Newcastle edge near first silverware in decades: Football Weekly Extra

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Speaker 7 Hello and welcome to the Guardian Football Weekly. Newcastle booked their place at Wembley with a dogged, determined, and clinical display at St.
James's Park.

Speaker 7 And that was just the banners before kickoff. A more than deserved victory for Eddie Howe's side, who get another crack at healing 70 years of hurt.

Speaker 7 Arsenal missed their chances when it mattered and then go missing in defence. Altogether now, do they need a number nine?

Speaker 7 Or will warm weather training in Dubai and another cholesterol spiking visit to Salt Bay's restaurant revive their season?

Speaker 7 To tonight's other semi, just how dangerous is Totten's 1-0 lead against Liverpool? Will the new signings make the difference at Anfield?

Speaker 7 The literal fun police emerge to crack down on the scourge of checks notes, goals celebrations.

Speaker 7 We'll round up the main headlines from Transfer Deadline Day, get the latest news from Syria, take your questions, and that's today's Guardian Football Weekly.

Speaker 7 On the panel today, Barry Glendeding, good morning. Hi, Robin.
Good morning, Nikki Bandini.

Speaker 3 Morning.

Speaker 7 And Sam Dalling, wonderful to have you on.

Speaker 8 Good morning, Robin.

Speaker 7 Newcastle 2, Arsenal 0. Newcastle win 4-0 on aggregates.
And let's start from the beginning, shall we? It looked like an incredible occasion.

Speaker 7 I'm usually a bit cynical about these things, but Sam Fender's saxophonist playing local hero before kickoff. Um, yeah, sidelin fan Barry is grimacing.
Let's just park that for a second.

Speaker 7 Um, the atmosphere did look amazing. It looked like, you know, if as a player, if you're going out into that, you know, you're going to be pumped up.
A huge result, Sam.

Speaker 7 Were you expecting this to be as comfortable in the end as it was?

Speaker 8 No, in a word. I think that was the surprise.
The first leg was actually very tense away from home. and because

Speaker 8 a lot of people have said had the second leg been a week later newcastle fans would have been very confident going into it but actually with that month break and with newcastle managing to lose a couple of home premier league games pretty tamely as well including only four or five days ago and with arsenal beating manchester city and all those celebrations that came around that and all the stay humble stuff and we'll talk about celebrations later but

Speaker 8 they didn't lay a glove on Newcastle. But going into it, people were thinking, oh, well, if Arsenal get the first goal, this is going to be a really rough night at St.
James's Park.

Speaker 8 And people seem to forget the fact that, well, if Newcastle get the first goal on the night, the tie's almost over. But that's football fans' mentality, isn't it?

Speaker 8 And there was all these rallying calls for the fans to make

Speaker 8 clichés like Bear Pet Pitts and things. And there's a group called War Flags who actually do a wonderful job with these kind of TIFO displays up at St James's Park.
And everyone was very up for it.

Speaker 8 And I was just a bit surprised. Arsenal looked too for us.
I saw them them down at Wolves a couple of weeks ago, and they did win that game ultimately, but they didn't have a lot up front.

Speaker 8 And they, I can bet, I know Odegaard hit the post early on, and that could have been a game-changing moment or a tie-changing moment. But other than that, Debravka barely had to work for it.

Speaker 8 And I mean, we'll come on to it, but Eddie Howe, I think, deserves a lot of credit for that, for the way he's setting your castle up.

Speaker 8 But it's just one of those wonderful nights in football, those occasions where you're desperate for those nights.

Speaker 8 And then when they come the whole day and the days before, you're really scared of them and terrified. But actually, it it was much more relaxing than I think anyone anticipated.

Speaker 7 In Nikki, this was the interesting thing, wasn't it? Because we thought Arsenal gonna bounce into this after what happened at the weekend.

Speaker 7 Um but because of the way the game was and they needed to come out, it kind of suited Newcastle really well, didn't it?

Speaker 5 Yeah,

Speaker 5 I'm reluctant with the we there, Robin, because I think I even after the first like was the one person in the pod studio saying, No, I I don't think Arsenal gonna come back from this actually.

Speaker 5 I think this feels very much like like the dynamic of eddie howe's newcastle against um mikel arteta's arsenal it does it feels like eddie howes got arteta's number and i didn't see where this uh confidence was that arsenal would would have a different answer to what they've delivered so far in fact that i think the most dispiriting part of the whole night coming at this from the arsenal perspective was was hearing arteta afterwards saying oh it's just came down to taking chances and scoring goals because if Eaudegarde had scored, it would have all been different.

Speaker 5 Sure, if Eaudegarde scores, it's 2-1 in the tie and the mood will change a little bit. But beyond that one chance, exactly as Sam's just said, it wasn't a close game.

Speaker 5 This wasn't a game where you think Arsenal, oh, they got unlucky. It was a very emphatic result and an emphatic result across two legs.

Speaker 5 And what's almost most,

Speaker 10 I think...

Speaker 5 What almost compounds it most is that Arsenal even got the free warning shot in this game because there was that goal disallowed at the beginning.

Speaker 5 There was that isaac goal this allowed and you thought okay you got away with one there because it was a very narrow offside um felt much more a result of luck than judgment that that goal is is is offside um and uh and even with that there wasn't some resounding response from arsenal in the tie i didn't think and uh newcastle absolutely thoroughly deserved it looked more up for it and played better football across both legs and barry i think what another alarming thing was a lot has been mentioned about Gabrielle, and particularly William Saliba, just looked so,

Speaker 7 I don't know, almost frightened. Like, Isaac really put the frighteners on them.
They didn't look sure-footed at all, which is really unusual to see.

Speaker 1 Yeah, they're normally fairly unflappable. And

Speaker 1 Alexander Isaac and

Speaker 1 Anthony Gordon had them in a state of almost constant panic last night. William Saliba, I can't remember him having a worse game in an Arsenal shirt.

Speaker 1 I don't think they were helped by the the fact that Declan Rice went AWOL in another big game. I was lavishing my praise of him on Monday, but he did nothing last night.

Speaker 1 It reminded me of his performance over both legs of Arsenal's Champions League eggs at the hands of Bayern Munich last night in a couple of big England games where Bruno Jimaraz and Fabian Scharr just had his number really and and

Speaker 1 I don't he wasn't

Speaker 1 I don't know nasty enough to be able to deal with him. He was almost bullied.
It hurts to say, but as a Sunderland fan, it was an annoyingly good Newcastle performance.

Speaker 1 Eddie Howe lined up with three central defenders,

Speaker 1 one of whom Shar had a license to get forward, and that's where their second goal came from.

