Window closes with no new attackers: Cup focus to start with Leicester?
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Hey, everybody. It's Diana Rossini from the Scoop City Podcast. It's Super Bowl week and the eyes of the world are on New Orleans to see if the Chiefs can make history or if the Eagles are ready to rain on their parade. Myself, Robert Mays, Derek Clausen, and a whole host of NFL reporters and special guests will be live streaming every day from Radio Row, covering all the buildup to Sunday's showdown. Join us on the Athletic HQ YouTube account every day at 5 p.m. Eastern Time. It's not to be missed.

The Athletic FC Podcast Network. This is Talk The Devils, the athletics podcast dedicated to Manchester United. We've got another packed podcast for you. Lots of information and lots of questions to answer from you as well. Thank you for your response to that request on social media. We'll react, of course, to a very quiet transfer deadline day for Manchester United. We'll get into those questions that I mentioned and we'll also preview Ruud van Nistelrooy's Leicester City game

coming to Old Trafford in the FA Cup on Friday. That's why we're recording a little bit earlier this week.

Lots to get into and a full house to do it. Good morning Karl Anka, Andy Mitten and Laurie Whitwell. Hello. Good morning. Hello Ian. Right, a quiet deadline day Laurie. Reflective of the sensible and financially disciplined approach from the club do you think? Okay, I was wondering where the intonation was going to go on that one, whether it was going to be a statement of fact or a question and I feel like a question is the fair emphasis. It was both because that's the message as

as to why deadline day was quiet. Yeah, and we will see the wisdom of that in time, right? Because...

I think on the one hand, you do have a sense that United need to be restrained in their spending. Clearly, we've gone through it a lot on this podcast about the issues around the cash that the club actually have, the amount of money that they still owe on transfer fees, you know, 300 odd million, which is quite staggering. And also just generally the PSR, FFP calculations, which we're all, I'm sure, absolutely in love with. But

On the other side is the sporting impetus and United currently being 13th in the Premier League. It feels like that business now is, okay, we're going to park the Premier League and Europa League has to be the focus, right? Because that is clearly the route to Champions League qualification and a trophy and actually then giving the club more money to spend in the summer if they're in Europe's elite competition. But is the squad strong enough to...

you know, mount a bid in that regard. Um,

It feels thin if you want to actually really try and motor up the league table. There's no sign of that happening with the performances, with the form. So maybe it's a realistic approach. I can certainly understand fans being concerned about no additional forward coming in when you've let Marcus Rashford go, albeit he was out of the squad for two months. When you've let Anthony go, albeit he's not really been a feature of United for a good 18 months.

but they haven't brought anybody in other than Patrick Dorgue and then Aidan Heaven, who's an 18-year-old saying he's a first-team signing. So, yeah, I can understand the concern there. I think from United's point of view, they didn't want to chuck money at a situation that was then going to be wasted. So the Matthijs Tell one is probably the one that we were touching on in the post-Pristol Palace podcast after the

the Palace game and it seemed like there might be talks on that front but basically the price was too much for United you know five million pound loan fee is what Bayern apparently quoted United with no buy option so there was no kind of value in United then getting this player in and potentially having him then for the long term 19 year old at Bayern Munich who hasn't you know featured all that much hasn't scored that much so it would have been from their point of view a

putting money into a situation in hope, certainly rather than expectation. And that's where they've drawn the line. Well, that's the entire transfer section done, Laurie. So thank you for that. We can move it on to the Leicester preview. I'm going to invest in. Kyle, we had so many messages about Manchester United's transfer business. And it was interesting, actually, because as you went through the emails and as you went through the messages on social media,

So many different views on this. A lot of people shouting, saying, why have United not signed someone? Jack on Spotify. Crazy how when United get to 13th, it's now we decide to stop panic buying. Craig also on that platform said, there's nothing more infuriating as a United fan than other United fans. They moan about spending crazy money, panic buying players, but then moan when they don't do that and actually employ a more long-term plan. So yeah. As explained to me by an expert of the window,

Transfer News is about hope, right? When the window warriors come up to me and say I win for anyone, all I'm hearing is, please give me a reason that things will get better. Now, there are many other ways for things to get better other than just buying a shiny new toy. So, I can understand if you were expecting reinforcements and recovery to arrive on Monday. That would have been a disappointing way to start your week. I can also understand how other developments elsewhere and seeing other teams splash money would have been annoying.

