In short
Tottenham’s “increasingly ambitious” summer transfer plans, focusing on a potential move for centre-back Van Hecke, plus broader squad-building under Roberto De Zerbi’s culture shift.
Guests
None. The episode is a Q&A-style discussion hosted by the Fighting Cock pod team (Flav, John, Rick) with listener questions.
Key claims
- Van Hecke is viewed as an “impeccable” centre-back; the hosts cite his standout performances for Brighton, including a recent moment vs Spurs where he helped set up a goal.
- The reported £70m price is treated as posturing; with one year left on his contract, the deal should come down (around £50m is suggested).
- If Van Hecke (and possibly Sanesi) arrives, at least one of Romero or Van de Ven likely leaves; Romero is expected to be sold, with Van de Ven kept for potential.
- De Zerbi is credited with rebuilding dressing-room culture; Ben Davies is framed as a likely extension/“fifth choice” option rather than a priority upgrade.
Notable examples
- Transfer price comps: Caicedo (£115m), Cucurella (£64m).
- Palace recruitment anecdotes about Dougie Freedman’s track record.
- Discussion of Tottenham’s ownership shift after Joe Lewis/Levy issues, with Matt Slater referenced as a separate interview source.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOTottenham's Ambitious Transfer Plans
0:21 to 1:19
Discussion on Tottenham's aggressive approach in the transfer market.
“Tottenham are swinging their dicks about in the moment, aren't they?”
The Van Hecker Transfer Debate
1:19 to 2:27
Evaluating the potential transfer of player Van Hecker and its implications.
“there's one is see this seagull covered in oil they've been in that oil thing that happened in the Shetlands all that time ago.”
Spending Big in a New Era
2:27 to 4:25
Discussion about the financial strategies of Tottenham in their new era.
“Yeah mate I mean 70 million is a lot but as I've advocated many times on this pod, it's not my money, just spend it.”
Dougie Freedman and His Role
4:25 to 5:39
Insights into Dougie Freedman's impact and connections to Tottenham.
“Give them the full amount, they'll go actually we'll take 50.”
Center Back Market Dynamics
5:39 to 11:05
Exploring market dynamics for center backs and potential player movements.
“Caicedo, Cucurello went 64 million, Caicedo 115.”
Defensive Strategies and Future Moves
11:05 to 14:01
Analyzing Tottenham's defensive line and future transfer strategies.
“but if I had to guess, he would be advising the people spending the money on what players to bring.”
Defensive Line Changes and Preferences
14:01 to 18:08
Discussion on potential defensive transfers and preferences among players.
“But overall, just he's more a hassle than it's worth.”
Romero's Future and Team Culture
18:08 to 22:45
Analysis of Romero's role and the importance of team culture in rebuilding Tottenham.
“If this is true, this is how I feel right now.”
Daniel Levy's Tenure and Changes Ahead
22:45 to 25:38
Exploring the impact of Daniel Levy's control and the new leadership at Tottenham.
“Now that we released the podcast, you've seen it's on this feed, the Feincock feed and also the lab feed with a new, he called himself chief news reporter or something along those.”
Engaging with Listener Questions
25:38 to 28:00
Hosts respond to listener questions including potential guests and humorous banter.
“De Zerbe's come in and done that in a very calm way in a club that's really not in a good place professionally at all.”
Show all 27 chapters
Humorous Imagery and Scenarios
28:00 to 29:50
Engage in a humorous exchange using playful and absurd scenarios.
“And then his team's like, yeah, yeah, just keep going, keep going, keep going through there.”
Transfer Talk: Players in Focus
29:50 to 31:30
Discussion about potential player transfers and club strategies.
“okay where are we Publix Illuminati Flav who's the one signing realistic or not that you would most like to be fingered by in the summer.”
Savinho and Squad Dynamics
31:30 to 34:00
Analyzing the potential impact of new signings like Savinho on the team.
“He feels like a player that's like ready to explode and become like this incredible player.”
Injury Concerns and Squad Depth
34:00 to 36:20
Debating the importance of squad depth and handling injuries effectively.
Hypothetical Scenarios and Morality
36:20 to 37:40
Exploring moral dilemmas through hypothetical scenarios involving fans.
“And then they come in and tell me and I'm like, right, I've pressed both buttons.”
Mum Jokes and Nostalgia
37:40 to 39:10
Light-hearted banter about each other's mothers and age-related humor.
Mum Jokes and Nostalgia
39:12 to 39:40
Light-hearted banter about each other's mothers and age-related humor.
Brexit and Travel Insights
42:01 to 42:40
The hosts discuss travel experiences and potential security issues abroad.
“because Brexit yeah that was I'm the favourite country in Europe, actually.”
Brexit and Travel Insights
42:44 to 43:32
The hosts discuss travel experiences and potential security issues abroad.
“So we've got our figures back from the free five reads we've done from Saley this year.”
Arsenal's Misfortunes and Personal Reactions
43:33 to 45:59
Discussion about the joy from Arsenal's losses and personal reactions during a pivotal moment.
“I don't want to do long and focus on them lot, but I think Gabriel smashing the ball over the box was the greatest footballing moment all year.”
Understanding Rivalry and Shared Experiences
46:00 to 48:56
Exploration of fan rivalries and how personal relationships influence football emotions.
“And then I saw Gabrielle Smith on Flashcore and I sprinted inside, put the telly on and just saw like the PSG fans going mad.”
Discussion on Club Management and Football Culture
48:57 to 55:40
The hosts examine the role of management in football and the importance of club heritage.
“He goes, I kind of get frustrated that other fans are kind of reveling in I don't know what he said.”
Ownership Rumors and Future of Spurs
55:41 to 56:00
Discussion about the rumors surrounding Spurs' sale and the implications for the club's future.
“I don't want to butcher it or say the wrong thing but it's his way he basically sets agendas he He doesn't make decisions.”
Reflections on Last Season
56:00 to 57:36
Discussing the struggles of last season and the need for improvement.
“I think it's a good thing because you've got to be big enough to recognise that the season was a complete, absolute fuck up.”
Optimism Amid Challenges
57:36 to 59:26
Expressing cautious optimism about the club's future and management changes.
“They have the footballing capacity to do it.”
Early Summer Transfer Activity
59:26 to 1:01:18
Analyzing early transfer activities and their implications for the team.
“But there is some affection, there is some affinity there and just getting new owners doesn't guarantee anything.”
Pursuing Star Players
1:01:18 to 1:04:06
Debating the feasibility of signing high-profile players like Ossiman.
“He says, is there a world in which we could move for awesome in?”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network. It's the fighting. It's the fighting. Cock. It's the fighting. It's the fighting. Cock. I can't. Tottenham are swinging their dicks about in the moment, aren't they? Choppers ahoy. They're going into every... they're going into every room, every transfer room. Get me the sporting director now. What do you mean? You've made an appointment? No. Right. You get in there, trousers down. Yeah, everyone's trousers down when we're doing this. We want Van Hecker, Paul Barber, trousers down. Tony Bloom, trousers down, pull them down. We're all leaving here.
