Supporting England or Spurs? International Break Woes | Ben Bowman talks Xavi Simons, Kolo Muani and Life After Levy (Q&A)

24:55And I was so buzzing about Xavi Simmonds. And then I kind of, that reflects in the way that you talk about him in videos and on podcasts. And maybe you feel like, oh, am I setting him up and myself up for kind of going over the top a little bit too much? But no, it's just genuine excitement for what I think is a really exciting player. Colin Mawani, like I was so busy around that kind of deadline day. I haven't, and since then, I've kind of just taken a bit more of a step back from making content over the international break. So it's like, I haven't tapped into him too much. And I quite like the fact that I've done that because I just kind of almost want to be just a little bit.

25:26I've seen him play, obviously, before. Like, Juve had a really good loan spell second half the season. They wanted to buy him. PSG as well didn't quite work out, but there was a lot of Frankfurt. And he's done bits here and there for France as well. Quite like just sort of going in a bit more blind and sort of rather than thinking, here's exactly everything that he can offer and you kind of hold him to this standard almost. But also, like, there are, I think, on the surface level from, like, tapping into him a bit, there are things that he can really... I think one of the biggest frustrations in that Bournemouth game was because Bournemouth pressed so aggressively and then funneled a lot of our kind of play down that left-hand side to Johnson where they kind of knew a lot of the moves were going to break down because he's not as good in build-up.

26:08They weren't really letting us play out in the way that we wanted to. So we kind of went direct a lot of the time to Richarlison and he could not hold the ball up for love nor money. And I think just... Richarlison is such an amazing scrapper. and sometimes other players can feed off the great hard work that he does but he's not the most clean with his back to goal whatsoever and kind of in his link-up play, everything's a little bit bobbly sometimes and sometimes that chaotic energy, so to speak, that he brings is really good but I think Kyler Mawani is just a bit more sharper and a bit more clean like Solanke is, I think.

26:40I think Kish, my good friend who does Lily White Lab stuff, he kind of said that Mawani is a bit of a hybrid between Solanke and Richarlison and I feel like that's kind of what we need. He's almost got like the sort of box presence of Richarlison. He's quite good in and around the box, fine in the yard, but he's also got the hold-up play and sort of that smoothness and cleanness in his game that Richarlison lacks, but Solanke certainly has like a lot more. And it feels like we've got two really decent options in Solanke and Richarlison for the way that Frank wants to play, but having another option that can just be a bit more of a rounded package, even if he's maybe not quite as good at the other two in terms of what they're best at, but maybe you might get a bit more consistency from, is going to be really valuable over a really long season.

27:26And obviously the versatility to play out wide as well. He's such a good runner with the ball, so you might long spaces. It feels like I'm cautiously optimistic about him, to be honest.

27:36Jack:I do feel like, and I say this is based mainly on watching compilations of him, I think he appears to be a much better finisher than the two, than from Solanke and Richarlison as well. And he seems to have a real knack as well for scoring goals from really tight angles, which is always a joy to see. A few when he's like just smacked him straight into like the top of the net from pretty acute angles. Yeah, I think it's such a weird one with both of those two because Richarlison, I think, is a really good instinctive finisher, like a sort of penalty box kind of predator. Solanke, for me, is one that there's just something missing with his finishing.

28:12I think it's sometimes he takes too long to get shots off. I feel like it's mental with him. Yeah, I think he wants to give himself too much time to set himself. And that's not what Richarlison does. But sometimes when Richarlison's got too much time to kind of think, that's when you don't really back him. So I feel like Colin Mawani is maybe just a bit more composed than both of them, in a way. And I think you're right. I do think there's a bit more cleanness to his finishing, if that's even the word. Yeah, a bit more finesse, that's the word. That's the one, that's the one.

28:41Jack:I've got to say though this is like because I agree with you entirely like Mawani is one of those players that like I keep forgetting we have and I'm like oh that's nice actually we've got we've got more new blood because part of the reason I think is maybe not so much a reflection on Mawani and the deal and anything like that and it's probably also partly the excitement that I think large amounts of the fan base feel about signing Xavi Simmonds because it was a very it was a very un-Tottenham like move. I think lots of the window, I know kind of as I went south, Morgan Gibbs-White went south, but I think the intention at least from Tottenham signaled that there was change afoot.

29:21Jack:Obviously we've now seen what that change has been in a boardroom sense at the club. And signing a player like Xavi Simmonds where it seems to be that what we spent upwards of 65 or so mil on him. He's not our top signing of all time, but he is still one of our players' signings. Yeah, 50 to 60 mil bracket, yeah. And from what we understand, he's getting paid about a quarter of a million pounds a week to play at Tottenham. So we've obviously smashed that wage structure. For me, it's like I'm excited in two ways, because I'm excited for what he can bring to this team, because I think he does appear to be that truly creative outlet that we have lacked since Eriksen.