I keep going back to that old gym training thing about how summer bodies are made in the winter. If the club is briefing that they're not going to spend money in January because they're trying to sort themselves out in summer, I will accept that information right now. But I do not, for a second, want to hear about a player turning up partway through the season when the windows still open and they're not quite ready to start because they're not much fit. If United are holding their colour right now,

That means the moment that summer window is open, day one, day two, week one, whatever, we know and they're making moves. All the players United actually want to get need to be ready to play football for Ruben Amorim's Reds on match day one of the Premier League season.

because I can't keep going oh look it's that new football player that we signed they're being unveiled oh they've got a they've got a small injury in their back or in their foot they need time to train and get up to speed with the new teammates back or forth who could you mean Carl if you're not if you're not if you're not spending money in January that means you must you better have a very good idea of what you're going to do when the summer window closes and that plan might better be sorted before match day one Andy do you think it puts more pressure on the summer

There's pressure because the team are struggling, they're below mid-table and it's a change of circumstances because traditionally Manchester United have thrown money at problems and that is no longer the option that it used to be. That has always been the default. In 89 it was Ferguson spending a fortune on five or six new players.

In 2020, it was Manchester United signing Bruno Fernandes and him making an immediate impact. So the club are sticking to the guns. Benfica wanted to take Malasia, for example, but wouldn't meet the threshold of paying his wages. So Manchester United just said no. And with Tell, in addition to Laurie's points, United's view was, why should we develop a player for Bayern Munich when we wouldn't benefit at the end? Sey did really well with no option to buy Manchester.

So it has been a one-way street for too long with Manchester United. I've said on the pod in the past, the worst example was the deal for Nani to Sporting, where they basically got him for a

for almost nothing. And now, Marcus Rashford and Anthony have gone. And if it's not all, then it's a high percentage of their wages being covered. These aren't the type of things we should be celebrating, but it is much better than it has been. And we shouldn't be celebrating because Anthony hasn't worked out and Marcus Rashford has not been featuring.

In an ideal world, both of them will be really important players for Manchester United, scoring and assisting. Well, for the minute, United are still paying a proportion, however small, of their wages for them to not succeed at United and try and succeed elsewhere. It's a small portion, but it would have been a big portion if that deal would have been cut 10 years ago.

if Marcus does well at Aston Villa, if Anthony does well at Real Betis, their stock will rise. We're talking from a position of weakness here. We're talking about a team who are mid-table, a team who have got huge debts, who owe a huge amount on transfers still. So this is the pain. This is the hangover time. And it's not pretty. And you're quite right that some fans are saying, you know, just buy so-and-so. Well, how? How is this supposed to work? It

It could have been better. Casemiro could have moved on. That would have released even more money off the wage bill. But United have been losing 80, 90 million pounds a year. That couldn't go on. The, the,

the club were going bust if that would have happened for 10-20 years the club would have gone bust so something had to change and it is really painful and it's really awkward and so he's watching the team for most of the matches especially Old Trafford at the moment I just enjoyed Andy saying why would we develop a player for Bayern Munich and I went Man United develop attacking players? Yeah

Yeah, that's true. Andy, you mentioned Casemiro there. Do you think there is any chance that he could still leave? Because we mentioned it, I think, on the last podcast and the one before, that the Turkish window is still a possibility. That's open until next Tuesday. Yeah, there is money in Turkish football. Allies in Turkish football, right? Yeah, I knew most about a year ago when Casemiro was strongly linked to Saudi Arabia.

And I was party to more detail there. And I got told it was never that close. And the problem remains the same. He earns a huge amount. He's one of the best paid footballers in the world. And so was Marcus Rashford. So Aston Villa came in because they're a big Premier League club playing Champions League football. They've got money. It's even a huge risk for Aston Villa. So Turkish with the weaker currency,

You know, there's a lot of players playing in Turkey who've played at Manchester United.

Would Casemiro go there and do well? I've just got no evidence that that is going to happen. It could happen, but I've got no evidence that it will. Okay, well, players have left United this window. Obviously, we've talked a lot about Marcus Rashford joining Aston Villa. Tyrone Malassia's loan move to PSV was confirmed on the Dutch deadline day as well. There's an option to buy in there. The full wage is covered as well, which is crucial considering what Andy said a moment ago with why the talks with Benfica fell apart.

