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Football Weekly
Scotland in dreamland – Football Weekly
00:58:56
Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Ali Maxwell and Sanny Rudravajhala to discuss Scotland’s last-gasp winning goals against Denmark that will send them to the World Cup
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- [00:00]
Ali Maxwell
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Barry Glendenning
Very happy half off holiday because right.
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Ali Maxwell
See mint mobile.com.
- [00:53]
Felix White
This is the Guardian.
- [01:05]
Barry Glendenning
Hello and welcome to the Guardian Football Weekly. He's done him. He's done him. Kenny McLean from the halfway line hit the Proclaimers. Hamden goes wild and Scotland are going to the World cup for the first time in 28 years. This game sometimes takes you to another place. Kieran Tinney had already done the important bit. A brilliant curling effort. The Scots still had four minutes to hold on and frankly, the way they played, there was no guarantee of them managing that. But it doesn't matter. The tartan army will be there led by Andy Robertson. And if the final mom didn't move you his post match interview talking about Diogo, Jota will. And we haven't even mentioned Scott McTominay's overhead kick. Elsewhere. Wales score seven, bracket seven to give them a favourable playoff draw. Panama and Curacao qualify. We might have a minute for efl, but we probably won't before writer, singer, broadcaster Felix White of the Maccabees tail enders, amongst other things will come on to talk about his new book. Whatever will be will be its brilliance. We'll answer your questions. And that's today's Guardian Football Weekly.
- [02:02]
Max
Panel.
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Barry Glendenning
Today. Barry Glendenning.
- [02:04]
Ellis James
Welcome.
- [02:04]
Barry Glendenning
Hi, Max from not the top 20 pod, Ali Maxwell.
- [02:07]
Ali Maxwell
Hello. Hello.
- [02:09]
Barry Glendenning
Sunny Rajavajadan. Welcome.
- [02:11]
Max
Hello.
- [02:12]
Barry Glendenning
And I'm excited about this bastard. Jim. Jim Burke. Morning, my friends.
- [02:17]
Jim Burke
It's all vibes today, Mike.
- [02:21]
Barry Glendenning
Oh, yes. Oh, I mean, let me read a couple of messages. We've got David says I, I genuinely cannot tell you, max. I was nine when David Seaman saved Gary McAllister's penalty when Morocco thrashed us in St Etienne. And then spent my entire teenage years in adult life dealing with failure, glorious failures and ignominious failures. Decades of last minute winners for the other team playing well but losing goal difference, snatching victory from us. Of watching World Cups with jealousy, of listening to Barney Ronne, wondering if winning the World cup is even a good thing. I'm 40 next year, and on this night, it all seemed worth it. A beautiful, joyous, ridiculous, mad, brilliant game of football that a nation will never forget. Incredible goals. What a campaign. What a game. So incredibly unscholar. Scottish God, football, what a game. And Scott says, max, I've never, ever messaged, but I have to. I'm 32. I was five when Scotland last made it to a World cup. And that was the biggest relief of my life. I've watched her since the early 2000s. I was there at Hamden in 07 when Italy robbed us. I can't stop crying. Every time I say, we're going to the World Cup, I burst into tears again. Work tomorrow may be tough, but this is the best night of following Scotland. We're going to the fucking World cup. So Scotland 4, Denmark 2. Where do we start? Jim, how are you? How are you, mate?
- [03:41]
Jim Burke
Just to echo that first one, the last time you were in the World cup for me was two marriages, two countries and three cities ago. There's the context right there. Me, I never thought it was going to happen, ever. And the thing is, the way we did the campaign, it was really quite a short campaign, you know, the way the fixtures were. We started well against Denmark and Belarus, and then we just kept getting worse, you know, because when we beat Greece 3 1, it was like a real robbery. We got outplayed for an hour. So, you know, I think I said to you earlier, there's a reason you don't ever hear the expression luck of the Scottish. We don't get that stuff. But last night, oh, my God. The only thing is, I have to say, anybody that follows me in blue sky, my account did get hacked. Somebody may have criticized Steve Clark someday. The person who ever hacked it did say, Kenny fucking McLean at one point, right? And that was before the goal. Honestly, I was absolutely buzzing. Really. I ended up staying up to about 1:00'. Clock. I was so. I was just buzzing. Absolutely buzzing.
- [05:13]
Barry Glendenning
That's this thing. You're right when a game makes you so breathless you can't sleep. But obviously it was the daytime for me and I was just consuming this content like the BBC Scotland TV commentary, which is Steve Thompson with James McFadden and McFadden's like, he's done him. He's done him. Like when McKenna Maclean shot the radio comms is Alistair Lamont Stewart is absolutely amazing. It's just amazing. And there is something, Barry, about that Kenny McLean strike. There is a view from behind the goal where all his teammates are slowly realizing that they are definitely going to the World Cup. It is an amazing moment.
- [05:48]
Unidentified Panelist
Yeah. I think it was Stephen Thompson who spotted Schmeichel off his line and shout, shoot. Shoot. He's done him. He's done him. And at this point, people watching the screen didn't realize just where Casper Schmeichel was. And Mlan, who I. I was less than complimentary about when he came on to replace Ben Gannon. Do in on the group chat as well. I. I apologize, Kenny. I think. I mean, I loved that game and I'm delighted for Scotland. And of the many highlights last night, I think one of my favorite was John McGinn's postmatch interview where Kenny MacLaine takes a lot of criticism. Some of it isn't deserved. I just had a big laugh at that. Whether it was an intentional dig or a bit of fun or just. He didn't quite realize what he was saying. I don't know. But what a goal that was. I mean, three of those goals last night, with apologies to Lauren Shanklin, they've got to be in the top four Scottish goals of all. I suppose Archie Gemma is probably still number one, is he? But the other, the three that were in Shanklin's were just brilliant goals and I thought Scotland were going to blow it again, even after Denmark had a man sent off. And I was not in any way comfortable for them until Kenny McLean scored that brilliant, brilliant goal. I mean, if he does nothing else again in his career, and there's a very good chance he will do nothing else again in his career, he will always have that. Just watch it on a loop for the rest of his life. Show the grandkids, etc and so on. Fantastic. I mean, I was almost as chuffed last night for Scotland as I was when Troy Parrot scored that late winner on Sunday. Just delighted with him.
- [07:56]
Barry Glendenning
Yeah, I was weeping in a cafe in Melbourne, just like when it went. I couldn't believe. I couldn't believe Tierneys went in and then I couldn't believe. There's a. When. When Kenny McLean hit the ball and Ali, there's this. I mean, of all the videos, there's, I think Copper90 tweeted out. That's where I saw it. And. And David Squires was texting me going, I was. He was yelling at Kenny McLean to play Che Adams in. Which is the right pass. But there's one in this pub, this packed pub somewhere in Scotland. There's this one bloke going, what are you doing? And then suddenly it just erupts.
