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But somewhere in the between was a life in which we all dream, everybody. Welcome to the Football Ramble! International football is back! It's Wednesday, 19th of March. I'm Marcus Speller. I'm Luke Moore. I'm Andy Brassel. And I'm introduced to Hunter Raja. Oof!
Thanks to friend of the Ramble, Timothy Weiland, for giving us that intro line. You can submit the intro line for next Wednesday show by signing up to the Football Ramble patron for just $5 a month. And by becoming a member, you'll also get an extended edition of every Wednesday Ramble. And on today's Ramble Uncut... we hear how Sheffield Wednesday accidentally sent a batch of away tickets.
to the wrong club. Just head to patreon.com forward slash footballamil to get involved. I smell the sitcom. Oh, yes. What a wonderful... Giving it away there, haven't we? Yes. We haven't said which club. What a wonderful Wednesday. on the Football Ramble.
It's a good Wednesday. Sunny. It's going to be 17 degrees in the capital today. Beautiful day in the kingdom and international football is back. Marcus, you're the most enthusiastic man about international football. I think to myself, oh, it's international football week. What are we going to talk about in the Ramble?
And then I get a little bit of anxiety about it. And I hear Marcus do the intro and go, I'll be fine. It's going to be fine. It's the best form of football. It's fine. Get in my slipstream, baby. Tiger Woods as well. Well, you know, Tiger Woods used to wear red on Sundays.
wearing his lilac. He is a lilac. International lilac. Yeah, loloc. International lilac. The new album brought to you by Marcus Speller. Absolutely right. It's all pitbull covers. It'll all be... It doesn't sound like a Britbox. It does. It's Nashville Lilac. Yeah, it does. Probably a dodgy B-sides album. I like to fuse the two-handing, call it Pip-Pop.
Anyway, let's have an England update, shall we? Did you see on Monday he wished everyone a St. Patrick's Day? Did he? That's nice. That is nice. It's good. Every day is that day for me and him.
I'd say an England update. It's really a big Dan Byrne update, isn't it? Yes. The darling of, I would say, the country right now. Certainly the North East. Hasn't he just been given the freedom of North Lumberland or something? Eddie Howe's been given the freedom of Newcastle. That's right, yeah. But BDB's got some.
as well. Can he give Tindall that key? Has he been given the Victoria Cross? Tindall, yeah, it's probably in the small print, isn't it? You can't bring Jason. Jason will not be driving any sheep over the time bridge anytime soon. Thank you very much. Tindall's got a year subscription to Raya. Yeah. Tindall got like a lifetime subscription to FHM.
FHM. He's got the freedom of FHM. For Hal magazine, I think it's called in the Northeast now. He's got an exec produce credit on Love Island. Right. Exactly. That's his reward. Yeah. Jason, you can come to the Love Island Villa for one night wearing your Carabao Cup winner's medal in just your shorts and anything goes. Like when you get a Woody Wonka's chocolate faction. There we are. There we are. Now, Big Dan Byrne.
England's Danburn or are we still going Big Danburn? I think he can... We can't call him England's Danburn until he's made an appearance. Yeah, but then we can swap capes, can't we? That's true. He's been speaking a lot to the media. And he said he didn't fully celebrate Newcastle's caribou.
Cup win at the weekend what a pro well what a pro indeed because he obviously had England duty the next day and I at one point I felt like that was a bit of a shame and I thought no it can't be a shame because this call-up is such a special thing for him as well it kind of carries on and he said as soon as I
left the stadium my focus completely switched to this it was getting a bit rowdy and I was just ready to go to sleep there will be a time to celebrate oh yes I would imagine people will still be celebrating a few months time that time to celebrate is Saturday the 20th 29th of March.
when they're having a big city-wide celebration. Oh, right. I thought it was something you've organised, Andy. Yeah, that's right. Everyone's back to mind. But it's quite interesting. As you say, they've waited so long for this, and now they've got to wait a little bit longer to celebrate. It's quite interesting.
He does. The fans don't. It came at the perfect time. The whole of Newcastle celebration all the time anyway. The fans want to celebrate with the players and all the players have gone off internationally. Yeah, but I feel this is perfect though because the fans can go absolutely mad. A chap I worked with the other day, Newcastle fan, messaged me.
me at so it was he messaged me the 3 p.m. the day after the final. Yeah. And he said I still haven't been to bed. It's the Carabao Cup. Exactly. Yeah. Nice. It's because he's had so much Carabao. Right. But what you've got to bear in mind. is the fact that it was St. Patrick's Day, the day after the final. So I went out to get some lunch, having finished writing halfway through the Monday. Yeah, lunch. And the main sort of going out street next month...
look like Saturday night. No, it was mad. This was like half 12 on a Monday. All the bars were absolutely stuffed with people wearing island shirts. Why do you not get involved, Dan? Good question, right? Too busy. Big Dan Byrne could also be, if this was like a different time, back in the medieval times, Big Dan Byrne would be the king.
He's big and strong. People would respect him. Because he had some animal skins over his shoulders. No, he'd be the king's general or whatever the title would be. Yeah, what's the lad from Game of Thrones? Yeah, maybe Maximus. The mountain. Oh, the mountain. Yeah, yeah, it could be the mountain. Don't ask Marcus.
Just a big fucker. Not only will Marcus be content with never having seen it, he'll get angry that other people have seen it. Yeah. Don't get angry that other people have seen it. No, it's disappointing. It'll be the Boromir of Newcastle United. Pitbulls, innit? Is he? Yeah. He faced Jamie Lannister.
Pitbull plays the bad guy in Harry Potter. I never got that far. But the vibes I was getting from Big Dan Byrne when he made that quote, when he gave that quote, was a bit like, you know when a builder gives you a really, really... toppy quote because I don't want the job. And then you go, all right, I'll pay it. Oh, okay.
Because he didn't want to drag himself away from Newcastle. But at the same time, he kind of wanted the money. He wanted to be there. He wanted to be part of it. So for him, I guess it is quite annoying timing because he'd love to have an opportunity to celebrate a genuinely historic...
achievement by Newcastle given that he's from the area give his dad did that open letter which is very emotional to read about how much he was proud of his son yet he's got to go off and do something that's also amazing and he can't be in two places at once that's what I got from him I still think he's less emotional than Bruno Guimara issues Bruno Guilherme will be sitting there amongst 25 Brazilians bawling his eyes out still.
