0:00

This is the BBC. This

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the UK. BBC

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Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.

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Look, if you had one shot or one opportunity

0:14

to seize everything you ever wanted in one moment,

0:17

would you capture it or just let it slip?

0:19

I'm Rick Edwards and this is Fighting Talk.

0:34

Good morning Fighting Talkers. There is

0:36

a palpable free

0:38

song in the air. There's an

0:41

electricity. People in the studio are

0:43

whispering in hushed tones. They're high-fiving each other.

0:45

I think I just saw the studio manager

0:47

take a drag of a disco cigarette. Why

0:50

all of this feverish excitement? I'll tell

0:52

you, for the first time in this

0:54

series, I am not wearing

0:56

a hat because I've had a fresh

0:58

trim. It feels momentous because it is

1:00

momentous. So who's on today trying to

1:02

focus on winning some points whilst being hopelessly

1:04

distracted by my lovely new hair?

1:08

The baby of the panel is on for her 12th show. That

1:10

is still more than 86% of Fighting Talk panelists, but

1:14

doesn't stand tall in this illustrious and very

1:16

available company. Last time on she

1:18

reached DTI for the first time, but that was more than

1:20

18 months ago. She's a netball

1:22

player you've heard of, which makes her

1:25

netball royalty. Tamsin Greenway! Hello,

1:27

I'm back. Hello, you're back, finally. I

1:30

know, I was not taking it by its lee

1:32

at all. Was it that

1:34

we hadn't invited you or that you weren't available? I

1:37

think a bit of both. I'm going with the non-invite first.

1:40

Fine. Do other

1:42

people want to say Greenway rather

1:44

than Greenway? It's a common theme for

1:47

a Tasman Greenway all over the world, really. Yeah,

1:49

because I don't even know any Greenaways, but

1:51

it feels... Well, it happens, but you know,

1:54

it happens, don't worry. Yeah, OK, I'm trying not to worry

1:56

about it. Making his 116th appearance, surpassing

1:58

Steve... months

2:00

for outright fifth most all time. He's

2:02

pursuing his 37th fighting talk victory but

2:05

on his two shows hosted by me

2:07

thus far he's come last and joint

2:09

last. Perhaps that is because he's one

2:11

of only two people to have defeated

2:14

me in a DTI when we were

2:16

both guests on this show. Perhaps. Dougie

2:18

Anderson! Hello mate. Hello mate, how are

2:21

you? Very well, your hair is good.

2:23

Thank you, is it good? Yeah, as

2:25

I hope you'll say, pre-leaders, I hope

2:27

you're just gearing up. Yeah, listen,

2:30

I'm always gearing up. The YP is okay

2:32

so far. I did just want to say

2:34

the last time you're on you gave me

2:36

a signed copy of your book, thank you

2:38

very much, which I think constitutes

2:41

a bribe, but we won't dwell on that.

2:43

My reading rate is very

2:45

poor at the moment. I'm sort of doing about

2:47

three pages a week for various reasons, so I'm

2:49

making very very slow progress but I am really

2:52

enjoying it, thank you. Oh, you're

2:54

most welcome and important I think at this

2:56

point just to remain people it's called never

2:58

save a good idea if you want to

3:00

buy it for someone for Christmas. And there is the

3:02

first loss of a point. On for the 94th time

3:06

boasting over two decades of fighting talk experience,

3:08

this is likely her last chance to score

3:11

her second win of 2023, which would be

3:13

the first time she's had multiple wins in

3:15

a calendar year since 2013, the first lady

3:17

of fighting

3:19

talk, Eleanor O'Droy. Good

3:21

morning. Good morning, how are you? It's just

3:24

my very average streak of

3:27

not winning fighting talk, directly

3:29

coincides with presenting the Saturday Breakfast programme.

3:31

And can I also say that the

3:33

I think the free song and the

3:35

electricity in the air is largely down

3:37

to the predominance of man-made fibres being

3:40

worn by everybody because it is

3:42

Christmas jumper time. Certainly

3:44

in Salford I'm wearing something for

3:47

the five live Breakfast Christmas party.

3:49

As am I, you've gone sequins, I've got

3:51

bowling shirt. So the air is static. On

3:54

for show number 122, his debut which he won was

3:58

back on the 4th of December 2013. 2004

4:01

looking to reach DTI for the hundredth time He's

4:03

won four of his five previous appearances in

4:06

2023 and is the reigning fighting talk champion

4:08

of champions. It's Bob Mills Hello

4:11

Bob. Hello, mate. You're right. Very well. Thank you

4:15

But I can't see you in it.

4:17

We're at the hub. I'm here of

4:19

the world's entertainment industry Well,

4:22

you're not because I'm here in Salford. Exactly.

4:24

I'm surrounded by screens. I can see 35

4:26

screens But none

4:28

of them know 20 look at Dougie Anderson

4:30

who's sitting he was in touch in this And

4:33

the rest are the guy in the studio next door

4:35

who I don't know but I can see millions of

4:37

pictures of him Oh, yeah, I occasionally get a man

4:39

who looks like he's reading the news pop star. Yeah,

4:41

the same guy. Yeah, I'm getting it I don't know

4:43

who that is. He is not on fighting talk, but

4:45

we'll track him down. All right, that's

4:47

literally more than enough chatter Let's get down

4:49

to the business of points Nick.

4:52

Here. He us says he's tired and doesn't

4:54

want to play tennis anymore So panel what do

4:56

you not want to do anymore? Ellie

5:00

I do not want to have to justify the thing that

5:02

I've been doing for the last 32 years Which

5:05

is talking about football as a woman as

5:07

you might may have noticed I haven't seen

5:09

female but I have worked in football and

5:12

other related sports and unrelated sports For all

5:14

of that time at the point when Rebecca

5:16

Welsh was announced this week is the first

5:18

woman referee in the Premier League On

5:21

social media people said what's Joey Barton

5:23

going to say about that? I thought

5:25

okay, I could I literally

5:27

not care less what Joey Barton thinks

5:30

about a female referee in the Premier

5:32

League And and it's ridiculous that Emma

5:35

Hayes an unbelievably successful football manager is

5:37

being asked about what Joey Barton Says

5:39

about women working in football because it's

5:42

entirely irrelevant You know,

5:44

it's been happening for a long time

5:46

women working successfully in football. So

5:49

that's it. I've had enough We do not need

5:51

to explain it anymore. It is happening been happening

5:53

for Get over

5:55

it. Please get over it. Stop asking

5:57

anyone about Joey Barton place

6:00

and as ever I just like to say a

6:02

very good morning to all the women who are

6:04

listening and a small proportion

6:07

of the men. I don't

6:09

want to get angry anymore, I said

6:12

to myself for years don't let the

6:14

pundits get you, don't let the players

6:16

or the managers get you in the

6:18

post-match interviews, don't let them anger you

6:21

but they still do and you know what the latest is

6:23

Rick? The misuse and

6:25

the overuse of the word character.

