Episode #226 – Manchester City’s Off-Field Battles, The Super League 2.0 What Does It Mean for The Future of Football – Premier League Match Week 23 Preview

0:00

hello and welcome to the squeaky bum Time Podcast presented exclusively on

0:06

the chop Sports channel of the premiere streaming Network we're recording this on Thursday February 9th I am your host

0:12

Laurent courteans in this episode we'll talk to merseyside Darby the weird M23

0:17

Darby and you the United's playing each other for the second time this week but

0:23

first the super league is back Manchester City are in the news and this

0:28

is all connected let's get to it first please like subscribe to the show we

0:34

need you we love you we appreciate you we're on YouTube We're on Facebook we're

0:40

everywhere so please like And subscribe to the show we need you as much as we can uh we thank everyone who's joining

0:47

the show and especially my friend Tony skalicki who doesn't like soccer but is listening to the show anyway thank you

0:53

for that uh first the super league is back okay what is the Super League last

0:58

year we had um an attempt by the Richer older clubs of Europe your established

1:05

hierarchy or Aristocrats of football barsa uve Real Madrid Manchester United

1:11

Liverpool not PSG and not Bayern but Borussia Dortmund whatever whatever the

1:17

case was trying to create a closed shop League what does that mean they wanted to make a league that is different from

1:24

the Sporting Life of your Europe they wanted to make it like the NFL for those of you don't know the NFL in the

1:32

U.S is by far the richest sport in the league uh by far the most valuable

1:38

franchises in the league and is literally the most valuable sporting Enterprise

1:44

in the world um it's a closed shop 17 games a year

1:50

controlled labor costs controlled television the least valuable NFL

1:56

franchise the Jacksonville Jaguars would be the top the most valuable team in Europe

2:03

so European Sports have been trying to get to an NFL model as much as possible because what you have in Europe is

2:11

jeopardy American Sports are a socialist oligarchy where the rich teams stay Rich

2:16

it's very controlled and Europe's sporting culture is hyper competitive

2:23

where each team every season fights for its survival in the standing that it has

2:29

now the big team stay there and they want to stay there but they don't have control over costs what happens in

2:36

England affects what happens in Spain what happens in France affects what happens in Spain it's not a closed

2:42

League So within Europe as the leagues get richer and richer and more competitive and more competitive other

2:49

leagues big teams have slowly fallen down in the revenue bottle as their

2:55

country's markets cannot be squeezed anymore for any more money so that was the Super League

3:02

um its initial release by Florentino Perez the president of Real Madrid went over like a lead balloon uh the English

3:09

clubs and the English fans specifically really protested hard and made known

3:15

what was up with this they protested there were marches in the streets there

3:21

were burning of fans in effigy it was an organic display of unity against

3:28

anti-competitive oligarchal regulatory capture of the wealth of

3:34

football fans are okay with competitive battling

3:39

fans are okay with teams having money what fans are not okay with is the idea

3:46

of a team coming from nowhere building itself up and getting into the Premier

3:54

League so in England this is possible you can buy a team in the fourth division spend money and grow it slowly

4:00

and get to the Premier League it has happened it is real but we're on to the second Super League

4:06

so the marketing company and agency behind this something called a20 or 822 something out of Spain has presented

4:13

another round of this and it has removed some of the barriers has been a little bit more thinking this time around it

4:19

and it's expanded to 60 clubs a guarantee of 14 games uh promotion and

4:25

relegation so they they heard all the things that were happening and um are trying to float this trial balloon the

4:32

clubs are all saying again oh this is this isn't real blah blah blah and they are fighting it or saying the

4:40

politically right thing to say um I think this is a reaction to

4:47

the Premier League the Premier League is now three or four times the revenue of all

4:52

the other leagues combined this is a reaction to the wealth that has and competitiveness

4:58

of the Premier League um we talked about it last week how the Premier League was founded as a want to

5:06

break away and make money process in 1992 and how the club's shared revenue and that little seed of shared Revenue

5:13

around the world and the marketing of the Premier League did actually brought revenues for any team in the Premier

5:18

League to be massive unlike all the other leagues uh England did a great job of promoting itself in England to keep

5:25

the fans and the excitement live when you watch it on TV and then spread it out around the world as an amazing

5:32

television television package the Premier League is the equivalent of the NFL but for Europeans soccer but it has

5:38

promotion and relegation it has the battles it has the tension of of every

5:44

game meaning something all 38 games mean something there's something on it for

5:49

every game and this super league and these folks who want to take Sport and

5:55

make it purely up about business are missing a key ingredient the fans

6:01

matter it can never be just about money it's not actually a good investment

6:08

and it's not something that we should take for granted it's not something that we can let owners take for granted the

6:15

fans the singing the songs the sarcasm the marches the drums the derbies all

6:22

that stuff is what makes football just because the byproduct of that is

6:27

eyeballs and television revenue and this narrative in this story the core of it

6:33

is the feelings that the competitive nature of sport bring

6:39

Americans we don't get this we've manufactured it in our sport because all our sports are closed franchises made

6:46

for business but there's a reason why Americans see

6:51

the passion of rexim see the passion of a relegation battle see the fans singing see that and we're

6:59

drawn to it we want the authenticity more than anything in the whole world

7:04

it's Super Bowl week here in the United States and we're going to have the Kansas City Chiefs play The Eagles I

