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Football Weekly
Ireland keep dream alive, Ronaldo’s histrionics and England beat Serbia – Football Weekly Extra
00:53:48
Max Rushden is joined by Dan Bardell, Jacob Steinberg and Sam Dalling as Republic of Ireland beat Portugal 2-0 to reignite hopes of a World Cup playoff place
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- [00:00]
Sam Dalling
This is the Guardian.
- [00:10]
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- [00:41]
Max Rushden
Have you ever wondered if our phones are actually destroying our attention spans? Are there any health benefits to those glucose monitors everyone's wearing? And do we really need to worry.
- [00:52]
Danny Kelly
About falling birth rates?
- [00:55]
Max Rushden
The Guardian Science Weekly podcast explores the latest health, tech and environment news and dives into the science behind the big questions. Like is it time to try geoengineering? Just search for Science Weekly wherever you get your podcasts and hit subscribe.
- [01:18]
Danny Kelly
Hello and welcome to the Guardian Football Weekly. The Republic of Ireland keep their hopes of qualifying for the World cup alive. A 20 win over Portugal has freed from desire ever sounded so good. Troy Parrot with two goals. The Irish stuck the ball over the top of the Portuguese back four and they really didn't like it. And if you ever wanted an advert for Var, that crowd as the ref went to the monitor to upgrade Ronaldo's yellow to a red for a daft elbow, you love to see it. Now they have to win in Hungary. Not easy, but possible. Meanwhile, most of our panel were a very wet Wembley for England to Serbia. Nil. Strap yourselves in for another what did we learn? Session football finance expert Kieran Maguire joins us to talk crypto, World cup dynamic pricing and other interesting accountancy. We'll answer your questions. And that's today's Guardian Football Weekly. On the panel today, Sam darling, welcome.
- [02:04]
Sam Dalling
Hi, Max, how are you?
- [02:05]
Danny Kelly
Yeah, good, thank you. Hello, Jacob Steinberg. Hello and welcome. Dan Bardell.
- [02:09]
Dan Bardell
Hello, Max Rushton.
- [02:10]
Danny Kelly
Johnny says please spend the first 20 minutes on Ireland. There's nothing new or interesting to say about England. They're quite good. Move on, Alan. Is Troy Parrott the greatest of all ornithological based sportsmen? Larry Bird feels disappointed with that. Or maybe a Gavin Peacock. Anyway, let's start with Ireland's Tuna win over Portugal. Toxy said. How about a voice note from Barry? He's Got to be pleased. Yeah. Astonishing that Barry took the day off. The first time he could probably ever talk about the Republic of Ireland being good. But we couldn't do this bit without a voice note from everyone's favorite Irishman. So here is David o'. Doherty. It's just been so hard to get excited about it for so long. It seems like just 10 years of drawing with Moldova. And before this campaign, our Icelandic dentist manager told us we're actually all right. And I don't know if he really believed it, but like Queen Geller is good goalie. Evan Ferguson plays for freaking Syria, you know, and then we lost to our media. And so, I mean, there was towards the end of this match, this is how long it's been there was a need to sing. And the song that people started singing was from the 1990 World Cup. It's we're all part of Jackie's army. We're all off to Italy and we'll really shake them up when we win the World cup because Ireland are the greatest football team. And you know what? Just for an instant, I think it was probably when Ronaldo was sent off, I started to think maybe we, maybe we are the greatest football team.
- [04:02]
Sam Dalling
Yes.
- [04:03]
Danny Kelly
Look, we have to beat Hungary on Sunday and then we'll be in a playoff with against Italy or someone really good. But just this moment, just, just I have this moment. Irish comedian, excellent podcaster in his own right there. David o' Doherty walking home from the game. And look, we're not used to an upbeat, joyous Irish voice on this podcast, but the thing is, Sam like it, it gives you hope. Football. That's what it's done to these Irish fans.
- [04:34]
Sam Dalling
It does. I mean, they were very excited. I wonder if Barry has pre planned this. It's this sort of extended version of, you know when you're like, right, it's Neil Nil. We need a goal. I'm going to go and make a cup of tea or I'm going to go to the loo. Because they always score when I'm out of the room. Bar taking it to another extreme. It was like the archetypal stolen away win, wasn't it? 22% possession, 234 passes of which 30% of them went astray. But it didn't matter. They scored two out of their three shots on target. I was having a listen to some Irish fans TV as you do in the early hours of the morning after an Irish victory and I just love the hyperbole. I mean, Ogbene who I love when he was at Luton. He's now at Sheffield United. He hit the base of the post. He was being compared to Thierry Henry by Irish fans tv. So, like, you've just got. Got to love it. But, yeah, I feel I'm delighted for Troy Parrot because if you go back, what, four or five years ago, he was sort of anointed more by the media as the successful successor to Harry Kane and to son at spurs, and it. It didn't really work out for him. Well, actually, Mourinho did it because he sort of handed him a match ball after his debut, but, yeah, he gets a couple of goals. He's over in Holland playing now. Sometimes it just shows there's a different path to success. So delighted for Ireland. I wish I was there. It sounded loud. It definitely was very loud. And I'm sure someone else will come onto it. But it's always fun to see Cristiano Ronaldo applauding the crowd as he leaves the pitch.
- [05:57]
Danny Kelly
Yeah, I mean, just on Troy Parrott, he's got 13 and 14 for a Galmar. First goals for Ireland since June 2024. He said, this is probably the best night I've had in my entire life. I have no words to describe it. We all know how important this game was for us, particularly after the other result tonight. I am overwhelmed. I don't know what words to use, but I am over the moon. So they do feel like. It feels like the right time to bring out a cliche. Sam alluded to it. Jacob, is there anything better than seeing Ronaldo get sent on? And if that way, you know, just var is annoying, but when the crowd just knew, you know, they. They could see every single step of what was going to happen. It was sort of heavenly.
- [06:34]
Jacob Steinberg
Yeah, it was. It was very strange as well. The reaction from Ronaldo, the weird crying stuff that he did with the crowd after he got sent off, it was just very, very weird. I don't really know what was going on there. I don't. I don't know if there's a logical explanation for what was going on. It looked like a man who was having a meltdown very publicly, and then he has a row with the island manager when he went off. Yeah, it's just very strange. And it would have added to the whole joyous nature of it for the island, for the island fans. But looking at the Portugal team, it looks kind of like half a good team. So if you think in your head, that's a really, really good team that's gonna go for the World cup, and be one of the favorites. And then you kind of look at the starting lineup last night and it's got the PSG guys from, from midfield and everything. Neves and Virginia. And then you sort of look up front, They've got a 40 year old who's playing in Saudi Arabia playing with Zhao Felix and it's sort of right, okay, you know, would this be better with Paul Letta up front? I don't know. Would we just in that place where they still don't have a striker? I don't know. Just with, with Portugal, we feel like it should be much better and they shouldn't be in that position of losing to, losing to Ireland, but it just feels like they've just got those little personnel issues still going on in that team. That means they're less than the sum of their parts.
