Latest / Graeme Souness Tackles / Le Tissier & Minto: Cole Palmer's Character, Kevin Keegan & More! | Graeme Souness Tackles Ep 2

Transcript

Le Tissier & Minto: Cole Palmer's Character, Kevin Keegan & More! | Graeme Souness Tackles Ep 2 · Graeme Souness Tackles

0:02
Welcome to Graham Sineste tackles.
0:04
This week I've got two of my former players, Scott Minto and
0:07
the mighty Matt Letizia. If you're watching on YouTube
0:11
then please hit, like, comment and subscribe.
0:14
Enjoy the show, you conspiracy theorists.
0:17
Well. We'll get to that. 5 seconds
0:20
later, Graham Soonest. He's got Cowboy Bossy up against
0:23
the wall. He refused to play the.
0:25
He refused read between them. So what do we think about that?
0:27
What happens to the very best players?
0:29
The more you laugh and physically the better they
0:31
become. Mighty man.
0:32
You have credit what he was to football and to his family.
0:36
Yeah, this is confession talk. The. 1st 2 yards are in your
0:39
head. Anticipate.
0:41
What's your next name? Obviously you played
0:50
underground. I did.
0:52
I mean, you know, you'll go where you want with it.
0:54
But I know there's a story that you've told me before about a
0:57
certain Ali dear. Yes, let's get this out to me
1:01
nicely down to him. It was all my fault.
1:07
Yeah, I mean, it was it was quite funny because like we as
1:09
as players, we didn't have a clue who this kid was that come
1:12
in trained. Because back in those days we
1:15
always we had quite a lot of trial lists come in, didn't we?
1:17
Like because we had no money to spend.
1:19
We were always trying to nick players from non league and all
1:21
this kind of stuff. So we were always having trial
1:23
lists and within about 20 minutes of playing with someone,
1:26
you know if they can play or not.
1:28
This kids come in and after about 20 minutes I'm looking at
1:30
you and I'm thinking. This is the first training.
1:32
Session. What?
1:33
Yeah, I'm thinking, what is he doing here?
1:35
I honestly, I thought he'd won a competition in the local paper
1:38
to come and train with us, and we had no idea about the
1:44
conversation. It looked like a player.
1:45
I want to know. I want to know about the
1:47
conversation. I I want to know about the
1:49
conversation that happened before.
1:50
I didn't have it. You never had the conversation.
1:52
I never had the conversation you didn't speak to.
1:54
It I didn't speak to. George Weyer.
1:57
You never spoke to George Weyer. No, but someone had come through
2:00
to obviously the switchboard which put through to the office
2:02
and one of them spoke to him and it's it's cousin or nephew.
2:08
Yeah, nephew. Yeah.
2:09
And I said, well, get, I mean, we'll have a look at him.
2:13
So anyway, that goes on, this kid comes in and we're like,
2:16
well, and then trains with us for a few days and then on the
2:20
Saturday we're playing Leeds at home and I rock up at 1:30.
2:25
Three o'clock kick off took my place in the change room and I
2:28
looked up and this kid sat at the other side of the change
2:30
room and I was like, I looked at the other lads.
2:32
I went, wow. I went that's some competition
2:34
you want. It's going to get into the team
2:36
talk and everything. And then Graham goes in, names
2:40
the team and he goes and the Subs are, I mean, it was having
2:42
the, I think it was Graham Potter.
2:44
I think it might have some fullbacks, that's what we're.
2:47
Involved on SO so I went and then, yeah, half an hour into
2:53
the game. Yeah, hold on, go on this.
2:58
He has to come off. I get injured right the.
3:01
Only striker we had. Right, I've got to tell you this
3:03
as well, right? I'm going.
3:04
To you weren't really injured. Confession.
3:05
Time you weren't really injured. No one's had this before.
3:08
This is confession time. So the day before on the on the
3:13
Friday at training, I was taking some penalties after training
3:17
and I've took my last penalty and as I did, I found my groyne
3:20
go a little bit right. So I could have started this is
3:26
where. My confession was leading to so
3:31
I was like, so I'm thinking, oh, no, it's just, it was like a
3:35
real RIP. But I, I could feel like I'd
3:37
done something and I was like, oh, maybe it'll settle down
3:40
overnight. So I didn't say anything and
3:42
then turned up the next day and I was like, oh, I didn't feel
3:45
too bad. I think I can, I think I can get
3:47
away with this like playing it like 70%.
3:51
I was on appearance money at that stage as well.
3:52
So, you know, that's what it want to it want to throw away
3:54
money. So, so yeah.
3:56
And after about half an hour, I went and clipped this ball into
3:58
the box and that I had the same pain and I just went, oh, no,
4:01
OK. Of course I look over at the
4:03
touchline and it's him warming up, running up and down the
4:06
touchdown. I'm like, Oh my God.
4:07
A couple of a couple of full backs and nothing else but you
4:12
know. So yeah, it's my fault that Ali
4:14
D came. Out still he's growing arms and
4:15
legs. But the reality was, you know,
4:18
you said you'd worked him out in the 1st 1520 minutes, the very
4:21
first 5 minutes of a, you know, he looked like a player looked
4:24
fit. The very first 5 minutes of A7
4:27
aside, aside taking play, you can see it's never that level.
4:31
And then as we went through, I was, I used to join in the
4:34
games. You did, I think man of the
4:35
match sometimes you did to me, you did it.
4:38
I think you were the judge of me.
4:39
You were the judge of the match. So I'm, I'm playing with this
4:44
guy there anyway. Keep them.
4:46
I've got the numbers to make up to make two eight sides.
4:49
So and then we get to the weekend and this story comes in.
4:52
But we about being conned and tricked.
4:54
There was none of that. But it's a great story.
4:57
It's a great story. So, so he came on.
5:00
Is it right that you took? Him on and then you had to
5:02
suffer. Yeah, he came on for me and then
5:05
Graham eventually went. He had this matter just arriving
5:08
where the ball had been, just at the wrong time.
5:10
Yeah, just at the wrong time, a lot of.
5:12
So he's made a career out. There, it's one of those like it
5:15
happened to me once in my career where I got subbed on and then
5:19
got subbed off again and it's like it's one of the worst
5:21
things that can happen to you as a footballer.
5:22
I hated it, absolutely hated it. But in my defence, the time it
5:26
happened to me, I'd gone on quite early against Spurs away
5:31
and we were winning the game and the manager just wanted to waste
5:34
some time at the end, so he just, that's the reason.
5:37
Yeah. That's your version.
5:39
That's what I'm telling myself. That's your version.
5:42
Graham what? What was he like, though, to
5:43
manage? He was Mr Southampton, he was
5:45
keeping Southampton in the Premier League single handedly.
5:49
I got past my best, I think, by the time Graham arrived, to be
5:53
fair. How old did you have been?
5:54
I was late 20s, twenty, 928. 29 I know every position is
6:00
different. I thought I played my best
6:01
football 3031 but anyway, what was he like?
6:04
I am when I look back in my career, the players I played
6:07
with, players have managed he's I put him in a category for just
6:13
outrageous ability. John Barnes two guy remember 2
6:16
guy guy called Debbie Cooper, a winger at Rangers.
6:20
Do stuff with the ball that you think.
