Premier League Season Preview Pt. 1: Men in Blazers 08/12/25

26:02They're not the apex predator. They have grasped it now, and they are being reborn by Christian Pulisic. at Inter Milan similarly I mean I would say that Inter Milan aren't even on the same kind of broad global level as Manchester United historically but Inter came out and their American owner said in the summer or before the summer we're going to start buying young players and all the fans were like well no you're not we're Inter Milan we are a destination and you think you need to look around a little bit more lads and I think United it would be helpful if they could reset their expectations but I don't think clubs can run my god this podcast is genuinely bending my brain.

26:40Ultimately, we're all just screaming into the void, who am I? And the void screams back, but we're Manchester United. From Manchester United to the team that despises them more than pretty well any other. Leeds United. So happy they're back in the Premier League. This singular culture, the fan culture. I love it. It's like half dream, half just straight talking piss and vinegar at any one time. Both of them living side by side and kind of melding tracks, fanatically followed. They return as last season's championship title winners on goal difference over Burnley. Strengthened the squad with, well, some familiar Premier League character actors.

27:20I can't wait to watch Sean Longstaff play for Leeds United. Really a symbol of, I think, their overhaul or their tweak in this postseason in which they hope they can thwart relegation. It's the one word, physicality. I think they believe the 49ers ownership. They've looked at the data and they believe grit, strength, size, power, set pieces, good heading, really good heading. Both sides of the ball will keep them up raw. First seven signings of this summer for Leeds, average height, six foot two inches. I mean, they're like a footballing equivalent of an NBA squad of bigs. I think Leeds have looked at what happened to them last time in the Premier League where physically they were lacking.

28:02I think they've looked at what happened in the championship when they came up, when they shot a lot of goals but had a little bit of a soft core and they've decided that the thing that they are lacking is, like you say, grit, experience because the other key stat with a lot of those signings is their age they have not gone out and bought 21 year olds they are buying players who are 25, 26, 27 kind of peak years, ready to go, plug and play make us tougher and I think that's really smart I have a vested interest in Leeds staying up, Rog it's the closest Premier League round to my house. I like that.

28:35It's convenient. It's easy to get to despite the parking situation at Elland Road. And it's good, to be honest, it's good for the area. You really notice what it means to a place to be in the Premier League when that place isn't necessarily in the Premier League all of the time. And to Leeds as a city, it's really meaningful to have a Premier League team. So I tend to see the best in Leeds. But I think that looking at their recruitment strategy, Longstaff is a great example of it. It's quite smart. You don't need to be too clever. You don't need to be buying players who have dropped kind of high ceilings and stuff.

29:08Just go and buy players who are already at their ceiling and know what they're doing. It gives me great delight in life that the Fonz, Henry Winkler, is a proper, proper Leeds fan. It's so wonderfully discordant with the essence of Leeds. Yeah, it fits perfectly. They'll rely on Dutchman Joel Perrault to continue his goal machine ways from the championship. I will say they have a slightly unhealthy dependence on Dan James' ability to consistently create in the Premier League. I just say Godspeed, Leeds. Do it for my friend Larry Nance. Oh, and TJ McConnell. From one Northern Power, hoping to reclaim their standing, almost like House Stark, to another, Newcastle United.

29:49Oh, dark side on Tyneside. I'm old enough to remember last season, Raw, when they won the Carabao Cup. First domestic trophy since 1955. It was magnificent. and they qualify for the Champions League too. All of that feels like it was honestly Tracy Chapman's happy memories of driving in a car, speed so fast, felt like I was drunk. City lights lay out before us and Eddie Howe's arm felt nice, wrapped round my shoulder. Now, not a single player outside of Anthony Alanga and relegation lover Aaron Ramsdale want to head up north, which is crazy. Remember, they play in the Champions League, people.

30:27They've got Saudi Arabian owners who are supposed to have profound underlying wealth. But Newcastle right now is kind of stacked in there alongside Chernobyl and I think Kabul in terms of desirable cities to play in. Player after player after player almost mockingly are turning them down. The list is crazy. Liam DeLapp, João Pedro, Eketike, Benjamin Set, more, more, more have kind of used them for leverage then ditched them. Starstrike Alexander Izak has almost become a prisoner of conscience. I don't like to be hyperbolic. Front office in disarray. Board said to be in chaos. Amanda Stavely, the executive who brokered the Saudi takeover, was ousted in a boardroom power struggle last summer.

