Lotte Wubben-Moy on being a Champions League winner, creativity and much more

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1:28Ryan Hunn: Hello and welcome back to the Stadio Podcast. I'm Ryan Hunt. I'm Musa Kwonga. How are you, Musa? I'm good. I'm good, despite everything. Yeah, good. We hope everyone's staying safe, staying well. Today, we have a Champions League winner on the show. Arsenal and England's Lota Wubben-Moy. For the first time in person. Honour to it. We sat down with Lota at Arsenal's training ground on Friday before their opening fixture of the WSL season. With a very noisy coffee machine in the background. which you might hear throughout yeah yeah we're going to get into that interview in a little bit before we do we're going to catch up on a couple of football bits from the week but um a bit of admin just going to just reiterate some stuff for the patreon every single stadio episode on a monday is free to everyone basically you get 50 of what you used to get for free still on patreon you get every single episode ad free in full and you'll get more episodes than what we previously did when we were back on the ringer because we're going to do more every week if you sign up for a year works out about five or a month just over five or a month if you want to join the stadio social club it's a little bit more but you get access to the discord you get loads of other perks like for example a couple of things that we're going to announce in a second but um stadio every monday will be there it was a little late going up on the monday previous so i think people thought that Maybe everything was behind the Patreon war, but no, it's not.

2:50Ryan Hunn: It's not. Every Monday will be free, but if you want full episodes ad-free of everything, you can sign up to the Stadio membership on Patreon. The lowest tier will get you all the podcasts all the time. There it is. And then if you want some extra stuff, sign up for the Stadio Social Club. Like, one of the perks of the Stadio Social Club is advanced tickets on any live show that we do. And speaking of which... Super excited about that. we have our first well the first two of our quarterly Southbank residency a residency going on sale this week December the 4th is a Thursday we will be in the Purcell room at London's Southbank Centre the next one after that will be March the 1st so Stadio Social Club members will get 24 hours advanced tickets before they go on sale to general on general sale we will send you a private ticket link they go on sale 10am Thursday morning UK time for Stadio Social Club members and then 10am Friday morning UK time on general sale.

3:53Ryan Hunn: So we're very hyped about that. Yep, yep. Can't wait. You can also sign up for the Stadio Social Club Fantasy Leagues. You're braver people than I am. Some requests in the Stadio Social Club Discord. We've got a Fantasy Premier League that's been launched and also a Fantasy Bundesliga. I mean, the Bundesliga is already fantasy. The real chaos. Yeah, yeah. Patreon.com forward slash studio. All the info you can find right there.

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5:27Ryan Hunn: Let's catch up on a couple of football bits before we move on to the interview with Lotto. Let's do it. Since we last spoke. England in crisis. Nuno Espirito Santo. No, England from where? Nuno Espirito Santo was relieved of his duties as Nottingham Forest manager and replaced very swiftly with Ange Postacoglu this comes after rumblings for a while now the relationship between Nuno Espirito Santo and Evangelos Maranakis and Edu and Edu had become quite sour so Edu's I suppose first major move as head of football replaced with Ange Postacoglu which is it's great to see Ange back but like instantly just a bit like I feel it is fraught

6:09Musa Okwonga: with some it's an appointment I feel it is fraught with some risk I would say oh yeah yeah yeah yeah

6:15Ryan Hunn: and who's their first game away at Arsenal on Saturday lunchtime

6:19Musa Okwonga: I'm concerned about well there's a couple of things with this first of all we need this back to front first of all the appointment of Ange Postacoglu what Nuno Espirito Santo brought to Forest was the defensive basis and heft like to lock get locked games down and Ange has many, many gifts, but one thing that he didn't show huge evidence of in the Premier League and actually finally in the Europa League final he showed it was the ability to do that, to control games to that extent. His success will depend absolutely on whether he can do that. He's been appointed, I think, to make the attack more expansive.

6:55Musa Okwonga: But before we get on to Ange, and actually this is really about Nuno and the job he's done at Nottingham Forest because I feel like there can be so much conversation about all of the rest of it, but really at this point and sort of pay tribute to somebody who gave Forest fans some of their best weekends, weeks in absolutely years to come in after Steve Cooper and to follow on. It was a really chaotic time at Forest. One of the hardest jobs in football, like bringing a ton of new players, high turnover. You know, for Nuno to step into that space and to stabilise things and then to push on and give them some incredible results, the qualifying for Europe, almost had Champions League at one point.

7:37Musa Okwonga: The job he did, as a bounce back, Nuno's relationship with the Premier League in terms of reputation wasn't good after the Spurs job. To come back like he did in style, I just think there are ways, look, and I'm sure Forest fans who are more in the know might have a different take on this, but for me, I just look at it and think, I feel like the guy deserved better somehow. I feel he deserved better somehow. I'm glad he gets a good payout, but I do feel for him as well a bit.

