In Episode #108 of the Squeaky Bum Time Podcast, Mike and Laurent discuss the latest disappointing result for the USMNT, after they fail to register a shot on target in a 1-0 loss at Panama. Also:
- France are UEFA Nations League champions!
- Scotland can boogie! The Scots get a big win in a World Cup qualifier, and have a new song to celebrate!
- Scandal overruns the NWSL, can it survive much longer with these systemic issues?
- Meanwhile, in England, the WSL is THRIVING… why the hell don’t American women’s leagues do it this way?
Follow us on Twitter (@SqueakyBum_Pod), Instagram (@SqueakyBumTimePod) and Facebook (Squeaky Bum Time Podcast) to stay up to date!
Transcript
hello and welcome to the squeaky bum
time podcast with mike and laurent it is
tuesday october 12th 12th in this
episode france are the nation league
champions leila blue they weren't very
good there are no good strikers but
first mike you subjected yourself to a
moment of pure death like i did two
weeks ago or two months ago and watched
the us men's national team
lose for the first time in 15 attempts
to panama
what say you about that game i think the
thing that i took away from it was
there are so many things to think about
that a this is far far cry from our our
top 11 and our best you know the best
thing we could put out there there was
no pull sick there was no reina
um
i had trouble recognizing some of the
players in the lineup
um
but
panama
away panama
didn't have a shot on target
just that's that's it that's the
headline like
you
[Music]
you got outplayed and outclassed now i
don't care
every player on this on this squad in
this lineup
plays professional soccer
most of them playing mos which is sort
of mike why are you spending your time
on this
but
they are professionals
they are considered
that they do they do this for a career
and they did not get a shot on goal in
90 minutes in panama and before you go
into um oh well concacaf has some really
tough road environments that stadium was
about 40 full there was nobody [ __ ]
there like
it it smacks of the desperation we were
talking about it
you know off air but they the the bottom
line is the united states of america is
just not deep enough
to compete on any stage
and we thought that that the opposite
was true you know this summer when they
won that who gives a [ __ ] cup yeah but
they were played all the awesome men's
and music they won that backing up
basically they were terrible and they
just happened to win yeah
uh
and it's performances like this where
you go mike even as a tottenham fan
that was bad right
yeah so so i i
i didn't watch this game but i do know
what the performance looked like it must
have looked like first half versus
honduras where it's ponderous
it's lost
guys literally with the ball at their
feet with their hands up like where are
you what are you doing where are
where's the movement what's happening
and i'm assuming that you know for
panama it's a big deal they have that
famous qualifier against uh against
against mexico they made the world cup
last time and we didn't yeah um and
they're gonna play to win and they're a
good team it's close to close to
colombia that's a strong side and
conquer cafe is tough listen a draw
would have been okay right i know a draw
would be they would have struggled and
got their goal and whatever i think the
thing like like at some point
sorry at some point during the game we
were down one nil and i i forget who was
doing the game uh on um paramount plus
which is the other thing the us men's
qualifiers is jumping around a lot of
the different uh streaming services
everybody's hard everybody's getting a
piece of the action yeah but do they
really want it and do i really want to
spend my time on it but um they were
like would you take a point out of this
game they were down one in like the 70th
minute and the guy yes
i heard the three seconds of palpable
silence from the commentator going what
the [ __ ]
yes of course of course
yes of course i would have said that
when it was zero zero i i wanted no yeah
i mean a point would have been great
they could have they wanted the nine but
they could have finished with the seven
but now this costa rica game becomes big
yeah and i think they're not going to
qualify but i mean we said that last
night i don't know
i think the big takeaway is this
whether ball halters bad good nepotism
i don't care about that
the big question that i have is
the united states men's national team
does not have enough depth in good
players to be taking teams like panama
lightly like you have to play your best
11 over and over and over again until
you qualify then you can [ __ ] around all
you want like this lo this draw or
whatever this loss just makes it worse
later like ball halter you're not
[ __ ] in the champions league there's
not a game next week it's not about the
league it's just win these [ __ ] games
like who are you kidding what are you
thinking it's not your job to [ __ ]
develop players your job is to win this
group get to the world cup and then you
can do whatever you want you can have
camps because just getting to the world
cup at this point for the u.s
i think
getting out of the group stage would be
a win like i'll be in a circle by the
way it often is because we often find
ourselves in a really challenging group
because we're lowering that's why you
need to be highly ranked right multiple
times in the group of death right that's
kind of the way that the the dice sort
of roll when you're in the situation
that you're in and then so so we we
talked about it really quickly about
like uh
qualifying from different groups and i
just was really super duper curious and
had an argument with a guy about other
countries and like populations of
different areas the us men's national
team has the easiest qualifying of any
[ __ ] country in the world i mean
aside from aside from oceania i think
but there's no big country there right
like i guess like china is supposed to
be but i mean
when you look at africa which has almost
half a billion people there's 54
countries they have
10 groups of four teams each the first
five
you win your group and then you play two
legs to get in they get only five teams
yeah i think concacaf gets five as well
but it's in this little tiny group of
eight like half the teams make it so