7:11

Don't Care they're trying to spend two weeks to drum up me carrying more than anything

7:16

in the whole world but you know what I do care about I care about the merseyside Darby

7:22

I care about the history of Leeds in Man United I care about Arsenal trying to get past

7:28

Brentford these aren't even my teams and I know the pain and hurt and desire that

7:35

these games are going to bring because there's something on them I'm getting goosebumps you can see when

7:42

I talk about football it comes into me it lifts me up it makes something that I

7:48

didn't know existed exist and I can't explain it it's mystical it's magical and they're trying to steal and monetize

7:57

mysticism and the feeling of a Sunday of time um and I and I do want to connect this

8:04

back to my beloved Manchester City because we're taking a real beating within this so

8:10

um City PSG and Chelsea these are the three

8:15

clubs that ushered in not just wealth the Premier League

8:21

um ushered in wealth with man united making a lot of money and figuring out how to do sponsorships and la and Real

8:28

Madrid and Barca really expanding and making money on their own television deals but real Barca sorry but Chelsea

8:37

in 2004 with the fall of the Soviet Union money from Abramovich he had

8:44

billions of dollars it'll be gotten whatever the case may be uh he was called Putin's Banker

8:50

he bought Chelsea he transformed Chelsea and by that

8:55

transformed the Premier League four years after that

9:00

Manchester City were purchased for 150 million dollars and all the debt from a

9:06

Thailand businessman who run the team into the ground owned the team for less than a year didn't have the money it was totally fake they purchased the team

9:13

200 million dollars in the in the Eastlands of Manchester and it was a mess there was nothing there there was a

9:19

shitty stadium that got built in in a marsh and though and then PSG in 2010 in Paris

9:28

buying the brand the Qatari wealth fund City owned by the UAE and Shake Mansour so you had sovereign states purchase

9:35

teams and their level of wealth is not billions or ones and twos of billions or

9:40

threes and fours of billions it's hundreds of billions so their scale of what they spend is beyond the

9:46

comprehension of the Premier League and City proceed to decide

9:52

we've bought the name Manchester we know what the work of Alex Ferguson and

9:57

Manchester United did were buying a team called Manchester City The Branding of Manchester is in it they know they have

10:04

a passionate fan base in the Beloved Manchester City faithful who are the

10:09

most Gallows humors fans in the league having gone down to League one when when man united were winning the trouble

10:17

so three European big cups and trophies in 1999 city were singing about Paul

10:23

dickov and um and Brian Hurlock about winning the league two playoffs against

10:29

Tony pulis's Gillingham I'm going to keep talking about that because that's a seminal moment in the history of the

10:34

club and it's what makes city city we don't care about the wealth we could

10:40

lose it it's not our big it's not it's not a big deal to us we'll live without having money without

10:46

our club being massive or anything doesn't matter to us we've been relegated we've been in

10:52

League two who cares doesn't matter to me it's not me I just love the team you

10:58

show me a team in sky blue and I'll show up so what I'm driving at is that City took on the league

11:04

Chelsea we're taking things on and they flushed the market with money

11:10

and lifted up all boats and forced Manchester United to find new Revenue

11:17

forced Arsenal to find new Revenue I don't think it's a coincidence that the Emirates was built around this time

11:24

arson Wenger knew they needed to find new revenue and force teams to improve

11:29

their day their date their game day revenue and forced West Ham to see the Olympic stadium and be on the list to

11:36

get it the money spent by these oligarchs and terrible people I don't care about the

11:41

morality lifted the Premier League the drive for money pushed for money and

11:48

competitiveness the competitive pushed all the other teams we can say what we want the morality of of ffp and what

11:56

city did and whatever having been a Yankee fan in the 2000s and watching the

12:02

Yankees and the Red Sox go to war literally over every player every free agent

12:09

culminating in the 2004 and then 2007 and all those battles uh Pedro throwing

12:15

Zimmer down that war between those two teams lifted the entire American League

12:22

and force teams to to find a competitive edges like Moneyball

12:27

like uh statistical analysis of finding players and that has happened in the Premier League Arsenal did it and now we

12:35

have Brighton and Brentford the two best run teams in the league run by analytical sharp teams and why did that

12:40

happen because teams like Manchester City and PSG and and Chelsea pushed

12:47

these archaic old teams with their it'll be gotten wealth to improve and be

12:53

better now I don't want the Super League I want the competitiveness what I'm trying to

12:58

drive at is that this money that we're supposedly stealing and cheating was put

13:03

into the league and into the club it wasn't taken out for profit Manchester City spent money and cheated sure to

13:10

improve and win on the field to beat Manchester United and their

13:16

owners who were taking money out of the club Manchester United is billions in debt and taking Revenue out of the club

13:22

for the glaciers every year but we're the bad guys it's fine it's fine FSG

13:28

taking money out of the club so that they can pay a dividend and now they're chinsing out on Liverpool that's fine

13:34

that's fine all I'm saying is Manchester City spent money and lifted this league by making

13:42

it more competitive and making those Nuvo reach teams sweat

13:47

to the point that they have to create a Super League just to keep up and this I think in the long run this competitive

13:54

battle what we Americans think of as the market

13:59

and what people love about the competitiveness the promotion and relegation of the Premier League comes

14:05

from the money that poured in but ffp and going after city is a means

14:12

to stop it to control the money coming in to stop the competitive battle

14:17

because they can't keep up maybe they should find better ways to make money maybe they should find better

