Mailbag: Are football's financial rules fair?

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3:40Message us on ex-blue skyroons to ram at football ramble. Comment on YouTube or email us at footballrumble.com. And of course, friends of the ramble get priority. Patreon.com, forward slash football ramble. Or click the join button on YouTube to become a friend of the ramble. Now I have two of my real friends with me. Luke Moore and Jim Campbell. This agree? Hmm, more a colleague. Yeah. Ah, I expected that from Luke, but Jim. That genuinely is disappointing. I've got to be in Marcus. I've got to be in. Did you? Don't let Marcus call your friend. But let's start with a question from someone who is our friend. Teage. Teage, yes, on Discord. Good old Teage. He said, if we follow the line of discussion around Thomas Tugel, particularly Luke's, do you think England would have a better chance of success at the euros with a different manager? And if so, who is a realistic alternative? Or is the answer just always going to be Eddie Hal? Don't forget Tindle.

4:40Eddie's at a work. He's available. So, and Tindle's presumably doing his gardening for him at the moment like that. But it's top off. Yeah, obviously. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Managing to get a tan. Absolutely. Yeah. Oh, yeah, of course. Absolutely. What do you think? I mean, you're making sure that I'm not taking it into the Eddie Hal, I suspect of it. Right. But in terms of the, because you know, whatever. But I think, you know, it's really tough to say. Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, I've got a few criticism to Thomas too, because people will be familiar with, but I'll just re-up them very quickly. So, we've got a bit of context. Ian do what he said he was going to do. And he was very brazen in saying what he wanted to do. And he didn't achieve it. He shouldn't have got the new contract before the World Cup. So, that was a stupid move. And I think he should have resigned after the World Cup. That, none of those things have happened. So, that's fine. You know, we all move on with our lives. But the main issue for me would be that, although Ian can have had overall a very successful international break, and they had some eye catching performances both individually and collectively, and it's been some great goalscordance because scorelines. I don't really know what type of team Ian can do.

5:42And I'd like to know that. And I think, really, when you've had a major in for a little while, you would want to see that. Now, we knew what Southgate wanted to do, whether we liked it or not, a lot of people didn't like it, of course, particularly towards the end. It was a very kind of handbrake on safety first. We're not going to concede much. Because, and if you think about it, whatever you think of that, that was a coherent strategy because it was generally speaking. When it really counts, which is what I'm being judged on, it's the team that can see the fewest goals that tend to do the best in tournaments. Look at Spain in the World Cup just gone. You can see a one goal. You can see there's something like eight or ten shots, a whole tournament or something. So, defensively incredible. So, you get why that was happening. We have two cool. I don't know what he wants to do. It's a chance I'm new manager coming in, pose a style on it in ahead of the euros. Then England played to that style. Probably not. Is it going to happen anyway? No. Does style matter that much? I get the impression I think it matters more than some other people do. I think a lot of people have responded after I said that stuff about

6:42two cool and been like, well, does it matter? I mean, what it comes down to is four to six weeks of winning games and being there when it counts. To me, the short answer after a very long buildup is, no, I don't think I have a better chance to success at the euros with a different manager based on where we are now. No, but I don't particularly know how to go to play anyway. Yeah, I think the consistency of having someone in post who has a bit of experience of a major tournament with England now, even if it's one that's ended in disappointment, which if played the right way, could be useful fuel to go better next time. Just makes more sense and sort of chop in and changing. I don't think there's a gettable alternative out there anyway. You're talking about probably Pep Guardiola. Look at how, look at how. Yeah, but how's not on that, we don't want. Pep now. How's not on that, right on time, too? Pep's tainted. Yeah, but he could taint his way to a trophy for us. I think we don't want tainted love here. I think he should have to have his head painted sky blue permanently forever.

