Scholes, Carragher & Ornstein Discuss Best & Worst Transfers | Fan Debate

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1:02He was so unprofessional. It was ridiculous. His shooting practice, after three shots, he's knackered. He turned up with a load of gangsters, right, as his agents. That's why I'm not mentioning his name, because I don't want him to come round to my house. Not bad for someone who gets compared to Hazard, whilst Hazard is sat with a pack of fish. A lot of us play football manager. It's like, oh, Chiesa is going to be our midfielder, and Barella's coming in tomorrow, and get rid of long staff, and this is like, no. Dodgy sauces as well. No, stop pointing at me. Is there a big one you've got wrong?

1:39No. I remember playing against George where he looked at me back just to check who I was and my name was. And I was like, oh. Hang on, hang on, David. Oh, what's happening? Oh, come on. Breaking news.

1:58Hello everyone and welcome back to the Fan Debate This is a Transfer Window special brought to you by Skybet and I'm joined by Paul Scholes, David Ornstein Scholesy, you're involved in the transfers a little bit now, aren't you? You weren't as a player No You're involved obviously at Salford with the ins and outs Can you explain how stressful it is to the Transfer Window? Yes, a little bit it can be obviously when you think you've got a player and you haven't it can be upsetting, it can make you a little bit angrier than you possibly should be but look I really enjoy it, it's obviously like Oh!

2:37Is that a solver player? I'd take it before I'd take it before for Brits, you all get to the story But obviously we work at a different level than obviously Premier League so if we don't buy players usually don't buy players we have actually bought one for£100 ,000 a year ago I think that was who, funnily enough, got injured for the full season he's only just started playing now and looking good so we're relying on free transfers really So later on we're going to talk about the worst transfers so would that go into the worst transfers? No He started the season really well actually He's doing alright for us but we have a head of recruitment because me, Ryan and Nicky are the ones who are involved that obviously with Carl, the manager, and we don't really know the league.

3:23We don't really know that many. Well, we do now because we've been doing it for two or three years. But when there's certain positions come up, there's certain players come up, we have a head of recruitment. Look, he knows every single one of them. We've all got Wisecout as well. I'm sure you use that, don't you? So we use Wisecout. You can tap in, it's brilliant. You can have a look at clips and almost an automatic video report. Look, I enjoy it. I think there's a bit of thrill to it. when you actually get in contact with a player and you're trying to persuade them to come to your club and then you actually do it and they agree, you agree a deal with the agent and stuff, there's a reward to it and they go on to the first team and hopefully do OK.

4:04That's the ambition, but we're in League Two and there's a lot of money floating about. You don't realise, you think last year, the Stockports, the Wrexhams. Salfords. we had a few ownership issues this year so we're never quite sure where the budget was David, I mean I want to ask you about how you find yourself in the position that you are in terms of seeing as the guy who everyone follows on social media to break transfer news first, I mean what was your journey to get to the position that you find yourself in now? How long have you got? I don't want to bore you to death It took a while in the other episode so go on

4:45I was like most other people here and outside just a massive football fan played a lot and I was on trial for a year at Chelsea as a kid and when that dream died because I wasn't nearly good enough I started to get work experience when you're at school and it happened to be a radio station Capital Radio London at the time, which had guys like Jonathan Pearce, Mark Pugach, all these top commentators and reporters, presenters, and got a flavour for the media. And I thought if I'm not going to be playing football or sport, it'd be good to be involved in the media side, sort of telling the stories, commentating.

5:25And then I fast forward a little bit, went and did a fantastic journalism degree at Bournemouth University, BA in multimedia journalism down there. fantastic course which prepares you for industry sort of standards. I went from there to the Guardian and did a traineeship for a year and that was really just reporting on the industry. I was like a member of staff going up to grounds up and down the country, press conferences, interviews, football, rugby, cricket, tennis, whatever I could get my hands on. My year at the Guardian was fantastic. It was when Wigan were in the Premier League under Paul Jewell.

6:02I went out there a lot because for some reason nobody else wanted to. So that's a good principle, actually, just putting your hand up and saying yes to everything, picking up contacts, going to conferences and even things you don't want to, premieres of documentaries, movies, you name it, going to fan evenings at clubs, Portsmouth and Bolton. When you go into these events, was there a moment that was a game changer for you in terms of maybe getting a contact that's given you lots of information over the years? What was that turning point to find yourself in the position that you are now? So it wasn't actually one moment with contacts when I became professional, because in that time you are picking up phone numbers wherever you go, building relationships, talking to people on the phone, texting them minute after minute, hour after hour, day after day, and there need to be proper relationships by and large.

6:58Some people, it will be transactional. They don't want that, but they will share information or give clarity on a story. And especially these days when people know me and others for doing it the right way, for not, I don't know, sensationalizing or representing something poorly, always making the correct checks. And so that benefits you because people will come back to you and explain things to you in the future that allow, you know, they impart their trust in you to be able to deliver stories on in print at The Athletic. now BBC previously. What would you look at now and see the biggest story or transfer that you've broke?

7:35It sounds arrogant because there are quite a lot of options and I don't mean it to come across that way. It does sound arrogant. I really liked the story that Mesut Ozil had signed a new contract at Arsenal and I had the details of what the contract and the duration. You must have better than that. That was the big story at the time because Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Erzil were both out of contract in the summer. Have you got closer links to Arsenal? I always felt that when I've seen some of your stories. I always thought maybe you were an Arsenal fan or there was a link to Arsenal. You felt like you got Arsenal stories more than any, I would say.

8:10So obviously coming through the industry and working in London and I think I'd done one of my many pieces of work experience at university was I was able to write for the Arsenal monthly magazine. You apply for all of them and they came back to me. It was a guy called Andy Exley. I think he's still involved with the match day programme as well. And I had a little bit in the match day programme for the final match at Highbury before they left against Wigan. And so maybe went to some events, picked up some contacts around them. They were obviously very newsworthy. They always have been bumped into players or staff or people close to Arsenal living in London, agents, etc.

8:50And it just gravitated towards that. I remember breaking the story of Robin Van Persie moving from Arsenal to Man United. So there were a lot of those sorts of stories at the time. Klopp signing a new contract at Liverpool a couple of years ago was a big one because there was uncertainty there. They're big enough. Van Persie's a good one, isn't it? Van Persie was a good transfer story to break it. And maybe Declan Rice's deal being done with West Ham and Harry Kane's deal with Bayern Munich. When do you actually release it? Did you talk about Harry Kane and Declan Rice? When are you confident enough that that's going to come out and be signed?

