Jose Mourinho is ‘irrelevant’, Paul Tierney ‘Shouldn’t VAR Again This Season’ and Groundhog Day at Spurs
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Hello, it's Ian here, and this is It's All Kicking Off. There's no Chris Sutton today, again. Can't actually remember why this time. Maybe he'll enlighten me next time I see him. But Dominic King is here, fresh from a night of drama and tension at his beloved Anfield. The next half an hour should ease Dom back into some kind of meditative state ahead of a big weekend for him at Aintree. It's Grand Naster week, the sun is out, and I'll be tapping up our racing correspondent for tips.

before the show is done. Anyway, drama at the finish line of the Istanbul, if I can say it, the Istanbul derby on Wednesday night. Jose Mourinho's Fenerbahce beating 2-1 by Galatasaray in the quarterfinal of the Turkish Cup. And Jose reacting at full time by grabbing the nose of his opposite number, Okan Buruk.

Galatasaray have responded today, Thursday, by posting a social media cartoon that shows Mourinho waking up in a psychiatric ward. Dom, only Jose and maybe only in Turkey. Yeah, when I saw the incident last night, I burst out laughing because there isn't another manager that I can think in history

current at any stage would have been involved in something like that absolutely not and I did actually wonder whether there was a sniper in the top of the stands for how theatrically his counterpart went down but no he should have he should have painted the Mario Balotelli t-shirt shouldn't he why only me because it is always why only Jose I mean fair point you make about Buick he has gone down

he has gone down like Bruno Fernandes and others. That's harsh. Other divers are available. Now he has gone down like he's been shot, as you say. Jose, Jose's a little bit like a kid, isn't he? At the end of a, at the end of a, at the end of a birthday party when he's not been getting the attention that he feels that he wants or he hasn't been given the presence that he hoped

for or he hasn't got the right type of cake in his party bag or somebody else has got a different colour balloon and that was one that he wanted and he just can't go quietly he can't go home with his mum and dad get in the car and have a think about it he's got to cause a scene it's exactly that isn't it he's 62 years old Dom he's 62 years old I know I know

It's, do you know what? My mind's playing six on me. And by the way, I love that analogy that you just made because that, that's, that's a parent who's seen things like that down the, I speak from recent experience. Yes. Um, um, a good friend of ours once told us a story similar along those lines, but we won't go into that. Um, no, it,

you know, your mind plays tricks on you, doesn't it? It's like, it's 20 years since that, the peak Benitez-Mirino rivalry started off. And when you say 20 years, you should think, oh, that's like in the 1980s or something. It's not. It's like, he's still acting like he was like when he was 20 years ago. He hasn't changed one little bit. He's going to grow up. What is it they say? You should grow old disgracefully. He's going to grow old. Well, he is growing old disgracefully. But I...

One thing has changed. I think this is actually at the nub of it. You say nothing's changed. Well, I know what you're going to say. And that's results. Yeah. And he's lost. He doesn't win.

He doesn't win anymore. And I think that's what eats away at him, I think. It's the lack of relevance. Now, of course, he's relevant. Brilliant word. He's relevant in Turkey. Of course he is. He's manager of Fenerbahce, a huge club in Istanbul. But in terms of the grand scheme of things, he's not. His previous posting was Roma.

Again, big Italian club, but in the grand scheme of European football, not as relevant as he wants to be, not as relevant as he used to be. And you can chart that all the way down through Chelsea second time and Man United and Tottenham and Roma and Turkey. And you can see it. And I think it kills him, Dom. I think it kills him. He needs to be in the spotlight.

Absolutely. He's Peacock proud, isn't he? He loves... How many of those press conferences did you go to when he was... He loved the limelight, he loved the cameras and he loved saying something incendiary before a big game and he loved creating narratives and he loved being the centre of attention and he's now...

he's now on the outside looking in when all the major prizes are being decided. And for a man who we thought he was going to, we thought at one stage he was going to have the type of Champions League collection of Carlo Ancelotti. I think when he won it with Porto,

And then he won it with Inter Milan. Everybody was thinking there was going to be five. He was going to be a five-time winning Champions League coach. And it will gnaw away at him. He thought he was probably going to go down as the greatest coach in football history at one stage. He's been overtaken by Guardiola. I think the game's moved on from his type of... the style that he likes to play. And...