0:52Yeah, I think what happened is they went into the boardroom, the negotiating table. And you know, there's that meme of that geezer was eating his fish and chips and the seagull comes in and just fucking decks it and they just played that and then just slid a number across the table that's what we want fucking let's do it the presentation is just youtube videos of seagulls getting absolutely yeah punched to bits by blokes we're like that's us and that's you so this is happening there's one is see this seagull covered in oil they've been in that oil thing that happened in the Shetlands all that time ago.
1:25You see that? That'll be you. Yeah. Come with money that you're going to accept for this offer. Just fucking take it. What do you say he's worth? 70 million. Put another video on. Look at these birds in distress. Look at these birds in distress. Have you seen that video where that guy's with his daughter and he's got a McDonald's chip and he's waving it out the window and that seagull comes to get and he grabs it and pulls it in the car with him. It's just flapping about. That could be you. We'll drag you in our car. Right? Yeah. Yeah. It's a lot of material actually. It's huge. Van Hecker's just sitting there going, what is going on?
2:01It's just so weird. If this goes well, this goes well, seagulls, and then you're showing the video of the seagull sitting on another seagull when it flies. Yeah. That's going to be you enjoying all this money. Yeah. Have a seagull that swoops down and nicks that geezer sausage roll. Don't do that. There'll be none of that. what was your immediate thought on the deal so I've been banging the fan hecker drum for a while I think he's an impeccable centre back and I'm not saying that as oh I spied him first you just can tell when you watch him everyone watches seen Brighton play he always stands out in my opinion not least against Spurs this season when he he turned Danto's liver inside out before setting up whoever it was that scored that goal so I've always rated him I always thought like if you sometimes when you have to do like with work you have to come up with like who's the best player out of the best defenders outside the top four and Van Hecker was very you know apart from Romero and Van De Ven Van Hecker's was always up there for me so I'm I'm quite encouraged by this sort of business if it does happen it seems like it's going to happen what about you John?
3:20Yeah mate I mean 70 million is a lot but as I've advocated many times on this pod, it's not my money, just spend it. If that's who we think is the best available option for us and most importantly is what Deserby wants, then I'm all for it. Also, it won't end up being 70 million, right? They're obviously posturing. He's in the last year of his contract so it will come down from there. I guess my immediate thoughts were like, we've got other areas to strengthen in the pitch and that's quite a lot of money out of our allocation to spend. what does it say about okay yeah however that is the old world of spurs talking there right that's me conditioned to thinking we'll only spend on a certain few like areas so i'm worried because we're going to chew up all our money but we're entering a new era right we're entering an era where they've they've told us they want to change they want to do things differently we've taken our eye off the ball on the football inside.
4:18So now, I'm expecting this to be the first of many deals. So I'm not bothered if we spend 70 million. Give them the full amount, they'll go actually we'll take 50. No, take 70. Because we've still got loads. We've got loads and we're going to spend loads on other players as well. I've got a feeling we're going to spend willy-nilly. Yeah. Does that sound good, Rick? Yeah. Just go up, we're going to spend willy-nilly this week. I don't want to spend willy-nilly. That 70 million pound was a quote that was from a journalist who said 70 million pound rated now he might have been fed that information that that's what bournemouth want for him i think with since being other conversations and horny orny mentioned the fact that i'm actually i might end up interviewing him one day so i better stop calling him horny orny he doesn't make me horny though when he gives good spurs transfer information um anyway uh he um i think it was him who said that the sort of 50 million mark is more in keeping um if he was in a long contract 50 million would probably be around the point i'd be much more comfortable with a year left given the fact we've got leverage he wants to come to us bright and our selling club they're happy doing it i'm sure they've got another world-class center back from fucking the zambia who's going to come in and be world-class already so i think they would negotiate They do genuinely command high prices.
5:41Caicedo, Cucurello went 64 million, Caicedo 115. I think it's still the most expensive, before ESAC, the most expensive transfer. So what do you make of it? Does it stir your loins, Rick? Yeah, it does. I will say that... That's good. Ricky's general state of transfers is poo-poo. No, no, no, no. If they're English. Foreign name. You like foreign names? Double thumbs up. like when you talk about Dougie Feedman you were like I don't like the sound of that because he's ex-Palace he was a writer of football Scottish Scottish and his name's Dougie and then you look and I get it Rick he's not sexy but you look his track record at Palace it's insane it's a lise it's a lise it's it's one game while we're on this give me go and carry on talking let me just find my WhatsApp message here because I've been chatting to my here we go got it your sources my mate who is a season to get older at Palace.
6:38What's his name? Dave. He gives it a little bit, Dave, doesn't he? Yeah, he does. Yeah, yeah, he does. Like for the past two seasons. Have you ever had to archive him? Never had to archive him. No, no, no, no. And the thing is as well, I know he'll be, what you are. You've been archived before. That doesn't surprise me. Yeah. Doesn't surprise me. When everything comes too much for me, a lot of people get archived. Yeah. I think when we were going, we were nearly relegated. Do you remember that? Last season? yeah yeah can you kind of recall that that period of time where we looked terrible sure um i um a lot of people got archived i would say my archive list was longer than my active list i had to go it took me a half an hour to un-archive everybody and a couple have got chat locked a couple people got chat locked so they want to see anything sorry go on tell me uh so my mate was saying that um he said he's incredible.
7:31When they're in the championship, he signed Bellassi for 250K, Jednak on a free, Murray on a free, Ward for 600K. And they were like really good players to get them out of the championship. And then Gay, Eze, Warren, Alise, Mateta, the list goes on. Muno, I can't pronounce that. Muno, Muno. Yeah. And he also says that Friedman has links to Tottenham. Oh. And I said, you what, mate? I don't know anything about this. One is in the Tottenham sphere, and I've not heard of any of this. And he said he's married to, I can't remember her name now, but then he said the surname, Clements. Yes. Ray Clements' daughter?
8:14Correct. Jeez. I'd love to ask him, like, it's mental how shit Steve Clements was. And yet he still made like 50 appearances for Spurs. Why is that? I don't know. Why is that, Dougie? Is your brother-in-law? Tell us. Because I had to sit there and watch him. I paid to go and watch Stephen Clements. Anyway, sorry. That's good. Really? Interesting. And he said at Palace, they say Dougie doesn't miss. He said that, but they do say Dougie doesn't miss, but he has missed on a couple of things. But he said, you know, Sorloff, who is at Athletico, he said it was the right player, wrong team, and then went to Athletico, has done exceptionally well there.
8:57so he's he's got an eye for a player is what he's saying he knows his onions about that he went categorically categorically catastrophically bad saw a loss transfer to yeah but then if you go to fucking like concentrate on the good bit stop thinking about the bad news like he's he was one of the worst players I've ever seen in my life no one would have gone yeah he'll be alright actually I still think he's garbage so really he's doing a riot fucking not even all right he can't get all right yeah I'm laughing him so he was right Dougie was right justice for Dougie yeah I've changed my mind on Dougie now yeah I'm calling on Dougie get him in get him in I'd love Dougie I'd love a bit of Dougie someone said to me I don't know if you wanted to be named because he just sent this I won't name him but he will be listening to this he says I've just listened to the pod I've wanted Dougie Friedman in for about a year I think there's tax implications why he might want to remain in Saudi for another season until March 27th.