9:31Not until they're holding the shirt up about two months later. So you just leak a bit of news first? No, absolutely not. I will hear some information and it can come from absolutely anywhere. From somebody inside a club, somebody involved in the deal. players agents family executives physios kit men canteen staff somebody that delivers the post drivers somebody putting the private jet booking in you name it there's absolute fans pick up on stuff all the time like i respect every single source wherever it may be and i check it out in the same way um so you then go to your network of contacts which has been built up over time and Don't forget that many people that you come across in your life and career, they move to different clubs.

10:17You might have somebody that was working at a non-league club or a foreign club who you bumped into at a match or a conference and you stayed in touch with. Because I never, ever burn a bridge, even though you want to tear people's heads off at times. And you never know where that person will end up. They could come from that club in a different country to work at Manchester City or Liverpool or Southampton or anywhere. and so you will go when you hear this information from wherever it may be to trusted people and check it out sometimes you can't get hold of them sometimes they don't want to speak to you and that's okay it's acceptable you explore other avenues if you're hitting brick walls then you say fair enough you know i'll keep an eye on it i'll try and explore different paths but it might not happen but in many cases it does happen where they say you're along the right lines or they give you the information and say, yeah, you're right.

11:07Or they come to you with the information because they know you'll handle it best. You've then got to find other people who can corroborate it, who are not in touch with that person. So if I heard something from one of you guys at Salford, I can't go to your fellow owner and ask because you're sort of related in that sense. You need to go to somebody at the other club that you're said to be doing the deal with. And then when you feel and your nows and your experience tells you that we're in a good position now you speak to the parties involved so you'll talk to maybe an executive at one of the clubs or the national association or a company whatever the story may be to get even further detail on it and then you'll go to the comms department the communications the press office and say look I've got myself in a position where I'm ready to run this story is there anything you want to add or clarify and And normally in my position now, thankfully, and I feel very blessed for this, they almost all cooperate because they know that I wouldn't come to them unless I was sure of it.

12:07I would just not come forward at all. In some instances, they might push back against you and say it's wrong because it might be that you've got the wrong end of the stick or things have changed in the situation. In some cases, they're not telling the truth. In some cases, they don't have the full facts. And then you need to make a decision. So you go back to your editors, you discuss it amongst yourselves. and you decide, right, we're absolutely rock solid here. We need to press on. Or we're not quite sure. It's best to stand back. Sometimes there are legal implications, so we need to go to our lawyer and have a discussion about it.

12:40And on occasions, you make the wrong decision. Is there a big one you've got wrong? No. Well, that's a good place to finish, David, because my man, Billy over there from Brentford, you've got a question. Transfer window. OK, I'm going to have to ask you a question, right? Because something that really bugs me about the transfer window is too long. Do you think it's too long? Because I think it's ridiculous that we've got these two months that the transfer window goes on. But in reality, you could do them deals in about a week, right? So why don't you just cut the transfer window down to a week and then everyone can get their deals done at the same time.

13:19And also the other thing is that they used to have it that the transfer window used to cut off before the start of the season. And that was brilliant for teams because they knew what they're doing when they went into the season. Their players are all sorted. But all of a sudden, because the Europeans said, oh, no, ours is different. So they changed it back to sort of tie in with Europe now again. So you can find your players, like Ivan Toni, whoever, disappearing weeks after the end of the transfer window. So would it be sensible for UEFA to look at bringing all the transfer windows in line as well so everyone does at the same time?

13:47So I'm talking about the time, which does my head in, and also the cutoff point. January 1 is fine, obviously, because that's just a month. and it makes it a really long summer for those involved doing the deals, players, staff, families, journalists, media, not complaining at all. It helps keep me in a living. And for many, it's a sport within the sport. It's box office. People salivate for this transfer news and there's a real insatiable appetite that seems to be growing to the extent that you could, and I've said this before, report on a transfer during a match, even a big match these days, and the transfer news will get bigger traction than the match itself.

14:28And that's very telling on modern society and football fans and what their interests are and attention spans. And I think the concept of trading is exciting for sports fans in the States and similar here and around Europe. But it's almost like it's great for you. Sky is brilliant, the whole two months transfer. And most of the time, there's nothing really happening. It's just nonsense. They're just making it up. That week, though, is just so unrealistic. These deals, they can take forever. I'm not just talking about League Two, but you can be in contact with an agent for almost a year, I would have thought, at that type of level.

15:07And you also have to wait. It's a minute example from all the Premier League stars and stuff, but we've been chasing a player for quite some time. Then they're arguing with the club about paying them off. So you've got to wait for that. they're also then waiting for that team to sign a replacement for them so there's so many complications and then you have to wait to get to the start of the season I think by next Friday you'd have had two or three weeks probably three weeks of the Football League and then they'd been left out so then they'd go and see the manager It'd be better for you, wouldn't it?

15:42Because then everyone's just got to do the deal there's no messing around they just know they've got to get the deal done I know where you're coming from but it's just unrealistic there's just too much to sort out honestly you talk about relocation for our types of players and we're talking about players who could be on £1 ,500 to£3 ,000 a week they can't just come to Manchester and rent a penthouse apartment do you know what I mean they just can't afford that so there's all complications there's family size to it it's just honestly a week could be ideal and we'd absolutely love it but just so enough how do you deal with agents you said before about getting a deal over the line you quite enjoy that I mean how was it dealing with that side of it I don't really deal with the agent that much we have a head of recruitment I tend to deal with the player because look again it's our level so agent fees aren't massive anyway it's not a major thing about it I always think it's best to go straight to the player at any point you can get his number, get some recommendations you get what he's like what he's like as a lad what he's been like as a player at the football club and then go straight to him I think the player seems to appreciate that as well we had a player last week actually we signed from Derby and I think the three of us got on the phone to him including the manager Ryan got on the phone to him I got on the phone to him and he was down at another club he rang us the day after and said no I'm sorry I'm signing for this club down south and we're all devastated I mean the reason why I say is that I know again as a Breva fan I'll just tell you that one minute sign for us he was down at another club and he got down there changed his mind got the train up the schools factor schools yeah wow different kind of knock Yeah, the reason why I say Brentford fan, and I know that, again, it's difficult for us sometimes to make transfers, because if you're in against Man United, it makes it quite difficult.

17:28But also what we find is that you just get messed around quite a lot. Which is why it can't take a week. Yeah, we know. Well, but the thing is that I think that we would actually prefer it to be a week, because we know that you've just got to get on with business. And the other times, then you can actually kind of organise a team business. But at the time, you've got teams going here, left, right and centre. They say they're going to do a deal with you. than they do another sneaky one with somebody elsewhere. If you know you've got a week or ten days, you literally have got to lock it down or else you know, oh no, if I don't do the deal, I'm out of it.