- [07:50]
Danny Kelly
Yeah. Ringing up, you know, Portuguese sports radio to demand where is the next Helder Postiga. The thing is, Dan, that red card, if it's upgraded to violent conduct, and I presume it was violent conduct, but if it is, if they win their group, he misses the opening two games of the World cup. Perhaps like it's. That is, that is extraordinary for doing that like it was such a sort of Street Fighter 2 elbow, wasn't it?
- [08:16]
Max Rushden
Yeah.
- [08:16]
Dan Bardell
I mean it's 100 violent conduct. So I can't say how it, how it doesn't get upgraded. Didn't Wayne Rooney miss a couple of games because of doing something similar? Didn't he get done and he missed a, missed a few games for.
- [08:28]
Jacob Steinberg
Yeah, you're a 2012, but I can see how it, I can see how it wouldn't get upgraded and that it's Ronaldo and it's FIFA and then yeah, that might help. That does the first two games, the World Cup, I don't know.
- [08:41]
Dan Bardell
Yeah, that does, that does help. In his last World cup as well as he's. He's announced this week he was a, he's an angry man, wasn't he? But then I guess I'd be angry if I'd been giving football based interviews to Piers Morgan. I think that would, that would annoy me as, as well in, in fairness it was. The game was great though. Just obviously I was watching the England game but I've watched back the, the island highlights and tale of two number sevens really. And the whole dialogue around the game will be about the two number sevens. But some great finishes from Troy Parrot and in fairness, I would say that's probably what Ireland haven't done enough of. Maybe even over the, over the last 10 years, they always used to have that in them where they could take on a big nation at home and they, they bloody their nose and, and maybe be capable of a victory.
- [09:22]
Max Rushden
That.
- [09:22]
Dan Bardell
That hasn't happened for a long, long time now, maybe even since Martin o' Neil was in charge, which was a, which was a long time ago. So it's, it's a great night for Ireland and they've given themselves a chance. But now Jacob said it, I can't imagine that that red card getting upgraded. Considering who Ronaldo's friends are, do you.
- [09:37]
Danny Kelly
Think that what they'. Donald Trump accepts the FIFA Peace Prize. He will be given, as you know, Gianni will say, as part of the peace prize. You get to pardon because he likes pardoning people, Trump, doesn't he? You'll get to pardon someone and he will pardon Cristiano Ronaldo for that loose elbow and then all will be right with football or all will be wrong with football. Actually, Sam, Jacob alluded to it actually about Portugal, but they had a bit of a high line. But you could see Ireland, you know, the way they got in the way old Bennet got in the way. I think paragraph in for his second goal was just stick it over the top and, and turn them. It's so 1980s Ireland, that 1990s island.
- [10:17]
Sam Dalling
I guess it was beautiful. I think what Jacob's basically saying is Portugal a QPR under Harry Redknapp when they've got a team that would have won the Premier League 10 years prior, but they passed their sell by date. But yeah, and they did that. They kept getting in behind them, full of running Benny. And we should say the finish from Parrot for that second goal because most of us and probably the goalkeeper expect him to go far post, right, bend it around the defender and he goes inside the defender, inside that near post. So it was, it was a moment of quality. And the first goal was a set piece as well. Well worked set piece. It's an easy finish from Parrott. So yeah, it was route work. It just shows that you can go back to 90s football. The Hal Grimson. There was a bit of psychological stuff before the game when he was talking about and why I hope that the referee doesn't allow Ronaldo to ref the game. And I think when he went off, Ronaldo said to the island manager, well, basically he complimented me for putting pressure on the referee is what Ronaldo said. So like the old school mind games from Halcomson, old school football from Ireland, just wonderful result.
- [11:16]
Dan Bardell
Ireland have moved with the times and Portugal haven't because that's the direction football's going in and Ireland have gone with it and Portugal haven't.
- [11:22]
Jacob Steinberg
Well, I was just going to say, I guess, you know, speaking to that Ireland made this whole play, didn't they, of trying to play a more kind of pep style of football under previous managers. And this is the way that we've got to go. We've got to play possession football and build from the back, but they don't really have the players to do it. So why would you not play to your strengths? Like a lot of, I mean, the first goal, it looked like a Premier League goal. The well worked set piece, corner to the back post, head it in and someone's there to, to finish it off. And that's clearly going to be very effective for a team probably with quite limited players relatively to Portugal, but also not a lot of time to work on it. And it's probably going to be quite effective at the World cup as well for other teams of that, of that kind of level. Set pieces. If you don't have a lot of time to work on it, then it's gonna, to work on the, the general play, then set pieces are going to be massive, aren't they?
- [12:10]
Danny Kelly
And actually Barry did pipe up in the WhatsApp group because obviously Portugal have the same set piece coast as Aston Villa. And he did, he yelled, Austin McPhee, your lads took one hell of a beating there. But I presume you didn't take that personally, Dan, you know, when he's on international duty, you don't mind what he does.
- [12:28]
Dan Bardell
No, no, I said, he said in the WhatsApp group, he's a, he's a lovely, lovely man. He's a, he's a good coach as well. I think he might do more than set pieces. I think he's, I think he's for Portugal. I could be wrong on that, but don't take it personally. I was just trying to enjoy the England game and then I was getting abuse from someone who's not even on the, on the podcast today. So I was, I was surprised to receive that. WhatsApp.
- [12:48]
Danny Kelly
I like the way that you, you, you categorize them as set piece, coach and actual coach. That is different things.
- [12:57]
Dan Bardell
Goalkeeping coach and coach. Different things.
- [12:59]
Danny Kelly
Yeah.
- [12:59]
Jacob Steinberg
Of course.
- [13:00]
Danny Kelly
Ireland play hungry on Sunday with a chance to make the playoffs if they win. Well, they do make the players if they win. Amazing turnaround since their loss to Armenia early in the campaign. If Hungary win and Portugal lose to Armenia, it seems unlikely Portugal would go into the playoff. They're all still alive in that group. Before we go any further, we are nominated. We haven't mentioned it yet. For best podcast at the FSAs. We need your vote after the shame of last year and this is the last time you'll hear the plea because I think voting ends before the pods out on Monday. So Google FSA Awards 2025. You can find links on our Instagram, Bluesky X etc. Etc. Lots of the Football Weekly family nominated as well. Lucy Wardinson, Guardian Women's Football Weekly, Sophie Downey, not the top 20. Midday Monday 17th November and then we'll shut up about it. And if we don't win, we won't mention it. Thank you very much. I'll do for part one, we'll do England in part two.
