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Ange Addresses the Nation
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Transcript
Introduction to Daily Premier League Podcast
00:00:12
Global Sports Podcast Network
Welcome everybody, welcome, welcome, welcome wherever you are in the world, a very warm welcome to Global Sports Podcast Network Towers and welcome in particular to the Daily Premier League Podcast.
Return of Premier League & Upcoming Matches
00:00:25
Global Sports Podcast Network
It's Saturday, the 18th of October, it's 8 o'clock in the morning, it still feels a little bit dark outside as we enter the autumn and winter season, but The international break is over. It's back to the action. It's back to the cut and thrust, the success and the disappointment.
00:00:43
Global Sports Podcast Network
It's back to the heroes and villains of the Premier League. And you are listening, of course, to the daily Premier League podcast, part of Global Sports Podcast Network. My name's Ken Davis.
00:00:53
Global Sports Podcast Network
His name is Nick Britton. And we're here every day to bring you everything that's going on in the best league in the world. Nick, how are you doing, my friend?
00:01:04
Nick Britten
I'm doing very well. Thank very much. I'm about to jump on a train to London and have a good day in London. So I'm looking forward to that.
00:01:09
Global Sports Podcast Network
Ooh, lovely. Any a football involved?
00:01:11
Nick Britten
dead No football involved. The odd beer, perhaps. We shall see.
00:01:17
Global Sports Podcast Network
no No doubt about I was down there Wednesday. I did exactly the same thing. So enjoy yourself ah in London. Now, we like to keep things fairly light on the Daily Premier League podcast. You'll have noticed that.
00:01:28
Global Sports Podcast Network
We have fun. We have banter. We have little disagreements. But, you know, we're friends. We love each other. But sometimes...
00:01:39
Global Sports Podcast Network
you've got deal with two your issues than that. Sometimes you've got to deal with issues which are, ah you know, we don't want to deal with, but we have to deal with and we have to talk about because they're unpleasant and the things that detract from the beautiful game and they need to be aired openly. And there's three things we want to talk about today, but the first one definitely falls into that category.
Maccabi Tel Aviv Fans & Birmingham Match
00:02:04
Global Sports Podcast Network
It's ah never like really like it when politics and sport intermingle, but we cannot cannot walk away from the fact we have this terrible situation developing in relation to politics.
00:02:16
Global Sports Podcast Network
whether Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters from Israel are going to be able to visit and watch and support their team when they play Aston Villa in Birmingham in the European competitions.
00:02:29
Global Sports Podcast Network
So ah that's what i develop a developing story in the UK very much. ah And we need to talk about it because it's a big issue.
Rising Anti-Semitism in UK Sports
00:02:37
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah Nick, give us give me your take. I'll give you my take and we'll we'll see what the general the general view is on this situation.
00:02:45
Nick Britten
I feel that this is a seminal moment in in a lot of ways. We've seen a lot of... Well, let's deal with the first thing first. This has been mooted on the grounds of safety. And if you look at the Aston Villa statement, it's saying that West Midlands have advised the safety advisory group, which is a kind of collection of and stakeholders around each city that advises on safety ahead of a football match.
00:03:10
Nick Britten
have formally written to club to to advise that no fans will be permitted, no away fans will be permitted. And they're saying they have public safety concerns outside the stadium bowl and the ability to deal with any potential protests on the night.
00:03:27
Nick Britten
So the curtain that they are hiding behind on this is safety.
00:03:28
Global Sports Podcast Network
Thank you.
00:03:31
Nick Britten
And there is precedent. yeah Away fans have been banned from games before. it's not That's not an entirely new thing. But nobody really thinks or believes this is about safety.
00:03:43
Nick Britten
This is tapping into the continued rise of anti-Semitism in the UK. And it's a very, very worrying moment because we've seen so much of it in the last couple of years. We've seen this allowed to fester and allowed to rise unhindered.
00:04:02
Nick Britten
Politicians haven't been interested. The police haven't been interested. They've allowed in London these hate marches to take place every single Saturday. And that has fostered and emboldened those who believe in anti-Semitism. And then as a result of that emboldenment, we're seeing more and more of it come out. and We've seen a horrendous murder.
00:04:23
Nick Britten
and ah of Jews a couple of weeks ago in Manchester and now we've got this situation whereby under quite a strong protest we believe it's been reported from the ah Muslim lobby in Birmingham and of course Birmingham is a very very pro-Palestinian very Muslim dominated area well not dominated but it's got a very heavy Muslim population in there and particularly around Villa Park so
00:04:45
Global Sports Podcast Network
okay
00:04:53
Nick Britten
What we're left with is ah very worrying situation where for what what very much appears for political reasons, football fans are not being allowed to attend a game.
