MNC: Dowman’s Delight, Man Utd’s Climb & Chelsea Charges

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Welcome to the Monday nightclub with us this evening.

Chris Sutton, Rory Smith, and Russell Martin.

And when we spoke about the possibility of you coming and doing some radio,

when I said, would you come on the Monday nightclub?

I was most definitely expecting you to say no,

because of one person in particular,

but you and I don't mean Rory.

Who were? Well, not Rory.

And you said, yes, so welcome.

Thank you very much for coming on.

I like Chris. He's a good guy.

Don't know why he'd think chapters would think we'd have a problem, Chris,

but I'm very happy to be here.

Yeah, that's amazing for you, Mark.

So to actually think that would be the case.

What's wrong with me?

You tell me, what is wrong with me?

We don't have to.

That's how long we've been doing it.

I think it's me, Mark.

I think it's me.

It's not, it's definitely him.

The other thing was, he said to me earlier, Chris.

He said, if I asked Russell any questions,

he said, I don't want to come across like,

and then I can't say the word that he said,

I don't want to come across like an idiot.

So my first response was, well, it hasn't really bothered you for the last decade.

The second point, so we've got a system, Rory,

that if he is coming across like an idiot,

I have to, I have to WhatsApp him.

Okay, so feel free to follow the same method if you'd like to.

Yeah, I mean, I like to offer Chris like a running critique of his performance in every show,

anyway, to be honest.

If that seems wise, we should probably have done that before.

I know, yeah, I don't know why we haven't come up with that before.

Do you go back to Norwich days with him then?

I mean, he was there way before.

Yeah, I know, yeah, way before.

But when you're reminded of his legacy everywhere,

what are they? He's got pictures up in the wall

when they stayed in the training ground.

I mean, he might even have a brick actually.

You're in the Hall of Fame, Chris, yeah?

Yeah, I'm not, I'll play 300 times, I'm not.

No, captain for six of them, but still not.

Yeah, that's amazing.

Well, we'll sort that out.

No, I'm fine with it. I'm over it.

I'm over it a long time ago.

That is good.

How many times did you play for Norwich?

I'm 130 odd.

All right.

Did you captain them?

Yeah.

No, didn't you?

I mean, you have been stuff there, haven't you?

Well, he was much better than I had.

Oh, yes.

Right.

Well, this is all lovely, isn't it?

At the moment, we have a lot to get through.

Manchester United's midfield.

What's going on?

Chelsea will, we will deal with that.

You may have just heard that in the news,

but we'll look at Chelsea both on and off the field as well.

We'll look at the title race in Scotland.

We'll touch Russell exactly about what he is up to at the moment

and what his plans are going forward.

And we'll keep you up today with the football

that is going on this evening.

And we'll look ahead to those Champions League games

that are coming up this week on five live.

But we start with Arsenal and with Max Diamond

who rescued Arsenal basically on Saturday, T-Time.

And by the end of the weekend,

it helped them go nine points clear at the top of the table.

Do you think there's a kind of thing

that can change a feeling around the place?

I think so, watching the celebrations at the end.

I think the manner of the win as well.

But then the fact that such a young guy is such a brilliant story,

it's just like a release.

You could feel it from their players, from their fans,

because they have been edgy the lot.

And I think also the man's seat result afterwards helps as well.

I think they'll be completely different feeling this week.

But again, it can change the mentality again now,

because it is theirs to lose.

I think everyone would be in agreement with that.

But he's the top-top player, he's the top young talent.

And the goal was brilliant.

It was a brilliant way to finish the game.

So I think that'll be feeling very good about themselves this week.

Because I don't know, you tell me, Chris,

would it have been different if he'd just say

brought Gabrielle J. Zouson

and it had been rescued in that way?

I mean, there would still be euphoria.

But I wonder if this euphoria times ten.

Yeah, but fans as Russell said, fans loved that.

The Arsenal fans loved that.

One of their own through the academy.

And what was not fascinating about the whole thing.

What was nice about the whole thing is that

he was thrown on the pitch, on merit.

It wasn't one where you often see managers

give young players an opportunity to get a pat on the back

and say, well, we're developing our players.

We're trying to do it the right way as a club.

Arsenal are in the thick of a title race.

And he has the faith on a young 16-year-old to throw him on it

and make a difference.

So they're on merit, made the difference.

And yeah, as Russell said, then the Manchester City result.

I mean, it looks like it's Arsenal's title.

And people will remember, you know,

Saturday night for what happened to Max Daman.

Given the pressure, given the situation,

is with your managerial hat on.

How impressive a decision is that from Mikhail Atetalot?

I know he's talented, I know.

But it's nil-nil in a title race.

And there are more experienced players there.

I think it shows how secure the manager is in his position

in where he sits in the club, where the team is that,

where he feels the team is that.

But also, it was so tense.

You could feel it just watching it on the TV

that actually bringing someone on with,

it's like a win-win for Max Daman.

It gets more minutes on the pitch.

The game was how it was.

So see the game out, brilliant.

Have a contribution like you did,

which would be iconic. I'm pretty sure, like Christus said,

it'll be one of the moments of the season for Arsenal.

They've got become champions.

So I think the position he's in,

be in there, it seems so brave.

But when you see him every day and you sit here,

I'll tell you to talk about him after an Italian he possesses.

And also, when the players are so young,

it's the same as Rio watching him for Liverpool yesterday.

When they're so young, there's no scar tissue.

So he can come on and just play free,

play with freedom in the position Arsenal were in.

So actually, I think it's brilliant management,

but probably less risk than people would associate at the time.

I don't think Mark Russell,

he would have thought about his age in that moment.

Because of the fact that, you know,

he would have trained a lot of times

with the first team, he would have known what talent he is.

Well, the first team squad player, isn't he, really?

Yeah, so that's abuse and his mentality at that point, for sure.

Yeah, absolutely.

So, you know, there's nothing about age.

You wouldn't have looked at my thought always just 16.

You know, that didn't come into into playing his thought process.

He was simply thinking about a spark

which could which could change the game.

And that's that's what he did.

Joe, I mean, Joe Hart said on match of the day,

our testers bringing him or bringing him on

because he believes he is going to change the game.

He's not in this to win awards or say,

I was the one to bring Max Dameron on.

He couldn't care less if he was 16 or 66.

He was bringing him on to win the game.

At which point, Kelly said to him,

if he was 66, he wouldn't be being brought on to win the game,

which was a very fair point.

Just that sense of having a different story

other than just the, you know,

that kind of grind to get to the title.

