Liverpool's losing streak, Arsenal back on top, and Estêvão as Chelsea's new cult hero: Men in Blazers 10/06/25

27:26Everything he did was just coax that extra ounce of belief out of his raw young collective. It was humanly remarkable. It was, and as you say, he had been under a lot of pressure. It was starting to mount, as it always does at Chelsea whenever results aren't great for a couple of weeks, that there was this sort of lingering sense that maybe Maresca was starting to lose the backing of the ever-changing hierarchy at Chelsea, the number of kind of political factions who have control at Chelsea. It's very hard to keep track of, but apparently some of them had stopped liking Maresca. And I think you could see all that in the celebration because that was, you know, it is October.

28:02Do you know what I mean? It's not the end of the season. That's not taking you to the Champions League final. But the emotion in that moment was genuine and sincere and pure. and I think at least part of it was just Marestra knows that this will have bought him quite a lot of time, bought him quite a lot of credit, both internally inside the club, but also with the fans who are, I think at Chelsea, quite difficult to please now. I think it's a tricky club to succeed, Chelsea, just because expectations are so high and they're kind of out of step with what the model is in terms of the players that you've got.

28:33Yeah, it's constantly, I mean, you have to constantly win. It's like being at a blackjack table and you're constantly giving a 15 or a 16. in terms of how, and then working out how you want to play it. But God bless for Mareska on this day and for Liverpool. I'd just say well-played Premier League script writers, well-played, late goals. Really a sadomasochistic love affair. After all those early winners, Liverpool lose back-to-back league games for the first time in the slot era on goals scored in the 97th and 95th minutes. That is, I mean, there's a poetry in that. third straight loss for the first time for Arna.

29:11There's a lot of things I want to ask you here, Rolf, from the pure football, which we'll begin with, to the truly existential. So first of all, let me ask you something pure about the game. We're in the 94th minute. Point was going to be fine here at Stamford Bridge. Fine point. Defeat would be a disaster, optically, going into an international break. Why did Arna Slott, who's been complaining in weeks past about individual players being reckless late on. Why did he leave the game so open and his own formation so stretched? No shape. Jamie Carragher been banging the drum that he sees Slott's tactics suddenly as wide open as a basketball game.

29:53It was astonishing to risk that narrative flip here. Your team are still gelling, but to leave them open that late when a draw would have been fine, to me, that's hard to fully understand. He's now got to spend the whole international break fighting the optics of tabloid fire. Yeah, I guess the problem with the question, Rog, is we don't know for certain that that was Slott's intention. I mean, it might be, I guess, that his view was if you sink back, if you drop deep, you're inviting trouble. And that's how a lot of managers think, that if you go too defensive, it's kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

30:31And against a team with the quality of Chelsea, even if it's young and unreliable and inconsistent then that could be a problem I wonder to an extent whether Liverpool are predicated on the fact that you know the rewards for going for a win from that position are far greater than the cost in terms of pure points not in terms of narrative I accept I agree with you completely on the narrative the rewards of success if you win that game are much greater than the cost if you lose it but also it might just be that you know Chelsea were on the pitch too, more than one team has agency. That's one of the complicating factors with football.

31:03It might be that Slott wanted to control it and couldn't. I mean, this is new now, irrespective. Full Liverpool under Arna Slott. It's been, this is incredible, over a year, I think 24th September 2024, since Arna Slott's team weren't at least level on points at the top of the Premier League table. So going slightly bigger picture, when all the new bodies in the transfer window started or arrive just superstar after superstar or young prodigy arriving. And we're all absolutely just looking on a gas. I corresponded with someone at Liverpool and said, I texted him and said, God, you're becoming a super team, like an NBA super team.

31:48And he immediately texted me back a photo of the 2014 Brooklyn Nets and said, don't say that. The problem with super teams is they rarely work because everybody wants the ball. And it is fascinating to me, Roar. This is now on a slot to fix. Last season, we saw his ideas bedded onto the echo almost of Klopp's ideas, like Arsene Wenger is seen to have inherited the quite defensively robust George Graham's physicality. And that led to, in the early years, his most dominant Arsenal teams. in the same way lesser, but Roberto Martinez at Everton, a very attacking footballer who had his best season immediately after he inherited David Moyes' defensive muscle there.

32:35Arna now has to adapt a new squad, you know, distance now from the Klopp era to his new philosophy on the flight. This is very much on Arna's slot now, Rui. Yeah, you'll be unsurprised to learn, Rog, that I have quite a lot of thoughts on this subject. I don't want to kind of overwhelm anybody. I think that that point that the alloy tends to be stronger than the base metal is true. And there are countless examples of that throughout football, that managers who come in with a new set of ideas and kind of graft them on to what went before tends to be quite successful. I suppose the flip side to that is that there is still quite a lot of Klopp elements in this team.

33:11You know, for all that, they've signed a lot of players this summer. Alisson, Virgil van Dijk, Canate, Salah, Jones, McAllister, Sobersleid, Gravenberg, they are all Klopp players. My feeling, I've got to admit, and this is maybe more as fan than professional neutral observer is I wonder whether slots moved a little too quickly to get those players into the team I remember when Liverpool signed Andy Robertson from Hull City which was not nearly as exciting as them signing Alexander Izak from Newcastle Robertson basically didn't appear for four months he just wasn't there because the left-back spot was being held by Alberto Moreno and I don't know if you remember Alberto Moreno Rog but he wasn't very good and the assumption among the fans was well Robertson's obviously been bought as a backup he was eight million pounds 11 million dollars from Hull they'd been relegated he's British so he counts as homegrown he's obviously just kind of a squad player fringe maybe even a flip maybe you know Liverpool keep him for a year or two then sell him on for 12 million pounds to Sunderland or West Ham or someone and then in like December Andy Robertson appeared in the Liverpool team and was instantly amazing.

34:19And you thought, oh, so that's what they've been doing. They've been getting him used to the system. It has surprised me the speed with which Slott has kind of put everyone in that team. I wonder whether it might, and I can't sit here and tell a manager how to do their jobs, but I've got to admit, even when the money was flowing and the signings were rolling in, I was expecting the transition from one thing to the next to be much slower. I thought it maybe wouldn't be December, January until we saw a Liverpool team that had Kyrgyz and Frimpong and Izak and Eketike in it. Whereas he's kind of done it immediately.

34:55And I actually think one of the problems he's got is that he's now caught a little bit between two stools. That Liverpool are trying to become Arna Slott's Liverpool. And because it's not working, there will be something in the players' brains, and I think increasingly in Slott's brain, saying, well, we could just switch back to that. So Florian Virts has been dropped, you know, the last two games he not started, I think, in the Premier League, which has made him a little bit of a core celebrity as though he's the problem. I don't think that's necessarily true, but it strikes me that Slott is looking at the team and thinking, I need to find something that I can kind of rely on effectively.