But Laurie, this has opened up a question from Ben, who's a Stockport Red exiled in the South for 35 years, according to him. He'd like you to explain the difference between an option to buy or an obligation to buy, exactly how it works.

he says I get that the clubs have agreed a fee as part of the loan negotiations but what about the players salary is that also up front well so this is the real intriguing point to Marcus Rashford's deal for example where Aston Villa have an option to buy I'm not sure exactly on the clauses of that whether that

a reality in different scenarios but Rashford's then got his own view of this at the final end of the season he won't just if the two clubs agree this fee already and then they go yeah let's press the button on that he still then has to agree his salary and that would then be well he was speaking about it as a short term move in his first interview as an Aston Villa player or it certainly felt like it anyway right okay that's interesting from his point of view then I guess he

ultimately would, you know, because let's be honest, there was other options on the table that were interested but couldn't afford it and you would imagine that Marcus Rashford would like to see himself at, you know, a Barcelona. That was certainly the club that I think he would have preferred to join but,

whether they can then do it in the summer let's see and so then maybe that's what he's coming at it from that point of view in terms of Aston Villa being a short term thing I'm sure Aston Villa will be you know perfectly happy with that if they get a good performance level from him and they do well in the league and qualify for the Champions League again or you know they do well in the later stage of the Champions League this season I'm

but yeah ultimately the option to buy is only an agreement between the two clubs the player himself has obviously a big say in what happens there and he's got a contract to Manchester United for another couple of years at least so

But if he was then going to be accepting a lesser salary at a new club, he would have to come to an agreement with Manchester United for that gap. Maybe he would say, I want it all covered. Maybe United would say, well, okay, no, we'll give you a certain percentage of it. This happens quite frequently with players that leave clubs on permanent deals. Scott McTominay, when he went to Napoli, there was an agreement there, financial settlement, on the rest of his contract. Aaron Wan-Bissaka, when he went to West Ham, same thing. So that's one part of it.

An obligation then is just different because it basically is the club that is loaning the player just then has to pay that money at the end at that point. And I suppose, again, there's a complication there with the player's own

thoughts on that but I suppose if an obligation is included then the player has to be on board with it because otherwise the obligation is not worth anything so I think that's probably usually done when it's basically a permanent transfer it's all been agreed but they just don't want to call it a permanent transfer just yet for accounting reasons so they put the money on a different year of accounts I think that's basically what it comes down to I bet Ben's glad he asked

Well, listen, from one stopport lad to another, I felt like I needed to give him a comprehensive answer. Absolutely. It shows how complicated these sort of deals are to do. To even explain them feels complicated, let alone to negotiate them and work these details out. What it has done, Carl, it's left Manchester United with only four senior forwards for the remainder of this season. And when I say senior, Joshua Xerxes, the veteran at 23, along with Rasmus Hoyland, Alejandro Garnaccio and Ahmad.

How do you feel about that? That's not enough. Just bluntly, that's not enough bodies. That's not enough confident bodies that leaves you deficient in

three or four key criteria that you're seeing towards the top of the Premier League now. Obviously, there are two or three players that are underperforming that you're hoping can find form via their loan deals and then either can be reintegrated back in the squad or be sold at some sort of profit that can help you get further reinforcements. But this is not a... Andy always says, this is a team that doesn't score enough goals. And now the strike force is lower in body than it's ever been before. So you're either going to need...

one of these young players to go supernova, or you're going to need Bruno Fernandes to find some of that penalty-winning form, wink, wink, that was so important in the project restart part of the 19-20 season, or you're just not going to score enough goals, which then means the defence needs to be better.

And I know we've had quite a few listeners come in and talk about Manchester United being boring and playing slowly. That might be because you need to kill off 10 to 15 minutes per game now because you're only going to ever... You're rarely going to win games by more than two goals. So...

Yeah, it doesn't fill me with excitement. I like Ahmad. I think this is a ridiculous amount of creative burden now about to be placed upon Ahmad. That's the thing, Andy. I mean, between the four of them, there's 187 Premier League appearances, which is a decent amount of experience for young players, but only 35 Premier League goals. It puts a lot of expectation on them. It puts a lot of pressure on them to deliver.

