All square in Munich and Ipswich a point from Premier League – Football Weekly

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Hello and welcome to the Guardian Football Weekly.

Some game at the Allianz in the first Champions League semi-final.

Real Madrid did that thing where they just weren't up to much and then scored.

Credit to Thomas Tuchel who changed changed things at halftime.

Leroy Sane finally scored a goal and the brilliant Jamal Mussiala won a penalty stroked home by Harry Kane.

But a night to forget for Kim Minjae at fault for the first gave away a penalty which Minicius scored and it's level heading for the Bernabau.

Elsewhere Ipswich Town needs just one more point for promotion to the Premier League after a 2-1 win at Coventry.

We'll talk Jamie Vardy whose brace helped Leicester win the championship title and then on to the money staff as Everton call in insolvency advisors with the 777 takeover in real doubt.

What does that mean for the future of the club?

And is the Premier League spending cap a good idea?

We'll talk about Manchester United putting their entire squad up for sale.

Wonder if we should give Arsenal a little more credit for being top of the league than we did on Monday.

And we can update you on the recent whereabouts of Mr.

Blobby.

All that plus your questions.

And that's today's Guardian Football Weekly.

On the panel today, Barry Glen Denning, welcome.

Hello.

At Nada Manuha, welcome.

Morning, sir.

And from the Racing Post, Mark Langdon.

All right, Lango.

Hi, Max.

Nice to see you all.

Let's start then at the Alliance.

Buying Bayern 2, Real Madrid 2.

Really good game, I thought, Mark.

Bayern all over Rail, like teams are, and it doesn't matter.

Rail score, and you think, well, that's it.

Brilliant comeback from Bayern.

And then I just wonder if Bayern will feel like they've let this slip at the end of all that.

Maybe.

Maybe.

I felt like they were the better team.

You would expect that, I think, at home, that they should have sort of

more onus on them to try to get...

the win.

Bayern left their domestic form behind, played very well for large parts of of the game, controlled the Real Madrid counter-attack for

the majority of the game, looked good and bright in the final third and played well.

But Real Madrid don't have to be

as good as their opponents to get results in the Champions League.

They do what they just so often do and sort of hang around and make sure that

the score doesn't really get away from them because that was maybe the fear at 2-1 if anybody was going to get the next goal.

It looked like it was going to be Bayern.

And yet Real Madrid didn't collapse.

And you do see some other teams maybe fall into the trap of like sticking to,

what I think about Real Madrid is they haven't got necessarily a philosophy where they go, we're going to play like this every single game.

They adapt to what the opponents do.

They're humble enough to know that there'll be times when they are on the back foot and it will be difficult.

And they don't mind sort of sitting in.

Even really big name players, Vinicius, Drew Bellingham,

they'll just do do the hard work.

And they did that and then got their rewards with, as you mentioned at the start, there, I thought it was a really bad mistake from Kim to give away the penalty.

But it was a good game, two good teams, really enjoyed it.

And yeah, can't wait for next week.

So I'm looking at the Zoom call to see if there is a centre-back who may have made significant mistakes.

There's not one here.

There's not one here unless you're talking to Barry.

There is not one here.

We've never got one.

I can't see one.

That first goal, Ned, must be really interesting from a sort of centre-back's perspective.

Can you talk us through what Vinicius comes short?

Kim follows him.

Vinicius says, oh, he's going a bit too fast here.

I can just spin around.

It just feels like that was a player who just hadn't played a lot of football being done by someone who's clearly brilliant.

Well,

Kim has played a lot of football.

I think he's just...

Oh, so, I mean, recent, like, recently.

Yeah, I know, but, like, there's still something just in his brain.

Like, you shouldn't.

So for me, the first issue, when Krols has the ball and he's got time, your instincts are...

sorry, not your instincts, you're told as a defender to not be too aggressive.

Like you have to be thinking more on the back foot.

So I think the fact that he's seen that Vinicius Jr.

is there, he's probably concerned that Vinicius could get the ball, turn, start coming in 1v1.

But if you have to sprint out to try and press someone when there's no pressure on the ball, that's the first red flag.

And then when it's Tony Kross that's on the ball, you'd be like, ah, like if I'm coming out there and I'm, you know, if you replace me with Tony Cross, you're fine.

You know what I mean?

Nothing's going to happen here.

But this is one of the best midfielders we've seen in, you know, in decades.

And to be be fair, Vinicius Jr.

hits him with that little bit of movement, the speed.

And unfortunately, I think at times, as a defender,

you want to be engaged with people.

You want to find someone to play up against.

But some of these guys, the way they play, with false nines and are like, you're not, because people don't stand up there for long periods of time.

So Kim wanted to get involved.

But the next thing he was very much involved as he's watching Vinicius Jr.

just slot one into the bottom corner.

But that's...

That's that's that's like that's Real Madrid in a nutshell, isn't it?

They were doing nothing till that point.

Then there's a little bit of a weakness that you show for a split second, and they've got all the right players to be able to expose it.

And yeah,

I think it was a bad, very bad moment for Kim, which I don't think he'll be doing again anytime soon.

I say that.

Well, he did do it in the second half.

That was one where he went to a Neuer made a good side.

I do wonder, Barry, if Neia could have helped him out a bit.

I think if he'd gone on the B of the Bang, like Linford Christie, Nat Cruise Pass, he would have got there before Vinicius.

I would say he was culpable, not as culpable as Kim, but he could have bailed Kim out if he'd been more decisive in running off his line.

But he kind of came and then maybe thought better of it.

And by that time, it was too late because the ball was gone past him and in the back of the net.

So

quite a lot of blame to go around.

