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Football Weekly
Salah fallout, Arsenal slip and a wild World Cup draw – Football Weekly
00:58:18
Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, John Brewin and Seb Hutchinson to discuss Mohamed Salah’s explosive interview, Arsenal’s late defeat at Villa and the best of the weekend’s Premier League action
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- [00:00]
Luke O'Nion
This is the Guardian.
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- [01:30]
Luke O'Nion
Hello and welcome to the Guardian Football Weekly. Mo Salah goes nuclear to the Norwegians. Has he played his last game for Liverpool? Is he being scapegoated? Does he automatically deserve his place in the side because he was good last year? Would he do better than Konate at centre back? Big questions. After a brilliant and by now almost totally forgotten game at Elland road, the Reds 2 up, pegged back ahead again until Tanaka in the last minute rescued a point for Daniel Farker. Leeds have had a great week before that. Title winners Arsenal lost at Villa. A Glori Goldmouth scramble to decide it in injury time. Rayyan Cherky's Rabona keeps City on track. Palace are fourth. Everton are sixth. Pardon. Spurs win at home. And are we even allowed to tell you what happened at Brighton? Now Tony Bloom has banned the Guardian from the Amex. There's a World cup draw to digest. Wayne Gretzky's North Macadamia. The insatiable chemistry between Hart and Klum. Rio as permutations man and Gianni and Trump bringing peace to the world one dynamically priced FIFA vomitfest at a time. We'll answer your questions and that's today's Guardian Football Weekly.
- [02:27]
Shopify Advertiser
Foreign.
- [02:34]
Luke O'Nion
Denning, welcome.
- [02:35]
Barry Glendenning
Hi, Max.
- [02:36]
Luke O'Nion
Hello, John Bruin.
- [02:37]
John Bruin
Hello, Max.
- [02:38]
Luke O'Nion
And from a hotel in Brighton. Keep your head down. Seb. Seb Hutchison.
- [02:42]
Seb Hutchison
Hello, Max.
- [02:45]
Luke O'Nion
Let's start at Elland Road. Leads 3 Liverpool 3. We'll get to the game, but before that, you know the big story is Mo Salah. Ian says, using Mo Salah's selection criteria of I used to be good, so deserve to be picked forever. Are Liverpool going to solve their center back problems by playing playing a three with Van Dijk, Hansen and Lauro or will slot up for a screen of Whelan and Sooness in front of the four? He was on the bench. He didn't come on. He spoke to Norwegian TV afterwards. An amazing video of a press officer in the background going, no, Wincy. Don't say that, Mo. Apparently it's only the third time he stopped for the media. Andy Hunter writing in the paper, the Egypt International twice accused Liverpool of throwing him under a bus in response to their dismal Premier League title defense. Salah made sure that everyone else at Liverpool, the club's hierarchy, head coach and even team teammates he professed to love would be under it with him. This was not leadership from Salah. It was pure self indulgence and a betrayal of the dressing room. He said there was no relationship with the manager. He said someone wants him out of the club and said he should be starting because of how good he's been. What did you make of it, John?
- [03:46]
John Bruin
First of all, you have to have some sympathy for Salah because.
- [03:52]
As great a footballer as he has been, the dying of the light can't be that easy for footballers, can it? And we've seen this with quite a few great footballers who have found it very difficult that when things have gone against them, they've kicked out. Now, Roy Keane at Manchester United is an example. Cristiano Ronaldo still wants to believe that he's still the greatest, but we forget and they forget football is a team sport. Unfortunately, Mohamed Salah had played like an absolute drain this season. And this is the thing he appears to forget in that statement, a lengthy statement. I mean, it sounds like a diatribe that he gave to the lads in the mix zone.
- [04:36]
And it's true. He picks his moment. Remember last season when he suddenly accused the club of maybe the phrase wasn't throwing him under the bus, but over his contract. And it looks cynical. Now, I don't know if Salah is a cynical chap. I suspect not. But it's poorly chosen and. But he is aware of the media. I think Jamie Carragher's mentioned somewhere along in this, this screed, you know, oh, you're all going to Me and then there was this talk about well people didn't do this about Harry Kane. Harry Kane is one of the most criticized footballers I could ever remember and also I don't remember a ten game drought for him do you?
- [05:13]
Luke O'Nion
No, never been one six is his longest drought.
- [05:15]
John Bruin
Yeah, yeah exactly. Even I ran through the stats and thought you're way off there and so ultimately there has been this theory around for a while that in. In trying to reboot Liverpool and that hasn't been a successful reboot. They were trying to build a team for a world without Salah. Well it appears that Salah has just decided that he's going to be off. There's this talk isn't there about how his mum is going to come and watch the Brighton game if he should.
- [05:43]
Barry Glendenning
Play if she's allowed in.
- [05:50]
Luke O'Nion
See the culture editor for the Guardian. That's an issue isn't it?
- [05:56]
John Bruin
I think if she's got a Guardian sub it may not be allowed. Ye but.
- [06:02]
We'Ll get to that.
- [06:04]
Seb Hutchison
So the image is just amazing.
- [06:06]
Luke O'Nion
Exactly. Hello Mrs. Salah it appears you've read 327 articles this year. Would you mind giving us giving us some money? I think you're right John. I mean it does feel this is an end game play from Salah Seb, isn't it?
- [06:20]
Seb Hutchison
Yeah of course it is. I think players of his stature genuinely I say it came out of the blue these things are planned. It would have been bubbling up he would have had a decision I'm sure he knows that the writing's on the wall because the way Liverpool have been playing this season but particularly Salah he's always been one of those players that his goal and assist return is the thing that's been so important to Liverpool if that dries up his general game for the team and the team structure hasn't always been to the team's benefit so that's the manager's decision. The manager. The manager's own job and place at the club is dependent on the decision he makes and the players he picks. I've heard so many ex pros be upset about this because when it comes down to it every player probably inside wants to be able to say these things if they're not playing. Every player wants to come out and say why isn't the manager playing me? Or I should be playing. I thought I'm better than that person. I think anybody in any organization or any business but it's just the nature of the beast when you're under that umbrella whoever you are in that chain there has to be at some point. You can never be bigger than that organization however much you try. And just in humanity in general, it's either death or democracy that brings to end people who try and court power and try to control it. I'm not putting Mohamed Salah into that. You know, comparing him to any people of the past in that manner. Absolutely not. He is a fine footballer but it definitely feels like considering his form, he's lacking people who are behind him on this. If he was still scoring goals and performing well for the team, a lot of supporters would be behind him and there would be that matchup with him and the manager. But this is just football in general. Age always catches up with you, whoever however good you are. Maybe Cristiano Ronaldo debates that and you are always going to be in a position where at some point you're not going to be in the team and you as a player have to decide do I just move away graciously or where do I feel and when. The Sunderland game was the first time he'd been on the bench in successive games and that is in his career at Liverpool. And so that in itself made me think, hold on, I'm not who I am at this club anymore and I have to make a decision while my stock is still as a star high.