But it also puts a lot of pressure on their fitness, doesn't it? I mean, the likelihood is that three of the four of these are going to have to start every week. Yeah, United's January transfer activity was always dependent on which cup competitions the team were going to be in. So if we went back a month, about to face Arsenal away in the FA Cup...

unsure whether we were going through in the Europa League the situation could have been very different as we speak Manchester United are still in the Europa League and still in the FA Cup so there could be a lot of games which adds even more pressure the pressure's been there right from the start of the season the team is just not scoring anywhere near enough goals and we've got more questions and answers at the moment because we don't know where the goals are going to come through I know there's a

A lot of talk about bringing one of the young players through, a lot of questions people have asked that as well. But I don't have any definite answers there. I think Garnaccio now has the most goals out of all the current forwards left at Manchester United. Most Premier League goals. I've looked up Premier League goals. Yeah, 13 compared to Hoyland's 12. This is all-time Premier League careers. Right, so yeah, so for all-time, Garnaccio has the most Premier League goals in the current league. I say all-time. Some of them have only played this season. But yeah, this is not.

This is not what we envisioned at the start of the season. I was predicting Hoyland to get close to 15 goals, Garnaccio to push close to 20 goals. I didn't think Xerxe would get more than 10 goals in the league, but...

There have been questions about why United didn't get another forward, Laurie, obviously, even if it's just for another body. I mean, Tim on X said, should we have considered a loan move for Evan Ferguson, who has gone to West Ham? I mean, I remember interviewing Ferguson last season and I've never been sent so many DMs on Instagram saying, kidnap him, bring him back to Old Trafford. When are we signing him? Tap him up.

There's not been many of those just lately because his form has definitely dipped. I mean, he's had injury problems this season, right? Hasn't he? Yeah. But you are right in the sense of people, when he was first...

coming through everyone was saying he's a £100m player and I was certainly intrigued by that prospect I think United looked at it Do you remember the Dublin live show last year which player would you like to sign for Manchester United was the question and the entire crowd almost shouted out in unison Evan Ferguson I mean understandable given where we were but you know absolutely

This season, yeah. So he's had sort of cruciate ligament tear and ankle problems. And so he's started, I'm just looking at it now, sort of two games in the Premier League this season. And so from that point of view, I think United were probably thinking, well,

to bring another player in that we're not sure about on a short-term basis is a question. West Ham can take that risk. I mean, they needed to, right? Because they've got real big issues at the top of the pitch. I know Jared Bowen came back for them the other night at Stamford Bridge, but Michael Antonio being out and Danny Ings towards the end of his career. So I think they certainly need to bring somebody in and they've got a new manager that they want to sort of support. And I suppose by me saying that, I'm also sort of looking at the Ruben Amrin. Yeah.

status and thinking well he's a new manager they wanted to support but I feel like they are I think they are you know backing Amarant in the sense of

we're endorsing your choices on which players we think aren't a right cultural fit you know so you know in terms of getting them out of the building so that you've then got to work with players that are totally bought into your methods and I think they are on board with that and then just resetting for the summer you know they're keeping their powder dry for the summer but as Carl's saying the

they should really be absolutely making those moves now so that they can hit the button when they have got the cash available. Kyle, how much do you think the academy could provide a solution to this problem in the remainder of this season? Not just the remainder of this season, but I think for the next couple of seasons. Carrington is going to be the glue. Carrington has often been the glue. I've brought this up on more than one occasion. You think about how Maynew emerged and essentially...

helped cover up what a bad transfer deal Mason Mount has been for Manchester United. Rashford's emergence. Exactly, right? Carrington has repeatedly found a way to produce football players that can do a job and occasionally provide first team players that can be the cornerstone of this football club for however long. That is not for me to say there is someone in the back right now at Carrington right now and they're going to play against Leicester City and it's all going to be fine and dory.

There is one thing being very good at under 18 level. There's another thing being good at under 23 level. There's another thing being good making the jump from under 23s to the first team. And it's another thing to do that when your first team is, quite frankly, a bin fire. So even if there is a player right now who has got the glimmer that they might be able to do something...

