Eze on the move, the Isak saga continues, PFA awards and more!

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2:05haha ryan how you doing how you doing how am i doing yes yes yes it's a stadio podcast it's a chaotic intro starting something new starting something new true i kind of like

2:17Ryan Hunn: this actually i'm not gonna lie i i like the straying outside the hello and welcome to back outside the lines yeah we're straight in there yeah can i do the intro soon do it yeah of course do it do the i would like there to be of course you can the option of course you can yes because i've only ever done the intros when you've not been around yeah do them but anyway hello welcome everyone second the second podcast since we have strayed into i don't know strange waters strange i can't think i'm very much um first of all i want to appreciate everyone who hit us up and was like you guys are back oh the energy blah blah it was it felt very much like first it's like moosa looks sharp but ryan looks like he definitely looks like he came back to pre-season late nobody has said that nobody nobody has said that first things first we hope everyone staying safe and well thanks to everyone who signed up for the patreon so far the support it's been amazing oh yeah yeah patreon.com forward slash stadio if you want to sign up for ad free podcasts or the stadio social club where you get to connect with other people in the stadio community yeah we're really really grateful for everyone who's signed up already it's been like the response has been great and um we're going to keep an eye on it keep kind of checking in and as for the podcast from next week it all start kicking into gear where the monday show will be on the free feed every week the Monday Thursday on the podcast membership ad free in full and then you get an extra one if you sign up for the Stadio Social Club other bit of admin if you haven't checked the film that we made to look to re-launch this is Stadio your directorial debut yes yes Stadio Films on YouTube if you want to watch the full version on YouTube or Stadio Football is our Instagram go and check it on there you just have to do a bit of rotating your device.

4:11In 2023, a source sent me a tip. It tied baseball's biggest star to a vast, illegal sports betting operation. Shohei Otani! But then someone surprising confessed to me, his best friend.

4:28Ryan Hunn: I'm Epey Mizuhara, and you do have permission to record me. From 30 for 30 podcasts, this is The Betrayal of Shohei Otani. Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts.

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5:22Ryan Hunn: So we have to probably talk about Eber Echieze. We have to, we have to. Because that's kind of come out of nowhere. Yeah, it's wild. After looking like, well, Arsenal's interest all summer, and then it looking like it was going to go to Spurs and Spurs moving into pole position for him and it kind of being away for like a week, right? Kai Havertz gets injured. News of that injury comes out, which is obviously a real blow still. And a player that we love and I obviously love very much as an Arsenal fan. So I hope that's not too, too serious. But it's serious enough that Arsenal have moved in the transfer window and gone back in for Eberrecheze and it looks like it's basically done.

6:02Ryan Hunn: it's had the Ornstein tweet the Romano tweet the here we go right kind of wild we were on Arseblog on the Arsecast with Andrew talking about this as well but we're going to do a little bit now on it more interested in your take as a non Arsenal fan so many interesting things the first the headline is what a great part of the of the Eze story arc having started out to Arsenal now to complete his journey there. I think it's a great signing for so many reasons. I think it's a perfect fit for Arsenal. It's strange because it felt like they'd been kind of dragging their heels a little on it, considering how long the Eze name had been there.

6:50And the circumstances, the conditions for the deal didn't seem like the most complicated in order to execute. And I wondered a little why Arsenal were kind of not really pushing on with it. it's awful that it's taken the injury to Havertz to be a catalyst for a signing that I thought should have been made earlier. Now that he's there, I think that it can liberate the forward line really, really well. And it takes a lot of pressure off some of those younger players like Waneri and Lewis Skelly to be a creative fulcrum in the middle of the pitch there. And I just can't see the downsides to this.

7:25You get a highly motivated player who's achieved so much at Palace who's had to go up against teams with far greater resources and has come out on top and now the stage just looks set for a really exciting next phase for his career and maybe even for Arsenal too.

7:43Ryan Hunn: Yeah I mean I'm so excited about it. I think that you know saying in the Stadio Social Club Discord that sometimes sign is just not deep right yeah like he's a player that I just really, really want to see play for Arsenal. And I'm really glad that he's, what it looks like he's going to play for Arsenal. It does, I think it does say that he's going to play in the qualifier, the conference league qualifier for Palace and then go, then do his medical. It's not like, it's not all chill. Right, no, yeah. A lot of people are worried about injuries in that game. Yeah, I'm not sure about this. Yeah, yeah.

