Transfer Window Reactions with Paul O Keefe (Q&A)

29:54You see Arsenal, obviously. they seem to have cemented their second position City well, City, I don't know what do we think of City at the moment they seem to be a bit chaotic to be fair which is unlike them but I definitely agree with you James Head at James Head underscore, I just want to say as well THFC Sammy asked about Savino but you pretty much answered it but James Head asks are the club in talks with Ben Tanker over a new deal his contract is up at the end of the season yeah and that's that's dragging on and I don't think there's anything to worry about with that but yeah they've been in talks for a while and you know when I ask the question what's going on it's just calm, relax, no issues so yeah I don't normally they like to announce contract extensions during the summer window.

30:54They don't normally spill over into the season. So a little bit strange whether they hold it till January. I'm not sure, but I don't think there's any issues from what I understand. Anyway, no one sort of said, oh, have you heard about Rodrigo? I can't agree or anything. I've not heard that. So as far as I know, it is on track. I did expect it to come out this summer in fairness, but yeah, a bit of a strange one in the timing. Perhaps, like I say, perhaps they're saving it for January in case they don't sign anyone. You can imagine he's probably quite encouraged by the fact that we've spent a bit of money, Romero's staying, they've obviously got a big bond, haven't they?

31:31Yeah, and that's another thing that we have to doff our cap to, the fact that they got the two extensions in the summer window, that obviously Cristina Romero is huge. I mean, him signing a deal, they probably haven't received enough credit for that, to be fair. But that is a massive thing for the club and for all the fans and for the team. I mean, now you've got your rocking defence with Van der Van. So, yeah, that to me was sensational. And, you know, maybe the stars aligned a little bit for Tottenham in a way because the interest wasn't quite there because of last season he suffered with injuries.

32:12and his form was a little bit up and down last year. He was a bit erratic. And I think that sort of helped put a seed of doubt in buying clubs' minds, which has obviously done Tottenham a favour because they've been able to pounce on that and sort of say, look, this is a very lucrative offer. This is a long-term deal. This will set you up for your future. We want you to be the captain of this club. You know, they've loved him enough for him to say, do you know what? Yeah, I'll do it. so great news for that one I mean I know it's naff and people don't like it but it is like a new signing isn't it that's the thing yeah because if he doesn't if he shows his intention is to just sit there you know with two years remaining yeah he goes through all the season oh well Christian Brown's going to leave so we're going to have to buy a centre bat it's just a bit of doom and gloom the lift that gives and the lift it gives the players in the squad as well to know he's sticking around if he's fucking sticking around, he's got, you know, he must have good reason for it.

33:14So younger players look at it and think, you know, this is the place I want to be. So, yeah, it's a fantastic result for Spurs and all of us as fans. Hear that? That's now Crispy and McCrispy Strips meeting creamy Caesar sauce. Sounds extra crispy. Caesar sauce at McDonald's for a limited time. chronic migraine 15 or more headache days a month each lasting four hours or more can make me feel like a spectator in my own life botox on a botulinum toxin a prevents headaches in adults with chronic migraine it's not for those with 14 or fewer headache days a month it's the number one prescribed branded chronic migraine preventive treatment prescription botox is injected by your doctor effects of botox may spread hours to weeks after injection causing serious symptoms alert your doctor right away as difficulty swallowing speaking breathing eye problems or muscle weakness can be signs of a life-threatening condition.

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34:41I'm not giving up. I am selling the building. The final season of FX is the Bear. The restaurant is flooded. Everything's either going to be okay. No, stop. Or not. We are outgunned and we are outmanned. We have each other. fx is the bear the final season all episodes now streaming on disney plus rolling fork on discord asked away says first of all i love paul's insight last time on how a transfer works uh which has me wondering how we seem to screw up the order of operations with paz or has the reporting just been a bit off yeah i find that i mean to be honest with you on that one completely honest i never even bothered chasing it because i looked at it initially and it and i found out that realm is really entitled to all these different clauses in in his yeah conjure and i just thought what we won't waste our time here i i just don't see it you know and i know that it was reported that supposedly in for him i didn't even ask on him because i just thought it's an absolute way so if the boy is going to be sold realm would be buying back and then selling themselves that's just pure business sense because of the they've got like 50 discount or something on him or it's just yeah they have a 30 million pounds or 30 million euro um option or something or 50 of his sales it's stupid there was i saw a tweet from fab outlining sort of different criteria that Ramadurian managed to put into this boy's contract.