00:05:05
Nick Britten
And the question is, where where does this leave us? Where does this lead to if this ban stays in place? Are we now to say that certain groups of society, and bear in mind Britain is supposed to be an open democratic and democratic loving country. we are you know We are meant to open our arms to all societies. We're meant to be tolerant.
00:05:28
Nick Britten
ah It doesn't feel like it at the moment, I can tell you that. ah Where does this leave us? Are certain groups not allowed to attend football in the future? Are certain groups going to be told to stay away from places because their safety cannot be guaranteed by the police, whose job it is to keep us safe?
00:05:43
Nick Britten
Birmingham police, West Midlands police, as they are, have policed much, much, much bigger and more dangerous games than Aston Villa versus Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Premier League. and and Sorry, in the Champions League.
00:05:55
Nick Britten
They've been much bigger games they've had to deal with in the past. Don't forget that Villa Park itself has been a... a ground that's hosted and FA Cup semi-finals going back in the days of rampant hooliganism.
00:06:04
Global Sports Podcast Network
Thank
00:06:06
Nick Britten
It's hosted European games. It's due to host, by the way, it is due to host ah games during the European Championship. If this ban goes ahead, are we now to say, well, we can't host games during the European Championship because we've got to be worried about the safety of supporters?
00:06:23
Nick Britten
You know, where does this take us as a country? to say that and we're going to ghettoize Jewish people now and say, right, you've got to stay in this place. You're not allowed out and you're not allowed to go about your daily
Political Implications of Fan Bans
00:06:33
Nick Britten
lives. You're not allowed to go to football games because we can't protect you.
00:06:38
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, it's it's a it's horrible step down a very slippery slope.
00:06:46
Global Sports Podcast Network
you know I think we'd all agree with that. I think there's a couple of points I'd like to add to that because you know clearly there is... a There's a nasty aspect to what we've seen over the course of last couple of years in relation to, of course, it's been ah an extremely distressing situation with Israel and Palestine and Gaza.
00:07:08
Global Sports Podcast Network
Can't disagree that. There has been legitimate political ah unhappiness and protest about that. And rightly so, because people are allowed to do that.
00:07:19
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah the The thing to me, though, is that this comes at exactly the wrong time because yeah we've just seen a de-escalation of the situation in relation to Gaza with the peace deal that seems to be holding, seems to have resulted in the saving of lives on both sides, seems to have resulted in the return of...
00:07:48
Global Sports Podcast Network
captured, prisoners, of hostages, it seems to be a situation which everyone in the world has an interest in de-escalating. And that's a great thing to see because it needed it.
00:08:04
Global Sports Podcast Network
This seems to be counter against that in the sense of what we're saying at this point in time is that Certain people, certain teams, certain countries are not welcome.
00:08:19
Global Sports Podcast Network
And one of the things that confuses me is on what basis do they think that the Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters are going to cause trouble?
00:08:31
Global Sports Podcast Network
Do they think, or actually is this being done under the pretext of protecting Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters? And if so, nobody seemed to have asked them whether they wanted protected.
00:08:43
Global Sports Podcast Network
So ultimately, i think that clearly it's a political thing. Clearly, there's a lot of pressure being applied, I think, in Birmingham by certain factions to make sure that doesn't take place.
00:08:56
Global Sports Podcast Network
I'm glad to see Keir Starmer, Prime Minister of the UK, has waded in with this and say, no, that's not acceptable. We need to try and which need to try and solve this situation.
00:09:06
Global Sports Podcast Network
Go on, you're about to come in there.
00:09:07
Nick Britten
Well, well you you are until it turns out that the Home Office
Lessons from History & Tolerance
00:09:11
Nick Britten
and the Home Secretary, Siobhan Mahmood, who is also a Birmingham m MP, knew about this nine days ago and said nothing.
00:09:18
Nick Britten
she knew well she didn't know it was going to She didn't know about the final decision, but she knew there was serious consideration nine days ago of away fans being banned, the Tel Aviv fans being banned, and said and did nothing.
00:09:31
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah. So as far as we're concerned, it's just the latest step in this creep of anti-Semitism that we've seen happen in the course of the last couple of years.
00:09:42
Global Sports Podcast Network
Whether you agree or you disagree with what's happening in Gaza, what's happening in Israel, ah there's no place for it. it's It's going back to Germany of the by stealth.