And that's it. He's now in the twilight of his career. But you know what? For a man of a similar age, doesn't it show how brilliantly Carlo Ancelotti has conducted himself and kept himself relevant and kept himself at the pinnacle of football, you know, of a similar age? Yeah. Yeah. Carlo, this is a brilliant point. Carlo has managed to evolve himself

in the way that he plays, but perhaps more importantly, in the way that he handles players and he handles the life of a football coach in a way that Mourinho hasn't managed to. Mourinho is, I think, frustrated that the tricks that he used so brilliantly, the kind of shock and awe stuff that he used so brilliantly at Porto and particularly in his first spell at Chelsea and, and, and,

Inter. Inter, absolutely. And to a degree at Real Madrid. All those tactics don't quite work anymore. We all know that the great coaches, the truly great coaches, evolve quickly.

as they get older and maybe Jose hasn't. But anyway, anyone who hasn't seen the Galatasaray social media posting, you have to watch it. And as you watch it, just imagine, for example, Manchester United posting something

such a cartoon about Pep Guardiola or Arne Slott, for example, and just think how that would go down here. We'd be talking about it a week later. Anyway, the light was flickering for a while at Anfield. Liverpool's light was flickering for a while on Wednesday night at Anfield. Difficult, stressful night for them against Everton, as I think everybody presumed.

You were there, Dom. Liverpool go to Fulham on Sunday. And as I wrote in my match report from Ad Online, Liverpool, four steps from heaven now, four victories, and it's pretty much there as a league title. Yeah, it is, but it's not going to be...

It's not going to be achieved serenely. I think Arne Slott has stressed this about every point is going to have to be chiselled out and ground out. Last night's goal

enormous. I would go as far to say as I've not heard a noise inside Anfield like that since Gini Wijnaldum scored the third goal against Barcelona. And the reason I picked that goal out is because the Rigi goal that won that match almost happened by surprise and caught everybody unaware. But the Wijnaldum noise was off the charts and that was the same last night. The relief, the guttural roar that the

that swept around the stadium. The sort of knowledge that they were going to win the game from that point because Everton hadn't really...

Evan had an offer then as an attacking force in the second half. It was a pressure release. It felt like a pressure release. That's what it felt like to me. I want to ask you quickly about the two big incidents in the game. The James Tarkowski tackle, if you want to call it that, on Alexis McAllister early on. What are your thoughts on that?

Well, I've just not long gone off the phone to a very good friend of mine who was a footballer in his day and he knows the game inside out and he called it a coward's tackle. And this is a man who's got no affiliation to Liverpool or anything. He was a centre-half in his day and he said it was a coward's tackle. He said he got... Tarkowski had time

to reshape his foot. He said he kept his foot flat and he said he could have, he had enough opportunity to move the shape of his foot round so he could have hit McAllister with his toes earlier.

he thought he knew exactly what he was doing. I'm not going to lambast the referee for this because it was a big game. It happened early on and he probably didn't want to make a red card that early in the game. My issue with this is Paul Tini.

Paul Tini should never be allowed to VAR for the rest of the season after that. It was absolutely scandalous that he thought that wasn't a red card. Everybody to a man that I know, unless it's the most...

one-eyed Evertonian who, and listen, you get one-eyed Liverpoolians who can't see the other side of the argument. That was a disgraceful tackle. He should have been looking at a three-game ban and how Tierney never thought it was a red card or even suggested that he should go and look at the monitor. It was outrageous.