8:06Ryan Hunn: Yeah, I think he's come out of this quite well, Nuno. Yeah, I think that's right. I think his reputation is in a far better place than it was after the Spurs gig. There's always that one gig after managers established themselves in a certain country. So if they go to a league, a new league for the first time, you know, I mean, Nuno came up with Wolves, right? And that kind of, that whole big rebirth or reboot of Wolves into its current iteration. and then had a hugely successful time there and then it kind of fell off a little bit, left the Spurs gig. A lot of people look at that second gig. You know, it happened with the Argosman at Leipzig, for example.

8:44Ryan Hunn: That was the one that people were looking at the most, being like, can you do it at this other place that you've not come up at, if that makes sense, in that specific country, because obviously Nuno had a reputation before. And then I think that then going somewhere else and proving that actually, no, you can do it. He navigated quite a lot of stuff really well and has come out of this reputation-wise, I think his reputation has been re-established.

9:06Musa Okwonga: I feel like the Forrest job is the kind of job that other managers in the league look at and go, oof, that's a tough gig. The degree of difficulty was extremely high. And then the outcome, what they made from that team, the performances they got from some of these players. I mean, you look, Elliot Anderson is playing for England and looking spectacular, spectacular. Like, went away to Serbia. there was conversation in the Guardian we're talking about actually this is a difficult fixture the Serbia one and he went there that was a good Serbia team and absolutely well not the best not a vintage Serbia team but not and the cohesion and that's on Nuno Morgan Gibbs-White as well like you've Chris Wood in the form of his life absolutely incredible coaching job that he did there so good luck to him Forrest fans hope it works out for Ange and excited to see what they do in Europe looking forward to seeing how he manages all that new attacking talent because there's a conversation about making a transition to more attacking style of football.

10:04Musa Okwonga: Okay, I think it's a shame Nuno didn't get a chance to work with players like James McAtee, but, well, for a longer period. But we'll see what Ange can do with it. I'm intrigued.

10:15Ryan Hunn: You mentioned England there. You mentioned the Serbia result. All very positive now around England.

10:20Musa Okwonga: Look, I think on England, just on this performance very quickly, I mentioned Elliot Anderson, super impressed by him, the way he just punches the ball through gaps. Nori Madueke so funny oh this is the guy that was really bad at decision making making exceptional decisions throughout the two games in the international break like just looking really good looking like like him and Harry Kane the two the two forwards that took all trusts the most to get the job done good to see Rashford get a penalty Ezri Concer got his first goal for England I don't know if Mark Gahey got his first but yes just everything to love but I wanted to say Elliot Anderson again because I just feel like he epitomizes so much of the best of what I've been seeing in the last like sort of few months of Premier League action and we you know there's this deep-lying creator role I really really like and and the chemistry with Declan Rice is really good to see too they clearly really enjoy playing off each other.

11:14Ryan Hunn: One final thing before we move on from England a massive massive shout out to Jed Spence who became the first Muslim player to represent England men's national team and if haven't seen it go and watch the video that going around of harry kane presenting him with his legacy cat it's just amazing seeing how emotional harry kane got makes you realize just what that guy's been through to get there and um yeah just absolute props to jet spence and i think just an amazing thing for the muslim community as well and visibility within the game and yeah yeah yeah just all around a good thing it's great to see a quick shout out to norway but also shout specifically to Teylo Asgard who came off the bench scored four and still got overshadowed because Ellen Holland got five and an assist and Norway were so rampant that they even scored the Moldovan goal for them yes it was 11-1 it was 11-1 and it was a known goal for the Moldovan 7.55 xG wow Ecuador beating Argentina 1-0 in the Comunibor qualifiers Bolivia beating in Brazil 1-0 and also Colombia beating Venezuela 6-3 absolutely wild

12:26Musa Okwonga: away other results shout out Armenia beating Ireland 2-1 big for them after getting cooked by Portugal big comeback for them so yeah really really impressive bounce back for them

12:37Ryan Hunn: and Poch has got a win the L train has stopped the USA beat Japan

12:44Musa Okwonga: 2-0 I hope we won't be having a conversation about Poch in the near future but yeah Struggling over there.

12:51Ryan Hunn: Any other football stuff you want to touch on? I think that's it. I think we're good. Yeah? Yeah, yeah. Shall we get into the interview with Lottabu Ben-Moy? Let's do it. We're at the Arsenal trading ground and we're welcoming back to Stadio one of our favourite footballers, Lottabu Ben-Moy, for the first time in person. Oh my goodness. Yeah. How are you? Yeah, it is actually, yeah. I'm great. All the better for seeing you both. Thanks for having us. This is lovely. First question, how are you? I'm good. Fresh off a wild summer. That feels like one big dream, if I'm honest. And ready for the season.

13:26Like, yeah, back in the thick of it, really.

13:29Musa Okwonga: If there's a bit of noise in the background, it's the coffee machine. I know we're going slightly jumping around, but talk about the summer being a dream. Let's talk about the dream. Yeah, let's talk about it. Like, not many summers start off, I don't know. In a summer, you always expect there to be hopefully an outcome. But before my summer even started, I had a Champions League medal around my neck. that i mean yeah like what so wild i still i think every day i wake up um i like kind of have to rejigger my mind like you've you've won the champions champions you know what it is the journey of that like well i mean the whole summer was a dream but the journey of the champions league for you like we see you in the semi that heartbreaking semi and then not qualifying against paris and then to come back from all of that as a fan of the club too like you've given Like this journey, and I say like it started in the summer or it's a summer defining moment.