I mean, I don't think you can give Cruz enough credit for the pass because it was classic magician's misdirection.

He's looking one way and then he suddenly points and sends the ball in a different direction.

I'm not sure Kim was even expecting him to play that pass.

And the fact that he charged out and left this gaping hole for a corridor of certainty for

Vinicius Jr.

to run into.

Well, you know,

so yeah, brilliant from Vinicius Jr., even better, I think, from Cruz,

who was so good.

And I mean, that was a big occasion for him, wasn't it?

Going back to Byron, where he played so well for so long and getting awful abuse from the fans.

And

I think I read an article by Sid, I think it was, saying he might he's considering retiring.

And,

you know, does he need to retire?

Because

he's not as quick as he's not getting any younger.

He's not as quick as he used to be, but he doesn't need to be quick because he never moves.

It just seems to stand in one spot and just spray passes around.

And after about 70 minutes, he just wanders off and Luka Modic comes on and does the same thing.

It's like, it's amazing.

To be fair to Tuchelmark, he made changes at halftime, didn't he?

Bought Guerrero on, and that made a real difference.

I thought I moved Sane and Mazziara and made a real difference.

I think that that sort of midfield area, well, Tom, I don't say think because actually Thomas Tuka has been very open to the fact that he hasn't been happy really with the options he's had in that area throughout the season.

And Kimmick has now moved to right back.

And, you know, he wanted Paolinha

in the summer, didn't get him.

And just that balance in the central area hasn't been there at all.

And Guerrero just came in sort of and just enabled them to reshape that midfield.

And it did give them better balance.

I still don't know what the exact sort of right combinations of players in that area is for Bayern.

In terms of Tony Crows, just going back to him, because he was getting dogs abuse from the Bayern fans, he was seen as being very greedy when he left

Bayern.

And I think Crows felt that he should have been paid more money and that's why he went to Real Madrid.

And at the time, Bayern weren't spending the kind of wages that was up with the very biggest teams in Europe.

And he left.

I mean, he's obviously gone on to have a great career with Madrid as well.

And I think player for player, Bayern are much worse than Real Madrid in that central area.

And so the fact that they were able to compete, and Thomas Tuchel was very brave in the way he kept on wanting these players to engage with Madrid, you know, was testament, I think, to Tuchel's ability to be able to coach a team very well.

I mean, he is seen as an elite coach.

It hasn't gone well for him this season.

But, I mean, he's won the Champions League.

He's reached another Champions League final.

He's very good at what he does.

Nathan, where do you stand on the you're not allowed to be beaten at your near post debate?

Mark Bosnich, who knows quite a lot about goalkeeping, said that Lunin was at fault for Sane's goal.

I was on the...

He's kicked that incredibly hard side of things.

Yeah.

Do I start a war of words with Mark Bosnich, the former goalkeeper?

Is this the right time?

No.

Yeah, but

he's got such a good heart.

Yeah, I know, I know, I know, I know.

That you can't start a war of words with him.

He's just too nice.

I think you'd be hoping that the goalie would save that there, but you're right.

He's absolutely kicked the life out of that ball.

And I can understand how it's managed to get past him.

But if I was on the field and it went in there, my initial reaction would be a sense of disappointment.

Like, what are you doing?

You know what I mean?

How have you not saved that?

But I think, yeah,

I'm going to say it's a great finish, but I can understand that Mark Bosnish would have saved it.

But it was a great finish.

It was a very, very good finish, I'd say.

And in three years of working with him, there is yet to be a shot that he wouldn't have saved.

Talented guy.

Mussiale won the penalty for buying then, Barry.

And I thought he was, I thought he was absolute standout yesterday.

Yeah,

he was brilliant.

And

you know,

Munich scored their two goals while Real Madrid were still trying to figure out and get to grips with that tactical switch at halftime.

But, I mean, I think it was not a very stupid penalty for Vasquez to give away.

He had cover.

Muciala wasn't necessarily going to be able to get a shot off.

And, you know, this,

I think it's what Gary Neville calls a lazy leg left dangling out for Muciala to go over.

So he was brilliant, but that was a stupid penalty.

Kim's was a daft one to give away as well.

Um,

and yeah, silly mistakes that get punished.

Yeah, I mean, actually, Vasquez probably pleased that Kim was playing because you didn't notice that he didn't have a particularly good game either.

Mark, what did you make of Harry Kane's performance?

Because that first 20 minutes as well, it was just a classic dropping deep, laying off those little passes.

I thought he looked really good.

Yeah, I mean, there were many occasions when Muller was further ahead than Harry Kane, particularly when they were sort of out of possession.

Um, but I felt he gave Real Madrid far more problems than, say, Haaland did in the previous game.

And Rudiger,

Nedon was talking about this earlier on, about sort of players coming from deeper positions.

And Haaland stood next to Rudiger and Nacho, and that's what they actually wanted, that physical battle.

Kane was sort of dropping into spaces where neither Nacho nor Rudiger really wanted to go.

And he was able to get

the space to then link the play for Sane and Musiala and Muller at times.

I felt he played uh very well.

Um, you know, Bellingham tried to put him off with a penalty, might be interesting next time that they link up with England.

Do wonder what he said, might have been something like, Remember what happened against France or something along those lines.

Don't do that again, um, but it was a very uh cool penalty from Kane.

He gets a lot of criticism for not scoring in the very biggest games.

So, um, in semi-finals and finals for Tottenham and England, he doesn't have sort of the strongest record.

Even the penalty in the semifinals of the Euros, he missed and then scored the rebound.

But I actually thought his all-round play

was

exceptional, really, for the most part of that game and was one of the reasons why Bayern were able to dominate spells.