6:28

We showed character out there, we need

6:30

to show more character out there. It's

6:33

a cop-out excuse for lack of talent,

6:35

effort or guile that word and you

6:37

know what if you look at

6:39

the literal definition of the word it doesn't quite

6:41

add up as our pal the dictionary does

6:44

say character applies to

6:46

the aggregate of moral qualities

6:48

by which a person is

6:50

judged apart from intelligence. Managers

6:53

and players aren't concerned with models, they want

6:55

results but they tell us they

6:57

want more character displayed even though

7:00

it's literally not what they mean. Well

7:02

at the same time telling us that

7:05

it is and I'm getting angry as I

7:07

approach the end of this answer so I'll

7:09

hand right back. Yeah I was getting angry

7:11

on your behalf there. Bob. Well this is

7:14

Nick Kyrgios isn't it who said quite rightly do you

7:17

know what I'm gonna be honest Christmas blubber I don't

7:19

want to play tennis anymore I disagree with a lot

7:21

of Nick Kyrgios I don't like his attitude thinking sometimes

7:23

he steps out of the line but with this I agree

7:25

with him 100% Nick I don't

7:28

want to play tennis either or anybody

7:30

else okay. Oh just no tennis is

7:32

over. Yeah we don't really need to.

7:34

If you have to have it. What's

7:36

the point? Just put it on Wimbledon

7:38

put it on for half an hour

7:40

at night and show us the last

7:42

three hits in each game we get

7:44

the point of it we don't need

7:46

the thousands of hours of grunting. I

7:48

mean I don't know if you've ever

7:50

considered presenting the tennis highlights Bob but

7:52

I think you'd be good. Let's have a look

7:54

at these hits then okay bedtime. Tamzin.

7:57

I'm with Nick on this I don't want to play

7:59

netball anymore. after years and

8:01

I mean years of fitness testing,

8:03

ice baths, boiled chicken, blisters,

8:05

bus journeys, peeing in cups, sharing

8:08

hotel room, shower curtains and motorway

8:10

services. After three times trying to

8:12

retire I can categorically tell you

8:14

I am done. It's

8:16

the worst possible way of preparing chicken or

8:18

anything is boiling. Just why? Just why? Awful.

8:21

Okay question number two and it

8:23

comes from you the listeners and

8:26

it comes from Kieran Kearney. Morning

8:28

Kieran. Hi how are you? Very well thank you. Let's

8:30

have a listen to your theme music. And

8:37

I will explain this. It's because you've

8:39

only tweeted once and it was about fighting

8:42

talk. Also you only

8:44

have one follower. So fighting talk

8:46

army you know what to do. We've

8:48

made it two followers. We need double

8:50

figures by the end of the show

8:52

for Kieran. His handle

8:54

is at KieranKearney18. I

8:57

will spare that for you. So

8:59

it's C-I-A-R-A-N-K-E-A-R-N-E-Y 18.

9:05

Double figures by the end of the show please and you're absolutely

9:08

welcome Kieran. What's your question? Oh

9:11

that's brilliant. Yeah hi everyone.

9:13

So with your getting ready for winter

9:16

break and England still resisting what sporting

9:18

traditions are you hanging on to? Bob.

9:20

Right here's mine and it is a

9:22

tradition because thousands of people do it

9:25

every year at Brisbane Road. At

9:27

Leighton Orient when you get your season ticket

9:30

and there are about five thousand doubles at

9:32

the moment which is very good for a

9:34

league one club. You get the option. Do

9:36

you want it posted? But we're always London

9:39

people. No I'm a postman nicking my

9:41

season ticket. I'll

9:44

pick it up myself Don. I want it in my hand.

9:46

I want to feel it in my hand. Okay you got

9:48

three options. Our first game of

9:50

the season come a little bit earlier. It'll either be it'll

9:52

be at the ticket office. Do you want it at the

9:54

ticket office or do you want it at the reception desk

9:56

or do you want it in the little shed? I'll have

9:59

it in the little. shed and then

10:01

the fun starts because

10:03

I've queued I tried to write

10:05

this down. I've got no idea what you're talking about

10:08

but I'm still enjoying it. Right one year I queued

10:10

for 40 minutes in the little shed it's not there

10:12

love it's at the ticket office. Oh you've done. I've

10:14

queued for another 20 minutes in the ticket office to

10:16

be told it's around there

10:18

in the corner some reception there.

10:20

And in 22 years of having

10:23

a season ticket I've never got

10:25

it at the end of the

10:27

first queue. It's a wonderful game

10:29

come along to Brisbane Road and play it. Listen

10:32

is it time to think about the post Bob? No

10:35

of course not won't even consider

10:37

it. Ducky. Bob there

10:39

are cockles and you are warming

10:42

them. For cup finals

10:44

played on these islands we

10:46

should feel rightly proud to

10:48

watch the team buses being

10:50

followed by a camera operated

10:52

by someone in a helicopter

10:55

from hotel to stadium. Pointless

10:58

probably quite probably a tradition we're

11:00

willing to relinquish thus running the

11:02

risk of giving more air time

11:04

to some bozo talking about character.

11:06

No keep this nation

11:08

great and follow that bus.

11:12

Tamsin how are your cockles? That's

11:14

fine thank you. Love you too. Look I'm

11:16

a big fan of traditions but this one

11:19

is strong. I'm going to take you to

11:21

ice hockey and the Detroit red wings. They

11:23

throw dead octopuses onto the ice. No

11:26

no. Well there's a lot of controversy around this

11:28

by the way. Yeah from me. You will octopus

11:30

gate you're not allowed to swirl them across the

11:32

head because they splatter a lot. There's

11:34

a lot of spin-offs as well we've had

11:37

lobsters there's been sharks but what I find

11:39

incredible is in this country you can't even

11:41

take a plastic bottle into a stadium. You

11:43

can take a 17 kilogram octopus dead

11:47

obviously and I'm alright before you get started

11:49

and lob it onto the ice. I'm

11:52

going to

11:54

keep it. There you go. Ellie.