14:23

ways to compete there's only 11 players on a team

14:29

they're not all going to be worth all the money the premier league right now has seven

14:34

deep did that money that City spent and cheated make them be in first place

14:40

right now did Liverpool push them to within two points twice

14:45

yes they did and they should be proud of that and Liverpool were fantastic and it would have won the league any other year

14:51

and would have never got 97 points without relentlessly chasing City down

14:59

let's go to the Premier League weekend so we start with some games actually uh

15:07

Leeds played in midweek against Manchester United uh the first game

15:12

after Jesse Marsh left leads and we'll talk about leads for a little bit

15:18

um this was a great game for leads they came out in the first two minutes scored goals early

15:25

really punched United in the mouth um we have um

15:30

nyanto is really a player he's this short diminutive

15:36

four million dollar Winger from Italy only five six but built like a brick

15:42

house reminds City fans of Sean Wright Phillips if you don't remember him Winger played for City played in MLS

15:48

for Red Bull played for Chelsea and then came back to city in the end he's been great the only reason he's playing is

15:56

because there were so many injuries that leads and he's very direct and Leeds played great they played the way they

16:02

always play Under Jessie Marsh except you know this time they got results and

16:07

this time they scored their goals and they did hang on United are very good at home

16:12

um it's not really working for veg Horst with United when Sancho another

16:19

Reclamation project another great move by ten hog 10 hog handle de Sancho issue

16:25

and got it going um and he's now firing on all cylinders but I do want to give a shout out to

16:32

Jesse Marsh we talked about him a few times he's going to be gutted that he had to leave this team but Leeds still

16:38

don't have a manager and they still have to play United Again by a quirk of the schedule both Uniteds play each other

16:45

twice this week but let's go to the rest of the fixtures this week like I said we

16:52

have Leeds versus Manchester United again which is fun because historically

16:57

great battles if you remember if I spoke about it before early in the Premier League early in

17:04

in Sir Alex Ferguson's tenure leads were the best team in the league the back

17:09

pass rule comes in and actually ruins leads because they were a long ball playing team but here's the schedule on

17:16

Saturday morning we get a London Derby West Ham versus Chelsea at the London Stadium what do we find from the rest of

17:22

Chelsea's team so much for Grand Potter to do then Leicester city played Tottenham Leicester come off a good win

17:28

4-2 against Villa where they come back Lester Tottenham

17:33

lose basuma who has a broken ankle and Hugo Loris so they may be in trouble I

17:39

like um Frazier Foster as a goalkeeper he was really good for Southampton when they

17:45

were good under pochettino and Ronald cumin but it's he's along in the tooth now he's six foot seven and a bit of

17:51

lumbery so we'll see there then I will talk about this game later Crystal Palace versus Brighton the M23 Darby

17:57

these two teams have beef from shared stadiums from brutal games in the FA Cup and this is a secret underground little

18:04

rivalry of the suburbs of London uh between Brighton well Brighton's not a suburb but Crystal Palace or in the

18:09

suburbs of London and it's only about 20 miles away from each other but different culturally Crystal Palace is in a urban

18:16

working-class neighborhood and then you take the train down south to um to Brighton which is this seasound Resort

18:22

it's like the distance between say uh the Lower East Side or like downtown Brooklyn and going to Coney Island it's

18:27

about the same feel of like it's a different area but that's one to look at uh it should be really passion I'm gonna

18:33

go check that one out because I love to see matoma then your beloved Arsenal play Brentford a lots of of discussion

18:41

on this one Brentford best team in the league over the last six matches taking on Arsenal who have a little bit of

18:48

blood in the mouth after uh taking a shot against Everton what will Brentford bring in this game Brentford not as good

18:54

on the road as they are at home and tend to play these big six games really well

19:01

but they get all the night games because they have such a good atmosphere so can Brentford bring that energy on a 3 P.M

19:08

on a Saturday not sure six pointer here Southampton V wolves Southampton are in deep trouble wolves

19:16

played well had the great result against Liverpool fulling Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest away against Fulham no

19:21

chance not even far as he's gonna lose this one Bournemouth in the Eddie Howe returns Darby Bournemouth hosts

19:28

Newcastle uh Newcastle need a win they've been drawing a lot of games the aforementioned Leeds versus Manchester

19:33

United then that's on Sunday and then Sunday late Manchester City versus

19:39

Aston Villa unai Emery has never beat pep but you City living with the cloud

19:45

living with all the ffp living with the investigation I don't know how it's gonna affect the team will it Galvanize

19:51

the team who the knows with City we've been under investigation for 15 years then we go to Liverpool

19:59

it's anfield it's Everton and Everton are in great shakes after an

20:07

amazing win um against Arsenal I think Everton our favorites in this

20:12

game is that possible after 25 years that they could be favorites I don't know but

20:19

uh it is a little bit wild to think about that um I do want to go back again you know

20:25

having having read the schedule talked about what games we are and just sort of rap put a bow on Jessie Marsh

20:34

um at Leeds I think he was hard done um I liked what he was doing I liked his

20:40

energy I thought that the American thing was held against him especially by the Leeds fans the

20:47

board was split so I don't know if people know this but leads are partially owned by the 49ers group so they have a

20:53

stake in the team and they're slated on a time-released purchase to purchase

20:58

the team in the next 90 days or 100 days something like that and I think that they wanted to keep Marsh

