Was this the best week of the season so far? – Football Weekly Extra podcast

Speaker 1 This is the Guardian.

Speaker 1 Hello, and welcome to the Guardian Football Weekly. Let's revel a little longer in the greatest international break of all time after the joys of Troy Parrott and Kenny McClay.

Speaker 1 It's Curaçao and Haiti's turn. Huge VAR at the end of Jamaica, Curacao, but thank goodness it was there in Kingston.
Meanwhile, Haiti qualifier on Astro.

Speaker 1 It looked quite power league-y, but they won't care. Into pot four, they go.
Speaking of pots, or more accurately, projected pots, we can have a little go at a group of death and a group of life.

Speaker 1 And then back to the humdrum boredom of the Premier League.

Speaker 1 Just as international football is gaining some momentum, there's a North London Derby Super Sunday, a big test for Thomas Frank against Michelatetta's ruthless machine.

Speaker 1 But no, Gabrielle, how big a loss is that in both boxes?

Speaker 1 A potentially tricky trip for Manchester City to St James's Park, even if Newcastle aren't too strong right now, while Liverpool hosts Nottingham Forest. The Sectomies are back.

Speaker 1 As always, we'll answer your questions. And that's today's Guardian Football Weekly.

Speaker 1 On the panel today, Barry Glendenny, welcome.

Speaker 2 Hi. Did Vasectomies ever really go away, Max?

Speaker 1 I think we know it's like everything in cyclical, isn't it? They were really fashionable a few months ago. They went out of, they just, you know, nobody wanted them.
And now they're back with a bang.

Speaker 1 And we'll tell you why at the end. Hello, Seb Hutchinson.

Speaker 3 Hello. Sounds like a shady operation.

Speaker 1 Well, look, we're not doing, we're not performing them. I just sorry about that as well.
That's not a sideline that me and Barry have.

Speaker 1 And from the X of the the Sweeper podcast, Paul Watson, hello.

Speaker 4 Hi, Max.

Speaker 1 Andrew says, let's do the Scotland game again. I'm not ready to stop reliving the glory.

Speaker 2 And do you know what?

Speaker 1 I spent the day said just watching more of it.

Speaker 1 I've written a column about Kenny McLean and Troy Parrott and just watching all the videos and then the radio commentary, the TV commentary, and then just assorted videos from everywhere.

Speaker 1 It's been such a brilliant week.

Speaker 3 It's been the most enjoyable week of the season. And this happens in football because we're so preoccupied, or a lot of the media talk is about winning things.

Speaker 3 Winning's what's important in terms of trophies. But we know there's tiers to football, and where your team sits in the tier is everything.

Speaker 3 And for this sort of international break that we've just seen, where usually these things don't happen to some of these teams normally, especially Scotland.

Speaker 3 When McTominay scored the overhead kick, I genuinely stood up and screamed because it's just so perfectly executed.

Speaker 3 And of all the players who are going to produce a moment like that, it was Scott McTominay, even though he's come up with huge goals for Scotland, not in that manner, let's be frank.

Speaker 3 And then not to mention Troy Parrott, not to mention seeing these stories from around the world that I'm sure Paul's going to cover at some point.

Speaker 3 But the joy that I got from it, and also because I wasn't really working this week, that's part of it as well.

Speaker 3 So I was just sat there in an armchair, enjoying and taking in as much international football as possible. And I enjoyed every minute of of it.

Speaker 1 Yeah, and actually, Paul, like expectation ruins football. So it's just, you watch that as an England fan, and this might sound ridiculous to Barry, you know,

Speaker 1 and to listeners who support Scotland or Wales, but they just have more fun. You know, and I know as a Cambridge fan, like when it's good, it's just unbelievable because you're not expecting it.

Speaker 1 Whereas if you're kind of expecting to do well, then you either win and that's what you expect or you lose and it's sad.

Speaker 4 Yeah, and I've been saying to people, the people who always say, oh no, another International Week, I do understand it, but they do tend to be England fans.

Speaker 4 And it tends to be people who watch every single England game. And that's their international window.
And the problem is, as you say, it's an incredibly smug and annoying problem to say you've got.

Speaker 4 But our problem is we're qualifying too easily.

Speaker 2 Like, it doesn't mean anything anymore. And when you actually see what that sounds like,

Speaker 2 it's incredibly smug.

Speaker 4 It's incredibly smug. But that is basically what it is, right?

Speaker 4 I mean, I'm not the one who's on this podcast saying, would it be a problem problem if we win the world cup just for the record i have no problem with that if we win the world

Speaker 4 but um but no it is by the way so so

Speaker 3 that's the one tier missing isn't it for england that's the tier yeah yeah that's the one that's yeah it is

Speaker 4 but no it's i think you're right like it's it's these qualification games are amazing international football is incredible and to be honest i feel like um a sense of incredible smugness about the fact everyone suddenly loves international football.

Speaker 4 Well, where were you all when I was watching Anguilla versus British Virgin Islands at 2am?

Speaker 2 I don't remember.

Speaker 4 But no, you have to watch a lot of terrible football to watch international football. But when it comes to its like season finale, there is nothing like it.

Speaker 4 It's like watching, yeah, a very slow-building box set that just gets better and better each season. And when you get to like season eight, it's incredible.

Speaker 4 But you have had a few episodes where you think, oh, geez, that was half an hour wasted.

Speaker 2 So that's what I feel.

Speaker 1 A barrier island have had more joy. They haven't even qualified yet.

Speaker 2 They haven't qualified, and they probably won't. I hope they do.

Speaker 2 But I can kind of see the point.

Speaker 2 Would I like it if Ireland just went through the group like England did, swatting everyone aside, not conceding any goals and qualifying with two games to spare?

Speaker 2 I think I'd...

Speaker 2 Just once I would. Yeah, I'd enjoy it.

Speaker 2 But

Speaker 2 just the sheer drama,

Speaker 2 You know, Ireland were absolutely down and out in their qualifying campaign after three games.

Speaker 2 I don't think anyone saw way back. So to be even in with a shout going into

Speaker 2 the final game away at Hungary was amazing. And then to win it in such dramatic style is amazing.
Now, I...

Speaker 2 I kind of resigned myself to the fact that we're going to get Wales, which I'd rather who I'd rather avoid, because I'd like both teams teams to qualify.

Speaker 2 But then someone pointed out to me that we could get Denmark, and that's obviously who we'll get again. Yes, and they will beat us again.

Speaker 2 How many times has that game happened?

Speaker 2 It never stops. It's just in some parallel universe, Ireland are just constantly playing Denmark in a number of times.

Speaker 1 Bill Muffin wakes up again and he's like, oh, God, Ireland, Denmark, again. Are you serious? You know,

Speaker 1 shares playing on the radio. It's like, oh, God, here we go.

Speaker 1 Like, obviously, we are recording before the draw, but by the time you listen to this, that UAFA draw will have taken place. It's interesting.

Speaker 1 I was on direct message with Dale Johnson, who I trust more than I trust anyone else in the world about anything.

Speaker 1 We'd like what this is, because there's some conjecture about are these pots the pots or not the pots?