8:21Ryan Hunn: But yeah, bar anything, massively unfortunate, it looks like he's going to join. yeah I kind of love it I think from a obviously the positives in an Arsenal sense are obvious right I'd rather move it into looking at it from what it means now for Spurs and also for Palace because I think Spurs have had quite a good window but they needed to do more especially with Madison injury Kulicevsky not back yet as it would have been a really really good piece and especially after losing Son I think he's he's someone who could come in there and be that kind of player for Spurs. Do you think they move for someone else now?

9:06Ryan Hunn: Do you think they have to? I think they have to. I'm just not sure who else out there is A, good enough and B, gettable. That's the thing. Who can they get? Luckman? Fabulous player. Would you have him on that flank coming across? he can play it with an overlap like his hat trick actually against Atalanta he was cutting in a lot I think he can play there I think Eze's better but Lukman is a signing actually in terms of giving him a platform for his talent I think it's amazing I think that's amazing I think he would be a really good signing you know it's so funny that's a great shout actually and he's gettable he's very gettable from Atalanta I mean they they bargain pretty hard Well Inter were in for him for ages I think it looks like he's not going there anymore and a few other clubs have been linked The problem that Levy has is that everyone now knows what Levy is willing to pay for a left winger Yeah I don't think I don't think Lutman would cost as much as Eze would though Not well Atalanta do you know what they drove they drove a hard bargain over Hoyland and they sell pretty well but I love I think I think he's worth the money.

10:24And I think actually, you talk about a fit and a player with something to prove back in the Premier League. I like that actually. Yeah, great shout. Great shout. So there you go, Spurs. Look, you could do, if you're worried about replacing, I mean, the Eze thing, psychologically, I think for Spurs is a real...

10:42Ryan Hunn: Yeah, I mean, there's obviously, the banter went into full force. And it's going to happen, right? It's just like, people have their fun, go do it, do whatever. It'd be the same if it was the other way around. it is a real blow for Spurs because it is a player that they really really needed and if I was a Spurs fan I would be really really upset with how this was handled at executive level because it was right there and by all accounts it felt like it seems like they've kind of maybe been going back and forth on some clauses and stuff like this and they've essentially just like fumbled it and on the back of winning the Europa League and getting into the Champions his league again doing okay in the Super Cup not getting it over the line but putting in a good performance they needed a big summer and I think they've actually signed really really well I think Eze would have made that summer business look really really good and now I feel like they not only need a signing from a from a footballing point of view but I think they need it from a morale point of view and a good one because every every signing that they make now especially in that position is going to be put up against what it would have been like signing Eze.

11:51Yeah, and he was right there.

11:52Ryan Hunn: Yeah. So I really sympathise with Spurs fans because it's not a... Look, I mean, we've... It's like the Wanyama deal. You know what it's like when Arsenal went in for Wanyama and they nickel and dimed it and they asked a certain amount and Arsenal were like, oh no, we're going to pay, I think it was like eight or ten and Southampton were like... But Southampton, I think it was at the time, Southampton, and it was like, they just wasted time over it. And it was really... And it was... Wanyama was a player, they really needed Arsenal at that point in their arc. They really needed him. And they went sideways, I think, as a result of not getting him.

12:26And I think for Spurs now, the key must be, look, just dust yourselves off, get the signing in and just try and ignore the noise. Because I think Thomas Frank can really build something quite compelling there. I think he can. And I think he needs the tools. You saw that, the PSG game, they were really resilient. They had to absorb a lot of shock because PSG, even a knack of PSG, are still a serious proposition. They're trying to build something resilient. I just think that I think Eze's real value for Spurs would have come through the middle, actually. I think he would have been really good in wide areas, but they've actually got quite good width Spurs, even without Eze.

13:01You know, Kudus and Johnson, they're not slouches. I just think in the central area, we'd have seen something really exciting in terms of a ball carrier. And I don't know, again, where you really get that calibre of player this late in the window. But, you know, there's quality in the market.