Yeah, I would agree.

And I think, in regards to the Kane dropping off versus Haaland Stain Higher thing, like I was speaking to someone this week in regards to what City, like, for example, when Alvarez plays, because Alvarez is a really good player, but I feel like the centre-backs that he plays against don't give him the same amount of respect that they give to Haaland because they're concerned about what Haaland could do, even if he's not doing it.

And I think when we talk about Rudiger and those other players playing up against Haaland, Haaland might vanish from the obvious things within the game, but the centre-backs that he's with play the game in a slightly different manner, which at times causes fullbacks and others around them to suffer because they're so focused on him.

And I think Kane himself, he draws things out.

And if he's got the right people around him to run into the space and behind and so on, then great.

But then each team does play a bit differently.

And just to mention a point here, by the way, slightly aside to this, I didn't think in my lifetime I'd see three and a half Englishmen playing in a Champions League semi-final with no English teams involved.

Like, when did that become a thing?

You know, it's, oh, yeah, here's Harry Kane of Bayern Munich and Jude Bellingham of Real Madrid, and Eric Dyer of Bayern Munich as well.

And obviously Jamal Mussiala formerly, was it Fulham you was at?

You know, former England Youth International.

It's it says a lot about the way football's going, where finally, you know, some Brits have started to venture abroad and be successful as well.

And actually, Diabarry was, has been, you know, in this game and in the two Bayern games, has been great.

I want, I mean, people are asking if, you know, is he on the plane?

Is it too late for him to be on the plane?

He's already there.

He doesn't need to fly over, does he?

That's true, yeah.

Just get a.

I don't know.

I don't know where our, I don't know where our Barden Barden is this time, but

like he's like, you could see Southgate, who does like him, thinking this wouldn't be a terrible idea.

Oh, maybe not.

I mean, when he signed for Bayron, people thought, oh, he's just going to be a fringe player.

That hasn't been the case.

He was their standout central defender last night, although he wasn't up against much

because his partner had a shocker.

But he will rue that header when Bayern Munich were 2-1 up.

You've got a free header at a corner, really thumping header in and put it straight at Lunan, who, you know, if he puts it either side of the keeper, that's a goal.

Byron Munich at 3-1 up and totally different complexion on the game.

Yeah.

I'd have been so happy for Eric Darfield to score that.

Incredible.

I mean, that sounded like I'm being really critical of him, but I would say he'd be, oh, damn.

That was a great, great opportunity to score.

Daniel Sturridge tweeted, Sane will be a big problem tonight.

Goal for him and a penalty for Kane.

What else can he tell us of the future?

I presume he's in one of your WhatsApp groups.

No, he's just in a direct message type group.

You know, he just like just text your friends yeah yeah yeah he's uh yeah yes listen

of the chap insight is insight you know what i mean some people claim to have it some people do have it you know what i mean shout out to daniel sturge that's my guy I'm very impressed with Daniel Sturridge as a pundit, actually, because it's kind of his first year, isn't it, doing it?

Yeah, it is, yeah.

We should get him on here, get rid of him.

Please do.

Please do.

I was going to say as well, interestingly, I don't know if you guys have noticed this yet, but say the impact of

comms on a game is so big yeah i remember watching the the arsenal chelsea game where chelsea lost significantly was listened to and watched as if arsenal were really really good and i like that positive spin whereas sometimes if it's a different comms we'll spend the whole game talking about how bad another team is And I actually quite like the approach of maybe one team's bad because the other team's doing really well, as opposed to this game's only going that way because one team's really bad.

So this it's amazing how depending on who's on can sort of affect how you feel about a game even though the game itself still remains the same if that makes but who we who are you trying to criticize without criticizing them this is what i'm not no no what i'll do is what i'll do what i'll do is i'll i'll praise um ali mccoyist because i really enjoyed the game because he sounds like he really enjoyed it as well yeah you know when somebody's it's like your it's like it's your best case scenario it's like you're watching a game with a friend who's really enjoying the game of football so as you talk back and forth oh that was really good wasn't it instead of talking about the guy that slipped, oh, what a great ball that was by this.

It's like, yeah, this is, this is nice.

I like this.

I like this a lot.

I do wish, though, that Stephen Mannerman would not refer to Carlo Anchilotti as just Carla throughout the commentary.

I don't know.

I just take great offense to it.

I don't know why, but it just annoys me.

It's not too fair.

It's not too far away from when Alexander Arnold gets called Trent.

It's like, I don't actually know him.

You know what I mean?

Maybe it's laziness because you don't want to say the Alexander Arnold bit.

But yeah, here's a great ball from Trent.

Very early on in my tenure of hosting Guardian Football Weekly, I called John Terry JT, and I don't think I've ever got a more stick for doing anything.

And I don't know them.

I mean, I did once sit next to him and Mrs.

Terry at a charity dinner, but mainly me and Mrs.

Terry discussed death in paradise at length.

That was what happened.

Did anyone else have any strong thoughts about this game?

I did want to pick out

Conrad Lyman, Mark, who I've been super impressed with in the last few weeks.

Yeah, yeah.

well, he's part of that midfield, isn't he?

That I was sort of talking about there, where

whether Tuchel really believes in him.

I certainly, I think, would prefer an upgrade in that area overall.

But he does cover a lot of the ground, tries to protect the defence, and also can operate in that kind of right channel area and protect Yoshua Kimmick, who himself, I don't really think, fancies the right back position and sees himself more as a midfielder.

But again, it's about sacrificing yourself for the team.

And it's amazing how the best teams and the best coaches do manage to get buy-in from players and

to maybe do things they don't want to.