- [08:39]
Luke O'Nion
He does no favors for his teammates here, Barry. I mean yesterday we were on the radio and I did have some sympathy because if you are on the bench and you're Mo Salah and you don't get on for a minute and your team don't win, you will just be fuming. But you made the point and you know, since we chatted it's so calculated that he, you know, he only talks when he wants to make a statement. You know, it isn't off the cuff this is it.
- [09:02]
Barry Glendenning
No, it's a very calculated. I thought it was quite funny that in his post match interview Dominic Sbazlai was talking about the absolute mess Liverpool find themselves in. He says the only way we can get out of here is together. And Mo just goes, hold my beer, Dominic.
- [09:21]
The fact of the matter is he has not been playing well enough to be in the Liverpool side. And I can understand why he might be sitting in the bench looking at other people on the pitch who are also not playing well enough to be in the Liverpool side. But there are more options when it comes to replacing him than there are say when it comes to replacing Ibrahima Konate who's just caricature of himself at this stage or the caricature of the great defender he once was. Jamie Carragher has been relentlessly criticizing Mo Salah for not coming out and speaking up in public. So he has now done that. I suspect this isn't exactly what Carragher had in mind when he was hoping he'd come out and speak up and take some responsibility. And I had a certain amount of sympathy for him yesterday. But the more I think about it, it's a very selfish. Liverpool are already beset by assorted problems on the pitch, off the pitch and he has just added to them. Now. Liverpool are due to play Inter tomorrow at San Siro, which means are in a slot. Will do a press conference this evening that is going to attract an awful lot of attention obviously and it will be interesting to see if he brings Salah to Milan or includes him in the the squad for the game. I suspect he won't. I don't see how he can without looking incredibly weak and undermining his already weak position. And I mean Roy Keane was more or less sacked by Manchester United for a less controversial outburst than this which never saw the light of day. We heard snippets of it but I. I don't think Liverpool will sack Salah but I think what he did is borderline sackable offense if not an actual sack bill offense.
- [11:17]
Luke O'Nion
And Johnny, it does Arna Slot no favors. Right. And he is under real pressure here. It was interesting, you know that there is a sentiment, and I think quite surprising one about how many Liverpool fans want him to go now. Like it's got to that stage and so this is the last thing he needs.
- [11:33]
John Bruin
It feels very un Liverpool, doesn't it? And there is this tradition with Liverpool that they have never sacked a manager who has won a league title. Now some of that might be to do with the fact that the people that won those titles were all men of a certain age. So Bill Shankley, Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan all retired because they were in their 60s. And Kenny Dogley stepped down for personal reasons as we know. And Jurgen Klopp went for reasons of fatigue. It's a different Liverpool now. They moved on from Jurgen Klopp. The club is essentially run now by to the sporting directors Michael Edwards and Richard Hughes. And it's on them. It's on them and FSG to make the decision. And we're in this more pressurized environment where managers getting sacked is a fairly common occurrence. You've seen Manchester United didn't sack managers for many, many years. Now they sack them every 18 months. Why should Liverpool be any different when things go as badly as they are now? Arne Slot was given a team with. With 500000 pound. 500 million I should say spent on it. It's gone very badly.
- [12:51]
Luke O'Nion
Yeah and we've talked about the impact of Diego Joshua always worth remembering but they are so. And if we go to the gate, if we presume, I mean I don't know Seb presume this means that Salah is gone. Right. I just don't. I can't see a way that that isn't happening. And he's you know something like six to one on that. He's going to Saudi. He's already on 400 grand a week. He will get more in Saudi and, and like in years to come he'll be looked back as one of the greatest Liverpool players ever. And I guess when he goes we can have that conversation. The game itself was fantastic and and you know it. It showed you really thought okay Liverpool are tuning up here. But it just exposed their frailties. And Barry mentioned Kanate. You know for Slot to say unfortunately for him he does a lot of things well but he's been a bit too much at the crime scene. And that penalty is. That is not what you want to hear your manager say. You know like Canate doesn't want to hear that. You know just holding a bloodied knife going it wasn't me. You know it's the. As the cops come in. But like that penalty is just such a moment where you're like. You can see he's trying to block the cross but it just looks so bad because Nanto stays on his feet.
- [13:52]
Seb Hutchison
Football is unforgiving. Anytime a team's not in a good way just everything goes against them. And that's. That's just how it is with individual players as well. Kanate that was always going to happen in a game like this. If you'd seen Leeds play their previous two matches I'll say one and a half matches. They're a different team now and from the position where we thought they're probably going to go down they've given themselves a fighting chance here because they are fighting in the way they are. Even when it seems like the game's going against them they're throwing everything at the opposition. Which makes us think is that the traditional way we look at the Premier League and what's supposed to be great about the Premier League is that the inverted commas, smaller teams are able to bloody the nose of the bigger sides. Even if the game's Going against them, Even if they're 2 nil down, they keep going. Remember Mesa Ursul saying a quote about that. He said, you know, when I played in Spain, if we were 3 nil up for Real Madrid, the other team would just not give up, but they just wouldn't put the effort in. But that doesn't happen in England and this was a good example of that. Liverpool in form would have cantered to a victory and actually the end result and even the equalizer at the end. None of that's a surprise in this game. Having watched Liverpool this season and we, I know it's been said several times, we go back to those first five games where everybody said it's a sign of champions where you're not playing well and you're winning matches. That phrase needs to be put to bed. Now if you're playing well, you win games. Sometimes you win games, you don't play well. And you know, sometimes you lose games when you don't play well. And for Liverpool that that's where they are at the moment. That's not to say are they out of the title race? Who knows? Who knows. It's still too early.
- [15:35]
Luke O'Nion
Yeah, it's a lot of time left and they probably are. But you're right, you know, it's certainly not a sign of a good team if they're losing games or not winning games when playing badly. I mean they didn't lose this game. And actually that dummy from McAllister to let sort of slide is like a beautiful moment of quite a few lovely moments on the pitch this weekend. But then to concede again, I don't know what Graven Birch is doing for that Barry. But it is worth mentioning leads who have been completely forgotten about in this moment. Like they had City, Chelsea and Liverpool in, in, you know, consecutive games. They push City so close run lucky they beat Chelsea. You know they've got a point with Liverpool that's so impressive for Daniel Farker, a man who like looked like he might get sacked before a game was even played this season.