13:17Ryan Hunn: That's why I think the Luckman thing is the one to go for, because it looks like he wants a move. You know, obviously people want to play in London. Spurs are in the Champions League. They can offer him a lot. And he has unfinished business, I think. Yeah. So yeah, I think it's not done, done, done. So maybe we'll go back to it when it is done. Yes. But another kind of transfer story is the ongoing Alexander Izak. Yes, the drama, the saga. So he released a statement that everyone would have seen by now. And then Newcastle released a statement which everyone would have seen by now. this one I kind of want to get into but I feel like it's it's we're going to know so much more and be able to talk about it more when we have a conclusion right that I feel like I kind of want to save it and do the big yeah the big exact episode yeah but I mean what's your initial like thoughts on where this is going to end up because I feel like we can get into I think maybe I think we can save the kind of like where there promises but also he signed a contract kind of discussion for when we know that there's an outcome so headline frustrating summer for newcastle i guess maybe there's a mix up at executive level or some transition going on there and just not getting some deals done which newcastle might look at and think are we we could really have got something like liam de lapp and joao pedro felt like the more gettable of the targets really frustrating for them i think and isak as well for his part i mean conversations about like how he'd maybe planned this to be his last year.

14:44And of course, had a breakout year so good that he was in the PFE team of the year. And look, it's ahead of, in my opinion, ahead of the curve in terms of his talent. Isaac is already at that point where he's just balling out. Where it ends up in terms of for Newcastle, I think it's quite a chastening summer because you would hope to have brought in maybe slightly more players of the very highest quality. I think Alanga is a great signing, as so is Jacob Ramsey. So they've kind of rescued a bit of the window there. And they've actually given, ironically, they've given Isak a really, really good platform.

15:19They've given an even better platform, I think, now than he had last year. You know, you had Wilson going out the door. But I think that Elangor and Ramsey complement what Isak does so, so well. If they can hang on to him, and I think they probably more likely will at this stage. It's going to go down to the wire. Let me put it that way. It will go down to the wire.

15:39Ryan Hunn: So Newcastle don't need the money. He's under contract and I think that they will want to play him.

15:48Ryan Hunn: So my gut feeling is that he probably doesn't move this window, that there's an agreement put in place that they'll let him go next season, but they'll actually do a proper agreement. And then he'll end up at Barcelona or somewhere. If he moves this window, it's Liverpool. I think that's it. if he doesn't move this window I'm not sure it will be Liverpool long term that's based on zero intel or anything like that it's just a bit of a kind of like a hunch because I think if you look at Barcelona where they're going to have to upgrade next season to be honest they could have done it this season but I don't think they just cannot afford it and we'll talk more about Barcelona because there's a lot of turmoil especially on the women's side which is very concerning for them going into the new season I think they've only currently got 17 senior squad players but yeah I think on the men's team I think centre forward is the spot that they really really need and Isak is perfect for Barcelona oh totally so I mean you said on Monday Liverpool need Isak I think if they get him it'll be this window I think this is why it's so key for Liverpool because I think if they miss it in this window I'm not sure he'll end up being a Liverpool player because what they're buying if they get Isak in the door that is their next generation forward line.

17:08Vietz, Eketike, Isak is just... I know, I know. That is... It's absolutely terrifying. Because any one of those can create and finish. Yeah. Yeah, it's unreal. It's terrifying, man. Honestly, that prospect is terrifying. And I don't want to think about it. But yeah, Liverpool have to act, they've got to act like really, really quick.

17:29Ryan Hunn: Yeah. And they must be able to afford it, right? Because otherwise they wouldn't have even been... No, of course. Yeah, yeah, yeah. exploring it but I think if he's if he's going to go this window as well I think that's the thing like if he goes this window it's going to have to be a mega mega mega mega fee because like you say the Barcelona job is right there Lewandowski is aging out Ferran Torres is a great deputy Rashford I think yeah he's not like Rashford will be a wide player there's a really good supporting cast but the Barcelona role is it's sitting and waiting and someone's if someone is smart at Barcelona they've already handed him a shirt through a third party to an intermediary someone's already given him a shirt with the name on the back this could be you this could be us but you're playing the sweet nothings i would look can i just say anyone listen to this podcast i would love to be an intermediary you know intermediaries like meet like potential signings please i'd love to be you'd be a terrible i'm low profile I'm low profile listen I could meet you in a low profile context like oh there's the intermediary how do you know because you always wear that gold jacket do you see do you see the intermediary yeah right here like James Tarkovsky telling on yourself telling on myself the other night shouts to Leeds by the way winning their opening game of the season yes absolutely the Metro penalty look good they look good Leeds actually yeah yeah I mean it's been a few days now but like I'm saying that every time I looked up because I was multitasking watching the game every time I looked up it seemed like everyone was just in Everton's box but yeah also shouts to Ed a friend of the show who hipped us to the Photoshop thing of Tarkovsky the genius lyrics thing of MFD Mr.

