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Notts Forest Tweets, Man Utd eeks and FAI reeks
31 Plays7 months ago
Referee madness strikes again in the Premier League! 😤 Nottingham Forest are left reeling after THREE controversial decisions in a relegation showdown 😡 Are the refs playing fair or foul? 🧐
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Transcript
Introduction and Current States
00:00:01
Speaker
Mark Tannen, you've got to fucking sort yourself out, mate. You can't organize a big bunch up with a bottle. You have eight months to sort out a manager, you can't do it. So what we're going to do is now, me and my mates now, I'm going to sort the manager out for you.
Controversial Tweet Sparks Debate
00:00:21
Speaker
Messi. Messi! Oh, my goodness! It's L.A. Carreiro!
00:00:37
Speaker
Hello, hello, hello and welcome to the Nodafunda podcast. You are in for an absolute treat as we have a full roster. Nate, Connor and Rob. Gentlemen, how are we doing? Well, I gotta say I'm probably better than the two men, but I'll let them have their therapy session in a way. How are you mate?
00:00:58
Speaker
I'm good. I am rushing in the door, record a podcast, you know, it's that's that's commitment, but not as committed as Nate doing this from the European continent. Oh, yeah, absolutely. A few points in me so far. So my opinions might be a bit scared this week. You say that as if they're not every week. Ah, come on now. I only give wisdom and knowledge, you know what I mean?
00:01:23
Speaker
And Rob, how are you? Obviously, you are the grown up of the group. You have a child to look after, and yet you make time for little Olos. His other kids. Yeah, I was only getting used to looking after myself, and now I have to look after the child, and then you guys as well. So yeah, I'm good, Katie, and thanks.
00:01:44
Speaker
Great to have you on board to keep us right and ready this week. So we will get on to United and Anthony Scumbag antics later. But I wanted to actually put this out to you, because this has caused ruckions in the English punditry world.
Public Statement and Media Reactions
00:02:01
Speaker
And I just wanted to get user opinion on this. Notlum Forest, with the tweet that broke the internet. Forget Kim Kardashian. Her arse couldn't ever match the vitriol that this has brought.
00:02:14
Speaker
into football um i think it's just angry old men shouting at clouds lads what do you think oh man i i'll be honest like i know multiple parts have been talking about it and everyone in the press has and everyone's kind of a lot of people said the same thing that they thought it was a parody account but i i truly did it's one of the most in my opinion unprofessional immature short-sighted and embarrassing
00:02:41
Speaker
public statements a professional club has ever made whatever you think internally and i'll i'll be honest i personally think mark clattenberg wrote that because he wouldn't have doubled down on us after it had he not but it's truly embarrassing i don't know about you boys
00:03:00
Speaker
I want to know who's tweeting that. I really do. It's like halfway through the game. It's like, who's making the call? Let's get on the Twitter account, get that out now. It's just the most bizarre thing ever. And yeah, to be honest, it doesn't make them look good. But like them three penalties were horrors. Let's be real. Oh, they were right. Rob, what are you saying on it?
00:03:25
Speaker
I am just so sick of talking about referees. We have this league, this Premier League is meant to be the greatest league in the world. These players are at the absolute peak of the performance. And then all we do each week is talk about referees. And it's just got to the stage where it's just completely out of control. If you are relying on this nonsense to stay to finish above Luton,
00:03:49
Speaker
like you just have to finish one point better off the new and maybe they'll get another point seduction maybe that's what forest are worried about but it's just it's just ridiculous it's um it lowers the tone of everything and and it's just like then this guy marianca's the marianca sorry the forest owner has like a history of going after referees so
VAR's Role and Impact on Football
00:04:12
Speaker
I just think it's ridiculous to think Clattenberg's involved, another kind of spoofer, and then Neville and Carragher double down and react even harder against it. Neville compared it to a mafia statement. I didn't realise the mafia release statement. So I just sick of it, honestly. I don't even know what is a penalty or what isn't a penalty anymore. That's what I was going to say. Of the three of them, I mean, they're all
00:04:38
Speaker
They all definitely could be penalties. I think there's two Stonewall ones in there. Yeah, I thought the first was a bit of a 50-50. It was kind of like, yeah, you could see a given, but also...
00:04:48
Speaker
The final, the final two, though, apps like that, like can we just appreciate the shit housery of Ashley on him for everyone. And then him tweeting that he was listening to Cry Me A River by Justin Timberlake. Like that is a mere 40 year old man. That man has kids. I respect that man so much. I don't know what he is.
00:05:14
Speaker
Just quick, I don't know about you, but this might be a bit wrong, but these referees need to start getting called out because the decisions are hard. It's to the point where a penalty can happen in, say, E&I again, whatever, and you go and look at three different other penalties that weekend that did have the same decision. How hard is it to achieve a tiny bit of consistency?
00:05:42
Speaker
I think it's always been bad. I just think now that we have VAR, we expect it to be better. So I don't even, like the standard referee has probably got, on average Nate don't jump down much, it's probably got better. I just think it looks a lot worse. There was probably the same amount of mistakes
00:06:00
Speaker
as it's ever been, but we just think that VAR is just this thing that's going to fix everything. And when it doesn't or when it's not consulted, people just absolutely lose their mind. So I just bring it back to VAR. If VAR wasn't there, it would just be a bad refereeing decision. Now it's become like it's like it's a conspiracy, like the VA or is it is a looting fan?
00:06:20
Speaker
Yeah, like these of course, he's a little fan. What are we going to do now? Have referees who have no don't support football at all? Like I just think it's just absolute nonsense. My thing is if they have the capability to look at the replay. Exactly. Yeah, that's that's when it's you know, I totally agree with you. Like, you know, there's no var we'd have to live with decisions like that because the ref is not as close to all of them as he probably should
Solutions and Comparisons to Rugby
00:06:43
Speaker
have been. That's a different conversation. But when it comes to having that capability, either use it
00:06:48
Speaker
and have VAR in existence or if we're not going to use it let's just not have it at all because it's like it's just so annoying when they've look I support neither team I truly don't care about in the reality of those penalty it's more for the love of the game and it just I
00:07:05
Speaker
One thing, as much as we jump on refs, I don't want to see refs get like relegated into the championship based off one decision. I think that's not fair. But, and I think you're right. Like, I think the virus putting a magnifying glass on poor decisions that were ultimately going to always happen. But for me, it's just that annoying bit when it's right there. It's like, just go to the screen. And when they go to the screen, you know, they're not overturning it. It's just happening, you know.
