Alexander Isak to Liverpool? And your questions answered: Football Weekly

Speaker 1 This is The Guardian.

Speaker 2 Sucks! The new musical has made Tony award-winning history on Broadway. We the man to be home! Winner, best score! We the man to be seen! Winner, best book! We the man to be quality!

Speaker 2 It's a theatrical masterpiece that's thrilling, inspiring, dazzlingly entertaining, and unquestionably the most emotionally stirring musical this season.

Speaker 2 Suffs playing the Orpheum Theater, October 22nd through November 9th. Tickets at BroadwaySF.com.

Speaker 3 HiPod fans of America. Max here.
Barry's here too.

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Speaker 29 Hello and welcome to the Guardian Football Weekly. It's transfer time.
Louis Diaz out. Alexander in.
Question mark. Liverpool coming very close to winning the window with more than a month to go.

Speaker 29 Another open top bus parade beckons. Meanwhile, what would that mean for Newcastle? Quickly, someone say Benjamin Sesco.
James Trafford's gone back to City instead of St. James's.

Speaker 29 So Aaron Ramsdale might take a suitcase of short-sleeved shirts to the northeast. Jack Greenish to Everton.
Is he Everton-y enough?

Speaker 29 How pleased did Morgan Gibbs White look and sound as he celebrated his new contract with Evangelos Maranakis breathing over him? Great news for Forrest. Not great for Spurs.

Speaker 29 They need more than kudos to get real kudos from the fans. Then there's Xhaka, Paketar, and Jao Felix.
We'll do some more basking in the glory of the Euros final. Answer your questions.

Speaker 29 And that's today's Guardian Football Weekly.

Speaker 29 On the panel today, welcome back from Nova Scotia, Barry Glendenning.

Speaker 1 Hello, Max. How are you?

Speaker 29 I'm very good. Thank you.
John Bruin.

Speaker 1 Hello.

Speaker 31 Hello.

Speaker 1 Hello.

Speaker 29 And from the racing post, Mark Langdon, welcome.

Speaker 30 Hi, Max.

Speaker 29 Let's begin then, shall we, with the future of Alexander Isaac. Eddie Howe says his future, quote, has to to be right for Newcastle.

Speaker 29 He didn't travel with the squad to Singapore last week, with Newcastle saying he had a thigh injury. Obviously impossible to take a long-haul flight if you have a thigh strain.

Speaker 29 He will be aware he is in the news every day. I'm sure that's not easy for anyone in that situation.

Speaker 29 Conversations that happen with Alex and the club, or Alex and myself, will stay private for obvious reasons, says Eddie in his very footballer speak.

Speaker 29 No one speaks football better than Eddie Howe, do they, John? But what do you think? I mean, if he goes to Liverpool, like, it's...

Speaker 29 And obviously, you know, with all the caveats that transfers don't necessarily work out, and before we work out how they can afford it, this is a brilliant signing.

Speaker 31 Yes, he's the market leader, he's the best striker around. Liverpool are already the best team around.

Speaker 31 What could possibly go wrong once you've signed that player? It all adds up if you're a Liverpool fan.

Speaker 31 It's all pretty doomy if you are a Newcastle fan. The minute I heard the word thigh strain, I thought, yeah, they say that, you know, he wants out.

Speaker 31 Because uh, speaking to an ex-pro last season, he told me that there's a couple of injuries that you can tell the medical staff that if you don't want to play, so you don't want to do a long trip to you know Cardiff or whatever.

Speaker 31 Uh, the back, because no one knows how backs work, and it's the thigh and the groin.

Speaker 31 And you know, they just can't get to the bottom of it, they can't prove whether it hurts or not, or whether it's going to cure. So, that's the one

Speaker 31 there are certain mystery injuries that mean perhaps the player isn't interested in playing at this moment in time. And as it turns out, that is the case.

Speaker 31 Alexander Isak wants out, exploring his opportunities, as I think is the phrase. Again, very football these days, modern football.

Speaker 31 That's the way that we are operating. And we're sort of we're in an era, aren't we, of LinkedIn slash football man? It's sort of the two are merging together into this new lingo.

Speaker 31 And anyhow, as you say, the finest

Speaker 31 of its

Speaker 31 evangelistic push for this new language that we've got. But I'll tell you what, yeah, Liverpool, well, they should be unstoppable if they sign EZAC.

Speaker 31 But I have memories of certain huge signings that couldn't possibly go wrong. I'm thinking of my Manchester United signings, Juan Sebastian Veron and Rud Van Nistelroy.

Speaker 31 They would blaze to the title, wouldn't they?

Speaker 1 They didn't.

Speaker 31 Chelsea signing

Speaker 31 Shevchenko. Do you remember that? Back in 2006.
I remember I was in a bar in Toulouse and I watched Shevchenko play his first game. I think it was obviously the Community Shield.

Speaker 31 And I thought, the season's over. Well, no, it wasn't.
So

Speaker 31 the problem is for Liverpool is they've got to fit Isaac into that team. Now, you would suggest that wouldn't be too hard, but they have Mo Sala.
They've also signed Hugo Ekitike.

Speaker 31 They've got another raft of other good forwards. It doesn't necessarily going go to win the title.
It probably suggests that they've got a great chance.

Speaker 31 But what it also does is this is the summer of strikers. It moves that transfer market around, doesn't it? The obvious one is this guy, Sesco, to Newcastle.

Speaker 31 But Eddie's powers of persuasion haven't been so good so far, have they? Because they've been after just about everybody. You mentioned James Drafford there, and none of them have joined Newcastle.

Speaker 31 We're beginning to wonder what's afoot there.

Speaker 29 Mark, what is Liverpool's starting three then?

Speaker 29 If Isaac joins?

Speaker 30 This came up in Pep Confidential, the book where

Speaker 30 Guardiola was followed around in his first season of Bayern Munich, you know, what's Bayern's best 11.

Speaker 30 He just started laughing at the journalist and then said, well, you haven't said who we're playing and that.

Speaker 30 So there will be times when

Speaker 30 you need different variety in those attacking positions.

Speaker 30 I would say that if it was, say, the Champions League final, which is always the one that you go to if you're thinking, right, we're going to pick our best 11.

Speaker 30 I would have thought that that front three, if Isak signed, would be Salah,

Speaker 30 Isak,

Speaker 30 and then it would depend, I suppose, how Ekitike starts and whether he stays out on the left, but probably at the moment, Gakpo,

Speaker 30 maybe, on the left.

