Barry Glendenning (3:18)

In the production meeting debrief, they'll be like, never get that miserable. We wanted someone bouncing off the walls. This is the happiest I've ever heard you, John.

John Brewin (3:26)

Well, yeah, yeah, this is it, you see. I mean, it obviously wasn't familiar with my work, but it was Macclesford as a club and Sam has spent quite a bit of time, has always struggled because it's in one of the greatest catchment areas for football in the world. I think we can say that United and City are just up the road. You've got Stoke City. We're a Premier League club that's only 15, 16 miles away. And Everton and Liverpool are not far away either. And Mac was. Had a pro non league history had to fight for its own identity and now enters history, you know, as this new club, as this Phoenix club with this brilliant victory with. You know, you mentioned that the goal scorer, Dawson, I mean he set it off from the very start, didn't he? Bleeding like Terry Butcher from, from the. You know, and just, just. It's a clash of heads of which he sold it on as if unaffected. And just, you know, I think palace were surprised by how sunny it gets in Macclesfield. I think that was part of it. They were surprised by the 4G pitch and they just got. They were beaten by, it has to be said, the better team. And we could go over palace, but you know that I'm a big Adam Wharton fan. Yeah, yeah. But I'm not sure I'd have him in A, in a 6 aside on a 4G. The surface just didn't seem to suit him, did it, Matt? Were Brilliant. And the work they've done and the. The remembrance of Ethan McLeod, there wasn't a hair out of place with what. Credit to Rob Smithers, credit to everybody at the club. It's good to be Mac and, and.

Barry Glendenning (5:01)

Barry like it is. It is like statistically the biggest ever FA cup upset. And it's quite hard, I think we've sort of talked about this before and other things to sort of realize you're witnessing history. Like to put this with Ronnie Radford and Sutton United and all those, but that is 117 league places between these side, you know, palace, the holders of the FA Cup. It's ridiculous.

Baz (5:23)

Yeah. And by a strange quirk, the last time the holders were knocked out by a non league side was 117 years ago and the holders in question were Wolves and the side that knocked them out were Palace. So it's just one of those little coincidences football throws up. I have actually seen people on social media try to denigrate Macclesfield's achievement by pointing out that, oh well, Crystal palace didn't feel the full strength side, so it doesn't count as a proper joint and killing. You'd have to have a heart made out of coal or flint to think that and to try and in any way disparage an absolutely monumental achievement. I love the FA Cup. I love FA cup shocks. I can remember all the biggies and this is right, right up there. And probably, as you say, statistically, literally the biggest. There has never been a bigger gap and palace were the holders. I'm so pleased for John Rooney as well because I was quite moved when I read last week that when Ethan McLeod tragically lost his life a few weeks ago, Rooney made the decision to ring each member of his squad individually and tell them this terrible news. That cannot have been an easy thing to do and it's something he didn't have to do. A huge tip of the hat to him for that. And being John Rooney must be difficult because you're Wayne Rooney's brother and all anyone ever wants to talk to you about is Wayne Rooney and you weren't as good as football as your brother. And for him to have this moment where his moment in the sun that will forever be remembered, I think is lovely as well. So hats off to Macclesfield. I thought it was just a great, great story.

Barry Glendenning (7:25)

Yeah. And actually like, it was really lovely seeing how emotional Wayne Rooney was not to make it about him, you know, and how proud of his brother he was. And it's always Sam, injury time and the final whistle and just the moment when the fans know, right? And like there was a couple when they were like, okay, this is it. I think War bank went over the bar and you're like, this is it. And then the ref played on and then it ended up with Dawson. Just any anywhere. And then the full time whistle goes and just that is such an amazing moment.

Sam Dalling (7:54)

And all the stewards saying, oh like please stay off the pitch, no pitch invasions. And yet the owner is the first one on there. So like what are you going to do if your owners on the pitch? There's just as John said, I spent a lot of time around Macclesfield. I was up there on Thursday actually with them training. And for all those who denigrate the achievement, people forget Mac were missing poor Danny Elliott, their top scorer in the competition. He got hattick earlier in the round. I felt for him. I think he knew he was never going to play but had to do all the pre match media stuff because they didn't want palace to have too much of an insight into their team selection. I mean that club, it's just the heartbeat of the community again. Like if you go down to the ground, they've done it up beautifully. There's a huge bar that's used for functions all the time. There's a gym there, there's people every day. John Rooney, I spoke to him on Thursday and he was just so proud about being able to stand on the touchline because he started his career at the old Macclesfield Town. One of his first games, he came on in the 90th minute of the FA cup third round game against Everton back in a long time ago.

John Brewin (8:54)

He finished his playing career 2009, Sam.

Sam Dalling (8:57)

2009 was it? And he got promoted.

John Brewin (8:59)

I, I was there, yes, yes.

Sam Dalling (9:01)

He's got Francis Jeffers as well as his assistant who, who brings a. A lot of humor, likes to sit in the background. Didn't really want to speak because he said, no, no, this is all about John who has got the most beautiful white smile by the way that those teeth. I've never seen a whiter set of Nashes than John Rooney's. But yeah, so he finished and he wasn't. You know, Robbie Savage left last minute. John Rooney was in the gym on a Sunday just before going back to preseason on Monday, preparing as a player and by the Tuesday he was taking training. So I mean it's just so full of stories. The Ethan McLeod tragedy and the players, they were at an away game and McLeod drove home and the team Coach was in a traffic jam and they actually drove past the accident unbeknownst to them at the time that Ethan was involved. So like just the character they have shown. Paul Dawson's a brilliant footballer. I tell you what, he's had a hell of a week. He scored the winner against Radcliffe burgh on his birthday on Tuesday. Go and look at that goal. It is an absolutely brilliant strike. And that was after he and his teammates had spent time shoveling snow off the pitch to get this game on. They paid for their own covers, they needed to pitch to get covers. So they ended up training alongside students at Manchester Met. It's just one of those proper non league stories. It's brilliant for them. Yeah.

