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Hello, everybody. Welcome to the Football Ramble Mailbag. England's playing style, local supporters and favourite tournaments are the orders of the day. It's Saturday, 22nd of March. I'm Marcus Speller. I'm Jim Campbell. And I'm Pete Donaldson. Well, howdy, everybody. Welcome to the Football Ramble Mailbag on this lovely Saturday. It's a Saturday, so therefore it's lovely.
It probably is. I think spring is in full swing and we're having a good old dance about it. Bit of rain today, though. Yes, indeed. We're pretending that we're recording it on Saturday. We're actually recording this before the England game. So a little caveat.
I'm allergic to the truth. Yeah. I'm allergic to you telling the truth about I was recording it a day early. It's dusty in this here time capsule. It is, yes. Now remember, if you want to get involved with the mailbag, you can tweet us on X. at FootballRamble. Messages on Instagram and BlueSky at FootballRamble. And, of course, you can email us, shirtfootballramble.com, or get involved on our Discord for our Patreon people.
Now, I've got the first question. It's from Dean on YouTube. Another outlet, Jim. No excuses. All over the shop. All over the shop. What are your thoughts on Thomas Tuchel saying that England played with no identity last summer and claiming they were more scared of dropping out of the tournament than having the excitement and hunger to win it, which we definitely saw with Spain. So, yeah, it's interesting, isn't it?
It's not like he stood on a table and going, England played with no identity last summer. They were more scared of dropping out of the tournament than having the excitement and hunger to win it. But often, this is part of being an England manager, isn't it? These things will be framed like that and they will be taken.
like that but i think actually um i i think it's very very easy to make the argument that that was the case i don't think it's necessarily a criticism of england or of southgate we obviously spoke about this yesterday on the show and i think um
It was something that was common throughout the tournament. Southgate himself said, wasn't he, he wasn't asking them to sort of sit deep and do a lot of the things that many, many England teams have done before where they just kind of... revert into this type and revert into this habit and actually if England are going to go that one step further and actually win something from the position of a final they have to break that cycle and I think acknowledging it
But confronting that head on and perhaps, I suppose, even by mentioning it, making it a kind of making it a target, eliminating it. I think that's a really good thing because it's honest, isn't it? I don't think Tuku has any reason to have to.
stand on ceremony and like I said I don't think he has been critical of well I think he has been critical of Southgate but in the sense that it's a critique of him rather than a criticism of him it's a criticism of his team rather than the man himself I suppose yeah and I think actually I quite like it. It's quite refreshing. Yeah, I mean, you know, I love Southgate and blah, blah, blah, but I thought it was kind of fair comment from Tuchel. I mean, you know, I think to...
Pick up from what you said about Southgate saying that they weren't telling the players to drop deep. I think Southgate went hyper pragmatic too much perhaps because... It defined his reign really didn't it? It did even though England played differently in the previous tournaments but...
You know, a bit like the whole kind of Paul Scholes never played centre midfield for England. People go on the last tournament where he did play centre midfield for England. And I think with Southgate, some people were moaning about the playing style as well. But I think because of that last tournament...
It was quite... Yeah, I think that has kind of made people feel like the whole Southgate era was really, really turgid and boring. And definitely there were times where the performances weren't always that inspiring. But that last one... The performances in the Euros are actually quite strange now, aren't they? With a bit of kind of dust settled on them and with a bit of time to reflect. It was so...
so bad at times. It was like Capello's England, but we somehow got to the final. Well, I think because people were saying that the team, you know, you've got the players that can do that. So if you had a manager who was a little bit more inspiring or inspired, maybe, I mean, you know, the final was a perfect...
perfect example with Kane clearly injured and he had been throughout the tournament although he did score three goals and that turned out to be quite crucial I think he's hard done by actually on that I mean he just he wasn't fit he wasn't you know so for example bringing on Ollie Watkins
at half-time would have been a better shout. And I think when you look at it, you know, Spain were the best team in that tournament, absolutely. But when they come out in the second half, they're linchpin in the centre of the pitch.
Rodri is not there and you think okay could England maybe sort of could he go right lads we're going to do this but it just wasn't the plan it was all about moments he spoke about that let's be really really tight we won't be beaten and you've got the quality to provide those moments that took England to the final yes with an albeit easier route than Spain did but anyway does it take more work to change that performance into a less pragmatic and a more
dogma in the fight, dogmatic position. But the funny thing is, Pete, though, is that Thomas Tuchel is a very pragmatic manager. That's kind of really, you know, pragmatism's fine. That's not a criticism. Absolutely necessary. Tactically pragmatic, I would say. Yeah, but I think he... But he still wants to play a second.
certain kind of football from what we've seen in kind of he can I mean look he's a successful manager I mean that Champions League win with Chelsea is you know the one that we kind of defer to even though he had success elsewhere but that was particularly impressive especially beating that Man City team in the final.
