Latest / Let's Kick It Off! / Ep 46: Are Manchester United Really Back?

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Ep 46: Are Manchester United Really Back? · Let's Kick It Off!

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Store. Let's kick it off.
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I'm Steve and I'm joined by Ash and just Ash because AS is busy
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in Bali sunning himself up and we had a couple of dropouts
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today. Unfortunately Scott's not
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feeling well and cabs, I don't know what happened to him, but
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it's a bit like Jamie Carragher, isn't it?
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Can't get hold of any of these scousers at the moment.
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I'm missing Steve haven't they haven't seen him for about 7 to
1:03
10 games. Absolute joke, these guys when
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the top of the league, you know, they're, they're active in the
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group chats, they're willing to come on podcasts.
1:10
Take the piss out of us. Yeah, couple of defeats or
1:13
actually I should say, is it, is it 7 defeats or 8:00?
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I've lost track now. I don't know, they just keep
1:19
losing, so I'm just loving life. I think it's seven in 10.
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Seven in 10, I mean, it's no wonder they've never won
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back-to-back titles, right? I think it's it's the pressure.
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They're all quite sensitive at the moment.
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You know. Van Dyke can't take a bit of
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criticism. Yeah, Wayne Rooney's wound him
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up good and proper, isn't it? So yeah, Mr Cole, greatest
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defender ever, certainly not showing that this season.
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Pretty embarrassing really. In terms of title defence, Yeah,
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I guess it's me and you. Just like episode 2.
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So yeah, be interesting, but I think we have to start with you
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had an interesting night last night.
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Yeah, I did. I, for the second time, attended
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the Soho Walthamstow Theatre to see the Talk of the Devils live
2:10
on tour, so that's with Andy Mitten, Laurie Whitwell, Carl
2:15
Anchor and Ian Irvin. So yeah, it was a great night
2:18
actually packed out arena and great, great stories from the
2:25
lads, a lot of stuff that you wouldn't normally get on the
2:29
pods, you know, Happy to say that I was an original listener
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about five years ago, but yeah. Is that when they started?
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Yeah, it was about five years ago, I think it was COVID year,
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because I remember like walking is when I discovered walking
2:45
actually in the middle of the summer, because obviously we can
2:48
go to gyms or even play football.
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Yeah. And it, Carl Anker actually
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started the presenting. So did it.
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It was, yeah, it was him, Andy Mitten.
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And I think Laurie was there from the beginning.
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But yeah, otherwise, definitely Andy and Carl.
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Carl presented. I can't remember Carl like
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thinking that Carl would be the presenter now it feels.
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Yeah, yeah. It'd be strange now because like
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in obviously does such a good job with the presenting.
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But yeah, Carl did the first season definitely.
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And then I think Ian joined second season.
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And yeah, I mean, obviously they've done brilliant over the
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years. Obviously going from podcasts to
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YouTube this year, some great stories that they were telling
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us yesterday that, you know, stuff that you wouldn't get on
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the normal pods. So great night.
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And then yeah, met the lads, well most of the lads afterwards
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as well are really, really bunch of nice guys.
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So yeah, definitely enjoyable Tuesday night for sure.
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Yeah, we'll see if we can tease a few stories out of you during
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this pod, but I know what goes until stays until stays.
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Until SO, have to buy a ticket Steve next time.
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Yeah, no, I think I will get down next year.
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I think like in just in terms of United podcasts for me, they're
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#1 I'd say just like 1 is obviously the insight.
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You know, they're all, you know, covering the games at the press
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conferences. They all, they break the major
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stories, the athletic right? You know, whether it's 10 are
4:26
getting sacked or Omar flying to Portugal to do the Amerim deal,
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it's always, it's always the athletic break in it.
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So I think they are #1 So yeah, yeah, we'll see.
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We'll see what stories we can get out of you during this
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podcast. But I think the other bit of
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reaction we have is just like the Kieran McGuire episode has
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gone down really well, right? We couldn't have expected to go
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down that well. Obviously we know Kieran's
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brilliant. But yeah, the reaction from our
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community and you know, we're getting, we've done record
4:56
numbers on YouTube as well. So it's.
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Friend Yeah, I know. Really good.
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Great episode obviously with Kieran so generous with his time
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and his knowledge is unsurpassed when it comes to football
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finance. And as always, like you learn a
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lot of lessons. To be fair, I think Kieran
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learned a couple of lessons as well with some of his face drops
5:17
during the episode. So it was good to see like him
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hear our opinions as well. And yeah, like you said, record
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numbers on YouTube and on the podcast.
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So massive shout out to the Let's Kick It Off community, you
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know, for supporting us. And yeah, we're nearing 50
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episodes as well. One year anniversary coming up,
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same time as obviously when Reuben kicked off.
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So yeah, all trending in the right direction, Steve, under
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your stewardship. So yeah, hats off.
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Speaking of trending in the right direction, seems like the
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team is trending in the right direction, right?
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If you listen to the positivity out there in certain people.
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So we'll get into that now and talk about whether we think that
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is genuine or whether it's just, you know, a bit of form that
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can't be sustained. So, yeah, we've not done a
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podcast since the Nottingham Forest game, right?
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And, you know, when Kieran came on, we'd won three in a row.
6:17
We're just being bright and obviously his team.
6:19
And then we knew we had like 2 tough away games on paper,
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right? Forest away and Spurs away.
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And yeah, I guess just briefly starting with that Forest game,
6:28
obviously 22 amazing equaliser from Ahmad.
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Like, you know, how did the strike?
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How did you how did you feel we played in that game?
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Oh, I mean hard. To remember, to be honest, like
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2 weeks is a long time, but yeah.
6:43
It's a blur, isn't it? A week in football is a blur.
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But yeah, I mean, I think Reuben summed it up well after the
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after the game last season, we would have lost that and we
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would have lost it comfortably, not just like T1.
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So definite credit to the lads for both games over the last
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couple of weeks because they've obviously been able to get it
7:06
back. And yeah, so close Ahmad with
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the winner as well. That shot off the line hit its
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suite, but the the game itself from you know what, what I
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remember like we played well in patches and I think that's
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probably the signs of positivity coming through right over the
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last five games is that those patches of positivity are
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stitching a bit more together. So it it looks more cohesive, I
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think it's probably the right term.
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Obviously the the big problem and I think it's a legacy issue,
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whether it's to do with the team or the defence itself, is the
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glut of goals that we concede. But I think slowly they are
7:55
getting better in terms of defensively the the, the numbers
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don't suggest that because I think we've got definitely one
8:02
of the worst defences like on paper anyway, in the Premier
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League in terms of stats, I think it's like 18 goals
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conceded. And like, you know, you're
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talking the likes of Burnley and Leeds in terms of how many
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conceded. But the big point is obviously
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we're scoring goals and we're taking chances, so.
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Yeah, like I was just going to say the team spirit I think as
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well, like that's that has shown three I'd say like in the
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obviously in the last five games he had the three wins and the
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two draws. And thinking back to all the
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games, I think even the first game of the run Sunderland,
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right, we beat. I think we'll be hanging on
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towards the end of that game. I'm pretty sure we had a one
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goal. Well, this is it, like we're
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we're coming back in games say, whether it's the Burnley game or
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the Sunderland game. So that's what I mean.
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There's positivity in and amongst the chaos and we have to
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expect a bit of chaos during the season because you know, we were
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so poor last season. Obviously the league position
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and I showed that. But you know, if we're going to
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finish between that, say 8th to 5th, there will be a bit of
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chaos even within games, so we could be in total control like
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the Brighton game. I think the start that I shared
9:17
with the community was Casimiro influence.
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As soon as he comes off, we just concede goals.
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Obviously that's not just about Casimiro.