Speaker 30 You'd have Wertz in behind them, probably the two that played in midfield for most of last season, Gravan Burke and McAllister.

Speaker 30 Then, the back four, you'd have you Koke's left back, Van Dijk and Canate, centre-halves, you'd have Alison in goal.

Speaker 30 The right back would probably depend on whether they wanted to be attacking with Frimpom or more defensive with Bradley. I think that might be their sort of best 11 inverted commas.

Speaker 30 But Salah is going to be missing

Speaker 30 a decent chunk of the season if Egypt go far. In AFCON.
That starts earlier than ever before, starts before Christmas and runs into

Speaker 30 sort of at least the middle of January. So that there might be sort of between four and six Premier League games that Salah could miss.

Speaker 30 So I think really Liverpool, they sold Diaz to buy Munich. So they're definitely sort of raising some money as well.
And they didn't spend anything really last year.

Speaker 30 So, you know, while other teams were wasting 100 million left, right, and center

Speaker 30 they just felt there wasn't anybody on the market that improved them significantly they've waited um and then and now sort of um reaping the benefits of that so i yeah i i think it would be you know a fantastic signing but i agree with with john that i don't think any one signing just wins you the league i think that that's a far too simplistic view of what football is in chelsea that torres that was the final piece of the jigsaw at one stage and he had his his moments in the Champions League, but overall wasn't a success.

Speaker 30 Lukaku, second time around at Chelsea, was the final piece of that jigsaw, and other pieces in the jigsaw then broke. So it doesn't necessarily mean that you'll definitely win the league.

Speaker 29 Yeah, the final piece of the jigsaw always fits, except in football where you just get another jigsaw, and it's just completely the wrong shell, just massively, just totally wrong.

Speaker 29 What do you make of the Diaz to Bayern move, Baz?

Speaker 1 I think I was a bit surprised by the fee, but otherwise it makes sense.

Speaker 29 As in too much or not enough?

Speaker 1 I thought it was an awful lot of money for a player who's decent, but not all that in my opinion. I think it's probably a good move for him.

Speaker 1 He apparently wanted to leave. I think Liverpool will be fine without him and he will probably be a worthwhile addition to Bayern Munich's ranks.

Speaker 1 So if it does work out for him there, it's kind of win-win.

Speaker 1 Liverpool presumably need to raise funds if they want to bring in isaac newcastle fans are getting very agitated on on social media at least about the manner in which isaac seems to have been approached he as john says has said he wants to explore his options i think uh max if the current mrs rushton came to you and said she wanted to explore her options you wouldn't have to read too

Speaker 1 hard between the lines to figure out what that meant but it's quite surprising that he's left it this late in the summer to say make it known that he wants to see what else is out there on the dance floor

Speaker 1 when quite a few other high-profile strikers have been paired off already.

Speaker 1 But he was apparently, Amanda Staveley last year promised him a new and improved contract, but when she left Newcastle and Paul Mitchell came in as sporting director, Paul Mitchell reneged on that deal.

Speaker 1 So that meant Alexander Isaac was not a happy bunny. I believe he's on 150 grand a week, which is obviously a lot of money, but it's nowhere near the amount he could earn elsewhere.

Speaker 1 So I get why he wants to explore his options. And while Newcastle did win their first trophy in Eon's last season,

Speaker 1 he has a better chance of winning silverware with Liverpool than he does at Newcastle.

Speaker 29 Yeah, I do like exploring options. It should just be, I'd like to explore my option, or I'd just like to go to Liverpool, please.
But you can't quite say it like that.

Speaker 29 What do you make of Newcastle then, John?

Speaker 29 Because it's, you know, as you sort of alluded to, it's such a cliche that players, I saw someone, I can't remember on the radio, say, players just don't want to go that far.

Speaker 29 You know, the sort of, it's too far away madness. But, but, you know, they

Speaker 29 Callum Wilson's already left. So without Isak, what they'd have to stick what Fabian share up front in a sort of, he can't strike a ball.
But they would have a a lot of money, I guess.

Speaker 31 They would, and they do have profit and sustainability headroom now. The name, Barry mentioned there, Paul Mitchell, he's no longer with the club.

Speaker 31 And one of the issues they've got is a shifting back room or front office or whatever you want to call it with directors of football and all that. There isn't actually really anyone to do the deals.

Speaker 31 As it stands, the recruitment team is... is Eddie Howe,

Speaker 31 one of the gentlemen, and his own nephew, I understand,

Speaker 31 part of that team.

Speaker 29 Oh, great.

Speaker 29 I hope he's like a six-year-old. That's just my image of a nephew.

Speaker 31 I think he might be a grown adult, just about.

Speaker 31 Although Eddie's not much of a grown adult, so it's because Eddie looks very young, doesn't he? Maybe he does. If you look younger than Eddie Howe, it's no wonder people are not joining.

Speaker 31 It's like there's two children running this club.

Speaker 31 Listen,

Speaker 31 think of deals that have happened already. I mean, James Trafford's one that you mentioned.

Speaker 31 We've got Mateus Cunha and Buemo go to you know Crisis Club Manchester United rather than go to Newcastle Ekatike chooses Liverpool which supposedly was part of and this was how it's depicted in

Speaker 31 the tableau and the market as a power play

Speaker 31 which is Liverpool we're going to take him as well if I was a Newcastle fan you would be reasonably pessimistic because

Speaker 31 you'd be very pessimistic because this wasn't supposed to happen anymore. And then you're starting to worry if your better players like Bruno will start thinking of similar options.

Speaker 31 That, you know, if Isaac's looking away, well, what's in it for me? And you've got a Champions League season in which it's a very, very thin squad. It is pretty desperate.

Speaker 31 There are questions over how interested the Saudis actually are

Speaker 31 in Newcastle as compared to, say, the running of the 2034 World Cup, as in

Speaker 31 the continuing plumping up of the Saudi League. The big promises have come.
I mean, we're not quite into Maya Cashley territory yet. There is a lot of concern.

Speaker 31 And

Speaker 31 Newcastle have that sinking feeling they've had so many times before, haven't they, of watching star players leave? You know, your Chris Waddles, your Beardsleys, your Barnes, generations.

Speaker 31 Andy Cole's Gascoignes, you know, Andy Cole, yeah.

Speaker 31 Generations of this. And it's likely to be repeated with Isaac.
And as I said, this wasn't supposed to happen.

Speaker 29 No, I suppose the one thing you the saving grace you would have is I think there were fears, despite they had Isaac another, you know, last season, that they would struggle and they didn't start well.