it's just like
if we were in africa we'd get killed
we'd never make it out of europe we're
a mess
we'd be san marino if we were trying to
cough on you west could beat sweden no
[ __ ] way no chance sweden is awesome
like it sucks with scoring goals like go
back to the go back to the euros
there were 24 teams in the euros and it
was good
how many teams
are
are not as good as the us
two
two
north macedonia
you had north macedonia who had more
spirit than any us team has had arguably
ever
are we as good as scotland
do we have anybody better than any
robertson nope no
do we have anyone as good as john mcginn
no
no
no
like he is a premier league player
playing every week for two seasons
carrying an up-and-coming team in aston
villa like
yeah jack grealish got moved not john
mcginn john mcginn and his crooked face
that has been smashed more times than
he'd like to admit is a better player
than any player on the men's national
team and that's what he's gotten into
some bar fights i love him for it i mean
that's maybe tyler adams can be john
mcginn
maybe
one day
right when his face gets smashed enough
anyway
a little bit of credit because let's be
fair
weston mckinney
christian pulisic right giorena they're
not there they're i don't even know if
they're allowed to be to be honest all i
know is that i've watched all these
internationals i watch argentina
literally all their players go oh what
you want us to jump off of a [ __ ]
cliff no problem geolog
right right off the cliff whatever they
say guys so
those players
have no problem living dying bleeding
for the shirt and for their country
uh and i'm not saying that i need this
psychotic level of jingoism from pulisic
and company but he doesn't seem to want
to rock the boat at chelsea
right and
i think he he he i think he cares about
the us men's nationality i think he does
i think he takes
extremely personally but i think the
issue with pulisic is he can't stay on
the field he can't play hard yeah he
gets hurt
yeah just no
he does
yeah i know and reyna reyna as well
right he's 18 right like
that's fine but he's still the best we
[ __ ] got but
um that's not good but like no that's a
whole nother thing but
like you said
go to panama go win
right go take these games i don't care
if you lose to mexico i don't care if
you lose to the ticos i don't care about
that because
it's the same thing we always say about
the top four you don't have to win the
[ __ ] thing you just have to qualify
right i don't care you're never gonna
catch city you're never going to catch
liverpool tottenham just go be better
than lester that's all please never ever
play down to burnley like whoop that
that's just go beat burnley just go
right so so as much as let's go beat
north
let's go back let's sort of make an
analogy right like
one of the things that
was what arson wenger used to do was
when they were making the top four all
the time they never beat anyone ahead of
them or around them maybe spurs
sometimes sure may take a point here and
there they'd get smoked that was their
big thing they'd get killed but let me
tell you when they played
a bottom half team they put a [ __ ]
clinic on them
because they passed the ball around them
and kicked their ass and and they'd get
their 79 points but like you know what
top four didn't beat anybody never going
to challenge give it but we'll take that
money put it on a bank and we'll make it
to the round of 16 and we'll be good
thank you are you suggesting that
arsenal the us is already the coach
of the united states yes that would be
awesome
actually we're not good enough he would
try and make us play okay we'd get
annihilated yeah yeah but just think for
a second about all the chance i would
learn spanish just to hear what the
mexican fans said about arsene wenger
i would i promise i would take classes
um
yeah yeah i don't know there's a lot of
there's a lot of fodder there imagine if
we got england in the group stage again
oh god almighty
so as we as we as we transfer from
europe the the thing is is i i do have
one thing is like maybe we just need to
stop the hyperbole and just accept that
our national team is not good
and just kind of go from there i think
that's really the issue it's just we're
just not good enough and that's okay
it's look and again it's whatever
qualify and and it'll be fine and then
you know we just call it a day and be
like okay we got where we got but we're
not there it's we're just not close it's
nice that we have players playing in
europe but we're not there and i'll tell
you how i know we're not there because i
watch france and spain
and
i watch spain and they're 18 year olds
and none of them can run fast none of
them are strong
none of them can do anything but what
they can do is they can play the ball
with both feet without even thinking and
they bossed france for a half it was
boring but super duper tactical first
half so this is the nation's league this
is what europe created out of friendlies
and you know what
it worked they play hard they want to
win
who knew when you put the good teams
against each other they play hard uh and
i thought spain were really good they
couldn't
they couldn't uh break france down
france played 2018 france style they
literally look a half a foot taller than
every single spaniard in every position
and then i looked at it
and then i looked at the spanish
backline and i'm like oh there's my
friend eric garcia the smartest most
clever defender i've ever seen who's not
fast not quick and five foot eight i'm
like you're gonna get beat and i'm very
honest
he did uh i was watching the pre-game
with ian dark who i love listening to
him on the call
um
i just i was watching the first like
half hour of the game and i was like i
don't
i don't give a [ __ ] about this game
anymore i turned it off i was like i
don't that's okay
yeah i mean it was but but eric garcia
was one of you saw them moving the ball
boom boom boom yeah yeah i just was like
i can't do it today
no it's okay it was it was boring the
first half the second half opened up
after i can't even pronounce his name
orisable orizable whatever he was
playing the nine for spain yeah their
problem was they don't have benzema and
balbi and that's why they lost them
uh benzema
scored an amazing world e and bape
scored what would have been an offside