6:22
How do you do that? Anyway, he single handedly kept
6:27
us in the Premier League and I I think we had one attempt getting
6:34
you fitter and did you not pull your quad?
6:39
He pulled my quad, Yeah. He pulled my quad, yeah.
6:41
And then I. Did he though?
6:42
Did he? No, I think he, I think, yeah.
6:45
But see, I I was that the right thing to do?
6:48
Maybe not because you know, he was getting his goals in the
6:53
modern game. There's very few players not in
6:56
the modern game, in the game of football where you can afford
6:59
them. You can afford an individual the
7:01
luxury of not tracking back and not doing a hard jobs.
7:04
And he had that kind of quality that I would struggle to name 5
7:10
or 6 players that have ever played the game that you'd give
7:13
that luxury to and I'd put them in there.
7:15
Modern game today, just behind the front when we lose the ball,
7:18
Mat, just try and get yourself back into be a, you know, a
7:23
nuisance. No, just back into the midfield
7:25
and let someone else do the shuttle and across you.
7:27
Just be a body in there. But because he had that much
7:30
quality on the ball, you have to have him in a team knowing he's
7:33
not going to do that because the damage he did at the top of the
7:36
pitch was just unbelievable. I remember Rupert when Rupert
7:40
Law came in. I've actually got something in
7:43
common with Nigel Farage. He's like him either.
7:48
No, we both couldn't work with them.
7:51
So when he came in, I when I said, was it ask him the old
7:54
chairman? Guy.
7:55
Ask him. Yeah, I said to him saying a
7:56
three-year deal. You, you guys will be here for
7:58
the three years. Oh yes, certainly.
7:59
We will definitely be here six months later, reverse takeover.
8:04
I meet this guy called Rupert Law.
8:06
Now, I don't know about you. I never played football with any
8:09
Ruperts. So I'll meet Rupert.
8:12
And Rupert is a Rupert, jolly lovely chap, but knew nothing
8:20
about football. Came to him after about a
8:22
fortnight. He said to me, I was thinking,
8:26
is Matt that is the correct man to be our captain?
8:31
I said, yeah, I said he's by far our best player.
8:35
He keeps us in the league and all the players respect him.
8:38
What else you need to know? Well, I think you know, for me a
8:42
captain shit and he trotted out like 10 things.
8:44
He wasn't referring to football. He's referring to, you know,
8:47
might have been lacrosse or something.
8:50
Anyway, anyway, I, I, I just couldn't tell him.
8:53
He was just he was an expert in football and he'd been in the
8:56
door 2 minutes. How did you get on with him?
8:59
Given he's quite a quite a controversial chapter there He.
9:03
Is he is quite a controversial chapter?
9:05
I mean as a bloke, like we didn't really have a lot to do
9:08
with the the gym as players, but it did to remember him rocking
9:14
up one pre season and the other is his tracksuit on initials
9:18
initials on his top and started joining in the seventh side with
9:22
the players. Yeah, yeah, he.
9:23
Didn't want to pick the ball up and run with that.
9:26
Seriously. Yeah.
9:28
Was Ali Dia better than him? Marginally.
9:35
Well, look, Graham, I'm not, I'm not, I'm certainly not going to
9:37
ask you what I was like to play you at Benfica.
9:41
I'm, I'm not, I'm not going there because I won't get those
9:43
type of words. But I do have a story about you.
9:45
Actually. It's my only sending off of my
9:48
whole career. So you're the, you're the gaffer
9:51
at Benfica. You'd come in after I'd actually
9:54
signed. I was injured at the time, but
9:56
got fit and we were about 6-7 points away from Porto.
9:59
And that, you know, that's disgraceful.
10:00
You can't be doing that if you're Benfica and you just hit
10:03
the ground running and we went on this amazing run and I came
10:06
into the side and was part of that as well.
10:08
Something like we won 10, drew one of of 11, but Porto were
10:13
getting those those penalties. As there were in those days.
10:16
Those last minute penalties as needed as well, we'd say no more
10:19
than that. Car, you conspiracy theorists,
10:21
well. We'll get to that.
10:25
So we we, we're away from home playing in some Chitty little
10:30
stadium and it's nil, nil. And I've gone past the player a
10:34
couple of times and three, four times and it's a foul.
10:36
No yellow card. I've found the yellow card.
10:38
We've got to win Porto about a last minute penalty the night
10:40
before. He's fouled again in about the
10:44
88th minute and I've just lost it because the referees again
10:47
just foul. He's refusing to give the geezer
10:49
a yellow card. So I've just booted the guy up
10:51
the arse and just not even looked and the red cards come.
10:55
I've just walked in and I'm walking off and I'm sitting
10:58
there and I'm thinking Oh my God, this is the game we needed
11:00
to win. What's the gaffer going to say?
11:02
He's going to absolutely hammer me.
11:03
He may even come at me physically.
11:04
This is going as soon as we're talking about, you know, I get
11:07
on really well with him but I'm shitting myself in the dressing
11:09
room. 2 minutes later Karl Poborsky comes in.
11:13
He'd be sent off as well. He's got.
11:16
So we're down to 9 men. So then you hear the trudging of
11:19
the boots and back then they were metal studs, not the fancy
11:21
boots they got today. And you can hear them come in
11:23
and I'm thinking, Oh my God, what am I going to do?
11:26
And suddenly I had a Eureka moment.
11:28
Surely if I just lay my back, stick my legs in the air and ask
11:33
him to tickle my tummy and apologise, he's not going to say
11:37
anything. So of course he's come at me
11:39
first. What?
11:39
That what you do, you know, like that.
11:42
And I'm going gaffer. I'm sorry, the ref, you know,
11:45
clearly, you know, frustration. We needed to win.
11:49
I do apologise. I apologise to you.
11:51
I apologise to the team. If you want to find me, I'm not
11:54
going to appeal. I'm really, really sorry,
11:56
Gaffer. I've let you down and he's gone.
11:59
OK. What about you, Carol?
12:01
What The Carol's had a go back at him like that?
12:05
5 seconds later, Graeme Soonis has got Carol Bossy up.
12:08
Against the wall. We are peeling the gaffer of
12:12
Carol and afterwards I'm like Carol, what you're doing, this
12:16
guy's kind of committed assault almost on the pitch before.
12:19
Just apologise. I didn't know, Scott, I didn't
12:21
know and, and let's just say he didn't answer you back again
12:25
after that. No, but they were great days for
12:27
us. They were.
12:27
They were great, great days. Let's bring it round to to today
12:30
as well and and the football, because obviously Arsenal have
12:33
beaten Manchester City in the community, Sure they've beaten
12:35
Coventry. So the title is gonna test it
12:38
now. Isn't it?
12:39
Yeah, it's madness. You know that's only for people
12:42
and you 2 know as well that's only for people who don't
12:44
understand football. You understand media have to
12:47
make calls. You know how fabulous people
12:49
are, how terrible others are. But the way it works, start of
12:53
pre season, as the manager you're pushing your stroke
12:56
coach, you're pushing your players to the point of almost
12:59
breaking them. You know your worst thing you
13:01
can get is a hamstring in pre season or a calf or a groyne, so
13:05
you're pushing them. So everyone's starting the
13:07
season at a different place because you might need three or
13:10
four games to get fully matched for it.