11:57

The three o'clock kick off on a

11:59

Saturday afternoon. and the fact that there is

12:01

a blackout of TV coverage of those games.

12:03

And there's always, at various

12:05

stages, when there's negotiations of TV contracts

12:07

coming around, saying it's an anomaly that

12:10

there isn't a three o'clock match televised

12:12

on the major channels. And I kind of

12:14

think that, yeah, you see, this is... I

12:17

thought that's a cult with caramel water, classic

12:19

team matches. It should be at

12:21

three o'clock on Saturday afternoon, the

12:23

time people go to football, you know,

12:25

they're not tempted to stay at home

12:27

and watch, I don't know, losing

12:30

against Man City, for example, that they are going to

12:32

go to the Orient, they're going to go... I mean,

12:34

I wish we still had the FA Cup final at

12:36

three o'clock on Saturday afternoon. As well. There

12:39

was a point, actually, when I first started working

12:41

for the University of Radio Sports, 32 years ago,

12:43

when we couldn't even mention the three o'clock radio

12:46

commentary that we were doing, that it

12:48

was that extreme, that you could not say

12:50

until half past two or something, you'd say,

12:52

right, we can now tell you that our

12:54

commentary will be Sheffield Wednesday against Everton, we'll

12:57

be live at Hillsborough for that one. But

12:59

yeah, we see now we do that all

13:01

the time. But yeah, three o'clock kickoffs should

13:03

be sacrosanct to all about going to the

13:05

game and then leaving it kind of five

13:08

to five, probably five past five with VAR

13:10

these days, and walking to

13:12

your car and yeah, it's what it's all

13:14

about. Kieran, who is getting the bonus

13:16

three points? Hi, yeah,

13:18

just quickly, I only have one follow because I don't

13:21

use Twitter, I only just follow fighting short. Listen,

13:23

you don't need to excuse yourself, Kieran.

13:26

The way you live and life is your business. Exactly.

13:29

I'm going to go for any for the points

13:31

there. Just like I was going to affect me

13:33

out in Europe, but they're a brilliant thing to

13:35

keep. Thanks very much, Kieran. Enjoy

13:37

all those new followers. You're not going to know what

13:39

to do with them. Have a good day. Cheers. Yeah,

13:42

you too, mate. The next question

13:44

is all about this. Murphy

13:46

sent a field quick flow. Owen on

13:49

side and through. Owen beats Paul and

13:51

Liverpool are heading for the

13:53

quarterfinals of the UEFA Cup because

13:56

Michael Owen saw his plenty

13:58

of European goals. Liverpool,

14:00

he equals the great Ian

14:02

Rush. Michael Owen has been

14:05

telling a story about his bravery growing

14:07

up. Michael claims that throwing that

14:09

Linnebinn helped build confidence on the football pitch when

14:11

it came to scoring goals because if he missed

14:13

with the Apple Corps and it hit the wallpaper

14:15

his mum would tell him off, which is fair

14:17

enough. Game set and match Owen.

14:19

Yeah, never turn down off duty to play that of

14:22

course. What in sport

14:24

is even braver than Michael's

14:27

Apple throwing Ellie? What

14:30

Simone Biles does is brave by

14:32

definition because unbelievably

14:36

narrow beams, the

14:38

parallel bars, you know, your floor exercise,

14:40

you've got your vault, you're throwing yourself

14:42

onto these tiny bits of equipment and

14:44

doing multiple somersaults through the air. She

14:46

has won more medals than any other

14:48

Olympic gymnast in history, but

14:51

in Tokyo she suffered from the twisties,

14:53

which meant that when she was doing

14:55

these various different skills that she had named

14:58

after her, she lost awareness of

15:00

where she was in the air. So you're doing a

15:02

triple somersault with a double twist and suddenly you don't

15:04

know where you are. You've got no sense of whether

15:06

you're going to land, whether you're going to land on

15:09

your feet, on your head and she

15:11

was abused on social media because they said right,

15:14

well, you should have given the place to somebody

15:16

else who was not going to basically inverse Columbus

15:18

bottle it. She still won a silver and a

15:20

bronze medal. She came back to the World Championships

15:22

this year and she won four gold medals. She

15:24

will go to Paris as a favourite to

15:26

win yet more gold medals. She's spoken out about

15:29

the abuse she suffered as a young gymnast as

15:31

well at the hands of Larry Nassar, the US

15:34

team doctor. She defines bravery,

15:36

Simone Biles. But could she throw an

15:38

apple core in a bin? We just don't know. Tamsin.

15:41

Well, Ellie, that is a lovely gymnastic story and I'm

15:43

a big fan of Simone, but you want to hear

15:45

a proper gymnastic story. I'm going to take you back

15:47

to Atlanta Olympics in 1996 and

15:50

it was Kerry Strud, helping her team to

15:52

win a gold medal for the US

15:54

team for the first time and she did it

15:56

with a broken ankle. The

16:00

road and. Not get a certain school she

16:02

went over the vote she landed Slanted Finance

16:04

or and Call for I can't have to

16:07

do one more vote to time when she

16:09

jumps over and ones that one hostage and

16:11

com fine with the gold medal. Pretty much

16:13

changing the history of the American domestic things

16:16

I've I mean Simone is very but carried

16:18

helps us get on the way totally. Bright

16:20

lights on sir are talking to know how

16:22

many times us to still people this. Bravery.

16:25

Is leaving the harbor. With

16:28

the stars realization that you're embarking

16:31

on a solo run the world

16:33

york fifth with a stopover with

16:35

those. Yes

16:38

you might go but mother's the

16:40

or it could will turn Assad's

16:42

ramos Ancient, modern or even Samuel

16:45

Taylor Coleridge. We salute the Z

16:47

Rebus of sports people, Ellen Macarthur

16:49

who also broke the world records

16:51

in two Thousand five by goon

16:54

own the world in not boots

16:56

on a rule. A breeze

16:58

on ruin. Sporting legends, a great

17:00

bob. What are those that is

17:02

causing about Terry Butcher? The map

17:04

of Champions? The limbo. There's one

17:06

for those young people to see.