00:07:32
Speaker
See I think this is ultimately where the problem actually is and I think the tweet to me anyway seems out of like desperation and using the Luton fan thing is more kind of like well he's aren't listening to us about anything else so I want to throw something at this and see what sticks because like it was only what two months ago three months ago that Mike Dean said he didn't want to go to VAR because his mate would get given out to like
00:07:59
Speaker
this whole refereeing cabal is just in it for themselves. So I don't want to see any ref relegated to the championship because give it two weeks and we will not have any more refs in the Premier League at this rate. Like I think they've gone so long without being questioned. That to be questioned now is this kind of travesty that like,
Media Bias and Double Standards
00:08:26
Speaker
We always say that we want football and refereeing and the treatment to be more like rugby. But the difference with rugby is rugby refs are held to account by the cameras. They never try and hide in it and there's never kind of
00:08:39
Speaker
I didn't come out and say they don't want their mates to get given out to. Everything is there for everybody to see. Here's my decision and you can see why I made it. You may not like it, but it's just so bad. To be honest,
00:08:56
Speaker
I never really had that much faith in Howard Webb becoming the boss, considering he was Ferguson's right-hand man for the guts of a decade now. One of the things, okay, is there's no excuses now because it is right in front of them. Like, it's either these referees are up to standard and can spot it.
00:09:16
Speaker
or they can't like it's simple like in my opinion they should be relegated because if it's right there in front of you like make the right decision that's what you're paid to do i think straight off the bat they should get relegated i think it should be like a three strikes you're out job you know yeah but also
00:09:32
Speaker
When it's number one, I don't agree with the tweet. Number two, the Luton has zero relevance in my opinion. But lads, we're talking about three decisions here. How is a VA out messing up three decisions? To me, all three of them are penalties. And that's debatable, of course. But they are hard. I don't understand how you cannot give at least one of them a penalty. We've seen all three given, for sure.
00:10:01
Speaker
But, but how do you not give one? Oh yeah, no, it's an abomination, like. Surely in the turn when you're gone, like, like you're at least in your head going, come on, like, we'll, we'll give, we gotta give him one hair, like.
00:10:15
Speaker
I just can't move past this forest owner. I just want to take a step back. The referees aren't great. A lot of mistakes like that comment by Mike Dean was ridiculous and it does give you insight into their thinking. Howard Webb, he seems to be very much like, this is the guy who didn't send off Nigel De Jong in the World Cup Final.
00:10:40
Speaker
for attacking. For a genuine insult. Because you didn't want to send someone off in a work of fine. That's not logic at all. You can accept the referees aren't great but for me I can't move past this forest owner and this conspiracy in his head that
00:10:57
Speaker
someone's out to do them. Like you've spent over 100 million, you've bought probably 50 players and you're one point above Luton who have like literal soccer-aid players in their squad like Andros Townsend and Ross Barkley. We need to, just the referee talk for me, I know I work in the media, I get the race for this and I understand people are interested in it but when you take a step back you're just like what in the name of
Refereeing Standards and Nostalgia
00:11:23
Speaker
god have you done here? Like this is meant to be football, we're meant to be talking about football
00:11:26
Speaker
I'm not already over here talking about. I've had enough of it. I'm sick of it. I would just completely scrap it. The referees probably aren't going to get much better. They're probably the best they're going to be. And I just think, just scrap it. It's just not going to work. And it just leads to this nonsense, basically.
00:11:46
Speaker
I agree with certain parts of that, but these groups are fighting for their life. There's a lot of money involved in this. It's true, but them getting relegated is not going to come down to this decision. No, but it's stopping them from getting three points that go towards a survival.
00:12:10
Speaker
To be honest, I struggled to sit there and be quiet when it's three outrageous decisions not being given. I don't understand how a league sort of in the background could not be playing if the referee can't give a penalty. I think you need to take out the relegation side of this. Whether it's a nothing game or whether it's a game to get a Champions League place, win the league, whatever it is, it's just not acceptable how poor it was.
00:12:38
Speaker
No, but I think the relegation pair played into the tweet coming out though. Like, I don't think that that happened to a Newcastle, you know, at a tweet coming out. Or a mid-table Renford for that matter. I don't even think you see that in League One. Like, it was just... Nah, I think it is the relegation. I think it's kind of like what I said earlier. It's that bit of desperation. It's that kind of like, we have to try something here because we're not being listened to at all. But to be honest, lads,
00:13:06
Speaker
Refereying aside, I thought what was more egregious was the hypocrisy of those criticizing the tweet. The likes of Gary Neville, the likes of
Manchester United's Performance and VAR
00:13:17
Speaker
Jamie Carragher. Jamie, I spit at little girl's Carragher. And Gary Neville who once said that La Liga is completely corrupt. Or who was the other one? Was it Frank Sinclair or somebody? All these ex-players come out and said, oh, you should never be able to say that and being the ones that have said it before.
00:13:35
Speaker
The whole thing is a bloody joke. It's their Tinder though. That's the Tinder to their fire. They dream of comments like that coming out because it gives them their five minutes of that Sky Sports or TNT or whoever can clip up.
00:13:51
Speaker
Yeah, Carriger has his own things from back then when he did spit at that girl. What more does me in, and you're seeing it across multiple sports, especially in the US, there's more money for refs now as being talking heads on telly than there is through being in the game or being in the FA and that is a major problem.
00:14:13
Speaker
It's like being present in the United States. Do you make the real money when they retire? Get all the speaking engagements. Yeah, you just have to get through all the nonsense before that and then you can make the good money. But lads, I think one of the big things here is, and we just don't forget, is these lads criticise people on the weekly. So what's wrong with criticising referees? These lads stay here and criticise players, managers, anything to do with football week in, week out. I think they need to have a bit of
00:14:42
Speaker
introspective looking to do it. No, see, Nate, it's different. They're doing it from a place of love. They care. It's just like it is. It's hypocrisy.