I can understand if Aaron's going, I don't necessarily want to throw you in right now because you are going to get run at a lot. I think right now we're talking, we'll get to the point where we talk about Patrick Dorgu. One of my fears for Dorgu is he's going to play way too many games because there's no other options that left-sided win back. And because he's 20 years of age and he's just made a jump to Premier League, other Premier League scouts are going to go, here is every single weakness this person has and we're going to exploit them again and again and again and again until this person snaps.

And you don't necessarily want to do that. Doing that to a 20-year-old is mean. I don't want to do that to a 17-year-old. Carrington will be important, but let's not start saying these five players are going to make the jump and everything's going to be hunky-dory. The academy is in a far better place than it was a decade ago. My understanding is that Ruben Amorim wants players who are more physical coming through the academy.

The academy has been a success pretty consistently through Manchester United's history. A few of the players who come through, I think Marcus Rashford is the main striker. There were really high hopes, for example, for James Wilson to come through and to be a success. It seldom happens. It was put to me years ago. You've basically got to jump from being a child to being one of the best 700 players in the world to be playing in the Premier League. And you look at some of the players who've come through with high hopes and

A year ago, Amari Fawcett played a first team game for Manchester United. He can't even get into a Monza team who are bottom of Serie A at the moment. So where are the levels? There was another transfer done on...

on deadline day, another Reuben at the club, Reuben Curley, moved to Stoke City. But what is his level? You're going at one level as a young professional, not on the wages anywhere near a first-teamer, but if you then establish yourself in the first team, even a championship first team, it is still a huge, huge jump to go from what is youth football. And another factor is fans sometimes out of desperation...

They say, throw the kids in. And I'm not going to say it again, what I always say. There's a real risk with throwing the kids in. And they say it can't get any worse. It can get a lot, lot worse. Can't win anything with kids, Andy, can you? You can't win anything with kids. I mean, those kids who came through in 95 were surrounded by experienced pros and really strong characters. And there's a lack of them in Manchester United's first team at the moment, which affects everything.

It affects the way Marcus Rashford's career pans out at Manchester United. You get constant changes with managers as well. So it is difficult. It's to the club's credit that Garnaccio was identified, that Kobi Mainu came through as well.

But I don't have any, I can't be saying you've got to give this lad a try from the youth system. I know there's loads and loads of questions. Yeah, there is. Some of these are children. They're 17 years old. Yeah, there is a lot of questions. One player in particular is the subject of those questions, Laurie, Chido Obi. Again, varying takes on it, really. Is this why United haven't pushed Vettel? Because he might be...

given some minutes in the first team that's the question from Judd others did a little bit of detective work and worked out that he'd not featured in the under 18s Premier League Cup defeat on penalties to West Ham on Tuesday so does that suggest he might be in contention to face Leicester or

he was definitely the name that everyone wanted to know about anyway. Yeah, I think it's fair for fans to look at whether players are appearing in youth games or not and then try and figure it all out. I mean, I believe United have got an under-21s game on Friday against Spurs and Chido Obi hasn't actually played that many under-21s games this season. It's been predominantly in the under-18s. So I wonder if he's been sort of saved for that one rather than the seniors. I just think it would be

such a big step to go from, you know, the Academy to, you know, this kind of fierce atmosphere of Old Trafford right now. And, yeah,

I totally take the point that long term, that's the hope. They obviously made big moves to get him from Arsenal. He was tearing it up for them ahead of his age groups at different youth levels. But like I say, he hasn't played for the 21 just yet that much. And he has played against the kind of senior players at different levels. He played against Oldham in the 5-0 win. He scored there, missed a couple of chances.

but he obviously can, I think, handle himself against more senior people, but equally, it's then the Premier League. It's a different kettle of fish. I'd just be a little bit hesitant. I don't think that his levels this season was a factor in why United didn't go for an attacker in the January window. I think it's more that

The financial picture made it so the options being out there didn't really appeal to them. I don't think it's a case of, right, now we've got the clear pathway for Chido Obi to come through. I think ultimately they want Rasmus Hoylen and Joshua Xerxes to start scoring goals, you know, or Kobi Beinu if he goes up top again. But yeah, I would just be a little bit hesitant to kind of commit to Chido Obi being the answer at this point. Okay, fair enough. Let's have a look at some more of your questions then.

Andy, I'll put this to you. Riyaz says, do you think we've finally hit rock bottom? Or Jim, maybe more optimistically. Can you give us any reason to be positive? It's a good question. The glasses have come off. The reason to be positive is that you're a Manchester United fan. It could be much, much worse. And this team and this club will prevail. We just don't know when. This team will rise again. But it could get worse. I don't think the team are going down this season.