31:10Eddie Howe, left looking, oh, so bereft. Raw, the tune, they've got financial fair play problems, PSR challenges. But why is it such a bad summer? Is there a way this can end well? I guess I'm asking, are the Saudis still interested? That is a genuine question I think you have to ask now, particularly because, and we touched on this the other day, that because of the Darwin Nunez deal, that is very clearly kind of strengthening, I presume, coincidentally. Yeah, it's not money laundering. I'm absolutely saying that it's not money laundering. Allegedly. But it is weird that the same people who own Newcastle have given Liverpool some money so they can go and buy Newcastle's best player.

31:49That seems to be what's happened. And you'd have thought at some point, someone at PIF, who owned both Al-Hilal, who bought Nunez and Newcastle, would have said, hang on, do we really want Darwin Nunez this much? Does it have to be him? Why can't we go and get someone else? Does that work for everybody? Can Everton just try and go in for Bruno Gimoresh and then Saudi Arabia will come in and buy Mikalenko for 100 million and be like, go for it, lads. Possibly. I love this. This is amazing. I think we found the loophole. Yes. To me... Wait till Todd Burley finds it, by the way. I'm sure he's already there.

32:27to me it shows why clubs are vulnerable when they're owned not only by nation states effectively but as part of multi-club ownership groups it's not ideal this is the bad side of it some of us who've been warning about it for a while might say oh maybe this is what we were talking about I think there's two big issues for Newcastle one is you've touched on already the front office there is no one to get those deals done it's why you have a sporting director Newcastle don't have one it's just a fax machine just fumbling pages onto the floor well I presume the person get a little paper catcher You need someone that's manning the facts machine.

32:57Yeah, yeah, yeah. Eddie Howe is doing the deals. Eddie Howe is taking on that kind of traditional manager role, which is fine. It used to work really, really well. But it's not ideal when you're also trying to coach a team. And I think they've struggled because of that. It's not Eddie Howe's fault, but he's been the one kind of holding the baby effectively. And the other thing is that it seems to me there's a lack of strategic thinking. I get why Newcastle don't want to sell Alexander Izak. Totally understand it. It would be heartbreaking for the fans. it's a blow to their pride it's a little bit of a reminder of where they are in the pecking order at the moment and they're kind of like take any of the other players just not our best one why do you want to buy our best player why don't you take someone who's worse than him the but at the same time it solves an awful lot of problems for them pick a long staff take it we've got loads of we've got loads of long staff we'll do you a two for one deal pick up a long staff just on your way out I'll take the dad do the self check out and take a long staff as a prize no I get why they don't want to sell EZAC but it solves their PSR problems and it gives them that chance to say we are now rebuilding this squad, this team rather than keeping hold of one player.

34:03And I think there's a point at which their pride is making them make decisions in a way that is not that helpful. And the other thing is that you look at what they're doing in terms of strikers they're very clearly now sort of fifth, sixth, seventh down the list. That's not a good idea either. You're getting players who you don't really want. We talked the other day sometimes the best deals are the ones you don't do there's a point at which you have to say we're not that committed to this player that we want to spend probably 50 million dollars in fees and wages and whatever on someone we're not that sure about Newcastle don't appear to be able to make that leap just yet and that's dangerous Can't wait for Eddie Howe's press conference when Newcastle comes second at the end of the season he just says well they do say the best deals are the ones you don't do and we did a lot of them But this is the thing, that Newcastle last season, what made them great, especially in that kind of late winter, early spring period leading up to the Carabao Cup final, was their physicality, their intensity, their unity.

35:05That was what made that Newcastle side so kind of good. There's a risk that they've lost to unity. But they also need to kind of remember that having a purpose, having a point to prove is quite a powerful thing in football. and if the thing you're trying to prove is Alexander Izak really should want to be part of this team whether he's freezing himself out or whether he's playing for somebody else that's a way to bond the team together there is a weapon in there somewhere No one wants to be here and we don't care is quite a variation No one likes us, even us Even us, yeah We hate ourselves, let's go!

35:38Staying in the ends and using the term north admittedly very liberally here let's head to Nottingham Forest That's the north. Is it really the north? Nottingham's the north. That was very definitive. Nottingham's definitely the north. Is Aston Villa the north? No. Yeah, what's the dividing line, baby? It's a round, Brian Cloughway. Is that what it is? Yeah. Brian Cloughway. Is that the official, like the 49th parallel? There's like, there's like military installations there. The, or there will be one there, Rog. There's the DMZ lane. It's the, Brian Cloughway is the road that leads from Nottingham to Derby.