Speaker 1 He put in Kieran Trippier,

Speaker 1 right-wing back instead of Tino Liveramento. That helped.
Very street-wise player player who's very good at needling opposition players.

Speaker 1 And then Odegaard's miss, and Newcastle scoring their opener from the subsequent kick-out. That was probably the turning point in the game.
But I don't think Arsenal were ever in this at all.

Speaker 1 It was a pretty disappointing performance. A lot of their fans will say, ah, it's just the Carabao Cup.
We've bigger fish to fry.

Speaker 1 But the worry for them is they've lost three times against Newcastle now this season, and they still have to play them again in the league. So, and

Speaker 1 I haven't seen any evidence to suggest they'll win that one.

Speaker 1 What I enjoyed quite a lot about this game is Gary Neville on Co-Comms and Sky just going through his full repertoire of orgasmic groans, yowls and

Speaker 3 yelps.

Speaker 1 It was something else. He really went through them a lot.
But nah, it was a great performance from Newcastle and they absolutely did a number on Arsenal in this game. Thoroughly deserving winners.

Speaker 7 Maybe there'll be like a

Speaker 7 release an album of Gary Neville's.

Speaker 3 Oh, God. Oh, my God.

Speaker 7 Well, just like a soundboard, maybe.

Speaker 1 A concept album.

Speaker 7 Or like a kid's toy where you press the.

Speaker 7 This is where you're nearly giving away a good chance. This is a bad tackle.

Speaker 7 Yeah, no, he went through the whole repertoire. I've got to say, shout out to our colleague Seb Hutchinson.

Speaker 7 I've been there as a commentator when the game is dead and you've got basically half an hour to just have a little chat and because there's nothing going on at all.

Speaker 7 But that's credit to Newcastle, Sam. How did Eddie Howell set the team up? Because it did just work to perfection, it seemed.

Speaker 8 Yeah, and there's been one of the criticisms leveled at him is he's very much a plan A manager and that there's no other way, he hasn't got a different way of playing and Newcastle saw that against Fulham in that defeat of the weekend.

Speaker 8 And in games where Newcastle expected to be on the front foot and have possession, that might be true because he doesn't yet quite have the players to really dominate games in the way that, say, a Man City or an Arsenal have done previously.

Speaker 8 But in this one, the rumours started a few hours before kickoff that he was going to go to five at the back.

Speaker 8 And immediately, everyone went, oh, is you know, minds went back to the last 20 minutes at Emirates where Newcastle played 5-5-0 and properly did no strikers, no forward players. Just sat back on me.

Speaker 8 After all he said, because he was asked in the build-up, oh, 2-0 is a dangerous scoreline.

Speaker 8 And he went, well, it is a dangerous scoreline, but only if you don't play well, which I quite liked actually, as a line from him. But he set up five at the back.
And actually,

Speaker 8 that is where Eddie Howe is very good, particularly against Michel Arteta. He seems to have his number.

Speaker 8 So have these three centre-backs, the height to combat

Speaker 8 Arsenal set piece fret. I thought bringing Trippier back actually, he's barely played in the last year, really.
Livremento has very much overtaken him as first-choice right back.

Speaker 8 And Trippier's, if there was any doubt that he's still very much a leader in that group, I think that was extinguished last night.

Speaker 8 And then he had his centre-backs basically, he had people man-marking people. So Cher would follow Declan Rice wherever he was going.
We saw it in the first leg as well.

Speaker 8 You'd have Dan Burners Fen Bottom and up in the opposition half following Kai Havertz. Prudo Kimara said afterwards his job was basically to follow party

Speaker 8 around. And we saw it work.
Like, I don't know, for that second goal, I have no idea what David Ray is doing because I've watched it back a few times.

Speaker 7 It wasn't on, was it? Wasn't on.

Speaker 8 He can clearly see. It's not like Shares just come into his eyeline too late after he's hit the ball.
He's played it to Rice in real trouble. And maybe he thought he was some sort of mirage.

Speaker 8 Like, what is the Newcastle Centre half really doing there?

Speaker 3 He can't actually be up there.

Speaker 8 But he was, and it just worked. Everything, how set up.
And Giba Rey said it in his post-match interview. He said, actually, the game was one pre-match because Eddie gave us this game plan.

Speaker 8 We followed it to the letter.

Speaker 8 I think he said they had three sessions after the weekend. They were in on the Wednesday morning because you always wonder what footballers do on big nights like that.

Speaker 8 It's a long time to wait until 8 o'clock, but they were in walking through the plans in the morning.

Speaker 8 So credit to Eddie Howell for that. That definitely was a plan B and it definitely worked.

Speaker 5 That's one of the mysteries of football calendars, isn't it? Somehow, the 15-minute difference between 7.45 and 8 o'clock feels massive.

Speaker 5 It feels like it's a huge amount later whenever you go to game 8 o'clock at 7.45 for some reason.

Speaker 7 No, it really does, doesn't it?

Speaker 3 I don't know why.

Speaker 7 Yeah, no, it's weird. It's weird that I guess it were for us as well.
It's just that little bit later getting home, isn't it?

Speaker 7 More bad news, Nikki. Again, Martinelli coming off.
I mean, now they're really light in that position, aren't they?

Speaker 5 Yeah, it's a shame there wasn't a month-long period in the season when you could try to sign some extra forwards. I don't know

Speaker 5 if football would consider that in future seasons. No, it is strange.
It's strange that Arsenal have taken this position of not reinforcing up front.

Speaker 5 Obviously,

Speaker 5 you can make a pretty logical case for not overspending in January. It's very easy to overspend in January.
And I certainly think with how much it costs to buy a really top forward,

Speaker 5 you don't want to make a big investment in January and get it wrong just because you're rushing,

Speaker 5 because you have this idea that you need to compete for the league title right now, when in reality you're already six points behind the leaders and that might not do it anyway, right?

Speaker 5 You don't want to make a bad investment because you're chasing something that you might not be able to fix. At the same time, it is...
It is a real injury crisis up there already with Saka and Jesus.

Speaker 5 And now you add another player onto it and you think, well, couldn't we have done something?

Speaker 5 Couldn't we have done, it doesn't have to have been the first choice, doesn't have to have been the best option available for long term. But couldn't there have been a loan deal?

Speaker 5 Couldn't there have been some option that could have been found just to have another body in there? Because it does feel very thin with Martinelli going out as well.

Speaker 5 And it sounds like hamstring injury could be at least a few weeks on that.