- [08:27]
Felix White
It's just like.
- [08:28]
Barry Glendenning
Oh, it's just. The timing is priceless.
- [08:30]
Ali Maxwell
Yeah. I mean, probably because Kenny McLean attempted to dribble past a defender, which I can't remember seeing him do. In at least 10 years of playing championship football for Norwich, I certainly haven't seen him do anything like that. I mean, when I thought of top Scotland goals in my own memory, as Baz was talking there, I thought James McFadden might get his second mention of the pod so far for that amazing goal in France. And I suppose, I think back to 1998, which I think everyone has their favorite World cup, don't they? And inevitably, it's either the first one that you remember when you fell in love with football and 1998 was that for me, I had the VHS of all the goals from all the games, and the very first game was Brazil, Scotland. And so, you know, also with the surname Maxwell, there's a lot of Scottish in my extended family and ancestry. So just echoing what everyone else has said, kind of couldn't quite believe the quality of the goals as it happened, and just want to say that Kieran Tierney sent Scotland to the World Cup. I think it's worth saying that amidst all of this, it was Tierney's goal. And what an unbelievable connection to get the curl on it. One of the reverse angles just shows how nicely it bent into the corner. Kieran Tierney's shot was the most important of all, really. And I'm really, really delighted for him.
- [09:58]
Barry Glendenning
Yeah. Because he's had a really tough time, hasn't he, recently? A friend of mine, Fraser, he texted me. We watched Scotland's last game on our gap year, you'll be pleased to know. Bastard Jim very on Brand, you know, on the east coast of Australia. And he was like, I can't believe it's been this long. I've had to wait this long to see Scotland. He's one of those English guys who, when he talks to his parents, he goes totally Scottish. You know that. Another moment, Saddy. We've got to talk about Andy Robertson. Afterwards, talking about Diogo Jotta, he said, I've been in bits today I had my mate Diego Jotter in my head all day. We spoke so much about the World Cup. We always discussed what it'd be like going to a World Cup. I know he'll be somewhere smiling over me tonight. I couldn't get him out of my head today. I'm just so glad it's ended this way. And like, if you weren't weeping at just, you know, the delight of the celebration, that really was such a moment, I thought.
- [10:50]
Max
Yeah, that was wonderful. And in fact all the players who came and had post match interviews on the touchline were, were excellent as well. But yeah, really touching moment. I mean, Andy Robertson in the game, I mean the thing that really stood out for me as far as playing was when he had loads of space. He had about 10 yards of space on the left flank and it was 2, 2. And it's like hooked a ball out for a goal kick and you're just like, what on earth are you doing? Out of all the players who've got their great delivery, that was just absolutely awful. And yeah, I don't think he had a particularly great game. But then, you know, especially as a, you know, I've got no Scottish BL in, in my ancestry as far as I know. But I suppose you inevitably think wider and then think about how he must be going, getting on in general and then all the Liverpool players as well. And that's something we touched on the POD before. But yeah, it kind of gave an extra bit of context and the fact, yeah, he was in bits and he said he was, he was keeping it from his teammates there as well. Like he's not only having to deal with, you know, I think he was saying about how he, he dreamt about going to the World Cup. Yeah. With Diogo talks about it. Right. He's kept all that from his teammates. You know, he's one of the senior pros. He's had to bottle all that up and you could see, yeah, he was, he was so emotional. You could see him kind of welling up and yeah, fair play to him for being so honest and in that moment, kind of having the presence of mind to articulate that. And I'm sure that would have resonated, you know, not just with Liverpool fans or with other of his teammates, but anyone kind of struggling with grief and how it kind of takes up a part of you. Even when you're in your highest moments, lowest moments, it's always there. And I think what he said really will resonate with a lot of people and Fair play to him. And yeah, thoroughly deserving of going through to the World Cup. Brilliant.
- [12:31]
Barry Glendenning
And look, we're 12 minutes in, Jim, and we haven't mentioned a Scotsman scoring an overhead kick like that.
- [12:41]
Jim Burke
The thing is, you were saying, Barry, about the artsy game will go I've got with that goal because it was effectively a consolation goal in the overall scheme of things. And I was petrified that McTominay's goal was going to not mean anything because I think to be a truly great goal, it's got to mean something. So that was another aspect, but I didn't realize there was arguably going to be two better goals than that scored after it. But just one other thing that we've not touched ON Yet, John McGinn, he bought that red card, didn't he?
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Felix White
Oh, yes.
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Ellis James
Oh, yeah.
- [13:14]
Barry Glendenning
Wow.
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Jim Burke
Wow. This morning, right? Oh, my God. I mean, at first it looked a stone waller, then you looked at it again. You're like that, wow, wow. We absolutely got away. We won then. But again, that was, for me, that was going to play into the narrative. Even when we get a fortunate red card, we still can't go over the line. And I just can't believe so many of these narratives went out the window. Still buzzing. No apology for it. Absolutely buzzing.
- [13:46]
Barry Glendenning
And actually, Ali, that's true, isn't it? Because Denmark is actually sort of got better with 10 men. And. And then even when Scotland scored, you were like, okay, Shanklin scored, this is done. And then for Denmark to equalize again, you're like, you can't believe that. You're sitting there going, how have they balls this up?
- [14:01]
Max
And.
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Barry Glendenning
And like, objectively, Scotland were lousy. There was a moment when, I know they score early, so then they're going to sit back. But it was like Denmark had 17 shots and Scotland won. They didn't really do anything apart from just score some brilliant goals.
- [14:14]
Ali Maxwell
Yeah, well, look, football is at his best when there is as much jeopardy on it as possible. And in order to get to these situations, you do need the qualifying campaigns, you need the international breaks that lead up to it and. And, you know, obviously doing the England pod, I am pro international football, pro international breaks where some others aren't. But I think if you're a real casual, general international break hater and you watch this and the Ireland game and anything else that comes and you don't appreciate that, you need the build up and you need the football to be played in order to enjoy these moments, which are better than anything league football can provide. I really Believe that Cup finals, European cup finals, you can rank those wherever you want. But when it comes to the international stage and these moments, and then you have the major tournaments on top, which of course can, can ramp up even higher. So I think that there's also a specific way that football looks even at a very, very high level when both teams have so much riding on it and the nerves are so visible and tangible and you know, team shape and tactical systems broadly go out the window. And that's my favorite kind of football. And that's kind of what we saw here. And I think even, you know, the poor lad. Was it Hulemann whose sliced clearance set up the shot from Tierney? Clearly to say that was a horror mistake would be. Would be wrong. Tierney still had to score from 25 yards. But I guarantee you he and probably a lot of Danish people have been watching that on loop thinking, mate, you're a central midfielder. Why could you not just volley that ball away? And that. That kind of sums it all up, I think.