- [13:51]
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- [14:21]
Max Rushden
Have you ever wondered if our phones are actually destroying our attention spans? Are there any health benefits to those glucose monitors everyone's wearing? And do we really need to worry.
- [14:32]
Danny Kelly
About falling birth rates?
- [14:34]
Max Rushden
The Guardian Science Weekly podcast explores the latest health, tech and environment news and dives into the science behind the big questions. Like is it time to try geoengineering? Just search for Science Weekly wherever you get your podcasts and hit subscribe.
- [15:00]
Danny Kelly
Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly. So England beat Serbia 2 nil. 10 straight wins, 10 consecutive clean sheets for Jordan Pickford. Sam and Jacob, you were both there at a wet Wembley. Jacob, what did you make of it?
- [15:11]
Jacob Steinberg
Yeah, wet Wembley with an empty, pretty much empty away end as well. So it was quite an odd, odd occasion. The Serbia fans were not there, apart from Brown. We were trying to count, you could actually count them, the fans that were in the way and we weren't sure how they they were the ones who got in, but it looked like between 30 and 35. That was what I spent the first 10, 15 minutes of the game doing, trying to. Could you actually see how many Serbia fans were There I got to about 35, you know, and then, and then there was a game that was going on which was quite low energy because of just the fact that England have qualified with two games to go. They're playing against a pretty poor side. Wembley wasn't full. These nights at Wembley can be a bit like that. As Tuchel talked about after the Wales game, you know, the thrower of truth bombs that he is and made no apologies for it earlier this week, criticizing the England fans for the atmosphere. And it was a bit like that again. But there were a lot of things going on with the team. Obviously the biggest thing being that Morgan Rodgers started over Jude Bellingham. Jude Bellingham back in the squad after. Was he dropped? Was it just the shoulder injury? I would go towards the. Go towards the former given I think some of the coded messages I think that Tuchel has been sending out. And I think it was absolutely the right decision to, to start Morgan Rodgers because doing so, not doing so would have just gone against everything that Tuchel's been building, everything that he's been saying about rewarding those who have done well for him in the last few camps. Collective ethos, the. The lack of egos that he's. That he's building towards as well, which obviously in the past has been a problem for England. Rogers has done really, really well. He's the kind of number 10 that Tuchel likes. The counter pressing ability to link play, how physical he is. He's almost. I almost sort of look at him and think like he's almost like an updated Mason Mountford for Tuchel. He's obviously probably not the most talented number 10 that England have because there's so much in that area. But he's been so effective for England and he is obviously, I'm saying he's not the most talented. He's obviously a very player as well. And the way that he played in the, in the game in, in Belgrade would have just. I think he would have. I think that if Tuchel had started Bellingham, I think you almost lose a little bit of respect amongst the players probably if you do that. If you just sort of. Thanks. But now the big guy's back, you can, you can step out. So, so Roger's got his chance. He did. He did well. You could see that he was really determined to, to. To make the impression. He was eager to get on the ball, won it back. Just couldn't quite find that. That killer moment I think. And it sort of slightly fizzled out the longer it went on. And when Jude did come on with the. With the other two number 10s as well. It was a real statement of intent from England, really showing the strength in depth. The crowd did wake up a little bit. There was a huge Jude and everything when he came on and then he was very, very good when he was in there for those last 25 minutes. Obviously played a part in the, in the goal and there were lots of other nice driving, driving moments. So he kind of left it feeling like Jude, if he continues like that will probably be the number 10. Assuming that he continues to follow Tuchel's instructions and remains disciplined within the tactical structure. But I don't think that it necessarily absolutely was a definitive night one way or another. I think it's just a really good night for England because of the competition for places that you can see coming up because there's so many that. That are in there. Then there were other elements to it as well, which is an interesting evening in the end, despite being against low quality opposition. And Albania on Sunday will be again that kind of feeling because I think they're through now because of their result. But obviously we'll have to see whether or not Jude's now done enough to start. And if he does, that might be a little pointer to what's coming in the summer.
- [18:56]
Danny Kelly
It is fascinating down this 10 position, isn't it? Obviously you have a Villa bias and it's really hard to put your club loyalties aside when you look at international team. But you sort of see, you know, Bellingham did have that impact. They did stick with Morgan Rogers. But you can imagine this situation where Cole Palmer has a great season and then you're just sort of thinking, well, who is who? Rogers could start at the World cup or he could not make it.
- [19:20]
Dan Bardell
Yeah, and I thought Foden did well in the position when, when he came up, came on there as well. He obviously got the assist for EZ's goal. Who again is a. Is a number 10.
- [19:27]
Jacob Steinberg
But.
- [19:27]
Dan Bardell
But play as. Plays more from the left for England. He scored a. Scored a lovely finish. I think it will very much depend on what's happening at the time. You know, football isn't linear. We know at some point there'll be injuries. So the next international break, Rodgers could not be playing for Villa. He could be injured and someone else plays and they do well. And then by Tuchel's method and the consistency of selection, that guy will stay in and get the shirt. I think if Maduecki hadn't been injured, Saka maybe wouldn't be playing. Now because Maduecki had done well previously. So it will very much depend on what's going on at the time. I think maybe Rodgers is quietest game for England for a while but he certainly plays that number 10 position a little bit differently for England than what he does for Villa. He does tend to link the play better for England I would say. But then for Villa there's more driving runs. So if you can mesh the two together I think you have got a very, very good number 10. He strikes me as someone who when we play up against the bigger teams in transition he's going to be a really, really dangerous weapon for England. I'd just like to see us and it's nobody's fault. I'd just like to see us play somebody good to see how. See how this all comes together. It's a bit the same with the central midfield area of. I think Elliot Anderson's a brilliant, brilliant player. I remember watching him in a pre season tournament for Newcastle in 2023 in America and I thought oh wow, he's a. He's a really good player. But so far we haven't seen him play against anyone really, really good. And you know when that happens is that going to be straight away in a World cup quarterfinal? It's not something he's done previously. So I'd like to see Tuchel's England play against a good team but as I say that that's nobody's fault. And the last kind of three international breaks I've started to see what Tuchel's doing and I really like it.
- [21:04]
Danny Kelly
What did you make of Foden then Sam in the false nine did we do we like that idea? Because you imagine Tuchel does need a cane replacement on the plane in case Kane gets injured. But probably one that won't really do any. Won't come on at all if, if he uses Foden in this way.