Speaker 7 I did want to mention, Barry, that we did get to hear what Simon Hooper sounds like, which I wasn't expecting.

Speaker 7 Producer Joel saying that

Speaker 7 he sounded like a child readying to deliver his one-line as an activity because he's so nervous.

Speaker 7 I wonder if referees actually want to do this, do they?

Speaker 1 Probably not. I mean

Speaker 1 when you're only sort of

Speaker 1 performance or your delivery of one line and that line is chalking off a goal for the home side in this feverile bear pit, you can understand his

Speaker 1 nerves. But he didn't sound like I thought he'd sound.
I thought he'd sound more northern. But I just expect all referees to sound northern.
I don't even know where Simon Hooper is from, but

Speaker 5 because this is something that they have in the NFL. Like, you have this concept in American football of it's normal for the referees to speak.

Speaker 5 So, I think I understand where they're coming from as someone who's watched a lot of that. And I think in the NFL, certainly it works.
It's a very different sport with a very different flow to it. But

Speaker 5 I think I'm in favour of the concept of it, but it definitely felt so

Speaker 5 uncomfortable to him in that second. And I was saying, I just couldn't get over how much he was pointing at Isaac.
Like, he didn't want anyone looking at him. He's like, it was that guy.

Speaker 5 Don't blame me for this. He was offside.
He should feel bad about what he's done because he's caused you to stop having fun, not me.

Speaker 5 Yeah, I don't know.

Speaker 5 In the NFL, they have these yellow flags they throw on the pitch to sort of indicate a penalty. And I almost feel like he needed something else to look at.

Speaker 5 So he wasn't just jabbing his finger at Isaac.

Speaker 7 Oh, I'm sure that's to come.

Speaker 7 Yeah, and we'll all get very angry about that as well.

Speaker 7 Jack says, was it the ball? Squeaky says, is it fair that the Carabao Cup second leg was played with the same type of ball used in the first leg?

Speaker 7 That's in reference to Mikel Arteta mentioning the ball after the first leg. He was actually asked about it in his defence.

Speaker 7 Newcastle fans were chanting, is it the ball, Mikel? And then after the game, Newcastle posted on Twitter a picture of the ball with the caption, the culprit.

Speaker 7 I'm sure Tony Scholtz will punish them for that, I'm i'm sure more on that later uh listener barry just to just to just to sort of wrap things up i mean this is

Speaker 7 everyone's saying oh they're going to go to dubai arsenal and it's going to be exactly like last season because after they went to dubai they were really good and they barely lost a game i mean we can't really assume that's going to happen again are we and even if they didn't um they still might not win anything this season.

Speaker 1 Yeah, that's very possible. It's probably likely, to be fair, but

Speaker 1 I've never been to Dubai.

Speaker 1 i can't speak for its restorative qualities it's a place i have no interest whatsoever in ever visiting yeah it's good for them to get whatever it is 10 days off and and go and get a bit of sun and some nice food and a bit of or

Speaker 1 i'd say they'll be you know if they played really well and and still not got through you'd go fair enough but it's like when newcastle lost that Carabao Cup final against who was at Manchester United two years ago they just didn't turn up, didn't lay a glove on them.

Speaker 1 Arsenal were like this last night.

Speaker 1 It was just a very poor performance a bit after the Lord Mayor's show and they've left themselves open to accusations that they maybe over-celebrated or rate, you know, emphatic win over a really fallible Manchester City side.

Speaker 1 Maybe they got

Speaker 1 notions above their station. I don't know.
But

Speaker 1 it was poor from Arsenal and a very, as I said, annoyingly good performance from Newcastle.

Speaker 8 I quite enjoyed Anthony Gordon getting the line, we've got to stay humble, into his post-match interview as well.

Speaker 8 You know, maybe they just were the words that came to his head in the moment, who knows, but it was very good.

Speaker 7 I'm enjoying this callback, but is it now getting a bit

Speaker 7 tired? I think no, no.

Speaker 7 Let's keep absolutely flogging it like a like a Stuart Lee stand-up routine. I think that that'll do.

Speaker 7 Sam, last word for you on this. I mean, we'll get to the second leg of the second tie for tonight, but do you do feel like Newcastle will have learned lessons

Speaker 7 from last time? Obviously, you want to enjoy this moment, don't you? Getting to a final, but they want to go one step, you know, they want to go the whole way this time, won't they?

Speaker 7 It's been so long since a trophy for Newcastle.

Speaker 8 Oh, it's been a long time. I hope so.
And it's felt throughout the run,

Speaker 8 particularly the quarterfinal. The first time around, and we're talking about two years ago,

Speaker 8 there was a sense of occasion with everything and everything was celebrated. And there was such joy, and rightly, as it should should be for the fans.

Speaker 8 But I think Howe has intimated in some of the stuff. He said that

Speaker 8 maybe

Speaker 8 that build-up to the final, the players and the staff inadvertently got so caught up in the occasion because they became heroes just by getting to a final. It was such a big deal.

Speaker 8 And as Barry said, they completely didn't turn up on the day. And I go back to the semi-final first leg two years ago, beat Southampton one nil away.
And it was a wonderful night.

Speaker 8 And I took my partner, then wife, with me. And I don't drink that often, but I had a few drinks that night.
And at the end of a 1-0 win against Southampton,

Speaker 8 she was, we were all ready to leave. We clapped the players off, and she went to the loo and said, Oh, I'll meet you here.
And I said, Okay, I'll just do a bit more celebrating.

Speaker 8 And the subs, unused subs came out to warm down.

Speaker 8 And I, for about 10, 15 minutes, was just stuck down, not stuck, voluntarily down there singing the Matt Ritchie song at Matt Ritchie with a couple of hundred other people.

Speaker 8 And I wandered out eventually to meet her at the waiting place, and she was fuming.

Speaker 8 We had to walk back along this river in Southampton, and the whole time she was about 10 paces ahead of me, she was driving us home. Uh, I was just following in her wake.

Speaker 8 And the line, celebrate when you've won something, has become famous in our household and amongst our friends.

Speaker 3 It gets used all the time.

Speaker 8 And so, that is a man time stuck with. By the way, I should say, I then realized that in her, she's a Watford fan, and in her bedroom, there is a

Speaker 8 whole photo frame, her and her dad, this Watford scoffing. It was a blooming semi-final win against Wolves.
So, this whole celebrate when you won something, I was like, come on, you can't do that.

Speaker 8 But the point I'm trying to make is celebrate when you've won something.

Speaker 8 And I think the players and the staff, and hopefully, the fans this time will hold on to that mantra because it's been a tough run, but there is still a final. It would be lovely to win it.