17:57So seriously, for clubs like us, it'd be brilliant. You wouldn't have teams like Tottenham coming in and usurping us for players. Clubs like us, it would be brilliant as well. Honestly, we lost two players because... I feel weird talking about Solfer and talking about Premier League. Sorry about this, but we had two players and we couldn't do the medical for two days. I don't think the... We couldn't get the training round, we couldn't get the facilities to do the medical. And within two days, a League One club had come in and took both of them. Actually, you're talking about medicals, you're talking about dodgy sauces as well.

18:30No, stop pointing at them. We're still fighting for this title. Talking about dodgy sauces as well from the media, we also had a scenario as well, I remember sighted, which is like the Brentford fan scene and blog, okay? And especially in the Championship, we were kind of like all over the transfers we knew what was going on small club but also what you didn't want to do you didn't want to sort of break the news too early because um because you're ahead of the game because then you can mess the deal up so you know as a as a fan you don't want to do that so we'd certainly stories just waiting for it to go and you knew when the right time to you get the information when's the right time for it to go when the deal's been signed or if you're like that and all of a sudden just before we're going to do it bang it used to press up it's all over the media i mean how did that happen so we worked out with a few of the people it happened about four or five times and we worked out it was the medical room.

19:16So basically, when he went to do his medical, the guy in the medical room is probably getting a 50 quid cheque or probably two grand cheques saying, right, we've got such and such coming in and he'd leak the news out to the same person every time we go out with him and they'd go over. So interesting to know what dodgy sources that you've got. You hear it all the time. We hear it, you know, your club's a disgrace. You can't do any deals on the club. Like you're saying, it's just taking time to actually get to it. So do you think sometimes it comes out a little bit too soon. I'm not saying from you.

19:44Well, no, for everybody that doesn't like the news coming out early, there are clearly loads of people who do. That's one thing. And I've got huge respect for Fabrizio and every journalist that works in not only this sphere, but there are much more important areas of journalism. I am talking to you, but I'm saying he's ruined it. No, no, no, I know what you mean. He uses out, isn't he? No, exactly. For your surprise element and things like that. There are still a few surprise deals. We had Tottenham with a really good signing of Wilson and Odeber recently that hadn't really come out anywhere, and a few others over the years.

20:15One of the issues is that there are so many people involved in these transfers, the medics, the administration people, coaches, players. There are ramifications on the squad. They need to get kit ordered. They need to travel to do the medical and have conversations. And these things are happening. So it's inevitable, like in all walks of life, people do speak. And in my situation, you do have conversations where people explain the sensitivity. And if it's possible, and if you discuss it internally at my end, let's wait on this because there's a chance that it might not happen. There's a chance that it's not quite where we thought.

20:56They're desperate for it not to come out because, I don't know, another club might come in and ruin it. And that's not our responsibility. But we do have a conversation at our end. how strong is the sourcing? Do we trust the person enough that it won't just appear elsewhere? Because one of the inevitable things with the journalism is that if you're hearing it, the chances are somebody else's as well. And then it's about trying to handle it as best possible. So speaking to the clubs involved. And I always try and get to the point where it doesn't hurt or cause harm and it's as safe as possible.

21:29That isn't always the case. And many of us got the information on somebody like Archie Gray that was getting closer and closer at Brentford and it came out and then he went somewhere else. I'll be completely honest, I think irrespective of the reporting, it's an easy excuse to say the reporting changed it. I think he probably would have ended up at Tottenham. They know what's going on. That's the other thing. The clubs, they've all got better intelligence than most journalists. I heard that was a good play. And I actually think to your suggestion of a week to 10 days and take my journalism out of it, I think it would be complete chaos and is totally unrealistic and unfeasible.

22:05Honestly, the amount that goes on, a lot of us, and I'm a fan as well, we sort of play football manager. It's like, oh, get rid of him and we're going to bring him in and we're done. I always see like Chiesa is going to be our midfielder and Barella's coming in tomorrow and get rid of long staff. And this is like, no, it's not. You've got long staff, Barella and Chiesa.

22:29You see these names flying about. So I do think the time is needed. I totally understand the frustration. One thing you've got to remember is finances as well. When revenues are coming on board, the next round of television money, sponsorship deals kick in, a club can't do something until they've got the right finances in place. And there are so many moving parts that means that, you know, the negotiations do take time. We don't really speak about this with negotiating a big deal for a bank or an electricity cut, whatever. It does need patience. In terms of your point about the cut-off, for a couple of years it was before the season started.

23:11Well, the rest of Europe didn't fall in line. They were perfectly happy with the end of August. And so the Premier League and English football had to revert because it makes a farce of the situation. if you're closing your options off in early August and they can continue trading. They could take your players and you can't replace them, which is a bit of a problem with what happened with the Saudi Pro League last year in that they stayed open for seven or nine more days and there was all this conversation about Mohamed Salah and will he get sold and Liverpool have no time to replace him. I think in answer to the question, seven to ten days would be brilliant.

23:48We'd all love it from our point of view. I don't think David agrees with that he wouldn't like that from his point of view but from us it won't be we can't wait to get two or three, four players in and it's done

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25:38We're going to get to our best and worst transfers now. So I'm going to start with you, Scolzi. Manchester United Have you talked about Salford or United? Salford You won't have heard of it Go on United Best signing The best signing Right In transfer Premier League history I'll narrow it down Obviously Eric Was a million quid You talk about value For money What he brought to the club Do you think that could be The best in the Premier League History Considering what he did And how it changed For Man United? Yeah I think it has to be I think they were missing That final piece Of the jigsaw and that was him and for a million quid I know in them days it was probably still a bit of money wasn't it?

26:18It wasn't loads and loads of money but for what he did for the club he just had a major for the money for the worth for the value just the influence of him on the football club was incredible Best? Easy that one I was going to say Wayne Rooney's the best sorry I know it was a big one but I think Wayne Rooney for 25 million was ridiculous with, what, five league titles, he's the leading goal scorer, 253 goals. Go on, the worst. Go on. Go on, Adam. It has to be Anthony, doesn't it? I mean, he's got no redeeming quality. Do you know where I was going a bit further back than that? Yeah, but, yeah.

