S14E89 - Kud He Be Magic?

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0:32Prices, values, and available markets may differ from those mentioned. For more information, see calsheet.com slash regulatory. This episode is brought to you by Facebook. So you were scrolling on Marketplace and there it was, the bike you'd been searching for. You sent a message and it turned out the seller was super chatty, kind of funny, and an avid cyclist. The next thing you know, you're in a cycling crew, well, a community cycling group. The thing about Facebook, you might find more than what you're looking for. From a browse to a bike ride, this summer, find more on Facebook. Propel Fitness Water.

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1:28it's the fighting cock it's the fighting it's the fighting cock come on John John you said something about a blind man oh mate so I was walking back from the gym this morning and there's this guy that walks around the same area near to where I live and he's a blind guy and he has a stick, but he gets around. He's always walking around by himself and the sort of approach to his movement is very much like tapping the stick based, right? So just checking where there's a step, for example, and he'll tap it and then he'll take the step and all that stuff. So he moves pretty slowly, but he gets around.

2:17So anyway, I'm walking back today and I see this guy in the distance with another guy sort of helping him. I'm like... What? The blind guy is helping another blind guy? No, no. another guy is helping the blind guy but normally he's on his own he doesn't need help he's got the stick he's like seemingly very independent right so as i get closer the guy now catches my eye not the blind guy the other guy catches my eye and he starts like i you know when you can tell someone wants to talk to you or wants to get you involved in something they need help yeah and i'm like i don't want to get involved in this like i don't i don't want to get involved in whatever's happening here i really just want to get home and have it like have a shower and get some water yeah but he catches my eye and he goes can you help and i was like sure what's the matter and he's like he needs to get to the betting shop and he needs to get to the doctors no exactly that's what i mean so i was like uh all right and then he goes yeah and i need to get back in my taxi which i didn't realize he was i thought he was just waiting at the light of the traffic lights but he'd pulled over seemingly to help the the blind guy move around so i was like okay i'm so confused independent before the whole time i for years i've lived here for years for like six years i've seen this guy every so often walking around on his own independent absolutely fine getting on the bus all sorts of stuff but today he can't help himself and this random taxi driver felt obliged to get out of his cab pulled up at the lights and get out and help him anyway I get over and I was like oh what's the matter do you need some help and he went and then the blind guy goes yeah he keeps shouting at me so I'm like okay and then I'm like he's smashed the blind guy is pissed out of his face which is obviously why the guy's trying to help him because he's probably trying to walk in to the betting shop which is a huge shop on the corner of a street I think it was an old like fire station or something like that it's massive like big building and he's so then he's like I've got to go the taxi driver so he's transferred Heard the problem to you.

4:20He's literally passed it on to me. Have you ever watched It Follows? Yes. It was basically like a shit version of that. He was like, that's your problem now, mate.