7:44Yeah, fair enough. Like, you know, he used to tariff other people. Yeah, do that with his head with a tattoo, a sky blue tattoo, or every head. I can't enjoy that because Jim went to argue that point with the, what now? Yeah, what's what's what's what's what's what's what's the start. Star Trek. Yeah, yeah, I think it's what is very interesting is actually, I think if you look at the way England played in the in the nation's league, that you can say they have a style, it's not particularly complicated. It's possession based. It's quite front footed. We saw it. But it's Spain, they were all reactive, but you can't, but that's the difference with Spain, isn't it? You're coming up against another team who are ideally a possession based team and who are better at it than you. So then naturally it becomes a little bit more kind of end-to-end and give and take. But what I will say is I don't think England necessarily played like that in the World Cup. And this is a problem that we sometimes have, right? You get to the tournament and you do sort of, and again, it is in those key moments, you revert to the sort of safety first, very conservative moment. Often players are exhausted, but maybe, maybe. Yeah, I, I, I, again, to answer the question, I don't think that sacking, too cool and getting someone else would potentially yield better results.

8:51Obviously, you don't know until you do it. But I think that it is still a happy camp under Tuckum. You love the happy camp chat. Well, because I think that's important for the players. And I think that if you get the unicorn out. Having, having spoken to, to, to a couple of professional sportsmen over the years, they actually say that unless it's utter crap, sometimes when you do change your managers, they're like, I have a blower up, we've got meet someone you've got to get the methods. The players, they know Tuckum and the coaching staff, they like Anthony Barray as well, as do we. So I don't think that there is a, sort of a realistic alternative. The answer is just going to be Eddie Halfernell. And I think, you know, in the future, I'm sure, how and tindle unless they don't fancy it or, I don't know, Lee Carlsley does fancy it after two, but it is brilliant. I think they probably will get the chance of future, because England don't produce very good managers. But I think. I don't think we can roll the Lee Carlsley dice again. No, you're not thinking they'd make a play for Gregoriolla, even in the wake of all this stuff. No, I don't, I don't, I don't think that would,

9:52I mean, if there's been talk about it before, is it if it's been discussed in, you know, before? Yeah, I'm not sure that it will make a difference, you know. I don't know. It's not where you saw the Aston Pong car. Conraging about it all. Yeah, that's very different. Well, I think that leads us neatly into the next question. Sure, from Ian via email, shout out to Ian for still using email. We like to see it. We like to see it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He says, now that we've come to the end of the great autumn in natural break of 2026, we hardly knew you. Better sort of loved and loved. Yeah. Do you like the extended break? Yeah. Do you guys think we'll need some man city sized news every year just to help us get through it? I mean, that did spice it up a bit. Yeah, sensation. We can be company as a sexist. I'm so excited. You're on the big. You said to me, you message me saying, mate, it's one of those days, you just surrender to your phone. Yeah. Yeah. Don't have to say a word on the phone at all. Yeah, it's a day. It's diving. It's for you as well. Yeah, the world is lovely to you. Two minutes to something new. Yeah, yeah. Mostly it's memes taking the piss out of them. But still, yeah, I think this story is one of the biggest stories that has happened since we've been doing the show, right?

10:53So it's hard to assess the break without it because it was such a dominant thing. But I think in terms of the Premier League sort of being broken up for three weeks, my team lost on the last match. And actually, that feels like ages ago now, which is a good thing. Just three weekends, two weeks. Yeah, I should probably say that three weekends. Yeah. So from an England point of view, I think it was actually really good for them, right? Because I think the performance against Croatia, which is obviously the outstanding one, comes because that team has a little bit of rhythm, right? So I think it's a beneficial thing for the national teams to have a camp that is this long together. Right. So it's cool to seem to say something else, though, Jim. Right. So he said that he would prefer maybe that other game or something in another international break. So rather than having to work. That's working. Right. Because he felt like this was, you know, maybe a little bit too big and then you'd rather elsewhere. If you want me to have that, he's speaking for six million, yeah, I really want to be working a week at a time. Thank you very much. Yeah. So I mean, maybe from some coaches point of view, Jim, that they may well agree with you. But, you know, Northern Ireland,