10:02You know, because that lovely tax break you get.
10:07We were talking about this, John. Sorry, who are you talking about? About Saudi? Dougie Friedman. That's where he is at the minute. That's where he works in Saudi at the moment. Oh, right. So he's not at Palace still? No, he left Palace ages ago. Oh, fuck. Okay. Now he's just in Saudi. Just milling around. Just milling about. Just signing players. Okay. okay I think in that in also players are signed centrally in in and then distributed yeah it's weird isn't it yeah like you can have this player you can have this player Nuno you'll have him that's how it went
10:43because they don't generate money because no one watches them because it's fucking no one cares about football in Saudi Arabia so then director of football is literally the new best job in football in Saudi because it used to be third choice keeper because you didn't have to play. You got loads of money and you still get a trophy if you want something. And then now it's this job, which is, oh, there's no work to be done. You just get loads of money. Oh, right. Brilliant. I don't know what he does there, but if I had to guess, he would be advising the people spending the money on what players to bring.
11:09That is a great job. Yeah. Great job. Right. We've got infinite money, right? Probably not anymore, actually, since the most recent war in the Middle East because I think their attention is shifting away from the kind of soft power, sports washing model and more on existential crisis. But yeah, you'd go, you've got all the money in the world. You can buy whatever players who would be good for the league. Maybe he's doing that. So we're all in. We're happy with Van Hecker. Van Hecker and Sanasi. Where does that leave? Both in my FPL team all season. They do well? Mate, fucking excellent. Where did you finish?
11:54Third. Ooh, not bad. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Champions League, yeah. What does that mean, boys, though? I mean, we've got Danso, we've got Romero, Van der Ven. You've got Fuscovic. You'd imagine he's going to go out to a... I mean, what should you do with him? This time last year, we were having the same conversation. We said Germany or something like that. We're loaned out. Now is it what, Syria? Is it Syria? Syria or is it La Liga or do you put him in the championship? Do you put him in the Premier League? I think there is, isn't this weird thing? Well, you know, his brother has been banned for, I don't know what he was.
12:39Four years, he got popped. Was it doping? Yeah. Right. And got banned for four years, which is incredibly harsh. And I think next season is when it ends, maybe? November. November this year and he would like to remain at Hamburg so that he's able to play in the same team as his brother but everyone said no you can't do that oh why not they never really give a reason it just says it won't be possible ah well do you want him to be able to do that only one Vuscovic allowed per team he was really highly regarded as well before the ban yeah he did really really well don't cheat cheat is never prosper what have you learnt from this don't do drugs kids you'll be in football Or four years.
13:21Yeah. Such a long time. Correct. In boxing, you might do, you could do six months. Yeah, six months. You could literally kill a man. I think Canelo was banned for six months for, I think it was a steroid or something. And is it clambutinol? I think it might be the word. And he just went, I just ate some dodgy meat in Argentina. That's why I tested positive for doping. Did you? no one even brings it up now no one brings up the fact that Tyson Fury was banned for two years for Nandrolone finding Nandrolone in his system and the reason why no one sort of brings it up or is aware of it is because he just went massive on mad whore and cocaine binges so that was the story yeah
14:15what does this mean for the rest of the defence John how do you see this playing out well it's interesting because I think we can safely say if we do sign Van Hecker one of potentially both but I think more likely one of Van der Ven and Romero has to go and will be sold my preference would be to keep Van der Ven and sell Romero I think we've our journey with Romero has come to an end I'll always have a favourable view of his time with us because of Bilbao and then I'll basically have a negative view on him for all of everything else because I think he's been, you know, net, I'd say, slightly good.
14:54But overall, just he's more a hassle than it's worth. Whereas with Van der Ven, whilst I don't think he's the best defender that's ever lived, there's a lot more potential to come from him and I think there's more to see from him and we potentially have, you know, this elite centre-back there that we can mould. He's younger as well. So I think if we can get Van der Ven, Danzo, Vanhecker and Sanessi as a four going into next season, they're your options. I think that's pretty good. I think that's really strong. And then you've got, potentially if you wanted to, you could also bring Vuscovic back next season as your rotation option if we were to qualify for a European competition or if you just want to start involving him.
15:35And I think if we can't get Vanhecker, just bring Vuscovic into the fold now. I think that he's just right there. Just do it and see where he takes us. Because at the minute, if you said to me we're going into the season with Van de Ven and Danso I wouldn't be like oh my god we're going to win the league but I wouldn't be like worried about that I think that those two as a partnership are solid do I think we can upgrade Danso absolutely but I think like I was saying before there's a lot of work that needs to be done around the squad and we actually do have good defenders so yeah if we get Van Hecker Sanessi Danso and Van de Ven I'm pretty happy with that why have I got such a boner for that van de Ven and van Hecker both being Dutch and the core fucking of our centre-backs both just chatting Dutch to each other non-stop on the pitch just like reading each other's mind just being like fucking brothers at war that's our centre-back pairing I don't know why it's just like it's the shades of Toby and Jan isn't it the Belgian brothers yeah right no I like that yeah yeah yeah Dutch centre-back just fucking going out smashing birds together yeah like wearing clogs everywhere Fucking yeah.
16:46Forcing fucking Archie Gray to eat shroot waffles. Yeah. Eat this, you little dick. Yeah. you know, do you know those little... Eat this, you little dick.
17:04It's just like, yeah. Unnecessarily plurality in the Archie Gray. All right, you can. It's just like, what? I was around your house last night. why have you been so awful you know what else they do the Dutch they eat loads of chocolate on toast it's like their thing they put sprinkles and shit on there it's like good choice completely backwards yeah no I like I like it I like that idea I think just to we'd be another little blonde bitch as well yeah so had to you know Kinski and that was the funniest meme ever I think I still think about it and laugh like when I'm walking along the street with the Paris Hilton in a documentary.
17:45It was after the Liverpool game where Berval scored and Kinski had a bit of a worldie to debut for Tottenham. And Paris Hilton would go, can we find more of these little blonde bitches?
17:59Oh, mate. It is... Just to answer the question that I've asked, the Romero... I think Romero will be sold. I still have an issue with Romero. I haven't forgiven him for that shit. He should have been there. He didn't want to be there. It's fine. You don't care. If this is true, this is how I feel right now. And things might come out to say that this is, you know, the truth is contrary to this. But I just, he made a choice in my opinion and then reacted to the backlash. And that's why he was there. Yeah. He didn't want to be there, I don't think. And that's not a leader. That's not someone you want in your dressing room.
18:36There are rumors. All of these are unsubstantiated. and most ITK and rumour is bullshit and not worth listening to. But if you want to hear what I've heard and what we've heard is that
18:52that didn't go down very well in the dressing room. Dezerbi's also said, there's a quote online, you can find it. He said that there are 10 or 11 core players at Tottenham that he wants to keep. so I don't think you can shift out 16, the other 16 or whatever it might be, but it is also, he made a point of boosting up Ben Davies. Yes, I was going to say that. Yeah. Yeah. I can't remember what it exactly was, but he made a point of professionalism, leaders, stuff like that. He brought up Ben Davies and saying, this is how he's doing it. And, you know, Romero, you know, did it in a different way or something, something like that.