- [15:49]
Barry Glendenning
No, you're absolutely right. I was really watching that. And I think he might have been the guy that gave it away to Mlan as well. And you think, oh, poor bloke. Cuz this, he's definitely kicked the ball better than that in his life than he did.
- [16:00]
Unidentified Panelist
I think the scoffed clearance of a very tired man. Yeah, boss, yeah, he. He'll not be feeling good about that today.
- [16:14]
Barry Glendenning
So Barry, what. What does this say about Steve Clark? I mean, Even in the WhatsApp group there was so much stick for Steve. Playing a classic Steve Clark, you know, park the bus. This is always gonna happen. And yet he's the first manager to take Scotland to a World cup since 98.
- [16:29]
Unidentified Panelist
Yeah, and Steve and the first to.
- [16:31]
Barry Glendenning
Take three tournaments as well.
- [16:32]
Unidentified Panelist
Third major tournament under him. It was remarkable to see how happy he was after the game. He's a, you know, in a nation of dour old men, he is the tower. Old man, Tower old man. Other Darryl men doff their caps too. And he was beside himself with delight. More or less told BBC radio that he'd be going on the piss for the next three days. And why not three months? Because I've got nothing to do for the next three months.
- [17:07]
Jim Burke
So.
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Unidentified Panelist
He strikes me as a fellow who likes a pint, but. Or a dram. I'm at some point it will be interesting to see and it's far too early to. To mention this. I probably shouldn't even mention it, but I can see envisage a scenario where Scotland go to the World cup playing unbelievably defensively in their group games and come home having lost all three of them, or however many it is. But he certainly, I presume there's a case for him being Scotland's most successful ever manager if, if he isn't outright the most successful ever manager. And to get them to World cup after so long is a tremendous achievement, even if at one point last night I was just shouting at the telly. But he did make a very good call when that Danish player got sent off. He immediately brought on two strikers and I was, oh, thank God he's done something proactive.
- [18:12]
Max
I just thought I'd go on the leading Danish tabloid newspaper BT just to see if John McGinn's got the treatment Peter Crouch got in Trinidad and Tobago, like he's a pariah over there. But thankfully I can tell you that John McGinnis survived any criticism and it's all been aimed at Brian Reamer, who's been described as confused and the defeats of Scotland embarrassing and Christian Ericsson not pleased as well. He was left on the bench and not used at all and as pointed, you know, asked Brian about why he was left there. So McGinn, you've got away with it then. The Danish press are all. They've all seen turned on Raymer, So it could have been Steve Clark and instead it's Raymer who's getting the, the abuse there from, from the Danish media. So there's one, there's a, there's a turn up for the books.
- [18:56]
Barry Glendenning
Jim. I want to go back to the. Just the greatest bits, the Tierney and the McLean goal. You don't have to pick one, but I just want to know, like the feeling when Tierney's running up to strike that ball and it goes there because you said to me, if my neighbours didn't know I was Scottish, they do now. I like that.
- [19:15]
Jim Burke
Well, the thing is, right, I changed my broadband, right, so I'm in Sky, so you get a little delay, it comes through streaming. So I started off the game with no notifications. It went to 1 nil, straight on in my life score, right? Because my heart was going, whatever. For some reason I didn't get the notification ahead of time of the Tierney goal, right? So I'm just sitting there watching, I'm thinking, well, nothing's going to happen here. So I got double bubble, if you like, and I just spray out the chair and I screamed. And as I say, I think about five or six streets away, they would have heard me, you know, it was just. And because it's Kieran as well, being a Celtic fan, obviously get an extra little bit. But really I didn't need any more. It was so. And then the Kenny McLean go. Sweet baby Jesus of the orphans. I just. Because I got the notification for that.
- [20:13]
Ellis James
Yeah.
- [20:14]
Jim Burke
And I thought, well, that's.
- [20:15]
Barry Glendenning
It's not from there exactly.
- [20:17]
Jim Burke
I've got to think it's gotta go out there. It's gotta go. And then. And of course Smicho just that I love that bit when a keeper gets lobbed because he almost. It's like the Simpsons thing. If you freeze frame it, you can see the bit with his heart actually.
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Unidentified Panelist
Right.
- [20:32]
Jim Burke
You can see his face where he realizes, shit, I am not getting this. And that's just another one of those little. There were just so, so many beautiful, beautiful, beautiful moments. And we don't as Scotland fans, that's not something we often get to. I enjoyed. Well, in hindsight, I enjoyed every single minute of it.
- [20:57]
Ali Maxwell
Imagine telling Jim from 1998 that there'd be a dystopian future where he could find out that Scotland had scored one minute before they'd actually scored.
- [21:08]
Barry Glendenning
It's a very good point. Barry, you mentioned on the other day on your voice note about, you know, how Ireland will be good for the World cup and you know, it's always a cliche about how good the turn army are, but I mean I remember being at €96, being at England, Scotland standing next to them and sort of being in awe of how they had no inhibition, they could sing Status Quo at half time where all the sort of po faced England fans stood around not knowing what to do. But there is no doubt they will be a positive force, the Tartan army at this.
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Unidentified Panelist
Absolutely. And whatever cities are lucky enough to have them will love them because they're just an incredibly lovable, raucous, vibrant, likable bunch.
- [21:52]
Barry Glendenning
Good for the Proclaimers as well. I mean, I think. I don't know if they wrote letter for America for this specifically, but you know, they'll do well out of that. I can't help think, does anyone else think, and maybe this is a controversial thing to think, but actually Freed from Desire is brilliant. Like, like it is, it is. Well, but I mean, I mean I remember it from like post A levels holiday to Turkey going, I don't think this is going to stand the test of time. But when the island fans were doing it and when the Scotland fans were doing it and just the way obviously there are lots of good, you know. Yes, there I Can Boogie was great.
- [22:26]
Felix White
That was.
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Barry Glendenning
Obviously, it's brilliant, but I mean, I'm happy to be shouted down. I think it works.
- [22:31]
Jim Burke
Ali.
- [22:32]
Ali Maxwell
Well, yeah, I was in France in Euro 2016. My mate is a Northern Irishman and we went to two or three of their games together. So, I mean, those are some of the best moments I've ever had watching football and celebrating with football fans, with the old Will Grigg. So, yeah, at that stage, very unironically, I think it was magnificent. I've probably done a whole range of emotions towards that song at this point. Summer of 2021, following England at the Euros. That was played after some of the big wins. And yeah, I think it's massively overdone and I don't like it when a song is. Is sort of squeezed every inch out of it as it is and I'd like to see something else come in to replace it. But I have had a number of moments of being 10 points deep when your team has just won a very significant football match and that comes on and you don't stand there and go, I wish I played something else. You just absolutely go for it.