goal for all of
soccer history but now is not an offside
goal
ball played to him he was offside took a
touch from eric garcia who uh is too
slow and not athletic enough
in these games and uh that's what
happened like that's what i that that's
the takeaway i've been taking away from
spain is that
in general their entire league
and why they're declining in general
even in the champions league is they're
not fast enough big enough and have the
athleticism they simply value something
different and the french team
with their i don't have a better way to
say this and i'm just going to say it
with the way i say it is with the
immigrants with all the african
immigrants and whatever that means
however you think of that maybe the
whatever they're bigger and stronger and
hungrier and whatever
yeah they like you see pogba in the
midfield and you're just like they
he just posts up on them and then
bobby's just runs like eric garcia he
just ran once he decided that he was
gonna run past him he ran past him well
yeah it just shrugs him off just imagine
paul pogba standing there what would you
say here six three roughly six two six
one yeah sure
and he's a brick [ __ ] ass right like and
he runs like a gazelle he doesn't really
get out of first gear that often because
of a where he plays he doesn't have to
he doesn't have to and he looks at it
and goes i'm gonna light this
[ __ ] up like that's gonna happen
you know why because i want to
but to be fair like spain when they do
their game right they've got tr
everything's moving around they don't
have to use their athleticism and they
do beat you with technical skill but
when the push comes to shove
and the battle happens
and those moments happen with a big team
versus small team
they just get bullied uh and they i see
it happen sometimes with city sometimes
you know when fernandinho is not there
i'm just like oh there's roderi again
was it was it italy that they lost to on
penalties in the in the year yes yes yes
they should have beat them too yeah they
absolutely should they were far better
in that match
that was italy playing like the old
italian style where they just they went
but they went bonucci
yeah they were like we got this uh but
it was really good i really thought that
the
nations league is a good tournament you
get to see all your players uh we did
have a lot of
fun
exciting stuff like i said mbappe and
benzema class if somehow
in the ether spain pulls an athletic
center forward out of the sky which they
seemed to be disappearing slowly but
surely i think the last one they had was
probably david villa
never worked really with um
costa would be the last one i suppose
but it didn't really jive with them
because he was a premier league like he
was an english striker playing in spain
yeah but like are you saying from like
he was the most recent one though right
like not just he was the most recent
striker who was
who was clinical but the way they played
did not suit him like they wouldn't hoof
it to him yeah and let him do his
his louis suarez impression he wouldn't
let him do his mourinho ball [ __ ] right
which so i i hated him but i loved him
diego let's let's man we talked a lot
about hearts
we talked a lot about this off air and
with our good friend uh producer chari
as we call him in the in our twitter
group
um there seems to be
a maybe how would you characterize this
like a talent gap at the number nine
just a weird gap yeah in number nines as
what we mean by that is certain of a
certain cohort right okay so the way
that the way you characterize it is um
it's not that there's not players it's
that there's no
next world class right and maybe super
young or they're super old right and
maybe holland is the exception to this
um
and and fine but if that's the case he
still seems to be
by himself
um in the sense that
part of this we we were talking about it
and we think that it it has to do with
players in that
i guess
one foot out the door genre
in that class i should say that prime to
late prime they're hanging on now
i mean how old is benzema is he above 34
is he okay because i was thinking about
this i'm like well kane's only 27 right
so
can he he's the one
he's the one he's the one between
realistically
right but he's but he's a nine like he
he shows other skills but i think the
thing to think about is is that
the nines we're talking about these
scoring players these strikers whatever
they're not back to goal they've all
kind of started as wingers and kind of
stay out there like and bape is a winger
really yeah yeah right he doesn't wanna
we're not he's not a hold up man he's
not he's not giroux
right right okay that's what we're
talking about we're talking about those
yeah
forceful
middle of the field
kick it to him
hold it up
bring wings into play and then get into
the box and get on the end of things
yeah yeah hardly any of them
right
right and that's the gap that's missing
that's what city was like well if i
can't get kane
then
all right so that's the perfect example
yeah exactly city's sitting there and
they're like hmm we need a striker let's
spend 100 million dollars on jack elish
okay
hmm
we need a striker we're going to go get
harry kane right no you're not um
[ __ ] it like there was no you know like
it's not there's not
i think the thing to be clear about is
like
there's i know it sounds it sounds
cheesy to say but there are levels to
this right there is
there's the trends at the high end sort
of late stage champions league
where that's really
the football we're talking about where
the competitions and the margins are so
narrow like you know like you know juve
aside from last the last season wasn't
worried about winning the la liga uh
psg's not winning worried about winning
france
uh bayern munich doesn't care about
winning except that they didn't last
year
but i looked it up that was a fluke like
it was
scored i looked at their xg plus they
were 15 goals over every single one of
their goals was over like was it just
luck it was incredible
france france did a lester last year i
guess we shouldn't say right and they
were good and and magnon is really good
so that's fine because they don't care
right but we're talking about that that
top level that top group of players yeah
and where is that next group of strikers
coming is it because i think there's
