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All the things that are worth doing

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take time. I'm Rick Edwards and this

0:17

is Fighting Talk. Hello,

0:30

good morning. You are all most welcome. I've

0:32

spent some of this week just looking back

0:35

over the last 20 years or so. And

0:37

although other shows have won more titles than

0:40

us and probably have been more successful, our

0:42

trophies, one Sony in 2006, one in 2011, which is a mere 13

0:45

years ago, mean

0:48

more to us than our fan base. How

0:50

the shows have built their formats, the manner in which

0:52

we've done it, it probably does mean more to our

0:54

fans. But it is also fair to say we have

0:56

no idea what it feels like to win a treble.

0:59

So who is in the hunt for the

1:01

title this week on for show number seven?

1:05

Just over eight years and 300 episodes since

1:07

show number six. The fifth

1:09

longest gap between shows for a panellist. Despite

1:11

the fact they recorded his first Fighting Talk victory

1:14

on that last show in January 2016. He's

1:17

the former Rugby League international coach

1:19

of Wigan, Bradford, Salford and Crusaders,

1:21

BBC pundit, Brian Noble. Hello.

1:23

Hello, Brian. I'm back. Eight

1:26

year gap, Brian. Yeah. Are you running

1:28

scared? Very scared, yeah. Surrounded by the

1:30

Manchester City Mafia. Yeah, they are. Smiling.

1:32

I'm smiling on the deck and I'm

1:34

reasonably nervous, which is unusual for me.

1:37

Well, just try and hold it together, for God's sake, Brian.

1:40

Making a quarter of a century of appearances,

1:42

the former Fighting Talk champion of champions. Last

1:46

time on she ended a five show win this

1:48

streak, recording her 12th Fighting Talk victory. Make

1:50

of this what you will. She averages only 38.7 points

1:52

per show with me as compared to 45.4 previously. Football

2:01

presenter Natalie Pike-Sere, hi Natalie. That

2:03

is interesting, that is interesting. I

2:06

can see you're interested. Are

2:10

you, be honest here, are you feeling a little

2:12

bit sick about tomorrow because I am? Yes,

2:15

a little bit, every time

2:17

it's mentioned my stomach jumps so yes, very much, I'm not

2:19

even going to hide that yet. Yeah, I go from sort

2:21

of being genuinely quite confident to just

2:23

think, oh we're going to get hammered here. It's horrible,

2:25

isn't it? We're going to batter you to you're going

2:27

to batter us. But it's what we live for. On

2:31

for the 45th time, it's a 14 time

2:34

fighting talk winner but only one of those has come

2:36

since he won champion of champions in 2022. Natalie

2:40

Pike is his nemesis, appeared

2:42

against you and she's growling, you've got a

2:44

growling nemesis. Worst sort

2:46

of nemesis, they've appeared against each other three

2:49

times, she's won all three, most recently the

2:51

2021 champion of champions show. A timely

2:54

but I'm sure entirely coincidental appearance of

2:56

the comic who is about to go

2:58

on a UK tour, Neil Delamere. Do

3:00

you want to plug the tour, Neil? Yes, I'm

3:02

doing on a UK tour, thank you very much. That's

3:05

plenty, more than enough. It's going to be

3:07

very good. I intended to do like,

3:10

you know, at least an hour in every show

3:12

but apparently Natalie has rung all the

3:14

venues and is going to do an hour

3:16

in front of me to make the show

3:18

with me because she's my eternal, eternal growling

3:20

nemesis. And the hour before you

3:22

is just Natalie growling apparently. It

3:24

is tight, I mean it has a narrative

3:27

structure, she has a brilliant denouement at the

3:29

end, it has everything you want but I

3:31

will be honest. All the things you lack,

3:34

Neil. Finally, a debutante and the 400th different

3:36

person to appear as a panellist on fighting

3:38

talk, the fourth Scottish international footballer we've

3:40

had on after Pat Nevin, Gary Gillespie

3:42

and Tommy Doxey, former forward for Arsenal,

3:45

Leicester, Blackburn and crucially the scorer of

3:47

one of Man City's most famous goals,

3:49

Paul Dixby. I

3:51

like Paul. I didn't

3:53

think I'd be making my bed here at 51 years

3:55

old. And yeah, here we are. I thought I'd cast

3:57

all that by the... looking

4:00

forward to it. And you're looking fighting fit. My

4:02

guess is that that is the first thing anyone

4:04

asked you about. Is that gold against Gilligan in

4:06

the playoff? It is. I do

4:08

remind people I did score a couple of other goals in

4:11

that. I don't remember any of that. But I do remember

4:13

that. I remember the celebration. The celebration is what I most

4:15

remember. You're on your knees, just like double fists bumping. Yeah,

4:17

and I'm not complaining because it's still keeping me in a

4:19

job 25 years later. Yeah, exactly. The most hated people I've

4:21

scored have won gold 25 years ago and still living off

4:23

the back of it now. Yeah, it's a

4:26

decent return. Alright, let's get going. We'll begin

4:28

inevitably with this. Yes,

4:39

the big one on Sunday, the top

4:41

two meet at Anfield, Arsenal watching on

4:44

with interest. But what will the score

4:46

be and what will

4:48

it all mean come May the 19th? I'll get

4:50

it out of the way, Nat. Right,

4:53

here's my prediction for Sunday. Anfield will

4:55

be absolutely rocking. They will be singing

4:57

You'll Never Walk Alone so loud and

4:59

so proud. And then

5:01

the whistle will go and the game will start. And

5:04

it will be silent because, Rick, the Anfield

5:06

atmosphere is a myth. It is a

5:08

myth. The second the game starts, it

5:11

will be silent. And it will be

5:13

silent throughout because Erling Harland will score

5:15

a hat, Rick. City will win. Jurgen

5:18

will cry. And much like in

5:20

the score between Neil and I, we will have

5:22

three. Liverpool will have one.

5:24

Oh, I don't care. I don't care, Rick.

5:26

Take them off. I know. I'm

5:28

going for it. My little, my button wasn't working.

5:30

I tried to take about eight points there. You're

5:33

lucky it wasn't working. OK, fine.

5:35

And I'll get the other one out of the way, Paul.

5:37

Me and Natalie are going to win over against each other

5:39

today. But we'll team up on the man's side of it.

5:42

I'm super confident for Sunday. Are you? Yeah.

5:45

Super, super confident. And I'm going to go 3-1

5:48

like Natalie. I just think, sit

5:50

out of the minute. Liverpool have done great. Don't get

5:52

me going. I'm so confident. I'm telling

5:54

how in Toronto Silver, you can go on and on

5:56

and on. The quality, strength and depth. three

6:00

points for Man City. Yeah, when you listed

6:02

those players, I felt even more sick actually.

6:04

Brian. In Rugby parlance we'll call this a

6:06

one score game, it's so close. Man City

6:09

will take the spoils 22-21. For

6:12

the late penalty goal from Erlan

6:14

Hallen, it's over the sticks. So,

6:18

big down I think it will be Man

6:21

City 2-1. I will

6:23

affect on the 19th, I don't think they've got a

6:25

great record there Man City, have they Anfield? I'm

6:27

so fast for them, they can win the title for me on

6:30

the 19th. Give

6:33

me a bit of my... Jamie Keelig and Wilkombust as well.

6:36

Oh yeah, well that's a given. Neil.

6:39

Now, Rick Mostalah, the returning Egyptian

6:41

king is going to bang one

6:44

in early doors, right? Then

6:46

Darwin Nunes is going to hit the post 400,000

6:49

times before slotting one home when he has zero

6:51

time to think about him. Only when he has

6:54

zero time to think about him, he'll bang one

6:56

home. I love that man in a way that

6:58

is unnatural. He's a combination of human beings and

7:00

the bit at the end of the spin cycle

7:02

where the washing machine goes absolutely mental. He's the

7:05

cost of those two things. We

7:08

will hold City out for a while,

7:10

then they'll score two. It will be

7:12

a draw. It will make no difference

7:14

to the end result of May sadly

7:16

because the pure unfiltered, understilled, capricious evil

7:19

of City will probably win the penalty.

7:22

It's a nice set of price. Alright,

7:25

question number two. Question

7:31

two comes from you, the listeners,

7:33

and David Phillips is on the line. Hello

7:35

David. Good morning Rick, morning everybody. Morning. How

7:38

are you mate, what are you up to? About

7:40

shortly to leave to go and take my son

7:42

to his football match this morning. The night he

7:44

wins Stanley Warriors in Wigan. And

7:46

how's he feeling, confident? He's feeling poorly this week, Rick.