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It's probably a little bit of everything, whether it's to do
9:32
with the players coming on the pitch, you know, fatigue.
9:38
Yeah, maybe the players just relax a little bit more when
9:40
they shouldn't. And I think this is it, right?
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It's teething problems that Reuben's dealing with better.
9:48
So yeah, I mean in terms of the Forest game, obviously we we
9:53
can, we're scoring set pieces as well, Steve.
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It's like the old days, headers and stuff.
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Yeah, it like it we are. And like all, all worldies or
10:02
like, yeah, so it doesn't. Goals that get you excited
10:04
again, right? Yeah, they are good goals, but
10:06
like, yeah, it's it feels a bit like vibes, a bit like Ollie, if
10:10
I'm being honest, like like I don't know how sustainable it
10:13
is. Like it feels like moments.
10:15
So yes, obviously take it. The reason I mentioned the team
10:19
spirit is that is actually a big fact.
10:21
If anything, that's probably the biggest factor for me out of the
10:24
last five games. It's not really the performances
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because I don't think the performance has been anything
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that special. Obviously we've scored the goals
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when we've needed them. You know, even if you look at
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the underlying data in the in the last few games, it's not
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been that great. But we've taken our chances,
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which is all you can ask for. But for me, the the the team
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spirit is the big thing because I think in every game we've
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we've got to a point where it looked a little bit ropy and
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like you said last year, we're losing that game.
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But you know, even touching on the Spurs game now, right, we're
10:53
21 down in the 95th minute. Yeah, you know, fair play, you
10:58
know, delivers the goods and even we have to talk about like
11:03
you, like you said previously and Bumo, it is looking good.
11:07
I think the goalkeeper Le Mans is looking very good in terms of
11:11
like, you know, slotting in. So the signings are making an
11:14
impact as well, right? Undefeated right since Le Mans
11:18
has been in goal and touchwood so far.
11:22
Minimal mistakes, which is key and that that helps the defence
11:27
as well because obviously they know they've got someone who's
11:31
capable of catching the ball and making good saves, so they can
11:35
risk a little bit more. So I'd say Luke Shaw has played
11:38
well in the last couple of weeks and he's been, I think
11:41
particularly against Brighton, he was able to push up the
11:43
field, which is what Reuben prefers.
11:46
So it kind of depends on like Harry Maguire playing or not.
11:49
Reuben touched upon that. He said when McGuire is not
11:53
playing he can afford to take a bit more risk with the defence
11:56
and push up and obviously Dilek likes doing that.
12:00
What what you making a midfield? Because like I think within the
12:04
five game run, that's the area I just always look at constantly
12:09
and just think it's been outnumbered.
12:12
Like even when we're on the ball and it's a bit like what you
12:15
said, like there's players in and around the right areas, but
12:20
it just feels a little bit messy still.
12:23
Yeah, I think like the Bruno and Casimiro in the middle,
12:26
obviously on paper and not just on paper.
12:29
There's been, you know, games and moments that it just has
12:32
looked shoddy. But Bruno's like chance creation
12:37
of this season is, I think, as good as it's ever been in terms
12:41
of the amount of chances he's creating, even like the amount
12:44
of areas he's getting into to score himself.
12:47
So like he's still affecting the games quite a lot.
12:50
And then as you mentioned there, they start about Casimiro, the
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amount of goals we've conceded when he's come off the pitch.
12:56
So I actually think in these last five games they do look
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relatively solid, but obviously they have got 3 centre backs
13:03
behind them, which in theory was always supposed to help.
13:06
So maybe that is starting to come through a little bit and
13:09
they are getting that little bit of extra protection.
13:12
And Speaking of protection, you know, Casimir has been brought
13:15
off every game on the 70th minute, right?
13:18
So yeah, he's, he's basically playing like, yeah, less minutes
13:23
obviously, so that you can play a bit more intensely.
13:26
But again, yeah, just it feels a little bit brittle possibly.
13:31
Yeah. What was your thoughts on Chesco
13:35
over the last couple of games? Because like, even towards the
13:38
end of the Spurs game, like, you know, if you had that extra bit
13:42
of quality, there's a winner there, isn't it, with that
13:46
chance where Van der Van makes the tackle?
13:49
Yeah, don't make me talk about Harry Kane again, but obviously,
13:53
yeah. He's did you, did you voucher
13:55
him? I can't remember.
13:56
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, We'll save it for when us
13:59
is back and I can hammer him about that.
14:01
But the receipts, yeah. Yeah.
14:03
Like This is why I was so big on getting, you know, a striker in
14:09
their pomp, because moments just dictate games and if you've got
14:14
someone in that penalty area that can score when they
14:17
shouldn't really score or it's a slightly difficult chance and
14:19
they score, it just makes such an impact.
14:22
And you know, I'm not going to make the comparison of Shesco
14:25
and Hoyland yet, but there are similarities in terms of the
14:30
age. More so the age profile, Like a
14:32
lot of pressure, these guys coming into the club and
14:34
expected to be #1 I never really expected Chesco to hit the
14:38
ground running just purely because of the age, getting used
14:41
to the new league. So yeah, although he's not, you
14:44
know, set the world alight. I'm not really surprised, to be
14:47
honest. What about you?
14:49
Yes, fairly similar. I mean, I've got to say in terms
14:53
of like initial looking at him, his touch and just even like
14:58
physically in terms of like winning headers, he does seem a
15:01
little bit better than Hoyland, but way too early to say.
15:04
Like you said, he's definitely an upgrade.
15:08
I think it's just more yeah, we'll have to see how the season
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goes because if he keeps making decisions like he made on
15:16
Saturday where he takes a touch, where he he doesn't like take
15:21
the defender out the game and that's where a clinical.
15:24
Striker, yeah. Yeah, a clinical striker knows
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like if you take the touch across and also you need to get
15:30
it on your stronger foot as soon as possible when you got that
15:33
little time because you got a quick defender behind you as
15:36
well. So if he's doing that in three
15:39
months time, we've got probably an issue.
15:43
But yeah, you have to give him the benefit, the doubt, the
15:46
moment. But yeah, we'll have to see.
15:49
I mean, there's already talk about Ivan Tony's availability
15:53
in January, you know, like apparently, you know, multiple
15:57
Premier League clubs are linked with him.
15:59
But obviously with one game a week, it's like if you sign
16:04
someone like that, then you're going to stump his development.
16:07
So I doubt they will pursue something like that, especially
16:10
on the wages, the big topic. But yeah.
16:13
But I guess like, you know, we've already, we've already
16:15
touched on it, you know, if you think Chesko's not hit the
16:17
ground running, but Mbumo probably has and Lamont's has
16:21
and Kunis looks pretty good, you know.
16:23
So I guess as a whole, you have to say the window is looking
16:26
pretty good at the moment, right?
16:28
Like, you know, I'd say is fair. Yeah, it's it's looking decent.
16:32
I think with Kunya in particular, he just needs to
16:37
produce a few extra numbers, especially for the transfer fee.
16:42
But look, if we're winning, like you always say, it kind of
16:46
doesn't matter because he's contributing anyway in different
16:49
ways. But it would it would be good
16:51
like if he could get on the score sheet a bit more.
16:54
I'm not so bothered about assists because, you know, if
16:57
he's like the second pass before the assist, then no problem.
17:02
It's just more, yeah, I think a bit more end product.
17:04
He has some phenomenal touches in games, even like with the
17:07
Spurs game and his work rate is outstanding.
17:10
So, you know, it's hard to put like numbers on that.
17:13
But yeah, a few more goals from him and then then the side will
17:17
improve as well will go up the table, especially with the way
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the Premier League is this season.