36:24To me, I don't think Spurs would have had a look. I think Spurs would have probably considered it. Maybe they identified the boy, which they do. They identified the talent. Once they start looking into the contractual side of it, they go, actually, we might as well just kick him off our list because that's not possible. I don't think there was ever much in that. I think the stories about bidding and not bidding. I think they probably indicated in the number that they would go to, which is quite often the case. Yeah, people get confused with how the bidding works. You get approached as an agent by a club and they quite often tell you what their budget is.

37:09So you know whether you can make it work or not. I ignored that one for the main, to be honest. um alan thfc on discord says do you have any insight or have you heard anything about stadium naming rights um are they still being left unsponsored for a reason or is it another thing levy cannot sell i mean what because one thing i'd i'd sort of come to understand paul i might be way off is that the club actually saw there was better value in it just staying as the Tottenham Hotspur brand instead of getting someone else on there for that money? That certainly went around, that sort of theory, that sort of suggestion.

37:52And a lot of experts in that field did say, well, actually, yeah, because if you can get everything branded as the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium worldwide and it's known as the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, obviously with the help of NFL, then obviously, yes, yes. But then again, it also makes it more attractive to sponsors in the sense that, you know, this is now an established place. They've got links with the NFL, blah, blah, blah. You know, I was told a while back, and I hate really getting into the sort of takeover and investments talk because we've heard it so many times. And I keep repeating myself that we've heard it so many times.

38:30But this summer, there was, well, early, sorry, earlier in the year, something definitely, definitely changed. 100 % and I think it was pointed out to me today, I didn't actually notice it sort of escaped my mind but on the 29th of August Tottenham have uploaded to the company's house that they've basically took money from a bank so the investment has happened I think I think Enoch or

39:08potentially I think it's come from Enoch I think they definitely have money from what I understand and the next stage from what I'm told is that they're going through legalities of some sort of sponsorship deal which is quite a major, well it is a very major deal whether that's stadium, whether it's something else I can't honestly say but I do know that those wheels are in motion, there was talk that there would be extra board appointments. There was talk that Levy could, his role could change slightly. So there's different voices that are coming into the boardroom. And we've already seen that with obviously the presence of Vivian at the stadium from the Lewis families.

39:51She wants to be more actively involved. The Lewis family wants to be more actively involved, not Joe, but the other members of the family who are part of the trust. So there is definitely a sea change at Tottenham. But those sort of things can drag for months with the legalities going backwards and forwards, backwards and forwards, backwards and forwards. But the last I heard this morning, actually, that it's on track, was the description given to me. So it's going to be very interesting to see where that money comes from, how it's put into the football club, whether it's because AIA actually have a back this season and next season for the shirt sponsorship deal.

40:30now quite often in these big contracts there is a there is a get out so whether Tottenham can get out at the end of this season and announce someone else I don't know but that that's also a possibility so they could be could be related to the shirt sponsors or the overall sponsorship of the football club but there's definitely something afoot definitely there's every chance it's not going to be something uh household it's not going to be a household name is it it could well be another like AIA kind of just a... The money for sponsorship, I wouldn't be surprised if it came from Middle East. The sponsorship side of it.

41:07Investment, I don't think Tottenham will deal with Middle East money for actual having shares in the club. I don't think... At the price Tottenham want, you're eliminating so many possible options. I don't believe that investment even a minor one will necessarily come come from outside or middle eastern money but i do think a sponsorship deal which they can sign for 10 years or so then yeah i think they'll do that but the drop of a hat no question um joe at tottenham till i die 96 says uh has any publication ever tried to hire you um you could imagine a website getting lots of traffic if they were the exclusive home of your information?