And I think sometimes for the big games, he'll look at the opposition and he'll think, oh, right. And that's the thing. I think he looks at the opposition and goes, right, how can we beat them? Whereas someone like Pep Guardiola, yes, he's got more tools than people would say, but he is the ultimate.
kind of... in the modern era kind of philosopher and he's got his ideology and he's going to play in a certain way kind of thing no matter what the opposition etc etc although not quite true but if you're talking generally you know so I think with Tuchel saying that England will play in a Premier League style that's the thing that I
find interesting because the premier league style quite quickly as we got into the 21st century that was heavily scrutinized and criticized on the international stage it became quite apparent that sometimes our big hitters and players You know, you go back to the so-called golden generation, you know all the names, Gerard Lampard, Beckham Skulls, blah, blah, blah. Fabulous players.
Wayne Bridge. Wayne Bridge. But when they played against a Croatia side who we didn't know as well or a Portugal side or whoever, it's kind of like, oh, but these players have grown up playing. It's about technique. It's about keeping the ball. It's about all these... things that we don't really do that well in this country. We're better at it now, but still not the masters, far from it.
And that style and that sort of thing seemed to trump us quite quickly and not easily, but effectively in tournaments. What characterises the Premier League style now, though? Is it your Pep Guardiola? No, it's not. No end product. Well, they did have an end product with quite a lot under Claudio Man City. For a while. For a long while. Fair's fair. Yeah, all right, fair's fair. But I think what he's talking about is let's press, let's play high octane, let's be a little bit more direct.
that kind of stuff that in you know 70s 80s English football influenced the Gagin press and Jurgen Klopp style and so on Klopp always found it fascinating that he felt that the England certainly at national level kind of abandoned their principles yeah now it's all very well saying that we're going to do this Premier League style but again that style was criticised because some managers apparently tried it whether they did or not I don't know but that style of play is quite
energy sapping yeah and when you get to a tournament when players are tired as clearly England players were in the Euros and when you're playing in it's the summer right so it's going to be hot weather especially in North America sorry about going on about that again no but you're right too
Because I can completely see a situation where it's like we're 1-0 up after an hour. It's like, yeah, probably fine from here. And then it's just the worst half an hour you've ever seen in your life. Yeah, but you know, I think you can do that, though, as an England side. They know how to defend. They know how to sort of sit back a little bit.
need, again, if, you know, presumably England get to the World Cup, he will need to be, you know, to counteract that. And again, Jude Bellingham looked exhausted come the Euros. Yeah, he made a contribution. So it's...
You can say we're going to play this style. That gets everybody excited. And I think with Tugel, there's no point in trying to say we're going to play like Spain, whichever Spanish side it is, because they've not all played the same way. But you get the kind of core principles there. England are not going to do that.
because they've not been schooled in that way. So I think he's talking a good game. It will be fascinating to see. As I say, we're recording this before the Albania game, but even if we record it, oh, that's one game. It's not a huge sample size. It will be very interesting to see how he manages to do it. There were flickers of this with Southgate and Kuala. but when it came to the tournament
Perhaps not so much. But can you do that at a tournament? Yeah, and also I think it's interesting that you mentioned Spain there because if you think of the Spanish identity and the style of their football and the history of where it came from, it's actually Dutch really, isn't it? Yes.
It shows that you can transplant these things. The Cruyffian principles is the way of it. Which has had a massive effect on football all over the world. But that is really evident in the way Spain play. And a lot of the Spanish club teams play as well. It's interesting, isn't it, that it can be a real millstone, actually, your national identity in terms of your tactical style and the way you play and be very interested.
to see what Tuchel's interpretation of Premier League style is, especially someone who's managed in the Premier League, who has won the Champions League with a Premier League club and actually knows it very, very well. And let's be honest, I mean, in the modern era, he's probably the best...
tactical coach that England have had you might look at Capello and think that he should have been that but it wasn't like that in practice by the time he came along Capello was out of date essentially and Tuchel does not feel like he's out of date at all so it'd be very interesting we'll find out if we're sure if this I just almost wish that England were a bit crapper. Do you know what I mean? Because the way that he sort of came in at Chelsea and Chelsea were a wreck.
But like behind him, obviously, he papered over so many kind of chairman-based cracks for quite a long time. He didn't get the chance to sort of reap his reward, you would probably say. He was sacked before that happened. And he got them a Champions League, two domestic finals and stuff.
it was a hell of a performance. So you almost wish that... Well, I just wish that England were just a bit more of a joke, really, so he could do a bit more work on picking us up. I mean, there'll be plenty of jokes at us. Don't worry about that. I'm sure, yeah, this is just... all set up isn't it I mean Peter we're talking about a man who's been parachuted in to win us the World Cup I can envisage some jokes coming our way in the whether it's next summer or even before
You know, so don't worry about that there. A lot of people get a lot of mileage out of the England team. So I suppose, yeah, I think that... Yeah, my thoughts would be interesting, kind of exciting. It's the kind of stuff that you almost sort of want to hear him say, whether he'll do it. Because you could argue, have England had a manager? that has tried to really play on the front foot.