It's now kind of there's something about

you have in a young player that that fills a fan base

with excitement regardless.

And when it's someone has talented as Downman

that is that that is kind of magnified.

But the other thing I think there needs to be said

is that I think our testers handled him really, really well.

You know, they gave him that first.

It's almost like they confronted the hype around him in the summer.

And he was in a couple of match day squads

and he played a couple of games and he kind of,

they got that out of the system almost.

And then he obviously has been an injury

but the test has taken it quite slow since then.

And I think it's been quite smart.

What's been they got that out of the system?

What would you, what would you mean by that?

Well, I think when you've got a player,

I mean, I first heard Max Dameron's name in Trist

and Russell, he probably would have been quicker than me.

But his name's been around for a couple of years.

Like people have been saying that asked

I've got a kid in the system for a long time.

And I think the fan base would probably expect

in this to be the year that he would come through.

And then obviously he's kind of in the,

they know he's training with the first team squad.

And you then hear stories or suggestions

that the players themselves are really impressed by his ability.

I think it creates this kind of buzz around him

which you can either shrink away from a little bit

and think, okay, we need to protect him from this entirely.

Or you can kind of expose him to it in stages

because he don't have to confront it at some point.

And I think, ask the other hand of that really smartly

so that now he's had chance to develop physically a bit.

He'll have been training with the first team

for about nine months now.

And I think that means that when he does kind of start

to get minutes in the Premier League,

you end up with a player who's maybe much more ready for it

than he would have been had they, had they thrown him

in straight away or if they'd waited too much longer.

I don't necessarily agree with that

because it's, you know, you're saying,

well, you know, they blooded him earlier on in games

and were waiting for this moment.

I suspect it was just a case that it felt like the right time.

But, you know, the right time could have been three months ago.

Had, had that, you know, had Michel Artette

have seen it, seen it that way.

I don't necessarily think that, you know,

they waited for this particular moment.

And that was part of the plan.

I think, you know, from Michel Artette's position,

he's just thinking about winning games

and the best way to, you know, to win games

and the biggest influence off the bench in that moment.

You know, we're going to, we're going to throw him on

and see what he does.

No, but the, the, the interesting point, I suppose,

that Rory makes is a lot of clubs will have a kid

in their academy or under 18s or under 21s

that there is a buzz about.

Does my weather in the Premier League,

the Scottish Premier League championship,

maybe league one?

And Michael Carrick was asked about one of the kids

in the Manchester United youth team,

a pre-match, I think, or in the build-up to the Astonville game.

It's how the club, as a whole, deals with that buzz.

I mean, you must have gone into every club you've been at

and been told on the day you arrived.

There's a kid, there's a kid in the academy.

Yeah, we had it with Tyler Diblin itself, Ampton,

just like a recent example for us.

So for the first year I was there.

We were told he's nearly ready.

He's physically, he's fantastic.

He's an excellent player.

So he trained with us pretty much every day.

Sam Ammon knows that Strasbourg, as well, the same.

Chaden Magoma actually took to the Rangers with me.

We're training.

They were 16 all of them.

But it is about the right time.

And with Tyler, we just always felt,

Sam Ammon actually played some games

we're early on and did really well.

And then it's about the depth of the squad.

It's about the players who play in their position.

You can be really unlucky as a young player

if you're a really exceptional talent.

But there's no pathway for you

because the two players they have in your position

are outstanding.

It all depends so much

if it is circumstantial, but like Chris said earlier,

you have to be ready to take your opportunity.

So the boxes that we're looking to take

are physically, can you do it?

And at 16 it's really difficult.

So training with the first team

from the age of 15, 16 helps a lot

because you get a bit more use to the speed.

Technically, tactically,

tactically always be stuff as a young lad.

You need to improve, but technically you're there

for the reason.

They believe you can train with the first team

so that's there.

But it always comes down to the mentality

and the psychology of the player, the young player.

Can they deal with being in the limelight club like Arsenal?

For us with Tyler, it was can they deal

with the plan and it needs to win to get promoted?

So we played him in the cup games

because we felt the options we had for the league,

but it was always with the plan of next year,

Tyler's going to be one of the main people.

Then people have to trust you.

So I'm sure that's been the case with Max.

There'll be a plan, but then to stick to plan

and it's never a straight line of young players.

Even though there'll be moments where it fluctuates,

maybe fatigue, injuries, you know,

all this stuff comes into it,

but it is about taking your opportunity at that moment

and he did the other day and it was brilliant.

Manchester United, a third, six points clear of sixth

after they beat Aston Villa, three, one yesterday.

Casamiro got the opener, Bruno Fernandez

now has 16 Premier League assists for the season.

And if you throw in Kobe Manu as well,

that's a balanced Manchester United midfield, isn't it Chris?

Yes, it's balanced and I don't think there's any,

I think we all expected when Bruno Fernandez

was played in his best position that naturally

should get the best out of him.

And that's what has happened.

I mean, it is staggering, you know, thinking

about how Ruben Amber played him.

And, you know, as one of the two in the central midfield area

and now he's, you know, playing up one,

has that insurance of Casamiro and Manu behind him

that, you know, he's influencing games

as we all expected him to.

I think there is a nice natural balance to this,

you know, I think the field carrot has found amazing success

in putting players in positions that they used to

and that they liked him where he can get the best out of them.

It's, he's made it look quite simple.

I'm sure it isn't, but he's made it look that way.

Has he? Definitely, definitely.

So there's more, there's more balance.

As Chris said, Bruno is actually playing in a position

where you get to fit games now and he has more of a free role.

Kobe Manu and Casamiro play much closer to given now.

So there's, there's, there's way more like a central progression

with a ball.

So, and it's something that Michael and his mid as a team

are very good at, was overload in midfield, playing,

trying to hurt teams with a mid to pitch.

Kobe Manu is very progressive.

Casamiro the same.

Bruno roams a little bit and then can join him

with a press where he's much freer to go

and actually affect the opposition again.

I still think sometimes the two of them get left alone

a little bit when Bruno does jump and go and press,

they can get left alone out of possession,

but in possession with the ball,

the team looks so much more balanced.

Now I think Kobe Manu actually every week now,

I see him getting more confident,

playing his way back here and being a bit more progressive,

he can run past players with a ball,

but they're always looking now.

That's the difference, I think they're always looking

and before there was two of them in the middle of pitch,

whoever it was, I'm very often just look completely like,

there was a gap between the middle of the pitch for them

and the rest of the team was huge

and now just much more solid and much more fluid.