26:53I think you've played Varon. No, Varon was a good player in Europe. I remember in Europe he was... Varon was a great player, talented player. Don't really know why it just didn't work for him, but what a footballer. Am I right? I think in Europe he was all right. Yeah, Europe he was brilliant, yeah. I go back to the goalkeepers, mate. You know, when you have to try and replace Peter Schmeichel, which is always going to be difficult, and we had a few... Fabian was a weird one, because in the modern day, I think he'd be... Fabian Bartes, I think, with the ball at his feet now. He'd be great. I was thinking more like Taibbi, Mark Bosnich.

27:27I thought he was a good keeper at Villa, Mark Bosnich. He came to us, he was so unprofessional, honestly. It was ridiculous. His shooting practice, you know, I'm like 15, 12. After three shots, he's knackered. and I never realised he couldn't kick a football honestly I'd never seen anything like it we actually played Everton away the first game of the season and none of us picked up on it he couldn't reach halfway line there was no wind, it was a perfect day but then you look at his feet yeah he probably won yeah you look at his feet, size 14s honestly he was just kicking the floor honestly a big flipper but honestly disappointing Eric wasn't really a million quid though, was he?

28:09They had to tell them to say that it was a million quid. No, no, it was the other way around. The fellow from Leeds, I can't remember who it was, he asked Fergie if he could say it was 1.3 and Fergie said, say whatever you want. But it was a million. Cantona's the best by far for Manchester United. Every season we won the league with him, apart from the season he was suspended as well, and he brought the league over with him from Leeds. But Anthony's got to be the worst. He refuses to play left-back as Amon, scored a few goals, but cringey celebration. when you talk about value for money as well it's not been good has it no I think of Sanchez as well yeah especially what he did to the dressing room I think the wages and everything it wasn't good yeah go on who are we going for my worst one go on I'm going to go for Bosnich

28:57he'll be right on the socials won't he he won't take that lying down he'll have something to say won't he Steve Man City yeah he's a boss obviously a lot of players over the last 10 or 12 years what's the one that stands out there's so many but there's the one for me it was when we were in the lower leagues we were getting beat every week and we signed Andy Morrison I know that feels I know I watched you last night it was terrible but we signed Andy Morrison for 50 grand and if you looked at him when we signed him he just looked like Joe Royal signed him was it Royal who signed him yeah he might have done it it was Joe Royal and he just give us a different edge so he stands out for me but the best signing for me was Sergio Aguero I think for 35 million a decade at the club broke all the records I feel like was 35 million mashup at the time it was big it was big but I feel like what he did he just I'd never seen anyone like him for us what was David Silva how much he cost he was less I think he was less than Aguero he was so many but for me personally Andy Morrison stands out because he gave us a bit of grit and we went on and got promoted there the Gillingham game and then Aguero for what he did you know what I mean for City with the title goal and all that and the worst one

30:15there's loads mate there's absolutely loads of me Wilfred Boney I remember that the fella from Schoenzi Wilfred Boney 40 odd million we had Jack Rodwell when we won the league we signed Rodwell Sinclair I thought he was going to be a brilliant player Jack Rodwell Rodwell Sinclair and Javi Garcia and United signed Van Persa so that ended well and then there's been a low George Weah free transfer I think George Weah came in World Player of the Year at Main Road Paul Dickens I'll tell you a story about George Weah so you all say he played for oh yeah Joe Royal brought him didn't he? Yeah he did yeah I remember he played for Chelsea so I'm playing against George Weah so something's happened bit of a tackle and the ball's weird attacking or it's gone for a corner so I'm on the halfway line he just went he looked at me back just to check who I was and my name was and I was like

31:04So that was a bit of a come down So Chloe Liverpool wise Yeah Best I mean I think it's got to be Salah For the price Look I'd look at Virgil and Ali As well up there But we spent a little bit more on them So it's got to be Salah 300 goal contributions And 350 games Not bad for a one season one there Not bad for someone who Gets compared to Hazard whilst Hazard is sat with a pack of crisps. And Sadler's doing it in the Premier League still. So, yeah, I think for me and in my lifetime, I think he's our best. I mean, Luis Suarez was pretty incredible, but he didn't have enough time here at Liverpool.

31:47As for the worst, thankfully, a lot of them that were bad were when I was really young, like Juve and Paul Gronczewski as well. but I still can't believe we actually went after Balotelli when he was done so many years beforehand and he was Oswara's replacement. He only needed a cuddle. The blue side of Manchester loved him, you know what I mean? I mean, I forgot about Balotelli. That was almost one of them sirens. I think I'd just left. You almost know it's going to fail before it's even happened. You're thinking, oh, no. The one I remember for myself, when we were a really good side and obviously Alonso and we bought Akhwalani.

32:26And it wasn't just, but he just never, he was injured, we bought him injured. I think he must have played about six games. 20 million? That was it. What was that? 20 million, wasn't he? 20 million. And a big rep, you take like... Yeah, it was a very few quid at the time, and it was just like... We spent on Markovic as well, who we couldn't even get to leave the club at the end of him, was our Markovic. I mean, that's my frustration a little bit when FSG get criticism over transfers, when you actually go back to before they came. The players we bought and some of the players that would turn up and schools, You give about a week, don't you?

32:56Yeah. You give about a week in training saying, what's he like? Come on. But you're desperate for him to do well. But so many players, when we were playing, they'd come through the door and you'd be like, how are they at Liverpool? You know, would you be thinking that? Because you're thinking, oh, God, we need top players to catch United or Chelsea or Arsenal. You're just like, so what do they do now at Liverpool? I would never criticise it because more often than not, they get it right. But one club who don't normally get it right, Baz. I was going to get a little bit of airtight or a little bit of like...

33:24I mean, there's been a lot of Everton over the years in the Premier League era. Are we going bad ones first? You can go without them. Is there any good ones? Shut up, mate. Come on. If we're doing just Premier League era, I've got three that stand out, really. Seamus Coleman. Yeah. Obviously. 60 grand Seamus Coleman. Lukaku. He'd done well for Everton. Everton's top goals going to the Premier League. I think he was good. But the one that, when we bought, was like, what a signing. He was only here for 18 months, but he was incredible. you were still in Eritonian when we got him so you should I know what you're going to say Andrej and Chelsea unbelievable he was unbelievable at United we just won the FA Cup Joe Royal didn't he do his shoulder in the first game against us you Lee Sharp and I think Sharp scored the volley as well and was giving it the odds but getting in was unbelievable because I remember I was working at Everton at the time and there was a dispute with United I think his other club wanted money or whatever it was and Fergie had done the don't you dare go and all that and Everton training at Goodison a few days before the season starts and he walked in with a pair of boots he wasn't supposed to be training and all the players start clapping and I'm just like You didn't phone David did you?

