The football: Pep Guardiola suggested Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are players of such stature they can choose the club they play for. Is that true, or is it the financial reality of how few clubs can afford to both secure the top players, and keep them, that is the determining factor? The food: Lightly cured mackerel, oscietra caviar, Jersey Royal potatoes with almond milk, sardine dressing & kalamata olives; Cumbrian lamb loin, red pepper, Yorkshire black garlic, pak choi, braised should...
Sep 01, 2021•1 hr 5 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: Siege mentalities, or more pertinently, fake ones. Why has what once might have been a genuine management tactic turned into little more than a media trope, happily seized upon by managers looking for a distraction, and players looking for motivation. The food: Steven is at his parents' house, and has enjoyed a lengthy barbecue, plus chocolate cake, all in celebration of his brother's birthday. He also insists his only beer is that of the low-alcohol variety, but the others will ta...
Aug 25, 2021•59 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: Why are the 'Top Six' clubs in the Premier League spoken about so much, when some of those 'Top Six' don't fill the top six positions anymore? The European Super League debacle spoke of the 'Big Six' trying to break away because they weren't, and haven't been, the 'Top Six' for a while. And if you are one of those 'Big Six', can you ever be replaced? The food: Chinch has two chocolate and hazelnut chunky cookies, which he's so enamoured with he eats at the same time, stacked like a...
Aug 18, 2021•59 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: Lionel Messi is leaving Barcelona, but the story - mainly because of the destination - is leaving us cold. We discuss what Messi to PSG says about modern football, and we come up with an answer: A LOT. The food: Rory has reinvested his most recent BBC fee into buying a fancy pot noodle from Waitrose. ***ANNOUNCEMENT*** We have a new range of Set Piece Menu merchandise, and we would recommend (insist) that you buy it. Literally all of it. Multiple times. Head here for the selection:...
Aug 11, 2021•1 hr 6 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: In the final part of our series we ask why the Premier League isn't the centre for tactical innovation in the game, and whether they'd either like to be, or comfortable with the idea they scout and poach the best minds and philosophies from elsewhere. Then we conclude by indulging the very subject of our series, and outlining why the Premier League is indeed exceptional. The food: Here's Nicky Hinchcliffe's virtual dessert to round off our three course feast. Pear, plum and apple c...
Aug 04, 2021•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: In part two of our summer series, we ask how the Premier League's exceptionalism applies to its finances, transfers and players. Is there a tax for English clubs, because the rest of the world know they have more money than everyone else? And is there a complicity from abroad in allowing the Premier League to have more, and spend more, knowing there'll be a benefit to them? The food: We're on the main course of Nicky Hinchcliffe's virtual feast. Sit back and enjoy (think about) org...
Jul 28, 2021•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: The summer series (aka filler content between organised domestic or international football) is back! We have three connected episodes coming at you over next three weeks considering the many different aspects to the idea of Premier League Exceptionalism. The English top flight might be the best, but could that also be the very root of what undermines its exceptionalism? And also is it literally an exception? Does what happens in the Premier League bear no resemblance to achievement...
Jul 21, 2021•55 min•Transcript available on Metacast SPM 239: Hot Takes and Takeaways (Euro 2020 Edition) by Rory Smith, Andy Hinchcliffe, Steven Wyeth, Hugh Ferris
Jul 12, 2021•1 hr 11 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: Rory has an idea of how an expanded Euros could be expanded further, to include 32 teams. He's very proud of it, but clearly can only really commit to its principles once he's workshopped it (had it pulled apart) by his pod colleagues. Step forward Steven, Hugh and Chinch to consider, a little too fully, the plight of Luxembourg. The food: A cardamom knot, which is part of Rory's bourgeois breakfast. Email us at setpiecemenu@gmail.com
Jul 07, 2021•1 hr 7 min•Transcript available on Metacast The World Cups and Euros of our youth are acclaimed through the rose tinted spectacles of nostalgia. In our mature years we are much more likely to find fault. What distorts our memories in favour of historical tournaments and subsequently raises expectations to an unreasonable level for their modern day equivalents? Plus, in a variation on the theme, a Soccer Story about Chinch not narrated by Chinch. And Steven deputises as host with Hugh cashing in all acceptable excuses for an absence in one...