When was the last one? I would say this century, not. No, maybe Venables, maybe Hoddle. Yeah, maybe. Venables, perhaps. But again, it was only one tournament and it was a home tournament. We're probably thinking of 20 minutes against the Netherlands as well. Yeah, exactly. That's the thing, isn't it? I think...
on the odd occasion under Southgate but again I'm probably in a minority even though I think the facts do speak for themselves but as a whole Southgate was all about not losing keep the ball certainly in the tournaments yeah Portugal 2016 France 2018 we know that he sort of based it a lot on that so I don't think Southgate would be considered as a front foot exciting kind of manager. And all those who came before him, you go to Hodgson, not the case. You know, Allardyce.
We'll never know. McLaren, no. Capello, as you said, no. Sven wasn't the case as well. It was all about getting in front and trying to defend. Sven was very 4-4-2. Totally, yeah. I mean, even Keegan, who we thought didn't quite cut the mustard and so on. Have you seen everyone?
first matches that they took the stewardship of England for it's actually quite fascinating I think the better teams you play the more success you are or the better at football you seem to be Alf Ramsey obviously played France first Fran's absolutely hammered them. Sven. England 3, Spain 0 in 2001. But everyone else, it's been your Norway's, your Slovakia's, Gareth's first match was obviously Malta. I do think that playing decent sides would probably sort of, you know...
It's just a great start to your England career. It sets the stall out a little bit, yeah. Steve's England 4, Greece 0. Rubbish. Yeah, there you are. So in this same interview where he mentioned identity and that sort of stuff, he was asked what was...
missing from the performances. And he said some interesting things within there. One of them was the repetition of patterns and also, seeming to contradict that, the freedom of players, the expression of players. Now, it might just be, you know, he's a bit of word salad because he's been asked off.
asked the question on the spot but those two things are very very interesting to me because it suggests quite a lot of diversity within how he expects England to play where they will have a set essentially a set menu of moves that they can try but if they don't feel it's on like just go on Jude fill your boots so that's potentially exciting yeah I think so as well and like I say I think England fans have been crying out for some enjoyable football
and something to get excited about. And we've had the excitement of going in tournaments. And like I say, I think under Southgate, even though people have said this, that and the other, there were a lot of goals scored, generally speaking. I know a lot of them came against Panama and Iran, but there were more goals.
whereas before that England would turn up tournaments and just get the odd goal here and there and it really was like oh blimey this is not what we want so I think the playing style is important Luke and I spoke about that but I don't think it's necessarily
It has to be some sort of beautiful, you know, we're going to out Spain, Spain and all this because it's not going to happen. That's where his pragmatism will be. And I think the pragmatism is, right, you're a group of English players. Yes, you're modern English players, but what have you grown up playing? And I think he's going to use... and I think he is probably the best man realistically they could have got for the job. He's certainly the tallest.
I'll have him that. Certainly the Taurus, Peter. Jim, you've got another England-based question. I do have another England-based question from Brian on email. I don't know if he pronounces it like that. With only 16 months until the start of the World Cup, how important is it that Thomas Tukum...
nails down his best 11 as soon as possible. Hmm. Yes. What do you reckon, Petey? I think defensively he has to. But everything else could be kind of up for grabs, really. Because he's not like really a...
He's not going to be one of those sort of 2am down at the training ground working out the spreadsheet every night because obviously he's not even going to be in England for a lot of it apparently. But his kind of... over-reliance on attack will probably see him being a bit more pragmatic as to what the players he's got are available.
So I think he's got an appetite for a surprise here and there. So I think he'll nail down the defence and then just everything else is up for grabs really. So, you know, he'll just go for the fastest. Cameron Archer will probably play at some point. He'll probably get his full cap. I know what you mean. I think the defence will be interesting, which is why when you look at the squad at the moment, it is fascinating to see who we assume partner Mark Gay, who's the kind of more...
Senior player in there in terms of Caps and experience. And Gay's done enough to be a starter, for example. I don't think anybody would complain too much about that. Although a few left-footed centre-halves in this, so perhaps Gay will maybe play on that right side, even though he's comfortable. Gay is right-footed, isn't he? Very comfortable playing on the left, you know.
So it's early days, of course. And I know it's only 60 months. There's only a certain amount of... training sessions he has and meetups he has with those players but he wants to have a good look at everybody and I think that
one can look too much into all this kind of stuff. And that could well be the case with Jordan Henderson, even though he spoke about, you know, he embodies this, that and the other. Because if he feels like, actually, do you know what? We're okay in that department and Henderson... is not the youngest and we've got other options I think you know he may well kind of he may well
like drop him for the next hour do you see him as a bit of like a link man kind of him being possibly just between the old guard and the new guard just getting a bit of intel I suppose and that could be good for the first couple of sessions and if he feels like I don't really need that whatever so we may feel
Phil, we may look too much into this but in terms of nailing that you know the clock is ticking we're in kind of unfamiliar territory here because it is that short-term contract and the brief is clear and Tuchel is under no illusions and he's speaking about that as well So I think that's why we're thinking, OK, who's the starting level? Well, things change. Injuries happen. So actually, you wouldn't want Tuchel to be picking the same 11 for games. It just won't happen. And also, again...