sort of multiple factors right it's
wingers who have to press in
fast-passing teams that are now playing
striker and people aren't being actual
strikers so you have that piece and then
you have are we developing them are they
letting are they allowing them to play
are they being moved are they becoming
center forwards if you have a decent
enough touch and you're big enough maybe
they just stick you in the back i don't
know what's happening but it is
interesting and i do think about
one of the trends historically in
football is
forwards disappearing
we went from four to three to two
to one and now you have city playing
with none false nine yeah yeah right
right so
it's interesting it is a question to
think about like where is this next
group of traditional big men gonna come
from it might just be holland it's not
ambape it may be benzema sticks around
forever it may be that those older
players just stay forever well right but
even if it's holland and holland becomes
the next
ronaldo messi esque player right um he's
by himself which i think is the
important thing but
i just i touched on something there that
i think he has to he has to compete with
him papi that's the only way to get sure
but what i'm saying is we're coming out
of an era
where we had not one but two of the
greatest players in the history of any
sport not just football
so massive
they transcended everything they reset
expectations they
they brought players along with them
because basically they said this is how
good you have to be to even be in the
conversation of competing with me and so
you had
for short stretches you had agueros you
had bales you had benzemas you had you
know different players over the last few
years yeah sure absolutely
um
and and even he's even he is a is a
fringe
winger
he's a winner he's a winger right he's a
goal scorer but he's a winger he's a
winger with an inverted touch just like
bale right so um
there's there's not that
that next generation of players that's
really ready and chomping at the bits to
take over but i do think it's partly
because these players are still here
right we're still talking about them
it's not like they're gone it's not like
you know tyrion reed left
and everybody was like uh we're next we
got next right like so you know wayne
rooney
the the we've gotten there was like i'm
right here
yeah but we've got next thing is always
really laughable when you look at the
guy's age that they're comparing them to
you're like dude messi won the ballon
d'or at 20. like what the [ __ ] you
talking about like right and it's like
the thing is
the 40 goals this is
interplanetary although i do think that
these types of players like the
influence of ronaldo is being seen now
right like it's
it's 10 it's a 12 year old 10 years
later it is mbappe who was a fan like so
they may raise the ceiling they may he
was maniacal about his body you know all
those things could happen like we don't
know what'll happen like i think the way
i think about it is like steph curry
became
he he has sons of that are in the league
now there's all these guys who play like
him and now oh yeah i'll shoot from the
[ __ ] logo yeah that's normal i'll hit
that no problem and it's completely
changed the way people play so there's
that piece of it that i i do think about
but i do have one a few years off from
that really taking hold right like it is
it is concerning if you think and this
is a good a good jordan comparison
messi and ronaldo are going to leave a
massive hole that's what i'm saying yeah
like like
a big
there's not anything close to that
behind them but the but as they were
coming up the hole that was left by
those in front of them the henries the
rooneys the ronaldinhos right
they were big
yeah i know but they were the other
ronaldo they were gone
they were gone already or and if they
weren't they were hanging around for the
paycheck right they weren't dominant at
36 and 37. they were there they were i
mean ronaldinho was gone like donnery
was hanging out at red bull like the
gone like this the idea of 35 36 is
insane like zlatan is a space alien
and now he's finally done at 40.
yeah right but and that's the thing is
that
i think it was the apex of like
sports medicine and nutrition and
technology that allowed these
otherworldly other like planetary
players to go from all right we're gonna
take the the check at 31
and now they're in 35 36
and and as part of that like you said it
sort of blocks
players but just look at someone like
like bale or or or hazard these are guys
that got their moves at i mean bail
bale's move was good like he he came
through like i'm not gonna kill bale but
hazard got his move at 28 and it's a
disaster
basically well all right he never kicked
on
ever robert lewandowski is 33 years old
i just looked it up he's fantastic
he scored 40 goals last year in the
league
in the [ __ ] league man and i get it
boone's league is a farmer's league and
i'm the first one to stand in line and
talk [ __ ] about that but the man scored
40 goals yeah like
like you asked you asked in the group
you know the ballon d'or we should talk
about that too the ballon d'or um
you know finalists or nominees were
named and and there was what a list of
like 15 20 guys mason [ __ ] melt was
on there and
um
and uh
you know you were like who who should
win i'm like it's not listen
i'm
the card carrying like president of the
harry kane fan club right the man had
the most goals and assists in england
last year and it's still not really
close it's not right like it's slowing
down it should have been lewandowski the
year before as well absolutely and you
know what he did he went out and went
[ __ ] you watch this
right so he breaks gerd muller's record
but he did that at 33 years old 32 33
years old that's not you you have to be
in a really good team to do that right
you can't yeah you'll also have to be no
but you also have to be a one of the
best players in the world which
obviously he is but you have to be
taking care of your body and and all
that stuff rooney was he would have been
playing showing up on at 33 he showed up
[ __ ] based i bet
you know i think i think rooney's 33 now
like
no i'm not even i'm not even sure how
old he is if i had an over under him i'd
say 40. but let's see dude he's 35 now
oh my god
i ate like milk look at that he's
35.