So when you, when you look at it tactically like that,

is that, was Casamiro hung out to dry a little bit?

Yeah, I think so if you look at what he brings

and the, and the experience and what,

but there are going to be limitations physically

without possession in a lot for sure.

So when he's playing, it's just one of the two,

it's very difficult.

Now I actually, Manu, with Amad and Kuna as well,

I have five players in the middle of the pitch a lot,

they roll inside and really try and overload.

So by default, when you lose the ball,

there's a lot more players around,

Casamiro than they were before, way more.

So when they control the ball a bit more,

I think they're better with it and now out of possession,

they have a few more bodies around it

that help protect those guys for sure.

What would you do, Chris, with Casamiro going forward?

Because that seems to be the big debate at the moment.

Yeah, I don't really get the debate really.

I think he's, I think that under Amarim,

he was really exposed.

I think under Carrick, I think all his,

all his numbers have improved,

his performance level has improved under Carrick,

but so was the Manchester United team,

but I think this is a bit of sentimental guff

as much as anything, so it's done okay,

but I do think he's had his day.

I do, and if Manchester United wants to really move forward,

as a club, Casamiro isn't the future for that.

He's just absolutely not.

He's been a great player.

He give you a right arm to have a career like him,

but he's just, it comes to us all.

He just doesn't have the legs which he once had,

and if Manchester United wants to move to that next level,

and they're doing pretty well,

they're doing okay under Michael Carrick

with Casamiro and the team, but yeah,

he's not for next season.

I just think, yeah, on the pitch, definitely,

his role will probably reduce

and become small it should do at his age,

but with Manchester United for years now,

I've been talking about a lack of leadership,

lack of cultural architects, if you like, strength and that.

So if they see huge value in him there,

to help the young players like Kobe Manu

and guys like that, the players that are going to come through,

so a lot of talented young players,

then maybe he's worth keeping around,

but then maybe he's not very happy with that role.

Maybe he wants to go and enjoy the sun somewhere,

and finish it.

No, he doesn't want to be in Rainy Manchester all the time.

He's the careers that are not playing every week.

So there's so much that comes into it.

I think you make decisions as a club.

Is he going to help us on the pitch

a huge amount next year?

If he's not, can he help us off it,

but who knows what the discussions have been?

He probably wouldn't want to be sort of,

or he'd want 350,000 pounds a week

or something like that and just be good on the dressing room.

Yeah, it's good money for cheerleader, right?

I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't,

I don't, I don't, I don't pay that.

Well, I won't, I won't say anything sarcastic there.

Go on, Rory.

Those are, I think, I think the other thing

that you have to factor in with Casamiro

is that this season, the way it's panned out

with United-being out of both clubs and not in Europe,

is ideal for a player of, of his age,

that, you know, they're not playing that frequently.

I think was it 11 days before this game

and then they've got Bournemouth on Friday

and they've got another big long break.

It will be different next season

when they're in the Champions League

and hopefully they don't further in both domestic cups.

But then I do think Russell's right

that it's one of those where you wonder

if they might say to him, look,

is there a point where the money and the game time is right

because he would be a valuable person

to have around the club?

It might be that he thinks, right,

this is my last chance to move.

I can go to Saudi, I can go to MLS,

I can go wherever it might be Italy

and get a big contract or a big-ish contract.

And that is, enjoy the sunshine,

be a bit warmer, kind of have another stage in my career.

That makes perfect sense.

That's his, his, his prerogative.

But I think United would be losing something

if Casamiro is allowed to walk away at the end of the season

and I can see why they would want to maybe keep him around now

more than they did maybe six months ago.

I think Gary Neville said yesterday, Russell,

that he doesn't think he should be kept on and moved on,

but that United are going to need at least two more

midfielders this summer to bring in.

In terms of a, and then force a type or action type

and also in terms of a creative type.

Definitely, I'd agree with that completely.

I think they've got one of the best players

in the Premier League in Bruno Fernandez.

I really believe that.

I think and considering he's not played in there

what you would regard as a top team for the last few years.

We know it's a top club, they haven't performed

like a top team, but his, his ability level

and his performance level and his consistency levels

and his, he's just an outstanding player

and they need more like that, they need for sure at least two.

If you look at the midfield, the way they want to play,

maybe they'll go somewhere else in terms of the manager

and stuff like that, but they'll need to really compete,

they need some more depth and they've got.

Do you think he's got the credit he has deserved

over the years, Bruno Fernandez?

And when you've played against him,

when your teams have played against him,

how have you set up to deal with him?

He's, so he's, he's well, like you hate playing against him,

he's always in the rest of the year,

he's, he's screaming and shouting everyone,

but I think he's one thing you'd love in your team.

Like he's a winner, he's a fighter, he'll take the ball anywhere.

I think that's the best bit about him,

you can give him the ball anywhere and he'll look after it

or he'll want the ball regardless of the situation.

So I think he leads in a, in a very different way

to like your archetypal leader, he leads by example,

he wants the ball, he wants to make things happen.

I think we've just discussed the midfield there

and we really didn't speak about how good he was.

Yeah, that's a mirror and Koby Manor coming back,

but he is an outstanding player.

And I'm sure he'll want to see outstanding players

be brought in in the round him that can feed in a ball more often.

The one final thing in all of this is that Michael Carrick

has basically played the same team ever since taking over.

There's been the odd change because of injury.

There's been either Cesco in or Amad in his changes

to every starting 11 per game is under one on average, obviously.

And Amarims was over two on average.

I suppose you would say would you,

that he has the luxury at the moment

of being able to keep a settle team

because the games are not few and far between,

but it's one a week.

I think with, yeah, slightly different circumstance.

But also, Cohesion is so important

and never felt really under, under Ruben,

the team didn't feel like the relationships had built.

There was a lot of change.

There was people playing or formation and assistant

that was stuck to regardless of the personnel

and how much it suited the personnel.

So he's playing a formation that suits the personnel much better.

He's got people playing in their positions

and actually giving people time to build some relationships

which only helps.

If you think about Man City this year,

the amount of change their team has had new players

trying to integrate them.

That's definitely hurt the team

in terms of Cohesion and relationships and consistency.

Liverpool is exactly the same.

And then you look at teams like Villa

who, when they're strongest 11ers out,

they've played together a long time.

But then you take out a couple of players of injury,

Telemans, when John McGinn doesn't play,

they're not quite the same

because I've got the depth of a Man City or Liverpool.