30:05Jack:I think Kulisevsky's given it his best shot. James Madison is somewhat there. I don't want to sort of, you know, play James Madison down or anything like that, but his career has been so stop start at Tottenham that it's been hard to really, in some ways, honestly, I almost feel like it's hard to sort of see Madison as a player that's available to us because he's out so often. Whereas like in Xavi Simmons, I'm hoping we're going to have that player that's just got... Really, he's got that star factor to his game. He has a lot... I'm sure if you were to compare them statistically, him and Madison probably are very similar in many different ways.

30:47Jack:Xavi Simmonds may be a bit more dogged, a bit better in those tight spaces than somebody like Madison is. But if you get what I'm saying, they will fulfil a similar function within the side. Xavi Simmonds just has that star factor, be it like image be it the clubs that he's played for before you know he's a La Masia product he's played at PSG he's somebody that's not been willing to just kind of sit on the bench at a super club he's wanted to fight to play to always be kind of the guy in whatever team he's playing for you know this is a guy who was Barcelona's captain all the way up through academy levels kind of thing he backs himself he's a confident guy you could see from the interviews and everything that he did with the club in signing for us.

31:33Jack:He's a very smart, very considered individual. There's just a lot to be excited about with the signing, isn't there? Really, ultimately. Yeah, I think you kind of touched on it there, but it's almost like we've got a new face of the franchise kind of thing, especially with him taking the number seven as well. It feels this is what that signing is. And like you said, I think he's a player that when you kind of read a bit more into his background and i watched a piece from on coach's voice where rud van destroy was talking about him when he was the manager of psv and in terms of like trying to sell the project to him and this is kind of what we're going to do it feels like a like he he took a bit of a you know backward step going from psg to ps the no yeah we did go to psg to psv yeah and it was almost like um it feels like a very well-advised player like and i think that obviously chelsea were in for him for a while you could understand why a young player would want to go to Chelsea, long contract, decent wages, playing for Chelsea, a club that's won a lot.

32:31I'd understand it. And maybe the fact that they just didn't go in was what pushed the deal over the line for us. But I feel like regardless of that, it was the smarter decision for him to come here, I think. And I do think it's a... Hopefully, we have him for a very long time and he can kind of become our star for the next seven, eight years, obviously. But I think even if he is thinking about it almost as a bit of a stepping stone to the next thing which obviously we hope that he doesn't we know that he's going to kind of give our all for us and hopefully he can drag us to a point where he feels like this is a really really good place to be for the rest of my career almost or certainly the peak of it and we can reap the rewards of that but he feels like a yeah a player that's been quite well advised to make the right moves at the right kind of times it definitely felt like Tottenham is the right step up for him and it feels like now he's kind of got the opportunity to be that guy he was kind of that guy at Leipzig to an extent although there was a few others and PSV he was certainly that that guy but he was so young and he was so excited and kind of you know there was all this hype around him he was one of the kind of very first like social media football kind of star like sensations when he was getting tipped to like 12 years old it's like you know there's been a lot of hype around him for such a long time and it feels like he was destined I felt like he was kind of destined for the Premier League at some point and I feel like Tottenham especially with what we're losing in Madison which was so subsequently obvious against Bournemouth like in terms of someone that could just drop that little bit deeper help us get out make Bournemouth commit another man which frees up a little bit of space he can kind of just knit things together to allow us to get out of a team that's going to be aggressive and press on to us and I think it's going to take maybe a few games for him to get up to speed you've kind of seen that with Verts as well like Verts came off against Arsenal for Liverpool and he was like I wasn't it was just like the worst cramp I'd ever had because it was like the Premier League is the most intense league in the world the Bundesliga is intense in terms of the fact that you see a lot of transitional kind of basketball games but the Premier League the games just don't stop they just don't stop whatsoever and I think he's not gonna um I don't think he's gonna struggle physically like I think some people look at him as a bit small and a bit like yeah like Verts isn't gonna struggle physically either just because they're smaller more slight number 10s james madison is a smaller slight and number 10 like most number 10s are diminutive and small and like having that low central gravity is so incredibly beneficial to them like that's why kulzevsky is a number 10 is quite a rare breed of like a big guy

34:57Jack:there's a mad thing though is that i swear chevy simmons is actually taller veneza and morgan gibbs someone said that and i was like i can't get my head around i know i know well it's like when we all found out that what like kai havertz is about six four i was like hang on i'm not at I think it's because Simmons is also, I think it's the fact that he's got quite a baby face, even too young. And I think that's probably why. Like, Eze maybe, yeah, but I was like, how tall are they than Gibbs-White? Gibbs-White just looks like big. But I think, yeah, it's going to be the, it's maybe going to be the intensity, maybe more that he struggles to come to terms within the initial period.