19:33And I was like, that's interesting. Interesting. also that Ben Davies is likely to be given another year's extension. And you look at that and you think, really? I mean, we love him, Ben, but it feels like we should be doing better than him. But then what is the Zerbe's job right now? He has a vision for what he thinks Spurs should be. I think we all have an idea about what his vision might be. And it probably isn't watching Ben Davies play football for Tottenham again, but he has to create. And we all know this because we all work in environments where it's either been lacking or it's evident a great culture and that's come from the right people um i i if i if i just had to guess on what everything that's happened my assumption is that romero probably doesn't add to that so it doesn't matter how good he is and how sort of average ben davies is it's having the right people in the building you remember pochettino did a bit of a clear out he was like personality first you know Southgate Sherwood sort of made it possible but you know Bentilev and Mason were big parts of Pochettino's side from pretty much nowhere I know I know like I say Sherwood brought Bentilev through so I don't it's I think this at this moment it's fine let De Zerbi rebuild that dressing room yeah also it will take a little bit of time to I think I've been guilty of this where every like transfer window I'm like we're buying to try and challenge for the league, right?
21:02That's not really the reality of where we are. We've taken a couple of steps back and that's okay because you can take a couple of steps forward quite quickly. So I think like we don't necessarily need to have our, what would be effectively our fifth choice centre-back, not be Ben Davis at this moment in time, right? Fast forward to next summer. Yeah, let's try and strengthen again. Let's try and sign a worldie so that, you know, maybe Van Hecker's on the bench or Sanessi's on the bench because we've got an even better centre-back. But right now, if we're going to sign Van Hecker, Sanessi, we've got Danso and Van de Ven, like those four are really good.
21:35You would struggle to find a player that's like going to add a lot more in the dressing room, going to be as professional and can step into left back and centre back on the left hand side that's better than Ben Davis for no money, which is what it costs us currently. So I think we have to just look at the kind of bigger picture of like rebuilding a squad and the steps that it will take to get us back to a position where we can finish in the Champions League places and then we can challenge for the league. Having Ben Davis as your fifth choice centre-back, there is no issue there for me. I think that just makes sense.
22:05I think it's about, it's the same reason that Henderson has gone to the World Cup, it's not having the right people in the room.
22:10The Fighting Cock Team:Yeah. And we're not in a position to be picky or be judgmental of Deservey's assessment here because we finished 17th twice. The players were too good to be in that position, but obviously something was wrong. And we don't, we've got some clue for why that might be the case from behind the scenes and Daniel Levy being pushed out the club and, and, and, you know, the, maybe the right people giving the wrong messaging or the wrong people giving the wrong messaging, whatever it is, it hasn't worked out. And it was only when Deserby came in that things kind of shifted in the positive direction. First time I felt like that in years.
22:45So it really is interesting. Now that we released the podcast, you've seen it's on this feed, the Feincock feed and also the lab feed with a new, he called himself chief news reporter or something along those. So he's not quite a journalist. He is a journalist, but he doesn't, it's not a journalist who gives opinion. And anyway, he's high up in, in, in the athletic, his name is Matt Slater. And he gave us his time yesterday to, to talk about what happened when Daniel Levy was pushed out the football club and why that might've been the case. And it was interesting just to give you a little tidbit into this to show you what's been happening because the Lewis family have really, the Lewis children as they're referred to when they're in their 50s and 60s, but the Lewis children were sort of grabbed hold of control of the football club because Daniel Levy for such a long time has been given control.
23:40He has freedom to make the decisions and is answerable really to nobody. Joe Lewis and to his credit, Daniel Levy did an incredible job in building Tottenham to the point where now they're hoping to fetch somewhere between three and 3.5 billion pounds. Whereas this is a club they bought for, I think it was between 50 and a hundred million pounds in 2001. So that massive increase is in part down to Daniel Levy. Now, part of that could be the sport exploded a hundred percent. So the tide of the Premier League, it rose all boats, but Spurs operated differently down to Daniel Levy and we're now the ninth most successful club in building revenue.
24:23So he has done a massively impressive thing in terms of being a businessman in turning that initial investment into the 3.5 billion. Now, when Joe Lewis was charged, arrested and then went to trial over insider trading and then was found guilty, it meant that he essentially falls foul of the fit and proper person test of ownership in the Premier League. So he had to walk away in effect from Tottenham-Otsberg and inverted commas and hand over his part to his children. So whether or not they were always interested in gaining or gathering power at Tottenham-Otsberg, that might have always been the case, but they just didn't have the opportunity to get in the building in order to manipulate the situation to their favour.
25:14So as soon as they did, that was pretty writing on the wall. We'd go into a lot more detail, but it was just interesting the fact that they're in the room now and Daniel Levy didn't last very long. We're going to sort of take over deals and the reason why that relationship might have broken down. So go and listen to that if you haven't already. The point is that someone had to come in and create a culture at Spurs and I think luckily, as it stands, De Zerbe's come in and done that in a very calm way in a club that's really not in a good place professionally at all.
25:51So, yeah, more players like Ben Davies and probably Paulini were signed because of that. Anyway, it is Q &A podcast. And so we have questions here. Swiggy G says, get Roy Kent Brett Goldstein on the pod there, Flav. So this is the guy from Led Tasso. Ted Lasso. Ted Lasso, yeah. Led Tasso. Led Tasso. I would love to I would absolutely love to but I don't know if you listen to the podcast and obviously he's a big Hollywood star now he's in a film with Jennifer Lopez so yeah they're dating on those well so really are they apparently yeah shit son well if you listen to the podcast Britt then I would we would love to have you but I think he's you know beyond our reach I listen to his podcast that films to be buried with is it good yeah it's quality Really?
26:43He's got this such, the tone of his voice is so lovely. He has got your unique voice. Yeah. Yeah. Good. So, yeah, I'll try. If he's listening and he wants to, then, yeah, wicked. The Turtle Bear, he says, as a Spurs minority shareholder, any chance I can have a go on Ricky if I promise to pump a bit of cash into the club? He'll pay for the travel lodge. No, it's a shareholder into Tottenham, not into... A minority shareholder, yeah. Well, no. What would it take? We've all got a price. What would it take?
27:26I don't know, actually. Okay, that's fine. So I've thought about that. We won't do the Daniel Levy. Everyone knows about that now. Yeah. And the time when Igor Trudor rejected you and threw you at the wall like a newborn baby. yeah it's very painful because you imagine him just bouncing off the wall and landing naked no um but my what i imagine with deserve being yourself rick completely naked again open the door naked and you're on the you're on the on a maid bed yeah the zerby's just literally behind you he's got his hands on your hips and just very very just just like this oh i think it'd be energetic no it'd be like this okay
28:27so in my mind it was more like um true lies right like ricky ricky gets the reception they're like I'm here to see Roberto. And they're like, yeah, yeah, yeah. You're in the penthouse. And you go up in the lift. You get out. And then his team's like, yeah, yeah, just keep going, keep going, keep going through there. You get to the end. And there's this lovely balcony. Both the doors are open. The wind's blowing. And all you can see is a crossed pair of legs and a cigarette on the back. And then you just hear her, take your clothes off. And you're like, oh. So you start undoing your clothes. And he's like, dance.