17:21
It's everyone's so tight in, you know, in that between like, say
17:25
4th to 10th, right? Like it's just packed like a few
17:29
points between everyone. Yeah, I think it's just, I think
17:32
someone in the community shared the graphic of the league table
17:36
based on and you see, we see Wolves at the bottom.
17:39
It's. Just all on their right.
17:40
Yeah, 2 points lately, Wolf. Yeah, exactly.
17:44
So like in terms of Reuben, right?
17:47
So yeah, we've obviously spoken a lot about him a lot on this
17:51
pod. Obviously you mentioned it
17:54
there. We only started this podcast
17:55
when he first came in into the hot seat and the first episode
18:00
was called the Reuben plan of the podcast.
18:03
So yeah, obviously we're a year down the line now officially.
18:07
I have officially lost my bet to us as well because we had the
18:11
bet. I said he'd be gone by November.
18:15
It's obviously now November. So he has officially won the
18:17
bet. I'm happy to pay him out on
18:20
that. Yeah, we said pizza.
18:22
Rudy's I think, yeah. Well yeah, we did say that, but
18:25
obviously I've got my boycott at Old Trafford, right?
18:27
So I'm not sure when it can be in Manchester.
18:30
However, today I got the magic e-mail from United.
18:34
I've got 5 tickets in the ballot for Wolves away on Monday the
18:38
5th of December I want to say. So if you fancy a little
18:42
Christmas out in in the Midlands on a Monday night then.
18:45
Let's let's kick it off Christmas party, everyone.
18:48
Yeah, we'll see if us fan. In fact, I know a good Italian.
18:51
I have done Wolves away once and yeah, it could be a little
18:56
Christmas Christmas night out for us if you fancy it.
19:00
Yes, it sounds good, especially if you're, if you're paying
19:04
Steve, always, always good. Yeah, well, I always pay my bets
19:08
out. Yeah.
19:10
Also it's Monday, the 8th of December.
19:12
So yeah, that's a possibility where us can get his payout.
19:15
We might be listening, listening to this on the way back from
19:17
Bali. So he's got something to look
19:19
forward to when he gets back. Well, it just proves that, you
19:23
know, people from Manchester can afford some decent stuff.
19:26
Hey, Steve. Oh yeah, true.
19:28
So you know I should keep in increasing their prices, right?
19:33
Especially after the currents and new exclusive for next
19:36
summer. But yeah, I guess we'll talk
19:38
about that later. Yeah, we'll touch on it, but
19:40
yeah, let's get back to Reuben then.
19:41
So yeah, a year down the line, I think.
19:44
Yeah, obviously these last five games have very much changed the
19:47
narrative, the mood around Reuben.
19:50
I would love to know, in an alternative universe, what would
19:54
have happened if we'd have lost that Liverpool game.
19:57
I think I could have won my bet against us.
20:00
So that shows, you know, how close it was.
20:04
Even the Athletic article that came out today, about one year
20:08
down the line with Ruben, they were talking about, you know,
20:12
some of the meetings that took place with the Ineos hierarchy,
20:15
OGI, etcetera. So there was, you know, there
20:18
was talk, there was meetings happening.
20:20
So I do think it was a close one.
20:22
But yeah, I lost it. So yeah.
20:23
How do you assess, I guess, the mood or the current performance
20:29
of Reuben? Like, do you think he's, you
20:31
know, he's safe for the season now?
20:33
Yeah. What are you making of that side
20:34
of it? Yeah, I think if you, if you
20:37
look at it, especially at the beginning of the season, a lot
20:40
of people probably including myself, you look at the fixture
20:43
list and you could have easily for we would be 15th again after
20:47
10 games. So the fact that we're in the
20:50
mix of European football, so not necessarily Champions League
20:54
football, you know, given again, I don't like to come benchmark
20:59
against last season, but it you kind of have to.
21:03
So you have to say loosely that the trajectory is upwards in
21:11
terms of league position. I'm with you in terms of the
21:15
football and performances though, because in terms of the
21:19
way Reuben played football at sports in Lisbon and look,
21:23
every, every club, every Football League that you play
21:26
in, you're going to have to adapt and stuff like that.
21:29
So maybe that's where you give Reuben a bit more credit over
21:32
the last like couple of months because if he had sucked to the
21:35
way he wanted to play, especially last season, yeah, we
21:40
could be towards the bottom of the league again.
21:42
But he's learnt obviously to go longer, you know, not play too
21:49
many passes at the back like like we were doing a lot last
21:54
season and even a little bit at the start of this season.
21:57
You know, the Arsenal game for example.
21:59
Like, you know, everyone loves talking about that game in terms
22:02
of we, we did dominate the ball and that's probably the
22:05
blueprint of what Reuben wants to do.
22:07
But obviously, you know, stick the ball in the back of the net.
22:10
Whereas I think in the last like 5 games he's been more
22:13
pragmatic. That's kept him in a job and
22:17
also like the results have improved.
22:19
I don't know if you know this start, but when we have less
22:25
than 50% possession in a game, we're averaging I think 1.79
22:29
points. And when we're over 50%, we
22:33
averaged like 0.7. So that tells you a story.
22:37
So you have to give Ruben credit for like understanding.
22:40
It's like actually this team that I've got a lot of these
22:43
players, they can't do what I want, so therefore I have to
22:46
change. And obviously he's spent 200
22:49
million, right? And, and Bimu has definitely
22:52
made a massive improvement. What about yourself, Steve?
22:55
Yeah, I agree. I think like, you know, you
22:56
can't really knock the turn of results.
22:59
Like you know, the results no one can argue with.
23:01
Yeah, performances you could maybe question a bit, but I
23:05
guess if a team is struggling, you know, and when we were
23:08
struggling, we we said, I remember Scott saying, you know,
23:11
he's just got to get results now.
23:13
He's got to do what it takes. And yes.
23:14
Exactly. He's changed his approach a
23:16
little bit and, you know, fair play to him.
23:18
So you can't knock that. And, you know, like you said
23:20
earlier, there's the signs of improvement.
23:24
I mentioned the team spirit. So yeah, you know, the trend is
23:26
up, but obviously we were starting from a very low base,
23:30
so no. One and it's still quite
23:32
marginal, like you know, there's chances in all of these games
23:35
that the five game run. Like I think you touched on with
23:39
the Liverpool 11, our last part, I think where you mentioned 2
23:46
passes and like Liverpool were in and I think the up guy hit
23:48
the post. So there are those moments
23:52
pretty much in every game. And yeah, it's just a case of
23:57
seeing the trend. I'll be honest with you, like
23:59
gun to the head if you say to me like, do I think the system's
24:04
going to work out? I don't, I, I just, it's two
24:08
reasons. 1, I don't think we got the personnel at wingback to
24:12
make this system work brilliantly.
24:15
That's not even talking about central midfield.
24:17
But also, I just still don't feel it's Manchester United at
24:20
the core, you know, wingers. Yeah, no, yeah, I I kind of
24:25
agree with that as in like, I don't know if this works long
24:28
term. In the short term, I do think
24:30
we'll be in the mix for Europe this season.
24:33
We'll be in and around it, in which case he's not going to get
24:36
fired during the season because that that is the requirement.
24:40
I think, you know, we've said like getting to Europe of some
24:42
of some form. I'm sure that's what the club is
24:44
saying. Obviously they'd love Champions
24:46
League football, even if it's through the 5th place that we
24:49
expect to get. So yeah, I think he's safe.
24:51
It'll be interesting. Obviously, you know, even though
24:54
we've doubted him, we still want him to succeed, right?
24:57
You know, there's no question about that.
25:00
Well, I'll, I'll give you like a little insight into yesterday.