14:26Like this, this has been something that I've been part of since I was 13 or even before that, as a, as a young girl walking down upper street, wearing the Arsenal shirts with my family, like my auntie. and having seen obviously the men be so victorious in their European pursuits and the women likewise in 2007 like to be doing it 18 years later to know that I've been part of that is I think I will just forever be smiling forever be smiling I feel full yeah it's legacy yeah and you don't I don't think you realize it in the moment I think when you're part of something so which feels heroic it feels greater than us as individuals I don't think you realize it until and yeah I hope I do realize it soon but I don't think I'll ever realize it until it's way behind me in the in the rear view mirror yeah I mean I'm trying to think back to that

15:26Ryan Hunn: season because it was kind of wild it was wild thinking where the team were where they started the whole thing with Jonas leaving and then Renee coming in. What was it like inside the group? Because it just seemed like you all responded so instantly to her as a coach. I think one thing that's characteristic of this squad and has been for years is how strong we are collectively when our backs are against the wall or when chips are down, when things aren't going our way. We're able to come together. so, I don't know, it feels so cohesive and it feels so natural. I think you only really get that when it's pure and when it's actually, yeah, like I say, natural.

16:09Yeah, the word family gets thrown around so much in football as a description for a group that's close-knit and whatnot. And yeah, we are close-knit. We have our wrists, we have our rafts. But in those tough moments and particularly in that moment when we knew Jonas was stepping down, we were only told, I think, a day before it was actually two days after or three days after the Chelsea game that we lost and then um I think it was on the day that that he was announced as as leaving I think it was a day before our Champions League game it was wild but I don't think we would have been able to get through that first week and it's the first week that's the most I think unsettling um because we still had to perform we still had to win games um I don't think we would have got through that week without the strength of the group.

16:57We've got some unbelievable leaders in the team and I think it wasn't just them that pulled through, it was every single individual. And it's, I think, a credit also to Rene for being able to empower every individual in those moments, particularly in that first week and then off the back of it and continuing even to now. We feel like an empowered squad and I think when you have that at your disposal,

17:24Musa Okwonga: or you can't be stopped you can't be on that though it's one thing being empowered it's another thing having a sense of destiny and at what point in the champions league run did you feel a sense of destiny as in like we think we can we think we can actually legitimately do this when was when you could visualize yourselves actually lifting the trophy if that point ever came i think that was what played in our favor i don't think we ever really truly visualized that maybe maybe for snippets you know like you have like little like quite cinematically you know like you have little like even in the final you could see like there were moments in the final you could see certain awareness momentum shifts in the game itself where it was like okay we've you know barcelona they'd almost punch themselves out at a certain point you know you'd absorb so much shock and even in the barcelona players and the body language and the movement they were like yes hang on a minute they're not down yet we've thrown all our haymakers you know we're not cooking them like we you know is that me and then which we thrived on yeah yeah Yeah, you thrived on that.

18:23I don't think there was ever a specific moment. And when you talk about destiny, I think, I'm speaking as an Arsenal football club player. This club is built to win, particularly the women's side, which has come from a rich history of winning, of having some of the best players in the game. That's what we're built to do. And I think that was what was maybe disappointing about our time under Jonas. We were able to win in the top games against the Chelsea's, Man City's, but we weren't able to do it consistently. And what winning a Champions League shows is we started at square one, right? Square one qualification phase.

19:03We were able to do it consistently across that whole season. And to be able to say we did that, I think, is quite amazing.

19:15Musa Okwonga: It's incredible.

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20:30Ryan Hunn: On a Destiny thing, you grew up watching the club and if you go to the Emirates Stadium now and you see the mural and all of the legends who won that Champions League title in 2007, you're there now, you're one of those people. how does it feel now knowing that there's going to be little lotters essentially looking up to you the same way that you looked up to that 2007 crew i find it hard thinking about that i don't necessarily think they'll be looking at me as as if to say oh i want to be that kind of person if if i know my job's done it's when young kids can say no i can be me i can be me fully um and And I recently did an interview with The Observer and in it I kind of share how I think the best kind of footballers need to be multidimensional.