7:49

But yeah, it's always a local

7:51

derby at that level and he's

7:54

looking forward to it. Last

7:57

minute fitness test, hope he's alright. David,

7:59

your theme music. is related to your question

8:01

which for me is always a sign our production team

8:03

has failed. Here

8:05

it is. What is your question

8:08

David? Right

8:10

yeah in a week when the new budget

8:12

has been announced, if you were the chancellor

8:15

of sport what fiscal

8:17

changes would you make and why? It's

8:20

got a highbrow question now. I'll

8:22

start with Paul please. I haven't

8:24

managed to lower leaks like the

8:26

likes of Oldham and Doncaster. Getting

8:28

money that's going to filter

8:31

down a little bit from the Premier League. And

8:33

by that I mean things like a lot of

8:35

these fines that are getting handed out to Premier

8:37

League clubs at the minute for whatever reasons whether

8:39

it be surrounding a referee or financial fair play

8:41

or whatever it is that they seem big fines

8:43

but it doesn't even scratch the surface knowing how

8:45

important and how financially unstable a lot

8:47

of clubs are in the League 1 and League 2. I

8:49

would like to see all these fines put in a pot

8:52

distributed out evenly to the lower league clubs to keep them

8:54

run. It's a proper answer there, no pressure. I need a

8:56

proper answer for a new net. I've got a proper answer

8:58

and I swear that Paul and I haven't looked at each

9:00

other's notes but I love the Football League as

9:02

well. My dad only watches lower league football. My

9:04

dad pretty much only watches non-league football and I

9:06

think we're all guilty of just watching the Premier

9:08

League and forgetting about the importance of the football

9:10

pyramid. So I agree with Paul and we need

9:12

more money that needs to be filtered down the

9:14

leagues. Get a romulae, honestly. I

9:16

mean you know so many, hopefully

9:19

Watchdale gets saved this week. So many clubs are in

9:21

danger. We need to be doing more. So here's my

9:23

suggestions on how we can filter the money down the

9:25

leagues. First of all I mean this is serious. Actually,

9:27

I've really genuinely thought about this. We need to redistribute

9:30

the FA Cup money better. It's key to the league

9:32

teams. If you win the FA Cup you get £2 million. There's

9:35

about £4 million by the time you've got through

9:37

all the other rounds. I mean let's face it, you

9:39

don't need £4 million, Liverpool don't need £4 million but

9:41

if we took the £4 million and we spread it

9:43

out evenly more around the teams that get round into

9:45

the first round proper, they get £15,000. That's it. We

9:47

need to spread the FA Cup money out and then

9:50

my second thing is the Premier League needs to, the

9:52

money that they spend on agents which

9:55

apparently was £318 million last

9:57

season. Now to me that is money that is leaving the game. That

10:00

is not benefiting the game in any way.

10:02

So I think Premier League clubs need to match the

10:04

amount they spend on agents that goes into some levy

10:07

or some tax that goes down to grass roots

10:09

and lower league football. Lovely. And

10:11

also match what City spend on lawyers. I mean

10:13

there's money going everywhere there. Loads. Right.

10:16

Did Dave say he was from Wigan? What's he doing taking

10:18

his son to a football game when he's from Wigan? He's

10:21

old rugby league for sure. Disappointing David, you just lost the

10:23

point. What

10:25

the Chancellor needs to do and whoever's got

10:27

the money needs to look at the cost

10:29

for football fans and just import the German

10:31

Bundesliga model. Simple, cheaper tickets,

10:34

cheaper food, cheaper pies, better

10:36

facilities and they give you

10:38

a full day's public

10:40

transport to do whatever you want over there. So

10:42

even if you're from Yorkshire that's a bargain beyond

10:45

all measure. So you can not only watch a

10:47

game of football, you can go as far as

10:49

you possibly can on the public transport as well.

10:52

Now three, I mean a lot of pressure

10:54

on you Neil because at three sensible, considered

10:56

answers. What have you got for

10:59

me? Oh I am rapidly changing my approach. Something

11:03

in all seriousness has to be done to save

11:05

English Club rugby. Every single premiership

11:08

team loses money. All of them. So

11:11

40 million quid to get for the TV rights versus 1.6 billion

11:14

for the Premier League's football rights.

11:16

So we're going to have to

11:18

raise more money from fans probably,

11:21

tax red trousers, tax

11:23

range rovers, maybe round

11:25

up the last few pence from the

11:27

Waitrose app. I don't know. That's my

11:29

non-serious answer. My serious answer is probably

11:31

take all the slobs, put them into

11:33

the United Rugby Championship League and

11:36

maybe with two divisions then you get all of

11:38

it. You get the four hours provinces, you get

11:40

the Welsh teams, you get the two Scottish teams

11:42

and the English teams. You get relegation, then it

11:44

gets a bit tasty. Maybe lump the two Italian

11:46

teams in with the French and you've got a

11:48

serious competition. The other thing I

11:50

would say, I don't want to think about any club

11:52

or institution. But you're about it. No,

11:55

no, I don't want to. It's not about that because

11:57

that's not what this question is about. But I do

11:59

think if you fail. financial fair

12:01

play regulations you should have to

12:03

sag Natalie Pike as your presenter.

12:05

That's all I would say. Well

12:11

David, uncommonly for very solid answers

12:13

there to choose from. Obviously you've

12:15

got the same answer from Natalie

12:17

and Paul. But different. But

12:19

same. And then you've

12:21

got Rugby Ideas from Neil,

12:23

the Bundesliga import from Brian.

12:25

Where are you giving the

12:27

points? Quite difficult because money

12:29

being flown into grass roots football

12:31

is something that is quite close to

12:34

my heart. But as somebody

12:36

who is partly responsible

12:38

for maintaining the public transport network in

12:40

Manchester, I'm going to have to go

12:43

with Brian Nobby Noble and his answer.

12:48

Thank God it's all stopped. Brian, I

12:50

can leave now. Shifting with delight in

12:52

his seat. He's nearly got up. Thanks

12:55

very much David. Good luck at the football later.

12:57

Take care. Bye bye. Alright, this week

12:59

NFL teams have been applying the franchise tag to

13:01

players. So this is when they nominate a single

13:03

player on their team at the end of their

13:05

contract who they want to keep for another year.

13:08

So I want to know who you would

13:10

apply a franchise tag to on your

13:12

team so they couldn't go anywhere else. Neil.

13:15

I'm going to go for our Olympic team. Daniel

13:17

Wiffen. He's the 800m and 1500m world gold medalist.

13:24

First Irish male world champion swimmer

13:26

ever. But he is from the

13:28

north and he trains in Loughborough

13:30

so he could at some point swim for GB

13:33

and I. You cannot

13:35

have him. You cannot Declan Rice

13:37

our swimmer. The perfidious Albion should

13:39

not be trusted. We're going to

13:41

microchip him like a whale. I'm

13:43

outside his house right now in

13:45

a hedge with a tranquilizer gun

13:47

and he's going down. We are

13:49

franchising that man immediately because he's

13:51

a very good Olympic prospect as

13:53

well. Yeah, it started off quite

13:55

nice and then became quite threatening.

14:00

He's where I'm known for, yeah. Put the

14:02

harpoon down, Neil. We're going to

14:04

need a bigger bowl. Right,

14:07

so Mark Chapman. Chappers is an all-rounder,

14:09

but I've franchised him to BBC's Rugby

14:11

League coverage because he does such a brilliant job.

14:13

And my other one is, being a proud Brad

14:16

Paudian, in the cost of living crisis, I think

14:18

it's important we get somebody on a franchise basis

14:20

that could do things for both clubs. So Braford

14:22

City and the football league side of things, and

14:25

the Braford Bulls, the Rugby League side, would get

14:27

Tyson Purie. Pure box office. He could play front

14:29

row for the Bulls, no problem. He can play

14:31

where he wants for the Bulls because he'd be

14:33

frightened everybody to death. And then he'd play centre

14:35

forward for Braford City, and it'd be box office.

14:38

I'm putting it centre back. Centre up. Yeah.

14:40

Blame away. I'll make it out of the

14:42

corners. Matthew's goalkeeper. Intimidating him. Yeah. Imagine

14:45

corners. I like

14:47

it. Natalie. So I am locking down

14:49

Steve Clark right now. Lock him down.

14:51

He got a new contract last year,

14:53

but I want it longer and longer

14:55

and longer because, what a year we've

14:57

had, Rick. We beat Spain. We

15:00

genuinely beat Spain, and we qualify

15:02

for the Euros again. Like, you've

15:04

got to go back to 98 for the

15:06

last time we qualified for something like, so the

15:08

fact that we qualified again. And I'm dead optimistic.