- [23:24]
Barry Glendenning
So it trumps Sweet Caroline for me. I mean, that's, you know, if we're fighting between, you know, what the DJ is going to play. Is there anyone else, Jim, before we let you go to just have a lie down, that deserves a mention. I mean, I mean, all the players do, of course, but is there anything that sticks in your mind other than.
- [23:42]
Jim Burke
I think, Gilmour, you know, we weren't really. There's. Nobody really was out through injury, so that's our squad. And I think you did see it, Barry, and you're right, I'm not going to the World cup with any kind of confidence that we're going to do anything. But do you know what, it doesn't matter. We're there. As I said earlier, my wife's daughter, she's 21, next December, the plan was to go to New York for her birthday. I suggested tentatively last night that why don't we make the American trip in the summer? I got a look that suggested that's not happening, but who could be crook? I'm. I'm at least going to get to what I'm going to do my damnest to get to one of the games. Because at 62, let's be honest, the chances of me being around the next time we get to the World cup are pretty bloody slim.
- [24:39]
Barry Glendenning
So make sure you get, make sure you get full support, Jim. We you don't want to be another wife on when the tournament starts.
- [24:48]
Unidentified Panelist
I'm looking forward to Jim's struggles with and getting to grips with dynamic pricing features.
- [24:59]
Barry Glendenning
Also, just how much. Well done, Jim. We'll let you. We'll let you have a lie down.
- [25:06]
Max
Max, before you let Jim go, can we get an adjudication on the Trevor Sinclair scale for the McTominay over a kick?
- [25:12]
Barry Glendenning
I had it about a seven, you know, because it I, I think Barry made some good points in the WhatsApp group that it doesn't it.
- [25:18]
Felix White
It.
- [25:19]
Barry Glendenning
You know, to fly into the top corner is the dream, but the connection is very good. You know, he does have to move himself acrobatically quickly. There are lots of positives with it, but, you know, if it's not flying high into the net, it can never be above a seven. I would suggest.
- [25:34]
Ellis James
Fair.
- [25:35]
Max
Fair. Yeah.
- [25:36]
Barry Glendenning
Okay. Cheers, Jim. Thanks for your time, mate.
- [25:38]
Jim Burke
All right, cheers, guys.
- [25:39]
Barry Glendenning
Enjoy the rest of the Jim Burke, host of the RGC podcast, a Celtic podcast, which stands for. Right, good. I'll let you fill in the rest and we'll be back in just a second with an LS James voice note. Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly. So I don't know anyone else. I switched off Wales at 4 1. I just sort of messaged Ellis saying, look, can I have a voice note? And then I checked again and it was 771 and a game we all thought would be pretty tough. Here is, before we get to the panel, here is Ellis James.
- [26:16]
Ellis James
Obviously the headlines go to Scotland and very rare that a 71 win gets overshadowed by the exploits of another team. Congratulations to Scotland. Obviously, I cannot stop watching Scotland Limbs videos. People thinking they're going to film the final whistle and then filming. I go from, you know, behind the halfway line anyway. Whale 7, North Macedonia 1. What a night, man. After Craig Bellamy's first game against Turkey, he said, right, watch that. Remember that that's the worst we're going to play. That hasn't proven to be the case. And the thing with Bellamy, he's a very, very inspiring, engaging talker, the way he speaks about football. And if you run with it, and I have run with it, I find it quite motivating, right? But eventually, after some quite poor performances or after some, how shall I say, unorthodox selection decisions, you think, okay, what's really going on here? Everything he kind of promised, it all came true in one game. Now I was really worried about North Macedonia. I was in Liechtenstein on Saturday and we were absolutely Abject against I think literally the worst team in the world. And we have to weep after we ended up winning one nil. And he played one holding mid against Belgium and he plays two against Lichtenstein, who were a team made up of students. They both get booked. So without, we're without our first choice midfield against North Macedonia, who hadn't lost a game the campaign had only conceded three calls, taken points off Belgium. And you're a poor Joshian in midfield on his own. And you're worrying about when we played Armenia and to page in qualification for Euro 2024 and we just got absolutely overrun in midfield and I thought we're gonna, we're gonna get. This could be bad. And he chooses, he goes for all out attacks. We've got Dan James, Brendan Johnson, Harry Wilson and David Brooks. And we just purred from the first minute. I mean Harry Wilson was exceptional. And Bale himself has said, you know, there is no other Gareth Bill. And so the, the responsibility for scoring goals have to be spread across the team. He, he is the talisman, the Wilson when he's, when he's, when he's not fit. We really, really miss him. And for him to score a hat trick, I mean, he was just fantastic. But we haven't scored seven goals against anyone since before I was born. So that was against Malta in 1978. And you know, it's, it's the playoffs. We haven't qualified outright. Playoffs are very, very difficult to negotiate. Obviously we qualify for the last World cup cup via the playoffs. Beating Ukraine in the final. I've been beaten. Austria in the semi. We failed to qualify for you to 2024 in the, in the playoff route because we lost to Poland on penalties. So now it's it being in pot two, which is what last night guaranteed as opposed to pot four, does make things easier. So we're either going to play Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, the Republic of Ireland in Cardiff. And that, that's huge for, for us because we do seem to find another gear when we're playing at the Cardiff City Stadium under the lights. I mean, the final is daunting. It could be Italy, it could be Denmark, Turkey, Ukraine, I mean, or, or one of the pop four teams, Northern Ireland, North Macedonia, Romania or Sweden. But then Ashley Williams, he said on the telly last night, he said, who's going to fancy playing us after we've scored seven goals? Because I'm childish and nervous and superstitious. I read once that Donald Trump thinks that every human body is a sort of finite amount of heartbeats. And so that if you do exercise and you raise your heart rate, you're actually shortening your life because you're going to run out of heartbeats. I feel like that about Welsh goals. I feel like we've scored our goals now, we've had our seven and we're probably not going to score until 2028. The one thing I would say is I wish we could carry on. I wish we were playing next week and we could carry this momentum on, because I've never seen anything like it and I am on cloud nine.
- [30:45]
Barry Glendenning
Thank you, Ellis James and I hadn't heard the finite heartbeats of Donald Trump, but I agree with you about using up your goals. Never win 71 when you only need to win 2 1, but still 71 all the same. And Ali, it was. I mean, Ellis has summed it up pretty well, but it was a great performance.