You want a core of a side, definitely. And I think the defence is one of those ones where you get fewer, you know... You're two centre-halves. If you have a settled defence, it's more likely to stay as the same unit, isn't it? You tend to have two centre-halves if you play in a back four, which most people do. They tend to stay throughout the tournament. You know what I mean? Not too much chopping and changing. Yeah, but even then, though, I mean...
Maybe someone gets a suspension. Maybe somebody gets injured. You do need a department there. And actually, if you look at England in tournaments and most teams in tournaments, it's not like they... play the same XI throughout the games. It fluctuates quite a lot. You absolutely do have a core. It fluctuates a little bit, I would say. But I think you've got to have your plans at A, B and C in terms of personnel, right? And you've got to be...
prepared for various challenges that come your way. So I don't think he's going to kind of focus too heavily on his best set 11 because as you say injuries happen but also form fluctuates massively. We've got a whole season before the World Cup. Absolutely. We're talking as if the World Cup's this summer.
World Cup in the summer as well that's going to probably impact the readiness of some of those players that's still happening isn't it apparently so I don't think it's I don't think it's particularly important to be honest however
you do need to, if he's choosing like wildly different squads, you know, if we're seeing eight to 10 changes every time a squad comes around when everyone's fit, that's when you kind of go, oh, okay. But I don't think we're going to see that. I think you're going to see the familiar faces. For me, it's...
The area which I'm quite interested to see is what he's going to do with the midfield, the midfield dynamic. Is Declan Rice going to play his England role or his Arsenal role? I suspect England role. I suspect so too. Is he going to maybe in future or near squads... Bring in Adam Morton, who's a player that people have been talking about a lot. Are we going to see three more, if you like, traditional but proper central midfielders in there with Jones, Bellingham...
Rice maybe Walton maybe you know one or two others or is he going to do what some people want and think Rice And then Bellingham and Palmer in there as well. A bit more attacking. I think that's quite fascinating. Is there a bit of pressure on Pickford, maybe? No, I think Pickford is one of a few or maybe a handful of players that will be starting in that World Cup. I agree.
you know, obviously injury free. All right. We're going to take a quick break and then we're going to answer more of your questions. A game of passion, rivalry and loyalty. But decades ago, beneath the cheers and the chants lay a different kind of warfare called...
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Petey D, you've got the next question. I've got the next question and I'm going to spit it out my mouth. It's from Dan on email. Oh, Dan. Do you think Jim Ratcliffe has a point in suggesting that Manchester United should offer different ticket prices for faithful local supporters who attend regularly compared to those travelling from London or abroad? Firstly, Dan, it's Sir Jim.
Ratcliffe. Some respect. Avarice respect for the great man. Yeah, he said this, didn't he, in the Gary Neville interview. He talked about faithful local supporters compared to those travelling. He specifically said London, and then he said Hong Kong, but we can just say... with that. As a fellow Jim, do you have any particularly strong thoughts about what your man's been saying? So many evil Jims, it's infuriating. Yeah, it's an interesting one, isn't it? Because I will be very surprised if...
Man United start offering discounts for people who've been to a certain amount of games. Because I think how... How does this work in a practical sense? If you've got a season ticket, you've got your season ticket. I doubt you'll get some money back at the end of the season if you go to a certain amount of games and prove that you personally have been in those seats. So I suppose...
If they do something where like if you go to five games, you get a discount on the next one. That sounds good in practice, doesn't it? But it's very difficult to actually... Do you have to live within a certain postcode or something to do that? What if you were someone from Manchester and you had to move away and then you still come back to games at great expense to go and spend money in the ground? This is how I've...
I've always followed my side, obviously, because it's very expensive all the time whenever I want a ticket. It's always out on the open market or resellers or whatever. But you do sort of think... How is it realistically going to manifest itself? He's not going to reduce the price of a season ticket for people who have had the season ticket for ages. So therefore, he probably thinks, well...
I'll just up as much as I can the corporate side of things, which means with the new stadium that mail may not arrive.
the corporate tickets will be there'll just be more of them won't they I suppose so he's probably sort of thinking well the only people who are week in week out spending money like water on corporate tickets are people who don't normally take these tickets so it'll just mean a massive increase in posh seats and if anything a moderate increase on the regular season ticketed ones but
I can't help but think there's a world here where Jim at some point will screw a lot of fans off. So that's the baseline, isn't it, for Jim? Yeah, definitely. To me, it means he's looking at that going. Sorry, yeah. So Jim's thinking... if they do come from that London, well, maybe we can get them to pay a bit more. That's the angle here. He can't look at anything without basically breaking it down into constituent parts and thinking, how can I monetize each one? Yeah, as you say, I don't...