Jun 30, 2021•1 hr•Transcript available on Metacast Over time we've be inundated with excellent suggestions from you, the listener. Many have been used & attributed, some nefariously repurposed & claimed as our own and others saved for a rainy day. Well that day has come and the mailbag has produced a potpourri of pod content: the fluidity of nationality, the scarcity of ambipedal players, footballing frustrations worthy of sanction, how to react to a tragedy and the chicken/egg of players' positions. As for the food? Well after 4 and a half year...
Jun 23, 2021•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast The podcast where four friends - presenter Hugh Ferris, writer Rory Smith, commentator Steven Wyeth & pundit Andy Hinchcliffe - talk football over food. This week: footballing families and the impact a successful player has on their offspring's chance of success. In what seems an increasingly incestuous industry, is a legacy talent a help or a hindrance and does nepotism give a youngster an edge when tough judgements are made about a talent’s potential for fulfilment? And does a genetic disposit...
Jun 16, 2021•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: Do trophies have a different value depending on who wins them, how often, and whether they are claimed by a player that's also associated with individual achievements? Harry Kane has a chance to move from a club that hasn't won anything to one that wins everything, but will those potential future achievements have the same value to him as breaking the Premier League, or England goal-scoring record at some point in his career? The food: Steven, who according to the MailOnline is liv...
Jun 09, 2021•1 hr 18 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: After Pep Guardiola seemed to lean into the very narrative that appears to annoy his acolytes more than any other for the Champions League final, we discuss whether something being pre-determined also dictates that it should be the singular cause of any outcome. Did Pep overthink his team? Or did they just play badly? Or, more importantly for this episode, do we have to understand that two things can be true? The food: Chinch and Steven discuss the relative merits of florentines wi...
Jun 02, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: The Premier League season has come to an end, but it can't be officially 'put in the books' until we've delivered our annual hot takes and takeaways. Sit back and let these completely unstructured thoughts wash over you... The food: Rory goes against his wife's specific instructions to not order an ice cream sundae for his son when out for an anniversary meal. It turns out she is not surprised, to the extent she can predict every ingredient within said sundae before it arrives. We ...
May 26, 2021•1 hr 5 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: How does a manager put together a squad for a major international tournament? Is it the 'best 23 players', as the requirement from those who shout the loudest dictates, or is there much more importance in the balance of the squad: the right fit for the right system? And what value should be given to a player's versatility? The food: Rory insists he hasn't succumbed to a lemsip, as he completely milks the symptoms he's progressing through having had his first shot of the Covid vacci...
May 19, 2021•1 hr 10 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: As a follow up to last week's pod, which turned out to be an inadequate answer to a question posed by a listener, we try to actually answer that question. What factors should players like Harry Kane and Jack Grealish consider when weighing up a potential move away from the club they love, and has brought them to this stage in their career; a stage that may fall short of either what their talent demands, or what those watching on would consider a fulfilment of their potential? The f...
May 12, 2021•1 hr 17 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: Erling Haaland, his dad, and his agent, all have a plan. They've been plotting the player's career ever since he started as a teenager at Bryne in Norway. This is a prime example of a player pathway: when an elite prospect that has the luxury of choosing where to play now, and next, predetermines the route their career will take. We ask if it happens elsewhere (and less publicly), and what goes into making those decisions. The food: Rory has bought a pizza stone, so that he can coo...
May 05, 2021•1 hr 15 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: The European Super League seemed to re-frame the tribalism that's become such a huge part of modern football culture. Instead of fans railing against each other, they joined together to rail against a new, apparently more pressing foe which, ironically, in some cases appeared to be acting in order to meet the demands of their fanbase. And even though supporters' protests were undeniably a significant contributor to the ESL's precipitous collapse, in opposing the future set out by t...
Apr 28, 2021•1 hr 14 min•Transcript available on Metacast The podcast where four friends - presenter Hugh Ferris, writer Rory Smith, commentator Steven Wyeth & pundit Andy Hinchcliffe - talk football over food. The football: The Super League, blink and you'd have missed it. The ambitions of the owners of the self-proclaimed elite clubs to revolutionise European football wasn't well planned, was terribly executed and a PR disaster for all involved. What will be the consequences, what punishment should they face and what, if anything, will anyone learn? ...
