George Ellick (2:05)

Sani Rudravagula. Hello.

Sani Rudravagula (2:07)

Hello.

George Ellick (2:08)

And from not the top 20, George Ellick. All right, George.

Max (2:11)

Hello.

George Ellick (2:11)

Let's start then at Vale Park. It is still Vale park, isn't it? It is to me anyway.

Max (2:17)

Paul.

George Ellick (2:17)

Vale 1, Sunderland nil. Paulval getting to the quarterfinals for the first time in decades and decades. Sanny, you were there. And sort of quite nice. Almost all the ingredients for, for an upset.

Sani Rudravagula (2:30)

Yeah, I think it was all the ingredients because, yeah, Portvale bottom of League one, no one expected them to be here in the first place. The match against Bristol City, which got rearranged because the pitch was deemed unplayable, that got played on Tuesday. I was at that game as well. And when it got to extra time, I think everyone in the stadium's heart just sank. Like, you know, we all just wanted this game to end one way or another. So to get through that. Ben Wayne was a scorer there and then to take it to Sunderland in the way they did was. Was brilliant. You know, I spoke to Regis Labris afterwards and he, he said how the pitch was a leveler, which is, you know, it wasn't level. It was definitely bobbly. But I, I don't. And this is kind of a wider, wider point really, because this also feeds into the Mansfield game I was at as well because, like, he basically said that that kind of made things even. And I'm not sure that Premier League players on a pitch that's a bit, you know, patchy and bubbly then means that you're what, the same standards of League one, which is kind of what he was coming with. Only two changes from that Sunderland side. So it was a full strength, pretty much team. And yeah, Port Vale were fantastic and it only had a few days to turn it around as far as getting like the tickets sold and everything. I think they were still selling tickets on like the website for the Peterborough game that was supposed to be that day up the Thursday or something. So they were really kind of playing catch up with it and, you know, a brilliant atmosphere and you know what it's like when, when you're not one of those games. There'll be youngsters there. It's the first ever time. And what an experience they've got. And you know, those, those, you know, fair weather fans might be thinking, yeah, I'm going to go to Port Bale more often. And that's kind of what football's all about. So, yeah, fantastic times.

George Ellick (4:05)

Yeah, you. I mean, Ben Wayne scored the winner and you know, all these stories. Newcastle fan. I was expecting this broad Geordie accent and he's actually a Kiwi. But you, you. Sanny showed him Alan Shearer's tweet when he did Shearer celebration in front of the Sunderland fans.

Sani Rudravagula (4:19)

Yeah, that was really fun. Actually. It wasn't your usual press conference fair. Port Bale had already decided, right, we're just going to have A bum fight on the sidelines full time with like a huddle around each of the managers and stuff. So that was quite fun. So straight after talking to labrisse, like, barged in, pushed John Cross out the way, who'd already pushed me out the way earlier, which is, John, you don't need to do that. But got in with Ben Wayne and yeah, in the middle of all his questions. And so 5Live had tweeted the picture of him doing the Shira celebration and Shearer had, quote, tweeted it and put his hand in the air. So Ben, have you seen this? And he's like, oh, my God, amazing. He kind of lost for words and said like, he was too young to watch Shearer play, but he watched his YouTube videos, said he watches his YouTube videos all the time and asked him like, had he planned that before? And yes, he had. And then I've tweeted that and Shearers liked that. So do I then show Ben Wayne Shearer liking the. The fact that he liked his reaction. And then what does Ben Wayne do? And this could go on because I'm at Port Vale this evening ahead of the FA cup draw, so I could actually do that. We could keep this infinite content loop going or just reaction to each other. Where does it end?

George Ellick (5:25)

That's all. Yeah, that. That is what football is now. Barry, are you. Are you mortified that Sunderland are out?

Barry Glendenning (5:33)

No. They should be embarrassed. I. I had a bad feeling about this one, I won't lie. Mainly because a MACAM friend of mine here in London went to the game and anytime he goes to a Sunderland away game, they get beaten. He'. Jonah. But I don't think Sunderland can offer any excuses. Portvale deserve to win. They wanted it more as. As they say. I mean, I wouldn't say it was anywhere near the full strength Sunderland team because there's so many players out injured, but it was the best team they had available and it should have been more than enough to see off a team at the bottom of League One and it wasn't. I thoroughly enjoyed Mel Karelborg's headed save from that. Yeah, sensational Luca nine back pass where he sprinted backwards 20 meters to launch this back pass to try and lob his own goalkeeper. Brilliant save from Melberg. Obviously couldn't catch the ball, so he headed it over the bar while backpedaling furiously. And the same fellow Elborg was. I don't think I'd have had any complaints if he'd been sent off for that. Bringing down George hall outside the penalty area. That probably wasn't a clear and obvious goal scoring opportunity because he was going wide as a goal. But I, I don't think he could have been complained and it would have been a big problem for Sunderland if he'd been sent off because he's a reserve goalkeeper, he's only a kid and Robin Roofs is currently out with a hamstring injury. So if he was suspended, I don't know who's next to step up. But no, no complaints here at all. But it's embarrassing for Sunderland, but Sunderland are a club who are well used to embarrassment, you know, just another one to add to the list.

Max (7:25)

George, I liked how the, the Port Vale official Twitter account when describing the moment where elbow should have been, well, could have been sent off after hall rounded him and was kind of cleaned out. Said that whole looked to have a tap in when in reality he had taken it kind of towards the corner flag on the edge of the area. But it's an interesting debate where it feels like this happens the whole time of this conversation around what is an obvious goal, school opportunity? Is it an obvious opportunity where you're going to get a shot away at a goal? Because if it is, then even though it's not that likely to go in, it was definitely a red card. Or is it a shot that is actually kind of likely to go in when you have it, in which case it's probably not a red card. It feels like no one really knows still, you know, obvious. Is that the, the opportunity to shoot or is that the opportunity to score? If it's the former, then it probably should have been a red. Also credit to Wayne, I think, for the header itself. Like it was a, a looping ball. He managed to get some kind of real power behind to get into the, into the top corner. It's a great story this, because even though Port Vale are routed to the bottom of League one, John Brady's come in and as best as you can, when you come into a club who are detached kind of around the turn of the year, he's brought in a real good feeling there. And you know, normally when a manager comes in and they improve results, they improve things, but they still go down, you know, the fingers still point at them for not. For not saving them. With Brady, that won't be the case. This FA cup run is testament to that. The only concerning thing for them is that they already have only played 32 games, which is the fewest in League One this season. There are some teams in the league that played 36 and now they're going to have their game over Easter, or I think both their games are over Easter postponed because the next round of the FA cup is over Easter weekend on Saturday and Sunday, when obviously EFL teams play on the Friday and the Monday. So they're going to suddenly have about seven games in hand to play in the last kind of six weeks of the season. So in what's quite a small squad, they're going to have a lot asked

Sani Rudravagula (9:11)

to them physically on the VAR call. Quite a surreal experience. So Elbor takes out Hall. The whole of Vale park is suddenly chanting for var, like, you know, no ef, that's no EFL crowd ever.