41:57Yeah, not household names. I get approached a lot in DMs while these bloody betting companies, but I won't work with them. I just don't think that's right. And I have a thing where I'm not keen on profiting from Tottenham fans, so taking advantage of that aspect. You know, with a blue tick, for example, Yeah. Now I know people have them because they then want to make sure that, you know, someone's not copying them and all that sort of stuff and these official accounts. And I get that. But now you see so much on X where people are just tweeting utter drivel just to get a few impressions for Elon's 0.0.1 pence per tweet.

42:41I don't really go in for that anyway, because I quite often will be in just in conversation with someone and I might say something in conversation that gets huge traffic. But for Elon's money, I think you've got to keep making actual individual tweets. And I can't sit there doing 25, 30 individual tweets every single day. It just doesn't appeal to me in the slightest. I do have my patron, but I was invited on that show. There's four guys that talk about the Premier League. So I thought, well, that's fine because that's not targeting or trying to take advantage of Tottenham fans, you know, just for supporting the club.

43:19um so yeah um i i have i have refused a few bits but only like i say silly little fucking this rain bet and someone else that you know and crypto fucking hell my mentions are full of crypto people that want to want to sign up and god knows do do what else but yeah people keep telling me to start my own youtube that's what they keep telling me to do here we go i'll give you a hand mate i'll help you set it up yeah maybe in the future maybe maybe maybe but um yeah then it's time isn't it i mean it's literally becomes your job doesn't it and i've already got two jobs so you know with the football agency side um and and uh a sort of proper job if you like so yeah it's time and i spend enough time on my phone as it is to be fair a bit of time with the family doesn't hurt does it every again so yeah um billy t asked and everyone knows who billy t is asks what is the one thing about transfers that people should know but don't i i think we touched on it a bit just with the previous answer about when when you invest in a fee it's not just a fee it's you know people not that they they do know this they just sort of tend to ignore it you know when you when you invest in a footballer, you're not just investing in that transfer fee.

44:42You have to look at that over a five-year period, how much that player is going to cost the club. Like I said, if you sign a centre back at 30 million quid and end up paying him 60 million pound wages over five years, that's 90 million. You get another one next to him, that's 180. I think people tend to not understand that the sheer amount of money costing running a football club is outrageous and there's many clubs that I deal with that, you know, sort of rely on a crowd on a Saturday buying their burgers to sort of make ends meet. You know, there's players in the lower leagues that are in non-professional step one football earning £1 ,200, £1 ,400 a week.

45:25So it's just the numbers I think people don't truly appreciate. And like, it always makes me laugh when people say, oh, it's only £2 million quid. Mate, if you had two million quid, you wouldn't work again. Do you know what I mean?

45:42People, I think, what people don't understand is the sheer amount of money and costs involved. It's outrageous, the money that goes through the game. I get that, but I think people sort of dismiss it as nothing. I found myself, I can't remember I tweeted something during the transfer window like, I'll go on Spurs, I can't remember what player it was. I just said to him like, I'll go on, it's only 50 odd million quid. and then you catch yourself, don't you? You're like, just 50 odd million quid, you know. Yeah, I'm trying to do deals at£500 a week. Do you know what I mean? So, yeah. And chairman, I don't think people appreciate just how ruthless chairman are inside football.

46:22Literally, you know, you deal with a chairman that will just stop answering your goals completely. You're in negotiation for a player or to move a player to a club. There's three days to go or whatever. And they just don't answer the phone or just to completely blank you. And I was always told like the best negotiation in football is silence because no one knows how to sort of act when they're trying to push someone towards you. So, yeah, we just see it as a bit of a computer game. And I'm guilty of it as well. I'll quite often say, oh, just pay five million. Like you say, you catch yourself going, if it's not five million, is it?

