Manchester City lift the Community Shield and the EFL kicks off: Football Weekly

Speaker 1 This is The Guardian.

Speaker 2 Hi, it's Paige DeSorbo from Giggly Squad.

Speaker 3 You ever stand in front of your closet and just say, I have nothing to wear while you're literally surrounded by clothes?

Speaker 6 Because same.

Speaker 7 So I started listing pieces I'm over on Depop, and honestly, it's been amazing.

Speaker 9 You can sell what you're done with, and someone out there will love it.

Speaker 12 And the best part about it is there's there's no seller fee, so the money you make actually stays in your pocket, which feels very chic.

Speaker 14 It's also insanely easy.

Speaker 16 I listed something while watching TV, and it sold before the episode even ended.

Speaker 18 So, download the Depop app and list your first item today, because your old outfit could be someone else's new favorite.

Speaker 19 Depop, where taste recognizes taste.

Speaker 6 Payment processing fees, boosting fees still apply.

Speaker 20 For more info, visit Depop.com.

Speaker 21 Take control of the numbers and supercharge your small business with Xero. That's X E R O

Speaker 21 With our easy-to-use accounting software with automation and reporting features, you'll spend less time on manual tasks and more time understanding how your business is doing. 87% of surveyed U.S.

Speaker 21 customers agree Xero helps improve financial visibility. Search Zero with an X or visit zero.com/slash ACAST to start your 30-day free trial.
Conditions apply.

Speaker 22 Hello, and welcome to Guardian Football Weekly. Manchester City win the community shield on penalties.
Johnny Evans skies the decisive one.

Speaker 22 Hopefully, we can get through the pod without discussing if it's a trophy or not. Nice to see those city players who we won't see again for months.
Oscar Bob was excellent.

Speaker 22 Servinio, Amacati, and Nico O'Reilly. As for United, they were okay, played some decent attacking football.
Ahmad was good. And there's the all-new Casemiro.

Speaker 22 We'll talk their new signings, who, of course, have all played for Eric Tenhag before. And then there's some others.
Neto Neto to Chelsea, how they needed a wide attacker.

Speaker 22 Solanke to Spurs, Wambersaka to West Ham. There's interim Lee Carsley, and then the start of the EFL.
Sheffield Wednesday, Hammer Wayne Rooney's Plymouth. Leeds and Portsmouth play out a cracker.

Speaker 22 Cambridge's season ends after three minutes, and Bromley get their first ever win. If we're struggling, I have a good story about an apple.

Speaker 22 We'll answer your questions, and that's today's Guardian Football Weekly.

Speaker 22 On the panel today, Sanny Rodravagilo, welcome.

Speaker 1 Hello. Hello, Ben Fisher.

Speaker 23 Hi, Mitch.

Speaker 22 And good morning to Will Unwyn.

Speaker 1 Hello, Max.

Speaker 22 Let's start the Community Shield then. Man City won, Manchester United won.
City winning 7-6 on penalties. You were there, Will.

Speaker 22 How was it?

Speaker 1 What a spectacle it was.

Speaker 22 There we are.

Speaker 1 Googling Nico O'Reilly at three minutes to kick off to find out potentially which school he went to in Manchester for some colour. It was a football match, wasn't it?

Speaker 1 Two teams missing, well, Manchester City missing a lot of players and Man United playing quite a few that had just turned up for training this week.

Speaker 1 It wasn't a great game, it was sort of played in spells of high intensity, followed by five minutes of relaxation.

Speaker 1 But City found things out about their players. Oscar Bob looked very dangerous from the right, McAtee looked comfortable in the centre behind Harland, Doku had a very exciting game, Doku v.

Speaker 1 Dallow was a nice little battle to start the season.

Speaker 1 The whole of midfield was a complete no man's land, nothing seemed to happen in there.

Speaker 1 But City came out of it with the positives, I think, overall. Manchester United didn't really learn anything about their team, whereas City found out that Savinio was quite lively.

Speaker 1 Nick O'Reilly probably is not going to be seen in the Premier League for a while. He'll get some league cup action.
He looked alright, but made some poor decisions when he was looking to pass it.

Speaker 1 But overall, it was vaguely entertaining. And Johnny Evans missing a penalty to

Speaker 1 end his testimonial was quite upsetting for many, but it was a humorous one.

Speaker 1 And City,

Speaker 1 take the

Speaker 1 positives that they've not won it for five years.

Speaker 1 It's not a real trophy. This is a glorified friendly, as the atmosphere told us at Wembley.
Everyone laughing when Edison scored his from the spot. It was definitely a better one for City.

Speaker 1 United started with Martin as at left back, Evans at centre-back, Maguire who was a doubt as the other centre-back, missing out out all of the kids.

Speaker 1 And all they found out was that Marcus Rashford still can't finish and that Garnachio is really good at football. So, yeah, an interesting one to start the season.

Speaker 22 I like to think you live your life in that way of, you know, spurts of intensity followed by long spells of relaxation. That's sort of, that's the vibe I get.

Speaker 22 I mean, actually, it's mainly just long spells of relaxation. I'm waiting for the burst of intent.
It will come at some point.

Speaker 1 Oh, it's penciled in for 2026. Don't you worry, Max.

Speaker 1 What a five minutes that'll be.

Speaker 22 I mean, you mentioned O'Reilly, and you sort of think, actually, you can be nervous, right?

Speaker 22 He must have been nervous because some of those mistakes were mistakes you just think he probably wouldn't have made.

Speaker 22 But Oscar Bob, who has played, I don't know how much, but some football, he looks so good. And you sort of think, will he get, like, is this a season where he will get more game time?

Speaker 1 Oh, he definitely will. One of the big reasons why they were happy to sell Cole Palmer last season was they were really confident that Oscar Bob would be better, which is quite a claim now.

Speaker 1 Obviously, I don't think anyone predicted how good Cole Palmer would be last season, but he's definitely got those qualities.

Speaker 1 If you think to the Newcastle game where City won 3-2, 91st minute winner from a young Oscar, Bob, brilliant touch, finish, keeping his cool at St. James's Park, that is quality you've got.

Speaker 1 But Guadiola stressed afterwards, you know, a game where Bob had, I'd argue, be man of the match, created the equaliser,

Speaker 1 that he needs to do it more consistently. And that's natural for any 20-year-old.
Of course, it is.

Speaker 1 And he's due to the high amount of games that he plays, two extra Champions League games to chuck in.

Speaker 1 Let's not forget that there's a Club World Cup at the end of the season for everyone to not look forward to. There's going to be a lot more opportunities.

Speaker 1 Alvarez is left, and Bob can play right, centre, left. And I suspect if Harland's not playing, he'll be one of the options to be a false nine.
Because I don't think they'll replace Alvarez now.

Speaker 1 You know, I wrote yesterday this they showed with Savinho et al. that there's enough in that squad to create a potent forward line.

Speaker 1 But the things that Bob can do, that sort of darting in, darting out, quick feet, quick thought.

Speaker 1 You know, I think he's going to be a very exciting player. It's

Speaker 1 another boon for City that they've managed to sell someone for 70-odd million quid. And they can, the accountant and Pep Guadil, I think, will be very happy by the end of the season.

Speaker 22 Depending, of course, what happens with the charges, and we'll get to that briefly. Sanny, I thought Will was slightly unfair on Man United there.
I actually thought they were okay in this game.