35:31Like he's coming in, obviously his first game will probably be against West Ham. Then we've got Champions League on the Tuesday against Villarreal. And then we've got another game at the weekend and then Doncaster in the Cup. So you've got four games in the next, what's that, like seven days? Or no, like 10 days or whatever after Saturday or before, including Saturday. So, you know, I think that's maybe what he'll struggle with in the beginning. But I've got no doubts about him. I was watching a video this morning. Something popped up on Twitter. It was on this day, Van de Vart made his debut for Spurs.

36:02And they posted a clip of a goal that he scored a few games into his career against Aston Villa. like that little it was like the little cash money like crouch knockdown which Van de Waart loved so much and then he just the little dummy and then smashed it into the corner and it was like I do feel like I'm kind of manifesting him having that kind of impact straight away Simmons hopefully and hopefully we get a few big moments early doors but also reticent to kind of put too much pressure on him but it's a big sign he's going to have that pressure so it's all it is

36:32Jack:I know exactly what you mean it's like I'm not going to boom off the pitch if he doesn't but there's also that bit of me it's like But with Dele back in the day, when you just dropped Dele into a game, you'd be like, this kid's just, he's electric. He's got it straight away. It would just be such like a sense of, I don't know, not validation, but it would just be such a relief after the years of Tottenham kind of getting close. But, you know, we're sort of all right under Mourinho and we've sort of got some good players and the same under Conte And under Ange, obviously, we won the cup under Ange, but still, it was still an exercise in, like, getting so close to being, like, really good and not quite managing to fulfil it.

37:15Yeah, first season, yeah.

37:15Jack:Yeah, exactly. Having, like, someone like Xavi Simmons coming in and just be like, yes. Like, we've changed the way we do business. We've bought in a big player. We've bought a sort of a ready-now superstar player to be the face of the franchise, and it's just working. It's not Arsenal hate watches, compilations from Chelsea fans talking about, look at this bum that Tottenham signed, lucky escape for us type stuff. Let's just make everyone else rue the day they missed out on him and the fact he's ours now. Like, please, please. I don't ask much, Xavi. Also, the fan base, I think, has got such an appetite for it at the moment as well.

37:54Because obviously, we're coming into this West Ham game off the back of the defeat against Bournemouth. but I feel like people, because of the Levy stuff, have almost like, not forgot about it, but that seems like ages ago now because we've kind of been through so much in the last week with such a massive change. And I feel like a big performance and maybe a goal from him on Saturday and just a win away at West Ham anyway. And if he can have a big part in it, would feel like liftoff for like a new era for Tottenham, I think as well. I think it's quite significant, this game on Saturday for that.

38:24If we can win and win handsomely with a couple of the new players, like obviously Kudus has come in and settled in really nicely and I'd fucking love him to score on Saturday that would be unbelievable against them lot sits on his chair again oh that if he did that I'd like oh god but yeah it would it would it would it would kind of like hopefully light the touch paper a little bit for this is a new Tottenham hopefully anyway can't wait until we lose 1-0 and it's all like oh did we make the right thing and Forrest will probably go and beat Arsenal it's like we should never sack Dan so that's that's the more likely situation I feel like on Saturday.

38:58But yeah, I can't wait to see him play. Simmons, I can't wait.

39:03Jack:We've got lots of questions in, Ben. Spurs IQ, at Spurs IQ on Twitter. He asked about how you think Xavi Simmons will adapt to the Premier League. Obviously, we've already spoken about that at length. Yeah. But has also ended his question with, do you have a predicted starting lineup for the weekend? I think the back five, including the goalkeeper, will be the back five. I think Spence will play at left back probably. And then Romero, Van der Ven, Porro. I think he might, to get Simmons in, I think he might take one of Bentoncourt or Paulinha out and play Saar. I think he's probably more likely maybe to take Bentoncourt out and go Paulinha, Saar, Simmons.

39:47And then I think it will be Kudus. I actually think it will be Kola Mawani. I think he might go with Kola Mawani. and I think it, I think he might go Johnson off the left, but I'd quite like to see Odebeir. I just, I think there's a real, I understand why some people aren't hot on him, like him and Tell haven't delivered loads in the Spurs shirt yet. And I understand that like they're, they're kind of victims of a frustration of us, maybe not signing a big ready now player rather than players that are there for the future, but that doesn't take anything away from their talent. And actually maybe just distorts the expectations on them, which isn't really fair.