25:04
Like after the show, Talk of the Devil was like, you know, I was
25:07
chatting to Laurie about it. And that's one of the things I
25:12
said in front of a massive group.
25:13
It's like, even though I've been critical of him, I want him to
25:18
succeed, right? He's literally my age.
25:20
Like, there's two weeks apart in terms of like, you know, so I
25:25
want him to succeed. But last season he made it
25:29
really hard to believe in him because not just the league, we
25:32
lost the Spurs, right, in that final.
25:34
And that was actually talked about a lot, like a lot of
25:37
people, like fans, you know, the talk of the Devil boys, they're
25:42
not over it. Like, yeah.
25:44
And that one hurt. So there's a lot of damage that
25:47
needs to be repaired, you know, for Reuben to get, like, that
25:51
credibility back, not just in terms of, like, you know, the
25:56
embarrassment of last season, but also to be like, next season
25:59
or like, even this season, like, win a trophy and get Champions
26:03
League. Yeah.
26:05
That really elevates everything to be like, oh, you know what,
26:08
I'm really positive going into next season already.
26:11
Yeah, it's, we've always said it right.
26:15
It's the old cliche in football. It's the results business and
26:17
the results last season were just atrocious, the worst we've
26:21
ever seen. I think I was even looking in
26:23
the Athletic article today. And when you look at his record
26:26
across the one year, I think we're like 13th or 14th in the
26:30
Premier League. 14 for like 45 points from 38 games.
26:35
I know obviously some of us on this pod, I believe you, you
26:39
need to separate that out. But yeah, the numbers don't lie,
26:43
do they? In terms of like collectively,
26:45
if you, if you look at it? Yeah, but then again, like I
26:48
think there's there's other little things like again, I read
26:50
in that article, which, you know, I quite like this like
26:53
little things like he's making the players like sign
26:57
autographs, like pre match, like that's a rule where the players
27:00
can't be so arrogant just to walk past like kids that have
27:03
been waiting there. But always so these little like
27:05
cultural things that he's obviously doing, I quite like
27:09
that type of stuff. But it's never going to cover up
27:11
the results on the pitch, right? This is what I mean, Like, you
27:14
know, he is way more charismatic, way more likeable
27:18
than Eric Tenhag. But if you don't win football
27:22
matches, especially at Manchester United, you haven't
27:25
got a hope in hell, especially in this world, right?
27:29
Like social media world. Yeah.
27:31
And everything that goes with it.
27:34
So it might, you might have been able to get away with it in the
27:37
80s and the 9 early 90s. Like everyone talks about how
27:42
Ferguson struggled in, in the early years, but the pressure
27:44
was different. You know, there wasn't like 5 or
27:47
4 spots in the Champions League. Like it was almost like, you
27:50
know, you, you win the old First Division and you're in the
27:54
European Cup. But in between that there was
27:56
only a couple of other spots in in Europe.
27:59
It's not like that anymore. And if we want to benchmark
28:02
ourselves, you know, we call ourselves the greatest club in
28:05
the world. You know, we're 1,000,000 miles
28:08
away at the moment. Because the likes of Real Madrid
28:10
and Barcelona, Yep, might be farmers leagues, but they,
28:14
they're the ones who are in the European Cup or the Champions
28:17
League and they're the ones still winning trophies.
28:21
Barcelona have got no money, you know, and they they continue to
28:26
win. Yeah.
28:27
So just going back to what you mentioned about like, you know,
28:31
you don't see this formation work in like long term because
28:34
you know, you know, it's always been about wingers, you know,
28:37
never really succeeded with 3/5 at the back.
28:40
So again, another interesting thing I read today, and I think
28:44
we kind of knew this is like how involved Jason Wilcox is with
28:49
the actual like formation of the team.
28:51
Like he stands on the touchline at training.
28:53
And I did read that like he's very into the 433 that Man City
28:58
played. And the way I read that article
29:01
is that Jason Wilcox is trying to like, you know, make this the
29:05
longer term formation. And you know, Rubens talked in
29:08
recent weeks about adjusting the formation.
29:11
So I don't know if that's a possibility, but I and I know
29:15
people argue that in different phases of play, it's not 5 at
29:18
the back, etcetera. But yeah, what do you make of
29:21
the possibility of Reuben, you know, playing 433, for example?
29:25
And if it has come from Wilcox, what do you make of that?
29:29
Just to clarify, are you talking about the Jason Wilcox?
29:32
He can't stop talking now. Yeah.
29:34
So, yeah, he's done a podcast, he's done that sit down
29:38
interview. He's done a little, yeah, a
29:41
little Manchester United official release.
29:44
So yeah, since since the upturn in results, he's everywhere.
29:47
Yeah, look, I mean, let's be honest, any football club or
29:51
even corporation, right? They're only going to talk when
29:54
it's positive. Well, put it this way, it's
29:56
easier to get hold of Jason Wilcox than Kabir at the moment.
29:59
Yeah, exactly. Right.
30:01
So we'll have to like widen that search party outright to try and
30:05
find him. Maybe we can get him for next
30:08
week. Or we could just remember him
30:10
for, you know, the person he was.
30:13
But yeah, Jason Wilcox, I'm 433, so I've actually wanted to talk
30:18
about this for probably a few pods, but I keep forgetting to.
30:22
Bring it down a rabbit hole arguing about ticket prices.
30:26
Exactly. Argue, well, arguing about
30:28
something right. So whilst there's two of us and
30:31
it's in my mind, I'll say it before I forget.
30:34
You never know, it might even get clipped up.
30:37
But in terms of four free, free or a wing back system, when it
30:43
comes to Reuben, I want him to play the system that he's
30:47
comfortable with. But the big thing is, and it's
30:52
touched upon in Laurie's article, you've got to make it
30:55
work. You've got to make it work like
30:58
Oliver Glassner's done even before the the previous Wolves
31:02
manager got fired last season. He came in during the season and
31:07
was able to make a bigger impact.
31:09
The that's the biggest issue I actually got and that's why I
31:13
was quite happy with my criticism of Reuben last season
31:16
is that, look, it's not for me. I don't I don't like back free
31:22
because it's an extra defender on the pitch and I don't like
31:25
the wing back system unless you've got specialists who can
31:27
play there. But if you're going to do it,
31:31
then do it well. So obviously the last time that
31:35
it was done to to the top level Antonio Conte, and I think we're
31:39
talking 2017. So that's like nearly what, 8
31:43
years ago now. So for me, I actually don't want
31:47
Ruben to change his system. I want him to coach the system
31:51
that he loves better because it's just not good enough.
31:54
Even even with the five undefeated, it's still not good
31:57
enough. And you can talk about player
31:59
quality, but again, there's an element of coaching.
32:05
And if we're going to talk about Wilcox, I've listened to the
32:08
Manchester United one that he did.
32:10
So that was a podcast. So he talked about this summer,
32:15
they had a a plan in terms of the transfer window.
32:19
They pretty much started obviously planning end of summer
32:23
24. So he talked about how the panic
32:26
of like, you know, just coming in the door last summer and it
32:30
was all a bit rushed and, you know, for 25 summer just gone,
32:34
it was all, you know, they were in his words, like, you know,
32:37
paraphrasing in control. But I don't understand how
32:42
that's the case when you don't bring in a single central
32:44
midfielder. So you can you can tell me all
32:46
you want about we needed to sell ex players to get the money in.
32:50
But I'm sorry if your transfer plan didn't include one single
32:54
central midfielder. I've got to question that and
32:58
and be sceptical. But yeah, in answer to your
33:01
question, it's like playful play free at the back, Reuben.
33:07
But you got to do a much better job like because I don't want
33:09
him to play 433 if he doesn't know how to coach it.