4:30So how did you come to the end of this? And this slow, daunting thing was... As he drives up in his taxi, you're just left with this drunk blind man who wants to go to the betting shop. Yeah. So then I'm like, okay, fine. So then I'm like helping him and I'm like thinking, I don't I'm bad in those situations because I don't want to come across condescending right I don't want to be like oh he's blind he's disabled he needs help I'll pour him so I'm just like trying to like talk to him normally just trying to help him just like say okay this is what's coming up you're going to fill this bit it's the glass there's only two more of those to go blah blah blah talking him through it because he's now it's very clear he's smashed out of his face he's just incoherent he's just saying man just get better there's a race so I'm like fucking hell so i i get into the door and i'm like again i'm like well i would open the door for anyone so i was like i'll get the door for you mate so i open the door and he goes am i in and i was like yeah you're in and he goes brilliant and then i hear the guy behind the counter go hello brian i was like how often is this guy in there also what the fuck is he betting on like what is he betting on he can't see it he can't see the rain he can't see the horse races so he goes i'll have 10 to 1 on shiny pony and they're like yeah no problem mate shiny pony wins and they go ah sorry finish that unlucky I was driving back from the supermarket the other day and I saw this old lady sort of struggling when I say old she was she was like a 55 year old woman that looked 80 like fags just literally dropping out of her ears and then and she goes she goes I was like I've got I've got to ask if she needs her help because she looks like she's about to fall over anyway I pulled up opened the door I opened the door around the window I went love do you need a do you need a lift home and she went you're you're not one of them weird guys are you and I'm like firstly if I was one of those weird guys I wouldn't pick a 55 year old nearly dead woman on the side of the street to fondle that would never happen secondly I said it's alright my mum's on the phone don't worry I'll take you where you need to go my mum went on the phone John I lied about my mum just so she'd get in the car yeah also if you were one of them I just took home chopped her up and buried her under the patio yeah but if you were one of them guys you're not going to go oh you caught me oh yeah sorry love here you go just get in the car anyway quite dark start to find a quick Q &A Thursday apologies for that but you can tell there isn't a great deal of football news going on although there is a big bit of news in that for the first time since 2011 Tottenham Hotspur have bought a player from West Ham I don't really know right I've got a couple of I want to talk to you about the reaction from West Ham fans because that's what's really interesting about this on top of the fact we've got this really exciting player it's not like we haven't bought many players from them before like we've bought Jermaine Defoe that was a big one Michael Carrick Scott Parker all three brilliant players that really ended up doing some good stuff with Tottenham but I think it's more than that and I don't know if you've seen that clip with the geezer in tears saying that well I don't know where my club is as hilarious as that is I do feel a little bit sorry for West Town fans and that isn't the sentiment that from the questions coming in is there is no there is no no one is quite where I am in terms of feeling a bit sorry for them a lot of people just going how do you feel how do you feel about it all John Boy well okay so from the West Ham point of view I also feel sorry for that I live quite near West Ham especially now because they're near Stratford and I see them around all the time they're so inoffensive to me there's something about West Ham as a club I've never had the same hatred a lot of people have and I know it's all to do with where you grow up and there's a load of reasons why you should and people do hate them and I get all of that but I just don't have it I don't have that hatred towards them in some ways I have a bit of a soft spot for them because I kind of feel like they're an old-fashioned club and they got their soul fucking ripped out of them and shoved into Stratford and it could have happened to us mate, so easily it's like a mirror isn't it?

9:01they don't believe you wanted it to like forget about not buying players forget about having zero ambition wherever he might is the worst thing he ever did was try to move us to Stratford that is unforgivable mental and that's what I mean it's it's like a I sort of look at it and I think whatever you think about the fan base all fan bases have like a there's a sort of core group of it that's like proper football and it's old-fashioned football and imagine Spurs got moved to Stratford like how soul-destroying that would be to the fabric of the club and look there's a ton of stuff that's happened to our club that's you know going towards that all modern football that's the way it is but that's what they're just sort of like a cautionary tale like here's what could have been this could have been fucking a lot worse so in some ways i do feel sorry for them but look this is the natural pecking order of football and i know that sounds a bit like big brother-ish but like we take players from you because we're a bigger club than you and like that all the jokes side of when they won you know the conference they were like i've tramping to europe we've never seen that and west ham are massive and we are a much bigger club than them that there's just no way around that and so we're going to take players when we want to take players and we've decided right we were going to have some of this kudus thanks very much um as a player i really like him i thought he was like electric for them in his first season i know last season was a bit different but i just he's aggressive on the ball i like the way he drives at people goes past people skillful dribbly winger type player but he's in that modern ilk where he wants to cut inside and he can come inside just really decent on the ball technically really decent uh and also i think there's a lot more to come from him as well like i think it's one of those players where we wanted premier league established type players he is one of those like i said a couple of seasons here he's definitely adjusted to the league are there still loads more to come from him and i think under a good coach which is what frank is and a good coach who can get the best out of attacking players which is also what frank has demonstrated i think it could be like a really exciting signing.

10:55I think it's definitely a positive one, man. We did a podcast, me and Ben did an episode of The Lab where we really dug down into what Kudos will bring to Tottenham. And it's a good episode. If you're listening on the Fighting Cock feed, you've probably seen it because we uploaded it or shared it across that feed. But in that podcast, go and listen to it if you want to find out about how good he is. But in that podcast, within the space of 30 seconds, Ben Bowman said, he loves coming inside and he loves to ride the tackle. it took everything in me not to say anything because the lab's supposed to be sensible right we're supposed to be a sensible conversation i was like ben give me a chance man give me a chance he loves riding the tackle are you sure he does like riding yeah yeah he does if you can say one of those things right you can say like oh he loves coming inside you or you can say he loves riding the tackle i did exactly but you can't put them together no you can't because then it becomes too too much.