And yeah,

he was very solid.

I think from Real Madrid's point of view, though, not starting Kamavinga was an interesting one from Carlo.

I'm not sure that was

the move I would have made in that situation.

Maybe they could have played Nacho right back and to a many centre-half and put Kamavinga in there.

But I just feel like he's too good a player not to be playing in the Champions League semi-final.

I know Real Madrid have got a lot of good ones, but yeah, that was a slight surprise.

Do we think this is done, Barry?

Do we think the fact that Bayern quite like not having the ball means that actually it could kind of suit them?

Obviously, rare favourites, but...

Not a sneaky feeling for Bayern.

Rare favourites.

I think only slight favourites and probably only because they're at home.

And obviously being at home is a big advantage because you know the atmosphere last night it just seemed really febrile and and helped drive Byron on but I certainly wouldn't rule them out

just because they didn't get the result they probably deserved last night.

Dortmund PSG.

Nadem, do you want, are you looking for a PSG Real Madrid final for the Killian and Bappe story?

Or do you want Dortmund to win the whole thing because it would be

interesting for football to have someone who doesn't normally win it win it?

I mean mean obviously psg don't normally win it either well this is true this is this is true yeah um

i think

i think there'd be more eyes on um a real madrid psg final because of that storyline and i think if dortmund do get to the final i think it would be good but then i also don't think dortmund are that good so it would be weird to be watching them on that stage and because i don't think by comparison they're that good There's a good chance that they could just get destroyed in the final as well.

And that would be no fun for anyone.

Whereas I think that the real, if it ends up being Real Realm Drid or Bayern versus PSG I think that makes really interesting final we could sort yourself into any possible outcome so I think I'd lean that way that'll do for part one part two we'll begin with Ipswich getting very close to the Premier League

Hi pod fans of America Max here Barry's here too hello football weekly is supported by the remarkable paper pro now if you're a regular listener to this show you'll have heard us talk before about the remarkable paper pro we already know that remarkable is the leader in the paper tablet category digital notebooks that give you everything you love about paper but with the power of modern technology but there's something new and exciting the remarkable paper pro move remarkable a brand name and an adjective man yeah it's their most portable paper tablet yet it holds all your notes to-dos and documents but it's smaller than a paperback and an incredible 0.26 inches thin so it slips easily into a bag or jacket pocket perfect for working professionals whose jobs take them out of the office like maybe a football journalist barry although not like you

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Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly.

Gavin says, just talk about Kieran McKenna and Ipswich.

What a season when a lot of people, including myself, said they couldn't maintain that form.

They are second in the championship.

They are one point away from the Premier League after a 2-1 win at Coventry.

Mark, you had an eye on this as well.

I mean, it wasn't straightforward, but, you know, you've just got to do the job at this stage of the season, haven't you, Brian?

They have, and they did.

I've probably watched Ipswich, outside of Tottenham, I've probably watched Ipswich more than any other team this season for a variety of reasons.

So I I feel like

I don't support them.

I just become invested in sort of just watching their development and just how good a coach Kieran McKenna is.

And

what I think you tell from the best coaches,

if they really stick to a philosophy, like they play this.

I kind of know the movements that Ipswich are going to do

as much as the players.

If you watch them regularly, you know how it goes into Morsey, then out to the right back.

And then they look for the quick switch of play.

Davis plays very high up as a left back.

And

they're a great team to watch.

They score a lot of goals.

They're nearly always on the front foot.

I was going to say always on the front foot, but for the first time last night, I saw them get nervous and start like hoofing the ball.

And they only had 30-odd percent possession.

And they felt like they were nervous from about the 15th minute onwards and were trying to hang on, which is understandable in the circumstances, but didn't necessarily play, I think, the way that they will have wanted to.

But it's been a remarkable rise.

They haven't finished the job yet.

They still need a point

against virtually relegated Huddersfield at home.

You feel like they should be good enough to do that.

It just felt more like relief when Burgess got that goal to put them 2-1 up.

sort of settled them down until 11 minutes of injury time was put up on the board and then the panic started again.

I think there's been some standout players.

I mentioned Davis, the left back that plays as high up as, you know, probably a wing back or winger at times, got a lot of assists.

I think Morsey in midfield does a very good job of just organising the team, kind of doing that rodery role, including the fouling when the press is beaten.

He's good at sort of avoiding getting too many yellow cards for what feels like persistent fouling.

They also have got some dark arts about them.

If you notice, if you watch them regularly, you'll see a player tends to go down sort of somewhere between sort of mid-20s and 30 minutes.

And there appears to be a tactical break that happens on a regular basis.

But Hutchinson scored some great goals on Saturday.

A lot of players have played their part.

When George Hurst, son of David, got injured, I think that there were big concerns that that might derail them.

But then Kiefer Moore came in on loan and scored.

an important goal last night.

I think that they're probably better than they showed last night, but it was, as you say, Max, just get the job done.

And back-to-back promotions

is a difficult

to achieve.

That jump from League One to the Premier League in successive seasons is a big one.

And so if they do manage to do it,

just all credit to Kieran McKenna.

Mark, you extol the virtues of Kieran McKenna sticking with his system, but...

We've seen how that has

had an adverse effect on Burnley, say, this season and could cost them.

Do you foresee it being a problem in the Premier League, assuming they get over the line?

Well, I mean, if they get over the line, I think the biggest problem would just be that they haven't got the sort of players of the rest of the Premier League teams.

I actually think that Burnley are doing okay now, and if the season started now,

I'd back them to stay up, I think.

But they would just, I don't know if it was the bright lights of the Premier League or if just fine details.