I don't think there's going to be any discounts. No. Tariffs. Also, though, I mean... Yeah, blimey. It's the practicalities of it. The idea of local supporters. Do you need a Manchester postcode or something? And it's...
A bit gatekeepy that way, isn't it? Hey, the world is isolationist these days. Do you know what? No, but Pete, he's a little bit populist sounding. Because if you do travel up from London, you might be a Mancunian, as you've mentioned, Jim, you might have moved away or whatever. And it's just so hard to kind of...
police. I mean, I do understand the point. If you're coming from Hong Kong, you're like, you've already spent your money. Don't worry about it. You've demonstrated some passion. You see those Korean people at Spurs, you go, well done. Because that is a trip. Can't even fly over Russia now.
Impossible. Yeah, I just don't think they're passionate enough. Because if they were passionate enough, they'd move to the local area. I do get the fact, though, that if you have... I mean, this is the thing. It's about ticket prices, really, here. Because if you do have local people... who can't afford it. Yeah, it is a bit of a sickening when you see, I understand the unease one might have with lots of tourists turning up and people who are deemed to
to be seen as maybe not proper supporters or whatever. But I think the fingers are being pointed in the wrong direction here because it's often... You know, again, without sounding a bit too sort of populist, it is almost like the corporates, you see, who turn up and it's like, oh, this is a game of football. You know, I turned up or I didn't bother. I gave the season tickets to someone else and so on and so forth. That's the kind of thing. And those who do have...
season tickets but often don't turn up and then sell them again it's those are the things you want to tighten up with and i think again i don't think it's a geographical thing i think it's if you've had a season ticket for x amount of years then you should be rewarded for that, for being faithful. There are people who have season tickets who rarely go and sell them off game by game. And I think that's the kind of thing that pisses fans off.
Even then, though, and I do understand that. They're the ones I can buy, usually. Well, exactly. The people buying those... tickets are still fans and they're still turning up to support the team. I'm not talking about those fans. I'm saying if you want to try and do this local or those who attend regularly was the word to use then those who are not selling their season tickets every week.
because, you know, if you want to cultivate a certain atmosphere, you want to get something, you want people attending regularly. You want to have enough room for people who go on a one-off or tourists and so on because we've gone as tourists and games abroad and so on.
But those who are selling off their tickets that they have in their season tickets because they go once every couple of months or something. That's the kind of thing that I think pisses people off. When we went to Real Madrid versus Eletico Madrid, we'd bought... tickets that somebody had done that for yeah sure and you could see some of the people be like oh yeah another group of tourists coming in this section in this end and it's kind of like well pfft
You know, what's that about? So it happens the world over and I understand it. And so from Sir Jim's point of view, if you're trying to tighten things up, then do it in a way that is more achievable than saying, right, well, you know, if you're...
you live on that street over there, well, sorry, you're outside the catchment area, so therefore you're going to be charged an extra 30%. An important thing to... consider as well particularly when they're putting ticket prices up is that not everyone who doesn't have a season ticket can afford to regularly be faithful you know like kind of framing it as an authenticity thing is slightly ludicrous yeah I mean the whole thing with
with season tickets we know that that's not where club revenue comes from really like the bulk of it but the idea that you're not faithful if you don't pay to come all the time. Yeah, well, this is how someone likes a gym and those kind of people, your worth is in how much money you have. Sure. If your season ticket is 5% of the money that you make at 20 grand or whatever, it's just not happening, is it, before tax?
And we know, as I say, TV revenue is far more of a money spinner and so on and so forth. But they're betting on the things that they know they can control because they can't control whatever...
whatever deal comes across Radcliffe's desk in the next few months, but they can control what they've got. And then, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's those old kind of football management games from like the nineties where on the Amiga, where you just sort of turn up the ticket price and people would stay away.
and then you turn it down again. It's just a dial that they can sort of turn and sort of go, well, we're doing something, but they're not really. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right, gentlemen, I think we should have a break and calm down and talk about something a little lighter. One, two, three, lift! Do you belong here, next to me, building an overseas field hospital in a disaster zone? What's she saying?
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Live score bet. Total betting. First pre-match cash bet place from 9 a.m. Friday before selected match weekly bar price boosts. Free bet valid seven days on sports. Keys and C's apply. Bet responsibly. 18 plus gamble. Question here from Morgan on Blue Sky. What is your favourite international tournament that you can remember? Oh, come on. Le Tournois!
Go on, Jimmy, get us off to a good start. It's an interesting question, this, isn't it? Because, you know, we've been doing this podcast for a long time and we've discussed many, every international tournament we can remember at great length. And I think... Actually, the last three World Cups have all been excellent, have all been really, really good.