Yeah, and Joel Linton's probably still absolutely raging. He's already laid waste to the entirety of Liverpool on his own during the final. He's probably now looking for more places to pillage. Speaking of Game of Thrones and all that. Has anyone seen Joel Linton? It appears in the background of it.
some kind of shot marauding around. There's fighting in Games of Thrones. A bit of it, yeah. A bit of aggro. A bit of politicking. He'd be the Big Hill or whatever the character was called. The Big Hill. The Big Hill. He'd be Jimmy Hill. Clint Hill. Benny, any of the hills. Benny. There you go. You see, will it never end? He also told the press, Dan Byrne, no, he never gets called former Fulham man, Dan Byrne, but there we are. I'm not just a cheerleader.
Just, I want to play. Yeah, I get that. And I tell you something, there's a chance he could, because who is going to play alongside, we assume, Mark Gay? Yeah, that's true. I also wondered if, you know, it depends on the system that Tuchel's going to play. I know Gay plays on that left side usually. Yeah. Although he's predominantly right-footed, I believe. Yeah. Or he could play left-back, although Miles Lewis-Skelly might be a bit annoyed.
And also Adrian Clarke wrote this really interesting thing on the Premier League website when Tuchel got appointed and it showed that... for Tuchel's time at Chelsea. He basically played a back three 55 times out of 63 in the Premier League and then basically abandoned it when he went to Bayern Munich. And obviously a lot of that is to do with personnel. But then you look at the personnel he's picked for this squad, very centre-back heavy.
and you wonder if like yeah that's an interesting point isn't it the the mark's not going to go into depth on this from tomorrow's show but I think it's very, very unlikely he'll play a back three. I think so as well. None of the players play a back three in there for their clubs and they haven't done it all season. I think you need a midfield three for him. Never stop Glenn Hoddle. Yeah. I think the interesting thing with Byrne is he has aged... very very well but not as a left back
So as centre-back, I think he could do a really good job for England. If they decided to use him at left-back, which I agree with you, I don't think they will. I think Lewis Skelly will play the games instead. then it's different. If he did play left-back, I think Miles Lewis-Skelly would be even more annoyed than he was when he had to stand next to Dan Burton to get a photo. Honestly, what a lovely video. And for all the, like, Tuchel's obviously coming.
in and made it very clear that we've got X many games until the World Cup and his contract is for the World Cup. There for a good time, not a long time. Well, no, it's not even necessarily here for a good time. It's here for a productive time. But if you win the Cup, it'll be a good time. Sure. It's like you at spring break, Marcus. Get right amongst it, achieve as much as you can, and then get out of there. I prolong it as much as possible.
Take me to Mexico. But the vibes created of the excitement going to England, even the fact that Dan Byrne's happy to knock it on the head early enough to be fresh for... you know, for the meeting outside at George's Park the next day. Seeing them two, who I don't know if they've interacted all that much. Yeah, I know what you mean, yeah. Like hugging the fact that Dan Byrne mentioned in his press conference that...
I mean, he was asked this, but he had to apologise to a couple of players. Like he said, he smashed Jared Bowen when they played West Ham once and he felt compelled to go over and apologise and stuff like that. I think they'll accept that apology. Any player he gets. Yeah, all right, mate. Yeah, yeah.
I think I was a bit late as well, actually. But the vibes of that and also knowing how focused this period on Tukul's going to be, I suddenly had that little bit of, I think I would die for both of them. on the terraces of America. You weren't off the Pete School of Thought who was obviously quite offended that Dan burned the handshelf.
of Miles Lewis Skelly. Yeah, I think that's fine. He was encouraged to put his arm around him. Lewis Skelly had to squeeze him on the other side. Pete says that tall people, they don't just put their arm around you, they do the handshelf. They put the hand on the shoulder, which is subconsciously trying to make you feel shorter.
I think that's worse than the little grab. That's Pete, not me. I think Dan Byrne was spot on. He should have cradled. I've never before thought of Pete as the Dennis Wise of the Rambles. Sorry, very quickly. The other one at left-back is Tino Livorento. He's a right-back. He is a right-back, but he's played left-back quite recently. He's got in the squad as a left-back. Levi Cole will complain there, but again, he's mainly been deployed as a centre-half this season.
this season so far I think Lou Skelly will probably see him obviously the games are against was Albania and Latvia Albania provide a sterner test than Latvia how stern is the test out of 10 What's the Latvia and the Albania test in terms of sternness out of 10? Andy, you could probably answer it because you know about European. Yeah, yeah, let's ask Andy. Albania will be harder than Latvia. Definitely. A lot harder than Latvia. That's not what I've asked.
I've asked for marks out of 10 for sternness between them. Sternness, maybe seven. Seven for Albania because it will take a bit of patience. Okay, fine. Speaking of the centre-half situation at England, were you surprised that Jarrod Branthwaite wasn't in there? He talked about missing out on the Euros in the summer. He said, I missed out recently with a big squad and I don't want that feeling again. He's with the under-21s with Lee Carsley and co. The under-21s is...
Outrageous. He's a rather decent squad. A lot of names in there you'd recognise from the Premier League. Was Carsley doing that during his interim period? Was he just recruiting for the... Double agent. It's really fun. Yeah, yeah. This is rubbish.
Much pressure. Come back with me. Who wants to come back to my house party? Yeah. This one's got nothing. Come play at the Riverside. But did you think that Bran thought he should have been there? Well, I think obviously the Euros came a bit early for him. I think while we were disappointed.
for him and he was obviously very disappointing himself we can understand that he's got a large career ahead of him and then this time around yeah I suppose he could feel hard done by because you know if you look at some I mean who's he going to go in there ahead of maybe Gerald Kwanzaa Because I know Jarrell Kwanzaa's a better side, but he's not playing.
anywhere near as often as Branthwaite is so I think Branthwaite could possibly and then you've got to think about the profile defender he is I mean that kind of depends I think where England are at the moment is there
They're heading into that territory that France have been in for the last decade in that there are a lot of good players who just won't get in the squad. And you just have to accept that. Sure, I get that point. And that's always going to be the case with the current generation of what England...
you know, England producers in terms of players. But if we're looking at things like, you know, I know partly it's to do with the profile of defender that you want to pick depending on how you want to play. So I get that. But Jarrell Kwanzaa is a better team. But he's just, he's not playing. Look, if this is leading... Gerard Branthwaite's played like...
so many games for Everton and they've been in really good form. If this is leading into you criticising the Jordan Henderson pick again, let's not go there. Let's not upset him. Come on. Andy, I made my feelings and I sort of... like a lot of people I think a lot of people say with Henderson okay I get it but I wouldn't have done it
Yeah, I think that's probably the general thing. But if you were England manager, you would be holding on to your favourites so long. You'd be like Southgate times a million. Yeah. I'd have Terry Butcher in. You'd be like Homer Simpson and the sandwich. He'd be Terry Butcher.