15:10

I feel like maybe overly optimistic, but

15:12

then I heard John Murray. And you might not

15:15

respect me, but you respect John Murray. Of

15:17

course not, though. Yes. He says

15:19

he thinks that Scotland will go further in this tournament

15:21

than they ever have before. So by the

15:23

end of it, Steve Clark's going to be in the shop window

15:25

for the whole world of football. Can I shut the

15:28

curtains? Warn them off. Yeah, absolutely.

15:30

Because Scotland are in the Euros, which obviously Neil

15:32

doesn't know how that feels for his country, does he?

15:34

Mm. I

15:38

actually, despite Natalie's barbs, I hope Scotland

15:41

do really well. Because if we learn

15:43

one thing from Braveheart is that we

15:45

team up well against the common old

15:48

enemy, which is vegetables. Yeah. Paul.

15:51

Yeah, that's going back. I quite fancy. I've put

15:53

Tyson Fury in the centre half because I would

15:55

quite fancy my chances. The bigger round.

15:57

The better, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm going to

15:59

go. Met my been obvious one I'm gonna

16:01

go for is one of our own ass

16:04

fell for them had mainly because especially nowadays

16:06

you don't get a lot of players est

16:08

one club for the rest is Korea he's

16:10

been in as a ball boy. He's

16:12

been able to be through the academy is so many

16:15

be self already. A thing is when he set his.

16:17

Greatest. Of a players and twenty three years old he's

16:19

not going anywhere as a is not going anywhere on the I'm

16:21

not let him go anywhere from. Absolutely

16:24

that you just fantastic and meal people's in

16:26

the season these really came up to that

16:28

will tell he's been doing this for last

16:30

two or three years that because Ellen highlands

16:32

been in the team Kevin deploying possibly become

16:34

name's globally is not what the credit but

16:36

the season Ellen how and been out ten

16:38

games. Kevin Smith five months and twenty three

16:40

years old he's to extend often. Nice to

16:42

that seen by the scruff the next or

16:44

fell. you ain't going anywhere met if you

16:46

listening and I'm not. Necessarily a guy caron

16:49

time up for sale because I some

16:51

some propaganda frame. We've had some from

16:53

a fantasy this early in the show.

16:55

up at the next topic as about

16:57

this and is from the ma'am we

16:59

were just talking about. I think she

17:01

loves to play football. she least consultancy

17:03

weight training sessions and play games so

17:05

can say is the best player I

17:07

know from the premier league. some for

17:09

the mound of things he does is

17:11

unbelievable. The monster city bus that on

17:13

is so fine is the best player

17:15

in the premier league how to allocate.

17:17

So who is the second best right

17:19

now? Neil? So I was gonna go

17:22

for Kevin De Bruin an agnostic with

17:24

that and always been out. as Paul

17:26

said for five months but he is

17:28

so good. He reminds me of Motley

17:30

Tissue in that he sees things that

17:32

oh the people can't see and seven

17:35

this way to get on. the brighter

17:37

a devolved the actually dead do appear

17:39

rather than just a Max Heads and

17:41

he adds visually a Steel is a

17:43

haircut of and Ninety Ninety Four and

17:45

saw I know is that the. Most

17:48

important actually and thematic actually be local

17:50

is Impact. It's Rhodri because his record

17:52

is insane D S and tasted defeat.

17:54

For. City. Three hundred ninety five games

17:56

fought with you on a minute

17:58

and a stroke. football like a bahn village

18:01

in Stoker's cast it is Kevin. Yeah

18:03

yeah yeah. Naturally. I mean not to be pedantic I

18:06

wish it was 395 games but it was 395 days

18:08

but sorry just yeah. Sorry

18:11

395 days 59 games.

18:14

Yeah sorry. Carry on that any

18:16

other points forward? You've

18:19

got to be careful with that around haven't you? Yeah. So

18:22

in fairness I think she might be right somebody might complain if

18:24

I said 395 games.

18:27

I think somebody might complain she's actually saved my

18:29

bacon there. You're welcome. It goes to show how

18:31

much I listen as well. So

18:35

my heart is screaming John Stone because is he a

18:37

defender is he an attacker like we could the man

18:39

can do everything his heat maps are absolutely hilarious at the

18:41

end of games but I'm going to be dead. It's not

18:43

who is the second best player at City by the way.

18:45

Yeah well it's Martin Odegard it really

18:48

is and I'm really worried about Arsenal. Yeah

18:50

I'm worried about Arsenal. Rick we should all

18:52

be worried about Arsenal. He binds them all

18:54

together and he creates so many chances thankfully

18:57

they don't have an out strike to put

18:59

his fences away. He's scoring some goals as

19:01

well yeah it's a great shot I think. Oli

19:03

Watkins at Villa he's a standout in a normal

19:05

performing team he's there stand out if you look

19:07

at all of his stats he's got the more

19:09

assists he's got more goals he's doing everything for

19:11

them outstanding second best player in the league. Can

19:13

you start him with Harry Kane at the Euros?

19:16

Oh of course you can I don't know anything

19:18

about football. I'll

19:23

play with Nenar team as well. I

19:27

didn't know we could have brutal honesty on this show

19:29

I don't know anything about sports. Now

19:33

that's been heavily implied to be fair Neil. Paul.

19:35

I promise you me and Natalie haven't been comparing

19:37

questions beforehand. You have got to be kidding me.

19:39

No but I'm not going for a man City

19:41

player because I can't have an every answer I've

19:43

got but I'm going for a national player and

19:46

it's not Martin Odegard I'm going Declan Rice. I

19:49

think he's been absolutely sensational the pressure he's had put

19:51

on him for the price tag for

19:53

105 million and to go on and

19:55

he's like Natalie I'm a little bit worried about Arsenal he's

19:58

took them to a different level I think. from what they were

20:00

last year and keeping that little bit of this mission. Although

20:02

set yourself in a minn read. Yeah, okay, you didn't have

20:04

to say that. I said, but yeah, fine. What I like

20:07

about him is his loyalty. That's the thing.

20:09

He's loyalty. What everything is.

20:13

Let us check in with the

20:15

scores then. Natalie, you

20:17

are trailing way behind. I actually

20:19

don't know why. Well, I do.

20:22

You've got eight. Eight? Yeah,

20:24

I know. Wow. Single digits on

20:26

this thing. Wow, Rick. Four on 13, me on 15. Yes,

20:31

and Brian on 17. Listen,

20:34

I don't make the... No, I do make the rules. I don't,

20:37

I do give out the points. No, it is on me. But

20:40

also slightly on you, improve your pundit tree.

20:42

Natalie, that's good. Positive. Brian's

20:44

been away from the show for a long time.

20:46

Brian doesn't know what he's talking about. Okay,

20:49

next question. Eddie Howe was pretty surprised when

20:51

finally out, Newcastle had been drawn away to

20:53

Manchester City in the FA Cup. I was

20:56

driving at the time and almost swerved off

20:58

the road, he said. But what is

21:00

the most shocking sporting news or moment

21:02

you've ever heard while driving or a

21:05

passenger in a car or given the

21:07

make-up of the panel been

21:09

in a team bus? Brian.

21:11

Well, the day Colin Murray stood down

21:13

from fighting talk was a shock. Awful.

21:15

Absolutely awful. But I go back to

21:17

June... Natalie used to do well on that show. Didn't you? I used

21:19

to go back to June 2016 and I

21:22

had to pull over. I was driving and I

21:25

had to pull into Morrison's car park in Bradford

21:27

and I had a bit of a cry the

21:29

day the greatest died. Muhammad Ali. It just absolutely

21:31

shocked me to the roots because the reason why

21:33

we're all here, the reason why sports people earn

21:36

so much money in sport is because of that

21:38

man modelling himself on the great gorgeous George from

21:40

wrestling and took it to

21:42

another level of everything. Another level of

21:44

controversy, another level of everything. He was

21:47

the greatest and the reason I was allowed to

21:49

stay up to watch television at night just to

21:51

watch this man spout his laurels.

21:53

What a man and what a person and

21:55

what a leader. And what a fantastic answer.

21:57

Follow that, Natalie. August

22:00

2021. Mean anything to you? I'm

22:03

driving to work. I'm hosting then a nightly football

22:05

show for BBC Radio Manchester called Talking Balls myself

22:07

and I have a co-presenter gathering quarter who's a

22:09

United fan. It's a great time to

22:11

host that show by the way. I've had a one, it

22:13

was wonderful when I was on it. City just won, you

22:15

know, that you just lost. It was always great. On this

22:17

occasion though I'm driving in and the news that Cristiano Ronaldo

22:19

is about to resign from Manchester United break. I

22:22

just want to turn round Rick. I

22:24

just want to turn round honestly. Walk

22:26

into this building here at the BBC.