36:09Yeah. And from Derby to Nottingham. You think of Nottingham as the north? I think Nottingham is spiritually the north. People from Nottingham would say they are in the East Midlands, but I think that's the North. Spiritually the North. My God, that's my house in New York City. But to me, the North of England is all of it apart from the bit near the M25, which is the London Ring Road, the kind of road that runs around London. And you get that sign that just says, the North! Everything else is spiritually the North. As soon as you can see the road signs for the North, you're in the North. That is so funny.

36:42when you say to people in London and I always say we're going up to London and they always get very annoyed they're like no, no you're going down to London, genuinely I don't know why I'm saying that spiritually the north God bless I must say Liverpool essentially doesn't think of itself as the north at all it thinks of itself as just a magical kingdom that should almost be a principality like Monaco or Monte Carlo though in its own right. And Newcastle ridiculously thinks of Leeds as the South. That's so funny. Well, you're not as far north as we are. Just by the way, Americans who are listening is like trying to work out whether Maryland is the South or not.

37:27It's a cut from the same cloth kind of debate. But as I said, Nottingham Forest, a team that brought so much joy to a rollicking city ground last season with their pace and Chris Wood sees a career dreams are made of potent wise, but then lack of squad depth did them in. Nuno used just 23 players, the lowest by some stretch in the league, and they lost control of their extremities at the last, plummeted to seventh place still, good enough to return them to Europe for the first time in 30 years. Good news is they held on to their Morgan Gibbs-White, definitely not against his will. It was quite surreal to watch, to be honest.

38:06bad is. One goal, zero wins in Forest's seven pre-season games so far. Raw, they soared so beautifully. It was almost Icarus-esque, the wax wings, the sun at the end. They were also heavily tipped for relegation before last season. So how will they all do while the world's watching? Yeah, I wonder whether they might fall into a little bit of the version of the Newcastle trap, which is that you do really, really well. You'd surprise everybody. You qualify for Europe, in Forrest's case, the Europa League, by slightly less than sporting means. And then you struggle the next season just because of the weight of fixtures.

38:42You can't overestimate how much more complicated it is to play twice a week than once a week. That is the thing that Forrest will have to deal with in the Europa League rather than the Champions League, admittedly. They were within a whisker of the Champions League. They could have qualified for the Champions League on that final day, I think. And it's a disappointment that they didn't because they deserve to over the course of the season. They were the story of the season. My worry is that it looks this summer a little bit like things might have stalled, gone a little bit stale. They've not refreshed quite as much as you'd want them to.

39:10Lost Anthony Alanga, which is more of a blow than maybe I think people are giving it credit for. They may well come again. They may well come late. They may well add more bodies. James McAtee. In the next few weeks. They do like signing players, Nottingham Forest. But as things stand, I think it might be a season where they have to accept that the journey is Europe and the Premier League finishes 11th. I would love Maranakis to come on the show. I've got so many questions. To Lancashire and JJ Watts-Burnley, as they're officially known, the Benet and Hotzabat lads. Let's delve into our new friends for this Premier League season.

39:49Knowing that, here's the bad news. For the past two seasons, three teams that came up from the Championship have gone straight back down. We're wondering whether newly promoted Burnley and Sunderland particularly can buck this trend. Burnley have just lost so many key players from last season. Their goalkeeper hero, James Trafford, CJ Egan Riley, the quite electric Josh Brownhill. They're relying. Ultimately, I think, speaking to Burnley fans on their naivete last time around, the experience that got kicked into them during that Vonson company, kind of avant-garde, play-out-the-back disaster of a season.

40:27Sunderland came up via the playoffs after eight agonizing long years in the wilderness to have the tenacity, the spirit to be resummoned. I adore that city. It's a historic club, mad passionate supporters. The transformation to get them back has been remarkable to witness. It's a really, truly grand old team of English football. They built through an emphasis on youth, academy growing talent. But after getting promoted, I think they sent$140 million in the transfer market, including the return of 32-year-old Arsenal cult hero Granit Xhaka for one last dance. But here's the stat both teams are dealing with, and it is incredible.

41:092023-24 season, this is Swiss Rambles data. Premier League clubs made$426 million on average. Championship clubs took in$54 million. That's the gulf they're trying to bridge. It's almost financial as much as a footballing challenge. We're cheering for spreadsheets, Rog. That's what's happening. And ultimately, that's what kind of condemns the promoted teams to not almost certain relegation, but to a season in which they are going to battle relegation at the very least. Burnley and Sunderland will both be delighted to finish 17th. That's the cliche, but it's true. And it's because they're coming from so far back.