But Cohesion is so, I think, undervalued

and actually underestimate.

And then probably is not as easily like evidence

or tangible for people outside of the club.

So in the club, you get scores based on relationships

and how productive certain people are playing together

on next to each other.

How many points you've got when certain players are playing

in the team together?

So all of that is at your disposal.

You'd have that, would you?

What, if you, like, I don't know,

if you clicked right back and right centre-half,

if they, every time they played together,

I've always asked for it.

Yeah, because it's important to understand

because your eyes and your bias can sometimes lie to you.

So I think the head coach is really important

to have all of the data and the evidence

you can possibly muster.

So like, if you look at centre-half partnerships

throughout the years and how important

they've been to teams and the number six right now,

the two midfielders at Manchester,

had how close they played together and all of this.

It's so, it's so, it's so important.

And actually, like, when I look back recently,

when I went to, to Rangers, expecting,

like, if we did a cohesion score there,

it would have been really, really low.

Because there's so many new players,

a new style of play, people hadn't played together very much

and four weeks into a preseason,

we had to play in a Champions League qualifier.

So it's really difficult to build, like,

a level of cohesion, understanding within that.

So Michael's done that.

And a lot of it comes down to the system as well.

He's gone, this is how we're going to play.

This is what we're looking for.

And as a coach, when you have clarity

and what you're looking for,

it's much easier than a stick with something

and actually build some relationships.

I find that really useful in the cohesion thing.

Is, can that also drive you mad the other way?

So let's, let's say you took for arguments

say the United cohesion here and you took Bruno

and looked at his cohesion,

Bruno's a wrong example,

because he's obviously the United's talisman.

But I know, you looked at a midfielder

and his relationship with the other two midfielders

behind him.

And that's all great.

But then you look further forward

and his relationship with your number one striker

is nowhere near is good.

But it might be better with your number two striker.

You could, you could drive yourself mad

depending on where you're looking on the cohesion.

Yeah, and then it's circumstantial

because maybe the number two striker comes on

when the number one striker's beating up

the defenders number two striker scores.

He's on for 10 minutes and you're chasing the game.

So I think it's never to be led by it,

but to be informed enough to be able to make decisions.

Also, certain players like,

I would have a feeling about someone

being more effective on the left side.

But actually, they're better on the right side

than they are on the left.

But they're a bit more exciting player.

We had a winger, a right-fitting winger,

one of my clubs where I fought on the left.

He looked so dangerous on the right.

It was less effective.

And then we looked at the day it was way more productive

on the right side.

It just doesn't go past people as much

because he wants to cross earlier.

So it's interesting.

So I think that to inform you,

and also you need to know what you're looking for.

Maybe Ruben with Judge Hernandez,

performance way different to Michael Wood,

what's important to one manager is very different

to another.

So I think you have to be really clear

on what your major performance is.

From a small village on the banks of the River Nile,

maybe while they call me Muhammad,

but the Nile took name or nickname,

they could name more.

To the biggest stages of world football.

Go to the corner!

Salah is more than just a player.

He's an icon, a symbol, a king.

A six-year-old, a Salah ripped off his shirt.

Muhammad Salah represents a dream for Egyptians,

for Muslims, for Africans.

More than just a foot of the clear, he gave us hope.

I'm Kelly Kate.

This is Sporting Giants, Mo Salah.

Listen on BBC Sounds.

This is the Monday Night Club with Mark Chapman.

On the football daily World Cup.

Russell Martin, Chris Sutton, Rory Smith,

on the Monday Night Club.

Who's going to win the Scottish Premiership title, Chris?

No, I don't know.

Not a clue.

I said, I said, no, I'm going to stick with hearts.

I'm going to stick with hearts.

They had their blip against Kilmarnock at the weekend.

I mean, they can lose to Kilmarnock.

Hearts didn't start the game particularly well.

The reason I'm going to stick with hearts is my sources

are telling me Shanklin's not far away.

Lauren Shanklin and Camry Devlin

and they've missed Shanklin,

especially at the top end of the pitch.

And I think everybody will beat everybody else

from now until the end of the season,

especially after the split.

I just think that's going to happen.

If you look at the gold difference with the...

I mean, I think Mother Weller out of it now.

Celtic beat them at the weekend,

and then they lost to Dundee the previous week.

But the gold difference is all pretty tight.

So I'm going to say, yeah, still hearts.

Let me give you the table.

Hearts 63, Celtic 61,

Rangers 60, Mother Weller now on 53.

And there is virtually nothing in the gold difference either.

Hearts and Rangers have the same gold difference.

Celtic three were soft.

They're 24 hearts and Rangers are 27.

I genuinely don't know how you're going to answer this.

How do you view it?

I don't know.

Whatever I say now, I will get sensationalized

tomorrow morning.

So I'm going to sit on the fence.

What I would say is,

I think don't weaken this in hearts

for that amazing season.

I think that Celtic fans and Rangers fans will

consider themselves very lucky

that they're still in with a title chance.

Considering they both feel they've had really poor seasons.

One of them's all mindful, obviously.

But apart from that, I genuinely think it's a really,

it's such an interesting season.

I think the hearts shaking up a little bit.

It's been really good.

I don't know if you agree, Chris,

but I think it's good for Scotch football as a whole

when people talking about it way more,

the mother world, the way that they've played

and approached it differently under Yens,

it's brought a bit of interest

and a level of excitement about it.

I don't think it's been there for a while.

And yeah, people would say it's because the old from

haven't quite been at a level they used to been

being at, especially Cyc over the last few years,

but the emergence of mother world and hearts this season,

I think it's been really good for the game up there.

Yeah, absolutely.

Mother World was spoken about many times.

Their style of play.

I mean, even at the weekend against Celtic,

so the way the game panned out,

I mean, mother world, go to Celtic Park.

They have, they, they edged the possession as one all

and then Celtic, it was, it was a penalty

in a red card, I do think that when days are made

would have headed the ball in and Celtic.

I mean, the remarkable thing about Celtic

under Martin O'Neill is they just keep finding a way

to in Russell and they're not,

they're not playing good football at all.

It's not, it's not like a Celtic team

of previous seasons where they, you know,

play teams off the park, dominate possession,

dominate every area.

It's been a real struggle for them.

So which is, which is why it's fascinating

and ranges of sort of, you know,

they're, they're not particularly good watch either,

but they're found a way to get over the line,

especially recently and even the game at the weekend

against Miran, a portion Miran team,

ranges one and a half at a half time

and then it's a heavy, heavy weather of it

and that's the, you know, the story of the season,

which is why, you know, it will go down to the Y.