he was done at 26.
yeah
jesus christ
makes me feel great 33 huh yeah well i
mean that's the thing that i think about
i don't want to go into a rooney
digression is this like
he might be
the
one of the most disappointing players
that i can think of like
only because he's compared to ronaldo
right right
he never kicked on he never got to be
super fit he was basically
washed at 30.
he started at 16.
but he was looking at john filner
he was watching he was in mlm
everton maybe by the way
he was watched well before that's not
the point but it certainly was he's 35
now christ i thought he was 45 like
no i know but so this is this is what
i'm saying is that he
he didn't he had the opportunity and the
resources but i also feel like that
really got into overdrive
about five to ten years later than him
and that's where you're seeing the
ronaldo's now i'm not taking anything
away from the renaults and lewindowskis
of the world what i'm saying is that
their opportunity
has been
they've seized every second of it
by soaking in all of this science all
this nutrition all this everything which
has elongated their
dominance from
from a small period or a medium period
to just the just like a world domination
period yeah yeah and that's what that's
what allows you to become
super famous and become transcendent
right it's yeah
it's not brady at year 15
it's brady at year 20 when people go
i
i don't know a world without him
right that you become bigger than the
league right ronaldo's now like i don't
know a world without him he's bigger
than the league at this point right yeah
he's and he literally is bigger than
those leagues i do have to talk about
something uh related
separately from this conversation but i
have to talk about scotland playing
israel because i've been sharing with
you
disco songs i've been sharing with you
uh scotland fans
singing i like to boogie
uh so scotland beat
israel their nemesis they have a long
history of losing to uh israel randomly
israel was like no no no we want to be
in europe
i don't know why that happened anyway if
azerbaijan can be in it they can be in
it whatever yeah
um so they win 3-2 in hamden park which
is the home of scottish football and
it's the first time the fans have been
in the stadium since the pandemic and
they're
bonkers
the game has everything
they go down immediately
they tie it up
they have a penalty in the last minute
of the first half
blocked they have a var controversy
where goal gets reviewed but then stands
they give up the tying goal on a
ping-pong shot and then they win it on a
shin in goal from scott mctominay oh and
a wonder goal by the aforementioned john
mcginn and the scenes at the end of this
uh thing are
are special and uh i think i need to
play it but i'll have to just we just
have to give me a minute to queue it up
so while you're doing that i want to
talk a little bit about uh our buddy joe
at attitude of gratitude consulting um
if you know the show by now you know our
friend joe he uh he's helped us with uh
laurent saving for aveline's college
fund me saving for my newly in the past
wedding uh and now my next venture is
buying a house i was just telling
laurent so um you know i i annoy the
hell out of our buddy joe so much uh but
i am gonna have to call him again
tomorrow and talk to them about you know
the best ways to start looking at and
and you know kind of
digesting uh mortgage payments which are
terrifying um
but uh do us a favor go to
attitudeofgratitudeconsulting.com
like i always say you'll see his phone
number right there you'll see his you
know his video hanging out with his his
kids uh really really great family guy
he's going to take the time to get to
know you and really appreciate what your
point of view is and what you're trying
to accomplish and he's going to help you
get there so uh attitude of gratitude
consulting dot com
uh tell them mike and lauren send you
all right so laurent what do we got
this is full time in
scotland uh this is the scott singing
i like to boogie
a 1970s
song
and this the backstory behind this look
at this guy
so the back story behind this is
scotland one of the scotland players
whose name eludes me
is on his stag do
and which is the the uh stack of the uh
bachelor party and he's in drag as the
singers of this song i like to boogie
this weird uh 70s
band that stole some music and
apparently he makes a video of him
singing that song and his teammates of
course
hammer him because they're like you're
singing i like to boogie with your team
and when scotland lasts one and i i'll
see if i can find uh this one as well
uh they just and it becomes and it it
escapes
from social media
to the world
uh and becomes their song i expect that
i like to boogie will now be the
scotland the unofficial scotland song
forever like it's coming home for for
england did and it's just so scottish
and
i was listening to the totally football
show and they had this younger woman and
reporter from scotland telling the story
and she was just over the moon like and
these are the things that like national
teams that have these moments that you
know to loop it back to the us men's
national team can we have these moments
can we have a national stadium
can we get there against el salvador in
columbus where we have our songs that
mean more like it's got to mean more
it's not just a sporting event to go to
it's our
let me just finish it's that it's that
third pillar it's not
team
[Music]
ownership
and money it's gotta be the supporters
need to be the third in the try in the
holy spirit of this whole [ __ ] thing
like we just need that because okay
what's missing
yeah but here's the thing
we have a [ __ ] version of it just like a
[ __ ] club
right like we have the american outlaws
who stink
right
they're just
they're just second best man i was a big
part of them for a long time they