- [31:05]
Ali Maxwell
They played unbelievably well Wales, and this is really significant for them for a few reasons. But after what Ireland did the other night, which was clearly more dramatic, more memorable and obviously what Scotland did last night, clearly more dramatic, more memorable and secured them a spot of the World cup rather than a slightly more beneficial draw in a playoff, Wales sort of end up, up, yeah, down the pecking order in terms of stories, but I think it's worth pointing out that this was their best performance by Miles under Craig Bellamy at a point where they really, really needed it. Against a North Macedonia side that had only conceded three goals in seven qualifying games. They scored seven against them. And a bit like with the Scotland goals, albeit in a different way, you're finding it hard to work out which is the best of the goals that Wales scored, because some of the passing and movement and speed in front of the ball, speed of passing into play, finishing was excellent. Brendan Johnson had his best game in a Whale shirt for a long time, has not necessarily been the superstar that that maybe fans would want him to be for them, but was brilliant and set up brooks for the second goal, scored a rasper from 20 yards himself into the top corner for the third. The fourth goal was a beautiful team move that involved Johnson and Wilson and Dan James finishing it off. And then Harry Wilson, who ends up with a hat trick, two of them from the penalty spot and one of them a trademark Harry Wilson free kick. It's just a brilliant, brilliant night. I think, as you say, all Wales fans that I spoke to were expecting a cagey affair because even the games against the Minnows of the group, they've been like Pulling teeth, really. Bellamy made some pretty big calls here. Left out Sorbot Thomas, who, albeit he's not as big a name as some of the attackers that started ahead of him, has been clearly Wales best player under Bellarmine in the last year or so. Kiefer Moore was injured for this one and I worried that, you know, it was going to be one of those games where they were going to be against a deep block, slinging a lot of crosses in and without big Kiefer to head them in, but they didn't. They just took a different approach and sliced through North Macedonia. So, yeah, big players stepping up when they needed to for Wales. And I think Bellamy as well justified with. He's been very clear that he's trying to raise the ceiling of the team. And in his eyes, that means playing in a different way, in a much more attacking, technical, fluid, attacking style, which isn't necessarily what's defined the best Wales teams before. And I think there's been some skepticism because, frankly, the results, particularly in the last. Well, in the last three months, he hasn't had much to show for it. He hasn't had much justification for what he's trying to do and. And he absolutely has that now. So still work to do, of course, and it is a more favorable draw than it could have been, but there's still some teams that they would probably prefer to avoid. Out of the four that they could be drawn against against. I would put Albania at the top of the list for them to avoid. Having seen them play England twice recently, they're a pretty strong team and I think they can play Ireland as well, can't they? So that'd be pretty lively.
- [34:03]
Barry Glendenning
Italy, Denmark, Turkey, Ukraine will be at home to one of Romania, Sweden, North Macedonia, Northern Ireland and then Poland, Wales, Czechia, Slovakia will be at home to Republican Albania, Bosnia or Kosovo. Austria went through automatically. They got a late equalizer at home to Bosnia, Herzky. They haven't been to the World cup since 1998. The glory days of Tony Pollster was Polster still playing in 98, you know, still the only Austrian player that everyone knows, apart from Marko Arnortovic. Northern Ireland beat Luxembourg 1 0. First international goal for Spurs. Jamie Donley. That was on Monday there in the playoffs, of course. Germany, Thrashlovak is 6 0. Some of their goals were absolutely brilliant, by the way. Netherlands put four past Lithuania, so that sort of Europe done. We've got Paul Watson on tomorrow to steer us through the big international headlines. But you did point out Ali, you know, Curacao will be the smallest ever side to qualify for a World Cup. They got a draw in Jamaica and those scenes as well. If you've seen the full time whistle. I just love watching just grown ups get so invested in this thing. It's just amazing and it's a wonderful moment for them, isn't it?
- [35:11]
Ali Maxwell
Yeah, absolutely incredible. Obviously with the US and Mexico and Canada automatically qualifying as hosts, that kind of opened the door in, in the CONCACAF region and the expanded tournament of course as well. Just delighted for the Bakuna brothers who, who represent Curacao and I've seen play a lot of football in, in the English football pyramid. Both them based out in Turkey now, but you know they will be absolute heroes, glorified forever as they should be. The previous smallest country to qualify for the tournament was, was Iceland. So Curacao now have that. And their manager, improbably to me anyway, is Dick Advocat who I did not realize he's still managing at any level. And then Haiti as well.
- [35:56]
Barry Glendenning
Managing a drink, isn't that, that is good, isn't it A drink. Managing a drink to take them to the World cup. That's really impressive.
- [36:03]
Unidentified Panelist
Well, as Barca Jim pointed out earlier last night we had two drinks and a hat qualifying for the World Cup. Panama, Curacao and scotch.
- [36:14]
Ali Maxwell
The sad news, if you like is that he beat or they beat Steve McLaren's Jamaica sending them into a playoff. It's fair to say the reaction in Jamaica has been pretty angry and Steve McLaren swiftly resigned so will not be taking them into the playoffs and nor to the World cup if they get there. There his quote was leadership is a service tonight. I think the best thing I can do is stepping aside. They will succeed in March. Thank you Jamaica. It's been an honor. One love to you all. That is a direct quote as reported by Laurie Whitwell. And then lastly the other big story which I know you'll hear more about tomorrow but is, yeah, Haiti who have qualified for the World Cup. It's not their first but they have qualified and they did so playing their home game as it was in Curacao because they haven't played a home game in four years as the country is under cartel rule. And they've got some amazing stories in that squad as well. So yeah, really what a few days it has been for international football. And yeah, could not have loved it anymore.
- [37:15]
Unidentified Panelist
Reno Gattuso must be absolutely raging to see all these countries qualify after his trade on Friday about the injustice of it all. Everyone conspiring to keep Italy out by letting getting these riff raff into the competition.
- [37:35]
Barry Glendenning
Well, that we will never complain about an international break again because it has been absolutely brilliant, as I said, Paul Watson on Tomorrow to sort of flesh out those stories. And that'll do for part two. Felix White will join us in just a second. He's written a book called Whatever Will Be Will Be and he'll tell us all about it in just a second. Welcome to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly. Let's welcome Felix White of the Maccabees Tail Enders books, amongst many other things. How are you, Felix?
- [38:10]
Felix White
Very good. Very happy to be on Guardian Football Weekly, guys. I've been listening for years. I mean, even accosting Barry in pubs years ago in Brixton. So, yeah, I'm very flattered to be on the show. Thank you, guys.
- [38:22]
Barry Glendenning
You're one of those. What's Barry like in real life?