21:18Like for the demands of the game now, we need to be able to bend and flex like no tomorrow. Because if you can't, I don't think there's a future for you or I don't think you're able to have the longevity that you would want as a football player. Maybe you'll have a few years, but I don't think you're able to have the longevity. and so for me to think about young kids looking up to me I want them to be able to say oh I can just be me I can be me and I can um I can thrive in these moments or I can give in these moments or actually maybe I'll take a step back in these moments and and observe and um absorb but consistently I can be me and I think that's when um we'll be able to not just in football but in society be able to have a place where people feel safe and feel like they can perform and they can actually yeah fulfill because yeah ultimately if you're you're not able to be happy and um yeah be be able to yeah just live i don't think then there's any chance yeah you're building on

22:23Musa Okwonga: sand really on your game actually and flexibility if i may jump into that like you have goals in you you can step into midfield and press quite assertively. This is going to be an interesting year. You've had a couple of absentees through injury and also the loss of Lievelti. Is your role going to evolve in terms of someone that steps out more and gets involved more in the combination play, the midfield pressing? Is that something you've discussed already with the coach? I mean, there's no secret that this year has to be a year for me and I'm going to put my foot down in that sense. When I look at my game, yeah, I want to build on adding goals.

23:04I think I'm an aerial threat and that's something that I think in the last few years, set-piece goals have actually declined previously in tournament football, but also in the league. You've won and lost games on set-pieces, but I think we've seen that sort of dwindle out and so I think that's an opportunity for us as a club to be able to capitalise and me specifically add to the scoreline basically when teams are sitting so low against us, which they do. So I think that's something that I can bring and you then add about my capacity in the midfield. I want to connect, I want to play and that's why I'm at Arsenal Football Club.

23:45I think we want to play. That is needless to say that we've got an unbelievable midfield as well. you know like we've got Mariona Caldente who is a connecting player you know like she wants to bring everyone into into the game and when you have that in front of you um it it just gives you confidence but it also I think encourages you to be more she gets you on the front foot really

24:09Musa Okwonga: quickly she like really quickly you know obviously in in the I always talk to Ryan I always joke that in the men's team Martinelli is like the fastest starter I think I've seen in terms of straight to the byline the amount of times that he would get win a corner like early in the game caldente has that same verticality and it's like what's the game against was it city when you both had it where you were like on then on that you're at their necks from we were yeah the first part you were just in so she's almost like leading the the charge but then you were right there at her shoulder yeah completely um and in in games you need that and i'm gonna try bring that without a doubt and you know like I've just mentioned about versatility and being able to be multi-dimensional I think my game is that I'm able to play long passes I'm able to switch the ball I'm able to play shorter passes to connect the midfield to then play through the lines like I think I'm able to do a lot of things well maybe this is then my season to knuckle down on one thing and be like bam this is me this is what you're going to get and yeah bring it.

25:14Ryan Hunn: Love to see you. I was going to ask actually like how you're feeling going into the new season because last season was weird right because it's successful but also like maybe like a bit frustrating just in terms of injuries especially after the season before which was mega. Yeah. So how are you going into the new season? How are you feeling physically like about your game and obviously you said that it needs to be a year for you. Is that positive in a sense or is that something that's kind of like on your mind? I think it's something that will always be on your mind as a player wanting to perform wanting to to bring bring bring to the table basically um but then there's a line that you don't want to cross with that like in terms of pressure on yourself and i think i'm quite aware of that and i've got people around me to to keep me in check in that sense so going into this season compared to last in particular like i was coming off a i tore my plantar fascia and it's like super debilitating if you think about like going from the ground up like if your feet aren't right then your your body isn't right that's Gnarly injury.

26:11Yeah. You know, there's sometimes there's parts of the body

26:13Musa Okwonga: you don't want to hear the name of. I didn't even know I could tear that. You only hear the name if it's trouble, you know. You just don't want to mess with it. And the irony was, I was getting like middle-aged women saying, oh yeah, I've had real issues with my plantar fascia too. And I was thinking, oh no. That's not what I want to do.

26:31Ryan Hunn: I'm actually having some issues with it at the moment. Oh no. Right foot. As a middle-aged man. The key to it, strengthen it. Don't keep rolling it. Don't keep like, you need to strengthen it.

26:41Musa Okwonga: That's interesting. But this season, I'm injury-free, which is, well, injury-free so far, like, coming into it. I've still got a little bit to build, I guess, somewhat behind having not played minutes over the summer and also, obviously, you only have, well, we've only had like a three-week pre-season. Yeah. So that limits you anyway. So I think time will be my best friend. I'm a player of rhythm. I'm a player of consistency over that rhythm. or through that rhythm sorry so yeah I think October November will be my will be my months in terms of the dream so you start the summer with the Champions League medal which is wild in itself and then of course your team repeats as European champions how did that dream take shape in terms of the mood in the squad there's a lot of talk around the squad outside but when did you start gaining confidence because I think you know defending a title is very different obviously to winning it so there were different challenges there we were pegged as one of the favorites um externally i think internally there wasn't that same feeling we were trying to sort of spread the message of a new england and um like in the press that was kind of the spiel we were given um because we didn't we wanted everyone off of our backs basically when we were aware that we had a totally new kind of dynamic within the team with young players stepping in and I think, what was it, seven debutants at a tournament.

28:11But that was needless to say that we had then a big chunk of players that had won a Euros and that had so much experience. There were moments throughout that tournament when I think everyone wrote us off so much so that it gave us confidence and within the group that just built. it built up until the very end. And before we even stepped foot on the pitch, most games, I think we were already 1-0 up because we were champions. I think it's like that champion kind of like, I don't know, it's the gift you have. Teams fear you. And that was then added to by our ability to score late. You know, like if you're playing against a team that you know can score late and has repeated that, you know, there's evidence, physical evidence of that.