wouldn't sing i like to boogie from a
stag dude offensively
pretending they're in iceland or they're
too busy uh what's that [ __ ] i believe
that we will win oh my christ almighty
dude it's just it's like nails on a
[ __ ] chalkboard i have something to
say about i believe it will win that
relates to the wsl woman's scandal just
please do
um
i have a very scary and sad thing to say
that worries me like so
the women's league in the us is in
trouble but an existential crisis
they had a coach
who was molesting grooming whatever
whatever he was doing he was [ __ ]
with the girls on the team right
abusing his power maybe some of them
were okay with it maybe some of them
weren't it doesn't matter you just can't
right yeah no it's not something you do
and the women's team a lot few of the
players related it to the commissioner
and they covered it up
basically we're just like oh whatever
and this is not because it's all men
it's a female commissioner
and they have this existential crisis
are they going to survive and
i do have this sort of sinking feeling
that the market just doesn't
want all these teams it wants
five women's team wants just a woman's
team i don't know like what is woman
sports supposed to do
they simply can't survive
trying to be in the
cohort of what men's sports are if
that makes sense like you're never gonna
you you might not make fifty thousand
dollars a year because it's just not
there and don't tell me about equity
it's just not there like it's not there
right no no it's not it's
and it's not fair it's not fair you
didn't get 150 years of people playing
it's not fair that you didn't get to
start in the 20s it's not fair that
title 9 didn't happen well hold on time
out all this stuff isn't fair i know
wait a minute it sucks it's not fair
if you're trying to
first of all it's not fair if you're
trying to compare your game to the men's
game which you should never [ __ ] do
don't do it make it something else
but if you're going to do that
and i said this in our literally second
episode ever we got in trouble
hey we got some i hope are you still
here are you still here fan
yeah you're still talking about women's
sports i want to talk about the
manchester darby something happened i
never thought i'd see happen in the
women's the wsl in england that league's
doing well but now we'll talk about it
why is it doing well right it's because
it's manchester city women and
manchester united women you talk about
how oh it's not fair that these clubs
haven't had the opportunity to be around
from the 20s of course it's not fair but
you know what the smart ones did they
went hmm those brands are worth billions
of dollars that's right billions with a
b they have 100 years mostly more
more than that more
right a lot of these clubs have more
than 112 20 years of [ __ ] equity and
sweat equity and all the the community
involvement and everything
and even literally has an even worse
thing it was banned women weren't
allowed to play for 70 years they banned
it
i'm even crazy and i'm not saying for a
second that i don't side
side with the fact that this is patently
ridiculous
as i remember that my battery is dying
and
it what you need to
realize is that you get to either do
your own thing and swim or sink and god
bless you
or
you use those trademarks those logos
those crests that have been worth
everything that you've ever wanted you
get to have who's the best player on
manchester city women
uh well the captain is steph houghton
but uh okay let's go ahead and page
ellen page ellen
i just didn't remember with the name now
uh
the england striker i can't remember her
name's ellen but it doesn't matter what
was the captain's name
steph houghton yeah awesome you would
have a hounton jersey in the manchester
city pro shop or club shop or whatever
right next to kevin de bruyne right next
to phil foden's jersey that's what you
would get
right there's no question about that so
if you had and i said again go back to
our literally second episode ever i went
on this whole diatribe about it it's
actually one of the only times i've been
coherent on this [ __ ] show we're
doing 108 episodes okay where you
basically have
uh pick whatever league you want
right the wnba stop it with this new
york liberty [ __ ] if you're a new york
knicks women you're in madison square
garden you're not playing in [ __ ]
westchester you're in msg you're hanging
out you're getting you know what
the rangers i'll use personally me right
if the rangers instead of the new york
riveters which don't even [ __ ] get me
started
yeah
the new york rosie the riveters is a
[ __ ] team name and if you would have
had the arc rangers women
and let's say they're playing the new
york islanders women well that's rivalry
game that's real generally i don't i
wouldn't probably watch most of it
there's no contact in women's hockey
it's fine do i watch the usa canada gold
medal game because they're the only two
teams that can [ __ ] skate in the
world in the olympics yep
and it's usually pretty [ __ ] good the
swedes can escape dude they get beat by
10 [ __ ] goals it's not even close
okay they do
like every time it's ridiculous russia
not even [ __ ] close but the point is
that usa canada on equal footing roughly
and it's usually a pretty good hockey
game but the point is i watch that
because a i know it's going to be good
and b i [ __ ] hate canada so if you
have this where you go
you wean into
everything that you feel during the
olympics basically that that that
involvement that patriotism
and here's the perfect example
manchester darby in an international
break
city
versus manchester united got the largest
reading of any women's game in england
they had 1.2 million viewers that's
bigger than any premier league game in
the us
i believe that we don't get we don't get
over one and a half million to watch a