21:05

um as he's American and they they've made the purchase of of um

21:10

of Western McKinney and and backed Marsh on his on his players but I think and I

21:16

blame Christian from the WhatsApp group for this the loss against Forest really

21:21

put leads into trouble and March into trouble uh losing win lesson eight is is

21:27

relegation fodder and firing fodder and he wasn't loved by the fans when you're an American or you're a foreigner well

21:34

not a foreigner when you're an American and you are have the personality of Jesse Marsh you do not get a lot of rope

21:42

uh and in fact whatever rope you get is designed to be put around your neck uh and they will pull you out and get rid

21:48

of you um leads still play well this this relegation battle is just an incredible

21:54

state there's seven teams we know the only two that I feel good about going down good I

22:01

don't want you to go down but you gotta go you gotta go is Southampton and Bournemouth both not looking good right

22:08

now um Gary O'Neal new manager bump gets the job they're winless since he got the job

22:15

and I've only scored one goal and then um and then on on the Southampton side

22:23

Nathan Jones is like talking crazy he hasn't got that team playing he wasted

22:28

his manager bounce on Cup games and really needed those wins in the league um

22:33

but I'm looking forward to it leads have no manager we don't know who they're gonna go with the thought is

22:40

that leads will go for bielsa BL selismo because bielsa's football he's so loved

22:48

that leads for bringing him up and he had them playing in a way that they liked and he had a very philosophical

22:53

view that an acolyte of bielsa will be the next coach so West brom's cobraan uh

23:00

Irola in Spain I got his name wrong but a Spanish Copa Villa Villarreal not Villarreal Villa dolid I think uh was

23:08

going to come but who knows and then the other thing is just like the Premier League as much as all the money is

23:14

coming in it's also now a place for great managers you look at wolves they have lopatagi who was managing Real

23:20

Madrid and Spain and you have you know does pochettino want the leads job I

23:26

mean it's that level the the Premier League you know we were talking about the super league and all those things

23:31

the Premier League is at such a high level every body around the world in all

23:36

of football is trying to get to the Premier League and has only 20 jobs so you might take a

23:43

job like Leeds not a glamorous Club but why not why not take it anyway

23:48

speaking of managers who got lucky and took the job that were near them uh Chelsea playing West Ham

23:55

um this is a big one for this is a big one for Chelsea

24:03

again I've been saying it I said it last week they need results I don't know how long

24:08

it's going to take I love Grand Potter I'm so disappointed and so worried for him and I don't know what's going to

24:15

happen there you know we have this essentially American Revolution happening at Chelsea where Todd Boley is

24:22

essentially giving contracts of an American style eight-year contracts the English have no idea what to do with

24:29

this concept of a five-year deal or a four five ten year deal a five-year deal in football is outlandish and giving

24:35

eight you know for a young player it just seems anathema to the whole culture

24:41

of the sport and we're just trying to figure out how that works and what it means and maybe boley's just gonna kick

24:47

it down the can and just be like oh okay whatever I'll just go down the road uh one thing I do want to bring up with the

24:54

there's a little bit of resurgence for West Ham is that you know all the fancy

25:00

scorers that they grabbed uh cornet and skamaka are out so they're going back to

25:06

Antonio and going back to Bowen they're getting some some consistency with rice

25:12

and pakata and then aguer who I talked about in preseason who missed months but

25:18

was amazing for Morocco nayef agered is an amazing Defender he saved the game for them on an attack all against

25:25

um Callum Wilson in their last game against um

25:30

Newcastle again no one thinks that West Ham is being relegated even though they're one point off the relegation

25:36

Zone this is a good team I could see a draw happening what Chelsea just needs is to get that early goal just find any

25:44

way to get a goal and once they get the goal like I said Chelsea's defense is not the problem they can't score the

25:53

converts just floats around we're gonna see what happens with mudrick apparently he was sick Gallagher as much as I love

25:59

him he it's just a runner and I don't know what he does we'll see if Fernandez

26:04

can affect the team a bit more but Chelsea again trying to push themselves forward and figure out what they're

26:10

going to do and how they're going to kick on everything's not Out Of Reach for them they just need to find a way to

26:15

get themselves moving and get themselves into the relegation fight get a few

26:21

games in a row three games in a row four games in a row and let themselves start picking up points because the way things

26:27

are going now they're just sputtering and they don't want to be in crisis and we're going to go on to another

26:33

London Derby I talked about it a little bit already in the rundown of games Arsenal taking on Brentford again

26:40

Arsenal you've got to get wins the key thing

26:45

that Sir Alex Ferguson said and and Pep Guardiola said and whatever is it's a

26:50

cliche of course but it's how you react to the game after you lose uh I wouldn't say that Arsenal had a bad performance

26:57

they just ran into a dice performance the best of that dice can bring

27:02

um and so they have to find a way to get the team back going they're playing City

27:07

on Wednesday e-i-o will bring that up on Wednesday so will arteta rotate the team

27:14

it seems like certain players are a little getting gamey Martinelli's not scoring much I haven't heard much from

27:21

him how does how does the team react after not scoring for a game not scoring

27:26

in the FA Cup they've had two games in a row without scoring a goal how do they react how do they feel where are they

27:32

where are they at inside it's very much like um like is there Rhythm breaking

27:37

down these things can happen this isn't like a knock on Arsenal that they're not going to win the league but they've got

