Can relegation-threatened Manchester United pull off an Anfield miracle?
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Getting back on the saddle isn't always comfortable. Good news is Sierra has massage guns. And chafe wipes too. Discover top brands at unexpectedly low prices. Sierra, let's get moving. What did you do in the end, Newsy? I toddled off to bed at nine o'clock and went to sleep. Did you? That's interesting. Was that allowed? Did Sam not get pissed off by that?

But it's allowed. I mean, we don't have hard and fast rules. Didn't make you stay up and watch the fireworks. Big Chris can go to bed when Big Chris...

pleases Ian. So, yeah, I mean, in fairness, I've been married 30 years. It's not a totalitarian sort of marriage. You know, I can do that if I like. Big Chris can go to bed in the spare room whenever he feels like it. Yeah. What about yourself? Did you celebrate? No, we watched, no, we had a takeaway curry from Marks and Spencer's and, and, and,

Why did you have to tell me it was from Marks and Spencer's? I don't know, actually. I wasn't, I really wasn't going to judge you. No, I mean, rather than from a curry house, I mean, rather than from like an indie restaurant. But there were so few, the shelves were so bare that we had the most random, random Indian meal you've ever seen in your life. And yeah,

Then we watched The Masked Singer that we recorded from Christmas Eve. It was terrible, absolutely terrible. I didn't know any of the people on it. I didn't know any of the people. But that's the whole point. No, but when you do a big reveal, when you do the big reveal on The Masked Singer, you're supposed to go, oh, it's,

Joe Bloggs. But every time they did it, it was like, oh, who's that? I don't know who it is. Who is it? Right. And who was it or is it worth asking? Oh, it was Holly Johnson won. I know you're not hot on your music. Holly Johnson, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Relax. Yeah. Yeah, he won it. So yeah, I did. And Davina McCourt was on it as well. But generally speaking, I didn't have a clue.

who most of the people were. I've got to that point now. I've got my fisherman jumper on again. I've got to that point now. Your Captain Haddock jumper. I just need to hide my four necks now until I can get back in some kind of shape to get into crisis level. You'll be all right. Can you remember Captain Haddock? I can't remember Captain Haddock. There'll be a lot of listeners, a bit like the Masked Singer, they won't know who...

captain when i said when we had that lunch before when we had that lunch before christmas and i said you said to me why are you wearing a scarf in the restaurant and i said because i'm hiding my neck you said you said which one as you sat there eating your carrots carrots for starter never seen anything like it 18 18 pounds for four carrots carrots for a start yeah lovely place anyway i'll tell you what um

I'll tell you what a lot of people were clearly doing over the new year, which does actually always surprise me and give me reason to be cheerful, going to football matches. The attendances in the EFL yesterday, New Year's Day, really were something. This is League One, right? League One. Given that everyone's spent all their money over Christmas and all the rest of it and going to watch football is not cheap. 15,000 at Barnsley.

10,000 at Blackpool, 9,000 at Lincoln, your old place. Yeah. Eight and a half thousand at Mansfield, 10 and a half thousand at Stockport and in League Two, 9,000 at Chesterfield and 12,000 at Notts County. That is serious commitment to watching football.

Yeah, that is. I mean, that's really, really encouraging that. And I mean, a lot of the, I mean, they're interesting, a lot of the league tables, aren't they? You know, you look at League One, Wickham, I know Wickham went top yesterday. They got a last minute penalty, dodgy penalty against Exeter City to go top. I think Wrexham lost, didn't they? Barnsley beat Wrexham and then...

And then Birmingham City were held by Stockport. And Walsall, 12 points clear in League Two, which is...

Absolutely incredible. I've got to say, I hadn't really delved down into League Two. We did 6-0-6 last night, and that's some feat that does. I think it's Matt Sadler there, manager, so fair play to Walsall. When I was covering Notts County for the Nottingham Post back in the 90s, and to be fair, they were struggling. They went down that season. They were struggling, but they were getting about 3,000.