29:01You'll always be scared, I think. and you saw that fear in every team that sort of faced us towards the knockout stages like they were just fearful that yeah absolutely hanging on like in that Italy game I just watched their like their dreams crumble and seeing those like those players on the bench I never take joy out of seeing despair or sadness but like in that moment I thought wow like sport is wild football is wild yeah that and that was that whole tournament right

29:32Musa Okwonga: but in that moment I was like wow the energy shift you feel it I'm a person of tangibles I like I like physical things and you could feel it in the air and then into the semis final like the feeling was just so um so strong and so clear that I think that's what everyone just hung on to um particularly players and I think fans too there was always that belief towards the end and that's ultimately what I think won us that tournament of just having that champion mentality. You could see it in the body language actually players that knew they were going to make decisive interventions and a certain swagger like people approaching challenges with like this is the big stage.

30:16Ryan Hunn: They were saying like the noise outside like as soon as a ball was kicked it was just like oh god like everyone is on this. Quite often those are the sides that end up doing really well just because they're just they're not going to get rolled over. I mean you're not going to concede three or four like actually in international tournament football is inherently conservative because you don't have enough wiggle room you know have a 30 game season or whatever it's like you switch off for a minute you're out yeah i don't i don't know sometimes i feel like people are expecting like the harlem harlem globetrotters in like you know the euros or something like no man we've got to keep it got to keep it tight and not get beat well i think it

30:51Musa Okwonga: favors teams that can defend solidly because it's harder to put together those intricate attacking patterns with just a little bit of time so teams that sit deep and defend competently central spaces concede the wings actually you see it in like all aspects of the game it makes the the favorite look worse than they are because it's people don't understand how hard it is to play through the lines against the team that's determined to just get a goal and absorb shock yeah it's it's incredibly difficult and we see it week in week out at arsenal but we're fully aware of it. Well of that on that note at Arsenal bring in Olivia Smith you've got another option now in a wide area so teams now can't sit narrow because they've got to come out and engage.

31:32Musa Okwonga: What do you hope she'll bring? What do you feel from playing against her seeing her in action? What excites you about her game? She's so powerful. Musa so powerful. She's so young. I think that's something that I relish when I see a young person like their ability to absorb and their just like pureness. She's got a pureness that I think will help us so much. And yeah, you talk about like the compact spaces that we face week in, week out. She will stretch. And I think for me as a right-sided centre-back, looking to play those balls, happy days. Decent left peg as well though, hasn't she? Decent left peg too.

32:13Really. So yeah, I'm excited by her. Very excited, yeah. I'm also fully aware that it's such a big pressure yeah

32:22Ryan Hunn: yeah it's fascinating I think maybe I do just because of I think more so the emotional side and the psychological side I think is really intricate but yeah we're aware of it like you know like you see it all in the press and every headline is then about that basically actually on that is stuff like what's happening at London City Lioness is kind of helping olivia in the sense that like all of a sudden people are talking about that and not really so much about her for you like the gyoro feed it's quite good if someone just overtakes that and then people start talking about that and not her yeah probably you know um and i think we're just going to see that more and more it's just going to keep building building um and yeah what is the

33:05Musa Okwonga: new normal i don't know yeah the forward line is stacked now though what you have the options and you can all the thing i love about the forward line you have is that eval's got like different tools yes and people are dangerous at different points of the game um different skill sets and like different intensities some are like more level some are like spiking and like dynamic can take a game like 20 minutes yeah this is the the multi-dimensional person player team that we need you know like if if those players then defining themselves by whether they start or whether they they come into a game or whether they score a last minute winner like that's detrimental i think we're in the top floor right now i'm going to give you a description listeners top floor of the of colony of the training ground and underneath us is the dining room and then the coach's office renee's coach's office is there purely to welcome players in give them value and show them appreciation and make sure the message is sent that whether you're starting whether you're coming on as a game changer or whether you're going to sit on the bench for this game, maybe come on for the next game, that your value is so important.

34:17And in terms of the multi-dimensional player, those players have to absorb that and have to bend and flex with it because otherwise you then will not have a value to give to the team and you won't be confident, you won't be able to give. um so talking to to your point musa like having such a varied attack is it's a dream oh it's a dream it is a dream this is sick yeah and we're just going to see so many different goals um scored i think and i'm i'm excited i'm hyped yeah i'm so excited i'm really excited can we go back to the contract

34:57Ryan Hunn: announcement like it's actually like a lovely interesting creative way to announce something so we just wanted to ask about like how the conversations happened when you were like saying to the club that actually if we're going to do this i want to do this and what that process was like for you because we last time you were on stadio we're talking about all of the things that you do creatively outside right and actually it's like really important to you and i think for us too as well so much of the stuff outside of football is you take elements from that and creativity from that and you apply it to the stuff you do in a football sense so yeah what take listeners through the process of creative director a lot of football.