Barry Glendenning (10:14)

And John also like the. We mentioned the Dawson goal, like the Buckley Rickets. It took like 25 minutes to dribble in. How brilliant. It's one of those where we all know it's going in but we're all waiting. Just waiting and waiting.

John Brewin (10:27)

Just an incredible piece of improvisation. He sort of almost redirected himself in the air, didn't he? And then it, it sort of bobbled in along the. You're picking up those little 4G pellets as it, as it, as it rolled in. Yeah. It's interesting you mentioned that. A friend of mine that was at the game, Paul sent me a video of those final minutes from in the crowd and just listening to the anxiety of people. There is quite a moment and there was a lot of self policing going on. A couple of people sort of went a bit early and tried to get on the pitch. It's like no, no, you get back off and just. I've been at those games at Mac in the old days where you know they've won FA trophies and it's one of those places where they're always going to go on the pitch and you know they did and it was great to see Rob Smethurst leading the charge. I mean on a 4G pitch you're not going to spoil the pitch, are you? So why not get on there and celebrate and enjoy.

Barry Glendenning (11:23)

Tell us a bit about Rob Smethurst, John.

John Brewin (11:25)

Yeah, Rob's a local lad actually a friend of my sister knows the family quite well. He is a local, made his money in the motor trade, was very successful business and then decided on a whim to when the club went down, the old club went down back in 2020 decided to buy the club off. Rightmove. Now the way that Rob tells it is that he was on in the middle of a four day session. Sessions have been part of Rob's makeup until quite recently. I think he's forced to run that actually at the moment, so. Or perhaps, perhaps forever. Hopefully forever. Just decided to do it on a whim. He's good friends with Robbie Savage from, you know, the kids going to the same school and all that down in the sort of Cheshire Village community. And the first thing they did actually, and this was the thing that. That Rob and those around him, and he would give credit to many of those around him, and they deserve it, The. The unnamed people, is that that 4G pitch restored the club to the. To the community because people could play on it, people could visit it. The bar that you mentioned, I watched Euro 2020 in the old club had lost touch with the town. It's on the edge of town. It's on the southern tip of the town You. You might not like. Cambridge United's ground is a bit out of the sound, you know, it's. It's sort of. It's. Yeah, yeah, you'd miss it if you weren't going there, if you see what I mean. And, yeah, what they've done is they've restored it to the. The town and people are proud of that club again and go to that club and use it. And it's part of the. The how the town works. And it had lost that. And in creating and thinking through the business of it, he's put £4 million of his own money in. He's created a success story. I know recently that he's. He's moved. There are other owners involved and he said that he taken it as far as he can, but he was front and center, deservedly so, on this. The greatest of all moments and, you know, whatever happens now, Macclesfield had this moment and, you know, I did want them to draw United in the next round, but that obviously relied on Manchester United actually winning a game. So that was not. Was not going to happen. There's a line in a Mac in a Maclad's album, and excuse the language for one second, in which Mutley McLad, the singer, says, wait till you get ma town in fourth round. Play a real team. There's a bit of Mac accent for you.

Baz (13:46)

It's lovely.

Barry Glendenning (13:47)

I mean, for Palace. For Palace, B, like, credit to them for giving their gate receipts to Macclesfield. You know, we'll get on to City not giving extra theirs in in a bit. I suppose if you're a Palace fan, you take this, given what happened last year, you know, if you said, look, you'll Win it, you'll win it. But then the next year you'll go out to this. You'd be like you. They, they can't be disappointed with their two years of FA cup ness.

Baz (14:07)

No, they both be remembered for very different reasons. They were dismal. They deserved to lose. This wasn't a backs against the wall, hang in there, lads, performance. They were well beaten. I thought Oliver Gassner made all the right noises after the game. He said, look, we're disappointed, I'm embarrassed. He congratulated Macclesfield. One of those things. I mean, these upsets are always possible. I didn't see this one happening. I thought the gulf between the sides is too big. I think it's to point out to any of our listeners outside the UK who might not be aware, like Macclesfield are a part time team. They train twice a week. All their players have proper jobs in inverted comments. So this is huge. Palace fans will be annoyed, but they'll, I'd imagine they'll get over it pretty quickly if they haven't got it over it already. But it is an embarrassing bluff to have in your copybook. Yeah.

Barry Glendenning (15:06)

I mean, they could still win the Conference League, couldn't they? And go out to Mactan in the same season.

John Brewin (15:10)

I was at West Ham yesterday and a pal of mine who works for another publication had to put in the call to Crystal palace because they had a photo of Oliver Glasner out in Soho on Saturday night, you know, and he's like, yeah, yeah, yeah. And there was a picture of him, like, having a drink and he didn't, you know, it was. What, how is he, what is he supposed to do? I, I don't really know. I mean, it didn't look like he was having like, you know, the world's best time. He was just there. But, you know, I, I. Is he supposed to just lock himself away for.

Baz (15:46)

Yes. Some, some football fans seem to think that's exactly what you're supposed to do.

Barry Glendenning (15:51)

Mind you, if you're him, you're. Sorry. Soho. So busy after. I'd just been knocked out by Mactan. I would have just gone to the local, to be honest. But, you know, maybe he lives in Soho, I don't know.

Baz (16:01)

He's obviously being paid very well if he can afford to drink.

Barry Glendenning (16:06)

There's a Sam Smith pub there. I think you could just, just do just about. All right. If you pick wise.

John Brewin (16:11)

I'd be feeling rough in the morning.

Barry Glendenning (16:13)

Of course, Sam, since you spent time with them, just. Any other thoughts on Mactown before we Move on.