17:09

phenomena. It's by somebody else I

17:11

was told by the guy in

17:13

his late fifties. It was and.

17:16

Little. Bit pudgy I'm talking about me

17:18

obviously I got sick is to guns

17:20

immensity ninety plenty European guy most up

17:22

there Granada has of in Salford this

17:24

receiver comes as much as one although

17:26

not as simple as it's embargo. As

17:29

a visitor a was in the stand

17:31

the Manchester United have got which a

17:33

child and hands and has been the

17:35

officer for physicist not have to have

17:37

lego stuff on top of the others

17:40

them except when you say block of

17:42

flats and I put a shirt that

17:44

says out at sea a penthouse. now's

17:46

not the plans as it's a shadow

17:48

suppose as a separate educational from you

17:51

have the now when you start walking

17:53

off no less funny so woken up

17:55

on every floor you come to sign

17:57

with says please don't attempt to go

18:00

these stairs if you suffer from any

18:02

of the following problems. By

18:04

the time I reached the third floor I realised I've

18:06

got all of them. Every

18:09

single one of them. Hypertension, yeah got it

18:11

mate. I'm halfway up I'll

18:13

carry on and I made it to the

18:15

top. The game was rubbish but I sat

18:18

there with a glow of pride. You're a

18:20

brave brave man Bob. Let's have a quick

18:22

look at

18:24

the scores. Tamsin

18:26

trailing behind but not too far behind

18:28

on 8. Duggie has 9. Bob

18:30

has 11. And

18:34

Ellie, cursive, Kieran's additional three

18:36

bonus points out in the lead

18:38

on 14. Next

18:46

question, Mary Earp's finally had her replica

18:48

England goalkeeper jersey put in the market

18:50

this week. It's sold out in five

18:52

minutes. Which sporting bit of

18:54

kit or artefact or thing do

18:56

you wish was available to buy

18:58

and would definitely sell out Tamsin.

19:01

Claudio Ranieri's coaching notes from

19:04

the 2015 season. Beautiful. I

19:06

mean that would be worth a few Bob after that historical

19:09

historical victory. Okay

19:11

Bob. Well the answer to that is

19:13

anything because anything that you want along

19:16

those lines you can get. There's no

19:18

problem about that at all. Everything's available

19:20

you just need to know the right

19:22

people to go to. Two of the

19:25

wealthiest friends I've got have made their

19:27

money from basically fake memorabilia. That's the

19:30

game to get into. When England won

19:32

the World Cup in 1966 there was a period of about 10 years

19:37

when to have a ticket to that

19:39

Wembley match was a big thing. In

19:41

about 1976-77 printing

19:44

became such an easy thing to do

19:47

that there was suddenly somewhere like 800,000 genuine

19:51

1966 World Cup tickets. There is no go

19:53

to the Barcelona 99, the

19:56

Man United Bayern ticket. He's

20:00

done at least a million of them.

20:03

They're not rubbish, they're made

20:05

proper. They've even got

20:07

watermarks, and then they're soaked in tea. He's

20:09

soaked in tea for about a month. And

20:12

then they crumple them. That's what

20:14

you used to do for your history homework when you

20:16

had to produce an old, ye-oldie document. You'd run

20:19

out of your wallet and say, there you go, I

20:21

was there. No-one's going to say, really? And just to

20:23

be clear, this is a friend of yours, Bob,

20:25

yeah? Two friends. I've

20:27

got two friends who do that for

20:29

a living. And here's the thing,

20:31

there's nothing illegal about it, because no-one

20:33

says, I'm sending you a genuine ticket.

20:36

Yeah, you're at fraud anyway. How

20:39

many times do you think Pele or Maradona

20:42

signed their shirt? Because

20:44

if you go by the market, they would have to have

20:46

done it 12 hours a day for every single day of

20:48

their life. They barely trained those guys. Ellie.

20:55

When Goodison Park finally disappears and they move

20:57

to the new stadium, I'm guessing that they

20:59

will sell off chunks of the turf. And

21:02

as they did at Laud's when they relayed the

21:04

outfielders, they don't quite look at the things, they're

21:06

dependent on the library as well. Why don't they

21:09

sell those chunks of turf though? Because

21:11

they're often in little kind of, you

21:13

know, hermetically sealed boxes. But grants is

21:15

a living thing. Do they

21:17

get planted in gardens or are there

21:19

just lots of people with these Perspex

21:21

boxes with a load of dead

21:24

yellow stuff inside, which

21:26

was once a bit of the outfield

21:28

lawns or the, you know, the pitch

21:30

at Highbury? I'm not sort of planting it and then

21:32

having it on display in my front room. Well, would

21:35

you plant it and then keep it inside? No, you'd plant

21:37

it in your garden. Yeah, but then how do

21:39

I demark the area? Because

21:42

I cordon it off. Cordon

21:44

it off, yeah. Yeah, cordon off the special bit. Keep the

21:46

dog off it as well. Yeah, absolutely. And Dougie? I

21:50

never thought this would have any relevance

21:52

to something to say on this fighting

21:54

talk, but I did once reproduce the

21:57

Magna Carta with coke teeth and an

21:59

oven. Did you burn a little bit

22:01

of the size? You got to. You got to. One of my

22:03

time was fine. One of the

22:05

best moments of 91. Memorabilia

22:09

wise, I would love

22:11

to have the old

22:13

square posts and

22:16

stanchions from Hamden Park, which were

22:18

last used in 1987. I

22:22

think I'm right in saying that St

22:24

Etienne bought the posts to

22:26

commemorate the only European Cup, not

22:29

win, but appearance against Bayern Munich in 1976. The

22:33

pipes there. You know what they say when you

22:35

hear the pipes? Talk about St Etienne. Nothing

22:39

says France quite like the Scottish Pintripe. But

22:42

they're idiots St Etienne. For a myriad

22:44

of reasons, they didn't buy the stanchions

22:46

and I love stanchions and anyone who

22:48

can remember the Hamden stanchions, they were

22:50

some of the biggest on the block.

22:53

All over Europe, when you used

22:55

to watch football, the aesthetic was

22:57

so important. Different stanchions, Rick. This

22:59

isn't big news, but you're a Liverpool

23:02

fan. We remember that 84 Roma

23:04

penalty shootout, which Liverpool won very

23:06

adept at the penalty taking. But

23:08

let's not forget the stanchions in

23:10

the Alcaty Olympic World. Beautiful.