About 3,000. Since then, obviously, they've been back out, back, you know, down out of the league, back up into the league. Now getting 12,000. When you were at Lincoln, seriously, when you were a manager at Lincoln, what were you getting?

About 3,000. About 3,000. And after I'd been in a month, about 200. And then when you left, about 6,000. No, but 9,000 at Lincoln, that must sound like a lot to you. Yeah. No, it is. I know the Cowleys went in, the Cowley brothers went in a few years after myself, and I think that they were sort of the catalyst. But that was always the plan when I went in at Lincoln, to try and sort of move them up the ladder.

the leagues, they were struggling in League 2. So it's good to see them. Last season, they came within a whisker of the playoffs in League 1. And this season, I think it's Michael Scabala who's doing a fine job there. And they're really competitive in a very competitive league, League 1. I just think that in this day and age when there's so many other things to do in the world, there's so much on the television, etc.,

The fact that people are still prepared to go in. And I think that you may disagree, but I don't think the standard is amazing. People who watch the championship regularly, and I mean people who support championship clubs, tell me that the standard in the champ is not, you know, it's a fascinatingly competitive league, but the standard of football is not amazing. And yet that remains compelling. 31,000 at Sheffield Wednesday, Josh Windass, Dean's son, scoring from his own half.

Yeah. You know, I just, I don't know. I just think that when there's so much football on the television, et cetera, it just heartens me that people are still prepared to put the coats on,

Put the hats on, put the gloves on and get out to football on Tuesday. Anyway, lots of football this weekend, mate, in the Premier League. Tottenham are at home to Newcastle, half past 12 on Saturday. We've talked a lot about Ange-Proster Coghlu so far this season. We've talked a lot about Eddie Howe and Newcastle. Two managers who seem to be in different positions at the moment in terms of the way the teams are going, of course. One thing that really interests me

about Foster Cloggo is his staff and the fact that everywhere he goes, and you and I know this, we've talked to him about it, everywhere he goes, he appoints a new backroom staff.

So he's not, for example, he's not got a single person with him at Tottenham who he had at Celtic. And he's always been that way when he's moved from, you know, from Australia, Japan, Scotland, and now England. He never takes anybody with him because he thinks it encourages his ideas to go stale. If he just has the same people, he thinks it's lazy. Um,

I don't know if it works because you said to me yourself the other day, you think he's looking stressed in interviews. You said you begin to find his interviews after a match is painful to watch. And as Tottenham's struggle go on, Anz to me looks a little bit like a bloke who just needs a mate standing beside him.

I don't know where I stand on that. I mean, he's self-sufficient. He always has been self-sufficient. I quite admire that, the fact that he can go in on his terms and he wants a clean slate. So that's his plan. But I suppose in moments when things aren't going so well, you always...

I mean, most people think it's always good to have that sort of confident, that mate, that pal who can drag you through it. Martin O'Neill, for example, when he was manager of Celtic, always John Robertson was his wingman. The only time I think I ever saw Martin O'Neill

uh not not look lost but uh looked like there was a bit of doubt there was when he was manager of Sunderland guess who guess who didn't go to Sunderland with him for his for his own reasons John Robertson uh didn't so I do I do take your point and of course uh

Coming up against Newcastle United this weekend, Eddie Howe has his mate Jason Tindall. I saw the Simon Jordan podcast, actually, Eddie Howe talking about he actually didn't go to Celtic because he couldn't take his whole team with him. Good point. And it's an enormous team in many ways.