11:50Too much. Were you surprised how easily we seemed to have got it done? There was only one sticking point. Well, to say that, it isn't actually official at the moment. Apparently he's having a medical today as we record on, where are we? Thursday. But were you surprised how easy it seemed to happen? 55 million seems like, 85 million was the release clause, 30 million pound under the release clause. 85 million pound is ridiculous, but 55 million pound feels like how much you have to pay for a decent Premier League player these days. it seemed easy yeah mate I don't know I don't know if I'd describe it as easy because there's clearly been a lot of back and forth and a lot of discussion behind the scenes and I guess this is where football discourse is at the moment it's like you can sort of view it how you want to view it in other words you could go oh this is taking fucking ages like the transfer window has been open for ages he's got a release clause and we've been fucking around going back and forth we should have just smashed in with a higher offer and got it done three weeks ago.

12:51Right, you could easily make that point. Or you could look at it and go, well, these things are complicated. Things take time. He's got a massive release cause. We just saved ourselves 30 million. Yeah. And it's happened actually quite quick because we've still got weeks before the season starts. This is why it's frustrating when people go, just pay the money. Just pay more money. Just pay 85 million. Just get him if you want him. And you're like, we need, you can't do that. If you can get him for 55 and you feel like you can get him for 55, it's better to wait 10 days and get it for 55 than spend 85 million just to get him in.

13:18because people who say just pay the release clause, get him in then forget about the fact that we've spent an extra£30 million and they just go, no, now I want another player spend more on that thinking there is this infinite pot of money where we aren't impacted by the rules at all and we should just spend what we need to get that player in it is frustrating sometimes anyway, John Boy, there are loads of questions oh, okay loads, well we'll say loads are about, we've got about 20. So, not loads, actually. Middling amount of questions. About 20. But it is the Q &A podcast, so we don't know what's coming up.

13:57Gary Spurs, 18, says, does Levy deserve some credit for how he went to West Ham and bent them over and said they're going to enjoy it? West Ham fans are losing their heads on line with the low feel.

14:11I think we need, I think we deserve some, it all depends on how well he performs, John. but I think we deserve some credit for getting that deal done relatively quickly under what you'd assume they wanted for him and then we go again do you think it moves the needle at all for Tottenham given the fact the business that other teams do does this feel like a seismic signing for Spurs does this feel like is this sort of Dom Solanke level or is it below it where do you think yeah I think this is Dom Solanke level and if you remember I was a little bit down on Dom Solanke because I just felt it was a bit underwhelming but in hindsight like it was just a really solid signing like exactly what we needed is an improvement to a position that we needed improving and a player that's again it's like proven premier league like no we know they can do it in the league and we've seen them excel in the league and there's still more room to grow right that is what i think slanky represented and that's what kudos is so i think this is just a really solid signing plus i really do feel like for whatever reason and maybe it was like a system issue but Johnson and Kulisevsky neither of them would really worked on the right in the sense of what we wanted from like what we perceived to be like a right winger in the modern game but they were both very specific to the way that they played so like Johnson was super effective right there's no doubt about that scored more goals than anyone else for us last season but he wasn't and I know you got you and Ben covered this on the lab as well he wasn't really like uh committing like fullbacks and taking people down the line and getting to the byline and cutting stuff back or driving through the minute he was just arriving and scoring goals and that that in itself is a good skill set Kuliseski wants to bring the ball inside he wants to like hold the ball and drive and he you know he said it himself he wants to be more central so having someone who's able to drive inside but is enjoys beating people and going past people I think just gives us a bit more balance and dimension especially if we're going to have the likes of like a tail and odabert on the other side who also want to do that i just that just feels more balanced to me and i think that's a it's a good addition to the squad and definitely an area i wanted us to improve on so yeah yeah it feels like a good signing makes me feel good exciting attacking footballers what what you want i mean we need a six probably but we're also linked with hutchinson today from ipsbitual i think he's a sensational player another attacker though though linked and being real genuine news are two separate things as we you'll know.

16:39We've got a question here from... Where was it? Oh, terrible podcast. Chris, crispyduck77 says, how many players will be away with AFCON? The answer, I think, is two. Basuma and... Sar. Sar, yeah. And... Yeah. We know that Kudus won't have to go because Ghana failed to qualify for the AFCON for the first time since 2004, which is great news. It's great news. I was surprised by that. You just thought, like, there's certain nations. The big football nations in Africa, right? Yeah. You just think, oh, Ghana will definitely be there. Yeah, weird. Yeah. So, that's it. Costa del Spurs says, as we are now being linked with signing Omar from The Wire, which other famous characters should we be trying to bring in this summer?