11:54you know, O'Neill spoke about, you know, play has been a bit exhausted and you know, Bellamy did as well. Because these games, you know, they do come thick and foul. I get the impression that, I don't disagree with what Jim said, but I get the impression that the players, they get into a rhythm. They play three, four, maybe five. Is it five, primarily games? I think in this occasion. That kind of number anyway. And then you get used to it. You're in that rhythm. And because football, professional football for those guys, it's all about rhythms, really. It's all about, you know, they're quite dictated to. They're scheduled and the travel and all rest of it. Then they break it up. And if you're not one of those players who goes to international duty, you're sitting around, probably having to train on your own or with a couple of other lads, but you can't read it properly. Well, there's that. But the issue is, I find it really annoying at the start. And I kind of get into it because I like watching England. But the issue is, of course, you know, if international football is going to exist, you've got to find the time to play this game and these games at some point. And I wonder whether actually, does this one mean we'll get one fewer international break?

12:55Yeah, it's September and October have been fused together forever. Okay. I hate saying this because it's a really cop out thing to say as a broadcaster, but I just think it's what it is. You can't, you have to happen at some point. Whatever, however you slice it, the game's after happen. So, I mean, yeah, I think with Tukal, it's rather than four games and then two games which have three and three. You know, for fans of symmetry, I'm sure they've been called the fans of the rule of three. But you are right to say that the man sitting news has been so seismic that it's actually been a completely different feel. Yes. We've had to bump England games down our running orders. Don't think we've ever done that before. Because of this. So we'd never try, which is little people on the curtain. We would never try and prioritize a story ahead of a football match. Because it's a football show. Unless it's so massive you can't ignore it, right? And that's what's happened a few times this last couple weeks. Well, so Ian's asked, do you think, you know, essentially, did the man-city-sized news help us get through it? I would flip that and say the great autumn international

13:55break of 2026 helped us get through the man-city news. Watched by the workers, we had an extended time in between all these international fixtures to actually really examine this and find out what's going on. I had a wicked whisper, by the way. Do you want to hear it? Could be nonsense. Could be nonsense. Don't hold it. Is it coming out of Luxembourg? Coming out of summer in Europe, it could possibly confirm we'll deny that, Jim. Right. The person involved was using a VPN. I could have put the same. So it's definitely peak. No, I heard a rumour literally this morning that the sanctions were going to be announced on Friday. That's in tomorrow. Oh, that's in the second season coming tomorrow. That's what I heard. You're joking. That is a wicked whisper. Give the initials of this person. No, no. It's the same person who told me that the verdict was coming. And it was. And it didn't happen. How about that? Now, that same person, who I'm not going to name, because it wouldn't be fair, did also say two more times before that that it was coming and it didn't. But the third time lucky day, got it right. I didn't say which Friday.

14:56No, tomorrow. All right. Telling you tomorrow. All right. Which, if you think about it, does make logical sense, given it, they get it out before man-city play again, that to me makes sense. It does. No, that doesn't mean man-city aren't going to peel it, and the whole thing's going to be ending. I'm not saying that. So respect the process and stop saying that they're guilty, because they're not guilty until the appeal is heard, even though they are guilty until the appeal is heard. Irrefutable evidence. They've got irrefutable, but it's not enough has been made of the fact. Do you know what the word irrefutable actually means in like, it's dictionary definition? Opposite to, futable. Impossible to disprove. There we are. So they've got evidence that is not only, just, you know, something that strengthens their position. They are claiming they've got evidence. Which is, quote, impossible to disprove. Wasn't that, I thought the irrefutable evidence was that the money came from the government rather than the ownership. So what? Yeah, well, no, I'm not. I'm not an email train. The Eddie Had was sending me. Barker, sure. He's showing his true person. No, I'm not. No, I... It sounds to me like, you're suggesting that they've not played the hand of the irrefutable evidence yet.

