:02Each failure is a tick towards my own death. As Philip Larkin once said, life is slow dying. So the one thing I would say for Everton before I make this point is that it's unlucky to get another Premier League team in the draw. That is slightly unfortunate. But you were at home. I would have thought for teams like Everton even maybe for Spurs for those Premier League teams that have run out in like the first hurdle of the FA Cup given that it happened after Palace last season I think that kind of makes it hurt even more because you've seen what it can mean Why never us? Why never us? How I feel about the US men Why never us Morocco?

1:19:38Why never us doing an Iceland? Why never us doing a Wales? Why never us? That's what hurt but I also know Roar I'm going to die soon this is what it is I may never watch Everton win something again in my life. And when you're a kid, you think, oh, there's always next season. There might not be. Are they staging another Florida Cup? God, I've got to get it. Why don't I stay? That's it. You should stage a Florida Cup. I love this idea. Let's get on it, Florida. Who's with me? All right, let's finish with a letter from our mailbag, which is really bulging at the moment. Meninblazers at gmail.com.

1:20:12Write to us. It makes our week. I try and reply to every message I can. Oliver Gotch wrote this beauty. Take it away, Rory. Hi, Rog and Rory. I'm a huge fan of the pod. As a Liverpool fan, Rory keeps my unbridled hopes in check. Not a problem. You're welcome. And Rog reminds me it would always be worse. I currently live behind the orange curtain here in Southern California. Chocolate orange. Right. And I recently had the good fortune to travel to Spain and watch three matches at Atletico Madrid, Camp Nou, and the third, and the experience that sits with me the most, was my trip to the Nuevo Estadio de los Carmenes, the home of Granada CF.

1:20:49I watched Granada draw their second division game against AD Ciuta, and I saw 20 ,000 fans grow in frustration as they perceived the referee making every decision against them was Anthony Taylor. It got to the point of a fan hitting a chair in front of him so hard that it came loose from the metal frame. And in a perfect example of learned behaviour, his son hit the chair in front of him to much less effect. As the match finished and a plastic tunnel was extended to protect the officials while the home fans luckily hurled only insults. I was thinking of that furious fan and his son's copycat routine.

1:21:20My question to you, Rog and Rory, and apologies for the long way round of getting here. Have any of your children picked up any of your bad viewing habits? Cheers, and up the reds, Oliver. Oh, what a question, Oliver. There is an old English saying which I write about in my book, that English football in its heart is a story of parents and their children. But Raw, I mean, we just talked about it. As an Everton fan, I think I've passed on only bad memories and traumas to my kids. Like that old Philip Larkin line, man hands on misery to man. It deepens like a coastal shelf. So why don't you take it?

1:21:56Well, presumably the bad viewing habit you've passed on to your kids is to watch Everton. That's the primary. That's what I mean. That's the primary thing you've done. Yeah, it's toxic. Here's some fentanyl. This actually hits on something that I'm battling at the moment, Roger, to be fair. So when Ed was younger, he's only eight, but when he was four or five, I didn't want him getting too upset by Liverpool losing. So I would occasionally say to him, if they were playing a game that I thought they might lose, it doesn't matter that much if they lose this one. So if it was the Cup, I'd say it doesn't matter that much because it's the Cup.

1:22:32If it was the Champions League and they'd already qualified, I'd be like well it doesn't really matter that much if they lose this because they've already qualified. If it was the Champions League and they were already basically out I'd say well it's a free hit, it doesn't matter. And he's really internalised this so now before every game he says but dad it doesn't matter if they lose this one does it? And I'm like and I've reached the point where I tend to be like no it does, it matters it's worse if they lose, we don't want them to lose. There are certain games where Arsenal away if they were to lose that, you'd accept it.

1:23:07There's certain games where a draw is a good point. The Everton derby away from home, draw is always a good point. But he seems to have decided that on every game, it doesn't matter if they lose. So the other day when I said... He's looking for your validation. He's looking for your like... He's looking for reassurance. It's paining me, but dad, it's okay, isn't it? The pain. No, he's looking for reassurance and I do not want to provide him with it. I refuse to provide him with it. He's old enough now to understand. It does matter if they go out of the FA Cup to Barnsley. That's embarrassing. You don't want that to happen.