34:35No, no, no I kept it to myself but I watched him train he was unbelievable I was a 16 year old kid when Can Chelsea's first signed for us and he came over to the training ground the day he signed and I was playing left back Oh, I can't believe this Yeah, I was playing Yeah, my pace, my height, my strength, everything. And he brought fucking Andre over and trained with us. He destroyed me, honestly. I nearly retired from football that day. I was 16. Left foot, left foot, pace, power. But the speed of him, like I say, it was a day sign of what was coming on. He was just brilliant. He was a great player.

35:11Great lad as well. Really nice lad. I've interviewed, yeah. He's hard work interviewing him because he's got language in that. He's Russian. Good lad. The worst, there's been a lot. There's been a lot. so I don't want to name players and just go he was terrible but the worst one I think overall will be Jean-Philippe Caballon because we paid 25 million for him supposed to replace Adrissi Gay and he got an injury a week after he played his first game tore his thigh muscle and ended up playing about four games five games forever and he just failed a medical for New York Red Bulls so it's still Who would you go for the best in the Premier League?

35:44The best ever signing? Yeah I mean Salah's up there just for goals isn't he? I think Kevin De Bruyne I mean how can you look past that unbelievable Aguero them kind of United have had a few over the years I think it's difficult isn't it because it's what are you judging it on good players you know what I mean but I think sometimes the value isn't it as well and then what they go that's the thing with the cantonite yeah cantonite was unbelievable wasn't he and he was mad cantonite as well wasn't he who Thierry Henry Henry massive 11 million wasn't he just ridiculous value if you look at it long term Dan What palace?

36:21It's going back before the current spell, but if you look at what Andy Johnson came in for, he came in as a make-weight for Clinton Morrison to go to Birmingham City and then scored 30 goals to get us up, scored 21 goals in the Prem, stayed with us for another year to try and get us back and then went to Everton for 8.6. And then we got Clinton back for 2 mil. So technically, we got paid£3 million to have both of them. So that value-wise has to be. I think if you're looking at the current Premier League crop it's difficult to look past Wilfred Zaha just because he carried us on his back for so many years after going off to United and it not quite working and worst transfer I'm not sure if it was a three or not but it's still terrible Emmanuel Adebayor because he came in I don't remember that exactly no exactly well there you go he came in what about Eze?

37:10Eze for value well if you're looking at Michael Elisa as well £8 million appreciate We've only had him for three years, but I would imagine over the next couple of years he could easily go on to be a£100 million player because he's up there. But yeah, Emmanuel Adebayor, just to go back to it, terrible. Scored one goal for us, left, said that we were the biggest mistake of his career. And yeah, just basically hated everything about it. So yeah, he has to be there for me.

37:44Sean, Chelsea, come on I read something I got sent a stat yesterday that under Todd Bowley you've spent more money than Everton have in their entire history Yeah That's correct Is that right? Yeah, yeah Trying 24 plays in two years Yeah What do you want, the worst final? The best final Go on We could be on here for ages. Go on. I don't know. You could look at it in loads of different areas. In terms of the influence of what it brought to us in bringing us from that sixth place, seventh place team to getting up there is when Matthew Harden brought in Rude Hullit. Because Rude Hullit's influence of bringing in the players like Vialli, like Desai, like Leboeuf, like Soler, all of them players that came through when the Bosman ruling came in.

38:31I feel like that was a massive influence for us getting that step forward into trying to challenge him for the top four spaces. So I'd say Ruud Hulliet was massive for us back then. He was known to play up front, but then whenever we needed him to do a job at centre-half or centre-midfield, he'd come in and do that job. So, yeah, just the additions of what he was able to bring in with his influence. It's very easy to say Eden Hazard had the money that he was worth. Matic was considerably cheap considering he played and dominated midfields across the Premier League. I thought you were going to go for Lampard now.

39:04How much was Frank? Frank was cheap 11 wasn't Is Frank not your greatest ever player? Yeah probably Frank and JT that's my personal favourites and Zola Zola was different gravy for us I get sent that video every year on Zola has me in the corner Oh listen that's how long that clip All the Chelsea fans just tweet him in It goes out for a goal kick I'm like oh my goodness you did get chopped a few times I always get the edited version so there's obviously been a few bad ones certainly some of late but I mean is there anything that you go back in the past as well probably Chris Sutton yeah yeah Sutton scored one goal for us and then that was it and I got him on my shirt as well that's it I was young I was quite young but I got Sutton on the back of my shirt Shevchenko I was going to say Shevchenko was £30 million I feel like we've had worse strikers in the past couple of years Torres Torres Marata Higuain Marata like it's been Danny Drinkwater never even the top 10 that follows you about there yeah do you know what I mean I think there's like a there was always like a thing like a curse on Chelsea strikers wearing the number 9 that's what it is and a lot of them Boularoos wore the 9 Calaboularoos wore the 9 Steve Sidwell wore the 9 Steve Sidwell was in I remember when Torres it's obviously we had Torres and he wasn't the same player he pulled us hamstring in the World Cup final he then played for us I think for about 6 months and he was under Royard it wasn't going well for anybody but the one good game he had was against Chelsea that year we beat you 2-0 at Amford and he scored 2 and he always scored against us so I think Abramov's just like we're buying him so we got the release close so 50 million which we then used on Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez and we played his first game it was a debut and it didn't go well for him on a debut and it just never ever felt like it was going to work and it's almost like Ancelotti didn't want him he didn't really know what to do with him Well I was excited because I actually made BBC News that afternoon because I was the first person in to buy the Torrid shirt and they grabbed me coming out of me getting 50 million cheva and I've sorry they got Torres and yeah it was just crazy you haven't got the Jackson shirt as well I was the first person because injuries weren't really seen back then to be affecting the players so when we signed Torres I was just like wow you think about the Liverpool one the Suarez and Carroll coming in for that morning you'd expect to do the way around yeah yeah I mean I always remember that morning it was so that was I think I'm like saying that was dead it was actually the last day January 2011 it was the last day and I just remember it's almost when you come into training like the foyer or the reception and there was just it was just you come in you just go normally there's nobody there it's a couple of balls you've got a sign or something like that you say hello to and on reception and you just walk into the restroom and it was just like there was people everywhere there was you know staff, agents secretaries and it was just like oh my god I never forget that day got helicoptered down from Newcastle yeah and then And then you're going back to watching on the TV when you get home, Sky Sports News, because you obviously finished the train at 2 o 'clock, and it's like Liverpool have been 25, now it's 30, now it's 35.