It's a head-scratcher that he feels that he needs that many staff to go in with him. But he views his management and the way that he manages, he needs every different component of that team for it to work to the best of their ability. And I suppose Postakoglu sees it a different way. I think the justification is there.

obviously how many trophies you win and where you finish in the league. What you would say in Postakoglu's favour over 25, 26 years, it has worked in being self-sufficient. It's just this one blip at the highest possible level where we are maybe scratching beneath the surface at things which are or aren't there. The Tyndall Howe thing is interesting. You and I were having a bit of a poking discussion

a little bit of fun at Jason last week when he was in trouble for a bit of a tunnel fracas. I think it was the Aston Villa game. People do take the mic out of Tindall a little bit. You know, he's kind of permatan. The fact that he is the most immaculately turned out bloke we've ever seen on the touchline, et cetera, et cetera. But the fact is, the fact is that he is clearly an exceptional assistant manager. He's been with Eddie Howe since 2009,

when Eddie was first at Bournemouth, they even went to Burnley together. That was the one part of Eddie's career that didn't work out. Came back to Bournemouth. The only time they were not together was when Eddie left Bournemouth and Jason was briefly in charge. I believe there was a little bit of tension between the two of them at that point, but whatever was going on there, they patched it up. Eddie took him to Newcastle and he clearly, absolutely depends on the guy because every time you see him on the touchline, he's never more than two feet away from his mate. And,

And if you look through the Premier League, most managers, without going through them all, most managers do do it that way. If you look at most of the big clubs, you will find a coach, a manager who has a bloke standing next to him who is known for a long time and usually has worked with at another club. And I do just sometimes look at hands and wonder whether

He just needs not a mate, not a shoulder to cry on, but someone who's going to have the nerve to stand up to him and say, Ange, you've got to change this now. You've got to do this now. Instead of being allowed to be...

a little bit stuck in this mindset of I'll play this way and I'll never change. I think it's an interesting point for, just for the record, Poster Clogger's backroom staff at Tottenham are Matt Wells, who's a former Spurs youth player, 36 years old, previously assistant to Scott Parker at Bournemouth. Ryan Mason, of course we know, former Tottenham midfielder. Mal Yedinak,

40 years old, played for Posta Coghly for Australia and a couple of guys, Nick Montgomery and Sergio Raimundo, who were two coaches in the early 40s who worked together and won the Australian title with Central Coast Mariners. So there is a little bit of a connection there. Nick Montgomery, he was manager of Hibbs, ended up getting the sack and has gone down to work. But whether there's anyone there who, like I say,

he's going to turn up one day, sit hands down and say, look, mate, I think we need to change this. I don't know. Anyway, there you go. It's a talking point. Chris, you might be a brave person. You've got to be a brave person to do that. I think it would be. I absolutely think it would be. Um, maybe I'm looking for things that aren't now. I don't know. Anyway, Tottenham versus Newcastle on Saturday. Um, Tottenham need a win. We know we absolutely know that. Um,

Manchester United need a win as well. They're out where they need a result. They need a performance. They need something to hang on to. They're at Liverpool of all places. Sunday, last game of the weekend. Incorrect. Wolves play Nottingham Forest on the Monday night. Last game on Sunday, Liverpool versus Man United. Half past four. Simple question. Are Man United in a relegation scrap? Yes. Yes.

Yes, they are, because Ruben Amram says so. And I think he would know better than me. It is quite alarming. Do I think they'll go down? No. Do you think they'll go down? No. But, I mean, it's actually quite an interesting January now, isn't it, with just the spectacular fall away. I mean, I thought Manchester United would lose to Newcastle, but not to be schooled.

as they were schooled in the first 30 minutes. I mean, that was an astonishing watch. Yes. You know, the difference in levels. And I did a piece actually with Nathan Salt about who, in the mail, you probably didn't read it. I did. You only read your own articles, about who Manchester United should keep and who they should...

they should let go. And, you know, that's not straightforward because they have to keep somebody. So, you know, you laugh, but, you know, that isn't, you know, it's a really difficult balancing act that for Ruben Ambrin. But the two sort of players crying out, you know,

to be let go and dumped at Manchester United, well, other than Marcus Rashford, are Eriksen and Casemiro, who have been brilliant players over the years, but they just... I don't know how many times on this podcast we've said they do not have the mobility to be isolated in the middle of the park against other Premier League midfields, and that was...