- [16:16]
Barry Glendenning
Yeah, well he almost was sacked before like an hour after Leeds secured promotion. I think everyone expected him to be out of a job, you know, today maybe, but his players are playing for him. They gave away two daft goals to go two nil down in, in this game. And as Seb says, Liverpool of last year would have just closed it out or won by 3, 4, 5 nil. Cody Gakpo had a chance to put Liverpool 3 nil ahead. But Lucas Perry, who I was impressed with in this game, although he was at fault for I think the second Liverpool goal. He saved well and Leeds dog in Ibrahima Kanate threw them a lifeline. Dominic Calvert loon scores the penalty. And. And you could see them going, right, we can out of this game. And they duly did. And to get it back to two, two, go behind and get it restore parity again. It just shows great fight and great spirit. They may still go down, but they're going to go down swinging haymakers by the looks of things.
- [17:19]
Luke O'Nion
And how on brand that even if they're swinging haymakers, John, Daniel Farker is saying, I'm just going to have a nice afternoon on the sofa with a slice of cake. Like, it's so. He's so non football manager, isn't he? There's something I absolutely love about how, how softly spoken this guy is.
- [17:34]
John Bruin
Is he really gonna sit and just have coffee and cake on his sofa?
- [17:38]
Luke O'Nion
You don't believe him.
- [17:39]
John Bruin
Well, it thinks with Daniel Farker, he does look like.
- [17:43]
A bouncer on a heavy metal club. So, you know, I, I could see him sort of going for, you know, traveling down to Nottingham's Rock City or something. So just, you know, lay his hair down a bit or something like that or, you know, put on detoten, hose him for the afternoon and just rock out. I mean. Well, he said he was just going to sit on the sofa, but I was thinking, what would he watch?
- [18:05]
Luke O'Nion
You know, I think he's got fine china. It's fine china. It's, you know, it's a flourless orange cake. And he's watching. I think he's watching A Murder She Wrote and I think he's absolutely in his element. That's where Daniel park. Yeah, maybe a bit of that. Yeah, I think so.
- [18:22]
Seb Hutchison
I think Yellowstone maybe.
- [18:24]
Luke O'Nion
Yeah, I know that's a bit slow. It's a bit ponderous.
- [18:27]
John Bruin
It could. It could be an F1 guy, though. It could be an F1.
- [18:30]
Luke O'Nion
Oh, don't shatter the myth. Don't, don't. Don't tell me that. Yeah, you're absolutely right. He really could be. Could be an F1 guy. It's a good point, John. Which, which, you know, or Seb, you know, as the two who go to more football matches. Which noise is better? It's an impossible question. Elland Road with that noise, Seb, or the Holt end that we heard in the 94th minute? They're two great noises in the Premier League.
- [18:54]
Seb Hutchison
Oh, I mean, probably Elland Road as a whole.
- [18:59]
Barry Glendenning
Right?
- [19:00]
John Bruin
Yeah.
- [19:00]
Seb Hutchison
But the whole tender Villa part, I Think it's probably the most referred to end in my commentary of any game. I do more than the cop. Anytime Villa score at that end, it feels like the whole tent has assisted the goal. And the noise was. I mean what made it great was the build in the crowd emotion because that ball could have been put in the net about four times before it actually went in for the winner. And I think that's the thing, it's. People often ask why do people support teams if they're not winning matches. And it is for moments like this because you're facing the side to a league leaders and you are thinking you're on this winning run and you think we can close the gap on them. Can we dream? Are we allowed to dream? And then somebody, a player who probably, you know, a year or so ago, we're thinking would he ever play Favilla again is the guy to score the winner at that end. And it takes an age for the ball to go into the net and then I'm sure you'll get onto the Arsenal players reactions to that goal going in. Everything about it was a masterpiece of a moment in football and probably the, the defining few seconds of the weekend. On what I think was probably when you looked at the way all the teams have played over the last week, not many shocks across the weekend, three o' clock theory holding very firm.
- [20:19]
Luke O'Nion
Yeah, it was John. And, and you're right, the reaction of the Arsenal players, it's a team of Sammy Kafurs, isn't it? All just beating the ground like this.
- [20:28]
Seb Hutchison
You know it's.
- [20:28]
Luke O'Nion
It's a, it's a war, it's platoon, it's everything but the goal itself. Johnny. I saw that go. I thought I know someone who's going to love that goal. And it's John Bruin.
- [20:37]
John Bruin
It was 90s football given the 2025 touch, wasn't it? Of just scramble, no one can clear it and then just it being forced in and then ecstatic celebrations like you would have seen at Print and Park or Gig Lane back in the mid-90s. And obviously yeah, I mean it's interesting the whole tent because the village stadium has not really been the modernization that others have or be a new ground. It's almost like the last of those old style ends that you would have, you know, the various cops around the country and the Stretford end perhaps isn't the, the force that it used to be at Ellen Road actually if you actually manage to watch a game and sometimes said maybe commentating if you've got HDR or Dolby Atmos or whatever. Ellen Road always sounds the best, I think.
- [21:29]
Luke O'Nion
Yeah.
- [21:29]
John Bruin
If you're watching at home, whoever's doing the mics there is, you know, probably also works at Leeds Refectory, doing the sound there or something, and it looks. Sounds beautiful. And also I was. I was on the. On the desk at the weekend and I was doing the. The Clocko and.
- [21:46]
We raised the question, arsenal fans, are you getting jittery? And one chap wrote in saying, yes, he was feeling very jittery as an Arsenal fan. Yeah, we've been here before. And another one wrote in saying that he thought that email was a fake and I'd made that up. And the. Actually, actually Arsenal fans aren' jittery at all because he's not getting jittery. And, oh, no, we're never going to get jittery because, you know, we've got the bet and they're getting jittery, aren't they? They get guessing jittery because. Because they'd won it three weeks ago. They'd won it three weeks ago. It was done.
- [22:21]
Luke O'Nion
Yeah. Did Arsenal win the League too early? Asked Michael. I mean, someone who isn't getting jittery. And this would give me real faith as an Arsenal fan. Barry is Mikel Arteta, who was incredibly measured after that defeat.
- [22:32]
Barry Glendenning
Yeah, I thought so. He wasn't angry. I, I presumed, because this is the way football is now, I presumed that the curtain twitchers in Stockley park would find some reason to rule out that winner. They didn't, and there was no reason to rule it out. But I thought Michael Arteta might have discerned one somewhere. But he. He really took this on the chin. He wasn't crushed after the game. He was obviously disappointed, but he wasn't crushed. And he just said, look, it's the first game we've lost in after 18 unbeaten and we. We go again. And that's fair enough because the reaction of his players, like you say it was like platoon. David Rea doing the worm across the penalty area. Various players beating the turf in frustration. So he needs to, you know, get them in the dressing room, go, look, it's the end of the world was still at top of the table. I didn't think Arsenal played that badly. Erici e had a terrible game, which was odd from him. He. He was shocking. Calore wasn't great either. And he. I've. I've really come to admire him this season, but I thought Arsenal did okay. And it's a game that could have gone either way. But it went Villa's way and it was a great game of football.