33:13
And to be honest with you, he doesn't because he he tried it
33:17
at Liz Sporting and you know, his formation was the back
33:23
three. He had the players, the league
33:26
was good enough for him to obviously experiment and do all
33:29
this. And like you say, always right,
33:32
it's results. So like, he's got to marry the
33:34
two up between like, coaching as best as possible this formation.
33:40
Yeah. I mean, what's your take?
33:42
You know, you read the article as well in The Athletic.
33:45
There's a lot of good detail in there.
33:48
What's your thought, Steve? Yeah.
33:50
Like I agree with you, Reuben's come in, as you know, someone
33:56
with a philosophy that plays five at the back.
33:58
So I agree, if he's really going to succeed, he needs to succeed
34:02
playing his own philosophy. And if he's getting pressured or
34:06
encouraged to play some other formation, you know, me, I start
34:10
questioning everything at the club and you know what I'm going
34:13
to get onto eventually. You know, I love org charts,
34:16
right, And how how companies are set up.
34:19
But I think what I actually want to just touch on as well is
34:23
actually how much kind of like responsibility Jason Wilcox has
34:29
at the club right now. So I'll just read a quote from
34:33
yeah, from that podcast. So I found it quite interesting.
34:36
So the departments that come underneath the Academy would
34:39
come under Wilcox. And they just appointed Stephen
34:43
Faulkley. Yeah.
34:44
From. Is it from Brentford?
34:46
Brentford, Yeah. And he mentions that, you know,
34:48
he'll be a great appointment. The women's team comes under
34:51
Wilcox, which is interesting. But he does say that in the
34:55
interim, the the women's team are reporting into Colette
34:58
Roche, who's the, I believe, the chief operations officer at the
35:04
club. I mean, they're trying to hire
35:07
someone basically. So it sounds, sounds, you know,
35:11
interim in terms of the women's response.
35:14
It sounds like any us a family pushed the the women's football
35:19
to the side for the time being. Yeah, but I think Wilcox says he
35:22
would support Mark and marks the women's team manager, right,
35:25
from a technical perspective. So it sounds, you know, a bit
35:29
bit of an interim thing there. And then he goes, he's got
35:31
recruitment with Christopher Vivel, he's got operations,
35:36
travel, logistics kit, all of that.
35:39
He's got medicine, performance areas.
35:43
And all of that comes under Jason Wilcox, who was at Man
35:48
City. You know, he was, he kind of
35:50
worked with the youngsters, right?
35:52
He worked with the Academy. Yeah, mainly Academy, yeah.
35:55
Yeah, so that was his role. He then obviously got a bit of a
35:58
promotion at Southampton and he did take up director of football
36:02
at Southampton, but was it a year or so he was at
36:05
Southampton? Yeah, I don't mean it was even a
36:07
year before he was hired by Omar Barada.
36:09
Yeah. So he's done that for a year and
36:11
then he then comes into the biggest club in the country.
36:15
I know we're not performing like the best club, but we are still
36:18
in terms of size, you know, we are the biggest club.
36:21
And how can he be qualified to oversee all those departments?
36:27
I just don't get it. I have a better question, Steve.
36:32
There was someone who was more qualified given that job
36:35
description. Yeah, but what happened to him?
36:38
Yeah, Ineos, you know, bottled it or, you know, they realised
36:42
that he does actually care about people and, you know, that's not
36:45
the Ineos style. And this, this is obviously Dan
36:47
Ashworth we're talking about. Dan Ashworth is qualified,
36:50
right? He's done multiple roles within
36:52
football, he's worked with the FA.
36:54
He's very much that more higher level overarching personnel that
36:59
I'd want in a role like that. Like, I'm not saying Wilcox
37:01
can't be a good employee in a certain role, but for me that
37:05
looks like he's overwhelmed out of his depth.
37:08
And yeah, I like I said, it makes me question everything
37:11
about the club. Yeah, when I when when I
37:14
listened to that interview and he said that what he's in charge
37:19
of, it's the first thing I thought of.
37:20
I'm like, hang on, this is Dan Ashworth's role.
37:23
The issue is, and you know, I don't think Laurie will mind me
37:29
kind of like mentioning this. Obviously from a personality
37:32
perspective, it was just never the right fit between Ineos, in
37:38
particular Jim Ratcliffe and Dan Ashworth.
37:41
I actually used the term for me, Dan Ashworth is more of a Gareth
37:45
Southgate personality, you know, very calm, organised,
37:49
methodical. And Laurie agreed with me in
37:53
terms of like, that's, you know, that's Dan Ashworth's profile
37:58
and obviously they massively, you know, got it wrong in terms
38:03
of his appointment. Like, I don't know during the
38:06
interview process how any us, you know, between the lot of
38:09
them. So whether it's Jim or Omar, how
38:13
none of them just for you know what this guy is 2 straight, two
38:18
straight jacket for us, right. And to be fair, Jason Wilcox to
38:22
me actually seems similar, but he probably just listens to any
38:27
us a bit more. And obviously he's he's in with
38:30
Omar Baradar and even the new Academy director.
38:36
So, yeah, I mean, I think the, the biggest quote which got me
38:41
worried about Wilcox was actually, I think in AI think it
38:46
was in a fans forum that was doing the rounds on YouTube a
38:49
few weeks ago. And look, it might be a pinch of
38:53
salt in terms of what he said, but when he said I didn't
38:57
realise the scale of Manchester United, that worried me, I have
39:00
to say, because I'm not saying like, oh, everyone should be
39:04
aware of like United in terms of like how big it is, but like,
39:09
come on, Like you've been in football for 30 plus years.
39:14
He took on United, right, with Blackburn.
39:18
And then he's been competing with United in youth football
39:23
for the last 10 plus years at City.
39:26
I think it was mentioned either yesterday or on a pod, like
39:30
United's budget for youth football was bigger than cities.
39:35
So for him to not for him to say that I was like, I was a bit
39:39
like, do you do you understand the club then?
39:42
All right. And then I think I touched upon
39:45
it on the last part as well. Like I'm interested to see what
39:50
we're going to be doing with the Academy going forward.
39:53
Like are we just going to become another City or Chelsea in terms
39:58
of conveyor belt where we just sell these guys like
40:01
commodities? And look, I get it, the PSR
40:04
element and all, all of the rest of it.
40:07
But I want Cobby Manys to come through, right?
40:10
I want I want the golden Nuggets to come through the Academy and
40:13
get into the team Stills. Yeah, yeah, the jury's out for
40:19
me on Jason Wilcox. Proof is in the pudding.
40:22
Actions speak louder than words, So we'll have to we'll have to
40:26
keep an eye on it. I mean, what's your thoughts on
40:30
the clips that you've seen or the interviews that you've
40:33
watched? Like is, is there anything you
40:35
wanted to point out? Yeah, well, like I said, I I
40:38
mentioned my concern there and it, and it makes me think back
40:41
to I think it was 2021 or 2022 when clearly I had too much time
40:47
on my hands and I decided to do a PowerPoint deck on how to save
40:51
United. And you know, we were looking at
40:54
the org charts back then. And, you know, let's actually
40:57
bring it up on the screen and take a little look at this piece
41:00
of work, right? So this, again, shout out to The
41:03
Athletic because, yeah, we'll give them a credit on this on
41:07
this org chart. This is the last one I've seen
41:09
at the club. Yeah, like I said, this is back
41:12
in 20/21/22 time, as you can tell by some of the names on
41:16
here, right? And yeah, 'cause the interim
41:19
manager at this point, which brings back some bad memories,
41:23
we have our old friend John Murder as football director and
41:27
we have Mr Darren Fletcher. I love.
41:30
The Darren Fletcher line, I love that.