41:46Burnley, right, do have a little bit more experience. Right? because they've been in the Premier League before the core of the squad. They also have Scott Parker, who Burnley will try and stay up in a very different way this season. They tried to play their way out of trouble when they were here before. Didn't work. Really didn't work. This season, they will be as defensively solid as they can be. And Scott Parker also changed himself tactically. He's gone hair curtains from his last disastrous. I don't know if you know this about Britton, Roger, but curtains are back. They are. Yeah. Well, he pioneered them.

42:16Not the Scott Parker that, you know, just was derided for his management of Bournemouth. No, he's gone away from the kind of slick back then. Yeah, that was a different time. And curtains are now, there are two acceptable haircuts for young people in Britain, according to my nephew who's 16. They are curtains and what he refers to as broccoli head, which is sort of curly and forward. It's a weird thing. Anyway, Scott Parker's very much on trend there. Yeah. They will be defensively solid. They'll be hard to beat Burnley. Boulder Asia, by the way. The question, that's always in fashion. Yeah, thank you, beautiful.

42:47The question with Burnley is whether they will store enough goals to stay up. They've signed Armando Brogier. You watched him for Everton last season. You can answer that question for me, Rog. Sunderland, on the other hand, were really, they were kind of the surprise package. There were three teams in the championship last season who were very clearly better than all of the others. They were Leeds, Burnley, and not Sunderland. It was Sheffield United who felt like the other team that could go up. Sunderland needed a lot of work doing. and they've really committed to it. You know, Xhaka is probably the most high-profile signing, but they've made four or five others that speak to an ambition to stay up that maybe is slightly a surprise.

43:26So I think Sunderland will give it a go. I think Sunderland will really try and they might take a few teams by surprise. Brohat, his time at Everton, really the memory he gave me, he's one of the few professional footballers who when presented the chance, guilt and his chance, He had an uncanny ability to be able to tackle himself as he pulled his foot back. He was as likely to kick his other plant leg as he was the ball. And it almost became like a surreal avant-garde performance. I love watching him enjoy him, take care of him, revel in him. Quick question from the MIB Discord from Jack Grimms.

44:01Raw, is Optus predicted table complete quack? Jack is referring to the Optus simulation, which is much banded around preseason. where they run 10 ,000 simulations of the league. Why just 10 ,000? I mean, what we do together when we're going to come up with our predictions at the end of this rule, many, many more have gone in. They decided the three new teams straight up, straight down. They actually have Sunderland, a 34 % chance of coming 20th and bottom. So it's quite in a sense because number one, it's made before the transfer window's shut. So these teams can change. You don't know who they're going to sign.

44:37If Sunderland don't sign Kylian Mbappe, then that'll probably make a difference. They won't, obviously. But, you know, I always feel as though all predictions before September the 1st are not complete. And also football has an amazing ability to come up with a 10 ,001th, 10 ,001st simulation. You don't know how the season will go. There are so many unknowns. And I say this as someone who is pro-data, very much believes in the value of analytics and all that stuff. But you don't know how the new signings will settle. You don't know how teams' chemistry will change. you don't know what injuries teams pick up.

45:10Momentum and belief and confidence, these are all things that matter in football. And the predicted tables, I just, I think, don't capture any of those things. They've got us talking about them. They've got us talking about them. I wouldn't necessarily base my emotional state on the opta predicted table. I think Sunderland are more likely to, Kylian Mbappe, that would be amazing, and they're more likely to sign Taryn Killam. I probably think he's Kylian Mbappe, but what do I know? I actually think a lot of fans of these three new teams are going to be baying really just to find a single club that is worse, worse than them.

45:43I know my friend Larry Nance Jr., co-owner of Leeds, is like a shark looking for blood in the water for just any weaker team, which is a lovely segue to Wolverhampton Wanderers. Last season, Vito Pereira took the points and then the pints have rescued the team after quite brutal gauntlet of opening games. I think they had one point after the first eight matches. This summer, they've had the heart of their team ripped out. Mateus Cunha, Ryan Aitnuri and Pablo Sarabia, all gone. Really the footballing equivalent of losing your hair. A lot of ball talk in this show. But that's, you know, 31 direct contributions from the first two alone.