00:14:55
Speaker
And to be honest, it's so annoying. I had to... I endured Gary Neville giving out about it. Like, it was different back in the day. Ferguson used to go out and do it in press conferences, because that's the way to do it. No. At that time, people criticized the likes of Ferguson and Venger coming out and criticizing in press conferences, because that's not the way you're supposed to do things. This is just the modern evolution of it. And all these outlets just whinging about it is...
00:15:22
Speaker
What users were doing 20 years ago was the new thing then, and yet you had old people like user now whinging about it then. Just so infuriating.
Romelu Lukaku's Future
00:15:35
Speaker
I think there's a difference when a manager comes out and criticizes rather than the tweet that we saw. It's like someone needs to put their name on that tweet, you know what I mean? Because then it becomes more acceptable, I don't know, but you know who's saying it and why they're saying it, you know what I mean? When a manager says something in a press conference, you know it's coming from the manager. Here, we don't know. That could be a Twitter admin that said that. It probably isn't, but we don't know.
00:16:03
Speaker
I totally agree with that because that was the thing with Fergie, although he crossed the line many times and so did any high profile manager that's been in the hot seat has done it, especially in yesteryear. But at least then, like you said, you knew who it was, you knew they were going to get fined and you knew there was going to be ramifications.
00:16:21
Speaker
Well, this, like you said, I highly doubt it is an admin. If it is, Jesus could look in your next week of work. But, you know, at least if that was even a video of, say, Clattenberg, the owner, I don't know who there is more. You put a face to it, you give it a bit more legitimacy, in my opinion. Still a terrible idea, though. Like, let's not forget, like, I think this is another thing as well, like these rose tinted glasses.
00:16:51
Speaker
Ferguson's the one that stopped speaking to BBC for the guts of a decade. There was toys thrown out of plenty of prams before. This is just a new, easier way. Yeah, but we knew Ferguson was the one throwing them out of the pram, you know what I mean? Yeah. I know it sounds tiny, but I think that's a huge difference. I don't know about you, Rob.
00:17:11
Speaker
Yeah, I can definitely. At least Ferguson did it in a more subtle way. Ferguson was always trying to influence referees, opposition managers. So when he did it, there was always a purpose behind it, and that's not defending him. I just don't see what good will come from tweeting a maniac like this.
00:17:30
Speaker
And it's not going to influence anyone. It makes them look ridiculous. Ultimately, what do they want? They want more favorable treatment from the referees. They're less likely to get in there. Whereas Ferguson was always very much about control and power. So if he said something, there was a purpose behind it. Not that immediate.
00:17:48
Speaker
and made it any better. The images of United players surrounding referees are famous. They were always at it. This has always been the case. I think this was more something you'd see in Italy or Spain.
FAI's Managerial Decisions
00:18:02
Speaker
This obsession with the referee, it was definitely more prone to Spain and Syria, but it's crept in massively into the Premier League now. I just don't see what they're going to achieve from just tweeting nonsense, really.
00:18:16
Speaker
I do think it kind of shows a little bit of a double standard to how the media treats teams at the top end and the bottom end of the table.
00:18:25
Speaker
This is scandalous and cheap and terrible from Nottingham Forest, but Klopp coming out asking for a replay because of a decision going the wrong way. But again, there's a face to it. And it's as pathetic as it looks. You go, that's an angry man. When we're talking about sporting directors as if they're transfers, clubs are becoming homogenous. So it doesn't actually matter whether if there's a face to it anymore, because
00:18:52
Speaker
Like we are talking about this, like we're talking about all the people that could have been. Owner, Clattenberg, not the manager, realistically. So we know who it is. And ultimately, I think it's actually more important that we're talking about what the owners and all say, because don't forget, they all vote together. Managers don't. That manager that comes out and is trying to influence something, he could be gone in a week's time.
00:19:13
Speaker
owners aren't, and they're the ones we should be listening to, if nothing else. But we don't know if they own a great light at that, you know what I mean? Like I just said, that could have been Clamberg's tweet. Can you imagine if we did? We know Clamberg's not getting a Twitter password on his first day, that's not how you do things.
00:19:36
Speaker
Bear in mind, this is the same owner that has also released a player from Olympiacos, so he can go on a free transfer to Nautilus Forest to get around transfer windows. This dude will do whatever he wants, so if he wants to be tweeting from it, it's going to be him, or he's going to have some poor 18-year-old intern just going, listen, make this into English and post. Yeah, it's the owner. He has a history of going after referees.
00:20:02
Speaker
It's when, like who else in the Premier League is going to hire a referee to work for you? Like it's not, Jim Vaclav won't be doing that for you though. Like it shows how paranoid he is. That's a very good point because I like it, you know, it's not even one of those ones where, you know, a couple of clubs decided to do it. It was, that's a one off and not even anywhere around Europe do you see it. Like it's literally, he's a one of one.
00:20:28
Speaker
I think you're going to see a lot more of this and if nothing, they have achieved opening up the conversation at the right end of the table because usually we're only ever winded about these things when it affects one of the big teams. That's what I mean.
00:20:44
Speaker
If it was happening to Arsenal, City, United, Liverpool, we would have been talking about these decisions without a doubt. And the only reason we're talking about these decisions that went against Forrest is because of the tweet. So fair play, not on Forrest. You've got what you've wanted, and I applaud you. But nothing to see. My thing is what it is. There's channels, regardless of the tweet, even there's the official channels to do it where you large complain to the FAI. FAI, Jesus. FA. But...
00:21:12
Speaker
Nothing's going to change off the back of either of those things. Wait, it will though, because did you see the tweet today who Luton's next referee is? A Nazi County fan. I'm not messing, I'm not messing. He's genuine Nazi County fan. Absolutely classy. I thought you were going to say Mark Lattenberg was the next ref. To be honest lads, if nothing else, I think it's opening up a very, very healthy conversation that kind of gets
00:21:39
Speaker
get into the weeds where VAR or no VAR, whereas now it's kind of calling in question referees, which is, we have to accept VAR is here to stay. Well, they put too much money into it, but my problem is with these things and all the clubs are part of this and any of the talking heads, every single person, including us, is just throwing, these are the problems. I haven't heard anyone suggest a solution.
