A big win for Newcastle and Liverpool fans boo one of their own – Football Weekly

This is the Guardian.

Hello, and welcome to the Guardian Football Week Clear.

A big win for Newcastle over Chelsea in the race for fifth place.

One of those fast starts and an early goal.

It's as if Chelsea had no idea this is how Eddie Howell's team play.

In quite an elbowy weekend, Nicholas Jackson saw red.

Forrest dropped points at home to Leicester.

Fortunately, they're sort of not any more owner, but still their owner Evangelos Maranakis, seemed pretty relaxed about things.

Man City couldn't win at Southampton, who are officially not the worst Premier League team of all time.

Now, a good win for Villa at Bournemouth.

Lovely finish from Ollie Watkins in quite an elbow-y weekend.

Tyrone Mings didn't get sent off in the not a title decider at Anfield.

Taboo or not to boo?

That is the question.

Were we wrong to make a difference between online and match-going fans?

In the game of which Europa League finalist is worse, well, it's almost impossible to tell.

Also, today, Chelsea women are the new Invincibles.

Leathen Orion are all offside.

Your questions, and that's today's Guardian Football Weekly.

On the panel today, Barry Glendenning, welcome.

Hi, Max.

Hello, Lucy Ward.

Hey, Max.

And welcome, Sam Dalling.

Hello, Max.

Let's start then with the race for the Champions League spots.

In that game between two sides that are in for it, Newcastle beat Chelsea 2-0.

You are at this one, Sam.

I mean, you have seen Newcastle start like this before, so I imagine it's sort of what you're used to.

Yeah, I have.

It was a fast start, but then a very long afternoon.

Look, it was job done.

Tenale gets that goal really early.

I mean, that's classic Newcastle, and Chelsea just didn't feel like they had a plan.

It was a bit naive from them.

And I was thinking during the game, actually, what you do forget is that Maresco is a relatively young coach and inexperienced.

It's his first season in the Premier League, and he came up against Eddie Howe, but it was like they hadn't watched any sort of video footage.

They really didn't know what to do against Newcastle.

And Newcastle were actually not at their best.

They were a bit wasteful.

They had this time where Isaac Barnes and Murphy all seemed to be on hot streaks.

And actually, everyone's blowing a little bit cold at the moment.

Very dominant first half.

I've talked before on the pod about this Sous V'd football that Eddie Howe plays just sucking the space out of Chelsea and just standing there and allowing their centre-backs to have the ball.

And they just didn't know what to do.

And weirdly, they were much better once they got a man sent off.

But it was an odd day because 12 o'clock on a a Sunday is no time to start a game of football.

I think had they come up on the morning, the earliest Chelsea fans could have gotten to Newcastle station is about 17 minutes before the game.

It just felt wrong.

And the goal, the worry is at those times that the atmosphere is lacking.

And the goal changed out.

Everyone was bang up for it in adverted commas.

And it was basically a high noon stute out, wasn't it?

As everyone was calling it.

But it was a nervous afternoon.

After that, first goal, it wasn't until almost injury time that Newcastle got the second.

And it was one of the longest watches certainly of this season it was up there with the last half hour of the cup final ah okay interesting I mean I suppose good good for the sky graphics people that they could say high noon because they don't get many noon they get some 1230s but you can't really high noon at 1230 can you and I suppose Barry the way Chelsea conceded that goal in the second minute it's almost like they Anthony Gordon's on the ground which is quite a familiar place for him but then but then Chelsea just were waiting I guess for a VAR chat or for the ref to say it's all right that's not a penalty it wasn't a penalty and they kind of stopped when they scored I thought, oh, this is going to be ruled out for offside because Anthony Gordon had been on the ground, he was trotting back into an on-side position after not getting the penalty I think he was kind of expecting.

But he certainly wasn't interfering with play.

Moise Casedo was out of position, Romeo Lavia was robbed of possession by Sandro Tanale.

The ball was played out wide, and

then Tanali got the wrong side of, or well, the right side for him of Chalaba and slotted home.

It was indicative of Newcastle's usual start, the ferocious press that Chelsea didn't seem prepared for at all.

And

then, when Nicholas Jackson got sent off, I was like, right, well, that's it, game over.

But Chelsea did actually improve with 10 men.

They never really looked like winning, but they had chances.

They had chances to equalise.

Didn't take them.

And then Bruno's somewhat lucky second goal killed the game off.

But I can see why Sam thought it was an uncomfortably long afternoon.

Newcastle didn't never look entirely comfortable until they got that late second goal.

Lucy, how do we feel about the red card?

Is he slightly unlucky because Bottom sort of does duck into his head and he may have been just trying to elbow him in the sternum, which is sort of more yellow than red.

Yeah, I think the fact that he looked first, as soon as you look, as soon as they watch and you've had a look first to see, then it just looks like that is exactly what he intended to do.

And to be honest, you didn't really need to do it either.

But

Chelsea at the moment are actually playing that quite well.

And when they scored the other goal, I thought, oh, and that they caught quite well after they act reacted.

They didn't quite a lot of teams will crumble after conceding one really early goal at Newcastle and then concede another one, but they didn't.

I quite like

Lavier, he's a very good player.

I liked him at Southampton.

And he's got the system right, I think, generally, Maresko, when he has Kaicedo coming inside, going next to Lavia, he's quite solid there with Fernandez in front.

So, I think he's he's sort of quite clever, Mareska, in terms of some of the tweaks that he does.

I've covered a lot of the conference league games against the dog and duck FC from Latvia, and um, he's tweaks it in the second half quite a lot.

And it's quite clever to see, it's quite interesting to see.

There's not much interesting going on in those games, but his tactical tweaks

I find quite interesting.

So, he is a young coach, he is learning.

I'm not sure he'll be at Chelsea next season just because Chelsea, but I think that he's a very clever coach, and I think he can see things.

And

this is the thing for coaches.

If they stood on the sideline and they recognise something's going wrong and can tweak it, then I think he's got that, which is obviously a really good thing to have.

I did enjoy

on Match of the Day 2, Sam, Russell Martin suggesting that Chelsea could just go a bit more direct.

I was like,

hang on.

Oh, don't get me

very eloquent on the game.

I liked him as a pundit, but I wonder if that.

I go to Lucy.

What's wrong with Russell Martin?

Just Southampton and

how, I don't know, it was like a Vincent company.

I've talked about this before and ranted about it.

Playing like he plays and not giving any responsibility to the players was just ridiculous.

And then I just keep seeing being touted for all these jobs.

And I just think, what?

Did you not watch what he did with Southampton?