- [21:19]
Sam Dalling
Yeah and Tuchel really likes him. I mean I love Phil Foden as a player and I was having a look back through the stats for the qualifying period. So Solanke and Tony have both been in squads not played a single minute and Ollie Watkins has only played 15 minutes off the bench in the entire World cup qualifying campaign. So it is very much a. Well, what happens if Harry Kane isn't available or needs a rest? He needs a solution. Foden did look to provide it. He put the pass on Forzi. I mean a lot was made of as well with media sort of made him think big thing about Bellingham's role in the goal. Like he pays a 10 yard pass down the other end of the pitch. It's all, all about essay that I finished was almost like the old school. There's a version of FIFA where you could press R2 and curly in the top corner in the mid sort of 2000s. And it became too easy to score those goals, but it was straight out of that. So yeah, liked Foden and it was, it was as Jacob said, it was just a strange night. Like I go every time I get lulled into this sense of, oh yeah, watching England at Wembley. That'll be great, that'll be really good fun. And I get there in 10 minutes in, I'm thinking, oh, I'm not really, not really sure why I'm here. It was very flat, very fat. The stadium announcer did his best. He tried to do a bit of call and response for the like European staff. So when Saka scores and it didn't really work in reply.
- [22:32]
Danny Kelly
Oh no.
- [22:33]
Sam Dalling
Yeah, it was a bit cringey. And then also the poor man, I have a bit of something for him because there was a, there was a referee's whistle style streak, but it wasn't the referee and he thought it was half time. So he is announcing and he's obviously got a script because he's not looking up. He goes full in on the full halftime script and then I just can't imagine how he felt when he looked up in front of 80,000 people and they're still playing. And in fairness to the ref, I think he had a bit of sympathy for him. He blew up straight away after he finished.
- [22:59]
Danny Kelly
You do think, you know, like you only got one job. You sort of think, okay, you know, you don't even need to tell someone. Oh, by the way, you wait until it's half time. You just sort of think, okay, maybe he's just. It's funny you talk about that Wembley thing. My first two England games were a nil. Nil draw against Norway and a nil draw against Columbia. That was the Rena Higita fraudulent scorpion kick. And even though I was so young that I was like, wow, Wembley's so big, but it did, it was like, oh, these aren't, these aren't the same as, as Cambridge Gay. There's something about them. Anyway, Jacob, back to sort of selection things. You've got on the. You're on the right. Then you have Saka whose finish was brilliant, a presumed starts and then Madaweke is your num. Your number two, right. That sort of seems Quite sorted. I guess what Jared Bohem is, is the third, maybe, but on the left, it's quite interesting because you've got Rashford as I came on, did so well, and you've got Anthony Gordon as well, who, who was sort of the last few months would be the guy who starts.
- [23:51]
Jacob Steinberg
Yeah, just on, just on Foden and the. And the strikers. I. I get. I feel like, could it be with Tuchel that he's thinking, is there more upside just to getting good players at some point on the pitch? Is my team ultimately better with Foden and Bellingham in it? If Kane's not there, then it would be with Kane, Watkins, Solanke, those kind of players. Maybe that's part of. The, part of the thinking on the left. I was kind of a bit disappointed with Rashford. I feel like I've seen that performance from him with England a million times now, where you're hoping this is going to be the night. And then he sort of runs at the defender, he stands the defender up and then he seems to just not quite execute the skill or quite have the belief to get past the guy. We sort of leave the ball behind and you think it was going to be exciting and then it just sort of fizzles out into nothing. And he, you know, when he, when he went off for Eze, when Eze comes on, I think the level actually went up a little bit. And as he's obviously a very different kind of player to Rashford, it's interesting because obviously Tuchel's laid out this structure. He's been very clear on what he wants from the team. Keeps saying over and over again, we play with a six, we play with an eight, a 10, and then we play with two specialist wingers. So he's talking about having speed around Harry Kane in the wingers, which is obviously something that England just didn't have during the, during the Euros under Southgate, where he got too fixated on trying to get in all the best players. Eze is obviously a different kind of player to Rashford in that he's going to come inside, try to link and he's not going to drive down the outside in the way you'd hope with, with Rashford, he's not going to hang on the last defender and try to get onto three balls from Harry Kane. So that, that's an interesting element. But on, on the left, I still feel that we probably do need that, that directness because we, we have, we. We struggled with it in, in the Euros and Kane is probably at his best when he has those targets to hit. I just feel like you need more from, from Rashford. And although Gordon has been not, you know, he's not been playing well for Newcastle. I think it's January since he scored his last Premier League goal which is kind of amazing. He obviously had done really well in the three England games. So I wonder if when he's fit does he come back in the other one that I would probably just shout out for is is Nonni that potentially if he comes back he is someone who can play on the left. He's. He did that for Chelsea at the end of last season under Maresca and was quite effective quite surprisingly because you think with Nonni he's so one footed and he wants to come inside but actually he's equally effective going out onto on the outside on his left foot. And there was this one little glimpse that you have with Arsenal at the start of the season in the Leeds game where Arteta had Nani on the left and he had Saka on the right. And then it's the game where Saka gets injured and ends up Nonny goes over to the right and has that good little run. But we've not actually seen that happen. But they really like him. So I wouldn't be surprised if that ends up being the fix.
- [26:40]
Danny Kelly
Finally on selection stuff, Fullbacks Sam, Niko O'Reilly made his debut. He could really, he could quite easily play himself into a starting position if he, if he continues club form this season.
- [26:50]
Sam Dalling
Yeah, I'm glad we didn't miss him out because he just had a quietly like really, really good debut. And we forget this is a guy who was, is still a midfielder really who's being converted by pep. And he did do a bit of that dropping into midfield but he got forward a couple of times really well. He ends up hitting the post and actually Serbia had. I know it's not the biggest test, right, but they had a lot to play for and when they went for it in the second half they did have a couple of chances and at 1 nil they probably should, could and should have equalized.
- [27:16]
Max Rushden
Right.
- [27:16]
Sam Dalling
Vladovich has that cheeky little FL pick where Stankovich is probably in a better position behind him. And there's one that Samadic puts wide. They both come down the right. They come down Rhys James's side like Nico Riley was really impressive. Luke Shaw's nowhere to be seen in terms of England at the moment. Livermento has played there, but he's currently in Journal. Tuchel likes him. Lewis hall has played a little bit there, but hasn't. He isn't fit. So, yeah, it's very much a case of. And this is what I like about Tuchel actually in the, in the inverted commas, modern game, there seems to be this idea that you have to pander to players a little bit more as managers and you know, coaches say it's very different and basically there's a fear factor of egos and of players kicking off, basically. And Tuchel isn't like that. He's a bit more of a disciplinarian and maybe it's his own ego, but it's very much like it's still my way. And no one is guaranteed their place in the team and it's the man in possession and right now Nico O'Reilly is the man in possession of that left back shirt. So it feels in the way that Tuca works, it's, it's his shirt to lose now, which is amazing after one game. But he was just solidly, very, very good.