27:42

to respond to these things I think so one of the things that was good for them was that they kept playing and kept

27:47

playing and they keep scoring goals and wouldn't get shut out but now they've had some problems creating and Katya

27:53

missed a couple chances they need a little bit of a of a kick they need to move forward a little bit and see where

28:00

they are um and see how they can just get themselves moving again because they're

28:05

slipping just a little bit two losses in a row once in the FA Cup

28:11

once to Everton um you know they had the three goals against Man United and they won the

28:17

Derby after that that late those two games we thought oh God here comes Arsenal they're gonna win this thing and

28:23

then they slip up against City and then the loss against Everton bad luck no one thinks they're gonna win you know

28:29

getting 100 points was going to be really hard but we'll see where they are and Brentford will not be easy

28:35

brentforder tough Brantford know how to play they know who they are they have a

28:40

good coach they've got everything that you need to go and win a game their last

28:46

games they just beat Southampton they had a nil nil against Brentford then had beaten Bournemouth lost in the FA Cup

28:53

and beat Liverpool and West Ham earlier in the month so they're they're on form

29:00

they're moving along great they've scored tons of goals and you've got to

29:06

be careful if you're Arsenal you know over the last six Branford on 12 goes

29:11

three against Arsenal on 12 goals six against Branford have been better

29:16

Brantford has been better than Arsenal over their last six the opponents matter the energy matters but we're gonna see

29:22

what Arsenal are made of this is a key game and I think arteta knows it he can't have three losses on the bounce

29:28

you've got to score goals and get the energy back in your team they're good these are two very tactically astute

29:35

teams and if you watched and I shared something earlier if you watch do you feel IRL they really covered the Everton

29:41

game and what they did to nullify Arsenal and I wonder if Brentford will do the thing same

29:47

thing the four five one where the Press was shifting back and forth into a 4-4-2

29:55

with the two midfielders switching sides to deny space in the middle of the park where where Arsenal like to play Arsenal

30:01

like to get you all over the place but if Brentford can stay disciplined they're gonna give Arsenal a really really hard time

30:11

um got to go into City so City I'll give a little bit of a

30:16

rundown of where we are with the the great um 100 charge thing from the Premier League

30:25

it's gonna be long it's gonna take hours and years and it's not going to be six months uh they've hired the same lawyer

30:33

a bad name for a lawyer Lord Panic not great uh uh they've hired the same

30:39

lawyer that they had for the cast The the court of sport in Europe um for their previous fight against wafa

30:45

and they are just going to take these charges and really fight and say

30:51

something effective like hey you guys are just looking for something for us we're not giving you all our

30:58

documentation we're going to fight you tooth and nail the more we give you the more you'll find because you're looking

31:04

um do I think City are probably guilty of course they're guilty uh I I don't

31:10

not naive when they show when when the Deloitte money leaks shows Manchester City earning more money than Real Madrid

31:17

I mean that's just not feasible there's not enough fans there's not enough City fans unless

31:23

you know unless they're cooking the books but maybe maybe the thing is is like maybe the corruption and the

31:29

cooking of the books goes up to the sponsorship level so they're just like yeah we spent you know we spent the 100

31:34

million on City meanwhile the UAE gave that company oil at A Cut Rate price and

31:40

that's separate from that byline and they're just like yeah we did you know what I mean like do they have their Ducks lined up in a row to to the level

31:48

of conspiracy hand washing hands like there's a lot of extra stuff that's going on with the city thing because the

31:54

government in England is actually in bed with the United Arab Emirates for getting a lot of money a lot of

32:00

investment is coming from that and will the government get involved on the on the slide be like hey hey don't mess

32:07

with these people they're gonna they're gonna pull a deal there's a lot going on there's a lot of power in this this sort

32:14

of wealth transfer from the modernizing Gulf States whether you agree with their

32:21

social politics they're aware and they're very controlled on we have oil

32:26

now we're investing our money all around the world into all different things because that money one day is going to run out

32:33

we're going to use that money to grow as many businesses as we can from Emirates

32:38

Airways to Etihad Airways to elistat to be in sports all these things are

32:44

well-funded well-heeled companies that are not really profitable but being propped up by oil

32:50

so they're looking on a 50-year horizon and they're using Europe and they're funding things and they're putting money

32:56

here and Manchester City is frankly part of that uh it's a way you know for that

33:01

they use the word Sport washing but it's a way to project soft power and make deals and have guys come to the game and

33:07

whatever um I think it's legitimate I think it's fair I think Europeans and Americans don't like that someone is doing the

33:13

game that they used to do uh if you look at your turn of the century history the

33:19

Americans did that to Europe we were the ones you know sort of using soft power

33:25

and sort of going yeah we'll do it our way we're the Americans we do it this way and we had the money and we had you

33:31

know the Innovation and we had all these things now did we have a stronger culture not based on Islamic law yeah

33:40

but we're still a Christian country but we shared that with them so this is a little bit different I tend to think that it's a little funky and I tend to

33:47

think that City are going to fight through this and get where they need to go

33:52

um oh I should talk about football uh City playing villa villa coming off a

33:57

really poor performance against Leicester city where they

34:03

frankly just gave up too many goals I just think they made mistakes they were all over the place they actually got new

34:08

players which is good but uh City are odds on to win this game and haven't lost to Villa you know if we remember