And it's actually, I find a difference between them. Yeah, I thought Russia was good. Russia, Qatar, yeah. I thought Brazil was fine. Obviously, Brazil had the craziness of the 7-1. I kind of sort of forget England's involvement in it, but don't worry about that. That didn't last very long. No, just remember.
it being a really fun tournament. Hammers Rodriguez and his amazing goal and his little cricket passenger. True. Yeah, I just remember really enjoying a lot of the games. I think Qatar was amazing. I'm sort of...
I think I'm tempted to go towards Russia, though, because England's involvement was such a surprise. To get to a semi-final when we really weren't expecting much at all. And it's the only tournament, don't listen to it, it's the only tournament where expectation was like zero. Yeah, yeah. Maybe Euro 2012, but that was fine.
Wow. Yeah. But obviously, you know, the achievement was very little. So that was really, really fun. On a personal level as well, because it's the first tournament I remember clearly, it was USA 94. You've got to remember the semi-finals were Sweden v Brazil and Italy v Bulgaria. Yeah.
The joint top scorers were Hristo Stoichkov, as you might expect, one of the best players in the world at the time, and Oleg Selenko, because he scored five against Cameroon. Just got a lot of really good memories of it. Diana Ross and all that stuff. You wouldn't have been watching a lot of the games live, though, would you?
No, I think I watched a fair few of the games. What time was your bedtime? Well, I remember watching a lot of it, so ask Ian and Christine. I love that your mum's got the same name as my mum. It's good, isn't it? Petey, what about you? Son of Christine, Peter Lawson. Actually, I mean, my first proper tournament was 94 and I loved Ireland's performance in there. I mean, was it really an Irish team?
That's for them to decide, one would suggest. I'm staying out of that. Not in a political sense. There was a lot of people who were using a lot of like granddad, grandma kind of. My granddad, grandma was Irish. As I say, I'm staying out. All right, fine. Can I go for the 1995 Copa America, please? Of course you can! Because I was so into this new discovery called soccer back then that during like...
during like follow weeks, you were like, I need more football in my life. And back then you couldn't just go on the internet. So my mate would tape me off Sky, the, you know, overnight Copa America matches. That's lovely. And it was just, you know, it was, I don't remember a lot.
of it but I remember the grainy VHS's I remember Brazil going quite deep in it I remember the US I think they were fourth in the end doing very well were they the guest team they were yeah I think they were the guest team but you know Gary Batastuta doing stuff all on very grainy VHS and stuff. This feels like a lost tournament. I just want to know what Tino was up to. It's like when you hear a B-side.
from a band you loved in the 90s that you'd never heard before. And it's clearly from the same sessions as the album you love. So it sounds like an alternative. One of those weird iron long EP signals that Radiohead did. Actually, yeah, they did the OK Computer. kind of sessions didn't they I have this exact feeling it's bore off do you remember who won it Peter I think
Did Uruguay win it? They did. They did win it. They played at home, weren't they? They beat Brazil in the final at home. You're absolutely right. On penalties. Tino and Colombia finished third. They beat the US in that third place match. Batistuta and Luis Garcia of Mexico. were top scorers Tino did get a couple of goals in the tournament I love it
Yeah. That's brilliant. It just had everything. I was just starved of football and I needed more. Yeah. More American-based football, please. Yeah. Some of the names, though. Mr. Wijnaldum. Wijnaldum, sorry. Not Gini Wijnaldum, it was Eric Wijnaldum playing for the US. Eric Wijnaldum. Diego Simeone for Argentina. And you can imagine there was a fair few famous Brazilians in there. Roger Scully got player of the tournament. Yeah, Edmundo was there.
The Animal. Yeah. That's lovely. I wasn't expecting that. No, me neither. I'm not going to say 2018 because you've already said it, Jim. That would be boring. My first tournament was 1990. I'm surprised you didn't remember that much. I have vague memories of it. The USA 94 is the one where I've got clearer. Yeah.
90, I remember very much so. But it's a bit of a boring answer. I suppose, yeah, Russia and Qatar were both great. I did enjoy both of those. But one tournament that really still captured my imagination I think was World Cup 98 just I have to make the case that it looked great and in terms of star personnel it's the best tournament I can remember yeah it was and there's so much drama as well yeah but the names in there you know
And I know England went out sort of fairly early in the second round. You had Beckham scoring that free kick against Columbia. So that tournament does stick in the memory for me. So if not 2018, because as you say, that was great. Then 98 was one that I vividly remember, yeah. Good question, Morgan. Certainly had a nice little trip down nostalgia way. Jim, you got the next one? I do. Sandeep has been in touch. Apparently he submitted this question handwritten on a piece of lined paper.