- [28:21]
Danny Kelly
Yeah, Jed Spence played quite well in the last couple, but you're right, I mean, O'Reilly had played really well. Can we, can we get to the important stuff, which is England's mind altering shoes? Jacob, they're bright red and they look like a big piece of sort of Duplo. Thomas Tuchel said, they told me they can focus better in meetings if they wear these shoes and I hope they believe it. It's large outsole nodes pushed against your foot as you step. This is not Tuchel now. This is Nike talking. Engaging sensory areas of the brain to help you stay present and connect with your surroundings in your, you know, chats with the England squad. Jacob, in this week, have you noticed sort of better focus? You almost got your hands on a pair, did you? From ESRI Consor, is that right?
- [29:01]
Jacob Steinberg
No, no, no. So esri on Tuesday we, we saw ESRI Consor at training for a chat and he wandered in wearing these shoes and yeah, we were all looking at them going, wow, what, what on earth have you got on your feet? And he sat down and someone said, so what are those? And he pretty much said, yeah, I was, you know, I was waiting, I thought it'd be longer until someone, until someone brought that up. They're, they're really, they're really quite eye catching. They're, they're. I don't know if you'd want to have them on your feet. I don't know what, I don't know if they really do work. I, I've not worn Them. So I, I can't say he claimed they did. But yeah, he, he, at the end of it, as he walked out, he did offer. He said, you know, I'll get you all some. But I'm not sure I believe him. I feel like that's the kind of thing that the footballer says to, you know, a bit of banter to. It's not the first time I think I've been promised something by an England footballer and it didn't actually happen. So it'd be great if there was.
- [29:54]
Danny Kelly
A knock at your door and you can, you can.
- [29:56]
Jacob Steinberg
But you can just buy them though.
- [29:57]
Danny Kelly
Giant Red shoes. Oh, okay, that is true.
- [29:59]
Jacob Steinberg
They're just on the website. We were looking them up, but you can't. Sorry, they're not actually available yet. So it's possible that he was wearing like a prototype and they're only £80, which makes me worried that the FA are not investing enough in their, in their nodules.
- [30:13]
Danny Kelly
We can make your own with Corks and some Crocs. But the Crocs are probably more expensive, aren't they?
- [30:20]
Jacob Steinberg
They weren't wearing them last night though, as they, as they left the, as they left the stadium, they were wearing standard issue trainers.
- [30:25]
Danny Kelly
Right. God, we really got to the bottom of this. Thank you, Jacob. Tonight then, or this weekend rather. Northern Ireland go to Slovakia. Scotland, two huge games for them. Greece away, Denmark at home on Tuesday. Northern Ireland can still make it, can't they? Wales have games against Lichtenstein and North Macedonia need to win. Both to finish second in their group. Will cover everything on Monday and Wednesday next week. Rob Edwards elsewhere has been confirmed as the new head coach at Wolves. This has been one of the toughest decisions of my career, he wrote on Instagram. In truth, I wouldn't have considered leaving Middlesbrough for any other club. Wolves is a special club for me. It's where I grew as both a player and a coach. It's still where my family calls home. It's always been my dream to come back. These opportunities do not come around too often. Do they come around quite often at Wolves? I'm just trying to think. You couldn't say that about Watford, could you? You couldn't ever. You hope sometimes someone gets the Watford job and says this doesn't come around too often. Eight points from safety, down without a win all season they go. His first games are palace at home, Villa away. Forest at home, Man United home, Arsenal away. But he has got a three and a half year deal, so presumably he said, we're probably going to go down. So I'd like to stay, please.
- [31:32]
Dan Bardell
Yeah, it's a huge ask to stay up, isn't it? Wolves have been rotten so far this season. I will say the three and a half year deal means nothing because the manager that's just been sacked signed a new contract not that long ago and the manager that was sat before him signed a new contract just before he was sacked. So Wolves have got a trend of sacking managers who've signed fairly, fairly big contracts. He says he wouldn't have left for anyone else, but I'm pretty sure if Real Madrid had come in for him, he may have left Middlesbrough to go to go to Real Madrid. But he's. He's got an attachment to Wolves. He's done a lot of different jobs there. I think it's probably as good a appointment as Wolves could make it at this, this current time. I think it's probably the kind of direction they needed to go in. It's one that could keep them up if he's. If he's capable of miracles. But it's one that knows enough about the Championship and has got teams promoted from the championship previously if, if they do go down and the worst happens, happens for them. But I don't know, I just. It. I can't see them staying up. Even that run of fixtures that you've just said, it's not a great run of fixtures, is it? They've got two points. I think it is. So, so far this season it would be the greatest escape of all time, I think if Wolves managed to stay.
- [32:38]
Danny Kelly
Jacob, can we just get some West Ham thoughts from you? I mean, do you have more faith in Nuno than two weeks ago? And how do you view the protests.
- [32:44]
Jacob Steinberg
Against the board two weeks ago? No one could really understand what he was doing. The team selections against Leeds and Brentford were just very, very odd with the inverted fullback thing and Suchek and Andy Irving in midfield over some more energetic younger players. And then people go into the Newcastle game just expecting the worst. And then obviously that goal after four minutes where Bowen had just hit the post. But they responded very, very well. They played very well against Newcastle. I was at the Burnley game on, on Saturday. They were not very good. But you kind of always felt like watching it that the more experienced team with just a bit of extra now and quality were going to win. Burnley probably played the better football in, in the game and obviously went. Went 1 nil up. But there seems to just be a little bit more grit and resilience that, that Nuno's got in there, which didn't look remotely in evidence after the defeat at Leeds. So, yeah, it's looking better, but it's still quite limited. An injury to someone like Bowen or Paqueta would again leave them in quite a lot of trouble because the squad is so weak. The protests fully justified. The club's been run terribly over the last. Particularly the last two years, 18 months since David Moyes left. It's been. Yeah, it's just been a shambles really, in terms of the way the decisions that have been. The decisions that have been made. And that's partly on the player side, the recruitment side, the decisions that have been made, the likes of hiring the likes of Tim Stockton to be the technical director and the money that was wasted by him, despite a lot of social media hype around the quality of recruitment that he was able to provide and the players that he was able to bring in. And then it's just stupid things like the attempt at the start of last season to. To do away with concession tickets in certain fixtures, which was just really stupid. It's just wasted, wasted energy. Just ruining. You're just getting rid of goodwill for no particular gain because if you weren't really going to make a lot of money out of it, and it's inevitably a. A battle that they ended up losing, but just harms the trust that the supporters that don't really have a lot in them already because there's historically such bad blood over. Over the stadium move. So, yeah, keep protesting. And it probably has more power to protest after you've won, to keep doing it after you've won.