- [24:00]
Luke O'Nion
Yeah, it was really good. And actually it felt like that goal was coming that had chances and chances. Telemans was brilliant as well and they did open up Arsenal away that other teams haven't done so far. I mean, I mean the. The question said that, you know, I. I think you're right. It's too. It's too early to decide who is in the title race or who isn't, but we sort of want. We really want one. Arsenal, I still think look like the most solid team with the most depth. I feel it's only them or City over a whole season, but you know, Villa fans will be saying, well, why not us? Nine wins in ten.
- [24:29]
Seb Hutchison
Yeah, I actually think the reason why I think it's only Arsenal or City is. Is more because of man City. Because for me, the thing that City have over Arsenal. There's two things. I was discussing this with the player yesterday and he said, obviously they've got this experience of winning the title, but not all their players do. But Manchester City, the way they play and the way they win games is they're always so relaxed. They never feel. There's never any tension. Not at the Etihad, not amongst the players. Obviously Pep's got that tense face.
- [25:00]
Luke O'Nion
There was a Craven Cottage last week, Seb.
- [25:02]
Seb Hutchison
I would. I would say, yeah, but I mean, it's because. Mainly because if you're that far up, they got so. They got too relaxed in that game. They were too relaxed perhaps, and they let them back in. But they still ultimately won the game. They got the win over Leeds. It was a nice run of fixtures they had on paper as well. In a week where Arsenal had had quite a difficult week and a half considering they had spurs, then Bayern, then Chelsea, and then the injury issues. They've lost both center halves. So there. You could get at them there. But the defense, they'll get their act together, I believe, and still be aside competing. But I do think that City's attacking flair and nobody else I think has that attacking flair. In the same way you look at the thing of Harland and. And Doku and Foden. They're players that play with a freedom. I don't always feel that Arsenal attack with the same freedom and the. And the. And the ability to. They have players maybe that can do it. And I think that's why Eze was brought in. But like as Barry's mentioned, he didn't play with that freedom. It's not Pep's managed to provide a situation this season whereby defensively you can get at them but are you going to outscore them? Is it going to be a situation where they last and that being relaxed and having that attacking freedom is what they have over Arsenal which probably stops Villa because do Villa have enough as much of that as City do? That's the difference.
- [26:23]
Luke O'Nion
City beats England 3 nil. We should talk about Ryan Turkey's Rabona John. I mean I accept it's a great skill but I'm sort of with Pep here. I'm not a big Rabona man if you ask me.
- [26:34]
John Bruin
Way back in the dim and distant past pre pre Football Weekly for me podcast I committed the malapropism of calling the Rabona the Rotunda, which amused my co host very much for for a long time now, this Rotunda, yeah it did seem a little bit gratuitous, didn't it? But it was beautiful and Phil Phil Foden particularly enjoyed it in the way that he went to celebrate with Cherokee. You could tell it's that's the Friday afternoon, it's two minutes till they blow the whistle and it's time to go for lunch sort of messing about moment. They all attempt and he did it in a game. Cherokee is one of those players. I think it was looked at by a lot of teams because of his great amount of skill. We're not weren't sure about his consistency. He's with the right manager. With Pep they got him in Rangers, didn't they? In that sort of De Bruyne a position.
- [27:31]
Luke O'Nion
Right.
- [27:31]
John Bruin
And obviously they lost Gundogan as well and Rangers came on as a substitute and is Cherokee going to be the man to assume that mantle? Well, he's not the player Kevin de Bruyne is but he is a beautiful player to watch. And I think the point Seth makes is that it's it's flair. It's if Pep is going to depart football soon and we don't know that. We don't know that he's decided he's going to do it by enjoying himself, hasn't he? He likes this team and he likes the way they play. It's a bit late Wenger and late Brian Clough where it's like I just like to see him play nice football and that's what they do.
- [28:10]
Luke O'Nion
Well, I'm not sure Late Wenger, I mean there's a lot of.
- [28:14]
Seb Hutchison
But all late Clough really.
- [28:15]
Luke O'Nion
Yeah, that's.
- [28:19]
But Turkey, you know, actually he his balance for the one where he set up. Harland was even better for me. And Harlan should have scored. I like his sort of Bugsy Malone greased hair. That was really good from a Sunland point of view. They had a couple of chances at 2 nil. Baz. If one of those goes in, maybe it does change the game. But they didn't.
- [28:36]
Barry Glendenning
No, they didn't. Isadore probably should have scored. He robbed Reuben Diaz of the ball and his shot was well received by Donna Roma. Grand Jacques spanked one off the post. I. I have no problem with Sunderland losing this game. They were City deserved to win. What? I did have a problem. It was Luke Onion getting sent off when Sunderland were already 3 nil down for a stupid challenge on Matthias news is completely unnecessary. We have spoken about how Sunderland are going to lose seven players to the afcon. Presumably they'll be off after next weekend. And Luca Neen's now got himself a three match ban when he will be needed. It's dumb. And I love Luca Nin. I. I love him. I still don't know whether he's called luco nin or luka9. I keep hearing different people call him different things. So Luka nine.
- [29:32]
Luke O'Nion
Everyone else calls him Luko nine. But you know, it didn't stop you with Neymar for a decade.
- [29:36]
Barry Glendenning
So no, not everyone calls him Luko9.
- [29:40]
Seb Hutchison
What was the name I want?
- [29:41]
Barry Glendenning
I used to call him Neimer. Not everybody calls luko9luco9. Some commentators call him Luko Nin. Okay, so, yeah, anyway, it was Dom and I wish he hadn't done it.
- [29:56]
Luke O'Nion
Yeah. Okay, look, that'll do for part one. Part two, we'll look at the sides in the ludicrously tight race for fourth place. My name is Luke o'.
- [30:05]
John Bruin
Nion.
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- [31:20]
Luke O'Nion
Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly. I mean probably too early to call it the race for fourth place but yeah. Palace of four fourth with 26 points. Manchester United are 12th with 22 points. So it is tight in there and if anyone puts a run together, you know they will at least be in those environs for a little bit. Palace one two one at Fulham and actually I thought John, this was a really entertaining game. Either side could have won it. I thought the Inketia, the. The Wharton pass to Inketia was joyous. And the Harry Wilson goal was even better.