The easy thing for someone down south to say Russell

is that the pressure has to be on heart

because they've led for so long,

but that doesn't take into account

that the pressure is always on the old firm, presumably.

Oh yeah, because it's so close

and then there's pressure on the old firm always,

Chris knows it's no matter what the situation,

no matter what the game.

But yeah, I know it sounds crazy,

but I do think arts have less pressure

than the other two right now.

I think maybe because of the season they've had

and they've been up there for so long,

people say, oh, no, it's, you know,

the pressure is all on them,

but I think they can probably play on the underdog thing

from now to the end of the season.

I don't know, maybe Derek's planted the other way

and no, we've been here for a long time.

We deserve to be, so we need to stay here.

Also, maybe there's a bit of the psychology of well,

no one expected this apart from us,

so we'll keep surprising everyone.

So, and that's what I meant when the old firm,

both have a chance of winning the ligand

and the fans have been so frustrated

and disappointed with their seasons.

So, it's a really interested and unique season

and I really don't know which way it's going to go.

It's why I'm not going to, as well as I don't want to

be all over the papers in the morning out there,

but I just don't know which way it's going to go.

I've really done because each week

it sort of changes and like Chris said,

no one's really in flow.

There doesn't seem to be a team

that's really planned at the peak of their powers.

So, it's an eight game season

and it's going to be really, really exciting.

I think there's a lot of twists and turns

and you could easily see it going to either one of those teams.

Rory are looking quizzical.

Yeah, that's my natural resting for the chapters.

Yeah, I think it's,

my instinct is the same as Turn of Russell as alluded to,

which is that you do think basically

hearts will be under pressure

because they've got less experience of being there

that it's, you know, 40 years since anyone

and Rangers won the title.

It's even longer for hearts.

There'll be nervousness at time castle.

They know this is an opportunity.

But then the pressure that both Celtic and Rangers operate

all of the time is probably just as oppressive

in the run moments,

which is both of those clubs now will think,

well, we could win this

because the other one's not very good

and I still don't know to what it's then

either of them are really thinking about

well, hearts are the favourites,

especially now that the Gap is closed

because they regard themselves as favourites.

I think, to be slightly careful,

I don't want to say anything offensive

to Russell about Rangers in any way,

but I wonder whether that kind of old man

you crack on the frame.

I'm just also can't offend me anymore about this.

It's fine.

But Rangers, I wonder whether they've not really

got that as a challenge, Chris, by the way.

Right.

By the way, I lost one league game.

Everyone thought everyone was going to be lost every game.

We didn't win enough, but we lost one.

But how many of that Rangers

have been in this position?

And it's going to stay in Scotland.

Martin, I know and Sean Maloney have been there

on one it between them so many times

and Callum McGregor and the Celtic guys

having had the experience of winning it.

I think it could be really, really important.

I think that in the championship as well,

I still think part of me thinks

it's which we'll do it

because of the experience of Keirin doing it

in the players have.

What, overhauled Coventry?

No, I just came to that case.

Like, I think Middarsborough fantastic

and I've enjoyed watching them probably

more than anyone in the championship this year.

Look at my side track to the championship

waiting this bit.

No, it was an intention, but genuinely,

I think the experience and Chris will know

because he's won more than all of us put together.

But the importance of like,

when we were in the championship

and knowledge the second time,

when we got after we got relegated

because we had so many players who had done it before,

we almost felt like we'll do it.

We know what it takes.

When it comes, the other teams,

they'll start feeling it a bit more.

And we've been there, we've done it,

we know what it takes.

And I think if you have that in your building,

which Celtic do in an abundance,

maybe, maybe it gives you a little bit of edge,

maybe it does.

And maybe Chris, there's actually less pressure

on Martin O'Neill in all of this.

Exactly. Well, I think that's the biggest point.

Celtic fans, their direction of anger,

that will not be in Martin O'Neill's,

you know, they will be having Martin O'Neill as the reason.

And from heart to heart,

I think heart to a really difficult to measure

because I know it's so easy to just say,

well, you know, they've been there for 40 years,

whatever it is.

So, you know, the pressure's off.

I don't necessarily think it is amongst the hearts.

Fan base, you see the manager,

Derek McKinnis sort of, you know,

in recent weeks, he seems to be getting a bit uptight.

So, I think that maybe he's feeling the pressure

a little bit, but I still think that hearts all season,

they're found a way to win games.

You know, they're not a beautiful football team.

You know, Derek McKinnis teams have never been

essentially beautiful, but they are well-structured.

He knows what he's doing, Derek McKinnis does,

in the way that he sets his team up.

He knows the Scottish league inside that.

Danny Rollett ranges, you know,

I think he's had too much to say for himself in recent times.

And I think the defeat against Celtic in the cup was,

well, I know you're shaking your head.

I'm just telling you, Danny Rollett and his mouth,

and we're telling Celtic how they should have played in Europe.

And this is coming from a guy whose record in Europe

was, you know, was pretty down.

And I think Rangers fans, actually,

that sort of ramped up the pressure on Danny Roll

because I think Rangers fans are thinking,

why don't you just keep your mouth shut, Danny?

Why are you getting involved in telling Martin

and Neil how he should play?

And it's okay.

It's okay if you're seeing games through at Ibrox

against Celtic and tuning it up and they win that.

It's okay if you knock Celtic out of the cup,

but he didn't.

And in many respects, people are thinking,

well, Danny Roll's eye has been taken off the ball.

So, you know, the pressure sort of ranked up on Rangers

as well now.

Is there a risk that Celtic do win it?

It kind of papers over some fairly glaring cracks.

Yeah, I mean, if Celtic win the league this season,

they'd have done it with that center forward.

Think about that.

You know, I think Celtic have used five different center forwards

and, I mean, in recent times,

Martin is making a substitution at a half time,

changing that position.

I mean, that's pretty incredible in itself.

If you look at the number of goals,

I think Celtic will have 112 goals last season,

something like that.

Don't know if you've got this, 58, whatever it is,

this season, you know, numbers wise,

they are massively down to what they were last season.

And it's staggering.

And there will be, I think, a thought process

if Celtic do get over the line this season.

I mean, I think there'll be, there'll be, you know,

laughing at the opposition really

because it's been a poor Celtic side in truth.

How, how do you reflect on your time there now sitting here?

I don't regret anything.

I think I've learnt a lot.

I'll definitely be better for it.

I love Glasgow as a city.