Speaker 29 And yet, you know, Eddie Howe has proven himself to be a brilliant coach and they they sort of outperformed what they should have done last year. They could do that again.

Speaker 29 Just on James Trafford, Mark, does he go in at number one at City?

Speaker 30 I suspect maybe Edison begins the season there. But I wouldn't be surprised if Trafford was number one by the end of it.
I think Edison has made too many mistakes really.

Speaker 30 But with Trafford, you would potentially want to just ease him in.

Speaker 30 It's a step up from

Speaker 30 Burnley. If you remember last time around in the Premier League, he actually had a difficult time

Speaker 30 and was dropped by Burnley. And so I think you want that backup.

Speaker 30 just assurances that you've got an experienced goalkeeper because it's the one position really where you can't ease someone in

Speaker 30 because every mistake mistake tends to lead to a goal.

Speaker 30 I think it is a good signing by City because Trafford does seem to be the kind of future of English goalkeeping and Edison has, in a way, is not as reliable as he once was.

Speaker 30 So it makes sense to do that. Just going back to Newcastle, Liveramento has been linked with City as well, hasn't he?

Speaker 30 So, I mean, that would be another real hammer blow for Newcastle, who appear to be struggling with PSR

Speaker 30 as well as kind of of players wanting to leave for ambitious reasons as well.

Speaker 29 We need

Speaker 29 James Trafford

Speaker 29 to win the game at Man United so young Trafford can win at old Trafford.

Speaker 29 So, really, that's a key headline for this season. Something to look out for.
Sorry, John, I interrupted you with something that probably didn't deserve to be said out loud. Go for it.

Speaker 1 I mean,

Speaker 31 Anthony Gordon is another player that is slightly unsettled.

Speaker 31 It has been said. said.
The thing is that he's actually been linked with, guess what? Liverpool. Now,

Speaker 31 we don't know how...

Speaker 31 When are Liverpool going to stop being linked with players? I'm sure Liverpool's operatives would tell me that that isn't going to happen. But that has happened previously that he's been linked

Speaker 31 with them. He obviously didn't have the greatest relationship with Everton fans after his departure from there.
But that would be an interesting move. And do you know what?

Speaker 31 He would fit into that first 11, I think, that Mark Langdon talked of before.

Speaker 31 You know, that Champions League final, you could could see Anthony Gordon, Mo Salah, and Alexander Isak quite happily fitting together.

Speaker 29 Poor old Hugo Ekotike, he's just, you know, didn't have a game, you know, before becoming sort of like it's over for him,

Speaker 29 Carabao Cups, Hugo Ekotike.

Speaker 29 Well, we're on, you know, who's going to play down the left for Everton after Anthony Gordon, you know, left Jack Grealish,

Speaker 29 perhaps to go there on loan, Barry. Does that feel Everton-y, or not? I can't work out if I can picture him in an Everton shirt.

Speaker 1 I was surprised when I heard this. And,

Speaker 1 well, I suppose I'm obliged to say, with the greatest of respect to Everton, I

Speaker 1 would consider that a big step down for Jack Grealish. But if he's happy to go there, I think it would be a really good place for him to rediscover his mojo, which...

Speaker 1 has been absent. Although a friend of mine met him at an Oasis gig at Old Trafford, and let's just say he's appeared to be very much in tune with his mojo there.

Speaker 1 And yeah, why not, I suppose?

Speaker 1 He does need to kick-start his career because he's wasted a couple of years and or he certainly wasted last season. Passed him by.

Speaker 1 He's not wanted at City.

Speaker 1 I would have had him down as a maybe off to Syria or Spain. Yeah, Goodison Park would have been very low down my list of potential places for Jack Grealish to go.
Well,

Speaker 29 Bramley.

Speaker 1 Oh, sorry, of course.

Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 31 It's called something else. It's like the Hilton.
What are they called?

Speaker 30 It's the something Dickinson.

Speaker 29 The David Dickinson Stadium?

Speaker 1 That would be good. Bruce Dickinson.

Speaker 29 Yeah, Iron Maiden Memorial.

Speaker 31 The Hill, yeah, the Bruce Dickinson.

Speaker 31 Well, we'll have to call it the Bruce Dickinson state. It's the Hill Dickinson.

Speaker 29 Right, okay.

Speaker 29 And

Speaker 29 who is Hill Dickinson? He sounds like somebody, a sort of a bit part character from the Dukes of Hazard, doesn't he? Old Hill Dickinson.

Speaker 31 He's in Boot Hill at the moment. Yeah.

Speaker 31 I think, if I'm correct, it's a law firm, a commercial law firm.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 29 The funny thing, you know what?

Speaker 31 I could see Jack Grealish at Goodison, but I can't see him at a new stadium. Does that sound a bit weird? But

Speaker 29 I know what you mean.

Speaker 31 But it's sort of, you can see Grealish in the Gladys Street, and, you know, and it's Gladys Street.

Speaker 31 Is that the right? Yeah, in Gladys Street. And that was Goodison.
We've forgotten it already. In the Gladys Street and celebrating with fans.

Speaker 31 Because Everton were a club, you know, weren't they, where they liked a bit of a Maverick?

Speaker 31 And that could be

Speaker 31 a Maverick who's flawed, like a Duncan Ferguson who played, you know, 20 times a season but was still amazing for the fans. And

Speaker 31 fans could get on your side, you know, like a

Speaker 31 they're a sort of saviour club, aren't they? They need a messiah.

Speaker 31 Now, Jack grealish is probably a little bit old to be a messiah but you could see him that but if he played like he did at aston villa if it's still possible then yeah he could be an everton guy it's just that does he fit into the david moise style well david moise may had with lucas baquetti we'll discuss later had a very good season under david moise so why not i i we i think we'd all like to see the return of jack grealish as we recalled him at villa because he was such an exciting player do you remember how excited people were?

Speaker 31 Remember that idea of the Gammon choir wanting Grealish in the team during Euro 2020? That idea was everyone's favourite, the new Gazza.

Speaker 29 The clamour, the clamour for Grealish.

Speaker 1 He is too old to be a Messiah, but he's not too old to be a very naughty boy.

Speaker 29 No, that is true.

Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 29 But like him, him and Illian and Die. I mean, if they had a centre-forward, Mark, and I forgive me, I don't know who if they have one.
Betto, is he still there?