13:12
He might need one. Yeah, they're all different.
13:14
They're all different. That's good.
13:16
It's such a hard. Pre season that this is the
13:18
thing, right, Because I hated pre season.
13:20
I didn't like running. I would always go to the manager
13:24
and and go look, I'm not the best at the running.
13:27
It's not great for me, but I'll just get I'll get the boys here.
13:29
But if we've got if we've got 7 or 8 pre season friendlies, play
13:33
me in every one of them. I want to play 90 minutes in
13:36
every pre season friendly. And that's how I would get my
13:39
fitness up to a level where I could play not necessarily the
13:44
same level of fitness as all the other players, but my level of
13:47
fitness that I could. But you see, back to football.
13:49
Man, but you see, this is it's a bit like you know the stats and
13:55
I'll I'll mention two guy. He went, he was at Blackburn
13:59
with me. It was unbelievably good when I
14:01
left, Mark Hughes got it and and Mark brought in, he was the
14:05
Welsh guy, the blonde hair midfield player, Robbie Savage.
14:09
Robbie Savage, right And so they would throw the stats up that
14:11
Robbie would do 1314 kilometres in the game and two guy would do
14:17
8 1/2. But the question that should be
14:19
asked. Who had the most impact on the
14:21
game? Who?
14:21
Had the biggest influence and that's that's the most.
14:25
Important. Yes, that, yeah, yeah, I had
14:27
that argument with many manager. So what what we've seen this
14:33
weekend, I've seen very powerful, very impressive
14:35
Arsenal, but that doesn't mean to win the league.
14:39
I think, I think right now, I think I'd make them slight
14:46
favourites. I still think they need a
14:49
certain forward. You know, someone that can
14:52
really, if you've got one of those my my take on football and
14:56
I was part of a team that had this.
14:58
We didn't have to play well to win football matches because
15:00
we're Rushy and Kenny upfront, so I think Arsenal must know a
15:04
bit of that. The thing is with Arsenal,
15:07
right, if they don't beat Coventry three nil like Premier
15:12
League champions playing against at home, playing against one of
15:15
the promoted teams coming up, if they don't win that game three
15:18
nil, they get hammered. Like they'll get, they'll be
15:20
like, oh, if they win that game one nil, everyone will be like,
15:24
oh, maybe just be Coventry one nil.
15:27
They they're going to struggle this season.
15:29
But just that for me, that was the past score.
15:32
Serena was the part for that game in those circumstances,
15:35
Serena was the past score. So I don't think we should be
15:38
getting too carried away with it.
15:40
Do you feel they've got better from last season?
15:43
And, and you mentioned about the, the perhaps there's a
15:45
slight weakness in terms of scoring goals, but with, with
15:48
the players that they've signed as well, Do you see that?
15:51
Do you see them as a? I tell you why they're better,
15:53
Scott, because they've got that belief now.
15:55
You in the league once? Yeah, I fancy some of that and
15:58
came in a bit of swag, a bit of belief when things not going.
16:00
I know about that. I was 15 last time I won a
16:03
league. I think Arsenal are the slight
16:14
favourites. Are they stronger?
16:16
I think they're stronger simply because they've got a bit of
16:19
belief in that confidence. I can't different.
16:23
It was difficult for me or different for me because I was
16:25
walking into a team that were the current European champions
16:29
and all the all those players had all their belief and that
16:32
rubs off on you. You know, we were expected to
16:35
win the big competitions for Arsenal.
16:37
It's a new thing and it's where they can build on that.
16:39
I think the club have done really well by the support
16:44
they've given the manager throughout.
16:46
If you remember it didn't start that well and I can remember
16:49
doing doing a game at at their stadium and I remember saying on
16:54
Sky saying, you know, I just hope that you know, he's not
16:57
doing the hard yards for the next manager.
16:59
Hope they stick with him. And that's why the board deserve
17:02
credit. They have done do.
17:03
You think as a as a manager would you be a bit concerned
17:09
like football in the in the modern day that your centre
17:12
backs are the ones that are having the most touches of
17:14
football and football match? Because surely I look at it and
17:17
I go, well, surely in a football match you want your best players
17:21
to have the most touches in a football man.
17:23
Football, it's not a science, man.
17:25
That's so correct. I remember saying to John
17:26
Barnes, you know, he's your best player.
17:29
He's our best player. We want him on the ball more
17:31
than anybody else. Yeah, you're son and his best
17:33
player. You want to be on the ball more
17:35
than anyone else. I'll ask you to a question.
17:37
If you had a son that was growing up, want to be a
17:39
football player, what is what? What?
17:42
How would you advise him? What position would you not want
17:45
him to play in? What?
17:47
Position. Would you not not?
17:48
Want him to play in you're? Going to say striker.
17:51
Set the ball, yeah. How I how I can play the Game 6
17:54
touches. I I would have hated, hated to
17:59
have played in a system where you spend so much time watching
18:04
the play as a as a forward where the ball just never gets to you.
18:08
It's just it baffles me why managers in this day and age
18:13
would want their centre backs to have the most touches of the
18:16
football. It's madness, Madness.
18:20
I tell you, Holland, fair play to him because he keeps making
18:24
the runs. Normally a striker will make it
18:26
twice and then they question themselves whether they're not
18:29
passing to me and they start to just towards the wall.
18:31
Allen still tries to engage the two centre backs and he always
18:34
wants to run forward, so fair play to him.
18:37
Is he happening at six touches the ball?
18:38
Yeah, I'm sure you wouldn't. You wouldn't.
18:40
I certainly would. The three of them end up in the
18:42
back of the net, isn't it? It's the way it.
18:43
Yeah, it's incredibly disciplined.
18:45
You need. To be more than that as well.
18:47
Yeah. Are you growing up playing
18:49
football? You want to have touches in the
18:50
ball? Who is the the biggest threat to
18:53
Arsenal for you and and who impressed you most over the
18:56
weekend and on match day one? I think, unfortunately, I think
18:59
it has to be the same for because as a Liver, Liverpool
19:02
supporter, I think Man City, I look at Chelsea last night, I'm
19:09
looking at Chelsea last night. Don't listen to the
19:12
commentators. I see Chelsea are a team filled
19:17
with very good players, but I'm not seeing a team do.
19:20
You think that might that might come as the season goes on?
19:24
Can you see that team bonding into a into a proper unit, or do
19:28
you think there's too many individuals in it?
19:30
Well, that's the manager's got to do that.
19:32
I mean, I'm a great believer as a manager you can't be
19:36
successful unless you've got good senior pros and, you know,
19:40
Chelsea's business model of let's just buy young players,
19:44
pay too much money for them, pay them too much money and give
19:48
them eight-year contracts. There's a recipe for disaster
19:52
because it doesn't matter what walk of life you're in, if you
19:55
give a young man too much too soon, that happens.
19:58
You get in an armchair. Yeah.
20:00
And then for Chelsea, the problems, if the player doesn't
20:04
work out, you don't get anything like your money back from.
20:07
And then if you want them at the door, the player says, it says,
20:09
by the way, we want paying for going.
20:12
So what did they do this year? Said he's a genius.
20:16
He doesn't. He knows he's an American, knows
20:17
nothing about football or soccer, comes in very quickly,
20:20
announces he's head of he's director of football.