15:57But I thought they had. But, wait, whichever way you look at it, even if it's what you're saying, it seems refutable. It's not evidence. Sure. Because it's been dismissed as something that doesn't make any difference. Yeah. And if they haven't played it yet, it's something that's so seismic that it can't, it's impossible to disprove and therefore should totally exonerate them. So if it's got me one of those two things, that's what I'm saying. This episode of The Football Rambler is sponsored by BetterHelp. If you've thought about trying therapy with our long-term partner, BetterHelp, Insurance Options may now be available nationwide, with an average core pair for eligible members of just $23 per session. October 10th is World Mental Health Day, and while we ourselves might know this, our mental health isn't always paying attention to the calendar. Anxiety, stress, unpersonal issues don't work around for the big day. So taking care of our mental health is a regular part of life, and that includes everyday life. Therapy doesn't have to be for the big things. It can be a place where you can work out why something doesn't feel quite right in a relationship,

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17:59That's why I love Arm and Hammer Hardball Cat litter. It delivers long-lasting odor control and forms compact clumps that make cleanup easy so that's one less thing I need to worry about when people come over. Be guest ready with Arm and Hammer Cat litter. Find it now at Walmart or Amazon. This is the story of the one. As a shipping manager, he's running the dock, stocking supplies, and making sure every order goes out on time. And Granger helps him stay prepared. From shipping supplies to PPE to hand tools, he counts on Granger to keep products moving and trucks rolling. So his operation runs smoothly, no matter the shift, call 1-800-GRAENGER. Click ranger.com or just out by Granger for the ones who get it done. Cashman, Dadman, enjoyably has been in touch on Discord. Might be related to the man's situation. Very possible.

18:59Cashman says, while I believe Man City should be punished philosophically, this led me down the winding road of whether UEFA and Premier League rules are actually justified and sound. All of the PSR rules seem to virtually lock in a guaranteed set of clubs at the top end while adding barriers of entry to other clubs seeking high-end success. Why do FFP and PSR rules get a pass by most of the journalism community when they essentially lock out the majority of clubs from top flight success? This seems to be the antithesis of the meritocracy football claims to represent. Now we have some background detail on that that's going to be read by Marcus before we finally come up with a solution to all of this for good. I think get into football for this. Yeah, I know it to me. I do find it funny that Cashman, Dadman is saying, hey, let people like me into football and let us run wild. But of course, it's important to note that FFP and PSR have been replaced by Squad Cost Ratio. Good wrap up. And sustainability and systemic resilience. Good, I was. As of this season. So FFP and PSR have gone.

20:01They've gone. So we've got some new... People still use them as a kind of catchable time. But I think we understand. To be fair, what obviously what's the thing? PSR was a Premier League system. FFP was UEFA's. Now the old Premier League PSR system used to mean that clubs could only lose a maximum of 105 million pounds over a three-year period. The new at Squad Cost Ratio, SER system, focuses specifically on on-pitch spending. So stadium construction, things like that aren't included. And I think it's important to note that. Hmm. From 2026, 27 total Squad Costs, which is the player and manager wages, transfer fees and agents fees, must stay within 85% of the revenue. Clubs in European competition have to meet UEFA's stricter 70% limit instead. And one key difference is that PSR, the old one, was a retrospective look back at the previous three-year financial accounts, whereas Squad Cost Ratio, SER, looks forward

21:01and is evaluated multiple times a year in March, June and October, based on current budgets. And SSR, which is the other one, a sustainability and systemic resilience, is the second part of the new rules. And it works alongside SER. So if SER limits how much a club spends on its squad, SSR checks whether the club is financially healthy overall and able to survive over the long term. We've been the football ran ball. Actually, I should've done that. Clean everything up. So, but you're right, Luke, we didn't get into football for going over all this. When we were younger, I can't emphasize this enough. As a football fan, I would say, probably even just before we started the ramble, you wouldn't really know that much about anything off the pitch. No. Most fans wouldn't... I would say, when I first start watching football, most fans, I don't think, would be able to name the chairman of any other club other than the one they support.

