S16E08 - Savinho, Romero & Tottenham’s New Era

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.

0:59Okay, tough guy. And Guy Pearce. Arm up! The Dog Stars, directed by Ridley Scott, in theaters August 28th. Get tickets now. Rated R. Under 17, not admitted without parents. 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.

1:39It's the fighting. It's the fighting. Cock! It's the fighting. It's the fighting. Cock! Oh, come on, shut up! Al, you currently look like a mid-2000s hip-hop producer, like Scott Storch or something like that. I mean, when do I not? But these are... When do you not look like a 90s hip-hop producer? I get it everywhere I go. So that's weird. Makes sense. These are Arlem Specs, A-H-L-E-M. Very, very good. I would recommend to all. and some tinted lenses. So just something a bit different. Yeah, sue me. Alex, do you remember when you, I don't know what you do for a living, did for a living, but I knew it had something to do with eyeglasses, spectacles.

2:36Eyeglasses? Yeah. Facial glasses, right? So American, isn't it? Yeah. Just describe everything that eyeglass. Do you remember we were on the bus on the way to Tottenham and you were complaining of the standard of my glasses? Yeah, yeah, because you were about to take a job that involved doing this, what you do now a lot more. I don't think it was, you weren't, you just was trying to take the piss out of my glasses. And what did I say to you? Do you remember? No. I know we were on the top deck. I was like, all of this, you get all of this for 20 quid. You get everything on these glasses for 20 quid.

3:0625 years of my life promoting eye health and eye care for him to text me excitedly one Saturday morning to tell me how little he's paid for his glasses, yeah. 10 pound a lens. and the plastic did you stare directly into the sun this week? didn't get much of it where I was I was up in Yorkshire and it was kind of happening and it was like oh it's a bit darker but couldn't really yeah it wasn't wasn't amazing it's like it's like everything else these days it's just not as good as it was in the 90s the one in 99 was absolutely popping off mate it was like fully dark this one's like oh yeah man like we were having an eclipse as well yeah but yours is the shit version when I moan about it people are like oh you're just you're just looking back in nostalgia it went completely dark in the middle of the day this one was rubbish I don't remember it I was only 13 but I don't really remember I was at Orton Towers I remember it clear as day it was the middle of the day and it went fucking pitch black it was mental this one it was already night time and it went like a little bit gloomy and then that was it I reckon if it was halfway through last season I would have stared directly into the sun John's just angry just angry at science like if you if you're gonna do anything if you're gonna do anything galaxy do it properly do it properly and not at all what's this oh it's an eclipse is it well not really well don't fucking mention it then it's not an eclipse i don't care if it's like 75 percent eclipse what's that that's not an eclipse frauds a lot of them i don't think it was total eclipse i think it was partial eclipse wasn't it it was clearly stated i mean you could have drove if it was that important to you john you could have driven to a place where there was a total eclipse in europe i shouldn't have to and that's my point it means the whole fucking planet goes dark for a bit this was nothing if no one mentioned it no one would have noticed i shouldn't have to move the sun to do its job it literally moves around me that's the point you see the issue with your logic there the whole planet yeah but they should get theirs tomorrow that's my point al come on okay uh boys there's more important things to talk about than the sun and the moon i think okay uh a couple of things have happened, more or less.

5:19It's split the fan base. It's the sale of Jed Spence and it's the sale of Romero. I don't think Erlo, Alex probably has something to say about this, but I don't think the sale of Romero has split the fan base, but the price of$34 million-ish has split the fan base and what you should potentially do in those circumstances. And Jed Spence for somewhere between$25 million and$30 million, feels like we are selling ourselves short but by the same time at the same time i i don't mind being proactive in selling players because for so long we haven't been and for the sake of what under daniel levy would be an extra top 15 million probably across both deals we've just got it done and we've got them out the door and i just think that's the kind of where we are right now it's the right thing to do to be proactive in the sailing of the sailing the selling of players and buying of them and obviously on the other side of this coin is the fact that it seems now that Savino and Gakpo are coming in for big money potentially overpaying so where you at Al?