- [38:25]
Jim Burke
Life people. Those.
- [38:26]
Felix White
As he told. As he told the story. As he told you that story. Have you told everyone that story? I just saw him. I was the other side of a bar in Brixton and I saw a personality glowing from the other side of that said bar. And then I was trying to work out what that charisma was. I was like, oh, my God, it's Barry Glenn Denning. So I sort of shuffled over and I think we had two or three pints. We talked about Gaza and something else. We talked about, oh, Dean Wind. Dean Window. So you just done a Dean Windass documentary, Barry? I think you've done this really good documentary.
- [38:59]
Unidentified Panelist
I would say documentary is pushing it a bit, but yes.
- [39:03]
Felix White
Interview, Interview.
- [39:05]
Unidentified Panelist
What happened was Felix asked me if I was Barry Glendenning and we got chatting and then just to be polite, I feigned interest in him and I said, oh, so what do you do? And he said, I'm a musician. And I went, all right, okay. Are you in a band or anything? And he said, yeah, yeah, I'm in a band. And I said, what would I have heard of this band? And he went, I'm in the Maccabees. And I just sort of went, oh, right, okay.
- [39:32]
Barry Glendenning
Although Felix, you know, he did have a pint with Kylie Minogue and Michael Hutchins once and didn't know who they were either. So, you know, you're a pretty good company. Let's talk about your book. Your book is called Whatever Will Be Will Be. It is. I think it's brilliant.
- [39:51]
Felix White
Thank you.
- [39:52]
Barry Glendenning
Beautifully written. How would you describe it? What is it?
- [39:56]
Felix White
Yeah, well, yeah, that's a Good question. Actually, it's something I didn't think about writing until last year when I was on tour, a little bit lost, felt like I needed somewhere to be. And I realized Penrith were playing down the road. And it turned out that it was the extra preliminary round of the FAQ Cup. And the thing that like you might be aware of if you go and watch very lower league football or non league football is sometimes when you're middle of nowhere, you cannot get Ubers or cars. So I couldn't get out of Penrith to the festival and I had an hour to do it to get to stage. And I ended up begging for a lift with the chairman of Penrith, Billy Williams, who, who got me in his car and got me to stage. And when I was in his car, I suddenly thought, this is the beginning of a road trip adventure and I'm at the very first round of the FA Cup. And it suddenly became sort of interesting to me that you could tell the entire story of English football in 15 rounds. It's something we sort. We all know it and we all do the trope quite often that the FA cup, anyone can win it. But actually there is something profound about the fact that the FA cup starts somewhere like Penrith ends at Palace. So that ended up becoming the scope of the story and then finding. Trying to not almost not write about the football at all. There's the odd description of the odd goal, but it's more an articulation about the stories behind the places, what football means, why we love what we love, and trying to accurately describe what it's like going to watch football in all these places.
- [41:22]
Barry Glendenning
I mean, there's so many moments in this book. There's a moment where you are, you know, you talk about football management games in a way that I feel totally seen.
- [41:29]
Felix White
Really.
- [41:29]
Barry Glendenning
There's a way that you bond with this guy Jake over reading out the Wikipedia of a footballer and guessing who it is. And it's Linvoi Primus. And I'm like, oh my. This is literally sort of my existence on a page, you know what I mean?
- [41:43]
Felix White
Oh my God.
- [41:44]
Unidentified Panelist
When I saw the list of clubs, I knew it was Linvoy Primus revealed to be Lin Boy Primus.
- [41:51]
Felix White
Are you shouting Lin Boy Primus? But this is the thing, like, I think with a certain type of person, as you well know, you don't need to know any. You could base an entire friendship for like 40 years on just saying things like Linvoy Primus. You might not even need to know that much about Their life. So I became realization of me and Jake that if we didn't have Linvoy Primus, I'm not sure we would have been such close friends. Insane. But we used to. With the lights out in buses, we used to just name clubs and footballs. That sort of become popularized since, hasn't it? That again, is even a podcast where you do that. But yeah, there's so many things like that. Football, play by mail, football manager. Don't know if you guys remember.
- [42:33]
Barry Glendenning
Play by mail is amazing. I have a vague recollection of play by mail where literally you had people's phone numbers and you would just ring out, you were the manager of what, party thistle. You'd ring up somebody, another human, and buy a footballer.
- [42:46]
Felix White
Like, Max. I was eight. I was eight. I had access to the phone numbers of all these people across the country, assuming they manage Man United or Levsky, Sofia or whoever it is. And you could just randomly phone them up and have these very private conversations with grown men who tell me in future, can you not refer to yourself as manager of Partic Thistle? Because my wife doesn't approve of the game, say, your work colleague. So I have all these covert conversations with men across. But then again, that became like sort of articulation about how football does communicate something between a child and an adult and reverse. And there was something quite sweet about that as well, which sort of of. It goes throughout the book.
- [43:30]
Unidentified Panelist
Felix. You didn't do the traditional thing of sticking with a winning team all the way to the final and following whoever beat them and so on, so on. You just picked a collection of random matches for each round. I thought you captured the essence of dollar chamlet beautifully, by the way. I'm a reasonably regular visitor there, but was there a particular reason for that? Was it just a logistics thing or.
- [43:57]
Advertisement Voice
Or.
- [43:57]
Felix White
Yeah, no, I had the. I did had the classic idea, everyone does, but I'll follow the winner. But then when I did a few rounds and realized, oh, this is a book and a publisher. I'll speak to a publisher, they were like, well, if you get Man City in the third round, then it's not gonna be a very good book, is it? And I thought, oh, so. So at the risk. So it just became an exercise in picking, in, like, just finding the right stories in each round. When you say, Barry, when you say, I've got the essence of Dutch Hamlet, do you. Do you mean that in. Because I was trying. Because I felt it's so easy with Dutch Hamlet to sort of write it off as A sort of fashionista thing. And I tried to write that in a little bit, but there was like almost because in that low league football, there's like something amazing about football at that level where because the crowds aren't as big, you're a bit more isolated to the actual experience of who's watching it. And I think in lots of grounds at that space, it become, you realize, oh, it's a bit of a community center, like a place for people to go that don't have anywhere else to go. A sort of collection of people. I know Hamlet has become a bit sort of cooler than that, but it sort of has all the mergings of all that stuff together, doesn't it? Hamlet?
- [45:05]
Unidentified Panelist
Yeah, I love it up there. It's like 25 minute walk to Champion Hill for me. But it's, it is quite a funny place because there's loads of young couples with. Tarquin is in tow in his.
- [45:22]
Felix White
Exactly.
