S15E09 - Levy’s Last Straw?

0:00Before 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? On 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.

0:32Prices, values, and available markets may differ from those mentioned. For more information, see calsheet.com slash regulatory. Get business done with the new American Express Graphite Business Cash Unlimited card. With unlimited 2 % cash back on all eligible purchases, unlimited 5 % cash back on flights and prepaid hotels booked through American Express Travel Online, and a flexible spending capacity that can grow with your business, you'll have the confidence to keep building. Apply today and earn a welcome offer of$1 ,500 cash back after you spend$50 ,000 in qualifying purchases on your new card within the first six months of card membership.

1:06Terms apply. Learn more at go.mx. Right now, get up to 15 % off select storage solutions. Put heavy-duty HDX totes to good use, protecting what's important to you. The solid, impact-resistant design prevents cracking. And the clear base and sides make items easy to find even when the totes are stacked. Find select shelving and tote storage up to 15 % off at the Home Depot to organize every room in your home, from your garage to your attic. Visit homedepot.com, how doers get more done.

1:54A camel, Tottenham!

2:24long long time coming because us three have known each other i've got to say from early doors i would say like maybe even before the podcast started maybe on twitter on spurs twitter back in the day that sounds about right yeah so that would be at least 15 years and it's taken me 15 years to go do you fancy coming on the pod and do you know what it was mate it was the i saw your a clip of the podcast you did about your profession which i watched and absolutely really loved and found really interesting and i thought ah this makes sense what let's see if frosty's about oh okay lovely yeah what um what is it you do just quickly before we go into the fucking clusterfuck of a football club we fucking support um yeah on a positive note i guess we'll start with what i do professionally um i'm a chef and i work on super yachts um so those big white shiny boats So you see super rich people gallivanting around and spending stupid amounts of money on.

3:26That's what I basically do. It's like the best job. I mean, obviously, it sounds amazing, and I'm sure there are pitfalls to it. But Rich, like the idea of that, just milling about super yachts, models everywhere, gear all over the place. Nothing like that at all, is it? I don't know what you're talking about. It always blew me away because he was like, oh, yeah, I'm a chef. and then we're chef no i'm chef on a yacht and now do you spend like how long do you spend out there cooking for these mega rich people um when i first started i was doing uh i think it would have been like five months and then one month off and then now um obviously i work my way up and with this particular family for like nearly five years now i'd basically do six weeks on six weeks off so um ties in nicely with uh going to see the clusterfuck that is tottenham hotspur football club uh yeah that it's uh it's a shame it's a shame i'd love to sort of sit and talk to you about your job for the next 10 minutes but people aren't clicking onto this for this unfortunately for us even so so next time i did actually even consider just like maybe let's just move this to another day and anyway we can't because at about eight o 'clock last night my fucking life turned upside down to some degree um i think i think i know what you're talking about there yeah it it just sort of so so it'd been sort of slowly brewing all day like first rumors going the arsenal are interested how about injuries come through arsenal arsenal are interested and it just sort of grew and grew and grew and got to the point where they'd fucking signed the prick and it was just like i i it was just like it was just i felt this before i've been through this before and it's got to a point now where I'm just I'm just so fucked off I'm just so why can't we just be like a normal big six sort of football club with all the money spending it all the time getting all the players we want but everyone else seems to do that Ricky uh yeah I just when I first started seeing the news that Arsenal were interested I kind of it felt like Tottenham are close to the deal if we throw Arsenal into the mix it will create some you know uh some engagement on on tweets and stuff like that so people will be scrabbling around saying no it's already done and creating a bit of hype around it and then I was like fuck I think they're they've actually bid for him and there are they are going to get before I had time to process it was like proper journos were confirming Arsenal have had a bid and it's kind of like everything it was like going from a bid to everything's confirmed it not within minutes it felt like and I was like how has this happened and it's like being out in a club right and you're cracking on with a sort of 10 out of 10 and you think she's well into me and at the end she just leaves with that bloke down the street you ate you used to fight when you was a kid out of nowhere he's just taken her off your arm that's what it kind of feels like i don't know you know you just said that about a bid coming in rick the they had so as it transpired miguel delaney confirmed that they had a complete deal agreed deal in place of him since the 10th of january so that deal was in place and all it took was ask him to go yeah we want to activate that now once havertz was injured and then it was done now who do you do you Frosty do you hold anybody responsible for this what are your feelings about this situation yeah so I kind of got wind of that kind of whole set up that Arsenal had in place from I think second or third week into the transfer market with having you know kind of contacted Palace about setting something up So I kind of actually lay the blame really wholeheartedly at Tottenham because surely, you know, Levy goes on about being this fantastic businessman, which he is to a point in terms of what he's built with Spurs in terms of the training ground, the stadium, you know, it's kind of our trophy for want of a better analogy.