6:28I don't yeah the fun side of things like I get it but we criticized Inic for so long for hanging on to so many players and not not selling these players for the sake of an extra you know 10 million each for example of both those deals. And yeah, it feels cheap and stuff, but you can't have it both ways. We have hung on to players and they end up going out on loan for four seasons before we end up giving them away for nothing. I like the fact that we are, I'm sure we'll get to Romero in a minute, but despite what I think about Romero, I'm glad that we didn't just go, well, take him on loan for a season and hopefully he'll be amazing and maybe we'll get an extra 5, 10 million at that point.

7:06Because let's just get it done. you know everyone talks about this painful rebuild that never really happened um i think if you ever said at the beginning if this is going to be as some of it we thought it was going to be some of your favorite players might go you know that's just the way it is do you know do you know why this wouldn't have happened under daniel levy is because he wouldn't have been so aggressive in buying players exactly he would have spent as much time time to get get the most out of he didn't have to bring in money or he could hesitate over deals and drag them out so he gets the most amount of money in because he had never done the first bit, which was building a squad and improving our first team.

7:50He wouldn't have done that in that first three or four weeks of the transfer window. That would never have happened. So he could take his time selling players because he hasn't done the bit where you've actually exposed yourself potentially slightly financially. So I don't get the Ferora. I get that it feels cheap and it's kind of like a it raises a comment and you go yeah odd but i can see why we're doing it both players regardless of what you think of them you know romero was it was the right time for him to go and spence wasn't going to start every game and after you have a world cup like that wants to start every game you know and and don't blame him yeah yeah absolutely so you know it's not like we have lost a bang you know two bang bang on starting 11 players that now kind of throws our whole summer into you know jeopardy and we have to kind of rethink everything we're doing that's not the case so you know it's it's been a positive week i think yeah yeah i think yeah i think basically with this uh this kind of scenario like in isolation you can make a case for why like the price we've received isn't as high as it should be in terms of like the quality of the players and all the rest of it but there is another factor outside just like one what someone's willing to pay and what we're willing to accept and the reason that what we're willing to accept is maybe lower than what we'd be happy to accept is the fact that like we are happy for these players to leave and there are reasons why and they're different from Spence and Romero but there are reasons right why we're we're open to that like in Romero's case there's like a whole whole heap of reasons but like with Spence it's a case of like he's clearly a good player but it's as much as I'm a massive fan of his and I've been an advocate for his for a while you can see the logic of going well he's like awkward to what we're trying to do in the sense that he can play at left back and does a good job there and he can play at right back and does a good job there but he's not a guaranteed starter on either side and you've got you've brought in like Robertson to play on the left and you know he's not going to be happy being second fiddle at right back so when you align all those things together and someone's going to offer you some money you kind of have to be a little bit more open to that right I said I think last week I think it be more like 50-60 because it's going to it's going to cost us basically that sort of money to replace him but the players you bring in for that money are going to actually like improve what you've got in terms of they fit the system that we have and they're much more of a fit to what the Zerbi wants in terms of balance to the squad so yeah we have to we kind of have to look at the fees through the lens of like we're prepared to sell them if this was like you know back in the day when this was like a Gareth Bale or Harry Kane, Jung Min-Song type scenario we wouldn't be settling for fees less but when you're prepared to move them on you have to be open to taking slightly less you mentioned uh the awkwardness of jed spence it's kind of like weird and exciting fancying alex's mum it's awkward that she has a terminal disease i think she probably thinks it's it's i'm not sure she thinks it's awkward uh i think she's she doesn't understand the nation with it it's truth be told but you know where your mum you know my mum was like why can't you just keep banging flams mum like why do i even have to be in in the conversation so it's weird we should get them together really yep just come around mine any night of the week um so savigno 85 million i think when it's a weird one with savigno which is where i'm at right is, by the way, this is Q &A Friday.

11:23So not only have we got questions, tons of them, all kinds of things, but we've also got the world's hardest James Madison quiz, boys and girls. So we'll see how you get on with that. You did quite well last time, John. James Madison, all about James Madison. Just James Madison. We've had an Archie Gray one. We've had another one. And now we've got a James Madison one. Cool. All right. That's coming shortly. but before then obviously I'm in this weird situation with Savinho is that when we can't get him I desperately want him but then when they go like 85 million or whatever it is 70 million there was a report from Brazil a Brazilian reporter who there's no reason why we shouldn't trust him he said 85 million pounds is the fee which and then I think oh god 85 million pound I know we just talked about underselling our players and overpaying and I'm like oh god it It feels like a lot.