35:32Ryan Hunn: Yeah, that's what I want, isn't it? Football for me has always been so interchangeable with creativity, with sort of the artistic world. So it felt right to bring the two so closely together for the announcement. I was creative director, but I was doing it with a team of people around me that we'd fully composed. two women SJ and Izzy who SJ was the sort of producer she was wonderful really she's a big a big football fan big Lionesses fan Arsenal fan so she knew the the landscape her background's in fashion and was able to pick out a wonderful photographer for us and she made my vision a reality really I knew I wanted to write a letter to to the fans or not a letter but it ended up being somewhat a poem and actually I'm going to shout out you guys because you're inspiring within the football game too because I think no because being able to share or being able to to find like a facet of of football that isn't just purely football is really unique and seeing you guys do it makes me want to do it more and hopefully like thanks I think a lot of

36:44Musa Okwonga: I think a lot of footballers love engaging with stuff outside football so i was speaking to like i was doing some work with another player um and he was talking about like his whole love of like interior design every month he has a meeting with his interior design team from all over the world he's going out different cities like i want to go to tokyo and do the architecture like wow he sounded like like he loves he's amazing at football he's genius he's won everything but his his love the way he talked about interior design was equal to the way he talked about football that is cool it was yeah and i think i think there's a lot of footballers like that back to the thing that we were talking

37:21Ryan Hunn: about which was your contract announcement so yeah take us through the very public facing because it was a big deal you signing a new contract so actually in terms of like a creative endeavor there's a lot of that's like a lot of pressure yeah yeah yeah it started with my words and i wrote them down and it took me a long time actually to find the right how did you find By hand. By hand, yeah. By hand, yeah. Or fountain pen, byro.

37:45Musa Okwonga: Yeah, I was going to say. I'm looking at your beautiful writing, Musa, and it definitely wasn't as beautiful as that. Lots of crossing out, lots of scribbles. My partner T helped me. We were on the sofa together. And I think that's also what I wanted to sort of highlight in the video too, like the locality of me, of me and the club. I live in London. I live East London, coming into North London on purpose because I want to feel connected to the club. I want to feel connected to my roots, connected to sort of what I feel most comfortable in, what I feel gives me the most. And that was why we filmed a lot in the marshes, filmed a lot at Highbury Corner, make reference to seeing Arsenal fans on every corner.

38:37You know, like everywhere I see Arsenal shirts, everywhere, even at the Euros, so many Arsenal shirts. But I wanted to reference seeing them around and reference how I wanted to give and give in many senses of the word, like beyond 90 minutes. And my affinity or rather willingness to highlight the BSL community. I've got a great friend Izzy who we've got a really special relationship and my celebrations are always somewhat in ode to her. And even my celebration, like the canon on my heart. Beautiful. Yeah, everything I hit upon in that poem, that announcement video was very much me and was a celebration of my connection to the club and what I want to continue to give to the club.

39:30which is what I think all announcement videos should be in my opinion and I hope it sets something yeah, sets somewhat of a trend or not even a trend like I want it to be the future of football where players take ownership of the way they communicate with the Flans because it's so limited now we're not able to, I don't know, connect with them in the stadium so why not be able to connect with them through the platforms that we do have and do it in a way that's cool, that's fun good music, Jamie XX on that track cannot fail are so good um and again locality and bringing people in on the journey with it everything surrounding that video was so local so within my heart and uh that set off a that was the start of summer mate basically for me um the the lighting in that video but also yeah one of the lines is we're aiming for the stars and then yeah a few months later we we get that champions league

40:23Musa Okwonga: win 18 years coming but it's absolutely wild i know i keep going back to this but from the Paris FC thing like your momentum that semi obviously in the Paris thing it was like you're rising and then this could have sunk different squads actually that defeat was so devastating at that stage the thing with the Champions League Women's Champions League it happens so fast like really good teams at least one really good team because the qualification's tight there's always one big fish that gets cooked at that point you know every year and it's like it is every year it is every year I was at the Ajax qualifier a few years ago and I was just like that's the jeopardy just to get in the club you've got to be on a level and the thing is there's always one demon waiting for you in that first round you don't want to see it so yeah that that announcement video being creative direct for that was um incredible are we going to see any more of I mean look I don't you're focusing on

41:21Ryan Hunn: football but yeah but I was going to say this I felt like I had a busy summer and then I was just actually like lotter did like the announcement video won the champions league went to the euros won that and then also on top of that which is enough to flex about anyway did the thing with rose wiley oh that was so cool ryan oh that's been a year in the making um and chatting with her she's um obviously not the most tech versatile she's 91 um so it meant i had to go to her house which was wonderful out in kent and being welcomed into her world seeing her true she's a true artist you know the studio is something you've never seen before like so much newspaper on the on the floor so much and she doesn't clear it either so it builds up builds up she basically wipes the paintbrushes and a lot of the paint off with newspapers so it just piles up and she's like that's like an installation always wears sandals she's an incredible woman and i was able to like build a real connection with her and she then kind of used me as her muse i guess for the the painting that she then created for factory international with common goal and it was just this beautiful