Barry Glendenning (9:26)

Yeah.

Sani Rudravagula (9:26)

Then the decision goes against him. Everyone's like, fuck var.

Max (9:29)

Right?

Sani Rudravagula (9:30)

That's how fickle straight away. And then I've got people like in the prep, like by the press box, shouting, like, towards me and the other journals, like, ah, this Vir nonsense. Why you're doing what? It's got nothing to do with me, pal. I'm sat here like Rose zz. It's nothing on me. But, yeah, just going back to the Port Vale story, by the way, Carol Shanahan, the owner of Port Vale, who kind of came in and essentially saved the club, and it's kind of changed the culture of what Port Vale is and how they do things. And it's really small things. You know, all the staff are encouraged to all have their lunch together at 12:30 and if you're not there, somebody might knock on your door and check if you're okay. Whenever there's a Port Vale fan who passes away and the club has to be informed, and if the cortege goes past the stadium, all the staff and the players will try and come out and, you know, give their condolences. So little things like that. They did a lot in Covid as well, so there's a real community hub there and I hope that story doesn't get lost. And on the kit, by the way, it's a. It's the 150th anniversary year for Port Vale and that kit is modeled on the 1954 team that got to the semi finals. So there's a little echoes of where. Where they're up to. It's quite nice.

George Ellick (10:48)

Yeah, it was lovely kit, wasn't it? Craven coaches, then Fulham nil, Southampton one. George, I don't know how much of a surprise this is, given how many changes Fulham made and the form that Southampton are in.

Max (10:58)

Sometimes there are these games where they're upsets, but you look at the bookmakers odds, actually the team who is perceived to be the kind of worst team are often kind of on a level playing field in terms of probability. This wasn't that Fulham were heavy odds on favorites to win this game at kickoff. I think Fulham fans will be pretty confused and bemused and frustrated as to why in a season where, you know, they're not really threatened by relegation and any kind of ambitions to finish in a high European spot are gone. Why they made nine changes to their first team. Marco Silva spoken about the importance of these games and about the FA cup for their season, but the actions themselves didn't really echo that. Just one change made up until the 89th minute, which was a worthy coming on Josh King and Rahim and being introduced in the 89th and 90th. Like all seemed a bit strange, really. Like massive credit to Southampton, who Tonda Eckert came in to replace. Will still had a really good first run and then results tailed off massively. But in the last five, six weeks they've been, you know, up there with the best teams in the championship and they were good here, you know, Finazaz did well to win the penalty dispatched brilliantly. Such a sweet strike from, from Ross Stewart, who's obviously had some serious injury issues himself and if he can be fit for the last couple of months of the season, will be a big help to Sampton, who have put themselves, you know, in the last eight for the FA cup, but also, you know, on the fringes of the playoffs, which didn't look like it was going to be likely the beginning of the season. So, yeah, Eckert's doing a very good job. And again, you always wonder with cup runs how, how it's going to impact league campaigns because of extra congestion. But it does feel like for Sampton, continuing their good form in the league by going away from home to a Premier League club and winning will only help them.

George Ellick (12:31)

Yeah, I mean, Marco Silva said it was a very, very, very bad afternoon and you can understand why Chelsea made loads of changes. Right. You can understand why Man City did. He can't understand why Fulham would make this many changes. And Barry the almost as fun as Luko9's tremendous attempt to score an own goal was the Fulham goal that was disallowed by Jared Gillet, probably correctly, but involving the Southampton keeper, absolutely belting it is his own teammate, Ryan Manning, who went down like platoon, but sort of fair enough because he, he probably was not expecting that ball to be rifled into his mid rib.

Barry Glendenning (13:07)

Yeah. Daniel Peretz threw the ball out to take the goal kick. It was still moving when he took the goal kick and flattened Ryan Manning, hitting him in the back. I think Jared Gillet thought he had hit Manning in the head, which is why he blew his whistle stop play. He hadn't hit him in the head, so. But as the ball ricocheted off his back, Fulham scored. So it was the correct decision to rule out the goal because the ball was moving when the goalkeeper took the goal kick. But it was disallowed, probably for the wrong reason, because Gillette thought Manning had been struck in the head by this black thunderbolt.

George Ellick (13:54)

Poor guy.

Barry Glendenning (13:54)

The thing about the changes, I can totally understand why Fulham fans would be frustrated by that. But like Leeds made cold sale changes and won. It's fine to make those changes if you win.

Max (14:06)

Yeah.

Barry Glendenning (14:06)

But if you don't, you end up looking an absolute chump. And I guess Marco Silva just doesn't care about the Africa. He doesn't think Fulham have any chance of winning it.

George Ellick (14:15)

So, yeah, maybe. But like Leeds are, you know, still in danger of going down. Right. There's a reason why.

Barry Glendenning (14:20)

Okay, I'm not leads for making changes, but I'm just saying it's fine to do that if you win.

George Ellick (14:27)

Of course, of course. But like I. All the other teams making change in the Premier League I think makes sense because they're fighting for something else. Whereas I don't think Fulham are really. Anyway, Chelsea made lots of changes. They won at Wrexham. Rory says will Hollywood versus VAR at the Ravecourse leave Reynolds and McElhenney wondering if they even want promotion to the Premier League. Var is not good for them narrative. Mark says. Am I the only one delighted to see Wrexham out? It's a glorified vanity project. It's interesting the sunny. The journey of people finding the Wrexham story beautiful and then hating it as they actually get nearer the Premier League and, and being good. But like this was a, this was a really good game, wasn't it?

Sani Rudravagula (15:03)

This was a great game. And just on that the, the, the, the Hollywood journey, what you got to remember is the people who are, who are involved at Wrexham, you know, besides the ownership, they're just like, you know, just normal people.

George Ellick (15:15)

They're just like normal people, Sonny. Normal real people like us, like you and me, just off the street.