Sam Dalling (16:17)

I mean, I just echo what John says, like the, the youth system. There's about 400 kids play for their youth teams. They've got an international academy. Like Rob does so much. He's just a really nice, genuine man. He's got time for everybody and the club. He's always. And I think there's a few things in the pipeline as well, but they're always trying to extend their reach to try and bring people into it. Just on Palace. I feel really sorry for their fans. Obviously they won the FA cup. Absolutely wonderful. But this should have been their big celebration season. They win the FA cup, they get into the Europa League and now all of a sudden they're in the Conference League. They're sort of treading water, aren't they? They're just waiting. They're in this season of where they're waiting for their manager, the best manager they've arguably ever had to leave and their best player, Mark A is going to run down his contract. So it's just. It must be a really weird season for palace fans like turning up, I was going to say week after week, but they've played so many games, it's like twice, two, three times a week and just nothing's really happening for them. I reckon a lot of them would have gone. Yeah, we saw that coming on Saturday.

Barry Glendenning (17:17)

Barry, while this was on, you opted to watch Everton Sunderland in full again. We'll dedicate maybe five seconds to on today's podcast some familiar faces in the penalties missed column.

Baz (17:28)

Yeah, this, it was an okay game actually. Sunderland deserved to win. They were the only team trying to win the game. They went a goal up. Wonderful strike from Enzo. Volley from outside the box. Just curled volley. Beautiful. So that made up for his penalty miss during the week. The Panenka Everton got a penalty. It shouldn't have been a penalty but they got it and they scored it late doors game went to pens. Robin Roof saved all three of Evertons. I'd have saved all three of them and I would have saved all three of them. It's not an exaggeration. Anyone would have saved them. They were terrible. And needless to say, Beto and Tierno Barry were two of the guilty parties. Terrible penalties and the only thing I supposed to say from this good win for Sunderland and Everton fans were very upset with me at the start of the season when I suggested they'd be relegated. They're having a much better season than I thought they would. But Everton fans seem to be very unhappy with their team with their lack of squad depth and they were ravaged here by suspension, injury and Afcon. I think it was eight or nine first team regulars missing or unavailable for whatever reason. And they seem to be getting very unhappy with David Moyes. So it'll be interesting to see how their season pans out.

Barry Glendenning (18:52)

All right, that'll do for part one. Part two, we'll begin at the Etihad.

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Barry Glendenning (19:34)

Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly. So, Manchester City 10, Exeter 1. I mean, not a surprise here, gentlemen, but A team scoring 10 is always a headline. And Sam, you were, you were there, Sam, and you spent the day with Exeter. What a good luck charm. Will they ask you back again? It's a lovely piece you've written, by the way. Sort of behind the scenes.

Sam Dalling (19:53)

Thank you. I was very lucky. I was essentially on Exter's back room staff for the day. If you don't ask, you don't get.

Baz (19:59)

And.

Sam Dalling (19:59)

And they let me in. And by the way, Cities XG, I don't know if you've seen it. 2.2, 3, like for 10 goals, has there ever been a bit of a difference yet? 10 shots on target, 10 goals. They did score some screamers and, you know, you felt for Exeter because, you know, at 5, 6, nil, they're bringing on do Bernardo Silva. So, like, they didn't expect that strength for side, but yeah, they let me in. And Gary Cold Wells, this ambitious young manager, he had a really good career, won the SPL a couple of times with Celtic, won the FA cup himself with Wiggins.

John Brewin (20:27)

I was there.

Sam Dalling (20:27)

They went to Carrington on Friday with Manchester United and Caldwell knows Fletcher very well from their Scotland days, so they trained there. And then they let me just completely in. And I tell you what, one of these, the staff, well, I always feel for everyone in that situation because no one really wants a journalist, right, hanging around there. But they were all so welcoming to me. Everyone took the time to have a chat, say hello, introduce themselves. And one of these coaches, a guy called Dan Green, said to me, like, you wait until the gaffer Speaks like, you will really see something. And yeah, it was like Braveheart. Like just a couple of. He would properly run through any, a wall of any material for this man. It was just a couple of minutes. It was really concise short points and he was so eloquent. Like at halftime the players were a bit shell shocked and he laid into them and said like it was a lack of commitment to the game plan. They'd worked so hard. They treated it like it was any other game. It was funny watching them training on Friday and he was shouting instructions and he's going, oh, and if their nine does this. And I'm thinking you just, it's Erling Haaland and you're just calling him their number nine, which I just thought was fantastic. And he just knew the right things to say. There was a guy called Jack McMillan who has played every minute for Exeter pretty much this season. He got injured in training midweek, so wasn't out of it. So just 10 seconds of his pre game speech was about like, if you're gonna do it for anyone, do it for Jack. So he just made everyone feel part of it. And at the end I just basically said, look, you guys are not going to be defined by this and if you learn from this, it'll be a good experience. And he talked about how simple he was. Like, they weren't flashy man city, they were just brilliant. We just have to learn from it. And it was like a lesson. I think the players, he does it quite a lot, he asks questions, he's interactive, he wants them to come back at him. Yeah, it was, it was a fantastic day. I mean, to get to. To be walking around the tunnel and see all that going on. And sadly, I didn't quite get the invite to go in with Pep Guardiola for a glass of wine afterwards, which I guess is fair enough, you know, maybe next time. But to be around. They were watching the players when they got there and they were warming up, stretching in the dressing room. They were watching that Macclesfield game on the screen and the cheer when the second goal went in, it was like a. They were just well behind Mack. But also there was this little bit of maybe we can, maybe, maybe we can do it. And at the end, the thing that Caldwell did draw out was George Birch, who's one of their academy lads, who scored that left footed screamer and he said, look, I have Never celebrated goal 9 nil down like that. And the whole staff did. But he'd been on loan at Western Super Mare until Two days ago he'd only just come, they called him back in and he just, it was all about courage and the way he played. But yeah, to get that insight, I mean those Manchester City dressing rooms, it's like a maze in there. There's four or five different room and you've got. They put more pizza in after the game. I think they must have left 34 pizzas in their Exeter. They were well looked after and I know some people give them a bit of criticism on social media when they've put on posts saying oh yeah, really like we love the experience but like all right they lost 101 but that can happen. But they, it's enjoyed the right word I think for, for a lot of those players it's the biggest thing that they will ever get to see and you know, people excited about swapping shirts and things like that. But Coldwell and his team like you've Exeter have the lowest budget in League one and he's got them pretty much to mid table three years in a row and I think that's a big achievement.