Speaker 1 If that makes sense. And I suppose you've probably looked at this more, Paul, than anyone else.
But obviously you've got USA, Mexico and Canada in pot one for the World Cup. So that dilutes it.

Speaker 1 But then there are 12 teams in that pot. So all the big sides are in that pot.

Speaker 1 But it is quite extraordinary when you look at you could have a group with, say, Brazil, Japan, Norway, and Italy if they got through. You could have a group with Canada, Iran, Uzbekistan, and Haiti.

Speaker 1 Like,

Speaker 1 they are wild. If these projected pots are right, that's wild how this might pan out.

Speaker 4 Yeah. Yeah.
So these are correct, right? Because I did see some people saying that obviously we don't know who's going to qualify from the playoffs.

Speaker 4 So are there any teams still left in the playoffs who would go into a higher pot?

Speaker 4 Or do they, because the way it's written here, it's as if it's a given that whoever qualifies from the UEFA playoffs and the intercontinental ones automatically go into pot four.

Speaker 4 I don't know if that's the case.

Speaker 1 So would Italy?

Speaker 3 Would Italy go into pot four?

Speaker 1 Well, this is the thing. So like this is projected at the moment.
That is what is happening.

Speaker 1 But clearly there is some wriggle room because it would be mad for Italy to be in the same you know a group below as Bekistan and Qatar but like that's that's what it is we had even a good question Paul from Hoops that says with Curacao Haiti etc qualifying for the World Cup is Paul concerned he's no longer edgy and cool and now just another boring mainstream football podcaster yeah you're pushing me you're pushing me to more and more extremes now aren't you like I'm gonna have to go even more niche and and eventually I'll just be sort of wheeled onto the pod for a minute to talk about the Burundian second tier and then just like taken off just gently taken off air while I'm still rambling faded down yeah yeah I'll be like oh it's weird you're doing it on a different sort of platform these days yeah yeah

Speaker 1 um well let's start we start with Curacao who drew nil nil in Jamaica and the drama at the end Paul is amazing isn't it of this game Yeah, and this, so this, I mean, this, this whole story was ridiculous.

Speaker 4 It almost felt fated to be in that Jamaica, it started really when Jamaica conceded a late equalizer against Trinidad and Tobago in the game before.

Speaker 4 So had they not done that, Curacao would have had to beat Jamaica, which would have been a very different dynamic.

Speaker 4 Now, Steve McLaren sort of tried to style it out and said, no, that's kind of good for us. We know what we need to do now.
We need to go out and win this game.

Speaker 4 But I think everyone was sort of thinking, I'm not sure Jamaica can break down Curacao. But instead, what happened was this ridiculous game.
Jamaica hit the woodwork three times.

Speaker 4 Curaçao had a goal disallowed.

Speaker 4 And it all culminated in this as you say this brilliant drama in the last minute where Jamaica awarded a penalty

Speaker 4 and I think to be honest nobody on earth would have wanted to take that penalty with that stadium packed and given the kind of backdrop to this game and the pressure on them I would not have wanted to take it but as it was it was overturned by VAR I mean it's never a penalty right it's a terrible decision on the pitch absolutely not a penalty it almost felt like the referee just was just felt that something had to happen like you know that had that we have to give him one more chance here because curacao cannot qualify for this world cup it's too silly so no it's nowhere a penalty it's overturned by vr and that basically is is the end of the line for for jamaica while it puts him into the playoffs which steve mclaren's decided he's not going to have any part of i thought that was very interesting that he decided to step away immediately and saying look i'm i'm not going to be the person to take him into the playoffs because it's it's been regarded by some as a very negative step it's sort of like well you got us into this mess get us out of this mess whereas other people are saying, yeah, you're right.

Speaker 4 You're predominantly people are saying you're not in control of your players.

Speaker 4 And that's a big narrative that's been bubbling around with the Jamaican team: there are rumors that these players are not behaving.

Speaker 4 Namely, there are rumors that they are out drinking certain members of the squad. There's a sense that they're not.

Speaker 1 Don't tell Barry Ethan Pinnock has been out on the piss for the last

Speaker 2 week.

Speaker 4 I'll say nothing of this.

Speaker 4 I actually don't know who the names are, but there are, as there always are in these situations, there are rumours that the players are not taking this 100 and seriously and that McLaren doesn't really have control over the team.

Speaker 4 And it tallies with the fact their gold cup was really poor. McLaren already felt like he was sort of on a short leash with this one.
They've not been brilliant in qualification.

Speaker 4 And they do just have the players that should be able to qualify. And instead,

Speaker 4 they have missed out yet again. And, you know, it's France 98 last time Jamaica were there.
And

Speaker 4 they are too good really to be stuck the in the limbo like this.

Speaker 3 I think it's very very disappointing considering the increase in teams in the competition considering the opposition actually and that's probably part of it is that usually Jamaica to reach the World Cup having to overcome one of the more favoured countries in the region but that path was cleared for them and they would have been favourites going into every game they played to reach this stage and they obviously couldn't handle the pressure.

Speaker 3 And as I understand it with the Federation and Steve McLaren, I think the Federation were hoping that he would be more across what was happening locally and choosing local players.

Speaker 3 And this has always been an issue for Jamaica because they want to make use of the diaspora in the States and in the UK principally.

Speaker 3 I was working on the Gold Cup in about 2015 and I was doing some features around different teams on the competition.

Speaker 3 I think Wilfrid Schaefer was the Jamaica boss at the time, really interesting character. I think he's with Ghana now as a technical director.

Speaker 3 I remember being in the canteen with all the players and they were all on separate tables depending on where they were from, principally where they played their football.

Speaker 3 So all those based in the States were on a table. They're all the English-based players and they were the local Jamaicans and they were all in separate groups essentially.

Speaker 2 And when you talk about unity, the golden generation is the golden competitor again.

Speaker 3 But they did well in that competition. I think they were runners-up on that occasion.
They had a good period.

Speaker 3 So again, you're flipping back to the manager once more and thinking this is many ways what you need. And obviously, Curacao may be a good example of of that.

Speaker 3 But if you can get that unity and that belief and the openings there and get through the door, Jamaica weren't able to do that.

Speaker 3 And it's gutting for them because I think from France 98, they were one of the stories of the tournament going into it.

Speaker 3 And that feeling of, I'll just never forget Robbie Elle's salute as he scored against Croatia.

Speaker 3 That's one of the great World Cup memories.

Speaker 3 Just looking back, just from a nostalgic point of view, and that kit, which is over my shoulder, which is useful for people listening, but it is over my shoulder.

Speaker 3 It's iconic, but we probably won't see it because they're not seeded for the playoff section. And likely it's going to be maybe Iraq or DR Congo or a team like that that they'll face.

Speaker 3 And that's probably a step too far.

Speaker 1 Paul, it's just worth talking about Curacao again.

Speaker 1 I mean, we have mentioned it, but you know, the size of this place, the number of people that live there, it's sort of bonkers that they're at the World Cup.

Speaker 4 Yeah, it's absolutely tiny.

Speaker 4 You know, obviously the smallest place.

Speaker 4 It's worth mentioning, and this is in no way to diminish, this is just simply to explain, that none of the Curacao Curaçao players in that team were born in Curaçao.