- [35:12]
Danny Kelly
Sam, before we end part two, you wanted to mention a piece on the Arsenal Disability Services. Tell us about this.
- [35:17]
Sam Dalling
Yeah, I think it's going to be published actually, around about Christmas. So it's not out yet, but it's just one of these things. I noticed there was an advert out for a company called Alan March Sport, who they provide basically specialist commentary in grounds for those who are visually impaired. So the idea is that there basically isn't as much waffle. It's commentary, it's pure. It's telling you. Exactly. It's very descriptive and it just got me thinking and sort of like.
- [35:43]
Danny Kelly
Old school. Yeah, old school. You know the borders in. In part one, when commentary began.
- [35:48]
Max Rushden
Exactly, yeah.
- [35:49]
Sam Dalling
And so you have two commentators rather than a co commentator. Summarize it. You end up with two commentators and they take it in turns because that can be quite tiring. Right. But it just got me thinking. I saw that advert and it's done. There's various clubs around the country that do it. I know Arsenal, Fulham, Newcastle, Forest in the Premier League, but a lot more in the Football League. So Alan March, Sport do. But I just sort of got in touch. I'd seen they'd gone to Arsenal and Arsenal ended up inviting me in because it's the kind of thing that a lot of us just take for granted, right? We turn up to a game, we can get there of our own accord, we meet our mates for a couple of pints, we go into the ground, we leave again. And actually, it's a very privileged position to be able to do that for a lot of people. That is actually much more difficult. And I hadn't appreciated how good a lot of the clubs have been and these voluntary services as well, at making games more accessible. So there's this amazing company called called Game Day Vision. And I met the founder, a guy called Andrew Birch, big Arsenal fan, but he'd been to a gig at Spurs New Ground and he said, actually, a lot of the newer grounds, they're brilliant inside it, but actually it's the bit outside, it's getting to the ground that people don't think about so much. So we set up this service where volunteers sign up and basically it pairs people with others who might need a little bit of help, and they go out and they'll meet people off the train. So there's an Arsenal fan that comes up from southwest, and so he's met off the train, Paddington, or they meet them at the Tube, at their house, off buses. And it just takes that pressure away. The stuff that we don't have to think about, the stuff that can prove really challenging. I think they've just. They've. West Ham are using their services as well. They've just signed up with Ipswich. So I just wanted to give a shout out to them, really, to Arsenal, because they have this disabled supporters hub. But I love the. The chap called Aaron Heskins, who is the supporter liaison officer they offer for disability services. And he said something to me, he's like. I said, how much do you as teams talk about it? And he said, well, we go by this sort of mantra that we're competitors on the field, not off it. And so there's a lot of knowledge sharing going on. All the clubs are working together. You know, there's sort of designated pathways around grab. There's so much stuff that perhaps we wouldn't. A lot of us wouldn't notice, but it is going on and it's really Good work. And I know they're trying to expand like game day vision nationwide. So if it's the kind of thing that people might be interested in, maybe they could sign up. Yeah, I just wanted to give a shout out because it's a. I'm a sort of football writer that hates writing about football on stuff on the pitch. I like the stuff that's the wholesome like people stories going on around it. And this was one I really wanted to give a shout out to because there's a lot of people doing some brilliant work and there's, there's much more that can be done but to keep going, everyone who's doing that work and get involved if you can.
- [38:21]
Danny Kelly
Good stuff. And sorry to make you talk about football sometimes, Sam.
- [38:24]
Max Rushden
Okay. It's okay.
- [38:27]
Danny Kelly
That'll do for part two. Kieran Maguire from the Price of Football podcast joins in just a second. And he will make accountancy interesting as he always does.
- [38:37]
Bombas Advertiser
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- [38:42]
Max Rushden
Wait, we're going on tour?
- [38:43]
Bombas Advertiser
Not a tour. We're delivering and setting up customers phones so it's easier to upgrade.
- [38:48]
Danny Kelly
Let's get in the tour bus and hit the road.
- [38:49]
Bombas Advertiser
No, not a tour bus. It's a regular car we use to deliver and set up customers phones at home or work.
- [38:54]
Danny Kelly
Are you a groupie on this tour?
- [38:55]
Bombas Advertiser
We deliver, deliver and set up phones. It's not a tour.
- [38:58]
Max Rushden
Oh, you're definitely a groupie.
- [39:00]
Bombas Advertiser
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- [39:04]
Sam Dalling
Delivery available for select devices purchased@boostmobile.com TWAS.
- [39:08]
Danny Kelly
A cold winter's night and without any heat.
- [39:09]
Max Rushden
I wore bomba socks so they'd warm up my feet. Yay.
- [39:12]
Danny Kelly
My feet cried. These socks are the best.
- [39:15]
Max Rushden
So cushy and warm I can finally rest. But don't rest, I said.
- [39:18]
Danny Kelly
There's more if you please. Bombas also makes underwear, slippers and tees.
- [39:23]
Max Rushden
And for each thing you purchase, they donate one new to someone who needs it.
- [39:26]
Danny Kelly
So they're cozy too.
- [39:28]
Max Rushden
Everybody deserves to feel good all the time.
- [39:30]
Danny Kelly
So gift Bombas this season.
- [39:31]
Max Rushden
That's the end of this rhyme. Go to bombas.comaudio and use code audio for 20% off your first purchase.
- [39:46]
Danny Kelly
Welcome to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly. Very pleased to say Kieran Maguire, football finance expert from the excellent Price of Football podcast that he does with Kevin Day is here. Hey, Kieran, how are you?
- [39:56]
Max Rushden
All is good, Max. All is good. I'M in sunny Seville at present. Except it's not sunny, but it's still Seville.
- [40:01]
Danny Kelly
Okay, well, welcome. Thanks for joining us. If you're on holiday, taking your time. Actually, we've been talking about World cup qualifiers, so we might as well talk about dynamic pricing. We had the mayor of New York, Zoran Mamdani, on before he won the election. So we obviously claiming that election for ourselves, talking about how he was protesting about dynamic pricing. But it's sort of mad, the prices. The most expensive ticket for the final is now $7,875. Cheapest is just over $2,000. And I mean, compared to other World Cups, and correct me if I'm wrong, these prices are sort of off the scale, aren't they?
- [40:35]
Max Rushden
That's right. There's been a substantial increase. I think FIFA have seen what's happened in other markets, especially the US market for ticket prices. There's a significantly different culture as far as tickets for NFL, NBA and so on. And therefore I think FIFA have decided to replicate that. I think the distance between the FIFA hierarchy and the regular fans that go, I've been to quite a few World Cups is ever growing. And also there's pressure on FIFA to continue to raise revenues to distribute them to the individual members. Who's in more than happy to benefit from dynamic pricing themselves.