40:25but I do think Odebe has got a lot to offer. And I think now we haven't signed a left winger, I just think we're going to get to a point where this thing with Johnson on the left, it will work in some games where, like Man City, we can be more transitional and exploit space. But I feel like West Ham are probably going to be a bit more conservative against us and kind of want us to break them down. So I'd quite like to see Odebe giving a go on that left-hand side as someone that can maybe create, combine with others. And I think the idea of like a Kudus-Simmons-Odebe front three behind a striker in terms of their ability to kind of, I don't know, I think Odebe is just quite intelligent in terms of getting into different spaces and the combinations.

41:02It's a very technically good front three or three behind the nine. I would love to see that. I would really love to see that. And it's something I'd love to see on a consistent basis going forward. There's always going to be time. There's always going to be space for Johnson 100%. I value him very much as a squad player. But I think you've kind of, like we've not signed a left winger. We probably will sign one in the next year, whether it's in January or in the summer. Let's trust one of the young lads and go for it, I think. But I think it probably will be Johnson. For now, I think he's just maybe going to stick with him, which I'm not mad about, but I think it'll probably be that.

41:35But then you can see him scoring as well. That's the thing, isn't it? If Spurs go 1-0 up early on and the game opens up a little bit more, then Johnson's totally in the game. It's one of them. If we can create something and open up West Ham a little bit, then it looks genius. but I'm just getting a little bit and it's maybe a bit of a hangover from last season as well which was nothing to do with Frank obviously and it was Johnson on the right rather than on the left but I just think that in terms of breaking teams down I just think he does offer so little in build up like he just he does and Bournemouth wasn't like not to I don't want to shit on him too much but it was quite a bad performance in terms of some of his touches and that as well I think it may be a good time to just try something different he's always on the bench if you want to use him on to bring him on to score goal but I'd quite like to go with Odebeer but I think it probably just will be Johnson I think it just trusts him at the moment

42:24Jack:At Silky Lovar asks what's the most obvious result of Levy being gone that you think we'll see on or off the pitch this year I thought it was quite an interesting question I don't know that is a good question maybe maybe a continuation of this kind of improved communication maybe with vin i kind of stepping into that obviously more hands-on role obviously that kind of started before levy left anyway but maybe that um uh that's tough what do you what do you what do you think about that what would you say uncovered windows can make your home feel up to 20 degrees hotter stay cool and save up to 45 off custom window treatments during the summer black friday mega sale at blinds.com from outdoor shades to room darkening blinds finding the perfect fit is easy get free samples expert design help and professional measure and install services or diy with confidence and support every step of the way shop up to 45 off site-wide plus huge savings on door busters right now during the summer black friday mega sale at blinds.com can uh i can still see us going in for savino in january again and yeah if we're putting the legwork in throughout the season so the window opens up and we're ready to go it's not it's not come the end of like the window that again we're like maybe we're going to get him maybe we're not yeah maybe just a more aggressive approach in the general generally i think look come on we've spent all summer talking about it can we get this done now you haven't played him for the past couple of months the lads agents on the blower to us he wants to come to Spurs we got Xavi Simmons there now you know they're good mates come on just what's this going to take to get the deal done we want to have a good you know because I'm pretty sure that like Viv as it seems to be that we've been briefed to call her is very keen to make a you know statement exactly a positive impression so I think I think that for me I don't see that one going away to be honest yeah I don't either especially if you know he's probably I presume he's probably getting back to fitness now at City like if he doesn't have a run of games before January bear in mind it's a World Cup year as well and obviously Brazil there's going to be an expectation on them to do something maybe he'll continue to push for that maybe more than he was maybe he just didn't push quite hard enough I think he was obviously wanted to come and open to it but it might get to a point where he's like his agent to his agent like I need to play and he would come into Spurs straight away and start on that left hand side so yeah I think that's a good that's yeah I didn't really think about it in that way but that's a good one I would also say maybe maybe this would take more than a season but potentially something with the naming rights as well maybe like Levy was seen as a bit of a blocker to that which I don't actually think is a fair way to describe it because I think for everything you can criticize Levy for I think the reason that that naming rights deal took so long is because he wanted the best possible deal for Tottenham not just in terms of because he was trying to get something that would like not in the same way that he'd try and get the best deal for a player in terms of getting him on the cheap like I think he that stadium and that kind of whole project was his pride and joy of it really and I think securing the best most lucrative long-term deal possible for Tottenham was something that he was very insistent on and maybe the valuation of certain deals didn't match up to that but maybe it will be that I think I think it kind of links to what you said about the transfers maybe.

45:58It might not be that we get like a worse deal or something, but it might just be that we're more aggressive and more proactive to go and search that out in whatever way possible. Or maybe there are more avenues of revenue that kind of get opened in a more aggressive way for Spurs to then be able to go and spend. I already saw that we've kind of taken a bit of a loan on our future TV rights earnings and stuff like that. It might just be those kind of things that Spurs seek out in a more aggressive manner rather than being passive and kind of, we've done the work. you come to us now in terms of like we've got this magnificent stadium that is isn't it such a great business opportunity for you and if you invest in this you can make the club incredibly successful or help make the club incredibly successful with that added revenue maybe it will just be a more aggressive approach to go out and seek out these things that can really help us go from what Levy made us to what the club have said they wanted to be so maybe just be more aggressive approach across the board I think really.