00:22:05
Speaker
No, no, no. You know, I think I have a solution a long time ago. There needs to be like there needs to be repercussions for referees making bad decisions like it happens in any other job on the planet. If you if you're bad at your job, you get like you get talking to a better like there needs to be a strike system or something where referees need to know that every single decision they make holds a consequence.
00:22:34
Speaker
I think just need to scrap far. I really think it would make things so much better. I don't think it would, to be honest. Football was so much better before far. It really, really was. Trust me. Listen to your elders. Myself and Rob are the old codgers that were around long before this existed.
00:23:00
Speaker
Yeah, it does not. And to be honest, I think I would rather get to a stage where we're closer to rugby, more tech. We need to hear live, please. Yeah, absolutely. Accountability is the issue with refereeing right now. The lack of accountability. Like, if that ref was miked up,
00:23:19
Speaker
and everyone who's here in their decisions, they would damn well want to stand beside them. Because what's happening now is they're, I think half-time VAR is just them getting out of jail free, making somebody else's problem. I agree with that. And I also agree with the rugby comparison and that would bring a lot more transparency. I think the one thing that I've always felt is stop football from going down that avenue is
00:23:45
Speaker
this type of fan and the vitriolic type of fan that is your average football fan compared to a rugby fan it like i don't know about you guys this may be a personal opinion but a lot of the time if you see a crap decision in rugby that media cycle blows over within a couple of hours and not a couple of days
00:24:03
Speaker
Yeah, I just think the two sports are just two different. I think rugby is more set piece based. I've never physically played a game of rugby. You won't be surprised to learn. But right when I watch it, I'm like, this is like, it's a great sport to watch it. But it's organized chaos in the sense that you need the referee. The referee is the most important person
00:24:22
Speaker
on the pitch he's the one who keeps the game flowing whereas from my experience playing football even at low levels like the referee is almost in the way in the sense that he kind of stops you from having fun or stops you from it feels like he's another kind of opponent on the pitch in a lot of cases so i don't know i maybe it's just me maybe i'm just getting looking at it differently but if it's getting closer to rugby i feel that's bad because it's taking the free flow and nature out of it and i just think the only way we can get
00:24:52
Speaker
some type of level playing field again, it's just to get rid of VAR. It won't happen, but that would be in my mind the only solution. The goal line technology works great. This new AI generated motion detection for offside, that's a good thing. But when VAR comes into it with subjective decisions,
00:25:11
Speaker
And when it's not consulted, which is the most frustrating thing, it just leads to paranoia and no longer talking about the football. Like the football is almost second to the VAR debate or the referee debate. So I would love to see VAR scrap because they're not good enough to use it clearly.
00:25:28
Speaker
I think just bringing live audio, I think that makes the world of difference as Kylie alluded to earlier, knowing that what they are saying is getting broadcasted worldwide makes their whole decision making totally different because they know we're either going to get it right or get it wrong and we'll deal with that after, but it will put them on the spot to try and get the right decision. I think if we are to keep our personally, we need more refereeing personnel on the pitch.
00:25:57
Speaker
You know, like, why can't we have six refs on a pitch? Take out the financial aspect of it. Go back to my idea. No refs on the pitch. All of our having six or eight refs, just all watching cameras. If you can do it for Eurovision with one director.
00:26:15
Speaker
it into football you'll have everything covered. You are you are right there on my list of of people that are getting killed this week in line with Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville. Well we spoke about putting the referees on the spot but one team that was put on the spot quite literally was Man United versus Coventry going down to penalties lads. Just like
00:26:41
Speaker
what a game in fairness like it shows why it's the beautiful game it also shows why var isn't great for the beautiful game uh because poor carpentry's hearts were broken so um who wants who wants the uh
00:26:59
Speaker
The therapists changed the language first. The hats were broken, but they were offside, correct decision. We are true to an FA called Final Iron Buzzing. I've had toenails longer than that man was offside. He was offsides, offsides, you know what I mean? Don't hate to play, hate the game. That decision actually shows how viral
00:27:25
Speaker
My United are missing. Farah is such a mess like that. You know, like, Pampasakis defending is the worst defending you're ever going to see. Like, that isn't even...
00:27:35
Speaker
That's not even Sunday league level of defending. I can't even describe how bad that is to what he was doing there, that he wouldn't step up when everyone else steps up. And then for Var to bail him out and to be denied this amazing last-minute moment, and for Man United to be denied more embarrassment by his man-city, because that's probably going to happen, let's be honest. It's just a shame. That would have been probably the greatest comeback in FA Cup history. It would have been one of the greatest results
00:28:01
Speaker
anyone can remember and it was taken away and mainly they didn't deserve it to be taken away. They deserved to get knocked out because they were a disgrace. I think by checking here, I think it's the 12th time this season they could see the three goals in a match. It's like the team is drunk the way they play. They're just, they're an embarrassment. They're more embarrassing than bar. That's how bad it is. And I don't know what happened because I left that tree now. I literally went for a walk and I was like, I've lost enough of my Sunday afternoon.
00:28:30
Speaker
to my night strolling until final. I'm just going to go out of the house, get some fresh air. And when I got back, it was tree tree. So I'm annoyed at them as well that they couldn't have conceded while I was watching the game and keep me glued to the TV. So yeah, it was an embarrassment. Sorry, Nate. Well, see, this thing I actually kind of want to get onto. One is that the issue wasn't rare. It's the terrible offside rule.
00:28:54
Speaker
What even is it anymore? Like, I'm not even saying that. In any amount of offside, whereas I think it should be, like, a bottle with a lion. No, no, no. It has to be a majority. He's offside. Like, if you gain advantage, he's offside. That is the rules. That is football. If that is gaining advantage, oh my gosh. He's ahead of the lion. He said, that is football.
00:29:32
Speaker
kind of go to Rob's credit. It's the old way of doing it because you were doing it by eye, not by eye. We have like rulers out there trying to see, does he have 51% of his body across? Do you know what I mean? It's better than what it is now.