22:01Yeah, or unless they're like a Ken Bates figure. Yeah, well, they're just worn a bit. The name is also the major. They transcended the kind of thing. Yeah. So that's just interesting how much people are into this now. But anyway... But that is also a huge thing. Well, you know, we've been... I think there's two approaches to this, I think. And one's really easy to answer, and the other one is kind of a little bit more philosophical, I would say. And it's a really good question from Cashman, so it's great to have. The first one I'll just get out of the way easy, which is quick, is, you know, are the Premier League rules justified in sound? Well, the short answer is, all the clubs, including Man City, signed up to them. So, if you don't sign up to them, you know, find, but you did. And so you have to operate within those... Now, you can have a conversation about what do you think they're fair, and you can argue your position, and we know how the Premier League kind of votes on things, and your way for slightly different, but everyone gets to say in this, and they signed up to them. But you can still regret that though. I mean, some... It's fine to get to know... Not all of them do, do they?

23:02Some of them go against it. That has to be a 14-club... Sure. Yeah, it's pretty comprehensive, yeah. 14 clubs have to vote a rule to go through. That happened. So, you can argue the toss all you fucking like. You signed up to it, you play by the rules, or you don't. If you don't, you get punished. That's like full stop end of sentence. Yeah, there is an idea, isn't there, that these rules are imposed on the clubs, but they do vote for them. Yeah, that's what the Premier League signed up. That's how it started. Well, we should say, by the way, that when PSR was introduced, it's understood that, that Fulham, West Bromberjail being Manchester City, Aston Villa, Swansea City, and Salampton, all voted against it. That was in the summer of 2012. Fine, but... Fine. Just in case there's a detail that people do. No, whatever. That's fine. Yeah, but the rules went through context. If the three of us here... Yeah. Let's give a people behind the curtain, right? Who here likes Luke? If we... We know the answer to that. Does it stop me? No, it doesn't. Which way would you vote? That's the interesting question. I carry on. Yeah, we know that.

24:03If the three of us here have a vote on something, and there's a majority, and the person who didn't vote for it, says, well, I don't vote for it, it's a majority. That is the reality. People have signed up to it. The rule was passed. You can go against it if you like, but the rule was passed. Therefore, you are duty bound to play by those rules. And if you haven't done so, you deserve to be punished. That's it. That should be certain. Everyone gets in the bubble. The second point is a much more interesting point. The second point is, you know, what benefit do these rules have for whom? Right? So, clearly, I can see... I have a broad amount of sympathy for the idea that if you are already really fucking wealthy, generate a huge amount of commercial revenue, because you're already a really successful club, and you're effectively pulling the drawbridge up saying, you, you, and you, you can't invest. You have a limited way or a totally sustainable way, and we've got way more resources and use the rule was... That, to me, principally, feels like a bad thing. But the reason I come down the side of being in favour of it for the most part is because look at the alternative.

25:05Yeah. This is the problem. Yeah. This is the massive problem, isn't it? So, I think... I can totally understand why club site, Villa and Newcastle, who are up, upperly mobile, get so frustrated when they hit this ceiling, because that ceiling is tangible, and it is real, and it is now basically kind of codified, which must be so infuriating. And just on a sort of side point before that, one of the major problems, and Ashton Villa reform and fallow this, is that the UEFA rules and the Premier League rules are different. So, if you get into the Champions League, or into the Europa League, which has a much more outsized effect on it, suddenly you can't actually spend some of the money that you've made. And in the Champions League, you can swallow that more, because the money is so much more. But particularly if you get into the situation they were in, where they've got a season in the Champions League, but within the Europa League, the rules are all over the shop. They've got restrictions everywhere. They've got all the hamstrung by so many different things. That is so unhelpful for the teams who have worked really hard to get themselves into that position. Done everything right, you know,