Speaker 1 Sam, I don't want to intrude or pry into the nitty-gritty of your private life, but you refer to her as your your partner, then wife, and have subsequently referred to her bedroom.

Speaker 1 So, I don't know if things aren't going well in the Dalling household,

Speaker 8 I will correct that. We don't have to edit it, but yes,

Speaker 12 current wife.

Speaker 7 Oh, no,

Speaker 3 that's

Speaker 9 worse, that's even worse.

Speaker 3 Just my wife,

Speaker 11 my wife, and her childhood bedroom at her

Speaker 3 got it.

Speaker 8 That story suddenly feels like a really bad idea.

Speaker 7 Let's keep all of that in, I think, now, for the context.

Speaker 7 Yes, I think we'll leave that there for part one.

Speaker 7 Thank you to everyone for the lovely comments on Blue Sky about having my baby here. But I understand there's probably a double that to people who are quite annoyed.

Speaker 7 But just to let you know, I do have my baby Sully here in case you can hear any sort of

Speaker 7 sounds that you might not want to.

Speaker 1 Is he named after Sully March?

Speaker 7 Yeah, that's his middle name, Solly March. Cowan, no.

Speaker 7 It's a family name, but yeah, happily. It's lovely to see Sully March back return to full fitness.
But that's another story. Anyway, that'll do for part one.

Speaker 7 In part two, we'll preview tonight's early cup second leg between Liverpool and Spurs.

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Speaker 7 Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly. So, Liverpool against Spurs tonight at Anfield.
Spurs lead 1-0 on aggregate.

Speaker 7 Barry, I'm not sure if a second leg is going to suit Spurs at this stage.

Speaker 7 They lead, but I'm not sure. I haven't looked at the sort of betting markets or anything.
I'm assuming they're not going to be favourites to progress, are they?

Speaker 1 I don't know, is the answer to that question. Look, I don't know how this game is going to go.
You would think Liverpool probably have enough about them to turn the tie around.

Speaker 1 I think I would prefer Liverpool to get to the final because I'd be more confident in them beating Newcastle than Spurs.

Speaker 1 But I think a Tottenham-Newcastle final would be really interesting because you've these two perennial losers going toe-to-toe in a final.

Speaker 7 That's how Sky going to bill it, is it?

Speaker 3 Well,

Speaker 1 I mean, I'm sorry, but it's true.

Speaker 1 It is true.

Speaker 12 And

Speaker 1 they'd both be so scared of losing that game.

Speaker 7 It would be so bad, but good, wouldn't wouldn't it?

Speaker 1 Yeah. It could be an awful, awful final for everyone involved, just the terror and the apprehension, but great for us.

Speaker 1 I'm not going to say I'm a neutral because, you know, I d I don't want Newcastle to win a trophy to end their trophy drought.

Speaker 1 I think I would like Spurs to get through and I think a Newcastle Spurs final would be really

Speaker 1 interesting and fun.

Speaker 1 albeit not for the fans of either team involved until the final whistle blown is blown and at wi or the penalty shootout ends, at which point one of them will be beside themselves with delight and the others will be just absolutely devastated.

Speaker 4 But

Speaker 3 and,

Speaker 1 you know, he's he has got this second season winner trophy thing about him and he's reminded journalists of it earlier this season.

Speaker 1 And, you know, who's to say Tottenham can't get the rack together tonight and finish this this off?

Speaker 7 It looks like it's going to be another slightly makeshift defence. Dragasheen ruled out probably to the end of the season and maybe beyond with an ACL injury.
Romero is out.

Speaker 7 Not much information on Van der Wen, but it sounds like he's not going to be able to be involved. They're also missing Solanke, Madison, Werner, Johnson, Udogi, and Vicario.

Speaker 1 Yeah, okay. I'm now revising my opinion.

Speaker 1 Liverpool will win about five miles.

Speaker 7 But Ange wins a trophy in his second season, Barry.

Speaker 7 That's what we have to cling on to. But Nikki, it sounds like Kevin Danso

Speaker 7 might start. He's signed on loan from Lance.

Speaker 7 Yeah, I mean, as we mentioned, they've got a huge injury list.

Speaker 7 Do they do Ange ball or

Speaker 7 do they try and hang on to this goal lead? This is the question.

Speaker 5 Mate, we only play one way, don't we, mate?

Speaker 5 That's got to be the answer.

Speaker 5 I'm curious to see how bold he is with the new signings because, of course, Matisse Tello as well coming in on loan. Interesting player, young player, certainly fascinated to see.
There is this

Speaker 5 journalist in me, hungry for the narrative, that wants to see these people just thrown into the match and see what happens. Because, yeah,

Speaker 5 on paper, it's very hard to make a case for expecting anything other than Liverpool being a better team than Tottenham at home, where they haven't lost to Tottenham in, what, about

Speaker 5 more than half a decade,

Speaker 5 probably much more than that. I'm not even certain when it is that Tottenham last won at Anfield.
It's a long time. And so you expect the expectable result.
But

Speaker 5 there is definitely something.

Speaker 5 And I think certainly you could say that Newcastle's energy was different in the cup game last night to what it had been in the league games immediately preceding it.

Speaker 5 There is something to the fact that

Speaker 5 this is Tottenham's entire season right here at this point, whereas it's realistically the last on Liverpool's list of priorities.

Speaker 5 But it's a semi-final and it's at Anfield and I don't think they're going to not show up. I fully expect Liverpool to play very well tonight.

Speaker 5 But I'm just, if you want a case for why it could be different, that's that's the best I've got.

Speaker 7 Sam, that Liverpool do look sort of machine-like this season, don't they? I think it would be a huge surprise, um, even though they go into this one-nil down.

Speaker 8 Yes, I was just having a quick Google and the Opta supercomputer for what it's worth has run all its simulations and it's pretty much guaranteeing a Liverpool victory. Um,

Speaker 8 they are

Speaker 8 I can't look at this as a neutral. My head, I'm trying to step back at it and be journalistic, but all my head is saying, who would you rather play in the final? Who'd you rather play in the final?

Speaker 8 And I think the answer is definitely Tottenham Hotspur. And that's not saying Newcastle would definitely beat them, but who knows?

Speaker 8 But as a fan, I would prefer the frailties of Tottenham and Angeball, which could end up winning 5-0 and could end up

Speaker 8 in a Newcastle victory. So I think what I'm trying to say is, yes, Liverpool are too efficient.
They are too clinical in what they do. There's less uncertainty.