12:16But then you watch what he does in training when he has those moments where he gets it right, when he's 1v1 and he just takes players out. I'm like, we desperately need this guy, especially because he's comfortable playing on both wings. He's equally good on both wings. We definitely had to get him. But I spent some time with a Man City fan this week. You might know him. He's named Luke. You see him on the overlap. I've never known a man to defend his football club under any circumstances like him. it is blinkered but almost to a point where you think fair play because anything negative about the club like a player going yeah I didn't really want him a player coming in oh well it's like that all the time yeah and so I just I think I kind of feel like we do desperately need Savigno even for massive money I want him into the football club he's going to get bums off seats isn't he as opposed to on them lovely lovely lovely footballer 1v1 lovely lovely mate i i just think at this point point in time we we go through the like we flip-flop on this so often especially like this window because it's quite a novelty we go from like going just fucking sign them all 100 million don't care just fucking smash it down and then other players for whatever reason we sort of get a bit jittery and we're like oh i don't know maybe it's a bit much like i'm not sure who cares like if they're gonna spend it Just get him in.

13:42Like, who's better than Savinho? I don't care how much it costs. Like if it's 30 or 100, it makes no difference to me. Who is better than Savinho that we can get? You'd rather spend 85 million than just not buy a player. Just get him in. Who's better than Savinho that we can realistically get? For any money that will come to us. Rashford is the only one. And again, marginal. Rashford's more proven, for sure. I'd definitely take Rashford. I'd definitely take Rashford. I'd take him. Don't get me wrong. Over Savinho. If he had one or the other, it would be Rashford for me. Number nine and the left wing.

14:14Maybe. Is that controversial? No, it's not controversial. I actually don't think it is controversial. I think my opinion is controversial, which is that I think Rashford's really good. What a surprise. He does go, yeah, shocker. He does go missing quite a lot. And there has been a lot of just noise around him with United and when he went out and loan. And Barcelona didn't want to keep him. Stuff like that. So, I don't know. I think there's an argument to be made that Savinho, we haven't seen the best of him. We know what Rashford is, and there is definitely a quality player there. If we signed him, I'd be really happy.

14:45But I feel like Savinho is actually really exciting. And the reason that we're all a bit like, ugh, it's because it's been dragging on for nearly like two seasons. If this just came out of nowhere today, Spurs signing Savinho for 70 million, we would be absolutely buzzing. He's taken City out of his bio. Legend. He wants to cut. And that's the other thing. it's like Rashford you might have to convince him to come Savigno's like I just want to play for Spurs it's always been a dream of mine clearly must be fuck knows why surely there'll be other clubs that will be interesting I want to play for Tottenham like you know you hear like Kudus when he came and had these like they listened to his heart check it was beaten properly and he went oh you'll only hear Tottenham in there bullshit we know this but I loved it don't get me wrong but we know you're talking shit with Savigno it's like maybe he does love us I don't know why but maybe he does love us um out Gakpo or Rashford for nine Gakpo but not because I don't like Rashford I really really like Rashford and I've made it quite clear that I've I've if there was an opportunity to get him then I then I would really enjoy him the the issue with Rashford is three weeks being off form or a couple bad games and the noise around it is just it's non-stop you'll have a point yeah you'll have the you'll have the audio overlap and stick to football a lot talking about him concert because it's because it's an easy route back to talk to somehow about man united and have you noticed that the only other club podcast they've started is stick to united which is um so yeah as much as i love rushford i think savinho is the more exciting project and someone who you know even if it's us as a step onto the next step you know that that benefits us and I like Gakpo and Rashford, it would be either or.

16:30So if it was between those two, it's probably the same. Just probably Gakpo because we'll get a bit less noise. But how old is Savino? 23? Around that, yeah. Yeah, so he's, you know, that age, you want to be coming into having that as a project player, someone who's obviously got loads of potential still to fulfil, hopefully under a manager, you know, in Deserby, that's going to be here for, you know, two, three, four years, hopefully. And that's where players like that develop the talent. It's one of the things, my frustration with people's thoughts on Romero, for example, is that he came at 23 and has been in the most inconsistent period of this club in the last however many years it's been.