Sani Rudravagula (15:21)

Right. I'll give you one example. So Colin is the head of media at Wrexham and he does a great job. He joined Wrexham out of university. I think he might have still been a student for. As a volunteer running the Media in the National League, you know, in the Doldrums, like, right, it was just his club. So he went and joined him and he's come on this journey with the club, right, and now he's, you know, overseeing a championship operation and is the nation's media descending pre match as I was a part of them in this tiny little room. And you know, and that. That's the club. You know, the people who were at Wrexham four years ago, five years ago, you know, seven years ago, are the same people. The online maybe and the Americanization part of Wrexham is. Is quite irritating. But the actual people who are there, you know, who have been there, are all. Are all great. And it's a great story. I mean, yeah, the game itself was. Was fantastic. And you know, we saw Sam Smith with that wonderful goal. A brilliant ball from the back, like, perfectly flighted ball over the top. Again, our good friend Sanchez, Robert Sanchez getting himself in all sorts of trouble. I mean, we've seen an iteration of this goal like several times, haven't we? Or several times where he's got himself in trouble. But yeah, overall, like, you know, just. Just a great game. And I think, you know, just like with Var in Port Vale, I think that should have been a red, by the way, on the goalie. Like Var reared its head in a way that I don't think we really needed. I don't. I don't necessarily disagree with the decisions and the red card and the Wrexham game. My issue with Var in particular, as well as hating it, is the fact that you watch replays that are slowed down, so you're artificially changing the perception that a referee saw in first place. Because in real time, I don't think Dobson looks that bad. I think it's fine. It's yellow and you start slowing it down. It's knee on knee. And we're into this, you know, we're into this again. So it was a great game, but as soon as Rexon went down to 10, it went to extra time. You only knew there was going to be one team. And by the way, I'll get this point in now. The tin pot goals that Wrexham have are a real issue. You cannot have sports center 3G football goals that you can wheel on and off in the championship at this level. Half the ground didn't know it was in, did they? With Gardacho's goal. It was absolutely ridiculous.

Max (17:33)

It's so weird that they have those goals anyway. And it must be pretty embarrassing for on the biggest stage, everyone tuning in a crucial Goal in an FA cup game and the goal goes in and no one in the stadium, but also no one watching on TV at home knows the ball's gone in. Like it's. It's one of the weirdest like aesthetic you got. Garnacho basically like turning around and saying, did anyone else see that go in or is it just me? It's. It's bizarre. It's a funny one with Var. Like I, you know, I hate Var and if it's ever introduced into the efl, I'll have to rethink my career. But it funny how in this instance the two big Var decisions, the red card for Dobson, Brunt's goal being to set up rough side and I still kind of think if Brun had left that it maybe was going in the far post. Anyway, they're both the right decision and I still hate it and I still wish it didn't exist. Like I. I don't understand how anyone, even real time like Dobson's foul is like the things you judge a foul or not, like excessive force obviously. Like he absolutely flew in. There was no attempt to play the ball. I think it's. I can see why it wasn't given live because, you know, maybe the. The occasion or whatever. But when you see it back, even if it's not slowed down, I think it's obvious.

George Ellick (18:37)

It's.

Max (18:37)

It's very cynical and has excessive force needed to. To clear that threshold and it is offside. But even so, like we don't need it. Like we don't need. We've got a referee. Let him police it. He's going to make mistakes just like Var make mistakes. And it's a shame that what was a brilliant cup die was decided by that. Even if the decisions were right, the

Barry Glendenning (18:56)

Dobson red, it probably should have been a red, but the ref, it was his opinion that it was a bookable offense and then yeah, he was overruled by someone else's opinion. So why is the second person's opinion more valid than the refs? I don't know. But anyway, just about the wrecks and sort of the backlash against them. Their squad was assembled for between 40 and 50 million quid. They've players in that squad from their academy, players who come in for Blackburn, Bristol City, Charlton, Bolton, Hull, Rotherham, Reading, Sheffield, Windsor, Chevrolet, United, Ipswich, Leicester. Their most expensive signings. Nathan Broadhead, 10 million quid. He was on the bench. I think Keefer Moore is their Highest earner on 30 grand a week and he earns twice as much as the Next highest earners. So it's not like they're holes and money around Man City, Chelsea style. I, I don't have a problem. They seem to be doing good work in the community, unlike other clubs that have been the subject of, you know, takeovers from very wealthy foreigners.

Max (20:12)

I think there are two, the kind of two ways of looking at it. The spend compared to, you know, the rest of the championship who haven't had parachute payments and especially compared to any club that was in the National League three seasons ago, is, is, is absurd like it is. You know, it's, it's crazy what they've been able to do. You know, the fee for, for Broadhead, the wages they spend on Kiefer Moore and even Connor Cody when he came in. Like clubs that don't have the revenue streams that you get given if you have either a sell out 40,000 a week or you have parachute. Premier League can't even get anywhere near that. You know, I support a team that came up the season before Rexim and our record signing is I think two and a half million pounds and none of our players will earn even a third of or half of what, what more's on. So there's that regard. But then I do also think there is, you're right, there is an element where they are doing things the right way in terms of an investment in, in the local community. You know, if you're, if you're a Wrexham fan, you're being taken on an incredible journey. And I think Phil Parkinson, it kind of gets lost because of the story and because of the spend. But Parkinson's doing an absolutely unbelievable job. I, I assume there'll probably be a for all if he's put up for manager of the season or whatever in the Championship in a couple of weeks. Because people will say, well, he's, you know, when you got that money, doesn't matter. It's still not easy, it's still not normal to be able to take a team who just, you know, finished second in League one and take them into the, into the top six and possibly been touching this in the Premier League. Like I know Sunderland did that in their first season up, but that's a completely different profile of club. So it's unbelievable what he's doing. And again, they gave a great account themselves against, against Chelsea.

George Ellick (21:46)

Yeah, we should say that well done to Chelsea because they won. And you know, Liam Rossini made nine changes and like he's getting a tune out of this team. Mansfield won Arsenal too. Sonny, you where I don't know where you weren't. You seem to have been at every game so far. You were at this one. How was it?

Sani Rudravagula (22:00)

Yes, I was at this one again. It was great. I'll try not to repeat the vibe of Port Vale. So I did my teacher training in Mans. So I taught in the ex mining towns or mining villages of Clipstone. So I know exactly what these communities are like. And you know, you, you drive through and if you, you're not familiar with, with Mansfield and where it is like you know, you'll see the, you'll see the abandoned shuttered mines, you'll see the, the wheels that have been taken down and they're put at the, at the entrance to any town and stuff. So you go through like these are forgotten towns like that. That's not make any bones about it. There's a reason politically why they are where they are. There's a reason why elected in Ashfield in the past for example is who they have. And this is where a football club is so like crucial to give everyone a focal point regardless of how things are going. And that's where the Radfords coming in. John and Carolyn, who I was, I was, I was live with in a car park and on Sky Sports News were saying that, that that element was a huge part of why they kind of wanted to get involved because John the name of the stadiums after his company and stuff that have invested there and bought in and slowly like, like Port Vale, like, like not quite Wrexham but they have invested in trying to build it up. So this was a huge moment for them and a culmination of all that hard work. Again, 10,000 there. So the game itself was great. Mansfield really kind of took it to Arsenal and again a huge amount for Mansfield and let's see if they can kick on in the league as well.