Barry Glendenning (23:52)

Just quickly SAM on Because palace gave their gate receipts to Maglesfield it doesn't mean man City have to give their gate receipts to Exeter but Exeter are fan owned and they did ask for it because it wasn't put on TV which was sort of quite surprising really. I guess TV companies would say well look, the result was, you know, the result was the result so it proved correct. But a lot of games, you know, Cambridge, Birmingham was on tv. I mean like I love Cambridge but that's a weird choice, isn't it? So, so should we criticize City for not, you know, giving Exeter some money?

Baz (24:22)

Could I interject and say we should criticize Exeter or whoever asked City, that's who should be criticized.

Sam Dalling (24:30)

Yeah, they made it very public.

Barry Glendenning (24:31)

Okay, carry on.

Baz (24:32)

Both. So my understanding it was, it was the Supporters Trust who asked and they asked publicly and I think if they'd asked privately City might well have given them the money. But because they asked publicly it's almost like they're trying to shame them into giving them the money. So I think Citi were dead right to say no. Who knows Citi may in the course of time go actually here you go, do it quietly. They probably won't but they might. But no, I think the Supporters Trust, if that is who asked, made this public request for the money, we're wrong to do that.

Sam Dalling (25:06)

Yeah, I think there's that Supporters Trust own extra. City and the Exeter aren't in the sort of financial peril they were in 20 years ago when they got that draw up at Old Trafford and then the replay, which effectively saved the club. But the Supporters Trust has, I think, loaned the club about 600 grand since last summer. So, yeah, doing it publicly. You hear a lot about footballers who do these acts of charity, but the sort of stipulation is, like, don't tell anybody, like, I don't want the publicity for it. You don't want to set a precedent. Right. Because if you do it once and you have to do it every time, all this pressure on you, like, is it fair on the other League One clubs? I don't know. But also, and this is not knocking Crystal palace at all, it's brilliant what they did. But what are the sums of money we're talking about here? It's all very well, it's probably much easier to give up half of 5,000 tickets at a maximum of 30 quid ahead when a lot of them are kids, as opposed to 40, 50,000, including a whole load of hospitality and things. So very different sums. I'm with Barry a little bit. Yeah. I think you can't set a precedent and I think if you're going to do it, do it quietly. Don't try and push someone into a position, because I think if someone tries to push me into something, I know what my natural instinct is and it's to nudge them back a little bit harder. Not physically, metaphorically.

Baz (26:20)

On a lighter note, when George Burch scored that wonderful goal for Exeter on Match of the day, Conor McNamara said that at least Exeter fans could talk about his goal all the way home on the bus. Now we have to try and get through 30 games in an hour. Today it's 241 miles from the Etihad to Exeter's ground and it takes four hours and 16 minutes to get there. I think halfway through our four. If so, the clock next to me is still talking about George Birch's goal.

Barry Glendenning (26:55)

I'd be inclined to.

Baz (26:57)

To ask him to stop him.

Barry Glendenning (26:59)

To Old Trafford there. Man United 1, Brighton 2, Rosses. Now, in the midst of a season consisting of only 40 games, the fewest they've played since 1914, 15, should Manchester United take advantage of the additional time on the training ground and experiment with three at the back? Yes, John. Another defeat. The Darren Fletcher era is over. The breaking news is that Michael Carrick is the favorite, not Solskjaer, to get the gig. What did you make of this game?

John Brewin (27:23)

FC Buzz Killington to the rescue. Again, not a particular surprise. The Sight of Danny Welbeck against Manchester United is one of dread.

Baz (27:35)

Always.

John Brewin (27:35)

Always. Why oh why oh why oh why oh why did they ever sell him? I still think that he's, he's a Manchester lad. He loved the club and all that. And Brighton are just the type of team that makes mincemeat out of this Manchester United team at the moment, which is obviously very confused. And yeah, that, that statistic that this will be the fewest games played since the outbreak of World War I or whatever is incredibly stark. But can they find some way of making it fewer games? I mean, could they just sort of not play the other games? Just stop? Is there, is there. Should they just say, right, we, we're done here and that, that's it. I mean it, you know, they can't get relegated? I don't think so. You know, do they just say that's it, we packing up for the season.

Barry Glendenning (28:26)

And just like Sunday League, Sunday League. You get an email on the Saturday night going, oh, they, you know, they can't raise a team so you get three nil.

John Brewin (28:33)

They're disbanded. Yeah, they've dis. Yeah. I mean it's just I feel sorry for, for Darren Fletcher. You know, I briefly had this, this flash of, ah, a manager with a Scottish accent. That's. That feels reassuring. But then I remembered that they also had another manager with a Scottish accent. That wasn't so reassuring. Yeah, poor Fletch. Welcome the new caretaker. It feels like something I say every year because it is, I mean, Welbeck's.

Barry Glendenning (29:00)

Second Welbeck's goal was brilliant once. He does really well for the first go as well. But his finish is so, so good. Eight goals in 19 games against Manchester United. Cesco made it 2 1. And then Barry late on, Shay Lacey is sent off. I mean his first yellow could have been a red. Then he, then he, you know, throws the ball away and he looked so sad. It was like looking at my 3 year old when you tell him, no more Thomas the Tank Engine. Like this tiny guy crying and I'll match the day. They were like, oh, you know, I, I think you shouldn't send him off because he's young. It doesn't really work like that. But he did feel for the lady.

Baz (29:36)

I didn't.

Barry Glendenning (29:37)

Okay, well, that heart of granite is back.