Speaker 4 In fact, I think maybe only one in the entire squad were born in Curaçao. They are Netherlands-born players of Curaçao and heritage.

Speaker 4 The reason that maybe is important is because it's quite a big change that took place with sports passports that were brought in.

Speaker 4 So it allowed players to have two nationalities and come and play for Curaçao, also for Suriname.

Speaker 4 And it made a massive difference because you have these primarily European-based players of Curaçao and heritage who are born in the Netherlands.

Speaker 4 They come up through the Netherlands systems, which are some of the best in the world. And these players are coming in at a level that's obviously much, much higher.

Speaker 4 So that is part of the story that I think does need to be to be told. Another part that's kind of amazing is Dick Advocate, who was mentioned on the pod.

Speaker 4 is their manager. Lovely story about him getting the job is that he wasn't asked to do the job.
He heard the job was available and contacted them sort of on spec and said, I want to do this job.

Speaker 4 Let me do it. And they were kind of quite stunned because, you know, Dick Helvica's a very, very respected coach.
And they just said, okay, come and do it.

Speaker 4 And he just loved the idea of this challenge. Really sadly, he actually wasn't there for the final game.
His wife is ill, so we really wish her all the best.

Speaker 4 But he couldn't be present at the final game.

Speaker 4 And there was quite a poignant thing that, you know, he texted the players to sort of say, what an adventure, lads, you know, when they, when they, when the final whistle went.

Speaker 4 But he wasn't actually able to be present and one amazing story though, which I think says how far Curaçao come sort of operationally was from Leandro Bocunha, one of the players.

Speaker 4 He said in an interview that when he first started playing for Curacao, they had an away match and after the game he took himself to the airport and there was no flight for him.

Speaker 4 No one had sorted out his flight home and he genuinely couldn't work out how to get himself back home from Curacao because obviously he was playing in Europe.

Speaker 4 And he was like, he's to say like it's kind of incredible that this team has come from that to the point now that they're going to woke up.

Speaker 4 And I imagine they've got the flights, they'll get the flights sorted for America anyway.

Speaker 1 Now, Haiti beat McGregor 2-0. So, qualified for the first time since 1974.
They were playing in Curaçao, they can't play at home because of the situation in Haiti on Astro.

Speaker 1 And I think they didn't pull, they didn't know they'd qualified at full time, did they? Unless they were very chill about it.

Speaker 2 I was watching the highlights, they were just in a humble, and I was like, It was one of those textbooks standing around a radio or a mobile phone waiting for a result from elsewhere to be confirmed.

Speaker 2 They won, but they needed a game between Costa Rica and Honduras to pan out a certain way to ensure they qualified.

Speaker 2 They were all standing in the middle of the pitch, huddled around a phone, waiting for the final whistle to go in this other game.

Speaker 2 And then, as soon as it did, all hell broke loose and the celebrations began.

Speaker 2 Interesting fact,

Speaker 2 I watched the highlights of this game, and Jean Richner Bellegarde from Wolves plays for Haiti.

Speaker 2 Came as news to me.

Speaker 3 Oh, I just wanted to add to that. You know, he was talking about players watching, looking at their phones.
They should do that for the World Cup draw.

Speaker 3 They should have the players on the screen rather than men in suits sat in a hall just nodding.

Speaker 3 They should do that. It would be amazing.

Speaker 2 Because can you imagine the reactions?

Speaker 3 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, maybe not.
I don't know. I don't know what reactions you're going to get from Spain and England.

Speaker 3 But I think for Curaçao to know they've drawn Brazil, can you imagine they'll be jumping up and down, partying? Because that's the other part of it. There's no expectation come the competition.

Speaker 3 It's just the being there and the festival and the party. Maybe Scotland.
We can have one for Scotland as well.

Speaker 2 I was talking to Pico Lopez yesterday for a work thing,

Speaker 2 the Dubliner who plays for Cape Verde, and I was asking him who he would like to get in the World Cup and how he'd feel if by some hook or by crook, Cape Verde ended up playing Ireland.

Speaker 2 So he said he'd love to play against Ireland.

Speaker 2 I said, I guess Portugal's the big one for you, Cape Verde, because it's a former Portuguese colony. And he said, it's the World Cup.
I want to play Brazil.

Speaker 2 That's perfect. Let's not beat about the bush.
I want to play Brazil.

Speaker 1 Yeah, that's exactly the right answer. Sirin Am have made it into the playoffs, haven't they, Paul? They didn't know they'd done it.
Like a last-minute own goal gets them in.

Speaker 4 Yeah, so yeah, to sort of contrast, so you've got Haiti and this amazing moment. As you say, like, can't go back.
The players can't travel to Haiti.

Speaker 4 The coach has never been to Haiti, the French coach, never been to Derbys, it's not safe. And

Speaker 4 they actually, in many ways, coming into the evening, were in a slightly worse position than Suriname.

Speaker 4 By the way, if you get a chance, there's an amazing speech from Dukins Nazon, who plays for Haiti. He's like a sort of senior player.

Speaker 4 He gives this speech before the game that Haiti play in the dressing room. And he basically says, there are people back home who have nothing in their pockets.
They've only got us to rely on them.

Speaker 4 We can make them cry with joy. Today we're not going to let them down.
It's this incredible speech. And this Haiti team go out and just play amazingly, really.

Speaker 4 And it's this incredible moment where, yeah, they're all gathered around their phones waiting for this result. And then they go absolutely mad in center circle.

Speaker 4 By comparison Suriname come into the the day on the brink of qualification. They've just beaten El Salvador 4-0.

Speaker 4 They needed to beat Guatemala and it was in their hands. And I think there was a feeling this was going to be their night, but they absolutely just didn't show up.
They were 3-0 down.

Speaker 4 They went, yeah, went 3-0 down going into the closing stages. It's absolute nightmare game for them.
They've just not shown sort of any of the

Speaker 4 kind of, I don't know, I guess any of the flair that they've shown in this qualification campaign that's been unusual because they are the lowest ranked team they were going to be the lowest ranked team to qualify for the world cup 126th in the world so they came into this whole campaign not looking great but they've been brilliant really at points soon they played terribly and in the last minutes of this game against um guatemala they're 3-0 down the players basically look like they've lost heart they lump a ball into the box and it's an own goal so they go 3-1.

Speaker 4 The players do not care at all. You know, their dream is ruined.

Speaker 4 But what they don't realize is that actually that goal is the difference between sending them to the playoffs at the expense of Honduras because it moves them up in the runners-up stakes.

Speaker 4 So this goal that they did not celebrate at all has, in fact, put Suriname into the Intercontinental Playoff and knocked Honduras out.

Speaker 4 And the players only realize afterwards when they leave the pitch that, you know, it's not all completely lost.

Speaker 1 Devastating news for Wilson Palacios, of course.

Speaker 2 Yeah, Devastator.

Speaker 2 And all the other Honduran footballers.

Speaker 1 Meanwhile, Paul,

Speaker 1 Iraq, UAE, God, there was some atmosphere of this game. And like so much, one of those handballs.
I mean, I can't.