46:58You can basically travel it. Tom at Tom Foynes asks it's a bit of a punchy one this one Paul is the Champions League squad a complete failure in Langer's part? He's had four windows to get the squad built on an individual and collective level and assuming the club think we'll be in Europe more often than not how is it that we've been left with these issues? Yeah we make no bones about it They've balled up the European stuff, haven't they? They've balled it up last year. They've balled it up, you know, sort of. Unfortunately, we're paying now for not addressing these issues two, three years ago, because had we done that, we'd have our club-trained players by now and all that sort of stuff.

47:42Yeah, there's not really many excuses in that respect. I mean, they'll say that we didn't want to just go on, because they could have gone and got, say, a car walker, who obviously would be club-trained, but they will no doubt come back and go, do you know what we don't want to just do that for the sake of it you know and also if you're that if you're that player I think this also gets sort of sidelined how do you feel if this was suddenly approaching because you know they need a club trained player and you're only going there as to make up the numbers yes it suits Tottenham and yes it suits our fans and it suits us overall but what about the player's career I mean if he ends up playing hardly any.

48:26He's just warming the bench because we've got a club training issue. They could have done a lot better and they have failed in that department. I think it's very difficult to find excuses for them other than the fact that they're thinking we can't just go and sign someone for the sake of it. But yeah, it's been a ball's up. There's no way around that. They messed up the club training. They messed up the homegrowns like they sold. They sold of players obviously that would have been homegrown and all the rest of it but yeah ultimately in a couple of years I believe we'll come through this and we'll be we'll be all right but um yeah we can't really excuse Lang for that it's been it's been poor and again we left as we sort of touched on the top we're left to this situation with a player like Tell whose confidence is already down and you'd imagine it'll be through the floor right now which is not ideal at all is it for a 30 million pound plus asset yeah i mean it's such a difficult one like we said earlier i mean like i say it's not a deal i would have done but that doesn't mean to say that we can't respect the lad and and and the fact that he's come from such a good pedigree and that he may well turn out to be sensational and like i said if he looks at jed as the example then hopefully that he can turn it around and hopefully he's got a good mentality on him and there's people around the club that are you know supportive of him and he can get through this difficult time at the moment and come through the other side.

49:51He'll get minutes, he'll get minutes in the Carabao and he'll get minutes in the league and he'll get minutes in the FA Cup. And it's till February, like I say. If he manages to get those opportunities and takes them over, say, Odovert, then, you know, let's hope that he can turn it around. Jack Darkin's just a shout out there because he asked a similar question to Tom's on the squad planning. Moby on Discord also says, there seems to be a disconnect between Langer's original mandate, which was young players with a high potential overlooked by other teams, and the transfer strategy this window of proven and Premier League proven stars.

50:37Does Paul have any insight on what's changed behind the scenes? Stream the biggest moments and sports live on Fox 1. The biggest names, the biggest games, the biggest matchups. Watch live or catch up on your schedule. At home or on the go, never miss a moment. All on Fox 1. Stream now. 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.

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51:54No, the plan was always originally to get to this stage. But once they got in, they wanted to get the crop of the European youngsters, if you like, some top picks in Europe, so that they would have some established players in, say, three, four years' time, which makes sense. You know, you try and cherry-pick those players. And the next stage of that was to build with the experienced players, which they've done this window. So, Johan's obviously very good with the youth, very good at spotting the talents and the trends and all that sort of stuff. And I think, you know, obviously now you've got...

52:33Not that he's never gone away, but now you've got Fabio even more involved. And it looks like he's going to obviously get a full-time role in either September or towards Christmas time. And he could even end up with a seat on the board, from what I understand. So I think it's just an involvement, to be fair. I think that they wanted to get these younger kids in because at the time, And when you think about the players that they had in the squad at the time, they did have the experienced players. They had the older players, they had the peers, they had all that sort of level of player. So, yeah, I think it's a natural involvement.

53:16I think that it could well work if you've got Johan, you know, talent scouting for the younger players across Europe and doing all that sort of research. And then you've got Paratici for the more established players. I think that's not the worst road in the world to go down. And apparently they get on. So, you know, Johan and Fabio get on. So that's another benefit. That's ideal. I think we did have another question. Oh, yeah. Jasam on Blue Sky had asked about Lange versus Paratici. But if they get on, then fine. They've worked together all summer, by the way. This summer they've done it all together.