Do the thing with the bleeding head again, Terry. We can sell some merch. We can sell some merch. A bloody bandage is merch. Oh yeah, Des Walker alongside him. Marcus likes Terry Butcher because we did some stuff with him way back in the day and you thought he was really nice.
Well, he was a nice fella, yeah. I mean, sometimes he says the odd thing, which I go, I'll pretend I didn't hear that. Proper Rangers man, isn't he? He really is. He really is. But he loves his king. He does it all for kids. King and country, so you can't blame a man for that. Can you, Vish? You cannot. You can't, and you won't. Adam Walton has been training with the senior England team this week. I don't know if Thomas Tuchel's aware of that, but he's not in the squad.
but he's been training with the team. The way you're saying that, you're suggesting he's very anonymously just knitting the midfield together and no one's noticed. He's so good at retaining possession. We look fucking great. He's that young lad. They've been training together with the under-21s.
because, you know, there's like photos of Job and Jude pissing about. Well, Job was obviously trying to get some work done. Fuck off, fuck off. Jude Belliam, clearly they finished up and then he strode over there. All right, lads, how you doing? Oh, what's my little brother saying now?
But you, Liam Dillap, was also training a bit with the first team as well. I mean, it all makes sense with sort of the crossovers and so on that one would hope would happen in years to come. But Wharton in particular. He's someone who's captured some of the imagination, Andy, of the footballing public here. And beyond, I think. You look at the clubs that are interested in him across the continent, and that is not...
normal for someone of that age who's played as many Premier League games or as relatively few Premier League games. Well, you look at the clubs that are looking at him. Bayern, PSG, you know, proper big clubs are looking at him. And I think this really expresses the fact that...
If it hadn't have been for the fact that you've had a very difficult season at times, for reasons that are not really your own fault, you would be in this squad. That's what it's saying, isn't it? He's basically had four months out in the middle of the season. He's not been back more than eight or nine games.
And even then he's been eased into it. I think he might have only started two games since he's come back from injury. So again, it might just be a bit early for him, given his age. But he's definitely a player that... you know, we should be very excited about. He can knit a midfield brilliantly. He's no nonsense. He uses the ball so well, which is one of the most underrated aspects of football. Because what happens is certain types of football fan will look at a player like Adam Wharton and go,
I don't understand what he does. He doesn't catch my eye. He's not a Steven Gerrard. He's not this, he's not that. Whereas actually... to retain the ball as well as he does to always make the right decision is really important. I think people in this country are coming around to that. They are. I think a lot of people are. It's much better now than it was. Also, he's quite eye-catching in the way that he does those things because of the way that Palace play.
as well and I suppose one of the things that's important to remember is that he came into the season with a groin injury that they thought they could manage and they realised they couldn't so he had to have that operation and I suppose it kind of feeds into what Andy was saying about the number of
people looking at him because Palace have already taken on that risk of A, getting him the operation and B, kind of feeding him back. And the thing about training with England as well, as Andy again kind of alluded to, He's such a rare player, a rare kind of player, that he'd be great to practice against. Yeah. And really test your, you know, obviously these are seasoned players in that main England squad.
But testing yourself against someone like Walton the way he moves and having to close down someone like that is basically what you have to do at international level. Would you say you like the way he moves, Fish?
I like the way he moves, yeah. I tell you what, if someone does want to prise him away from Paris, it's going to cost a lot of money. He's contracted, I think, until 2029. Big, got four years left in his deal. It's going to be massive money. Indeed. Now, a player who has been training with the England...
England squad as well who's in the squad now is Morgan Gibbs-White and he said Thomas Tuchel has been incredible with England's players this is funny because this is such a kind of oh yeah I think he's probably the best manager I've ever seen game coming up. That's right. He didn't pick me for the first squad. So now I just want to make him.
really feel loved. Probably turn up with a big bunch of flowers. Yeah. And a teddy bear. Well, apparently Thomas Tuchel phoned him up and said, if you're not still angry with me, then do you want to come and join us? And then he looked out the window and Morgan Giswap was standing there with a big...
big stereo playing music. With a super sucker. Like John Cousa. And, okay, yeah, I was just going to water the plants. Joking aside, I think he could consider himself really, really hard done by to not... have been in the squad anyway. He's only been added because Cole Palmer's been injured, right? When realistically he's been...
playing better than Palmer for the last couple of years. Absolutely ages. Gibbs White said himself, Andy, I said to him, I think I've done enough to get the call-up considering the club form that we're in. But you are the manager. You make the decisions and I will respect that. You have to respect it, really. You can't just turn up. Yeah, I mean, indeed. But the fact is... he felt...
comfortable or felt necessary to say that. And Tuchel kind of accepted it and okay. I think he's talking about Tuchel's man management already. No, but this is Tuchel. He encourages open dialogue. He says exactly what's on his mind. Indeed. Two are quite uncomfortable. they will extend sometimes. But I think that's probably quite a good thing in this context. Well, indeed. I mean, a couple of the players, including Gibbs White, have already spoken about how...
Tuchel in his first training session was quite intense with them and again said, right, you know what we're doing here. We've got how many... more games and training camps before the World Cup. He's drilling them right now to win that World Cup. And people might say, well, of course that's the case. It's an amazing thing to say out loud when you think about it. We've got 21 or 24, I think it is, training sessions. until the World Cup I think that is to say look we're on it
Now there's no bedding in. There's no us shaking hands and pleased to meet you and all that sort of stuff. And that is why Tuchel is perfect for this length of contract and this particular project, because there's no sense of like... I don't want to say no sense of emotional attachment.
But it's definitely more on the business-like side of it. I'm here to do a specific job. And so it's not about the optics of, do I sing the anthem? Do I look annoyed enough when we miss a chance? All that sort of stuff. It's about, let's break it down very quickly.
logically into what we have to do for this specific game because because after 18 months you're all going to hate me anyway so it's best if I go possibly less less than 18 months okay am I being a bit precious in that the way you describe that I totally agree with and I'm on board with, but my heart sank a little bit.
Yeah, I know what you mean. I understand the ruthless nature of it, and that's something that has been missing. What, because it's so opposite to Southgate? No, not that. I think there's something about it that... It's obviously a journey and part of the journey is almost the scenic route you take as an England fan. Again, as I said, I am probably being precious about this, but the cutthroat nature of that...