22:28

It's buzzing. They've all come out

22:30

from under the rocks again. They all look two

22:32

inches taller. The chips are back

22:34

on their shoulder. Like you wouldn't believe the difference in

22:36

them all. So it's buzzing. And then the social media

22:39

team think it'll be a great idea. We're going to

22:41

talk about Ronaldo for an hour. We better promote it.

22:43

And they come up with this video of an idea

22:45

where I'm like walking down the BBC, I'm making a

22:47

cup of tea, I'm going in the lift, blah blah

22:49

blah. And Gaz is just following me doing the SOO

22:51

celebration non-stop. Well that's just funny. It

22:54

was. I mean you know what's funny now though

22:56

Rick? It's still up there. Who's having the last

22:58

laugh? Who's having the last laugh? Paul,

23:01

you better not give the same answer for this. Well

23:03

funny you should say that. No, no I've got a

23:05

little bit of a personal one this one. I was

23:07

driving June 23. I'd been doing an event

23:09

at the club and driving home in

23:12

the news that my old Scotland manager Craig

23:14

Brown had passed away. And it was sad

23:16

because Craig gave me my debut under 15s,

23:18

16s, 17s, 20s, 21s and gave

23:20

me my full first international cup

23:23

as well.

23:25

But as sad as it was, it just

23:29

made me smile because he was the best manager at

23:31

the one-liners ever before

23:33

he went out for a kick-off. He wouldn't say anything to change him

23:35

until you were going out and the lads used to wait for it

23:37

and wait for it. And we played England

23:39

in the Toulon tournament under 21s quarter-finals and he

23:41

didn't say a word before the game. Nothing in

23:44

the morning, nothing else. And as we were walking

23:46

out the tunnel, he comes into the

23:48

tunnel with England players from you there as well. And

23:50

all he said was, he said, have a look at

23:52

their badges. And he was like, here

23:55

we go again Gaffer. And then

23:57

he just looked at all the England players and he went. We've

24:00

got three lines in there and we've got one. Cause

24:02

it takes three a day to make

24:04

up one of us. That's

24:08

really good. Before my first teams to

24:11

my film, every game it would

24:13

tell me to pull my socks over my knees.

24:16

No tactical things. Because it

24:18

made me look bigger. And I was like, Gaffer, I'm

24:20

not groaning. Whether my socks are over my knees or

24:22

not, I don't know. But God bless him, what a

24:24

character and what a guy. Also,

24:27

I'm sure that isn't right. I'm sure you don't look bigger

24:29

if your socks look massive. He

24:31

looks smaller. The gap between

24:33

the shorts and the socks, I'm not sure about that. He's

24:36

wearing tights again. If

24:39

not bigger, maybe wider. Neil.

24:43

Yeah, Thierry Henry was famously four foot one,

24:45

but he just pulled both of them all the

24:47

way up. May

24:50

2002, my brothers and I are in on

24:53

the way to five a side football and my brother's

24:55

sport Fiesta. We couldn't wait for

24:57

the World Cup in Japan and Korea. Oh

24:59

man, the summer was stretched out in front of

25:02

us, Rick. Ireland were training in Saipan at the

25:04

time. We didn't know much about Saipan, but we

25:06

were sure that it probably had the requisite number

25:08

of folds, cones and bibs, and wasn't like playing

25:10

on a car park. I'm sure everything was gonna

25:12

be fine. We hear on the radio, Mick McCarthy

25:14

has sent Roy Keane home from the squad. To

25:17

put this into context, the tee shot. The

25:20

Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern tried to mediate

25:22

and it didn't work. He

25:24

is the man who negotiated

25:27

the Good Friday agreement that

25:30

ended the troubles in Northern

25:32

Ireland between two traditionally warring

25:34

Bertie and Mick McCarthy and

25:36

Roy Keane who agreed. So

25:42

I'll never forget where we were. Yeah, we

25:45

left that one behind. I

25:47

mean, honestly, a load of good answers and then

25:49

Natalie's answers. That was, I

25:51

think, an adequate first

25:53

half. Natalie's on 12. What?

25:57

I don't know. Wait. I'm just reading

25:59

the score. That's what you've got! Paul

26:02

on 17, Neil on 19, Brian

26:04

still ahead on 21. That

26:06

was, I think, an adequate first half. Take a couple

26:08

of minutes to regroup and we will be back after

26:10

the News and Sport. Let's take a

26:13

journey back to 2003. Canadian

26:15

teen sensation Avril Lavigne was topping

26:17

the charts and turning the music

26:20

industry upside down. But what if

26:22

I told you that the Avril

26:24

Lavigne we know and love might

26:26

not be the same Avril? What?

26:30

Did Avril die? Why should you

26:32

replace it by a duffel canner?

26:34

I'm Joanne McNally and I'm doing

26:36

a deep dive into a notorious

26:38

international conspiracy to replace Avril Lavigne.

26:41

Listen on BBC Sam. Welcome

26:56

back to Fighting Talk. Welcome back to

26:58

our panel. Brian Noble, Natalie Pike, Neil

27:00

Delamere and Paul Dicker. On this day

27:02

in Fighting Talk history, the night of

27:04

March 2013 saw the second

27:06

ever all female panel. Debbie Tonk, Kenny Southerton

27:09

beat Kath Mary in an arm wrestling competition,

27:11

which I imagine Kath has few me about.

27:14

Listener and charity donor Kenneth Leung asked

27:16

question two in the studio, one of

27:18

only three times that has happened. And

27:20

appropriately, the First Lady and the Roll

27:22

Droid overcame Jenny Gao in DTI for

27:25

the win. Now, back from the

27:27

sepia tones of the past to the glorious

27:29

Technicolor of Salford in the present day. Game

27:32

changer time, five points being quite liberally

27:35

scattered around. The question is all about

27:37

this man. He goes to

27:39

the shop, beaten away by Promenail and

27:42

on the floor among is Harry

27:44

Kane. The sport home

27:46

is second in the game by

27:48

and third and put them on

27:50

the brink of the quarterfinals.

27:54

Music is completely mad. Jamie

27:56

Carragher was shown up on American television

27:58

on Tuesday by Harry Kane. the Bayern's

28:00

win against Lazio. The host, Kate Abdo, said

28:02

to Harry, Jamie said earlier he called you

28:04

and spoke to you this week, is that

28:07

true or false? And Kane replied that is

28:09

false. So let's play a

28:11

game. I want you to tell me

28:13

about a famous sporting friend that you

28:15

could call up. It

28:18

can be real or you can bluff me.

28:21

I'll guess if it's true or false I

28:23

suppose. Yeah I think this might work so

28:25

this can be quite difficult. I'll go naturally.

28:28

I love this question because it just gives me a chance to show

28:30

off about this. Brilliant. So

28:33

I host a podcast called No Tippy Tappy

28:35

Football with Sam Allardyce, or Team Show

28:37

with when Sam's on his holidays. Which

28:40

is quite often genuine. Last week we had

28:42

on as our guest Sir Kenny

28:44

Dalglish. I mean wow right

28:46

the atmosphere when he walked in, everybody

28:48

was in awe. It was he was

28:50

unbelievable. The show went really well, we

28:52

got on really well, he was super

28:55

nice and at the end of it we're talking about the Euros coming up. You

28:57

know I'm saying how do you think Scotland are going to get on blah blah

28:59

and I'm saying oh I really want to take my dad to

29:01

the US and my dad is scared of flying so we can

29:03

get on the train we'll go to Germany. I'd love to

29:05

take my dad he hasn't seen Scotland playing so long

29:07

in a tournament. I'd really love to take

29:10

my dad so Kenny says well

29:12

take my number I might be able to help you out. I

29:14

was like what? So

29:17

Kenny Dalglish has genuinely said to me that

29:19

I can ring him and he will try and help me

29:21

and my dad get tickets for the Euros.

29:23

I'm still flying high for it. Absolutely eaten

29:25

up with jealousy is the problem. Do

29:28

I believe you? Did he? I'm

29:31

gonna say yeah I'm gonna say that is true is it?