Did you not watch

how he didn't adapt?

That's all right.

I was coming to you, Sam, but no, that's okay.

The desperation, the exhaling.

I'm sure he is eloquent.

I'm sure he is very eloquent.

And I'm sure, you know, that he sort of reads out of his coaching books.

I'm sure he is very eloquent looking at it.

But it's the fact of the matter is,

when it comes to it,

he can't adapt and he can't change.

And Southampton are now down because of him.

Sorry.

It's okay.

Newcastle will finish second if they win all their last two games, which is quite extraordinary because, you know, at the start of the season, they were sort of playing badly but winning.

Then they played well and lost, but they were 12th or something.

There were a few murmurs about Eddie Howe.

Yeah, it was, what, 20th of December?

I had to look, 11 points behind Chelsea, down in 12th, and just not playing very well.

And without any excuse, because there was no Europe.

And when Newcastle fans looked at the fixture list at the start of the season, front end, I thought, oh, this is a chance to get ahead, front end of the year.

As it has happened, you're looking at fixtures before the season starts, and you look at Tottenham and Manchester United, and you're thinking those are difficult games, whereas actually, that's not necessarily been the case.

But yeah, I mean, to go to the Emirates on the penultimate day of the season, thinking if we Nicassel can beat Arsenal, they would go second in the Premier League.

You just couldn't have dreamt it before Christmas.

And he's changed it.

You know, Tonali, who scored in this game, he's been massive since he came in and found a starting role.

But just the way he's tweaked formations a little bit, I don't think Mareska expected him to do what he did on Sunday, which was go to a back three.

And look, Trippier missed out for injury.

I have a suspicion that he would have, he was saving Sven Botman, who's, I think, started five or six games this season, Sven Botman, of which it's been the two cup semifinals against Arsenal and that Chelsea game, because as good as Byrne and Scher are...

against pace, which is what Chelsea had, they were a little bit lacking.

So I don't think Mareska expected that Dan Byrne would be the man basically man-marking Cole Palmer.

As As deep as Cole Palmer went, Byrne was just following him around.

Bottom was sitting there with Jackson.

And the Jackson red card comes from frustration.

He throws the elbow, and before he's, I don't know if they saw it, you could see it on TV, but before they've gone over to VAR, Jackson's screaming at the centre-backs and just saying, play it lower to me, please.

I need it in on my feet or in behind.

So they got really frustrated with that, Chelsea.

But as Lucy said, I think if Rhys James starts that game at right back and Casado plays in midfield, it could potentially be a different outcome.

So he tweaked it, but he got it wrong in the the first instance, Marisco.

I like the idea of being man-marked by Dan Byrne.

Wherever you go, like the BFG, just sort of wondering,

what are you doing?

Let's go to the city ground.

Forest two, Leicester two.

Credit to Leicester for puncturing their rivals' Champions League ambitions.

We should, Barry, start with Maranakis and Nuno after the game.

I must say, I heard a lot about it before I saw it, and I didn't think it was as bad as I heard people suggesting it was.

Nuno dealt with it pretty well afterwards, said, look, football's about emotions.

We cannot make a big deal out of it.

Gary Neville said, said, scandalous from that forest owner.

Nuno should go and negotiate his exit tonight with him.

The forest fans, players, and manager do not deserve that.

And he's not the chairman anymore, sort of,

is he?

But clearly, you don't want the chairman yelling at the manager after the game.

Well, he is the owner of the club.

It's just his share of it has been put in a...

whatever you call it, some sort of blind trust, and he's not supposed to have any input input in proceedings.

So, maybe whoever's in charge of the blind trust should have gone out and had words with Nuno on his behalf.

But he is a

big character who likes to put himself front and centre.

There are a lot of

quite a few unpleasant owners in the Premier League.

I would say he's right up there amongst them.

And

in the interests of avoiding legal action, I leave it at that.

But

quite clearly was unhappy about something or other.

I don't know if it was the Taiwan Awani injury.

There was some sort of mix-up or breakdown in communication there, but that was very late in the game.

I don't know if he was just annoyed because Forrest didn't win and let Leicester take a point off them.

But anyway, he has a habit of putting himself front and centre.

And

personally, I don't think he should.

Yeah, I I think that's probably fair, isn't it?

Forrest getting into Europe, Lucy, should not be underestimated, right?

This confirmed that they're definitely going to get into Europe.

It is, I suppose, it's how you do it in the season, right?

If you finish really strongly and people are like, wow, Forest marched to Europe, as opposed to they've been in the Champions League spots for so long, the supercomputer has them sort of like the least chance of

the teams going for it now.

But that shouldn't take away from

what they've achieved.

Yeah, I mean, if you'd have told the fans in August that a point yesterday, and I think it's the second to last home game, would guarantee them being in Europe, they'd have been like, no, absolutely no chance.

And then, as soon as they start overachieving, they don't deserve Nuno, I'll tell you, he does not deserve Nuno as a manager because afterwards, Nuno completely played it down.

He started to sort of say about, you know, the staff a miscommunication about an injury, a typical sort of narcissist way of sort of managing a manager.

And I know he's quite difficult to to handle i mean should be happy really that new no kept them up that that's it that's what they thought at the start of the season forrest let's stay up let's make sure we build on and then look where they are and it's and to be honest if they get the conference league or europa league it'll probably be a nice little stepping stone i think that jump to champions league is it's quite difficult yes they'll get the money but it's making the right squad decisions you know that the the the conference league or the europa league would probably might be a better stepping stone possibly although quite hard to get to the europa League final.

You certainly have to have a good Premier League season if you want to do that.

We should talk about Morgan Gibbs White a bit, Sam.

Manchester City, apparently, sniffing around him, scored, but that cross for Chris Wood is so brilliant for that goal, isn't it?

It's perfect, isn't it?

He sees the run, Wood's maybe 10 yards shy of the defender, and he just puts it exactly where he wants it.

It's a good header, and Gibbs White, I do hope he stays at Nottingham Forest.

I know he's been not out of form recently, but that was his first goal, wasn't it?

He'd scored for a fair old while.

So I hope he's sort of their talismanic figure.

And there's the whole narrative with when he was at wars with Nuno, they sort of fell out, and maybe his behaviour is off the pitch.

He wasn't as professional as he could have been, and he's turned into this talismanic figure.

Now,

maybe Champions League football, while Forrest would potentially struggle with the demands of it, maybe that dictates whether Gibbs White...

stays there or not.

I just found it sad.