20:25
Really. What do you know?
20:27
No, nothing. So what do they do now?
20:30
We've gone out and signed the guy from from Brighton and
20:34
Jordan Henderson, Danny Welbeck. So they get Danny, really solid,
20:40
Jordan Henderson, really solid citizen.
20:42
I witnessed something last Valentine's night in the Middle
20:46
East. I was in a restaurant.
20:47
This young, young lawyer from Chesterville says, I think I'll
20:49
go and get a selfie with Colt Palmer.
20:53
This guy goes over and says, excuse me, Colt, can I have a
20:57
selfie, please? Colt Palmer is lean back.
21:03
Looked him up and down and said Nah.
21:07
Now that tells me that he is taking that lead off.
21:11
Who? Is that how he thinks big
21:14
players act? Does he think, you know, I'm not
21:17
good that I can't spend 7 or 8 seconds having a picture taken
21:22
with this fellow has been very polite That that really, really
21:25
bugs me and I'm let me have a rant here for a minute.
21:29
And I the the very best example, the opposite of that.
21:35
We've been a guy that died just recently, Kevin Keegan.
21:38
And I just wish that these guys don't like Cole Palmer.
21:41
They could have spent the day with Kevin Keegan and seeing how
21:44
a true superstar, how he acted, how he behaved, although he was
21:49
a true superstar. Some of these guys need a word
21:54
in their ear to understand, if you're a big player, how you
21:58
should behave. We we can come back to to
22:00
Chelsea and even Cole Palmer and how good a front three it is,
22:03
but. He's a fabulous player.
22:05
Yeah, we'll come back to this app, but, but you've mentioned
22:08
Kevin Keegan now I think it's really important to to to, to
22:11
make a tribute to him. Obviously you knew him very
22:13
well. We obviously only knew him as I
22:15
remember when superstars the the programme.
22:18
He damaged. His shoulder, He damaged his
22:19
shoulder and carried on and but just what?
22:22
What did you make of the the tribute for done by Newcastle
22:25
and Liverpool? The supporters were fantastic,
22:28
Sky made a bit of an ass of it. It's one of those they should
22:32
have just sat back and the the guy sitting at home listened to
22:37
the crowd and visually take everything in.
22:40
Instead we have people waffling. Totally unnecessary.
22:43
It was a poor show by then. Just my call.
22:49
Did you watch it? You don't watch Sky anymore?
22:52
Any reason Occasionally? I do.
22:54
Any reason? Occasionally.
22:55
I pick and choose, pick and. Choose but but tell us again a
22:58
little bit more about Kevin and and.
23:01
Well, I was not his favourite person when we played against
23:04
each other because, you know, as was the game in those days, you
23:08
could be a little bit more aggressive towards the
23:11
superstars and you want to try and discourage them.
23:16
But what happens to the very best players?
23:18
The more you go after them physically, the better they
23:20
become. I'm thinking of Messi when he
23:22
played Real Madrid and was that Ramos has smashed him in the
23:25
face. He's got blood all over his
23:26
face. Think Messi went on to score 2,
23:29
two goals just went to another level.
23:32
Kevin was like that. You couldn't discourage him.
23:35
Perpetual motion was not terribly gifted in terms of like
23:40
your ability, but perpetual motion would never, would never
23:45
succumb to any intimidation. And I had an eye for a golems.
23:51
He's one of those players that if you're playing with them, he
23:55
made you work harder. You know, he was just
23:59
relentless. People did not like to play
24:02
against them simply because of he was on you and he was on you
24:04
and he would never leave you alone.
24:05
If you're a cent and a half, you made the slightest mistake.
24:08
He was on you really to go but park all that as a human being
24:14
he was an 11 out of. 10 that's the best bet.
24:17
Yeah, Mighty Mouse. Credit what he was to football
24:21
and to his family, yeah. Incredible role model both on
24:24
and off the pitch. Let's bring it back to to
24:26
Chelsea then. Matt, what did you make of them?
24:28
What obviously being an attacking player yourself,
24:30
incredibly talented. The front three that Chelsea
24:32
have got is that arguably the the best front three in the in
24:35
the Premier League, Morgan Rogers, Cole Palmer and Joe
24:40
Alpetra. I think Man City would probably
24:44
argue with that given the amount of attacking talent that they've
24:47
got, although a couple of them still have to really produce.
24:53
So yeah, you could make that argument.
24:57
I think I've, I've been a big fan of of Cole Palmer's.
25:00
You know, he is, he's pretty special.
25:02
He, I mean, there was one run against Fulham last night where
25:05
he's just picked the ball up and he's come from the right.
25:08
He's just got inside. This He's got a corner.
25:09
Out and it was a deflection you can see straight away.
25:12
But yeah, I like I like watching him play.
25:15
I like how cool and calculating he is when he gets in the 18 nil
25:21
box. He does not panic in front of
25:23
goal. He is one of the coldest
25:26
finishes. He's obviously got ridiculous
25:29
ability that you could, you know he would die for.
25:33
Why is he not still at the city? I mean, there were some very
25:39
good players in front of him. Maybe he thought.
25:41
Maybe he thought that you couldn't see a pathway quick
25:45
enough. Maybe.
25:48
Or did they see something in them they didn't?
25:50
Like or possibly they, yeah. But yeah, they've got that many,
25:54
they've got that much talent at Man City.
25:56
When you've got those good young kids coming through it, it must
26:00
be hard for them to look into that first team and go, how am
26:04
I? How am I going to get into that
26:06
team? Yeah, You've got to have some
26:08
serious self-confidence about you to to look at that, the
26:12
level of players that were in that team and go, I can get him
26:15
out, but. If someone's got that much
26:16
ability, you know, if you're a manager, stroke coach, you're
26:19
going to go out your way to, to, to pacify him, to keep him on
26:22
side. Just be patient.
26:24
Just be patient because I mean, he has got, he's got ability
26:28
that very few people have. Running with the ball wrong
26:31
footing people high for a goal, high for a clever pass.
26:35
He's got absolutely everything. They've got the senior pros in
26:38
now, which I I've been saying for the past three years, I
26:41
think people understand outside of football, how important is it
26:43
the training pitch in the dressing room where the managers
26:46
aren't. Around.
26:48
So many different things. That's the importance of a
26:50
senior pro. I know you talked about it last
26:52
week with Sir Kenny and that that the senior pros, IE the
26:55
Scottish had the chocolate biscuits and the English, I had
26:58
the normal ones. But the importance of a senior
27:00
pro for you? Have you, have you ever worked
27:03
out you as a manager, you got maybe 25 players.
27:07
So in a normal working week, so you don't have a midweek match.
27:10
So you got them for two hours, that's 25 of them on a Monday, 2
27:15
hours, 25 of them on a Tuesday. Say they're off on a Wednesday,
27:19
you got them on the Thursday, Friday.
27:22
So say you're 2 hours, 2 hours, It's not 2 hours on a Friday,
27:26
it's 78 hours, 7 to 8 hours a week.
27:31
You're in a company on match day.
27:32
You have to leave them in their own space.
27:35
How do you as a stroke, a coach, stroke manager influence some?