17:32What does that even mean? Well, I think you go McNulty and Bunk as your centre-back partnership. That is what you need. That is the ultimate cat and dog. That is the scenario you need. Bunk is your steady, ball-playing centre-half, knows what he's doing. McNulty is very much just dives into tackle. He's the Romero to our Van der Ven. I think those two do a solid job. You'd go Daniels in the middle. Absolute physique, absolute specimen, doing absolute bits. You'd go Snoop Pearson up front. Deadly, absolutely lethal. She'll score, no dramas. like she'll be fucking burying people. WeeBay, fullback, probably.

18:10Anyone who hasn't seen The Wire, this just means nothing. It's so pointless. It means nothing to them all. Niche references. The reason I was confused is Costantinous First Face says, signing Omar from The Wire, and he's Omari Hutchinson, not Omar Hutchinson. That's why I was confused. And it was just quickly on The Wire, if anyone has watched it, the greatest scene in it, hands down, is when Bunks pissed out of his nut in the bathroom of the woman he's just slept with by cheating on his wife and he's trying to set fire to his clothes because they're evidence of he's cheating because he's pissed with a lighter.

18:43That is the greatest. That or when they go to the crime scene and all they say is fuck. Fuck. For the whole scene. Sorry. Good. Yeah. Fuck. Fuck. That's a great scene as well. Andy Dixon says Kudis has eight goals on assists last season. Is that a bit shit for a 50 million pound player? I don't. Do you think that's how they're going about signing their players just that information how many goals and assists are they in the pre just one previous season yeah that's all that matters that's it like signing on that that's it look i would say it's exactly the same as if you had a player who scored 30 goals right in his first season you'd go ah but it could be a one season like yeah it could be right but you've got to try and base it on what you think their ceiling is and we've seen kudos over if you expand it to the season before where he got a lot more goals and assists you know that capability is there so if you just take anything in isolation you can go oh that's not very good so we shouldn't make that decision i think you just try and get as much data as you can look at the bigger picture i think there's there's a really top player in there yeah i mean there's levels of data they're looking into that we wouldn't even understand it's just it's so intricate um and also just eye test just just like when i've seen him play it looks fucking quality that that's what i i don't look at any you know i don't look at any stats i don't care about stats I would rather look at a player and see what I think if then someone goes oh and he also did these here's all these amazing stats that backs up my argument I'll accept it if it goes against my argument I'll ignore it that's how it works also Vincent Janssen scored like 25 goals in 6 months for Arsene Altmar I think it was and literally hands down the worst number 9 I've ever seen played for Tottenham yeah I also thought he was going to be quite good as well first couple of games like nah he's got something he's got something did he?

20:27I was looking at him and Shirley's just nervous do you remember yeah he did look nervous but that's what I thought he was so slow all the time he was so slow but do you remember one game I think it was a Swansea away and we were like 2-0 down or something and then we just scored 3 in like the last few minutes he provided an assist for Dele I think and I was like that's it that's the player that I saw that's what I'm talking about and then I think he went on loan to fucking Mexico about my player on loan to Mexico Dave Bowman says Is it just me that feels that West Ham are barely a rival? Much smaller club than Spurs.

21:05Always has been, always will be. So why are they so upset about the imminent Kudus move? So West Ham and Tottenham are definitely rivals, right? And the way you can tell, and I get he did the little fishing emoji, so he's sort of fishing. And the way you can tell is when Tottenham and West Ham play each other, the atmosphere is thicker against them than it is against Arsenal, I think. It's pretty thick against Arsenal, but compare it to sort of Chelsea. There is no comparison, especially in the old wire lane. The new stadium is very good at kind of like separating and making it kind of dilute in that sort of somewhat what some people would regard as a negative energy.

21:47But in the old stadium where you had to join each other in the park lane, there was nothing like West Ham, I thought. I thought it was thick. And don't get me wrong, this energy comes from them. and when you speak to West Ham fans they a lot of it's about we think we're above our station and they don't perceive us to be there but you cannot compare in terms of size of fan base and size of club West Ham to Tottenham it's just different it's a different ballpark in the same way you can't compare Tottenham with Manchester United it's just we're not anywhere near as big as them and and you have to accept that there is a, like you said it, a thing about hierarchy.