George Ellick (23:31)

Yeah, and look Barry, they had the moment, right? You want that as a low league fan? It's just a moment where you take the lead or you equalize or whatever. And they had that.

Barry Glendenning (23:39)

Yeah, Will Evans came on as a. So at Halim, took advantage of a. A poor pass from Marley Salmon and, and scored an equalizer for Mansfield. He, he has previous in the FA Cup. He scored one for Newport county against Manchester United a few years ago and I thought Mansfield were terrific to be honest. They were playing a below strength Arsenal side obviously. But I think in the build up to the game Nigel Clough was very much saying that, you know, this is a kind of brucy bonus for us. Reading on Tuesday night is Far more important. But after the game he, when he was getting the condescending pats on the head and about how brave his players performance was, he, he seemed to think, oh, we possibly could have done better in this game. And I, I think he's right. Arsenal were far from their best but obviously should have been more than good enough to, to win this game. And they did win it, but they, Mansfield gave them plenty of problems.

George Ellick (24:49)

Yeah, I mean like the Arsenal goals were very much. We're better at this than you. Yeah, we'll just score really good goals. There you go. And there were two brilliant goals from M, weren't they? But yeah. So Arsenal through.

Sani Rudravagula (25:01)

I think we'd be remiss not to mention Max Dman. I know he talks about him right at the start of the season, how well he did against Leeds for Arsenal, but he was on a complete other level. You talk about players who can make the difference there. He's still only 16, 6 foot. Youngest ever starter I think for Arsenal in FA cup and just so good. I mean if you can do it on that pitch, if you can do it when you've got, you know, players literally twice his age kicking the out of him and he's able to drop a shoulder, beat a man, you know, using the ball in the right areas, using his strength, ghosting past players. You know, in an era where we're talking about nobody can beat a man anymore, this kid is really something special, like a very. I know it's only League one he was playing against, but what we saw there was just absolutely phenomenal. And Arsenal got a real prospect, you know, not even prospect, he's already there. And I think what's also great is, you know, like Marley Salmon, he again was only 16, unlike say when we had Michael Owen playing for Liverpool and you know, we've had youngsters play way too many games too quickly. We've seen what happens. It looks like Arsenal doing the right thing with him and it's building up gently and not getting too overexposed. But he like really shone at Field Mill and I think, you know, if you hadn't seen him play, you don't know too much about him. Max Dalman one to watch because he's absolutely phenomenal.

George Ellick (26:21)

The quadruple alive for us all, the quintuple. If that includes spurs getting relegated. For Arsenal fans, that'll do for part one. Part two, we'll do the rest of the FA cup and a bit of spurs too.

Hayden (26:33)

Howdy, howdy ho and welcome to fantasy fan. Fellas, I'M Hayden, producer of the Fantasy Fangirls podcast and your resident lover of all things Sanderson.

Stephen (26:41)

And I'm Stephen, your bookish Internet goofball. But you can call me the Smash Daddy.

Hayden (26:45)

And we are currently deep diving Brandon Sanderson's fantasy epic Mistborn. But here's the catch. Steven here has not read Mistborn before.

Stephen (26:53)

That's right.

Max (26:54)

Hey.

Stephen (26:54)

Hey. So each week you'll get my unfiltered raw reactions to every single chapter.

Hayden (26:58)

And along the way, we'll do character deep dives, magic explainers, and Steven will even try to guess what's next. Spoiler alert. He'll be wrong.

Stephen (27:05)

News flash. I'm never wrong. Episodes come out every Wednesday, and you can find fantasy fan fellows wherever you get your podcasts.

George Ellick (27:20)

Welcome to Part two of the Guardian Football Weekly. So Newcastle won, Man City three. What'd you make of this, George?

Max (27:25)

Yeah, a decent cup tie. Newcastle obviously taking the lead relatively early before kind of City ground them down, as they tend to do at the moment. Savino's goal was one of the weirdest goals I've ever seen. Maybe like, it's absolutely extraordinary what he did with the cross coming in. Initially, when you watch it live, you think he must have been unsighted and it must have kind of just hit him as he stood still. But the more replays, the more obvious it becomes that he basically knew the ball was coming towards his left foot. And rather than actually try and kick the ball, he just let the ball hit him on the leg and then kind of dribble over the line.

George Ellick (27:55)

So you think it's just the most. You think it's pure nonchalance?

Max (27:59)

I think it's deliberate. Yeah.

Sani Rudravagula (28:01)

Wow.

Max (28:01)

Because you can see the angle from behind and he almost does kind of shift his left leg just a tiny bit just to kind of like angle the foot. Okay. Ridiculous. Like, just very weird. I kind of. I was a bit poorly over the weekend. I thought I was some kind of fever dream when it happened. In.

George Ellick (28:15)

In.

Sani Rudravagula (28:16)

In pro Evo terms, by the way, that's. That's super cancel for anyone who knows. It's L1, R1, L2, R2 and the player stops doing anything and it just hits them. Okay.

Max (28:25)

Interesting.

Sani Rudravagula (28:25)

You know, your old school prevo buttons

George Ellick (28:26)

can't do that on sensible soccer. But look, I'm a big fan of any. Any goal where the ball goes in incredibly slowly. I'm such a huge fan of those goals. And it was like that wasn't it? Gave the Newcastle players enough chance to sort of get back. But not enough. Look beyond that. They. Beyond that George. They would see were really good and you know, made 10 changes but were still really good.

Max (28:49)

Yeah. Maush looking really lively. A kind of good poachers goal to. To open and then a brilliant stroke from the edge of the area to. To score the second to make the game safe and the way that City controlled. You know, at times this season I think City have been different in the way that they've played out of possession where we've seen them against teams let them have a lot more of the ball and press a bit kind of less intently or with less intensity. But here they were brilliant. They snapped into everything. Even though they're 3:1 up, they still dominated the ball. It kind of felt like City iterations of the past and that is going to be a concern I guess with a big part to play in the Premier League title race and also the. The Champions League, so. And the FA cup. So I mean it could still be a very successful season for Man City and it does feel like they've got the strength and depth between the end of the season to mount that challenge.