I'm positive because I'm naturally optimistic, but I can't polish what Manchester United are at this moment. I thought you were going to say something else then, Andy. Be careful. It's a family podcast. I will never call Manchester United Football Club a turd. You just did. It could get worse, but it will get better. But I remember in 2018 speaking to a load of Manchester United fans in Oslo.

it's not going to be like this forever. It will get better. And that's already six years ago. It's very complicated. The finances make it very, very complicated. I fear that fans might have more bad news going forward. The club's in debt. I worry about ticket prices. I obviously had a chat with Sir Jim Ratcliffe about that. And I think we just could be having more bad news than good news, which has been the trend for most of this season. Just on that, actually, Finn...

exactly the topic that you've talked about there. He said, there are loads of fans blaming Radcliffe and Ineos for the lack of transfers and the general economic situation of the club. Why exactly? I believe that Radcliffe is the surgeon we need, is how he's put it, after being steamrolled by the Glazers for 20 years. This operation hurts and will continue to hurt for a long time. I think that is a fair point. This is more on the Glazers than it's on Sir Jim Radcliffe. And as I said a couple of weeks ago, anybody in the world who,

could have tried to buy Manchester United, tried to do a deal with Manchester United. Only two people were taken seriously. One of those groups either couldn't or wouldn't show proof of funds. Has Ratcliffe done a good deal? That remains to be seen. It is incredibly complicated. But when fans were warning in 2005 that the Glazer takeover, the highly leveraged takeover, could lead to serious problems for

Don't say you weren't warned. This is the reality now. And the reality is not very pleasant at all. United couldn't carry on losing money. Cuts needed to be made. Innocent, hardworking people lose the jobs. These are the people who are paying the price ultimately for that takeover in 2005. Kyle, obviously you've set out the Andy Mitten standard of quality many times in the past on this podcast. Shakir's put a question in which is,

Potentially laying out the Jim Radcliffe standard of quality for this season. He said, what would Ineos consider success now this season in what has been perhaps the worst in United's modern history? Okay. Getting through it? Honestly, yes. I know...

My two co-workers here have talked about the Europa League and possibly winning it and booking hotels for Bilbao. Possibly? Come on, Mr Anker. See, here we go. All right, I'm going to be a Debbie Downer and a negative nonner. And I think success this season is not about league position. It's not about silverware. It is about figuring out which of these players is up for what Ameren wants to do between now and the end of the season. That's it. It's...

it's separating wheat from chaff, it's figuring out who wants to grind and who wants to have the nasty hard yards for the next couple of seasons ahead. That's the objective. Just figuring out at the end of the season, is this player capable of playing 30 to 40, maybe even 50 games a season in this Ameren thing? And is Ameren figuring out what the Premier League is and figuring out what the Premier League wants and figuring out how to do well in the Premier League? Because everything else is going to make you miserable.

Okay, having said that, let's preview Manchester United in the FA Cup against Leicester. Come on! Yeah! Ruben Amorim will bring the glory days again. Back in from the Stratford end. Turn the Reds around. Oh, so good.

That sounded even more glorious than I thought it was going to. That sounds horrendous. I haven't got a good voice, which I realise. That had auto-tune on it, Andy, as well. Oh!

You know, you think you might be able to sing two years ago, pre-season in Oslo, I stood up to sing that Ilanga song in a packed bar and 20 seconds in, I thought, even though I'd had a few drinks, I thought, this really wasn't a good idea at all. I've never been near a microphone since. You just want everyone to drown you out, basically, don't you? You start it and then everyone takes over. We've all been there, I think. But yeah, that's obviously Andy's rendition of...

of the new Manchester United chant that was heard in the match against Crystal Palace for Ruben Amorim to the tune of Bonnie Tyler's It's a Heartache. We had a few questions about it, Andy, as you'd imagine. First off, Key Klasvik Lad on X, who I think is from the Faroe Islands, wants to know, why has Andy Mitten been to the Faroe Islands? So maybe we should spell this out first because you had an anecdote of being on a plane with Bonnie Tyler to said place.