29:34

No it's totally false I'm just a really good

29:36

actress. No he did genuinely come on the podcast but he

29:38

did not give me his number. I barely spoke two words

29:40

to him off Eric I was so nervous but if

29:42

he's listening if he is listening or Kelly's

29:44

listening I wanted to ask but

29:46

I was too nervous. I should have gone my car

29:48

I thought you were lying there. Annoying does that mean

29:50

you get five but I don't know how I'm doing

29:52

it. I'll work it out at the end. Brian. Martin

29:54

O'Neill I struck up

29:56

a relationship with him when I actually coached

29:59

South Wales Crusaders. that went bust

30:01

overnight basically in the pretext of a

30:03

Super League 17 season and

30:06

we moved to Northwell Crusaders in Wrexham. Didn't

30:09

have any training facilities so I rang him

30:11

and said can we use your

30:13

training facilities at Aston Villa as it was

30:15

then, Bodimore Heath and he genuinely

30:18

said yeah bring your players down and be good

30:20

for my players to see your players and interact

30:23

and spend the week with us with all these

30:25

great training facilities and then

30:27

I struck up the relationship and I used

30:29

to meet him at the service station quite

30:31

regularly on the M42 M6 junction. Glamorous life,

30:33

isn't it? Glamorous life and he used to

30:35

buy me a baking sandwich and you know

30:38

we struck up a relationship our team used

30:40

to go watch Aston Villa and so could

30:42

you call him now? Yeah I think I could.

30:45

I think that is false.

30:49

It's actually true. You're doing really well.

30:51

You'd be no good at what I'd

30:54

like for you wouldn't you really? No

30:56

this is awful. Hang on I'm giving

30:58

out. Okay, NASA's getting three

31:01

points. Brian's getting three points. Paul,

31:05

you knocked me off next. Yeah I will do.

31:07

I was going to go Sir Alex Ferguson but

31:09

I thought the Scottish connection it might be a

31:11

bit too much so I'm gonna

31:13

go with a certain Jose Mourinho. My

31:18

relationship with Jose goes back to 1989. I

31:21

was in the Scotland

31:24

under 15s and there's a place

31:26

called Largs in Scotland which is

31:28

supposedly the equivalent of St George's

31:30

Park. But all coaches from all

31:32

over the world, Brazil, South America,

31:35

everywhere used to come to Largs under

31:37

Craig Brown and Andy Roxburgh to get the coaching

31:39

badges and we used to clean the boots balls

31:42

and bibs to the sessions for them and

31:45

everything else and I always remember the very very last

31:47

day a lot of them with chocolate

31:49

boots isn't them. The two most respectful were

31:51

two Portuguese guys and they gave me

31:53

a pair of Copa Mundial boots which I'd always wanted

31:55

to get. Size 7 same as me. So

31:58

fast forward obviously due Josie wins

32:01

the Champions League report, still didn't think

32:03

anything of it. I've just

32:05

signed for Blackmurd and Josie's took

32:07

over at Chelsea. And we are

32:09

playing Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, I'm standing in the tunnel ready to

32:11

go out. And I don't know if

32:13

you remember Josie used to walk past the players first, when they first

32:16

went to Chelsea, and sit and they dug out in his own before

32:18

he went out. So as he's walking past

32:20

me, obviously tapping his shoulder and he went,

32:22

Paul. And John Terry's

32:24

looking at me, Frank Lampard's looking at all my

32:26

Blackman teammates thinking. And his stall

32:28

didn't click and he went, you don't remember do you? And

32:31

I went, what? He went, largs 1989. He

32:34

said, I've always followed your career, well done. And

32:36

then we struck off an unbelievable relationship. When I

32:39

was an older manager, he

32:41

used to recommend sitting under the B players to me.

32:43

This is absolutely killing me because it's such

32:46

a good story. But

32:48

if this is a lie, I'm just going to boot you

32:50

off the show. When

32:54

he went to Real Madrid, I'd lost his number so I

32:56

had to send him an email. And it was a Sunday

32:58

night and I sent him an email and that

33:00

agent on, giving me all these players and

33:02

I said to my wife, I said, he's not going to answer.

33:05

Within two minutes, he sent me looking at the

33:07

email. I've

33:09

got to go through. Please let

33:11

me through. One million percent

33:13

true. Oh! What

33:16

a guy he is. That is, I mean, I

33:18

love the fact that Josie really is

33:20

tapping on the shoulder and you're like, who are you? Obviously

33:23

he really was. I hadn't

33:25

put the 1989 to 2004 together at all. And

33:29

that's just, yeah. And that says something about the

33:31

guy. Yeah. And I mean, excellent story. You've got,

33:33

you get the most of points for that, Paul.

33:37

Even though it sort of goes against what I said I was going to do. I

33:41

have Christian Horner's number, but he's not answering his

33:43

phone. You

33:46

mainly text him, don't you, I think. I do

33:48

text. Well, it's picture text. It's various bits and

33:50

pieces. I DM him

33:52

sometimes. Well, the point is they get in contact. I

33:55

dropped a tapestry off at his house. The point is

33:57

we're very much in contact. So

34:00

I have Conor McGregor's number, my

34:02

phone. I can bring Conor if I needed to.

34:05

Aaron McGregor, his sister,

34:08

and this is how Star Wars were our celebrities, did

34:11

Dancing with the Stars in the same era that

34:13

I did, which is strictly, which is another reason,

34:16

another point that we are Star Wars celebrities that I was

34:18

doing this. So we both did Dancing with the Stars a

34:20

couple of years ago and Conor and

34:22

Tony, his dad came out to support Aaron. Aaron

34:25

did quite well. Let's not go into how well

34:27

I did. When you said

34:29

you were on it, I assumed that you were one of the dance

34:31

professionals, not one of the stars. I

34:33

was, I was actually one of the dance

34:35

professionals. I had, unusually for the first time

34:38

ever, I did a whole episode by myself.

34:40

I did every dance. It was unbelievable. It's

34:42

a bit special. I mean, I was tired,

34:44

but my God, we won an Emmy, I

34:46

believe. But

34:52

Aaron did really well. So Conor would pop out, he popped out

34:54

two or three times and he found

34:56

out that I was comedian and John Cavanaugh, who's his

34:58

coach, has been to the Kirkwenny Catlaff's Festival a

35:01

good few times as well. And

35:03

I probably should say this, but Conor, when he

35:05

heard that I was comedian and he, some of

35:07

my mates were out there as well and they

35:09

were comics. Well, he kind of

35:12

said to us, maybe we'll be interested in writing the

35:14

odd trash talk line for him when,

35:17

because he, when he does

35:19

weigh-ins, he

35:21

didn't necessarily want anything too pre pre-prepped, but

35:23

kind of lines of attack, shall we say.

35:26

So I could read Conor. Could

35:28

you, OK, how would he pick up? I'm

35:30

trying to work out what the relationship is here. Oh,

35:33

well, no, he's not fighting anymore, so I don't think

35:35

he would pick up, but I

35:37

could ring him, yeah. And I have his number. I

35:41

think, I think it's true,

35:44

but I think he wouldn't call him. Never

35:47

met the man before. Oh, God. You're

35:53

real good at this, Rick. Horrible,

35:55

horrible people. Great

35:57

question. I'd

36:00

love to see you on Dragon's Den. You invest in everything

36:02

you mop- You're all- Oh, oh, oh, oh.

36:06

That's all for me. Right, next

36:08

question. At the start of

36:10

his new show, on Radio 1 on

36:12

Monday, fighting talk panelist and friend of

36:14

the show, Jamie Lang, says he wants

36:17

to shed the posh idiot image. If

36:19

he does, who from sport will

36:22

inherit it? Natalie. I'm

36:24

honestly not sure if this guy is posh. I

36:26

think he's trying to be posh. He says big,

36:28

long words when you don't really have to, and

36:30

he's got a bit of a posh accent that

36:32

I think he might be putting on, but he's

36:34

definitely an idiot. It's Simon Jordan. Now, you know,

36:36

you see what I mean? You know, he's really

36:38

riled me this week, because again, a serious answer.

36:41

Football can be a force for good. Football has

36:44

an incredible power that we mustn't forget. It can be

36:46

a positive force for change. And I know some people

36:48

just say stick to hitting on football, they don't like

36:50

that, but there's a big wide world out there, and

36:52

we can use football to improve people's lives.

36:54

It's part of the magic of football. Football

36:57

is for everybody. It is for everybody, Rick.

36:59

It should be a safe space for everybody

37:01

to attend, for everybody to watch, for everybody

37:03

to work in, for everybody to discuss. Football

37:05

is for everybody, whether you believe it or

37:07

not. So why would anybody be against football's

37:09

focus, discussing inclusion in football? Honestly,

37:11

I give up. I

37:14

saw that, and I mean, I absolutely hated it. Brian,

37:17

there's only one. Chris Eubanks. Any person

37:19

that wears the kind of attire that he

37:21

wears is another one that's trying to be

37:24

posh. He wore a monocle and a shooting

37:26

stick to some mastermind's shot, and

37:28

he was sat there and I'm thinking, this guy's not

37:30

for real, but he never said he was the best.