George Ellick (29:34)

Yeah, man. Probably not a successful season for Newcastle Bear. I mean they do have Barcelona. They're still in the Champions League, but it's just no shame, right?

Max (29:40)

Like the.

George Ellick (29:41)

The depth of their squad, the amount of games they've played. Sort of felt quite some sympathy for them at the weekend.

Barry Glendenning (29:47)

They've played 47 games this season. Wouldn't imagine anyone's played more. The golf in class here was just so obvious after the first half hour. Newcastle clearly don't have the same strength and depth as Man City. It's a big bone of contention with Newcastle fans that they're not allowed spe all this money that the Saudi piff have and this shows that maybe they have a point. They only had 15 touches in the opposition box compared to to City 64 in theirs. Nick Voltimata in midfield again looking like a fish out of water.

George Ellick (30:27)

Quite a big fish.

Barry Glendenning (30:28)

Very big permed fish.

George Ellick (30:35)

My favorite kind of fish. Ye. What is the market? What's the market? Fish of the day. It's the Volta. The big permed volta. Marder on a bed of.

Barry Glendenning (30:45)

I don't think he even has a perm but he just kind of looks like he should have one to make him even more conspicuous in his midfield role. Yeah, so they were just outclassed but that's the fifth time they've played City this season. City won four of those games

Max (31:04)

and

Barry Glendenning (31:05)

they're just much better than Newcastle I. I'd be interesting interested to see how. How Newcastle fare against Barcelona over two legs. I think it could be a bloodbath. But who knows? Who knows. They seem to be able to rise themselves for those big, big European games.

George Ellick (31:23)

Molyneux on Friday night Liverpool won 31 at Wolves. All I could think, you know, Andy Robertson's got a lovely goal open the scoring set up one was what a bullet he dodged because wasn't it a Liverpool. Someone else was injured so they didn't let him go to Spurs. And you just think, wow. Lucky for you, sadly on the few people saying that, you know, Arnold Slot needs the FA cup or needs something to keep his job, which does feel. I still think it feels hard. I still feel like you get a season's grace for winning the league. I don't know. I don't know if you think that is sort of fair enough. When you're at this level, you're at the elite level and you don't win anything that if you have a poor season, that's it.

Sani Rudravagula (31:59)

I think there are clubs big enough with broad enough shoulders to be able to write rail against that sort of clamor. Liverpool are one man United, famously the other. And I think given especially you know, out of all the games to. For that conversation to be around, you know, of course, you know, Diego Jota's death and that was brother. You know, this game was marked again but with, with you know, marks of remembrance during the game for him obviously as a Wolves player and a former Liverpool player. And that, you know, continues to affect the players. So I, I do think, you know, it's really, it's really hard to say because I'm sure at the start of the season everyone was like, you know, you get, you get, you get this season written off. I know you've said that as well, Max. And then, then it happens and you're like, right, well, you've got to. You're going to stick with that. But I think it does mean he's on an incredibly short leash for next season. Did he need to win the FA cup not to keep his job? I don't think so. But certainly as something to kind of almost, you know, mark the season and think, you know, draw a line under everything. As much as one can do that that would be a great way to do it. But they have no right to do so and. But I do think, I think slots. Okay. I honestly do. You know, I don't think you're doing a voice note anytime soon, Max.

George Ellick (33:11)

No, I, I hope so Leeds beat Norwich 3 nil. They were very, very good leads in this game. Longstaff Skull is absolutely brilliant. The first touch and turn and finish was absolutely superb.

Sani Rudravagula (33:24)

Daniel Farker's really upset in his pre match build up that he was unable to be on the sidelines for this because of his red card in the previous game. And he said he's got an unblemished record and that really kind of hurts him. He's quite a sensitive person. I spend a lot of contractually obliged time with him with his one to one interviews and yeah, that, that really did hurt him. A special moment for him kind of taken away. And just on that, just going back to the Newcastle City game, we probably should have mentioned as well that Pep Guardiola essentially squaring up to the fourth official is completely beyond the pale and I hope he gets the requisite reprimand because that isn't appropriate. In the same way Daniel Farker maybe should have watched himself a little bit more, checked himself. He's reflected on that. You cannot just, you know, put your head up to a referee almost, you know, and think you can. There's no reason for that no matter how emotional you are.

George Ellick (34:15)

Yes, Pep said we have the record of the manager with the most yellow cards. I want all the records. And now I have it. Two game ban. Now I would go on holiday the next two games. I mean I wouldn't open with it Pep, but you know, like, you know, for your tight 10 at the hen and chickens. Anyway, JS D says just spurs please. It was Thursday night, which is a long time ago in football, but we haven't done a pod since. They lost three one to Crystal palace, one nil up. Van de Ven gets sent off. It's such a silly red card. And then they let in three before half time. George, how much are you looking forward to covering spurs in great detail on not the top 20 next season?

Max (34:52)

Yeah, it's funny with us because often it's these transient big teams that come down, pay us no attention on the podcast. It's the likes of Sunderland and Leeds who come down and stay down that we really like. I can't imagine too many spurs fans are going to engage with League two when they're down in the championship. But no, it'd be fun. I mean and it feels like it's, it's possible and it's kind of bordering on likely. What would be one more defeat and terrible performance away from it becoming more likely than not kind of proposition. It just feels like the, the Appointment of Igor Tudor dates very, very strangely. Not necessarily in terms of what he's, what he's done as a player or, you know, anything like that. More just bringing in someone who's never managed England before, who is coming in, who's played like exclusively a back three in his managerial career and is doing that now for a squad that was built to play with a back four, that surely that's the first thing you look at with an interim manager. Like, do you play a system that we have recruited to play? And if the answer is no, then they should be off the desk like immediately. And yet here we are with a group of players being shoehorned into a system that doesn't really work. Players who seemingly want out as far as quickly as they possibly can. Horrendous disciplinary record as well. Post match interviews where the interim managers saying exactly what the fans don't really want to hear. It's just like a totally nut mess. And I'm really intrigued because my assumption is if spurs go down, Igor Tudor will not be their manager on the day where they get, they get relegated. I'd be amazed if he was. So who's it, who's it gonna be? Because, you know, they've gone after someone who's, you know, managed Juventus this season. Like a bit of a name from Europe and it wouldn't have worked out like, I mean, do they go like proper like get the book of spurs legends out and see if we can get someone in to come and Gary Mabbit.