Yeah, certainly peculiar. I think you make a good point about the referee. I would also suggest that the referee probably see, well, the referee will see Tarkowski get the ball. You'll see him get the ball and then realise that there's been a follow through. And I think I wouldn't actually expect a referee to send a player off

for that challenge at full speed, seeing what he sees, which is the ball clearly taken and then a follow-through collision, which can happen and does happen often. Don't blame the referee at all for the yellow card. I think I would agree with you that Portini and the VAR certainly should have got involved. In terms of the winning goal, David Moyes are unhappy.

Luis Diaz clearly offside as the move builds. And let's say one thing. It was a correct decision. Luis Diaz is not offside given the current laws of the game. But I do think the law is an ass in this situation because how can Luis Diaz not be affecting play when he's standing behind Tarkowski and

and Tarkowski intercepts the ball knowing that Diaz is behind him. Diaz isn't behind him. Tarkowski probably lets the ball run through to the goalkeeper. So it's one of those situations where the law with offside has been tinkered with to such a degree that large parts of it now don't really make any practical sense. And I think that is one of those occasions. Right interpretation of the law, but the law is not really fit for purpose, I would suggest in that instance.

No, I'm glad you said that about how the rules have been tinkered with because they've been tinkered with that much over the last five years or six years maybe since VARs came in. The game is almost unrecognisable now to what we understood it to be and there'll be two or three times during a match, any match that you're watching,

And you will think, well, that's going to be a penalty. And then it's not given a penalty, but it was a penalty six weeks ago. I don't understand the way football works. I can absolutely understand why David Moyes is enraged. If the goal was given against your team, you would feel the same. But to the letter of the Lord, it's been given. So it's...

I think it's one of those where you think, where I always look at it and think to myself, in old money, as I describe it, in old money, it's offside. But in terms of the way that I grew up kind of understanding the way football works, it's offside. But in new money, new rules, new laws, who really bloody knows? Everton are busy again, Saturday lunchtime. They kick off the weekend's Premier League proceedings again.

with a home game against Arsenal. So that could impact the title race also. Arsenal don't always, to my mind, Arsenal often seem to have a sticky time when they go to Goodison. It'd be interesting, I'm not suggesting for one minute that Everton won't be trying, because they will, but I do wonder whether Everton will manage to take that level of intensity and urgency and ferocity into Sunday's game, given what they left on the pitch at Anfield last night.

I think it will be a challenge. I would expect Arsenal to win. I would expect Arsenal to win that game. Duncan Ferguson made a really good point after the game last night on Sky when he talked about Everton didn't do an awful lot with the...

when they had possession in the second half. They didn't cause Liverpool problems. They were hoping for corners. They were hoping for a set piece and a bit of chaos that way. There was not the same sense of devilment in the...

as in the first half when Beto was a menace. Well, they seem to have, just to interrupt, mate, they seem to have forgotten that a very basic tactic was working in the first half, which was to lump it up to Beto and wait for Virgil van Dijk to make a mess of it. That was what was happening in the first half. In the second half, they stopped doing it.

Yeah. Well, they did, yeah. I think Liverpool imposed themselves in the second half. They did. Yeah. I just think it would be a quick turnaround. You do know the story about, I think Mike Keegan wrote about it, and I knew about this from people who were angry, that there was hope that the derby would be played on a Tuesday night to give the teams a bit of extra recuperation.

recuperation time for the weekend and it would have, or a game being played on Sunday would have, well, I think the game should have been played on Sunday anyway because the Grand National up here should be sacred. But those who make the decisions about TV and football had other thoughts on their mind, unfortunately. But I think it'll be a big...

Big ask for Everton to turn it around that quickly. Very, very quickly. David Moyes has done well at Everton since he came in. We know that. He's done better than well later. He's been absolutely brilliant. He's...

He's been brilliant. What needs to happen at Everton for them to make proper progress next season? At the moment, they're 15th. And the previous, if they finish 15th, for sake of argument, the last four seasons will go 15th, 15th, 17th, 16th. What needs to change this summer for them to get the foot on the gas and start moving upwards instead of constantly looking downwards?