Baz (29:40)

I guess I'm of an age where any misfortune that befalls Manchester United or anyone connected with them is always welcome. I suppose the ref could conceivably, as some people have argued, shown him some leniency because he's young, but that's not how these things work. And he seemed genuinely baffled when the second yellow came out. He kept going, what for? What for? And he must have known what it was for. He. He lost his head in a little way and. And threw the ball away in frustration. And that is a booking. Some refs don't give it. Some do. And I can't remember who was the ref was, but Simon Hooper, I think. Simon Hooper. That's it. Yeah. Yeah. It was a bald northern ref.

Barry Glendenning (30:30)

Of course it was. Yeah.

Sam Dalling (30:32)

He had a worse weekend than his brother who played for Matt at left back. It was a mixed weekend for the Lacy brothers. He's going to be some player. I saw someone on.

Barry Glendenning (30:40)

Oh, he looks good.

Sam Dalling (30:41)

Yeah, yeah. He came on against Burnley midweek and I hit the bar, but I saw someone on social media. He put this apology up on social media and someone picked up and was like, it's great, you have an apology. But the fact he'd taken time to put free pictures of himself walking off the pitch underneath the apology, it's just like. Like if you're really apologizing, is that. Well, you are. You probably is genuinely apologizing. But you can see his PR team have probably gone through and found the three best picks of him being sent off to add to his apology, which is just modern football.

John Brewin (31:08)

Yeah.

Barry Glendenning (31:08)

I will do everything I can to make it right. I mean, come on. He's all right. It's just a red card. Yes, john.

John Brewin (31:13)

So he's 18 and he's got a PR team.

Sam Dalling (31:16)

Well, I don't know.

John Brewin (31:17)

I'm guessing. Okay. Game's gone. Game's gone.

Barry Glendenning (31:19)

Well, we don't know yet. Possible his mom, anyway. Maybe he doesn't. Grant's. Grant says when discussing Spurs Villa. Can we spend a bit of time talking about the two great Villa goals and how well they dug in during the second half rather than another spurs post mortem. I would love to not do another spurs post mortem, John, but I'm worried that's the direction of travel with this game.

John Brewin (31:39)

It's a Spurs story, I'm afraid, isn't it? You know, I did think, actually, and I heard a wild rumor last night, not particularly wild if you think about it. And I did think we were going to have to talk about Thomas Frank being sacked instead of Macclesfield's triumph, which rather annoyed me, but it turns out that hasn't happened yet. There is some confusion.

Baz (32:00)

Wait till 10 o'.

Sam Dalling (32:01)

Clock.

John Brewin (32:01)

Wait till 10 o'.

Baz (32:02)

Clock. Yeah, yeah, it's only eight minutes tonight.

John Brewin (32:05)

Okay. Yeah, good point, Baz. Yeah. There is confusion, I am told, at the club over what to do, which wouldn't be the first time that's been a state of affairs. It's. It's a terrible mess. As I've spoken many times in the past, I was a huge admirer of Thomas Frank at Brentford. He hasn't found the key to whatever the riddle at Tottenham is. Neither is anybody else, really, for quite a long time now. The club's change of ownership or change of leadership hasn't really produced any change of. Well, it's. The club is even more directionless than it was before that. That appears to be the big problem. Thomas Frank is the guy that bears the brunt of it. His team aren't playing well enough. We've spoken many times about how at that stadium is a seething well of discontent. And so it proved, again, well done, Aston Villa. Their season continues to be really good. We probably don't praise Aston Villa enough. I agree with the original email. Let's just say they're having a brilliant season. They've got a brilliant manager. Enjoy it, Aston Villa fans. You deserve to. But spurs, it. Spurs, West Ham at the weekend, isn't it? I'm gonna be there. Oh, man alive, I'm gonna be there. You know, I mean, it's gonna be a real cheery occasion, isn't it? I think. Yeah.

Barry Glendenning (33:25)

I mean, I. The thing is, Sam, like. Like you. You have to give a manager time at some point. Like, it's not enough time. But then why would you give the wrong manager loads of time? Like, that's.

Baz (33:34)

That's.

Barry Glendenning (33:35)

That's the difficult thing, I think, because Frank is so nice and he's so affable and you think, God, I really want it to work for this guy. But maybe that's just not how this thing works. Like Johnny Liu said on Thursday, like, all the goals from last season aren't there. Like, none of the goals. So that does make a difference.

Sam Dalling (33:53)

Yeah, it does. But I think I've said it on earlier pods that he lost the fans very early within a month. And once you've done that, it's a big old mountain to climb. And, yeah, I can't really say anything to you. I just. I really like Thomas Frank, but it's sad, actually, to see him like this. He's lost a bit of his energy, a little. A little bit of his bounce. You know, he was always flashing smiles when he was at Brentford and cracking jokes, and it's just like, this is A man who's been broken by a gig. So maybe. Maybe the best thing for him is to take that payout.

John Brewin (34:28)

Yeah.

Barry Glendenning (34:29)

Not the first, not the last.

John Brewin (34:32)

Yeah.

Barry Glendenning (34:32)

Who will be the next to be broken? Man United. Spurs just unmanageable football teams and they all. They got a bit chippy spur the end. Paolino was trying to just kick apsi everything. There was a bit of a. You know a bit of a to do do at the end anyway. 10. St James's Newcastle 3 Bournemouth 3 Newcastle 3 on penalty. The endless penalty shootout. Sam. It was extraordinary. Was it just. I mean I just thought you kept thinking this has got to be it now hasn't it?

Sam Dalling (34:56)

Is he blooming run ups? I don't. I don't know if anyone's done the stats on the sort of how much the chances of you missing a penalty increases when you do these stuttered run ups. Because I think Bruno and Voltamarder did. I don't know if they're ready. I haven't seen the Everton Sunderland penalty shootout.

Baz (35:10)

They were all short run ups were they?