23:13

They said, this is Rome. This

23:15

is not Liverpool. This is Rome. Any

23:18

European country, they had something about their

23:20

stanchions. Sadly, the homogenization once again takes

23:22

precedence and we're all the worst off

23:25

for it. I would take the posts,

23:27

the bar and the stanchions. Can

23:29

I just say that I have, you know, obviously, before

23:31

I've followed football for most of my life, I have

23:33

plenty of female fellow football

23:35

fans. I've never heard a female football

23:38

fan get excited about stanchions in

23:40

the way and I've heard more than one man, including

23:42

Doug, this morning. Well, as Joey says, they don't

23:44

understand the game. Yeah, exactly right. Well, Joey

23:46

is right on that. It's about the hardware.

23:50

If you're a woman, you're actually physically incapable

23:52

of understanding the appeal of a stanchion. It's

23:55

not just that early, but sometimes when I say

23:57

this, I say this as a proud feminist and.

24:00

It's not too cool to see these days, but

24:02

sometimes ladies can be wrong Tamsin

24:06

we need to educate ourselves on the joys

24:08

of stellately Quickly take a point

24:10

off dougie just in case I had to Eddie

24:14

you mentioned the first ref. When's this

24:16

happening or is it happened already in the creme d'hil? We

24:21

had the female linesman down at brinstone road a

24:23

couple of seasons ago I'm

24:26

really sorry about this but it did give

24:28

course to one of the best ever bloke

24:30

behind me which was Lionel you're

24:32

a disgrace. You want to keep your eye on

24:34

the boy. You got to keep up with play.

24:36

Lionel. You're rubbish My mate loves

24:38

you Points,

24:43

aren't you? Okay, a quick

24:45

one the six nominees for sports personality

24:47

of the year have been announced quick

24:49

to stuart broad jockey frankey datori Football

24:51

of mariots tennis player aufi huett athlete

24:54

katerina johnson thompson golfer rory maccaroy six

24:56

does seem like a strange number to

24:58

us So add one each to make

25:00

a perfect ten Uh

25:02

start with you ellie. I'm gonna go

25:04

for hannah cockroft. Um world champion in

25:06

every sense world record record

25:08

holder Unbelievable, um, and

25:11

it's probably going to win more at the

25:13

paralimps next year you'd assume so bob Because

25:16

it isn't sports achiever of

25:18

the sports personality It's

25:21

ronnie o'souven because any man who can win

25:23

a major tournament and say i'll

25:25

be honest I would take it or leave it. Don't

25:27

really bother me one way or the other. That's

25:29

what you call personality It's completely mad

25:31

that he's never won it in my

25:33

in my humble opinion ducky Josh

25:36

kerr 20 20 c

25:38

world champion in the 1500 meters

25:40

world champion col 9 9 9 he's been

25:42

robbed And tamson mornetball

25:44

has been robbed el carbo Won

25:47

the ssn title with thunderbirds for the first ever time

25:49

great league in the world and then went on to

25:51

get england into the World cup final for the first

25:53

time ever back in the summer Yeah four excellent

25:55

answers there scores tamson on 12 dougie on 14 bob

25:57

on 16. Eli That's

26:00

it for the first half of this

26:02

wonderful show, we'll be back after a

26:04

bit of news. My

26:08

name's Joe Wilkinson and I'm doing a podcast

26:10

because I love football. Boy, I love more

26:13

is the idea of being friends with a

26:15

professional footballer. The footballer I'd like to be

26:17

friends with is Patrick Bamford. Hello Patrick, will

26:19

you be my friend? Erm, that's yet to

26:22

be decided. OK, not was hoping. My

26:24

mates are footballers and BBC Sounds podcast with

26:26

me, Patrick Bamford and Joe Wilkinson. If you

26:29

weren't married, who was your ideal date being?

26:32

Julie Roberts. That was quick. If I was you,

26:34

I'd have popped a pause in. Search

26:38

for my mates' footballer on BBC Sounds. Welcome

26:53

back to you all. Welcome back panel. This is

26:58

Bob Mills on this day in

27:00

Fighting Talk history, the 16th of December

27:02

2006. There were

27:04

debuts for Danny Mills and Adil

27:06

Ray, not especially exciting, but it

27:08

was a huge day in Fighting

27:11

Talk history. It was the first

27:13

time a Fighting Talk panel were

27:15

asked for sports people as biscuits.

27:17

Obviously we've come a long way since then,

27:19

we're certainly asking anything as silly as sports

27:22

people as biscuits or sports people as

27:24

pantomime characters anymore. Let

27:26

me, I think I have found a bell. It's the

27:29

boxing bell. Lovely. Game changer time.

27:31

Five points for one of you, none for the

27:33

rest, although the likelihood is, I'll get excited and

27:35

give you awesome points, so it's a slightly less

27:37

game changing round than it should be. Shohai

27:40

Otani this week inked a deal to

27:42

play baseball for the LA Dodgers for

27:44

$700 million, overtaking

27:48

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo

27:50

for sports biggest contract. If

27:53

you had one day's worth of his

27:55

wages, what would you do with it? So this is

27:57

about £200,000. Bob.

28:01

Well I've had the builders in and my

28:03

son and my daughter have both spent rather

28:05

a lot of time at my house in

28:07

the last few weeks so I would part

28:09

pay my gas and electric bill.

28:15

Sam's in. Well the big

28:17

news in the netball world is that the

28:19

league's turning pro next year which is very exciting

28:21

for all of his involved so with that

28:23

money I could literally buy a dream team. A

28:26

whole team. Oh you reckon you get a whole team for 200? You're

28:29

probably cooking you. Absolutely.

28:31

That's nice. On my wish list.

28:33

Yeah good. Dougie. Yeah, attempting to go down

28:35

the Rod Stewart route and have a football

28:37

pitch installed in your back garden together with

28:40

Dougouts but I would rather join

28:42

a top top golf club

28:44

get a years membership at a

28:46

Muirfield, a Burkedale, a Royal St.

28:48

George's. Wouldn't come cheap but

28:50

regular golf on an open rotation

28:52

course is for me the sporting

28:54

dream as is the after you're

28:56

out in the clubhouse while sitting in

28:59

leather-bound chair. That is

29:01

happiness. That is nirvana. That

29:03

is something that's never gonna happen in my lifetime. Mmm.