Speaker 22 I thought Ahmad played well. I thought there wasn't a gaping hole in their midfield.
I thought Casemiro looked more slender.

Speaker 22 It's all relative. I suspect they're all more slender than we are, but

Speaker 22 I wasn't unimpressed with them.

Speaker 22 It was coming from a low bar, I guess.

Speaker 24 Well, I'm glad you shared your thoughts there, because Max, I didn't watch the game because

Speaker 24 I was at Middlesbrough in the championship and then had a lovely day on Red Car Beach with the family afterwards. But I did catch the highlights and I did watch the penalty shootout in its entirety.

Speaker 24 And the only thing that really stood out to me was you look at the lineups, And I know it's not original to say this, but Scott Carson still on the bench at 38, just having a nice time for the last few years, versus Johnny Evans, just two years younger than him, being thrown into this.

Speaker 24 And I know this is essentially because Lenny Yoro got injured in pre-season, but to think that this is still where United are at is quite something.

Speaker 24 But yeah, from what I saw on the highlights, United looks okay. Bruno Fernandes got a brilliant goal that was disallowed for offside and generally looks positive.

Speaker 24 And the, what, half a billion, quarter a billion that Ten Hag has been spending on ex-IX players, maybe it might all come together this season.

Speaker 22 What did you make of United, Ben?

Speaker 23 Well, I think it's gonna be interesting how

Speaker 23 much scrutiny, how quickly Ten Hag, obviously he's given this new contract. We know

Speaker 23 he was under so much pressure back in the last season, kind of got things going. But I wonder how quickly that will return this campaign.

Speaker 23 Obviously, I mean, as you said, the community shield doesn't matter, the result doesn't matter. I thought there were some, from what I saw, some better signs.

Speaker 23 I mean, I think people like Fernandez and the core of the team will still, you know, I don't think they're going to slide down the table, but

Speaker 23 he's going to be under so much pressure early on, Ten Hag. And I just, I wonder how quickly that will surface.
Or is it now a case of he's given the new contract?

Speaker 23 The fans do seem very much on side with him. They seemingly want it to work.

Speaker 23 The hierarchy sort of needs it to work now, I suppose, to kind of save face. But I'm just interested how that will play out in the first few weeks.

Speaker 23 Clearly, if they get off to a decent start, that will go away quite quickly. But But

Speaker 23 yeah, I'm interested in terms of the sort of dynamic around Ten Haag, who's now got this new contract and what that looks like.

Speaker 1 I'd just like to say for legal reasons, I did think United were all right. I

Speaker 1 don't understand the approach to the match where Ten Haag spent in the press conference saying he was going to take no risks and then played Martinez at left back

Speaker 1 when he'd only just got back. Harry Maguire was in injury doubt beforehand.
And we ended up with Pelestri at right back and no defenders on the bench.

Speaker 1 I find it very strange that, you know City played Nico O'Reilly, Harry O'Masi had a very good tour with United was nowhere to be seen as you know an actual fit left back and let's let's be honest there's nothing on this game and then Joshua Zerxe the only available new signing didn't get off the bench.

Speaker 1 I just find it a little strange approach where you need to sort of show something's changed from last season.

Speaker 1 Don't think they offered that. So as Ben says it'll be interesting to see how it plays out in the in the coming weeks.

Speaker 1 They might have been all right against a city team again missing a lot of players still players that haven't even returned from holiday that i just thought he probably needed to show something a bit different and i saw the same things as last year that gonacho pulled him out of a bit of a hole and rashford had good chances that he couldn't take yeah it's interesting sandy that that

Speaker 22 you know they've got this new structure united and

Speaker 22 they brought in delict and masrawi or they bring them in and these again are players that eric denhagas had at ajax um and like that's the only thing they can do like like surely you and it doesn't mean they're bad players right they may be perfect masrai is definitely a a better fit than Wambasaka.

Speaker 24 It's so strange, especially, like you say, they've got this new structure, although Dan Ashworth, is he still on gardening leave? Is he still?

Speaker 1 He's there.

Speaker 24 Oh, there you go.

Speaker 24 He's finished his garden. Ah, it's well, lovely.

Speaker 24 Last season, it did feel like, oh, you know, we're hastily trying to just default to 10 Haag. You know, it's given the money he needs to bring in who he wants.

Speaker 24 He's gone, oh, yeah, I've gone with the guys I trusted. And we've seen managers do that all the time.

Speaker 24 It does seem strange that that still is the policy. Like, you know, as Gary Nelville says, Manchester United football club.
I mean, you're supposed to have this global scouting network, aren't you?

Speaker 24 You're supposed to be able to tap into resources from all over the world.

Speaker 24 And while Man City can bring in youngsters from all over Greater Manchester and turn them into England internationals, you think it's quite strange that the United are still going down this route.

Speaker 24 It's very odd.

Speaker 24 And you really do think they might be able to pull something together with a bit more coherent, something a bit more coherent in the future.

Speaker 23 Picking up on what Will said about City probably not replacing Alvarez, I just had a quick look last night in terms of, I mean, I suppose it's not nothing sort of beyond the obvious, but in terms of the sales and the outgoings, what City do so well, it's much as we know they're a great team, we know Guardiel's amazing manager, but just looking at their business.

Speaker 23 I mean, remember a few years ago when they bought Greedish, City were at pains to kind of say, yeah, it's 100 million, but actually a lot of that money, I think bulk of that money, has come from us selling kind of fringe players.

Speaker 23 And again, already this summer, they've generated over 50 million from players who, you know, were probably nowhere near their first team, maybe would have got a few minutes yesterday in the community shield.

Speaker 23 Last summer it was the same, even with Palmer going, okay, yeah, he's had an amazing season, but they've still won the league without him, they've still done the business without him.

Speaker 23 I think last summer they got about 85 million, James Tratford, Shea Charles, you know, these guys.

Speaker 23 I think we do have to kind of commend that kind of, obviously, there's a massive caveat,

Speaker 23 which we know about, but the way they operate is a business in terms of I suppose replenishing the team, updating it, refreshing it.

Speaker 23 They don't sign too many duds, not too many players don't work out.

Speaker 23 I mean, Matteus Nunes springs to mind, hasn't really happened, but by and large, it is really impressive what they do sort of off the field in terms of that, I don't know, working the market, I suppose, to their own advantage.

Speaker 22 Interestingly, Will, and look, we're going to do a Premier League preview this week, so we don't have to spend hours on it. But Man City are 14 to 1 to get relegated.
Like Liverpool, a 2,000 to 1.

Speaker 22 And this is obviously because we're expecting the charges, you know, we're expecting a result of these charges at some point. We don't know which way it'll go.

Speaker 22 And I just sort of wondered in the double-page spread, you know, when you get all the teams and the previews and it sort of says, you know, one to watch on most important player this season, it sort of is Lord Panic.

Speaker 22 Like he's sort of more important than Kevin De Bruyne this season.

Speaker 1 Yeah, he's paid a similar amount as well. It's an interesting one.
It's dragged on for so long. I mean, I think the confusion levels are

Speaker 1 far too high for anyone to really take in the sort of enormity and the

Speaker 1 complexity of the situation now.