That was actually a harrowing watch to see two great players absolutely lost as they were against the Newcastle Three. Some talk on Mail Online this morning that Casemiro may be subject to interest from Saudi Arabia again.

in the January window. The only thing that strikes me about the whole United situation is it's easy to say, oh, just let these players go. But the fact is they need bodies. They need bodies. Exactly, yeah. You know, so it's not that easy. The odds, the odds for United to win, these are odds that I looked on the Paddy Power website, um,

this morning, Thursday morning. They can change, of course. 9-1 Manchester United to win at Anfield. 9-1 in a two-horse race. Liverpool 9-2 on to

to win that game, 5-1 the draw. That says just about everything, I think. This will be a test of Ruben Amarin's coaching. I think going back to what you were saying, Chris, he flunked it on Monday against Newcastle, picked the wrong team, started with Kobi Mainu on the bench. Incredible stat, but...

Incredible stat. Newcastle had 11 shots in that game. 10 of them came in that first half an hour when Amarim's midfield was absolutely overrun by Newcastle's. He got Mainer on, he changed it a little bit, the game settled into a more regular pattern, although United nowhere near good enough to come back. So he needs to pick a team to close this game down, does he not?

Well, yeah, most certainly you can only see one result there. Everybody can only see one result, all conquering Liverpool at the moment. How do you stop them? But that's easier said than done.

Do you know, Sir, how's that? This time last year, well, last year when the teams played this game and United were in similarly dismal form, I remember writing about 2,000 words for Man Online and the print list of the paper about how United couldn't possibly go there and get anything. It was nil-nil.

It was nil-nil. And so 12 months on, do you think that's possible? It's possible. It's not. The only issue I can see is if Liverpool make so many changes and Arna slot in that sort of tricky balancing act, which he has to manoeuvre at this moment in time and try and keep players fresh. If he just takes...

or Liverpool take Manchester United too lightly, but you can't see it. Too lightly. That's never going to happen. That's never going to happen. A, it's Man United. B, haven't Liverpool got Accrington in the FA Cup?

I think. Don't underestimate Accrington Stanley, Ian. I think we know when Arna's... We've seen some giant killings in the past. I think we know when Arna's slot will rest players. Fine on this one. Real Madrid are sniffing around Trent Alexander-Arnold, as we know. If they offer Liverpool 20 million for Trent right now, should Liverpool take it, given that the chances are they'll lose him for nothing when he's out of contract in the summer?

Is that a serious question? Yeah. You kept a straight face. It's ridiculous. Liverpool can win, what, four trophies this season. They're in four competitions, still in four competitions. They're top of the Premier League, top of the Champions League. Why on earth would you even contemplate letting Trent go for 20 million, which in today's market is, you know, it's piffling. It's...

it's it's tiny they can't even think about that that will not happen correct i agree but i had but i thought i would ask you um just in case because madrid are asking that question of liverpool as we speak my city at home to west ham i was at leicester um on sunday when city got themselves well seemed to get back on the horse with a 2-0 win uh

My God, I can't remember the score. Yes, 2-0 win. If they are back on the horse, I think they're only with one leg in the stirrup. They didn't really play that well. Leicester would have got something from that game if Jamie Vardy had been on better form. Nevertheless, they did get the victory. I can't see them doing anything other than beating West Ham at the weekend. Are West Ham becoming the most predictable team in the league?

Chris, in terms of, I don't mean in a good way, they always just seem to do enough work.

to keep the Wolves from the door. They have a bad result, like the one that they had when Liverpool battered them at the weekend. But then you usually have a couple that just settle the ship a little bit, stop them sinking too close towards the relegation line, and then it churns on, and they end up finishing about 14th, 15th. It just seems to be the way it is at West Ham at the moment. And if I was a West Ham fan, I'd find that a bit depressing.

Yeah, I don't think they're the most predictable team in the Premier League. I think Manchester United have got that award. They maybe run them quite closely. I think it's all been a bit underwhelming this season. And even Liverpool aside, which was a walloping, but that shows how far they are off it.

I suppose their issue now, I mean, there may be some doubts over whether Lopetegui should stay on or not. I mean, the West Ham fans made their feelings pretty clear against Liverpool because most of them had left before the final whistle. So I think that it's a season where they've tried this change, it's not working anymore.