Sam Dalling (35:12)

It's just like because you hear a lot of the football and Anthony Gordon's penalty was a good example. A lot of them talk about visualization like good penalty takers. They're constantly. They're thinking about where they're going to put the ball. They might be in the shower in the morning or brushing their teeth and they're thinking about where they're going to put that ball. And you're just thinking well if you're doing a stuttered run up like that you're sort of concentrating on something different or you're waiting for the keeper to move. So actually you're trying to control someone else rather than what the bits that you can actually control. But it was a good moment for Aaron Ramsdale getting a couple of saves in because he had. He had a bit of a run when Nick Pope was injured and probably isn't going to play in the league for Newcastle again. I'm not sure that that convinced about him. Brilliant kicker but he not as good a shot stopper as Nick Pope. So a good moment for him and another ridiculously Fun game at St. James's Park. And you know Eddie Howe has done. They've done exactly what they needed to do. They've won three league games in a row and now gone through in the cup. Last thing they wanted as Howe said was extra time because they've got Manchester City on Tuesday in the Carabao cup semi final they beat inside that they not should be beating, but need to be beating if they want to achieve their ambitions. It gives them some momentum into what is like a massive couple of weeks. They've got Champions League games against PSV and psg. Two legged Carabao cup semi final. They've got Liverpool in the league.

John Brewin (36:32)

I'm tired listening to Sam describing Newcastle's fixture list. I mean, how much football has been played already this year? You know, I was watching the game maybe Saturday and they just said, and on Tuesday we'll have Caribbean. I'm like, what? There can't be more.

Barry Glendenning (36:47)

David Mitchell's here.

John Brewin (36:49)

It's just this, this, this 2026 has been the most relentless year of football ever. Yeah, it feels like it. It's just never gonna stop.

Barry Glendenning (36:58)

Afghan Special tomorrow, by the way, which is happening at the same time as. As all of this. I mean, Voltimar's past for the Barnes. The owner is beautiful and there was a great shot of a child telling Tavernier to fuck off when equalized in the 122nd minute. That was lovely. Anyway, that'll do for part two. We'll try and do the rest of the games in part three. Welcome to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly. John, a Forest fan writes. What's worse for a Premier League team? Losing to a team in the National League north or losing to some Hollywood pricks who are going to stick their win in a fucking documentary and send it to emotionally swelling music? Like some bugger being told they're going to judge's houses on bloody pop idols taking defeat. Well there, John, I see. This was another good game, Barry. And you know a penalty hero in Arthur Okwonko, The Wrexham keeper.

Baz (37:50)

Yeah. I didn't know anything about him. I sort of googled him. He was a kid at Arsenal and is now at Wrexham. He was one of several Wrexham heroes, I suppose. I don't know really what to make of Wrexham. You know, we all know the story. They've done huge amount for the town in Wrexham. They've created a lot of employment, they've generated a lot of interest in it. They brought a lot of tourism to the town, a lot of money to the town. Then there are bad bits as well. Accepting taxpayer money in the form of grants, non repayable grants that they don't need. That seemed a bit off to me, but I think it's. It's a far more of a good news story than a bad news one. I don't think this really classifies as an upset. I kind of expected Wrexham to win this game. It Was notable that Sean Dyche, how he's normally pretty mild. You know, he doesn't go overboard when his sides win and he doesn't go overboard when they lose. But he was clearly very angry with Forest first half performance here. He made the point. There's a lot of players knocking on my door wondering why they're not in the first team. Well, they were in it tonight and they found out why they're not in it. We all saw why they're not in it. And I know I went had a look like who did he hook at half time? James McAtee. He hasn't been getting much of a look in at Forest and he was terrible. Oleksandr Zinchenko and Delane backward, they were the ones that went off at halftime. A really good win for Wrexham. Look forward to seeing it again in the documentary. As someone has said, yeah, it was a really good game, really good game.

John Brewin (39:31)

I did the minute by minute on this game and the commentary seems to be obsessed with Ryan Reynolds's dress because he kept changing his shirt and putting a gillet on and put on Rob Mack shirt at one point and then swapped to a gla. And I was actually more interested in the fact that Sean Dyche in weather that was absolutely horrendous, did his pre match duties in shorts and I thought, yeah, that is classic Daishi, isn't it? Yeah. But as Barry said, he was seething after, but by which point he was wearing tracksuit bottoms. But there you go.

Barry Glendenning (40:04)

Sheffield United 3 Mansfield 4 Mansfield 12th in League One. Maybe the club in the EFL with the fewest mentions on Football Weekly and producer Joel saying, I can't even remember writing their name before but what a brilliant result for them. There were four, one up 5,000 traveling fans. Two goals for Louis Reed in the first half. One of them, an absolutely brilliant goal. Reese Oates was great all day and an absolutely brilliant smash it anywhere just before full time from someone. I don't know if anyone has any further thoughts on. On Mansfield. This is their moment. Sam. Yes, go for it.

Sam Dalling (40:36)

On Reed. I think he's, he's actually Sheffield United's youngest ever player and it was Nigel Clough, who is the current Mansfield manager, who gave him his debut about 10, 12 years ago. So a nice little return to them double. They just go a little bit under the radar because a little bit like Clough doesn't really like to do any media but they've, you know, they've done really well. They've got out of league two and stabilized in League one. So I hope they get the sort of big draw that they'll be desperate for in the next round because then maybe they might get a mention on Guardian Football Weekly two months in a row if they get a big draw next up.

Baz (41:12)

It is probably worth pointing out to that reader who wrote in complaining about our lack of coverage of Aston Villa, who we talk about in pretty much every single podcast without fail, that this is Mansfield's first ever mention in almost 20 years.

John Brewin (41:30)

Well, being from Macclesfield, I spend a lot of time saying, no, I'm not from Mansfield, I'm from Macclesfield. I should, I should say Nigel Clough, a man that doesn't age, does he? He looks exactly the same as when I first saw him play 40 years ago. And the thing I heard recently about Clough Jr, he's not particularly junior these days is that he's one of the most anti analytics coaches in football these days, which I thought is quite interesting, but the the old school way. So all power to Nigel. All power to Nigel.