Just, I don't know. Do you feel it's because we've never in our lifetime ever got over the line? So therefore, what we left us kind of... feed on is moments in the journey and so you feel like a guy who's here to complete the journey if you see what I mean you find that kind of like no I in fact I think I've got it I think I find it quite confronting because it's an element of like right okay grow up
Yeah. Come on, let's be serious about this. There's no romance in it, which is basically what international football should really be. Also, there's only one possible successful outcome. That's the other thing to it, isn't it? But Tuchel knows that. I mean, I think it's not as much as... I know he knows that. It's not about him, though, is it? But you have to say, I don't think it's been worded like this or seen in this way.
You have to respect the boldness of him to take this job, I think. Yeah. Because... You know, we own the whole thing about him being a German and so on. And it's interesting because I sort of consigned that view to a certain type of person being a bit xenophobic or whatever. But I've actually since talked to...
one or two other younger guys and those who absolutely do not fit that bell. And they were saying, well, hang on, but an Argentini would never manage Brazil and vice versa. A Ghanaian would never manage Nigeria and vice versa. They started saying it and I thought, okay. I don't care that he's German in the context of managing England, but it's still a thing. So for him to take it on those grounds, but also not to take it in a kind of...
you've not done so well, you've not got past the second round, lads. I'll see if we can kick on. For him to basically go, right, I know what the job is. I'm going to win this country, the big one. The World Cup. It's such a bold thing. As you say, Andy, England can get to another final. And that...
removing all emotions or context, it's always an achievement to get to a final. His job is to win the damn thing. And if he doesn't, it will probably be seen as a failure. Even if England went to the States and North America and played well and blah, blah, blah. But that doesn't matter.
career though does it of course it doesn't but the fact is that's what no one's won anything with England no I know but do you not think it's still a bold thing because of all the crap to turn up on the first day and to say there's one aim and it's to win That is big. Fine, but what else could he have feasibly said? He doesn't have to... As I say, to say it out loud, as Vish said, I think that him taking, as I say, for all the reasons just given, I think...
It's a very, very bold thing for him to do. Of course he'll go on. He'll move back to Germany or wherever he lives and he'll go on and manage big teams and so on. Well, it's very transactional, isn't it? Because the FA went to him with something in mind. number in mind that he would say yes to and he was happy with a the number and be the the plan
But going back to what you were asking, Luke, the time limit is the boldness, really, I think. Because, say, when you're Jurgen Klopp and you arrive at Liverpool, obviously picking up a team in a different state, in which Thomas Tuchel receives England, who've done very well, certainly in the way they've finished in international... tournaments over the last little while Jürgen Klopp knew that he was expected to win the Premier League at some point yeah
But there was no, right, you have to win it in 18 months or you have to win it in two and a half years or whatever. So it is different, especially knowing that only one team can win it. All this stuff is basically why I... felt then and I still feel now that it's not the right move to hire him
I think, I mean, it's probably a different conversation. Your team Redknapp? Your team Redknapp on this? No, it's nothing to do with... Redknapp was obviously saying that he thinks Eddie Howe should have been the biggest certainty in the history of football, is what he said, to have the England job, which is obviously insane. But... No, my concern is not the fact that he's German or not the fact that I don't think he's a good coach. My concern is that...
it feels like a reset to the work that's been done before. Because in 18 months' time, come shit or bust, they're going to be back where they started. And the FA have shown no real aptitude in planning for... next phases and stuff like that but I wonder that I mean I remember Jim and I um
I remember Jim and I speaking about this and saying how at the FA you almost need around St George's Park and something like an FA sort of civil service of people who are always going to be there and doing it. Do you know what I mean? It's a good way of putting it. The FA blob, as you might refer to the fish.
There you go. And I think with the early signs of even all this sort of media stuff and those who are doing it, a lot of the people are still there. And I think to say to Tuchel, right, you need to come in and...
respect this and do it and the under 21s are training and blah blah blah blah I think that's all very very important but as you say Andy I mean it could all go horrendously wrong and he might be chased out of the place alright then chaps well look Luke and I will be back tomorrow to answer your questions and try to work out
England's potential starting XI ahead of Thomas Tuchel's first match as manager. Subscribe to the Football Ramble in your podcast app so you never miss an episode. Now, coming up after this, Fizzer is furious with the refereeing in Major League Soccer. Football
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Bet responsibly. 18 plus. GambleAware.org. Thank you. You better get your finger out, all right, and make sure that you get the fucking results. Little message there to Thomas Tuchel. Now, tomorrow, Greece host Scotland. Greece hosting another British side. So soon after the last one.
They face Greece, of course, in a Nations League promotion slash relegation playoff. They really have squeezed every drop of goodness out of the Nations League this time around. Relegation playoffs, quarterfinals. My goodness. In the same year as the Club World Cup as well. More football, damn it all. The first of two legs, of course.
With a second on Sunday. Football would just not stop being tone deaf, will it? An original and a sequel, as Andy would call it. Yes, right. We are getting into Back to the Future territory, aren't we? Or Fast and the Furious. Andy, that was a trilogy. Now you're talking. Fast and furious. Would you like to see Scotland? Yes.
Do 10 games instead of two. Home away, home away, home away, home away, home away. I think you've got to say yes just to see it. Aggregate total score, 114 to 88 on aggregate. Going into the final 10th game, you've got to win 13-0. to go through. It would be called Nations League back in the habit.
The only problem is, I think you've got to get Mel Gibson into direct, which is potentially problematic. I reckon Mel will be up for that. I don't think that's the problem part. Yeah, he's looking for work. Oh dear. Scotland risk relegation from the Nations League Group A if they lose. Will they ever recover from such a... A disgraceful outcome. Well, I don't know. I mean, the fact is that they were Britain's representatives in Group A this time around. I believe that's how they saw themselves.
that time round in Group A. England will be back in there and it'll be nice to see if Scotland and England can both be in Group A the next time the Nations League comes round fully. Steve Clarke has called up 18-year-old Motherwell defender Lennon Miller to help.
take on the Greeks. And on getting a call up, Miller said, I'm obviously not going to go in and be the best player there. But I believe I could maybe in a couple of months be the best player there. All it takes is a couple of months. Not this window, the next international break. That would be a nice first training session for him, wouldn't it?
Put that on the dressing room wall of his own team. Yeah. Well, John McGinn has already responded to this by saying, he's probably thinking, why did I say that? But I said plenty of stupid things when I was coming through. Mirren. God, he's such a gem, isn't he? Chips. I'm sure he'll be welcomed with open arms and studs up. There's a...
There's a school of thought here, I think, with Scotland, that they're a bit unfortunate to be in this relegation playoff anyway. Because they lost to a 97th minute penalty at home to Poland. They also lost very, very late on to a... Ronaldo inspired Portugal in Portugal as well. If those things hadn't happened, they'd be fine. Very fine margin. If the game was only 80 minutes long, it wouldn't have happened, yeah.