37:32

He just said he was one of the best. Brilliant.

37:36

Chris Eubanks every day of the week. It

37:39

is all funny, though. Paul. I'm

37:41

actually going with one of my former players, Matt

37:44

Smith, who's now at Salford City.

37:46

I signed Matt out of university. He's

37:48

definitely posh. Maybe Eddie is a bit harsh on him.

37:51

Mostly good on that one. Big up, is

37:53

it listening, Matt? Yeah, he's very first training

37:55

session. We're doing shooting after the game. Usually

37:59

when you miss the target. And he's like, you

38:01

swear a little bit

38:03

of yourself, you get angry, you're like, come

38:05

on, get a... And Big

38:08

Macs took this shot and he's went, oh,

38:10

blast. The players win. That

38:14

is always in the... Definitely

38:17

the poshest, but what a great lad he is.

38:21

That's got to become iconic within the great... Oh, I

38:23

was like, blah, blah, blah. Blah!

38:26

There you go. Listen,

38:29

if you're going to go posh, you don't get

38:31

posh in royalty. So I'm going to go

38:34

for the founder of the Invictus Games, Prince

38:36

Harry. I quite like him as he annoys

38:38

all the right people. But if you're stupid

38:40

enough to get frostbite on your flute, you

38:42

are an idiot. He

38:45

did what? Yeah, he did. Yeah, explain that, Neil.

38:48

He got... Well,

38:51

he was going to the North Pole

38:53

as a noble charity, charity adventurer and

38:55

venture to raise money. But he didn't

38:57

mind himself properly and he got frostbite

38:59

on that part of

39:01

himself. You get the idea now, don't

39:03

you know? Yeah, we've got Novy and Dickey in the studio, so I get the

39:05

idea. Oh, for God's sake. Next

39:08

question, Jarabohan, Bernardo Silva, Leon

39:10

Bailey and Son

39:12

Kyung Min are the top overperforming

39:14

players in the Premier League this

39:17

season. They've all got the highest

39:19

XG excess. So next, you expected

39:21

goals. But I wouldn't know who

39:23

you think is the biggest over

39:25

performer in sport. And I want

39:27

you to use just your eyes,

39:29

your guts, your instinct, none of

39:31

this newfangled data analysis. Brian. Right,

39:33

no newfangled analysis. Travis Kelsey, he's

39:35

definitely overperforming. Batty Weller will be

39:37

average. And

39:40

the one I want to throw under the bus

39:42

for my own thing, the Leeds United, is simply

39:44

Patrick Bamford. He couldn't hit a barn door at

39:46

10 paces and yet he gets all the rays

39:48

and all the wraps and that. But he scores

39:50

amazing goals. What about the wonder goal? And then

39:52

he misses sitters. He's not a proper goal hanger.

39:54

I mean, I don't know how you've crowbarbed that

39:56

into the question, to be honest. And

39:58

obviously at some point I'm going to put the boot. into Banford. Neil.

40:02

New Zealand. That is a frankly ridiculous country.

40:04

Five million people we know about the rugby

40:06

union, the rugby league, the football, the netball,

40:08

the cricket teams but they're always high up

40:10

on medal tables in the Olympics, the winter

40:12

and the summer Olympics. If you don't know

40:14

who to support you just watch the Olympics

40:16

and go wait for the Kiwi because there

40:18

will be one. In 20 years

40:20

if the Olympics was on the

40:22

Mongolian step and york building was

40:25

a demonstration sport the fifth competitor

40:27

out would be Scott from Wellington

40:29

and he would medal. They are

40:31

unbelievable. Natalie. I

40:34

was at Ewood Park midweek for Blackburn versus

40:36

Millwall, glamorous, finished one all, it wasn't a

40:38

great game but it was another great game

40:41

for Sami Smodik so the Blackburn player

40:44

is the championship's top scorer now, he's got 20 goals

40:47

so he's a top scorer in the championship. Blackburn

40:49

are having a tough year, they're 17th in the

40:51

league but he is the top scorer and

40:53

then that made me also realise that the league one

40:55

top scorer Alfie May, he's on 18 goals, he

40:58

plays for Charlton there in 14th and the league

41:00

two top scorer Macaulay Longstaff, he's on 23, he

41:02

plays for Knox County there in 14th so all

41:05

the top scorers in the football league are playing

41:07

for teams that are really struggling over performing. Oh,

41:10

I'm going to go for one of my old clubs although

41:12

there was about 45 of them I think. I'm going to

41:16

go Lutonton, I think it was

41:18

12 seasons ago they were in the conference, nearly going out

41:20

of business and look at them holding

41:22

their own at Kennewa Throad in the Premier League,

41:24

the atmosphere is unbelievable down there I

41:27

think as a club even

41:29

if they get relegated which I don't think they've won this season they've

41:32

got to be right up there as the highest

41:34

over achievers from where they were to where they

41:36

are now. Yeah, Robert was doing a fantastic job

41:39

there. Amazing. Okay, quick one in, I think this

41:41

might be the most pointless question

41:43

we've ever asked and the bar is really high

41:45

for that. Antony Joshua

41:47

fought Francis Nganu after

41:50

this programme was recorded but before it goes

41:52

out on the radio. So how did it

41:55

go last night in Saudi? Brian?

41:57

Well it was in Saudi so some... like

42:00

applause broke out. And

42:03

AJ has been so focused, I've seen that this

42:05

week. So in round four, he

42:07

actually roundhouse kicks in Gano.

42:10

He scrolls tackles into the floor and then

42:12

he chokes him out and then realizes, I'm

42:14

supposed to be boxing. And

42:17

he gets disqualified. So it's the winter in Gano.

42:19

But in Gano we respect it. Yeah. Paul.

42:22

I'm going, it's a round

42:25

one knockout for Anthony Joshua. Round

42:27

one. Super focused. I love my boxing. I've not

42:29

seen him this focused for years and years and

42:31

years. And the Joshua we're seeing now is the

42:34

Joshua when he first came into the scene. Yeah,

42:36

but maybe a bit better, a bit can-er as

42:38

well. Yep. And a

42:41

lot more defense, less defensive than what he is. You know what

42:43

I'm thinking? He's going to go for it tonight. I think it's

42:45

one last night, sorry. Yes. Yeah,

42:47

I mean, it's confusing. Yep. Neil. Yeah.

42:52

Good fight from both men. It was harsh.

42:55

It was very difficult. Yeah. Were

42:57

you writing any track talk lines for them? No,

43:00

I don't have their numbers. That would be a ludicrous proposal.

43:04

What I didn't expect was Logan and Jake Pauls who

43:06

emerged from the crowd to tag team both fighters as

43:09

part of the PR for Jake's bout with Tyson. I

43:11

wasn't expecting that now, I have to say, but a

43:13

good win for Joshua in the second round I have

43:15

to say. Natalie. I

43:18

predict that the Bradford City defender Tyson

43:20

Fury gets in the ring at the

43:22

end, challenges everybody, makes it all about

43:24

himself and in a fight that we'll

43:26

never ever going to see. And

43:29

then I also predict that Anthony Joshua wins. I think he's looking brilliant.

43:31

I think it's going to go all the way. I think it's going

43:33

to go to points. Do you? I

43:36

think AJ beats him up and he gets stops in

43:38

the eight. Inghamels are stone heavier at the weigh-in apparently.

43:40

Stone and a half. Stone and a half. If

43:42

he clops, they're easier. No, it's not. They're a pair

43:45

of big old lumps. Okay, next

43:47

question and it's a simple one. Who

43:49

in sport would you like

43:52

to be your mother, Natalie?

43:54

Emma Hayes! I'd love Emma Hayes to be

43:56

your mom! I think we're what you think.

43:58

That means... I think Emma

44:01

Hayes though, she's wonderful but I

44:03

don't think as a teenager Emma Hayes would

44:08

have let me do the stuff that I did as a teenager. So

44:11

maybe not. No I think she's going

44:13

to be pretty tight shit. Frying. Katarina

44:15

Johnson Thompson, if you can't get stuck in the trees

44:18

you go and get it, no problem. What

44:21

about on school day when the parents are doing the games,

44:23

she wins the Egg and Spoon race, she wins the Sac

44:25

race, she wins a lot. She

44:27

wins a lot. What was Street Cred there with

44:29

your mum doing that for you? Two

44:32

good mums so far, another mum please Paul. I'm

44:34

going with Judy Murray. She's

44:37

been fortunate enough to meet her at the soccer

44:39

aid a few years ago. Have you got a

44:41

number? I have got a number. I want

44:43

to tell you another number. Look

44:46

at me. And how

44:48

she's handled Andy is

44:51

unbelievable and she's just a funny,

44:53

funny woman. Yeah she

44:55

terrified me I think as a mother. Still.