Speaker 1 The poor guy who looked about 50, who gave away his hair's greyer than mine, but like, ah, that was brutal, wasn't it?

Speaker 4 Yeah, I mean, this is

Speaker 4 taking place in Basra.

Speaker 4 The Asian qualifies is this weird system almost where it feels like. everyone's sort of tapped on the shoulder and allowed to leave the doctor's waiting room at certain points.

Speaker 4 Like you kind of stage after stage after stage and you don't go out for ages. And this is the, this was the last chance to loon.
Like this is the final hope. And it's Iraq versus UAE.

Speaker 4 Winner goes to the continental playoffs, intercontinental playoffs, and the loser is just is out. So there's a huge amount on the line.

Speaker 4 There's also, in the region, there is no love for the UAE because they have naturalized enormous numbers of players. They had nine naturalized players in their starting 11.

Speaker 4 Their goal scorer, Cal Lucas, is Brazilian. They had Gaston Suarez, Gustavo Alamão.
You just have have to look at the names. This is a primarily South American naturalized team.

Speaker 4 So there's a lot of kind of kind of a lot of people in the region cheering Iraq on just vicariously because they don't want UAE through. The game is impossibly tense.
There's been a first leg.

Speaker 4 The first leg was one all.

Speaker 4 This one is also...

Speaker 4 one all and it's just looking going to penalties for sure you know it's one of those really tight games but suddenly in the 18th minute of added time iraq are awarded a penalty and this you know the stadium in basra goes mental But the amazing moment is that the Iraq boss, Graham Arnold, literally can't watch.

Speaker 4 He sees his side of got a penalty. He knows that everything at stake on this penalty.
And he starts to walk away. He walks towards the stands.
He's just like head in his hands.

Speaker 4 He's walking towards the stands. And he sort of eventually walks back to the running tracks, quite a big running track around the stadium, but he still can't watch.

Speaker 4 And what happens is as Amir al-Lamari runs up to take the penalty, he's not watching, but he's got one of his coaching staff stood next to him watching the penalty to tell him if it goes in.

Speaker 4 And instead of telling him it goes in, he just jumps into his arms, some leapfrogs like a bit like my toddler jumps into my arms, just jumps into his arms.

Speaker 4 And that's how he finds out that they are in the intercontinental playoff. The entire stadium absolutely erupts.

Speaker 4 And, you know, again, for Iraq, they've not been at a World Cup since 1986. They've still got some work to do, but they'll fancy themselves at those intercontinental playoffs.

Speaker 4 You know, Iraq and DR-Congo are the two highest-ranked nations, and they've got the easiest ride of them.

Speaker 1 Yeah, so basically when the draw is made, there will be two semi-finals between the four sides that are in that bit, Bolivia, Jamaica, Suriname and New Caledonia.

Speaker 1 And one of those will go and play Diar Congo and one will play Iraq and those two will make it into the World Cup.

Speaker 1 Elsewhere internationally, just before we end part one, I saw that the US MNT beat Uruguay 5-1, which I wasn't necessarily expecting. So now maybe they're a dark horse under Maurizio Poccatino.

Speaker 1 And you wanted to mention Somalia, Paul, beating Bahrain.

Speaker 4 Somalia ended the longest winless streak in international football with beating Bahrain 2-1. And it's a very unlikely win in many ways, like Bahrain 112 places above them in the world rankings.

Speaker 4 But what was really nice, I think, for Somalia is to kind of get that longest streak off their backs. That now goes to Iswatini, the longest winless run in international football.

Speaker 4 Somalia fielded a couple of players from the Welsh League, Abdi Sharif from Connorsky Nomads and Mo Ali from Rill.

Speaker 4 And there's a sense that actually if Somalia could get their act together and find some of the talent in the diaspora, there are a lot of talented Somali players around.

Speaker 4 And this was the first sort of shred of hope for them. And on a similar note, I think I have to give just a quick tip of that to the British Virgin Islands, who have had an incredible window.

Speaker 4 They beat the Cayman Islands 2-1 and they thrashed the Bahamas 6-0. And that is as many wins in a week as they'd had in the previous 13 years.

Speaker 4 And the hero of the day, or the hero of both days, was Whitstable town striker Javon Splatt, who made his debut against the Cayman Islands and scored two, and then netted a hatchery against the Bahamas.

Speaker 4 And so, with five goals, in two games, he has become the joint all-time national top goal scorer of the British Virgin Islands.

Speaker 2 He's trying to steal Troy Parrott's thunder.

Speaker 1 Oh, well done, Mr. Splatt.

Speaker 1 That'll do for part one, part two, back to the humdrum of the Premier League.

Speaker 1 Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football. Weekly Ridge says, Why does club football have to come along and spoil international football? Uh, can we start reducing the amount of club football?

Speaker 1 Yes, I mean, look, many people are doing the same gag, but it is worth doing. Premier League returns this weekend.

Speaker 1 Uh, game of the weekend is probably Super Sunday, North London Derby, Arsenal versus Spurs. Uh, Arsenal unbeaten since the 31st of August, unbeaten in their last five games against Spurs.

Speaker 1 They've won the last three. They are very heavy favourites for this game, I would suggest.

Speaker 2 I guess they are, but we have to insert the obvious caveat that form is obliged to go out the window.

Speaker 2 The big talking point is that Gabriel is injured after knacking his thigh. I think it was in a friendly for Brazil.

Speaker 2 I think quite a few Arsenal fans are very unhappy that he was even playing in a friendly, but he was.

Speaker 2 was uh it was against senegal he had to come off he could be out for two months and the two months he could be out arguably coincides with arsenal's busiest time well not arguably it is going to be arsenal's busiest time of the season and their trickiest run of fixtures of the season michelar teta has to decide whether to start with piero hinkappi or christian muscara i think both are more than adequate defenders uh when it comes to covering for gabriel It's the other box where Gabriel, I suspect, will be missed more

Speaker 2 because he's so good at Arsenal corners, scoring from them and helping others score from them.

Speaker 2 But I mean Spurs have no shortage of injury concerns and issues of their own. Pape Sarr I think picked up an injury on international duty with Senegal.

Speaker 2 Ben Davis, Lucas Bergville, Mohamed Kudas and Randall Colomoani are all, all, there's concerns over them, their fitness for this Sunday.

Speaker 2 And then there's the long-term list of Lehman Holt in the Spurs ranks, Kulasevsky, Madison, Dominic Solanke, et al.

Speaker 2 So I guess Arsenal are our favourites. I wouldn't say it's set in stone that they'll win, but they are at home.
So that's it.

Speaker 1 I suppose the thing about Gabrielle missing Seb is every time Arsenal have had someone missing, someone else has come in and really stepped up.

Speaker 1 And we've talked a lot about the strength and depth that they have and, you you know, two players for each position.

Speaker 1 There's no reason to suggest that, you know, whoever he decides on Hinkapi or Moscara, they won't do the same thing.

Speaker 3 It's felt like a familiar tale this season, people saying Arsenal have strength and depth. But every week that goes by and they lose another player and another player.
How deep?

Speaker 3 How deep is your depth, really? And it comes a point where it's too much. I did the Sunderland Arsenal match.
And Arsenal's attacking depth was bare bones, actually.