- [31:50]
John Bruin
Yeah, great game. Great advert for the Premier League for what might have seemed a underwhelming Super Sudd Sunday. I think it's. Well I know it is. Next week it's Brentford v Leeds. So for some reason Super Sunday is undercutting itself at the moment. We're not, we're not going for the grand slam Sundays at the moment but how often do we see that Marco Silva grimace at the end of the game when his team play well, play nice attacking football and get caught out at the end. I do wonder how long Marco is going to be around at Fulham. They'll miss him when he's gone. The commentary. Jamie Carragher just keeps referring to Oliver Glasner as the greatest manager in Crystal Palace's history. And I, I did think that was a bit unfair on Steve Copple and. And various others that have done a great job there. Oliver Glasser has done a fine job. He won him a trophy, the first in the history. But he's probably not there for a long time and he's not been build the empire to someone like Steve Copple and Mark Gray who of course just scored the winner that will be there next season. So it, it does feel palace are having a great time. It's a very high point in their history. Enjoy it while you can. I'm sorry. That's the way football goes sometimes, isn't it?
- [33:07]
Luke O'Nion
Said the, the Harry Wilson got, I mean scored a brilliant goal at Tottenham with like the inside of his left foot and I. This is, this move. It's just that the. It's three perfect touches between him and him and his. And that finish is just absolutely beautiful.
- [33:22]
Seb Hutchison
He's a scorer of great goals, Harry Wilson, and he is one of those players when you're watching him, you just do want him to shoot. He just, he's. When the fans cheer, shoot. And most of the time they're doing it ironically because it's a center half we strolled forward. But in Harry Wilson's case, I just think there are certain players who just think if they get a bit of space and they get the room, just have a go. And he is definitely one of those players. And also again, a player who you think, is he going to be playing a lot of Premier League games? Is he a player who's going to be starting week in, week out? He's certainly an important player for Fulham. Although goals aren't proving to earn the points that Fulham need at the moment. And they're in a season where it had promise to begin with and refereeing decisions were going against them. But you start to look at them now, these narrow defeats, these gut wrenching defeats, these heartbreaking games, they will just mean nothing by the end of the season if you're in the relegation zone.
- [34:20]
Luke O'Nion
Yeah, they'll be fine. I think they'll be absolutely fine. I think.
- [34:24]
Barry Glendenning
Well, you said.
- [34:25]
Seb Hutchison
But look at the way Leeds are playing. You know, somebody's got to be dragged in there. West Ham picking up points, who knows? But I agree with you. But even from a Fulham point of view that they'll be. They'll be starting to get worried because the points are what matters.
- [34:38]
Luke O'Nion
Everton a sixth Barry. David said, who was more visibly delighted. Barry meeting Neil Redfern in real life or Tierno Barry scoring an actual factual goal. A bad day for the Everton funk. The delight for him and for everyone, the fans, the players, everyone. It was just such a joyous moment.
- [34:55]
Barry Glendenning
Yeah, he was so thrilled and his teammates were obviously so thrilled on his behalf. It's been a long time coming. And when Everton broke up field with Sinjai on the ball in a three on one, he had players either side. I presumed he would slip it to the side. Tierno Barry wasn't on. I can't remember who was to his right, but he slipped it to Barry. Barry put it in the bottom corner. So delighted he was almost certainly waiting for it to be chalked off. That didn't happen. Delighted for him. My prediction that Everton would finish 19th is looking increasingly stupid. I still think they're in a false position, but I also think they could conceivably be higher if they had strikers who could score goals or just having such an odd season. They've got points from games they probably shouldn't have. That's fine. That's allowed. But they could have won more games if Beto and Barry were scoring on an even remotely frequent basis. This could be the confidence booster he needs to go on a run. We don't know. Time will tell. So it's a very interesting season for Everton. Like you said yesterday, you know, you just presumed they were 15. They're fifth, they're six now after yesterday's games. But David Moyes after the game said he refuses. He's too old to. To talk about them going down or getting into Europe. But you can see he, he definitely has his eye on. On a European spot and I don't see why they shouldn't get one.
- [36:35]
Luke O'Nion
I like David Moyes. You know, he's now so old. He's at that sort of Morgan Freeman at the parole officer age where he's like, ah, just, you know, I don't give a. Sign your form, sonny. Put me in the relic. Put me in 15th again. I don't care. He goes actually fifth. There you go, mate.
- [36:50]
John Bruin
John, you wanted to come in from tiny acorns. This because I was at Bournemouth Everton on Tuesday and someone told me that when Barry had a shot in that game, that was his first shot on target of the entire Premier League season.
- [37:06]
Luke O'Nion
Amazing.
- [37:06]
John Bruin
And so he followed that up with a goal at the weekend.
- [37:10]
Seb Hutchison
John, he's only. He's now had two, two shots on target in the Premier League season.
- [37:15]
Barry Glendenning
He has also hit the woodwork, which Troy Townsend would have us believe is a shot. I think he's had at least one, if not two goals ruled out, so.
- [37:24]
Luke O'Nion
Well, it could be, you're right, it could be. He could be a giant oak tree by the end of all this. Spurs beat Brentford 2 nil. Their first home win since the opening weekend of the season. Their first win in six. I mean, Barry, God, they, they needed this. And like, you know, spurs regulation 2 nil win over a side they should beat is. Is remarkable in the fact that it never, ever happens. But like, they were really good. They were good all game. Javi Simmons was excellent. You know, move on.
- [37:50]
Barry Glendenning
Yeah, I mean, this very much was a must win game for Thomas Frank, I think, because if Brentford, his former club, had gone to spurs and won, I don't know if there'd have been any coming back from that for Thomas Frank, given the low opinion quite sizable proportion of the spurs fans already seem to have of him. Xavi Simmons, I'm a big fan of as you know, he assisted and scored and it was a routine victory. But not routine insofar as there was a lot of pressure on Frank and Spurs for this game and it was a good performance from them. On Match of the Day, they put up stats that show that spurs are a considerably better team when Xavi Simmons plays for them. So they're better in every metric.
- [38:43]
Luke O'Nion
Yeah, but they should probably pick him. I was surprised with those stats, but people have talked about his physicality in the same way as Florian Verts and obviously his technique. Everyone goes, well, he's good, but he's just a waif. But he looked quick and strong in this game, which I think think spurs fans will be with an Archie Gray was was excellent too. To the Amex if we can Thomas says can any of you now report about Brighton or go to the stadium anymore? Seb, you were there not for the Guardian. I don't know if you're allowed to talk about now. Now John, you were. You were our assigned reporter for this game. When did you find out that you were not allowed to go?