7:45But surely if you're going to be spending this kind of level of money, you would probably check or find out from, you know, the inside, the agents, whatever. if anybody else is in play. And it just feels like Spurs have literally walked up and just had their pants pulled down, you know, without kind of even knowing. I think I saw, I'm probably waffling a little bit, but there was a Liverpool fan that was celebrating one of his mates pulled his pants down. That kind of is literally what's just happened to Spurs. Yeah, yeah. It does feel like that because it's like, look my my feelings towards Daniel Levy right now I mean that I could they couldn't be any lower really I I I really kind of I just feel like that we operate in a way and he operates in a way that isn't compatible if we want to compete for league titles and the idea of competing for a league title even seems beyond us like how should we even even suggest or believe that that we should even be able to compete at the top of the table when Chelsea fans, Arsenal fans, Liverpool, Man City and Man United think they should be challenging every year.

8:55I don't think any of us legitimately think we're going to challenge every year. Now, why is that? Why is the problem come from? And the problem obviously comes from how the club is being run and the energy that's coming out of the boardroom. The fact that what we know, we don't know everything. We don't know everything. All we can go by is what's been reported rumors that go by and we will never know 100 % what was the truth and what had been going on behind closed doors and moreover we wouldn't know about the uh the conversations at parish and levy are having but we can guess based on previous engagements and previous attempts to sign players that perhaps we were dilly-dallying over the details of some of this deal now what was being reported and what was being told and what was being whispered was that there was elements to this deal that Daniel Levy wasn't happy about specifically around bonus payments based on performance of Eze if he joined Tottenham and it was something like the amount of money owed per appearance as opposed to the number of appearances and Parrish wanted really you know achievable bonuses as you would expect and and and as you'd expect Daniel Levy wanted slightly more difficult ones and because those terms weren't agreed we didn't sign Eze because the only reason you have to assume again big assumptions is that Arsenal needed to buy bring Eze in once it was clear that Havertz was out for a long-term injury and I asked someone who has you know he knows someone who works at the football club and I'm close to him and he said and I said how, he went from saying, just yesterday, this deal is about as done as it possibly can be done without being done for Jose.

10:41And then I messaged him later and I said, is this Arsenal bid real? And he went, he just talks about Havertz. So as soon as Havertz is injured, this guy, Arsenal activated the deal that they'd already had in place. The problem is, the advantage was given to, or the opportunity was given to Arsenal because we hadn't had that deal in place. There's almost an arrogance to how we're dealing with this. Like, get it fucking done. And I'm not talking about generally. Sorry, I'm going on a proper rant here, boys. I want to get you a report on all this, right? But generally, you know, you would look, I think it's good business not to overpay, to find the best, get the most bang for your buck and all that sort of stuff.

11:23But not when you've lost your number nine, number 10 to a cruciate ligament and it's crucial we get a player in that can do that. You don't fuck about then. You overpay. You get it done. And he hasn't got it done. And I don't think we ever will get it done as a football club with him in charge. I really don't. I'm appreciative of everything, the good work he's done. But something's got to change. We just can't continue like this. Rick? Yeah, I mean, I think obviously Arsenal did have an agreement that was already met and already kind of done. And I think it's being reported in August 10th or something like that.

12:01But there was also a part of it that is we can't sign Eze unless we get players out of the club. So for the gooners, that is. And so that transfer has been put on ice, which then lays open for us to go and see if we can try and negotiate. Now I've heard rumors that he'd been given a tour of the stadium and other bits and pieces, medical booked in, all of this stuff. But then I see like a report, was it a couple of days ago, maybe even yesterday, I can't even remember now, that Levy and Parrish have finally come to an agreement. So finally, it's like reading between the lines that there were some details, which you've just mentioned, Flav, about picking through those tiny little details.