35:32And what can you rely on? A 4-3-3. God, I mean, it is fascinating. Also, once you've started with these players, you're kind of like, if you drop them now, you're destroying their confidence. it's like you can't ease there's no easing easing these human beings in they're in and they're or they're out now but you can't eat once you've once you put them in you can't undo that yeah it's it's really uneasy that if you if you take them out and i think versus this is happening to him to an extent already is that an implicit criticism of their performance at what point do you make that switch back to a system in which florian verts can thrive and i think i do wonder basically where the slot has played it wrong, that the misstep has been going for it, you know, all out, here's the new team, this is what we're doing now, we're going to stick with it.

36:20And then starting to think when performances and then results have kind of varied a little bit, you kind of change back and it's, oh, well, maybe the midfield sob is like Gravenberg and McAllister as it was against Chelsea. Because you're not solving the problem, you're just delaying it. So I wonder whether, although Liverpool might be uneven, for some time, you're better in the long run just saying, actually, this is what we want to be in the future, so that's what we're going to do. We're going to make this work. So otherwise, everything gets very muddled. The problem is, and I think this is genuinely interesting, a lot of people here certainly have said, oh, you know, maybe this is Liverpool's transition season.

36:56That's a little bit kind, given the amount of money they spent in the summer. Maybe if you spend that much, you don't get a transition season. But also, even if it is a transition season, every game, it's Liverpool, they're the champions, they're one of the biggest clubs in the country. Your transition season can't be you defending the title season. Those two narratives do have to combine. And they certainly can't be your season after spending$500 million in the transfer market. You don't get a transition season. And even if the figures were less and the honours last year hadn't come, I don't think Liverpool get a transition season.

37:27I think Manchester United, like Arsenal, like Chelsea, the expectation is you win every game. And if you don't, you will be criticised and you will be under pressure and there will be questions asked. And I think the problem that Slott has is that, look, they've lost two games to goals in the 95th and 97th minute, both away from home, both against teams who'll finish in the top 10 of the Premier League. Chelsea, theoretical title contenders, Palace, when they played them, before they went to Fortress Hill Dickinson, were the form team in Europe. Like, on the surface, they're not, they're obviously not good results, but they're not terrible results.

38:06You know, it's understandable. to lose those games. And certainly in a transition season, you'd be like, well, that's the sort of thing that can happen. But look at the scrutiny that they're under. There is no such thing as a transition season. It doesn't exist in elite football at that level. To use pundit talk, this is Liverpool Football Club we're talking about, Roar. And the fascinating point is, as we head into the international break, which is the real Liverpool? Were those first five games and those late-late winners there a false friend? I mean, when you talk about easing players in, it was working.

38:38until it didn't. And we do not know what the true Liverpool is. And as you hinted earlier, and I do want to wrap with this, the one thing that we have zero insight into, but remains an enormous, I'd say an unknown, a shadow cast inextricably over the entire season, is the impact of Diogo Jota's death, the loss, the mourning, the impact of grief on this collective. If you're tempted to write in and say, you know, we all deal with loss, you just get on with it, don't you? So I'd say, you know, spare yourself the time on this because football locker rooms are both A, fragile cultures, and B, this is unprecedented in the modern period to have that kind of loss in a moment of title victory and the scrutiny, and then just not there the next year in this deeply, deeply public, globally public reality, in which the personal sense of loss we all feel when you lose someone you love is experienced both privately, but also with immense collective mourning and ritual that's constantly surrounding you, essentially in the workplace.

39:42Liverpool are going to work often and are having to mourn publicly, collectively. And as you said, the Liverpool players have not talked about it very much. They understandably asked interviewers to avoid the topic completely in the pre-season out of respect for the players who are essentially mourners in this moment. But raw, post-game Virgil van Dijk did say this. He said, I've said repeatedly, this season will be tough. It was always going to be ups and downs for multiple reasons that we shouldn't forget. All we have to do is stick together. Roar, these footballers are human. Playing amidst grief and sorrow.

40:18Grief at times can focus you, but grief can also at very much times, it can tear you apart. Yeah, I've seen a lot of people saying everyone deals with loss, which is absolutely true. And you still have to go to work, which is also absolutely true. but I think it's fair to say that in most jobs you can maybe phone it in for a bit that if you're going through something whatever it might be and you are not you know fully across your marketing presentation or you are not as you know productive in terms of numbers as you might be you'll get away with it I think one of the things that is continually missed about elite sports as a whole probably not just soccer although that's obviously the bit that I know about is is how much of a difference even the slightest dip can make and people say you know you know if you're 10 off it no footballer is ever 10 off it ever not even the Everton ones they might be 0.0005 off it they might just not be quite they might not even know that they're off it you're talking about these tiny infinitesimal percentages and yeah it's inconceivable that the grief that Liverpool's players and those players elsewhere who knew Jota are going through isn't going to affect their performances in some way.

41:31For people like Pedro Neto, who's really close to him, he'll be hugely affected, but he doesn't have those daily reminders of Jota's absence. He might be able to go into work and use it as an escape. Liverpool's players don't have that escape. It is inconceivable it's not affecting them. They may not realise it's affecting them. It doesn't explain all of the footballing shortcomings. As you say, Rog, two things can be true at once. but I think it's a real test for us as I've said this before that it's really easy to pay lip service to this stuff to say oh you know we've got to be kind to Liverpool players but what's wrong with Ibrahima Canate?

42:05And I think it's a real test of how we cover football of how we talk about football both as content creators people in the content minds, Rog and fans because you have to have some level of understanding yes you have to go to work but there is absolutely no guarantee that you can perform to your maximum and the people that you are watching play football have to perform to their maximum because if they even slip by the tiniest percentage point, they lose football matches and you shout at them. So it is, it's a real test, it's a real challenge and I think it's totally understandable that Liverpool are taking the stance that they don't want it to be brought up.

42:37It feels quite glib talking about it before the Liverpool players have talked about it. But you're right, I thought the same thing about that Van Dijk quote. That's the first time I've even heard it obliquely referred to by a player, which makes me think he thinks that it's not being factored in enough. and I think that these players are very much core if they do start talking about it it's going to you know by let's just say the football conversation is not that kind it's not that empathetic it is deeply partisan and to have it thrown back in their face all they can be is fairly mum fairly stoic publicly I think we will have to wait probably years to find out exactly the story of this season but I do wait for them there's a line that John Irving wrote I think and a prayer for Owen Meany.

43:22He wrote, When someone you love dies and you're not expecting it, you don't lose her all at once. You lose her in pieces over a long time. The way the mail stops coming and her scent fades from the pillows and even from the clothes in her closet and drawers, gradually, you accumulate the parts of her that are gone. And just when the day comes, when there's a particular missing part that overwhelms you with the feeling that she's gone forever, there comes another day and another specifically missing part. So I just say God bless to all at Liverpool. And just as they hadn't won the league when they were five points ahead after, was it, five games, they are by no means out of it.

44:01Now they've had this stumble. There is so much football twist and turn to come. But earlier in the day, I mean, Saturday was a wild day. It seemed very boring until the Premier League scriptwriters revealed why they had allowed the things to simmer down a little bit. But this game, Arsenal 2, West Ham 0, Mikel Arteta had survived the opening gauntlet of quite brutal games. They used that fixture list early on, but they'd done it bloody admirably. Seven wins, was it one loss, one draw? Five clean sheets had revealed they had multiple goal threats, which is new. Cover for every position, starters, finishes.