46:21God bless. They've gone out and brought themselves a wing back. David Muller, Wolf from Alkmaar, the Wolf of Wall Street. That is a lot of faith roar in nominative determinism. It's like Orson Wenger coaching Arsenal or Everton signing a player named deeply mediocre. The one player who I think Wolves should be excited about is John Arias, the guy they signed from Fluminense, who was probably the standout kind of surprise package of the Club World Cup. Is that fair to say? He was the one who from the South American teams really grabbed the eye, apart from maybe Esteval Willian at Chelsea. You looked at Arias and thought, okay, he's a player who's got something about him.

46:58He will excite them. But there's an undeniable sense of drift at Wolves. It does feel a bit like the club is not really kind of investing in replenishing its squad. That there's no real obvious kind of plan there. Wolves' approach to avoiding relegation appears to be really believing. Edging on relegation. Yeah, that the three teams who came up will go straight back down. Larry Nance Jr., as he's listening to this, is like wearing a yellow suit, rubbing his hands together, hiding behind a tree and licking his lips. And talking of deeply mediocre, let's wrap up this first half, NFC North preview with, oh, Everton.

47:38I'd say it's a magical time to be a blue. It really is. We've had that energy of the farewell to Goodison Park, the grand old home. And we're going to head towards the brand new home, the Hill Dickinson. I wonder how we're going to come up with a nickname for that place. We'll never be able to do it, will we? You know, we have dreamed, we have yearned, we have suffered, we have celebrated, and we're still alive, just to some degree more than alive. We stand here. I think this summer's pivotal role, new stadium, new energy, new owners, new front office, which is still bedding in. I think a lot of the transfer problem has been just so many new pieces in that front office still gelling.

48:20And my highest hope when I think about it is that the big dick is going to be a chrysalis, like a caterpillar that we're kind of dragging ourselves in just. And then we're going to emerge as this stunning, soaring blue butterfly, like a blue morpho or whatever they are, just iridescent cobalt wings reclaiming the glory. I've seen it with my own eyes when I was a bloody kid. We won things, Roar. I do wonder whether we can return to that. However, I will say, I was chatting about this before we started putting it, I did this live show with Everton Football Club in Manhattan, live on stage with a lot of the players and David Moyes.

48:57And I was trying to, I was definitely quite effervescent. I was buzzing. The crowd was bonkers. They drank the place dry. It was a madness in there. And there was a heavy dose of reality. You know, nine members of last season's squad departed. There's been too few bodies coming in. We'll talk about one in a moment. but it's hard to right now be a team that doesn't offer European opportunities and sign talent. There's so many now that do. There's like nine teams who offer European talent. To be one of the few that doesn't makes it bloody, bloody hard. And Moyes just landed on the microphone, kept saying every other, we need nine or 10 new signings as his veins bulge.

49:38Who am I to argue with you? And then there's that other level, new stadium. It's going to be amazing. but remember Arsenal, Thierry Henry said I used to know where I was on the field because of the old clock at Highbury that was gone it took the players a long time to adjust to the new home it took the fans at Arsenal a long time Goodison Park was like a bear pit Roy, it's going to take time for this new place to become that kind of feral fortress Yeah, completely but at the same time Goodison Park was a pressure as well just Goodison Park turned and there were, certainly in those last few years you could see players kind of wilt almost when Goodison wasn't happy and I wonder whether maybe because it's a blank canvas for the fans whether there's a chance to kind of change the vibe of the crowd a bit as well that might be quite helpful to an extent I'm a little bit more positive about Everton than you are and apparently than David Moyes is which is weird when he said that genuinely it was like if Father Time had come on with a side and told me I was soon to die I probably would have felt less chilled than when Moyes was screaming at me But you are right that if you think about, say, Sesco choosing Manchester United over Newcastle, that's a Newcastle looking off of the Champions League.

50:47How far down the pecking order would Everton be in the race for a player like that? Probably quite a long way. and that is a problem because it means you're kind of trying to sign players who are the players you really want are probably out of your reach so you either have to be very clever and very quick to get deals done which is hard with a new front office or you end up with players you don't really want or you get to welcome a Jack Grealish and that is not a bad thing in Everton's situation can I just say it's a magnificent bloody thing I'm fairly disciplined Fabrizio Romano has a show on our network I work really hard to let him Fabrizio to the world and not to annoy him especially not in this transfer window when he works these crazy hours this morning I couldn't help but bother him like a child I did at one point find myself texting him saying Fabrizio can you just like here we go it and then just make it real to yourself you told me it doesn't work like that it doesn't unfortunately although it does it does feel increasingly like it used to be that you wait for the club to announce it.