46:55Jack:I think there'll be like I also feel like there's going to be a greater trust placed in people who are specialists in their field to actually do their jobs. I feel like from all the noises I've heard coming out of Spurs, be it either things that are in the public sphere or just from people that I know, Spurs have under the past years under the last regime and this isn't just Daniel Levy but Daniel Levy and the people around him have wanted to retain a very very tight level of control on pretty much everything that the club are doing you know we're often moaning about like why are we so late to like publicize our our nike kits after you know things like that it's the world's worst kept secret especially earlier on in the summer you see other clubs dropping their promos pretty early on and it's always spurs again really late so whenever they do drop a promo on the kit or something like that we're like we've seen this kit now for years half of us already have had it on pre-order from the from the side not like the yellow one for example yeah that was bizarre like i've kind of thought in a cynical way i was like i wonder if they're doing this because they they want to almost like get a transfer over the line so the heat they they don't face the kind of wrath of comments being like which how can you try and sell this to us you're promoting this to us while we're a shambles in the transfer market all this kind of stuff i think it is partly that i do think i wouldn't have been surprised yeah i wouldn't have been surprised um but i but it seems to be that i i forget the guy's name but basically they signed the guy that made arsenal cool the guy that works on a lot of their kind of pr and stuff like the head of marketing wasn't he or something exactly coming to spurs and so i think we will be going hard on our image making ourselves kind of because i think spurs like we we have obviously grown over the past few years but i still think the association with spurs is predominantly that we're like a club followed by like older blokes still.

48:47Jack:And I think in the past few years, obviously, I think our younger fan base, just because we've been slightly more successful, we've had players that are probably more marketable, Son, Dele, Harry Kane, players like that. You know, we've obviously drawn in a lot of like new younger rivals, but I think still, it's so lame to reduce it to these things, but like we're still just not as cool as a club like Arsenal. Yeah. We just, we're not quite, you know, and I think. Where's our TFL inspired warmup jersey? Exactly, mate. Exactly that. Where's our NTS collab? Where's our Aries collab? Like I'm quite jealous of when Arsenal do stuff like that.

49:24I want to be, you want to feel like, I don't know, like it is.

49:28Jack:Where's our culturally appropriated training kit? Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. That you're going to see at every single festival you go to this summer. like it's um but as much as like i like to banter arsenal being like club shop fc and all that kind of stuff and you see so many gooner shirts out like i wouldn't mind that being spur i wouldn't mind walking down the road and going oh guys got a totem shirt on over there like wear it with a bit more pride but the problem is is that you associate that wouldn't be a problem with arsenal but if you didn't if you didn't know loads of arsenal fans because you know i know so many like one of my best mates is an arsenal fan right who every time i see him he's got a new piece of admittedly quite nice merch on from the arsenal store right it was like a he was i was saw him the other day when like this adidas jump with like a nice minimalistic it was the cannon like nice and spot it was all very like it was quite nice right adidas jumper and i was like when was the fucking last time you went to the emirates and i know for a fact i've like i've had conversations with you when you've been losing and things haven't been going well that you're like yeah i'm just i'm just not really watching it that much at the moment like i'm just i'm a bit checked out and i'm wanting everyone to know you're an Arsenal fan.

50:37If everyone knew what you were really like, you wouldn't wear that shirt with anywhere near as much pride because you're not a proper... You don't have to go to games all the time to be a proper supporter, but they're so fair-weather Arsenal. I think that's what annoys me about seeing so many Gooner shirts out in the wild. It's not grown men wearing football shirts. I don't care. I've just ordered some of the nice new T90 stuff from this. I think it's fucking lovely. I'll wear it out to go and get a coffee or whatever if I'm going out. but you know so many Arsenal fans that are so fair weathered.

51:08That's why it makes me sick how many Arsenal shirts you see out because I bet you they're exactly the same as your mate that you know that is exactly like that. It's so frustrating.

51:17Jack:The Arsenal, mate. The Arsenal, yeah. The Arsenal. My stepdad always calls them, they used to be called, was it the Bank of England Club? I was like, that's what they kind of, they've got this such great image of like, we are such a bunch of gimps. The marble halls and all that stuff they used to talk about. I just, I can't say pompous. Yeah, it makes me sick. Pompous nonsense. But I do think like even last year, there was the kind of the chain, like all that sort of the rebranding and removing Tottenham Hotspur from the badge and all this kind of new imagery and all that kind of stuff that came out last year, like all that new brand stuff.