44:39I think they had just one goal conceded in open play. Enter Nuno's West Ham. your new leader, your hand-panned king in his second game. Psychological challenge, really, because the Hammers, remember, had been the winners of the last two at the Emirates. Hard to believe. Even Graham Potter won there, kneecapping Arsenal's last two title charges. So Arteta rang up 300 games in charge at Arsenal by unleashing Saka, Erdegaard, Eze and Jocherez for the first time as a Super Four. It didn't last long. Arsenal locked down possession, asserted dominance, but then Erdegaard limped off. I think, was it half an hour that he lasted, sustaining, quote, a medial collateral ligament injury.

45:19We'll have to wait to see how long that keeps him out of. We do need to know what an agony it was to watch him. He just bounced back from injury, just played his most complete game, ran the game against the Olympiacos midweek. But grim statistic, Raw. Odegaard became the first player in Premier League history to be substituted before halftime in three straight Premier League starts. Metal Face T3 in our Discord channel wrote, Erdegaard must start playing with football shoulder pads and volleyball knee pads immediately. It's an agony to witness. Yeah, it does feel as though the injuries are sort of curtailing what should be his peak years a little bit.

45:58And I don't know how you get out of that because the schedule is so relentless that I'm not sure he has time or chance to recover fully because Arsenal can't afford to wait. If they were mid-table and it was April and nothing was going to happen, you could maybe say, do you know what, Martin? Take the next two months off. Just get ready. Fine. But you can't do that. It's October. They're in the thick of the title race. They'll have ambitions, aspirations of winning the Champions League as well. They are one of the world's leading football teams. He is still their sort of centrifugal creative force.

46:33He will want to be back. The team will want to have him back. He improves them. So does that mean that he's permanently playing in this sort of slightly sub-optimal, slightly just short of full fitness state? And that seems to be what kind of brings him to the edge so readily. Yeah, I mean, it's an agony for Arsenal fans who watch the game in the flesh. If you do, you see just how much Martin Odegaard, outside of how he touches the ball, is actually Arteta's leader on the field, triggering the press, speaking to them. I mean, he really is the conductor of that entire team. massive, massive loss.

47:07But Arsenal broke through in the 38th minute, stunning through ball from Zubomendi, Unlijese, stung Areola's palms with a low drive for the keeper. Did honestly quite well to punch away. Fell to, of course it was him. Declan Rice swept the ball home with admirable control. Even more control in not celebrating Raw. I mean, yes, he was a hammer, but since he left, I think West Ham fans have, honestly, as much as they've beaten Arsenal, and they seem to take even more pleasure in singing you should have stayed with a big club and just beating him. I've got to say, I watched that moment and thought, I will never play poker with Declan Rice's poker face is so admirable.

47:45I think he used more energy to not celebrate Raw than he did actually to score the goal. I would have said it was halfway to a celebration, though. It wasn't a full-on turnaround, walk back to the centre circle. There was a little bit of running. When he jogged behind the goal. Yeah, I'd say that the act of jogging behind the goal is a celebration. He might not have had his arms pumping and his face contorted, but it was still a celebration. If he scores against them next year, I think he's taking his shirt off. I think we have to send this to the celebration police, the Supreme Court for a ruling.

48:17When does a celebration begin? That's like, you know, in baseball, when do you actually break the risks between a ball and a strike for a hitter? So when technically does the celebration actually begin? Because I did watch that and I thought, hello, it's happening. And then he just like, whoomp. There were a couple of little looks back over his shoulder as well, which was, I think, the section of the Emirates where the away fans sit. So they would be the West Ham fans. And he's just kind of looking back at them. And is he saying coquettishly, I might celebrate this time, you know, lads. Am I going to?

48:51Am I going to? No. To your point, he's laying the foundation for his next goal. I love. I think next goal, next season show off, season after that full strip. Yeah, and then season after that, he'll have like a, in gangster writing, he'll be like F.U. Hammers. Yeah. Or just the word Millwall across his chest. Oh, do it now, baby. I've got to say, West Ham's tactics were, were like Manchester City's, and I say that not in a good way, but they were like the poor man's Manchester City. Didn't so much manage a shot and goal the whole game. And it was 2-0 when Timber brought down well on the spin on the edge of the area.

49:29Humped pretty well. I mean, totally humped by Juve. 200th game, upstepped by Kai Osaka to convert the penalty with aplomb. Ringing up, quite beautiful symmetry. Is it 55 goals, 45 assists, 100 goal involvements. Still only 24. He's a baby. I mean, just joy for Arsenal in that moment. Clean sheet again, not a shot on target, not a glove laid on them. Only way it could have got better is if Joachim Reyes scored. Well, this was as comfortable, as professional, as routine a win, as drama-free vibes a win as Arsenal get raw. And that was honestly a relatively new and really welcome feeling in its own right.

50:09Yeah, I think it almost is more significant than the win at Newcastle. And I remember thinking last week, we may even have discussed it on the Padraig, that Arsenal do have a habit of producing statement wins. And there's this feeling, oh, they've won this game, they've beaten Man City or they've beaten Man United later on, we won at Newcastle this is Arsenal's proof that they can do it and Arteta said that after St James' party said this was our you know we've shown the world who we are and what normally happens after that is that Arsenal go and lose at home to West Ham that is absolutely what happens every single time so to win this game and I think particularly to win it so undramatically first half goal second half goal game finishes kind of a damp squib to be honest like you'd have gone home from the Emirates feeling happy that your team had won.

50:54Box ticked! But yeah, exactly. It was okay. Yeah, we have completed. That is a fixture that has been knocked off the calendar. And I think that's exactly what Arsenal needed because that is how you win titles. Liverpool had an entire season of them last season. And you don't win titles by scoring in the 96th minute at Newcastle. You win titles by beating West Ham 2-0 at home while it's spending as little energy as possible. Yeah, box ticking. Technocracy or whatever the word is. just doing the business relentlessly. That Arsenal is the one I'm so excited to see in 2025-26. Two third place, Chex Notes, Tottenham Hotspur, who scored twice at Leeds to win at Fortress Ellen Road in a cock derby.

51:39Battle between the Peacocks and the Cockerels. Leeds defended their unbeaten home record. Truly incredible. They had not lost at Bear Pit Ellen Road in over a year. up came then fourth place Spurs biggest name yet to arrive up north they brought their best away record with them seven points from their three previous away games six changes to the team that frankly laboured in the Arctic north of the wall at Bodo Glimp midweek in their Champions League draw Leeds battered them from the outset charged at them really at health of Skelter pace Leeds faithful bellowing their team to get stuck in which they did they dominated possession and of course Spurs waited until they could get in behind and with their very first shot on goal, Talbank won in after quite unfortunate stroke.