Speaker 3 The only players they could bring in attacking areas off the bench were Academy players essentially. I know they're good ones in Harriman and us and Max Dauman and Wanery.

Speaker 3 But they were the only really options they had to bring off the bench and maybe change the game if they needed to or throw another striker on, which meant Arteta maybe he would have wanted to freshen up his front line to keep the ball a bit better and they may have seen that game out.

Speaker 3 With Gabriel going, he's the one defender. I mean, he was in line really to be one of the players of the season.

Speaker 3 And as you say, he's going to be a miss in the opposite box. And they do have, they still will be defensively strong.
But it's the attacking area that's interesting.

Speaker 3 And it feels like a season overall that's going to be defined really by how many key players can stay fit for teams and AFCOM. because certain teams are going to be heavily affected by that.

Speaker 3 I think Sunderland in particular have.

Speaker 1 Their whole squad goes. That's how I looked at the list.
I was like, it just kept on going, page after page after page.

Speaker 1 We'll get to that. I guess, yeah, from attacking point, you know, we don't know if Madwayke, Yokarez, Martinelli, or Erdoga will be there.
They could have Marino up front.

Speaker 1 He's done a really good job for them and Spain when he's done that.

Speaker 1 I would from a Tottenham point of view, Paul, it feels like if Thomas Frank could get a win here, it would just, in terms of like the vibes around Spurs, which are kind of not that positive.

Speaker 1 I think people are aware that he's got quite a lot of work to do and they're doing okay.

Speaker 1 But if he could get a positive result here, you feel like that could be just like, that would be such an amazing moment for him.

Speaker 4 Yeah, it would. And And it was weird, wasn't it? Because I think, you know, just before the international break,

Speaker 4 the Spurs were like on the brink of beating Man United, and it looked like everything was sort of slightly coming together a little bit because there was the Copenhagen game and the best goal in the history of football by Mickey van der Vern.

Speaker 4 And they battered Copenhagen. And just, I don't know, there was a sense of a lifting of the pressure on Frank a little bit.

Speaker 4 And then conceding that last-minute goal to Man United and ending up only getting a draw there,

Speaker 4 I guess Frank remains under a little bit of pressure.

Speaker 2 It feels like

Speaker 4 the vibes coming out of Spurs seem disproportionate to how bad things are. Things are not that bad, but it just feels there's a gloom around Thomas Frank.

Speaker 4 And I don't think I fully understand exactly what that is, but it is there.

Speaker 1 But look, they're fifth, Tottenham. They're on 18 points.
I mean, as are lots of teams, Villa, Man United, Liverpool, and Bournemouth. I mean, below Arsenal, it is incredibly tight.

Speaker 1 Man City is second with 22 points at the moment. They go to Newcastle, Barry.
And you sort of on paper, you look at it and you go, oh, this is a tough game.

Speaker 1 But Newcastle have lost three of the last four. City are, as we established last week, they're in ominous mode.

Speaker 2 They are in ominous mode. And Eddie Howe's record in the Premier League against Manchester City is diabolical.

Speaker 2 He's played amazing times

Speaker 2 with Spournemouth or Newcastle and has drawn two and lost 16. They just can't get one over on Pep in the league at all.

Speaker 2 Dan Byrne is going to be suspended for this game. He's been filling in at left back for Newcastle, had a nightmare in their last game.
But

Speaker 2 it gives Eddie Howe an opportunity to put Lewis Hall in.

Speaker 2 Newcastle's league form is not good at all, but they're at home for this one. And I think, like Paul said about Spurs,

Speaker 2 if they could win this one, this would really get their season back on track. But it's difficult to see them beating City, given their record against them is not great.
And

Speaker 2 as you say, City are in very ominous form.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I mean, Doku scored twice and assisted for Belgium, okay, against Liechtenstein. Haaland scored another 25, I think, in the international breaks here.

Speaker 1 And like, given that Arsenal won the league about a month ago, if City win this, because it's before the North London Derby, it's the 5.30 game on a Saturday, that takes them to within a point of Arsenal.

Speaker 1 So suddenly you're like, okay,

Speaker 1 this is interesting now.

Speaker 3 This is why it's still so early in the season.

Speaker 3 We say this every pod, I would imagine, but even Newcastle could find themselves in the bottom three if other teams win this week. And that's how things can flip.
But it is so early.

Speaker 3 I think 11 games, and it'll be 12 after this. There's still so much football to be played.

Speaker 3 And I think we have to almost look at, rather than putting the crown on teams' heads or believing that teams are going to be going down, we're just thinking,

Speaker 3 are they in a good position or are they in a bad position?

Speaker 3 I think you get that general feeling that of the promoted sides, obviously Sunderland are doing very well, but we know there's a hurdle on the horizon.

Speaker 3 And we also, with Burnley and Leeds, are the question marks are still there for those teams and after 11 games they have had some good moments but even so teams like West Ham and Forest are well within reach of jumping over them and by the end of the weekend they could be in the bottom three and then you just start to think you worry for them and you wonder can they climb out of that situation in Manchester City's situation I've rarely ever doubted them ever and this season I'm still the same because they have one of the greatest goal scorers of all time I don't care what anybody says I've not seen all the goal scorers of all time.

Speaker 3 But I still believe Haaland. We've never seen anything like him.
And while Guardiola is still there, he instills something in the players that

Speaker 3 they're always hungry, these players. You never get the feeling that they've dropped their level.
Sometimes you might think, are there some of their players being in the middle of the year?

Speaker 1 Hang on,

Speaker 1 you did last year, right?

Speaker 3 Yeah, but

Speaker 3 they had that period, and basically that meant they couldn't win the league. But they still recovered to a position where they're in the FA Cup final.
They were third in the table.

Speaker 3 Most teams

Speaker 3 wouldn't mind that. Chelsea, Manchester United, Spurs, all these sides would have loved to have been in that position.
And that's the standard they've met. And it does feel weird with them.

Speaker 3 I think when they face Newcastle this weekend,

Speaker 3 these are those sort of games where you think, okay, City R, they're there now. And they've had it with Newcastle.
I think they...

Speaker 3 There was the late winner a couple of seasons ago, the Oscar Bob one.

Speaker 3 And that felt like a defining moment of that particular season where you think this team, even against the odds, the quality's there to pull it through.

Speaker 3 Players are coming back from injury, and I just have a sneaky suspicion that he's going to pull it through again, Pep.

Speaker 2 Although we can't crown it. 12 games in.
We can't.

Speaker 2 There's only 12 games in.

Speaker 1 Now, Liverpool play Forest. It's a Saturday, three o'clock kickoff, Baz.
Liverpool lost four in the last five.

Speaker 1 And again, you know, without reading too much into it, you sort of think if they have to win this one, right? They have to.

Speaker 1 I mean, mean, the pressure that would be on if they didn't get three points, I think it would be enormous.

Speaker 2 I don't think it's too early to say that Liverpool are not going to win the league. I mean, they've already lost more games this season than they did all last season.
Yeah, they're not playing well.

Speaker 2 We saw from Andy Robertson Tuesday night that

Speaker 2 the Diogo Jota thing is affecting him. And no doubt it's affecting the rest of them as well.
And it's no surprise that it is.