00:09:53
Global Sports Podcast Network
by stealth And you might think that's an over-exaggeration. It's not.
00:09:57
Nick Britten
but I think it is.
00:09:57
Global Sports Podcast Network
so what What happened in the 1930s happened in tiny little steps and tiny little tiny little changes to people's belief systems and tiny little changes as to what they consider to be acceptable.
00:09:59
Nick Britten
Yeah.
00:10:12
Global Sports Podcast Network
It's not acceptable that football fans from certain countries are not allowed to come because we don't agree with the politics of those particular countries. Even in the height of apartheid in South Africa.
00:10:27
Global Sports Podcast Network
Even when we banned South Africa from from sports, we didn't ban South African people from going to sport. This is way, way way ah too big step.
00:10:38
Global Sports Podcast Network
Birmingham need to reassess themselves. And just a final point on this, which I just want to bring you in on again, Nick, is if they go ahead with this, if Birmingham say, no, we're not allowing any Israelis,
00:10:51
Global Sports Podcast Network
any Jewish people in the city to support their football team. I mean, what sanctions should apply to Birmingham?
00:11:00
Nick Britten
Well, I'll come back to that in a minute. I think the the important thing is that I criticise certainly the Home Secretary for sitting on this, essentially, for several days. I mean, it is good to see the government have got involved. It's good to see that this is now being discussed at the top level. And actually, now that it is being discussed with politicians being involved, i.e. the Prime Minister, I think this decision will be reversed. I think i think it will change because I don't think the police will be left with any choice.
00:11:25
Global Sports Podcast Network
Good.
00:11:26
Nick Britten
<unk> Although the government is not meant to have any influence over policing. Well, others clearly have had influence over policing in the in the fact that decisions been made in the first place. But i think I think it will be overturned.
00:11:38
Nick Britten
However, I think Birmingham's got to take a good long look at itself because if the police there, this is this is meant to be England's second city. It's meant to be England's third city. It's in a state of general disrepair anyway.
00:11:49
Nick Britten
There's been a bin strike going on for several months now. There's rubbish piling up all over the streets. I was in the city centre about a month ago when I went to watch the England Andorra game. It's an absolute mess.
00:12:00
Nick Britten
It's not really a place that looks very welcoming or very nice. They've got big problems to sort out themselves without having to deal with this. I think that the FA and other football authorities should be looking very carefully at whether Birmingham should host these big football games going forward.
00:12:17
Nick Britten
If this decision stays, I think it's a very easy decision to say that Birmingham should never, ever host another major football game again, because if they can't protect supporters, presumably, less yeah let's pretend for a moment that this is nothing to do with ah Jewish people. let's Let's pretend it is just down to safety of supporters. Well, if they can't protect a few hundred, because there's not going a massive crowd there,
00:12:39
Nick Britten
then what are they going to do when it's when Villa play Birmingham again? What are they going to do when Tottenham, you know, have a very strong Jewish support base, are they going to do when Tottenham go to Villa Park? Are they to they can't come? What are they going to do when Poland or some of the Eastern European countries who've got horrendous records of violence supporters, are they they're not going to come?
00:12:39
Global Sports Podcast Network
right.
00:12:57
Nick Britten
I've never seen this before. I've never, ever seen This has never happened before in
00:13:00
Global Sports Podcast Network
It's a bit of a coincidence, isn't it? It's a bit of a coincidence that this safety issue just happens happens to be when an Israeli team he's is due to play in Birmingham.
00:13:10
Global Sports Podcast Network
Well, we've got to move on. It's a distressing situation. It's one that we've got very strong views about. It's one that we both agree on, which is a rarity around it. But...
00:13:21
Global Sports Podcast Network
but It's something that ah the government needs to step in, resolve and bang a few heads together in the nicest possible way. So, ah right. And by the way, just before we finish on that, it's important to say this is not Villa's fault.
00:13:38
Global Sports Podcast Network
there's There's no blame attached to Villa here. she this This is the fault of the city of Birmingham.
00:13:44
Nick Britten
Oh, 100%. Yeah. No, there's no blame on Villa. They're sort of in an innocent victims. Them and their supporters are the very innocent victims who've been caught in this horrendous crossfire. But, you let's not be any ah under any doubt. This is a massive moment, I think, in the UK's ability to stand up for itself and to but and to remain ah tolerant country. Because if you...
00:14:06
Nick Britten
allow this kind of thing to fester. And you've said it just a moment ago. If you allow antisemitism and bigotry and racism, all you do is embolden bigotry, antisemitism and racism, and it will just get worse and worse and worse.