52:24Leeds responded quite impressively. Dominic Calvert-Lewin, God bless him, best smelling footballer or top three best smelling footballers in the league, missed a quite glorious chance. But then he knocked the ball down for Brendan Aronson. His lash parried by Vicario, but up the gut and Okafor stabbed home into the empty net. Roar is possibly the most Leeds goal of all time. The inflatable ball creeping towards the line at the very same time they could force a shot. Kind of that inflatable attempting to steal the spotlight. It was peak Alan Road, Rob. It was. I can't stress enough how windy it has been in England the last few days, Rog.

53:01That's what happens in the Premier League when it's windy. Stuff starts blowing onto the pitch. That's just how it is. When I saw the little black and white kind of inflatable ball drift across, I thought there was a chance they'd ruled the goal out. because I think in theory if a foreign object interferes with play then you're meant to stop the game and it's one of those where I wonder if Vicario had really kicked up a fuss they might have had to look at it I've watched it a lot the ball kind of crosses the line and then it just makes its own slow late delicious arrival like enter the dragon Vicario, God bless him, actually saved it he gives you the emotion of swatting it away in anger It is a gorgeous...

53:44Well, I've got that one. Yeah, do I get anything for that, mate? But just that padding, Vicario. God bless. Both teams energised, but a little blunt up top. One in the 57th minute. Kudis flinging himself down the right cutting side. Shot on goal. Another deflection. Again, off-stroke again. The poor dude was in absolute agony. Just like, am I a human backboard? A goalkeeper left flat-footed. Kudis don't care. First goal for Spurs after that$72 million move. I think Thomas Frank said it was about time that he scored, which I just love. New team, same old Sally. A king, back on his plastic throne.

54:22Raw. Tottenham, three shots on goal, two goals, but robust under Thomas Frank. Yes, they lost the XG 1.68 to 0.53, but they don't cough up Leeds. I think they're the only team in this late goal era not to have conceded in the last 15 minutes of any game, which in the madness of this chaos season is incredible. More of the same here. Defended really well and Spurs won their fifth in a row over Leeds. Raw, significantly, I said this up top, they're the first team to win at Ellen Road since February the 8th, 238 days. First to win there in the league since September the 14th, 385 days ago. Thomas Frank Raw is building something.

55:02Well, you tell me what he's building. One defeat in seven games, third win from four on the road. How good are they, Roar? Because I don't think even they know for real. Yeah, there's definitely been an improvement. I mean, they finished 17th last season, so maybe that's not that hard. But I think if you look at the individuals involved, he seems to be getting more out of players than had been happening previously. So obviously Kudus has come in and looks like he's the sort of player who should be playing for a Champions League team. But even Richarlison looks kind of revitalised to an extent.

55:35They look more solid, more organised. we know with Spurs that if Mickey van der Ven and Christian Romero are there that they are a really good team I think there's reasons for encouragement and the main one is how quietly they've been able to kind of build something this season that there's not this sort of relentless focus on them as there was under Conte, under Mourinho and even under Ange to an extent. Thomas Frank is a thoroughly sensible appointment and is a great guy he's a really nice man but he's kind of boring from a kind of scrutiny point of view. He is a nice, intelligent completely rational human being very Danish there's not much to kind of get worked up about there for either fans or the kind of media around it so he's just kind of left to get on with it and that I think really works for Spurs they've got up to third without really anybody noticing the flip side I guess is that they have been a little bit up and down in individual games I thought you know Bodo they were 2-0 down to our beloved Bodo Glimt Rog which is not great because Bodo Glimt are you know in comparison to Spurs' his budget, Bodo really are not the sort of team that should be putting up a fight.

56:38I actually thought Leeds were probably the better team at Allend Road on Saturday lunchtime. They looked really good, Leeds, and once DCL gets his eye in, I think Leeds will have a real weapon there, but they cause Spurs all sorts of problems.

57:22So it's a little bit early to say. worth the first team players left during the summer, but they keep on keeping on after holding on to their one massive start, Antoine Semenya. And he solo proves to be the green shoots of revival. The Garnet and Winger, honestly been a player of the season candidate here, he single-handedly propelled the Golden War Cherries back to life in a sensational come from behind victory. Two goals, one assist. The first goal, 25-year-old picked the ball up so deep on the left. It was like a kick return. Left defenders for dead. took it to the byline and from the most acute angle, Cockley slotted the ball right through goalkeeper Bernd Leno's legs.

58:00It was amazing to witness. Then set up a Justin Clive at Bangor before killing the game off in the 96th minute. Six league goals on the season, only behind Manchester City's generational goal scorer, who we'll talk about in a minute, Erling Haaland. Rourke, he's an amazing story, Semenya. Since the start of May, he's been involved in more goals than any other player in the Premier League. 12, I think eight goals, four assists. What's amazing is really his journey. He was brought from Bristol City. They found him in the South Gloucestershire and Stroud College Academy, where he was just utterly stuck at the age of 17, been rejected by Arsenal, Spurs, even Millwall.

58:38Bristol City signed him, but then loaned him out to Bath, to Newport, to Sunderland, before he broke into the Robins' first team, I think, in 2020. Essentially, he languished, was in the bargain bin. He was in the lost and found. He was as close to a dead-letter office footballer as it can be. And now we're all living, really, the Semeno naissance. It's incredible, Roy. He was favoured to leave last January. Chelsea were interested. His head was said to be turned, but instead he stayed, signed a five-year deal back in July. And there's that phrase, I think, was it Red Arbac, the Celtic coach said, sometimes the best trades are the ones that you don't make.

59:14He is a match winner. What do you see in him becoming? Because the story is amazing. He's now one of the most dominant players in the Premier League. Is he almost too good? Should we be afraid that all Bournemouth-curious football fans that he could be going in January? January, maybe not, because I think the amount of money that Bournemouth would want for him now is so high that it's not the sort of thing a team would necessarily commit to, I guess, unless they're Chelsea. In January, I think he will see out the season with Bournemouth, but there's no question that the way he's playing, if he can maintain it, he will be the sort of player who will be fetching a lot of money next summer if Bournemouth choose that that is what is in their interest.

59:52They seem to be extremely good at selling players when they know they've got someone to replace them who might even in the long term prove to be an upgrade. I think what's strange is that Semenyo didn't go this summer and I wonder whether a lot of teams looked at him and kind of had him second on their list. You know, one of the attacking roles. They thought, well, if we can't get our primary target, we'll get Antoine Semenyo. and I wonder how many of those teams will regret it from the end of this season. I'm filming with my friend Tyler Adams this afternoon. I cannot wait to hear him talk about both Semenya and what, if anything, feels different about this season as opposed to last season where they burnt brightly and then fell away.

1:00:31And talking about, well, falling away and not falling away, Brentford nil, Manchester City won. Again, it was a bit like watching a Cobra battle a mongoose. Last week, Keith Andrews beat, well, they really embarrassed Manchester United at the GTAC here. Brentford were looking to become just the second team to beat both Manchester clubs in consecutive league games since Tottenham in 1996. I think that hope lasted about nine minutes. Erling Haaland picked up the ball where he loves to, on the shoulder of the last defender, just bodied two opponents with power and pace. I mean, just a nuanced footballer to steady himself, then lashed home, 18th goal for club and country in just 11 games.