- [41:17]
Danny Kelly
So can fans do anything? Nothing. I mean, you sort of, I mean, quite a lot of the time there's so much, so many issues with the game. You just say, well, I've just got to accept the football that I'm given, right? And this is part of it. But is there, is there any, is there any groundswell of, of upset here?
- [41:31]
Max Rushden
There's moaning on social media and there's some people saying that they won't go. But as we've seen with what happened with Oasis a few months ago, there's always somebody willing to take the ticket from you. And there is a culture of scalping as far as the United States is concerned. It looks as if FIFA have decided to be their own ticket touts as well, that if you now buy a ticket, even at these enhanced prices, you can then try to sell it on the FIFA platform and FIFA will take their commission. So it just seems more indicative of football now being seen as part of the broader sphere where ticket pricing is an opportunity to make money and there are organized people involved, there are bots, there are scalpers. It's now a profession being a ticket tout. And it looks like FIFA have decided to join the party.
- [42:23]
Danny Kelly
Jani On Wembley way go buy or sell tickets. Buy or sell anyone. Okay, so that's one thing. Sort of disappointing. There's just some other numbers for you.
- [42:32]
Max Rushden
Yeah.
- [42:32]
Danny Kelly
Prices for the U.S. team range from 560 to two $735. Canada's opening game will be 1930. Oh, that's interesting. Is the pricing across Canada and Mexico as well. Kieran, this is the whole. This is FIFA doing this, right?
- [42:51]
Max Rushden
That's right. FIFA have in. In the second batch of tickets, I think the first batch of tickets were, are available to people who had the official FIFA partner credit card. Now for the remainder of us, they've decided to up the prices by up to 25% and there does appear to be demand. I would say to any, I think to any sensible fan, if you want to enjoy the World cup experience, go along to some of the fan parks rather than the match itself. It will cost you next to nothing to go in. You can still enjoy seeing all the goals go in. I remember being in Germany in 2006 and the fan parks were far more fun than actually attending the matches because you were with like minded people, you're all together. It was a bit like having a sing song and it cost you a fraction of the cost. So I mean that's one alternative. Yeah. Mexico and Canada initially they weren't keen as far as joining in with the secondary ticket market is concerned. But I suspect they're going to fall in line because FIFA tend to call the shots on these things.
- [43:55]
Danny Kelly
Car Parking prizes on FIFA's website says car parking is reaching as much as $175 per parking pass. So we'll get Ben Fisher down to investigate that immediately. Kieran, let's talk about crypto. Crypto sponsors flooding European football. You posted about an Investigate Europe report into an influx of crypto sponsors.
- [44:14]
Max Rushden
That's right. Crypto is gambling with a small G. What we have seen is that because the Premier League for example is banning front of shirt adverts from formal gambling companies Starting in season 26, 27, somebody's got to fill that vacuum. The crypto companies, they're seeking legitimacy, they're seeking the normalization of those products. I've spoken to an all party parliamentary committee about the pros and cons of crypto and I've got to say that in my opinion that there's more cons provided you accept it as a form of gambling then then how you choose to spend your money is down to individuals. But they tend to have the biggest wallets in town because Gambling. If you think about it from the perspective of the demographics of people who go to football, they tend to have disposable money, they tend to be slightly more risk friendly and the crypto companies have seen that. The downside is that quite a few of these crypto companies during the course of a season have gone bustling. And that has meant that the football clubs themselves have ended up losing money because they've been banking on receiving the full amount for the full term of the sponsorship deal. And I think Chelsea have had something, Roma have had similar. And that's the risk that the football clubs take as well as those people that decide to. I won't use the word invest because it's not an investment. These people that choose to speculate on these products.
- [45:45]
Danny Kelly
So, I mean, Philippe's done some stuff on this.
- [45:47]
Max Rushden
Our.
- [45:48]
Danny Kelly
Are Premier League clubs doing their due diligence or is this just the nature of crypto? That sounds to me like. Because I'm always thinking, should I sell everything I own and buy, you know, some kind of urethra coin? That's the wrong choice of word. But you, you take, you take, you take. It's close enough, isn't it? Ethereum, says producer Joel. But I'm sticking with it. I'm going to launch it. But, but, you know, are premier clubs doing their, doing their due diligence?
- [46:19]
Max Rushden
We tend to use the phrase blinded by the check. If somebody comes to you and you're a commercial director and offers you an extra 20% over the, the original price you were hoping to get from your front of shirt deal or sleeve shirt deal, then the chances are you're going to take it because you're under pressure from the board of directors. The board of directors are under the pressure from the owner. The owner's under pressure because the fans are screaming because they've not, not invested enough in a new center forward and so on. Some clubs are cautious and other clubs are. Should we say more Lassez faire When it comes to anybody that walks through the door with a large amount of money, yes, we'll take it and we'll ask questions afterwards. We have seen some clubs, to be fair to them, backtrack after sort of doing the due diligence, having made the initial announcement for the products. I think Norwich went through this. I think Manchester City have had their, their fingers burned as well. Clubs, they're under pressure to deliver as far as commercial income is concerned, because if you take a look at the three strands of revenue that come into football, ticket prices are difficult to increase substantially because there will be resistance from fans. The broadcasting deals are set in stone and set in advance all the way through to 2029. So, therefore, commercial is the one area of potential growth, growth that clubs are looking at at a time when wages are going up and transfer fees are going up. So. So they have to deliver.
- [47:43]
Danny Kelly
That's a question for the rest of the panel. Jacob, you like, cover Chelsea a lot, right? I just wonder, when you started on your job as a football journalist, did you, like. Do you feel a pressure to understand stuff that you never really thought you'd have to understand?
- [47:57]
Jacob Steinberg
Yeah, the. The attempts to understand PSR and. And try to. I'm not very numbers oriented, but. But trying to read accounts and understand accounts, that does make my head hurt sometimes. Yeah, absolutely. That's why we have people like Kieran, who's very useful on things like Chelsea. I'm interested to know what he makes of the latest stuff going on there. The recent reports around the Abramovich, the money that was kept back and all of that, whether that's going to end up hitting them at all.