53:56So, the only one, Eze was heavily pushed by Paratici. Eze was, the negotiations for Eze were done by Paratici and they were done by Daniel Levy. Johan wasn't involved in that particular transfer or failed transfer, you should say. But yeah, they've worked together all summer. So, there's not been, contrary to what we might have thought would be a conflict. from what I understand there isn't one. Simon Robin Brown on Blue Sky asks are there any transfer approaches or misses that we haven't heard about in the public's, you know, he says from the countless aggregators or are there any surprise departures that didn't happen?

54:47No, the departures was weird because they weren't getting they weren't getting, right, so you won't have heard this one but i was told that wrexham approached for ben davis um and he refused it so that's that's not it's a massive story but you know that's that's that's one that i did here um i didn't really investigate that much but yeah it's from a decent decent uh decent source so yeah that that one didn't didn't hit the main news sort of thing um yeah who else

55:24I think Tottenham looked at that Christian, is it Alcay or someone, Palace? Did he go to Palace in the end or did it collapse? Not sure, I can't keep up with it mate. No, no, yeah, I think that was another one that they looked at Lookman never, I mean, did we offer him a loan or something? Atalanta were basically touting this boy to everyone, all and sundry touting him to every Premier League club and obviously Tottenham had an issue where they needed the left winger now in the end they didn't press the button on they did have the option they did have that opportunity they wanted to do if they were going to do it they would do it on a loan with an option because they didn't want to end up being stuck um so but ultimately i think they i think that they think they've got a chance of getting someone in January.

56:18Otherwise, I think they would have done it, to be fair. And if not January, then obviously the plan will be next year, next summer. But yeah, I think the reason they didn't want to do that is because they didn't want an obligation, because I think they have other ideas long term. So I think that's why. Look, when we're there, it was an easy deal to do. We've got a great relationship with Atlanta. The representatives, we've got a great relationship with their side and our side. So it would have been an easy deal to do, but they sort of remained disciplined. I think, like I say, the reason they did that is because I think they've got other plans for that area.

56:56Spurs Simpsons asked, and he did clarify, he means it basically through the prism of Fabrizio Romano. He said, have the ITKs taken a hit more than ever before in this window? So I think, I don't know if you'd seen, but Romano was kind of, he was getting quite a few pelters and he was actually, he was biting on quite a bit of it, which I was quite surprised to see. Do you think there is maybe a more hostile environment at the moment for people reporting news? Oh, absolutely, yeah. Yeah, you can't get it wrong. I mean, and when you do, you put yourself out there to be shocked, don't you? I don't mind that so much.

57:34I mean, I take it on the chin, that's what happens. So, but people think that you just throw it out there for a laugh or, you know, you cannot, Romano's got 26 million people following him, right? So he has to be proper concrete in the information that he's been given. Now, that information he's been given could be wrong. If an agent tells you one thing, you're not going to say, well, you're a fucking liar, mate. This is the agent of the player. So, you know what I mean? You can't start second guessing the agent of the player who's told him X, Y, his head because that's what he told him. So, you know, if he said that Manchester City have come in for my boy and they're offering him a million pound or whatever a month, blah, blah, blah, then you've got to take that information as being fairly accurate.

58:20So I feel for him in that respect. But, yeah, I mean, the guy is obviously very successful. I doubt he's overly bothered. But he says himself, because I've spoken to him previously, he says himself he's not going to do this forever. He's going to Probably pack it in before it packs him in, I think. And from what I understand, he's earning a very, very good living out of it. So, you know, good luck to the guy. I've worked with him on a couple of things this summer, and he's been good as gold. He's been really a gentleman. So, yeah. But they do come for you. They're waiting for people to slip up.