41:32
Slotted in there, just just the second most senior position in
41:36
the biggest football club in England for Mr Darren Fletcher,
41:39
who of course was. Slightly pushed on the side in
41:42
into the org chart, but yeah, carry on Steve.
41:44
Yeah, yeah. So like, you know, I looked at
41:47
this at the time and I thought, what a mess for an org chart.
41:51
You know, why, why is the manager of the club reporting
41:55
into the CEO? Surely the manager should be
41:58
reporting into the director of football, right?
42:01
You know, so I looked at this. I thought, what is this?
42:03
And like I said, clearly had too much time on my hands back then.
42:07
And we put together a recommended football hierarchy.
42:12
So again, you can laugh at some of the names here, but
42:16
essentially the way I saw it was the director of football should
42:20
oversee pretty much all football operations at the club.
42:24
So, you know, here I said, for example, Ralph Raniak, who
42:28
you've put in charge of manager, would actually be more suited to
42:31
this director of football role or Dan Ashworth, right, to
42:34
oversee the whole football operation.
42:37
And you know, back then, obviously 10 Hog was the first
42:40
team manager or he's coming in at that time.
42:42
So you know, for me clearly the manager should report into the
42:46
director of football as the shows the Academy.
42:50
You know, I've even found a role here for Mr Darren Fletcher,
42:52
Academy Pathway Director. I mean, Johnny Evans has got
42:56
like a loans role, right? So, yeah, you're not far off
42:59
wrong with a job title. So you're good at job titles,
43:02
Steve, that's for sure. So like, it's just logic there,
43:05
right? Surely, like I said, the manager
43:07
reporting into the CEO was just mentor.
43:09
So I think the club, you know, to be fair, they've either
43:12
stolen our work or, you know, seen the light that it makes
43:15
sense for the managers to report into the director of football.
43:18
But yeah, I thought, you know, I even, you know, created roles
43:22
for the likes of John Mercer, like I said, Darren Fletcher
43:24
within a new structure. And importantly again,
43:28
recruitment should obviously feed into the director of
43:32
football as well. And within recruitment you've
43:35
got the data side and you've got the scouting side working
43:38
together. So for me, this is the type of
43:41
structure you need to succeed and have that alignment across
43:44
the club. And yeah, for me, like, like I
43:47
said, Dan Ashworth would have been the perfect man to do that
43:50
role. And I think you mentioned a
43:52
couple of traits there, being calm measured.
43:55
I think these are the types of traits you want at a big club
43:58
like us going through this change.
43:59
I don't think that's a bad thing.
44:01
I know it clashed with any of us, but I think those are
44:04
characteristic characteristics you would like, if anything.
44:07
So, yeah, that is kind of what I foresee.
44:11
And I feel like obviously Wilcox, now he is in this
44:14
director of football position and you know, he's got other
44:17
departments on top of this reporting into him.
44:19
But for me? Now he's got to watch the kits.
44:22
Yeah, exactly. He should be kind of maybe in
44:23
that John murder role, for example.
44:26
You know, I feel like he's, I feel like he's out of his depth.
44:30
I got to say like, yeah, like I said when he said all of his
44:35
responsibilities, yeah, Dan Ashworth at the top of this in
44:39
terms of the director of football, he would have been
44:43
good to be the overarching. And to your point, Jason Wilcox
44:48
definitely has a role probably more in the John Murder side
44:52
maybe. Yeah, Neil Cox side actually,
44:55
because that's obviously what he did at City.
44:57
But yeah, so Jim Ratcliffe, like, it's as simple as that.
45:03
It's not. You don't even need to say
45:05
Ineos. It's Sir Jim Ratcliffe like, and
45:08
this is kind of like the worry going forward.
45:11
It's like, how long will it be before he's fired?
45:15
Because we know what Ratcliffe's like.
45:17
If something is not progressing fast enough as well, they're
45:21
gone, irrelevant of loyalty. Something very interesting that
45:25
came up. It's this chat that you
45:26
mentioned, the way Wilcox was doing that, that kind of dinner.
45:29
Sit down, speak, he mentioned. I hope we get the time to
45:35
deliver. Exactly.
45:36
Yeah, I thought. I thought that was telling.
45:38
Yeah, same. He, he can he can feel Jim
45:41
breathing down his neck, right. So yeah, I mean, I stopped
45:45
talking about all charts now because there's there's other
45:49
stuff we can talk about. Part done, yeah.
45:51
Yeah. But yeah, you know, touching on
45:54
any US, we've seen a few things over the last few weeks, right.
45:58
They're coming up with creative ways to generate extra revenue.
46:02
So the first one was a couple of weeks ago where you can now
46:05
order souvenir tickets for matches you've been to or or you
46:10
haven't been to, in fact. But as an idea, I don't think
46:14
it's terrible. Like I'm like I for example, I
46:17
did click the little tick box for saving a tickets for Oasis
46:20
because you know, it's all digital tickets now, right?
46:23
And you know, people do like collecting 2 even a tickets.
46:26
I don't think it's a terrible idea, but the fact that you can
46:29
just go onto the website and order however many tickets for
46:32
any game you've not been to, it's just a joke surely?
46:37
Yes, it's cheat. It's cheating, isn't it?
46:40
To an extent. Look, this will pay for the big
46:45
wages of, you know, Adam Wharton and Elliot Anderson next summer,
46:49
right, Steve? Well that that plus the new £100
46:54
ticket to go to see Carrington on a tour experience.
46:57
I thought you're going to say that.
46:58
Fund the state of the new Trafford.
47:00
Oh, God. Carrington.
47:02
Yeah. We'll we'll put the stadium
47:03
aside. Talk to me about Carrington.
47:05
You go next summer with Raffy. No, I don't think so, because
47:09
like the other thing is like it's only during the summer,
47:12
Mercer, if you're going to pay £100 to go currency, you surely
47:15
want to see the first team training, right?
47:17
Like I know people will do it because obviously it's united
47:22
again. It just feels a bit desperate to
47:24
me. Like I get it, revenue
47:26
generation. But it takes the, you know, a
47:31
lot of the ex players have talked about Carrington.
47:34
Carrington is, is an island away from everyone.
47:37
And even by charging, even if they were charging 50 lbs, it's
47:41
like, why are you giving that access?
47:45
Because like that's a sacred place in terms of like the
47:49
dressing room and all that stuff.
47:51
And this is the thing, like you said, look, I'm sure there's a
47:54
bundle of European clubs that probably do this.
47:58
I can't remember the top of my head, but like, obviously I've
48:01
done like the Real Madrid stadium tour of the Barsa 1 and
48:04
Bayern, but I don't remember training ground.
48:07
And yeah, it just seems a bit desperate.
48:10
I agree. Just stinks of any odds like I
48:12
can imagine that. Exactly stinks of any odds just.
48:15
Sitting in a meeting, someone's come up with this idea.
48:17
They think they're really clever.
48:19
It will generate a bit of extra revenue, but they just, they
48:23
just don't get it. And I think this then leads me
48:25
on to like, you know, I've always said my goal is to get
48:29
back to #1 of England, let alone Europe.
48:33
And for me, you know, we talked about whether it's going to
48:37
happen under Reuben. I've always, I've always said,
48:39
like, for me, the problem's way wider.
48:41
And Reuben, obviously Kieran broke my heart on the last part
48:44
when he said he doesn't think the Glazes are, you know, even
48:48
close to considering selling up. But yeah, I just think this
48:52
whole situation at the club, it's temporary.
48:56
This whole Ineos times Glazer is temporary.
48:59
So yeah, I just, I think we need an even bigger shake up.
49:04
I think we need new owners, but I accept that that could take
49:07
years. So in the meantime, you just got
49:09
to try and win as many football matches as you can, right?