42:12You're thinking, oh my God, where's this coming from? I think Suarez might have... I don't know if Suarez was the last day, or he'd come a few days before, or maybe a week. Suarez was earlier in that week. Yeah, yeah. And how much was he, Suarez? He was, well, 22. So the money virtually paid for it. But obviously when you think about what happened with Andy Carey, you think about bad signing to Liverpool. but Brendan Rodgers just came in and straight away he just said he's not playing for me so it was like so who signed him Kenny Kenny would have signed but I think it was more like Kenny was almost interim manager whereas I think it was more the club Liverpool were going down that road and they had like a transfer committee and it was like he's the best young English striker out there but there was none of this what Liverpool would do today where they go that's our price and we're not going above it you know but it was just like Newcastle just knew they had Liverpool just kept going and he was never a Liverpool player or type of player not big tall centre forward he wasn't very mobile but we were probably fortunate that if you do that deal again you'd probably say you know what we'll take that because we got Luis Suarez who's amazing he ended up selling for 60-70 million wasn't he at the time Forrest it's an easy one I think you'll agree with me for once as well on the signings and it isn't even for Forrest it was when we got Roy Keane over from League of Ireland and played 100 and odd games for us.

43:32But then obviously what he went to do at Man United, Stan Collymore as well, he was just incredible. And in recent terms, one of the main reasons we got into the Premier League was Brees Samba. And that's the biggest mistake I think we've made in this entire new era, is not keeping hold of him because we've struggled with goalkeepers ever since. And he was just a brilliant character. But yeah, Roy Keeney, he was called at Forest, not Keeney. but what a player and Brian Clough bringing him over, just like the rest is history. I always remember, even if you go back third in the Premier League, Forrest with a teammate who were not afraid to spend big, I remember he was buying Peter Shilton obviously a long time ago, it was a lot of money for a goalie, it was Teva Francis, first million pounds.

44:17Although a similar story, Clough insisted it was 999 ,000 and he put him in the reserves first game as well, so like typical Clough. But worse signings, I mean, you could reel off some of our 40. But for me, and it isn't against the player, it was more the terms with Harry Arter. He was in our bomb squad. He was training with the under-21s. When we got promoted, he got an extra year put on his contract at 40 grand a week just because that was in his terms when he signed for us. John Joe Shelby as well, that was a really bad one. But we're learning. We're learning. We're getting there, aren't you?

44:56We're going to get our stellar sign in this summer, aren't we, David? And that'll be it. Then Tottenham. How long have you got? We've had some bad ones. The more money we spend, the worse they kind of get. So the ones that we've brought in, when you look at Bale and Modric, the kind of fees that we paid for them, obviously Bale took a long time to work out. Obviously he was at left-back, was very young. Obviously Redknapp took the chance in playing him further up the pitch and then after that just didn't look back. When you think back to that, the last season he left before he went to Madrid, every single game, every single week he just put us on his back.

45:25It was ridiculous. scoring goals from 30 yards to win games in the last minute. Modric, again, was about£10-15 million, maybe, and obviously what they've both gone on to do. Van der Vaart was one that I always loved as well, because it was on deadline day, around£8 million. It was, again, kind of in that area where you didn't really hear that much going into it, and then all of a sudden, Spurs have just signed someone from Real Madrid. Sorry for interrupting you, Ben. You know, it's really interesting. There's a book out at the moment on how Liverpool went about bringing the players. Is it Ian Graham?

45:54Ian Graham, yeah. So he's brought a book out about how they went about transfers. And I started reading it a couple of days ago. And the story of Van der Vaart, this guy was actually at Tottenham. Right. And there was sort of four players he was looking at. And it almost felt like the transfer people, if not so much Harry Redknapp, said they wanted Van der Vaart. So they take him. And there ends up being a fallout within Tottenham because of that. Even though, obviously, maybe a fan favourite, he did well for you. I think there was a fallout between Harry Redknapp and Michael Edwards. I don't know if you've already read that book, David.

46:23I've got it, but I need to read it. That was the story in it. That sort of friction that can be caused, obviously, inside the club between transfers. Well, he came, like with Van der Vaart, he just came in and got it straight away. He always scored against Arsenal. Like, the relationship that he had with the fans as well, for£8 million, I think it was. It was like, and that was the season we got into the Champions League as well. I remember everyone talks about Bale's performance in the San Siro in the group game where he scored a hat-trick. Van der Vaart scored the first goal when we beat them at home in the second game in the group.

46:51And that feeling of being at Whitehall Lane then, and it's just goosebumps kind of thinking about that. The worst one, hands down, it's got to be Ndombele. And I'm so glad that we've signed to Lanky this summer because he's now our record signing, which means I don't have to say that Tanguy Ndombele is our record signing anymore because he was, quite frankly, a bit of a disgrace. Like, in the way that, again... He was lazy, wasn't he? So lazy. Analyzing him in a game, yeah. We'd just come off the back of the Champions League final, lost to Liverpool, and it was like clearly that squad needed a bit of a rebuild.

47:19Obviously, with Poch, I think people... It burnt out quicker than people thought. and obviously he got sacked in, I think, November that year. But the signs were coming and we needed fresh players. We needed to go and spend big. We hadn't bought a single player the summer before. And then we went and bought Ndombele, Lo Celso and I think it was Sessegnon as well. And I mean, Ndombele and Lo Celso, big money signs haven't worked out. Both of them are going out the door this summer. And I come back to the ruthlessness we were talking about earlier in terms of how we play. That's been the best thing about the transfer window for Spurs, not just for the players we brought in, but the players that we've finally just gone, you need to go, you need to get rid of.

47:49I remember there was an FA Cup game against, I think it was Morecambe that we played a few years ago we were 1-0 down at home and he got substituted around the 60th minute he just trudged off and they had the whole stadium booing him and it was just like that's it done he had so many opportunities to come in Jose took a liking to him when he didn't he take him over to park in Covid yeah he did yeah and then that second season I remember where we were top under Jose for a while he was showing that potential he was the top 10-0 I remember a game away at Burnley because I looked at it on the Monday night did Jose bring him off before half time just before it was just before lockdown yeah but was it actually before half time yeah or it was something that stood out even just before half time I remember you it was something like that and I did analysis on him because at the time everyone was having a bit of a go at Jose you know and I was sort of almost defending him saying look well that's why he's done it and then a few weeks later I bumped into Pochettino a Champions League game at Anfield and he brought him in and he was adamant saying no you've got it wrong this fella's a good player obviously he brought him in but he just never ever showed anything didn't he?