1:23:36So it does matter. It might not matter as much as losing the Premier League on the final day or losing a Champions League final, but it does matter. And so I think the bad habit that my son has picked up from me, Rog, is overly rationalising events. God bless. That's remarkable. I mean, what is it? Freud writes about, is it in the book Moses, where he writes about how the moment from childhood to becoming a grown-up in your own right is the moment you realise you're parents. Mostly he writes about fathers, obviously. The moment you realise your dad has clay feet, which is kind of where you are with your beautiful...

1:24:14My dad always used to say when Everton would concede, he'd always say, it only takes a second to score a goal. That was his... He was trying to put a bright side on it. And when Everton were down famously in the Derby 5-0, the Ian Rush game when he just battered us. They were like, we're into extra time. We were 5-0 down. And I still truly believed. I was like, Dad, Dad, it only takes a second to score a goal, right? As if like, as long as there were five seconds left, we could still get back into this one. And my dad, in agony and pain, I write about this in the book actually, just turned around to me and goes, don't be so bloody stupid, son.

1:24:49And I realised the extent of his own agony and how much he truly, really cared. Look, when I look at my own kids, these kids are Everton fans. These kids are Chicago White Sox fans. They are Chicago Bears fans. That's a lot of misery I've passed on. As you say, that's probably the biggest parenting mistake I made. Sadness, futility, desperation, trauma. I've given them all of it. So on Saturday, my family watched Everton sink in the morning. And then obviously I love Bournemouth. They crashed out of the FA Cup too. I was in a terrible mood Saturday night. I can't lie. The Chicago Bears were in their epic playoff rumble with rivals Green Bay.

1:25:32I was braced for disaster and disappointment. I could see no hope. I was watching with my kids. The specter, the first half, if you watch the game, dear listeners, fulfilled every worst outcome. Not a single facet of the game for the Bears was clicking into the fourth quarter. I'm sure you all know America, that historic, almost a fever dream, that delirious comeback. God bless you, Caleb Williams. I immediately just, people kept, when nice things happen to my sports team, which is very, I hear from more people than when my dad died. And I just, in the moment, I just sent everybody back a photo of Dap Hope.

1:26:09Immediately, his prayers lifting the team, that comeback. Raw, I don't know when the Bears won. The name of the emotion I experienced, I can only say I loved it. It was beautiful. But here's what's amazing. And what I realized, my kids have only known darkness through sports fandom. And when the Chicago Bears won, I looked around, all of my kids were either on the couch or on the floor sobbing. Really? They sobbed harder when we lose than if we win. And if that's not really a symbol of the trauma I've given to them and its depth, I don't know what is. But then surely you can flip that and say, that is, it's all been worth it.

1:26:49It's all been worth it for that one moment. That's what you've given them. You've given the gift of a high that outweighs the lows. Psychologists listening and trauma specialists listening, please tell me what my kids were experiencing in that moment. I'd love genuinely men in blazers at gmail.com. Maybe they'd invested in Polymarket on a Packers win. Maybe that's why they were trying. That's so funny. Maybe one of my kids is the Bruno Fernandes hacker. bring on next weekend and the LA Rams and the darkness that is sure to ensure. I want it in the face. Thanks for your letter, Oliver. You're a beautiful human being.

1:27:25Keep writing to all of us here at meninblazersatgmail.com. I do, as I said, try and answer every single letter that comes in. That's it for today. I'm in New York City this week. I've got to tape the audio book of my book. Have you ever done that, Roy? It's like trying to run a marathon every day for six days with just your voice. It's shattering. They won't let people from York should read audiobooks. Do they not? Legally? No, legally it's banned. Oh, please, please, please pre-order that beauty. I know it's a pain up the arse. Just take a quick second. Don't put it off. Do it now. I will thank you in so many different ways in the next couple of weeks.

1:28:00We've got a Bakayo Saka television show debuting on NBC Sports Peacock this weekend, January 17th, in which I got to drive around North London with Bakayo, which is stunning. As are you, Rory Smith, you beautiful human being. Thank you. it's been a pleasure just revelling in the magic of the cup Rog and I'm sorry I'm sorry about Everton I'm sorry well bless I mean again psychologists the Chicago Bears what was that for my kids this is Rog saying let's not take a second of watching football together for granted I encourage