42:38Musa Okwonga: beautiful culmination basically what an honor it's beautiful yeah you mentioned her studio reminds me of there's a bar in maastricht yeah where it's like the guy in there is like a genius he's like a savant he knows like thousands different types of ale and you just leave the peanut shells there do you just builds yeah it just builds a similar thing like you know very organic like oh wow leave the peanut shells there and then the end of the night just sweeps them all away the similar or it's like it's organic feel and he's he's an artist yeah yeah when you go there he doesn't say to you what you like to drink he says what's the last thing you drank then i'll recommend a drink that compliments oh that's deep art honestly oh moose you're gonna have to send me his uh we're losing recipes that's how i imagine you like just behind us just like

43:21Ryan Hunn: where are we going we're going to moose's you mentioned sitting on the sofa writing words with tea can we talk about him a little bit because i'm because you two are a really interesting couple who complements each other in terms of sport and creativity right he's elite for those who don't know he's an elite cyclist but also had a really horrific injury a couple years ago as well what's it like for the pair of you being elite sports people and does it really help having someone who who really understands those lows a little bit more acutely than maybe someone else who's outside of that world yeah um i think for most of our family and everyone that knows us we're kind of just known as like teo and lotta um and they see us as like the people before the athletes and i think that is the the base of our relationship we we are so very like invested and we put so much time and energy into our into our crafts into our work um those that don't know teo is a professional cyclist um climber so which means he has to really watch everything he does basically his diet is is crazy um and his focus is uh unrivaled he's on the bike for six hours a day pretty much most days and um yeah it's it's incredible he's he's an inspiration for me but likewise when you when you think about i think the the other how many hours are left in that day 18 hours of the day left after the six hours he's on the bike um he's such a supportive person and caring and understanding but also creative and i think that's where we bounce off each other so well his history his mum's an artist dad also um so his mind is wired in that way we both grew up in hackney so we've got so many sort of layers the venn diagram would be very much bang in the middle big big area there um because we're so similar but we're also so different too to have him I feel so much stronger and I play with it a lot because I'm a big advocate I think for independence and strength through sort of being you wholly and not really being dependent on others and I think that's often to my detriment because I don't necessarily always ask for help and I try to do things without really any fuss.

45:56But he's opened my eyes to bringing in expertise, asking for help, filling cups in ways that aren't just dependent on yourself. And within football, within cycling, there is so much dependence on other people in nutrition, in aerodynamics, in cycling, in football, it's the physical side. You need a team around you. and I think both Theo and I have sort of mastered the idea of having a team and feeling strength with that because you do truly need that. I've got an amazing team around me, Roscoe included, but also my strength team, my masseuse team, my psychological team, like people that I have built to support me and I think without that evolution as a person and player, I wouldn't be in the position I am today.

46:50And it's definitely something that Teo has opened my eyes to and continues to really in a way that I don't think anyone else could.

47:00Ryan Hunn: Isn't he doing the tour of Britain at the moment? He is currently doing the tour of Britain, yes. Shout out Teo. I heard a rumour he listens. So I'm going to say shout out. Shout out Teo. It's the official shout out. If he overhears us.

47:11Musa Okwonga: Can I say on that, something that always strikes me as super cool is when you're a professional athlete, it feels like a kind of select community, like across sports. Are there any like cool, like cross sport friendships that you've struck up with different people over the years where you're like, because it's always quite cool. You're like a basketball gamer. Oh my God, like Kylian Mbappe is like watching the mix. You know what I mean? It's sick. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Any of those that you've got? Quite a few. So a really good friend of mine, I went to Stoke Newington with him. He's called Jim Pope.

47:42He's a previously GB climber and now he's with Arcteryx. So he's like a Spider-Man basically. And he's also looped in with Teo's younger brother, Bede, who runs a climbing collective. They've sort of linked up and climbing is an unbelievable sport. I don't know if you've ever watched any both Olympic climbing, but also just bouldering. It's incredible.

48:08Musa Okwonga: And the muscles you have to have.

48:10Ryan Hunn: it's like the human equivalent of like you know when you see like formula one cars go around the corner and your eyes don't believe that it's holding on oh it's it's incredible so yeah jim jim is a um a really cool guy and um he's someone again like i know him as jim and um we used to get bagels at lunch together like and then on the weekends he was off up in sheffield or in uh off to Japan to climb. That's wow. It's pretty eye-opening. And also at college, college is like this big Olympic sort of dream, in a sense, because there's so many different sports. We were hanging out with the basketball guys, the American football guys, and then the lacrosse players.

48:52In my house, I was at college, it was Alessio Russo with me, Emily Fox, which is just so ironic, isn't it? Me, and then we had a field hockey player who was Dutch. So I've been kind of exposed to so many different sports and that was at the age of like 17, 18, just being around it and seeing the pure dedication that the lacrosse players have to get up at 6am. They all lift super heavy. And then the field hockey players who are all doing like stick skills, going around cones. And field hockey actually is very similar training to football, just smaller ball and stick.