00:29:36
Speaker
Is it not?
00:29:48
Speaker
They used to give the advantage to the attacking player. I think in this situation, the tie-breaking should be Aaron Wambisak's horrendous at football and does not deserve to be bailed out here because it's the worst defendant. I'm going to send you guys a screenshot even over here if I can. It's the worst defendant you're ever going to see. He does not deserve to be bailed out there.
00:30:10
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. Wherever the rule is, it needs to be rewritten. Nate, the thing you have to keep in mind here, right? Okay, say it's FA Cup final, you guys are against City, Heydon scored, and that gets taken off you. Is that offside now?
00:30:29
Speaker
Honestly God, it's awesome. Like it is outside. Like are you, because I know the rules are playing by like, if it's outside, it's outside. And I don't know if my head's face is different. Like if, if that came up as a united, like fella outside, like I can't, I can't argue with it. No, I see. My, my issue with it is as I say, it's the rule.
00:30:53
Speaker
People in Zaggy did not die for this. That man was born offside. And like it's that's why that's one of the nice things about football was that there was the fine margins. And ultimately, when you have that kind of basing it by eye, it was more about actually having an advantage in an offside position by being more towards the goal than the defender. Whereas now, like we've seen it how many times where it's like a fingernail, an eyelash,
00:31:22
Speaker
the little microbes that live in your hair, that's the difference of it. I think that's where the refereeing for VAR has made the issue because they've gone way, way over the top on it. How many times have we seen questioning over, is the camera in the right angle? Because if you look at this camera angle versus that camera angle, then the line is going to be different.
00:31:46
Speaker
See this is why I think we need to go back to the old way man because like I know I sound like a football purist but like I was always of the opinion football needs controversy and I know that's ironically a controversial opinion but like I think what makes these decisions harder to stomach is like we said the technology being there because back in the day say Frank Lampard's gold at what didn't count against Germany
00:32:12
Speaker
you just kind of had to get on with it and it played into the game and the players were pissed off and then it got spicier and the games got better, you know? That's the last thing before we move on to the football is that another reason why VAR is so bad. It helps the big teams. You can't have a shock result now really because a big team would rely on, a small team would rely on a little moment of luck to win a game and Coventry did enough
00:32:40
Speaker
got you know the tree tree and i think they deserve that little bit of luck and i don't think a toenail or wherever it is should be the difference between them going through and and might not get knocked out so that's the other side of it i think it's it's meant to be fair but i think it really is unfair because you can't get these little small margins and and it's just it's just taken a lot of good every game but i'm happy to talk about football instead of you guys are
00:33:04
Speaker
lads, I hate to break a tease and he's won't like me, but Manchester United are winning the FA Cup this season. I hate to break a tease, but yeah. With their class of 2024. Are we talking about on FIFA or are we talking real life? I will just beat City in a while, I have a feeling. Oh yeah, just beat City, they're handy, you know, easy.
00:33:27
Speaker
But we've kind of gone straight to the orgasm. Let's go back to the foreplay a little bit. How did it get to the position of being so close to losing to Coventry Rob? It's just mine, are you? You can't explain it.
00:33:44
Speaker
This is what they do. They score last minute goals or they find ways to win. They will find a way to lose to anyone. They are capable of losing to any team. And as I said, in their matches this season, roughly 40-something games, they can see the three goals in 12 of those matches. And it's just like they're drunk. It's incredible. There's no, like, Hasamiro God love him. I've never seen a player. It's like he's seen out his notice.
00:34:13
Speaker
in work, like he's on leave, like he's ready to just kind of, he's just falling in really. So it's just, it really is, it's a deal actually probably for Jim Rackliff really when you look at it and the bigger picture because then Hagg is not going to work out. It hasn't worked out. There's no clear style of play. There's no identity. If he's brought anything to the team, it's hard to kind of notice. He doesn't get a tune out on practically.
00:34:38
Speaker
and mentally doesn't seem to really get a chance to tune out and the only one that's improved really is maybe dalo but it's just not working and then there's so many players there that's just not working without us so if you know you don't you know it won't get top four you probably won't beat city sorry now it's just a perfect chance for racket just to kind of
00:34:55
Speaker
swipe to stay clean and start again because this version of Unite is an ungodly mess. There's no logic or reason behind it. So yeah, I'm hoping this is the last days of the Unite of Banterir because that would have been the peak Banterir. It nearly was, but it was grim.
00:35:17
Speaker
Lads, do you want to know a frightening start, yeah? That was our 45th game of the season. We've had 40 different starting lineups this season, 28 different back fours, and 13 different centre-back partnerships. That's like something out of the NBA. That is an absolute joke. We've played the same team five times. Well, I would say, though, Nick, there's stuff coming out, and you might know, maybe close to 10-hacks training minutes, that he has them
00:35:47
Speaker
They're too physical, they're running too much, they're not. He's not giving them days off, wherever it might be. I remember the story he came out when he lost for him at the Brentford that in his second match that he had them all do like a 10k run or something. I thought, geez, that's not exactly, that's not the coaching of someone at the elite edge of the game. That seems a bit old-skilled. That's growing close stuff there. Yeah, if they're getting muscle injuries, which they are, and like other players he signed that are getting injured, that's
00:36:14
Speaker
He has to take some blame for that. I don't get this. I don't buy into this idea that you're unlucky if you get injuries. If your player snaps his ACL, they go, OK, fair enough. But players are getting hamstring injuries or calf injuries and muscle injuries. They're like, well, that could be directly linked to the training. And that would be my guess within HAG. It's directly linked to how they've been, how they've trained, basically, without knowing, without being on the inside.
00:36:38
Speaker
I don't know if I buy that like just purely because like if it was such a big issue and dating back to the training like a stop would have been put to it already but we're still getting the same the same injuries like the medical team would have came in and put a stop to it 100% so it's like
00:36:56
Speaker
I don't know what the injuries are coming from, but... We've said it before though, that you know, I didn't get any injuries from Arsenal who... Arsenal went through a period where they had very few injuries and you know, I think a lot was expected on what he could bring to the United set up and you guys have more injuries than ever and yes, you could blame a multitude of factors for that. Is it the training? Maybe. Is it the playing services? Maybe. Is it the...