49:13
Yeah. I mean, I think the problem that
49:15
I'm seeing on the pitch is that I'm not really sure how much
49:20
improvement I'm going to see throughout the season without a
49:25
jump up in quality of player. And obviously the only way you
49:30
can do that is if you upgrade in January in particular.
49:33
And I don't think we'll we will. And then again, we're looking at
49:37
next summer in terms of we're we're definitely after a central
49:42
midfielder like that is like the number one target.
49:47
And it's just going to be a case of is it is it one or is it 2?
49:51
But the price is be inflated about already.
49:53
I mean, Christ, if Elliot Anderson costs 100 million.
49:57
I feel like, I feel like there's a midfielder that like plays
50:00
well and as soon as he's links for United, it's like 100
50:03
million. It's not 7080, it's just bang
50:05
100. Can you imagine if Kobe Maney
50:09
played for Brighton? We'd be linked with him right
50:12
now for 100 fucking million. 150.
50:15
Ridiculous. The guy can't see a minute on
50:19
the pitch. It's insane.
50:21
Yeah, and that's the other thing that again, breaks my heart to a
50:24
certain extent. Just like, yeah, the the the
50:27
Academy, what's happened with that?
50:28
And, you know, like we, let's be honest, we should have lost the
50:31
record of having an Academy player in the squad.
50:36
We only had Fletcher in right, which is ironically Darren
50:40
Fletcher's son. So clearly he's he's getting
50:43
good Commission Darren from the club, but we only put him in the
50:48
squad just to keep the record right.
50:50
I think that's pretty clear. Like that record would have gone
50:53
on the weekend. I have this terrible feeling.
50:57
I so I know well sorry the lads again, they spoke about it.
51:02
He will do his best to carry this record on but I have a
51:07
horrible feeling at some point this season it will go.
51:11
Technically it's gone already because they only did.
51:13
They only kept it going on the weekend by cheating really just
51:16
put them in the squad to keep it.
51:18
Ironically, this is a stat that no one knew about under Ferguson
51:22
and I think it was only. The Athletic probably that like
51:25
broke the stat. Yeah, and I think they only, I
51:28
think they only broke it a few years ago, so not even maybe
51:31
even after Van Hall. So like, yeah, maybe even after
51:35
Mourinho. So it's quite a new start in
51:38
terms of like people knowing about it.
51:41
But once you know it, you do want it to carry on because it's
51:45
it is an incredible record. But yeah, this is the thing for
51:48
me, it's like the way he's isolating.
51:52
Look, he's not picking on players because like they're in
51:55
the Academy, but like, look, Kobe mainly should be playing
52:00
more minutes for this particular Manchester United team as well,
52:04
right? Like it's not littered with
52:06
midfield options and, you know, players being incredible and
52:11
therefore you can't drop him. Appreciate you, you know,
52:14
there's not enough games, but he's got to get more minutes on
52:17
the pitch. And look, we're going back to
52:19
the same old thing. I blame the system to an extent,
52:22
right, because it means there's an extra defender on the pitch
52:26
when I can't have Kobe Manor on the pitch.
52:28
Yeah, I get that. But also let's not forget we let
52:32
a Academy graduate who is now well, was in the Balandor
52:37
nominees, right. So Scott McDonald left the club.
52:41
Obviously Rashford Gun actually left the club.
52:43
You could argue that's for different reasons, but you know,
52:46
this this kind of like approach goes back further than Ruben for
52:51
me. So again, that's why I feel like
52:53
my connection to the club, you know, this season is just
52:57
dwindling because that was always a massive thing at
52:59
United. And yeah, the copy thing,
53:01
obviously I've been banging on about all season.
53:03
But Steve like to be fair, like we both play football and we
53:07
still play regularly. Now, if you're if you're a wide
53:11
forward, right or winger, as I like to call it, still, if
53:16
you're in a system where you can only basically play as a wing
53:20
back, which means a hell of a lot more running and or in these
53:25
like in between pocket players, which essentially and boomer and
53:30
Kenya play it. There's no space for like a
53:34
Rashford to play in this system and and thrive.
53:38
And the same with Garnache that them guys are wide forwards.
53:42
Do you remember on the first ever pod, I think we talked
53:47
about winners and losers because of, you know, Ruben coming in
53:52
And I don't know if I it was my main point, but I said Rushford
53:56
will not be a winner out of this, even from a system point
54:00
of view. Like I I kind of explained the
54:02
reasons about like off field. But yeah, it's it's you know,
54:05
it's things like that that kind of just yeah, great, me a little
54:09
bit like, you know, look, Garnacho is going to be on and
54:12
off right with Chelsea because, you know, they got such a big
54:15
squad. But it's annoying to see he's
54:19
starting to, you know, thrive a bit more.
54:22
But that's because he's playing the position.
54:24
Even 10 Hog played him in even a bench option.
54:27
I do take that point as in like the system we're playing has
54:30
limited the opportunities for in particular, Rashford, Garnacha
54:34
and Maynard. But I'm just making the point
54:36
like, you know, Scott, we let go prior to Ruben because it was a
54:39
club decision. We wanted to cash in on him.
54:42
We didn't probably realise he is as good as he's been at Napoli.
54:47
So, you know, the club made that call.
54:49
But I take your point, you know the system is affecting that as
54:54
well. I think like on the point of
54:57
like we wanted to cash in on Scott, I mean that was under
55:01
Ineos's management. That's what I mean.
55:04
So I think that is going to be an issue going forward as well
55:08
because, you know, I think it's, you know, been reported anyway
55:14
on The Athletic. In terms of Article 7, I don't
55:16
think I'm giving too much away that when Eric Tenhard was, you
55:21
know, being shortlisted in terms of his replacement, Thomas Tuku
55:27
and Roberto Deserbi were two managers that they got down to
55:33
kind of like discussions about like, OK, if you're going to
55:37
join, you know, and they talked about salary with Deserbi and
55:41
Deserbi asked for a ridiculous amount of money, but that was
55:46
tended by, I think Laurie, who mentioned that he thought Ineos
55:52
were trying to label him. So like that low ball element of
55:56
Ineos is going to be apparent, you know, whether it's at the
56:01
managerial level, Academy level or, you know, transfers.
56:07
So it's the yeah. And like, you know, I, I screwed
56:12
up in in that my support for any us because like, yeah, they are
56:15
going to run a tight ship tight to their very core.
56:20
Yeah, well, if we keep winning games, you know, people won't be
56:23
talking about org charts, they'll be talking about goals
56:26
and obviously that's what we prefer talking about.
56:28
So yeah, if we look ahead to the fixtures coming up after this
56:31
international break. God, how are we going to get
56:34
through the international race, Steve?
56:36
Well, we've got the ashes coming up soon, so that will that will
56:39
help. That will help a lot and enter
56:42
the Formula One season as well. Oh yeah, interesting.
56:45
Free races to go? Yeah.
56:47
So what's the next fixture? Yeah, so I mean, just looking at
56:50
the run all the way into January when you have the FA Cup break,
56:54
you know, the fixtures on paper look pretty decent.
56:56
And I know we've we've done this multiple times in the past and
56:59
it hasn't worked out like like that.
57:01
But Everton at home, Crystal Palace away, West Ham at home,
57:06
Wolves away, which we might be at.
57:09
Christmas party, Yeah. Bournemouth at home, Villa away,
57:13
Newcastle at home, Wolves at home again.
57:17
Wow. Do we play them twice in the
57:19
space of a few weeks? Yeah.
57:21
And then that's. What?
57:22
I mean, fixtures like Wolves, if you're playing them twice, it's
57:24
got to be 6 points. It can't be four.
57:27
Yeah, that's what I'm saying. And.
57:28
Then even into early Jan, that leads away.