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 30 No, they signed, uh, they signed uh Barry uh from

Speaker 30 from villarreal um so um yeah he's um he's going to be the hope really in terms of scoring their goals david moi has been very unhappy um in in pre-season and

Speaker 30 sort of they're one of the teams everton that slip under the radar unless you follow them you you're probably not sort of um you know david moi's press conferences are probably not on your sort of go-to watch list over the summer but he was really annoyed after a 3-0 defeat to bournemouth saying he needed 10 new players uh which

Speaker 1 is a lot.

Speaker 30 It doesn't say much for what he thinks of the current squad. He then said maybe five or six was

Speaker 30 more realistic.

Speaker 30 And Grealish, I think, would be

Speaker 30 the type of player that the Everton fans would love. The kind of marquee play you would want to open a new stadium with.
And I'll fall into cliché territory here, but it's a World Cup year.

Speaker 30 So those on the fringes need minutes. And you would assume that if Grealish has any ambitions of playing for England at the World Cup, he needs to be playing

Speaker 30 at a club where, with all due respect to Everton, he's one of the first names on the team sheet.

Speaker 29 And a pound, of course, for the first person who tweets in to say, when Barry does score a header, perhaps set up by Grealish, whilst Barry's header better than Barry's header.

Speaker 29 Anyway, that'll do for part one. Part two, we'll begin with the Morgan Gibbs White saga.

Speaker 3 Hi Pod fans of America, Max here. Barry's here, too.

Speaker 1 Hello.

Speaker 4 Football Weekly is is supported by the Remarkable Paper Pro.

Speaker 6 Now, if you're a regular listener to this show, you'll have heard us talk before about the Remarkable Paper Pro.

Speaker 5 We already know that Remarkable's the leader in the paper tablet category.

Speaker 10 Digital notebooks that give you everything you love about paper, but with the power of modern technology.

Speaker 12 But there's something new and exciting.

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Speaker 9 It holds all your notes, to-dos, and documents, but it's smaller than a paperback and an incredible 0.26 inches thin so it slips easily into a bag or jacket pocket perfect for working professionals whose jobs take them out of the office like maybe a football journalist barry although not like you

Speaker 1 a proper football journalist

Speaker 25 exactly too much technology draws us in and shuts the world out this paper tablet doesn't it'll never beat or buzz to try and grab your attention so you can devote your focus to what or who is in front of you it has a display that looks feels and even sounds like paper think and work like a writer not a texter And the battery performance is amazing.

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Speaker 2 Suffs, the new musical has made Tony award-winning history on Broadway. We demand to be home.
Winner, best score, we the man to be seen. Winner, best book.
We the man to be quality.

Speaker 2 It's a theatrical masterpiece that's thrilling, inspiring, dazzlingly entertaining, and unquestionably the most emotionally stirring musical this season.

Speaker 2 Suffs, playing the Orpheum Theater, October 22nd through November 9th. Tickets at BroadwaySF.com.

Speaker 29 Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly, the 11th of September. We are playing the Troxy in London.
Barry, it's exciting times for us back on a stage for the first time in two years.

Speaker 29 Will we remember how to do it?

Speaker 1 Well, I hope so. Yeah, hopefully

Speaker 1 lots of listeners will come along. I had a look.
I think ticket sales are quite brisk. And

Speaker 1 yeah, please come.

Speaker 29 Please come.

Speaker 29 Yes.

Speaker 29 Did that sound? Didn't sound desperate. It just sounded like surprise that anyone might consider doing it.

Speaker 1 Getting towards early September, I'll start. Sound desperate.

Speaker 29 Theguardian.com slash football weekly live. If you're not in London, we are live streaming it around the world.
So it is the same link. Theguardian.com slash football weekly live.

Speaker 29 I'll begin tweeting about it hourly. I imagine in the week building up to it.

Speaker 29 The link is in the pod description

Speaker 29 or it's posted over Football Weekly's Instagram, Blue Sky at our TikTok account, which I hope is going great. Guns.
Let's talk about Morgan Gibbs White.

Speaker 29 Neil says, if a rival pod triggers Barrier's release clause, would producer Joel take the money or hit the roof and refuse to let him go?

Speaker 29 I think we all presumed he was going to Spurs and all the in the knows

Speaker 29 said, you know, this will just be done in a matter of days. He signed a new deal with Nottingham Forest, three-year contract.
Forrest described it as a record deal for the club.

Speaker 29 He gave an on-pitch interview with Evangelist Maranakis standing very close to him. You know, it did feel blink twice at the social media intern if you're in danger, Morgan.

Speaker 29 I believe in what we're building here. And with the backing of Mr.
Maranakis and the enormous ambition he has, I want to be part of making something special. I'm excited for what's to come.

Speaker 29 What do you make of it, Mark?

Speaker 30 From a Tottenham point of view or from a Nottingham Forest point of view or from a Morgan Gibbs wipe?

Speaker 29 Well, I mean, it's brilliant from a Forest, but just so interesting from a sort of Gibbs wipe.

Speaker 29 You know, I imagine if your release cause is triggered and then you think you're going somewhere and then it's just quite an interesting time for him, I guess.

Speaker 30 Yeah, I mean, there have been sort of other suggestions that the release cause was more complicated than just, you know, 60 million and he's yours.

Speaker 30 It might well have been, you know, whether that was upfront or, you know, certain other conditions that has been suggested Tottenham didn't meet. It did also look like Mr.

Speaker 30 Maranakis may well have sort of been moving those conditions, even if Tottenham would have matched whatever, because he was desperate not to lose face here.

Speaker 30 You know, he clearly was upset with the way that Tottenham or maybe it was Morgan Gibbs White or the people around Gibbs White had gone about trying to make this transfer happen.

Speaker 30 I think from Nottingham Forest's point of view, it's fantastic because they had a great season last year.

Speaker 30 They're in Europe. They've just lost the language.
To have lost Gibbs White as well would have,

Speaker 30 I think, potentially put them them in danger of slipping back towards where they were being discussed this time last year, which was a relegation candidate, given the amount of extra fixtures they've had to deal with.

Speaker 30 From Gibbs White's point of view, it does depend, doesn't it, whether he was desperate to join Tottenham and then it's fallen through or whether he is genuinely happy to stay at Forest because you need a happy player.

Speaker 30 Otherwise, you won't get the Gibbs White to the level that he was last season.