27:41
There's 25, remember? How much individual time can you
27:45
give them? That's why who the mates with,
27:48
who they play golf with, who they do the school run with,
27:53
their wives can be friendly. Senior players in in In my
27:57
experience of football, clubs are paramount to being
28:00
successful. So.
28:06
So what do we think of the Liverpool performance then?
28:08
It seemed to me on the counter attack they still look very.
28:10
Vulnerable. They did look, I thought
28:12
Newcastle. I was a little bit concerned
28:14
about Newcastle actually, given what what they'd lost this
28:17
summer. I thought they looked, they
28:18
looked all right. I was.
28:20
I was quite surprised. I mean, I don't know what you.
28:23
Thought about the penalty. Was on fire.
28:25
That was the best game I've seen about for Newton.
28:26
Absolutely looked like a different player.
28:29
But I, I, I thought the penalty was a bit soft.
28:31
I think Liverpool were actually lucky to get a point out of it.
28:33
I thought it was a pretty soft penalty in the end.
28:36
I think, I mean that's, you know, being a midfield player,
28:42
no one, there was no one with any noise that was saying we're
28:46
all piling forward. There's a couple of chances to
28:52
even give a follow it to break up an attack.
28:55
You know, I always go back to Fernandinho at Man City,
28:59
Remember him? Yeah.
29:00
Any sniff of danger to just follow someone.
29:03
Yeah, generally got away without a card and I just think
29:06
Liverpool lack a bit of that. And then midfield, someone can
29:10
wait a minute. We've committed too many people
29:12
there. I'll just stay goal side and
29:14
wait for it to break down. But Liverpool for me last year
29:18
were disappointing. Another manager got lots of
29:20
stick do. You think it was right to get
29:22
rid of slot? The managers get it in the net
29:24
very all the time now, too much so.
29:27
The players seem to escape. You know, the new players that
29:31
he brought in didn't turn up last year and didn't have them,
29:34
didn't make the mark, parked in for a minute.
29:38
The players that were still there, they won the league the
29:41
year before. They come nowhere near it.
29:44
I mean, for me, the single biggest reason was Salah.
29:46
Salah's numbers were way down and I think that was allowed to
29:51
fester and and I don't. Think either.
29:56
I didn't think Van Dyke looked as commanding last season.
30:00
It didn't at the weekend against Newcastle and he's dropping off
30:03
all the time. Yeah, when I played a central
30:06
midfield player, my, my, you don't mind number one aim Was
30:10
that someone better that better that no to if you make your
30:15
presence known, I think I would choose those words.
30:19
But it was my priority was never to expose those behind me.
30:23
It wasn't about making a cute pass, scoring a goal to make
30:26
sure the two centre backs weren't enough people running
30:29
out. And you know, our fullbacks on
30:33
those days always played when we were in possession, played in
30:35
front of me most of the time or equally amount of time.
30:40
So my job was always to position myself some of the leftover.
30:43
If it breaks down, I'm here. I can just hold up play, not
30:46
dive and just hold it up. And Liverpool are lacking that
30:49
right now. And that would come back to your
30:52
about Van Dyke being explored. In, in terms of city, we, we, we
30:57
touched them but didn't really go big.
30:58
And you, you've already said you liked Endemeresco as well.
31:01
What did you make at the weekend?
31:03
One nil down, 10 minutes to go, found a way to win.
31:06
Is that what top top teams do or?
31:08
That's what we do. Was there enough to worry about
31:11
there? It's got to come back to this,
31:12
this stage of the season. You, it's not a black and white
31:14
call. You know players are fitter than
31:17
others. Especially after a World Cup
31:21
where where teams have a lot of of a lot of players that have
31:24
gone to the World Cup, I'd imagine that would be quite
31:27
tricky for a manager to manage in terms of minutes.
31:31
They're all different. Every player is different.
31:33
Physically we're different, mentally we're different, thank
31:35
goodness. So I think you know, to we we
31:39
can talk about it, but does it mean anything one game?
31:42
And I don't think so, no. OK.
31:44
Let's let's talk about almost a team versus a group of talented
31:49
individuals then, because we saw that at the weekend.
31:51
Didn't we started off with with Manchester United.
31:56
You look at that after the way that Mickey Care could have done
31:59
so well last season. Graham, what did you make of
32:02
that performance of United? That's that's a blow to them.
32:05
I think that can happen. You know you're playing a
32:11
promoted team who you know how they're going to play.
32:14
You know how you think of them in the you know, the the playoff
32:17
against Middlesbrough, the final against Middlesbrough did did
32:21
they play Millwall in the the game before?
32:24
Was it Millwall? You know, they played counter
32:26
attacking football. You know they're sitting there,
32:29
don't need to dominate the ball, but they can still win games.
32:32
And United found that out to their cost.
32:34
You I come back to some of the United players didn't quite look
32:38
ready for that challenge. But there's a there's a big
32:41
difference between playing a promoted team on the everyday of
32:45
the season at home and playing them away from that like a
32:49
promoted team that's got a bit of momentum and they're playing
32:53
at home on the first day of the season.
32:54
The feel good factor is amazing. You know, I, I remember going to
32:58
funny enough, Scott went to Charlton the day, the first home
33:03
game that they played back in the Premier League in the 90, I
33:06
want to say 97 around 9798. 98 would have been 9899.
33:11
Yeah, so 9899 first home game that their first home game of
33:14
the season sat Upton at home and we were like, we had a fairly
33:18
decent team at that point. We rocked up at at the at the
33:23
Valley, got beat 5 nil and and literally we just could not do
33:28
anything right. They were just swarming all over
33:30
us. They had so much energy.
33:32
And so it it never surprises me when a team like Hulk comes up
33:36
and gets a result like that in the opening day of the season.
33:38
Yeah. You see Spurs, did you watch
33:42
that again? I mean Brentford were fabulous,
33:46
but Brentford looked like a team that were totally much fit right
33:51
up for every single challenge that just bullied Spurs that too
33:54
much aggression, too much of everything for a a very, very
33:59
ordinary looking spurs team. Spurs have got to be better than
34:01
that. And again, he's deserved.
34:03
He's another manager I like and I think I've got a tune out of
34:05
them. But I mean Brentford, I know
34:09
well I see them Keith Andrews amazing.
34:11
I mean, they they looked like maybe give anyone a game on that
34:16
form. But Lee might be ahead of Spurs.
34:20
You know, people have different ideas about what preseason is
34:23
like, but Brentford, like, they've got everything right.
34:26
Everyone of their players are right after that.
34:28
Challenge I wonder what Thomas Frank feels like watching that
34:33
Brentford team now and and the way that his.
34:36
Career. He's taking it to another way.
34:38
And the way that Keith is what he's done since he's left, it's
34:43
so weird how football works because everyone was like Thomas
34:47
Frank is the next greatest thing.
34:48
And when he left, a lot of people, myself included, thought
34:53
Keith Andrews. So he'll be fighting relegation
34:55
next season. Is there a comparison to make
34:59
with Areola, who you know, I live down on the South Coast and
35:03
I've seen Bournemouth play several times.
35:05
They were a great watch, front foot football, really, really
35:08
aggressive. Now he obviously got that out of
35:12
that Group A little Bournemouth, 11,000 people.
35:16
Now he's gone to one of the true giants of world football,
35:19
Liverpool. Can he get that same tune out of
35:22
that group of players? There's a synergy.