51:48So it feels like that's probably been in motion for a while. They know they need to maybe do something. But yeah, I wouldn't mind that. I wouldn't mind a little bit more like, let's make us cool. Let's make us like, but let's also make us win.

52:02Jack:Yeah, exactly. I mean, that's the first and foremost part. But yeah, I agree, mate. Andy Perry on Twitter asks, do you think Thomas Frank will be under increased pressure under the new regime to achieve something this season, i.e. a cup or Champions League? Maybe, yeah. I think there will be, obviously, they've got the taste of winning something now. They're not going to want to seize on this opportunity. and want us to win something again. Maybe there will be more focus on the cup competitions and stuff like that as well, which he never really had at Brentford. I think obviously that will be one of the things that I think naturally anyway, when you move from a club at Brentford to Spurs, there'll be more focus wanting to put onto them.

52:50But especially off the back of winning something, it probably will just dial up that level of importance on those competitions. Not just internally, but the fans as well. We've been so desperate for it for so long. you don't want to go another like what was it 17 years or whatever it was about winning a trophy i can't i can't do that again so it's like i think it will be internally and also externally but i don't think any if we finish like sixth this season and don't win anything i don't think anybody's going to be calling for his head necessarily i think you might see a there'll probably be some interesting discourse around well and got sacked for winning a cup from certain pockets of the fan base that are still not letting go of him but i don't think it will be i think there will be increased pressure probably, but I don't think it will be to the point where you win or we're going to move on to someone else.

53:37Jack:Unless it's like a catastrophe, unless we have another season where we're lower bottom half of the table, to be fair. If we finish in the bottom half of the table, considering the money we've spent and the sort of players we have at our disposal. His job will be under massive scrutiny. Yeah, I think I wouldn't be surprised to see leaks about us talking to Glasner or somebody like that coming to the fore. But I think that's just the reality of football. So I don't know if that has changed with the new regime. I think that's just a natural consequence of playing elite-level Premier League football.

54:11We just have to stay on top of it.

54:14Jack:It will be interesting to see what the kind of approach from the new – it's not new ownership, but you know what I mean – the new regime at least will be towards managers. Because obviously Levy drew so much criticism for cycling through managers. But when that's often put under the microscope, at least, it's often hard to argue with a lot of the decisions that have been made really down the years. There's obviously been a few blips here and there, but it's still, it's often always felt like the right decision when we have gotten rid of somebody. And more often than not, Spurs have gone on to improve with every new managerial change.

54:50Jack:So, you know, who knows? I mean, William Gardner on Twitter were also asked if you think Frank should take the League Cup seriously. And I kind of, I'm often a bit sniffy about the League Cup, but I would like to see us just, it's quite entitled. And I get that it's not that good, but I really, I just, I want to see Spurs win something again this season. I want it to be valid. I want our sort of feelings to be validated. Validate us, please. Because I just, you know, we won that last year. And as I kept going on about that, we saw the club release that graphic of like our trophy cabinet and the third UEFA Cup Europa League kind of morphing into place within the trophy cabinet.

55:41Jack:And you suddenly sat back and looked and you're like, we have actually won a lot. We've allowed people to tell us we've won nothing. We've got a massive trophy cabinet. that and I want to see more of that now I want to see is winning more stuff with regularity so my sort of pretensions my sniffiness about things like the League Cup where I'm like play the kids I don't really care about it all it is is a nice day out for us I think I think I'm personally having a radical shift in mindset towards what success looks like and success shouldn't just be about like well what does this look like to other people or what does this kind kind of represent in terms of, a League Cup doesn't really mean much compared to a Champions League, but it's still winning something.

56:27Jack:It's still winning something. It's still having silverware. It's still having photographs of Tottenham players at Wembley Stadium lifting up something shiny with ribbons on it. And that's what football's about. 100%. I think also with the fact that we got the monkey off our back with quite a big, big trophy, a big European trophy, regardless of how bad the season was. Winning the Europa League is no mean feat. It's a big deal.