Just I'm saying to him, Fantino, look at it. Don't say that. He'll extend the... I hear you, mate. 50 minute halves. Yeah, that's what we'll do. Is that you? Do you know what wouldn't be so much of a sickener? a 97th minute winner when the game's 150 minutes long. Exactly. It won't feel as bad. We won't need extra time. We'll just bed it in. Yeah, so Scotland have also called up George Hurst who represented England at youth level. The little turncoat.
Hirst, assistant manager on Hirst, assistant manager John Carver, always nice to be reminded that he's there, said, we've been monitoring him for months. We lost Lyndon Dykes to injury and he's a little bit similar to Lyndon. So you'll be a fan then, Big Vish.
Is that a compliment? Similar to Lyndon Dykes? You love Lyndon Dykes. I do love Lyndon Dykes. Is that because Lyndon Dykes is probably into cricket because he's also a bit Australian. He's also a bit Australian. He's very Australian. Scottish people are into cricket. Do you know why George...
went to represent Scotland because he said after a couple of months he was the best player at England on the 20s is that what it was they have been watching for a while they've been quite a visible presence like at Ipswich Games and whatnot. I think it's quite an interesting move. I don't necessarily know that he's going to come in and click just like that. He's still got a lot of developing to do. The thing I found really interesting about this Lennon Miller chat was...
It comes from a place of he's really highly rated. And I think he's just like everyone talks about him as, you know, obviously from anyone who's highly rated in the Scottish Premiership who's not playing for Celtic or Rangers. He's obviously linked with Celtic. But there is... there is like a lot to like about, you know, he's a playmaker. He's, you know, always forward thinking. I don't mind if he's like,
chatting like that? Is that such a bad thing? But as well, I think... Maybe you have a longer period of having... By the second leg, I'll be the best player here. But also as well, when he's 18, you're shoved in front of the media. Exactly, yeah. And you go, well, I'm not going to be... the best player here and then you think actually that sounds a bit negative um
Yeah, I could be in a couple of months. He's also a young lad. How old is he? 18? 18, yeah. Come on. People say stupid shit all the time when they're 18. Did you see, so McGinn was talking about when he first was part of the Scotland squad, I think it was called... Gordon Stracken who chucked him in and he was playing outside the top fly in Scotland. And Charlie Adam, apparently in the media was like,
what is he doing? Why are they picking players from outside the top flight? And John McGinn was like, you know, that's what I had to deal with, so he shouldn't worry about it. Is he going to get in the way of me trying to score from the off-way line? Because that's going to be annoying. If he wants to retain possession, that's out of order.
but you know it does come down to what's interesting I think about this is what Vish is talking about the type of player he is I've not seen him play but that's interesting because that says to me that Scott and Art
doing quite well at producing these types of players. If you look at the type of players Scotland have got now, they've actually got some really good footballers. And if he's another one of those in the next cab off the rank, that's really encouraging for them. I never understood why they still constantly overlook Tom Kearney.
A couple of Scotland caps. Is that all he's got? Through his father, I believe. And his race is run now, isn't it? Because he's older now. I still think he would... I know I love the man, but... But he came on against Spurs at the weekend and looked good. Yeah, I know. That's what I mean. Obviously, maybe the style of...
I'm just surprised. Maybe he continues to look good when he comes on because he's not an international footballer. I think you've got to consider that when you get into that. Yeah, now maybe. I'm just saying that I think he was overlooked for a long time. As I say, he had a little...
Anyway, I don't want to make this about Tom Cairns. You do, you do. You kind of do, don't you? Think about his left foot again. Ah, what an absolute wand. It's the stuff of mythology, and I thought, therefore, in the way to Greece, they might play into it. Greece, we've got... a good home record though I think what they lost twice in the last four years I think it was written obviously once to England so I think Scotland can you know use England as inspiration
Andy. Well, I think we can all agree that we're doing that anyway. Just perhaps not quite in the way we mean. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Little Georgie Hurst, what's it like over there? St. George's Park looked wicked. Everyone's mates. We're all doing handshakes. Yeah, indeed. Ireland travel to Bulgaria in their own relegation promotion playoff as well. They need to win over those two legs to avoid relegation to Group C.
would be quite damning, wouldn't it? I mean, look, this is my favourite form of playoff, I think, the promotion relegation business. Is it because they do it in Germany? Of course. Well, no, that's how... It never works. That's how the English playoffs were. for the current format. If you go back to 86, 87 and 87, 88? Yeah. Sorry, 87, 88 and 88, 89. Apology accepted. You had Charlton Leeds go into...
That third game. And then you had Chelsea Middlesbrough where Stamford Bridge got the first stage of its renovation afterwards when Chelsea lost. Is that when they stopped having the cards behind the goal? Oh, yeah. They were the days. They existed for a few...
Two years more, fortunately. What's interesting about the Nations League is there's a feeling because it's for how many years it's in now, not that many. We've had like three champions. This is the fourth iteration of it, maybe? Sounds about right. We're still, I feel like because of the nature of the format, we're still waiting for it all to shake.
out because you say about Group C that that would be that would be kind of demeaning and you have got teams like demeaning as in I know what you mean you didn't say that but you know what I mean because you've got two people like the Faroe Islands in there and stuff like that but you've also got like Sweden I mean they're going to be promoted but Sweden are in group cities it's
It takes a while for it, it feels like it takes a while for it all to shake out and see where people... I think it'd be constantly shaking out though. I think it's all about how much meaning you attach to it and the fact that it will always have different meaning for different teams because...
some teams will treat it as something they legitimately want to win. Like Sam Reno being promoted into Group C for next time because they won Group D. Yeah, but for example, England will, I think, always treat it as... an area in which they want to try stuff out. And you have to bear that in mind as well. He's raging to hear that. Look at his face. He's absolutely raging. It's a major tournament. It's one of the big three. Depending on your aims and how realistic your aims are in...
the big ones, like the World Cup and the Euros, something has to give somewhere, doesn't it? You look at Group B and the fact that England are in it, if I was England, if that was a WhatsApp group, I'd mute it.
I don't want to be hearing from any of the teams Yes but England got promoted didn't they so they'll be back in Group A quickly before we move on because we need to do a Fizzer update here if Tuchel if Tuchel wins England the World Cup and obviously that was a short term contract next time Nations League rolls around do we get Tuchel back again just to take care of that one I love the idea of Tuchel lifting the World Cup with England and the back page of the Sunbeer it's no Nations League
Next stop Nations League. Really crucial part of the development building towards the Nations League. But we all know the Confed Cup is the big one. Oh, yeah. Because you've got to win one of those tournaments. Just in big block letters, now go and win the big one.