- [48:28]
Max Rushden
I think it's been played very well by Clearlake Capital and Todd Boehly in the sense that they were in a hurry to get the deal through. They were also under pressure from the UK government, so therefore they managed to negotiate a fairly substantial reduction in the price. I think it's in the region of about 150 million. They have effectively kept that. It's a bit like if you buy a house and you think that there's a bit of dry rot or something in it, you keep the money back until a full inspection has been done. I think that has been a challenge for all of the parties trying to work out what the FA is going to do in terms of what was discovered by Clearlake Capital in what appears to be some form of offshore payments. Whether they should have gone through the books of the club, whether they have gone through the bank accounts of third parties in order to attract players to come to the club. That's something which is taking a disproportionate amount of time. But it's a classic case of lawyers using delaying tactics to try to ensure that their client isn't on the hook for this. So I think that is the main issue, delaying. I think there's a separate issue in respect of Chelsea in the fact that Clearlake have paid around about 2.3, 2.4 billion across to the UK government and that money is still sitting in a bank account three, four years after the deal. Went through because there are offshore parties again saying that, well, we need to determine what is a victim of the conflict in Ukraine, and until that definition has been determined, we're not going to make any further progress in distributing the money which is generating interest for the UK government or presumably for hopefully the beneficiaries of the pot of money. Three or four percent of 2.5 billion is an awful lot of money at 75 to 100 million pounds a year.
- [50:28]
Danny Kelly
What is the latest on PSR watch, Kieran? Which clubs are going to be hit and which aren't, or it's all gone quiet at the moment?
- [50:36]
Max Rushden
Yeah, I think all of the clubs that have had their, their fingers burnt over the course of the last two summers have learned their lessons. I think what's of more intrigue is that there is a meeting of Premier League chief executives. I think it's next week. And what's going to happen in terms of the replacement for PSR going forwards? We'll have to wait for that. I think the consensus is that they'll probably adopt the system that we have operating under UEFA, which effectively will allow those clubs who are not in UEFA competitions to spend 85% of their revenue on player wages amortisation, which is another thing which I can see Jacob shuddering at the very thought of that word, and agents fees. And for those clubs that are. Are participating in UEFA competitions, it will be dropped to 70%. And I was out with a person from a Premier League club fairly recently, and they were quite candid. They say they would now actively try to avoid qualifying for the Europa Conference, because if you qualify for the Europa Conference, you make no money from it, but you can only spend 70% of your revenue on wages. If you finish one place below, you can spend 85% and therefore you can invest more in players and wages the following season. So I think this is a classic example of unintended consequences. The other issue that the Premier League chief execs are going to be chatting about is the introduction, or the potential introduction, of what we refer to as anchoring, which will mean that whoever finishes bottom of the Premier League, you take the amount of TV money that they receive, multiply it by a magic number, and we think that magic number is going to be five. And that's going to operate as a de facto wage cap for the remainder of the Premier League. So if we say that the club finishing bottom gets 110 million pounds in TV money, you multiply that by five, that means you can spend 550 million on wages. We've seen a pushback on that, though, from the Professional Footballers association, because they don't like the idea of wage caps, especially those being imposed on their members. So, you know, the pfa, I think, are talking to. I wouldn't say the shop stewards at individual clubs, but their representatives with a view as to how they're going to respond to this. And I suspect we could see some form of legal claim from the pfa. They successfully achieved this when the EFL tried to impose wage caps in both League 1 and League 2 three or four years ago. And they employed Nick DeMarco, who's probably known as the country's leading sports lawyer, and he successfully defended the PFA position.
- [53:26]
Danny Kelly
We were up in arms when they capped the wages for football weekly at? 500 million a year. It was a devastating blow for us. Kieran, tell us about. You're doing an event with Kevin Day Prize of Football podcast, which is excellent at the AMEX next week, along with Glenn Murray profits going to brighten Hove District Samaritans. Tell us about it.
- [53:43]
Max Rushden
That's right. The. The Premier League comes in for a lot of stick at times, but also does an awful lot of amazing work. And the Premier League this season is looking at the issue of suicide awareness. And one of the. The organizations it's partnered with is. Is Samaritans. So I. I go to a match with a colleague every week who, who is. Who is a Samaritan. And we got chatting to him and we said, well, we'd love to do a sort of a benefit gig. So Brighton were the first Premier League club to sign up for this suicide awareness. It's still the biggest killer of men under the age of 15. It's a subject that we don't talk about even if we know that somebody or a family that's been affected by it, you don't know how to bring it up in conversation. It's the biggest killer of women in the UK under the age of 30 as well. So the work that the Samaritans do is absolutely amazing. So, yes, next Wednesday at the Amic Stadium, we are doing a benefit gig. Glenn, who's played for both Brighton and Palace, has kindly agreed to come on stage along with Ruff Wood, the Brighton commercial director. And we're just trying to, first of all, raise awareness. And one of the things that Brighton are doing this season is that they're training 1901 people to become suicide mentors in the sense of how good are we at listening to pick up the signals when perhaps you're at a match with a friend or you're down the pub pre match and something's not quite right. Can you be that listening ear? Can you be that arm round the shoulder which could make the difference between somebody choosing to perhaps try to take their life or not. And it's a fantastic initiative and both the Premier League and all of the clubs involved involve a huge amount of credit for it. If anybody is interested in attending, I think we've got half a dozen tickets available still, if you go to Eventbrite, it's 16 pounds, 50 plus booking fee because it costs Brighton and Hove Samaritans 165 pounds a day to run their services. So we've said, well, for every 10 tickets we sell, we're keeping you open for another day.
- [55:57]
Danny Kelly
Good stuff, Kieran.
- [55:58]
Max Rushden
Yeah.
- [55:58]
Danny Kelly
Make sure you go on to that. As Kieran said, go to Eventbrite or just go to Kieran or Kevin Day's social media and you'll find out all about that. Thank you, Kieran. Thanks for coming on, pal.
- [56:08]
Max Rushden
Thanks, Max. Cheers, guys.
- [56:09]
Danny Kelly
And I will now say, vote for us in the fsa. It's not Kieran because he's gone. Although he's. We. I'm sure he's still there. Good luck at the FSAs, Kieran, as well. Also worth pointing out, there is a brand new podcast called the Guardian Ashes Weekly that I'm hosting. So I'll just talk about 2005 and Edgbaston and. And insert 90s cricketers like Peter Such and Alan Mulally. But Jeff Lemon and a host of other experts are on hand and we'll do preview pods and review pods. That's the other word for it as well. We're going to drop the first episode into the Football Weekly feed, so, you know, get busy in the comments with that, but that'll do for today. Thanks, everybody. Thank you, Jacob.
- [56:45]
Jacob Steinberg
Thank you.
- [56:45]
Danny Kelly
Thanks, Sam.
- [56:46]
Sam Dalling
You're welcome, Max.
- [56:47]
Jacob Steinberg
Thank you.
- [56:47]
Danny Kelly
Cheers, Dan.
- [56:48]
Dan Bardell
Cheers, Max.
- [56:48]
Danny Kelly
Football Weekly is produced by Joel Grove. Our executive producer is Daniel Stevens.
- [56:56]
Sam Dalling
This is the Guardian.