So the first thing that they've got is a man in charge who is realistic and will impart his realism to the fans. This is going to be a difficult spell for Everton because they've got a number of players out of contract. There's going to be a huge turnaround in the playing personnel.

And I know that David is looking at bringing players in. I know he's making, he's making groundwork in terms of who's available, what money he's got to spend, what might be available in free transfers and whatnot. Players are going to go and it's going to be another season of flux for

And they just need a period of calm. They've got the right man with his hand on the tiller to get them through a period that has been...

more challenging than I can ever remember the club ever having. This is even worse than some of the parts of the 1990s, what's happened in the last five, six years. Thank God they've got the stadium at Bramley Moor to go into because it's like start opening a new exercise book with a nice clean page to start again. And David knows the club inside out.

and he'll get the results that they need to get back onto middle ground, and then they can start progressing. And then he can start buying the players that are young and hungry and want to come and see Everton as a privilege to play for. I'm not sure a lot of... There's been too many players who've come to Everton in recent years

and just seen it as a stopping off place David saw to it in his first period that the players who came to Everton were ambitious were hungry knew who they were playing for and what they were and the club that they were playing for and it was he he

His record in that first spell was superb. They're losing the football director, Kevin Thelwell, this summer. Will David have his hand on transfers a little bit more than maybe many modern managers then? Absolutely. 100%. And I wouldn't trust anybody more than David Moyster by players for Everton.

I know the lengths that he used to go to. I know that when he signed Jolyon Neskot in 2005, he scouted him 27 times himself. That's how thorough he is. It's obviously changed now. He can't go to games the way he used to on a Tuesday night in the past. But he's stuck in front of videos and he's got staff there until late in the day going through things.

over and over and over and making sure. And he'll get the right characters in, and that's vital to stress, and he will improve people who are there. There can be no doubt about it, Everton have got the right man for the situation they're in. It does sound a little bit as though, from what you're saying, as though Everton fans might need just to put the foot on the ball for another summer, for another season, to maybe wait for this turnaround to take effect. Yeah.

If so, then maybe, I don't know, maybe they'll be looking at a little bit more of the same next season, just in a different stadium. I don't think it'll be more of the same. I don't think it'll be more of the same, not by any stretch of the imagination. He'll keep them ticking over. He'll keep them solid. Aiming for the top 10. There's nothing wrong with aiming for the top 10. That will be progress. Getting players in. Getting players in that are hungry.

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We've had a little bit of feedback after Monday's episode. If you remember, Chris and I were taken to task by one of our listeners, Chris McKell, for trying to be too funny, basically. He was telling us to stick to football, which I believe is the title of another podcast you might have heard of.

We've got a message here from Barry Chumpkins saying, ignore that comment about the comedy. It's more entertaining than the football talk. The chat about Norfolk made me spit my green tea across the table. Christian Tonnies, who we heard from before Big Nottingham,

Forrest fan Christian says I love the way you discussed a guy complaining about your not so funny unscripted openings and then went straight into an unscripted opening keep them coming I love them they're funny you both have great chemistry we talked a little bit about Marcus Rashford on Monday as well discussing his form Aston Villa another goal for him in Villa's win at Brighton on Wednesday night and

Will the United welcome Rashford back this summer or try and use his increased form to start some kind of bidding war to move him on? This is from Charlie67 on Spotify. Rashford is a winger or a wide forward. Ruben Amrim uses two 10s and wingbacks. Marcus will never be a 10 or a wingback or indeed a loaner.

forward. Right, I haven't talked about Hans-Poster Kogu for a while. He was a subject who seemed to pop up every week for a while earlier in the season, Don, when Tottenham were really struggling with the injuries, etc. Tottenham have, again, a big game against Chelsea Thursday night. We are recording this Thursday morning. But they're also at home to Southampton

at the weekend. Postacoglu, I must say, Dom, is starting to talk a little bit like a dead man walking in North London, which saddens me. Postacoglu said this week he understands the fans' disappointment. He also suggests that he thinks he got things wrong at the start of the season in terms of the way he prepared the players, thought he maybe worked them a little too hard ahead of what was an intense

autumn schedule and also said that he hopes Maurizio Petrucino gets his wish one day and comes back to Tottenham. That doesn't sound like a bloke who's preparing for an extended stay at Tottenham. No, no, no. And I've seen some of the headlines on Thursday morning as well about him saying he's not afraid about, he's not afraid to lose his job. Yeah, it's,