56:54If we'd have won the League Cup, maybe, for example, even though it would have scratched that itch of getting the monkey off of our back, probably people still would have found a way to take the piss out of us. Because, oh, you only won the League Cup, but you can't win. You're constantly moving the goalpost of taking the piss out of us and we can't catch up. So winning the Europa League was, regardless of how bad the season was, and people will still find a way, especially Gooners who haven't you know obviously craving that trophy were kind of like yeah but you're the 37th best team in Europe and all this kind of stuff it's like when was that everything like you know there'll be those people there'll be them lot that kind of try and pull us down whereas now if we won a League Cup it would just be another kind of it just be yeah like you said it's kind of that validation it's like it probably has more heightened well not maybe heightened importance now because actually yeah it would have been more significance on it if it was say if we were in a league cup final it was like right let's just get the monkey off our back let's do it so much pressure on it whereas now it's like it's a really it's just another really good opportunity to win another trophy and just continue to build i think in like the early rounds obviously we've got doncaster in the first round so you know that's a good opportunity to play some of the kids and like really give tell a chance to kind of like he'll probably be chomping it with with tell's mentality i think he kind of come out and responded really well for france on the 21s and come out with that kind of interview and whatever it's like he'll be chomping at the bit to impress it's a good opportunity to kind of let some of those youngsters loose but also i think we've got to take i think we've got to take it seriously like i mean thomas frank wasn't he like pro i know he was like pro scrapping fa cup replays when he was at brentford and i'm pretty sure he didn't pay any attention to the league cup really whatsoever but that was because they had to play within their means essentially like they had to stay up in those first early few years obviously um but i'd love a league cup I'd love a little trip to Wembley.

58:38Winning the FA Cup would be amazing for Tottenham and I'd love to do that. I think more than anything this season, like it's been so long since we've done that. I'd love to do that. But I also think that I don't think people can underplay how much getting that monkey off our back, how significant that was for us. And I think Thomas Frank, he's always going to kind of say these things, but when he came in in the summer, he was like, I noticed the mentality within the group. They're really hungry. They're really determined to go on and win more and all this kind of stuff. and of course he's going to say those things but I do think for the players just in terms of being able to get over the line I think they'll look at every cup competition with that confidence of we can do this of course we can do this we've won something we've been there now we've got the t-shirt so I'm excited to see how we attack them and hopefully we do attack them this season and we've got the depth maybe to be a bit more aggressive on all fronts now it's not perfect obviously but it's better than it was last season

59:31Jack:Son of a Shepherd at underscore Sheppardson asks for your favourite place on the high road to have a pre-match eat and your favourite pub pre-match to I'd actually to eat I'd probably say the same as one of my favourite pubs which is the Bluecoats Bluecoats is decent love Bluecoats but so far this season it's been I've been in the beehive for both home games I kind of alternate between those two to be honest for a drink sometimes the Antwerp as well quite like the Antwerp especially if the weather's nice with kind of the benches outside yeah the Bluecoats is good because it's like you know that you're going to get a decent view for if there's a 12.30 game and it's a 3 o 'clock you can go there like me and my stepdad go there early watch the 12.30 game and whatever usually last season it was like we'd get there super early it'd be some shitty Scottish game on a Sunday but the food's always nice in the Bluecoats as well they kind of changed the menu up quite a lot they've got good burgers sometimes people take over their kitchen and there was like some they went a bit like Pan-Asian with some of the food in their last season, which was nice.

1:00:34But pub, I would probably, pre and post game, I'd say Beehive, probably best atmosphere, great, good pub garden. And yeah, you can watch the football, which is good. And a good selection of beer. Although the selection of beer in the Bluecoach is better, I would say.

1:00:51Jack:If you're a bit further back, if you're coming from Seven Sisters way and you fancy being a bit of a soft football hipster type, true craft down there. Seven sisters is decent. Good pizza. Good craft beers, as the name would suggest. So, fancy a bit of that. Yeah, I've not done that yet. I've not done that yet, but I've seen a lot of people talking about it. Yeah, it's decent. It's a small one. We went in there before we played AC Milan in the Champions League and it had basically been taken over by AC. Oh, really? Italian's breaking stereotype there. You know, going for a pre-match pizza. Yeah.

1:01:25Jack:Matt Cipola at M underscore CIP 33 says, with Levy's exit, what were the three best and worst signings by Tottenham during his time? That feels like, actually, do you know what? That feels like a video unto itself, Ben. I might do that. Yeah. I saw, I was going to say, it's kind of fresh in my mind as well, because I saw the Flav did it on the club on Monday. He does everything. he's done it again that Flav right there some of the names that were coming out some of the bad ones because it was obviously like Rory and Adam McHugh putting them to Flav some of the names they were chucking in they weren't that bad but there are some that you kind of forget about with the money and whatever but if you want to do that as a video I'd save that one you threw Flav under the bus on the overlap didn't you?

1:02:21did I?

1:02:21Jack:From what I understand. I don't know what you're talking about, mate. I was on there because he couldn't do it. He put me forward. He tweeted about you sliding the knife in. Yeah, maybe that's just because he thought, maybe he's worried. Maybe he's a little bit worried that the text from the producer isn't going to go his way next time. Maybe that's what he's a bit worried about. Your warm breath on the back of his neck, that's it. there mate just yeah yeah he's there like i made you exactly how could you do this to me which to be fair is true like i owe a hell of a lot to flaff like he's been amazing to me over the last few years and kind of he was one of the first people that kind of gave me any sort of opportunity to speak on something so um you know i would never never personally twist the knife in but if you you know if he feels like a knife has been twisted then i can only apologize but he you know he'll be back on it he'll get his chance it'll be fine he might do he might yeah we'll see they might I want the young blood now, you know.