I really haven't seen enough of Burnley to know kind of all what the problems were.

I mean,

I don't want to start talking about the struggles they're going to have in the Premier League, given they're not even there yet.

But I mean, yeah, I mean, the way that Ipswich play is very attacking.

And it mentioned the jump from League One to the Championship to the Premier League is big.

That one from the championship to the Premier League feels enormous now.

But I think they'll worry about that

on Saturday.

I would say they've got a very bright coach in Kieran McKenna.

and there will have been times previously when someone like him like would have been linked with more Premier League jobs.

You see like like West Ham for instance are talking to Lopotegi and Paolo Fonseca.

I mean that would have felt like quite a natural progression maybe from now again I don't want to just start getting hip switched to get rid of all the good things that have helped them get into this position.

But it's probably worked out for the best because I think if sort of your bottom half Premier League teams would have had their heads screwed on they would have pushed harder for for him

before now.

And he might feel like he's more than good enough to sort of hold his own in the Premier League.

And I think Luton have shown at times, Rob Edwards, and now latterly,

Vincent Company's sort of second half of the season that you can be competitive in the Premier League.

I'm not quite sure.

Nadum probably knows more about the Bernie situation, but yeah, I feel like they're now playing to a standard where they would be able to

sort of compete.

And they are.

are.

So just to be clear, Ips, which haven't been promoted yet, but we've already relegated them and got rid of their manager.

Yeah, that's fine.

That's like the Daniel story's level of foreshadowing.

We've got this sorted.

No need to pot about them next year.

I think you're a spot on with Burnley because having previously having no links to Burnley, great.

But now that my friend is the manager of Burnley, I tend to watch them more.

And I think they have improved throughout the season to the point where now, you know, they still kind of have a chance of staying up.

Oh, yeah.

And especially with that last game of the season being against, is it Forrest?

Forest, yeah, yeah.

Like that could be an enormous game.

It's not to say that it will end up being that way, but it really could be.

And most of us had written them off in the same sort of bracket as Sheffield United probably a good few weeks ago.

And I think at times,

like Burnley were up in the Premier League, and I think for them, it was like a year too early.

I don't think it was their plan as such to be up and just have to compete straight away, which is why

the teams that think that they're ready for it and they're they're good to go, you can tell that they're desperate to stay up based on the players that they sign.

Whereas for Burnley, it still feels like a sort of younger base, longer term type thing, which feels to me like what Ibswitch will probably try and do if they go up as well.

But the point I was going to ask, I was the question I was going to ask right there, Mark, was I remember start this season, I just...

Out of the blue, I caught some predicted like table for the championship and had Ibswitch in the top like six.

And I was like, what am I missing here to know that a team from League One is going to instantly go up there?

Was it just the manager that made people believe they could do it or was there something else that I was missing?

Manager was definitely a big part of it.

They're kind of,

I'm not sure which table it was you

sort of referred to,

but there was certainly from sort of underlying data,

expected goals and

such like, there was a belief that Ipswich, even when they were in League One and didn't win League One, and that annoyed some Plymouth fans that people were talking about Ipswich as being the best team in the league.

But underlying data suggested that they were

already of a standard of a good championship team and it wouldn't take that much.

And not everybody believes in sort of expected goals and

the rest of the data, but there were signs, I think, that they were way above that League One.

And League One last season was really strong.

And Ipswich were, by the end of it, playing to a standard that already translated very well to the championship.

Someone who watched a lot of the bottom of League One last year.

I'm not sure how strong parts of it were, but you're right.

The top few were good.

No, no, you're absolutely right.

So, you know, it'll be a disappointment after all that chat when Huddersfield go and win 1-0 at Portland Road and Leeds beat Southampton.

But yeah, Huddersfield are basically relegated barring a 15-goal swing from Plymouth and a Birmingham defeat as well.

Southampton have the playoffs, so they might rotate.

So look, you'd imagine Ipswich are up.

They just need a point, don't they?

But if they don't get it, Leeds have Southampton and they could steal that spot on monday leicester were promoted as champions um if they beat blackmen on the final day they'll finish 100 points two goals for jamie vardy 20 in all competitions this season 37 years old a scuff and then a follow-up that he put into the roof of the net after valve face turned into ricky via briefly but it's nice it's nice barry isn't it just watching jamie vardy score go it's a sort of constant in life I think um yeah Enzo Mareska said that you know even when he's 45 he'll score goals you sort of get that feeling about him yeah I mean my recollection is

he looked a bit out of his debt in the Premier League the season that got relegated.

I think he wasn't starting games.

No, his big asset is his speed, obviously.

So the older he gets, the slower he's going to get.

I don't know what his contract situation is.

I think it expires in the summer.

We don't know whether Lester will be able to re-sign him or not.

There's so much uncertainty surrounding Leicester's financial position.

Oh, he's not going to go to Wrexham, isn't it?

We've got a Wrexham feeling about it.

Could be, could be.

Wouldn't rule it out.

Now that you've mentioned it, does seem to make sense.

So yeah, there's no guarantee he'll be a Leicester player next season.

And if he is, there's no guarantee that he'll score goals for them.

But

yeah, he has been instrumental in winning the promotion.

And one presumes he needs to keep playing because of

certain legal bills Mrs.

vardi has incurred in her uh in the waggotta christie business yeah possible play against him nadam i mean he must be really annoying to play against okay so you've happened to pick the right person for this moment okay great here we go did you go full kim min jae on jam

nah not quite not quite but it was 10 years ago that lester got promoted to the premier league 10 years ago and jamie vardie was playing up front i think with david nugent and possibly harry kane was on the bench maybe we as qpr we got promoted that season as well through the playoffs, literally almost 10 years ago to the day.