00:14:19
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, hear here, here. Okay. Well, as we know in football, as Keir Starmer knows, it pays to get your team selection right. I'm not sure he's got that right the moment. Here at Global Sports Podcast Network, we spend a lot of time selecting our delivery partner.
00:14:34
Global Sports Podcast Network
We chose
Promotion for Zencastr
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Global Sports Podcast Network
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00:14:54
Global Sports Podcast Network
You'll find all the details you need to know right there.
00:15:09
Global Sports Podcast Network
Right, part two of very interesting episode. you'll agree. all A very warm welcome, by the way, to all our listeners in the United States. um It's very good to have you along.
00:15:21
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah We are going out on the System of Hooligan Network in a great name, Hooligan Sports in America. ah So there'll be a lot and lots and lots of Americans listening to this now who may not have encountered us before. My name's Ken Davis.
00:15:35
Global Sports Podcast Network
His name is Nick Britton. We bring you everything you'll ever need to know about the Premier League on a daily basis. You can reach us, by the way, if you want to do that by email, dailypremierleagepodcastgmail.com.
00:15:48
Global Sports Podcast Network
That'll get to us. We like receiving messages and thoughts, and we're probably going to receive a few after this episode. so And it's great to have you along, and we'll make sure that we cover those thoughts and messages in a later podcast. Now,
00:16:05
Global Sports Podcast Network
The second thing I want to talk about today is I love a diatribe.
Ange Postacoglu's Defense and Challenges
00:16:10
Global Sports Podcast Network
I love a monologue. And Ange Postacoglu, my favourite Australian football manager, went on a six-minute... I got the word rant. It wasn't a rant, actually.
00:16:22
Global Sports Podcast Network
It was a rather brilliant, I thought, defence of his track record. If Ange Postacoglu was a lawyer... and I'd committed heinous crime. I was on trial for murder.
00:16:35
Global Sports Podcast Network
I'd want Ange walking in the room as my defence lawyer. It was a fascinating, fascinating ah six minutes ah uninterrupted, unscripted defence of his track record. Brilliant.
00:16:50
Global Sports Podcast Network
There are number of points I wanted to bring out from it, which you want to discuss. But Nick, what was your overall overall take on it?
00:16:54
Nick Britten
oh
00:16:56
Global Sports Podcast Network
It
00:16:56
Nick Britten
Just box office. It's proper box office. And one of the great reasons, and there are many reasons why Ange cannot get sacked Forrest, is because we can't lose this out of the the Premier League.
00:16:59
Global Sports Podcast Network
was great.
00:17:08
Nick Britten
He's such good value. He so is such good value. And we were talking off air, weren't we, about the fact he he spends all his time saying...
00:17:20
Nick Britten
I don't care what people think about me. And then all the rest of his other time say, defending himself and talking about himself.
00:17:28
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, I think there's bit a mismatch there, isn't there?
00:17:29
Nick Britten
So um I'm drawn, I'm drawn. yeah I'm drawn to Shakespeare's, I'm drawn to Shakespeare's Hamlet in this and and Queen Gertrude and the very famous line, methinks the lady doth protest too much.
00:17:42
Nick Britten
And I think that's, that's Ange all over, isn't it?
00:17:45
Global Sports Podcast Network
It is. reckon if if you sat down with a psychoanalyst, I think the the conclusion would be by the psychoanalyst, who are you kidding? Who you trying to kid, Ang?
00:17:57
Global Sports Podcast Network
If you really care, if you really don't care, then don't care. We're getting a lot of mixed messages here. But it was brilliant. Anyway, it's brilliant, and brilliant, brilliant. So there's four points I want to bring out that I... i i I picked out of this, but there's probably 12, but we haven't got that long.
00:18:15
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah The first thing I noticed was this note that he hadn't spoken to Marinakis throughout the international break. Now, that's a red flag for me.
00:18:28
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah You know, we know what Marinakis is like, yeah and we know there's actually somebody in the middle ah who I guess is the direct report for Ange. But it just given the situation Forrest fired themselves in, given the fact that Ange felt the need to do this, wouldn't it be a sensible thing for, you know, Mananakis put his arm around his shoulders say, hey, fellow Greek to Greek, it's going to be okay.
00:18:55
Nick Britten
Why would they be saying that in an Italian accent, though?
00:18:58
Global Sports Podcast Network
don't know, doing Rome while they're doing it, it's picked up their local accent.
00:19:00
Nick Britten
Yeah, this this kind of this kind of has shadows and echoes of Nuno's press conference when he talked himself out of a job only a few weeks ago, doesn't it?