- [45:22]
Unidentified Panelist
You know, off Road Boggy. And yeah, there's the various sections, but as you point out, they have the big sign up. Everyone in our house is equal. I think that's what it says. But yeah, it's. It's a, A top place.
- [45:38]
Ali Maxwell
Hi, Felix. I. I've never been so sure that the. Almost every listener of Football Weekly will enjoy a book. And specifically this one, having read it yesterday, hoovered it up, no less, on the train. I think that. I think the structure of it, I was reflecting on why I was so desperate to whiz through it. The, the writing itself and the stories, the vulnerability is incredible. But I think the structure of it really helps as well because I think a lot of people like me will be reading it, kind of, kind of knowing what happened to various teams involved in last year's FA cup, but, but sort of can't quite remember. And so you really want to get through it and get to the next chapter and get to the end of the current one. The way that you wrote about loving football as a child, the way that you wrote about loving football and what it means to you now as an adult is, is incredible. And I know a lot of people listening will resonate with that. The championship manager stuff, as Max said, really could not have been more reflection of my.
- [46:34]
Barry Glendenning
Steve Claridge races clear. He rounds the keeper, but somehow misses. You're like.
- [46:41]
Felix White
And it wait for 10 minutes, wouldn't it?
- [46:43]
Ali Maxwell
Yeah, and, and, but, you know, but also, you know, my mum died when I was young. And the way that you wrote about the specifics of childhood grief and it's kind of Long Tail into adulthood, I think was just incredible. So it did kind of, yeah, knock the stuffing out of me, but in a good way. And to top it all off, written by a guy that my brother and I practically worship, because the Maccabees have been our favorite band since 2007 and still are to this day, who we listen to every time we're in the car together, including over the weekend, whose farewell gig I went to. We went to. And the recent comeback as well, at All Points East. So, yeah, a lot of feelings. Nice to meet you.
- [47:20]
Felix White
Nice to meet you too. I want to clip that all up and put it on the back of a paperback, actually. Ali, if that's all right. Everything you just said, that is so sweet. That's so lovely, man. And yet, especially just quickly about the. About my mum died when I was young. That became a sort of exploration on why I support Fulham. And that was something that I really wasn't sure I was going to say in the book, because I do genuinely have still quite a lot of shame and guilt that I supported Chelsea when I was about 7, 8, 9. And I made a disconscious decision, having been told by football that the original sin, the only sin, is that you cannot change clubs. Once you have a club, you have a club. But because my mum was from Palestine and my dad not really interested in football in the Isle of Wight, I hadn't been handed a football team. But my mum and uncle were from Palestine and moved a lot around in the Middle east. And my uncle had decided because realizing, as we all sort of do, but football communicates more than most other things. This is who I am, this is where I belong, this is where I'm from. And he was desperate to be from a place, so he just decided, for no reason, like pinning a tail on a donkey type thing, that he supported wolves. Never been. He's from Palestine. And then. And then my mum, because she. Because she had heard that her dad now lived in Bromley west, said that she supported West Brom because she thought they were the same thing. And like, even though obviously that's, like, really funny, it also spoke to their total displacement and not being from a place. So then it became interesting to me that when I was young, they hadn't handed me a club and my uncle took me to Chelsea and I felt like I sported Chelsea, but something didn't feel right. And I begged my dad to go somewhere and when Fulham were in the bottom tier, he took me to Fulham because I was begging him to go to a place and he thought, oh, it's a inverted commas, nice club. And something about Fulham Football Club and Craven Cottage. When I went there, I genuinely think the place spoke to me and it said, this is a place that will hold your loss, disappointment, hurt. This is a place that you can come and do your feeling and you will not be judged and it's going to be a sort of safe spot for you. And then that has become really interesting to me decades later that my mum was, was seriously ill and she was about to die of having Ms. And I. I would have moments when I would go to Fulham and I would be actually hoping that they'd lose. I wouldn't be telling anyone, but I'd have this weird guilty thing. But I would be like, almost like an addict thinking, God, I hope we concede a last minute win, a loser here, sort of thing. They score. And then I realised after, after time that Fulham was giving me a sort of very digestible version of the feeling that I was trying to process. The feeling of loss. That like funereal feeling or that. That kind of sense of everyone aligning with your insides. So it became, that became really interesting to me that I chose Fulham because I needed it at that time. And I think more often than not we get told that we get given clubs and lots of people do, by families. But actually often people are choosing a club for a certain reason and I think there's quite. There are subconscious reasons. Those clubs speak to you in different ways for things you're looking for as a child. And I genuinely think that's what Fulham gave me.
- [50:49]
Unidentified Panelist
Felix, he got in early to give your nephew to lumber him with Fulham as well. Yes, and there's a beautiful line in the book. So I think he must be eight now, but one of the games he went to last season was Fulham getting beaten by palace in the quarter final of the corner up. And you, you gave your nephew Jet a Fulham jersey every year of his life. And you have a line in the book, he said instead of giving Jet Fulham shirts, I should have just handed him a big box of sadness.
- [51:25]
Jim Burke
Fantastic.
- [51:27]
Felix White
Like a prepackaged one. Just have it all down. Yeah, that was like.
- [51:32]
Unidentified Panelist
And then when they lost against palace, that seemed to be young Jet's first real encounter with genuine disappoint, crushing disappointment. And there'll be plenty more of that for him, I'm sure, in, in the years to come.
- [51:47]
Felix White
Oh yeah, there will be. Yeah. But that like when that happened, he was really staring into the void. And as you know, because we got beat three nil. There was, like about 10 minutes to really process the reality of what happened. So just watching him, watching him deal with, for the first time, the way football tells you, something's gonna happen in front of you that you are gonna feel very betrayed by, but there's nothing you're gonna be able to do to affect it. You'll just have to sit there and watch it. And how football does that again and again and against you, and the first time it happens to you as a child, it's really like you're sort of looking around going, like, what is no one gonna. I don't understand. Like, no one's gonna change that for me type thing. You can't believe that it's played out as it has. But the thing with Jet was, it became interesting to me is that because he doesn't have the reasons for choosing Fulham that I did, and he's just been handed it. He desperately wants Fulham to win. So suddenly now I find watching Fulham unbearable because I need Fulham to win four jets. Do you know what I mean? I need him to be happy. So it made me feel a bit like, oh, this must be what it's like being a parent or almost witnessing your own wants. Because actually, that's what happens so often in relationships or whatever, especially people, you know, and people that become islands a little bit, but don't necessarily commit to more domesticised situations or relationships because they say, I don't want it. It's not, you know, X, Y and Z is wrong with it, but actually they probably want it so badly. So I started thinking about my. My want for Fulham to lose and think actually that was probably because it was unbearable to me to need them to win, if that's what I'm getting psychoanalytical now. But, yeah, that sort of. All these trails the book takes.