I love living there.

The people face to face were fantastic.

And I think it was character building.

It was, so it was really, do you know what?

It was really difficult for the people around me.

So family, friends, genuinely,

like when my kids came up, they couldn't come to the game

because of the level of abuse I was receiving at that point

and it was quite early on.

But like, when you look back at it,

it's, you learn from everything, right?

So there's stuff that you would do differently,

there's stuff that you would assist on maybe doing the same

and maybe even going even more, even stronger with that.

But I think it's probably, there's so much change.

So I walked into the club at a time of new owners,

literally been in there I think two weeks when I came in,

new director of football, chief exec,

had a performance, new head coach, 14 new players.

So I think, and I tried to stress a lot

that it probably would take some time.

So that's my fault because I was in a place

where historically and traditionally,

you don't really have time.

So I don't like, I don't feel bitter about it at all.

Do you feel hurt?

I'd love the time to have built something

and I felt that was what the club needed was a bit of that.

But the owners decided differently,

and they made it made a decision.

And so, and also like I was frustrated,

but I think the piercing I am from that is probably frustration.

Like there was so many small things

that we could have probably done a little bit better.

And just taking more,

like I should have been a bit more rigid with like a formation

and certain principles really.

And I sort of tried to bend and flex to fit the,

the newness of the group.

And we had so many young players who brought into the club,

and it's not excuses that we should have done a better job

than we did, and we should have won more games.

But like we felt like we were gonna get somewhere with it,

but we had so many young players that just come in

and Chris will tell you it's like,

it's such a unique environment

playing for rangers or Celtic.

The level of expectation.

So just take people like Manifinand is from Peterborough,

for going from Peter and League 1 to Rangers,

and playing in front of that crowd, all of a sudden.

And it's a completely different experience.

And he's flying now.

Yeah, and he's been brilliant.

And you know, Kevin Fowell and Dan Paddy and myself,

and we sat down and we wanted to sign.

We saw a lot of matchbues,

but we also knew he might not play in the first couple of months.

It's maybe take some time to get to that point,

making more the same.

Outrageous talent, like an amazing kid.

We signed him because he really wanted to be part of that

and experience something big.

And then you get on the pitch the first few games,

because we just spoke about Max Downman at Spurs,

he was the guy that come off the bench,

maybe make something happen,

and then he was coming to Rangers.

And now you need to be the guy that makes something happen.

And for us, I'm trying to work out the best way

to do that in that team.

And it's no surprise to me that he's gone and done brilliantly.

So yeah, there's loads of frustration for me

as a coach and a manager and a leader,

but ultimately it's always your fault, the manager.

So it's my fault, it's my fault I didn't do well enough

and you learn from it and I'll be better for it for sure.

How crucial is your choice of next job?

You will have, I'm guessing, quite a lot of different criteria

to throw into the mix in choosing your next job.

I think so, yeah.

I've turned a few things down since I left Rangers.

And partly because I have to like football so quick to move on.

So you're stuck and go from so high to so low so quickly.

So I think for me, and also probably,

I'm pretty much a yes or a no straightaway for a club owner

or a director of football because of the way I play

or I want the team to play.

So some will go, I doesn't fit us, we don't want that.

And then the ones that maybe do,

you really need to check if they really want it.

Does that make sense if you really want this

because it might not be instant,

but if you give us a little bit of time,

the evidence suggests we might do okay.

So I think for me, yeah, it has to be.

And also, I went to MK Don's because of Pete,

the gym and gaming opportunity was incredible guy

and was brave to appoint me.

I left to go Swansea when I was so happy at MK

because Swansea is one of the clubs I thought,

do we get an opportunity to go somewhere

that is aligned with us in terms of their ideal football

and how they've been successful

or the way they got to the Premier League playing a certain way?

And then left Swansea when I was so happy there

with the staff, the players, what we were building.

But for Jason Wilcox, because he believed so much,

he was a director of football Southampton.

He's not Manchester United.

He believed so much in a certain way.

And when we spoke about football, I was like,

okay, this is the guy I want to work with and now I'll go again.

And then when he left to go to Manchester United,

it changed a lot for me at Southampton.

So the next one has to be about the people, I think,

and what they really want.

And if we really see the same things and agree

on what's important for their football club

and not just on the pitch,

are they want the people to behave off the pitch,

are they want it to feel?

The way you want to play, I'm not,

I'm not, however you want to play is how you want to play, right?

Do you think when you've seen what has happened to say,

Amorim's a prime example?

And I'm only going to do it this way, I'm only going to do this way.

Do you think you see that and become more flexible

in your approach?

Maybe you'll tell me there are,

there are flexibilities within your system.

Yeah, so like, I think Ruben was wed to a formation,

not particularly away.

So I looked at the team, it looked very different a lot.

So I've played lots of different formations,

I'm not wed to a formation at all.

I think that fits the players that you're in the building with.

M Kerry played it three, at the backs, it fit the players we had,

Swansea the same the first year,

then we changed to a four,

because we recruited differently.

At Southampton, they insisted on playing a four, three, three,

was fine, but then to win the playoffs, we went to a back five.

In the Premier League, we probably changed a bit too much,

trying to be adaptable, but,

no, I think there's certain principles and concepts.

You wish you'd left us, you'd got promoted.

Well, you look at it in the hindsight,

but I think again,

so we had a director of football in Jason

that was fantastic in watch training every day.

So like, if there was a question,

he understood the process.

He was, we'd show in the team meeting.

So he was all involved, all encompassed in the football.

And then also he felt the culture, how we treated people.

He was massive on that behaviors,

because he'd been a man seat for a long time in the academy

and built certain things that were really important.

So then when he left,

I tried to stress to the club like,

we had this guy that you paid,

you deemed really important as a director of football.

He's now gone.

And we're going into the Premier League weaker without him.

So we haven't replaced him.

And when I was at the club,

they haven't replaced that role.

So that was a frustration of mine.

And then,

then we got off into the new contract to say,

look, if we go down,

we're going to be, you know, we've got you,

but we want to have a best,

but you need a place to be young players,

but we need to try and stay up.

So I felt like we did that.

We played with Tess Fernandez, Tyler Diblin.

So I'm really talented young players,

Taylor Hall of Bellis.

We signed down Ramsdows,

only available for a few games,

because he broke his finger and all that stuff.

So my frustration then was like,

well, I feel like we're doing okay.

And actually, we will pick up more points.

And there's been a couple of games that are tough,

but if we're going to say we're going to carry on doing it

this way in the Premier League,

because it's going to be good for us,

then there's certain games we will get beat.