00:19:08
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah. Yep.
00:19:08
Nick Britten
No, don't speak the chairman. No, all this kind of stuff. Now, we know we know, obviously, one of the reasons that Nuno was unhappy was because Edu arrived as global head of football, and that cut off the communication chain between manager and chairman.
00:19:17
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah
00:19:22
Nick Britten
But this is a little bit different because Maranakis was hand-picked ah he's handpicked Postokoglu he made a big say about the Greek heritage and all that kind of stuff and how much he admires him and all of that so the fact they've had no conversation over two weeks is absolutely staggering And it probably tells you.
00:19:38
Global Sports Podcast Network
it is
00:19:38
Nick Britten
It probably tells you what... Listen, as you know, Ken, and as all listeners to the Daily Premier League podcast know, I've been doing my very, very best to defend and and make the point that he needs time.
00:19:49
Nick Britten
He's having to change complete culture at a football club. He's having to like you know change total team ethic and team way playing. And you can't do that overnight. You can't do it in a matter of games. But... When you, all this sort of stuff that off the pitch starts swilling around and all these kind of comments start being made, and when you hear him say what he said, he almost feels like he knows the writing and is on the wall, just like Nuno, exactly like Nuno did a few weeks ago. He knows the writing's on the wall and he's getting his defence in first.
00:20:17
Global Sports Podcast Network
like I agree with that. He caught a rather lonely figure, I thought. ah And... It is.
00:20:23
Nick Britten
that's his That's his shtick, isn't it? That's what he does. He kind of plays the victim. he likes this He likes this kind of scenario where he paints be he paints himself as the victim.
00:20:34
Nick Britten
He paints himself as the outlier. He paints himself as the only one who's different and then comes out fighting. That's what he does.
00:20:40
Global Sports Podcast Network
Would you?
00:20:40
Nick Britten
and That's what he's always done.
00:20:41
Global Sports Podcast Network
Which I love. I love the pugilist in him. I love his pugnacious attitude. I love the fact that he'll take reporters on and he just doesn't give the normal coach speak.
00:20:55
Global Sports Podcast Network
He talks like a human being and about his his failings and his successes. and I love all that about him. In fact, I'm a big fan of Andy Post-Coglu. I do like him.
00:21:07
Global Sports Podcast Network
I'm not a great fan. I don't particularly rate Maranakis. don't trust Maranakis. I don't really, I've not seen anything to rate Edu. And, you know I'd like to see him.
00:21:15
Nick Britten
And the office is the end.
00:21:16
Global Sports Podcast Network
I'd like to see both of those people coming out a little bit more and say, no, we've made our choice. we We understand the vision. We understand what we're trying to achieve here with Postacoglu. ah You know, there's no issue.
00:21:27
Global Sports Podcast Network
There's no pressure. He's got as long as he wants. There's none of that. And I just think it's ah but falling apart again. The wheel's coming off again.
00:21:37
Nick Britten
It is. It's starting to feel like it now. And Maranakis, much like Postacoglu, is a renegade. He's an outlier.
00:21:43
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:21:43
Nick Britten
He's not an usual football chairman. And he's very, very unpredictable. Very unpredictable.
00:21:50
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:21:50
Nick Britten
so So we don't know. i mean, look, the fact that Andrew's still there today as far as heading into the game against Chelsea, I can surprise you. I think you were expecting him to get in the chop, weren't you, during international break? ah But we're now back in that territory that we we get with managers where...
00:22:06
Nick Britten
next game, next game. We've been we've been we've been with Ameren on this for quite a long time. Oh, he'll lose his job in the next game. He'll lose his job of the next game. So, I don't know. But I mean, he said yesterday, didn't he? He was asked a very obvious question.
00:22:18
Nick Britten
It was always going to be the first question to press release. How are you feeling? You haven't won a game. i Do you feel like you're under pressure? That's ah the most bog-standard, quite boring question any journalist could ask. And it just sparked this extraordinary...
00:22:29
Nick Britten
as you say, monologue, where he started from, well, I guess from my perspective, I just don't fit, not here, just in general. So he's kind of already, as I said, he's painting himself as this kind of victim in all of this and that he's he's different to everybody else.
00:22:43
Global Sports Podcast Network
It was like he was in therapy. It's like he was at, yeah, he was just like, oh, just tell us how you feel.
00:22:45
Nick Britten
It was, it felt like that, didn't it? It felt like that, yeah.
00:22:49
Global Sports Podcast Network
How does that make you feel, Ange? And like, how it all comes.