Speaker 1 I would suspect

Speaker 1 if I was a betting man, which I'm not, that City will get a slap on the wrists and not too much damage because otherwise I think all hell would break loose. Yeah.

Speaker 22 I mean, I suppose that isn't how justice should work, but I mean, like we say, we don't know.

Speaker 22 The court of public opinion, like everybody knows, everyone's made their choice, depending on whether they support City or not, I guess

Speaker 1 this is not a criminal case no no no of course

Speaker 1 yeah yeah no absolutely I and that is what I would anticipate to happen at some point that there will be there will be a punishment

Speaker 1 from

Speaker 1 my understanding of the situation roughly and having to read up on it a lot

Speaker 1 I think it will be not too severe and we would end up with plenty of other people up in arms, but if City got relegated,

Speaker 1 it might cause a bit too much chaos in the whole of the football pyramid because you would then end up with a lot of arguments about whether certain titles were rightly won

Speaker 1 I don't think it'd be massively in the interest of the Premier League to lose City

Speaker 1 so yes I'm not particularly concerned on where City will end up but yes they will get a punishment I would anticipate but if it's any more than three points I'd be surprised.

Speaker 24 Well, what the Premier League could do is take a leaf out of the Book of the Olympics, of course, who had a ceremony for athletes that were cheated out of medals in previous games, and they had it by the Eiffel Tower.

Speaker 24 In fact, one of the medalists actually has subsequently been done for doping as well. So I don't know whether they'll have to then do it.

Speaker 1 Don't write them to do another one.

Speaker 24 But, you know, maybe that's what could happen.

Speaker 24 Teams that finished second to Manchester City in a few years' time could go to premier league towers and have a little event and and get their own little trophy lift on their own little stand and the fans can have a coach coach trip down there you know open up bus parades all over the country uh the loan badger says apparently the font on the back of the city kit which i thought was unacceptable i think it looked we wondered if it was comic sands yesterday me and barry on the radio is it based on noel gallagher's handwriting should unite have got mick hucknells in the interest of balance well sit city just try too hard with this stuff don't they like the the sleeve has a 016 one on on it it, which is like the Manchester dialing code.

Speaker 24 Like, we know you're from Manchester. I don't know why they keep doing this.

Speaker 24 It's really quite frustrating. And look, I know I do lots of stuff at Man City all the time, and maybe next Sunday I'm going to get Pelters now, but we're aware you're from Manchester.

Speaker 24 Like, you don't need to keep hammering this home.

Speaker 22 I love the idea of having 01223 tattooed on my face to just to remind everyone that I'm from Central Cambridge. Anyway, that'll do for part one.
Part two, we'll do some transfer stuff.

Speaker 2 Hi, it's Paige DeSorbo DeSorbo from Giggly Squad.

Speaker 3 You ever stand in front of your closet and just say, I have nothing to wear while you're literally surrounded by clothes?

Speaker 6 Because same.

Speaker 7 So I started listing pieces I'm over on Depop, and honestly, it's been amazing.

Speaker 9 You can sell what you're done with, and someone out there will love it.

Speaker 12 And the best part about it is there's no seller fee, so the money you make actually stays in your pocket, which feels very chic.

Speaker 14 It's also insanely easy.

Speaker 16 I listed something while watching TV and it sold before the episode even ended.

Speaker 18 So download the Depop app and list your first item today because your old outfit could be someone else's new favorite.

Speaker 5 Depop, where taste recognizes taste.

Speaker 6 Payment processing fees, boosting fees still apply.

Speaker 20 For more info, visit dpop.com.

Speaker 25 You know what's wild? Most people are still overpaying for car insurance just because it's a pain to switch. That's why there's Jerry.

Speaker 25 Jerry's the only app that compares rates from over 50 insurers in minutes and helps you switch fast with no spam calls or hidden fees. Drivers who save with Jerry could save over $1,300 a year.

Speaker 25 Before you renew your car insurance policy, do yourself a favor. Download the Jerry app or head to jerry.ai/slash Acast.

Speaker 22 Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly. Will in the Breakers teased us with a Mick Hucknell anecdote.
I mean, I have one. So

Speaker 22 if we have time at the end, Will, we'll hear your Mick Huckland. And if we don't, we'll

Speaker 22 build it up for the next live show.

Speaker 22 Pete says, I know you have to back yourself as a professional player, but why on earth would anyone sign for Chelsea and compete with about a hundred other players for a place?

Speaker 22 Surely the money on offer can't be so much better than other clubs. Josh, how many more players will Chelsea sign by the end of the window? 10 plus seems doable if they really put their heart into it.

Speaker 22 Yeah, they've signed Pedro Neto from Wolves for £54 million.

Speaker 22 And he's a brilliant footballer, Ben. Like, seven-year deal keeps him at the club until 2031.
But does he make Chelsea better? I mean,

Speaker 22 I just don't know how to pick Chelsea's starting 11. I don't know what Chelsea fans do when they try and work out what their starting 11 is.

Speaker 23 Yeah, I must admit, when Chelsea got Madueke, I was really excited about that. And I'd seen not loads of him, but a decent amount of him.
And I thought that was going to be a great get.

Speaker 23 And it hasn't really happened for him. He had moments.
I mean, Neto, I really like him. He's a player.
I mean, let's be honest, it wolves. He was their most effective player, if not their best player.

Speaker 23 But obviously, fitness is an issue. He's missed lots of games, I think 63 league games in the last three seasons.
He's been injured an awful lot. Undoubtedly, when he's fit,

Speaker 23 he is a real force. He's really hard to stop.
Even for Portugal and the Euros, I think he came on in one of their first and second game and got a really important assist

Speaker 23 late on. So he's a really effective player.
I have to say, I really like him. I've seen quite a lot of him at Wolves.

Speaker 23 Obviously, Jotta a few years ago got his move. Neto, it always kind of felt like a matter of time.
There was the Arsenal stuff swirling around last 18 months or so.

Speaker 23 I think from a Wolves point of view, this kind of felt inevitable for Chelsea paying 54 million for a, you know, you have to say it really hit an injury-prone player. It feels quite alarming.

Speaker 23 The other thing is, it wolves Neto and Wolves in that structure. He's at his best on the counter-attack.
We know Maresca wants to hog the ball and have possession.

Speaker 23 So I sort of intrigued as to what that will look like.

Speaker 23 You know, can Neto be as effective you know probably as a really talented player but it will be a shift i don't know i'm excited about it i think it's a good signing it's obviously there's serious question marks around his fitness and whether he can sort of do it over a season or be fit for a season but i do think it's a good buy at sort of face value it's a hefty fee but

Speaker 22 he's a top player they've also brought in a goalkeeper mike penders from genk for 17 million which you know perhaps not particularly exciting on the face of it but it does mean that chelsea currently have eight senior goalkeepers

Speaker 22 Feels like a lot.

Speaker 24 Why do they do this?

Speaker 22 They could start their own union, couldn't they? It's not the goalkeepers union, it's the Chelsea Goalkeepers Union.

Speaker 24 I just don't understand. I don't.
Maybe, maybe they're just, you know, shopaholics, like, just want to get something new and shiny every year.

Speaker 24 Why do they have eight goalies? What are they going to do with them all? Like, what do they do?

Speaker 24 You only need, like, the fourth one, just to, like, get the balls in training when they just get flying off everywhere.