Apr 21, 2021•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: The European Super League appears to have transitioned from being used in a game of brinkmanship to become a thing of potential reality. Cue the outrage. We have the temerity to think you'd like to hear our views on both the idea, and the fury that followed, so here is a bonus edition to scratch that itch. The food: THERE'S NO TIME TO EAT, DO YOU NOT KNOW HOW ANGRY EVERYONE IS????!!!! Any emails to setpiecemenu@gmail.com
Apr 19, 2021•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: Considering that Kevin de Bruyne appeared not to need one, and Erling Haaland is very obviously using one, we thought we'd talk about agents. Is the bad press they get, particularly in England, warranted? What value (apart from the obvious kind) do they add for a player, and how are modern agents attempting to enhance that value further? The food: Hugh batch-cooked a large cottage pie. Hugh underestimated quite how large the batch would be, and has been eating cottage pie for a who...
Apr 14, 2021•1 hr 20 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: With the recent protests by some players against the conditions faced by migrant workers in Qatar, and the conflict some of us feel when considering some of the elements that have helped our clubs be successful, should we expect the game to match our own moral standards, whatever they may be? The food: There is a worrying theme developing amongst our audience of what we're calling 'food abominations'. After one confessed eating pasta with ketchup, another has compounded that by rev...
Apr 07, 2021•1 hr 19 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: After an unnecessarily deep dive into the international footballing history of Jonjo Shelvey, a listener suggested we might put together a Select XI of players who have appeared for England six times or fewer, all of whom are therefore, by definition, sub-Chinch. Spoiler alert: six-cap Shelvey misses out. The food: Chinch reveals his local chip shop includes seared paprika and garlic squid on its menu, which is not at all surprising, on account of that chip shop being in rural Ches...
Mar 31, 2021•58 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: For so long, the phrase 'international level' has been used to designate the 'highest level', but is that still the case? Why does a player that represents his club in, say, the Champions League, need to then 'prove himself at international level'? Or is there a more modern meaning, about emotional maturity, tactical versatility, or mental strength that applies? The food: We've had a listener tell us about the food that divides his household. He puts ketchup, and only ever ketchup,...
Mar 24, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: A year on from the global lockdown, and the football shutdown, why is there no apparent consensus on how to change the game to guarantee for a better future? The pandemic seemed to prove the sport's stakeholders retain self-interest as their guiding principle, but even now, 12 months later, new ideas based partly on that experience are still being dismissed out of hand. So can football find a way to change, and should those making the accusations of self-interest consider their own...
Mar 17, 2021•1 hr 12 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: With nearly a year of every Premier League football fixture being on television, have we reached a saturation point? Are we still enjoying the entertainment, or is it suffering from over-exposure? The food: A final call for any food poverty charities you'd like us to promote. Please send them, and indeed any correspondence, to setpiecemenu@gmail.com
Mar 10, 2021•1 hr 8 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: Following a much-discussed incident from another sport, we try and shine a light on how a post-match interview works from a journalist's point of view. What are the time and editorial constraints? Who is supposed to be the chief beneficiary? How much does deference matter, and is the relationship between the two parties actually much deeper than anything you hear or see? The food: Once again we are indebted to you for telling us about local food banks or charities helping people ou...
Mar 03, 2021•1 hr 20 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: When a coach is so wedded to a system that has brought them success, should they modify it when unforeseen circumstances dictate? Or is the eschewing of a winning philosophy defeat in itself, even if it's the very reason things aren't working out? The food: We have had another suggestion of where you might be able to send your hard-earned cash, so that others can be sent some much needed food. Thanks to listener Euan Hague for telling us about his food bank in Chicago, about which ...
Feb 24, 2021•1 hr 9 min•Transcript available on Metacast The football: Why the obsession with crowning someone as the GOAT? And not even just the GOAT of a particular sport, but an overall GOAT for all sports? Steven is annoyed by the discussion, particularly because it involves Tom Brady; Rory thinks the discussion is pointless; Hugh attempts to have the discussion anyway. The food: We have had more listener suggestions of local food banks as we continue to ask for you to give generously to those who are struggling to find food right now. Any that me...
Feb 17, 2021•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