1:01:12I mean, these statistics are at this point so insane. I don't think we can compute them. I do believe when I saw this goal roar, I was like, I know we're all worried about chat GPT taking over. I even look at Erling Haaland as the only thing saving civilization because there's surely no computer that can, no robot overlord even could do what he does roar. I mean, that's the slim hope I'm holding onto, but I back myself. I mean, he literally looks like Dolph Lundgren in Universal Soldier. Like, how can Erling Haaland possibly be like the avatar to save humanity from the robots when he is clearly himself a cyborg?

1:01:51That is obvious. Yeah, it's so funny. Afterwards, he said something beautiful. He said, I've never felt better than I do now. It's about preparation, getting ready for the games. You can be physically ready, but you need to be mentally ready. And then he said about his newborn child. He said, with a kid, it makes me even better because I disconnect more than ever. I don't think about football at all. And when I'm mentally, funny you're talking about cyborgs, when I imagined his kid, I briefly flickered that Megan from that movie Raw. But God bless. And it's amazing to watch him. He's nine league goals now.

1:02:23Only six other clubs in their entirety have more. Just incredible statistics. The only other city scoring double figures, Burnley centre-back, Maxime Esteve, who netted that pair of home goals a couple of weeks ago. I mean, we expected City to go on and just kill the game off, but this is a different City. They lack, I'm not sure it's hunger, it's more kind of the control to put the game away. Just as they lapsed twice against Monaco in the Champions League when Haaland was pissed off afterwards. They said, not good enough. City, honestly, they were barely good enough. Lost Rodri to a hamstring injury cue, a barrage of B-strings from set pieces and long throws.

1:03:04Thiago blew the best chance, I think, for Brentford. It was a one-on-one with a big Donner kebab, Donner rumour. And God bless City with that big man up top, the big man at the back. That's how they're doing it. But it was nervy, Roar. It really is. I mean, you watch Pep and Haaland now. Talk about Odegaard and Arteta. The two of them are now in constant conversation to try and lock down the game, which they did. Pep's 250th win in just his 349th game, faster than any man previously by some distance. I think Sir Alex Ferguson's second would like, is it, 404 games. but this was Pep at his happiest post-game.

1:03:37A win but with an incredible list of grievances and ability to really lament his entire team's performance. Yeah, I think what we're seeing actually from City at the moment it'll depend a little bit on the extent of Rodri's injury. Hopefully it's not very long but this is Erling Haaland against Arsenal this Premier League season. It is a City team that is in transition, that is changing. Pep is trying to kind of reshoot it again and the thing that is keeping them in contention, that is getting them edging up that table, is the fact that they have this generationally talented striker who will score.

1:04:10I think he's scoring at the rate of about two a game at the moment. And the test really is, can Erling Haaland keep Manchester City within touching distance of whoever is top of the table until such a point as Guardiola's new-look City, his new version of City, clicks? Because if he can, then there is something really genuinely special special and fearsome happening at Manchester City. But a lot of it rests, and it's the first time, even with Messi at Barcelona, it's maybe the first time you'd say a lot of it rests on one player's shoulders. That it's about Erling Haaland. This isn't a Manchester City team that has been built and Haaland has been grafted onto it to make them even better.

1:04:48This is a City team that exists to set the stage for Erling Haaland. He is their most significant figure, maybe even ahead of Guardiola. And that's the first time anyone could say that for a long time. Talking about Haaland, the joy at the end. I've got to say, an extremely chill Erling jumped into the crowd. That shot the fan kissing him post-game when other players honestly would recoil. Haaland legit seems to be loving every single moment. Talking about loving every single moment. Newcastle too. Nottingham Forest nil. You can't spell change. Without Ange, poor old Prostacoglu. He's not even had time to figure out how to fix the printer in his new office, and he's already on the hot seat.

1:05:35First permanent Nottingham Forest manager at 100 years. Is that good? To be winless in his first six games since taking over. He only took over September the 9th. His latest nightmare, Savage 3-2 Europa League defeat to FC Midtjylland. A loss that left Forest fans serenading their own manager, their own non-Nuno manager with you getting sacked in the morning. Reports bubbling up, he could indeed be sacked if they lost here. St. James' Park, a bloody tough place to go then. And they went pragmatic, five at the back. And the first half, Forrest looked disciplined, looked resolute. Dare I say, they looked a little Nuno-esque, nil-nil at the half.

1:06:15But then in the 58th minute, unraveled when Morgan Gibbswhite shoved off the ball by Bruno Guimard-Esch. He exchanged passes with Dan Byrne, channeled his constant simmering fury into a stunning stride arch past Matt Seltz in the Forest goal. 1-0. There was a shot of Ange just ruefully shaking his head, which broke me a little bit because it would get worse for Forest. 82nd minute, Newcastle youth product returning home. The otherwise excellent Elliot Anderson, dispossessed by Guy Mares again. He lunged in Anderson recklessly on the Brazilian. really the entire post-acoglutenia summed up in one awful tackle and like an NBA team sending their centre up to shoot three throws after a technical upstep Nick Valtemada, that big tall straw that now stirs the Toon drink stepped up, delivered oh, a smashing penalty if you haven't watched it, it's beautiful in the moment it looked like an arrow shot onto Big Ange's funeral pyre three goals in three games for two metre Messi 2-0 Toon Ange now raw, not winning seven games five losses, two draws, just one point above the relegation zone, which is where he loves to be.

1:07:24His new phrase is, I'll keep you one point above the relegation zone in my first season, mate. He's apparently meeting with the board to fight for his job. Is it 27 days into his tenure? When you look at this, how much is this on Big Ang? His tactics, his philosophy, who he is as a human being. How much is it on that big Greek Jerry Jones, Evangelist Maranakis' decision to fire Nuno, bringing his stylistic opposite. I mean, this is almost... Older listeners will remember New Coke. This is like the New Coke of front office self-sabotage decision-making. I don't think... This will sound a little bit odd, but I don't think you can really blame Poster Coddley.

1:08:01He's clearly not the right fit for the team. It is clearly not going to end well. But then he was brought in, what, three weeks after the season started, when the squad had already been built and the transfer window was shut, to replace a manager who is his complete opposite. it so i mean i suppose you can blame him for taking the job yeah i guess why was it all the the the moussaka and and ousso that they drank together i think it's probably the drachmas it's all about the drachmas no look managers always believe that they will be able to succeed everyone involved in professional sports has far more self-belief than me and you could ever imagine rog but they're not they are not normal human beings they backed themselves endlessly elite sports people just aren't normal human beings and poster coddley will have looked at it and thought There's loads of talent in that squad.

1:08:45I'm Edward Manager. Piece of piss, he said to his wife. Piece of piss. I don't know if he'd have said it was a piece of piss, but he would have said that it was a piece of something. Yeah, boy, my piss is boiling. He will have shown it. Maybe that means something else in Australia. I don't know. My piss is boiling, mate. I don't want to take the job. But no, I think he will believe that he can do it. But from the outside, and it's easy to snipe from the outside, it does look a little bit hubristic, as though he left Spurs with his reputation kind of intact. Most people thought he was a little bit unlucky to get sacked after winning the Europa League.