59:00Of course they are. That's just the nature of social media, isn't it? the minute an opportunity arises people pounce of course i mean like curry's have been having a field day this summer they've uh the technology brand they obviously got big john in to advertise all their bosch range of uh appliances which is quite quite a small product punch but they've got fabrizio in as well to do a here we go on some sale or something that they had going oh yeah yeah i must admit i when i see some of the adverts he's aligned himself i sort of cringe and I think, well, you know what though? In 10, 15 years time, people like my daughters and all that, I don't know if I mentioned his name, I'd go, never heard of him.

59:43And he'd be sitting there a millionaire. So, you know, ultimately, yeah, it works for him. I'm not going to beat him up over doing adverts, but it's not what I'd do. But then again, I'm not, I've not got 26 million people to entertain. So, yeah. Well, if you get that YouTube, mate, you don't know. Could be you next, you know. David Richardson at Davy Rich 100 says, if the club feel they are up against it when trying to sign a player, Arsenal fan, Eze, why is it that the club don't make a final offer to the player, agent, and just get a strict walk-away deadline? If it isn't that simple, then why isn't it?

1:00:27With Eze's case, everything was done, though. I mean, that is, I know that fact. The boy had agreed, personal terms. The clubs had agreed on the principal amount and the number it would take. The only thing left to sort of decide was the structure of certain bonuses. So the base figure was agreed with Crystal Palace of£55 million,£5 million in add-ons. That was verbally agreed. Steve Parrish, yeah, we'll do that, we'll do that. Kept putting spurs off, kept putting spurs off, kept putting spurs off, finding different obstacles, different excuses to not sign the deal off. Now, obviously, once you're that far down the road, it's really difficult to sort of walk away because you've been told that your verbal offer is accepted and that you can move.

1:01:21Then, from what I understand from his representatives, the information that they've told, let out is that basically the players' wishes were that if Arsenal were to come in and offer exactly the same whatever terms, he would go to Arsenal. And ultimately whether it was the agent, whether it was the player or someone that got on to Arsenal and said look, if you don't make your move now, then you're going to miss him out on this player, blah, blah, blah. And ultimately they've had to sort of adhere to the players' wishes because the player wanted to go to Arsenal. That was not indicated earlier.

1:02:01That was... It was always a case of Arsenal haven't come home from me, so I'm going to go to Tottenham. That was the deal. And Tottenham had everything agreed. Like I said, they verbally agreed the amounts. It was just the little bits and pieces about how certain bonuses would be achieved on Hachi. But yeah, it's what I had to do. Yeah, it was a sucker punch. and like I say, I think Parrish was also, you know, holding up the deal and coming up with different excuses as to why they couldn't press the button. Whether he was already negotiating with Arsenal, it makes you a little bit suspicious. If we look at the way that Romero treated Harry Kane when they met up in the summer, I'm kind of intrigued to see how Gise is going to be treated come the North London derby.

1:02:55That's a good point. An added little element to it, isn't it? Yeah, absolutely. Not that I'd advocate any sort of violence or anything against footballers. And see, normally all that sort of stuff wouldn't be that public. Do you know what I mean? If we were talking about earlier, we're the bygone era, but with social media, like every part of a deal, like, you know, you've got Steve Parrish who's spotted in Carnaby Street shopping and people are taking photographs of him. I saw that. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. Wow. and then the other day the other day he was just playing trainers or something wouldn't he you know well the Mark Gahey deal I mean I know and it's subsequently come out funny enough because someone messaged me and said why the fuck is Parrish in the F45 gym at 6 o 'clock when he's doing time supposed to be doing a deal for Liverpool's Mark Gahey I was like what are you talking about mate and then the next day it was in the fucking newspapers that basically he was in the gym having a bit of a sweat off whilst Gahey's moved to Liverpool basically he pulled it and told him it's going to collapse.

1:04:00So yeah fucking hell man, it's like mad. And then I saw that Spurs are supposed to have gone for that Mateta or something, someone reported that yesterday. Can you imagine the relations between Parish and Levy at the moment? I mean I just don't believe that that's... Especially on deadline day when you have your next best player on deadline day. Structured deal you know maybe loan up front not just come on i mean mark gay poor guy i mean he actually posed for photographs and done a medical wow and done a goodbye video i mean how bad is that i mean you can't even believe it when he's wearing the fucking shirt of louisville that he signed for you know it's just people say oh when he's holding the shirt mark gay was fucking wearing one you know unbelievable so yeah crazy world of football some people framed it as well which I thought was quite interesting obviously his contract's up in summer that that's a hell of an expensive loan that's yeah that's what I said was that you?