I saw someone on, I don't know, one of these social media things had done, simulated 10,000 get like run the end of the season basically 10,000 times simulated it was percentage chances of getting in the Champions League and Nottingham Forest are now like 40 14%

on the owner thing it's a it's a separate bugbear of mine right I'm not going to name the official because it's not their fault because that's what they're told to do but when there's a blatant offside please just stick the flag up I've seen it before players getting injured because that's how our Yeni ends up colliding with the post.

The original players offside, I saw Edison get injured last year.

When it's so blatantly obvious, just go back to backing yourselves and making that first decision.

It's not the assistant referee's fault, but stick your flag up, Lina.

So the other thing on that is the Leicester fans were singing Champions of England.

You'll never sing that to Forest fans.

And that is football.

That is just football in this century.

Archie Rintah, mate, said if City get done for their charges and get relegated, couldn't that actually mean that what Ipswich and Leicester are doing in the final weeks of the season has genuine consequences?

I hadn't actually thought of that.

Obviously, we're expecting the result of that verdict about two months ago, so we'll probably get it in about five years.

I raised this issue on the podge some months ago, Max.

No, I wasn't really.

Okay,

did you come to a conclusion that I also wasn't listening to?

No, I just said that finishing third from bottom could be a massive deal if Manchester City get relegated because you might stay up.

Yeah, so at the moment, they're level on points.

Ipswich's goal difference is five goals better than Leicester's.

So, yeah, they should keep at it.

Southampton, meanwhile,

second on match of the day with a goalless draw.

They tweeted, sorry if we got your hopes up, and then tagged Derby County.

Lloyd said, What side of the debate are you on?

Saints are a disgrace for celebrating the point against City, or it's fine to do so.

Will you be having a special pod covering the open top bus parade Saints will be having for securing 12 points?

As a Saints fan, I was ecstatic.

Mike says, Was I the only one left disappointed we didn't get a full-time pitch invasion at St.

Mary's?

Ruben Diaz was not impressed.

I don't even feel like they want to play the game or win the game.

They're just sitting around.

Great sentence, isn't it?

We tried every way.

We had chances, but we didn't score.

It is what it is.

Robbie Savage was not happy with how Saints celebrated on his radio show.

Completely unconnected.

He was the derby captain during the 11-point season.

What do we think, Lucy?

Well, my friend, one of my good friends, Maud, is a Saints fan, and she was absolutely ecstatic that they got the 0-0 drop because she got there and she was messaging, saying this is a nightmare, this could be an absolute nightmare, and then was everybody was buzzing.

And why not?

Because you know, and Ruben Diaz saying that, but what does he expect them to do?

They've got they had 11 points, did they?

Now they've got 12, 12 points.

That is the entitlement of teams that are quite good compared to teams that are not.

But they were disciplined, weren't they?

And resilient Saints.

And I suppose that's the performance that the fans will remember but I don't blame them at all you know making sure they don't concede because earlier on in the season that would have been about 13 nil I think it was a very wengere-esque reaction from Diaz yeah

you know Arison never never liked it when other

poor quality sides had the audacity to tackle his players or not just usher them through and allow them to score I think it's okay to think that.

Don't say it in your post-match interview because it just stinks of sour grapes doesn't it as as for southampton's tweet i thought it was funny but yeah there are certain people uh fans pundits who are very pole faced and take these things very very seriously indeed and there should be no place for for humor in the game having southampton put together a clip of basically manchester city playing the ball out of play and missing all their chances and it says something like oh no two i think two teams weren't trying to play football football.

And I think I've never been an F1 fan, but I've just got got into it through the Drive to Survive series.

And the best part about it is the press conferences where they're not individual, they stick everyone in together.

So people like Toto Wolf and Christian Horda are into, and it's really awkward.

And that's exactly the kind of scenario where you want Ruben Diaz in alongside Simon Rusk and them both fielding questions at the same time.

I think that's how we liven up press conferences.

What would have been absolutely tremendous is if Cameron Archer had squared the ball for Ross Stewart at that late Southampton attack and he'd scored.

Southampton had taken all three points.

Now, that would have been absolutely tremendous.

I don't know if anyone else noticed this as well, but Simon Rusk, Southampton's interim manager, Cameron cut to him at one stage and his training top had draper tools on the front.

I was like, have we gone back to 1980?

That's great.

Yeah, just find any old jumper.

That'll do, won't it?

Finally in the race of the top five, Aston Villa, key win for them.

And, you know, looking at the fixtures, Bournemouth away certainly seemed less winnable than Leicester at home or Southampton away.

So really good for them.

Obviously, one or both of Newcastle-Chelsea would drop points.

And the winner...

Sam, is a brilliant finish for Molly Watkins, isn't it?

Becomes their record Premier League scorer outright.

He's had a sort of hit and miss season, but that's a great goal.

Yeah, it's such a deft little touch, isn't it?

It's a tiny little flip.

Initially, when I first saw it live, because as a Newcastle fan, I was quite interested in this game.

The result didn't go the way I wanted it.

But when I first saw it live and they were raving about it, I thought, is it really that?

It wasn't the cross, he's just managed to get a flick on it, but actually, it's very deliberate where he's putting it.

And

he's in a strange position, Watkins.

Obviously, he wasn't happy about not playing those Champions League games.

And they played, I talked about it in previous pods, they played this risky game in January, gambling on getting into the Champions League by bringing in someone like Rashford and Ascencio players who probably aren't going to be there next year and risking the mirth of Ollie Watkins.

I've watched him, he can be devastating.

There's also an argument to say that sometimes he's not quite clinical enough to be a top, top level striker, but his record in the last couple of years, both goals and assists, is wonderful.

And they really need to keep him sweet, Ollie Watkins.

They needed that win.

I thought Inanna was really good in midfield because Tielemans has been one of Villa's best players, actually.

What a brilliant signing he's been on a free.

But yeah, it was massive for Aston and Villa that they absolutely needed it.

Emery's interview, did you see it before the game?

He wasn't even asked a question, and he just sort of started saying Europe, Europe, really loudly at the interviewer.

It's like, okay,

we get it, Unai, but yeah, great result.

Ollie Watkins, brilliant.

Jacob Ramsey was sent off for two sort of pretty soft moments in the game, wasn't he?

Tyron Mings wasn't.

Alex Scott suffered a fractured jaw from that moment, Barry, where Mings' elbow goes into his face.

I mean, that's a very passive way of describing someone elbowing someone in the face, I guess.

But P2MOL said a natural action, and there wasn't much swing in it.

Pundits were divided.

What do you think?

He didn't swing the elbow, but I think he knew what he was doing, and I think he was very lucky not to get sent off.