00:37:24
Speaker
I suppose, congestion of fixtures, probably that too. But I do think it's a myriad of issues and all of them are playing a part. But even outside of United, I do think there needs to be, or maybe there is in the FA this being done, but there needs to be some sort of study into what is going on.
00:37:42
Speaker
Yeah, before we get to the last one on the injuries, every team has them. Newcastle have had loads. Oh, we got rinsed, yeah. Newcastle had 17-year-old lads like Lewis Miley playing a couple of games in a row, whereas Newcastle have scored 20 goals more than my night in the Premier League this season.
00:37:59
Speaker
65 though, 65 injuries. Sorry, Newcastle scored 69 goals, but load of injuries. Like every single one of Newcastle's key players have been injured. And my right corner, at some stage this season, other than maybe Gordon. You look at us, you look at Chelsea, you look at Liverpool, you look at, you know, everyone's getting rinsed this year and somehow we've managed to have a squad depth that's somewhat works for us. And that's not thrown shade at any other club. I think we've just been lucky, you know?
00:38:25
Speaker
Yeah, they scored 47 goals in the Premier League this season. They scored 58 last season. They concede as many as they score. I think there's deeper issues than injuries or bad luck or even the players, some of them like moping around or whatever it might be. I just think we've had two seasons this manager over 100 games and it's clear
00:38:47
Speaker
Clear as day, it's not going to work. And he was never really of the elite level. And it kind of proves that if the Glazers wanted him, then he wasn't the right man because the Glazers didn't know what they were doing. And that's why there's a new regime in charge now. And I can't see any way they persevere with him. I think he's done, even if he beats Man City.
00:39:08
Speaker
I was just coming, you mentioned the old Driscoll that they took from Arsenal. And like, Arsenal had a good spell of, like, not having that many injuries. Or just, or Driscoll was at Arsenal for what, 16 years or something? Yeah. And like, there was a time.
00:39:24
Speaker
Correct me if I'm wrong, kind of like 2010 to about 2015, where every Arsenal player ever was always injured. Like you had like Diabi always out, Rosiski always out, Johan Jourou always out, Miguel Sylvester always out, Al Munier was always out.
00:39:44
Speaker
like you had this squad that was always patchwork and in fairness this was the era when Venger was getting fourth after fourth after fourth and it became a joke yeah like Wilshire coming through and again these could all be external things but like I don't know if having somebody like him with that experience is gonna necessarily help a coach that seems to have these kind of Martin O'Neill-esque training methods plus a lot of games put that all together
00:40:17
Speaker
I think you're right in terms of historically Arsenal had quite a lot of injuries. I think where it slightly changed for Arsenal in their fortunes was when he moved from club doctor to head of medical in 2017, that kind of 2017 through 2023, it seemed to get better. So I think he was involved in a system that had a lot of injuries, but when he was able to own the system, it seemed to decrease the volume of injuries.
00:40:44
Speaker
Regardless of the team, something needs to get looked into here because I'm not trying to be a champion of players I'll never meet, but it's just not right.
00:40:53
Speaker
Yeah, and we've even moved away from the injuries. We're looking at 10-hag here, like Anthony's antics here today, and the way he was golden, the carpentry players. Anthony's probably the least likeable, most league likeable footballers in the Premier League, and he's definitely top five worst man out of science I've seen, and I watch him longer than I care to tell you guys. That has to come back to 10-hag as well. He actually
00:41:19
Speaker
had a part in 75 million euro, like 75 million euro, think of that, like going to Aliax to sign this guy.
00:41:27
Speaker
Can we just appreciate that he's starting in your team and Jaden Sancho is in the semi finals of the Champions League. Yeah and that's another thing you could say like Sancho wouldn't be my cup of tea I don't think he'd be great but like he obviously is talented and then I couldn't get a tune out of him and like I seem to trade on trust. He chose to sign Anthony over kudos. Sancho wouldn't be bothered to turn up the train and that's surreal.
00:41:50
Speaker
boy i saw a thing like a thread today on twitter people are like i'm gonna some guy was an unnamed championship wingers who are better than anthony and there was loads of them like samodix was in there in a new order here at home he probably is like that would rinse anthony
00:42:09
Speaker
I'm not having people having a go at them for getting in the vase after the penalty. You don't punch down, Nate, I think. I think it's bad to punch down. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's where I think it's lacking class. You don't punch down. You don't punch down. Sorry, Nate. Do you remember Argentina and Netherlands in the World Cup quarterfinals? Argentina knocked them out and all of the Argentinian players turned and started golden.
00:42:33
Speaker
and netherlands because it's been like a real hard fought game they're two equals that's that's sure how they want to watch that but when you're dealing with the lads who are on the fraction of what you're being paid and even just that it's a club that in the last five years was borderline on the brink of existence like this was the biggest moment
00:42:56
Speaker
in about 15 years for Coventry. Coventry nearly didn't have a stadium. Nearly, I think there might have even been an administration. The last time Coventry were worth talking about, I think Lee Carsey was playing. Okay, this is what happened.
00:43:12
Speaker
The Coventry player went to the United fans, cupped his ear as if they weren't chanting anymore. That's number one. And then number two, McGuire was about to step up for his penalty and they were all golden walking up.
00:43:27
Speaker
Because they have to do those things. 100%, but if you're going to give it, you're going to get it. That's how I see it. Fair game is fair game. That is like a seven-year-old doing step over. No, no, no. If they were doing that to me, I'd do 100% back. Anthony, I'm with you on this one.
00:43:47
Speaker
No. It was the calibre when Harry Maguire is the good guy here. I'm telling you, I would do it 100% back to them because you get it as good as you give it and that's just how it is. I don't care if you pay for Coventry or Barcelona.
00:44:02
Speaker
I just think Anthony's just a little cretin. He'll do this to anyone. He's just winding up. I don't think we could say, oh, he was trying to defend the United players. I defend Harry Maguire. He's just a nasty little piece of work. He's got to do this anyway. He doesn't need an excuse. So no, I think 10-0, I can go back to Ajax and take Anthony with him.