1:05:05yeah I said that to a couple of people like basically let's just say for argument's sake they're letting go in January for 25 so he's paid 10 million for a loan fee on a player that's totally fucking disheartened now and totally demoralised to£10 million for a four-month loan? Is it such... Yeah, your ego's on my charge, mate, but is it really good business for the football club? I'm not convinced. And if he does... If Gaiuton says, no, fuck you, I'll stay till the summer and I'll go for nothing, he'd be well within his rights, in my opinion. It's just misplaced, isn't it? And it does... It reminds you, as much as we dig out Levy for being a disaster or whatever, that the club don't know what they're doing half-time.

1:05:45You look at somebody like Parrish, who has ultimately he messed up and got Crystal Palace kicked out of the Europa League. Yeah. And then he's gone on and done this type of stuff all summer to kind of save face. And I guess he saved a bit of face with Eza, but he's pretty much undone it with this Gahey deal because most people unanimously just think it's stupid what he's done. Yeah, totally, totally. Yeah. Just a couple more just sort of fun ones now at the end, Paul. Yeah. Daniel at DanielTHFC6 says, what's the funniest Levy story you've ever heard? I've told this before. I don't know if it's a funny story, but basically an agent that I know had a player that was going to Tottenham.

1:06:30And when he met Daniel, he said to the agent, first of all, you should be honoured and privileged that a club like Tottenham is even looking at your player. so before we start negotiations let's get that straight getting on the front foot well there yeah nice that's the that's the only one i've ever heard about daniel apart from you know he's very hard-nosed i've faced in negotiations and he has a very strong opinion and to be fair to the guy he does back when he goes into negotiations for spurs he does back to spurs spurs are the greatest thing on the earth you know when he's selling it to a player um and yeah another little funny um story actually was when when when a stadium was being built that one of the guys um in charge of sort of the the men on the ground if you like would get phone calls at three four five o 'clock in the morning saying oh this that the other and not in the corporate they had this is another silly little thing but in the corporate boxes and then all the you know where they do the food bowls and all that shit daniel had gone around and said he weren't happy with the napkins so last minute they had to get rid of all the napkins and all of these new napkins that Daniel Levy had signed off.

1:07:43So, yeah, silly little things like that. He's meticulous to detail. But I think that's just him all over, isn't it? But to be fair to him, when he goes into bat for Spurs, he does bat big time for Spurs. Luke, at LukeSign1998, says, where and how did your journey in football start? And whose fault is it that you're a Spurs fan? bunk in school basically so when i when i was what that's not was it see yeah when i just started i mean i i my my earliest sort of memory of it was the 80s sort of 80 cup final 81 cup final the qpr the replay glenn hoddle penalty blah blah blah so we're going back to too many years but yeah so I've lost that, 45.

1:08:34Yes, I was about eight or nine. But then when I got to go to senior school, myself and a good pal of mine, lifetime friend, John Dennin, we used to bunk school together, right? And in them days, there was a midweek league called, I think it was the Ovedon Combination, combined counties league football. And you would have West Ham playing Spurs and you'd have, it was a chance for the younger players to get games, but they did actually use the throne and the senior players as well. Anyway, long story short, from my house at the time, when it was near like Heathrow Airport, the Piccadilly line, the furthest point on the train was Cockfosters.

1:09:14So to get as far away from the area as possible, they used to come and find us hiding in the park and all sorts. So we used to just jump on the tube and go up to Seven Sisters and then walk up the Tottenham High Road and watch a combinations county league game against Oxford City or West Ham. Yeah. So that's how it started. But yeah, there was no one in the family that was Spurs, funny enough. Yeah, not really a great football family, to be fair. I didn't come from a sort of football heritage or anything like that. So yeah, basically Tottenham was the furthest ground away, pretty much. That's quite interesting, mate.