I think it's worse than that, though.

I think it's horrible.

I thought it was horrible, actually.

I thought it was worse,

as bad, or if not worse, the Jackson one.

Surprise, surprise, the centre half-on match of the day said, oh, no, it's absolutely fine.

It was like, oh, it's Alec Scott's Scott's fault for being that short.

Like, he looks at him.

You can put your arm up, and I know we're not on camera here, but you can put your arm up.

But what he didn't do, he didn't just put his arm up, he put the elbow in a shape where he knew that if someone made contact with that elbow, it was going to really hurt.

And that's what he's done.

So I think he's very lucky, and not enough has been made of it.

All right.

Well, now something has been made of it.

So, you know, maybe

he'll get his punishment.

That'll do for part one.

Part two, we'll begin with the Liverpool Arsenal game.

Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly.

So, Liverpool 2 Arsenal 2, not a bad game.

I mean, the big story, Lucy, is the booze for Trent.

Jack says, Are Liverpool fans managing to find a way of not enjoying winning the title?

Matt says, How do Liverpool fans define walking alone?

D6 base says, Can we boo Barry?

I mean, we don't know if he's off, do we, in the summer to a glittering new opportunity in foreign lands?

But there's been no transfer fee as he's seen down his contract.

Look, it was a mixed reaction, Lucy, when he came on, but

there were a lot of booze, more than I was expecting.

Yeah, I mean, honestly, I can't get my head around it.

I mean, there's a kid who joined at whatever age, worked his way up through the age groups, which is ridiculously difficult to do.

You know, to get from sort of eight years old to then 14 to then get a two-year deal to 16 to then get a scholarship and then get a pro and

then do well seen all his mates fall by the wayside won it all and then decides to move on um at the end of his contract i mean i sort of you know people are entitled to to to boo it's just i don't know i think andy robertson's um interview at the end just just show if you if you could watch that it's like these are like friends, teammates, and he's basically said he made me a better player.

And that's what it's all about it's about winning things together it's about relationships and and it and to be honest and i know it's it's probably not a popular thing to say but sod what they think the fans think because they've done it all together and he is

you know and andy robertson was loyal about his mate because he's as far if if the players don't think that he's done anything wrong then he hasn't done anything wrong in alexander aren't in my opinion and that is what it's all about it's interesting like of course fans can be entitled to boo who they want, but then people are allowed to have their view on the fans, are entitled to have their view that the people booing

just don't really get it.

Well, Jamie Carraker would have us believe that we're not entitled to have our opinion on

what Liverpool fans think.

Although he was quick to give his opinion on the Liverpool fans who booed.

Jamie Carragher has got a very fluid set of rules on who is allowed to have an opinion on what Liverpool fans think?

Clearly, what happens with this is there's a big boo and then there's other people cheering and like obviously the boo comes first and it's sort of more noticeable than the other people.

So, you know, like

in the same way that you can't categorise all online fans, you can't categorise all match going fans.

But we made a real point to sort of

to really separate the two when we were talking about the abuse that Trent Alexander Arnold was getting on social media and saying, look, that isn't what is happening at Anfield.

And yet when he came on, I mean, Johnny Lou made a point that like, if this is a title decider, that's not how the Liverpool fans are reacting, right?

There's a sort of the circumstance dictated that, you know, nothing was, this game didn't really mean anything to the Liverpool fans.

This is what Johnny said.

He said, look, the booing of Alexander Arnold was unbelievably petty, unashamedly small-minded, deeply ungrateful, and all these things are intended as compliments.

Football fandom should be all these things.

It should be irrational.

It should be intensely subjective and wildly disproportionate.

Stoke fans still boo Aaron Ramsey for breaking his leg against them 15 years ago.

Sundland and and Coventry still hate each other because Jimmy Hill put a score on a scoreboard in 1977.

There are no rules to this thing and can you imagine if there were?

Does he have a point there, Sam?

Yeah, I read that.

It's eloquently put.

It's a lovely piece of writing.

I don't agree at all because

this is their own player.

I've never seen anything like that.

I was trying to think if I've been in a similar situation.

And I've booed plenty of ex-Newcastle players, but never while they're still playing for the club.

And this is the fact there's pressure off it.

It's a celebration.

It's like at the birth of your firstborn child, you're just obsessing about the fact there's no seasoned onion crisps left in the vending machine.

It's just completely like, why?

Why do you care?

I thought you were going to say you boozed your rival.

It's just completely misplaced.

And it's not right.

The fault here.

Liverpool should, I don't know why I got really animated about that, actually.

But the fault here is that whoever was in charge of Liverpool, and I know they've had, they should not have had three of their biggest players out of contract at the same time.

Like that complete circus, that is where the fault lies.

And it's like, what do we have to do now?

Do we put an asterisk next to you never walk alone and say, well, unless you do something that we don't quite agree with?

And Slot is being very diplomatic and saying, oh, everyone has their opinion.

I'm not going to tell people how to think.

But I think in his actions, he said, he's showing what he thinks about it.

Because he doesn't have to bring Alexander Arnold on there.

The easy thing to do would just be to leave him out and say, okay, Trent, you go, we don't want to take away from the celebrations.

But he's part of that squad.

And Lucy makes the point, like, like what what are the other players thinking because that is that they're his mates

right so this lot can turn on us really really quickly um so maybe it's not quite this like lovely um oh we're all part of it forever thing and that that would be worrying there was an interesting barry part another interesting part in johnny's um piece saying that there's a common view among rival fans that liverpool is an irredeemably mawkish place a fan base mired in nostalgia and big feelings but is there anything colder anything more ruthless and businesslike than booing one of your greatest homegrown players the moment he ceases to be useful?

I always think that's an interesting thing about Liverpool fans where other clubs are so desperate to say they're not as special as they are.

They're clearly a special club, but Liverpool fans obviously think they're as they're the most special thing that's ever existed, and that's also not the case.

It's sort of somewhere in the middle.

But I thought that was an interesting point that he made.

Yeah, well, a lot of people think Liverpool is not so much a football club as a cult.

And I suppose anyone who leaves a cult

attracts opprobrium from the other members of the cult.

You know, if it's the Scientologists, anyone who tries to escape the Scientologist, that never ends.

It's going to be Louis Theroux going to be talking to Trent Alexander Arnold and trying to get into the inner sanctum and just really long silences with Arna Slott.

I'd be interested to know.

And we won't know, because we're not mates of his, what Trent Alexander Arnold made of it.

Like, is he just amused?

Does he care?

Possibly not.

I think there is a real.