26:07done it cleverly off the pitch, done it well on the pitch, and then you get to this kind of catch-22 situation. That seems inherently unfair to me. And I think the Premier League is acting in a sort of self-interested way here, where they don't want to put too many spending restrictions on their clubs, because they're looking at the longer term, and thinking about how, you know, if you start putting those restrictions in there, gradually other leagues might catch up a little bit. And the Premier League is obviously self-interested. It wants to remain the sort of most high profile league in the world. And that takes maintenance, you know, it's not a given, isn't it? And over the longer term, they are probably looking at protecting that. But I think what the question is, ultimately comes down to what is the middle ground between financial restrictions and unchecked spending? Because if you get rid of any of these restrictions, you just get a situation where the two clubs who are owned by states can just blow everyone else out of the water, and it becomes uncompetitive in a different way. And I don't know what the solution to that is. I think they're possibly the best and perhaps fairest system

27:12that's been proposed so far was anchoring, but that was really unpopular amongst the clubs. Most of them voted against that. Can you imagine what that is? So anchoring essentially would have anchored the maximum spending cap of any club to a multiple of what the lowest earning club receive in TV revenue. So last season that was wolves. They made 117.7 million last season. So depending on the multiple that would still perhaps have been quite a lot of money. But the PFA Threat and Legal Action suggested it sort of a de facto wage cap. It's a true challenge, right? And 12 clubs voted against it and won a state. So there wasn't an appetite for that from within the Premier League. And the clubs at the top, presumably, they are happy to keep state as quiet. But I would, sorry Luke, I would argue actually, kind of as a fan of one of those clubs who benefits from this stuff. We bring in an enormous amount of money. So we'll always be okay. There's no way you slice these, there's no solution where the richest clubs

28:13still aren't better off. So I do think there's a fear of clubs in the real top six that are happy that want that ladder pulled up. But I don't think it would necessarily play out that way. And I don't think that people should shy away from things being more balanced than being fairer. But having said that, I don't know what that balance is or how you provide it. We should remind everybody you are a part of the red cartel. The red cartel. I would have, it is the cartel. It's the cartel, yeah. I think we're not a good cartel. But yeah, I'd rather be in the super league, to be honest. The Premier League is the de facto super league. It's the issue here not that we're, what's happening is that everyone is treating the symptom rather than the cause, by which I mean that like, when we talked about Man City and how they've had a transgressed, we talked about how the I did the Premier League need to take someone to blame for this. Yeah. So they've kind of opened the door, laid the red carpet out, let nation states, let if I can, on scrupulous people run football clubs.

29:15And so rather than actually, perhaps you can't do that now because it's just gone too far. But rather than the principle of stopping that happening, saying, no, no, no. This is how clubs are now owned in this country. And it's, you know, you've got to satisfy a certain amount of criteria. You can't really do that. So ultimately you are, you're not, you're not kind of heading off at the source. You're always just treating the problems that come along as a result of it, which is obviously unhelpful and it's not a perfect solution. But the issue as well though, with this SCR and SSR, it has to be in place because what happens far too often is, owners run out of money, we'll get lose interest, back off our unscrupulous, our irresponsible, and clubs not often, the top flight course, but clubs just go to the wall. So it's a safety measure. Yeah, you have to do something. Well, SSR sort of addresses that, doesn't it? Well, we'll wait and see, weren't we, the efficacy of it,

30:16I'm a top news news, right? So, I know, I do. Yeah, I agree there. Look, I think that, you know, you get into the whole sort of, you get into, you know, free market economy, you know, people say, let them run wild and free and spend what they want and, and all that. But then you get clubs trying to keep up with that, and then you get situations like, like what happened at Leeds and Portsmouth. We've not had that for a long time, but, you know, and let's, you know, okay, we're talking really in a Premier League context here. Let's just forget North of the border. The great Almighty Glasgow Rangers, that club ceased to exist. Yeah. The Rangers playing now, I know they try and say, oh, well, it's not, and I'll probably get some angry comments about this. It's a technically a different club. Yet they play in the same kit, same stadium, same chance, same all the rest of it. It is, you know, if you're being really, really, it's sort of scrupulous about, well, they started again from scratch, didn't they? It's a different club. Right. Which, again, is insane.