Speaker 30 I think there's a lot of people that feel like the, they're referred to as the Sky Six, aren't they uh we used to be the the big six but kind of bullied the other teams and uh this was kind of uh the little guy uh mr maranakis standing up to the big guy mr daniel leavy mr maranakis is many things he is not a little guy

Speaker 29 i think we all thought it barry yeah no it's it's interesting and from a total point of view mark you know since you are a total fan like That signing was like the day after Mohammed Kudas and you start thinking, okay, this is exciting.

Speaker 29 Now it's gone very quiet. Lots of rumors about Human Sun leaving, ludicrous rumors about Rodrigo, which seem ludicrous.
But they do need to do something, don't they? The squad does not look,

Speaker 29 you know, they didn't finish very high in the league last year.

Speaker 30 No, those 17 last season, yeah, that's Bill Bauer's success feels a long time ago for a certain section of the fan base that have

Speaker 30 now kind of all in on sort of

Speaker 30 being anti-Daniel Levy once again. They definitely need signings.
There's There's no doubt about that.

Speaker 30 Even if some were to stay, I think that they'd still be one short in the attacking areas. Like if Thomas Frank wants a dynamic number 10, they maybe haven't got that in their squad.

Speaker 30 And that's what Gibbs White was going to be. Definitely need a defensive midfielder to come in as well.
And then there's an issue with the sort of club-trained players that means...

Speaker 30 they're likely to have to go into the Champions League with a much smaller squad than you're allowed to because they haven't got enough players to sort of fulfill the quota of those club trained players.

Speaker 29 Just sorry, just club trained is sort of like homegrown, but a different version of it, right?

Speaker 30 Yeah, so that's why they were linked with Carl Walker Peters

Speaker 30 because he was club trained.

Speaker 29 This is great news for David Howells and Steve Sedgley, isn't it?

Speaker 30 Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 30 So look,

Speaker 30 Harry Kane was

Speaker 30 a club trained player back in the day, but obviously no longer at the club. Fans are upset.
Like, the Rodrigo links feel ambitious back to the days of, who was it?

Speaker 30 Was it Rivaldo wrote a letter to Tottenham thanking them for their interest? It was certainly some really high-profile player.

Speaker 30 And you just end up being mocked for even having the ambition to look to see whether you could afford somebody like Rodrigo. No idea why he would want to go to Tottenham at the moment.

Speaker 30 No, I mean, this was a team that struggled last season.

Speaker 30 And even if you expect Thomas Frank to improve on what Andrew Postakoglu did sort of week to week and sort of be better in-game with his approach, they were a long way off where kind of they want to be.

Speaker 30 And you're in the Champions League next season. So those eight games take a lot out of the club between sort of September and January.

Speaker 30 And the squad just doesn't look good enough to compete on multiple levels at the moment.

Speaker 29 John, any any strong thoughts on Gibbs White or Spurs?

Speaker 31 I think Tottenham will miss a play like that because he is, as Mark says, he brings dynamism to that number 10 position.

Speaker 31 He isn't what you call a classic Tottenham number 10, but the fact that he works quite hard.

Speaker 29 Yeah, I mean, they've got that in James Madison.

Speaker 31 Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I mean, they could have played both of them together, of course. It's just the thing with Tottenham, isn't it?

Speaker 31 That they break that duck and then the summer arrives and misery descends once more Because as soon as the transfer window comes, there's just this

Speaker 31 existential crisis over and these fears that Daniel Levy will not spend money.

Speaker 31 Now, he has spent money in the past, and he's spent money on young players in the past, and it doesn't quite work for Andrew Postacoglou because

Speaker 31 there was a point last season when he was having to rely on two hugely talented players in Lucas Bergval and Archie Gray, and it was ahead of schedule.

Speaker 31 And, you know, maybe

Speaker 31 they're a year on, and that will be of use to Thomas Frank. But, you know, if I was a Tottenham fan, he'd be excited about Thomas Frank because I think he's a good manager and he has a lot to offer.

Speaker 31 And he has a lot more Premier League, maybe know-how than Andrew Postacoglu had.

Speaker 31 But yeah, that's just that. It's just

Speaker 1 football.

Speaker 31 So if you were to Daniel Levy, you'd sort of want to just say, right, I'm done here. I've won the Europa League.
Can we just stop football now? Like, I've done this.

Speaker 31 I've done what you've always wanted me to do. But it doesn't happen that way.
Just the next day, it's like, why haven't you bought us a striker? Why haven't you bought us a midfielder?

Speaker 31 Why are we short here? It's, you know, Daniel Levy doesn't need sympathy from anybody, but

Speaker 31 he's under criticism as soon as

Speaker 31 soon as the champagne's gone flat from winning a trophy.

Speaker 29 As soon as they're sweeping Tottenham High Road of the

Speaker 29 parade, yes, Mark.

Speaker 30 Yeah, but he said, I want to win the Premier League. I want to win the Champions League.
He said that this summer.

Speaker 30 So i i mean you if you say that um and then you know spend sort of the amount of money potentially that they're going to there's still a way left but you know he you know dead there are um you the youtube footage of him saying we want to win the premier league we want to win the champions league in an interview with the new ceo and so you know if you set the bar there and then don't match that then the the flack will come look i just want one night's sleep but we just can't have what we want that's you you know, that's the truth of things.

Speaker 29 They might be in for Johan Wisser, he might be off to Newcastle as well. So, presumably, if Spurs and Newcastle are after him, he won't go to either.

Speaker 29 Um, Barry, Granite Xhaka, uh, Enders says, with Xhaka at Sunderland, is he a given? He scores a screamer and gets a red card against Arsenal.

Speaker 29 Uh, yeah, set to sign in for 17 million, 30 million up front, four million in add-ons. You spent over a hundred million pounds, Barry.
How excited are you?

Speaker 1 I'm very excited about this. I think if it happens, and uh, we're recording on Thursday morning, he's due to he's in

Speaker 1 Sunderland.

Speaker 29 I think it's Tuesday.

Speaker 1 I think it's Tuesday.

Speaker 29 God, whatever day it is. Seasons haven't even started yet, Barry, but that's okay.

Speaker 1 Sorry, we're recording this on Tuesday morning.

Speaker 1 He is on Weir's side, due to have a medical today.

Speaker 1 I think he would be an excellent signing. Swiss legend

Speaker 1 on again, off again, Arsenal legend.

Speaker 1 Won the Bundesliga with Bayer Leverkusen. Last season in the Bundesliga, he was second for passes completed.
2,501 passes, Max. Completed.
That's a lot.

Speaker 1 That's a lot of passes. That's loads, yeah.
Second for touches of the ball, 3,117 touches. Oh, good stuff.
And second for final third passes completed. Don't have the number exact number of those.