Kick on from here. Well, World Cup 2026 hosts at USA are playing Panama in the CONCACAF Nations League semifinals tomorrow. See, it's that popular, the Nations League. It's spread throughout the globe. Yeah. Now, a reminder that Gianni Infant...
Valentino, FIFA president, recently told United States of America president Donald Trump that there is a chance that the US could win the World Cup. Now, realistically, the president of FIFA probably shouldn't be saying that about one of the competitors. No. Yeah. It doesn't say.
Do you think it's particularly to someone who is a fucking moron? Yeah. A dangerous fucking moron. Do you think he's sucking up to him? I don't know. It's the biggest political misstep Gianni Mfiotino has done since he was spotted.
sitting in the cottage at Craven Cottage. Oh, my goodness. Yeah, absolutely raging they were at Brentford and Chelsea. Putin, Trump, Fulham. Yeah. Chelsea was saying, what chance have we got of being in the Club World Cup now? That's true. Well, he's quite obviously favouring Fulham. Yeah, but I think...
Chelsea aren't they're fine with Fulham they were until that point maybe we'll see what the effect is of course but I was pleased that the Fulham security did their job because I said you're not bringing Salt Bay in here there's a line the line somewhere Trump once called Infantino the king of soccer I guess in a certain way
I think he calls himself the King of America in a certain way. I think that's the only language in which he understands. He only wants to speak to other people he thinks of as kings. He's like an eight-year-old.
You know, watching horrible histories. Harsh on an eight-year-old, that. Yeah, it is. Now, Mauricio Positino, of course, the US men's national team manager, has admitted that he would like to coach Tottenham again one day. That's come back round. Do you want to hear how that's been received by a friend of mine who supports Spurs?
Big Pav. It's not Big Pav. I want to hear what Big Pav is doing. I should send it to Big Pav as well. Big Pav was most recently seen sending me a parody two-minute-long song video of Ange Postacoglu. People were just calling him a dickhead. Oh, I see. So that's what he's doing. But a Spurs friend of mine, I sent him the link to the Sky's...
sports news interview with Mauricio Pochettino where he says after six years I still feel in my heart yes I would like to one day come back to Tottenham and I said what do you think of this and the reply I got was at this stage what is the fucking point of any of it so that tells you
received by some section of the Spurs fan base. Oh, dear. Oh, dear. Well, everybody, make sure you listen to tomorrow's On the Continent, where Miguel Delaney will join Don and Andy to explain what the relationship between Donald Trump and Gianni Infantino means. for football heading in to that 2026 World Cup and beyond. Miguel's slamming it back with you guys again, is he? Good on him. Infantino, Trump.
22-6 World Cup. There's only one man to call. Get Migs on the job. Now, I did promise you a Fizzer update. Portland Timbers currently 12th in MLS in the Major League Soccer Western Conference with four points. from their first four games. How was this in here? Of course, 12th at the moment, you know, safe from relegation. I wouldn't say safe.
you can't get relegated look he's got more yeah maybe not relegated I'm in Nations League mode come on maybe not relegated there's every chance they could deport him yeah I just don't feel like you're safe at any point when Phil Neville's your manager. What do you say from exactly? I think, you know, you're averaging a point a game. Him and Potch being kicked out the door in two years' time. Let's just agree if anyone can get a team relegated from MLS.
Show some fucking respect. I've done something that's never been done before. Well, Timbers drew 1-0 with LA Galaxy at the weekend. Big result for them. However, Fizzer was furious that Timbers didn't get a late penalty for a tackle on one of his players in the box. Fizzer said, the referee told our captain it was a penalty. But because Ari Lasseter took the shot they played on, one of the worst decisions I've ever seen in MLS. Maybe we just don't invest in VAR and give that money to charity.
So once again, leading the line for everything that's just and honest, but... I mean, can I just say... Have you seen the incident? Yeah, it was absolutely outrageous. I can't believe it wasn't given as a penalty. It's a proper late slide tackle with the view of everyone. Yeah.
And what's the reason he said they didn't give it? The referee said... Because their man then took a shot and the referee basically said... Let me tell you something, right? If their man had a shot and scored, they should have still also got a penalty. It was that much of a penalty. Do you know what I mean? Also, the foul's bad enough that I think you have to call it there. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, you have to. It's insane. Yeah. So we all agree with Fizzer then. But I think...
Again, again, over and over again, it comes back to the way that football is now refereed. Because the referee doesn't give decisions. Referees do not give decisions now because they feel they've got a safety net. And if that goes all right at any point, you look like a... Well, that's what happened to Fizzer.
I think there's other reasons that he gets a fan. I don't think we can narrow it down to just that. But it is, I mean, it is an outrageously poor decision. All I can say in the weekend that Paul Pogba visited his French World Cup winning mates. at LAFC in Loris and Giroud. we're talking about Fizzer instead. So really, he's done us a solid. I think if that decision happened in Turkey, Jose Mourinho would be taking out newspaper ads advertising for foreign referees.
I mean, he doesn't take that, though, does he? No, I'm just saying. That's the point. He would have exploded, Andy. He would have bought a Tesla and driven to the White House. He would have taken Fenerbahce fans on a big march around Istanbul. To the capital. Across the Bosphorus. Oh, dear. Coming up after this, a Bulgarian top flight team has to make a very awkward apology.
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legs of the quarterfinals of the Nations League. We're living in great times, Andy. They used to just mug us off with one-off semifinal games, didn't they? I know, right? And now look at it. The winners will qualify for the final tournament in June. Another tournament coming? It's like a mini Euros, isn't it? It's fantastic.
But with Italy-Germany, there's a tournament within a tournament because they're not just playing to get in the semi-final, they're playing to host the tournament. They are. So tomorrow at 7.45, yes, that clash will happen. Germany without a couple of... players for them, Verts and Havertz, of course. So it's all up for grabs. But yes, so the winner of the tie gets out of the tournament.
Which would you prefer to see? It's a very Eurovision, that, isn't it? Yeah. The 1990, fair to me. I'd like to see it in Italy, just because I feel that, A, Italia 90, for a man of a certain age, is a beautiful thing. I know Luke will be on board with that. Oh, yeah. The other thing is we've had a tournament very recently in Germany. But Andy, remember the saxophonist.