1:09:17There's been a lot of unbecoming glee in Ange Postacodlou struggles at Nottingham Forest on this side of the Atlantic, which I think is unfair, because I'm not sure how he could have succeeded. He could have done better. He could have not lost all of his games. But it's not a recipe for success. He's not suited to that squad. He's not suited to that job. at some point he will not be Forest manager anymore and that one I think will sting more than Spurs. When you listeners do experience boiling piss don't take the Forest job as a result just go and see a doctor. There's other options. There are other options and post-international break Chelsea Football Club arrive at one I'm sure will be a quite docile calm and rational city ground.

1:10:01We'll see if Ange is still there. We'll say his quote that crackled this morning about today he said I love a fight because I'd always fight the bullies on the schoolyard was honestly quite harrowing autobiographically to the layers within layers of this mentality roar. It's really tough to watch a really empathetic man in such a grinding position. I take no pleasure in it at all. But let's go to Old Trafford for one game at least. Manchester United, it was like watching a comedy sitcom in the olden days. Occasionally, they'd do like a serious episode that would come out of nowhere. And you'd be like, oh, that hit's different.

1:10:36That's what Manchester United 2, Sunderland 0 was. I'm old enough to remember when United were in a doom cycle. Cats with nine lives were looking at Amorim and thinking, bloody hell, that bloke's got a lot of lives. 50 of Premier League game in charge. Just 18 wins to his name before this one. United board said to be swooping in to review his future. This was must win. And to make it must winnier, newly promoted, Sunderland arrived. Not your Netflix, sad sack cats. This is Regis Labris's best start to a Premier League life. They have a newly promoted team in 13 long years. Sunderland swaggering in in sixth place.

1:11:14And Amorim made five changes to a team that had lost at Brentford last week. In came Belgian goalkeeper Senna Lormans. $29 million deadline day acquisition for Royal Antwerp. Also in the 11th United, Mason Mount, which meant no room at the end for$84 million man Matthias Cunha. Now, long story short, all of it worked. Go home, rubberneckers. Nothing to see here. Because after a fourth-minute scare in which Sunderland threw a rift from close range, United were comfortably the better side. Eight-minute, mace amount it was. So spry for the off. Matty, Bryan and Bumo cross from the culmination of an 18-pass move.

1:11:51This was United, 18-pass move. He couldn't do opt-up. The joint-mace fit a goal in the Premier League this season. He went close again a short time later. Incredible shot, no back lift. only an incredible save from Robin Roof's denied. Roar, you know, we talk a lot about fixing Manchester United. Mason Mount, for all of Ruben's new toys, is right there. Could the answer to United's problem be right into his nose? He is a bloody good footballer. He is, and I saw him at Old Trafford earlier this season, and he was United's best player for the 45 minutes that he played before injury took him off.

1:12:23It was a reminder that I think people have forgotten that Mason Mount plays for Manchester United, but if they can keep him fit and find a role that suits him, And he is one of the best midfielders in the country. 31st minute, Diego Dallot, long throw in. Gagler-Sundle and players attack the ball, but only succeeded to flick it towards a basking shot. Benjamin Shesko, who steered it home for his first goal at Old Trafford. He just scored away at Brentford last week. 2-0 United. So happy for him to find his rhythm in a game that never felt in danger. Rubin even gave a run out to Cunha, who replaced Mason Mount around the hour mark.

1:12:57and Kobi Maynou entered for Mbumo in the 77th minute to, I will say, quite emotional thunderous applause from the Old Trafford faithful. The United fans always trying to manifest a young star into that Marim starting 11. That all added to the polish. Clean sheet for Lawmans. Didn't have a lot to do. I don't think he made a save until the 91st minute and the Stretford end celebrated any time he touched the ball by singing Are You Schmeichel in disguise. It was such a happy day. Cesko in the goals. Three Premier League wins in a row at home. Roar, this is one game against a newly promoted side, albeit a good one, that you'd think Amorim, probably for the first time in a long time, felt, oh, the international bait, I'm sad for it.

1:13:36It's going to stop our momentum. Yeah, I mean, it's strange, isn't it, how kind of wildly Man Utd switched from complete depths of crisis literally last week, Rog, after they lost to Brentford, to, actually, do you know what? This is looking up because they've beaten Sunderland. And I think that's not massively healthy. But fortunately for Manchester United, they will definitely get at least a point in their next game, Rog, because it is at Anfield. And this version of United, it's the golden rule. When Liverpool are bad, they are good against Manchester United. When Manchester United are bad, they are good against Liverpool.

1:14:08Oh, quake. Now, I think you're going to win with ease. God bless Ruben Amirim. To your point about whether United are back, he said, there is no momentum with our team. He said, I love his truth-telling. He said, with a break or not, we know what happens when we win one game. The frustration is not to see the same team home and away. Dot, dot, dot. We've got to wait for that Anfield game. I can't wait. In other games, Aston Villa 2, Burnley 1. The battle to be the one true Claret and Blues. And after taking just three points from their first five games, Aston Villa, fresh off the first league win of the season last weekend against Fulham, faced Burnley eager to jumpstart a season that looks like started so well, but just four points through six games now.

1:14:52Difference here, 26-year-old Dutch striker Daniel Marlon had a pair of quite emphatic finishes either side of half-time. The Times' Tom Allnett described Marlon as not particularly fast, but, quote, hard to stop when he gets going. All arms and elbows. And I'll say, those arms and elbows are so bloody important with Ollie Watkins and Morgan Rodgers struggling. Emery played Daniel more centrally here, paid off the finishes. Utterly phenomenal sizzlers. Burnley failed to get out of the relegation zone struggle train. but Unai Emery four straight win all comps and that's still my start to the season suddenly in calmer seas over the international break but across the Midlands Wolves 1 Brighton 1 winless Wolves bottom of the table fresh off their first big point at Spurs last week but poor Vitor Pereira flailing the points and the pints less endearing when it's points singular 20th minute tried out some new material kicked the ball at the officials dug out in frustration quickly sent off a move.

1:15:50A bit like an NBA coach trying to fire up his team because instinctually, an amazing goal. You've got to see it bounced off the crossbar, then bounced back off the goalkeepers behind and into his own net, just as Pereira drew it up. Wolves appear to be heading towards their first win in 11 games, but for second successive weeks, shattered by a late, late equaliser. 86-minute, Jan-Paul Van Hecker rising up to absolutely head but home. A header 1-1. Raw, Wolves propping up the table, heading into the international break. I'm old enough to remember they David Blaine their way out of a similar position last season.

1:16:24It was one point from the first eight games there, but then reeled off six successive wins in the second half of the season under Pereira. But then they had Cunha when he was good. They had Ray and Nate Nuri, almost as skeleton keys to crack the padlocks. It's going to be tougher without them, isn't it? They do have some quality, Rog. There are reasons for hope, like they have enough players in that squad who might come good at the right time to just about get them over the line. It doesn't help that at least two of the newly promoted teams look pretty good. That's not great. And this is a rule that applies to everybody except Everton.