- [39:17]
John Bruin
Well, I went to bed very early on Saturday evening in readiness for my trip to Brighton and just as I was stepping out the door and I'd already been out the door and dec shoes were not befitting of the weather conditions and might rub. So I came back in, got a text from one of the chaps at Brighton who I know well to say, have you read your email? And I read my email and it told me that journalists and photographers are no longer allowed at Brighton due to reporting on Tony Bloom, the owner. So yes, the match report was done.
- [39:55]
From my front room.
- [39:57]
Luke O'Nion
This is from the paper. Brian Hove Albion have banned the Guardian reporters and photographers from attending matches at the Amex after the Guardian reported on allegations relating to the Premier League club's owner Tony Bloom. The club notified the Guardian on Sunday by email to John Bruin to say it felt it would be inappropriate for journalists and photographers to be accredited to matches. There have been reports in the Guardian that have raised questions from mps about the activities of Bloom, who is a billionaire who made his money from gambling, the Guardian revealed last week. Bloom. Bloom is being sued in a lawsuit that alleges front men were sometimes used when his gambling syndicate placed bets on sports events. The syndicate makes around 600 million pounds each year in winnings, according to that document. Bloom has yet to file a defense to the lawsuit. He didn't respond to questions from the Guardian about the claim. On Friday, the Guardian published a second story which focused on Allegations Bloom could be an anonymous gambler behind 52 million pounds in winnings, which allegedly included bets on his football teams. Bloom declined to comment about this specific claim, but through a source made clear, he denied betting on his own teams or competitions that involved them, describing any allegations as entirely false. Following the publication of the story, he issued a public statement through Brian and Hove Albion, which said, I can categorically assure our supporters I've not placed bets on any Brighton Hove Albion matches since becoming the owner of the club in 2009. A spokesperson for the Guardian said, it's a worrying development. The Brightons introduced this ban. The questions raised by our reporting are in the public interest and have been pursued in a responsible manner. I mean, I guess the thing, Barry, this normally happens with a local paper and a local journal not being able to go in because he's asking annoying questions of, you know, a club. And I think we've always maintained, we think is a bad look for a club. It feels to me a bad look for Brighton, but I'm aware that we are part of the story.
- [41:46]
Barry Glendenning
Yeah, we are. I mean, we personally aren't. No, you and me.
- [41:51]
Seb Hutchison
Oh, John.
- [41:52]
Barry Glendenning
Well, John is. Because he was banned. It's never a good look when a club bans a reporter. Brighton have had a few PR ricks in the past couple of weeks. There was that photo shoot with Tara Matoma and some other young player holding a photograph of a Japanese soldier, which offended a lot of people in China. And now this. There's also the Streisand effect, because it's banning. The Guardian is just going to draw more attention to this Tony Bloom case, the ins and outs of which I am not aware of. I am struck by the huge number of winnings involved. So it will be interesting to see what happens from now, because it's not good optics for Brighton. And as far as I can tell, all this stuff the Guardian is reporting is in the public domain.
- [42:47]
Luke O'Nion
Yes. As opposed to sort of an investigation by the paper. I mean, you'd imagine in most places the Guardian had no chance against a football club, but in Brighton, it's as Guardian as it gets. You know, so many conflicted fans. But anyway, to the game itself, West Ham scored pretty late on and looked like that, sealed the points. And then they look like, is it Maverick panels could. If he goes down holding his head, I think that goal is disallowed.
- [43:12]
Barry Glendenning
Yeah.
- [43:12]
Seb Hutchison
And I was discussing this afterwards with Martin Tyler has obviously watched a lot more games than I have, and some people will say, you know, we want to see overhead kicks in the game, you know, we don't want to discourage them. But at the same time, if an overhead kick results in somebody being struck to the head, what's more important, you know, in the grand scheme of things? The handball. Obviously I have Var in my ear and I have to just relay what they say. I mean, at that point, I'm not giving an opinion of handed over to the co commentator, but actually when somebody handles the ball and then there's a slight. Not much time passes after that and it's. It's basically perceived as it's not close enough to the goal. An accidental handball can only disallow a goal if it directly leads to ball going into the net. Essentially, it's the next action. And it wasn't the case when it came to router. I mean, the biggest. The biggest thing about it is, and the most galling thing for West Ham is they defended very well in the game. They played very well. And Brighton's first, in fact. All their shots on target. All four of their shots on target on the 90th minute onwards. So they'd left it, they'd gone that long without really troubling the goal. And then for that to be the goal that won it with, I think actually in the buildup to that goal, three of the shots on target were in that buildup. Really tough to take for West Ham because they did deserve to win the game, I think overall, and they offered enough. They had some good chances for Bran, made a double save that on another day would have gone in. Even Mavra Panos with the last kick of the game, or last head of the game. It should have scored, as they say. I. I did feel for West Ham in that moment. Not just because on another day the goal could have been disallowed.
- [44:51]
Barry Glendenning
If Arreola doesn't save that first router shot and it goes in, it would have been disallowed for the handball, there's no question.
- [45:03]
Luke O'Nion
So it's his fault. It's his fault for saving it.
- [45:09]
Fabianski wouldn't have saved it, would he?
- [45:10]
Barry Glendenning
Yeah, exactly. So it's. It's another vagary of Var. And Nuno was gutted afterwards and I could totally understand his frustration. But if. If you look past the high boo and we're looking, you know, that's a lot to look past. The correct procedure was followed and that shouldn't be the correct procedure.
- [45:33]
Luke O'Nion
Newcastle beat Burnley 2 1. I mean, we talked about that. Maverick panels, header, Seb and actually Bernie do have a Chance and they right at the death.
- [45:40]
Seb Hutchison
They've.
- [45:40]
Luke O'Nion
They've scored late on, they've got a penalty. Fleming's put it away. And you know Newcastle who let a two goal, a two one lead slip against Spurs. That happened again or it would have been desperate.
- [45:51]
Seb Hutchison
St. James's and that's the thing we're talking about Fulham a moment or two ago. Just moments. I think if Newcastle conceded an equalizer to burnley playing against 10 men it would have really racked up the pressure on Eddie Howe actually funnily enough because when you look at them this season I think there's a lot of belief that they should be doing better. Although the problem with the table is it's so tight and you know, a couple of wins and the team all of a sudden this season looks great. That's the situation they're in. Bernie. I feel for them every time they turn out. I just think every goal they concede. You could just see the look on the players. It's not that they're not. It's just we're not really going to stay up, are we? We'll give it a go. And maybe that's the situation is they give it as much as a go as they can. They fall behind, maybe fall another goal behind and then they had nothing to lose at that point when they were down to 10. So they threw everything at at it and tried to build on Maybe nerves in St. James's park at that situation. And you do you do think of overs. It's the same with the Fulham man City game. If Fulham had got that chance at the end and got in again, it changes the whole complexion not just of Fulham, season of Manchester City, the title race, everything. But it didn't happen. And ultimately that's the situation. Burnley, they are more confident in them much more than I was with Leeds a couple of weeks ago of course. But I think Burnley, it's not going to happen for them, is it?