Barry Glendenning (42:02)

Exactly. As Cluffy senior just said, the ball is, this is your friend judging the football going, this is your friend. Look after it. Poor Val 1 Fleetwood nil. Wigan 11 at Preston, Leicester 12 at Cheltenham. A Strand Larson hat trick as wolves hammered Shrewsbury 6142 wins and 2 draws in the last four. Now for Rob Edwards, perhaps a come and get me plea for Strand Larsen. Burton won five nil at Boreham Wood. Burnley five Milwaukee one. Anyone else? Utterly staggered to see Ashley Barnes. I mean I just. Yes, thank you, Barry.

Sam Dalling (42:34)

I was at Burnley the other week and there was some substitutes warming up and there was a chap who had not just a receding hairline but one of those on the back, on the back of your head like there was no hair. And these lads behind me were like good Friday. And this group of lads were behind me were like, oh, that, that looks a bit like Ashley Barnes. Like you know, it could be. And then this went on for about five minutes and they didn't really expect it to be Ashley Barnes. And then he actually came on because he barely comes on for them. And in the 89th minute, introducing as a substitute Ashley Barnes. And they just couldn't believe that he's still there. But I think he went away and then they re signed him for the promotion season. I think he's just very good. One of those in inverted comments to have around the dressing room. I think he's quite good fun and a character like Parker obviously doesn't trust him. Much, if at all to play in the league. I mean, they were chasing a game with no strikers and he didn't come on until the 89th minute or something when I was there. But yeah, lovely to see him get a mention.

Baz (43:31)

The last mention I saw of Ashley Barnes was in conjunction with a horse racing related story. And I'm going, is that that Ashley Barnes?

Barry Glendenning (43:41)

And it was, did he win the 5:35 at Haydock?

Baz (43:44)

I leave it to others to go Google it. Let's just say Ashley Burns might not have been behaving himself as well as he might notice.

John Brewin (43:52)

Okay.

Barry Glendenning (43:53)

Southampton one three two at Donny. Fulham three middles were one. A lovely Harry Wilson outside of the left foot assist there. Ipswich beat Blackpool 2 1, Brentford 2 nil at Sheffield Wednesday. Wonderful strike from Stoke City's le cse against Coventry to put them through. Bristol City 5, Watford 1 Ashton Gate looks like the biggest pitch in the world. Whenever I see it, which is rarely, I go, that's enormous. We lost three two to Birmingham three zero down Sully Kite. I scored twice in the mist and fog at the Abbey. I thought, oh, we've got a chance here. But it didn't happen. Keith says after watching the closely contested championship game between West Ham and qpr, did any of the panel have a slight panic attack? I think they'd actually slept in until August. Scott says a West Ham back. You were there, John, for this?

John Brewin (44:38)

Yes, as my career is chronicler of misery. Yeah, I was asked to attend this one. It was, yeah, a championship game in waiting. West Ham made, did fairly heavy work of it. Qpr a couple of quite promising forwards in Kohli and Kone, though they struggled to service him a bit. Some great stuff from Steve Cook and Jimmy Dunn. You know, proper old style defending from them. Some positive signs for West Ham. I think we can actually introduce this rather rogue concept. Tati Castellanos scored a quite. Had quite a good game and scored a good goal. You know, I was surprised to see that Cricencio Somerville, that was only his second goal for West Ham. He feels like he's been there a while and that probably shows you where it's been going wrong for that club with its transfer business. It was kids for a quid day. A lot of shrieking Cockney voices to be heard in the stands.

Barry Glendenning (45:35)

Do they have like fizzy jelly deal sweets or something? Like sort of like Haribo jelly deals?

John Brewin (45:40)

Well, no, they. Well, do you know what, that would be an idea though. I did have a young lady ask me who's with her two Kids ask me, is there anywhere to buy a coffee? Because all they do is seem to sell beer here. Which I thought was a great point. It wasn't really, sorry, family oriented, you know. And it. It's you what you were granted a. A vision of perhaps that stadium's future, which is that as a championship ground. And that's a fairly bleak prospect. There were the usual process. The two sets of fans joining. Nuts. Whenever you go to West Ham, the fans. One sets of fans sings, you sold your soul for this hole. And then the West Ham fans sing, we sold our soul for this hole. And that's. You hear it every time you go there. And that's it. That's the London Stadium experience. It lift me out in my sick bed. And you know what? Weirdly enough, I felt better after going, so there you go.

Barry Glendenning (46:32)

God, you must have been feeling rough. But as we said, they go to spurs next week, so. Hello, Doctor. Tottenham. Grimsby 3, Western Super Mare 2. Grimsby found this harder than when they beat Man U in the Carabao. Oxford won on penalties against MK Donce. Liam Rossini got a 51 win in his first game in charge at Charlton. Derby won, Leeds 3. Colby Bishop gave Pompey the lead after three minutes. They had that moment. That's where the fun stopped. A hat trick from Martinelli. Three goals from corners for Arsenal. Hull beat Blackburn on penalties. Norwich 5, Walsall 1. A shout out for Courtney Clark's consolation. And West Brom beat Swansea on penalties. Any strong thoughts, anyone, on any of those games? Anything that we may have missed or have we successfully done? Every match.

John Brewin (47:16)

I was gonna say I enjoyed Noni Madueki's penalty and I also enjoyed Jonathan Pierce's dissection of why it had gone wrong. Which I thought, you know, JP's been in a game a long time and knows a bad left footed penalty when he sees it. I thought that was. That was great commentary. Well done. Well done.

Barry Glendenning (47:35)

Yeah, well, JP was obviously there for the failed Panenka and the utter fury.

John Brewin (47:39)

Well, so was I. So was I. Yeah.

Barry Glendenning (47:41)

Ye. Yeah. But you weren't as angry as Jonathan Pierce. A slight on the game.