Speaker 8 And I think when you are, as Barry phrases it, a perennial loser, when you're not quite at a level where you know you can function at your very best week in, week out, what you need in a game is uncertainty.

Speaker 8 And

Speaker 8 Liverpool don't really have that. Albeit Newcastle went head to head with them and drew free earlier in the season.
But at home, they got in the FA Cup, Clymouth as well. I know they're going away.

Speaker 8 There's a Merseyside derby, but when you're winning and and when you're on a roll,

Speaker 8 I'd love to say hopefully Ange can go there. And he's got to play Angeball, by the way.
He can't suddenly go 5-5-0.

Speaker 8 But I just think Liverpool have too much.

Speaker 5 It's one of those ties that makes you a bit sad for no away goals rule again, doesn't it?

Speaker 5 Because if it's 1-0 and a goal for Tottenham effectively means that Liverpool have to score 3, then it's a really fascinating setup. But I sort of,

Speaker 4 I think

Speaker 5 there was a lot of talk

Speaker 5 before last night's game about the the first goal. Oh, if Arsenal scored the first goal, it's going to change the dynamic.

Speaker 5 I'm not even that sure that if Tottenham scored the first goal, if it's going to change the dynamic that much, because it's still Liverpool at home and I still expect them to score at least two. So

Speaker 5 maybe I'm wrong on that, and maybe there will be a first goal that changes the shape of it. But

Speaker 5 I do think that it is one of those where if away goals was in place, it would feel very different to how it feels without away goals.

Speaker 8 There's just no world in which the last thing Ange says before those Tottenham players is, lads, keep it tight for the first 20 minutes and the quiet and the crowd.

Speaker 7 Park that bus, mate. Yeah, I can't see it.
Can't see it. Nikki, you mentioned Matthias Tell.

Speaker 7 A good piece in The Guardian from Andy Brassel, because obviously I didn't know anything about him. And actually, subsequently, so he's joined on loan, but Ange, he actually used the word mate.

Speaker 7 We're not taking the piss here.

Speaker 7 He said we're going to sign him.

Speaker 7 So that's quite a big statement from him, isn't it? But yeah, it sounds like he could be extremely exciting.

Speaker 5 Yeah, he's again, because he's 19 years old, we haven't seen a lot of him at the senior level yet. And

Speaker 5 there is a lot of very positive buzz around him. And it's somewhat surprising that

Speaker 5 Bayern have allowed him out of their grasp. But I'm fascinated.
I'm fascinated to see what sort of player he's going to become because... the buzz around him, as I say, is very positive.

Speaker 5 I haven't had a chance to read Andy's article yet, so I can't comment on what Andy's written, unfortunately. But yeah,

Speaker 5 I know a lot of people think very highly of Tell.

Speaker 7 And also, Barry, they've signed Mason Mellier for what St Patrick's Athletic have announced as a record transfer fee for a League of Ireland player.

Speaker 7 You've been following this County Wicklow lad closely, I'm sure.

Speaker 1 I've never heard of him before, I'm afraid.

Speaker 1 I don't. I used to follow League of Ireland football.
I used to go to Shamrock Rovers a lot because I lived near the ground. They were sort of

Speaker 1 renting or playing in ground sharing in when they were homeless many years ago but I don't don't keep an eye on League of Ireland proceedings really anymore although Damien Duff is the manager of Shelburne he's always good value for a controversial quote and he insists that the League of Ireland is the best league in the world

Speaker 7 I wouldn't necessarily agree but what what was the fee out of interest do you know or 1.5 million pounds possibly rising to 3.5 with a 20% sell-on so clearly highly rated.

Speaker 1 Well, I mean, for a League of Ireland side, that is like winning the lottery. Yeah, it's just massive.

Speaker 7 Let's touch on the Premier League game from Monday. That was a long time ago.
Chelsea 2, West Ham United 1. Can anyone remember what happened in this game? Did anyone watch it closely?

Speaker 7 Anyone want to comment on it?

Speaker 1 I was more focused on Middlesbrough-Sunderland, but it wasn't a great game. Chelsea probably just about deserved to win it with two very scrappy goals.

Speaker 1 Jared Bowen was back for West Ham. He scored a lovely finish to put them ahead, but they ultimately lost.

Speaker 1 I suppose the main talking points are that Nicholas Jackson has now gone eight games without scoring.

Speaker 1 Chelsea finally dropped Robert Sanchez. Philip Jorgensen was in goal for them in this game.
And West Ham had a lot of injuries.

Speaker 1 And Evan Ferguson was looking on from the stands because he'd only signed for them that day. It was the closed the play on deadline day.

Speaker 1 So

Speaker 1 yeah, it wasn't very good from what I saw of it.

Speaker 7 Yeah, important three points for Chelsea. It moves them back into the top four.

Speaker 7 Seems to be a lot of movement in terms of the top four in the Premier League. Speaking of Deadline Day, Barry, you're winners and losers.
I know we like to say who's won the transfer window.

Speaker 7 I wonder if it it might be Aston Villa just because of they've signed people that we all know and we all assume they're going to be brilliant.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I mean, if you look at winners and losers, you kind of have Aston Villa and Man City,

Speaker 1 I would say, have a foot in each camp. City spent an awful lot of money, young players who are largely unproven and probably won't hit their stride until next season, I reckon.

Speaker 1 Omar Marmouche, obviously, he seems to have hit the ground running and he's a class act.

Speaker 1 Villa obviously brought in 77 million euros, so I said about 68 million quid selling John Duran, got rid of Jaden Philogene, Diego Carlos, loaned out Emmy Buendia,

Speaker 1 Kosten Edelchkovich,

Speaker 1 and Sammy Ling Jr. and brought in Rashford Malin, Andreas Garcia and Axel Dizazi is in on loan from Chelsea.

Speaker 1 I think they needed another defender, which they didn't get. Tottenham's

Speaker 1 wage to revenue

Speaker 1 ratio is famously low. It's like under 50%.

Speaker 1 Villa's is almost 100% now, if not over 100%.

Speaker 1 So that's a worry for them because if they don't qualify for the Champions League,

Speaker 1 they're going to be in big trouble financially, I think, which could lead to more ticket price rises.

Speaker 1 And

Speaker 1 a lot of their fans were upset this season when the owners said they had to jack up Champions League ticket prizes for the PSR thing.

Speaker 1 I think maybe the winners of the transfer window were probably bourne at Brentford and Forrest because they managed to hold on to all these players they have who lots of other clubs wanted.

Speaker 1 So that's a win for them.