Yeah, true. I know he can travel, but if Germany are not there, it's unlikely he's going to get involved. Maybe sign him. I mean, he was a gun for hire after that. Can I ask a question about perhaps how... So basically the final of the Nations League is on the 8th of June. The Club World Cup starts on the 14th of June. Oh yeah. Our players getting lazy.
Because that's a big six-day break in between. Yeah. What are they going to be doing realistically with that time? Jet lag doesn't last that long. Playing Call of Duty? Grow up. Get cracking. I know. I'll suck you on a balloon. Come on. How long does that really take? That's hypocrite warning. Hypocrite crack. There you go. There you go. Now, while we're talking about Italian things, Gennaro Gattuso.
the former Italy midfielder and favourite madman of the Ramble, has gone on an extraordinary rant on Croatian TV. He's currently manager of Hadjuk Split. And he arrived for his post-match interview, like we see on British TV. Yeah. Not like this. Definitely not like this. Yeah, when you have the... Not always a desk, but sometimes there's a desk there. But the manager or one of the players who's just played goes and joins the broadcasters and has a little chat with them.
What we see over here and in the rest of the continent as well is the familiarity between the manager and the player and the pundits. It's all quite friendly. Smiles and handshakes. They all seem to be massive mates with Daniel Sturridge. everyone's delighted to see Daniel Sturridge so Gattuso arrives on camera for his post-match interview and he snubbed a handshake with one of the presenters so a good strong start
Was that because Josko Jelicic wasn't wearing those Prada utility gloves that Daniel Sturridge favours? Oh, that's great, that's great. You know, the gloves with the bags on. It's not that, Andy, and I know why, because... He told us. Little Gino did give us an explanation, so we're... Don't call him Little Gino. I'll see how you get on with him coming in here, screaming in your face. Oh, dear. He said, I don't shake hands with you as you speak too much.
and you don't have respect for the people. Jelicic responded by saying, you played very badly. Which is bold! Which is bold! Yes. And Gattuso replied, you are speaking to someone who has won everything in the world. I won't speak with you okay. And I urge you to seek out this footage. because that sounds quite mild to what actually happened. I thought Gattuso was...
was going to give him a right hook. It was quite funny because obviously we're talking about Byrne and Lewis Skelly earlier and there's a bit of a height difference between Jelicic and Gattuso but Gattuso makes up with it obviously with pointing...
quite vigorously, and Jelicic, who played in Spain, because they're working out which language they're going to connect in. Yes. That's what makes it confusing. That's the thing, because people look at... Which is just wary language, right? We'll use that one. People look at Gattuso a little bit like they look at Sam Allardyne.
as like a one-trick pony. But I'm thinking, he's coating this guy off in three languages. It's very impressive. There's a bit of English with a Scottish inflection. There's a bit of Italian. It's great. And Spanish, of course, because Jelicic played in Spain. Sevilla in the late 90s.
all of a sudden he's getting this finger wagged in his face and he's going, not with a hand, not with a hand, please. Probably not having spoken Spanish in like 15 years. That's what made it funny because Jelicic sounded like he was really struggling to speak Spanish, which kind of removed a lot of the impact.
of what he was trying to say. It'd be like one of us trying to get really angry in a Spanish restaurant when we're on holiday. While your mouth's full of food. Yeah, exactly. I'll finish this in a minute. I love the fact that Andy goes... Well, we all think of Gattuso as a bit like Sam Allardyce. I've never made the connection myself. In terms of being a one-trick pony, which I think is kind of a little bit like with Allardyce. We spoke about it on last week's Ramble Mailbag.
A bit of an unfair view of Gattuso. But, yeah, he absolutely wasn't backing down. Despite the fact that Jelicic was doing...
Probably because, actually, Jelicic was doing everything possible to wind him up. Not just what he said before, but the lines he came out with were... quite disgusting he said um you come from italy over here and you think you can and uh you're a foreigner over here and you must and it's like yeah it was strong stuff i mean it was pretty outrageous and i thought you're sitting there going
Go on, Reno. Yeah, I wanted him. Go on, give him one. Play the footage of that Joe Jordan thing. See how brave he is after that. Is there a sense that Josko Jelicic has got a reputation as being a bit of a dickhead in that kind of part of the world? He's quite nationalist and quite unpleasant. Right, okay, fine. Oh, brilliant. Team Gattuso. Yeah, exactly. I mean, the interesting thing is, I think people look at Gattuso and think...
what a coaching career, you know, getting rejected by the fans for the, for the Spurs job going back a couple of years. But I think you can stereotype him. Like I said, there's one particular thing, particularly knowing what he was and who he was as a player.
But his coaching career, his coaching career is insane. Yeah, it's ridiculous. If you look at the jobs that he's taken, it's like he's gone and sought out. You know, so much of a coaching career is picking the right jobs at the right time. It's almost as if he's...
gone out of his way to pick the wrong jobs at the wrong time. So he takes on Milan when it's an almost impossible job. They're falling to bits, nearly gets them to the Champions League. He takes on Napoli when there's pretty much civil war there. They won the cup, didn't they? Yeah, and it's a hornet's neck. at the time. So you're saying he's going to follow...
He's going to follow Ange Postacoglu at Spurs, then. What do you reckon? Or is he going to pop up at Manchester United? If I may do a bit of you spells and use a 90s reference, he's the Kate Adie of football management. Nice! for the BBC. He properly leans into this stuff. And so the idea that at any point you think you could, you know...
sort of not interview Gattuso through a glass panel. It's almost like... It's quite brave. I'm reading them through the lines here and thinking that he might be quite emotionally led in quite a lot of his decisions. Could be. Yeah. He once described himself as... Gattuso of his appearance as being as ugly as debt.
which I quite like. That's nice. I was about to call him a hair twin of Marcus Spiller. You've got similar haircuts. Yeah, they are. That's true. Well, you know what as well? Bringing the two closer together, you know Gattuso is after that. He's shaved off his beard. 22 years for our Heidek charity initiative.
And that is a scary look, Gattuso without a beard. And yellow chips are not giving any credit for that. Where were yellow chips then? Well, I'm sure Gattuso will be cheering on his beloved Italy tomorrow when the Nations League quarterfinals get underway.