premier league game in the us on nbc no
chance that's that was the biggest game
and not only that
there was a straight red
in a way oh
she went in hard and [ __ ] put her
spikes in
that's awesome
that's awesome i was so proud i was like
yes draw blood
that dude never see that in women's
[ __ ] and if
and if you were watching instead of you
[ __ ] elbow me i'm putting you in the
goddamn movie now let me ask you this
this is important if you were just
happening by
and you saw sky blue fc
versus the the lady red devils
would you give a [ __ ] no they were would
you blue fc no if they weren't yeah
right that's there's so much there any
even if you watch if you tune in you
wouldn't have that that
involvement you wouldn't feel like this
is your club as well right you're
basically co-opting every fan that
manchester city has okay bad example but
like every club
all of their fans would have another
thing to root for
okay
we came out of sports not being around
for so long it was in this moment where
i was like
yeah
i would watch it i would
because i'm dying for anything at this
point right and that was a year ago
they are fired up they get a draw down a
man they're [ __ ] fired up my team has
had a bad bad bad bad season so
in the women's super league in england
basically one loss two losses it's over
right so city have already got three
losses they're done they had too many
injuries too many players went down
whatever they lost in the they already
out of the champions league because of
real madrid
but you know chelsea is a [ __ ]
juggernaut and ars and arsenal are
juggernaut and
hey you know what you know who else is
doing well in the women's super league
brighton ladies
that's it that's it
oh the lady gulls
nice but uh yeah i really i really i
really do i do like the wsl it might be
anglophile again i don't know
but the quality is better it's still
more accessible the bbc actually
doesn't condescend and bring up other
[ __ ] it's just like the women are
playing and it's on and the guys who are
just like
i went to the game they don't have like
when don't have i know this sounds weird
but i'm gonna say
they don't have like dedicated
female reporters to do it they just have
alan shearer went to the newcastle game
you're just like oh
like they don't belittle it by being
like well this is the woman's thing
they're like no the guardian is gonna
have barry glen dang who follows
sunderland go cover this [ __ ] women's
game and he's gonna go oh this was good
and you're like thank you respect it
with like the best of the best like ian
dark doing women's games is good or like
but don't belittle it with
these i don't i don't i don't i know
that's just maybe that doesn't make
sense
i like her it's fine
[Laughter]
but she they just roll her ass out right
like it's just like oh this woman's
thinking let's get julie
right exactly
whereas you kind of want you kind of
want
maybe as a man to for it to be covered i
want my expected coverage right it would
be you know if there was nfl football or
like why doesn't woj cover the [ __ ]
women's the the the the wnba like
there's no word bombs and that's what
i'm saying but you would respect it more
right you might be like
it's not my it's not separated
it's because it has to be so segmented
and segregated right and if it didn't
have to be if it was just basketball
with women
if it wasn't women's basketball it was
basketball with women if it's soccer
with women instead of in soccer with men
right
totally different things but they're
just
they live in the same ecosystem and
you basically have the same clubs right
they're basically it's just another
pro line in the p l for many more but
the way that it's covered it matters
like i know i know you want that's true
right and there should be women covering
men it isn't like that it's not yes in
that way right
yeah it's just that i want the best
people covering the game right so i
agree when you roll out julie foughty
instead of uh stuart robson
stuart robson yeah he's good or ian dark
it it cheapens it a little you're like
oh this must mean it's a women's thing i
don't know maybe that doesn't make sense
no in many ways i mean listen there's
going to be people who listen to this
and go you bigots you pricks you sons of
[ __ ] and it's not that they'll just
do that no matter what we do right of
course they are but that's the opposite
of what we're saying what we're saying
is this is how it's been done for x
amount of years we're also not saying
it's perfect but what we're saying is
that when the biggest games and and the
biggest occasions happen this is how it
looks and this is how it sounds and what
we wish for the women's game is the
exact same thing the exact same [ __ ]
i want [ __ ] wodge bombs in the wnba
all of them he doesn't even cover it all
of it no what is that that means what
that means because it's not important if
roach isn't doing it it's not important
exactly
and what they and until you get a female
woj
you just get the you know how about you
have the other guy do it right so
there's
yeah there's a lot that's what i do like
about i've always said in england is
they do have their top reporters are
like i'm going to this game like one guy
was like rory smith from the times is
like i went to chelsea
women's and then i went to stanford
bridge the same day that he just skipped
town right that's awesome that's how it
should that's great and and and before
long you won't have to go anywhere
because chelsea women are going to be
playing at stanford bridge and it's
going to be great because they're really
[ __ ] good well they're really good
but like spurs women plays
somewhere else and they play at the bit
at the stadium like two or three times a
year and they hold up so we've got we're
in this sort of like lane of morality
and i wondered if you had any more
newcastle takes uh left