31:17Yeah. You talk about locking things in and all that, that happened there. But, okay, differently, so I'll move on from that point. But, you know, I agree with you, Luke, I come down on the side of it. Nothing is perfect. If you're trying to get 20 clubs, and it's more than 20 clubs, because of relegation and promotion, to all agree on something and say, right, we need to manage this. We need to somehow govern this. You're always going to, you can't, you can't, every, every club cannot be happy with that. It's just, it's impossible. And so I would air on the side of, let's rain it in a little bit. I understand this is not quite the point, but primarily clubs don't suffer for not being able to spend a lot of money. You compare them to any league in Europe, you know, the spending loads. The slightly different issue I appreciate. But unfortunately, you've always got the huge historical legacy clubs arsenal, Manchester United. Now, some would immediately argue and say, but if it wasn't for the spending, man said in Chelsea Mart, not have crashed into there. Well, fine. But, they got in at the right time before the walk out, the, you know, the gate came down, essentially, is the argument, isn't it?

32:18Indeed. So, yeah, I can dance around the hell and, you know, regurgitate what you guys have already said. But, ultimately, I understand how it can be a bit frustrating because nobody can have the kind of sugar daddy and take. Let's Jack Warner did with Blackpun Rovers. Very different time, very different landscape. I understand it. Could I just chime in and say that, by the way, one thing that gets lost in this, I think far too often, is that there seems to be this undercurrent idea that like there weren't always, like clubs that were much bigger and have a club. Well indeed. When it went in tight, and that's going to be my other point. If you look at the 70s and the 80s, yeah, fine. There's a mixture of teams. But it's basically Liverpool. It's basically Everton. It's Arsenal here and there. It's, you know, the odd kind of Darby County or Forest. But, ultimately, it's not like before the Premier League or before FFP. It was, you know, it was like, oh, no one knows which of these teams are going to go all the way up to the top floor. And that team, there were loads of teams

33:18that have never won a major trophy. That's totally, there's always a hierarchical kind of system. Yeah. It just depends how much you think it's skewed by this financial side. Well, the idea that if these rules weren't in praise, you know, West Ham would have had a Premier League title, full of them wouldn't sell that. Yeah. But I think there's a lot of group think going on, though, isn't there, where people could think themselves that that would be true? But let's, you know, the last few winners, you know, how long has it taken Arsenal to win the Premier League title again? And, and their ones, you know, if, you know, sort of been locked into that, how long did it take Liverpool to win a Premier League title when they did it in 2019-20? And then it's taken them a few years to, to win another one. Manchester United haven't won it since the days of Sur Alex Ferguson, who's been gobbling up all the other titles, you know, Chelsea and Leicester City aside, and Manchester City, the team who have not been playing by the rules. Who, and that's, that's the key differentiator here. The rules that they signed up to, whatever they, however they voted, they had the opposite, they, they, they knew what they were, and they've cheated.

34:19They've cheated. As we sit here right now, they're guilty of these charges, and they've cheated to get an advantage. You can't get, you can't get away from that. So, how one half of Cashman's question, it's just an open and shut thing. Like, you know, sign up to the rules, play by the rules. It's as simple as that. Mm. Gentlemen, I've got a question from John on Insta. Can we anoint Brother Brendi as a great of the game after his league title in 2014? Maybe on Friday. Maybe on Friday, I'll get one. Yeah. But you know, you're not, they'll get the Premier League trophy delivered to them. It is, it is. I like to see, I see, Mr., Mr. Masters standing on like some, some high point in a town square somewhere. No, I'll try. No, I'll try. You get a trophy. Yeah, there you go. There you are. That's it. Obviously, is it, we like to have a little joke about Brother Brendi because of the type of character he is. But I wonder, are he's feeling? No, I wonder how he's feeling. He's got, I came really close in 2014. Well, I mean, look, go and clop a little bit. No, but, but, let me tell you what's different. Because your clops career has still been fucking amazing.