17:14He's had 11 different managers, I think it is now, in that time. And players' ability at that age, whether it's him, but particularly attacking players like Savinho, need a bit of stability, I think. and that's where I think if all goes to plan, touch wood then De Zerbi's just the perfect manager for him, that's what makes him exciting What's really exciting about this is that not only are we buying, we've changed so when De Zerbi said, I've got 11 12 players I can kind of I don't know what he said, where we trust, I had the right mentality or whatever it was, you remember what he said, more or less, he was talking about I have about 11 or 12 players I can kind of trust and I'm like, we've got like 25 you've been working with.

17:57It can't be half the squad you want to get rid of. And what he was talking about is actually needing 16 or 17 or 18 players. And we brought in, if Gakpo and Savino arrive, you've got Gakpo, Savino, Fernandes, Tonali, Robertson, Sanessi and Van Hecker. That's seven players that could potentially start the first game of the season. That's seismic. I wonder what impact that will have on the chemistry and how long it will take to get up to speed. And we might have to be a little bit more forgiving of that in the first instance, but how quickly he turned Spurs around when he took over shows it might not actually take that long.

18:35Before 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.

19:08Prices, values, and available markets may differ from those mentioned. For more information, see calci.com slash regulatory. This episode is brought to you by Facebook. So you were scrolling on Marketplace, and there it was, the bike you'd been searching for. You sent a message, and it turned out the seller was super chatty, kind of funny, and an avid cyclist. The next thing you know, you're in a cycling crew. Well, a community cycling group. The thing about Facebook, you might find more than what you're looking for. From a browse to a bike ride, this summer, find more on Facebook.

19:46a lot of players in that list Premier League players and that's the difference yeah from established like careers in the Premier League so the adjustment period is much more Spurs specific than League, New Country and like all of these other factors so you're mitigating the risk of these transfers when you take into those like factors and also you know a lot of these players are coming from big all Premier League players. Absolutely every one of them. I didn't even... Yeah. And that was the difference from Levy not being here because we couldn't buy and sell and negotiate with other Premier League teams.

20:21It happened so rarely. You know, particularly decent, you know, kind of top half Premier League teams, should we say, where there's players that maybe where we can take rather than, you know, again, maybe project players. A Savinho sign-in would never have happened under Daniel Levy. A Van Hecker might have, but a Tonali certainly would have. Not at that price it wouldn't. He would have dragged Van Hecker. Not even at two-thirds of those prices. Yeah. So I wanted to say that we've improved the squad in such a way. But you add to that, and I think people forget that it's Deserby managing all these players on top of it.

20:54It could be special. Like, when I was on the overlap yesterday, they tried to put me on the spot and say that I'd said that Spurs are going to win the league. And I was like, I've kind of been here long enough now to know what you're up to. I'm not going to say on the overlap, because it's going to be clipped up that Spurs are going to win the league. This came from a conversation I had with the director of the show on WhatsApp. And he's like, what do you think for the season? And you know what you're like, we're going to win the league, mate. And I think... What, and then they... Yeah, yeah. And then the top...