44:59

Do you have Judy Murray's number in

45:01

the same way that she looked at you and

45:03

went largs I was

45:05

like that was a different day. I

45:11

go for Shelly and Fraser Price simply because

45:13

as Brian said imagine her at school sports

45:15

day you don't have to imagine because she

45:18

turned up at her kids. It's

45:20

too good that footage. It

45:23

absolutely destroys the other parents

45:25

of the race. You're

45:28

just like some reasonably fit yoga mum

45:30

where you go to the gym a lot and

45:32

then one of the fastest women in the history

45:34

of the planet turns up and goes oh you

45:36

were going down and you were going to be

45:38

tied. But also I think she

45:40

runs a decent time. I think she genuinely

45:43

puts a shift in. The fact

45:45

that she dipped for the line meant that she

45:47

really wanted us. Okay

45:50

let's have a check in with

45:52

the scores. You

45:55

are behind but you're not as far behind in

45:59

percentage. You've got

46:01

28, Paul and Neil

46:03

tied on 34, Brian

46:06

still just ahead on 36. So

46:10

I think it is sort of all to play for now.

46:13

It's really not for me, is it? 30

46:16

seconds, I reckon, any other business. You

46:18

can go last and see what you've got to do. Paul? Something

46:22

that drives me absolutely mad is when you

46:24

go on safari or Google and ask

46:26

you if you're a robot. Of course

46:28

I'm not a robot. Do

46:31

you know what I mean? I wouldn't be a robot without stopping at this high.

46:34

I'm just going to open my knees as well. And

46:36

then they give you that little letters and numbers that

46:38

you've got to copy at the same time as well. And then

46:40

it gives you a screen that you've got to pick how many

46:42

traffic lights are on it. It's the most pointless thing I've ever

46:44

seen in my life. Sorry, have they tried that? That

46:46

might be the oldest you've ever sounded, Paul. Neil?

46:50

I'm going on tour. Thank you very much. Buy the

46:52

ticket. That's it. I'd like a point

46:55

off for that. Brian? Well,

46:57

I have chatbots similar to Dicco there. Right,

47:01

and Stalen Waldorf, I mean. Yeah, Stalen Waldorf.

47:04

But my frustration is I spent six hours this

47:06

week onto a bank and they just don't answer

47:08

the right questions. So the questions that they give

47:10

you have nothing to do with you. Hello, Brian.

47:12

How are you today? And I'm going, well, I'm

47:14

fine. How are you today? I've rung you about

47:16

the credit on my... Did you ask about credit

47:18

for this? Did you ask for credit for this?

47:21

Did you ask for credit for this? I'm not too sure. I don't

47:23

know what I asked for credit for. Can you help me out on

47:25

the next question? Yes,

47:28

I will go to the next question. So

47:30

these faceless identities, idiots, that don't... they're not

47:32

even real. So then you get so frustrated,

47:34

you end up saying, oh, I'll have it enough. You get loose connection,

47:36

or you slam the phone down. Then you

47:38

ring the, would you like to ring back

47:40

and speak to a human being or a

47:42

real person? Yes, I would. Okay, I will

47:44

transfer you. Okay. You

47:46

are now 176 in the queue. Please

47:49

hang on for another 47 minutes and we

47:51

will get to you. And I'm thinking,

47:53

no, no chance. Go for gone. Six

47:55

hours of my life just gone to a faceless... Well, I spent

47:57

the entire day on the phone. last

48:00

minute feeling quite nervous about the accent but i think

48:02

it was okay i

48:05

think we should put brain on to Paul i think

48:07

the chance to see him have together would be amazing

48:11

sure in the in the accent say are you

48:13

a robot oh my Paul are you a robot

48:16

or are you real what is the

48:18

answer i don't know and we don't want to know we don't want

48:20

to know they

48:22

don't even know about the interest rates and

48:25

that's their job natalie um

48:27

so ricky if you think you've trolled

48:29

me today or if you think Neil's

48:31

told me today nobody trolls you better

48:33

than your six-year-old um and my six-year-old

48:35

the other day and this is a

48:37

genuine conversation that happened he wanted to

48:39

eat a pop tart or sweets or

48:41

something for breakfast no no you can't

48:43

eat sweets for breakfast have something healthy

48:45

and then my six-year-old looked me dead in the

48:48

eye and said you're such a Karen Karen

48:53

Karen and all you can do i

48:55

just burst out laughing i just burst

48:57

out right he

49:06

said do you like Karen's do you like Karen's

49:08

and obviously there's nothing wrong with people call Karen

49:10

i feel sorry for them that we've taken their name

49:12

but yes my six-year-old is aware yeah he's absolutely had

49:14

you over there all right let's have

49:16

a look at the final scores no

49:19

surprise really uh natalie's training behind on

49:21

31 just dragging that average down natalie

49:24

uh neil on 33 paul on

49:27

37 on debut brian

49:29

on a magnificent 40 meaning

49:31

paul and brian go into the

49:33

head to head defend the indefensible

49:35

ridiculous statement who are you supporting

49:37

that oh you're neutral okay come

49:39

on brian statement yes come

49:43

on brian go for the brotherhood neil do

49:45

the whole thing in the action do anything

49:47

in the action

49:49

you're guaranteed to win but never work again

49:51

i'm taking points off you now nil uh

49:53

it's a ridiculous statement you have to answer

49:55

shut up nil it should hurt i want

49:58

it to hurt if i say I

50:00

mean you Brian you scored

50:02

the most points so you go first you have

50:04

20 seconds on this rugby

50:06

league is a game played by people

50:09

who aren't smart enough to understand rugby

50:11

union. It's absolutely true I'm sick

50:13

of people talking about rugby and thinking that it's

50:15

rugby league it's not it's rugby union we all

50:17

agree with that that's why rugby league has existed

50:19

for 120 years because

50:21

it's just been suppressed beyond all measure

50:24

by the people that really run rugby

50:26

and that's a rugby union people so

50:28

it's an absolutely fair point that you

50:30

make Rick and it's totally true. I

50:34

mean it's quite a serious answer if only

50:36

in the fence is it all. And Paul

50:38

you're gonna enjoy this I think the

50:40

biggest regret of my football and career is

50:43

that I never played for Manchester United.

50:46

That's absolutely 100% wrong and

50:48

I don't care if I lose this now because I

50:50

would never lose this. No Paul, no Paul, no Paul

50:53

you've got to do it. I

50:56

had the chance to play for Manchester United under Träggesen when

50:58

I was 14 year old. I

51:00

was at Aberdeen when he was up there and

51:03

he brought me down to United on trial but then I've

51:05

seen the light in the middle of Manchester City. As

51:07

I see the donkey and the figgleoos I don't

51:10

care for the loo. Well you have lost. One

51:12

of the worst defending defense awards I've heard that

51:14

managed to fit in a brag about having Guy

51:16

Cuddapley for them. Which means

51:19

that the win goes to Brian. Congratulations.

51:22

Don't go so surprised Brian. Well

51:24

done Brian. But that's it. So I shall

51:26

see you in eight years for another win. Paul

51:29

no shame at all coming in second.

51:31

Lots of shame in that defending defensible.

51:34

I think we can all do better probably. Natalie

51:36

can't wait to see you again. Don't look so

51:38

glum. This has been a world-end production for BBC

51:40

Radio 5 Live. Now after the news it is

51:42

5 Live Sport with Steve Crossman. Hello

51:45

you're listening to the podcast extra of Fighting Talk. Brian

51:47

you've just told me that your best answer we didn't

51:49

get to so I'm going to give you the opportunity.

51:52

The question was it's back to the big Premier

51:54

League game on Sunday and the two gaffers but

51:56

are you a pet person or a clop clapper?