George Ellick (36:34)

Gary Mabbit could do it. I mean, I've mentioned Harry, he is 79. Harry Redknapp. Do they, Barry, do you think they, they've got, I mean they need Athletic away like a hole in the head, like, you know, absolute disaster that. Do they let Eagle Tudor lose to Athletic, lose to Liverpool on Sunday and then lose to Athletic again and then change because then they've got Forest at home, Sunderland away, Brian at home, Wolves away on what is perhaps the biggest month in the history of their Premier League life.

Barry Glendenning (37:01)

You, you're making it sound like Tudor has the option to, to lose those games. Well, a friend of mine who's cabbie had Joe Cole in his cab on Saturday morning. Joe was bringing his boy to football, a match, I think playing in it. And Joe told my mate that they've made approaches to Harry with a view to succeeding. Igor now I don't know.

George Ellick (37:29)

Harry say. Did Harry say I'll wait till Cheltenham's over?

Max (37:32)

Yeah.

Barry Glendenning (37:32)

Is that what now obviously Harry is busy this week because he Has a. A runner in the Cheltenham Gold cup, the Jukebox man, which is well fancied. I think it got nodded on the line a few years ago at Cheltenham in a different race, looked home and holes got caught on the line. That may be a metaphor in there, but I don't know. I mean that. That match against Crystal palace was objectively hilarious from the moment when Ishmael Asara was offside because he has a nose

Max (38:06)

and a face

Barry Glendenning (38:09)

and then spurs going ahead immediately self imploding. I think every single person on the planet with an interest in football who doesn't support spurs is desperate to see them get relegated because it would just be funny. And as you've said before Max, there is no team. They may not be bottom of the league but they are at the moment the worst team in the league by some distance I think and it's difficult to see where the next point is coming from.

George Ellick (38:37)

Yeah, and also George, I mean obviously their squad would look so different next season if they were in the championship but I don't think. I know the playoffs are increasing to eight teams but I don't think they just go and walk that division like I just think there's just. I just don't think they'd find it easy. You. You know better than me.

Max (38:53)

No, no, I think you're probably right. I mean it's impossible to say without knowing who will still be there. But you know, normally teams that come down from the Premier League to the championship have done it before and kind of understand what is needed. Albeit Leicester did obviously did very well when they came down and appointed Maresca and hired a group of players that did very well and won the league. But this is more similar in my mind to when you've got big teams that come down from the championship to League one because this is a case like Sunderland, like Ipswich teams who basically never thought that this was going to happen and that's. That would be the stakes here. And normally when that happens, teams that come down the championship to League one tend to stay down there for a bit because they are complacent and they don't understand what they need to do and they make terrible decisions when it comes to recruitment of managers and players and the rest of it. And it wouldn't surprise me at all if spurs are like that. I mean they'd probably be the first ever team to be odds on favourites to win a league before a ball is kicked because obviously just it would be ridiculous in terms of the. The quality of the players that they Have. And even if they sell most of them, which they would have to do, you know, the ones that would be left over would be. It would still be very good. There's an interesting subplot that we. Oxford have Jamie Donnelly on loan with, with an option to buy him for £4 million. And I love the idea that we would stay up, they would come down and then we would have to buy one of the players that they'd like to keep for the championship off them for a fee. That was already agreed in January. But, yeah, it's gonna be interesting to see what happens. I. I do kind of, for the first time this weekend, think that there's got to be a pretty big chance it's gonna happen. Yeah.

George Ellick (40:18)

Worth mentioning Adam Wharton's assists. You know, the. Adam Wharton Klaxon. You know, get him on the plane. Just such a joy to watch. Glenn says, is it worth having away fans at the old firm if it's going to put players, staff and police in harm's way? Yeah. Normally in league games it's much lower away fans. Ibrex or Celtic Park? Because it was the Scottish cup quarterfinal, there were many more Celtic fans at Ibrox. It was goalless after extra time. Celtic won 4, 2 on penalties. And then afterwards, the seeds turned pretty ugly. I mean, Celtic fans came on in celebration, probably inadvisable. And then a few Rangers fans, I.

Barry Glendenning (40:58)

Who.

George Ellick (40:59)

You put a picture of the Blue man group in the WhatsApp group, Barry, and it did look like that. You are like, oh, mate, what are you guys doing? They sort of wandered on to be like, come on, who's with us? Looked around and no one had gone with them. And eventually a lot of Rangers fans came on and they were sort of throwing fireworks at the Celtic fans. I think some were coming the other way. And a few of the players or staff had to be sort of ushered off the pitch pretty quickly. The police said afterwards the behavior of a number of supporters at the game was shameful. It must be condemned by everyone involved in football and wider society. A number of arrests have been made. Police Scotland will now work with both clubs and the SFA to carry out a robust investigation. Following the scenes on the pitch at the conclusion of the match, officers and stewards were faced with extreme hostility and violence over a sustained period, with many individuals having armed themselves with items clearly intended to cause harm. Officers and members of the public have been injured. I mean, Barry, it just seems unsurprising what happened there and maybe it's too soon to apportion blame. I wouldn't run on the pitch if I was a Celtic fan there and I wouldn't put a blue battaclav on and run on the pitchers. I don't have one in my, in my dressing up box.

Barry Glendenning (42:14)

Quite apart apart from the fact that it's not a particularly fetching piece of headwear look, there's a lot of blame to go around and obviously, as is always the case, there's plenty of finger pointing and rancor and what aboutery and belligerent sanctimony from both sets of supporters, each claiming that the other side's shameful behavior was more shameful than our shameful behavior. I think it's, it's a matter of fact that a lot of Celtic fans jibbed in for free into the Broom lone stand after storming the turnstiles. They spilled onto the pitch after the winning penalty they vandalized their end of the ground. There was 7,500 of them there, which is clearly too many if they can't be trusted to behave themselves. I think the Rangers fans who came on the pitch didn't cover themselves in glory either. The club say that they'll work with the police to identify these culprits, but I think both clubs are guilty of indulging the hooligan, undesirable aspects of their fan bases and they should have a long hard look at themselves and the nonsense they put up with from these sets of fans who were misbehaving yesterday.