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28:59No, it's low. It's sexy. All right. And then you start doing all the dance. and he doesn't he doesn't touch you at all right but you feel violated believe that no slow sexy sexy mate I can't tell you that that scene did things to me mate Jamie back in the day she was smoking unreal yeah that's what that that is what he would be saying about you yeah good put your hands I love your body
29:39he's even laid out the lingerie so Rick's got the lingerie on he's fucking giving it loads true lies brilliant okay where are we Publix Illuminati Flav who's the one signing realistic or not that you would most like to be fingered by in the summer.
30:08Someone with small hands and therefore small fingers. Nah. You want a big sausage up there? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Make it five, Alan. Yeah, it's too big. Too much. That's too big. Split me in two. I don't know. You answer the question, boys. Frankie Dion? It's impossible, isn't it? Yeah, that's the impossible dream. Realistic or not. Look, I think Adam Ward would be a gettable dream. I know he's been linked to other clubs, but if we've got the money and we're willing to pay now, we've got to start behaving like a club that would be able to attract Adam Warden. I did see a tweet from, it was like Tottenham Tears, but the source was, is it Thomas Lyle and Michael Bridges?
31:00Yep. Sky Sports. Looking for a deep line passing midfielder. Wharton style. What do you mean Wharton style? Just buy Wharton. Just get Wharton right there. Right. If we can't get Wharton, who else do we get? Well, I don't know. Who? You tell me. Oh, right. They didn't have an option. No. Get Wharton then. Get Wharton. Someone like Wharton. Okay. What's the list that isn't Wharton? We don't know. Get Wharton then. Yeah. I mean the club might know there might be some player somewhere that might get him but you know Adam Watt wouldn't be my dream it has been a dream for a long long time boys what do you make of Savino looks like it's happening Xavi Simmons is posting loads of pictures of when they were best bros at PSV quality absolute quality 50 mil yeah yes please yum yum yum give him 70 give him 70 yeah Yeah, he's just exciting, isn't he?
32:02He feels like a player that's like ready to explode and become like this incredible player. Desperate to join, John. Get him in, mate. Get him in. Why is he? Why is he? Why is he desperate to join? Yeah, you can explain it. He's from Brazil. He has no idea about Spurs. Yeah, because what I didn't mention earlier is the other side of the balcony, Savinho is poking his head around the curtain while Ricky's dancing and he's gone fucking want a bit of that. Yes, please. Go faster. Go faster. I can I'm quite excited by it it just feels a bit like what's the approach here and how how many players does Deservey want rid of because you've got Odebeer Tell Mikey Moore and you've got now Savigny who are playing on that left he's played on the right as well I don't know Odebeer the thing is though right I keep hearing this a lot about like the players that are out injured and like what do we do and like a couple of pods now have gone well we'll have to sell Tell because Odebe is injured.
33:00No, that's not how it works. Like, we shouldn't get rid of the better player out of the two because the shit one is injured. That's annoying to me. So if we've got to get to a situation where we have to sign too many people for a position, i.e. Odebe is injured and, you know, on the other side, obviously, we've got like Kulu and Kudus both injured. Sign loads of wingers. And then when you get to January, you can decide, okay, well, we're going to have to unload some because we've got them. don't not sign them if we haven't learnt the lesson from this season of waiting for players to come back then we're never going to learn it because we can we can unload these players at a later date we can't get points back that we could have won that we've lost so I just think at this moment in time Mikey Moore is an unknown quantity essentially because he's been in Scotland Tell did okay but shouldn't really be our first choice and Odebeer is injured so is therefore irrelevant so there is a starting spot on the left for Savino to just come into straight away don't worry about the rest of it figure out yeah that's it that's what went into here just don't worry about it I forget he's got problems don't worry about it alright didn't think of that I'm actually feel fine now yeah you know that's my mentality for life anyway yeah I know that just don't worry about it don't worry about it and if you have a problem just batter them because if you're harder than them then that's basically who wins exactly and that is the methodology we're taking into Brighton's boardroom remember which is basically like we're threatening you let's just be clear about it so yeah so seagull videos haven't worked yeah next result is just go in there and batter the shit out until they give us what they want yeah it's a time on a tradition no it works it has worked in the history like if you look look at Maranakis that's all he does he just goes yeah I'll just batter you yeah he's like fucking yeah alright yeah I'll blow your family up yeah he's karate yeah listen you can go talk them but i'm going to blow your entire family up yeah that's fine obviously i'll stay then okay brilliant there's a contract it's quite simple isn't it just threaten people with physical violence it overrides and intellectually you can go wow yeah but that doesn't make sense because it's like well do you want your family to get blown up then no i i used to think that yeah perhaps that like sort of bullying and like physical violence and threats to blowing families up i used to think that that was unethical but now when you put it like that yeah I don't want to finish 17th again so whose families are we going to blow up exactly yeah that's what I'm saying how many families as many as it takes nice infinite families yeah as long as we didn't finish 17th that was our report last year yeah I would definitely do not to finish 17th you've just you've got to blow up two families but you don't know where yeah you'll never know their names Ricky yeah you'll never it will never come back to you yeah you have two buttons in front of you if you push both of them beliterated yeah but Spurs finish 10th as opposed to 17th oh god 10th and the 17th finish next year is no guarantee we finish 7th we could get relegated but if you blow both families up you definitely won't finish 17th you'll finish 10th yeah I mean there's a lot a lot of destruction for 10th.
36:22You'll never know them.