do you do that presumably took a picture of it and sent it in popped it through the door I don't know but Sandy asks which single performance from a player lives longest in your memory as a fan of the 94 World Cup Peter I'm expecting you to say Mr Robbie Baggio yeah well he had quite a few in that tournament didn't he I think is it single
Game performance. That's how I interpret it. Interpret it as you will because you can say his performance at that World Cup is perfect. A certain Irish defender in that match was very good. Paul McGrath, of course, against Italy. I'm going to go for, I can't remember what match it was, but pick it easy for Hartlepool. and he was he was like a
a Premier League footballer in the worst team I've ever seen. And it was like a real, you know, like when they play a soccer aid and on replays and, and he's passing to, I don't know, Storms or something, you know what I mean? Olly Murs or something. And the level is just,
so different and he's putting balls into places where he thinks players are going to run into but it was a real you know Peter Biddy was my favourite footballer at the time and continued to be so up until a sudden point and but he was a wonderful sight of sea watching him uh just put balls into space for nobody to run into um so that for the wrong reasons that is one of the more memorable um sort of performances uh in a in a harley pool on your gaza shirt
No, that's good. It's something that none of us can surely know, so we'll take your word for that one. Jim, what about you? Any particular problems? I've got a few, obviously, but one that sticks in my mind a lot, actually, and it's... there's a bit of sadness to it as well, is Neymar against PSG in 2017. That game where Barcelona were 4-0 down from the first leg and they turned it around, won the game 6-1. Sergio Roberto...
got the very, very late winner with a ball from Neymar, I believe. And Neymar... He scored a brilliant free kick in that goal. He was just everywhere and everyone was buzzing about him. I think it was a big part of why PSG went so hard and paid such a massive fee to get him. I just think like... Obviously, the story of Neymar was almost that he wanted to get out of messy shadow. I guess only he knows how true that is. But it was a...
truly masterful performance in one of the greatest turnarounds in the history of the game, really. And he was just like an absolute magician. And there's a sense that like, why didn't he just stay there? Why didn't he just... stay there and do that more yeah I know what you mean I mean that was always the we'll always think that about Neymar I think in Europe certainly I don't know if many others would do that another couple another couple that's
that stick in my mind are Zlatan Ibrahimovic against England in 2012 because of the context of it so there's you know a lot of people saying that he would never cut it in England if you played there and he scores four goals including a 30 yard free kick and a last minute overhead kick
outside the box. He was on one, wasn't he? He very, very definitively put that argument to bed in a very impressive way. And also, Ashley Cole pocketing Cristiano Ronaldo in Euro 2004 was... I just couldn't believe how good an...
individual performance that was at the time. He was very good in the same situation in 2006 as well and obviously Ronaldo wasn't quite the beast that he later became but he was still inarguably one of the best players in the world and it was an unbelievably flawless performance from Ashley Cole. Yeah, no, Ashley Cole was...
very, very good at that. He scored his penalty as well. He did. So I'm trying to, I mean, Beckham v. Greece is obviously one. Ronaldo for Real Madrid at Old Trafford that time. Kaká had a great performance at Old Trafford as well. I'm glad you said that because, so Kaká
was one of my favourite players that glide he had and I think he's kind of I think he was the last player to win the Ballon d'Or before Messi and Ronaldo started taking over and he won it in 2007 and that performance at Old Trafford
in the semi-final of the Champions League where he scores two goals and Manchester United won that leg 3-2 with Rooney scoring a couple of goals but then Milan won 3-0 in Milan and Kakar scored the first one so his performance you could say over the two legs but I absolutely loved him
a glorious, glorious footballer with so much going on in his game. And to see him when he exerted that kind of dominance, albeit for maybe just a period of the game, because I'd say they lost that first leg, but they were... that handsomely went through and then they beat Liverpool in the final that year getting revenge from 2005 to see him in full flow was a sight to behold and so I get starry eyed when I think of Kaka because he feels like one of those sort of slightly kind of slight
small playmakers but he's six foot one there's something really interesting about such a tall player moving in such an elegant way I think he kind of bridges the gap because you remember some of those playmakers from say the 90s and maybe early 2000s who might be seen as luxury players now who wouldn't be able to get to elite level because of the physical demands of the game and to me he has a feel of being a throwback in that kind of glides around the pitch and so on but actually had
the modern could face the demands of modern football with the energy with his strength and so on and so forth so yeah a lovely player so I remember those performances and then the other one is not too dissimilar, but different, was Manchester United again, but on the receiving end again, the Champions League final in 2009. The agenda is clear.
Absolutely right, Jim. The Champions League final in 2009 where you and I attended, Jim, in Rome. I know. I saw it. You're going full keys on me here. When Barcelona beat Manchester United 2-0. And it was Guardiola's first season as Barcelona manager and he won the lot. His most successful season as a manager, I believe. I think they won six trophies that year. They won everything they were in in the calendar year. It was incredible. And he hadn't gone full...
Guardiola yet because it was his first season but it was there and that was the game as a fan of the Premier League and living in this country The way that Anders and Iesta played in that game, you were like, oh my goodness. That's how you do it. Now, he wasn't actually given a man of that. Xavi was given UEFA man of the match. I think Messi was given the fans.
player of the match, which is not too surprising. He scores the goal and the whole world was in love with him. But Iniesta's performance, I remember so many people the next day at work and friends and so on were talking about him and the way he just, again, glided, had the ball and he did all the things that...
that were quite almost anti-Premier League. He held the ball. He didn't play Hollywood passes, although he could. He didn't look like he was sprinting every time. All the kind of physical attributes that we loved, and still loved, they're still valid, don't get me wrong, but...