And it might be quite heavy,

but then we'll get back on the horse

and we'll try and go again.

We didn't pick up enough points.

It was frustrating,

but the narrative around it became,

in the building, the players were amazing.

The staff were fantastic.

They wanted to stay on path,

because they believed in it a lot.

But the narrative became all about,

we're going down because of the style of play.

Any other team in that position,

so if you look at the teams right now

that are in that position in teams

that when we're in the league,

no one ever talks about a style of play,

they just go to club, can't compete,

because they've just come up.

The players are quite good enough,

but with us, it was all about style of play,

because maybe they see some times

the guys take a chance in the area

to box early on the season, make a mistake.

But if you sit back and defend and try and fight

and win that way and counter attack,

it's completely acceptable.

So like my job at that point

was to try and protect the players as much as possible.

Then I'm the one that gets sacked, which is fine,

because we didn't quite find a way,

but I was frustrated with that more hurt

than I was at Rangers.

Rangers are a bit more fraught.

I didn't really have time to do anything.

But with the staff up to one,

I was hurt for quite a while.

Liam Racini had to end up talking today

about Chelsea's £10 million fine

and the suspended transfer ban

after admitting making payments

to unregistered agents and third parties.

It's the largest fine ever handed out by the Premier League.

BBC Sports Football Issues Correspondent Dale Johnson

is with us.

And there is a sort of highlight

Liam Racini having to talk about it

is because these are historical.

And actually, this is nothing to do with the current ownership

or the current managerial regime.

That's exactly it.

And if it hadn't been a change of ownership to Blue Curve,

we probably would never have found out that anything

had been happened.

And this was one of the things that was said

in the ruling today that the new owners

have been so open that there were certain level of breaches

whereby if they'd launched an investigation,

they would never have been able to uncover exactly

what had gone on.

And so what's happened is that that's

been two offences on top of the one you mentioned.

They also got found guilty of breaches

in terms of making approaches, impermissible approaches

to academy players between 2019 and 2022.

They've got a nine month ban

for assigning the academy players for that.

But this is really the important one,

the fact that they made £47.5 million worth of payments

to those unlicensed agents over an eight-year period.

And half of that was on a series of players

who really were very important to them.

Eden has a Davy Louise, Ramirez, and the Manu Matich.

They played like multiple hundred games

for them and helped Chelsea win trophies.

But let's look at the Eden Halle example.

He was signed in 2012.

Then from 2013 to 2016, Chelsea paid

around £6.5 million to a company

which was associated with the agents of the player.

So you've got to ask Chelsea enough really lightly

whereby they're only getting a £10 million fine

and they're only getting suspended transfer ban.

When you've got one of the best players in the world,

or the most coveted players in the world in 2012,

then you find out that Chelsea are paying

like £6.5 million of a seven payments to this person.

It's a difficult one, Rory, isn't it?

Because they've been...

I'm not going to ask Russell about this.

We already asked Russell about it.

Like, Russell could take a break in,

which is why I'm coming to you.

It is. Thanks.

Yeah.

People could ask if Chelsea have gone off lightly,

but I go back to the point that it would be unfair, wouldn't it?

To punish the current...

Would it be unfair to punish the current regime who highlighted it?

I have a lot of sympathy for the Premier League here, actually.

Well, yes and no on all of those things, yeah.

Right, OK.

Yes, they self-reported,

which has drawn its commendable sort of openness from Bluto.

But no, because, as Dale said, you know,

these signings made a material difference

to Chelsea's performance for several years.

I mean, what Hazard Ramirez, David Louise, Willianne,

these are some of the biggest players in Chelsea's recent history.

Who will also want to buy other clubs?

Willianne, they famously took from Spurs, didn't they, at the last minute.

And Hazard, remember the tweet?

The Eden Hazard tweet?

I'll tell you tomorrow or something, wasn't it?

Oh, I'm signing for the Champions of Europe.

It was one of the great early Twitter moments.

Yes.

And no one was quite sure...

I'm not even sure his account was verified,

no one was sure if it was him or not.

But, you know, there were lots of other teams

wearing for Hazard, Matthew Manchester.

And I did wear a suspect, suspect Tottenham word,

as whenever Chelsea sound a player,

it tends to be sort of out Tottenham's hands.

That then impacts kind of what Chelsea achieve,

it affects how attractive the asset is that Bluto then buy.

So, yeah, my instinct is that...

I mean, the fine is...

I know it's the biggest in Premier League history,

but it's pretty poultry, to be honest, for the sale of the offences.

And in terms of sympathy for the Premier League,

yes, because you're having to unpick

very complicated financial kind of machinations

of an air sanctioned individual.

So, you know, it's a really complicated bit of financial forensic work, I guess.

But at the same time, it's...

I mean, if this is the bit that Chelsea have self-reported,

and again, credits a Bluto into the club for doing that,

what other stuff is going on there,

not just at Chelsea, but elsewhere, like,

who else is doing what?

And should the Premier League not maybe have more of a grip on that?

And I do wonder if there's a little bit of a missed opportunity

in terms of kind of the sanction that if you don't play...

This whole thing, and it's the same with PSR, and SCR, and City, and all that other stuff.

None of this really means anything if people aren't playing by the same rules.

It's quite a worrying sign more broadly.

Is there a sense that the Premier League draw a line under this, then, Dale?

Or are they looking elsewhere at things?

And I suppose there may be a having said, you know,

it's got nothing to do with the current ownership,

there may be owners of other clubs up and down the league who might say,

well, hang on a minute, we've been punished for things

that have gone on under previous owners as well.

I think, as far as just concerned, it's a closed book,

narrowing it in terms of the two cases,

but I think Roy makes a really good point.

I mean, if we're going to think that it's really just Chelsea

that have been engaging in this type of payments to make sure they get star players,

I mean, I've been very surprised if there wasn't other clubs up to do that type of thing,

because at the end of the day, these clubs want to get these players ahead of everyone else,

and they clearly find a way to make sure that they choose their club.

Dale, thank you very much.

Dale Johnson, with us, BBC Sports Football Issues Correspondent,

such as the nature of what managers have to talk about then.

Nowadays, Liam Rossini had to talk about that.

Then had to talk about Huddles.

I think in terms of the Huddle,

I think it's been blown out of proportion, to be honest.

This is a small, small thing amongst many, many serious things that we need to address,

such as the massive game against PSG tomorrow.