I think, you know, like people occasionally talk about, you know, those old times when players and fans would get the bus together to football matches in the 50s or whatever, you know, and they'd go and play.

You'd watch them and then you'd have a beer afterwards.

And it is just so different.

There is just so

for so many reasons.

But I remember talking to a couple of players

and I won't name the club, but it was a one-club town.

And they were like, look, we just can't ever go out in this city, whether it's good or bad.

It's just, there's just no...

And it wasn't Newcastle, but like, there's just no point.

I remember chatting to them after a soccer air and they were just saying, you just can't do it.

And I guess social media totally exacerbates that whole situation.

So I imagine they're just like, oh, just don't worry about it.

It's just, it's a different, they're sort of two separate worlds, I imagine.

But I don't know.

He might be really pissed off.

Like, he's given a lot to that football club, hasn't he?

Look, we should say, Lucille, Arsenal did really well to come back into this game because they weren't good in the first half.

And they really turned it on.

And that point actually might be quite important in just confirming Champions League football.

Yeah, absolutely.

And obviously, with

the city drawing as well, it makes a difference.

But I noticed when

they moved Martinelli into a more central position, and he looked quite comfortable.

And I know that's happened before, I think, for Arsenal, but

you can't help but think, and I know it's been said so so many times, but absolutely disastrous to Arsenal's season how they didn't get

a natural goal scoring finisher.

And there were so many, many points during that PSG second leg

where you thought

if they'd have just had somebody with that sort of instinct in that sort of place, then it would have been completely different.

And I don't, and I can, I still can't work out, and I'm maybe just wasting my thought, but whether Arteta

was happy about it.

Can't think for a minute that he is happy about it or was happy about it, but he never says anything.

And I suppose that might be a good thing, but I don't know.

They missed Gabrielle, that's for a start.

So they might not have even got through anyway if they'd have had a striker.

But how on earth did they not get a striker?

Honestly,

I know I'm boring, but

I just can't get wrapped my head around it.

No, no,

it's the first time I've heard it this season, Busie.

So no, it's a point that somebody should tell the hierarchy of the players.

Why?

So

if all the fans knew it was going to...

All the Arsenal fans could see this coming in sort of October, November.

So how on earth did the hierarchy of Arsenal not know anyway?

I don't know.

Arteta said straight out of the high performance playbook, I hate reaction.

I like action.

I might get that tattooed on one of my PECs.

PECS is an overstatement, I would suggest.

Liverpool could have won it later on with that Andy Robertson goal.

It was just allowed for a foul by Canate, I think.

And I wondered if Allison could have done a bit better with the Odegaard strike, or maybe I'm being slightly harsh.

Anyway, let's crack on.

The two Europa League finalists and the race for 17th.

I mean, obviously, these games don't really matter for Manchester United and Spurs.

I mean, they don't really matter for West Ham and Crystal Palace either.

I mean, Crystal Palace had the cup final.

Someone texted my radio show calling it El Care Fulico, which I thought was really quite funny for those two sides.

Let's start with Man United.

And we should say, Barry, like

Graham Potter needed this, even if it makes no real difference to West Ham's season.

They've been eight without a win,

and they were good in this game.

They were good, and they've done a Premier League double over Man United.

Certainly not alone in that regard.

But a win at Old Trafford is always good for any team.

And,

I mean, they were so much better than Manchester United in this game.

They could have won by a lot more, I think.

I think Areola only had to make one, maybe two saves decent of note.

The best of them are from Highland.

But I'm sort of Mist of well Mystified is a bit of a stretch because it is West Ham.

But when you look at some of the players they have, I don't think they should be anywhere near the bottom of the table.

Who's this, West Ham or Man United?

West Ham.

Okay.

You think Man United are in the right place?

Well, I mean, at the start of the season when we were doing our previews, I said Manchester United would finish 12th, and that prompted sharp intakes of breath from uh everyone else who was on the panel and i was way wrong on that one but not for the reasons people were expecting i think this year is it they've only beaten the three relegated sides that is yeah that's astonishing isn't it but i mean there is like and said this afterwards linked these two games together that you know had they not had this run in europe and that maybe it's not a good excuse then then they would have got more results in the premier league i think that's that's probably true for both it's that's a terrible excuse, but it's probably true, though.

It's probably true, but it's like it's not necessarily good enough.

I mean, you're right.

Hoyland had a Mr.

Chance you'd expect him to miss, and then Mr.

Chance you'd expect him, even him to score.

Amarim said, I'm responsible.

If we cannot change really fast, we should give our jobs to a different person.

And sort of intimated that the squad aren't that bothered about losing.

Meanwhile, Sam, Crystal Palace did play their first team, which I thought was interesting a week ahead of the FA Cup final.

Spurs made eight changes.

Man United did make six changes.

That obviously affects things.

But Palace destroyed Tottenham in this game.

Destroyed them.

So much fun to watch.

I'm glad he played his full side.

I think it was right.

And he said, well, you need rhythm, right?

You want momentum when you're Crystal Palace going into a cup final.

You go, oh, Spurs away.

We could go and turn them over.

And they did.

And they could have scored more.

I suspect Anish Postacoglu was watching that Daniel Munos go down the right wing and think, that is my kind of fullback.

Like, he is half the time, the most advanced player on the pitch.

He was brilliant.

as a i think he scored at spurs last year i think he scored an absolute belter but i mean they're basically two tap-ins he's got that the team goals that he's just been able to work in uh and saar had one ruled out and he's an interesting one sa because it was big boots to fill with a Lise

going and Saar's come in quite quietly and he was at Watford a couple of years ago and there were talk of Liverpool being in for him for 40 50 million quid but then there was stuff around his attitude and he wasn't quite advanced enough to be a Premier League regular to be a top-level player and I think he did do a year in the championship and then went away to France and come back and he's just quietly become part of that Crystal Palace first team and part of that sort of flying front three and I think they've got a really good chance against Manchester City and I really do hope

that they can get into Europe that way because if you actually they had a really bad start to the season didn't they and if you chop away the first eight ten games which I know you can't do because that's not how a season works but they'd be up there we'd be talking about them in the same sort of sentence as maybe even as high as Nottingham Forest, maybe a bit better than the likes of Bournemouth and Brighton.

So yeah, good for them.

Yeah, good for them.

Look, you were in Bodo, Lucy.

It's must have been fascinating.

It must have been great to be up there.

But when you look at how well Spurs played in Frankfurt and in Bodo and how well they defended, and then you watch this team, I mean, they can't defend at all.

Like, it's sort of mad.

Yeah.