And we had the better squad and we played Leicester at Loftus Road.

And I think they beat us 2-0, but we battered them.

And this was like halfway through the season.

We're thinking, these guys aren't up to much.

They then went on a 20-something game, unbeaten run.

And I was because every week we'd win or something.

We checked to see Leicester score, oh, they've won again.

Oh, we drew.

Oh, they've won again.

Oh, we've lost.

Oh, they drew.

So they were always just getting further and further ahead.

So when you think about the fact that from that point, Jamie Vardi is now in the Premier League 100 goal club.

This is somebody that's played in the Champions League, won a Premier League title, played in Europe, has been relegated and come back again

all in the space of 10 years.

It's quite astonishing because even, say, the first season he went in the Premier League, which was a 14-15 season, which in the grand scheme of things is not that long ago, you know, he scores five goals in 34 games.

That's like defenders' numbers if they had a good season.

The next year, though, he wins the Premier League title.

Make it make sense.

When we go down as QPI, I'm watching him win the Premier League title, thinking this guy, like, this is Jamie Vardes, you know, the guy that would just chase channels and tackle people, like the salt of the earth English footballer, like makes more tackles than he has shots sometimes.

But then from there, the way his career is sort of progressed, I mean, even now, obviously, he is losing his speed, but I think him rescued is trying to get him to play a slightly different style.

And, you know, let's give him some credit.

We said he scuffed the first one.

Let's say he just put the slow ball out there for the goalie.

Goalie's been tricked by it.

You know what I mean?

It's a little slow, but you've got to change the pace every so often.

Don't just use the obvious parts of your foot.

Sometimes your little toe can get it done.

You know, that's what I've heard.

Right.

But it's so impressive to see that he's still playing, to see the stuff that he did from what happened 10 years ago when they, I think they won the league and Burnley was second.

But again, it's just a story, like opportunity can make a big difference.

And for him, he found his niche at Leicester.

What a league title.

What an FA Cup.

has brought so much joy to that fan base.

And he's done it again.

Like, as far as heroes go within a place, like, he's basically living the dream, isn't he?

Yeah.

All right.

That'll do for part two.

Part three.

Um, Barry will put his financial hat on.

And

he did say before the, he did say before the pod that the financial cap is quite straightforward.

So I look forward to you making this entertaining and informative.

Hi, pod fans of America.

Max here.

Barry's here too.

Hello.

Football Weekly is supported by the Remarkable Paper Pro.

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A proper football journalist, man.

Exactly.

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Welcome to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly.

Let's talk about Everton, the latest development on them, and the potential takeover from 777.

According to our reporting, Everton are calling in a leading firm of restructuring and insolvency advisors, raising further questions about the proposed takeover.

The move came while the club were believed to be waiting for a further 15 million pounds of loans that 777 had pledged to provide Everton with during April.

That is, according to a source at the company, when asked about that 15 million in loans, a spokesperson said said that after a delay, quote, the club has been provided with the working capital it needs as of today.

He wouldn't say how much of the 15 million had been provided.

777 having difficulties elsewhere.

Its low-cost airline Bonza entered administration in Australia on Tuesday, understood to have parted company as well with their UKPR advisers after falling behind on paying its fees.

Barry, from what you've read and from what you understand, what does this mean for Everton and specifically on the future of the club, which is what the fans will be most concerned about?

Well, we spoke earlier about Leicester being shrouded in uncertainty, and Everton are

similarly, their future is similarly shrouded in uncertainty.

So they owe $225 million to a company called Rights and Media Funding.

They owe...

uh 160 million to a company called MSP Capital,

which has links to an Evertonian businessman named Andy Bell, not to be confused with the lead singer, flamboyant lead singer of Erasure,

and a guy called George Downing.

And they also owe 200 million to this company, 777 Partners, who are trying to take them over.

But as you say, Philippe has long

suggested this takeover would never happen.

And he's done a lot of work into the dealings of 777 partners.

That airline in Australia has gone bust.

I hope it doesn't affect you, Max.

You're not stranded in Sydney while trying to get home to the current Mrs.

Rushton.

777 partners as well have missed payments to various suppliers and advisors.

They haven't satisfied any of the conditions for the takeover that have been laid down by the Premier League and keep delaying and asking for extensions.

So there is, does seem to be a very real suggestion that they don't have the money to

complete the takeover.

And the fact that Everton have called in these restructuring and insolvency directors, that's something they're obliged to do if there's a risk they might be trading while insolvent.

So clearly there is a risk that they are trading while insolvent.

And we

or you ask Kieran Maguire, basically, who has forgotten more about this kind of stuff than we will ever know,

for his sort of administration for dummies, because there's a risk Everton could go into an administration.

That would mean a nine-point deduction, but we don't know when that nine points would be deducted.

He said,

even if administration does take place, there are likely to be a lot of bidders and interesting parties.

I think because it's Everton.

So Kieran says, I expect the club to continue in existence.

The advantage of administration to a new owner is that they only buy the assets of the club, not the existing debt.

But for the fans, you know, who have been through a hell of a lot and continue to go through a hell of a lot, it is pretty miserable.

Kieran stopped short of saying what...

I mean, the way I read it, and I could be completely wrong because I'm not an accountant, it almost sounds like administration might be a good thing.

I don't know if that's the case.

Not necessarily a good thing, but the lesser of two evils, because they have all this debt at the moment.

I don't know what would happen to that if they went into administration.

Doesn't that the debt goes?

But once again, this is two people who aren't accountants.