19:18Ryan Hunn: Fantastic Tarkovsky pointed to his arm and he was like do you see the portrayal yeah I'm right here yeah I handballed it can i say on on just before you being an intermediary yeah i'd love to be an intermediary there's two things i want to be in football an intermediary and a member of a consortium i just think it's so like oh that's the consortium i wouldn't necessarily do anything it's just like oh he's in the consortium what would i like to be in football a sporting director you'd love it i'd love to be a sport you'd love to you've got such sporting energy you'd love it love it that's actually good footballing roles you'd like to be i think yeah send them in yes hello at studio.football footballing jobs in football that you would like like what what specific jobs in football and why and if anyone needs an intermediary i'm right here

20:14Ryan Hunn: the only the only use of the new meme the price of the brick just went down world's worst go-between oh yeah what happened to the media yeah he signed himself to juventus he went to talk to players that actually you could buy me look i'm into your in the first intermediary to the blue co has bought blue co bought an intermediary and loaned him to strasbourg actually on that NCISO has been bought by Blueco and will play for Strasbourg with the view to being a long term Chelsea player which is interesting time for his career NCISO yeah because it looked like he was going to be the next big thing right there was a couple of signings that Brighton made or a couple of things that happened at Brighton where they kind of went sideways nothing serious nothing too dramatic but NCISO is one of the few you look at the young ones that come in and you think, ah, actually, it didn't necessarily pan out as hoped or expected.

21:17You could maybe add Ferguson to that, I would say, who's over at Roma now, in terms of players that didn't quite develop. But it's a bit of a difficult one for NCISO because, yes, the plan is to be a long-term Chelsea player, but there's always a slight alarm bell when you're 21 years old and you're being loaned out and it could be a long way back because the path back for NCISO into Chelsea is not that obvious. It's not that obvious. They have a lot of attacking talent in the mix and he's not going to get the keys, right, in that sort of midfield configuration. There are some very good players at Chelsea and it's not immediately clear what he walks back into.

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22:43but then someone surprising confessed to me his best friend i'm me pay me to hire and you do have permission to record me from 30 for 30 podcasts this is the betrayal of shohei otani listen now wherever you get your podcasts we mentioned leeds very quickly who won their opening game

23:07Ryan Hunn: this season at home 1-0 as did Real Madrid we've got a first look at Javi Alonso's Real Madrid in La Liga this season also with a penalty Kylian Mbappe being brought down and converting the penalty for Real Madrid wearing the number 10 shirt he's taken that and Endric has been given the number 9 not unbelievable from Real no not dreadful no okay so let's give credit with credit to you Osasuna they came to madrid and defensively really impressive really disciplined uh i mentioned that we were chatting actually you and i about boyomo who was brilliant i thought right side at center back still quite young 23 and i think a lot of people will be looking at that guy differently after this performance he was so impressive and gave vinicius in particular really difficult time of it trent from madrid came in field from very early on sort of inside right position looked really comfortable.

24:06And I think we can expect more of that. I think it was pretty hard going for Madrid, though. In those central areas, Chiromene struggled. And there'll be a thing about ball carrying in the middle of the pitch. They're using Arda Gouler centrally, which is quite interesting. And Mastantuono came on, the sign from Ripley in the summer, came in with about 20 minutes to go. And I think those two players, those young players, are going to have to carry a lot of the attacking burden for Real in the middle of the pitch. But overall, I think Madrid, rather like Arsenal against United, just happy to get out there with the points.

24:39You know, no real drummers. But maybe a couple of, it's maybe too early to say there are kind of things to be concerned about for Madrid. It's the first game. But they looked like they made quite hard work of it, actually.