21:25We're going to win the league. And then about a week later, he goes, do you still think you're going to win the league? You must have been putting the show together. And I said, probably like that. And that was it. And they started the show and Carragher goes, right. Flav I hear you think Tottenham are going to win the league and I was like who told you that that is so shitty and he goes well do you not think that and I went no we've probably finished top 6 and I went this is from a private whatsapp conversation that this has come from I know what you're doing I've been on this show long enough I know what's happening here you want to fucking clip me up anyway I didn't let him have it but now I'm talking amongst friends and only friends that are listening who knows I mean we could do it we could do it Leicester did it so we definitely could do it I think the biggest difference between like any other season well I always think we're going to win it every season I think maybe we could just win it even when we've been the shittest I still just think I'd be mental if we wanted we could do it so I'm the worst person to speak about this anyway I used to do that about Messi sorry John to cut you I used to do that about Messi as well I was like imagine if he just signed she just woke up and went I want to sign for Spurs he's thinking that all the time why doesn't he just do that but life's loads better thinking like that isn't it like imagine how good you felt going fuck we're going to get Messi that's class didn't you win Andy Coles scored like 50 goals in a season for Newcastle yeah and I was just thinking maybe he just loves Spurs for some reason this is back when I'm like I must feel like 15 then maybe we'll just come Spurs obviously he didn't he wins Manchester United but Spurs now are the the the interesting thing about the conversation sorry John I cut you what were you saying sorry uh I was gonna say the difference this time around is that the club have actually said it and Dezerbi has also said it not that we're going to win the league but for the first time you know sort of in the premier league era that like our ambition is to win it and i feel like we've almost in the leave here it was almost like we were kind of embarrassed to say it was like well we're gonna you know try and talk around it we're gonna endeavor to give ourselves the best chance to be successful on the pitch what does that mean whereas they've just come out and said like we want to win the league and deserve is like i want to win the league and i want to do it like at spurs and so it's that thing of you're putting it out there as a goal you're like putting it into the universe you're like saying it right and so people are gonna to a certain extent hold you accountable but I think that gives us a feeling of like well De Zerbi that's what he wants to do that's his objective is to try and win the league with us and that's the only way you actually ever really do it is you've got to be trying in the first place and it feels like the signings that we're making you know the club said at the end of last season after all the relegation woes like we line in the sand we're going to fix this like we are we have ambitions to do this properly and so far like touch wood they are holding up their end of the bargain in this window like they are obviously making signings with a view to try and be successful on the pitch doesn't mean that come the end of this season we'll win the league but i feel like we will make strides towards like giving ourselves the best chance to do that and from a football fan's perspective that is the best you can hope for right is that you actually have ambitions to try and win it and then you give it a good go do you know do you know what a lot of people were doing um were they were boiling tottenham situations simply down to the finish the fact that we finished 17th last season they were like well how can you go from 17th to fourth how can it happen and you're like it happens all the time fucking manchester united went from 16th to third leicester went from 17th to first that if you make the right decisions in the summer and change things for the for the better then obviously that can happen that's not mental to say you go from 17th to 4th with the amount of money and ambition that Spurs now have I got quite frustrated I was like that can't be your question it can't be your question how are you going to go from 17th to 4th when you see it happen all the time it's obvious I don't um I don't I just feel that that is what these shows and where those like they have to ask those questions because what else can you ask because anything more detailed in that or anything that has got more layers to it or requires you to go on a bit of a five six ten minute you know discussion point around it like it's not valuable so they know you get asked questions like that gets responses and if i'm imagining you did get questions frustrated which you know is entertaining you know i i and i get it don't get me wrong i thoroughly love you know frustrating you is one of my favorite things to do no you're passing off frustrating me like you're playing at it rather than just saying yeah yeah no because when I said Romero deserved his move in my group last night you fucking don't exactly what I was doing don't you fucking dare it's the god honest truth don't you fucking dare my daughter is upstairs and I will swear on her life that I all the rest of it I meant but I just thought I'll tag that in because I could see you in there and I thought I'll just wonder if he'll bite to that one little bit why didn't you bite to it but no but don't don't I mean unless this has been a long play this has been a long long play my thoughts on Romero are true and I've got some things to say about Romero if you're interested in hearing and I appreciate you would have discussed it lots and lots of times before.

26:21No, I'm interested in hearing them. I'm just like, people need to know, right? So we were talking and you were just being really kind to Romero and one of the parts, I was getting more and more frustrated with it. So I'm like, the guy's a cunt. He hates the guts. And you were going, no, but he's a bit, no, sorry. I won't do the voice. You were saying along the lines of, you know, he's been our best defender. There's no doubt that he remains probably the best defender at the football club at the moment, but he can't be a cunt. He can't bend over for a man like that. and um because he'll fuck you and he'll pull your hair at the same time okay but you said he deserved his he deserves his move are you telling me now and you swear this move bit was specifically actually it was specifically for both of you but john john didn't come in um i was generally angry i put my phone down you did yeah what do you want to wind me up for no reason you do it to me constantly no i don't mean to wind you up i'm just telling you what I feel if it winds you up it's your problem well that's same same for me so it is true then uh there's that's not true because there's not it's not true or not true because it's just not a thing but um but my thoughts on Romero is that the the stick that has come to him has all mainly been I feel like there's a line there's a draw a line up to point of of the United game right and they're sending off which okay fine and then after that i've got no argument after that the whole thing about him going i still don't buy this whole arsenal thing i don't buy it i've got i've gone and reread all the rest of the stuff that's come out and i don't i don't buy it right the other thing about obviously not being here on the last day of the season again he's come out and said that's not true other people have said it is true fine for the only person on earth thinks that he actually was meaning to come back.