12:59And it feels like a bit of an ego of, no, no, I want this. No, no, I want this. And if you want a player and you've got a short amount of time, knowing that another deal has already been set up and this is your chance to get them, you kind of take the losses where you can. As long as it's not like they're asking like 50 million and they say, oh, 70 million. That's 20 million. That's a lot of money. But we're talking about, you know, goal bonuses and appearances and stuff. You just pay it. And as soon as he signed on the dotted line, that's it. He's ours. And I think over a lot of time, no matter who, which player it is, like you hear like the history of, I don't know, we were in for Grealish and we wouldn't put in an extra couple of mil and we didn't get him.

13:49And there's been other players over many years, many players, that we've been close to these signings, but they haven't materialized because of few mil here and there or the differences in appearances, whatever it might be. But it's like we had, knowing Madison has been out injured for, what, three weeks, had an op done, and how badly we needed this player, and then going in and looking for other players, Morgan Gibbs-White, tried to get that over the line fell flat on our face there he was our number one target by the sounds of it so we're going for Eze now and we know that he's probably had a deal that has been signed off with the Gooners but that's not going to happen that's not going at the moment so the moment that happens and you can see kind of a way that you can sneak in then you you have to do everything you can possible and that is paying over the odds in different different ways and i just feel like by dragging this out by a few days of nitpicking we've paid the ultimate price and now habits is injured and it's like remember that deal we had back in august 10th yeah we'll go for it we'll pay more up front than top them and what else we'll do is you know the appearances yeah we'll do that by by minus 10 more appearance or whatever it fucking is you know i mean yeah Well, they had a full agreement in place, so they did that work, Rick.

15:20They did the work. And that's it. And then, you know, we've lost out from dragging our heels over bits and pieces, which is fucking ridiculous again. I like dragging my nuts over your mum's face. Peter, don't laugh at that. Sorry, sorry, sorry. Easton. I was back in the schoolyard. I never left. I never left before. If you'd answer that, we'd go down. frosty what do you think about um you know what are you where are you at are you are you in a situation like me where you feel like it's that we can't really achieve or we'll never really win the league or challenge for the champions league legitimately if daniel levy's in charge or you're a little bit softer on him or what how do you feel like fuck him fuck him literally um it's going a little bit towards what i what i do for profession i get to meet some absolutely weird wonderful people when i got to cook for um a very important person at chelsea let's just say um what like a like important person of yesteryear uh no current um maybe might be one of the owners that's right we'll leave it there right right um so every every single day i had to go in there and see him for menus and he was on the phone one time and i was stood there a bit like a lemon and all I heard was him shouting down the phone was just give him an extra fucking 60 grand a week that conversation transpired into them signing um is it Enzo Fernandez yeah Enzo Fernandez so to me going on to what you two gents have been talking about is if you need somebody you get you get it done and I think with with Levy he wants to always come out looking like he won the battle and saved us a few pennies here and a few pennies there.

17:11But he's kind of, for me, I went out to the Super Cup, unlucky in the end, you know. PSG are an absolute monster of a football team. But for 85 minutes, you would have thought that Spurs were the best team in Europe, in my opinion. We played some absolutely wonderful football. We were together and the fans were together. And you just felt that there was a unity, you know, with everybody together after obviously the Ange stuff you know that divided fans uh rightly or wrongly yeah and and Levy just seems to have just gone oh everybody's happy but you know what I'll just fuck all over you and and that's pretty much he is do you think like he looks at him for look how happy everybody is look how good that performance is maybe we can afford to wait for Perez I don't know if it's true but it kind of it feels like that that's been the case over and over again it's like why didn't we strengthen when we nearly won the champions league and when we was at wembley and when we had that great 2016 17 yeah you know 18 team yeah it totally feels like that and it feels like obviously we we had a very good performance against psg unluckily lost on penalties and then first game this season tump up burnley free nil and it's like well you know richarlison's back basically a sign in uh spence is playing well left back basically you know do you really need extra extra things thomas do you like how much do you actually need savino and how much do you need like i don't know maybe i'm just fucking angry and i'm just saying this shit but it feels it does feel like i went a little bit i went a little bit mental in the whatsapp group didn't i yeah that was surprising actually i was like generally keep calm yeah i said some things a lot i regretted and i said i went so mental that i had to apologize i went lads i'm so sorry about that i just had to get it out like it's it's frustrating because you spent so much time like you know how many times i've been accused of just fucking fucking leave you off and you know all the all the time i just kind of get to the point where like what was the point of all that?