00:22:54
Nick Britten
Yeah, think we know how it makes him feel.
00:22:54
Global Sports Podcast Network
um Yeah, we really we we're very clear now how he feels about it. There's a couple of other things want to touch on, which I thought was quite entertaining. He talked about his Tottenham days and that amazing thing, and I'm really interested to be on this, where where when he's been interviewed for the Tottenham job, he said he was told, well, we tried winners.
00:23:16
Global Sports Podcast Network
We tried to bring in winners like Mourinho Conte. And that didn't really work for us. So we thought we might try Ange, which is obviously is implying that you ain't a winner, Ange.
00:23:27
Nick Britten
I'm fine.
00:23:30
Global Sports Podcast Network
We've tried the winner thing. That doesn't work. which We thought we'd try a non-winner this time. He was obviously little bit insulted by that. Who wouldn't be? ah That's a bit unfair on Ange, isn't it?
00:23:40
Nick Britten
I find that, I have to say, i mean, I don't know whether he's reworking history because it doesn't sound to me like the sort of thing that Daniel Levy would say. And I wonder if this is, angie' A, his interpretation of it in hindsight, and B, his that that just sort of plays into his narrative that we've just been talking about, which is this sort victim mentality, isn't it?
00:24:00
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah. Victim. it it a Victim things. Victim mentality, isn't it?
00:24:03
Nick Britten
Because the reality is he has won stuff wherever he's gone.
00:24:07
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:24:07
Nick Britten
won trophies wherever he's gone.
00:24:08
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:24:09
Nick Britten
So yes, he hasn't won them on the level that Jose Mourinho or Antonio Conte has. Let's be frank. But he's won stuff wherever he's gone. And so I don't know. I think this is a bit of retelling a history here.
00:24:20
Nick Britten
It suits him.
00:24:21
Global Sports Podcast Network
And things...
00:24:22
Nick Britten
It suits him because he's a great moment.
00:24:22
Global Sports Podcast Network
And that can happen. And that can happen. If you retell a story so many times, he's probably, as in his head, millions of times, the reality changes a bit. You know, the baseline for what actually happened just moves slightly. i It happens in every walk of life.
00:24:38
Global Sports Podcast Network
That might be happening here. Now, just just the other thing just picked up on. Now, and I have to say, you pointed this out ages ago. ah Obviously, he finished seventeen last year, but they won the Europa League.
00:24:54
Global Sports Podcast Network
And essentially what Andrew was saying yesterday is, yeah, we won the Europa League because we finished 17th, because I took the team sheets and ripped them up and saved saved our best players for Europa League games and look at our team sheets for last six or seven games.
00:25:13
Global Sports Podcast Network
It's obvious what I was trying to do because I was told I had to deliver a trophy. And guess what? I prioritized delivering a trophy because that's in my job description.
00:25:25
Global Sports Podcast Network
And okay, the the cost of that was not finishing 14th, was finishing 17th. It was a price I was prepared to pay. i did it. I delivered what I was asked to deliver.
00:25:37
Global Sports Podcast Network
But then I got sacked. So... I mean, you did point out that was what was happening at the time. is that Is that a reasonable defence on Angie's part, you think?
00:25:49
Nick Britten
In a way, yes. In a way. Because if his mission was to win a trophy, whether and whether that's his mission or the club's mission, because we we know he's got this, I always win a trophy in my second season shtick about him.
00:26:04
Nick Britten
If that was his mission, then he succeeded. However, nobody expects to see Tottenham at 17th in the league. And I wonder whether other teams who have won other European competitions have simply abandoned the league in the way that he has. and they and And they haven't.
00:26:21
Nick Britten
If they'd finished if they won the last couple of games of finished like 12th or 13th, we'd never be having this conversation at all.
00:26:26
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:26:26
Nick Britten
We just wouldn't. And it only rested on a couple of games. But it was very obvious going into kind of the latter part of the season. So the last maybe two or three months. Yeah, had abandoned the league. Look at the team sheets. Look at the way they
Debating Ange Postacoglu's Tactics
00:26:36
Nick Britten
were playing. Look at the way they approached games.
00:26:38
Nick Britten
And it was obvious what was happening. And I think he, i mean, I'm sure he'd said it at some stage as well after the season. So, yeah, look, would Tottenham fans have rather finished 10th and not won the trophy? Or would they rather finish 17th and won the Europa League?
00:26:51
Nick Britten
i say I say the latter without a shadow of a doubt. And the fact he was sacked... didn't surprise me at all because the reality was that even though he won the Europa League, it was a really poor competition and they faced the worst Manchester United side in history in the final.