36:26No one will notice you. You all know. Yeah. But we're talking like sizable family. Yeah, I do that. And then they come in and tell me and I'm like, right, I've pressed both buttons. We've finished 10th. And they're like, okay, can you tell me who the family was? Yeah, it was yours. You would have noticed though 10 months later. It's better if they don't tell you and you just leave this little room and you just drive back home and just pull up to your house. on fire what's worse though the burning embers of the bodies of your children or going through the last six months as a Spurs fan yeah that was tough yeah when you said earlier you said finish 17th twice I kind of let out oh god we survived relegation it still scarred me I've not got over it or a boy fucking hell cunts two random two random families like go on yeah go on yeah Dan yeah yeah 100 % and the third to finish ninth but you know the family and their arsenal yeah that button push that is push that first yeah yeah yeah just push that and get relegated anyway I'll take my chances is this conversation alright I'm not sure I don't know that's fine what a hypothetical family that doesn't exist getting blown up by weapons that don't exist I think it's alright who who wins an oiled up bikini wrestling contest Flav's mum or Ricky's mum you're talking about women in their 70s yeah I think people when we discuss each other's mums I think they think that they're like fit they're old women they're really old women yeah so if you're asking who wins we all win that's a great result then to imagine that televised it pay-per-view the real ones are us imagine both of our mums televised god i've seen my mom yesterday 68th birthday yesterday all right so she's got it iq jump says it's a tie and john masses mum will jump in too people want to see that in a bikini you said your mum looks like Neil Horlock no that's my friend Nick's mum looks like Neil Horlock with massive hits my mum looks like The Undertaker
39:00your mum looks like The Undertaker yeah she rides a motorbike as well so it's perfect and she's got a big safety lap as well yeah big safety lap sponsored by Imperial Leather when she gets in the ring wait does your mum drive a Harley Davidson she doesn't drive Harley Davidson no husband has got a motorbike and she's yeah on the back of it yeah but you know what it's like if your two mums were having some sort of oiled up wrestling match and then my mum like oh my god that's Ali Bass's music you know what I mean it'd be like the first time you ever saw the big show you're like you're in a size difference
39:38classic that is classic Mondetaker there you go
39:48oh we didn't hear that that was mum to take up oh shit class class uh seppel syndrome said would you rather sign Wharton and Savigno but don't buy any other decent upgrades to replace Richarlison or Solanke or we don't get Wharton but we get Savigno and an amazing new striker some unknown farmers league Langer special instead of Wharton we need them all if I had a choice I'd keep Solanke fit and he could lead the line next year and that's okay if we had Wharton and Savino that's okay same I'll just chuck like Lang Shear in as your sort of third choice striker and just try and get some bits and bobs out of Richarlison and Lang Shear as your option do you reckon Richie goes I think he should he's done isn't it 28.1 million I don't feel it's very specific fucking hell No, hang on a sec.
40:41Hang on. It's not done. I'm just saying there was a rumour with that specific number and it felt like so specific that they'd been agreed. That's what I meant. So specific. You can't be wrong. They know something. Wait, wait. Why say... No, hang on. If you said 28 mil, you'd be like, bollocks. Sweet. Oh, you're 0.1. My mate said 28.1. You're like, hang on. If you're going to make up a lie, you're not going to do 28.1. I don't know. I think that's it. It's true. pin you out on that one I've got to do a sailing read because you've done about eight holidays already John it's so good for you you know what Fluff I actually downloaded and used the fighting cot discount I have got it for my trip to America really yes are you just saying that for the read because thank you you've actually right so John is about to this won't help the audience because no that's fine it's proof though that you're not lying yeah let's say oh and I've done an unlimited 10 day pack which was like nothing like 20 quid and I was like fuck so I can just use unlimited data when I'm out travelling and stuff in the states I don't have to worry about my O2 contracts overcharging me because that happened to me before in New York and it was really annoying so I thought I was covered and I wasn't yeah but you deserve it because Brexit yeah that was I'm the favourite country in Europe, actually.
42:09The United States.
42:15Yeah, but also if you go to sort of dodgy areas, you know, Ricky's, he's booked an Airbnb in Torre Vieja or somewhere. Correct. And, you know, it could be a dodgy area. You don't need to try to tap into your Wi-Fi. Yeah. Built-in privacy and web protection. you can get 15 % off your eSIMP right now so download the Salee app use the Fighting Cock at checkout or visit salee.com forward slash the Fighting Cock the link is in the description below I just want to say something NordVPN and Salee don't keep renewing with the Fighting Cock because they like us or they think oh that's a good podcast we'd like to sponsor that the only reason anyone will ever sponsor a podcast if people who are listening go and use the links.
43:06And that's what people have been doing. So we've got our figures back from the free five reads we've done from Saley this year. And it's doing really well. So thank you to everyone who's downloaded it. And if you are traveling in Europe or any one of 190 countries where Saley works, then use our link. And that really helps the podcast going forward genuinely. It's the best way to help. so let's do some more questions material scene says dear Flav I was looking I was like yourself a Tottenham boy surrounded by dirty gooners in Camden Town I get more joy from arse losing than us winning I live in Ireland now and the sight of an arse on top wearing twat still does my nothing and I'm 62 and a granddad any advice Pat I mean it's so much better in Ireland than it is in Camden Town Pat I can imagine how good was that we haven't spoken about that on the podcast.
44:01I don't want to do long and focus on them lot, but I think Gabriel smashing the ball over the box was the greatest footballing moment all year. Better than anything. Yeah. It was. Closely followed by Eze. Yeah, yeah. Have I talked about this? I had to apologise to my wife. He... It was a hot day. And the... We got by-fold doors that go out to the kitchen very nice and um obviously they were open and there's a missus and my reaction is to squeal at the top of my voice and jump up and down and then go on to scream cunt cunt you fucking cunt you're a cunt cunt until my missus went whoa what the what are you doing she hasn't she doesn't know anything about it she doesn't know about the background because other players had scored penalties and hadn't really said anything she was like what what's happened and then she was upset because the neighbors could have heard me and then she didn't like the fact that i looked so happy and enjoying the demise of someone else's bad luck or misfortune um so yeah i had to apologize to her she didn't did you explain everything no I just thought say sorry and move on I couldn't be bothered fair enough she wouldn't even if I explained it I don't think she would have forgiven she would have still been annoyed like you have to be a Spurs fan or an Arsenal fan to appreciate what happened it's like explaining
45:44there's many things that I might have said in the yesteryear though I just won't say now when that when that I wasn't watching and I watched I watched it all I couldn't watch it I was sitting in the back garden had a can of beer had flash score kept looking to my right just a little peer out of it six minutes gone one nil up I was like you fucking god are you kidding me that was literally the only thing they did fuck me the only thing they did all game yeah but I didn't know so I'm just like great are they the ascendancy already like what's going on and I couldn't watch it and then I was kind of like one all brilliant then as I saw it like the moments ticking by going into penalties and I still couldn't put it on.
46:28And then I saw Gabrielle Smith on Flashcore and I sprinted inside, put the telly on and just saw like the PSG fans going mad. And I was like, fucking get it. And then I was doing my fucking get in there, you can't. Windows all open, just absolutely screaming the place down. My missus came in. She's like, I have not seen you so happy with a football match result all season and you stand there and watch Tottenham. I'm like, can we always fucking lose? Oh, God. That felt as good as anything Spurs have done, including Bilbao, I think. Yeah. You know what? It was so brilliant as well. I love Bilbao, but this was special.
47:11The reason why this moment was so genius is because normally it's like, the goal, for example, in Bilbao was an amazing moment, but then you know you've got the rest of the game of absolute hell. yeah this was like if he misses it's done done there's nothing coming back there's no var check it's not like a corner or something or like a throw in where it's like even if it goes in you still got the worrying weight like misses over done runs up fucking boots it into space see you later i absolutely lost it uh i loved it and i i also had my wife next to me but re normally she likes to wind me up about spurs and she'll always just be like a pedant about stuff and she like tries to wind me up but in the last like couple of weeks and I've been sort of trying to explain to her why I hate Arsenal so much and why they're so annoying.
47:58I couldn't watch the first half and she was out and I was out. And when I got back, we sat down the sofa and I went, can I just put it on because I feel like I need to see what's going on because hopefully something will happen. I turned on this 1-0 and I'm like exploding with joy, like, oh, fucking hell, PSG are back into this. Like, come on, this is great. And then she just looked at me and she went, you know what? You know, you say how much you hate Arsenal. She goes, the last couple of weeks, there's been loads of people in my office who've never mentioned football in their life, who are now like in Arsenal shirts and keep asking me where I'm watching the game, am I going to the parade?