Speaker 1 We've spoken about Spurs. Kinske came in, Danso, Matthias Tail, so that's good because they clearly need more bodies in.

Speaker 1 And in terms of losers, I'd say,

Speaker 1 well, Arsenal didn't sign anyone. Newcastle didn't sign anyone.

Speaker 1 They sold, or they loaned Lloyd Kelly to Juventus, having only brought him in in the summer. And he's probably not going to come back to Newcastle.

Speaker 1 Miggy Almeron's gone back to Atlanta, the MLS Atlanta, as opposed to Syria at Atlanta. Leicester done nothing really.
They bought badly in the summer and have done nothing to improve the situation.

Speaker 1 And, yeah, Manchester United, they didn't have a good window either. They brought in this Patrick Dorgu guy from Lecha,

Speaker 1 bought some youngster from Arsenal, Aiden, Heaven,

Speaker 1 and

Speaker 1 sold Rashford, didn't replace him,

Speaker 1 which is sort of concerning seeing as they have two strikers there who Ruben Alberham doesn't seem to have any faith in. And they were trying to get rid of

Speaker 1 Darnacho and couldn't. So,

Speaker 1 yeah, I'd say they had a bad window. And then Chelsea, I just don't know anymore.

Speaker 1 They seem to have

Speaker 1 shipped out quite a lot of the players we were all scratching our heads at them buying during the summer. So, yeah, maybe it was good, maybe it wasn't.

Speaker 7 And then, yeah, brought back Chaliba, who was then benched for the West Ham game. So, it's all very, very confusing at Stamford Bridge.
Sam, I think we didn't expect Newcastle to sign anyone.

Speaker 7 Eddie Howe seemed to expect expect that too, but I mean, it must be frustrating, especially you lost, as Barry said, Almeron and Lloyd Kelly.

Speaker 8 Well, we hoped. We didn't necessarily expect.
But yeah, the line is, well, that's three transfer windows in a row now. Howe hasn't been able to strengthen the first team at the actual starting 11.
And

Speaker 8 there is that worry. It's a bit of a gamble, basically.
They're gambling on getting in.

Speaker 8 to the Champions League, finishing in what's what looks like it's going to be the top five, which is very possible.

Speaker 8 They're still, it's the same owners, but the people who front the club, Stavely, Amanda Staveley, in particular, I think they were more gamblers and they had to come in and they said, Yes, yes, yes.

Speaker 8 They wanted to feed the manager, they wanted this momentum and the crowd to get behind them. So, like buying Anthony Gordon in a January window a couple of years ago.

Speaker 8 And I think they were stung badly last June when they were scrambling around, initially thinking, oh, we're going to have to sell one of the crown jewels.

Speaker 8 In the end, they sold Minter and they sold Anderson effectively 15 million quid right and the anderson's gone to a team who are third in the premier league play in midfield he's a young lad come for the academy and they've got 15 million quid for him and and they are very

Speaker 8 they don't want that to happen again basically and and paul mitchell's come in and for the first time it's not purely down to how and there's someone trying to look at it long term so we have to in averted commas trust the process because what it sounds like they want to do is actually come the last couple of weeks of june this year is be in a position to take advantage of teams who are going, oh, we need to sell somebody to make up the PSR numbers and swoop in.

Speaker 8 But I think that is risky because if you don't get in the Champions League, there's no way Isaac and people like Gimeres and Tenali, well, are they going to hang around?

Speaker 8 And maybe they do have to sell Isaac. Maybe at some point that is just going to be the reality for the money they can get to him.

Speaker 8 But it is disappointing because for two or three years, we've been saying, oh, need a new right winger, need a new right.

Speaker 8 centre back but it's going to be slow um i think the villa one i think that's a real risk for them as well they've gambled because bringing players, it's an old school January transfer window that, right?

Speaker 8 Bringing players in on a loan who a couple of them probably have no intention of being there come June.

Speaker 8 So you've got this, you're paying all their wages and then come the summer, you're just in the same position again, needing those players.

Speaker 8 So I think they're going gambling on Champions League finish and maybe they'll get there. I think Wolves actually had a decent window as well because they didn't lose Kuna.

Speaker 8 They brought in a couple of defenders. I saw Agbadou play against Arsenal.
I thought he was was very good. I think their transfer window has given them a chance of staying up.

Speaker 8 It looks like it's three from four, so I think Wolves had a good window.

Speaker 1 Could I also add, for the benefit of Max Rushdon, who's probably busy at the minute and not staying across all the comings and goings, that just for Max's benefit, Jay Rodriguez has gone to Wrexham.

Speaker 1 Max always struggles to know where Jay Rodriguez is at any given time.

Speaker 7 Yeah, he always likes to know

Speaker 7 his movements, doesn't he? Jay Rodriguez. He's got him tracked.

Speaker 7 The next section we're calling Tony Scholes Fun Police.

Speaker 7 The Premier League may consider punishments for individual players if they feel celebrations are damaging the reputation of the game or could inflame opposition fans or players.

Speaker 7 So the Premier League's chief football officer Tony Scholes has said there's a balance. I think we all like to see celebrations.

Speaker 7 Some of the celebrations have been very funny and entertaining, but there's a line. Once it crosses over into mockery or criticism, then we would need to deal with it.

Speaker 7 As I said in the group, we're one step away from seeing a sign coming up saying no ball games, aren't we? Come on, this is ridiculous.

Speaker 7 And also, yeah, as producer Joel has pointed out, how is it, who's going to be judging what's inflammatory and what's not? Is it going to be VAR? Was that enough like a seagull?

Speaker 7 I mean, this is ludicrous to me.

Speaker 1 Yeah, it does seem weird. Look, I don't know the context in which Tony Scholl said this.
Did he just, you know, stand on a box in Hyde Park and announce it or was he asked?

Speaker 1 He didn't name any players specifically, but I note from social media that quite a lot of Arsenal fans

Speaker 1 seem to have decided it's a dig at Miles Lewis Skelly. It probably is,

Speaker 1 and Illiman Injai, who famously got booked for impersonating a seagull.

Speaker 1 Again, all we want is consistency. You know, Jamie Vardy's a total wind-up merchant.
I always find his celebrations amusing.

Speaker 1 He didn't get booked for impersonating an eagle when he scored against Crystal Palace. But it'll enjoy, you know, are you allowed

Speaker 1 mock eagles, which I would say are far more majestic birds than seagulls. But, you know, the line is drawn somewhere between an eagle and a seagull, clearly.
But

Speaker 1 I'm all for it. I think it's all good fun.
And

Speaker 1 it's the same in comedy, you know, stand-up comedy. Oh, there's a line.
You can't. I think you can joke about anything as long as you do it properly and tactfully and cleverly.