00:27:05
Nick Britten
And if you wanted to repeat that cycle and go again, well, what we know this this season already, the Premier League is stronger.
00:27:06
Global Sports Podcast Network
Mm-hmm.
00:27:12
Nick Britten
So Spurs of last season will be struggling in this season's Premier League, big time. And there's absolutely no guarantee that you're going to have the run that you had in the Europa League Again, so I can kind of, and let's face it, the Premier League, yes, it's great to win a trophy, but for the money men and the chairman, the Premier League is all about qualifying for Europe because that's where the money is and finishing high up the league.
00:27:34
Nick Britten
So I can see why he got sacked, but I can also see that he's got justification in saying, look, I did what I was bought to do.
00:27:35
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:27:42
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah. it's It's a really interesting debate, actually. I have to say, i imagine if you're the chairman of Spurs and you look at the look at the table today, you probably feel justified.
00:27:56
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah You know, I'm sitting, i think, in third place. ah Now, just going back to Forrest and Ange, though, close this one off. Yeah. I mean, I was reading a BBC article, Credit Where a Credit's Due.
00:28:08
Global Sports Podcast Network
that According to that, Forrester seriously assessing their options right now and have been during the international break. I mean, where does this leave Forrest? I mean, if if if this continues if they get rid of and, who are the potentials for Forrest? And ultimately, what's the what's the end game here? what where Where does this take them?
00:28:35
Nick Britten
Well, football is littered, isn't it, with clubs who make rash decisions and then suffer the consequences later. So ah what's the thing? Repent at leisure. Act in haste, repent at leisure.
00:28:45
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:28:47
Nick Britten
That's the phrase. And this seems to be very much the case of Forrest because they've acted in haste in in getting rid of Nuno, who took them to Europe last season, arguably Forrest's most successful manager since Brian Clough, got rid of him.
00:29:00
Nick Britten
Now, it's We don't feel, and we we've talked about this a lot, we don't feel it was a merciless accident. We felt that Nuno was engineering his own way out anyway. But nonetheless, they got rid of him, bought in Ange, and they find themselves you know on the back of a run of, what, nine games in all competitions now that he's been in charge of and they haven't won a single one of them.
00:29:19
Nick Britten
They are hovering perilously just above the relegation zone and facing the the the potential of having to bring somebody else in, a third manager, in three months.
00:29:30
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:29:30
Nick Britten
unless Maranakis takes the view that actually no, I'm going to give this guy time. So we'll have to see what happens. But yeah, reports surfacing over last the last couple of weeks during the international break that Marco Silva is being talked about, Sean Dyche is being talked about, a manager with, quote, pragmatic football at his heart, unquote.
00:29:50
Nick Britten
Oh, hello. That'll be Nuno then, will it? ah So they look an absolute mess.
00:29:52
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah
00:29:55
Nick Britten
The whole thing just looks complete shambles. And normally when this happens, particularly when in you know in a club like They're not a massive club for us, despite what their fans might think after one decent season on the back of 30 not decent seasons.
00:30:07
Nick Britten
They're not massive club. They're not immune to the problems that every other club is in the Premier League. And if this merry-go-round carries on, then quite realistically, the only place it will finish is the Championship.
00:30:21
Global Sports Podcast Network
Food for thought, Maranakis, think on.
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00:30:25
Global Sports Podcast Network
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00:30:32
Global Sports Podcast Network
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00:30:55
Global Sports Podcast Network
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00:31:11
Global Sports Podcast Network
Right, we've slightly run over time on this one because we've been talking about two very, very interesting developing stories. Just a quick other developing story that we've kind of mentioned a couple of times, so we should just polish off with this.
00:31:25
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah Enzo Maleska come out and said Cole Palmer of Chelsea likely to be another six weeks with this groin injury. Thomas Tuchel raised this issue the other day because he was saying it was ah He had all their hallmarks of being a chronic injury rather than a temporary one.
00:31:42
Global Sports Podcast Network
He's only played three Premier League games so far this season. ah You've got thoughts, I know, on the importance of Parma to Chelsea. Obviously, Forrest played Chelsea today.
00:31:55
Global Sports Podcast Network
what What's your thoughts on on this news?
00:31:56
Nick Britten
Thoughts on...
Cole Palmer's Injury & Chelsea's Concerns
00:31:58
Nick Britten
I think Chelsea are as close to being a one-man team without being a one-man team. and Cole Palmer is...