48:30And she goes, I just felt this inner sense of I wanted to go to them, like, fuck off, I'm Spurs. And she's like, I've never felt like that before. She's like, now I totally get why you hate them. Because all the people I know who are Spurs, she's like, they're just normal people who happen to support Spurs. But they're all the ones that are gooners. she's like they're just really weird and they've been really weird this whole week and i was like honestly in that moment i was like i feel like i love you now more than the day we got married yeah it actually means more to me you actually finally understand what i mean so when there was a final gabrielle blazed over the bar i went fucking ballistic and i didn't have to apologize i didn't have to do it i just high-fived and she just was happy for me it was brilliant like the world are catching up.
49:15He said that the other day. He goes, I kind of get frustrated that other fans are kind of reveling in I don't know what he said. It's something about reveling in Arsenal's defeat. Then I think about Gabriel's blazing it over the bar and he's just content that the world are catching up because we've known this for years. Weirdly lads, I thought I would hate watching them win the league. having seen all this all the clips and the parade I'm like that doesn't affect me at all it would be the worst being an Arsenal fan such strange strange I got into a lot of trouble
50:02I had had a few beers start to end you can store it and you can tell how jubilant we all were after the game. I've since deleted this tweet because it came on top a little bit and then they started finding pictures of my wife. Oh, fucking hell. Yeah. So I've tweeted this. When the dust settles, we'll all realize what a rank little team Arsenal have created. No side playing this way should win anything. One billion spent for fuck's sake. this isn't what the game should be about hang your heads terrible club it was on about 12 000 by the time i deleted it a bloke you've met justin haven't you justin one punch oh yeah yeah yeah he um he just knocks everyone out with one punch you'll love him He's an Oscar fan.
51:03And he's been basically clipped up by Sport Bible. Yes. And he said it everywhere. And he said, this you? And I just did a laughing emoji. And he went, why can't you just be happy for me? And I said, I just can't. And that was the end. Sorry. Yeah, mate, finding pictures of my wife. Fucking posting them on Twitter. It was fucking weird. Oh, freaks. Absolute freaks. Yeah.
51:32all right there's a few more if the DOF this is from hungover seal what do you think of Alex Scott actually no technology said Langer not just getting Alex Scott when he could be one of the biggest fuck ups he made I like Alex Scott I'd love to see him play at Spurs I think he's great and he's a big Spurs fan seems gettable should get him yeah okay yeah should have got him when he's when Bristol yeah he's at Bristol wasn't he Hungover Seals says, if a DOF sets the entire footballing culture potentially across an entire decade, why do we allow non-footballing people without a Spurs background to pick them, e.g.
52:10Vinay? Wouldn't it be more sense to have a non-exec footballing board that sits below the corporate board form the football experts who are Spurs blood through and through? They pick the director of football and hold them accountable. I mean, it doesn't exist anywhere, but I don't hate it. I like it a lot. I said for, remember last, well, it was probably longer than that, a few months ago, and we were talking about like, there's different levels. I think when we did the lab episode together, Flab, and we were talking about, you've got the sort of like boardroom hierarchy, then you've got the football in, so director of football and the manager, and then you've got the players and the playing staff.
52:45And there's like different layers of what's involved. And we were saying, if the club really want to move forward, at that sort of like top level, they need to get some of those people involved who've been part of the club's history. And, you know, like Pleat got fired because they wanted to go in a more data-driven direction. But he would have got it, right? Yeah, you're right. Just David Pleat being in and around those people and giving them good advice on the way footballers think. Even Daniel Levy would have got it. Whether he liked it or not, he understood the club. Yeah, but if you haven't got that, that's fine.
53:14But there are people in and around the club who care about the club, who have an input and understanding of football. The Glenn Hoddles of this world is David Pleat. It's like you can upgrade it and go to players like Ledley King, for example. They understand the game. They're close enough connected to what's going on to at least give you an opinion. just hear him out you don't have to take what they say as read but like they should be listening to those people as part of this decision and it does seem like we've sort of sacrificed that in the age of life just follow the deal we was having an argument I was having a back and forth with Mark the other day and he was talking about Langer you know it wouldn't be a seismic change to take Langer out he wouldn't see a massive impact which I disagreed with right but he the point is Langer is the kind of last the highest most footballing brain that we have so if he isn't deciding what happens it's based on people who don't know football to a point of director of football how can they do that it's interesting peter charrington there is who did you did you tell me this i don't know where we heard this but i'm regarding what i've heard elsewhere right there is i think i might have heard it on on the podcast that hermy winter does the bordering podcast anyway um so there was a tradition for the chairman daniel levy or wherever it might be, to hold a dinner with all of the old players and the club ambassadors.
54:33And at this dinner, you know, you can imagine them all, you know, the ones that, you know, when we have like a cent, like all the people that were wheeled out onto the pitch when it was the last game of the season, right? Last game of the last stadium. And so they all go in there and Daniel Levy historically would outline what's happening in a football club, what decisions have been made, what's going to happen next. And so they fill in the loop, right? So then they can then disseminate that information elsewhere. So it's not coming directly from the club. It's coming from people that are trusted legends, which is fine, right?
55:06It's a way of getting information out there in a kind of organic way. Peter Charrington didn't do that. At his dinner with the ambassadors, he asked them direct questions. What do you want? What do we need to do? Which you could argue screams, it's scary because the executive chairman doesn't know or I'm more inclined to be a bit more optimistic in this in that you're doing exactly what you just said John is that they're asking people who understand the football club what they should do next and how do we drive that going forward and you know Charrington's role is to funnel information choose and pick I can't remember exactly what it is actually I don't want to butcher it or say the wrong thing but it's his way he basically sets agendas he He doesn't make decisions.
55:52He's a non-executive chairman. So he's the opposite of Daniel Levy. He doesn't have control over decision-making power.
56:04I think it's a good thing because you've got to be big enough to recognise that the season was a complete, absolute fuck up. and for you to then go on next season and go, well, at least we didn't get relegated. Let's carry on doing more Beyonce concerts and carry on doing the way that what we were doing instead of asking questions, how can we make it better? What can we do to avoid this certain stuff? So for asking those questions and asking the types of people that will know the kind of DNA of the club can only be a positive thing. Whether they action it is the next thing. Yeah, true. So another thing that came from this podcast I did with Matt Slater yesterday is that, right, there's an assumption, and go and listen to it, but there's an assumption that Spurs have been up for sale and are up for sale, even though the club are saying they're not up for sale.
57:01And a year ago they said they'll come in, they'll have a look around, and then they'll sell the club. That's what's going to happen once Levy has been kicked out. and what they actually said is the statement was Spurs are not for sale and people were going to the PR firm and going to the club and saying, trying to get statements and saying, that is our bottom line. If you don't believe us, it's up to you. Just watch and wait and see what we do. And that's where we're at a year later. They're still there. They're saying they're not for sale and if you believe these reports coming out, they're going to spend money and build this squad.