He just did it in a different way. And that became the way to do things for certainly the next handful of years. You could argue people still do it, but that changed football. It was Guardiola, of course, but he was such an important... component of that side and bringing those ideals and those methods onto the pitch and that performance, he just didn't give the ball away. He was going in between the lines. There's a moment in the game, I think, when Carrick...
who was a brilliant player, of course, and they were the two best sides in Europe. Rare you get that in the final. Without a doubt, the two best sides in Europe. The character looks at the bench and throws his arms up as if to say, are we playing against 12 men here? And Iniesta to me just totally embodied that. And it was just, I remember Jim, because obviously we're not Manchester United fans, but we were on a Manchester United team fan bus on the way back. And we were just like...
we had to keep it quiet because we were in awe of that. Just buzzing, yeah. Yeah, I mean, I wanted Manchester United to win, blah, blah, blah. But Barcelona, like the performance in particular... It was a clinic. And in particular with Iniesta, you were just in awe. You'd witnessed greatness. And for me, he was the one that caught my eye the most that night. So that is a performance that will live very long in my memory. And it was a joy to be there. It absolutely was.
Peter, you've got the final question. From Harry on Instagram, with Disney bringing out the list of their fairytale story into film projects this week, which fairytale football story would you most like to see turned into a film? Zambia winning the Africa Cup of Nations.
who is playing Harvey Renard. Yes. Oh, my goodness. A young Gerard Depedger. Yeah. How is he getting a bet? Maybe Nikolai Costa-Waldu. Right, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Could play Harvey Renard. He's got a good old conk on him, hasn't he? I'm thinking someone...
What about Zac Efron? He's a good-looking guy. He's got the body. Maybe. It's Disney, Jim. It's Disney. It is Disney. Throw any kind of sensible and decent casting out the window. Yeah, you're right. How about the tale of a plucky pair of presenters reinventing...
themselves in the Middle East yes yes please after being handed out like fish out of water stuff and trying to buy booze everywhere life my friend so a lot of fairy tales are actually cautionary tales aren't they the initial sort of grim Fairy tales are quite dark, so... And it often ends on a...
Quite a rough note, you might say. Indeed. So I'm thinking maybe The Curse of Bella Gutmann might make a good adaptation. Obviously, it involves Benfica actually breaking it for it to have a kind of happy ending. But if you're unfamiliar with The Curse of Bella Gutmann, he was the Hungarian manager of...
Benfica lots of teams many many teams but he had particular success with Benfica they beat Barcelona in the European Cup final in 1961 then Real Madrid fans spent the next year taking the piss out of Barcelona about that and then Benfica beat Real Madrid in the 62 final
Bella Gutmann then asked the chairman for a pay rise. Chairman said no. And the story is that as he stormed out of the chairman's office, Gutmann said, not in the next hundred years will Benfica win a European trophy. They still haven't since. They've lost eight European finals.
since then people take this curse very very seriously and I think that's really funny do you not think that he probably said that every time he was hoovered out of a club maybe but I mean I don't believe in curses but at the same time this one is still active another one Greece winning Euro 2004, but like in the style of 300. Right. Nice. Yeah, I like that. Like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let me take you back, guys, to 2003. Yeah. A young David Dunn is sat.
at his breakfast buffet bar, talking to his wife, and his wife is pleading with him not to attempt the Robona. And he... very much wants an attempt of Rabbana. And it's all just about this kind of like, all building up to the match. Short film at best. Attempts of Rabbana.
Will he manage it? Will he not manage it? Pixar animated short. Pixar animated short. And that's the grand finale. He doesn't do it. No, it's his entire life up until that point. Oh, right. And even worse. Yeah, it was face to black. It's like when Queen wanted to go on further. I can't remember the guy who plays Borat. Sacha Baron Cohen. Sacha Baron Cohen, I think, was going to be playing Freddie Mercury. Yes, that's right.
the art queen said uh prime mayor said i'll be good because then like when freddie mackie dies and then the film will continue on with us you know doing being a much worse band um and uh so it'll be like that but instead the whole film ends when david dunn attempts Just as he sort of leans back, it's slow motion, maybe a bit of Mogwai on. Like there's a Dan film. Like there's a Dan film. And he's just about to do it. He goes, done. Yeah. Yeah.
What a way to finish. Thanks for listening to the Football Rebel Mailbag, part of the Acast Creator Network. All three of us will be back on Monday with Andy to react to the weekend's football. Please do send your responses, opinions and questions for next week's episode and subscribe on YouTube. you get to your podcast. Thanks, Jimmy. See you. Thanks, PT. Farewell. See you on Monday, everybody. The Football Ramble is a Stack Production and part of the Acast Creator Network.
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