00:32:03
Global Sports Podcast Network
Two-man team.
00:32:03
Nick Britten
yeah
00:32:04
Global Sports Podcast Network
Kaiseido. Kaiseido.
00:32:05
Nick Britten
Oh, yeah, no, Casano's fair. But Palmer, at part yeah, no, you're right absolutely right. fair Casano's a terrific player. But Palmer's the one at the top end of the pitch that makes them tick. And it's notable that in his absence, when he doesn't play, they're lot worse than when he does play.
00:32:19
Nick Britten
When he does play, they're a lot better than when he doesn't. And this is very worrying news for both Cole Palmer and for Chelsea. Obviously, we've got the World Cup now starting to loom large in our thinking.
00:32:30
Global Sports Podcast Network
He's running out time, isn't he? He's you running out time. Yeah.
00:32:33
Nick Britten
Yeah, he's right, he is, yeah, yeah, absolutely is. Because, and we talked about this the other day, didn't we, that that Thomas Tuchel seems to have settled on the vast majority of his squad already and Palmer isn't going to be in it, even if he gets fit. He needs to get fit and get fit quickly and that just doesn't look like it's going to happen at all.
00:32:51
Nick Britten
So, and so it's bad news for him and it's bad news for Chelsea because he's a brilliant, brilliant player.
00:32:57
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah
00:32:57
Nick Britten
He's a brilliant player and he makes them, he makes it happen at the top end of the pitch for them. So so
00:33:03
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, well one of the things I just wanted to raise on this, which is a bit of a side issue, but interested in your thoughts on. Obviously, this injury emerged during the shortened pre-season after the Club World Cup campaign.
00:33:16
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah. Is this actually the price that Chelsea are paying for overloading their season last year with the Club World Cup? They went all the way in that. They won it, of course. Very little rest period after in terms of get right time and pre-season.
00:33:32
Global Sports Podcast Network
he gets him He gets himself a bit of a stretch, a bit of a strain, obviously, in that time. um And here we are, four months later, and he's not probably going to play the rest of this year or something like that.
00:33:44
Global Sports Podcast Network
i mean, is this the price they're paying for just overloading the demands on their players?
00:33:49
Nick Britten
Well, possibly yes, possibly no, because we don't know whether this is a direct result of what happened to the Club World Cup. But it does it does speak into a growing narrative. And we've heard quite a lot about this over the summer, a growing narrative of footballers.
00:34:04
Nick Britten
becoming and all around the world. This is not UK thing. It's not Premier thing. It's footballers all around the world complaining of the amount of football they're having to play in the summer and not getting any time off and injuries and tiredness and ineffectiveness and all of those kind of things. So, yes, it does play into that, very much so.
00:34:24
Nick Britten
ah But clubs also have got to take responsibility because, all right you've got things like the Club World Cup. which is a very financially rewarding competition to play in. It's not profile-wise because nobody cared about it, but financially it's very rewarding.
00:34:37
Nick Britten
But but yeah know clubs have also got to look at this and go, right, well, next time we get an international break or or a break, let's not take our entire squad off to and on a money-spinning tour of Asia or Australia.
00:34:38
Global Sports Podcast Network
Thank you.
00:34:49
Nick Britten
ah let's Let's allow our players to rest. So this should send, this this so injury and this type of injuries... should send warning signs to clubs right across the world to say, look and look at this and go, right, is this a result of overplaying?
00:35:07
Global Sports Podcast Network
It's something that certainly occurred to me at the time. And anyway, it's ah it's an interesting thought and a story i would imagine I could see developing over the course of the next few months.
00:35:18
Global Sports Podcast Network
Right, that's it. Thanks, everyone, for listening. Thank you, Nick, for your reasoned and intellectual and all-round smart answers during the course of this podcast.
00:35:31
Nick Britten
That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me, Ken.
00:35:34
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, I don't know what came over me there. ah But anyway, it was very interesting. Enjoy day in London. Enjoy your matches wherever you are. ah We feel for you, Forrest fans, even though we're kind of semi-Derby fans.
00:35:46
Nick Britten
um've got I've got a forest down for a win today. As you well know, it's a very after all of this and all everything we talked about, it'd be very ang to go out and win this game.
00:35:46
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah
00:35:54
Global Sports Podcast Network
It would. It would. It would. A proper 3-0. Anyway, enjoy the Saturday. Football is back. That's a great thing. Whether you suffer disappointment, whether you suffer or enjoy success, have a great one.
00:36:08
Global Sports Podcast Network
And we'll see you again tomorrow.