Speaker 1 So it's up to the players to

Speaker 1 put thought and nuance into their celebrations.

Speaker 5 As a Brighton resident who has not once but twice had food thieved from me by a seagull, I think they deserve all the mockery they get.

Speaker 7 Well said. I mean I think Jemi Varney's going to hand in his resignation with immediate effect isn't he?

Speaker 5 This is his

Speaker 7 shtick.

Speaker 5 I don't want to keep bringing this to the NFL but the NFL had this a few years ago. I think it was the late 2000s.
There were rules introduced about celebrating because,

Speaker 1 well,

Speaker 5 fans were branding it the No Fun League for a while because they decided people were taking it too far and they said you weren't allowed to do celebrations that involved more than one of your teammates and you weren't allowed to use props and you you weren't allowed to, I think it was rules about like how long you were allowed to leave your feet and everything.

Speaker 5 It was really precise and I think after a few years, they did eventually wind a lot of that back because they realised it was a bit of a nonsense and

Speaker 5 that it was indeed just making something that should be fun, no fun for no reason. And with Baz,

Speaker 5 it's about how you do it. And of course, the line isn't always totally clear to everyone.

Speaker 3 But

Speaker 5 are we really thinking that just because someone else did a celebration first, if you do the same celebration, that's crossed some absolute line of moral code?

Speaker 5 It's not like Haaland's celebration is honouring some

Speaker 5 loved relative or a part of his culture. It's just a little celebration.

Speaker 7 Yeah, let's just hope that this is a non-story.

Speaker 7 Because it's literally like no fun. We don't like fun.
This is not entertainment anymore at all.

Speaker 7 That'll do for part two. I mean, yeah, that was me talking about the story, not this podcast, by the way, hopefully, for some people.
That'll do for part two.

Speaker 7 In part three, we'll talk to Nikki about Syria.

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Speaker 7 Welcome back to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly. A quick whip around Italy, Nikki, and your piece from the weekend was talking about the Milan Derby and Kyle Walker's bow.

Speaker 5 Yeah, Kyle Walker made his debut at the weekend.

Speaker 5 Pretty solid debut in the Milan Derby and a good draw for Milan. They very nearly won that game.

Speaker 5 Well, they had won the two previous derbies, but before that they had been on a really rough run against Inter. I think it was six losses in a row.
So

Speaker 5 a nice start for him in a slightly odd derby because there's a current investigation going on to the

Speaker 5 organised supporters' groups on both sides of the Milan Derby and ties to criminal groups.

Speaker 5 And so there was no choreographia and none of the usual what has become called the TIFO in English which always annoys the Italians a little bit because TIFO is a bit of a

Speaker 5 yeah it was a it was a strange atmosphere going into that game but it was ended up being a very entertaining derby and Walker made it a solid start in it. Oddly

Speaker 5 with this last night you had Arsenal playing in the Arsenal playing in the Carabao Cup while Milan were playing in the Coppa Italia quarterfinal.

Speaker 5 And I think Milan had more English players on the pitch than Arsenal did because they had not just Kyle Walker but also Tamori, who, of course, nearly joined Tottenham in the Transo window, and also Tammy Abraham up front who scored twice.

Speaker 5 So a very English contingent at Milan at the moment and all playing pretty well. Walker played again last night and positive reviews.

Speaker 5 Tamori had another good game and Abraham, as I say, with a couple of goals. So an English moment happening at Milan, perhaps.

Speaker 7 And Scott, how's our Scots getting on as well at Napoli? Scott McTominay seems to have really become a cult hero very quickly.

Speaker 5 McTominay's been great. And Napoli are top of the league.

Speaker 5 That was the thing with that draw for Milan against Inter.

Speaker 5 It was

Speaker 5 two points dropped for Inter.

Speaker 5 Now, later in the evening, Napoli had a chance to build their lead at the top and wound up themselves very nearly winning, but conceding an injury time goal in much the same way as Milan had.

Speaker 5 They conceded an injury time goal against Roma. So it's very, very very tight.
And Inta have a chance to pull level with them if they win their game in hand. But McTominay's been an absolute hit.

Speaker 5 He's just, I feel like I say this every time I come on, but he's just absolutely become one of those Antonio Conte players. I think every team that Conte goes to, he has his pets.

Speaker 5 He has his guys who are just the ones who you know are all in on his project.

Speaker 5 They're the ones that Conte looks to and trusts they're going to do the work and and so they become undroppable and I think that McTominay has has become one of those for Conte at Napoli and he's he's he's doing what I think even Manchester United fans who certainly had not been universal in appreciating him while he was there but I think even amongst Manchester United fans there was appreciation for the fact that he was a midfielder who could break the lines and score goals and I think his ability to do that has been really valuable for a Napoli team that did need to reinvent its attack this season because Ossiman went in the the summer and then Kvarat Skelli has gone now in the January transfer window.

Speaker 5 But they've become a different team with a different way of attacking and having that line-breaking ability, that midfield scorer, a goal scorer behind Lukaku up front, has been really, really valuable.

Speaker 12 We mentioned Napoli, so they're top into second, Atalanta Lazio Juve below them. Who else should be looking out for? I always enjoy checking in on Uncle Claudio.
He's doing not too badly at Roma.

Speaker 12 He took a point of Napoli, as you mentioned.

Speaker 5 Yeah, he certainly calmed the waters a bit at Roma, who had this extremely, I don't know what the right word is for it.

Speaker 5 They had a very chaotic start this season with Danielle de Rossi, who of course got a contract extension at the end of last season, then getting fired almost immediately,

Speaker 5 which is not just a decision you can make about whether or not he's doing well as a manager in Rome. He's one of the city's great sons and one of the ones who the fans adore and who of course was the

Speaker 5 deputy to Francesco Totti for all those years and eventually the captain himself and so to treat someone like that giving them the contract extension and then tossing them out after whatever it was four or five games at the start of the season

Speaker 5 went down very badly Ivan Jurich came in didn't fix the situation Seranieri comes in and he's a true Roman who can calm the fans down a bit and has

Speaker 5 but they are still ninth in the table results have improved but it's it's still a long way off where the club's meant to be which in the champions League places.

Speaker 5 And I think this conversation about whether or not it's going to be four or five spots is going to be a really important one in Italy this season because you've currently got

Speaker 5 Inter and Apoli absolutely having a title race, as you said, Atalanta looking pretty solid for third place, even though they've lost a bit of momentum recently. But then after that, you've got...