29:05

Just to be clear if you did have a football

29:07

pitch with Dougouts can you really show me that you

29:09

would call them the Dougie outs? Absolutely. And Ellie. There

29:11

have been quite a lot of football

29:15

clubs which have struggled financially in recent years

29:18

and two clubs that are quite close to

29:20

my heart personally. Berry which is where I

29:22

was born. Hereford which is where

29:24

I've lived for quite a lot of you know

29:26

my life recently. Both struggling

29:29

going under being brought back and I mean

29:31

200 grand doesn't sound like a big amount

29:33

of money in the grand scheme of footballing

29:36

things but there were probably, you probably put

29:38

it in a high interest account and then

29:40

you could be there to back out,

29:42

back up or bail out the

29:44

next club that goes to the wall but

29:46

I know that's 175 grand of it I

29:48

think. Mmm. 25 grand or less over.

29:50

I'm just gonna travel around the world watching cricket Go

29:53

to Cape Town. Would you do that anyway Ellie?

29:56

Yeah I know but I haven't really recently

29:58

so I've never been to Cape Town. You

30:00

know what, Ellie's reminded me of something and again I know

30:02

it's not a cool thing to say and it's a little

30:05

bit boring but if you've got that amount of money maybe

30:07

just put it in an icer. Yeah.

30:12

We don't often give tax advice on this

30:14

show but when we do it's cracking. I

30:16

think I'm going to give the five points

30:18

to Tanzan just buying a whole scene. Yeah.

30:21

Got it, got it, love it. And

30:24

then do you instill yourself as manager

30:26

Tanzan? Absolutely, if I get to buy the team I'm taking

30:28

it up to the whole way. If you

30:30

get the Tanzan Greenway suite you

30:32

can entertain people in. Just the parking space would

30:34

be nice. So we've got the Dougie Anderson dugouts.

30:37

The Tanzan Greenway suite. It's all coming

30:39

together isn't it? It's coming together very nicely. Yeah, good at

30:41

plans. And also everything in an icer if in

30:43

doubt. Today is the

30:45

anniversary of the so called Match of the

30:47

Century, a 1905 rugby union game between

30:50

Wales and New Zealand. Anyone

30:53

know the result of the game Bob, are you there? I know

30:55

the exact result of the game. I wasn't there. OK. I

30:58

was, but I was, but I remember

31:00

the score and I'm not a big rugby fan but I

31:02

wish I'd been there. Three nil. It

31:04

was three nil. Three nil to Wales. One

31:06

try to nothing. One try! I

31:08

know. And this was the match of

31:10

the century. It was the first ever

31:12

meeting of what were considered the two

31:15

best rugby teams. So I want to

31:17

know some other matches of the century

31:19

Dougie. I think honourable

31:21

mention to Bobby Fisher who was involved

31:23

in some games of the century. As

31:26

chess is officially a game and not a sport, equally important appeal

31:28

to move on to football. Good point, you set the point off.

31:32

Almost exactly a year ago to

31:34

this day was the World Cup

31:36

Final, 2022 Argentina v. Fus.

31:39

Nasty and bappy. The

31:42

penalties, the drama,

31:44

the most ridiculous trophy

31:46

ceremony in history. Unforgettable.

31:49

Absolutely one of the

31:51

matches of the 21st century. Emi

31:54

Martinez humping the trophy. Fantastic. No

31:56

idea why we didn't play the Scottish pipes there, by the way. There

31:58

you go. The an eye

32:00

on summers are is that by they

32:03

don't have a fairly early on a

32:05

successor L A. I'm going against

32:07

England against Australia Two thousand and five

32:09

edge distance Arguably the greatest test. Matches:

32:11

Little time. Or England winning like

32:13

see runs without final bowl add to

32:16

dismiss. At Kasparov, it's. From

32:18

A it was at A With so

32:20

many stories the girl sitting on the

32:22

ball at the start of Freddie Flintoff

32:24

was just really a D Speed runs

32:26

he typically kids ago when the greatest

32:28

aged ever seen action with the Pentagon

32:30

and the end consoling directly on the

32:32

pitch and it just made me think

32:34

that Freddie Flintoff. Should.

32:36

Be in Cricket and he's backing from him

32:38

and and wonderful and what he's gone through

32:40

with it that the horrendous accident and wouldn't

32:43

top gear to seeing him among being them

32:45

place to cities that where he belongs. Yeah,

32:47

thousand stimulate what's angles are extra point

32:49

for that early. Ah bob. When.

32:52

I was young man's but thousand and

32:54

one gas orinda don't was some of

32:56

the early seventies knows to live in

32:59

up north where I'm from. I

33:01

I was bummed guns once test

33:03

know them alone. Local team so

33:05

us both we want seventies like

33:08

when matter as. Well

33:10

we felt we drew from here In

33:12

the Top earners is sort of local.

33:14

They start with of of so that

33:16

you know knows knows what's in it

33:18

or teams and was doesn't read through

33:20

it. See the road numb. We went

33:23

to pen pals and these are the

33:25

glory days which is he tell kids

33:27

now they won't believe you you can't

33:29

fly in and so somebody one. And

33:32

we played set we've had seen around putting

33:34

Paul. and soon rudiger them from

33:36

i think it was a could look

33:38

it up back home be bothered with

33:40

of it may have been seven games

33:42

before offering treviso school and we we

33:44

got free will know it wasn't the

33:46

guy who says he believes felt like

33:49

it last is a hundred years and

33:51

it's it's stuck in my mind as

33:53

a one i think back fondly to

33:55

football i think back to the time

33:57

when you he didn't have the was

33:59

notes There was no penalty shoes

34:01

out. You kept getting out there until you

34:03

learnt to do it properly. Yeah, you

34:06

were going to have to work pretty hard to convince me

34:08

that Tramir Chester was going to be a match of the

34:10

century. But you did in the end, actually. Sam

34:12

said. Well, this one's often referred to

34:14

as the greatest game in NFL, the game that

34:16

changed the history of the sport. 1958,

34:19

New York, the Colts versus the Giants, the

34:21

first playoff game to be cited by Southern

34:24

Zas over time. So unusual, in fact, that

34:26

the players didn't even know what was happening.

34:28

They had to be told what was going

34:30

on. The Colts eventually becoming winners 23-17. But

34:33

what was more interesting is 45 million

34:35

people tuned in. It was played on mainstream tally.