22:30There are rungs to this and you're on your rung and it's very difficult to move from that. Not impossible. But yeah, and a lot of this stems from, you know, the old days and fighting and firms and, you know, a lot of rivalries outside of what happens on the football pitch comes from that era where football violence was regular at any match they experienced. So there's part of that as well. and they fucking hate us. Yeah, they do. But it's the same as Chelsea. I don't feel like, I think Spurs fans who hate Chelsea, you're giving them too much credit. You're giving them too much time. Arsenal, categorically, without question, are our rivals.

23:12Chelsea mean nothing to me. Absolutely nothing. Like, it's, the club, since Abramovich took over, fails to exist in any legitimate world for me. So there's nothing any of their fans can say that should really impact you in any way. And the same goes for Arsenal because I've kind of manoeuvred in a way that means that I don't allow them to impact me in any way because I'm above them. I'm above all of them, right? You don't allow them to... But the legitimate rivalry is Arsenal. And if you want to hurt a Chelsea fan, you really want to hurt them, don't acknowledge the rivalry. don't acknowledge them it kills them because they hate us they hate us more than anybody and if you just go i don't really hate you i don't think about you at all that's that is that's your power move yeah that's the winner of argument no matter what they do we don't i don't acknowledge you yeah i totally agree before the season even kicks off soccer fans are already making predictions who wins the league who qualifies for europe and who's lifting the trophy at season's end.

24:22On Calci, America's number one prediction market platform. You're trading against peers in a live market, meaning there's no house. And as the probability changes, you can buy in and out of your position. For a limited time, download the Calci app and use code CUP26 to get$10 when you trade 10. K-A-L-S-H-I, Calci. Trade the beautiful game. 18 plus only restrictions and eligibility requirements apply. Event contract trading involves risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices, values, and available markets may differ from those mentioned. For more information, see calsheet.com slash regulatory.

24:53This episode is brought to you by Facebook. So you were scrolling on Marketplace and there it was, the bike you'd been searching for. You sent a message and it turned out the seller was super chatty, kind of funny, and an avid cyclist. The next thing you know, you're in a cycling crew. Well, a community cycling group. The thing about Facebook, you might find more than what you're looking for. From a browse to a bike ride, this summer, find more on Facebook.

25:47symptoms noted are signs of mild to moderate dehydration consult a health care professional if symptoms persist i'll tell you on the west ham thing i think about it as like supporting say arsenal and chelsea is just a weak mentality choice right it's an easy out it's like if you've chosen it's hard to respect people yeah if you if you picked it it's just there's something even if if your dad supported him then he picked him and if his dad supported then he picked somewhere along the line that was an easy choice now okay slightly different for Chelsea because they they also were shit back in the day but there's something like quite proper about West Ham because they're quite shit and they have been quite shit for a long time so you have a certain amount of respect from me for deciding to support West Ham in the same way as if you grew up in North London and picked Spurs over Arsenal you're a you're a person of great integrity right there's no doubt about that you're a you're a person of honour and you've you've got a bit about you so I think there's an element of like in a way a bit of respect because they see us as like well you're closer to what we are in the sense that you're a proper football club and it's not a lottery choice and then it's that thing of when that respect comes that's when the envy comes because you go well hang on on paper we're both proper London football clubs but hang on now all of a sudden you're in this thing called the Champions League and you're talking about winning the league no no you're supposed to be in the fucking gutter with us and I don't think they can bear that but we're not no no we've sort of moved out the gutter they're like you've changed but we don't change the thing is it's evident you by looking at the football clubs we don't have to it's true you can't help it sorry if you don't like it that is that is the truth um i'd love the way that you just drunk that it was like nearly a pint of orange juice has just disappeared down john bass's gut it was actually barocca um of course it just disappeared i mean it's just literally one movement and it's all gone down his massive gullet i had a mate who could literally do something to his gullet and he could swallow a pint in one second.