35:24
There's a comparison to. Be made there.
35:26
Definitely. So it's why it's different than
35:27
Graham because the the the system.
35:29
Obviously one of the reasons, one of the main reasons why Slot
35:32
got sacked was because of the style of football.
35:34
Areola plays it as close to Klopp as possible, but the
35:36
difference between managing a a Bournemouth in a Liverpool?
35:40
You win the league and everyone's saying slot a little
35:44
bit more cautious in the way they play, but still great.
35:48
You win the league, thumbs up everywhere.
35:51
Do you think for a for a for a nanosecond he's gone into pre
35:56
season this time? Well, last year, yeah yeah, 6
35:59
you know, a year and six weeks ago and said right, I'm going to
36:02
make these changes. Do you think he uses he's
36:05
changed to training? Do you think he's been asked in
36:07
person for anything different? You think the words he's using
36:12
are any different? Everything would have been the
36:14
same last three seasons. That was the season before when
36:18
they won the league. Because it worked last year.
36:20
Well, it's not. You're not going to change it.
36:22
Yeah. So, you know, he didn't change.
36:24
The players changed. So what about Ariella this
36:27
season? Now I don't have.
36:30
His work at Bournemouth was sensational as well.
36:33
They can transfer that. The word intensity is a big
36:36
thing. He can get the Liverpool players
36:39
to buy into that intensity. Is it?
36:41
How different is it for you going into, let's say, a club
36:46
like Southampton with, you know, OK players?
36:54
How different is that to going into like a Liverpool where you
36:58
had players that were kind of, do you treat them differently?
37:03
No, no. No, I when I finish I, I managed
37:07
for 880 odd games, never went on any coaching course and I
37:13
thought when I'm finished I'm going to go and do one of these
37:18
coaching courses. So I went somewhere down
37:21
Warwickshire Way and that was a residential.
37:23
It was 3 days and I was going to these these classes and I came
37:31
away after three days with one thing and it was revisit,
37:39
revisit, revisit. Which basically means keep
37:42
telling the players this is what you want, this is what you want
37:46
until the penny and at Liverpool as a player and I never did
37:50
that. I never did that.
37:51
And that's my fault and my mistake because as a player that
37:55
was not the Liverpool we, you were told once and they would
37:58
say to you, listen, this is the second time I've told you this.
38:01
If the penny doesn't drop now, it means two things.
38:03
You're not a Liverpool player and you won't be here very long.
38:06
And I went through my coaching career thinking that how's that
38:09
fool not getting them? I've told them five times I was
38:12
not getting them. So I was at fault.
38:15
You know, some players, there's some players that just no matter
38:19
how many times you tell them, they won't get it.
38:21
And then I used to walk in when I got a job, I'd walk into a
38:23
dressing room second, third day. So you're right.
38:25
In this dressing room, there are three groups.
38:29
There's AB and C, Let me tell you AI will only have to tell
38:32
you once and it's registered forever in your head.
38:35
Then there's group BI, might have to tell you once every week
38:39
and after a couple of months of a time.
38:41
And then there's Group C, who I could tell you every single day
38:44
for as long as we're working together, and it will never
38:47
register. Now who's in Group A?
38:49
To a man that dress and put the hand off every single one of
38:52
them, I would say, well, we'll soon find out, won't we?
38:55
I'll set up for being in Group BI, know you would have been in
38:58
Group A. So, so that's Liverpool area.
39:00
What what about Mickey Carrick then?
39:01
The job that he's got to do now because the job he did last
39:04
season. Was.
39:06
Was sensational really. And yet I've heard people, even
39:08
your mate Simon Jordan, say the job starts now.
39:12
The job started when he first took over, surely.
39:14
Yeah, he started last year, that's why.
39:16
Real hard work. In situ now the real is managing
39:22
Man United every single day you're on trial.
39:26
It's not it starts now. It started the first day he got
39:28
the job and will be that'll be the case every single day of his
39:32
working life as long as he's there.
39:34
And I think he did really well last year.
39:36
I can't understand the criticism coming his way from Explores and
39:39
there's an element of jealousy there that's they're probably
39:42
not Michael Carrick's and I hope he does well.
39:46
They're obviously not too well with never will be in a biggest
39:49
rival, but I think he's saying some good players and he
39:53
obviously knows the game, he knows the football club and I
39:57
think he's got a cool way about him that will work in the modern
40:00
game. Yeah, he does.
40:01
He does seem to have a good way about in my life is calmness.
40:06
I'm taking, you don't know, deserving, but the job that he's
40:10
got at Spurs and how he's what did you make of them at the
40:14
weekend? A lot of people are saying Spurs
40:16
are back, but. They're not very good.
40:19
They've got to be better than that.
40:20
You know, they played young Archie great, right?
40:23
Fullback. He was at fault for certainly
40:24
one of the goals. How much captain is he 1819?
40:29
What does that say about your dressing room?
40:31
So as a manager you're looking at the dressing room.
40:33
It's not just I like it and maybe one day you will be a
40:36
leader. But think of this, you're
40:38
looking at that dressing room and I'm going to name an 18 year
40:41
old as a captain. You've got the majority are mid
40:46
20s and more. What does that?
40:49
What does the manager think of me?
40:51
That he's making a boy captain. He's a gorgeous young man, going
40:57
to be a fabulous player. How would you feel if you're one
41:00
of the 25 to 30 year olds in that dressing?
41:04
I know how you feel, but I I think that tells you everything
41:08
that we need to know about that Spurs dress.
41:10
That's another way to look at it.
41:11
You're right. Yeah.
41:12
Were any of them angry at not being captain?
41:15
Don't have responsibility. So with the players that they're
41:18
constructing together, what about the job he's got ahead of
41:22
him? How do you see Spurs this?
41:23
Season, I mean, I I would with what's gone on there, with the
41:26
amount of players that have come in, I wouldn't expect to see the
41:28
best of a Tottenham team till probably near Christmas once the
41:34
manager is well it. Might be too late for the
41:36
manager. Well, what he's got a like you
41:40
said, when you when you went to you were telling us in the car
41:43
in the way when you went to Italy, to Reno and then you had
41:46
all these new players and you had to try and make a team out
41:49
of it. He's got all these players.
41:51
He's got to work out. Not only, you know, which is
41:54
going to be his start at 11, what formation he's going to
41:56
play and what what best suits that style.
41:58
That doesn't come. That doesn't come in a few
42:01
games. He's had a chance to look at
42:02
them last year. For a few.
42:05
Games. Yeah, he's had a chance to look
42:06
at them. But then a big, big influx.
42:09
See. It's the the bigger concern and
42:11
I come back to it as a contradiction myself here.
42:15
I've had a such a hard pre season.
42:18
They just looked against Brentford, like Brentford were
42:22
matched for it and they were just lacking in in real this use
42:27
the word desire. If I'm saying they're tired and
42:29
but I don't know, personal practise or I didn't see anyone
42:34
really, really win 50 fifties too many times, you know, going
42:39
in and maybe leaving a bit on someone and try to get the rest
42:42
of your teammates with you. I just saw him accept and again.
42:48
That's a senior pro thing again, really.
42:51
I I kind of saw that first hand when I broke into the team at
42:54
Southampton's, a young kid and we had Jimmy Case.