I mean, they are,

I think it's safe to say that they are not the same team without that back four in it.

They are a completely different team, like sort of 12 or 13 places.

It's fair, right?

Yeah, absolutely.

You know, it's very difficult, but because of the way that

he likes to play

in the Premier League, the replacements can't play like he wants to play, so it becomes very sort of disjointed.

But having been out there, and I haven't really covered, I mean, obviously, I've seen Tottenham this year, but I haven't really covered them in much detail.

But I was really impressed with them

that obviously I looked at the Frankfurt game and then I did the game midweek really impressed with with how they played and the their intelligence and obviously the the difference between the two the two performances in the premiere but I think he basically

when they interviewed um possikoglu afterwards journalists were asking the question about

they thought that these play the replacements didn't think they'd have any chance of playing in the final so why why bother even trying and he was basically like saying, Have you not seen what's happened to us the last couple of seasons?

That the worst possible thing could happen at the worst possible time in terms of injuries, so then they all need to be prepared, which I completely agree with.

And Postakogu makes me I love Postaklogu, I love Glasner.

The guy was singing Glasnar's praises right from the start from when he came from Frankfurt, even when it was going wrong at Crystal Palace, because he's very good.

But I love how Ange does not

indulge the journalists, so that's why there is a negative thing about Ange, and that's why it's developed.

And then he's bitten against it, and then it's become what it's come.

Most managers keep journalists on side because the journalists, as a natural human reaction, write nice things about them.

That's that's the way that relationships work.

And he just thinks, I am not indulging any of these.

So they all, right from the start, you can see they're a little bit like chippy towards him.

So then he was chippy back, and then it's escalated.

And I love it.

And all I want to happen is that Spurs win the Europa League and he mic drops and sticks two fingers up and says, see you later, I'm off.

That would just be, I'd just I'm not a Spurs fan, but that would just, I'd just love it if that happened, honestly.

Because then Posta Coglu, everything that's been said about him, he can just go, see you.

There you go.

Trophy won.

See you later.

Could I humbly suggest that Tottenham are being massively overpraised for beating a side from Norway?

whose most expensive player costs six million pounds.

Hey, they've battered everybody at home, Baz.

that pitch is horrific that pitch had like folds on the side of it it was horrendous and they have beaten lazio there they've beat they've beaten everybody there nobody gets away with not being scored against and they usually get battered there so that is the praise that i would give to to to spurs yes they're not they're not very good but they are at home usually yeah on those on indulging journalists it is worth watching the Spurs social media interviewer like the Spurs TV guy who and there are normally like three or four of them but sometimes it's just the one old guy who's always like, he's like, Cool, look at that, Angel.

I've lost 6-0, but like, gotta look at the positives, haven't you?

Like, Marky Moore coming in or whatever.

You can just see Angel's like, oh, God, I can't do another.

I've got to answer questions from this guy every single week.

He seems like a lovely guy.

He's trying to draw up the positives, you know, in the sort of PR club thing.

Very funny.

Anyway, that'll do for part two.

Part three, we'll begin with the race for eighth place.

Welcome to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly.

So eighth should get you in the Conference League.

Brentford are eighth now, 55 from 36.

Brighton have 55 from 36.

Bournemouth 53 from 36 and Fulham 51.

And Brentford's goal difference significantly better than Brighton.

So they're in the box seat after that 1-0 win at Ipswich.

Fulham lost three went home to Everton.

Brighton beat Wolves and of course covered Bournemouth already.

The thing about Brentford Sam that I think we haven't really talked about a lot is they've had to change how they play because Ivan Tony isn't there and how well this front three have performed.

And like, I haven't got all the stats of, you know, possession stats and all that, but I really sense that they are playing much more football than they were.

And that kind of, if Thomas Frank manages to get them to Europe in a year where they kind of changed how they play, that that is an incredible achievement.

Yeah, I think it's fantastic.

I haven't got the possession stats, but I was having a look at the kind of goals and assists.

And they've got three forwards in double figures, right?

Shada's got 11.

Vissa and Buemo have both got 18.

And between them they've got what am I looking 12 assists like to have there's not many teams that have got three forwards all three of their main forwards in that sort of prolific a run and all of them have been there for quite a while actually Shada and Vissa have both been there a couple of years now and Buomo even before so they're so forward thinking that even when they lose Tony who was kind of the main player they had they didn't need to go out and sign replacements because they've already got them and they there's an acceptance as well I think it was was it Norgaard that has done an interview recently he said well we're yeah we're expecting to lose Brian at some point.

But as bothered as we are, we're not too bothered because we're not really about any one individual.

And actually,

Frank deserves a lot of credit.

And if they're finally starting to put together...

a run of home and away results because you remember at the start of the season they couldn't buy a point away from home they'd won from their first eight away games and now in their last ten they've had seven wins two draws and the only loss they've had to was to Newcastle which was that Jacob Murphy weird goal slash cross thing.

Then, at the start of the season, they won seven of their first eight home games and then didn't win in eight.

And now, finally, they put together a little run of home and away, a couple of wins home, a couple of wins away, and they're only eight off the Champions League, which is they're not going to get up.

Obviously, the mathematically can't, but it's a wonderful job Thomas Frank is doing.

And as much as I've told an anecdote about how I don't like him, I actually do quite like him, and he seems like quite a nice man.

I think the thing about Brentford is the way that the recruit is through, obviously numbers.

So they know that whoever they buy has the potential to succeed, whichever position.

So what they do is they afford them time and patience.

So even if they don't start right or they're not quite as strong, they know that they'll come good.

So they just keep playing and keep playing them, keep playing them, which is why

the likes of Mbermond likes of Vissa comes through and play well.

Shada, who sort of started off all right and then went in a dip and now he's come good just because he's got space to shine.

And I think

not all teams can afford that.

Yeah, I was about to say that.

You know, if it is, we just talked about Tottenham United, you don't have that luxury, I guess, to be bad for 36 games.

No, but that's the way that they are.

So it turns out you're bad for

bad for 36 games.

Now, the big talk in the WhatsApp group, Barry, was about Danny Welbeck, who scored his 10th Premier League goal of the season.

First time he's reached double figures.

And you made the good point.

This is a big mistake of Danny's to do this.

Yeah,

he didn't do himself any favours scoring that penalty because

until it was pointed out that this was the first time he'd ever scored 10 goals in the Premier League season, I'd presumed he was really prolific and was, you know, habitually banging in 15 goals a season over the course of 15 years or whatever it is.

It turns out he's been stealing a living max

because before this season he'd never got more than seven.

So yeah,

that boggled my mind, mind, that stat.