Speaker 24 You've got the two in either end or whatever, and you get the third goalie, like, boots the balls to them. Fourth goalie's fagging the ball.
What are the other four doing? What are they doing?

Speaker 24 I don't understand, Max. It's just absolutely crazy.
That's half a league with goalies.

Speaker 22 They can't all be out.

Speaker 22 Are any of them out on loan?

Speaker 1 I think they sent Pender straight back to Genk. So that's

Speaker 1 that's okay.

Speaker 1 One.

Speaker 22 So they're down to seven.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 I assume they had to send him back out on loan because they couldn't afford to buy any more nets down at Cobham to train them all. So it's like,

Speaker 1 you can stand in front of the wall and we can get one of the reserves to shoot at you if you like see how that goes but then i woke up this morning and they were linked with zhao felix and i thought yeah i was like f5ing think i sort of gone back 18 months in time he was terrible at chelsea barely kicked a ball he's not done anything since and still desperate i thought he was very good for that 60 minutes until he got a straight red but he looked he's just like i mean he's a lovely footballer joel says yeah they've signed every footballer and now re-signing players they've had before because they've just run out of footballers to to buy um We'll do more on them, of course, in the previous, as all the Premier League sides.

Speaker 22 What do you make of Dominic Solanke to Spurs, Ben?

Speaker 23 It's a weird one, isn't it? When he went to Bournemouth, I think it was 19 million.

Speaker 23 Bournemouth fans sang, you know, quite happily after he sort of started scoring loads of goals for 20 million down the drain. Sarcastically, all the fans who were given Solanke's stick.

Speaker 23 Obviously, it was a

Speaker 23 slow start bit, but I don't know, there was concerns whether it would be kind of 20 million wasted it first. Obviously, we know he scored loads of goals for Bournemouth, prolific last season.

Speaker 23 My only concern at Tottenham is, I suppose, you know, again, big price tag, 65 million, we think, in terms of the package there, is that unlike, I suppose, Oddie Watkins or somebody like that, where he's kind of evolved into this clinical, deadly, kind of ice-cold kind of finisher, Solanke is prolific as he's been here.

Speaker 23 He still doesn't fill me with that same kind of, it's hard to kind of describe, but I suppose you see it with Harry Kane and all of those guys.

Speaker 23 I just wonder whether Solanke, can he cope, I suppose what it it comes down to, can he cope with having to score or being tasked with scoring goals for Tottenham on the back of a big move?

Speaker 23 You know, he struggled initially at Bournemouth on the back of a big move from Liverpool. So

Speaker 23 I don't know. I'm not as excited about that in terms of the fit.

Speaker 23 I think it could be challenging, but there's no doubt about it. He's a good player, but I'm not as convinced it will work out.

Speaker 24 What I would say is he's very good on the shoulder.

Speaker 24 When he's confident and he's actually fit, he can be really good and i can imagine at spurs where where strikers you know outside of harry kane go to die don't they but he's not quite a number nine sort of player is he i think he'll do okay if he can just stay fit which which is a big if yeah i think his touch is better than richardson's so i think he and i think he can he can drop a bit i'm i'm obviously biased but i think it might be and i just trust ange but i think actually i think it is an astute it's a lot of money of course it's their record signing but you have to spend a lot of money if you want to get a centre forward There aren't that many about.

Speaker 22 I suppose the interesting thing, Will, is how nobody's really gone for Ivan Toney.

Speaker 1 No, I guess age counts against him a little bit for what Brentford want with only a year left on this contract.

Speaker 1 Whether that's financially viable in the days of FFP and

Speaker 1 profitability and sustainability rules, I think it might be questionable that teams are probably happier to wait a year and

Speaker 1 get him for nothing because Brentford really wanted quite a lot.

Speaker 1 You read 60 sixty plus

Speaker 1 so it's probably not the best idea. And I think he suits Brentford very well.
Whether he transfers into other teams as easily, I would debate.

Speaker 1 Very good at penalties, though. Any team that gets penalties would be really good.
But yeah, I think no one's really willing to part with that money on someone at that age with

Speaker 1 not much left on his contracts. I think it would be a bold move for anyone.

Speaker 22 Alan says Harry Kane wouldn't lift a trophy in front of Spurs fans after Bayern won some meaningless preseason trophy. Has he pushed the boundaries of not celebrating a goal against a former club?

Speaker 22 I actually think that was probably quite smart. You know, you could just see him going, no, no, I can't do this.
Like, it was like, I just can't. You just can't make me do this.

Speaker 22 And I think actually, he probably made the right decision.

Speaker 22 Aaron Wambersaka to West Ham Ben. Seems to make sense.

Speaker 23 Yeah, I think so. Clearly, it looks like Lopategi sort of rebooted that entire defence, hasn't he, at West Ham? Obviously, Kilman coming in as well.
Yeah, yeah, I think that works.

Speaker 23 It certainly works for Wam-Bissaka as well, I would have thought. It feels like he kind of needed a fresh start.
West Ham, you know, good club. You'd like to think he can kind of kick on again.

Speaker 23 It feels like he's just stagnated a bit. You know, it wasn't so long ago.
We kind of thought maybe he, you know, the whole England thing and being in that picture, that feels a long way off.

Speaker 23 So hopefully this can kind of kick-start him a bit.

Speaker 22 Newcastle have had a second bid for Mark Gay, rejected by Palace. Fulham wants Joachim Anderson from Palace.
They've asked for 20 million. Palace wants 40 million.

Speaker 22 We really hope Palace have some players left at the end of the winter because that's really quite exciting. Brentford have signed Fabio Carvalho from Liverpool, who still haven't signed anyone.

Speaker 22 It's hard to know, isn't it, Will? Like

Speaker 22 what we have seen is really good players go down a rung, prove themselves and go up a rung again. We're just talking about Solanke earlier, I guess, and Carvalho could easily do that.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I mean, he was clearly too good for the championship at Hull, had an incredible time there. And as we say about city, you're sort of no mugs buying duds.

Speaker 1 Liverpool, generally, when they invest in young players, they've done very well.

Speaker 1 You look at Harvey Elliott, and just because probably not really an obvious place to fit Cavalier in, I don't think it means any less of him.

Speaker 1 And you look at Brentford, what they do, they don't invest in duds either. So,

Speaker 1 yeah, he's gone, proven himself. You know, we've seen other young players go to the championship and struggle, whereas he thrived, and

Speaker 1 he could have easily have seen it as a little bit beneath him. I've always thought that he could have

Speaker 1 done well with minutes at Liverpool. So, yeah, he's a really good player.
Brentford will,

Speaker 1 I think,

Speaker 1 you know, take a take him and make him better as well. And might be one little move back up, I think, in years to come.
He's still very young.

Speaker 1 He's starting out at Fulham as a teenager. He's still got the best years ahead of him.
I think it's a very smart move from Brentford.

Speaker 1 And yeah, Liverpool, it looks like the more considering things, Liverpool wants the money so they can try and make their first signing of the summer.

Speaker 1 There's a little bit of discontent within fans, but they've got a very good squad, and Arnie Slot's still learning about what's needed.