42:58
Case some point. In the in the centre of my
43:00
midfield and if the game wasn't going very well.
43:02
He could go down a different Rd. Yeah, he he would do something
43:05
to try and change the outcome and.
43:07
Get the swing going in your favour.
43:08
Absolutely you would, yeah. And if that meant taking the law
43:11
into his own hands on occasions, then he did.
43:13
Dennis Wise would do that at at Chelsea's World, Absolutely.
43:17
Me and that was my first love of Spurs, looking at them.
43:22
Just what not for the fight and Brentford, it was just a yard
43:26
quicker, more aggressive and just one every 50, nearly every
43:31
5050 that went on in the game. And you know, all the geniuses
43:36
out there, tactics, formations and everything else that's, you
43:42
know, try Liverpool. You see, how about starting
43:46
place, get to the ball first, try getting to the ball first,
43:51
and if you're doing that, you're doing that and you're going
43:53
forward. If you're second to the ball,
43:55
you're doing that all the time. That's where Spurs were not very
43:58
rarely got to the ball first. It's not just about being
44:00
aggressive and wanting to do that.
44:03
That's a football now. It's a bit of anticipation.
44:05
First two yards are in your head.
44:07
Anticipate coaching. Lesson over.
44:16
Thanks to our whiskey partner Saint Andrew's Three Fingers
44:19
Whiskey, the legendary measure. Another big result, of course at
44:23
the weekend was was Brighton 4 Villa nil.
44:26
I mean, first of all, Graham, you know, Aston Villa won the
44:29
European Cup in between, in between your times as well.
44:32
Just tell us how big a club. Villa, Villa, an enormous club,
44:36
you know, is it the second city, the way Manchester has evolved
44:40
in recent in recent history, certainly in terms of the size
44:43
of the population. Villa, a big, big football club.
44:46
I can't remember 10 years ago, 12 years ago, the season
44:50
started, Villa were playing Man United on a Friday night.
44:54
That was the first game in the Premier League.
44:56
And I took my young son James with me and I said, James,
44:59
you're going to a big football club tonight.
45:01
Wait till you see this stadium. And it is, it's 1 of this.
45:04
I know looked in make it bigger as well, but it's just so
45:07
impressive. Everything, everything at Villa
45:10
screams we are a big football club.
45:12
Except the trophies have won, which isn't maybe the most
45:16
important thing. But I'm not sure what direction
45:19
Bill are going in this year, where the players are sold and
45:21
what they've brought in. They'll they'll look like
45:24
they'll have a difficult season. Well, well, that's the other
45:26
thing that screams that they are a big club, but they're not a
45:28
big club. We're certainly having problems
45:29
with PSR. When you think of the likes of
45:32
Rogers gone, Tillman's gone, cons have gone, they just won
45:36
the Europa League so they're going to be playing Champions
45:38
League and it looks like Ollie Watkins is going to go as well.
45:42
Is that a strange one who wanted he's he wants to go to Saudi
45:44
Arabia. Is that crap?
45:46
It's time for him to Saudi Arabia in another 3 or 4 years.
45:50
Why would you want to leave a great football club, most
45:55
competitive league in the world, to go and play in Saudi at this
45:58
time? Giving you 100 grand a week.
46:00
Well, not no. It'll be time for that, Matt.
46:02
There'll be time for that. But but.
46:05
Also this season. Unai Emery didn't say anything,
46:09
but he did sort of he, he kind of did.
46:12
We're thinking that maybe he he. Refused to play, didn't he?
46:15
He refused read between them. So what do we think about?
46:17
That he's refused to play. He's under contract.
46:19
That's for me is one of the worst things a professional
46:21
footballer can do. I absolutely hate it when a
46:25
professional footballer who's getting paid ridiculous amounts
46:28
of money goes do you know what? And I'm going to play because
46:33
I'm throwing my dummy out and, you know, I want to go and
46:36
you're not letting me. Well if that's the case mate,
46:38
don't sign the contract in the first place.
46:41
I don't know, I think it's never been more difficult to manage
46:43
this today because how do you how do you manage a group of
46:46
guys that see, I'm see I'm your manager and I walk in and I'm
46:49
having to go at you and you're worth 100 million.
46:53
And you sit there and you don't say anything.
46:54
You don't respond. You sit there.
46:56
Yeah, Really. Yeah.
46:57
All right. And he's his best.
46:59
He's he's your best mate. He's worth 100 million and his
47:02
best mates with 70 minutes, so if there's four or five of you I
47:05
could be falling out with in the modern game in a big club, half
47:08
a billion pounds worth of football and then.
47:11
You can out them up against the wall, yeah.
47:12
Well, and all those tastes have long gone and I'm too old now
47:16
and I'm too small compared to some of the Jacks that play the
47:19
game today. But I I think it's really
47:22
difficult for the managers today.
47:24
Really difficult. So so does.
47:26
Tailback to dog now. Zen, we get rid of him so the
47:30
player doesn't want to be there. And, and how do you see Villa
47:33
this season? Because it's not just you them
47:35
choosing to get rid of certain players.
47:37
It's Morgan Rogers has gone for the PSR reasons.
47:39
That's £117 million. No one else should be leaving
47:42
for PSR reasons. I can tell you when this first
47:46
happened, where are players whose asset value was so
47:50
enormous they just said we've got to sell them.
47:51
There was an Elko when he was at Arsenal.
47:54
Real Madrid came knocking and I think he went to Real Madrid for
47:57
about 21 million was that and it was just a case he's I'm not, I
48:03
want to go to Real Madrid, I'm not going to play.
48:05
And Arsenal made all the right noises early on.
48:07
But you know that 21,000,021 million, the start of this
48:12
season, next year if he doesn't play for me, he's been around
48:15
the dressing room, he's been a problem.
48:18
That's where we've finished 5th or 6th on the table.
48:20
And his value now is not 21 million, it's 14,000,000.
48:25
It's difficult for for these cops to all the power is with
48:27
the players too much. Yeah, I think so.
48:31
It's not healthy. Because it used to be completely
48:34
the other way around. Yeah, yeah.
48:36
And we've just gone. We've got to find the middle
48:38
ground somewhere. I don't think you can rewind.
48:42
I think the genie's at the bottle and it's only going one
48:44
way where players values will just keep increasing.
48:49
I, I would say this, and there's lots of players today playing
48:54
today coming into the game on the fringes of being proper
48:57
players that because they'll be given so much so soon in their
49:01
careers, they'll never achieve the full potential.
49:06
Yeah, I think. That's the ambition is blunted.
49:08
Yeah, I heard a story that Arsene Wenger said signed a kid.
49:12
Now we need the first team, but for 30 grand a week.
49:15
I said if we don't do it some someone else will.
49:18
And this is Yeah, I. Can't remember the name now, but
49:20
that says everything. I can't remember the name.
49:21
Was it Rashford? Yep, too much.
49:25
Too Rashford, How does he feel? Are we allowed to talk about
49:29
Rashford? Why not?
49:32
Let's talk about Rashford. How do I see him?
49:37
Where do I start? He's at one of the great
49:39
football clubs in the world and he gets and there's a real
49:44
player in there. As far as I'm concerned, we
49:48
don't see it enough but it's a real player.