I wrote a book about derbies around the world and I traveled to derbies around the world. And the Faroe Islands one, which I went to, was actually the only one in the world I went to where I couldn't find away fans to say anything negative about the other club. And someone said, there's so few of us, we can't afford to fall out with each other. Nice. You know, I said that anecdote the other day and it was off the top of my head. And then I realized that...

A lot of people listen to this podcast and then I started getting... So you had to actually tell the truth when you said that Bonnie Tyler was on a plane to the Faroe Islands? I started questioning myself, but then we got an email. Oh yeah. Hi Andy, I play guitar for Bonnie Tyler, have done for 27 years.

I enjoyed your version of Heartache on the podcast. I'm with her later this week, so I will let her know that the song has a new role. She's not a United fan, but she's had lunch with Sir Alex a few times over the years. Wow. Love the podcast. We have tickets for the show in London from Matt. Brilliant, Matt. That is so good. So, yeah. That is mad. Yeah. He said that you were good at singing. That's the bit that I'm blown away by.

Just being polite there, isn't he? He said enjoyed. It wasn't brilliant, was it? I replied...

Brilliant, Matt. I read an interview with Bonnie a few weeks ago where she talked about a family all coming round to her house, etc. But part of me was still thinking, was that her on the plane in the Faroes? Have I basically lied to you? Matt replied, Bonnie's a top lady. Oh, by the way, that Faroe Islands trip was crazy. Rizzle, he stood it up. Yes, mate. Why was it so crazy? Yeah.

If there's a gig somewhere in the world between Cluj, Curitiba, Greenland and Melbourne, I've been to three of them four places, by the way, we've done it. 80 countries so far and still we go. Tremendous. Brilliant. That is so good. So, yeah, it was Bonnie. Brilliant. I

I also had another mate message me and say, that song is absolutely horrendous. United fans should not be singing that. That's before he's heard your rendition set to music as well. Yeah, exactly. I'm having it, actually. I think it's a bit different, and if everyone started singing it, we could be away with that. But it needs to catch on properly before we... Well, if you've sung it on this podcast, Andy, we know what happens when you sing a chant on this podcast. If it's got anything like the Antonia Langer pull, then...

loud and proud on Friday night at Old Trafford yeah Elanga felt brilliant right at the start I'll be honest this feels you know 70% good or maybe that's because we were better then than now it's going to need time to build it's going to need time to build on the Stratford end I reckon why do they choose certain melodies certain songs I mean it's hard it does kind of fit the current mood around it to be honest it does I'm really intrigued as to why those songs get picked and to put words to it

I'm also really intrigued as to what Bonnie Tyler had with Alex Ferguson over lunch and what they discussed. What's that link about? Yeah, I know. I had a brilliant one lined up. I was just ready to press go for Raphael Varane, but unfortunately his United career never really got to a stage where it was flying. What makes a song work? What doesn't? Sometimes it catches on in the pub during the match. I'm all for original songs and that Bonnie Tyler one,

passes the test on that one. Yeah. The Alanga one, I think would help that he'd scored the goal away at Atletico as well. Didn't it? You know, that was like a real moment for him. And obviously then having the song there ready to go and sing, um, is the perfect way to do it. We'll see if it gets an airing against Leicester City on Friday. Like Laurie said, we'll preview that in just a moment, but I wanted to point out that the women's side are also in FA Cup action this weekend. They take on fourth tier, uh, Wolves. We're going to do a proper update on the team, uh,

in a podcast to come. But they're on five consecutive wins now in the WSL following their defeat to Chelsea. Four of those wins with a clean sheet. Second in the league now, above Manchester City, above Arsenal. Five points ahead of Manchester City in the race for the Champions League. And there's a WSL briefing on the Athletic from Jesse Parker-Humphreys if you want to read a little bit more about the picture in that competition at the moment. But right, Andy, Friday night, Ruud van Nistelrooy back again

as Leicester City manager and you're not allowed to go to Old Trafford are you? No I'm not going That's good though isn't it for all of us Yeah it's good for Manchester United fans yeah because every time I watch Ruud van Nistelrooy's team they win and

And he knows this and he wanted me to go at Weverton at the weekend and I didn't. And obviously they got battered. So I'm not going to go to Old Trafford. Manchester United will hopefully go through in the FA Cup. And if Leicester are really struggling towards the end of the season, I might pop down and go to a few matches. My current record on Van Nistelre in charge is played five, won three, drawn two, lost none. How many other people can say that this season? Not many Leicester fans. There you go. No. No.