24:54Ryan Hunn: Yeah, because I think what Javi Alonso would want them to be and what they were is quite far away, right? So they have to strike that balance of being vibey, but also playing in a tactical sense that how Javi Lonzo is going to want him to play. Loads of positives, though. I thought Halston was amazing. Looks like he's been there for years. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, really looks like he's been there for years. Great. The kit fits. The kit suits. Yeah. We were talking about this, weren't we, about how some people turn up in that Real Madrid kit and it takes a while. Just like purely aesthetically, not football-wise.

25:26Ryan Hunn: Yeah, yeah. Beckham always looked weird. in the Real Madrid kit. Yes, yes, yes. And actually, it took a while for Mbappe to suit it, but Halson, instant yes. Trent, instant yes. The thing with Mbappe that helps him is that he runs like, he's got like, it's like a swan taking off with like the white shirt. Like, is he elegance? When I think Mbappe, I think that hat-trick against Man City, actually, not that that's when he arrived, don't get me wrong, but when he did that, it was like, he'd already scored a ton of goals in the league, don't get me wrong, but that really put to bed said anything about, does this guy dramatically raise the team's ceiling?

26:05And I think a lot of the noise around Mbappe, I think after that in particular, just went away because the Champions League is what a player like Mbappe is really judged on. Hausson was so good that you might argue he is a starting centre-back even when Rudiger comes back. You might even argue as Hausson and Rudiger over Militao, that's how good he could potentially be I think already very early days but really exciting for him yeah I think Madrid this year it could be it's going to be a grind it's going to be a bit of transition I think for everyone getting comfortable in that midfield they've got quite a few injuries Camavinga's out as well so we've still got a lot to see for Madrid in terms of what their final form is going to be but yeah some positive early signs I think for them

26:55Ryan Hunn: We had some Champions League qualifiers this week we did it's not looking good for Rangers and Russell Martin already there's a lot of there's a lot of discontent they lost 3-1 at home to Brugge on Tuesday that's not Brugge are a good they're a good Champions League side this is the thing I think it's always difficult when you have a reverse like that and people are you know down on it but Brugge have been they've been a nasty opposition in terms of they've been a difficult opponent in the Champions League for a while now. They've got the experience, they've got the chops. So I just, you know, I would always like, I was always playing for a bit of patience really.

27:38They've been around and they've been a problem for a while actually. That's not the most pleasant draw the Rangers could have got.

27:45Ryan Hunn: Celtic drew 0-0 at home to Kyra Almaty. Fenerbahce Benfica 0-0 in the first leg of that one as well. But we'll check in with all of the Champions League stuff after the second legs. as the Europa League qualification and Conference League qualification tonight. Obviously Palace, like we mentioned, playing in that. And actually not the way, now there's something I said on the Ask cast, but just to sort of reiterate, sort of restate it. Losing Eze this late in the window, all of a sudden that Conference League potential, if they can get through to the Conference League, it's not the worst thing because the Europa League without Eze, it makes it a lot, lot harder.

28:24and actually the Conference League, you know, Glasner is such a great coach. If they can get a decent, if they can get in with that money, do you know what? Get two players. Get two or three.

28:34Ryan Hunn: We didn't really talk about Palace at the time. Should we revisit Palace a little bit? Yeah, let's do that. Let's do that. Yeah, yeah. Probably the first slight rumblings of discontent from Glasner, I think probably since he's been there because he's, you know, I think the transfer stuff has annoyed him a little bit. But also, they've been in that weird limbo thing where they've had Dougie Freeman leaving before the end of last season and they've only just replaced him I think Matt Hobbs has come in from Wolves so their summer business was done by Freeman's assistant sporting director at the time and it reminds me a little bit of Arsenal went through something similar when Edu left and they hadn't replaced him and there was a bit like oh there's some contracts that he's doing and a window was quiet but that's because Arsenal didn't have anyone in that role properly.

29:24Ryan Hunn: Someone was filling in on an interim basis. And so I kind of understand the frustration from Glasner because you would have thought that having won the FA Cup and then the Community Shield and also going into Europe and Palace being I mean like I think Palace is such a good destination for any young player or any player actually but any young player who's looking to develop any highly rated young player to potentially be losing Eze and Gehi and I mean we mentioned we talked about it with Andrew on the Arscast but it looks like they're interested in Jakob Kivior which I think would be a really good signing and he deserves to be playing and starting Premier League games I think he's really good but yeah I wonder if it's maybe there's going to be a little bit of suffering from the palace side from from the palace point of view because they may not be able to get anything done in this window it's a difficult one because if you're going to sell ese then you want to sell him early in the window to have the spending money to really look around and see who's there right before people kind of like just get back on with it with their with their respective clubs.