because i'm sort of super curious about
this
i don't know why football fans have to
become
the moral keepers like why should they
[ __ ] care like i've just been
thinking about it a lot well who's the
only in the new castle scenario who are
the only football fans who are not
suddenly moral about things
it's newcastle fans right so it's no no
no what i'm telling you is and you've
told me this many times everybody should
have a sheik right
so
i'm mad at you because i don't have a
sheik so what am i gonna do about it i'm
gonna [ __ ] moan complain about human
rights violations in a third world
country that
do do or do not happen of course they
happen i'm not saying i'm not denying
this they absolutely happen to they
absolutely
but what i'm saying is exactly right
the problem
is that
there's
okay so there was just an nfl game at
tottenham stadium yesterday none of that
money is going to be going to spurs
which frustrates the [ __ ] out of me but
otherwise what a clever way
to fight back against the cities against
the
the the big wigs right
what a clever way to get up
literally just generate more revenue as
a club and then punch back right so
you're going to be punching on even
ground or somewhat
but it just it feels like a [ __ ]
cartoon when you have manchester city be
the the
the you know the biggest and the richest
club in the land and then you have
somebody come in who's adding a zero
like it's not it's not like we're on
equal footing with man city now we we're
dwarfing you by what did we say 12 times
yeah they have
360 billion
i don't think it's the i don't think
it's the the human rights stuff or
whatever it's just
it's the literal
rest of the country going come on man
like that's [ __ ]
right yeah yeah i know i know but
you get you do get with the journalists
who are all
for lack of a better word they're all
basically trained in the same
school no not baseball right they're
football writers but they they're
they're they're baseball writers yes yes
they're holding on to some this ideal
this community thing like it's like dude
this what you're not gonna support like
what are you talking about like i'm not
gonna vote for this guy for the hall of
fame because it's like
kids literally
dancing outside of st james's park with
mom's [ __ ] kitchen towels on their
head
there were literally dozens of them all
dressed like saudi chicks
yeah singing like they were over the
moon they're off they're [ __ ] pumped
now buried in this and this is one of
these things where i get where i get
pissed off about the sexism thing
this woman
stavely stay re whatever she brokered
the man city deal because she's like a
big shot [ __ ] saudi money dealer she
brokered a deal that got shake monster
he wasn't gonna buy matches he doesn't
know who the [ __ ] he doesn't know where
manchester is
right
still doesn't and they and they have
this other guy and she broke her death
deal then she she tries for four years
to get this new castle deal over the
line she did the initial bid of 300
million with a different partner they
didn't rejected it then she went back
and got the saudis then this thing we
have a literal [ __ ] uh ted lasso
owner
has come in a beautiful woman who was a
model now is a badass [ __ ]
financial wits who just got this deal
done she's gonna be the chairman of
newcastle united and all we're talking
about is the saudis how about
this woman's is [ __ ] incredible like
we talked about marina
scaria like
there's women in football at the highest
levels taking over teams at the best
clubs in the world and they're being
buried like this should be a [ __ ]
celebration like hey wsl why didn't you
get her as an owner what the [ __ ] were
you doing
[ __ ] commissioner
yeah exactly like because she would have
taken that coach
by the throat and throwing them off of
the [ __ ]
the bridge okay yeah yeah so there's
these things that are happening that are
just like
why don't why
there's narratives that are just like
okay we want to talk about this let's
talk about this amazing woman who broken
this [ __ ] deal it's incredible who's
out in front she's on sky she literally
said newcastle is going to win the
league or the champions league within
five to ten years wow
yeah that's amazing
i don't know it's weird and she's been
in football for 10 years she's been a
part of the two biggest deals in the
world transformative deals whether you
agree with them or not
manchester city completely changed
english football and probably saved
arsenal by buying their shitty players
for way too much money
like samuel could you then argue that
this woman has ruined football and why
isn't there more of an argument about
that
let's talk about her fine
no no i'm not i'm not saying that
but that's fine
i feel like that would be a good that
would be a column that would get some
attention right right you want to write
it instead of singing
the winner of football right instead of
singing her praise back this woman came
in and she [ __ ] everything up and now
we have to deal with
man city and newcastle okay she's to
blame if yeah it was her if somebody
wrote that story i think you'd get some
i think you get some clicks is it pcp
capital wow that's a strange name amanda
i'm going to say her name properly
amanda stavely from the norf
yeah from the north yeah amanda stavely
from ripon yeah that's her she did both
the deals mm-hmm
pcp capital that is a strange [ __ ]
that's that's yeah
we're gonna let's you know what i think
we're gonna go on pcp capital because
the germans used it
yeah all right
all right doc ellis take us home
[Laughter]
uh that was the squeaky bum time podcast
with mike
uh salerdo and laurent cortese i almost
forgot your name we are the football
wing of the chop sports network and
those guys are recording a lot we record
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yes
i
can
boogie