- [53:25]
Max
Felix. I haven't read the book yet, but just based on what you were saying there, did you. Did you kind of let on what you were doing, like, as you got through the rounds? Because, you know, I do a lot of lower league and non league stuff and it's always a bit of a sell when I'm trying to, like, get something for sky, for example, because, you know, we're all Premier League, but then you go and you see so much heart and you see what a football club means and the belonging there, and then you get the red carpet. I get a little bit, you know, and you get to meet everyone really easily and stuff, and you meet all these crazy characters. Did you kind of go in completely blind and not tell anyone or did you kind of go, hey guys, I'm doing this?
- [54:02]
Felix White
I would join what. I had that experience this year when I went to Brackley because BBC had me at half time to do something and that was amazing, like having the red carpet thing for that. But the whole purpose of the book was that I was trying to be almost anonymous. So I was trying to really just watch people and like tell what the experience was. So there's nothing, there's none of that. Like, as the rounds went on, it was tempting to be like, oh, shall I see if I can get press for X Y's? But you want to sort of be the mix and seeing it. So especially in those low, like a lot of those low league games, I'm almost trying to like hide myself in a corner and just watch these sort of strange interactions that play out and people that don't know each other at the start of a game and then at 4:45 they've got this whole history of complex interactions between each other and like, dislike or like. The thing I always think about in Penrith is they always. There was this in the second half of the game between Penrith and Pickering. Even though it's playing out, the two dugouts just became obsessed with who had possession of the spare ball. So you'd have like. So the assistant would be like holding the ball behind his back. And then the other manager was sent his assistant to go and try and knock the ball out of that assistant's hand to get it back. And they were having this little like Scrabble for the ball. So I didn't have the red carpet like you sunny, but maybe, maybe we can go to lower league in the future. We can. You. You can show me the smoked sand sandwiches.
- [55:30]
Ali Maxwell
Yeah.
- [55:30]
Max
I should, I should say by the way, that the red carpet in lower league there isn't even a carpet.
- [55:35]
Felix White
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's not red.
- [55:37]
Max
The sponsors lounge at best might be just a random porter cabin with a little like electric heater.
- [55:42]
Felix White
Love it.
- [55:42]
Ali Maxwell
Yeah.
- [55:42]
Barry Glendenning
I mean, you're also not a rock star, Sonny. I hate to say it.
- [55:47]
Max
That Sky Sports microphone, you know, responsibility.
- [55:51]
Felix White
That's true.
- [55:51]
Max
And actually feeling.
- [55:52]
Barry Glendenning
What is. I mean, I don't know like if you feel lucky about this, but like for the FA cup final to be what it was and to be palace winning it and you know, we started this pod with just talking about. Half of us were in tears and I'm not even a Scot, I'm not Scottish at all, but you know I'm sitting in a cafe in Melbourne, like crying when Kenny MacLean scored that the same I've watched, I've watched so many videos of that full time whistle when palace win just to see what it means. This whole generation, this whole fan base who've never won anything before and just seeing the disbelief, like, I know at the time and like when you write about it, you're clearly just there going, this is amazing. I don't know if part of you is going, God, that's great for the book that City haven't, you know, Man City haven't beaten Liverpool 2 nil. You know, like, yeah, perfect for you. Right?
- [56:39]
Felix White
Well, yeah. Do you know what it was like? It's so, it's interesting because at the time I wasn't, I was just so jealous. But then when I reflected on it, I was like, oh, that the book would have not been like, it wouldn't have been a very good book if Man City had won it. Because the whole essence of the book is like searching for that magic. So if palace hadn't won that tournament, it would have been a very flat ending to the book. And like, honestly, that being inside with those palace fans, that is the. It is the most supernatural thing I've ever seen in my life. It would. When I think back to it, you know when you see old American videos of like gospel churches and people were just weeping or like wailing, shouting, Jesus. And they're all in their own little private universes, but together, like, you know, like all these exorcisms, like when I think about it, it was like that, but in a very sort of southeast London way. People not knowing what having a feeling that not only they had never had before in their lives, but their parents, their grandparents, etc, had never had before. And it's simultaneously not knowing what to do with it, but being completely overwhelmed with feeling. So yeah, that was that when I think about that. And it is a trope that gets used a lot, but it was, it did make you think, oh, football is religious. It genuinely was a religious experience where they were almost communicating with all the people that hadn't seen that. And especially because that palace theme was so good. And they look, and they looked like for some weird reason, I don't know, because of the kits at the moment are sort of throwbacks in a way, but because of what they're wearing, they looked like the 1990 team to me. It looks like you're watching Ian Wright and Mark Bright a little bit. It's almost like, I mean, you could Put a sketch over them and they looked. Felt very similar. So there was all kinds of, like, synergies. That. That was. Yes. Yeah. Beautiful day.
- [58:28]
Barry Glendenning
I mean, I haven't forgiven that 1919 for knocking Cambridge out of the quarterfinals unjustly. A Jeff Thomas miss hit worse than his chip. Worse than that chip that went up. But it's okay.
- [58:37]
Felix White
You know, was that on that run? Cambridge got quarterfinals and that, that run, because Cambridge will quite. Was that Dion Dublin? Dublin's Cambridge. Wow.
- [58:45]
Barry Glendenning
It was Dion Beck. Dion Dublin's Cambridge. You know, I've talked about that enough, Felix. We don't need this again. Hey, the book is called Whatever Will Be Will Be wherever you buy your books. But thank you so much, Felix. It's. It's a great read and I encourage everyone to go and buy it and read it. Thank you, Felix.
- [59:02]
Felix White
Thank you. And just quickly to say I love your show. It's incredible. So I listen to it all the time without fail. So. Yeah, nice one.
- [59:10]
Max
Which one?
- [59:14]
Felix White
Yeah, I normally do the previews right.
- [59:17]
Barry Glendenning
Now, but you can listen to all the other ones as well if you like, Felix. But that is great. We appreciate it. It's nice. It's nice to. It's nice to hear that. That'll do for everyone as well. So thank you, Felix. Thank you, Barry.
- [59:28]
Jim Burke
Thank you.
- [59:29]
Barry Glendenning
Thank you, Ali.
- [59:30]
Ali Maxwell
Thank you very much.
- [59:31]
Barry Glendenning
Cheers.
- [59:32]
Max
Cheers. Thank you.
- [59:33]
Barry Glendenning
Football Weekly is produced by Tayo Papula. Our executive producer is Phil Maynard. We'll be back tomorrow.
- [59:52]
Felix White
This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy to see if you could save when you bundle your home and auto policies. Try it@progressive.com Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states.
- [60:11]
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