It's a lot of money.

Like it's the tick end of 600 million quid.

That is.

I would just say that I was sort of trying to get sort of an intro sort of to see what Everton fans were thinking about this and sort of put a few key words into Twitter.

And some of them are having it.

Some of them seem to think that Jossima, who Philippe works for, are the bad guys in all of this.

And somehow, you know,

it's their fault.

And

I would just say to those that feel like that, that, you know,

read the articles.

I know that's nearly all football fans.

They kind of get into this mentality of trying to protect the club.

But

I think, yeah, just go into that with an open mind, I would suggest.

Yeah.

Yeah.

If you want to shoot the messenger, Philippe's on tomorrow and you can have a go at him then.

Elsewhere, regarding the spending cap, Paul McKinney is writing in The Guardian.

A majority of Premier League clubs have voted to explore measures that would put a cap on player spending, with only Manchester United, Manchester City, and Aston Villa voting against.

Plans for a new anchoring concept that would limit spending on wages, transfer, fees, and agent fees to a multiple of the TV revenue generated by the league's bottom club.

We're at the centre of a latest meeting of the shareholder clubs.

Premier League hopes to put a full set of new financial regulations to the vote and its AGM in June.

The league has agreed to go ahead with controls that would limit clubs spending on player-rated costs to 85% of their revenues or 70% in the case of clubs playing in Europe.

These squad cost ratios would run alongside anchoring if approved.

I mean,

I lost The Will to Live while reading that out loud and I was reading it.

So I...

Nadam, you're looking pensive.

Yeah, I've got one or two on this, just because, firstly, the thing that stands out is why did those three clubs say no to exploring it?

But then also, why did the 17 others say yes to exploring it?

You know, it'd be interesting to hear what their reasons are for their perspectives.

And again, it sounds, it sounds really definitive whilst also understanding that not much has truly, truly happened.

Because by the time that AGM comes, will they vote in the same way?

Will the proposal be something that they're interested in?

But it is food for thought.

And as you look around the internet looking for these articles, trying to explain it and say what this might mean and so on, you're sort of thinking, well, best case scenario, you know, it puts the Premier League in a better position overall.

The worst case scenario, maybe you've got like owners who are being told they have to spend because now, if it ends up being simple to understand, which I'm sure a finance expert on this podcast could explain to us all, Barry, if it ends up being it's simple to understand

and you know your club could be spending more, but they're not, is this all of a sudden your case to go and sort of say to the owners, you have to do more?

You don't care about our football club.

There's now a real level of like unhappiness associated with it.

Whereas the other side, if someone wants to just not spend money and say, well, we can't do anymore, I think it's going to be interesting to see what the final product ends up being put on the table in the summer, and if as many teams will be interested in doing it, because for me, right now, I'm not so sure about that as it stands.

Yeah, and you know, all these clubs, as we know, act in self-interest rather than the interest of the beautiful game.

We did ask Kieran to come on, by the way, he's on a train, and you know, we can't just send people to the Price of Football podcast.

We like you listening to us.

That might be a useful thing to do

in this instance.

I mean, the amount of money we're talking about, it's a lot, you know.

So I think

last season,

last season Southampton went down.

They were the lowest earners of TV revenue.

But if you multiples that by 4.5, which I think is the figure being bandied about, you're talking nearly half a billion quid.

Yeah, it's only Man City and Chelsea.

it would currently affect if it was 4.5.

And if it was five, it would only be Chelsea, right?

That's Kira Maguire as well.

So, you know,

he's really cornered the market on this, hasn't he?

He must be making an absolute packet.

We should have a wage cap for football finance experts.

That's what I think.

I do think the sustainability rules, though, are wrong, aren't they?

I mean, like, I understand that the kind of well-being behind it, and

I do believe in that.

But when you get to a situation where selling academy prospects is the best way for you to prosper,

that can't be right.

Or putting on extra Beyoncé contracts, concerts helps you kind of in the transfer market.

That just doesn't feel,

it just feels like something is wrong there.

Selling hotels that you already own back to yourself or to some, you know, that, yes.

I feel like something needs to be done, but we're not where we need to be at the moment.

And maybe this is a step in the right direction, or maybe it's not.

Manchester United apparently are willing to listen to offers for almost their entire first-team squad.

BBC reporting the only exempt players are Hoyland, Garnacha, and Cobby mainu you'd feel that mainu would have quite a lot of work to do if they were just left with those three wouldn't you uh you know got eric ten hard coming out for a press conference i was going i i don't think we were open at all there i think it was totally fine um that that that natum seems odd doesn't it or you know that they are they're looking to do i mean that because you know you all say well you can't sell your whole squad i mean it'd be fascinating if they did yeah

i think there's a big difference between saying people are available and people actually coming in and making deals for them and there'll there'll be lots of those people that will be staying.

I don't think, again, I'm not sure how reporting works.

I'm used to this whole field, but that's that would be a first for me for a team that's like not been relegated and it's going into administration, all that stuff.

So I'm not fully convinced by that.

I think loads of people will stay.

Lots of players will want to stay in the manager.

I'd imagine, whoever that's going to be, whether it's Ten Hago, whoever, will obviously need some players, you could say.

You know what I mean?

So maybe, could we keep him, please, sir, if that's all good?

But yeah, it'd be interesting if, you know, this is something we could definitely do, like socially just do your rankings of like most sellable man united assets and who's going to be worth the most and then before you know it you realize that like most people say oh this guy's sellable well would your club sign him nah probably not but yeah i'll be interested to see what they do this summer obviously change is coming but who's at whose expense will it be and would casemiro agree to go to middlesbrough

you know have you been at a club where there's been a massive clear out i've been relegated twice and as you're going down you know that things are going to be changing because they're trying to you know save money from every single angle.