Speaker 2 And we keep mentioning that

Speaker 2 we can only speculate as to how much it's affecting him, but it's clearly affecting Robo there. He spent all day Tuesday crying and hiding in his hotel room because he misses his mate.

Speaker 2 So I don't think it's too early to write off Liverpool. I'd be astonished if they could turn things around from here.
So with that in mind, I don't think that this game is that big a deal for them.

Speaker 2 I still think they'd probably be too good for Forrest, but there's no question that Daesh has improved them. They might have Chris Wood, Zimchenko, and Callum Hudson at Doy back for this game.
And

Speaker 2 I think Liverpool Allison is approaching full fitness. He might play here, but Maramadash-Ville, I can't recall him doing much wrong while he's filled in for him.
So that's not that big a deal. But

Speaker 2 I don't think it's as important a game as as you seem to think.

Speaker 1 No, no, and actually, bringing up Jotter, and like I've written about this and we've talked about it, and we've talked about whether you can always talk about it or you shouldn't or how you sort of cover it.

Speaker 1 But it almost feels like, you know, the way Andy Robinson spoke, actually, you sort of feel like you could just give everybody a pass for this season. You know, because

Speaker 2 that doesn't mean

Speaker 1 didn't Ernest Slott already say, you know, before the season started, he more or less gave them a pass for the season yeah i suppose you know all the football won't give them a pass that doesn't mean that that matters or not but you know that everyone that talks about it and just the way that we discuss you know the game

Speaker 1 means i guess that not everyone will do that but maybe we maybe we just should send i don't know what do you think and not not many

Speaker 3 footballers it's not often this situation happens that's the thing a player in their prime

Speaker 3 towards the top echelons of football current current player loses their life in this way.

Speaker 3 And so I don't think any other, not many other people could put themselves in that situation in football and say, How would you feel if a teammate

Speaker 3 you lost that teammate? And in many of those Liverpool players' cases, a great friend. And

Speaker 3 I think at the end of the day, who cares what people think,

Speaker 3 whether we believe that

Speaker 3 it's affecting them or shouldn't affect them, or you should stop talking about it. It's not for anybody to ever tell you when you should stop grieving for somebody.
So I think that's probably it.

Speaker 2 yeah and also it's it's

Speaker 2 he he seems to have been incredibly popular member of the squad everyone liked him he was the life and soul of the dressing room a good bloke and you know that you that's going to be a massive void if it's just gone

Speaker 1 suddenly like that and look we shouldn't also forget you know other teammates that played with him international level as well and you know how it impacts their season at club level but also you know how Portugal go.

Speaker 1 You're at Old Trafford's on Monday night said for Man United Everton.

Speaker 2 Yes.

Speaker 3 Manchester United are in this strange position where everybody believes they're back or everybody around Manchester United supporters.

Speaker 3 The way they've spoken about their side, I think they've slightly lost a sense of where they are supposed to be or as a football club because

Speaker 3 I still don't believe they're a side that are dominating games as we were used to seeing Manchester United do.

Speaker 3 And Monday night's a good example of a side who are pretty good defensively.

Speaker 3 But David Moyes' record at Old Trafford, even as Manchester United manager, is not very good. I think he had 16 games at home and he won seven of them when he was the manager.

Speaker 3 And he's never won there in any visit and a couple of draws, I believe. So I hope doesn't spring a turnal for Everton in that scenario.

Speaker 3 But then that says to Manchester United, where these are the games where you just go out there, you show that you're a side who can dominate a game, be on the front foot, and then maybe the belief will be there.

Speaker 3 What their target is, is interesting. They have no European football.

Speaker 3 People say they have these clear weeks, but they are starting to be, they don't like the fact they're being put on Monday nights and Friday nights.

Speaker 3 But that's what happens when you don't have European football. You become a Monday night football team.
That's why we say there are teams that tend to be on on those times.

Speaker 3 I mean, Everton are one of those as well.

Speaker 3 So they have to take advantage of this.

Speaker 3 And it is a season where it feels open for them to get into the Champions League mix and be there early doors and stay there because they do have quality in their team and they should be doing better.

Speaker 1 All right, that'll do for part two. We'll carry on a Premier League preview in part three.

Speaker 1 Welcome to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly. Paul Wolves, Crystal Palace at 3 p.m., the Rob Edwards era begins.

Speaker 1 I wonder what you make of his move. We've talked about it a bit, but it's really interesting, I think.

Speaker 4 Yeah, I found this really interesting. And I think the response to it, like, I do understand why the response to it would be anger.

Speaker 4 And I get from Middlesbrough's perspective, like, the fans are going to feel you've walked out on us for what you see as a bigger opportunity.

Speaker 4 And that is going to hurt, especially when Middlesbrough very much see themselves as a club. trying to get into the Premier League.

Speaker 4 But I think when you're reading about the reasons behind the move, you're reminded again, and I think we talk about the Diego Jotta situation, that people in the sport are human beings and rob edwards seems to have made this move in order to be able to spend like a bit of time with his family rather than doing what was it i i read it in something like four hour drives he was getting home at 2 a.m it was he was basically not seeing his kids his wife you know and you got to remember these guys are human beings and i think if any of us had an opportunity come up where you know you've got a new job offer um it's it's okay a slightly bigger job probably in terms of salary and it's a slightly bigger job in terms of profile.

Speaker 4 But more than that, if the biggest thing that jumps out at you is, oh, I'm going to be able to see my kids a little bit. I'm going to be able to have some family time.

Speaker 4 I just don't think we'd ever judge anyone in any other profession in that way and say, well, you know, what's wrong with you? You're a snake. You're a traitor.

Speaker 4 All this kind of stuff being thrown at him.

Speaker 2 And personally,

Speaker 4 I really sympathize, but I think it does really throw into stark relief this thing that we don't, there's a habit of not viewing football managers as human beings with outside concerns and i personally i wish him all the best and um i i i know when he left forest green in fact he was here he's a brilliant manager at forest green rovers and he left for luton and people here were were livid at him i think it was to do with the way he left he said you know i'm going to stay and then he left but again job comes up with a massively bigger salary massively greater opportunities i just don't know how you can really have any venom for someone trying to do the best for for them and their family really although i would say say that the move from the uk to australia means that for me means that i now podcast once the kids have gone to bed so i actually have too much family time and i would love to podcast

Speaker 2 well i was going to say max that

Speaker 2 I think my in my experience you you relish any opportunity to be away from your kids for a couple of years no no no no I want to live in the same house as them I just you know just an hour an hour in the shed on zoom talking about football when they're awake actually that might be quite a nice hour off.

Speaker 4 They say, Max, that's what haunts you in later life, isn't it? When your kids are all growing up, you'll say to them, my God, I spent too much time with you as kids, didn't I?

Speaker 2 Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 Yes, carry on.

Speaker 3 The best thing about being on this pod is it happens during the school run.

Speaker 1 There you go. That's why you're doing it.
The players are making all the right noises. Marshall Manetzi says, it's been amazing.

Speaker 1 The way he, Rob Edwards, has had an instant impact because he's a person who knows the club. So for him coming in, he really knows what he's doing.
And training sessions are really good.