30:45And if you look at the, I mean, when I'm instinctively thinking who could they get in, I look at Serie A because Serie A, you have like affordable players, gettable players. So someone like, I don't know, Kone, Roma, for example. Like if you're going to get like two or three players, you're looking for that kind of like to bolster the midfield drive as well. Palace ultimately, I think will be fine because they've shown they can develop like talent to nearly level. Elisa went straight from Palace to do that at Bayern. Eze will go on, I think, and do really exciting things at Arsenal. So it's an incredible platform for talent and I think it can be sold as that and now they've got the spending money.

31:27I don't think they'll rush, I don't think they'll panic, but the thing is as well, you know, to your point, again, it's keeping Glasner happy because you have a, you have one of the best coaches that will ever coach at Crystal Palace and he loves it. He loves doing the job and he's built something. I mean, again, we talk about this. He lost Elisa and then went and became 12th, only a few points off Brighton in eighth and delivered that, delivered a trophy and a 12th place with, you know, with a squad that was, you know, competitive, but still, I still feel like he coached Palace to pretty much the edge of their potential.

32:03So, you know, I share his frustration. Well, not to the same degree, but as a football fan, I feel a bit of frustration for Palace that they couldn't really kick on. There's still a bit of time in the window. There's still time, you know. And if I'm a young player looking at, if I'm a young, God, look at me, as a young player looking at the path that Palace give you and the chance to play in London in front of great fans, I mean, there's got to be some good targets out there. There's got to be some good targets.

32:33Ryan Hunn: Yeah, I agree, man. I just hope I can get some positivity before the end of the window. A couple of other things for today. The PFA Awards took place this week and Mo Salah, can you believe it though that there's actually a stat attached to this? No, I don't believe it. There is. Mo Salah wins the PFA Men's Player of the Year for a record third time. I can't believe that he's the only person to have done that. Also, the spread of the years that he's won it though is kind of amazing. It's like 2018, 2022, 2025. that's if you think like four years and three year gaps that's kind of wild if you think as as many dominant players as you've seen in the premier league three they've probably dominated for like a much smaller amount of time where his consistency over that amount of time even if there have been seasons where he's not hit the absolute pinnacle or like peak that he like peaks of his powers to do it over that amount of time with arguably your best season like the one that he won it in it was amazing don't get me wrong all the goals but this was when everyone knows you're the guy when everyone knows and they're still and you're still managing to like to hurt defences yeah that's unreal as if there was a stat there's always a stat he's trolling us Mariona Caldente won it on the women's side and thoroughly deserved do you know what I think I don't know if I haven't checked a lot online but usually you know when ever there's a player of the year a pfa player of the year announced everyone's just like what um this just the whole thing seems to be unanimous it's like everyone's like yeah they were so far and away because caldente just raising caldente just in terms of what arsenal needed it was such an incredible signing it just raised everyone's um everyone's level because it just set the standard it set the tone i know it sounds like i don't like too many comparison across genders but when gabriel jesus arrived at arsenal and just having somebody there at that point in the arrival who just it was like 20 because he'd done he'd been there and he'd won stuff and i know that arsenal didn't go on and win like all the big prizes but just i felt like he raised the floor just by turning up and caldente having done what she'd done she came in and was almost like yeah this is a done deal like i've been there i know what this means and just having her on the training ground there's all the intangibles you know there's the goals that she scored the assists but the intangibles of being in the training ground was somebody like that who was unafraid of all the challenges who'd reached the finish line it was just huge for Arsenal yeah yeah I love that on the young sorry sorry I'm being rude no no carry on I thought the young players actually but the men was the most intriguing of all of the categories Morgan Rodgers winning the young player of the year on the men's side and Olivia Smith winning it on the women's side which I love that I mean it's great I mean while we were off on the summer.