19:27Because I'm now arriving at a position, I think many people are arriving at a position that you just think, he's just not the guy. He isn't. And what has happened to this structure? So I thought Vina Vinkerteschen came in, you've got Langer, your Pratich is back at the club, 100%. So why is Daniel Levy and Steve Parrish in a room? Very good question. He's still making the decisions, obviously. And I think even if he is making the decisions, it should be at a place where the two chairmans, I don't know, share a fucking glass of red wine and they're just talking about it. They should not be going through the weeds of it on appearances and this and that bonus and all of that stuff.

20:18That should be well ironed out. And like you were saying, I didn't think we will ever get to a place where we want to be under Levy, as in he's done great with the stadium, training grounds, everything that we've mentioned many times on this pod before. But to get to that next step where we are comfortable with overpaying in places or doing something different to acquire the specialist talent that we need i don't think he'll ever put out all the stops and it won't be and it won't ever be like a quick thing that we need to do maybe if there is a player that is young has a high ceiling has a lot spoken about him and they're you know the players rated at 15 million and we want to get it done so we do 18 million that kind of small change stuff sounds like but yeah well this is this is what's the thing about who do we come who do we what happens now like what do we do now like there is nico paz who've been linked with como 20 year old playmaker had a decent season last year fought a lot of in argentina he's owned at real madrid have like a fireback clause on him so even if Spurs are legitimately interested Real Madrid are buying back and then the price goes up by 20 mil um they got I don't know if I don't know if his name is this Akaluche I don't know if I pronounce it you know what I'm talking about yeah yeah at least I'm not on my own uh he's uh he's at Monaco and then and then you're talking about El Canoos I think we should fuck Palace over and do that by the way yes yeah for sure let's just buy him like Like, because, you know, you've sold, we thought we'd get an Eze, you've sold him to our arch rivals.

22:13We look like fucking mugs. You know, I've been getting grief from every angle, as you can imagine. And that's because of you, Daniel Levy, and Steve Parrish. So let's just go and buy, take our canoes. Fuck, give them a problem. I don't know if he's good enough or not. And there's Tyler Dibblin as well, which is, okay, he's like young. It's just, Eze was built for what we needed, and we let it fucking go. And he, like, what do we want? what do we want to happen do we want Daniel Levy to be removed from the football club because the only way that can happen is Enoch I can't remember their names now basically the de facto controllers of Enoch the nephew and daughter I think it is anyway they are they can sack Daniel Levy that could happen they could remove him as chairman or get an owner come in and they come and and sack daniel levy that way but daniel levy isn't impervious to being removed it just has to the energy has to come from somewhere and it probably just probably will not happen i know it's it's it's kind of like well we don't actually know it for certain but it seems like there has been an injection cash injection from somewhere whether it's an investor or eni could put it in whatever it seems like we've got the money and now that we've kind of got some money we're finding it hard to spend because the the players keep going for it falling for our grasp it's fucking it's mad only tottenham it just feels like to me that as you say we've got this money but yeah we still want to play this we haven't got any money so we'll go as slow as possible we'll try and steal you know 500 grand off that and we'll try and you know squeeze that for that instead of actually giving the tools that the managers need to make the club successful on the pitch and off the pitch surely that adds value to the overall business model if you have two things that are successful so if his ultimate goal is that one one day to sell up and make an absolutely astronomical profit which is probably in line to do as it stands currently then surely you would want both to be successful and it just seems that he's always his focus is always on the structure the you know we've got white heart lane built into the concourse of the stadium great lovely but i just don't give a fuck anymore exactly we want you know Eze to me was just was that perfect replacement for Son in terms of how he is as a human being he always plays football with a smile on his face he seems like a lovely chap and by god he can absolutely strike a free kick and it just you know just that player that fucking Arsenal don't need him they don't we fucking need him because he would have taken us, I believe, to another level.

25:20We, you know, lifted the players, lifted the fans. Yeah, it's a bitch, isn't it? It's so frustrating when the, like you say, they've only bought him because there was an injury to one of their other players. When, like, he would have, he would have, he probably might not even start for them. And it's the thing he's trying for them. Like, where's he going to play? You've got, you've got Trossard and Martin Lillian on the left. you've got Odegaard in the 10 and you've got Saka and Malewake. That doesn't all fit in. I know there's minutes in Champions League and whatnot, but for us, he would have been a stalwart.