Speaker 1 Obviously, Obviously, not really a new story. You can always know a story isn't a story if you, if the opposite is much more interesting.
And had Moneti said, This guy has no idea what he's doing.

Speaker 1 And he might

Speaker 1 say every club, but he hasn't got a clue. Still, Palace Barry is not an easy game for anyone.

Speaker 2 No, it isn't.

Speaker 2 They drew

Speaker 2 a little with Brighton in the last game before the break, a game with nothing really

Speaker 2 was a complete non-event as far as football matches go. Wolves have conceded three goals in each of the last three games.
That has to stop.

Speaker 2 Palace are, we know how good they can be.

Speaker 2 The Wolves motto is out of the darkness comes light. So let's just say I hope

Speaker 2 Rob Edwards brought a torch from Middlesbrough.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Os

Speaker 1 feeding the players lots of carrots.

Speaker 1 Leeds play Villa, two o'clock on Sunday. You start to feel, Seb, that, you know, we all said, oh, these promoted sides looks good.

Speaker 1 And Sunderland have kept it on, but leads are starting to slip, aren't they?

Speaker 3 I was at Ellen Road for their win over West Ham, and West Ham were terrible that night. And Leeds still made hard work of it by the end of the game.
And their fans were stressed.

Speaker 3 And West Ham scored really late on, and they felt they were hanging on a bit. And you could feel the tension in the crowd.
Now,

Speaker 3 you have to win games, obviously, to stay up in the Premier League, but you can't be in a position where you're that tense just to secure victories.

Speaker 3 I think that when they beat Everton and the first match of the season, it can't be every home win feels like an event to do to get over the line.

Speaker 3 And it feels a bit like that with Leeds at the moment. There is some discontent about the manager.

Speaker 3 You felt that was going to be the situation because what Sunderland did compared to Bernie and Leeds, to the point is they brought in so many players.

Speaker 3 They brought in players that were unknown also to English football. And so many of them have hit the ground running.
And that's what you need now.

Speaker 3 I think maybe three or four seasons ago when Fulham did it, there was a lot of criticism over bringing in so many players when Forrest did it. But I think you have to do that now.

Speaker 3 You almost have to change your entire team if you can. I don't think bringing your

Speaker 3 main side up to the league is going to work anymore as it may have. done before.
The gap feels too big and you have to bring in the quality required.

Speaker 3 Just leagues haven't done that, especially in forward areas. You're still seeing names like Brendan Aronson starting games, and you're thinking, what's happened here?

Speaker 3 A player that went out on loan, wasn't a great goal scorer to begin with, and they are struggling in that area. And you think a game like this against Villa, who was so impressive last time out,

Speaker 1 well, I'm not saying this could be the one in terms of a manager losing his job, but I think it does feel like they're under a lot of pressure now to try and get the points needed to make them feel like it's something that they can do, stay up in the premier league and meanwhile sunderland uh they go to fulham it's a three o'clock kickoff and look they've got a month until afcon right they're in fourth barry but just looking at you know the players they lose uh for that i think it's seven seven yeah chelby diara reynildo adingra uh triore masuwako and siddique um bibsi saying look that most of them are first team regulars 50 premier league appearances between them this season so like it's a big month ahead of that siddiki will will be a huge loss.

Speaker 2 Masswaka as well. Adingra,

Speaker 2 he's not a starter.

Speaker 2 Habib Diara,

Speaker 2 he has been injured, but he's a good player.

Speaker 2 I just want Sunderland to get to 40 points and I'll be happy.

Speaker 2 This is one of those for Fulham.

Speaker 2 You know, Sebs theory, you have to win these three o'clock Saturday games when no one's looking. This is one of those for Fulham.

Speaker 2 I would be disappointed if Sunderland don't win this, but you know, it wouldn't be a massive shock if they didn't win it. But I have a certain expectation of Sunderland now, and it's quite high.

Speaker 2 And I would expect them to win this.

Speaker 1 That's what we said at the start. Expectations ruin being a football fan.

Speaker 2 Well,

Speaker 2 it's been a very long time since I've had any sort of expectations for Sunderland that weren't rock bottom. So it's nice to be in this position.

Speaker 2 If they lose against Fulham away, you know, I'm not going to to lose sleep over it, but I do expect them to beat Fulham.

Speaker 1 Bournemouth-West Ham. Interesting, Paul.

Speaker 1 You know, going into this game a couple of weeks ago, you wouldn't have said, well, West Ham will be the form side, but they are in terms of they've won the last two and see it and Bournemouth have lost the last two.

Speaker 4 Yeah, it's been a bit of a switch, hasn't it? I think Bournemouth haven't looked themselves over the last couple of, but that said, you know, things could have gone very differently.

Speaker 4 They weren't horribly out of sorts. But

Speaker 4 yeah, it's kind of nice to see West Ham rallying a little bit and I I think there's personally I think they're good enough that they're gonna push on up the table I don't think they're gonna be relegation trouble this year I think there's enough bad teams in there and I'm I'm thinking it's you know Burnley Forest and Wolves are in serious trouble then you've got Leeds are going to struggle and I think Fulham too Antoine Semenya lots of noises about his release clause that may be 65 million pounds if anybody wants him in in January

Speaker 1 Thomas Suchek has been stripped of the check captaincy for at least one game and along with his teammates denied match bonuses after they failed to acknowledge their supporters following a 6-0 win over gibraltar seems a bit harsh doesn't it it's okay to just occasionally want to just go home um we should have made sure we acknowledge our listeners at the end of this podcast

Speaker 3 um burnley chelsea saturday 12th day brian brentford uh three o'clock any strong thoughts on either of those channelman chelsea it's funny we talk about manchester city's form but chelsea's is pretty similar in the premier league actually recently and they've racked together they put some wins together where they're right on the shoulder and we speak about city being a point behind arsenal chelsea could be three points behind arsenal and they play them very very soon um so that's how things can can turn and this is a chelsea side who still haven't really had a settled starting lineup i don't think their signings have particularly hit the ground running per se overall i don't know what to make of that overall i don't know whether it's me just finding another reason to say it's still too early or it's just the fact of

Speaker 3 because it's so early in the season, things are so tight, things can change quickly.

Speaker 3 We mentioned Fulham as well.

Speaker 3 Only a matter of weeks ago, people were singing Marco Silver's praises and linking him with other jobs and they have lost or dropped points in games where they've been very unfortunate, but it is so unforgiving the league.

Speaker 3 Let's just put it this way. The next time I'm on the pod, we can start making predictions, okay? So let's wait till then.

Speaker 2 Okay.

Speaker 1 Let's book you for Monday.

Speaker 2 The Brighton-Brentford game looks like a nail-done draw.

Speaker 2 Brighton, I've been disappointed with them this season. They're not consistent, but

Speaker 2 they do have a good home record. Brentford's away record isn't great, but I saw this very interesting thing.

Speaker 2 The BBC website had these fan writers who they asked to sort of give a state of the season so far on their sides during the international break.