35:31Ryan Hunn: Olivia Smith moved from Liverpool to Arsenal for a million pounds. Not a lot of arguments, I don't think. I think she was a clearer pick, yeah. I mean, again, there's a Cal Dente-style clarity. The men's category, I thought, was any one of those were brilliant candidates. Any one of them. Yeah, I think Housen would have been probably my shout, but very, very close between him and Rodgers. It's wild, because even within Bournemouth, I loved what Kirchhoff did. I think all the other players, I think, in that category at some point looked young. Like they really, yeah, they call it. Yeah, I think Myles' shout, he just came into, I mean, he obviously had an unbelievable season, but I think he wasn't, he didn't start the season.

36:17Ryan Hunn: No, I think the rest, the other players I think were, you know, in there from the jump. And were relied on, you know, consistently, I mean, Hausson and Kirchhoff, Dilap obviously was brilliant for Ipswich in ultimately losing calls, you know, them going down. But Rodgers was integral. I think this is why he gets the nod because you look around the league and think, Rodgers, yeah, and also Jacob Ramsey going to Newcastle. That doesn't happen if Rodgers doesn't have that season. Some interesting, like, we haven't really talked much about transfers because obviously we were off air, right? But like some interesting stuff going on, like Leon Bailey leaving Villa.

36:54We haven't talked about, look, the price that Villa paid for not qualifying for the Champions League. that's the thing because they've spent big over the last few years

37:01Ryan Hunn: they had such a sliding doors moment with them not qualifying and frankly you can actually like bring Villa's season down to like three or four key games not qualifying you know through conventional means in the Champions League but also not getting past PSG if Villa if Villa get past PSG they were a horrible matchup for anybody they were the team I still maintain that made them look the most as good as Arsenal were in the two legs I feel like Villa made them look the most human. Well, when Villa turned on and Rashford was going into overdrive, because if they go into the Champions League, there's a good chance they keep Asensio.

37:39I'm not saying they keep Rashford, because Rashford, I think, had a different arc.

37:43Ryan Hunn: Asensio, I forgot that he was even around. You know what I mean? And now it's kind of like, they had something really magical, I think, with that configuration. But anyway. It looks like he might be coming back to Villa. I love that. Love that. I think that's a great signing. So good. So good. so yeah congratulations to everyone who picked up awards at the PFAs there was some stuff down the leagues as well James Trafford became the first goalkeeper to win the Championship Player of the Year love that but it's yeah Richard Coney won the league one who's now at QPR he won that for playing for Wickham last year and then Michael Cheek from Bromley, shouts to Mash St Paddy Yes, MASH, the OG.

38:27Ryan Hunn: Stadio OG. Stadio OG. And his beloved Bromley. All right, let's do some shout-outs. Yeah. Some stuff that happened this week. Very quickly, can we shout-out Union Fraun, who had 13 ,000 at the first Rye for a pre-season friendly against Real Madrid. Amazing. They lost the game, unfortunately, but ahead of their first season in the Bundesliga this year, amazing attendance. They're going to be playing all the games at the first Rye. so if you ever get over to Berlin and you want to go and watch a game go and watch Union Frauen love that in the Bundesliga and hopefully we'll be there a few times this season and also some of the footage that you saw in you would have seen in the Stadio video that this Stadio video was shot on the day that they won the league yeah some of my favourite parts of that yeah some of the photos and some of the videos there were were that from there so that's that's the first thing I want to shout out yeah yeah can I shout one out can I jump in yeah go for it A shout out to Pink Pub to Arctic Circle.

39:27Now, this is a lovely initiative. So James Palmer Bullock, dearly departed music exec and by the sounds of an all-round good guy, used to run a weekly football sort of kick around for a bunch of guys. And he passed away and a group of his friends in his honour are doing a fundraiser. They're playing five games of football in five countries in five days, all the way up from, they started off in Hamburg and they're going up to the Arctic Circle. So there's like an Instagram picture that everyone sees of like the pitch you have to sort of reach with a kind of small bridge. That's where they're going to play the last game.

40:05So in memory of James Palmer Bullock, shout out to Joe and Wilco for getting in touch. Wilco is a Stadia listener, so thanks for that. And yeah, safe journey, guys. A beautiful fundraiser in memory of James. So just have a quick Google for pinkpub.arcticcircle. Check out the details there.