51:56Now it kind of feels like you just wait for the here we go and then people assume the deal is done. The things can still kind of go wrong at that stage. Yeah, within an hour, I will say, here we go, Dick. He obviously got onto Grealish's people and said, look, Rog wants it done. Let's just get it done. Let's just iron out the details. I think Grealish is an incredible signing. And do you know what? He's a kind of... So happy. He's a totemic signing for Everton. He's the sort of signing that you can... What's totemic? Is that like having sex with Sting? Kind of. Is that tantric? And you have to wait a while for it.

52:28Up to seven hours, apparently. But the signing Grealish is a sign of ambition. You're now stressing me out. Come on, I'm now looking. But it's also a chance to say to prospective other signings, look what we've just done. Look who we've just got. This is how serious we are. So I think that the other players they've brought in, Dewsbury Hall, I think is a great signing. Tiena Barry from Villarreal is a great signing. But Grealish is a bit of a game changer. Oh, he is, man. I've got to say, I'm so bloody happy. You've got me worried that it's not true, even though it's been here we go'd. But I think about like, I think Jack Grealish at Everton is like, you think about a great comedian, a great comic actor, just playing a straight role.

53:10Like, I hope we are, I hope Everton or Grealish is Adam Sandler in Uncut Gems. We are built to adore and love him that he rides with us. his redemption tying to our redemption it could be the uncut gems Adam Sandler it could be his role of a lifetime I think he's better suited to that kind of situation I think what Jack Grealish needs is a club that adores him a team that is built around him I think he's a big fish in a small pond kind of guy sorry for the small pond you don't like that do you? small pond I like the delusion this is not who we are going back to our earlier point this is not who we are we are Everton Football Club we are and we are a small pond for the time being but a small pond with a stagnant pond we've got lily pads and just like it's a nice a pretty pond it's a small pond with a big dick it's a bite your arm off I'm in this is by the way how we negotiated with Jack Grealish we're a small pond with a big what big dick didn't that bite your arm off I don't know there's a good chip shop I'm there baby I just say God bless you Everton Football Club no finer place to bring this episode of our big Premier League previews to an end.

54:24Whoever made you support, do not be afraid. Don't listen to our crap. Just remember my favorite. I've been reading a lot of Russian poets or classic Russian poets. Not your new ones. Those poems don't move me in the same way, strangely enough. Oh, Vladimir, you are so great. We loathed everything that you hate. Yeah, those ones don't quite move me in the same way as like, for instance, Platinov, who wrote, From our ugliness will grow the soul of the world. So even the darkness, that's how it works, isn't it, Roar? Just embrace it. Don't build Platinov, yeah. Yeah, God bless. One more quick note, one of the joys of this season.

55:03So first we can live out together on our new Men in Blazers Discord community. A couple of thousand fans there already of this show have joined to chat about everything. Football, life, Russian poets, Premier League, books, their dogs. So there's like a crazy great dog subsection. They're pretty well everything. It's the official community of this show and of all our talent on the MIB network, men's and women's, the Discord's open. Think of it as a virtual pub community. We all lived on Twitter circa 2014. I hope our Discord channel will be that again. Come and join this place of community, of joy, of creativity, of singular passion for the game we love.

55:45Football's better with friends. I guess that's what I'm saying. The link to join the Discord is in our show notes, whether this is on YouTube or on podcasts. Come be reversed. And big thanks again to Yeti for making Men in Blazers football holiday and this beautiful in-person communing, this taping possible. Raw, part two of the MIB, big Premier League season preview upcoming. It's just a sweatshirt change away, and there'll be top four, bottom three predictions at the end of it. But it's about the South, Rog, so it's not as good. Yeah, I'm still not sure Nottingham's in the city. It's kind of its own middle to me.

56:21That's what, we were driving, when we were driving back from France, you start to see the road signs after a while and they say the Midlands. And my son said to me, Daddy, what are the Midlands? And I think that's a great question. God, have you, where's Stoke? North. It is. I can do this for every place in Britain. It's so crazy to me. Stoke is, they're both nowhere to me. Stoke is the only place I've ever got out my car and seen from a large distance four eight to nine year old children in a pack slowly walking towards me because they knew there was nowhere I could run. Three of them had a brick.

56:51One of them had a large plank menacingly over his shoulder. I just thought it's magnificent. It's his own special place. They breed them young in Stoke. In Stoke, there is a split between half of them have Scouse accents and half of them have Birmingham accents. And I think in a place like that, you don't stand a chance. God, they must just, some of them must have both and just end up fighting themselves. Come back for part two. We'll break this all down. Big, big love. and courage.