35:19Sure, okay. Right? Brother, that is a slide endorsement for Brendi. Yeah, yeah, yeah. If he's a Premier League title winner, he's, he's, he's totally different. Yeah. And he's had that taken from him. Now, you can never really get too much into the weeds of that because it is slide indoors. It's chaos theory, as you guys say. You know, so I get that. But I think he's well-off in his rights to be feel fucking pretty pissed off. Yeah, of course. Given how close they came, well, is it two points? I think it's been finished. It's been incredibly close. Something like that. And they've come up short and there's a load of memes about it. And there's a load of shit that Gerard copped as well. He copped a lot of flack around it. It's a nearly man who, by the way, never won a Premier League title. Yeah. You know, so it means something this. It does. It really does. And I think, you know, we can joke about it. But I think it's a serious point underneath it all, which is a Premier League great in Steven Gerard has never had a Premier League title. Right? Brother, brother, brother Brendi, who, you know, as we affectionately name him, you know, what could this career have been like if he had been a Premier League title winner? He started with a lot more money. I'll tell you that. This is it matters. It's been working itself. We've made this point a few times. Even more, man. I get your point though.

36:20But when you see people talking about, you know, you can't take our memories away. And I understand we probably will fill the same way and see you choose. It's just that other people would have had other memories that they didn't get to leave. Not possibly. Yeah. But possibly. Hmm. So Coco has been in touch on YouTube. Uh-huh. Coco says, give Marcus the worst automata of his life. England win the nation's league. Yeah, full and go down. Which does he choose? This will be. It's not. Yeah, it's not too. Not so much either or phrasing there, isn't it? But that is. You take it or not. Coco knows me well. Because that is right in the spot, isn't it? I'm really surprised by that. I thought you'd be England's 10 times out of 10, though. Nations league. Yeah. It's a bit Marcus. If it was the Euro's, if it was the Euro's. Now, you've got to think of the bigger picture, isn't it? Yeah. And as always, Jim, I'm going to think of others when I answer a question. And, uh, you know, some people, some people. I think you're thinking of others really doing a fucking is I'm written poem at the end of the show. Some people, some people, um, you know, will will be still scathing of the nations league,

37:21even if England won it. Because the club like full and there's no guarantee that if you go down, you come straight back up. We have seen that in recent years. Been a bit of a yo-yo club because those bastards are fucking SSR. That's right. Exactly. Yeah. Keeping the little man down. Yeah, it's exactly. Yeah. And I think that, you know, both, um, both things would be very, very important to, uh, sorry, I say both things. Full of them going down, it would be, it would be, that would be bad for the club. Clearly, uh, for a club, as I say, who's not guaranteed. And also as well for a club who, you know, built and marked silver's image for so long, to kind of think, oh, it was only silver that did it. However, nations league win, you know, is that the gateway drug that England need? Um, so yeah, an excellent question, um, Coco, and thank you, um, for submitting that. Thanks to, uh, everybody for listening to the football round. Thinking about those, but he's refusing to answer it. Just thinking about this, Jim. Uh-huh. But thinking of both sets of others. Yeah, exactly. Part of the eight cars, crazy network. Absolutely, pleasure.

38:21Thank you, Luke. Thank you, Jim. Thank you. Thank you, Coco, your sod. And, uh, yeah, we'll see you tomorrow. See you tomorrow. See you tomorrow. So football rumble is a stack production, and part of the Acast Creators Network. Hi, this is Brooke Tavard from Naked Beauty. I am always looking for ways to elevate our daily rituals. And the colder, smart toilet is proof that design changes everything. It's the stunning sculptural piece that feels like quiet luxury for your bathroom. It totally transforms your daily ritual into something elevated, with customizable cleansing and touch screen controls. It's functional art that makes your space feel cleaner and more intentional. A modern home deserves a modern toilet. Experience the difference of colors, smart toilets. Find more at color.com. At Edward Jones, we believe rich is more than caring about the latest and greatest.

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