- [47:14]
Luke O'Nion
And look well done to Bruno Gimmesh for scoring direct from a corner. But you know it's called an Olympic. But it gets far too much credit. No one's trying to do that that I don't believe anyone's trying to do it. And it's just, just they're just sticking it in the mixer.
- [47:25]
Barry Glendenning
So I think he probably was trying to do it. I'm surprised more players don't try to do it.
- [47:31]
Seb Hutchison
De Kuiper almost did it yesterday for Brighton and it was the conditions that was did it. Weirdly the conditions helped it swing in and then the conditions took it away from the goal at the same time, so they helped and then hindered in the space of a couple of seconds.
- [47:45]
Luke O'Nion
Maybe I'm just a killjoy, but I don't want Rabonas and I don't want Olympicos. Bournemouth nil. Chelsea nil. Well, with apologies to both. Look, it was a game of two halves. Bournemouth should have been four up by halftime. Chelsea should have made it four four by the end. But no one scored. And we won't talk about it because I want to talk about the World cup draw. And we'll do that in part three.
- [48:07]
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- [48:58]
Luke O'Nion
Welcome to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly. I mean, so where did we even. Baz. Where do we even start on this? It was, I mean, I found it so mesmerizing. Like, like there was so many parts of it that were just. And I've done some bad shows, you know.
- [49:18]
Seb Hutchison
Did you get a peace prize for those?
- [49:20]
Luke O'Nion
But I was watching this, Barry, and I was like, wow, I don't know. You take it in whatever direction you want to take it.
- [49:27]
Barry Glendenning
I loved it. It was so bad and so cringe. It was good. Parts of it were incredibly distasteful, mainly the bit in the middle that descended into what was ostensibly a Trump rally. Nobody wants that, but we all knew it was coming. Giano Infantino's obsequiousness in the face of the American president. Two thoroughly despicable men seem to know no bounds. He. He gave Trump his medal, which Trump couldn't get around his own neck fast enough. Infantino more or less said, you know, you are a wonderful man and you can do whatever. On behalf of all football fans, I give you carte blanche to do whatever you want. Well, you know, you're not speaking for me there, Gianni, and you're not speaking for. For lots of people, despite your claims to the contrary. But that aside, I really enjoyed it.
- [50:28]
The. The really Unfunny scripted gags. Really unfunny ad lib banter. The little and large combo of Heidi Clum and Kevin Hart. The stilted conversation between real Ferdinand, Samantha Johnson and. And that Ramirez chap in the who was going around the audience interviewing people. It was glorious. It dragged on obviously, as these things tend to do. But I, I couldn't get enough of it. I couldn't look away.
- [51:05]
It was like a fever dream and you just didn't know where it was going next.
- [51:09]
Luke O'Nion
Yeah, there were lots of comparisons for, you know, to Sam Fox and Mick Fleetwood with Kevin Hart and Heidi Klum. John and I just love. Heidi Klum is just this kind of, it's all, you know, she's, she's almost impervious. In fact, there was so little reaction from the crowd at all points. You know, I just couldn't hear another person say. I said good evening. You know, like, I just couldn't. I just like, was like, oh God, let it go. And she's drawing these lines, you know. Oh, Kevin with these forever Rocher, you must be spoiling us.
- [51:37]
Seb Hutchison
Haha.
- [51:38]
Luke O'Nion
Anyway, and, and then, oh, I don't know. Then, then you know, Johnny's, Johnny's. Everyone say usa. Usa. Usa.
- [51:46]
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- [51:47]
John Bruin
Somebody sometime really made a bad mistake and someone needs to correct this mistake. Somebody told Gianni Infantina he was funny. And I did the build up to this on the Live blog and then handed over to Barry and the Terry Wogan slash Graham Norton role. And.
- [52:10]
And, and so I stayed, it stayed watching it. But there were points when I had to go into the kitchen because I was so. It was so grim. You know, when you, you know, you go to a party and like you maybe overdo it and you go in the kitchen and sort of wretch in the sink or something like that. I mean it's been a long time, but yeah, that was, that was how I felt. And I have several questions. Robbie Williams and Nicole Shirtsinger. What the, what was that song? Even Robbie, while he was singing it was like this is rubbish into it, you know, just sort of like. And it was pointed to me that Kevin Hart is in a series of not very successful things. And, and why was he there?
- [52:52]
Barry Glendenning
He's. He's seen as a safe pair of hands, John. He does a lot of those kind of awards ceremonies.
- [52:57]
John Bruin
Right, okay, okay.
- [52:59]
Barry Glendenning
Yeah, there was only one big award at this ceremony. But yeah, he's very much a safe pair of hands.
- [53:05]
Luke O'Nion
No, I agree with you. I don't think, I think he was not. I think he's the terrible. But I think everybody was terribly cast. Like, it's a movie where like. Like, why is he doing this? Why is Rio Ferdinand doing the permutations? This is amazing.
- [53:16]
John Bruin
You know, Isn't there an accusation that Rio got the draw wrong with Uzbekistan and Panama?
- [53:25]
Seb Hutchison
No, he didn't. He didn't get it. He didn't get it wrong. He just didn't explain why Uzbekistan ended up in the group. So that confused everybody in a night of confusion.
- [53:34]
John Bruin
Well, I got the impression he thought Uzbekistan was in Europe up, which, you know, because Kazakhstan played UEFA. You might make that mistake, I suppose.
- [53:44]
Luke O'Nion
But, yeah, I suppose to give him his dues, Rio, like. Like Wayne Gretzky really took the biscuit for, you know, not not knowing what's going on like everyone else. You know, Shaquille o' Neal was pretty. You know, he was slow at all of this. I like, is it Samantha Johnson that kept going? You know, you're doing really well. Keep going. You know, like talking to, like, your kid at the egg and spoon race. He's right at the back, back. And then Gretzky coming out and, like, completely baffled. Why? He's got, you know, the four teams. Every time he pulls out a card, he's like, why have I got all these names, you know, and, you know, Krakow instead of curacao. Macadamia. I mean, that's so. Well, he didn't get stitched up, Seb. He didn't get stitched up. They are to their countries that are in the World Cup.
- [54:24]
Seb Hutchison
I know, I know, but if you'd throw. If you'd thrown that to Shaquille o', Neal, I bet he would have maybe thrown a few macadamias and. And Bosnias and whatever.