And it's one of those, at this moment in time, if you're West Ham, you've just got to make sure you keep your Premier League status. You have to sort of adapt where you think you're going to finish and how the season's going to pan out. You can have these wild dreams at the start of the season of how you may actually, or how you hope something's going to happen. That hasn't happened, a bit of realism. Now, stay in the Premier League,

But they're going to have to do, I think, Jared Bowen's out now, isn't he? Yeah, injured. For a while, broke a bone in his foot. So that's an issue. We'll be interested to see whether they go again in the transfer market. But January's a really interesting month. I've already mentioned Tottenham. And West Ham are one of those teams, I think, who fall into the category. It's OK.

clubs bringing in players, but if in a month or two, you know, managers, you know, are under serious pressure and close to the sack, are their owners, are they going to be in a position where they actually are

want a particular manager to be in charge of recruitment if there is going to be change further down the line. Yeah, there always seems to be chat about Tim Steed and the director of football at West Ham and there's certainly spotlight shining on him at the moment given the way some of his transfers haven't performed. I also think that slight uncertainty there makes West Ham a slightly tricky proposition for a new manager if Julian Lopetegui were to be sacked

The fan base demand a certain type of football and they demand success. The owners are opinionated, should we say, and there's the issue there with the director of football. It's not the most...

It's not as attractive a package as it should be. That's my point. And on that point of recruitment, I just want to go quickly to a comment that we had recently on Spotify from Tony Smith, who asked us, why are Iberian coaches so popular in the Premier League right now? By Iberian coaches, obviously he means Spanish and Portuguese. And I totted it up.

In my head, I thought there were probably about five. There were nine. There were nine coaches in the Premier League from either Spain or Portugal. That's almost half the league, which is quite something. I don't think we have an answer to Tony's question, do we, Chris? Really, but it is an interesting stat.

Yeah, it is. You know, maybe agents have something to do with that, a strong part to do with that. You know, the only part of the question which I disagree with with Tony is why are they so popular? I'm not so sure Lopategui's popular. No, probably means when it comes to hiring them. You mentioned agency. Certainly, it's a very good point. Big agents like George Mendez, who's obviously had big influence at

at Wolves. He was the reason that Nuno first came to Wolves. He's the reason that Vito Pereira is now at Wolves. So it's a good point you make there. There's certainly some influence from agents at play, but equally there's some coaches, obviously we know why Guardiola's here, and then there's some coaches like

Unai Emery, for example, whose work at VAR was impossible to ignore and was always going to come back if he wanted to. And Marco Silva at Fulham, who's obviously earned a reputation on the back of work he did at Hull and Watford and Everton. So some of you would say are there on the back of stellar reputation, Pep Guardiola. Some are there because they've earned it. A couple that we've mentioned there. And then there are some from left field. And like you said, it goes back to your point,

about agents. Let us know what you think anyway about that, but particularly about the Trent Alexander-Arnold thing. Liverpool do find themselves in a bit of a tricky situation now with interest from Madrid hardening up. Should they even consider an offer for Trent rather than losing him for nothing in this summer?

Is Ange Postacoglu failing himself a little bit by refusing to have a right-hand man who he knows and trusts standing next to him in the dugout like many other top coaches do? I love these Ange debates. I love them because we do these debates knowing full well that these things are never going to happen. Will Ange Postacoglu change his brand of football?