Speaker 22 needed but yeah it's a bit of a worry when you are having to sell off players to to to bring them in when you're a Champions League team the athletic ran a piece regarding Arsenal entitled How Mikel Arteta rebuilt Arsenal in his own image that covered some eccentric brand of management featuring a great story about pickpockets a dinner with his players Arteta secretly hired a team of professional pickpockets the sleight of hand artists were tasked with going around the tables pinching phones and wallets from an unwitting first-team squad.

Speaker 22 At the end of the meal, Arteta stood up and asked the team to empty their pockets. A number of players were missing valuable items.

Speaker 22 The idea was to teach his squad the importance of being ready, alert, and prepared at all times.

Speaker 22 What's next? Darren Brown and the canteen says Joel. What about the great Soprendo getting some minutes in the Europa League? I mean, the thing is, right, Arteta's done a few things like this, Sanny.

Speaker 22 You know, the speakers playing You'll Never Walk Alone or whatever it was. And we all sort of mocked.
And yet, you know, they are comfortably the second-best team in the Premier League.

Speaker 22 Like, these things, however ridiculous they sound, you know, they seem to work.

Speaker 24 I mean, to some, David Brent's methods are really quite useful and really effective. If you get that right group of staff, there, clearly, that's what's happened with Arteta.

Speaker 24 I get it a bit like my teaching days, where every now and then you'd get one of these teachers that would really kind of inspire all the kids. But once upon a time, it was me, but I got ground down.

Speaker 24 But did you?

Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 24 Did you? Yeah, of course.

Speaker 22 And everyone was like, I love, did you, did you sit on the end of a table, go, you guys call me Sanny?

Speaker 1 Not quite.

Speaker 24 You were going to bunt some burners out.

Speaker 24 And from the outside, it would look really cheesy and horrible, but they all like, you know, love them. And it clearly is that.
He's that teacher that all the kids love, isn't he? And yeah, weird.

Speaker 24 Also,

Speaker 24 professional pickpocket troop.

Speaker 1 Where'd you get them from?

Speaker 1 Where do you get them?

Speaker 22 Some nerdy wells. It's like, yeah, it's a very good question.
Where can you get them? You just Google online for just petty criminals.

Speaker 1 Just looking around the the underground.

Speaker 24 It's like, I see you've just nicked that guy's phone.

Speaker 24 Are you free this weekend?

Speaker 22 Somebody, an Arsenal podcast, listened to a pod we did a couple of weeks ago and said that we hadn't mentioned Arsenal in our Premier League preview.

Speaker 22 Just to be clear, we haven't done our Premier League preview yet. We will do that.
And we are going. It doesn't mean you're going under the rate.
You're very much on the radar, Arsenal fans.

Speaker 22 Lots of us think you will do very well this season. Gary says, hi, Max.
What does the panel think about the FA appointing another foreign manager to manage the men's England team?

Speaker 22 Yeah, so Lee Carsley, who had, what, 40 odd games in the Republic of Ireland, but he's obviously born in England, has been appointed interim England manager for the nation's league games in September.

Speaker 22 We talked about it on the pod recently. Wilson was saying some people at the FA think that Pep, they could get Pep, which seems unlikely to everybody.

Speaker 22 But I wonder, Ben, if this is the rehearsal for Lee Carsley.

Speaker 22 I feel like most people are just kind of, I reckon there would have been a time when everyone would be absolutely raging that Lee Carsley was anywhere near managing England or something like that, you know, 20 years ago, whoever it may be.

Speaker 22 I think most people are kind of okay with it. I think it might be quite sensible.

Speaker 23 I agree, to be honest, and I think maybe it's part of that because people are sort of, or by and large, there was a huge kind of majority, or it felt that way, that were kind of just done with Southgate.

Speaker 23 Maybe it's like anyone's better than him, or that's how it's sort of perceived. Maybe it's a bit of that, but

Speaker 23 yeah, I agree. And I think it is a bit of a weird one.
And to come back to what you said about PepMax, I wonder, really, is

Speaker 23 unless it, if it's not that, I wonder why is it Carsley for now? Why have they decided? It almost feels like they must have a grander plan up their sleeve,

Speaker 23 whether it's Pep or another kind of big hitter. Although a lot of the big hitters, as we know, are kind of out of work and therefore seemingly more gettable at the moment than

Speaker 23 others. So, yeah, I don't know.
He's very, very likable.

Speaker 23 He's sort of in danger, I suppose, of being quite self-gatish in his ways and his sort of persona. He's clearly done a very good job with the 21s as well.
We have to sort of say that.

Speaker 23 Obviously, he knows a lot of the players. There's an obvious pathway between the 21s and the first and the senior team.

Speaker 23 It feels like an audition to, you know, if they go and win both those games in September, 3-0, you can sort of see a scenario happening where go, okay, well, we'll just give you the next two.

Speaker 23 Or I can't imagine there's going to be any huge sort of unrest that Lee Cars is the man in charge if those games go okay. Clearly, if they don't, there'll be a different conversation.

Speaker 23 But maybe also the Luis De La Fuente

Speaker 23 example with Spain. Obviously, he was the under 21s manager.
I was looking when I did the

Speaker 23 under-21s Euros in Italy, I think it was in 2019.

Speaker 23 Danny Olmo scored in that game, and De La Fuente was the manager. And obviously, he's done okay.
So, maybe these kind of things help almost the PR of giving Cars the interim job. But we should say

Speaker 23 he's obviously an outstanding coach. Players who have worked with him at Man City, Coventry, Birmingham, you know, have a lot of time for him.
But clearly,

Speaker 1 yeah, it feels quite kind of ballsy but maybe it's not as as brave as it looks yeah it's a bit of a free hit for Carsley and his football generally from watching the under 21s is better than Southgate so and those games coming up aren't the most treacherous so that's good for Lee and it'll be interesting see how he does if he is a bit more positive than than Southgate but back to Guardiola I think that is the master plan and I'm basing this on very very little obviously but Guardiola has been at City for a long time.

Speaker 1 I'd be surprised personally if he carries on after this season. And then if he does leave Manchester City, he has very few options of where to go.

Speaker 1 You know, he's done Barcelona, I don't think he'd go back. He's done Bayern, he won't go back.
There's not really any other major European leagues I suspect he'd travel to.

Speaker 1 I'm not sure he's a PSG man.

Speaker 1 And he's really, obviously he's really likes living in England, stayed at City longer than anywhere else, really likes Premier League and the players that are available.

Speaker 1 And with with England's lack of a trophy since 1966 in the men's game, I think he'd like to be that man that could change it. And so that's my view.

Speaker 1 And I await a text from the City Press Officer once this is published.

Speaker 22 That would be great, wouldn't it? It would be fascinating. All right, that'll do for part two.
We'll do the start of the EFL in part three.

Speaker 2 Hi, it's Paige DiSorbo from Giggly Squad.

Speaker 3 You ever stand in front of your closet and just say, I have nothing to wear while you're literally surrounded by clothes?

Speaker 6 Because same. So I started listing pieces I'm over on Depop.

Speaker 7 And honestly, it's been amazing.

Speaker 9 You can sell what you're done with, and someone out there will love it.

Speaker 12 And the best part about it is there's no seller fee, so the money you make actually stays in your pocket, which feels very chic.

Speaker 14 It's also insanely easy.

Speaker 16 I listed something while watching TV and it sold before the episode even ended.

Speaker 18 So download the Depop app and list your first item today because your old outfit could be someone else's new favorite.