25:57I don't know, man. And another thing as well, right? We've been working on this deal for what, two weeks or whatever it is. And it's only like the second, towards the end of the second week where it's reported Tottenham have finally come to an agreement with Palace, finally come to an agreement with Palace about this transfer. And then yesterday, oh, Richarlison, should we, you want to do a swap with Richarlison? Where the fuck did that come from? Like, what was that? Desperate. Like, there's news that, like, we've done the deal and then we're trying to kind of, like, renege with Richarlison in there?

26:38Like, I can't, I don't understand. like what the fuck's going on fucking mental um i'm just looking when you was talking there rick i was just on browsing reddit not brown i was listening to what you're saying that roman romano says tottenham are still trying to get manchester city green light for savinho as reported last night mcfc hierarchy blocking the move as they want to keep savinho Brilliant. But Spurs are pushing again. Get business done with the new American Express Graphite Business Cash Unlimited card. With unlimited 2 % cash back on all eligible purchases, unlimited 5 % cash back on flights and prepaid hotels booked through American Express Travel Online, and a flexible spending capacity that can grow with your business, you'll have the confidence to keep building.

27:27Apply today and earn a welcome offer of$1 ,500 cash back after you spend$50 ,000 in qualifying purchases on your new card within the first six months of card membership. Terms apply. Learn more at go.amex.com. Pros trust the Home Depot for heavy-duty storage solutions for any job site or garage. Right now, get up to 15 % off select storage and organization, impact and water-resistant totes, and shelving built to hold up to 2 ,500 pounds. Storage systems have space for all your tools and protect them in the garage, on the job site, and everywhere in between. Save time and maximize efficiency with adjustable shelving customized to your business's needs.

28:03Shop and save on ProGrade Storage at The Home Depot. How pros get more done. 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 how are they pushing can we please have savina no no we've told you daniel no no no yeah but please please you see what's just happened please please you've seen what's just happened yeah help me out here please no we're going to block that please though please how significantly Frosty do you feel like this affects our season is it massive or will we rebound you know we've got to get another 10 in but how do you feel about the season in terms of how confident are you what do you expect even without Eze Sinem I definitely don't think we finish bottom half of the table I think we finish as a current squad, let's take out the injuries because obviously they'll come back at some point within the season.

29:32I think that's a top 10 side. What I think pisses most of the fans off is, A, the way that we have dilly-dallied and done nothing. Madison, was it two, three weeks ago that he did his cruise ship? Yeah. I've known that long. And surely you have a team that are scouting, that are always going through the transfer market, that are looking at opportunities for these situations to arise. So I think what needs to happen is there needs to be some form of restructuring. you know for me that's Daniel going and stepping away from or definitely stepping away as he likes to make out from transfers but I think what's what hits us fans the hardest is just the shit banter you know it's not just banter from your mates it's banter in the press it was Sky Sports it's literally everybody you know you you turn on TalkSport and there's fucking Darren Bent, biggest bellend ever, that now wears his Arsenal badge with pride, but was quite happy to take a wage from us.

30:56It's that that just kind of grates me more than does it affect Spurs overall in the season. Yeah, of course it does, because we're going to miss a number, well, okay, world-class, maybe not, but a very good number 10. so yeah effects I think with him in the side we would have probably finished in the top five I think I think that would have been that would have been yeah I mean that would have been realistic I think and how much more valuable like you know in terms of like saving money if SA guarantees us two places it's worth like six million pound exactly I just I just I've never been more disillusioned by the running of the football club and uh like i said at the top it's like about it's about perception from outside it's about how the club is looked looked at and talked about and right now despite you know on the back of winning the european trophy have an incredible display against psg which we should have won and beating burnley mood was flying bringing Nezian would have helped supplement that.