I have some sympathy for him because the injury list that he's had to deal with this year has been... would have crippled any team. Any team that loses its best players, you know, Michy van der Ven is so good. The goalkeeper being out for so long. And...

that would have crippled any team. But there's also taking control of the narrative, isn't there? And sort of being cute politically. And I think he's... I haven't liked seeing him react to fans. I think he's got too emotional at times. Unfortunately, I love the way his team play football when it's going well. But...

you're right it looks like the situation that he is in at the minute just gives you the impression that Tottenham's an unmanageable club do you know what I mean why should it be so though because of the expectations it shouldn't be it shouldn't be you know I've got one of my cousins lives in America and he's

He's obviously grew up here, well into his football, but he knows business and he keeps talking about Tottenham. And he says, if Tottenham get it right, Tottenham could be the most powerful club in the country because of the stadium that they've got, where they are in London, the revenue that they could bring in. If they get it right, it is there for them. And I think their fans who are very, very knowledgeable know the game inside out.

They know that as well. And it's obviously, you know, we could probably devote a podcast entirely to Daniel Levy and the issues that they have. But this constant flux of managers never lasted more than two years.

of there always being an undercurrent that something's going wrong, they'll never progress. They'll never progress while that undercurrent's there. And let's not forget, even when Pochettino was there and it was going well, there was always undercurrents there that they hadn't bought players, that the players hadn't signed the contracts, that they hadn't pushed the boat in terms of going for what they should have done. Hugo Lloris'...

autobiography when he gives the when he talked about the chapter about getting the the inscripts the watches yeah I think that was really indicative as well of a mindset of a club are you just happy to settle because because because Levy gave them a watch before before the game before the Champions League final when they hadn't actually won anything yet

That being the point. Yeah, look, Levy's spoken this week again about financial situation at Tottenham. He's told Tottenham fans straight that he will not do anything in terms of spending that pushes a club towards a financial situation that he wouldn't be comfortable with. Other clubs do that, you see, and we know that. Other clubs will. I'm not going to...

single amount, but other clubs will push themselves right to the limit of those financial lines. We've seen that in recent years. We've seen clubs like Forest and Everton have ended up the other side of the, the wrong side of the Premier League financial guidelines. Villa have got very close to it. Chelsea, Manchester United, we know have been very close to it. Tottenham won't do it. Levy won't do it. He looks at it like a businessman. He just won't do it, which I know is at the root of

the issues that many Tottenham fans have with him, their view is everyone else does it. Why aren't we doing it? Very quickly, Richard Pochettino often talks about his love for Tottenham and he's manager of the USA at the moment. We'll take them into next summer's World Cup. Is he right to be talking again about the fact he would like to come back

He's not right to do that. Postacoglu claims he hasn't got a problem with that. I would have a problem with that if I was Postacoglu. Rubbish. Look, I love Pochettino, but that's disrespectful. You shouldn't be talking about somebody else's job. Well, well, well.

You shouldn't be talking about a job that you had while somebody else is in it. You shouldn't. It's totally out of order. I agree with that. Yeah. I don't think I can say anything clear. He would argue that he's talking in the future, hypothetically, which he is. He's got a big job of his own at the moment, Pochettino. So he would say, I was talking about the future. I was just talking generally about my love for the club. But someone like Pochettino knows how the media works.

He knows how social media works, more importantly. He knows how quickly words can travel and he knows how they will be interpreted. Why say it? Why say it? You know, we love Potts. We all love Potts. I also don't think he should come back to Tottenham, by the way.