34:15

the last game of the season the the uh the gundagon goals the three goals in

34:20

the seven minutes against Villa they were up to nil City one they had a draw in their last game that was under Stephen Gerard in September seemed weird

34:28

at the time but still have defeated Villa mostly over the last couple years

34:35

we don't know what the lineup is going to be

34:41

you know City didn't make any signings a kanji Laporte Louis who the hell knows

34:46

what's going to happen we just had Consuelo leave I think City will have to we'll have their hands full with Bailey and Watkins

34:52

and listen Luna Emery is clever and knows what he's doing the thing is that I think about is the back line for Villa

34:59

is poor uh it's still Dimitri young sorry Dimitri young he was a ball player fat ball player play for Cincinnati it's

35:07

still Ashley Young and Lucas Dina who are not great defensive players uh Kanza and Ming's always have a mistake in them

35:14

and then Martinez is a good goalkeeper we know from the World Cup but he can get rattled I'm hoping City just

35:21

has an easy game again look for those goals in the first 15 minutes if City scores a goal in the first 15 minutes

35:27

they're gold if they don't and they have to go into the half then I start to worry I'd expect at least a good

35:34

performance to happen it's been a long time since City had a good performance

35:41

and Villa are sitting in 11th on 28th City on 45 in second place

35:50

we do have to go there it's time it's time to talk about Everton and Liverpool

35:58

there's been a lot of conversation this week on Liverpool uh some of the things

36:03

that I brought up actually ended up being the national conversations around Liverpool like

36:08

klopp does he take responsibility for this can he see a change I know that his

36:18

philosophy is very powerful and has to be completely bought

36:23

into the running the pressing The High Line and all those things but

36:29

can he adapt the team to keep that identity but still push the team forward if they

36:37

keep doing the same thing they're gonna keep losing uh I think about this game

36:43

um even though you know I don't think Liverpool have lost at home to Everton in 20 years

36:49

I think a draw for Liverpool at this point is a good result I'm afraid for Liverpool in this game Onana

36:58

Onana de Corey and arducigay

37:04

are the type of hard-working attacking in your face midfielders that

37:10

Liverpool are dying for that that Henderson used to be that fabinho used

37:15

to be um it was always Thiago who made all the moves but when you think about one album wine album Henderson and fabinho were

37:23

just in your face killers and then you throw in firmino as the extra midfielder he'd make up the numbers as a as a false

37:29

nine and he would just kill they would suffocate you and now they can't do that

37:36

but then you saw with Everton they did it they did it they did it

37:42

against Arsenal if you think that Sean dice isn't going to try and come in there swing his giant Ginger

37:49

nuts and be like I came into this team I got no transfer money I beat ourseling at home and now I'm gonna beat

37:56

Liverpool he's gonna try and do that that's for sure you can guarantee it this Everton team is good

38:03

Frank Lampard was that shitty a coach I'm telling you Everton is gonna finish in the mid table they're so good

38:09

I didn't ever understood it but I do I think the thing to look out

38:15

for is how's klopp doing could this be the end of Liverpool

38:20

if they can't if he feels like he can't reach the team

38:25

and FSG are trying to sell the team and aren't going to spend money and they tell them hey we can't spend money we're

38:31

trying to sell the team I'm not going to put another 200 million dollars in this thing while I'm on the way out

38:36

what is klopp gonna do what is klopp gonna do is he gonna leave

38:42

is he going to take his bag and go home and go I did the best I could I took it as far as I could and let someone else

38:49

battle for this now I don't know

38:55

I don't know and it could be it could be that Liverpool goes right back to the

39:01

Wilderness honestly there's no reason they don't have

39:06

sorry they don't have a great history within the context of premier league history of

39:12

really being a well-run club and let me caveat that

39:19

they were a well-run club but they have their moments of their best moments have

39:25

been under charismatic strong managers who drove

39:30

the club forward Benitez did that tapped into the Spanish Market completely made

39:37

Liverpool the best defensive unit in the Premier League and let Stephen Gerard and do the things he

39:45

needed to do to win games and then you know Julie also was very good before him

39:51

and then after that soured because of the defensive nature of of Benitez and his kind of like maniacal I do

39:57

everything right and I want to control everything they really went to the Wilderness again FSG by them by a stroke of luck

40:06

klopp has a bad year at Dortmund and they grab Dort and they grab klopp and it's a match made in heaven

40:11

but if klopp leaves what does that mean for Liverpool that these charismatic

40:17

kind of coaches don't really grow on trees and there isn't one out there that I could see that fits with Liverpool as

40:24

it is today although I would imagine that if klopp were to leave or announce that he was going to leave in the next

40:30

month tuko would be the first manager to show up at Liverpool I mean it feels German to German tuko took over for at

40:37

Dortmund after klopp left I mean it seems like a match made in heaven where clot where Tuka would take over for

40:43

klopp but I don't know it's an interesting concept uh tuko's pretty ambitious he's very London in

40:49

Cosmopolitan I think he had her he was breaking up with his wife and he had a kid in London and he's probably still in London

40:56

um I'm gonna move on there think of talk about the relegation battle because we have a six pointer with Southampton and

41:03

wolves wolves with lopategi are just sharper they're just good at this point

41:08

and I wonder I wonder what Nathan Jones is gonna do

41:15

with this team because they're young and inconsistent it seems

41:21

they've moved Ward prowse into a number 10 role where they can get him on the ball to get him shots off because they