1:16:57Generally, if you spend two or three or four years narrowly avoiding relegation, at some point you're getting caught out. And it feels like Wolves might have just taken it one step too far this year. Who will pay the ferryman? and talking about not Everton, finally, the big one, Everton 2. This happened. Crystal Palace won. Let history remember. Unbeaten Palace. 19 straight games unbeaten. Best run in Europe. Entered the big dick. Two meet unbeaten at home. Everton in the match, which was Jordan Beautiful Pickford's 300th Premier League game in the Bluebelly shirt. It was his steely wrists that kept Everton in it early and often.

1:17:39Yes, the wrists of a young onanist. It was incredible to watch him. against Palace, who were so bloody well-drained. What Palace did, they let Mikko Lenko run at them. They wanted him to have the ball at his feet. They wanted it to be not greelish, not on die. It was like seeing NBA teams let Ben Simmons have the ball around the three-point arc. Mikko would run deep into the Palace half. You could see him psychologically almost being like, why is no one coming out to stop me? But they wanted him to be on the ball because it led to nothing. Palace kept countering. It was remarkable to witness them just hurt us at will.

1:18:14I mean, I was terrified. So were there Everton players every time Palace ran us? Poor young Tieno Barry just missed a sitter at one end, bleeding that pool of his own self-confidence. Palace reacted by romping upfield. Kamada and Ismail Al-Sar combining, fling the ball down the line like a rugby team to find the open man. In this case, Daniel Munoz, possibly the most potent right-back in the Premier League right now, lashed through Pickford. Oh, my God. Roar, in that moment, can I just be clear? I wrote in my diary, why never us? Why did Palace have all of the joy? The FA Cup, the Europe. Now they're coming to our house, making it in the words of at support ball in our Discord, making us realise we should never have left Goodison for Badison.

1:18:56I wrote in my game notes, Roar, why is it never us allowed to have fun, Roar? Well, I mean, that's not how you'll have felt at the end of the afternoon, Roar. But what I would say is that I think Palace do have, there are various lessons like the other teams can learn from palace and one of them is represented by daniel munoz which is recruit smart recruit for your system recruit players who you think have a have an extra place to go to who can kick on and do it in a joined up intelligent smart unassuming way and you can build a team like crystal palace so although it has not recently been everton i think you know with david moyes with the new ownership it is possible that it could be Everton again.

1:19:35God bless. That is the big picture yearning, the big picture dream. Because in this moment, this was the first time we've been behind even at the big dick energy. Everton, we seemed imbalanced. We seemed slow. All the flaws in the squad build, we have no fullbacks. We lack a really confident striker. Those two flaws combined to suck the energy out of the entire team. It seemed hopeless. There were some boos, let history remember at halftime. But the second half, so different. Alcaraz entered, so willing so direct Beto, just Beto-ing. And we made more of a fist of it. History should remember again.

1:20:09Meteta missed two guilt-ed chances to finish that game and kick the corner flag. Palace were dominant, but then we got a penalty for Laquaz foul on Timur Abunum. Upstep, one beautiful Iliadai. I screamed when he scored. I couldn't help myself. I screamed, let's go and win this! I was watching with my oldest son, Samson, and he just said, Dad, you've just effed us. You've just effed all of us by screaming that. My kids know how it works, but no, not on this day. Jack Grealish charging up the flank, stiff arming like Derrick Henry, and then 93rd minute, and Di teased a stunning ball for beautiful Beto.

1:20:45Freddie in our Discord wrote, you say Beto, I say B9. Let that catch on. Headed it down. Dean Henderson parried, Daniel Munoz tried to clear, but then just hit the thunderous thighs and feet of Jack Grealish, and the ball ricocheted in. Everton joy, I don't see this often. Everton wonder, Everton victory, Everton good luck and glory. And it felt so incredibly great. I was just at the finalist, I was like, God, I love football, Roar. I was dead at halftime, dead. And now I live again. Roar, stay with me theologically here. We all live through St. Jack Grealish. I think the only rational explanation is he's an angel sent from heaven to come and save us.

1:21:29I mean all the all the evidence does point in that direction Rog or or the ball got kicked against his leg it's one of the two isn't it yeah but two things can be true you always tell me in football I genuinely you told me that before that's your line until proven otherwise I I genuinely I'm watching I think we're living a miracle I think we're watching something deeply profound and miraculous and the only question is he is an angel he has been sent to earth to lift us on his wings and I mean that sincerely This is not flip stuff. This is hot takes, people. What exactly is the extent of what he's going to save?

1:22:03That is the question. Is it just Everton? Could he save the world? I don't know. We're going to find out. But for this day, Moyes outclassing Glaston. I mean, just like out-physicaling Palace down here. Palace were, I mean, yes, they were still reacting. And I think this is probably it to the rigours of midweek European football for the first. I think they were shattered at the end of this one. and say what felt like for sure their first win at Everton since 2014 turned into their first defeat in 20 games. I want to applaud that run. I want to applaud Oliver Glasner who was incredible in defeat.

1:22:38He wasn't moaning. He wasn't like bitter. He said, we will begin again to write a new chapter. We made a few steps forward in the last few months. Now we have to feel this pain and learn from it. It's wisdom for football and life. Yeah, absolutely. And that is the thing about Palace at the moment. Everything that happens to them at the moment, they seem to come out of with grace, effectively. And that's not nothing. For Everton, Rog, does that feel like the first big kind of moment in the history of the big dick? Is that the kind of first memorable moment, do you think? I mean, the haters will say you just beat Palace.

1:23:15But yeah, it did. I think it was the biggest moment under the new ownership, the freaking ownership. I'm sure they feel like they have, you know, this probably felt so good for each. And, you know, they've appointed this front office quite carefully and are giving them a mandate. And I think for the fans, we don't come from behind. We only come from behind against Crystal Palace, Everton Football Club. That's like our history. But what they can take from this when we are so clearly deeply flawed is going to be fascinating to witness. I love the way you said grace. We've talked about angels. This is turning into a proper, proper religious show, which I love.

1:23:49I do want to read a very quick raven from a GFOP, Michael Beck Gifford, who wrote from Fort Collins, Colorado. Rog, since the opening of Hill Dickinson Stadium, you've referred to it as the Big Dick. Stealing nicknames has been occurring since the dawn of man. But I wanted you to know the original Big Dick refers to Dick Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colorado, home of the mighty-ish Colorado Rapids since 2007. since Everton has been in existence a wee bit longer than the Rapids and has a much bigger fan base, I will graciously and officially choose to relegate our big dick name to Little Dick.

1:24:26You're welcome, Michael. As I say, Michael, I want to thank you for your generosity on behalf of all the Colorado. It's big of you. We've just got to find the middle-sized dick rule and then we'll get our whole, like, dick version of the three bears in the dick-averse. But before this goes from, like, religious to quite profane, let's get to a great question in our Mailbag to Closer show. which comes from the wondrously named Leonard Goodnight. If you're named Lenny Buonanotte, Brighton will buy you for$15 million. Roar, do the honors. Leonardo Buonanotte might play for Brighton. Anyway, I have a question.