48:55No he was the one like you said with Poch he was 60 odd million pounds we needed that kind of statement signing to kick back on again after the Champions League final defeat and it was a bit of a shame really because Poch like you said really really wanted him but he didn't really get any time to work with him obviously he was sacked a couple of months into the start of that season and Nobile had a few injuries when he first came as well and then Mourinho and him just never felt like it was going to work but Mourinho actually ended up getting the best out of him at Spurs We had a two-month period, two or three-month period, where he looked like one of the best midfielders in the league.

49:23And it was like, finally, we're seeing that again. And then we've let our£65 million signing go on a free. And sometimes you have to take those hits because it's just never going to work out. What did you do with the bail money? I seem to remember it was like four, five, maybe even six. It was Ericsson, Lamella, Soldado, Kirikes, Kapu, and one more. The midfielder, Paulinho. Paulinho, yeah. And Ericsson was the one. Ericsson was also one of the cheapest. He was around£12-13 million. And again, I don't think he quite... Obviously, he's still playing at United. I don't think he gets the respect he deserves for...

49:54No, he was a good player. He was an incredible player for Tottenham. And Lamella was a good... Became a bit of a cult hero and had his moments. But other than that, it was... Yeah, not good. Billy? So, best player. I mean, you've got to remember that Bredford have been... I've supported him in the third tier. The third division for most of her life. So, if you want to go down to best players, you look at people like... I remember back in the day. remember Dean Holesworth I mean Dean Holesworth scored I think he scored 40 goals for us one season I mean like who scores 40 goals in a season it's ridiculous brilliant players people like him there's Big Bob Taylor as well who was great for us up front and then one of my favourite players I still talk to he's out in Australia at the moment now Lloyd Abusu as well but they scored for us in like the third tier and the fourth tier and as Brentford fans we look back at those era as like you know with real fondness like you know because that's our roots that's where we've come from so but if you're going to match them against the players that you've got now in reality it's not going to be the case so you can't look past i mean look at ivan tony ivan tony listen he got us out of the championship into the premier league three seasons in the premier league 20 goals in one season he's a great player he's got you know his vision his passion everything like that he is a great player it's always a but you know but i'd say but i'll come back to the but but i've got to look at before we were in the premier league the championship we had us we called the BMW I'll try it again Benrahma and Bumo and Watkins okay and Ollie Watkins 1.5 million we signed him from from Exeter City brilliant brilliant brilliant player lovely kid played for us out in the wing actually so he was out in the wing I think it was Malpe was up front learning his game you know still young learning his game again Thomas Frank brilliant manager teaching him his game the whole time got to do this got better and better as it goes along.

51:41Neil Malpe was I mean, I know a lot of people, I know you're not happy with Malpe We love Malpe, okay He wouldn't pay 3 million quid for him He bleeds red and white But Malpe got transferred off to Brighton. We let him go even though there's beef between us and Brighton, but that's a different story altogether. We wouldn't normally sell a player to Brighton but we did in this stage, so we went off to Brighton and we were meant to sign a player actually who was meant to come to us but he turned up with a load of gangsters, right, as his agents that's why I'm not mentioning his name because I don't want him to come around to my house and so this player we were doing the deal with him we were like yeah this is going to be the top player and all these gangsters it was quite bad and in the end I think all the directors of football were like we can't do a deal with this guy it's really bad so the deal didn't happen at the last minute so all of us were like oh no we've just lost like an 18 goal a season striker the striker we thought we were going to get we've got the gangsters involved and we're not going to sign in we've got no one so Dean Smith oh no it's Thomas Frank I think he put his arm around Wally Watkins and said, Wally, you ever played up front?

52:42And he was like, no. He goes, well, I'll teach you. So in the end, he actually moved him from the wing to up front. And I remember, I think he turned around to the fans and said to me, I've got this new position to play. I've never done it before, so be patient with me if you can do. And he did. It took him about two months. And he started off a little bit slow. Then I think he scored a hat-trick against Barnsley. Then after that, we thought he was OK. And then I think we were 2-0 down against Millwall in a game that we need to win and also when we scored three goals in the last eight minutes and I think he scored two of them, maybe even scored a hat-trick and that was it after Olly Watkins was made.

53:15So for me, Olly Watkins is, I think he's honestly, and I've got real good memories of him. Talk about terrible players, I've got to go back to the old school and this goes down in Brentford history. Anyone who sort of signs up to be a Brentford player is almost like you need to know this player because he was so bad. So you've got Dean Holesworth, scores 40 goals for us, takes us from the third tier to the second tier We love Dean Holdsworth. Bang, he goes off to, I can't remember if it was Watford or Bolton all the time. Yeah. So he's gone and we've left him. We had Neil Holder, we had, well, we call him, I can't remember his real name, but we call him Noddy Holder, our manager.

53:51And he was like, all right, mate, how you doing? All right, yeah, don't you worry. I've got your new striker in Phil Holdsworth. You know, it's like, okay, great. You know, all of us was really excited because as Brentford fans, we've never been out of the third tier. For me, I'm like, oh, this is great. We're in the second tier. We've got this new striker coming in I don't even know where he came from. I think he's like Grimsby or something. He, right, he turned up and he was rubbish, right? He was so bad. We've gone from 40 goals to zero goals, right, in the championship. So, like, we got relegated straight out of the second tier to the third tier, and we were stuck there until a few seasons ago.

54:26I hope you don't know any gangsters. That's true, actually, yeah. There weren't no gangsters back in the day.

54:39So Alex, talk to me about Arsenal. It seems like you've got it all wrapped up at the moment with Arteta in there. Do every transfer that comes in seems to work? There's a lot of good long reads on Athletic that you can go check out. It seems to be working really well. Mine are a bit more recent, because I'm a younger fan, I suppose. I remember 13-14, we were on a title push and we ended up signing Kim Kallstrom, who arrived with a broken back. I was out for six weeks. Yeah, I mean, he scored a... I think he's got a penalty in the NFA Cup semi-final. That was about it. So that was pretty stupid.

55:10But probably the worst... I mean, the worst... I remember waking up to an Ornbaum, an Ornstein bomber, of Nicola Pepe for£72 million. And that felt like, whoa, we've arrived. You know, this is the moment. Because I think the Cronkies had taken over for ownership the year before. So this felt like, OK, the first summer we're going to spend some big money. And it just didn't work out. And look, I don't think Pepe's a terrible player. I think he thrives in big spaces. and Arteta just doesn't play like that. He doesn't play on the transition in that way. I think also culturally it just didn't fit but for£72 million, for what we got back from that.