Speaker 2 And Scott, the Brighton writer wrote about how he was obsessed with Fabian Herzler's touchline attire and this is what he wrote tracksuit Hertzler has five wins two draws one defeat and 23 goals scored that's good Hertzler dressed like he's going ice skating at the Royal Pavilion has one win, two draws, three defeats and only six goals scored.

Speaker 2 So you'll have a fair idea how that game game is going to go once you see what Hertzler is wearing.

Speaker 2 If it's ultimate catalogue Hertzler,

Speaker 2 put your money on Brentford.

Speaker 1 Paul, a shout out for Kip Kitmus.

Speaker 1 You do it every year. I'm going to say we do it every year.
That is giving us, we do a shout out, which is sort of slightly less work than you.

Speaker 1 Apparently, you say the Football Weekly listeners are very generous.

Speaker 4 Yeah, and actually, so we started Kitmus, this was back in 2020, and sort of stumbled into this initiative in that I had shirts that I send shirts around the world to various good causes.

Speaker 4 I had some left over coming to Christmas 2020 and obviously a lot of families were finding it hard in 2020. So I took them down to the local food bank and they were over the moon.

Speaker 4 They were saying, look, these are Christmas presents. There's so many kids.
we have who we look after who just won't be getting Christmas presents. They said, can you get any more?

Speaker 4 So I put out a little appeal over social media and was just getting inundated with amazing sort of offers of shirts.

Speaker 4 And then we set up a crowdfunder page so people could donate and we'd buy new shirts because obviously you want to give them something new, like a nice new kit for these kids.

Speaker 4 And we ended up sending to community centers, I think 25 community centers around the UK who work with families year-round. And it's just carried on year after year.
Now we're into our sixth year.

Speaker 4 We've done about 6,000 shirts. They go, as I say, all over the UK to the people who are really doing good stuff.

Speaker 4 You know, the community centers linked to food banks or schools who identify families who perhaps every time it comes towards christmas are worrying whether their kids are going to be able to to get presents and so um yeah we've sent a lot of them around and generally speaking when we when we do a little plug on the guardian football weekly we always get like the the best response the kindest people coming out um one person in fact donated 2 000 pounds because he said i heard barry on the pod say there's a lot of fat cats in football.

Speaker 4 It's kind of amazing that, you know, £2,000 would buy 100 kids a football shirt. And, you know, come on, why are these fat cats not acting? He said, I'm not a fat cat.

Speaker 4 But when I heard Barry say that, I thought, yeah, why not? And he donated £2,000. That did mean 100 kids out there around the country unwrapping a nice new football shirt.
So yeah,

Speaker 4 we've had the best success from this, the listenership on this pod. And I'm hugely grateful.
And I know the centers we work with around the country are hugely grateful for everything that

Speaker 4 people donate.

Speaker 1 And the way they can help is you can donate money, you can donate a shirt if it's in good condition, I guess, light new condition,

Speaker 1 or you can create kitmas at your club. So just talk us through those.
Exactly.

Speaker 4 So if you go to crowdfunder.co.uk forward slash kitmas-2025 or you find me on Twitter, Paul underscore C underscore Watson. I've got a link on there.

Speaker 4 And what you can do is you can donate money and we use those, yeah, to buy new shirts.

Speaker 4 We are pretty expert by now at where we can get a good shirt that kids are going to like. Usually we look for kind of neutral clubs.

Speaker 4 It makes it a lot easier for the community centers who are handing out. So we don't tend to go for Manchester United, Chelsea, Spurs, whatever, even if they are affordable, which often they are not.

Speaker 4 We go for European clubs that any kid would want to put the shirt on. If it's a Juventus, a Real Madrid, a Barcelona, because it's a lot easier then.

Speaker 4 for the distribution and also hopefully it gives those kids kind of a shirt that they can have a relationship with a new club, which is quite cool.

Speaker 4 So yeah, cryofunders.co.uka forward slash gitmas-2025.

Speaker 4 And if you have any shirts around that are as new, we really are strict on this because we don't want anyone to feel like they're getting a hand-me-down, like a sort of cast-off shirt.

Speaker 4 They have to be properly as new. I don't know, maybe like a well-meaning Manchester United loving relatives giving you a manu shirt, but you hate manu or, you know, and you've just never worn it.

Speaker 4 That's the level we're looking at. We don't want anything.
with wear on it. If we do get sent those, we find homes for them in, you know, charitable causes.

Speaker 4 But yeah, for this specific specific appeal, we want kids to feel that rush of getting the brand new football shirt on Christmas Day.

Speaker 1 Well, I look you're a good man doing good stuff. So yeah, everybody listening, support it in some way.
Finally, this is from Kyle. Hi, Max Barron.
Co. I've been a listener for a number of years.

Speaker 1 I've got in touch twice before to share the news of the birth of my son and my daughter. Both times you were kind enough to read out my correspondence on the pod.

Speaker 1 Today I thought it was worth getting in touch for a third time and update you again on the procreational aspect of my life as this week I joined the ever-growing group of male listeners that have undergone a vasectomy.

Speaker 1 Having listened to the Guardian Football Weekly for a number of years and all numerous experiences other listeners have shared during that time, I considered myself well prepared for the procedure.

Speaker 1 I was excited even at the idea of being able to put on my headphones, listen to Barry's dulcet tones and subsequently get in touch to share my experience.

Speaker 1 Whilst laying fully exposed on the operating table, however, it quickly became apparent to me that the other listeners and the various medical information sheets I was provided had failed to mention just how thorough they would need to be when cleaning me in preparation for the procedure.

Speaker 1 I was not prepared for the firm yet gentle nature in which the operating doctor would apply the antiseptic solution and clean my private parts, nor for the unexpected burning sensation that accompanied it 30 seconds later.

Speaker 1 While I consider myself to be a sensible and open-minded individual, I have to say that this was by far the most intimate experience I've ever had with another man.

Speaker 1 And despite the good doctor's professionalism, the eye contact we shared during that moment is not something I will find myself forgetting anytime soon.

Speaker 1 Otherwise, I'm pleased to say everything went as expected. I back into my regular routine without any discomfort.

Speaker 1 I just wanted to share for the benefit of any listeners who may soon find themselves in a similar position, the part of the vasectomy procedure that no one seems to be talking about.

Speaker 2 Best wishes, Kyle.

Speaker 1 Thank you, Kyle. Yeah,

Speaker 1 we tend to avoid the granular detail, but that's because that's the correspondence we get. So it's good to know if anyone else wants to furnish us further.
You know, it's good for me.

Speaker 2 Sounds like it was a cool shave.

Speaker 2 Very good.

Speaker 1 Anyway, thank you, Kyle. And glad it all is over.
And that'll do for today. Thanks, everybody.
Thank you, Seb. Thanks, Max.
Thank you, Seb. Thanks, Paul.

Speaker 4 Thanks, Max. Cheers, Barry.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I still find that abstinence is the best form of

Speaker 2 birth control. So I won't be having a snip either.
But thank you, and goodbye.

Speaker 1 And thank you to our listeners. Unlike Thomas Suchek and the Czechs, we value every single one of you.
So thanks for listening. Football Weekly is produced by Tayo Papula.

Speaker 1 Our executive producer is Phil Maynard. We'll be back on Monday.