Speaker 19 Depop, where taste recognizes taste.

Speaker 6 Payment processing fees, boosting fees still apply.

Speaker 20 For more info, visit dpop.com.

Speaker 2 Hi, it's Paige DeSorbo from Giggly Squad.

Speaker 3 You ever stand in front of your closet and just say, I have nothing to wear while you're literally surrounded by clothes?

Speaker 6 Because same. So I started listing pieces I'm over on Depop.

Speaker 7 And honestly, it's been amazing.

Speaker 9 You can sell what you're done with and someone out there will love it.

Speaker 12 And the best part about it is there's no seller fee, so the money you make actually stays in your pocket, which feels very chic.

Speaker 14 It's also insanely easy.

Speaker 16 I listed something while watching TV, and it sold before the episode even ended.

Speaker 18 So download the Depop app and list your first item today because your old outfit could be someone else's new favorite.

Speaker 19 Depop, where taste recognizes taste.

Speaker 6 Payment processing fees, boosting fees still apply.

Speaker 20 For more info, visit dpop.com.

Speaker 22 Welcome to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly starting the championship. Sanny, you were at Hillsborough to see Danny Rolls Sheffield Wednesday, steamroller Wayne Rooney's Plymouth.

Speaker 24 I was, and very good of you to call him Danny Rawls Sheffield Wednesday as well, because, yeah, I was ever Sky Sports News, and inevitably it was the Wayne Rooney's Plymouth Argyle thing, and you know, it was on TV as well.

Speaker 24 And I kind of thought long and hard about, you know,

Speaker 24 how much should we be putting it on Rooney? How much of this performance was Plymouth's ineptitude? If you missed it, Sheffield Wednesday beat Argyll 4-0.

Speaker 24 To be honest, I think quite a bit can be put at Rooney. Very strange.
He started with two strikers away from home. And I know, you know, he's brought in six new players.

Speaker 24 One of the strikers is a loan from Slavia Prague that no one really knew anything about. But as soon as you do that, you're allowing Wednesday essentially one extra man when going forward.

Speaker 24 They also play with two wide players who didn't really do too much tracking back, Morgan Whitaker, who's been excellent for them in the past. But it just allowed Wednesday to do what they want.

Speaker 24 And from the off, Wednesday were, you know, really...

Speaker 24 dangerous every single time they had the ball especially out wide uh the goal came from jamal low who actually started because ek ugbo wednesday's new striker didn't get international clearance to play which is a bit of a a strange one um and they just picked they just picked plymouth apart and i did really try to think,

Speaker 24 how biased am I being?

Speaker 24 How much am I actually focusing on Rooney?

Speaker 24 But yeah, Wednesday were really good.

Speaker 24 They brought in Svante Ingleson from Hansa Rostock. I think he'll do very well for Danny Ruhl.
I saw Timo Werner was in the crowd. I don't think he's going to be joining Sheffield Wednesday.

Speaker 24 I think his girlfriend's dad is on the coaching staff at Wednesday or something. But yeah, Argyle, just not really any idea.

Speaker 24 It took until just before half half time for them to decide, do you know what, two strikers is a bad idea. And then he immediately scored an own goal in the second half.

Speaker 24 Just really, just no real game plan, no real idea what they're doing.

Speaker 24 Brooney's got a lot of time. I spoke to a lot of Argyle fans before kickoff and I said, you know, it's a lot of pressure.

Speaker 24 And I did a caveat saying, well, that pressure's kind of coming from us after his 83 calamity at Birmingham City. He'll have time at Argyll.

Speaker 24 But it was really worrying just to see him just go, right, oh, seemingly I'm going to stick to my guns and my principles and play two strikers and two exciting wide players and just get absolutely picked apart by a Wednesday side with a manager who knows exactly how to play.

Speaker 24 It's got everyone on side. It was 29,500 there.
And Wednesday, I think, will have a good season.

Speaker 22 Yeah, and they finished like a point apart, I think, last season, didn't they, Ben? And so great to see Barry Bannon still doing it.

Speaker 23 Yeah, I mean, it was one of the things that Rooney said afterwards, you know, we...

Speaker 23 We knew we had to stop Barry Bannon and they did everything but obviously put that great ball through for one of the goals.

Speaker 23 Yeah, from Plymouth's point of view, it was just disastrous start all around. Obviously, everything went wrong.

Speaker 23 Obviously, they misspelt to their own players' names on the back of their shirts, Adam Forshawn, Ibrahim Susoko, who is a new signing as well.

Speaker 23 In Susoko's case, the lone E from Toulouse, I'm sure he wasn't too enamoured with that. Obviously, big trip for the Plymouth fans.
Just

Speaker 23 it's a hard one because you don't want to, I don't know, absolutely hammer them. As Rooney said afterwards, as well, you know, it is one game, but there is obviously a temptation to

Speaker 23 catastrophise it, I suppose. And it was a really bad result.
Sheffield Wednesday, I was impeccably coached. Danny Roll,

Speaker 23 I think, is, you know,

Speaker 23 probably one of the most exciting managers outside the Premier League. He did brilliantly last season to keep Wednesday up.
They looked like they were gone when he came in.

Speaker 23 I don't think they'd won a game.

Speaker 23 Everybody's looking for that sort of Kieran McKenna mark too. And Danny Roll is certainly one of those in the Football League who looks, you know...

Speaker 23 looks like he a real cut above to be fair assisted by chris powell we should say and um i don't know i think for Plymouth,

Speaker 23 it's just worrying because Rooney said, you know, we're going to be a difficult team to play against, really organising four goals from four crosses. Wednesday totally outplayed Plymouth.

Speaker 23 And this was, you know, when Rooney went into Birmingham, he didn't have a pre-season. He went in the middle of the season, obviously.
It was awkward timing.

Speaker 23 It was difficult because the fans obviously wanted John Eustis to stick around. This time he's had a summer.
He's had a pre-season. He's had a transfer window.

Speaker 23 They've brought in, I think, six players.

Speaker 23 And it is quite an an alarming start.

Speaker 23 We can't ignore that, but equally, it is one game.

Speaker 23 The tricky thing is that I'm going on Wednesday, they've got Cheltenham in the Carabao Cup.

Speaker 23 Cheltenham flying high on confidence, got a 96-minute winner against Newport.

Speaker 23 And suddenly you think, God, I was just sort of envisaging, you know, if they didn't get the result on Wednesday, suddenly that's like, you know, yeah.

Speaker 23 You're not in a great place. So

Speaker 23 he does need to turn it around. I've really said, you know, I know what my name means, it brings headlines.
And I kind of have a tinge of sympathy for him, if that's the right word.

Speaker 23 Not that he would need it, but or would want it. But you do have to kind of doff your cap that he just keeps wanting to work.

Speaker 23 It would be so easy for him just to sit in a pine of tree studio, but he does want to make a success of it. But it kind of feels like this is he has to make a success of it at Plymouth.

Speaker 1 I'm just going to rule him out of the England running now. Okay.
So just so we're clear. Very smart.

Speaker 22 When someone needed to do it.

Speaker 22 Probably the game of the weekend was Leeds Portsmouth, Sanny. And it was absolutely, like, it was sort of, I think a lot of Leeds fans were like, yeah, we're going to have this kind of season again.