Will he get a coach in? Can you let me do this, please? Are Manchester United in a relegation scrap? You can find us on X. You know how it goes. I'm the one with the strange name and Chris is the one with the famous name. You, Chris, challenged me to come up with a new little catchphrase for that, and I will. Just haven't had time to think about it yet. And you can find us on Instagram and TikTok, et cetera, where you can find us.

from the show. We've had some interesting comments. These are all from Spotify. Had these in the wake of Monday's podcast. Charlie67, Happy New Year, lads. Love the pod. Chris is a legend. Open to debate. JNS1971 says, Ladyman excitedly gushing over his beloved Liverpool sounds like a six-year-old boy.

at Christmas very kind of you to say that um um

And here we have Stu 9903, who asks, how many people pause this podcast to go and listen to Sunday Girl? That was a reference to the fact that we began Monday's podcast with a little snippet from Blondie's number one hit from 1979. Sunday Girl, of course, was the record that was top of the charts. The last time that the top flight of English football had Liverpool and Nottingham Forest sitting at the top.

at the top of it um keep your comments and your observations coming and you can leave them on spotify and you can of course do the same um at apple if you listen to this show there while you're at it hit the follow button follow button and leave us a review and a rating uh please um

Arsenal go to Brighton this weekend. Arsenal, I do keep reminding people, my tip for the title, starting to pick up a little bit of pace. Quite interesting. They've not probably had the start of the season, the first half of the season we expected. But I had a look and they've only got a point less than they had this time last season. And they ran City very, very close. They came hard in the second half of the season last time.

If they do that again, they've still got a heck of a chance, Chris. They have, and you're absolutely desperate, aren't you? Even looking back to the old how many points they had last season to give you a little bit of hope. I love the way they dispatched Brentford, actually, because there wasn't a lot of fuss about it and the illness in the camp, Havertz not playing, Gabriel Jesus playing as a central striker, Wanyeri, the young...

Arsenal player who I think a lot of people have become excited about getting his first start and actually playing not too badly. But to go from a goal down and then to win and win in such a comfortable manner, that was really, really impressive. It's not going to get any easier with Brighton at the weekend. But I think we all feel because of Chelsea's recent fall away,

that it is going to be a two-horse race. And Arsenal are still in there. They still haven't sort of hit the heights. And the big debate into January now is, do Arsenal need to make that move in the transfer market to bring another centre forward in?

to get the goals which can get them over the line. When you look at Liverpool's front five and the... Well, front three, but the way that they can rotate with the five players which they have, it is questionable if you look at Arsenal. You know, they are...

they are a rung below it in terms of having that quality. And that could be the difference between winning a title and losing a title. Well, they look like they've got a new centre-forward in Gabriel Jesus, who has woken up from what I could probably describe as some kind of two-year hibernation to all of a sudden start scoring what I call proper centre-forward goals. Got headed from a rebound yesterday against Brentford.

I'm going to go back to my point because I like it. Last year's split with Arsenal was they got 40 points from their first game.

19 games and 49 points from their second 19 games ended up with 89 points. If they get into that 89 points this season, they can win the league with that, mate. They can win the league with that. And I just think that the experience over the last couple of years will certainly help them. The fact that Bakai Saka is recovering from hamstring surgery will not help them. Absolutely. But I just think if they get it going, they are capable.

of going win, win, win, win, win, like they have done when they've been trying to keep pace with Man City in the last couple of years. I think they can do it. By the way, you say that it's a tough game going to Brighton. Well, it is. Brighton have only won twice since the middle of October. Their slight drop-off has gone under the radar a little bit. They've drawn five out of the last seven. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's not been a collapse.

but they've not quite hit the heights that they did when they were beating people like Tottenham at home, Man United at home, City at home, I think off the top of my head. Chelsea's drop-off has been...

Unexpected. Three games, I think. Not really. Maresca told us all that. Maresca. Yeah, Enzo Maresca did warn us, I suppose, but I don't think I expected them to lose at Ipswich. I looked at the team that the Chelsea manager picked for that one. He rotated a bit for that game, and I think he got caught out, to be fair. And very briefly, far from being...

the threat that they look to Liverpool, I think if they don't get a result when they're at Palace this weekend, then they may well be out of it, which is a bit of a reactionary thing to say. But you look at the table, it's hard not to say that because they will be all of a sudden a long way behind if they don't beat Palace and Liverpool do beat United as we expect.