Sani Rudravagula (43:37)

It was disappointing as well that both Martin o' Neill and Dani Rule in the post match interviews didn't really condemn the action. Martin o' Neill was very much like, couldn't really see it, blah blah, blah. You could just blank say neither set of fans should be coming on a pitch. This isn't right. You can say that, you can say something clear even if you didn't see the details. So that would have been something. And, and just a wider point like every match going fan will, will recognize the sort of young fan, the ones who were, you know, jibbing in Frida Broomloan stand. Like you. There are some fans who genuinely don't know how to behave at football, some younger fans because you think, you know what COVID pandemic That was what, five years ago? So there are 15 year old kids who in the formative time where they could have been learning about what's appropriate and what's not in a football stadium, didn't get any of that experience because he would, you know, 10, 11, those, those years were lost to them and There are, there is a section of a match going fan base, youngsters who don't know where the line is. And I keep going past it and it's every game, every ground has this set of fans. You know, they'll be in all black, but they're all like little, little, little street urchins, all malnourished, but they're all there trying to be hard. And this is, I think, an exciting, extreme example of that. You know, I don't think it's all that, but I think there is an element of youngsters who don't know how to behave, who've missed the educational period where they could have learned how to behave and just taking things far too far in the first place.

George Ellick (45:08)

Anyway, that's five years where it's, don't get a lycra balaclava in the colors of your team and put it on your head at any point during the fixture. That'll do for part two, Part three. We'll do some efl.

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Hayden (45:52)

Howdy, howdy ho, and welcome to Fantasy Fan.

Sani Rudravagula (45:54)

Fellas.

Hayden (45:54)

I'm Hayden, producer of the Fantasy Fangirls podcast and your resident lover of all things Sanderson.

Stephen (45:59)

And I'm Stephen, your bookish Internet goofball, but you can call me the Smash Daddy.

Hayden (46:04)

And we are currently deep diving Brandon Sanderson's fantasy epic Mistborn. But here's the catch. Stephen here has not read Mistborn before.

Stephen (46:12)

That's right.

Max (46:13)

Hey.

Stephen (46:13)

Hey. So each week you'll get my unfiltered raw reactions to every single chapter.

Hayden (46:17)

And along the way, we'll character deep dives, magic explainers, and Steven will even try to guess what's next. Spoiler alert. He'll be wrong.

Stephen (46:24)

News flash, I'm never wrong. Episodes come out every Wednesday and you can find fantasy fan fellows wherever you get your podcasts.

George Ellick (46:39)

Welcome to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly. So look from efl before we get into the results, the Idea. There'll be two more playoff places, so it'll go down to eighth place. What did you make of that?

Max (46:50)

I don't love it myself. It feels like the playoffs are pretty good as they are. I don't really see why there's any need or desire to change them. Having said that, the clubs voted almost unanimously in favor of the change. I can see why the clubs would do that. It gives them more of an opportunity to finish in the, in the playoffs and, and therefore a bit higher chance of promotion. It also probably benefits fits the teams that finish third and fourth more because you know, they have more of an advantage when it comes to the knockout between the four teams beneath them. They play fewer games, they have more chance of getting through to the final. I just don't really see the point. It just, you know, it feels like in football and in everything in sport, there are always people who want to change things and the playoffs in themselves. You know, there's like a sporting integrity argument about this where it's like, well, you know, why should the team who finish 8th have a chance of getting, getting promoted in the same way? Why should a team who finished sixth have a chance to get promoted compared to a team in third? The playoffs are inherently pretty stupid if you're going to. If you want the best teams to get promoted. But they're incredible theatre and incredible drama, but they are that now. And I also do wonder if there could be more dead rubbers towards the end of seasons where teams, especially the championship, where there's often quite a big gap between the top two or three and the rest because of parachute payments. And we could have more teams like Sunderland last season who basically knew in early April that they were going to finish somewhere in the top six. So they basically down tools, played a weakened team, lost four games in a row. You know, if you're, if you're broadening the, the bracket of teams that will finish in the playoffs and there's more chance that there'll be more games like that towards the end of campaigns where that's where sport integrity is really bad, where if you're a team battling relegation and one of you is playing against a side in fourth or fifth who basically know where they're going to finish, then therefore play a weakened team ahead of the playoffs. It could get quite messy there. So I don't really see why it's been done. I can understand why it's proposed and why the clubs want it, but I'm not sure it's something that fans necessarily want.

Sani Rudravagula (48:37)

But that's funny, George, because the EFL's argument is the converse, right? They argue that there'll be fewer dead rubbers in the middle because there's more teams who can get the eighth place. But I haven't thought of it like that.

Max (48:48)

Yeah, I think it'll change season on season. It's like when they start introducing third teams qualifying from World cup groups. The argument was that there'd be fewer dead rubbers. It's clearly meant there are more dead rubbers. So, yeah, the proof will be in the pudding. But I think we'll see, especially on final day, we will see more games where one team has less to play for or even more games where one team will be incentivized to play weakened teams because they know where they're going

George Ellick (49:18)

to finish at the table then. Commentary Top 74 points from 36 games. Five points clear of Middlesbrough who have 69 points. Millwall in third have 65. Ipswich 64. Hull have 60 and Rexam, the final playoff plays have 57. Look, Coventry, last time we were on George had gone on this sort of mini blip. We were starting to think, oh, could the wheels fall off then? They've won five in a row. So like they've done absolutely brilliantly.

Max (49:44)

Yeah, the blip was, was just a blip and they, they put it right in, in like the incredibly high pressure Monday night game a few weeks ago where they hosted Middlesbrough at a time where they'd been taken off their perch and they put in a brilliant display in a 31 win. And then to follow that up with four consecutive victories off the back of it, five wins and they're five points clear of Borough now and they're what, nine points clear of Millwall in third. Like it's a credit to Lampard Edwards and their staff for overseeing this because it was looking really precarious for a moment. And not just in terms of the title, but also in the top two because. Because of Ipswich being in decent form. But they're now. Yeah, they're back in good form. Haji Wright was on a kind of barren goal scoring run. He's now scoring freely, including the hat trick against Borough and a goal in the Tuna win over, over Bristol City last weekend too. So, yeah, it feels like it would be some collapse from here and the chances are we're going to see Coventry as a Premier League side for the first time in a long time next season.

George Ellick (50:43)

Middlesbrough second. That was a big win yesterday against qpr. Sonny Hayden Hanley scored a lovely goal goal in that one we expect them to four points isn't huge with 10 games to go, but they are the second best team in this division.