Speaker 29 He's a great leader.

Speaker 1 He is prone to the odd tantrum, but I think he's mellowed a bit in his

Speaker 1 recent years.

Speaker 1 And Eric Ten Hag who is the manager by Leverkusen didn't want to let him go because he's already lost Lorian Vertz Jeremy Frincong and Jonathan Ta

Speaker 1 but Sunderland increased their offer I think by about three or four million so Leverkusen have decided to let him go so I'm I'm delighted I think Sunderland have done what appears on the face of it to be some very good business this summer.

Speaker 1 I now think they won't get relegated.

Speaker 29 Well Dingo Drum says, is this a good Premier League season for the promoted club? Lots of teams in Europe.

Speaker 29 A few may struggle with Thursday, Sunday schedule, opening the door for a few more points to be achievable. What do you think, John? Because they were so far apart, weren't they?

Speaker 29 They were just so far away last season. That golf meant that

Speaker 29 we missed out on a Man United Tottenham relegation race, which would be absolutely amazing, wouldn't it?

Speaker 29 So do you think they will compete better than last season?

Speaker 31 Among my gravest disappointments was, you know, particularly Ipswich just dying on the vine last last season, and this year,

Speaker 31 well,

Speaker 31 let's go through them. Sunderland, yeah, ambitious.
Coming from a long way back, you have to say, they've got a lot of young players there that did so well to get them up to where they did.

Speaker 31 Granite Jacob, by the way, obviously has a fairly volcanic reputation as a player, but supposedly one of football's nice guys as well, like a very good team bloke.

Speaker 31 Javi Alonso talked about that, you know, how what a great, you know,

Speaker 31 one of those players that really knits people together. A little like you say, see, Jordan Henderson, that type of character.

Speaker 31 And

Speaker 31 Burnley,

Speaker 31 I don't know if Burnley's formula can work in the Premier League. The one last season, what was it? They didn't concede for about eight years.

Speaker 29 But I've heard other people say exactly the opposite.

Speaker 29 That actually would be exciting to see a team come up that are just really stoic and defensive compared to your, you know, your sort of budget, your little tick attackers.

Speaker 31 Yeah, I mean, it's funny, isn't it? The formula alters all the time, doesn't it? Because the cliche is you need goals in your team, doesn't it? And I'm not sure I see that.

Speaker 31 With leads,

Speaker 31 well,

Speaker 31 leads are ambitious. We know that Daniel Farker has done a fine job.
Are we wondering whether his job's under pressure

Speaker 31 early in the season? If it doesn't go well because of his previous issues in the Premier League,

Speaker 31 I am someone, I say this as a Manchester United fan, I'd like to see a reasonably strong Leeds.

Speaker 31 Not too strong,

Speaker 31 but

Speaker 31 I like the idea of Leeds. I like a Yorkshire element in my Premier League.

Speaker 29 Conceptually, you like the idea. In reality, you don't, but the idea of Leeds.

Speaker 31 No, I just sort of enjoy. Leeds will not enjoy me as a Manchester United fan.
That is true. And it can be very nasty to you, but you know, if you even mention that.

Speaker 31 But I like the idea of Leeds, and I'd like them as a Yorkshire club.

Speaker 31 I mean, we maybe talk about Geoffrey Wednesday another time, but but like we need Yorkshire teams in the Premier League and we need the regions to be filled. And

Speaker 31 I wish them well. I wonder, yeah, I think that there will be a bit of pressure on them if they start badly.
Listen, all three have got a chance. And

Speaker 31 as the email said there, you know, there are teams that we don't, we have no idea who Brentford are. I've just been writing a breview of Brentford.

Speaker 31 What is this new Brentford? They're the most enigmatic team because they've lost their entire coaching team, it appears. They've got a rookie manager.
They've lost half the team.

Speaker 31 They've had a shifted in the boardroom too. Who knows what Brentford are? I know we're an established club.
So there's a club that we don't know what's going to go on with.

Speaker 31 West Ham don't seem very strong. And, you know, you go through it.
And there are those teams that, you know, you're Nottingham Forest that may be stretched by playing in European competitions.

Speaker 31 Crystal Palace may be stretched by playing in a competition that they don't want to be in. Let's Let's see.

Speaker 31 Yes, we've got to hope that one day, one day, that soon a promoted club can come up and be a revelation.

Speaker 31 It's been a long time, it feels like to me.

Speaker 29 Speaking of West Ham, Sky Sports reporting that Lucas Paquetta is set to be free to continue his career with the ruling in his betting charges case predominantly going his way.

Speaker 29 He's been under investigation since August 2023.

Speaker 29 Was charged with breaching betting rules in May 2024. The hearing began in March this year.

Speaker 29 He was accused of committing spot-fixing offences in four Premier League matches against Leicester, Villa, Leeds and Bournemouth over the years 2022 to 2024.

Speaker 29 He didn't place any bets, denied any wrongdoing. The bets in question are believed to have been placed by friends and family, around 60 bets in total for relatively small stakes.

Speaker 29 It's interesting, Barry, isn't it? I think we all feared, if this is what happens, we all feared his career might be done. Then you think, God, that's such a long,

Speaker 29 what a long period of your footballing career to be playing with that cloud hanging over you.

Speaker 29 But if he is free, it's such great news for him and it's such great news for West Ham at the moment, although lots of clubs were interested in him before these allegations have surfaced.

Speaker 1 Yeah, it's brilliant news for him.

Speaker 1 I'm slightly surprised because I thought the evidence against him was quite damning, but I'm pleased for him because, as you say, he didn't place any bets himself and the amounts involved were very small.

Speaker 1 I think a couple of hundred quid here and there. And they're the winnings, not the stakes.

Speaker 1 And I was wondering, because this has dragged on for over two years now, they cost him an £80 million move from West Ham to City.

Speaker 1 And I wonder if he is completely exonerated, does he have the right to legal redress? Do West Ham have the right to legal redress? Because it's costs them both a hell of a lot of money.

Speaker 1 Otherwise, there's talk he may leave West Ham. He's been linked with Flamengo.
I think

Speaker 1 Newcastle fans seem to have decided they want him. He'd be a great asset for their club.
I think he's good mate with Brugino Jimeres.

Speaker 1 And he's a great player. He didn't have a particularly good season last season, and it's no surprise because he had this potential career-ending hearing hanging over him.

Speaker 1 But we've seen him at his best for West Ham, and he's a good, good player. Yeah.