27:43Yeah, I've seen that. They just open their throat up. Yeah, and it just goes. I think that's how the old DT... I thought you were going to talk about the sword swallowers. That was my mind. My mind was like, oh yeah, that's a big dick. Just cock, straight down. I think that's how they do it. I don't know. Wouldn't know without. But in terms of rivalry, I respect the rivalry with West Ham. I respect it and I respect the rivalry with Arsenal to some degree. I just don't respect the rivalry with Chelsea. I just don't acknowledge it. Same. Splattergun says, why do you think the psychology of certain supporters is when they make remarks such as, is anyone else not excited about Kudus or I'm going to make a bet that Kudus scores no more than four goals next year, is Flav able to diagnose their particular personality disorder or neurotype or are they just miserable wankers with delusional expectations who poison the well for the rest of us who like to have at least a glimmer of hope of optimism until the first match what a post I couldn't agree with anything more I think we'd have to diagnose him with some sort of narcissism because that tends to be what we do on this podcast but no you are you're fun sponges it's exhausting it's exhausting if your starting point is just to shit on everything it is an exhausting place for other people to live in and maybe that's their motive I don't know we've got people on the I don't know we're just it is why not be excited about Kudus until he proves that we shouldn't be excited about him but mate it's the same thing I speak about all the time.

29:32It's like the pre-annoyed. Yeah. You're getting annoyed or stressed or disappointed about things that haven't happened. Oh, what if he has a bad season? Well, fucking hell. Let's wait and see if it's bad. Why are you... If that happens, it'll be really annoying and you'll feel really annoyed. So why are you doing it now when it hasn't happened? Like, it's just... I just... That mentality for me, I just can't get my head around it. Like, I always like to think about the positive. Honestly, I do go into every season going, I just think we might win it. We might win it. Just be mental, but we might win it.

30:02Like now, I'm genuinely... I'm genuinely... I was listening to you and Ricky doing This Is Tottenham, the tip podcast. And you're talking through all the coaches and what the different coaches are doing. And by the end of that section, I was going, we are going to win the fucking league. We're going to win it. And I'm not even joking. I wasn't going, oh, lol, we're going to win it. I was thinking, fuck, yeah, we're going to get on a run. It's all going to come together and we're going to fucking win it. And then I'm not disappointed when it doesn't happen. It's not like I'm like, oh, no, I was convinced it was going to happen.

30:32I'm just looking forward to it, right? It's like at Christmas, if you're like, I really wanted a, I don't know, a PlayStation. And then it turns out you end up getting fucking loads of other stuff that's also amazing. You're like, ah, I wanted a PlayStation better in the end, but fucking hell, it's Christmas. This is brilliant. Yes. I just don't, right? I just don't understand getting disappointed before it's happened. It's almost like for the whole month of December, being fucking livid, because you might not get the present you want at Christmas, and you get to Christmas and you might get it.

31:02So just wait and see, for fuck's sake. If you listen, I mean, I think that's all the way we've always put the fighting cock and various other bits and pieces we do together. It's like, let's focus on the most positive thing. And people have been critical of that over the years, like happy clapping and all that stuff. But it's about where you want to live. Where do you want your mind space to be? And it's got to be positive. It has to be positive. Because what is the point? If you hate toxic positivity, listen to the pod we did about Kudus. Because by the end, listening to Ben, and he's always super positive, Ben.

31:37But at the end, I was like, I think we've signed the new Ronaldinho. I think that's what's happened here.

31:46Steve THFC has been reading How to Win the Premier League by Ian Graham. Great book. I know Flav's mentioned he's reading it on Reddit and it suggests that Spurs were quite early adopters of data in football. We had Ian Graham and Michael Edwards at Spurs refining the methods who both end up at Liverpool and eventually the club system supports them and culminates in an amazing club team. Interested on the boys' thoughts on data in football in general and how big of a miss it was, not nurturing those two at Spurs, Paul Barber as well. So Paul Barber left us and went on to become CEO at Brighton.

