New Year's Q&A: Arsenal trophy, Hamilton retiring & YOUR 2026 predictions

0:02Gabby:This is a Global Player original podcast.

0:05Mark:Happy New Year. Happy New Year. There is so much to look forward to in 2026. This is the year when we'll become experts on bobsleigh, the downpipe, triple axles for a few weeks during the Winter Olympics and watching President Trump try and take over the FIFA World Cup later in the year.

0:25Gabby:Will this be the year that Mikel Arteta finally gets his hands on a major trophy? We'll hear your 2026 predictions, we'll answer some of your questions and we'll also apparently make some New Year's resolutions with you. Good grief.

0:40Mark:Quick, get thinking. Welcome to the Sports Agents.

0:51Gabby:The Sports Agents.

0:52Mark:with Gabby Logan and Mark Chapman.

0:57Gabby:Hello. Hello. I don't really do resolutions. Do you do New Year's resolutions?

1:02Mark:Maybe when I was about 15. But it's funny, it's come up quite a lot over the years on my other podcast, Midpoint. I haven't mentioned that for a while. You haven't, no. If you're making big changes, and actually it's relevant to this episode right now, if you're making big changes in your life and big proclamations, January's actually not a great time to do it because a lot of them involve health, right? And involve changing your physical patterns of whatever it is you do and trying to take up new exercise. And it's a hard month to get going. As we know, January itself actually lasts a year. I mean, it's the longest month of all time, isn't it?

1:36Mark:And it feels like it goes on forever. The nights are really dark. It's not always the best time. So a lot of psychologists and, you know, behavioural scientists say wait till March when the spring nights come and you feel a bit more optimistic. So that's my tip on resolutions.

1:51Gabby:that is that is such a good that is i'd never thought about it like that but in my head there is a sporting angle to that because i always get to april and i obviously i appreciate the sheer luck that i have here when i go to do the masters and i think oh wow now we're into spring and summer and the premier league is starting to come to an end and everything all the busy period of football and stuff and now we're into a different outlook for the next and it can be little things like oh test match special or yeah watching the cricket on sky or whatever it means

2:30Mark:those little i'm the same with the six nations because i once wrote a piece on this when i was writing for the times that i think the six nations might be the most perfectly formulated tournament in terms of duration and the fact it takes you from winter to spring so you come out of it just the week before the clocks are going to go forwards yeah and and so you have this sense of light coming and you feel it every week as the light at the end of each match and the weather changing and because you get to go around europe to these amazing cities and this kind of the you know the the nature of that tournament i always felt like it just hit so many different beats and the time of year was just perfect so for me it's the six nations does that to me i kind of go oh Yeah, into spring.

3:14Gabby:We've got big events this year. We've got a Winter Olympics very soon. We've also got the Men's World Cup as well. But there are going to be many episodes devoted to those over the coming weeks and months, I would have thought.

3:29Mark:And we asked for your questions and predictions and maybe some resolutions. And you've come in with some crackers. Let's kick off with Gareth D. Jones on Instagram asking if you could nominate Mark to do one Olympic sport. What would it be? And I think having spent a bit of time with Jane Torvald and Christopher Dean a few weeks ago, you have a very similar kind of physique to Christopher Dean. And you thought I was going to say Jane Torvald then, didn't you? To Christopher Dean. And, you know, I could see you having some grace on the ice. So, you know, and there is a show, a well-known show on the telly.

4:03Gabby:No, no. I did have a friend do that. And I was like, oh, my comedy. Dave did that. And I'm like, why? Why would you put yourself through that on ice? No, I am. I am still very much if I was to go to an ice rink, which I haven't done for many, many years, I would still be holding on to the penguin all the way around.

4:21Mark:Too small for you, those penguins. You're quite tall. You'd look a bit silly.

4:24Gabby:But when I was at primary school, I had a friend who was a speed skater for Great Britain through the age groups. And I would occasionally go because there is an ice cream very, very close to where I lived then and still live now. And I would go and watch him train. And that is a seriously, seriously scary and impressive sport to be any good at. I mean, I know you're talking about the grace of figure skating.

4:52Mark:I think it's Elise Christie, isn't it, who is the GB athlete who has had some absolute shockers going into Olympic Games, being kind of favourite, having won. And then those catastrophic falls where you can wipe the whole field out. I do have to say, I will definitely get into the heat of the speed skating. There's always something to it. It's a bit like the BMX, I find, in the Olympics, in the Summer Olympics. You know, something dramatic will happen at some point.

5:17Gabby:Well, that's actually what Zach has asked. And he did this on the Google form that I set up. Which sport will you both become an expert on for the Winter Olympics? And he says, like BMX and Taekwondo in Paris. So I would go speed. Honestly, that is the one that I absolutely love to watch. I like watching the bobsleigh as well, actually.