Speaker 29 And I suppose it is that...

Speaker 29 Obviously, there are rules and the rules that footballers have to stick by, but at the same time, it always feels incongruous that the punishments, potential punishments for footballers are so huge when, you know, it's so pervasive.

Speaker 29 We mentioned it before, but you know, players who have been banned for betting while wearing a big football shirt with bet here, please click, you know, you know, like this QR code on my shirt will mean you can bet your whole life away, but I can't.

Speaker 29 Anyway, that'll do for part two. Part three, we'll do a bit of women's Euros.

Speaker 3 Hi Pod fans of America. Max here.
Barry's here too.

Speaker 1 Hello.

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Speaker 29 Welcome to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly. Mateo says Sunday felt like the best day of my life.
Could the summers of 26 and 27 be better? What do you think, Mark?

Speaker 29 Pressure on the men now and Thomas Tuchel, aren't they? Now the women have done it again.

Speaker 30 There's always pressure on

Speaker 30 the men's

Speaker 30 England team. Yeah, there will be.

Speaker 30 You know, it's just be thrown in their face. You know, you've got, you know, the women can do it.
Why, why can't you?

Speaker 30 I think Tuchel, you know, that won't be the biggest problem for him over the next 12 months. I mean, he'll get questioned over who's the fifth choice goalkeeper.

Speaker 30 Why is this guy the full left back that you've got? You know,

Speaker 30 the questions on Tuchel and the pressure on him will be immense anyway. It was a great afternoon on Sunday.
I really enjoyed watching the game.

Speaker 30 Um, and uh, it does make it very awkward, I think, for the men that they just have to deal with kind of these questions. But

Speaker 30 yeah, I'm sure Thomas Tuchel

Speaker 30 can handle it.

Speaker 29 Yeah, I mean, we talked about it obviously on yesterday's pod, John.

Speaker 29 I wonder, like, it was such an amazing tournament to win, you know, given just how many times they shouldn't have been knocked out, England.

Speaker 29 You know, it felt so, I mean, they kept saying proper English, but you know, from you know, following England for so long, it felt not at all English, actually.

Speaker 29 These are the times where you do go out.

Speaker 31 Yeah, yeah. We've seen those games played by the men's team and then they end up losing them.
You know,

Speaker 31 those heroic games, say,

Speaker 31 against Argentina in 1998 or Portugal 2006, those games where it feels like you've been there for absolutely hours watching this agony unfold. Portugal 2004 as well.

Speaker 31 You're there for hours and hours and hours and you know what's going to happen in the end. You know that England are going to lose.
And

Speaker 31 the women's team do the opposite of that. And you know that if we do have to go through agony, they can turn this around.
You know, I had to do the TV review of this.

Speaker 31 And one of the things is we talk about it,

Speaker 31 the sort of maturing of the women's game and how critical you can be because we're still in this point of

Speaker 31 pioneering the sport.

Speaker 31 There isn't that much to be critical about compared to how many decades of misery we've sat through with sort of, you know, dour faced blokes just going oh god here you know here we go oh god you know we we're gonna lose because there's there's a lot to be positive and you know to to to cheer on and they they they you know they showed such a um a positive outlook in in in such adversity and the broadcasting as i say i was concentrating on um they did this piece which showed how far the game had come and they showed uh you know an itv guy giggling at this little attendance of a women's game and a Rodney Marsh comment about women making his tea and Brian Glanville being very dismissive of women's football.

Speaker 31 And then

Speaker 31 they cut to those that are involved in the game now and they were emotional about how far this had come.

Speaker 31 The comparisons with men's football are uncomfortable for the men's game because women's football was you know shoed away from now but as a nation we're all lioness as fans because it makes us feel good as Englishmen and English people.

Speaker 31 And

Speaker 31 it was such a great event. And

Speaker 31 yeah, but unfortunately,

Speaker 31 press men being press men and press women are going to ask Thomas Tuchel, hey, do you take inspiration from him? And he can only give. And Thomas Suchel's a very good responder to questions like that.

Speaker 31 And I'm sure his answer will be full and not dismissive at all. But you can only really veer into cliché with stuff like that.

Speaker 31 and then after that, it will be right, and where are you going to play Trent Alexander Arnold?

Speaker 31 And uh, and then we're straight into the we're straight into the misery, the pain, the the the self-reflection, the existential crisis that is supporting an England men's team, even at a point where we're actually quite good compared to what we used to be.

Speaker 29 Yeah, I think the comparison thing is interesting because you know, as someone and we're all about the same age, growing up where, you know, when I was 10, women playing football was a joke, you know, that was that was what it was when you were 10 years old.

Speaker 29 And so you're going on that inverted commas journey. And for a lot of years, I would be comparing the women's game to the men's game while I was watching it.

Speaker 29 And I definitely, you know, on Sunday, you know, through this tournament, I definitely haven't done that. I haven't been, I've just been watching these games because they're games.

Speaker 29 And I, you know, maybe that's just my own progress or whatever, but I just wonder, you know, that's what these players are doing is by just constantly being good.

Speaker 29 And the exponential improvement in these footballers when they get professional, you know, when more money goes into the game and and the coaching gets better, all those things are just so obvious that, you know,

Speaker 29 players will improve. That has changed how I watch it, definitely.

Speaker 31 Yeah, I mean, Hannah Hampton, you know, heroine of the penalties.

Speaker 31 A friend of mine was telling me recently that one of the reasons women's goalkeepers are much better than they used to be is that now they actually receive proper training

Speaker 31 like the men did to become better goalkeepers. So now you are seeing, you know, that was always the, you know, the sexist guy, well, no,

Speaker 31 they can't keep goal though, can they? Oh, have you seen that? Well, now they can.

Speaker 31 And it's, and it actually seems trite to even talk about the goalkeepers being inferior now, because, as you say, Max, we have moved to the point where it's part of the national fundament.

Speaker 31 The lionesses are right there, but they are household names. And

Speaker 31 as I said, they make us feel good about ourselves. And that's a rare thing these days in this sceptred aisle.

Speaker 30 I would say I think WSL still has quite a long way though to improve. I mean I think we, you know, there's cheerleading and being patronising and there's a fine line between that.

Speaker 30 When I sort of have watched WSL games,

Speaker 30 the difference between the better teams and sort of the rest of the league is too great. And we were speaking earlier about in the Premier League, you know, the been struggles for promoted sides.