1:03:22Yeah, true. You never know. Carragher might get involved himself and just go, you know what, we really like that guy.

1:03:27Jack:He left me off last year, that Flav, didn't he? You know, when he said, just you watch. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And he's been stewing on that this whole time. That was an amazing clip, to be fair. That was unbelievable. You can live on that forever, Flav. That was awesome. I'll tell you what was amazing, seeing Flav making his way into football Twitter comps with moody music in the background. Yeah, like Frank Sinatra, my way. and it's just like Flav at the start, like you watch and then it's just Ange lifting the trophy. That was brilliant. I'll just ask you a couple more, mate, because we're running out of time here.

1:03:59Jack:But George Finger at DoNotFollow1882, he's told you, says, what's Ben Bowman's favourite insult been since the publicity around the Jockares and Jeans comment?

1:04:15Just a lot of the same, really. Just a lot of like, cunt. a lot of Spud are they people still saying

1:04:23Jack:Spud not really it's the most tepid banter that there's ever been Spud's kind of I think Arsenal fans probably realise that we just don't take that any seriously no I think there's just been a lot of no nothing really specific just a lot of just a lot of hateful words but the thing is right I saw a lot I posted a video about it on Twitter yesterday as kind of a response a little bit to it if you go in the comments on the video that I posted on TikTok there's a basically all of the Arsenal fans that commented on the actual original video on TikTok were like no I thought it was funny like it's just but then he goes over to I posted it on Twitter because there was a lot of stuff flying around about it on Twitter and Goldbridge was chiming in and there's a few other people as well and I was just like you know I have kind of my say when it reached Arsenal Twitter that's when it was like that's when it all stopped rolling in and especially because I made a video about a year and a half ago saying that I think Yoko Rez could be world class like the next day to Kane and Haaland and all that kind of stuff, which Arsenal fans gotchered me about two months ago because I was like, I don't give a shit.

1:05:24I was like, football makes hypocrites out of everyone. He's gone to you lot now. Of course, I'm going to kind of change my tune. I'd hardly really watched him. I just saw loads of goals banging and thought, this guy is going to be unbelievable. And, you know, I felt like it was almost in homage to Flav, actually. It was just to get a little dig in there about Arsenal. It was quite ironic because like a lot of like, Goldbridge was like reacting to it on a stream with some fucking Man United fan, Cockney Red, that was like, you know, he'd obviously pre-planned to say that, like on the train on the way up there.

1:05:53I was always thinking what, I can almost have my five minutes and get in. Didn't even know we were going to talk about Jokeres. It was just an arsehole fan talking and I just thought I'd throw a little jibe in there as anybody would. And it's not my fault they found it funny. Like if you're, don't put your issue at me, have your issue with Carragher. Don't hate me for being just a, you know, natural comedian. Yeah, exactly. Look, don't hate me because I'm funny. Like, it's just anything but that. Yeah, exactly. If Carragher drops that line in commentary, though, I would never...

1:06:17Jack:It would be unbelievable, mate. I saw that. That Arsenal game's not on Sky at the weekend. Because imagine if he was commenting on it and Ange got a victory over Arsenal. Yeah, it's TNT. And Carragher was on commentary talking about Jokeres playing in jeans after they'd just gone beaten by Ange. I was like, that's a perfect storm. But unfortunately, we'd have to wait a little bit longer. Ben, mate, there's lots of questions in today, but I won't take any more of your time. So I'm sorry to anybody whose questions we didn't answer. I do appreciate you coming on the show though, mate. Pleasure. Is there anything you want to push right now?

1:06:52Just YouTube, TikTok. That's where you can find the bulk of my Spurs content. My podcast with Will, Darren and doing his kind of backup and running now, the Spurs pod, which I'm enjoying a lot. Will's very funny. He put out a very funny tweet yesterday or a couple of days ago about Maranakis and Ange beefing on the touchline when they lose 4-0 and it was just Tony Soprano. Oh, was that him? That was Will, yeah. Yeah, that was brilliant. That was brilliant. So good. He messaged me just being like, I've never had a tweet bang like this ever. It's so funny. That was phenomenal.

1:07:26Jack:For anybody that hasn't seen it, it's the lake house punch up between Bobby Bacala and Tony Soprano. So good. Yeah, it's absolutely fantastic. But yeah, that's what I'd say. Thanks for having me on, mate. I appreciate it. Much love, mate. Thank you for giving us your time. All good.

1:07:42Thank you.