5:41Mark:I'm going to give you the two names, Lila Fear and Lewis Gibson. and they are Britain's current ice dance champions. And I don't want to name drop Jane Torvald and Christopher Dean again in the same episode, but I will do. And I said to them, have we got a chance? Because, you know, we've never won a gold since Jane and Chris. So have we got a chance? And they said, because they got a bronze in the world championships last year, which was huge. And they said, if these two perform to their very best and something happens to, you know, the top two pairs in the world, they definitely have got it.

6:14Mark:and they've certainly got a chance to get a medal. So I'm going to be all in for the ice dance.

6:17Gabby:OK, all right. And there will just be, because this is what happens at every Olympian, and there's nothing against it, but it does seem to, there will just be lots and lots of curling.

6:25Mark:Yeah. Steve Cram spends more time on our telly during this than he does the Summer Olympic Athletics Programme, doesn't he, doing the commentary. He loves it. He absolutely loves doing it. He loves that this has become his kind of speciality. In the same way, do you remember Eddie Butler, amazing rugby commentator? But he also found his niche in the Summer Olympics at the archery and that became his big thing. And so I do like it when you get these kind of weird crossover commentators. Absolutely. After the break, we're going to answer some more of your questions.

6:58Gabby:The Sports Agents.

7:02Gabby:The Sports Agents. With Gabby Logan and Mark Chapman.

7:08Mark:so we've got also a good question here from paul gooders 15 on insta says are arsenal gonna win something and this isn't some kind of pseudonym for our producer adonis he would have just messaged us directly on that i feel they will win something they're gonna win something and maybe it's europe that they're they're better equipped for this year i don't know but they're

7:29Gabby:gonna win something surely they were my tip to win the premier league before the season started and I did say that so and I haven't seen anything that would make me change my mind and the thing with them is and I've said this before there is such a overreaction to any time they drop a point or drop points you know drawing at Sunderland or with Chelsea or whatever that I think by the time we get to the end of the season will be seen as very good results you know we've seen what Sunderland have been like all season yes I know Chelsea were down to 10 men but you take a point at Stamford Bridge I just think there is and you know a couple of weeks before Christmas they struggled at home to Wolves but they still won in the end and I think they're finding a way that they're finding last year in those matches they've got so much strength in depth I think they're going to win the Premier League I think they're the best team in the division definitely do you You think Europe, do you?

8:32Mark:Well, no, I think they could win the Premier League. There's just so many more twists and turns to come on that. I feel in Europe, depending on how the draw goes, they look very dominant. They got to the semifinals last year. I feel they're close to getting over the line. I know my colleague Clarence Seadorf on Prime always talks about you can't judge anything in Europe until February and March. And those teams that tend to kind of come through towards the end after their winter break, just going back to another episode that we did recently talking about winter breaks in football, and maybe the European teams do benefit from that more because they keep players fresher and fitter for longer.

9:04Mark:But maybe it's Europe. Maybe it's the FA Cup.

9:07Gabby:Yes. Naila on Insta. I don't know if this is actually athletics or is for all sports. I don't know. I'm taking it as all sports. Okay. Which retired athlete in their prime would dominate in 2026?

9:19Mark:Well, the biggest sporting event on the planet this summer will be the World Cup in the US, Mexico and Canada. so I'm going to go for a retired footballer and to dominate in a World Cup you've got to be a goalscorer I think in terms of getting those headlines you can dominate and have a good defensive performance but it is the golden boot winners that we tend to idolise and remember don't we so I'm looking at a retired goalscorer right have I thought of them yet?

9:51Gabby:have you forgotten their name again?

9:56Mark:And I'm going to go for Pele. There you go. He's dead. I'm not going for Pele. We're going to have that as another outtake. That is not my retired sports person. I'm going to go for... Do you know what? Because he never really had a big World Cup. Can you imagine if Alan Shearer in his prime was playing for England this summer? in a World Cup, he'd get a few goals, wouldn't he?

10:27Gabby:Yes, I think, yes, he probably would, actually. Yeah, he would. I think he'd have to make sure, with the way they line up at the moment, Bakaya Saka and Anthony Gordon would have to know never to cut in onto their stronger foot.

10:40Mark:Yeah, but they get more assists. They get more assists.

10:43Gabby:Yeah, they'd have to get those balls into the box very quickly. Otherwise, they'd turn into...

10:47Mark:I think Tuchel would like him as well. He'd like a prime Alan Shearer.

10:51Gabby:I don't like that answer because he'll love that answer. so that will, you know.

10:55Mark:Well, we can always ask our producers not to clip it up.

10:57Gabby:He would annoyingly, he would, wouldn't he? He would annoyingly score a lot of goals. A lot of goals.

11:04Mark:Yeah, I think he would. Who would you go for?