28:09But even if I'm a person, it doesn't affect me. Like, what do we want him to... If the rumours are true in there that after January, he had a strop because he felt that... Saying everything that we said in January, by the way, about how that window was absolutely disgusting. That wasn't a problem. No one had an issue with him speaking out there. So I've got no... I appreciate that if he's down tools and stuff, then yeah, from that point onwards, okay, fine. What I'm saying is I'm not willing to then say, but actually he was a terrible, a net negative on this. Worst captain we've ever had. Because on the, well, fine.

28:45No, no, not fine. Not fine. Tell me another one. If you don't believe it, tell me another one. He was a good captain or bad. It doesn't matter. How can you not care? That was his job. But he wasn't there. And people were saying that he wasn't doing it anyway. And it was, and it was, um, Van der Beeren and the others picking him up anyway. So he either was doing it or he wasn't doing it. And if he wasn't doing it, then it doesn't matter. Why wasn't he, why wasn't he there? most of the time or getting himself sent off. In both cases, that makes him shit. Okay, appreciate that to the United one. Where my issue is, is that you, and I think we've all agreed that there's a little bit of, we've all said if that was that tackle, Romero made that tackle, you'd be hearing the Gary Neville going ooh, about loads of ones that we've seen, right?

29:24You know, and we think of them as reckless. Do we think Lewis Cook's reckless? I don't know. Do we think Esri Conz is reckless? Reckless, not in a way that was going to get him sent off. They've got more red cards in the same period of time than Romero has. Sorry, the same number. Let me finish. Let me finish. Let me fucking finish. Because you've been doing your research. You know this shit's going to be coming up. You knew this conversation. Lewis Cook has as many red cards. I couldn't even tell you who Lewis Cook fucking plays for. Also, I don't care about period of time. I'm caring about minutes played because Romero would have played in nowhere near as many minutes and would have had way more.

30:02So if you do it for minutes, it'd have been fucking miles off the charts. Go on out. We can all use statistics to suit our argument. But what I'm saying is, is that there is definitely, I can't, I feel like we've also let the narrative around Romero pierce some of that element of it. To say that he is a net, but he was not a net positive for Tottenham Hotspur over that time, with everything that he then had to deal with, I said, gone through the man, 11 managers. Like 11. Look, no, I'll give you that. And at 23 years old, and he's a hothead. Yeah, 100%. 100%. But then, you know, I think we talked about what we did between 23 and 28 years old at that time.

30:39Is he emotionally intelligent enough for the Premier League based off of how he plays football? Probably not. And I've not disagreed. He's never been sent off for Argentina. And should have sold. In 40 games. In 40 games. Never been sent off for Argentina. You know, more stability around him in that place. I don't know. He cared. He calmed himself down. He cared. And he was much more... I do not believe that he didn't give a fuck about... I think there was maybe a downing of tools towards the end, which is not acceptable. And I appreciate that. And I've said right from the beginning, it was the right thing for everyone for him to go.

31:08No problem. But I just can't be having this whole washing of like, was no good. No, he was good, Alex. There was parts of his time at Spurs where he was good and he played a massive part in us, beating Arsenal to that fourth spot in Conte's reign. He did, he did, right? But he undone all of that by what he did. I think that's probably where the difference is. It doesn't for me, and I appreciate how it does for some. That's all. Can I just, look, to be honest, if you ask me, I think the net positive or negative is the right question, right? Because I think we can all agree there's negative factors, but there's also loads of positive factors.

31:47I think just like as a very small tip of the scale, he probably still is a net positive, bearing in mind that we won a trophy in the period that he was there and he had an important part to play in that. I still don't think that that means that we shouldn't be, there's certain people are more happy than others that he's going because i kind of feel like it is a slight for my opinion it's a slightly net positive it's not net positive enough and then the net negative as the negative aspects of what he does are so distracting that it's not worth the positives and as for the arsenal thing i don't know why you two are so convinced that it's not real because if he really didn't want to go there he's quite happy to fucking gob off about the board and every other thing that annoys him at the club.

32:30Just come out and go, I'd never go there. It's quite simple. Just tweet that. But he didn't because he would fucking go there if that deal was on the table. Yeah, I think he would. 100 % of course he would. The champions of England, he'd play every game. Saliba's about to be out for the season. Of course he'd go there. I think it got to a point where it was just...