- [54:37]
Drew the short straw.
- [54:39]
John Bruin
I was gonna. You develop a. A newfound respect for Georgio Marquetti, don't you? That does the. The Champions League draw. That's. That's slick. That's. That's. That. That's how it's done. You know, you. You or. Or game show host. I mean, Rio Ferdinand, I don't think he's going to be hosting a game show after that, which may be the end game here. You know, I mean, it did look at one point, like 15 to 1, when you had Gianni and you had the presidents of the United States, Mexico and Canada all. All lined up. The prime Minister of Canada, I should say, lined up. And that bit where they pulled out their own even. The thing is, there was a point where, when Trump's looking the most level guy on there. And he's sort of looking at Gianni thinking, you're going a bit far here, mate. You know, you've got problems then, don't you? Trump looked embarrassed for him.
- [55:31]
Barry Glendenning
There was one stage where Trump actually cracked a funny gag. So Mark Carney and Claudia Sheinbaum had just picked out Canada and Mexico respectively. And Trump just looks at Gianni. It's his turn. He goes, I think I know what this is going to be. And it was just the timing was, you know, for the first time in my life, I went. That was. That was funny, Trump.
- [55:59]
John Bruin
I think when.
- [55:59]
Seb Hutchison
He said the US is hot as well. Yeah.
- [56:01]
Luke O'Nion
He had just won a Peace Prize, which, you know, I mean, that was the secret. We all knew it was going to be the least surprising thing in the world. And it was just that, you know, just as we talked before, if you have no shame, these two men are standing there going, you know, everyone is going, this is ridiculous. But they just crack on and just do it with such conviction at the.
- [56:18]
Seb Hutchison
End of it all.
- [56:18]
Luke O'Nion
Seb, we do have a draw in England. Have Croatia, Ghana and Panama. Thank you to everyone in my mention for saying, are Croatia tired by now? And it's my own fault, you know, that I've trained you just everyone to say that. Dallas, Boston and New York, I think they're under a roof, aren't they, in Dallas for that game? It's not, it's a, it's a good draw, I think, for England, Seb, isn't it?
- [56:41]
Seb Hutchison
Yeah. And all these locations, I mean, except for the people who are traveling and paying a lot of money to go and see these games, will forget about those locations unless England lose and then it will become that night in Dallas or, or whatever. But the, the draw, to me, I, I love World Cups and the, the draw was the most interesting part in many ways, because a lot of those games, there's going to be little jeopardy for the big sides. All it might do is knock them on a pathway where they're more likely to play a bigger side earlier. Whereas some of the sides, it will give some, some teams, some of the outsiders a chance to get through. And it's not, you know, for a side like Scotland, for example, it's not clear cut that. But I'll be brutally honest with you, because of the nature of the draw of the whole evening, I and I, my son watched part of it and I think you get a view of a whole. These events like this by what children say. I remember fun. My son started by just saying he's bald when he was talking about Infantina. He's bald, got the game, didn't say he was funny, didn't say anything else like that. It was a night where having to explain the draw constantly is an issue. Even in a group of football people. 99 were men in there, which my wife pointed out she wasn't very happy about. And you looked at that audience and you thought they don't understand, the coaches don't understand what's going on here, why certain teams are in this group and the knock on effect. I mean I'd worked it out a long time ago that England were going to have Ghana in their group by the time it came round to that final team coming out, which meant the draw felt a bit pointless because of all those restrictions. And you do you think, what's the way around that? I think African teams get done in this scenario because Europe can only have two teams in and Africa has a fair number of countries and some strong teams. They do get done over a bit. They do end up being in tough groups by that very nature. And then everybody says it's a group of death, mainly because one of the African teams is in that group. So France and Senegal. I'm using this opportunity, asked me about England's group. I wanted to mention some other things from the evening happening that stood out to me. Mainly Lionel Scaloni answering in Spanish, having no idea what he said. And then Ramirez, who does know what people are saying when they're speaking in Spanish, not translating to the audience, which I thought was also interesting. Lauryn Hill trying to G up a crowd of middle aged blokes who don't listen to her music was also interesting.
- [59:10]
John Bruin
And that was good.
- [59:11]
Seb Hutchison
If the Village People can't be asked at the end of the night, I don't think I've seen more lackluster singing of that song by anybody. I mean, they are getting on a bit.
- [59:20]
Luke O'Nion
Well, someone did say. Someone did say some of the Village People, they can't lift their arms up to do the why anymore. Which I thought.
- [59:28]
Seb Hutchison
I think they were.
- [59:29]
John Bruin
Asking themselves why there's only one original member. I I believe it's the black singer is the only one that remains. So.
- [59:37]
Barry Glendenning
So it's like Box Fizz, Bobby G's Village People.
- [59:41]
Luke O'Nion
It's like triggers broom, isn't it?
- [59:44]
Scotland have Haiti, Morocco and Brazil. They play Someone, a Scottish fan did a great thing going, you know, because they're talking about the kickoff times because the England kick off at 9, 9, 9pm twice and 10pm which is actually pretty good given the time difference. But Scotland kick off at 2am, 11pm and 11pm but, but someone said. Look, Scotland kickoff against Haiti at 2 2am pm, Morocco at 11pm and Brazil at 11pm, 1106, 1125, 1145, 32. But anyway, just one win and it gets you through. Anyway, look, we've talked for too long, so that will do for today. Obviously, lots of time to go into the draw, the next international break, etc, etc. We will be doing daily pods during the World cup and so they will be tiring, but we won't mention it. And that'll do for today. Thanks, everybody. Thank you. To John.
- [60:32]
John Bruin
Cheers.
- [60:33]
Luke O'Nion
Thank you.
- [60:33]
Seb Hutchison
Seb, I just want to say it was an honor to meet Barry in person at the FSA Awards. I mean, he didn't. He didn't mention that he'd met me, but anyway. But it was an honor to meet.
- [60:41]
Barry Glendenning
Him and I was overwhelmed by meeting Neil Redford. I'm sorry, Redford was.
- [60:48]
Seb Hutchison
Was the highlight. I was. Or not for me. He nearly took my hand off, that's all.
- [60:52]
Barry Glendenning
Yeah, it was. It was nice to meet the current Mrs. Hutchinson as well.
- [60:55]
Seb Hutchison
Yes, current. Hold on.
- [60:57]
Luke O'Nion
I presume current. Unless something's happened since the FSAs. But, you know. Thank you, Barry.
- [61:01]
Barry Glendenning
Thank you.
- [61:01]
Luke O'Nion
Football Weekly is produced by Silas Gray. Our executive producer is Danielle Stevens. Back on Wednesday.
- [61:18]
Barry Glendenning
This is the Guardian.