I also don't think he should come back to the Champions League. No, it's a backward step. Because he's taken him to a Champions League final. Don't go back there. You know, David Moyes is proving at the moment that it can be done in terms of going back home, etc. I wouldn't do it if I was Pochettino. Strange, Dom, that we've got to almost half an hour into this podcast and we'll wrap it up soon. We haven't even talked about the Manchester derby. That takes place on Sunday at Old Trafford. Very quickly...

Go on. This is almost like you've teed me off, but you don't know what I'm going to say. I actually wanted to compliment you on your match report the other night from Nottingham Forest, because you said something. You said something that I was actually... This is what... We're like the latter-day Toshak and Keegan. We're telepathic, aren't we? Who's writing the poetry?

Always you. Always you with your beautiful words. Younger listeners will have to look that up. Just Google John Toshack and poetry. No, you put a line in the other night about Man United losing and said, when is this going to stop becoming a shock?

We shouldn't have looked at that result the other night. It was a shock. It went to four. It totally went to four. Third place against 13th place. First to 20 points ahead of... What a rotten side they are now. I'll just say something briefly about United. I did...

see a bit of improvement in that performance. They passed the ball better. They're not coughing up possession quite like they were. I can see some signs of Amarim coaching, unless it's a coincidence, but I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt. I can see some signs of what he's trying to get them to do.

they are managing to pass the ball through the opposition press a little bit easier. They are, I mean, I used to say for ages, I've said it on this podcast, that the easiest way to play Man United was to let them have the ball in their own half because before long they'll just give it to you. And that's been the case for a while. I did see improvement there. I want to talk very quickly about City. I was talking to somebody yesterday who tells me

that, give or take, there are about a dozen players at City that are essentially available for transfer this summer. I don't mean that they'll sell a dozen, but there are a dozen that they would talk about and maybe end up selling five or six. But that includes more than half of

Of the treble winning team, if I just read out the names of Edison, Walker, Stones, Ake, Silva, Gundogan, De Bruyne, Grealish...

I can't recall anything like this in my time of covering football. I will undoubtedly have forgotten something. Of course, I will have overlooked something. But I can't recall the collapse of a great team happening so quickly. And that is a treble winning team. And within two years, it's collapsed. If they sell four or five of those names...

three or four others to go with the four they bought in January. It's a completely new Man City team that starts next season. Amazing, really. Are you convinced that Guardiola will be managing at the start of next season? No, no. I'm not either. No, Jack Gawne, our Man City correspondent, is, he thinks that, I think that Guardiola

Guardiola might struggle to deal with the embarrassment of what's happened this season, although the FA Cup and the Champions League place might save him to a degree. But Jack thinks that that sense of failure, personal failure, is what will make him stay. That's what Jack thinks. Possibly, because he's a very, very proud man. And that first season, the first season that he had in England when he...

I remember Everton beating them 4-0 at Goodison. I remember some of the other... There was the Leicester game, wasn't he, when he talked about he wasn't the coach for the tackle. He came back stung by that and then they obviously got 100 points the following year. But again, we talked about it before, about having young, hungry players. The players were all on an upward curve. They bought very well and the players were coming to a peak.

It needs a total overhaul. I'll tell you what about Man City. I've heard people say, oh, Man City will be back next year. They'll be this, that and the other. The impact of the Club World Cup on them is going to be colossal because he's not going to have... He either uses that as a pre-season in some way and gives them a bit of time off to then prepare. But how is he going to get the new players in that he wants bedded into a system to understand? I think it's a very, very, very...

fragile situation for them. You know what I'm going to say about City in the Club World Cup, don't you? What? Well, what did I say about Liverpool in the Club World Cup? You say, don't... Yeah. You should toss it off. You should toss it off. You should. Yeah, they should do, but the prize money is colossal, though, isn't it? The prize money is colossal. It is colossal, but it is. It's about 90 million quid. It is colossal. Of course it is. But...

What is worth more, right? Let's look at it this way. 90 million quid, right? How much would Phil Foden be worth? How much would a fit and informed Phil Foden be worth in the transfer market?