32:50I don't know why you care to defend him. I haven't said that he shouldn't have been sold. I agree that he should have been sold. I agreed that he shouldn't play for Tottenham next season. And I agreed that, you know, after the United game, even at that point, I was like, you know, all right, it's done. It's obviously stuff's in his mind. But I've just seen too much stuff of just complete, of like where everything that went before, when he was our best defender, top goal scorer for a period of time, and scored some really important goals, got player to match in a game that we needed to win. Big, big games.

33:27there was a lot of times where he was that different and the instability in the period of time that he had. Yo, Jan and Toby... I'm alright, Alex, I get it. But no one cares. No one cares. No one gives us cheese. Go on, isn't he? Just stop fucking defending him. It's like Bale. No one's going, oh, Bale was shit. Remember at the beginning when he was rubbish? No, we care about the end. At the end, it was fucking shit. So get out, fuck off, and don't come back. There's no more points you can make, right? We get it, and we understand it. Okay? Okay. What are you drinking? Fantastic. Is that orange?

33:56Is it Sunkist? No, it's Fanta. Fanta's a good drink. It's good. We haven't answered a single question. So what we're going to do is we're going to do the quiz and then I'm going to cut and then we're going to do the Q &A. Is that all right? Sick, sick. Let's do the quiz now, shall we? Go on. Do you know what quiz it is? What did I say it was? James Madison. Stalling boys. James Madison quiz. I did all right in the Archie Gray quiz last time. Especially because you didn't get the benefit of the multiple quiz because I fucked you there really. because you did yeah but i used the power out of deduction and logic rather than knowledge i mean i didn't know the answers so i had to had to deduce based on my best guesswork but i didn't get multiple choice so it makes it more remarkable in a way that i guess is it like specific answers or is it like to the number nearest number like it was supposed to be multiple choice no that that it was it was multiple choice i just didn't read out the options so i've got multiple choice for this one because apparently this is difficult.

34:53I haven't read the questions. I don't know what they are. But you two are working together to beat the audience. Come on now. We can do this. Okay. Ready? Say Romero's good and then I'll help you. Romero's great. Come on. Ready?

35:09Right. So that's Alex and John against the audience. This is James Madison, the toughest James Madison Tottenham quiz on a half. Wow. Who did James Madison score? his first competitive goal for Tottenham against? The answer could be Bournemouth, Burnley, Manchester United or Arsenal. Terrible. Do we just shout it out? Do we just shout it out? You go for it. Yeah, go on out. Just marry, but you won't do it. I'd like, I'm not 100%. What are you thinking? Bournemouth. Yeah, I'll go with that. I don't really know, mate. I can't really remember. Go for it. Correct, Bournemouth. Yeah, go on out. Number two, Maddison was named Premier League Player of the Month for which month during his first season at Spurs?

35:49Was it August 23, September 23, October 23, or November 23? I feel like it had got a little September in it from the 10-game runs. Exactly, early. Early doors, because otherwise he'd have been injured. Maybe it wasn't the first month, so maybe should we go September? I'm with you, September. We'll go September, Flav. Incorrect, August. You would have got it right. Number three, who assisted Maddison for his first Tottenham goal? Sarr Fuck me I didn't even say the name Yes correct Do you know what You'll have two for that Alex I didn't even say that Son Pat Matassar Kulisevsky and Udagi I remember it Because it was that Bournemouth game A little reverse Kind of halfy pass from Sarr I remember it Yeah Fair play Alright so Defy and Cock Have four in three Now Sorry You just give me two points I've given you two points Four Madison scored Tottenham's opening goal in the famous 4-0 away win at Aston Villa in March 2024.

36:51Who provided the assist for opening goal against Villa 4-0 away? The options are Brennan Johnson, Humminson, Papsar or Pedro Porro? Papsar. I'm pretty sure it's Papsar. Go for it, I have no idea. It's correct, it's Papsar. Because we were all watching it together in that house. No, it wasn't. It was a Conte game. Yeah, it was a good cross, I remember. Mental cross. I've realised how I enjoy football is I don't remember any details of any games. Like, they just go out of my mind. The last two hours I had no idea. Number five. In the 2024-25 Premier League season, Madison finished with how many league goals for Spurs?