Speaker 30 But we're talking here about kind of mid-table teams not being able to compete properly. And when I watch a lot of those games, they and I don't watch lots, actually, that would be incorrect.

Speaker 30 But when I have tuned in, if it's a top game, then it feels at a good level. You sort of Arsenal vit Chelsea.
If Arsenal are playing a team that's mid-ranked in WSL, the gap feels too big.

Speaker 30 So there is a challenge there, I think, to make sure that the WSL rises because Lionesses are only really going to be at the forefront of most people's minds every two years

Speaker 30 when there's a tournament.

Speaker 30 It needs kind of the week-to-week um level i think to to be raised i think that would be the next step um for the english game i wanted to know if barry hated it because i think that would be a good sign of whether um kind of the women's game because because barca jim did barca jim was like something's happened here because when spain scored he was like jumping around the you know around the living room i am starting to really dislike the lionesses which i think

Speaker 1 speaks volumes for the progress they have made. The lionesses they seem a quite likable bunch, but um, yeah, all this

Speaker 1 jingoism surrounding understandable jingoism is starting to grind my gears. So, I guess that is a good sign.
Great to hear.

Speaker 29 Chef's kiss, I say. Tony says, I've been absolutely thrilled by the lionesses' successes, as well as other inspiring sporting victories of late.

Speaker 29 So, I hope I'm not a sour-faced git, but is it unreasonable to ask that victory anthems such as sweet caroline and freed from desire are retired after, say, two years.

Speaker 29 They make my teeth hurt with hatred and possibly camudgeny seem to add to the homogenization of sport. I utterly hate both songs now, and I used to like one of them.
He doesn't say which.

Speaker 29 There are many songs. Please, more spontaneity.
Our music correspondent, John Bruin.

Speaker 31 Yeah, Freed from Desire. Yeah, that's been done to death.
And I think the death of it probably was

Speaker 31 Uncle Gianni's adoption of it. I think, you know, I think

Speaker 31 it was the TV anthem, wasn't it, when they were showing the

Speaker 31 Club World Cup? Um, yeah, if you, if you, if you want to knock the sheen off anything, get Don Giani's your man there. And listen, I don't mind a bit of Neil Diamond, uh, but yeah, it is overdone.

Speaker 31 And, you know, if you go to boxing, you go to Cheltenham, you go to Darts, you go to

Speaker 31 your local pub, you'll be hearing that song often done very badly indeed. I still sort of quite like the song.
Uh, uh, you know, it is the classic pub rabble-rouser, isn't it? But

Speaker 31 what would we replace it with?

Speaker 31 That's the...

Speaker 29 Yeah, I mean, it has to be known, doesn't it? The thing about the, I think, Sweet Caroline jumped the shark when the so good, so good, so good, that came in. I hate that bit.
I hate that bit.

Speaker 29 But the thing about Freed from Desire for me takes me back to, you know, the post-A-level holiday in Gumbet near Bodrum, and where it was the, it was very much the tune of the summer.

Speaker 29 And, you know, credit to Gala that it's lasted you know it's even from when was that 1997 and it's still going strong it's something about whatever what's it called i'm going to embarrass myself now the drop or whatever but you know when it comes in that you can't help but move i think or maybe you can can you help but move barry do you move i can help but you can help but move when will be when will will we be freed from freed from desire is the when well that's a good question but like will will it be playing at you know, at the kid at my kids' wedding funerals?

Speaker 29 Will that be the one where me and my wife start dancing together, going, yeah, na, nana? And they're all going, who are these weird old people?

Speaker 29 In the same way that, you know, when you saw grandparents at weddings when you were young, you know, dancing to sweet Caroline.

Speaker 31 Oops, upside your head when everyone starts sitting down. It's like, what's going on?

Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 29 Oh, how funny. Anyway,

Speaker 29 Dar Foley says, How was Barry's time in Nova Scotia? Any breweries, wineries visited? Did he make it down valley direction?

Speaker 25 What did you do?

Speaker 29 Did you build yourself a yurt out of moose hide?

Speaker 1 I scooped out a moose and lived in it for 10 days.

Speaker 1 It was pretty quiet, to be honest. I was visiting family.
My sister lives in quite remote part of Nova Scotia. The nearest pub was eight miles away.
uh which isn't ideal

Speaker 1 but uh yeah it's a very picturesque city halifax uh which was about a 40-minute drive away. I spent quite a bit of time in there.
Lovely city, but quite small.

Speaker 1 But it was a nice holiday.

Speaker 29 You could have run to the pub every time for your half-marathon training, which I presume is coming along a pace.

Speaker 1 The problem there was it would have entailed... I have no problem embarking on a long walk.
That is not a problem for me at all.

Speaker 1 But it would have involved walking along the edge of a motorway and potentially getting ending up as a roadkill after getting splattered by a massive lorry.

Speaker 29 Was that a moose or a Barry Glendenning?

Speaker 1 I don't know.

Speaker 31 Did you see any mounties?

Speaker 1 I didn't see any Mounties. I saw a porcupine.

Speaker 1 I didn't see any Mounties. I didn't see any bears.
I saw some signs warning about the presence of bears.

Speaker 1 Black bears are the native bears.

Speaker 29 What are you meant to do for a black bear? Are you meant to shout or cower?

Speaker 1 If it's brown, lie down. If it's black, fight back.
If it's white, say good night. Wow.
That's that's your bear code there.

Speaker 1 But apparently the the black bears sort of mind their own business, come out at night to go down to the lake for a drink or whatever, but um or to walk twelve miles.

Speaker 1 Sounds like you, Barry.

Speaker 1 So yeah, the the most exotic uh creature I saw was uh was a porcupine.

Speaker 29 How impressive was a porcupine?

Speaker 1 In person not that impressive.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 29 The unimpressive porcupine.

Speaker 1 But my it lives under my sister's garden shed, and apparently her dog,

Speaker 1 an elderly beagle, learned the hard way that you don't mix with a porcupine.

Speaker 1 Okay. Oh, poor guy.

Speaker 29 Anyway, it feels like very much. That'll do for today.
Thanks, everybody. Thank you, John.
Cheers, Max. Thank you, Mark.

Speaker 30 Thank you, Max.

Speaker 29 Cheers, Barry. Thank you.
For the Weekly is produced by Joel Grove. Our executive producer is Danielle Stevens.
EFL Leagues 1 and 2 start on Saturday. Of course, they do.

Speaker 29 We'll be back on Thursday Thursday to chat about them.

Speaker 1 This is The Guardian.