41:28

just don't have the players to do it I really love salisu I have all season uh and Lavia is a great midfielder who

41:34

hasn't been able to make a difference yet but um Lavia and and Ward prowse and atoms to a

41:42

lesser extent are really the chances that they have adozi also a Manchester City player again I don't like bizuno I

41:49

talk about their goalkeeper all the time he's awful and he cannot be playing for this team

41:55

it's just a disaster I don't know what they're thinking uh wolves on the other hand very clear Dawson comes in just a

42:02

solid Premier League defender who just will be like you know what I got this not a problem uh he he steps in scores a

42:10

goal and then killman also really really good it does bring one of their better

42:16

Defenders to the bench I can't remember his name um I'd have to look it up

42:22

um no I can't find it off the top of my head anyway but they'll always have matinee to come in and they've grabbed

42:27

kunya and Sarabia to try and score goals and it looks like Wolverhampton wolves have finally got enough goal

42:35

scoring that was always their problem they couldn't score goals so they're now scoring goals three last week away to

42:41

Southampton this is a six-pointer I think if Southampton lose this game wolves are up they're in 15th now and

42:48

20. if Southampton loses game they're going to fire Jones and they'll go to another manager and I don't know what

42:54

they're gonna do right Southampton have lost eight of their last nine uh with Wolves winning their last four against

43:01

Southampton so it's really really not a good time for

43:07

Southampton and I think if wolves get the win here they'll be in really good

43:12

shape able to kick on and call themselves Champs of the bottom

43:18

uh I do want to touch on this Eddie Hal Darby so what an amazing

43:25

place to be for him to return I imagine he's going to get massive cheers these are

43:30

these things that football culturally we're going to have Newcastle Bournemouth Eddie Howe looking at his

43:36

old team and just going thank God I'm in Newcastle but this is an important game for Newcastle this is the furthest they

43:42

can go is it maybe southampton's further so Newcastle oh God it's England May

43:47

travel like 800 miles uh it's gonna be a long trip for them they'll probably fly uh going to Bournemouth a small town on

43:55

the on the on the ocean 7 000 seat Stadium they're gonna bring the tune Army down

44:01

I can't imagine they'll probably have to leave it's a late game they'll probably leave first thing in the morning or maybe the

44:08

night before and play try and win this game but um I mean it wasn't too long ago

44:14

Newcastle was in the championship and Bournemouth was in league so

44:19

I'm not sure what's going to happen with form if they are windless in their last five uh really slipping only have one

44:26

point in their last six games minus ten only scored one goal meanwhile wolves

44:33

have only scored five but again what I talked about before only giving up that lone goal to West Ham they had been on a

44:39

five goal goal of five clean sheet streak but

44:45

for their problem is they're not scoring goals the amerone goal machine disappeared they had a nil nil vs Palace

44:51

then a one-nil versus Fulham nil nil versus Arsenal that was that first drop points the nil nil first leads looks

44:57

even crazier because leads just give up goals to everyone so they've only scored the five goals in six games they're

45:04

really slipping in that regard but again if you don't give up goals you don't lose and Newcastle do not give up goals

45:12

so uh I would expect Bournemouth they ain't scoring no chance Char

45:18

botman burn trippy a Legends with Pope that five trip a Char botman

45:24

burn and Pope are just gonna go down in history for um four Newcastle fans as like you know as

45:31

a defense the way um the way Keon and Keon and Adams and

45:36

and and um and winter burn and uh and and that that

45:43

group with Arsenal under under Graham Taylor went down you know one nil to the Arsenal they're gonna start singing One

45:48

nil to the New Castle the way things are going but we'll see if Gordon who's new to the team can bring a goal they need

45:54

Wilson to get off the schneid they need gumarish to come back they'll still be defensive with long staff and then for

46:00

Bournemouth yes they have spent lots of money they got Cimino who's really good uh got

46:07

Sensei is in the back otara they've got players and they're trying to move the team forward but it's

46:14

the Premier League everyone has spent money you're just trying to keep up with nothing I wonder did Dominic solanki die

46:21

yeah he's doubtful they really need him to come back in he was supposed to be their goal scorer he did everything for

46:27

them in the championship scoring like 29 goals in the championship and without him they're really hurting and they just

46:34

need him to get back he's doubtful for this game maybe he'll come back we'll see what happens there but they really

46:40

really need solanki back in there to score goals uh for Newcastle we expect

46:46

to see ISAC that's going to be a big difference for them they just need more options up front to try and get those

46:52

goals from that amazing pressing that they do

46:58

Lester Spurs kante I believe is still out but they had a great performance against City we

47:06

know goddamn Spurs ruined my goddamn weekend again I can't why can't City

47:12

beat Spurs I don't understand it uh they'll they shouldn't have a problem versus Lester Lester score goals but

47:18

Lester give up goals uh as long as Madison is in this team they're gonna win uh the form tables got

47:25

Spurs on three wins and three draws with Leicester on only one win and a draw in their last four yeah everything is

47:32

directly completely even for Spurs eight four eight against three wins three losses nine points which is nice uh you

47:39

can't go the season that way Leicester still scoring goals but again scored seven gave up 12. so you can get a sense

47:47

how that works for them last few games Tottenham killed Lester early in the

47:53

year uh in September when a 6-2 when Spurs were scoring goals I don't know what the hell happened what we were