Speaker 5 Lazio, who looking like the best of this group of players, a group of teams through the season.

Speaker 5 And then you've got Juventus, Mina, and Roma, who are all clubs who absolutely aspire to and believe they should be in the Champions League, who are chasing, running to keep up.

Speaker 5 So the top four might not include any of those teams.

Speaker 5 Even the top five is not a guarantee that those teams are going to get into, but they're all doing what they can to get there in this second half of the season.

Speaker 5 And Milan had a very aggressive transfer window. They obviously brought in João Felix from Chelsea.
They also signed Santiago Jimenez.

Speaker 5 Those two players combined for a goal in the Coppitalia last night.

Speaker 5 They've done plenty of more business, even than that, this January.

Speaker 5 And you can see there's a bit of desperation actually amongst clubs like Roma and Milan to be in there and get that Champions League money.

Speaker 5 And I think it's going to shape up for a very interesting race amongst those clubs in the second half of the season on top of the title race.

Speaker 12 There's been a little bit of EFL action this week. Oxford United's unbeaten run under Gary Rowatt is over.
They were beaten 1-0 at Burnley.

Speaker 12 We gave Burnley numerous chances to score before doing it ourselves.

Speaker 12 An own goal from Michael Hellek. Another clean sheet for Burnley.
Nine goals conceded in 31 games so far this season. It's absolutely absurd.

Speaker 12 Coventry 0 leads two last night. Leeds beat the informed Coventry.
They stay top of the championship.

Speaker 12 And Barry, you're mac and minute for Billy Balance because there was too much Newcastle for your liking today.

Speaker 1 Yeah, far too much Newcastle. So we topped the show with that.
So we need to tail it with some Sunderland love. I thoroughly enjoyed their win over Middlesbrough on Monday night.

Speaker 1 It was a really, really good game. Sunderland won 3-2.

Speaker 1 The winner came pretty late. I think with about three minutes to go.

Speaker 1 Ryan Giles comedy own goal. The ball clanking in off his shins from about eight yards out.
But

Speaker 1 the takeout from this game has to be Enzo LaFay, who I'd never heard of a fortnight ago. He's come in on loan to Sunderland from Roma, and he was just by a mile the best player on the pitch.

Speaker 1 You sometimes see a game where one player is just so much better than everyone else and he was that guy. I think if Sunderland get promoted, they're obliged to buy him.

Speaker 1 And obviously, now that I've seen him once and he was outstanding, I will expect that level of performance. every single game

Speaker 1 because my mind is big but he he was just different gravy to to everyone else on the pitch. He sent in the cross that clanked in off Giles' shins.

Speaker 1 He set up Sunderland second with a lovely through ball for Wilson Isidore, who's also been a revelation this season.

Speaker 1 And I guess Reggie LeBrie must know Le Fay from his time at Lorien because that's where he was before he went to Roma.

Speaker 1 What a player he was in that game anyway.

Speaker 1 Long may continue.

Speaker 5 He's a bit bit of an odd case, Lefe, because he was very much someone who there was a buzz around the signing for Roma in the summer.

Speaker 5 But Roma, as just alluded to, had this very chaotic last few months.

Speaker 5 And Ghisolfi, the sporting director, who's a French sporting director, who's brought in in May, very much his guy, Lefe, and very much signed in conversation with Daniele Derosi, who had ideas for how he was going to use him.

Speaker 5 De Rossi gets fired and suddenly there's Urich there who doesn't know what to do with him.

Speaker 5 So there was a lot of very positive noise for him as a player, and then we barely saw him for the months after the Rossi went.

Speaker 5 So, fascinating to see him show up in Sunderland and then, as you say, make a really bright start.

Speaker 12 Finally, on to any other business, Alex has written in, Dear Pod, on Monday I flew to Denmark solo with my one-year-old daughter and her accompanying kit. Oh, well done, well done to you, Alex.

Speaker 12 Five minutes into the flight, the man in front of me spilt his coffee all over the middle seat/slash table, and I was able to help him by passing him nappy wipes to clear up the mess.

Speaker 12 I later noticed he had chosen to spend the flight doing a detailed analysis of the bull match replay of Brentford against Tottenham, which seemed an odd way to spend a flight.

Speaker 12 I assumed he was either a scout or an odd football obsessive until he went to the loo and I realised it was in fact actual Brentford manager Thomas Frank.

Speaker 12 So yeah I guess sort of a combination of scout and football obsessive in a way. He asked has anyone on the panel ever managed to assist a Premier League manager in a similar way?

Speaker 12 He says I didn't get an autograph partly as it seemed rude to bother him, and partly as the only thing I had to hand was a picture book about a mouse and mole flying a kite.

Speaker 12 And that actually reminded me, I had to text Max about this because his dad famously got his copy of Plato's Republic signed by Trevor Brooking at a Cambridge match, didn't he?

Speaker 12 I'd love to have a collection of

Speaker 12 strange autographs

Speaker 12 on weird things. Anyone got anything to add on

Speaker 12 helped a Premier League manager out?

Speaker 1 I once held a door open for Maurizio Pocciettino at Tottenham's training ground and he refused to walk through it until I went before him and I

Speaker 1 we basically had a door standoff.

Speaker 2 How long were you there?

Speaker 1 And I often think if I hadn't capitulated

Speaker 1 he might still be the Spurs manager.

Speaker 8 He's not quite a Premier League manager, but I did a really good, well, I say really good, I had a really fun day doing a behind the scenes piece with Robbie Savage at Macclesfield earlier in the season for The Guardian.

Speaker 8 And oh yeah, we built up a really nice rapport. And my my wife and I, one of the things we love doing is going to watch local non-league football.

Speaker 8 So we're big on the Northern Premier League West division. I saw a player play for Natwich Town.
I thought, oh, maybe Robbie Savage might like to have a look at him for Macclesfield.

Speaker 8 So I texted him my recommendation and never heard anything back. So, you know, I tried to help a manager and was completely blanked.

Speaker 1 No wonder your wife has her own bedroom if that's what you're doing in your legendary time.

Speaker 12 She's a lucky, lucky lady. I think we can all agree on that.
That'll do for today. I pay thanks to Barry.

Speaker 7 Thank you. Thank you, Nikki.

Speaker 4 Thanks.

Speaker 12 And thank you, Sam. You can pop your Tottenham scarf on now.

Speaker 1 You're welcome.

Speaker 12 Thank you all. Football Weekly is produced by Joel Grove.
Our executive producer is Phil Maynard. We'll be back tomorrow.

Speaker 1 This is The Guardian.