Speaker 22 It sort of summed that up, didn't it?

Speaker 24 It was excellent.

Speaker 24 I was second screening it whilst at Middlesbrough, Swansea. And yeah, what an exciting game it was.

Speaker 24 The highlight, I think, really, Brendan Aronson. So if you missed it, he came on as a sub and he was booed by the Leeds fans because when Leeds got relegated, he had a clause in his contract to leave.

Speaker 24 So he went on loan for a season. So when he came back, Leeds fans weren't particularly happy with him.

Speaker 24 So for him to bring them back in it, and then he actually had a chance right at the end to win it as well, that he somehow got wide. Don't know how he managed to do that.

Speaker 24 It was a really great story there. I mean, a lot was made of Pompey last season under John Massigno and just how well they did.
They've lost Colby Bishop.

Speaker 24 I know, I think not the top 20 guys mentioned this in the preview EFL pod, but he's had a heart condition. So

Speaker 24 they're missing that main striker.

Speaker 24 But yeah, to come into the championship for the first time in such a long time and to go against the lead side that will be, you know, inevitably promoted this season, I thought they did really, really well.

Speaker 24 Yeah, what an exciting game. And that's the thing.
That's the thing about the EFL,

Speaker 24 because there's so many games and because of the

Speaker 24 variants and the players, whatever, we get games like this. And

Speaker 24 it's not quite like the Premier League where

Speaker 24 the stakes are so high, sometimes teams are kind of choked to play in a certain way and try and be really solid defensively, whatever. People just go for it here.
It's really great.

Speaker 22 Ben, Bristol City drew one all at Hull. I don't think we've said the word Bristol once on the EFL preview pod for either side.
Here is your chance to do so.

Speaker 23 Yeah, I mean, Faddy Miulu scored on his debut, signed from Rapid Vienna.

Speaker 23 Really nice goal, actually. Really well taken goal.
They got it late on, and then it's a bit of a...

Speaker 23 cheap penalty that they conceded later on so to hull equalize but uh no tommy conway involved for bristol city Hull, one of the teams, actually looking at him.

Speaker 23 I must admit, I really like Conway. I think he'd be a good, good sign-in for somebody.
He's going to leave this window. It's just a case of sort of where he's kind of

Speaker 23 made it clear he won't be signing new contracts, Bristol City. Yeah, so Conway, who was part of the Scotland squad at the Euros, didn't play, but he travelled in the end with Scotland.
And

Speaker 23 he'll move on. But yeah, no,

Speaker 23 for Bristol City, I think,

Speaker 23 yeah, I can sort of see another mid-table, kind of scintillating mid-table finish probably on the cards. Holder, obviously, have big plans.
You know, they sack Nimra senior, Tim Waldz has come in.

Speaker 23 Still feels a bit of a mishmash of a squad to me, but yeah, they clearly think they can do better. So they'll be looking at playoffs for that's their objective as well.

Speaker 22 How was Middlesbrough Senny?

Speaker 24 Well, Borough were great, actually.

Speaker 24 And again, a bit like the Rooney Wednesday situation. I wonder how much am I bigging up one side and not so much the other? Because Swansea didn't have a shot at all.

Speaker 24 No shots at all until about the the 75th minute great start of the season it's quite a long journey as well innit and no shots um and Middlesbrough were excellent um Isaiah Jones on on the right hand side uh Emmanuel Latilaf who finished the season with nine and eight he scored the penalty uh it was Jones that that won it and they were so from the off to so exciting going forward um

Speaker 24 and the fact that Jones could have scored after I think 15 20 minutes when Swansea had a corner um and just didn't leave anyone back and Jones was brew on goal.

Speaker 24 And Lawrence Figaroo, who in the past, in his late and Orient days, has got rick in him in goal. He's the new Swansea keeper, just came flying out.
He just got, just went wide.

Speaker 24 But yeah, Borough kind of defensively was solid, weren't really troubled at all. Attacking, really exciting.

Speaker 24 And they've kind of got everyone on side as well. And Michael Carrick signed a new contract, and that's really, really big for them.
I think after last season, they did.

Speaker 24 really well to finish eighth and were just out of the playoffs and before that borough finished fourth they're kind of an outside tip because obviously they haven't got the parachute payments and all that stuff.

Speaker 24 But the team that they've got, if they can keep Emmanuel Latte-Lath, the striker, I think they'll do really well. They got 18 last season.
So yeah, very exciting.

Speaker 24 Swansea, on the other hand, just really kind of insipid. I'd be very worried if I'm a Swansea City fan, really not offering anything and just allowing Borough to kind of play.

Speaker 24 So yeah, we'll see how that one goes. And just another side note.
I know.

Speaker 24 you know, away from football, we saw the riots and everything there, and Middlesbrough was one of the names in in the headlines. You might have seen stuff on social media.

Speaker 24 And actually, I was asked by my editors, you know, are you okay to go to Borough? Will you be okay?

Speaker 24 And we had some extra protocols from a health and safety point of view as far as getting in early and leaving early and leaving late and all the rest of it. And I had, you know.

Speaker 24 I had a wonderful time. I did a little vlog afterwards in the fan zone and borough fans came and talked to us afterwards.

Speaker 24 And it's, you know, there's this narrative, isn't there, that anyone on the far right is a football fan. And before you know it, it's every football fan's a far right hooligan.

Speaker 24 And it obviously isn't the case. And I was at no point worried at any of the EFL games I've been to.
And I did a bit of a thing with Skye.

Speaker 24 We did this live thing across the grounds, and I was at Rotherham, Barnsley, Mansfield, Lincoln, Sheffield, and Burnley.

Speaker 24 And I had a lovely time at every ground, every game I was at, and in the towns I was in as well.

Speaker 24 And, you know, it just goes to really emphasise that all this stuff going on in the news is a minority, and that minority are not football fans solely.

Speaker 24 The most of us are absolutely fine, normal people had a lovely time.

Speaker 22 That is good to that is good to hear. Ben?

Speaker 23 Well no I was just going to jump in on Vigaro who who Sanny mentioned who's one of Swansea's few signings but as Sanny said I think the sort of simmering frustrations at Swansea because for a number of years now they've had pretty good managers you know really highly rated managers.

Speaker 23 Got Luke Williams now who did a brilliant job at Knotts County.

Speaker 23 worked as assistant to Russell Martin at Swansea. Russell Martin was obviously did a good job there.

Speaker 23 Graham Potter before that you know they've had this string of good managers, but none of them have been backed and not backed anywhere near where they need to be, really, to get anywhere near it.

Speaker 23 And as Sonny said, it feels like it's going to be tricky. Obviously, Vigaro, yeah, a bit of a wild keeper, an interesting pickup.
Obviously, memorably, he paid a £50

Speaker 23 fine when he was at Swindon in 5,000 1P coins, which was always, I don't know, always brings a smile to the face. But I think he's matured since those days.
But yeah, no,

Speaker 24 I just think Swansea is sort of a bit of a what-if Kate, it just feels like that you know it just feels like so um could be so much more could be so much better but it feels like they're gonna have a tough tough campaign sadly sanny you went for a walk with scott parker i presume for work but um you know they play looting tonight what what were you talking about it's funny jonathan wilson in my prep for this walk i read his his piece on scott parker uh describing as uh sisyphus the um the greek god who who's punished into rolling a boulder forever up a hill and then it goes back down again yeah sounds like Wilson.