And I don't think I'm the only one.

No, I had him at a good 12 to 15 every year for Danny Welbeck.

I mean, I know he's had an awful lot of bad luck with injuries and all that, but yeah,

that was a stat that really

fried my brain.

Yeah, big loss for Fulham in the race for European places.

3-1 at home to Everton.

It's the story of the last three or four games, said Marco Silver.

Goals have come from set pieces.

We have to be willing to fight, do our job well, and we didn't.

It's about concentration and focus.

We have to blame ourselves because it didn't happen before but it did in the last few weeks in a very exciting moment darren england was called to the var screen for a penalty review for one of those ridiculous hand balls and he stuck to his decision honestly i could have danced down the street naked just screaming i laughed out this is the change we need he's done it um david moi said i clapped him i would have had a mexican wave i saw it on the ipad and i saw the boy was running so i don't know where you'd expect his hands to be isn't it great we have someone who is willing to go to the screen and stick with his decision.

Yeah, thank you, Darren.

It was injury time and already 3-1 to Everton.

So I guess it wasn't, you know, it wasn't a pivotal moment in the season.

But all the same.

On Leeds, Bartha Jim says, How is Lucy feeling about this season?

Because she's hinted that she might be from Leeds.

Paul says, What are Lucy's thoughts on whether Leeds should stick with Daniel Farker, which they are doing?

And what changes, if any, does she think the team needs players' tactics to do well in the Premier League?

Yeah, it's been buzzing round here for the last sort of few weeks.

I think at one point they thought that it wasn't going to happen.

And then Sheffield United let them off the hook, I think, by losing three games in a row.

But people haven't quite got over the euphoria of getting promoted.

So we've not got past that yet before.

So the last couple of days on the dog walk, because this is where I meet all the Leeds fans.

Of course.

Is that they're asking us about Daniel Farker.

And it's like, right, so what do you want to do?

Do you want to start with him?

And then if he doesn't do that well, are you going to change change him?

And then you're 10 games in.

So, this is the sort of conversations that they're having.

So, they are thinking about it.

Leeds fans are thinking, you know, but it also depends on who you bring in as well.

And I think he probably

deserves to have the start in the Premier League.

However, there's been lots of whispers around, and they don't really come from nothing that that is not going to happen.

And then the chairman came out and said that he's going to start the season.

So, that doesn't help, but a manager is only as good as his players.

So, unless they completely

ensure that they don't do another Ipswich, Southampton and Leicester, then I think it's going to be difficult.

I think that quite a lot of the Leeds fans are like, yeah, it's brilliant, but we've seen what's happened the last couple of seasons.

So the mood is mixed, shall I say?

Would you rather someone came in and parked the bus?

Because this idea that people are more interested in seeing how Scott Parker's Burnley do because they are defensively so solid.

And interesting to see what that happens in Perligan.

You look at Brentford, we talk about them changing their style, but they've taken a long time to do that.

Or would you like Leeds to go gung-ho and you never know?

It just depends because Leeds had the best budget in the championship this season.

They had the best team in the championship, they had the best four wingers in the championship.

So that sort of skewed a little bit, and they should have probably run away with the title.

In the end, they win the title, but it's completely different.

And it's a real balance

between, and obviously, there was a lot of lone players as well.

Manor Solomon is a lone player.

So I think they need to go up a couple of two or three levels of players.

Defensive-wise, perhaps as well.

Goalkeeper is still not sure about Melier.

It looks like they're going to sell him, but then you need a goalkeeper.

So there's lots of stuff.

And

I'm not sure that sitting and becoming defensive is probably going to be the right way of doing it.

I think Burnley just need a little bit of balance.

They need to score more goals, but stay the same defensive.

But for leads, it's a real, I don't know.

I don't really know what the first couple of signings will tell me

what way they're thinking of going.

Playoffs are in full swing uh we discussed sheffield united's uh three and a win at bristol city slightly harshly getting uh paul watson a bristol city fan on about a minute after they got hammered to do a podcast about other football matches baz you won 2-1 at coventry a smash and grab that's what um that's what people described it as how did you feel about it it was a great win for sunderland the second legs tomorrow night at the stadium light

I would say it's still very much in the balance.

I still continue to flip-flop over.

You know, obviously, you want to win the play-offs.

If Sunderland were to go and win the playoffs, I would immediately be overwhelmed with dread at the prospect of what's to come.

What players would they lose?

Who would they be able to keep?

I suppose Sunderland have punched massively above their weight this season.

No one was expecting them to finish fourth.

I'd say mid-table was about as best as anyone was expecting.

So who's to say

Regis LeBrie couldn't defy expectations again next season if they were to go up?

But I just think they get slaughtered every week.

Ideally, you'd win promotion and then it's like a student deferring a university place for a couple of years.

Win promotion and then say, yeah, would you mind if we just defer, let someone else go up instead, let Sheffield United or Bristol City go up instead and we'll take our place in two years' time when we're better equipped to make a decent fist of staying up.

It's a very good idea.

In league one, Charlton drew Nil-Nil at Wickham.

Producer Joel said it was an absolutely terrible game.

Wickham made it a slog, but we'll take a draw back to a sold-out valley.

Also, Adams Park is too far away from anything, he says.

And Leighton Orient 2, Stockport 2, which included Leighton Orient's opener,

where their centre forward was about five miles offside.

Dave Chandler called it the worst decision he'd ever seen.

It's It's quite interesting, Max, because I was reading, I was reading Twitter.

My God, how did they not get that?

How did they not get that?

And I thought, right, I'll watch it.

And I didn't have my glasses on when I was looking at it on my phone, and I thought, didn't see him get the touch at first.

And I'm thinking he wasn't quite as obvious ever.

Yes, he was offside, but it wasn't as obvious as everybody sort of made out.

Maybe it was because I didn't have my glasses on when I was looking at it.

Well, he is miles offside, but it's whether the attacker or the defender heads the ball, and it's actually not that easy to say.

So, yes, I don't disagree with that.

I don't think it's the worst decision of all time.

Wimbledon won 1-0 at Knotts County.

Walsall, who I think we're all supporting because of how they're just fall from grace, won 2-0 at Chesterfield.

So maybe they'll get to Wembley and then balls it up.

Final weekend of the WSL.

I mean, most of the important stuff have been decided, but Chelsea unbeaten, first side to finish a 22-game season unbeaten.

It's just an amazing achievement, Lucy.

Is it good or is it bad?

What do we think about this?

Yeah, it's a bit...

I mean, it's brilliant, don't get me wrong, for Chelsea.