Sani Rudravagula (50:57)

Yeah, absolutely. And a lovely moment as well. You might have seen on the socials of Neil Warnock, now the Talkie United interim manager of course in the EFL sky studio talking to Hayden Hackney after the match and saying, you know, well done, you know, look forward to playing in the Premier League. And I gave you your debut and Hackney was like. And he's, you know, he's very kind of unassuming. He was like, like, you know, not sure I was good enough to get my debut under you. I was a bit young, which is quite nice to hear. Yeah, he's excellent and yeah, he'll be in the Premier League no matter what. And Middlesbrough have been fantastic. Chasing them is Millwall who I saw the other week and they are excellent actually. Really, really, really good. They've got, they've had a lot of injuries. You know, I did a little social media video and said they hadn't had too many and I was kind of referring to the core and all these Millwall fans were like, we had 12 injuries earlier in the season. But the center halves, Cooper and Kramer at the back have been really solid. Coburn just like takes a lot of hits and Demi Aziz, who you recall was, was great at Reading, has been excellent for, for Millwall is that one player who can unlock a defense. But I think they haven't quite got enough to catch Middlesbrough. But they did just dispatch Hull City and going back to the whole teams that aren't great but are in the playoffs, there's quite a few of them now, so maybe that does kind of give the argument to expand it if they're all kind of middling. But Millwall are definitely the best of the rest. I don't think they're going to catch Borough though.

George Ellick (52:18)

Yeah, although that whole game I, I wouldn't. I mean dispatch makes it sound straightforward. I mean Hull seemed to hit the bar about 100 times and they had this goal disallowed and I couldn't quite work out what it was for George.

Max (52:30)

Yeah, it was. I mean Hull season have been this team who have defied underlying numbers and anyone who's watched them. They seem to win games very clinical in front of goal, concede loads of chances and don't concede very many compared to the opposition. But this was. Was their whole season in reverse where suddenly they were the team creating loads. They were the team who couldn't force the board in the back of the net and it was the opposition who were clinical against them. But yeah, and the balance of play. The Hull were very unlucky not to go ahead in this game or very unlucky not to kind of take a pretty good lead by the time they were pegged back to two. One Panda, who's been such a massive player for them this season. Their goalkeeper, who's made so many big saves to keep them in games or win them games, you know, he should have done better with a cross that was then. And prodded home by Ivanovich. But. But yeah, they had a lot of chances, weren't able to. To convert them, which will be damaging for them. But Millwall season just continues to be phenomenal and Alex Neal's doing an absolutely incredible job there in terms of not only getting them to where they are, but it feels like they're kind of improving week by week now. And they seem to, you know, they lost to Portsmouth at home a couple weeks ago and bounced back straight away with a victory. It doesn't seem like when they, when they're beaten, they're, you know, it doesn't seem to hurt them too much. They're going to keep Borough honest.

George Ellick (53:41)

I'm sure of that, George. Oxford have won two in a row. No one else in the box has won any of the last three games. So now Sheffield Wednesday down obviously. Then Oxford have 35, Leicester 35, West Brom 36, Blackburn 39, Portsmouth 40. So that has made it really interesting down there.

Max (53:56)

Yeah, it has done, yeah. Two really big wins for Oxford. I think Oxford's last six goals have all come from set pieces directly or indirectly. One against Stoke, two against West Brom and then all three here against Preston on Friday night. Night, which, you know, for a team that are going to struggle to create loads of open play is going to be really important. It was set piece goals that for the most part kept what's going up last season under route with. With Leicester really struggling, albeit with a good point away from home at Ipswich, with Baggy struggling, albeit with a good point away from home against Sheffield United. But the, the big game for Oxford now comes on Wednesday night where we host Blackburn. I will be there and that just feels huge because.

George Ellick (54:32)

Wow.

Max (54:32)

Yeah, are struggling a bit. There's also a really nice kind of of subplot here where Michael o' Neill is a Northern Ireland manager and we're heading into an international break for hopefully two of Northern Ireland's biggest ever games in terms of their World cup qualification playoffs. And Oxford have loads of Northern Ireland internationals. You've got Kieran Brown, Jamie Donnelly, Jamie McDonald, Brody Spencer. So it's going to be a funny kind of caveat here where Oxford players be playing in front of their international manager as they try and force their way into the. Into the squad. O' Neill himself is going to know them incredibly well in their games. Very well. We also probably want them not to get injured. It's just quite a weird situation to have going into what is just a huge game for both teams.

George Ellick (55:12)

We're basically out of time. So I should just say look at the League one and League two table and you will know who's where. That seems like we haven't done them justice. But well done to Lincoln, who won at Cardiff. So they are now top of League one and Cambridge third. Bromley have a five points clear at the top of League two. They played a game more and it is very tight there and very tight at the bottom of League Two. Normally two teams are gone, but Harrogate of 27, Newport 28, Barrow 28 and Crawley 29. So incredibly, incredibly tight. The Lionesses be Iceland 2 nil. The world cup qualifying group. Guardian Women's Football Weekly is out tomorrow, so listen to that. But that's pretty much all we have time for. Unless. Barry, you have anything salient you want to finish with on this episode?

Barry Glendenning (55:55)

Well, I think we forgot to mention in all our righteous indignation over the behavior of Celtic and Rangers fans that Saint Mirren, Dunfermline and Falkirk also join Celtic in the semi finals. So it's Celtic, Saint Mirren and Don Firmland Athletic against Falkirk. That's the draw.

George Ellick (56:17)

Right? So St. Marin could win two cups this season, if I remember the League cup correctly. Okay, thank you, Barry. And that'll do for today. Thanks, everybody. Thank you, Sonny.

Sani Rudravagula (56:26)

Cheers. Thank you. I'm off to Port Vale. Now. We didn't mention West Ham Brentford tonight, the FA cup game that nobody really cares about. But yeah, looking forward to that one and the draw.

George Ellick (56:34)

Okay, I presume we'll be there and you'll be at every game and from now until the rest of time. Thanks, George.

Max (56:39)

Thanks, Max.

George Ellick (56:40)

Cheers, Barry.

Barry Glendenning (56:41)

Thanks.

George Ellick (56:41)

Football Weekly is produced by Tyopoulo. Our executive producer is Joel Gross. A promotion for Joel. Well done.

Hayden (56:58)

Howdy, howdy ho, and welcome to Fantasy Fan. Fellas, I'm Hayden, producer of the Fantasy Fangirls podcast and your resident lover of all things Sanderson.

Stephen (57:06)

And I'm Stephen, your bookish Internet goofball, but you can call me the Smash Daddy.

Hayden (57:10)

And we are currently deep diving Brandon Sanderson's fantasy epic Mistborn. But here's the catch. Steven here has not read Mistborn before.

Stephen (57:18)

That's right.

Sani Rudravagula (57:19)

Hey.

Stephen (57:19)

Hey. So each week, you'll get my unfiltered, raw reactions to every single chapter.

Hayden (57:24)

And along the way, we'll do character deep dives, magic explainers, and Steven will even try to guess what's next. Spoiler alert. He'll be wrong.

Stephen (57:31)

News flash. I'm never wrong. Episodes come out every Wednesday, and you can find fantasy fan fellas wherever you get your podcasts.