Speaker 24 Yes, it was. I had to Google who Sisyphus was.

Speaker 24 And in that context, it was an English manager doing well, getting a team promoted, and then getting sacked essentially. And he described Burnley as a mezzanine club.

Speaker 24 Now, I didn't put any of that to Scott Parker. This walk could have ended very quickly.
But yeah, too good for the championship, not quite good enough for the Premier League was the vibe.

Speaker 24 Yeah, I mean, I did put it to Scott, like, Scott, first name terms.

Speaker 24 He's got a point to prove, hasn't he? Because

Speaker 24 the bournemouth sacking if you recall what the 9-0 against liverpool they had a quite a difficult run going into that and then he basically said the players aren't good enough and before he knew it was out the door and he wasn't helped then by by gary o'neil doing a pretty good job with essentially the same squad yeah proving the players were fine

Speaker 24 then he went to then he went to bruges uh and i think he lasted what 12 games and you know that ended very badly for him as well so so he really has something to prove here um and so do some of those players as well

Speaker 24 You know, we mentioned on the pod that I was at Burnley for the last game of the season. If I'd had asked Vincent Company, are you going to buy a Munich after the relegation?

Speaker 24 I would have got laughed out of the building. A lot of those players are there.
He's got 40 professionals to try and manage. And what I have kind of ascertained is Company very much kind of...

Speaker 24 He had a delineation between him and the players. You know, he wasn't that kind of pally with them.

Speaker 24 And Parker's a lot more of a man manager and a bit more of an arm around the shoulder sort of sort of manager. And I think he's going to have to use that to the extreme with that many players.

Speaker 24 The quality's there.

Speaker 24 But yeah, to manage them all, I don't know if he wants to get a few more in and out. I mean,

Speaker 24 it's such a big squad. It's quite difficult to do.
And a lot of them have got this Belgian connection through Vincent Company. So it'd be interesting to see how they do.

Speaker 24 I think on paper, they've got a good enough squad. He's only had a month to work with them.

Speaker 24 And then when you contrast that with Rob Edwards Luton, who clearly did so well last season, you know, he's got continuity there.

Speaker 24 It's going to be very hard for Burnley to kind of hit the ground running, and he'll have to rely on, I think, moments of brilliance till Parker can kind of show what he can do.

Speaker 24 But yeah, it was a nice walk, lovely training facilities at Burnley.

Speaker 22 Ah, pleased to hear it. Will.

Speaker 1 I'm quite upset that Sonny didn't turn up with like a novelty boulder to get Parker to push him around whilst he was being interviewed.

Speaker 1 Scott, do you mind?

Speaker 22 Yeah, it'll make sense in the edit. It'll make sense in the edit.
Don't worry, Scott. You'll be fine.

Speaker 22 In League One, now I confess i was not planning to watch the opening game of the season because it's 2 30 a.m 5 30 p.m for uh stockport cambridge but fortunately young ian was jet lagged and so he was up so i was up so i got to see us concede a 40 yard lob with our new keeper sort of flailing scrambling backwards and think right that's the season done so we lost to stockport and they were quite good and we were you know not amazing birmingham uh big spending birmingham drew one or with low spending Reading.

Speaker 22 They need an 87th minute out if he made penalty. Wrexham beat Wickham 3-2

Speaker 22 in league 2. Bromley and their first game back beat Harrogate 2-0.
Dillingham and Doncaster both won 4-1.

Speaker 22 On the subject of Harrogate Town, Will, you've met their goalkeeper, and he's a big fan of Football Weekly, apparently. And we talked about this before.
We must have. It rings a bell.

Speaker 1 Yeah,

Speaker 1 we met Poolside on holiday. Right.

Speaker 1 He was very quickly Whatsapping his brother explained he's going to to ask for an anecdote from me. I was like, there's only one.
And they explained that the anecdote...

Speaker 22 Yeah, it's holiday-based, right?

Speaker 1 Originated in the same hotel. Right.
At which point he insisted on a pool-sized selfie.

Speaker 22 That's exciting. So it's just a self-fulfilling prophecy, the Connocove anecdote.

Speaker 22 You keep going. Do you only holiday there? I mean, is that you forever now?

Speaker 1 I have to now. Yeah.

Speaker 23 Had a lovely time.

Speaker 1 Marco Royce was there this year, so that was good.

Speaker 23 How come you're holidaying at such elite resorts?

Speaker 24 Yeah, why are you going to Lamanga on holiday?

Speaker 22 Yeah.

Speaker 22 Hang on. A holiday destination that has Marco Royce, you, and the Harrogate Keeper seems to be catering for all, doesn't it? So how did the conversation go with the Harrogate Town goalkeeper?

Speaker 22 Forgive me, his name is...

Speaker 24 James Belshaw.

Speaker 1 Hi, James. You're currently commuting, I assume.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 Well, because it went back to sort of the way I used to flirt at university. So

Speaker 1 I followed.

Speaker 22 What are your A-level results? Yeah. No, no, but I mean, did you know he was the Harrogate House goalkeeper? You're just sat next to a block of chat.

Speaker 1 Of course, or did he spot you? This is my job.

Speaker 1 No, I spotted him. Don't worry.
And so I followed him on Twitter whilst he was poolside, and he immediately followed back in a, you know, in an emotional moment. While he was in the pool.

Speaker 1 This is extraordinary. No, he was sunbathing.
Right.

Speaker 1 And so I went over and had a chat and he was very excited about meeting someone from Football Weekly. That's great.

Speaker 1 Genuinely pleased. It had made his holiday.
He forgot about his wife and child.

Speaker 22 I'm amazed. I think if I was around the pool

Speaker 22 with probably every footballer in the Premier League in the EFL, I reckon

Speaker 22 I'd struggle to recognise some really famous footballers if they weren't in kit. So the fact that you've got the Harrogate Town goalkeeper, James.

Speaker 22 Hi, James.

Speaker 22 That is a great spot. I mean, that's amazing.

Speaker 24 Did he have a water bottle by his side with like a list of what he's going to do in the day?

Speaker 24 Yes.

Speaker 1 9.30, second breakfast

Speaker 1 very much.

Speaker 1 He would walk around the resort pushing his daughter whilst listening to Football Weekly. It was

Speaker 22 a guy. Oh, wow.
I'm delighted.

Speaker 22 You're very welcome. We welcome all listeners, not just League Two footballers.
Congratulations to Emma Hayes, guided US WMT to a gold medal in the Olympics. They beat Brazil 1-0 in the men's game.

Speaker 22 Spain beat France, Thierry Henries, France 5-3

Speaker 22 in the gold medal match. Do we need your Mick Hucknell anecdote, Will?

Speaker 1 We'll save it. Build it.

Speaker 22 We'll save it. Wow, how exciting.
We'll save that. We'll save the Apple story.
We'll save that gold for later. And that'll do for today's podcast.
Thank you, Will.

Speaker 1 Thanks, Max. Thanks, Ben.

Speaker 23 Cheers, Max.

Speaker 22 Thank you, Sanny. Pleasure.
Football Weekly is produced by Joel Grove. Our executive producer is Danielle Stevens.

Speaker 1 This is The Guardian.