In terms of the Huddle, the Lads have always wanted to show unity and togetherness.

I think now continue to do that.

What we don't want to do is antagonise or bring more noise on ourselves

and we'll make the decision on where we do that on the pitch tomorrow.

This is one of the weirdest things I can remember.

I can't think of a story as ridiculous as this to be honest.

I keep a semi-list of moments where I think football has got beyond itself with stupidity,

and on that list is, do you remember the bit where Gary Lanick cancelled the match of the day?

But there's just bits where you sort of think,

I can't believe this thing is happening, because it makes no sense.

And this is a really good, nice, pure example of it.

The whole thing is completely absurd.

I don't understand what Chelsea was trying to do.

I don't really understand why Paul Taney stayed in the Huddle,

to be not have engineered his way out of it.

I don't get the thing about respecting the ball.

I feel a bit like there's some deeper meaning to it

that I'm too stupid to understand.

I'm with you, Rory. I think Paul Taney should just get out of the way.

And then it's just not even...

Would anyone be speaking about it if he'd...

It was the maddest... When I was watching it,

and I saw Cole Palmer hug him, I thought,

he's definitely going to get out now.

And he just stayed there. It was like, what is going on?

But yeah, I just don't see it as a problem.

If you were the opposition,

because I know they first said they did it away in Napoli, didn't they?

When they won.

Then it seemed to become a thing when they were at Villa Park.

That was the one that I remember and they did it at a heart of time

on the center circle.

It's just the location that seems to have become a thing.

Would you be bothered if you were the opposition?

It depends on the context of the teams.

If you're a team that's really in a good place,

I don't think it bothers you too much.

If you're not, maybe it gets used by the manager as something to antagonise

and use against the opposition.

But I don't know. You've seen it in rugby for years.

I'm always interested in the response to the hacker.

And I was going to start getting interested in teams' responses

to Chelsea's huddle over the hop.

But it seems the referees responded before any teams can.

It's become an issue.

So I think it's just, I'm with Liam really.

It's not really a massive thing.

But it's been turned into it because, yeah,

there'll be memes for years of Paul Tierney just standing

in the middle of their huddle, weren't they?

Corporal, yeah.

I suppose there's a point where like,

if you're talking a really weird situation,

you do kind of freeze, don't you?

You're trying to like, I don't know what's happening here.

Why are all these people standing there?

You must have heard about it pretty much to be in there

to say this is what Chelsea do.

Can we make sure that this?

I don't know.

Otherwise, I don't know why that's become a,

it'll be interesting to see if he'd been if he'd been warned

about it or to do something about it to try and make them move.

I don't know.

Yeah, I thought it was really, really weird the whole thing.

I mean, we used to do a huddle at Celtic.

Where?

Well, on the pitch, Mark.

Yes, I know.

Yes, I know.

But what, in your own half, in the penalty area?

In the same set?

Yeah, just in your own half.

And it was just something which we did in truth as a player.

I can't actually remember what anybody ever said in the huddle,

like I wasn't sort of focusing on it.

I find the whole thing just truly remarkable.

I think Liam Rossini, I like him a lot.

I think he's a really smart bloke, I do.

But I think he then, when he gets involved in sort of having

to explain things like this and talking about the players

respecting the ball and that brings unity and leadership.

And that's all important.

I don't really understand.

I wondered whether he was on the keynote speaking course.

I was on when you hear stuff like that.

It's just, it's absolute nonsense.

It really is.

I think huddles are for show.

That's what they are.

And if you're a player, show it by a recovery run.

Show it by bailing your team out with a brilliant block

or a brilliant bit of skill.

I don't understand what it's really sort of all for.

The referee getting involved and that he loves it,

to and he does, but I don't necessarily blame him.

And when you think about Liam Rossini,

he was really angry, wasn't he, about Arsenal?

Well, they are warming up.

They are warming up.

Why is he getting involved in stuff like that?

If I was him, I would have just, I would have just

batted, what did that off?

Batted that off and said, you know, I'm not really that fast.

It's just, it's not, it's not a great thing.

Do you think, Rory, it made, from whatever reason,

why they decided to do it at the start.

And maybe they won't care about this really.

It has actually gone the other way and made it

a sort of, a bit of a laughing stock.

I think people, do you know what, rappers?

I just think people have really baffled by the entire thing.

The one bit where I think, just seeing you might be

slightly disingenuous is that I'm guessing the players

didn't do it spontaneously.

It sounds like it's a thing that he wants them to do.

And he wants them to do it around the ball.

No, he said it was their decision to do it.

And he would go along with what the leaders of the group wanted.

Well, I mean, yeah, I'm not sure it's that, that,

that I suppose that means it's on the players.

But I'm not, I'm not sure it's a great look

if you're swarming the referee.

I mean, I don't, I don't think it was intimate.

Did they swarm the referee though?

He was just, he was just a bark standing there, wasn't he?

I mean, you know, what was he, what was he doing?

As well, but if you're, if you're going to respect everything,

I mean, are they going to do it around a corner flag next time?

Respect corner flag, respect the goal.

I mean, you can respect a lot of things, can't you?

Also, well, yeah, no, I just, I, I think it's, surely at some point,

someone's going to have to, he's mad that someone's going to have to

legislate for this now.

They don't have to think like, come on, they will.

They will have to be, they'll have to be like rule, rule seven,

subsection D, you're not allowed to huddle

around any of the match officials.

That's the, the natural outcome of this.

Okay, now end it there.

Chris runs a sort of former Norwich Clay Pigeon shooting club

with him and Rural Fox.

So maybe after tonight, you could, you could be, yeah, you're here.

Yeah, come in.

There you go.

There you go.

I love it to see you.

Thank you very much, Russell.

Thank you, Rory.

Thank you, Chris.

Well behaved.

Christopher, excellent.

That's it for this episode.

Next on, the football daily feed will be reaction to all the teams

in Tuesday night's Champions League,

including Manchester City against Realme.

I'm Rich Hall, and this is Sports Strangest Crimes Presents

Confessions of a Super Bowl Strieker.

What people ask me what I do?

I say to them, well, by day or by night?

The story of one man's mission to conquer the holy grail

of Strieking the Super Bowl.

Mark troubles his too largely for his body.

He's just like the entertainer.

Mark pushes the boundaries of what is socially acceptable

No chance, Texas.

It's really strict.

But then the more of those who don't see it,

the more of all find out.

What are you about?

Sports Strangest Crimes presents

Confessions of a Super Bowl Strieker.

Listen on BBC Sounds.

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