Baz (47:46)

It was Barry just to say that Stoke City won Coventry nil. A game which probably flew under most people's radar. Lamina Sisse's winner was a spectacular volley. One of many fine volleys struck over the weekend.

Barry Glendenning (48:06)

I'm gonna get technical. Was it a volley? Are you sure it was a volley?

Baz (48:09)

Well, I have written down a brilliant volley, so.

Barry Glendenning (48:13)

Interesting. I thought he was just running onto the ball and Smashed it.

Baz (48:17)

But I've had to digest a lot of information over the last 40 years.

Barry Glendenning (48:22)

Have a lie down. Have a lie down.

Baz (48:24)

I've got some of it wrong.

Sam Dalling (48:26)

If you watch it. If you watch his celebration. So he ends up doing a knee slide and football pitches are quite big, there's quite a big area but he ends up knee sliding into Frank Lampard's technical area which I don't know what Frank Lampard has done to him previously. I don't know if there's a bit of beef between. Between the two of them but you think I know you're overcome with emotion but at least do it into your own technical area. Leave poor area Frank alone.

Barry Glendenning (48:48)

It depends how far away you stay. Unintentionally you start like 20 yards away and that's just where he ended up. He's done a.

Sam Dalling (48:54)

How.

Barry Glendenning (48:54)

I haven't done a knee slide for a while to know how easy or not it is to stop yourself.

Baz (48:58)

There's just one other thing actually I meant to mention it when I was doing Everton Sunderland I forgot Everton wheeled out this force case a kind of navy blues purpley type thing and that seems to have incensed quite a lot of their fans that they didn't play in royal blue at home as they're supposed to. So I'm I some sort of money making wheeze that wasn't appreciated by their fans in early January. Understandably enough.

Barry Glendenning (49:29)

Yeah, of course. Bangkok Blue says. What's Barry's current 5K PB? How is the running going, Barry?

Baz (49:34)

Harry, it's gone all right. The longest run I've done so far is 6 1/2 miles. I think my 5k PB is 35 minutes.

John Brewin (49:46)

Good.

Baz (49:47)

Which is all right for a big lumbering off like me. The thing that's annoying me about the running is. Well, apart from the running. The run is the fact that I'm doing all this running and not only have I not lost weight, I've actually put on weight so that's kind of pissing me off. But I. I know why it is. I'm. I'm. Because I'm running.

Barry Glendenning (50:12)

You're becoming a muscle.

Baz (50:13)

Giving myself permission to eat all sorts of shite. I normally wouldn't like ice creams and crisps and crap like that. So I need to cut out that.

Barry Glendenning (50:21)

And when is the race? When's the race is a strong word for it.

Baz (50:25)

12 to 8 April. Yeah, I. Race is a very strong word. It is technically a race. I see it more of a.

Barry Glendenning (50:33)

A victory lap slash ordeal Anyway, good on you. Six and a half miles. I would struggle to go and do that. Not that, you know, I'm not cider weeters.

Baz (50:43)

I'm saying that, I mean also the running. Every time I go for run, the first bit is the hardest. So I, I, I'm always, I always really, really hate the first mile or two miles and then it gets progressively easier and then I find the end quite easy.

John Brewin (51:03)

Right.

Barry Glendenning (51:03)

If you should do the marathon des Sable. What's that? You know, marathon a day through this Sahara. By mile 386, you'll be skipping along anyway, you can donate to Barry.

John Brewin (51:13)

Just Google.

Barry Glendenning (51:14)

Just giving Barry Glendenning all money going to Great Ormond Street.

Baz (51:17)

Yes. The donations have rather dried to a trickle, so if you haven't done it.

Barry Glendenning (51:23)

Pull your finger out.

Baz (51:25)

Pull your finger out. And if you have. Thank you.

John Brewin (51:27)

I've always thought Barry was quite similar to Sarah Cox.

Barry Glendenning (51:30)

Exactly right, There you go.

John Brewin (51:32)

Or Eddie Izzard. You know one of these. Ultra, ultra Bazathon. That's what we've.

Baz (51:37)

I see myself more as a Kevin Sinfield.

Barry Glendenning (51:40)

Wow. A real hero.

Baz (51:41)

Man of steel.

Barry Glendenning (51:43)

Sarah Vannon says hi. Max and barry, long time.

John Brewin (51:45)

Mr.

Barry Glendenning (51:46)

The pod from California recently got a tribal hand tapped tattoo in Borneo. To distract myself from the pain, of course, I had to put on my earphones and listen to the pod. Am I the only listener to ever get a tribal hand tapped tattoo whilst listening to the pod? Probably. Keep up the great work.

Baz (52:02)

Sorry, I, I don't know what that is.

Barry Glendenning (52:04)

Neither do I, but I presume it's just a. It's a tattoo.

Baz (52:07)

What?

Barry Glendenning (52:07)

It's tapped in by hand, I guess.

Baz (52:09)

Wow.

Barry Glendenning (52:10)

That's. I presume that's it. So it's sort of like.

Baz (52:13)

All right, rather than with a go.

Barry Glendenning (52:15)

Holy moly. How hard do you have to tap for it to be there forever? I was in your front row, the Troxy. I look forward to your next live show, hopefully in America. Attached video of the tattoo experience. Thanks, sc. And possible news on a live US show soon. You know, if we let in. Should I have said that? I don't know. Panic. Anyway, that'll do for today. Thanks everybody. Thank you, John.

John Brewin (52:41)

Thank you, Berks.

Barry Glendenning (52:42)

Thank you, Sam.

Sam Dalling (52:43)

You're welcome. Thank you.

Barry Glendenning (52:44)

Cheers, Baz.

Baz (52:45)

Thanks.

Barry Glendenning (52:45)

Football Weekly is produced by Joel Grove. Our executive producer is Danielle Stevens. Will be back tomorrow. Tomorrow with an Afcon special.

John Brewin (52:55)

This is the Guardian.