34:38

And the following year, a Texas billionaire came and

34:40

invested capital to the sport. The rest is history.

34:42

Yeah, that's a great answer. I didn't really know

34:45

what you were talking about, but I felt that

34:47

it was a great answer. The

34:49

next topic is centered around

34:51

this. Since John

34:53

signed less than a week ago now, I

34:56

know my phone is blowing up. I know

34:58

we probably have eight to 12 players who

35:00

are very, very keen to sit down and

35:02

talk to us. That's

35:04

Liv Golf Chief and a very

35:06

naughty man, Greg Norman, after capturing

35:08

John Rahm for the Saudi Breakaway

35:11

Golf Series. But panel, when did

35:13

your phone blow up? Dougie? Just

35:16

in October, I was in the stadium in

35:18

Seville watching Scotland play Spain in the Euros.

35:21

If we drew that evening, we were going to we were

35:23

going to claw fire and I was going to see it

35:25

happen. Scott McTominay just

35:27

lets rip on this free kick.

35:30

Scores a wonderful goal. We're 1-0 up

35:32

with about 20 minutes to go. A

35:34

slew of congratulations and then

35:36

a barrage of consternation minutes later on the same

35:38

phone when the goal was wrongly disallowed. Still

35:41

gutted, still disgusted at the

35:44

blatant cheating and bad refereeing

35:46

that went on that evening. And

35:48

those are the pipes. There they come. The

35:50

sadness of the pipes. There they come. The

35:52

melancholy of the pipe. You immediately, of course,

35:54

conjure up images of Santatien. quite

36:00

angry this morning Dougie, I've got to say I've enjoyed it.

36:03

But you know what, it's anger but I think

36:05

it displays some character and that gets me doubly

36:07

angry. Ellie.

36:10

Well I don't have the

36:12

most popular social media app on my phone anymore. Likewise,

36:16

point for that. Which is quite nice actually because

36:18

it's calm but at the point when suddenly

36:20

your phone will be buzzing and buzzing and buzzing

36:22

and buzzing. And you know, that hasn't exactly that

36:24

noise precisely. And there haven't been many times when

36:26

I've put something out on Twitter

36:29

and it's gone like that. But

36:31

when the Netwell team in 2018

36:33

won the Commonwealth gold medal, there

36:35

was that fantastic photograph of them

36:37

all celebrating with I think

36:40

Helen Housby at the bottom of the scrum.

36:42

You had then a picture of the England

36:45

women's cricket team celebrating at Lord's in 2017

36:48

and a picture of the women's hockey team in

36:50

Rio in 2018, the GB

36:52

team celebrating that gold medal. And I just tweeted a little

36:54

montage of all of three of them together and said this

36:56

is what it feels like. This is what it feels like

36:58

to win. Moments of pure celebration. This

37:00

is women's team sport and this is why it's so

37:02

great. And it was very gratifying to have that kind

37:04

of sense of the phone just buzzing all over

37:06

the place. Tamsin. Well Ellie,

37:09

I'd like to follow up with a great

37:11

female sporting story. However, the sad

37:13

time that my phone blew up the most and bearing in

37:15

mind I've won a few titles, I've played in a few

37:17

World Cups, was my cameo appearance

37:19

on Soccer AM. Ah. Yes.

37:22

Tell us about that. Well, yeah. So

37:24

I've never actually seen it, but I was

37:27

a student at the time and didn't have

37:29

that kind of telly. But I woke up

37:31

on a Saturday morning, after a night out,

37:34

to my phone going off because I apparently

37:36

was running in slow motion with

37:38

a few hearts and arrows and lots of bouncing

37:40

going on. And yeah, that was

37:42

my Soccer AM cameo. But what was even better, a

37:44

few years later, I got to be a soccer rep

37:46

and that was literally the pinnacle of my career. That

37:50

cannot have been the pinnacle of your career,

37:52

doesn't it? It cannot. I had

37:54

a lot of messages to say otherwise. OK. Bob,

37:56

was your time on Soccer AM A bit late?

38:00

The Sakara Johan I had glory

38:02

days of the fucking the does

38:04

present wriggled Sonia about than other.

38:06

how about you know what muffins

38:08

of of London's his uncle phone

38:10

among bullies to I've got my

38:12

you ever got mobile home but

38:14

not rocket com side of as

38:16

know about fifteen phone numbers in

38:18

in there may be family. Saw.

38:20

Don't live in a world where people say

38:22

oh, that's happened a bag of mills earring

38:25

as a fat ass never have been committed.

38:27

Zinser. The only good thing it

38:29

was was the old fashioned post

38:32

in Nineteen Seventy Five when I

38:34

was no noticeably three to those

38:36

sixteen at the times over the

38:38

cap flurry of lesson for hours

38:40

at Outlaw The for some other

38:42

one liners, the Processor. Ah

38:47

said ah We won the

38:49

we were represented sorry Grove

38:51

Club and we won the

38:53

under eighteen since under eighteen

38:56

Cranberry bolin. Got

38:58

was is quite a big deal.

39:00

I was younger Some news me

39:02

de chez were pretty Holland and

39:04

and Rob Roy Langford and. for

39:07

about five years resources source of not

39:09

again but nothing but the came a

39:11

point. About forty years ago

39:13

while we saw his seventies have

39:15

a Christmas cards. About

39:18

it they were the sensitive side. you

39:20

know it's it's a where did your

39:23

five blocks are going to give you

39:25

another point? has recently says a Christmas

39:27

card and Assad Three francisco them guarantee

39:30

three and I sense that they have

39:32

a safe and says about seven years

39:34

ago he still going to assess assess

39:36

when the was one from Billie hello

39:39

and ah ah ah now but about

39:41

three years ago. I went back to

39:43

censor see my mum on a soda

39:45

Tesla summer said. Believe.

39:49

Is Billie none on with his. Effect.

40:00

That's not gonna make it back up! Well, so

40:02

thank you for that. Let me just breathe. Actually,

40:06

let's just take a quick pause while I cough wildly.

40:08

No, nothing like that. I shouldn't have started a book

40:10

to bring on the bronchitis. Oh,

40:14

just so happy that Billy's alive, really. Oh,

40:17

there we go. Good, thank you for that. Right,

40:19

scores then. Still pretty

40:21

tight. Dougie, I'm sorry to

40:24

say you are in last place on 21.