40:22Ryan Hunn: Another thing I want to shout out is... So it's actually, I think it got released last month, but I read a piece by Gavin Price, sportsdiplomacy.substack.com, about Newport County's away kit, which is essentially almost like a collab between Newport County and Athletic Club. It's to commemorate the young refugees who had to flee the Basque Country and ended up in the UK. And many of them ended up in Wales. and so they're called they're known as the Children of 37 so 1937 during the Spanish Civil War and yeah so Newport County have got this red and white striped away kit to commemorate that for this season the thing that's really cool about it I think at the time especially at the moment when there's a really really horrible immigration rhetoric and anti-immigration movement going on in the UK and some of the stuff that's happening is like deeply worrying and properly grim.

41:23Ryan Hunn: Timing-wise, I just thought it was such a... It's so important. It reminds me of... Yeah, very important. I'm just thinking, I'm racking my brains. It reminds me of... So over the summer, I've been trying to read a lot more non-fiction and Angela Davis was writing, talking about, I think, the World Slavery, Anti-Slavery, I think, Congress. And a group of women in Wales, I think, with a knitting circle, had basically raised money for, I think, Frederick Douglass. They'd raised money for like an anti-slavery campaigner to go to this anti-slavery congress. And it reminded me of that, this cross-border transnational solidarity of different communities going, there is a need, this is an unconventional collaboration, but we see you.

42:06There's the cultural connection, I think, between these two regions. I think it reminded me of that. And it's really powerful. And I think the reason I love this collaboration is because it's a reminder that there is the way out of this difficult, grim moment is going to be stuff like that initiatives like that and i think this is the thing that i take from it like this small scale i mean it's not small scale 4 000 basque children went to um to the uk from the basque region and what i find so amazing about this this project is it small scale grassroots collaboration across borders i think is it's the future actually um it was the past and i think it will be the future so yeah shout out to both clubs for that really exciting yeah i think it's amazing

42:47Ryan Hunn: yeah so good so so good love to talk to someone at the club about that actually yeah yeah yeah do a proper episode on it maybe we'll look into that drop them a line yeah there you go the food oh my goodness anyway sorry yeah well we will we have to go to we have to go to we have to try and do a Bass Derby this season we've got a lot of fixtures that we have to try and do this year I'm near Newport quite soon as well too oh are you yeah I'm doing some I'm teaching a literature course sorry

43:15you know it's not like

43:16Ryan Hunn: we've got like anything else to really knuckle down and try and get off the ground at the moment you know it's fine i have looked at the calendar don't worry just let me know just let me know when you're off and i'll hold the fort it's january it's january all right cool this time of the year lovely this january all right no busy time of year it's fine

43:35i'll have my podcast kit don't worry i'll still be still be in the chat no no no it's fine no no

43:40Ryan Hunn: i listen he's moose has been taken out the matchday squad because his focus isn't really on the he's lost the dressing room he's lost the dressing room spending too much time in the discord already I'm just kidding alright so I reckon should we leave it there for today yeah let's leave it there we're going to have another show going up for social club members that's going to be up on Friday and I think we're going to talk a little bit about the new Bundesliga rights deal in the UK which is quite interesting made up of free to air stuff and YouTube and all kinds of things we'll maybe talk a little bit of other stuff as well yeah if you want to sign up for ad-free versions of the podcast and the Discord and extra podcasts and all that kind of stuff.

44:20Ryan Hunn: You can find all of the options on patreon.com forward slash stadio. Sign up for a year, you get discounts. And also just another massive thank you to everyone who signed up so far. It's been lovely to see the response. And thank you very much for jumping on board early. Yeah, next week, like we say, we're going to be doing the Monday show will be on the free feed. The Monday, Thursday show, ad free in full for podcast members and then an extra one on the Stadio Social Club feed on Friday so you might hear previews of those on the free feed but to hear the full versions you'll need to sign up on Patreon.

44:55Ryan Hunn: I'm trying to think if there's anything else. I think we're good. We're good? Yeah, that's it. Alright then, well let's get out of here. Until next time, make sure you check the Stadio Archers place on Spotify, speaking of which playing out on the Kidja remix of Walk On By by Man Jumping. Anything you would like to add, Musot Gwanga? Nothing further. All right, everyone, much love. Until next time. See you then.

45:43Thank you.

46:14Thank you.

46:41or Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

47:26The End

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