32:07And now just by the flick of a wrist or a decision made, we're now an absolute joke again. And I mean, not a joke, like the reality is we're not, and we just carry on and, you know, it's still, you know, going to be a good season and stuff, but it gave them an opportunity to, lots of people opportunity to laugh at Tottenham again. And we, you know, you mentioned a certain individual that you cooked for previously, not in a world. Where is it? When is it, when they get a player, they just want him and go and get him and he might look at it and go that's that it's not sustainable it's sustainable if you want to inject money in if your owners want to inject money in and they are PSR compliant then that is 100 sustainable tell me something about Chelsea's the last 25 years of Chelsea which has damaged them at all because of their spending you got Abramovich right they were lucky enough in that instance to have 1.6 billion pound written off of debt owed to Abramovich because of that situation and then he's replaced by someone who's just more hungry to buy players than than they won previously like how have they lucked out like that and you've got our chairman bumbling around going oh no we've got really great regulation and that isn't sustainable and you know we can't you can't just pump money and you can't you think it's not sustainable you this all these are all decisions you're making about our football club when there are people out there clearly because Liverpool have done it Arsenal have done it Chelsea have done it Man City have done it and Man United somehow monumentally despite all the money available to them has fucked that up so there are worse owners out there for sure but there's also an opportunity and I don't know if he can I don't know if he can take it you know I think inevitably it will be and this is the last thing I want I genuinely think I'd rather have Daniel Levy than have probably a Saudi owner.

33:55Not specifically because they're Saudis, but because I just felt very uncomfortable about Petro States coming in and using clubs for political gain. But it will inevitably happen, and he'll be forced out of the football club. And there's a growing wave of fans that really doesn't care who comes in as long as it isn't Daniel Levy. I don't know. Yeah, I mean, like you were just saying then, like i've you know come to the end of my tether with this like i've like i've you know almost given up but i remember feeling like that i don't know i i felt like that last season at some point and the sad thing about it is there's such a litany of stuff that i feel so let down and i'm like i fucking want levy out i can't even remember what it is now and you know by five days we'd have calmed down and we would have forgotten about it and we would have got you know continued as a football club but you mark my words there'll be another one flav there'll be another letdown and there'll be another letdown and another letdown and then just all roll into one mate it's all right it's all right we'll just be let down over and over again i think oh and that was it it was like and wins a european trophy we're all smiles he's on the bus and then he gets pinged and And I was like, do you know what?

35:16I've given up now. And then it's like, no, I'm back in. I'm back in. Frank's here. He's got his coaches. We've beaten the Goonies in preseason. I'm feeling all right. And now this comes along. We've, you know, fucking dilly-dallied over this transfer. The thing that we all felt was basically done. All it needed was the dot at the end of the name on that contract. And it didn't happen. And we've lost that. And we feel like shit about it. How many times would Daniel Levy have sacked Daniel Levy? Fucking God knows. He would have been gone in 2008. He would have been gone ages ago. He wouldn't even remember what he looked like.

35:56He would have been sacked so quickly. Martin Yol's another one. Sacked at half-time. One of my most beloved managers. Pete, tell me more about this fucking boat and all the, like, you know, Todd Bowley and all them people. Not Todd Bowley, obviously. Not Todd Bowley. I mean, yeah, the other Chelsea. the other one but anyway yeah it's good fun apart from there's a few shitty Liverpool fans and Arsenal fans on there but are you so how high are you the head chef I am yeah so right so they do what you say you scream at them no one fucks at me mate yeah put a knife there I just spit in their food yeah we grab them by the side of their head and just fucking cook me some food bits of bread come out and they get called an idiot sandwich yeah as a head chef are you kind of aggressive head chef do you shout or is it more of a calm atmosphere um no i'm definitely quite calm i like to lead by example i would i would i would say if i was a captain i would be your kind of your gareth barry okay would lead you know can be a little bit tenacious every every now and then but i like to lead by example um so you wouldn't say people are afraid of you i wouldn't wouldn't necessarily respect me yeah just yeah kind of i think they respect how hard I work you know try to do my job job well to the best of my abilities and how many how many hours do you have to work a week when you're on at sea uh if if the if the big man and his family are on then can be all hours as required but if if they're not then it's you know I can be doing like seven till five Monday to Friday and are you would you say this is this kind of like when you're cooking at this level is this like world-class cooking is it stuff that you some of the you'd find in some of the best restaurants you know is it is it sort of michelin star is that what you'd aim to cook like yeah yeah i would i mean over the course of when they're on we'll do you know family style stuff but we'll do a full buffet of japanese stuff that you know i'll go out and eat at you know some of the best restaurants in london or you know wherever i in the world um so yeah it's kind of always on the level of trying to be up there with the best restaurants in the world but it can be you know simple it can be a pizza lunch we've got you know pizza ovens on board so yeah wood fire pizza ovens on board so we we kind of use the best equipment that we possibly can and ingredients as well so are you sourcing those ingredients you're going out to markets you taste in is that you have to do that as the head chef yeah we do both so i have i have a network of you know very good um provisionist suppliers but then also when we're in we're in the amalfi coast um only a few weeks ago so i you know got the tender in and went to the local markets in the morning you know sourcing all the you know great fresh fish um you know cheeses breads vegetables fruits so yeah it's kind of definitely um the top end of the of the tree for sure.