Well, double that. Right, double that. So therefore, if you, I say toss it off, if you take that competition less than seriously, or if you prioritise player welfare during that competition, and that helps you get Phil Foden back for the start of next season to the form that we know, then there's your 90 million quid right there, because you're getting 100 million player back

Yeah. And so you can go there, you can run them into the ground and they can start next season knackered. What's 90 million, what's 90 million quid going to do for you? Nothing. 90 million quid ain't going to get, ain't going to get Phil Foden back on his feet. There's your answer to that. That's true. But,

There's one little difference about this, about the old Club World Cup that you used to disparage that I'll never understand why. But this thing now, they've got a group stage. So they're going to be awake for two and a half weeks minimum, aren't they? They're going to have to have a week to acclimatise and then 10 days of games. So...

I think it's a very, very difficult situation for them next year and for Chelsea as well. Well, Chelsea could have their own two different squads, so that's another matter. Right, before we finish, I know you messaged me this morning saying, I want to say something about Leicester. So they play Newcastle at home on Monday. Very quickly, you've got 30 seconds to say what you want to say about Leicester. Yeah,

Yeah, I think it was an absolute disgrace how Steve Cooper was treated and 15 defeats in 20 games since he was sacked. Whoever made the decision should be front and centre and explain why they did because in some cases they've been worse than Southampton. They've

They've been absolutely lamentable, Leicester. You know who made that decision? The players made that decision. Yeah, yeah. The players made that decision. That is a bad, bad dressing room. Correct. 100%. Players made that decision. And yeah, Leicester going down without a fight. Right, we're still at the top of the show. We do it. Okay. Come on, let's have an entry tip from the Daily Mail, from Mail Sports Racing Correspondent for Thursday, Friday, and of course, the big race.

Okay, Thursday, last race today, 5.15, a horse called Seo Lin, trained by Paddy Toomey, ridden by Billy Lee in the Mayor's Bumper. It'll be about four to one back each way. Tomorrow, in the opening race, I think it's the 1.50 handstands, ridden by Ben Jones, trained by Ben Pauling, will go very, very well, should be to Alex Ferguson's horse, Colwell Potter, and I will give you two to back in the Grand National race.

both owned by JP McManus we were in green and yellow silks green and gold silks sorry Percival Legalois who's trained by Gavin Cromwell the Gold Cup winning trainer and Iroko who is trained by Josh Guerrero and Oliver Green all in Shasha and has been campaigned with this race in mind all year What was the first national national tip say that again

CEO for the Grand National Percival Legalois brilliant pronunciation as you people who listen to this podcast regularly know I really struggle with the pronunciation of basic footballers names no way I'd be getting that out of my mouth if I was commentating on that as they were coming down the final furlong Dom it's been a pleasure as always go and get your glad rags on mate off to Aintree you must be excited I can see the blue sky shining through your conservatory roof behind you have a great day mate have a great two or three days and

football fans, racing fans, get on Dom on social media, Dom King, you'll find him on X, you'll find him there for football. More importantly, you'll find him for all his racing content, some brilliant content on his Instagram recently, actually, from a trip to Paris to interview... Briony Frost. Briony Frost, of course, I know her well. Go check that out.

And just before we finish, I'm just reading a message on my phone here. Apparently the referees body, PGMOL, have acknowledged this morning that James Tarkowski should have been sent off in Wednesday night's derby. Quick out the blocks this morning, the PGMOL, to clear up that one. So there you go. Another blot on the copy book of our VAR officials. Thanks for being with us, everybody. Chris Sutton will be back on Monday and we'll see you then.

Hello, it's Ian here from It's All Kicking Off. I hope you're enjoying listening to the show. We really enjoy making it and would love to make it even better for you. So we're running a short survey to find out more about you, our listeners, so that we can continue to bring you episodes that will make you complain in the comments about our questionable opinions. It only takes two minutes and would be so valuable to Chris and I. The link is in the show notes. Thanks and back to the episode.