32:21unfortunately at the time we had the worst manager for any new approaches in harry redknapp i can well imagine he would what he would say about computer models suggesting transfers your thoughts about data in football john so i think it's well documented that i like publicly slag off data however in reality but when you say data statistics in match in following matches i mean yeah look i i guess i like to sit on the like yadda end of football like proper proper man football right but obviously in real life if we're not uh fucking around for lulz it's a combination it always is in business it's the same thing right you got a lot of people are like data data data data and it's like okay fine but it's it's not necessarily just having data is one thing it's how it's applied and how it's used and and how you supercharge that data to get what you want because ultimately the data like in business or most businesses and like in football is coming from people right it's like their actions and what they do and therefore it's like they're intangible like the data might be something for a year and then that person something happens in their private life and the data is telling you they'll be amazing next season and then they're like well my house got broken into i just can't be asked anymore so there's always an aspect for me of combining those two things it can't be one or the other can't just be vibes and i'll fuck the data like he just looks like a player let's just go and it can't just be data for me and that's why to some extent i quite liked what ang was talking about which is like the club identify targets and i sit down with them and i talk to them and i get a feel for their character and their personality and it seems like we're getting the same thing with frank right he's got this no dickheads policy which everyone's making a big thing out of that's a really common thing in a lot of especially like startups and technology businesses now one of the key things for hiring in businesses i've worked for is like if you were to arrive at a work stew and the other person arriving was the person you just interviewed would would you be happy that you were there for the first 10 minutes with them alone if you wouldn't be we won't hire them no matter what they've done if they've been to fucking harvard nothing they're not getting hired if they don't pass that test because you need a certain culture so yeah broadly speaking i think data is like especially in modern football is super important but it's only as useful as how you apply it and if the people part of football isn't utilized and managed well it's only going to get you so far and I think you can see that across the footballing world right there's a lot of players teams and stuff who prosper because they're managed and motivated in the correct way 100 % you're right and I think this is what what Ian Graham implemented at Liverpool and some of the best stuff is when he was clashing heads with Brendan Rodgers who didn't agree with the data approach and was very much an old school footballing man and he said there was an argument about Ian Graham pleading with pleading pleading with with with um Brendan Rodgers not to buy Christian Benteke and he was like this is the wrong fit his metrics are all wrong do not buy this man do not buy obviously they ended up buying him for a lot of a fair amount of money and as we know his time at Liverpool was horrendously bad that's not to say that they won't always get it right and and there is a sort of depressing approach in my opinion to statistics and data in football because in part you're able to predict whether or not something's going to be a success or not and the magic of football is not knowing that i think um there would have there are models about where you will finish in this league after 38 games if they simulated the league a thousand times they more or less get where you're going to finish i don't want to know that information the start before the start so data is great for for finding players and and solving problems in football and understanding the game.

36:11But I don't want models to predict how good or how bad our season's going to be before it's even started, because that just ruins everything. It is addressed in the book, that idea, and he is a little bit... He defends his position quite well, but it is a fantastic book and definitely Spurs missed an opportunity. To some degree, you would give the owners credit for allowing them to work at the football club when it wasn't happening elsewhere. but for us to not acknowledge it and then for not to be taken seriously at Spurs and ultimately Harry Redknapp was the reason why they they felt that they had no no creative control or no decision-making power in the football club and so he went off to Liverpool and they built the team that won the Champions League and and the league this episode is brought to you by Facebook so you were scrolling on marketplace and there it was the bike you'd been searching for you sent a message and it turned out the seller was super chatty, kind of funny, and an avid cyclist.

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38:17Allergic reactions can include rash, welts, asthma symptoms, and dizziness. Don't receive Botox if there's a skin infection. Tell your doctor your medical history, muscle or nerve conditions, including ALS Lou Gehrig's disease, myasthenia gravis or Lambert-Eaton syndrome, and medications, including botulinum toxins, as these may increase the risk of serious side effects. why wait ask your doctor visit botoxchronicmigraine.com or call 1-800-44-BOTOX to learn more um and the data-led approach was they got it wrong in some instances navigator they were convinced it was going to be a world-class star for them and it didn't work but they got so much right andy robertson mohammed salah obviously um there are tons of players read the book's really really fascinating i was talking to the publisher about getting him on the lab um and now she's just blanking me.

39:03It's weird. We're talking and that's just fucking blanking me. So I don't know if she's looked at my Twitter or something. I'm not sure. Quite possibly. Could be that.

39:15At the Peak says, has there been any discussion yet around Thomas Frank's attitude towards cup competitions? The impression I got is that he is zero interest in winning the FA Cup or League Cup games for Brentford. Do we know if that was a club directive or just Frank's attitude towards them? Well, purely speculatively, it's kind of fairly well known that a lot of clubs, let's say like mid-table and down, have to prioritise the league. Because if they prioritise the cup, they'll suffer in the league, potentially get relegated, which will fuck the club. And before that happens, they'll be fired.