39:02When I see your...

39:29card within the first six months of card membership. Terms apply. Learn more at go.amex.com. Pros trust the Home Depot for heavy-duty storage solutions for any job site or garage. Right now, get up to 15 % off select storage and organization, impact and water-resistant totes, and shelving built to hold up to 2 ,500 pounds. Storage systems have space for all your tools and protect them in the garage, on the job site, and everywhere in between. Save time and maximize efficiency with adjustable shelving customized to your business's needs. Shop and save on pro grade storage at the Home Depot. How pros get more done.

40:04This 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 instagram and you're like you post some food and you're like oh just trying some bits out just experimenting and it's like absolutely immaculate fucking surf food and i'm like oh just experimenting are you fucking hell my experiments is bloody beans on toast and like dousing it with hot sauce and worcestershire hot sauce on your beans yeah i've done yeah yeah tabasco what how what so go on frosty yeah you're making a beans on toast do you have to be any more elaborate than sort of butter beans marmite a little bit marmite in there and cheese or you just go traditional or would you do anything more exciting than that for yourself just at your home oh for myself no mate probably standard yeah standard yeah what's an overrated food that everyone likes do you think that you've you've found is it caviar is it how good can caviar be it looks fucking shit it's nice mate to be honest is it yeah it is yeah I can't really knock caviar I'd say asparagus I like asparagus oh well sorry mate but kale kale yeah kale's a load of bollocks I've been sizing it for bloody 10 minutes before so you know so it softens it's like get in the bin and what's your favorite thing to cook um favorite thing to cook probably a nice steak you know done well i feel like i'm vegetarian oh sorry nice carrots then no i know i cook food for my uh that is ridiculous you're much better than that oh nice carrots there's so much better how do you do you sigh when you have to make vegan or vegetarian food no i actually i actually find it very interesting and very challenging cool um you know we do we've done this um marinated beetroot steak um we kind of marinate it with sugar balsamic and then we we have these things called vat pack machines yeah um and we kind of marinate it in that and then we cook it as as you would a steak and it actually comes out bloody good mate to be honest really yeah interesting in a recipe if you want yeah i mean yeah it's it's one thing having a recipe and then one thing actually making it isn't it?

42:46It's too thin. All right, I'll pop around and make it. All right. Okay, well then, are you never in the West Country? Do you not want to come and cook or? Oh, it can be arranged. Can it really? That would be sensational. I'll take you to a tour of pubs and we'll drink some great local beers. I've literally just been putting a new kitchen into my house as we speak. Literally today it's going in. So we've got a, what's the Italian cooker? Do you know? Is it on the other? It's like a range cooker. Anyway, it's an Italian cooker. All right, so that'd be great for you. to come and cook me dinner with if you're up for that.

43:19It is electric. It's electric. It's electric hob. Is that a problem? Gas is better, but we can make it work. I have electric on the boat, so, yeah. Okay. Yeah, because obviously it's gas canisters. I live in a little area in Wiltshire, and there's no gas mainline, so everything's done electric. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah. It's fascinating, isn't it? Okay. All right. Well, when are you next back on the boat, Pete? um september i think yeah off to palma and ibiza for for that so you get to go up and and is there much time to parties per se there is on this one yeah i think i think the fewers will try and sneak out and uh you know try and do passion or something and uh you know nice markets and not come back until three o 'clock in the morning beautiful have you ever have you ever um had any sort of footballers on the boats who have you cooked for them?