52:00

Well, I study leaders and coaches a

52:02

little bit by myself, I like to learn so

52:04

I reckon I'm a bit of both And

52:06

would that make me one of the pet clock boys? Good

52:13

lord, I've done you a favour That

52:18

is the best thing that's ever been said

52:20

on digital by anybody ever

52:24

But I'd go for pet quite early

52:26

simply because it's catalonian and he support

52:28

the catalan dragons in rubbilly Really

52:33

really hard to come back from that It's

52:42

not only naturally was doing an hour before I think Brian

52:44

might do it now before you Is it closer I think

52:46

we all know that Brian

52:51

just went 20 minutes of his chatbot stuff That

53:00

was a very funny line Brian oh

53:02

god I

53:04

feel like it is tatering. It's really

53:06

tatering for me. Thank god. It's

53:08

a robot Right,

53:10

we'll do a we'll do a couple of questions as well Max

53:14

Verstappen won the Formula One season opener by

53:16

I mean, it was about 20 seconds, wasn't

53:18

it? And it's yes, it's

53:20

impressive doesn't really bode well for a

53:22

very exciting grand prix season But when

53:24

are the other occasions when a sporting

53:26

event or contest has been virtually over

53:29

before it started? Oh

53:32

gosh, I've got tears coming out of my eyes Rick

53:34

tears coming out of the eyes Brian's

53:36

great. Yes Did

53:39

you wait eight years Brian? Um, so i'm going

53:41

to choke them on friday for the gold cup.

53:43

I'm so excited It'll be my first time at

53:45

the gold cup Really looking forward

53:47

to it But obviously willy mullins is just going to win

53:49

everything throughout the week at chonem If you're looking at the

53:51

gold cup though, everybody's saying galloping de champs is going to

53:54

win Is the favorite by a mile

53:56

so probably going to win it. I like shiskin though.

53:58

I'm a shiskin fan But I think basically

54:00

Willie Mullins is going to take challenge. Right.

54:03

Yeah, I feel a bit intimidated now because I'm

54:05

surrounded by two Scots and two Man City people

54:07

and so I was going to say and I'm

54:09

still going to say because any Scottish

54:12

team getting out the group stages of the Champions League.

54:15

What can I say? I

54:18

mean, it's fair. Can't argue. Can't

54:20

argue really. No. Neil.

54:24

The Olympic basketball, the men's

54:26

basketball, there's no point in even playing that to be

54:28

honest with you. But the

54:30

US. I don't think that's

54:32

true. The US

54:34

Olympic basketball team is the single

54:37

most successful team in international competition,

54:39

Rick. But

54:41

these days, they're still an

54:43

absolute. Yeah, they've won

54:45

medals in 19 tournaments. Yeah, that's pretty

54:48

good. All 19 tournaments

54:50

have entered 16 goals. I think they're

54:52

going for eight in a row. It's

54:54

so pointless to the extent that I would

54:57

introduce a handicap to them. I think the

54:59

other team uses a normal basket and they

55:01

have to play into the little basket over

55:03

a waste paper. That is

55:06

where we're heading now because they're so far advanced compared

55:08

to everybody else. I don't think it's fair to say

55:11

that that is where we're heading. I

55:13

don't think the basketball federations are looking at it. Do you

55:15

know what? Well, I've gone

55:17

beyond the basketball. I've gone straight to the

55:19

International Olympic Committee. If you

55:21

take your basketball handicap seriously, Rick, this is

55:23

what you need to do. And if they

55:25

open my letters, I think we could see

55:28

change. And it is a big F. Paul,

55:31

I'm going to go back a few years and

55:33

say Tiger Woods to

55:35

the point that before every single tournament,

55:37

that was who was finishing second. And

55:40

because of that, they actually had to change the set

55:42

up of golf courses for the tournaments that were

55:44

going on to try and make it more difficult

55:46

for him. A bit easier for other players. It

55:48

was just a phenomenon. They were making him put

55:50

into the little nets, weren't they? Into the little

55:52

basketball nets. The other thing I just quickly

55:54

wanted to talk about, not as a question, is Mike

55:58

Tyson is going to fight Jake Paul. Mike Tyson

56:00

will be 58 when

56:02

they fight. It's gonna happen in July.

56:05

Jake Paul will be 27. It's

56:07

gonna live stream on Netflix.

56:09

I will

56:12

watch it. I will watch it. But I sort

56:14

of hate that I'll watch it and I feel

56:16

funny about it now. I'm

56:19

exactly the same. As soon as I saw it, I was like,

56:21

oh, I'm definitely gonna watch that. Oh, this is really,

56:23

really wrong. It feels wrong, doesn't it? But

56:25

I really hope that Tyson Fury... Tyson Fury...

56:27

Mike Tyson! Could

56:30

still happen. Yes, absolutely

56:33

and utterly pummels him. And finally, he realizes

56:35

that he is not a professional boxer.

56:37

Yeah, but I just don't know. I mean, 58

56:39

against a man in his pennies. You

56:42

wouldn't, would you? No, I personally

56:44

wouldn't. No, no. I mean, how's it gonna play

56:46

out? Brian, will you watch it? No,

56:49

I'm not sure. I'm a fan of it.

56:52

I don't know why I'm not a fan of it.

56:54

It just seems a bit weird. If he was doing

56:56

a charity thing for somebody and he's fighting somebody else,

56:58

similar age or something like that, I'm just a fan

57:00

of it. But I'd get in the ring with him.

57:02

I'd run around and keep out of the way kind

57:04

of thing. Hang on, hang on. You'd get in the

57:07

ring with Mike Tyson? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. This is

57:09

sick mentalities and rugby league people. Yeah, I suppose you

57:11

know. It's the ultimate contact team sport and I think,

57:13

yeah, it's a challenge, isn't it? I don't know why

57:15

Mike Tyson's doing it. I think Netflix is doing it

57:17

because it will be box office and people will watch

57:19

it. But is it right? I think we know why

57:21

Mike Tyson's doing it. Is it right? I think. Is

57:23

it right? I was amazed

57:25

when George Foreman came back in the heavyweight world and

57:27

came back and did all the things he did. But

57:30

he was a bit of a mirror. A serious content.

57:32

There was a whole lot closer. And so I think

57:34

people like those kinds of stories where people are making

57:36

comebacks. Except this is beyond that, isn't it? This is

57:38

beyond, yeah. Paul, what

57:40

do you make of it? I'm a

57:42

huge boxing fan and I probably won't want

57:45

to watch it, but I will. Yeah, exactly. It's

57:47

a curiosity that's there. I agree with what

57:49

you just said. If he was fighting

57:51

Holyfield, somebody would say a year or something

57:53

like that. And if a charity thing or whatever it

57:55

was, yeah, yeah, and bite his other hand, yeah, he'd

57:57

probably. I could maybe do it, but.

58:00

I hope Tyson absolutely battles him. Yeah,

58:02

I hate that too. Like

58:04

that, put him in his place. Who's he going

58:06

to fight next? The little minions, undispicable

58:08

me, you know, with the one eye. Is

58:11

that how ridiculous he's going to get? Oh, that box of

58:13

flicks. That box of flicks. That would be box of his.

58:15

Imagine the rest of them. Imagine you don't want to watch

58:17

him. Imagine the rest come from Wales. What do you think

58:19

about that, Mr. Minion? Neil,

58:23

will you be watching? Yeah, I

58:25

don't want to watch him, but I probably will.

58:27

It's just, it's like kind of bread and circus

58:29

and stuff. It's like Roman Coliseum nonsense, isn't it?

58:32

But like, boxing has gotten to the point that if you

58:34

told me, I think I'd nearly believe anything. If you told

58:36

me Tyson had a tiger from

58:38

the hangover films in his corner, you

58:41

would. Yeah, fine. That's

58:45

fair enough. Yeah. I

58:47

mean, I do. Yeah, I find myself in an unusual

58:49

position where it shook me aloud, but it will 100% watch it, I think.

58:52

The guy from the hangover that has the baby

58:54

strapped to him. Yeah. He was at a

58:56

man's city game a couple of weeks ago. This is

58:59

another lie you're trying to pass. So randomly walked past

59:01

me, everyone went, you know, the guy from the hangover.

59:03

Yeah, and he was just there in hospitality. I

59:06

have a weird one than that. Do you know the

59:08

guy who's the Hugo, the PR from Succession? He was

59:10

standing in front of us when we got tear gassed

59:12

at the Champions League. I'm

59:15

not even joking. That is not a lie. The

59:18

guy who did he directed. I'll never believe anything you

59:20

say again, Neil. He

59:24

directed the Beckham documentary. That's right. Same guy. It

59:27

is, it is, it is. Yeah, he's he was standing in

59:29

front of us in a pork pie house with

59:32

gas coming towards him. It was the weirdest moment I've

59:34

ever had. From, yeah,

59:36

he yeah, he's in short circuit and

59:39

he really he shouldn't he shouldn't

59:41

really have been in short circuit. We

59:43

are definitely going to have to leave it there. Thanks, everyone.