I mean, I turned up at Tottenham last week and obviously they won. That's crazy. So yeah, I'm glad you're not there. For those of us who are there, Carl, what can we expect? Is this a Manchester United priority now, the FA Cup? Yes, I think Aaron's going to give us words to the effect of we want to win every single game.

in his press conference tomorrow there is no there is limited chance to rotate and mess around too much now especially because there's been two or three injuries now so he's going to have to start putting more square pegs in round holes

Might be an opportunity for Collier, maybe Casemiro to come off the bench, but I think he's going to go close to full strength. Yeah, no Luke Shaw potentially is the rumour now, Laurie, because there is talk of there being a setback for him. Obviously already lost Lissandro Martinez on the left side of defence as well. What about Patrick Dorgue? Do you think there's an opportunity for him to go straight in?

Well, I mean, he was playing for Lecce right up until signing for United. He missed the Friday night game, which was his farewell to them, but he played in the previous Sunday's game against Inter. They got beat 4-0, so it wasn't the best send-off. But yeah, he's obviously in match fitness, right? So you'd imagine he's definitely going to be in the squad. I mean, I guess maybe it's a

a little bit of a consideration about how he's fitted in with training this week and you know understanding everything but you know he speaks perfect English so it's not like there's a language barrier that we obviously saw in times gone by when you had Patrice Evra starting the derby against Man City and it'd be an absolute terrible occasion for him but the so yeah I would be I would be surprised if we don't see him featured to be honest you know I could yeah well in

envision that. Yeah, Martinez, that's a real bad one. We're waiting for official confirmation yet, but there's obviously reports in Argentina that it's a cruciate ligament issue and that's going to be a long time out and he's already had spells out with injuries, so that's it. Another blow and Luke Shaw again, if that's confirmed, that's another...

reason to have left-footed defenders being signed you know two of them this window so let's see how much they feature from now until the end of the season yeah and in terms of a priority i mean it's clear isn't it that the cup competitions for united have to be the priority considering the league position considering how many points it would take for united to get back into european contention maybe more pertinently the number of teams that would have to jump ahead of to get back

into European contention as well and people sort of suggesting that the reason the transfer window was quiet was that they don't need to worry about the Premier League necessarily. Yeah, reluctantly I say yes. In the back of my mind I always felt there would be a point in the season where Manchester United moved up the league table. I thought United would beat Palace at the weekend. It's just not happening. It simply is not happening. There's a consistency now to this

in the league and it's a team who are 12th to 14th in the league so the FA Cup saviour of Manchester United so many times the first trophy after Munich the first

And Leicester City were actually the opponents in the final in 1963. The team was coming together then. The team had been really unfancied the season before. Skirted relegation. Crowds had been hit. A lad called Dennis Law came in, whatever happened to him. Paddy Crerand came in. So there's great history with Leicester City and Manchester United in this competition. And then there's the Europa League as well. I've got a bill about for the final, whatever. I've agreed to that, whether it's Manchester United or...

or not, it would be wonderful, but I also take Carl's point on this. The minute Manchester United come up against a competent team over two legs, I would worry, but then Manchester United go to Anfield and City and Arsenal and get results, so I find myself conflicted just saying that. The cup was great for United last year, that win against City shows how the team can surprise players,

um going out of both cup competitions by early march the season would just become a disaster then because last season even even though it faded badly you still had cup interest and it is interest it's genuine interest yeah okay well let's leave it there then on talk the devils and i've got an email from kit which i think is the perfect way to finish considering what you just said as well uh they're a long-time listener from manchester in missouri in the usa and

But they say, I was recently at Old Trafford sitting next to an older lady who has been a season ticket holder for many years. As the Brighton match was approaching full time, she smiled at me and said, I can't believe I come here for pleasure. Thank you for that email, Kip. And thank you for that note of optimism to finish the podcast ahead of the Leicester FA Cup match on Friday. Yes. Thank you, Laurie. Thank you, Carl. Thank you, Andy. I should have ended on a higher note, but never mind. Maybe next time. Let's hope the team providers won.

Take care. Thanks for listening. Bye-bye. The Athletic FC Podcast Network.