44:14Or any? Who have I had on the boat? I've cooked for a previous England captain. I don't know if we can name drop it here. Can we name drop it here? Yeah. That's much more interesting. I've cooked for David Beckham. Oh. On the boat before. Nice. And then not on the boats. A lot of the old boys. So like Sam Allardyce, Spackman, Rob Lee. That was the one I used to work out in Dubai. many, many years ago. So, yeah, so I've had a little bit of exposure with a few football players from yesteryear and more recently, yeah. Surprised that Allardyce has got, like, a bit of a refined palate. I thought it would just be, like, a jacket potato.

44:57Do you want butter on that? No. No. That's his sandwich in HP.

45:07uh and like if if you had to cook daniel levy a meal he's on actually this is this is unfair but he's on the boat what's the best thing you could cook um what what would if he was having someone of his stature and his importance and you think i need to impress him so that he next time gets the deal done what would be what do you think your goes would it be a steak would it be what would be your go-to to try and impress someone um don't probably some fresh pasta that homemade ravioli or something you know slow braised beef brisket or something like like that but as currently now i'll probably just go and get him a heavily discounted sandwich from fucking waitrose yeah um i would do a alphabet spaghetti and just write cunt i we i did a couple of weddings in italy and the pasta i had there i know it's an obvious thing to say but it's fresh pasta it was incredible it was so simple but it's one of the best things eaten at lee's my mate lee's wedding and john bass's wedding as well it's like just unbelievable so much better than i've had in the uk it was sensational and vegetarian so good how do we find you how do we find the uh is it the galley chef what was the name of your insta it's the galley man the galley man so find the galley man on insta and follow him as you live vicariously through his life and what amazing wonderful life it is how did you get into that um so i used to work uh did the whole michelin game so i worked for the rue brothers who funny enough they train people like marco py gordon ramsey and then i did the circuit in london did actually work for Mr Ramsey as well for a year and what was that experience like?

46:59is it quite a stressful highly intense amount? yeah it's very disciplined very back then some would say quite toxic racism thrown in there as well for good measure long hours, shit pay but to be honest with you I loved every minute of it looking back at it learned a hell of a lot and i like to think that i'm where i am today because of that um you know training so i can't really fault it too much when when you say like there's there's little pay and there's long hours and it's a highly stressful environment in that industry is that seen as a a rite of passage that you have to go through that i think it was back back then yeah now you've got a lot more restaurants at that level you know the michelin star levels that are Monday to Friday or their Tuesday to Saturday so they are very much um more now trying to look after the welfare and mental health of people that are you know slogging in kitchens and you know front of house um for sure yeah because I mean back when I was doing I think my first salary was like five grand five grand basic then I think it was another four on top for like service and i was doing up plus 120 hours a week christ how did you survive say again how did you survive like did you live with parents or yeah i live with my live with my folks and i used to drive i used to get up at like half five in the morning drive from there to work and i think the reason the reason why you you do it is because you do learn so much yeah in a harsh environment but But I think because I wanted so, so much to succeed at something, that it was kind of like the byproduct, you know, work hard kind of.

48:55And then, you know, hopefully later on in life, I'll see the fruits of my labor. And obviously you have. Well, hopefully, yeah. I think it looks like you're doing absolutely fine, mate. It really does. And just quickly, I've got a question about that environment. When you say you learn so much, are you learning about cooking or you're learning about yourself? Oh, great. Yeah, a bit of everything, mate, to be honest. I would definitely say the person who I work for, and you alluded to obviously seeing a clip of me on another podcast, used to work for a guy called Misharu Senior. So a lot of people might know his son, sorry, his nephew, Misharu Junior, who you saw in the Gavrosh and was on a lot of BBC cooking programs.

49:41Yeah, I've just Googled him. I recognise him. Yeah, so he, as well as my own father, I would say definitely taught me how to become a man, taught me a lot of skills, you know, communicational skills, how to be a man, not as in a macho masculine kind of way, but just to kind of go through life and know how to deal with situations and things like that. as well as knowing how to cook an egg how to you know prepare lovely plates of food and and things like that so yeah definitely a school of of both sides of cooking and of you know kind of life skills one final question i don't know if you've got anything else rick um but the what do you add vinegar to the water when you're poaching an egg um that's a very good question because you yes most chefs do white wine vinegar or or you can do it with white wine um obviously not a very expensive white wine but you can actually you can still actually do it without as long as the egg is like super fresh um and obviously make a little vortex um and yeah you can i just can't fucking do it for us i just can't i try it's my I post a video on my Instagram of Step by Step for you.