49:50
So he gets awarded a great big contract and then he loses his
49:58
way, let's put it in a polite way, loses his way.
50:01
So he's not wanted at Man United.
50:03
They loan him out to Villa, they don't want to buy them.
50:09
Then he ends up at Barcelona. Dream move, to my understanding,
50:14
and maybe people correct me, they they can take him at the
50:19
end of last year when they've won the league and everything in
50:21
the Barcelona garden is Rosie. Everyone's feeling good about
50:24
themselves. They can take him for
50:27
£25,000,000 and they turn the offer down.
50:31
So he goes back to Man United and they spend 70 million on
50:35
Gordon, who on their day Rashford is better than him.
50:40
So how does he, Do you think he's ever looked at himself in
50:43
the mirror when he's cleaning his teeth last thing at night
50:45
and thought, is there something I'm not doing that these people
50:49
don't fancy me? Do you think he's ever?
50:52
Thought And how does he feel now, walking back into that Man
50:54
United's change room knowing that?
50:57
He's not. It'll be someone else's fault,
50:59
Matt. Not my fault.
51:01
Yeah, but he's walking into that change room knowing that that
51:03
club don't really want it there, that that's.
51:07
That's not, that's not what, but it's a kick between the legs
51:10
that you know, they didn't want to buy me for 25,000,000.
51:15
And he scored goals and made assists as well.
51:17
He's he's a real player. You just wish someone could sit
51:20
him down and, you know, get them.
51:22
So what? Would you say to him if you were
51:24
the 1 to sit him down? I, I I would say, do you have
51:27
you any idea how good you are? But what separates where you are
51:33
to be in class as a great? They do it nearly every single
51:37
week. You don't appear to be fancying
51:39
every single Saturday or Sunday or whenever you're playing.
51:43
And you'd have to look at the people around him because
51:46
whoever's been around them for the last 6-7 years, I haven't
51:50
done them any favours. But he's a, he's a, he's a star,
51:55
could be a, you know, England regular being Man United's best
52:02
player. So let's have a look at some of
52:05
the other results at the weekend then, shall we?
52:07
Forest Nil leads one Daniel Farca this time last year was
52:12
favoured to be the first manager to be set.
52:14
He wasn't the end of the season as well they were.
52:16
Talking about getting rid of him before they even started the
52:18
season, weren't they? Because of what had happened to
52:20
him previously in the in the Premier League?
52:23
And yeah, thankfully they didn't because obviously we know how
52:26
the season turned out for him and I, you know, they've done
52:30
some decent business this summer, I think.
52:33
And it didn't really surprise me that they went to to Forrest and
52:36
won, if I'm honest. I mean, I know it was a decent
52:39
free kick. I know Forrest had chances in
52:42
the game, but I think he's done a very good job there and under
52:47
not easy circumstances. James Trafford, 40,000,000 lbs.
52:51
As a goalkeeper, sounds a lot of money for a.
52:53
Keeper, Sorry, Why do you see it difficult?
52:55
I think Leeds would be a good club to work at.
52:58
Oh no, I just meant under difficult circumstances.
53:00
From terms outside pressure. Yeah, in terms of the pressure
53:02
on him going into his first Premier League season, knowing
53:05
that a lot of the Leeds fans even were going.
53:08
Yeah, but they can be. They're influenced by the media
53:11
and by the Internet and all. The yeah.
53:12
And that's why I say under difficult circumstances, because
53:15
he's having to deal with all that stuff and still go and do
53:17
the job properly. And they can, you know, the fans
53:20
can influence the board as well. So then how important is that
53:22
the boards talks to him behind the scenes and and you know,
53:27
relieves any kind of worries? We've all been in the game long
53:29
enough to, you know, the manager gets a vote of confidence, but
53:33
the, the, the board look after themselves first and foremost.
53:37
They don't sit in the director's box and get flak.
53:40
You know, people in front and turn around and give them abuse.
53:42
They they look after themselves and the second manager.
53:46
So what Matt was saying with all the noise that was going on?
53:49
How he's the job Has he done? He's brilliant, Brilliant.
53:53
And they're good watch leads. Yeah, I've been for a number of
53:56
years, yeah. Good one.
53:57
I've got two brothers who are a big Leeds fan so it's a bit of a
54:01
pain in the backside for me seeing them be so well, quite
54:03
frankly. I, I was, I was working on the
54:06
Championship as you, as you well know, and Leeds was like a top
54:10
Premier League fixture when you go to Ellen Rd.
54:12
It was just. Generally some atmosphere.
54:14
It was. It was absolutely amazing.
54:16
It's that one team, the premier. League team that I never scored
54:19
against. So can I just touch on
54:21
something? Sky, did you enjoy working
54:23
there? Yeah, I loved it.
54:24
It's sad the way it ended for you there.
54:26
Yeah, it was sad the way it ended.
54:28
Yeah. I mean, I just, I never ever
54:31
felt like I was going to work when I went to do Soccer Savvy.
54:35
It was just like, I'm going to have a chat with my mates about
54:37
four. Yeah, that's how I it was
54:39
brilliant fun and I loved it. Yeah, well, you were on a
54:45
different show to me. We had some decent blokes to
54:47
work with, but yeah, and I and I miss working with those chats
54:54
where occasionally we'll do after dinners together and that
54:56
kind of stuff. I enjoyed that.
54:58
But did you enjoy their Saturday afternoon show?
55:01
Yeah, I loved it. I mean I was part of it before I
55:03
started presenting. So you haven't got hammered a
55:04
sack? No, I got sacked the same week
55:08
as Matt and Tomo. Charlie.
55:10
Nick. Did you?
55:11
Yeah. And you called me up from the
55:13
golf course in Portugal. You said.
55:15
I've just heard. I've got to tell, I got to speak
55:17
to Scott and you very kindly gave me a call.
55:19
Did that call? Did the worldly good for you?
55:21
Didn't it? Didn't have your back?
55:23
He obviously didn't have my phone number.
55:25
He never rang me. No, it was sad the way it ended.
55:31
But you know, like I mean that six years ago now.
55:33
I can't believe about that six years ago and.
55:36
You still get plenty of work. My life has moved on and yeah.
55:39
You look great. You probably look great.
55:41
Thank you. I'm happy.
55:43
In a good place. Yeah, it's a really good place,
55:45
really. Good place and I love doing talk
55:47
sport as well which is great. Fun.
55:48
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you're good on that mate.
55:49
I've told you before, I really enjoyed listening to you on
55:52
there. Your Co comms are one of the
55:53
better Co commentators that I listen.
55:55
To Do you want to be my agent? Son.
55:58
Well, I mean, I'm probably I'm. Probably George, you said 100.
56:01
Percent of nothing. I'm going to tell me, George.
56:03
You're just an agent. Nobody.
56:04
Talks to me anymore. He knows my agent, guys.
56:10
That's been good. That's been good fun.
56:12
It's it's, it's what I wanted. I wanted to have football people
56:16
on talking football in a serious, sensible way.
56:20
So thank you. Was that serious?
56:23
Well, some of it was, but hopefully, you know, we've we've
56:26
got a few laughs. Again, it's not.
56:28
It's like not going to work. Exactly.
56:31
Great fun. More than more.
56:33
Brilliant. Thank you.
56:34
Cheers, Chair.