Does Portugal make up the other quarterfinals? Cristiano Ronaldo, incredibly, is in the Portugal squad. Now, Denmark and sporting player Conrad Harder did say about Ronaldo, if he was running for Portugal's president, I think he would win the elections.
way my team's third kit is endorsed by him and my team's training ground is named after him right there we are lovely bit of product placement there if you're playing in sporting or you're playing for the portugal national team you have to get involved with this the campaign trail now that we may well call it absolutely I'm looking forward to seeing Portugal play Andy after the epic battle that was Liverpool versus PSG we all very much enjoyed Vitinha in the centre and Joao Neves as well
This is no surprise to anybody, but it was a reminder that they've... got some proper midfielders in there. I mean, you can't even get in the side. Yeah, that's right. Although he has been out injured for a lot of this season, of course. But what do you think of Portugal at the moment? Look, they've got the players to do it. always had the players to do it whether qualification martinez translates to
A tournament. That's the question. Because it didn't last time. It never has with Martinez before, has it? It never has with him before. Belgium, it did when he got in third place at the World Cup. No, but we're not talking about that. We're talking about the Ronaldo issue. The fact that you should have rested him at various...
points in the Euros and he didn't and that completely undercut what Portugal were trying to do. I think what undercuts all of it is the fact that Ronaldo's been playing in the pub league for 18 months. and yet he's still getting picked whenever he wants to get picked. It seems to me like he's just decided when he's going to stop. Can I say that when you compare the Saudi pro league, don't compare it to a pub league. Okay, okay. That's C, you have to go to Bahrain for the pub league.
It's a fair comment. And Cristiano Ronaldo's famously teetotal anyway. But I think you understand the point I was making. Isn't it funny, though, that Denmark have just brought in an uncapped striker who's like... prolific in the European game. Something which Ronaldo is, you know, not anymore. Yeah. There we go. There we are, Andy. We're going to finish. London, London, Fulham as well. Make a beer at.
All right. Oh, yeah, the guy who keeps scoring hat-tricks for Monaco. Yeah, that's right. There you are. You see, it all makes sense in the end. It's all coming up Hoyland this week, isn't it? Now, we're going to finish by going to Bulgaria, much like Ireland. A Bulgarian top-of-flight team has apologised for holding a...
minute silence for a former player, only to discover he's still alive. Arda Kazali paid their respects to 78-year-old Petko Ganchev before Sunday's game with Levski-Sofia. Big game, of course. Now, before the game had ended...
Arda had posted on their Facebook page saying they'd been misinformed. And they said they would like to express their apology to former Arda player Petko Ganchev, of course. 78-year-old Petko Ganchev. And his relatives after the club received wrong information about his death.
Did his phone just get ringing when he's in the car? He said, while I was on my way home, the phone started ringing a lot, which is odd because if he's dead, he's not going to pick up. I'll just check he's definitely dead. He's gone to voicemail. He should have phoned his wife, which presumably some people may have. well have done because he said he parked in front of the house he entered the yard and he said my wife greets me crying and shouting Petco Petco they announced on TV that you've died
He said, when I heard the terrible news, I poured myself a small brandy. It wasn't small. No one's ever poured himself a small brandy. Maybe before 11 o'clock when they've given me the green light. You can legitimately use the phrase, rumours of my death. have been greatly exaggerated. I'd ask you guys this. What I really loved about this is that Arda Kadzali also had to release another statement, obviously clarifying, in which they ended it by saying they wished him many more years of...
good health, which is nice. But what's more disrespectful, doing that or not doing a minute silent when he has died? Yes, exactly. I think that's worse. Well, they always say, don't they, that whenever a big celebrity or somebody whose love dies, you're like, I wish they could have just...
stayed and lived an extra day to see it, which of course wouldn't make any sense. Doesn't make any sense. This guy knows what it's like. What it's going to be like, yeah. What he could do is make a really good list of the people who clearly didn't care. Yeah. And then cut them out of his life. fans were booing there. Started with his wife. Why was she crying? Was it tears of joy? Do you reckon there was maybe a point where he was like... Was she on the phone to the life insurance people?
If I don't correct anyone here, I could have a really comfy, quiet few years. Or do one of the best pranks of all time. Yeah. Come out the coffin. Yeah. Very still for about a week. But it'll be worth it. I wouldn't have gone that far. I'd have turned up at the game. As someone who's got a toddler at home, six months of that sounds great. No one bothering me. So you've been looking on being lucky to probably make money back on your TV.
Jim, Sandy, you need those season tickets for sure. Oh, my goodness. Are you going to keep that? Thanks for listening to the Football Ramble, part of the Aircast Creative Network. No sandwiches getting eaten all. Patron subscribers, don't go anywhere. Keep listening for Ramble Uncut. If you're not a patron subscriber, sign up to get...
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The host chosen topics for Uncut. Marcus has just written, I saw a dog with a centre party. If that doesn't inspire you to go to page.com forward slash football ramble, nothing will. Last week, it was gammon. Last week, Marcus just wrote gammon. Also, we have a thing of what we talked about last week. Two things on there. One is gammon. The second is people who went to our schools. Tune in for that. Oh, dear me. And also...
It's for the live shows. Yeah. If you want to come along to that. Thanks, Luke. Thank you very much. Thanks, Andy. Thank you. Thanks, Vitush and Antaraja. Cheers. Thank you, Petko Ganshev. Rest in peace. The Football Ramble is a Stack Production and part of the Acast Creator Network. Football, a game of passion, rivalry and loyalty.
But decades ago, beneath the cheers and the chants lay a different kind of warfare called hooliganism. On a match day, everyone was your enemy. We'll uncover the brutal, bloody battles where punching below the belt was a way of life. It was just a day of making. Gangsta presents Hooligans. They were destroying the football club. The game I love. Listen first on BBC Sounds.
I literally would wake up one eye open and then need the cigarette. I was so addicted. Sue was diagnosed with throat cancer aged 48. To tell your family you've got cancer through smoking. What's hot? Up to two in three smokers die from smoking. Smoke and try to take my life, but now I've got my life back. You've got to keep trying to quit. It's worth it. For help to quit, download the free NHS Quit Smoking app today.
Not with LifeScore Bet, because we have you covered with money back as a free bet up to £10 if your bet loses. Available on all markets every Premier League Saturday 12.30 match this season. You won't want to miss another early kickoff. Live score bet. Total betting. Formula One is back. Join us over on P1 with Matt and Tommy, the world's biggest F1 podcast for everything you need across the 2025 season.
It's shaping up to be one of the most competitive seasons in recent history and we'll be right there with you across all 24 races. From the sublime, he can go to levels that can get him a world championship. He is Michael Schumacher, the new era. To the ridiculous. Have you ever sneezed during a race? Oh, yeah. Sneeze, fart, everything. We'll bring you the latest on track news, off track controversies and race review podcasts as soon as the chequered flag falls every single race weekend.
So whether you're an F1 diehard or you're just partial to a bit of drive to survive, we've got you covered. Search P1 with Matt and Tommy in your podcast app to subscribe and listen now.