49:28Musa Okwonga: Yeah, I'm always interested by like what people learn from other... Their positionals are really, really similar, obviously in a different way. But I remember watching a few training sessions and seeing how just the concepts of like having a defender that always sweeps, that actually can attack forward, lifts the ball to like bypass the whole midfield into their forward to then hopefully get… Finding space. Yeah, it's fascinating. It's funny because I look at René Slagas as more like a basketball coach in the sense of adjustments. Like, you know, coaching. Ryan talks about this as well. The team that starts the game, one of Ryan's favourite coaches, Greg Popovich, just retired from the Spurs, where the team that starts the game is not necessarily the best or the most impactful XI.

50:14Musa Okwonga: And even the way that she coached, you know, the final or other big games where it's like, OK, we'll loosen them here, but actually the team that I want to make the difference is not on the pitch yet.

50:23Ryan Hunn: sometimes the most important player is the person who actually gets 8 minutes at the end because that's their specific role

50:30Musa Okwonga: Stena Blackstenius, her big game the ability to get to the heart, the rhythm of a game, it's a whole different rhythm isn't it? And to be able to read that and anticipate that, the foresight Renee is incredible and like I say to have been able to empower Stena in that moment you're not starting a final of the Champions League. You want to start that game. Frustration, anger. But then you know your time's going to come. But also her using that intensity to be like, she's actually wired maybe to be like, she'll come in.

51:04Ryan Hunn: Yeah, you mentioned it in the Observer piece, didn't you, with Jessie? Yeah, I think you hit the nail on the head. Yeah. It's definitely something I think that, I remember we talked about a few times just that concept of closers, right?

51:18Musa Okwonga: Yeah.

51:18Ryan Hunn: They call them in Germany,

51:19Musa Okwonga: they literally call them jokers, the subs. Do they really? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, they call them when a sub comes on because they change the dynamic. They're also like sort of tricksters, these characters that come in and they give you something in like 15, 20 minutes. I mean, again, in the men's game, like Max Thalman the other day against Leeds, just coming in as like, chaos merchant. Holy terror. I know he is very young,

51:41Ryan Hunn: but it was like someone, you know, when like a toddler arrives at a party and he's just like, there's a Tasmanian devil. Yeah, yeah.

51:49Musa Okwonga: What happened to a back four?

51:53Ryan Hunn: we've got to let you go in a minute because and the reason we have have to is because it's a match day minus one so we're recording this ahead of this season opener against london city lionesses so we're recording this on friday so congrats on the win if everyone who hears this afterwards how are you feeling going into the new season i'm excited you've just touched on squads we've got we've got a holy terror in use of words squad i really like that um and we're ready i think to compete on all fronts it's going to be a really exciting season and having seen what the likes of Tottenham and West Ham have done to reinforce their squads in pre-season having played against them I'm excited to see those teams take points off not us but every other title contender and yeah it's going to be it's going to be competitive it's going to be a good one anything else you want to hear?

52:47Ryan Hunn: No all good that's wonderful I want to hear Moose's laugh again there you go

52:51Musa Okwonga: oh no on that note oh no

52:54Ryan Hunn: she got me thanks so much again best look for the season thank you and we'll probably bug you to come back on again at some point not too soon and I'll be listening throughout the season

53:05Musa Okwonga: oh you're so kind thank you what a delight that was so great it was so funny when we walked in to speak to her I was like oh we haven't actually met before because the she's so engaging when you talk to her online that you think you've met her it was really lovely such a great human and really excited for what she can do this season as part of that great Arsenal squad great Arsenal team they've got the work cut out but I think good things ahead for them

53:31Ryan Hunn: yeah man thanks again to Lotto for coming on and looking forward to her getting back onto the pitch very soon for Arsenal I reckon that'll do us for today huh yep all good well we hope everyone is staying safe staying well and don't forget if you want to sign up as a stadio member on Patreon you can sign up as a podcast member or a social club member go to patreon.com forward slash stadio all the info is there you get 15 % off if you sign up for a year and that means that for podcast members it's just over a fiver a month for all the podcasts ad free and just under a tenner a month for stadio social club members in the meantime don't forget to check the stadio archers playlist on spotify speaking of which we're playing out on dance dance by phyllis bailey anything you would like to add musa akwonga nothing further I'm good are you sure?

54:19Ryan Hunn: yeah yeah I'm happy no books no no work listen work I'm working I'm working

54:25Musa Okwonga: I'm working on it I'm working on it winter is coming I don't know about it

54:32Ryan Hunn: can't wait for the Canadian Okwonga culture wars coming back in the winter oh you wouldn't believe how cold it is

54:38Musa Okwonga: do you know what funny you should say that actually

54:40Ryan Hunn: no take care everyone much love back with you on Friday

54:47Thank you.

55:17Let's go. Dance to the music.

55:24Ryan Hunn: Let's go.

55:28Get up and let yourself go.

55:48Thank you.

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