57:31
That'll be a big, big game. 4th of Jan 1230, Kickoff.
57:35
Wow, that's going to be tidy, yeah.
57:37
Yeah, and then 7th of Jan Burnley away.
57:40
So like that run of fixtures is pretty good on paper, right?
57:45
Yeah. You'd hope to still be in the
57:47
mix for European places come the end of that run.
57:50
And then we do have the FA Cup break and then there's some
57:52
tougher fixtures like the Manchester Derby in mid Jan and
57:56
then Arsenal way. But you know, there's a there's
57:58
a lot of fixtures to get to before that.
58:00
So you'd hope, you'd like to think we can keep this run going
58:04
to some extent and pick up some points, right?
58:06
I don't think that guy who's grown his hair is got any hope
58:10
of cutting his hair this season, to be honest.
58:14
Very tough, like like you said, we're a bit harder to beat,
58:18
which is a good sign. But like this is all stepping
58:21
stones, a long way to go and we yeah, we just have to hope, like
58:28
I said, couldn't. Boom is obviously scoring his
58:31
goals. If you get the likes of Kunya
58:34
scoring his goals as well and even Cesco, then you can start
58:39
to win more games and it's as simple as that.
58:42
So we've scored obviously a decent amount of goals.
58:45
I think it's 19. So I think we've scored the same
58:48
amount as Liverpool and you know, the teams in and around
58:52
there. But this is it.
58:54
If if you're going to score more goals, you're going to have to
58:56
be better at the back or a bit like Arsenal.
58:59
You know, you got to be hard to be in terms of like you, you
59:02
know, to concede a goal, you got to score a really good goal.
59:06
And, and I guess that's one of the things we've seen over the
59:10
last like 2 away games. Like it's the Glutter goals as
59:14
well, right? It's that problem as well.
59:17
So yeah, work in progress, but could be a whole lot worse.
59:22
I think that's the way to look at it, right?
59:25
Yeah, it could be. So we'll see how many points we
59:27
can pick up. And just talking about hair
59:30
again, I think the big exclusive from last night is that I share
59:33
the same Barber as Laurie Whitwell, right?
59:36
I believe so. A certain venue in a leafy
59:42
village. Yeah, so shout out Ted Jacobs in
59:45
a Wilmslow. I knew a few United footballers
59:48
go there, but I didn't know Mr Laurie Whitwell with the best
59:51
Barnet in the whole world goes there.
59:53
As you see my barn. It's not as good as lorries, but
59:55
that's nice to know that he uses the same barbers.
59:58
I was going to say I'm going to have to come to Old Ted, you
1:00:02
know, when I come up north and get the old fade as well.
1:00:06
Yeah, well, I think you were speaking to Lori for quite a
1:00:09
while last night, right? And he paid, was it $100 for his
1:00:12
fade in New York? He paid.
1:00:14
In Chicago, yeah. Chicago.
1:00:16
Sorry. Sorry for revealing that, Lori.
1:00:20
No, I'm sure it'd be fine. I mean, he asked.
1:00:22
He asked the group. Like guess how much I paid and
1:00:26
yeah, I guess on the money. So yeah, a tonne. $100 for a
1:00:31
fade. Wow.
1:00:32
Yeah, so it's probably well recommended to get your fades in
1:00:35
the UK before you go out to the US for your holidays or for your
1:00:39
travels. Yeah, nice.
1:00:41
And did you say that Laurie had been to Sri Lanka as well?
1:00:44
Yes, he, he's had a great tour of Sri Lanka.
1:00:48
So he, he'd done a similar tour to me.
1:00:51
So, yeah, started obviously in the capital Colombo, done a bit
1:00:56
of Hill Country with candy, went to Siguria, went to Ella
1:01:01
Nurelia. So that's all the Hill Country
1:01:04
in the middle of the island. And then, yeah, he went on
1:01:07
safari as well, and he went S he didn't want to go, but yeah, he
1:01:14
couldn't remember off the top of his head.
1:01:16
But yeah, fair play. He really, really enjoyed his
1:01:19
trip to Sri Lanka. And yeah, it's just good to
1:01:22
obviously talk about given I've just been there as well.
1:01:25
So yeah, all that needs to be done is for Mr Whitwell to come
1:01:31
on the pod and share some more thoughts with us.
1:01:34
Yeah, yeah, we'll love to have him on.
1:01:36
And I think you had a bit of time with Ian and Carl as well,
1:01:39
right? Yeah, the boys were all in top
1:01:42
form. So, you know, I spent some time
1:01:45
talking to Carl. He's a Wolfram Sir boy, so it
1:01:50
was nice for him to be at the same venue where as a kid he
1:01:55
would watch Space Jam because that used to be a cinema back in
1:01:59
the day. Yeah.
1:02:01
And he kind of spoke to me about his rugby days as well.
1:02:04
So. Yeah, Colonisers, sports and
1:02:08
certainly knows his stuff for Manchester United.
1:02:11
So that was a good conversation. And yeah, Ian's fairly local to
1:02:15
you as well, Steve, so he's not far away.
1:02:19
So yeah, I had a good conversation with him.
1:02:21
Like I said, he's done a great job of presenting the podcast
1:02:27
and obviously does really good work with Premier League TV.
1:02:31
Obviously we wouldn't know because we don't ever watch
1:02:34
foreign, you know, coverage of the Premier League.
1:02:37
Yeah, we we never watch 3:00 PM games.
1:02:40
Yeah, we never watch 3:00 PM games, so we just take it on
1:02:43
good authority that, you know, Ian does a great job with
1:02:47
presenting Premier League TV. But yeah, he was in good form.
1:02:51
And yeah, obviously the man himself, Mr Mitten, the goat,
1:02:54
the goats sharing tales beyond. And yeah, he's got some exciting
1:03:00
travelling plans which I'm sure he'll talk about on their
1:03:04
upcoming pods on Talk of the Devil.
1:03:06
So I'll leave it with Mr Mitten to fill us in with his visa
1:03:10
applications and his itinerary over the coming months.
1:03:13
And obviously Mita knows US1 right, because I did write an
1:03:16
article for United We Stand a few years ago talking about
1:03:19
tickets and. I saw him at Brentford and I, I
1:03:24
brought that up with him. I, I did say, you know, Steve's
1:03:28
waiting for the call back. So yeah, fingers crossed, Andy,
1:03:33
if you're, if you're listening, yeah, the seats ready for you,
1:03:37
my friend. To be fair to Andy, he came back
1:03:40
to me. He's obviously we know how busy
1:03:41
he is, he travels, he covers games all around Europe.
1:03:44
So you know, he was kind enough to respond.
1:03:46
We will get him on eventually, it's just a matter of time.
1:03:49
So yeah, we'd love to have them all on eventually.
1:03:52
So yeah, unless you've got any AOB, I think we can wrap it up
1:03:56
there. No, look forward to the next
1:04:00
game now. So yeah, we have the
1:04:03
international break. We'll rest and recuperate.
1:04:06
We'll let Thomas T Cool do his thing.
1:04:10
He's come up with a quote apparently today saying that
1:04:14
Bellingham, Foden and Kane can't all start, so that's going to
1:04:17
cause controversy for all the papers.
1:04:21
So yeah, we'll see what England do and then back to the main
1:04:25
stuff. Cool.
1:04:27
And at what point do we actually call the police and report the
1:04:30
missing person in Kabir? I think they say once you've
1:04:35
lost 10 then yeah, you can call the police.
1:04:40
Great start. Arnie Slot has lost more games
1:04:43
this year than Reuben Amarim. I think that's the perfect place
1:04:47
to wrap up. So thanks for joining us on this
1:04:50
episode, and we'll catch you on the next one.