Bon Pastor, new manager,

has sort of got herself in there, transitioned very easily.

But I just look at how far away they were from Barcelona in the Champions League and think, well, if that's the best we've got and it doesn't even compete with Barcelona, then we've got a problem somewhere.

And, you know, I've talked about it on the pod before.

It just needs more investment in the other teams because Chelsea winning and being unbeaten and it being the furthest gap of points in WSL history, I don't think is a good thing, to be honest.

Yeah, listen to the Guardian Women's Football Weekly, please.

Jake says, Hi, Max Barringco, long time listener.

First time getting in touch.

Firstly, let me caveat with this.

I appreciate there's an unbelievable amount of football for you guys to get through.

It's impossible to cover everything.

On last Thursday's pod, Bradford City's dramatic final day promotion heroics got around 30 seconds of coverage.

Q4 outrage at a lower league football club not getting the coverage it feels it deserves.

Max's man of the people moniker being put to the sword once more.

But on reflection, I think it's worth pointing out the significance of that day to our football club and our city.

I'm writing this on the 11th of May, 40 years ago to the day of the fateful Bradford Fire Stadium disaster.

Last Saturday's crucial promotion game against Fleetwood was the final home game of the season where we traditionally pay our respects to all those who lost their lives and were injured or affected by the disaster.

Always a poignant day for the club, but last weekend was something truly special.

The emotion in the stadium was palpable.

A promotion push twinned with the 40th anniversary made for a feeling I've never had before.

Sadness, nerves, excitement and absolute dread until the 97th minute.

When as Max quite rightly stated, the shittest most League Two goal ever trickles into the far corner, the release of emotion in the stadium at that moment wasn't just for promotion.

It was for all those Bradford fans who had gone before celebrating promotion 40 years ago, who never made it home.

The Bradford Fire is sometimes referred to as the forgotten football disaster, observed quietly by our city and our friends in Lincoln.

who tragically lost two of their own.

Last weekend's scenes of joy were of a city united, players, fans, and the wider community all celebrating what was a significant day in our wider history.

It was dramatic, it was last minute, it almost slipped through our fingers.

The most Bradford titty way to do things.

Thanks for all the content, especially on the wider football stories that don't always make the headlines.

And Lucy, you have a link to this, obviously.

Your husband, Neil Redfern, was playing for Lincoln that day, yeah?

Yeah,

yeah, so

he was there when they got promoted.

He was working for local radio last, no, he was working to talk spot, I think, last week when Bradford got promoted to the 97th minute.

But also,

it's very strange because it's quite poignant in our house.

However,

there's a theme running through about the Bradford fire: they don't talk about it.

You know, Neil has told me, obviously, I've known since I met him, that he played in it.

But that's as far as the conversation goes.

And he was the last player to kick a ball on that side as fans started to come on the pitch.

And he was playing right back because Steve Collins had broke his leg, who then ended up in hospital seeing all the victims come in.

They've made a couple of documentaries, and Neil was part of one of the documentaries.

He went off to film it.

Um, and he came home, and he said, I cried when I was talking about it, and he said, and he felt quite embarrassed about it.

And I think that is the thing about the Bradford fire is in they call it the forgotten disaster because Bradford they commemorate it every single year.

I went last year when Neil was working for Bradford City, and that's the only time they really talk about it because it was that horrific for everybody involved.

His family were in the stand and managed to sort of come out and help others get out, but just the amount of the

small amount of time it took, four minutes I think, for the whole stand to go up in flames.

I think that the memories of that I think are just too horrific

for everybody to talk about.

And so you end up just talking about it yesterday or leading up to it.

So

it'd be interesting.

I think it's a night ITV documentary.

There was one on last night on BBC that we watched

in silence and

he was part of the ITV one that's coming on this week.

But yeah,

it's just one of those things that you know about, but we don't talk about it.

But just, yeah, sad, really sad.

Yeah.

Just a couple of emails on non-league finals day to finish.

Thomas says, hi, Max Barry and the gang.

Any chance of a shout out to all the shop town who won the FA Trophy 3-0 against Spenny Moore Town on our first ever visit to Wembley in our 99-year history.

I can't even begin to describe what this means to my family, the club, and the town.

We had nearly 20,000 fans at Wembley, which, for a smallish, non-lead team, is just amazing.

I'm still in shock.

I'm also a month away from having my second child, so we'll keep you updated

on any vasectomy news.

Cheers, Tom.

Yeah, many congratulations.

And I know I bollock on about it, Barry, but you know, when it is your team on Wembley Way, I know it's one of my cliches, but it must have been amazing for those Aldershot fans.

Congratulations, Aldershot.

Whitstable won the FA Vase

final yesterday.

They beat White Leaf 2-1 in extra time.

But some friends.

What's the vase?

It's for, I think, sixths and sevenths tier.

Yeah.

No.

I think it's what other people call vase.

Yeah, it's a long time.

It's along with that.

I mean, maybe you don't buy yourself a lot of flowers, Barry.

Someone buy Barry some flowers and then he'll need a vase to put them in.

I mean, it's along with Vehicle and Nymar.

Yes, we had an email from Gary.

I'm speaking in my second language.

So anyway, FA VAZ.

I still think Vase.

Well, there's nothing wrong with VESE.

It's just not what the word is, but do carry on.

Whitstable won.

2-1 in ahead of time.

A friend of mine,

he's from Whitstable.

His parents travelled up for the game, and he said...

Most of the town traveled up to Wembley and the upshot was he was looking after about 25 different dogs yesterday in Whitstable because their owners had opened Sunday for this big day out.

Yeah, well done to them.

Gary from Whitstable sent an email along those lines.

Our local club is 140 years old this year.

Today played its first ever game at Wembley.

10,000 fellow seasiders, all without their dogs, celebrated our victory against the valiant White Leaf.

We returned from Wembley to a jubilant Belmont, home of Whitstable Town, where fans took turns to hoist the trophy aloft.

I've had a few, but it's up there as one of the best days of my life, attaching a picture of my dad and me in the clubhouse.

Thanks for the good work.

Yeah, well done.

And I'm coming to Whitstable on a mini break in a couple of months.

I'm very, well, maybe four months.

Very excited.

Lovely place to go.

Anyway, that'll do for today.

Thank you, everybody.

Thank you, Barry.

Thank you.

Thank you, Sam.

And you're welcome.

Thank you.

And thank you, Lucy.

Cheers, Max.

Tomorrow's episode, by the way, is a mailbag.

Please get your questions in to footballweekly at theguardian.com.

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Back tomorrow.

This is The Guardian.