Yeah, yeah. But it's even the same with Arsenal. And you mentioned their remarkable second half of last season. You've got to be near perfect, haven't you? The margin of error, especially if you start dropping behind and falling away. Every team has a blip. I do feel that. But it's hard to see where Liverpool's is coming from. But they will have a wobble at some stage. And then it's just...

from, you know, Arsenal and Chelsea's perspective, as being close enough where they can actually pounce. But you're right about Chelsea losing to Ipswich and fair play to Ipswich. Yes, of course. You know, that's massive for them because I think we've said...

mainly you on this podcast about the importance for home victories, but they've got something about them, a bit of East Anglian character. I'm delighted because my daughter's teacher, Mr Fields, he's a massive Ipswich fan and I've been able to prod him

for a long, long time. But I'm really pleased to see him have a smile on his face. He went to the Chelsea game. He actually messaged me and said, oh, what was your prediction? I said, oh, Chelsea, easy win. And so, you know, he gave me a bit of stick actually when...

Right, after the game when Ipswich had won. But that's an enormous result for them and gives them hope. And I said before, out of the sides who came up, they look to be the team who stand the best chance of staying in the top flight. It must be a rare pleasure and privilege to know that you have such influence over your daughter's teacher at school. I mean, not many of us have that kind of influence. I'm not sure my daughter's teachers know who I am.

Certainly don't have their numbers. That's a height thing. They can't see me. Can't see me amongst the other parents at pick-up. Anyway, there we go. Yeah, Chelsea, you're right, Babeswitch. They have something about them. I was looking at the bottom of the table yesterday and obviously I think we've all given up on Southampton. I think most of us have given up on Southampton after a

couple of games the way they played under Russell Martin but everybody else it's still there to play for the England coach head coach Thomas Tuchel has started work Chris before we finish crept under radar started work he wasn't at Brentford finally on the 1st of January I wonder what I was thinking about this earlier I wonder what an England manager does on the first day of work what do you do what do you do kind of just turn up at

turn up at St. George's Park and kind of introduce yourself. Yeah.

Open some letters. Yeah, open some letters saying where have you been these last three months? What do you do? Kind of walk up, introduce yourself. Hi, I'm Thomas. I'm Thomas. You're taking your pictures, weren't you? A little box. Yeah, go into your office, move Southgate's knighthood out the way. Put your picture of yourself with the Champions League trophy in its place and get on with it.

Yeah. Well-deserved Gareth Southgate's night. Where are you on that? I've seen him get a fair bit of flack, you know, was he one? The was he one brigade? Do you want to get me started on that? Do you want to get me started? Well, I don't, I don't actually know. I mean, I find you really easy to read. Where are you on that? Are you? I think knighthoods for sports people are generally a complete bloody waste of time. Don't really understand. Yeah.

why you get a knighthood just for being good at your job. Why has Lou Macari not got a knighthood? You were of Lou Macari's work? Yeah. You were of Lou Macari's work, the hostel for the homeless that he set up and funded in Stoke-on-Trent? Hasn't got a single letter after his name, Lou Macari. Hasn't got a single letter after his name, never mind a knighthood.

What's all that about? I think there's a fair point. Kevin Sinfield? Why should Gareth? No knighthood for Kevin Sinfield. See, I told you he shouldn't have got me started. Knighthood. I agree. You and I have a high regard for Gareth.

Right. And given that every, given that just about anyone who's ever picked up a red ball or a cricket bat for England has got some kind of letters after their name. Right. Then Gareth Southgate certainly should not be left out of that group. Right. But that's relative. But why, but following up my words now, so I'm getting cross. Yeah.

I don't think you should get knighthood. Gareth did a fine job with England, right? He did a fine job for England. A knighthood? A knighthood?

Not so sure about that. But that's a reflection not on Gareth. I'm sorry I brought it up. No, that's a reflection not on Gareth. Not on Gareth at all. But on the way that Nigel seemed to be kind of tossed out willy-nilly to people who've done well in sport. You look at someone like Lou McCartney sitting there with not a single letter, phone call, thank you for recognition, for changing the lives of people in the community. Simple as that. Right, probably said too much. I think it's time to go. We'll see you on Monday.