00:44:23
Speaker
the way transfers often work like that you'd probably you know you'd probably pay in installments like just turn around the way I ask you know listen we'd probably pay to 40 million like just take them back like and you can have 10 hag as well like and we just call it like call it a day like we you always want for Donny Von the beak like it's it's like let us have this and just take them back and just move on like I think
00:44:46
Speaker
It was just class this night. I don't think he can punch down and I don't think he cares about the United fans. I think that's it. Maguire is the same guy you ignored. Remember on the pitch last year, Maguire came over to shake his hand or whatever after he scored and he gave him a dirty look. Like, who's this goon coming over to me here? So, yeah, Anthony out. I have no time for that guy. And it's nothing to do with celebrating. Because, like, Hylin celebrated after scoring the winning penalty. And he did it with the fans. And that was, like, cool. You scored, you won the game. That's cool.
00:45:16
Speaker
You don't do what Anthony did. You do, but they've done it to you. It's game. You're not going to get me to move on this. If it was me in that situation and they were doing that to me, I'd 100% go back. Look, I love Shithouse very more than most men. I love it more than most men and I can be a petty little bastard at the best of times. But when you play for Man United,
00:45:40
Speaker
I hate to say it and it makes me skin crawl. You're expected to be better. You're expected to be a leader of the game. You're expected to be a bastion for the culture of the game. And when I don't care, as long as they're not doing anything that's like reckless in terms of assault or racism or anything like that, you take it on the chin and as you walk down the tunnel, you have a good old laugh at their expense. But I don't think you do air cupping or, or anything like that.
00:46:11
Speaker
Coventry's whole squad is worth less than what was paid for Anthony. Coventry's whole squad is worth 50 million. We're really sitting here going, oh poor little Coventry got, poor little Coventry got a little crying face for it. Like come on lads, seriously. Like they're not little children like they can get over it. It's not that big of a deal. I think it's more what it says about you know you don't need that. Like that's the level they've been reduced to that like the golden championship players like
00:46:39
Speaker
and they're relieved to get through against the championship team having been training up. So for me, this could be like the defining image of the last is a 10-hack like of Anthony and just, yeah, it was just embarrassing. I totally agree.
00:46:56
Speaker
on the overall general conversation. I think this may have actually gone under the radar, but I just thought we had to kind of mention it was, did anybody else notice that Martin O'Neill has been elected to the head of LMA, the League Managers Association? Martin O'Neill. Martin O'Neill has been elected chairman of the LMA. Wow. I did not, I did not see that anywhere. And that is a cushy little gig for him now.
00:47:25
Speaker
Martin O'Neill, who says go and play a five-a-side and that's your coaching, is going to be telling other coaches and representing them. I mean, are you surprised? Any football institution at the moment seems to be deeply ingrained in bad decisions, the FAI being a major component of that. So it doesn't surprise me that another governing body or not even governing body, representative body is having an outer.
00:47:55
Speaker
Anybody else listen to him on Talksport? No. I honestly thought he'd kind of sailed into the sun somewhere up north. I've been to enough on the press conferences. I've heard enough from that man. But hit me. But at least I kid him. It is worth listening in because rarely does he make sense. And he kind of sounds a little bit kind of hungover constantly.
00:48:21
Speaker
Yeah, I'd be worried about the managers going forward because if this is going to be one of their advisories, it's not exactly a great look. Neither is Chelsea because
00:48:35
Speaker
5-0 against Arsenal at the time of recording, it's just after finishing. We said it before, I'm going to say it again, we need to get a Chelsea fan on just to talk about what has happened now. As you know you're finally, I'm taking so much pleasure from team Chelsea, struggle. It's just
00:48:55
Speaker
It's almost like, yeah, this is where they kind of should be in the mid-table and the banter club. Where they used to be. Yeah, that's it. They were so good for so long. And it's just hilarious to watch this absolute state of the squad. And I actually feel bad for Pochettino. I think they'd be closer to the relegation zone if he wasn't the manager. But yeah, he'll probably take the heat for this. But I think they're a joke, basically.
00:49:24
Speaker
I have to say we're looking at the scores when you run through them. So you got Tracer 2 by Ben White and 2 by Kai Havart. And I saw a tremendous, tremendous shithouse chant over the weekend aimed at Ben White going, your spray tan is shite. Your spray tan is shite. Ben White, your spray tan is shite. So I'm kind of happy to see him come back and net too.
00:49:46
Speaker
Benjamin White. Benjamin White. Ever since he came out and said my name is Benjamin not Ben, I love that man's career. I honestly don't care. One of the interesting things coming out of Chelsea though I have to say was
00:50:04
Speaker
Pochettino has kind of hinted that Nokaku will be involved next year. Is this going to be another false dawn for Chelsea and another false dawn for Nokaku? Like, Nate, you've had him at your club. Do you think his career is now done or is he going to make a Premier League comeback next year? I don't know what Nokaku is, right? Like, he's, he's, but it's not something to blame.
00:50:31
Speaker
Oh Jesus. 21, 22. Yeah. Yeah. The year before last. Yeah. Yes. Like to be honest, I think he's a bit past it now, isn't he? He's been to Italy living the whole life. Never has a player looked more like the Turkish league. He'd be at AC Milan next year. Like he's just making his way around the Italian clubs.
00:50:56
Speaker
Speaking of Italian clubs, actually, did you see Giroud has signed for LAFC as of today, heads over in the summer, 18 month contract? Yeah, and actually another one that kind of passed me by was, do you know why Alexei Sanchez is back at Inter? And that the Inter have just won the Serie A, so Alexei Sanchez is winning titles. Take that, you know, out of fans. I don't know. I'm an out of it, as well. It's like a Premier League, a few Premier League outcasts in their squad.
00:51:25
Speaker
it's insane it's actually so like i just don't get it and to what else we don't get is an ironman manager until the summer now i know we hinted about it in our intro but yeah no manager now until the summer me and connor called can we have our flowers please bouquets have been arriving at the door all week
00:51:49
Speaker
We called this absolute catastrophe that is the FAI. Obviously, Hill's gone, Canem has to go, won't go. Jokes aside, it's genuinely worrying the position we're in and the lack of, again, akin to the referee's charge, just the accountability.