57:34It's interesting times. They have the footballing capacity to do it. but I kind of are you optimistic how do you feel lads about this whole scenario go on John yeah I'm I am optimistic I'm always optimistic so this I'm not a good yeah I'm not a good person to ask for objective because I'm always like yeah I'm excited look I'm very aware of like the false dawns that we've had before and I'm very aware that essentially it's still Enoch and all the rest of it however it's not Daniel Levy's like Enoch anymore it is them and regardless of what they say just on a basic logic level like they're gonna behave differently because they're not him right like the business has a certain way of working but they ultimately will be different and they approach things differently and we've already started to see that right like as much as the conor gallagher signing wasn't for everyone we would have not done that previously and just gone fuck it let's just get like get this player in and pay him more wages because we we wanted this player you can argue whether that was the right player or not but that's a different type of behavior that we haven't seen before.
58:41I think you made the point, Flav, on the last pod about, you know, the letter and the way that they've actually like very upfront just said, okay, we understand there's been issues. We understand we've taken our eye off the ball on the football inside. We want to make changes. We're not selling. We want to make the club a success on the pitch. We want to challenge for titles, that kind of stuff. It's always been implied rather than like overt and very clear. And that is the difference for me that makes it like, okay, in a year's time it could all be bollocks but right now assuming that they're telling the truth and again there's problems with assuming that but I'm prepared to accept that that's what they're trying to do until I'm proven wrong they're on account of saying it so if they don't exactly deliver you can hold them up yeah so I'm I'm excited and I feel like I remember when the Levy change happened I said to you my preference is that the Lewis family stay and try and get it right because they like it or lump it like there is a connection to the club with that family and they do on some level, not the same way as us three or anyone listening to this maybe feels connected to the club.
59:43It's different, of course it is. But there is some affection, there is some affinity there and just getting new owners doesn't guarantee anything. It could be worse. So I'd rather these lot try and get it right than someone new coming in and we roll the dice. And then look, if they just really balls it up, then fine, I'm back in the seat of Enoch have to go. But I want them to succeed because then we succeed. Enoch before was Joe Lewis and Daniel Levy. Now it's the Lewis children. Maybe they'll be different. The evidence suggests that perhaps they won't be there. You know, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree and stuff, but I'm with you.
1:00:17Like, let's just wait and see. Anything to add there before we move to the final question? Yeah. Well, I mean, like to feel optimistic,
1:00:27we were nearly relegated. And after that, I was just like, I never want to talk about football or think about Tottenham until after the World Cup. Like, I just want to wash my hands of the season. I'm fucking exhausted. I don't want to deal with it. And kind of like any other season, you'd be like, right, to all the staff, right, we've been for it. Two weeks off, go on your summer holidays, do whatever. Within a couple of days, we were like, you know, unofficially announced Robertson, Sanasi and a week later Savinho looks like he's virtually signed or close to it and then Van Hecke, the rumours about him from credible sources so it kind of feels like that they are moving, we've got a World Cup like starting Monday normally you'd be like right let's wait until the World Cup, who comes out of the World Cup who's been playing well and stuff like that but they're moving already so for me that's huge positives for me.
1:01:32The Fighting Cock Team:You can try the best you can. You can try the best you can. The best you can is good enough. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Right, final question. For you, John. Decent Barnacle, 2756. He says, is there a world in which we could move for awesome in? I know he's on high wages, but if we ever wanted to signal intent, bring some star power back to the club and appease the fan base, do you think it would be worth pursuing? Well, I'm glad that this question's come up with me and Rick Dog on this pod because I remember, Rick, when we signed Solanke and me and you were like, why haven't we signed Ossiman? This is fucking mental.
1:02:11He's right there. Just go and get him. We signed Solanke. Now, Solanke has turned out to be okay, I would say, as a signing, not a disaster. Right, I'd say. But he's not Ossiman, is he? Ossiman is such a good... He's too good to be playing in that league. Yes. And he's a game-changing centre-forward. there's lots of other reasons like I'm sure the football stat oh tacticos will go actually he won't fit in the system why do they always sound like that that's right because that's exactly what I'm saying and so that's one thing so if De Zerbe's like well yeah he's a great player but he doesn't fit my system then fine I'm okay with that but I think the bigger issue is that like the way that they set up taxes for footballers in Turkey makes it not only do they get paid a lot of money they keep most of it because their tax are so favourable yeah in england they lose half their money immediately if not more probably because they're getting to super tax bracket and it goes up even more so it's over half thing so then it just becomes like you're gonna have to really inflate your price to to get him to where he was just to where he was you'd end up having what's 20 on no what's 30 on 300 and 300 000 30 do you know 90 grand right so you're going to pay 90 grand extra on top of the tax yeah just to get him where he is now and then so that would be so 400 grand a week for him to cover the additional tax that's not even what it would be because then you take that down half immediately so that's 200 grand so now you've got to pay another 100 grand to get him back so yes it's like 500 grand a week so there there is the reason why we won't be going for Osserman or no one's going for Osserman why he's playing in Turkey although he does he does he seems to love the club I don't know if you remember seeing the the Tifo of him and his mother I think like that and he was crying his eyes out like a little baby anyway that's why do you know what I'm talking about no no in the in the I think they're in the Champions League this year they held a TIFO oh man Ossiman and I think it was with his mum when he was a little holding hands I think she passed away ah okay okay and you just got emotional about it and yeah Galatasaray's supporters unveiled a touching TIFO tribute for striker Victor Ossiman before their match against Liverpool the massive banner honoured his late mother and featured the message we are family and family is everything the gesture has deeply moved Ossiman who's brought to tears on the pitch.
1:04:51Yeah. But what about when they're putting signs up saying welcome to hell and stabbing people? When family everything then? What about their... Anyway. All right. That's been the Fine Corp Podcast. And I hope you enjoyed it. We'll be back next week. Until then, bye-bye. Bye. Rick? What, are you fucking too good to say goodbye? Yeah. All right. Don't listen to Lads Anonymous. Bye. F-I-G-H-T-I-N-G.
1:05:21F-I-G-H-T-I-N-G
1:05:28We're the fighting cock and we don't give a fuck Like a top draw whore when she don't see bucks Everybody wanna come and run it but they're funny Like a dummy in the barbie of your mommy Fighting cock and we don't give a shit Everybody knows flat bait's a prick We could get a sticky in the mini sucky willy When you're getting grilly yeah you gotta bang the milli Fight, fight
1:05:48Ha ha! E-I-G-H-T-I-N-G Co-co-co-co Bang Bang!
From the publisher
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This week we dive into Tottenham's increasingly ambitious summer plans. We discuss the latest links to Jan Paul van Hecke, Savinho and other potential signings, what Dougie Freedman's arrival could mean behind the scenes, and whether Roberto De Zerbi is beginning to reshape the culture of the club in his image. We also talk ownership, optimism, Adam Wharton dreams, Arsenal schadenfreude, and why for the first time in a long while it feels like Spurs are acting with real intent. Plus, plenty of nonsense along the way.
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