1:09:54That's really interesting. Yeah, it's stupid, but yeah, that's actually true. And then that was it. Once I went there, I was like, wow, that's it. this is the club for me. And yeah, I remember going to, my first junior Spurs membership was two quid to get in for a game. It's not bad, is it? I used to watch Paul Gascoigne for that, mate. Two quid to watch Gaza. What's a kid's, I mean, average cat B for an adult now is about 70 quid, isn't it? So what's, what's that for a kid now? I don't know. God knows that probably 40, 45. I saw, I saw, they're doing Doncaster for like 30 quid on a midweek night which seems a bit stupid but I suppose they've done the algorithms and worked out who will buy them and who won't buy them but yeah I thought it was a little bit strong 30 quid for a Carabao Cup game I remember when they used to do those for a tenner that was quite nice yeah exactly I think the thing is right it's so easy it's so easy for me to give Spurs money away but it's so easy to do something for season ticket holders isn't it like they give you essentially a season ticket holder is lending you money as an organisation.

1:11:04They're investing in you for the year ahead and that year ahead could be fucking shit. Do you know what I mean? And there's no promise on the players in. And there's no, yeah exactly, there's no, oh if you say one bad word we'll take it off you and we'll keep your money and all that sort of stuff. But there's no sort of, do you know what, we really appreciate the fact that you're lending us money for a whole year, so therefore we'll give you two Carabo Cup tickets. It would cost them hardly anything, but that little token would be so well received and help build relations between the club and the fans, you know.

1:11:38They don't do fuck all like that. I suppose it's a case of, well, we don't need to, which is a shame because sometimes you might not need to do something, but to do it, it goes such a long way. And that's where old Vinay was supposed to come in, wasn't it, and come up with these initiatives. Yeah, I think communication-wise, they've been better. and I love the way Thomas speaks the manager because he's just like Saturday we just weren't good enough that's not acceptable straight to the point no fucking flushing around looking at the floor and all the rest of it proper manager so yeah delighted to have Thomas on board and the last one is a little less grumpy at Pugtastrophe on Twitter says is Paul aware that a lot of people, a lot of people think he's actually Bill Nicholson.

1:12:33Yeah, I do get the odd tweet. It's always funny. I mean, by now they should know because I've managed to put myself out there enough to sort of, but yeah, I get, I often get in the state of your old cunt and all the rest of it. Yeah. I'm like, you know, calm down. You're in your 60s sort of thing. And I'm thinking, hang on, they must have looked at that picture and think it's actually me. and the whole story behind it is 2009 i joined twitter so what is it now it's 25 now it's fucking 16 years this kid mad isn't it oh it's just this yeah it's it's it's horrible so there's kids of sort of you know that were 18 years ago two years of age so do you know what i mean like oh 16 years ago with two years of age sort of thing you know so they they haven't growing up with it but i've always kept the same avi so because i thought if i can change it now it's going to confuse the hell out of people but yeah i don't mind uh i don't mind um people people like i've got this one account that just um has been set up which basically just retweets everything i i i tweet and they've taken my profile picture off of linkedin as as the profile oh really that's a bit creepy and and the byline in the in the bio is po is god which um is even more concerning you have to uh check the bushes outside the house it's all good fun it's all good fun paul it's been an absolute pleasure again mate i really really appreciate your time like i said at the top um no i always love this one this is good oh cheers right just just a reminder to everybody um where can they listen to your pods and uh who who do you pod with?

1:14:18Yeah, so the pod is with three top guys from different clubs in the Premier League. So we've got X of West Ham, we've got the Bobble of Everton, and we've got Team News and Ticks of Arsenal, which is always an interesting dynamic, so we can always go off at each other. And the patron is at Inside Forward, forward with F-O-R-E-W-R-D. But if you're struggling, just go to my profile page on Twitter, You'll see the link and you can sign up for free or just give us a listen whenever. Thanks very much, Paul. Brilliant, man. Thank you.

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