00:52:11
Speaker
it coming out and saying we kind of misjudged the timelines and we probably shouldn't have made an announcement that's just simply not good enough in any way and the fact now that players are coming out and criticizing it it's a really bad look rob oh yeah it's a disgrace like so to come out with a pre-record hostage video on a friday like that's terrible like if you're going to do that sit down a group of journalists you didn't want that obviously because you know it'd be grilled but it just looks terrible
00:52:40
Speaker
They can't manage the message. They can't draw any narrative. People are praising them, saying, well, there's no leaks coming out because there's no progress being made. They don't know who they're going to appoint. They should just appoint John O'Shea.
00:52:55
Speaker
And there's no one else, there's no one else. And I don't think there's anyone else that's going to emerge. And he did say, Kanem said that the market, he said something about like how the market is competitive. What he means there is like, listen, that's, we're absolutely smashed and we can't really afford anyone. I think he's like 600K, which is probably what Roy Keane was getting to be an assistant to O'Neill. Like they're not going to get anyone. And it's not like the team are ranked by 60 odd in the world.
00:53:22
Speaker
We haven't won a game, and God knows how long. So it's looking pretty bad. I would just probably give it to O'Shea because he is a human. He's a manager. He's Irish. He's a nice fella. Just let him do it. He's got the Allodice podcast.
00:53:39
Speaker
No, it's worth a listen. So he kind of talks about it and he was like, this is my 30 something year being involved in Ireland as a player and now as a coach. And he obviously really feels for it. He also really feels for Sunderland because I thought that was an interesting part of the conversation.
00:54:01
Speaker
He's very, he's a lot more articulate about the managerial things and a lot more kind of, he was a lot more willing to talk about like when he was a Birmingham of like with Rooney and he kind of talks about that a little bit, but then he also mentions about when Mulberry came in and talking about the structures of Sunderland and he kind of criticises the Sunderland for not having enough youth and experience blended. So it's kind of like, given these little hints about how he,
00:54:28
Speaker
could imagine things in the long term, but I was actually watching and kind of thinking, I would love to see John O'Shea as a manager if you had Big Sam as his assistant. But I think this is something that modern football is actually missing. If you look back at Peter Reed at Sunderland,
00:54:48
Speaker
late 90s early 2000s he had Bobby Saxton who was like 15 years older than him as his assistant we have all these guys that are just becoming managers with nobody to show them the ropes whereas before you had your time as a manager you became an assistant manager and then you retired what's happening now is you have the likes of Big Sam with their egos that just want to be a manager forever
00:55:09
Speaker
But all that happens there I think is, and I like the concept of someone with more experience being in an assistant manager role and guiding through the next generation of managers. But I think all that happens there is after, say, O'Shea goes through a crap qualification or we lose a load of games in the trot, they'll just go, Jesus, all right, cheers, John. Thanks for the effort. Big Sam, there's your job. And it's back to square one, you know?
00:55:32
Speaker
I don't know if
00:55:47
Speaker
inadvertently rule them out because if he was to take it now, it would be probably embarrassing because he's not even on the shortlist because it doesn't seem to be a shortlist. Then he said, we'll get in touch with John and ask if he wants to be the interim manager in June, but you haven't even asked him yet. You think they would at least do that before they do the little interview.
00:56:08
Speaker
I wouldn't trust you. Maybe we should just not play football for a while. Just reset. We've done well. We were sixth in the world in 1993. That will work a quarterfinal. FBI has just disbanded. Start again. And then maybe in a couple of years, you can go back and play it again. I don't know. Maybe we'll have a United Ireland team or something. But that organization doesn't look capable of finding a manager.
00:56:38
Speaker
So I don't know what's going to happen. I wouldn't be paying to go watch them play anyway. Fun fact, who was like the first sole Irish manager? What year are we talking here? More recent than you'd want. Fucking notice. I died. I think the man is still alive. Jack, no, what a bit... Jack Charlton's dead, so it can't be him.
00:57:06
Speaker
It wasn't Giles, it was someone before Giles. Oh god, this is annoying me. I'm pretty sure about this. Famous last words. Yeah. Okay, give it to us. I don't think we're getting it.
00:57:22
Speaker
own hand I think he was the first proper sole manager because before that there was like Alan Kelly senior but I think he was kind of part of a committee because before that it was all committee or like player managers and stuff so it was always this kind of like caveat where I think he was the first one to actually kind of just well all of our listeners that is your homework for this week learn up on our own hand
00:57:47
Speaker
I actually think it was a guy called Mick Megan. Mick Megan. Sorry, kidding. Yeah, that's what my Wikipedia started me here. Mick Megan. Get him back. Oh, yeah.
00:58:00
Speaker
Sorry, we passed away in 2022 at 88 but who else? What former manager can we get in? We're really going down that route. It's Graham Pickens, it really is. I still think that we could be a lot more clever and I don't mean by just going for coaches. I think we should look to the women's game and if we can get Harvey Renard, I'd absolutely take him.
00:58:23
Speaker
I think there is like, look at what John Herdman for Canada, he's brought through a very strong team of Jonathan Davies and David and Alonso Davies. And he was the assistant coach for Canada. And before that, he was the women's coach. So like, I think we need to get a little bit more kind of wrong thinking as a nation. What do you think?
00:58:47
Speaker
Yeah, that's to be honest with you. This process has just tarred me out with Ireland. It's just, yeah, it's been exhausting. I just think they pushed it further down the line and most of the times just want to go now. There's just no middle ground whatsoever. And I think, yeah, it's just going to be a long couple of months. I don't think we're going to get the result that we want.
00:59:13
Speaker
I'll be honest, lads, I thought we were so close to finishing a pardon without having to talk about the FBI. We got so close, boys. Yeah. It's inevitable. It's always going to happen until, well, probably won't next week unless there's another scandal. But about next week, we can only know what's going to happen then on our next episode. So gentlemen, thank you very much for joining me this evening. Fun as always, boys. Thanks.
00:59:43
Speaker
Bye bye!