1:24:58Chelsea coming in for you, Leonard. Gentlemen, I have a question for you. Well, mostly for Rory, since he's a Yorkshireman. I'm an American, but one with a love of English history and football, of course. I've often read of York's prominent place in English history. Constantine the Great was first proclaimed emperor in the town, then called Eboricum, then the capital of the Roman province, Britannia Inferior. Just a side note here. One of the big mistakes the Romans made was mistaking the northern bit of Britain for the inferior part. That was the problem. That was why it didn't work out. I'm not sure I can pronounce this.

1:25:31As Eorferwick, it was the home of King Saint Edwin, reckoned a Bretwealda by Saint Bede, and was capital of mighty Northumbria. As Jorvik, it was capital of the Vikings' Danelaw. I'm not sure that's how that works, but anyway. It was the site of the only English archbishopric outside Canterbury. The Duke of York has been a prominent and powerful title for centuries. Asterisk, we don't talk about the current one. It is often called the capital of the north and has a claim on the title Second City of England. Again, I feel even as a Yorkshireman that this is a stretch, albeit alongside various other cities.

1:26:06Yorkshire has a great footballing history. Sheffield FC and Hallam FC are the two oldest clubs in the world. And the FA's laws of the game were originally written by a man from Hull. Do you know who else is from Hull, Rog? James Horncastle. Yeah, there's a statue of him. Go on. Yorkshire has many clubs in the Football League to this day. There are some listed. There's a few of them. But the city of York itself only has York City, which plays all the way down in the fifth-tier National League in a stadium that seats 8 ,500 people. It's the sort of club a rich American might buy on a lark. I just need to win the Powerball first how is it that such an important storied city doesn't have a club in the Football League surely the people of York Yorkers deserve better thanks and have a better than average day Leonard goodnight well is it Yorkers do they call themselves no it's not what would you call someone from York a Yorkist a Yorkie might be a Yorkie no it's just they're just people from York that's all it is you're all the people we don't have we don't have that we don't have that thing in England like Yorkshireman is anyone from Yorkshire we don't have that thing in England where people from every city have to have a name to respond with Americans would be like I'm a New Yorker I'm a Bostonian I'm an Angelenio we just say I'm from York there's Manx, there's Brummies not every city has it maybe it's bigger cities that's a fair point I think in answer to Leonard's question York City were in the football league for a long time they have like a lot of clubs in their kind of situation falling into hard times because they're in too small a city to really compete at kind of champion even championship level or championship league one level though from memory there are a couple of like slightly dodgy ownership things i think they are they are or were fan owned for a while um they're established i think i think constantine the great it was his fault wasn't he like the maranakis of the uh of the Roman province Britannia inferior era.

1:28:01Let's not talk about the Britannia inferior thing. It makes me really cross. They've fallen on hard times, but they're now established in the national lead, which is the fifth division. I think they came pretty close to promotion last year. They're okay, York. The truth, the serious answer, Rog, is that that's not far off where York should be just in terms of population. It is a historically massively important city, but it's not a huge place. it's quite a small city really beautiful you should visit if you get chance it's a wonderful place i once recommended it to ryan reynolds did you really i did i interviewed ryan reynolds and rob mack before he changed his name um and i think they were playing wrecks and we're about to play york and i said oh is it home or away or that was the next game that he was coming over for and he was like oh it's away we're going to bootham crescent whatever it's called now the kitkat stadium or something um and i said oh you should go to jorvik because it's the only museum where you can smell history.

1:28:57And I personally, Rog, think it speaks volumes for Ryan Reynolds that he laughed at that joke. It probably went, but by the way, I would have sent him to the National Railway Museum. Oh, that's amazing. It is amazing. The railway museum is incredible. It's like, so, it's like genuinely Americans, go. It's just so nostalgic. Also, stop off at the Hockney Museum in Salt Air, which is like an hour away and also, also, also stunning. Well, if you come into Salt Air, you might as well come to where I live, Rog. That's only around the corner, Salt Air. Well, we've got to get a heritage plaque on this slap it on the side of the Royce and start selling much I would say that the other point that's in Leonard's letter that I think is genuinely true if you're a rich American York's probably quite a good shout as a club to buy in all in all seriousness does it has a degree of international recognition there is stuff to do there it's a nice place and there are loads of tourists already it would make perfect sense if you're buying a small club York is a really really Let's start GoFundMe.

1:29:53Let's start GoFundMe, Men in Blazers. Let's buy York together. Can I just say, in the early days of Men in Blazers, we used to have a regular guest, an amazing man called Barry Hearn. If you don't know who he is, he's like the Don King of English boxing listeners. He owned a third-tier team late in Orient back then, which is why he came on. He was a remarkable man. He had the idea then, Raw, of Americans buying York City and rebranding it because it would be under new ownership. His idea was we should all rebrand it together. with this GoFundMe that we're going to start Raw. He wanted to rebrand it as New York City.

1:30:27And then he had this whole plan, like let's change the stadium's name to Manhattan, which sounded better. Like, oh, where do New York City play? They play in Manhattan. And just making this tiny team, America's team, like really gaudy strips, really crazy, like Evel Knievel, they could play in like his shirt and all that stuff. I'm like, so years on, I would love to make this happen because York is an amazing, amazing city. I used to go there as a kid. The first time I went, Roy, crap, you know what I used to imagine because it's where Terry's who make the chocolate oranges was founded, right?

1:30:59I used to imagine the first time I was disappointed to find out that it didn't have like chocolate orange groves on the very streets there. I mean, how do you think I felt whenever I went, Rog? It's a living torture for me. It is the home of the chocolate orange, but it's the home of so much more. Yeah, God bless. Let's make it happen. and we're going to start a GoFundMe almost immediately. We will never get round to this, listeners, but if someone does, we're all in. Yorkshire Tourist Board, if you're listening, call us. And Leonard, send us your postal. We'll send you a coveted Men in Blazers patch.

1:31:32Keep sending your letters and questions for Rory and me to meninblazers at gmail.com. They fill us with joy. That's it for today. I'm actually here in New York this week. We've got Tyler Adams coming on. Let's talk of Christian Pulisic jumping aboard. We'll be on with Clint Dempsey. after the US face Ecuador Friday night, live here on YouTube. Come and join us. Also on the Women's Game platform, we've got a new show, a beautiful show. Team me up with Becky Sauerbroon. Incredible guest. First, Elizabeth Banks. This week, the inimitable Katie Nolan. Episode is linked in the show notes below. Becky, one of the world's most incredible human beings.

1:32:08Go, go USA. Raw, huge thanks to you. You crown prince of Harrogate. I watched the Elizabeth Banks one. I feel like you're getting better quality of guests than me, Rog to be honest you know I'm not Becky Saurbunas maybe it's just Becky yeah yeah you and I are both in Britannia inferior role this is Rog sending you big big love let's not take a second watching football together for granted and courage