55:46How far as a club do you think that knocks you back? I do feel that. That's why I'm not that bothered when Liverpool aren't buying lots of bags. I think if you make a couple of bad transfers I think it knocks you for a couple of years. You're waiting to get them out, get them off the wage. And it felt like you had to wait a couple of years even with Aubameyang's contract, wasn't there? An Ozil's contract. Yeah. I mean, divine intervention, and Bakayi Saka just comes out of the academy. Do you know what I mean? And if that hadn't happened, then I completely agree we'd be in a different situation.

56:12Yeah, again, I just want to stress, I think there's no ill will for Pepe. It was just wrong time. There was stuff going on in the background with Raul Senia. He are director of football or head of football operations or something. Best. Again, mine are a bit more recent. I'm looking at Martin Odegaard, firstly, for£30 million. That's unbelievable business. But William Saliba, I think it came out last night, he's in the PFA team of the year. He's gone French team of the year, 21-22. He's gone Premier League team of the year, 22-23. And he's just got in the team of the year again. This could sound hyperbolic, but I'm happy to say it.

56:48I think Saliba could end up being Arsenal's greatest centre-back. I'm not saying he's there now. I'm saying he could stay at Arsenal. A bit of competition there, isn't there? Yeah, I know, 100%. And obviously I'm biased, I'm a younger fan. But it's like he glides through. I've never seen anything like it. The way he plays, honestly, it looks like the Prem is too easy for him at times, and I'm sure that will get clipped up. Yeah, he almost looks like a young Van Dijk, doesn't he? It does feel that. He's still got another gear to go to, doesn't he? Yeah. He's extraordinary. And also, I'm really glad to see Gabriel's getting the praise he deserves, because Gabriel, and part of the reason I think we signed Calafiore, is if you go back and watch the Bayern game, Bayern basically overload our right-hand side and stop us.

57:31they put about three full-backs on Saka, right? And it meant that Gabriel was free. Gabriel's a brilliant player, but he's not got the top quality on the ball. He's not going to carry through you and do any of that. That's why I think we've got Calafiore. But defending the box, going over the shoulder, Gabriel is unbelievable. He's so good, and I'm so glad he's getting the praise he deserves. Where does Henry come into that? Yeah, I mean, I was born in 97, so it's hard. I mean, obviously, you know, I saw the sort of... Wish I was. I remember he came back and there was a FA Cup game it's Leeds where he scored and it was just like you know he's obviously he probably is I think he's our best ever player but yeah probably a little bit more biased I mean I honestly think someone like a Martin Erdegaard I want to go back to it I think there's a couple of things I'd love to see him work on but in terms of the coach on the pitch like he's Mikel's man he's Mikel's man on the pitch he's unbelievable for£30 million I'm probably I'm sure everyone overrates their own players but if Madrid come in for him that's 120 mil 100 mil like that's that's an incredible investment and if he goes on to win titles and so on captains the club he's also for me a brilliant representative of Arsenal values if that's you know Do you think he gets too carried away when he's winning a game and celebrating I think you do Celebration police How did you because you I think you had a chat how did you find that how did you find him in that because he took that criticism I think he just Oh, we did some on Monday night.

58:58He was man of the match, wasn't he, a few weeks? He just had a good laugh about it. Do you know what I mean? And I think that's a really good sign because you don't want somebody to go, oh, you know, get him. It's a joke. And, you know, he's sort of moved by. I know Arsenal fans on Twitter came after. But probably one of them. But, you know, like, yeah. I just think as a representative of what he is, you know, multilingual, representing the dressing room, the connection. Also, one of the things that Arsenal have done over the last couple of years, really, is properly reconnect with the fans. Properly.

59:24Going into the community, properly representing Arsenal on-screen, off-screen, whatever. And obviously, you get someone like a Bakaio Saka and Neil Smith-Royano has moved on. But yeah, it's a good time to be a Guna. David, you break the transfers normally, but we're going to leave you with the deciding vote. We've all had our opinions about our own clubs and the best deal in the Premier League and worst deal. So, come on. We're spoilt for choice on both fronts, but there's a couple of clear winners for me. worst sorry to come back to United Bebe when Sir Alex Ferguson signed him it was really uncharacteristic that was to get another deal still don't understand it that was to get someone else off George Mendes we've had a lot of Chelsea chat today Winston Bogart it was one of the ones that didn't work out as he commuted to and from Amsterdam to train with Chelsea in terms of the best I think it's a pretty clear winner and a no-brainer, N 'Golo Kante.

1:00:26He came from nowhere at very little cost to Leicester City, helped them win a title at 5 ,000 to 1 odds, then went on to win multiple major trophies with Chelsea and the French national team. He's an incredible footballer to this day and he's a wonderful person as well. So that's going to get my vote among many fantastic signings. the Premier League has seen. And one shock one that I think will never be replicated was Sol Campbell to Arsenal because you mentioned coming home to Sky Sports. I remember coming home from school to Sky Sports and he was walking through London Colney with David Dean and I think everybody thought he was going to Barcelona at the time.

1:01:13Yeah, it was a little bit just before my time but I still feel the hatred there. And that was Premier League's shock transfer factor. Brantwight?

1:01:25He's just gone. He's just gone. 100 million to spend then. I mean, I'd have always said Cantona, but when you've just said Kante, then I just, you do think about it too. And, you know, winning the title with two teams, obviously Cantona did that, but then he moved to United. I'd probably still just go for Cantona above Kante, actually. Just for, you think of what Man United became, you know just became a monster didn't it in terms of sort of revenue, money the Premier League exploding so probably go for Cantona and worst who did you go for? Are you going for Bosnus? Oh Bosnus that was the one United won in the Premier League you can think back longer than most of us Ali Da 'i oh yes I'm going to go with that one I am going to go with that one do you know that one?

1:02:11The Gainesville Southampton George Weyer yeah we'll go with that one because there's no way he's watching the overlap I was too worried about offending players that we know or will come after us not the gangster type just the people themselves but I don't know where Ali Dye I don't even think he was a footballer genuinely I think there was a mistake in the actual transfer and they brought over you can't even bring that up as a joke with Graeme Suresh you know you can't even joke about it I think he's not offended I think a little bit embarrassed by it but it's a great story isn't it right that's it for another episode of the Fan Debate brought to you by Skybet.

1:03:05Oh, there we go. It's like Gary Lineker when he's explaining the offside rules. Not a match of the day. Right. Right, that'll do. Hello everyone.