But they don't, you know, who the most sellable assets are straight away.

And the club really puts a sort of emphasis on them.

It's like, oh,

I don't know if we want to sell him.

If we were to sell him, it would have to be for a big number for, you know, the numbers 18 million pounds.

Ooh, but only if you hit that, you know, trying to go to other teams and whatever.

And then the rest of us, we're just hanging about, just waiting to decide if we're going to get a text saying what time preseason starts or if someone's going to come and take you.

But yeah,

it's a weird spot, weird position.

But I think from what I've seen historically, and obviously this is related to relegation, the vast majority of players stay anyway.

So if you then translate that to a team that's, you know, top six, I think, or seventh or whatever in the Premier League currently, it's not going to be a fire sell.

That's not the way like United works, not the way football up there works at all.

On the subject of players and selling them, I was...

Going back briefly to the Everton thing.

I had a look to see what players of theirs are out of contract at the the end of the season.

So it's Jack Harrison, Arnaud Danjuma, Andre Gomez, Dele Alley, Idrissa Gay, Seamus Coleman, Ashley Young.

So Everton are paying hundreds of thousands a week in just interest payments on these debts they have.

So

you'd imagine they'd probably lose some or all of those players.

I mean, I don't know what Seamus Coleman plans to do, but he's not getting any younger.

Ashley Young's 40.

They might need to sell Jared Brantwaite.

he's they're a big asset, I suppose, isn't he?

Um, but

could be another bleak season for them.

You know, when you say Ashley Young's 40, like it sounds hilarious, but he is going to be turning 39 in a couple of months.

But I can't see it that way because I played under 21s with him, and I still feel quite young.

Oh, see, I thought I was surprised.

I was like, God, is he actually 40?

I was like, No, no, no, he's 38.

Is he not 40?

I'm sorry, I thought he was 40.

No, he's 40 next year, yeah.

By the end of next season, he's 40.

I apologize, actually.

but um i was gonna say when we think think about like players moving and things and such i have to give a mention to my former peers that play in mls and play in american sport whereby you are just a tradable asset so if you hear a report saying they're going to be moving people on

you could put your kids into this school settle buy yourself a house and then get a text saying you're now going to go and play over that side and there's nothing you can do about it that's mad and i sometimes wonder how they managed to get away with that.

But still, that's the general feel within American sport beyond people.

Literally, you see some videos of like guys, girls, whoever, getting calls like, yeah, we've just, you've been traded to place X.

Makes no difference about your history, what you've just done to set up to feel like home.

You're now going to have to move to go to the other place.

And you've got like two days to go over there because there's a game coming up.

It's bonkers, Max.

Bonkers.

And actually, it's worth thinking about like players in League One and League Two, right?

You know, as a Cambridge round, I'm just waiting for the retained list.

And, you know,

so many players just released from from all these clubs every summer and then you know a sort of bun fight for the next two months of trying to find another club and quite a few people um Arsenal fans specifically got in touch after Monday saying we were perhaps not positive enough about their win at the weekend and I suppose describing the team who are top of top of the league with the best offense as vulnerable could be a little hard I don't know what it means the rest of us rest of them are I just wondered if any if there are any thoughts from this panel on how well Arsenal are doing just to uh uh redress the balance mark well I mean as a Spurs fan i didn't listen to mondays i couldn't couldn't bring myself to to vote to vote with fruit but i'm sure you were uh fair and balanced all right well this is purposeful but uh for me but no i mean arsenal are doing um fantastically well i mean if you look at them defensively um they are the best team in in the premier league um defensively and they've you know are serving it up to man city which is not easy um and the fact that they were able to bounce back from the real disappointments aston villa by Munich.

To come back from that, I think, shows that they've already progressed from where they were in the last couple of seasons.

When things went wrong, it kind of the next thing went wrong, and then the next thing went wrong, and they were out of it.

In terms of the game on Sunday, I don't think Arsenal were at their best, but the sort of game state, they were free-new up pretty early on, and so were able, you know, to just manage that situation and got themselves into a bit of bother at the end.

But they felt like they had Tottenham at arm's length for the majority of the game mod.

So

Jonathan says, hi gang.

Following your speculation on Monday's episode about what Mr.

Blobby is up to now and how flexible and limber he is, I'm delighted to tell you that I saw him at a pro wrestling event, Riot Cabaret's jingle bell brawl at the Clapham Grand just before Christmas last year.

He was fighting in a tag team title match, but managed to get himself and his teammate disqualified for hitting his opponent with a metal chair.

Undeterred, he then smashed the promoter through a table.

As someone who grew up with Knoll's house party, it certainly was one of the most surreal evenings of my adult life.

Hope that helps.

Keep up the good work.

I'm having a small knee operation in a couple of weeks.

I'll probably just listen to the pod that evening, not during the procedure.

All the best, Jonathan.

Oh, thank you.

Thank you for keeping it.

If anyone else sees Bobby Bobby Bobby anywhere, then just do let us know.

And that'll do for today.

Thank you, Barry.

Thanks, Max.

Thanks, Nadam.

Thank you very much.

Thanks, Mark.

Max, I think you've got the live show sorted for whenever you go on tournament.

Thank you.

Are you nominating yourself there?

I was thinking more Barry.

You've already just as postman Pat once.

Oh, fine.

Well, one of you can do it.

All right, Football Weekly is produced by Joel Grove.

Our executive producer is Daniel Stevens.

We'll be back tomorrow.

This is The Guardian.