47:59

doing then uh Tottenham on a bit of a streak against against Lester have won

48:05

let's see here one two three four out of five scoring boatloads of goals

48:13

but also Leicester scores goals too we'll see what happens here here's the stat you ready Tottenham have scored at

48:19

least three goals in their last four matches against Leicester in all competitions basically bet the over

48:28

bet the over um you know we we still want to give give a shout out to Harry Kane he's

48:34

finally getting a little bit more respect I think you know 200 goals in the league 267 for his career what a

48:42

player what he does how he can play two positions he's more than just a striker

48:47

and I'm looking forward to watching him break Alan share his record because it does not look like he's going anywhere

48:53

Spurs already fending off you know your yearly rumors of Kane to United Kane to

48:59

sit well can't no one Kane's not going to city but you know the regular sort of scheduled rumors of this guy going here

49:06

and that guy going there um I just think we're rounding up here but uh do want to give a shout out

49:14

to a couple more matches Fulham versus Nottingham Forest again I

49:19

spoke about it earlier Fulham hmm they're gonna beat my your

49:25

beloved Forest Chris uh you know forests have gotten their points and are doing well I do want to talk about this

49:30

Crystal Palace Brighton game it's a derby and matoma is the best

49:36

Palace of drawn their last three home matches against Brighton but they have failed to win in their last five so

49:43

Crystal Palace are slipping the form table looks like this Brighton second in

49:48

the league over their last six four wins a draw and a win but the big thing here is 15 goals four eight against with a

49:56

plus seven Palace not doing the same they are winless in their last five with

50:02

two draws uh not playing well right now and where are we with the um Patrick

50:07

Vieira I I feel like he had some juice he was doing well now it's kind of

50:13

slipping I really think Conor Gallagher made a difference in that team I'm not a fan of Hughes on their team he took the

50:20

stupid handball um he doesn't bring the dynamism that Gallagher had he's kind of just a

50:26

destroyer and I'm not seeing much from decorate they really need Joe Kim Anderson to come back uh it does not

50:32

look like he's gonna be back anytime it's soon but you know we'll see what happens there and zaha also unavailable

50:39

but that's nice because it lets EZE Elise and Edward all play together

50:44

um for for my friends from Brighton just give me more matoma give me more March

50:52

give me more McAllister give me more casedo and let me give the Love Fest to Louis dunk the most underrated defender

50:59

in the Premier League I love him he's the captain of Brighton when City go down and I have to watch him in the

51:05

championship I'll still love them but Brighton will still be there and I will pour my love into my beloved seagulls

51:11

and uh hopefully they will continue long may continue the M23 Darby uh lots and

51:18

lots of juice on this one has a strong history locally it's a weird one where

51:24

no one knows why just a bunch of games with red cards and people sharing stadiums and real local silly stuff that

51:32

is what makes football so great and what I talked about at the start if you have a closed league in a Super League

51:38

teams like Brighton will never be in it teams like Crystal Palace will drop out they'll never be there Chelsea will

51:44

never play whole Manchester City will never play you know uh wrexham

51:49

give a little update on wrexham our friends from the FA Cup replay around I

51:55

sort of missed it as I was getting tired at the end of the last show fourth round replays Blackburn defeats Birmingham

52:01

Grimsby town over lutantown Burnley a 94th minute winner over Ipswich Town Fleetwood over Wednesday

52:08

Sheffield United defeat rexham and Fulham defeat Sunderland uh in two weeks

52:15

time at the end of the month the fifth round we're getting close to the quarterfinal rounds we'll have Stoke vs

52:20

Birmingham Fulham versus leads Southampton Grimsby town West Ham versus United at Old Trafford

52:27

Lester will face Blackburn City pick up Bristol City Burnley over Fleetwood they

52:33

have a good chance of getting through and mighty Tottenham will go to bramel Lane on March 1st to Def to play

52:40

Sheffield United and Billy Sharp's blades so we say goodbye to rexham and I

52:45

think it's a good bookend on this show to appreciate something like wrexham in

52:51

the face of super leagues in the face of competitiveness and you know reximate

52:57

City are not that dissimilar I know this sounds absurd but

53:03

if you have rules to prevent investment how far do they go

53:09

can Ryan Reynolds and and Rob mcalleny not spend as much money because wrexham

53:14

is in the fifth Division and there's a salary cap and they and there's no promotion there's no hope for that team

53:20

to go higher and that money that they Advance they can't just keep investing for it to move up what if there was

53:25

Financial fair play down there at the at the level of it's the fifth Division and there's regulations to make sure that

53:32

the football league doesn't have any more relegation think about that think about what rexim is rexim is a

53:39

story of of you know of of people spending money and investing in a club they can't generate

53:45

that Revenue and City just did the same thing they just had the draw drip drawbridge

53:51

pulled up on them and someone got mad and decided it was done for them you know it and I know it too City and

53:58

wrexham like this all right that was the squeaky bum Time Podcast

54:04

with Laurent courteans we are the football wing of the chop Sports channel and presented exclusively on the

54:10

premiere streaming Network we record on twos on Mondays and Thursdays so be sure to subscribe where you ever you get your

54:17

podcast so you never miss an episode and if you're listening on Apple or listening on YouTube or wherever you are

54:23

please rate and review the show it means everything in the world to us and Tony

54:29

skolicki if you made it this far I love you brother bye [Music]

54:39

foreign [Music]