40:26

Another Christmas room? Yeah, I'm afraid so. How

40:30

are your Yule-Tide preparations now? Tums in on 23, Barb

40:32

on 24, and Ellie on 26. So,

40:44

as they have now imported so

40:46

many sporting greats, who

40:48

is sports greatest Saudi

40:51

Arabian? Possibly the first time that question

40:53

has ever been asked, and I'm also going to ask you each

40:56

the same question before you answer, and I

40:58

would like you to be honest. I'm going

41:00

to start with Ellie. Did you Google this?

41:03

Yes, of course. Point

41:05

for honesty. Thank you. And who is it? Well,

41:08

I'm going to go for two women

41:11

who weren't the most successful, but for what

41:13

they represented, really. So, I

41:15

think Voidun is her first name,

41:17

Shacrani, and Sarah Attar, the first

41:19

female Saudi Olympians, judo player and

41:22

a runner in London 2012. They

41:24

had to walk at the back of the parade

41:26

in the opening ceremony. Basically, the only reason they

41:28

were there was because the IOC, in a rare

41:30

display of backbone, said to Saudi

41:32

Arabia, you've got to put some

41:34

women in there, because otherwise you can't send

41:36

any men. So, these two women competed for

41:38

Saudi Arabia. They got

41:41

no coverage in the Saudi media whatsoever, but

41:43

the following year, the first dedicated

41:46

sports centre for women in Saudi Arabia was

41:48

opened up, and then in Rio in 2016,

41:50

there were four women, so double the number

41:52

of women. So, tiny,

41:54

tiny, tiny steps forward, and lots of

41:56

grey areas about whether it was tokenism

41:59

or not, It's kind of got the

42:01

Saudi government off the hook a bit more about

42:03

you know They're treatment of women generally But it

42:06

was a step in the right direction and it is

42:08

growing for women also if it keeps growing in

42:10

that Pattern that exponential pattern as we all know from

42:12

the story about the grain of rice on the chessboard

42:15

In a bat in an Olympics in sort of the late 21st

42:17

century There's going to be literally

42:20

millions and millions of Saudi women competing that

42:22

is great news right Ducky

42:25

oh, did you google this? Absolutely

42:29

good man What's the

42:31

answer the answer of course? Could

42:34

it be anywhere else apart from good

42:36

old Kamal Bahamdan? Now if

42:38

you know your Saudi Arabia a question history like

42:41

I do just a bit need I see him

42:43

anymore That's

42:46

the key these ones sure I think Bob

42:49

did you go to this I did

42:51

go to it. I didn't go to the name. I

42:53

just put in the Arab Peli And

42:57

of course up comes my shade of my lab

43:00

doula The Saudi that

43:02

the most capped highest scoring Saudi

43:04

footballer in history Played

43:06

in the World Cup obviously when the with their one

43:08

World Cup scored This

43:10

is one of those things where you look at the

43:12

figures and you think yeah if you say so yeah

43:15

If you if you genuinely tell me he

43:17

scored 480 goals in 300 On

43:24

the veracity of the Saudi But

43:28

the one thing I did notice was film me

43:30

with joy is that his 50th goal came against

43:32

Scotland Bring

43:36

the pipes in Mariam

43:42

Fardis she is a scuba diver first Arab

43:44

to dive in the North Pole and she

43:47

did that in 2015 And

43:49

only the third woman to do so in the

43:51

world even cooler. She's an astronaut. She's on the

43:53

Saudi Space Commission What? Well

43:56

that that actually weirdly that is the correct answer

43:58

then Go for diving at

44:00

the North Pole, come on! Right,

44:03

next question. Panto season is

44:05

underway. Can we have your

44:07

sports people as pantomime characters?

44:09

Please, for God's sake, please.

44:11

Tamsin. So Jill Scott and

44:13

Peter Crouch, and they will be in Jack and the

44:16

Beanstalk. Yes, that's good, that's

44:18

good. Let's keep these rapid,

44:20

I think, Ellie. Looking

44:23

over to the notable panto, which

44:25

is happening at Old Trafford at the moment, I'm

44:28

going to go for the glazes of a combination

44:30

of Baron Hardup and the Ugly Sisters. And

44:33

the question is, will Jim Ratcliffe be the

44:35

fairy godmother? Great question. And

44:37

Dougie? I'd like to say, at Old

44:39

Trafford, actually, Bruno Fernandez'

44:41

insipid captaincy, oft-manunated,

44:44

makes-a-ma-pussin boots. Mm.

44:47

LAUGHTER Bob. Just

44:50

because it was an insult I heard hurled

44:53

at him once, Steve

44:55

Bruce as the Ugly Sister. LAUGHTER

45:01

Well, I knew I was going to enjoy that, and I did. While

45:04

we're at it, in a line, what

45:06

has made you think, oh,

45:08

no, it's not Ellie? Every

45:10

time you're watching football at the moment, is

45:13

it offside? Let's have a look at VAR. Oh,

45:15

no, it's not. Is it a penalty? Oh, no,

45:17

it's not. Is it Hamble? Oh, no, it's not.

45:21

Can't stand it. Dougie? The

45:23

next Commonwealth Games is going to be the best yet.

45:26

LAUGHTER Four

45:32

Old Commonwealth Games. Tam's

45:35

in. A painful one for you. Let's

45:38

not talk about it. Oh, no,

45:40

it's not ever going to happen. The European Breakaway

45:42

Super League. I mean, what were they

45:45

thinking? Goodness. And, Bob? Any

45:47

time, obviously, orient for me, but any

45:49

lower league team needs a new manager,

45:51

yeah, they're talking to Holloway. I

45:54

don't know. I promise you they're not.

45:58

They might be talking to him, just not about... Let's

46:03

have a check in with the schools

46:05

before we do any other business. It's

46:07

is tight as a good any other

46:09

businesses. they've already turn things around thirteen

46:11

times in a fussy thought is on

46:13

Thirty Two Alley is own Thirty Three

46:15

So I always say this for all

46:17

supply for the com. I mean it.

46:26

Cost me as a said Iowa scientists

46:28

and end of episode it before for

46:30

them on says to sounded right and

46:32

I'm any other business are going to

46:34

start with talkie I think you know

46:36

for me nothing says Christmas. Oh indeed

46:38

the the Christmas peters like a good

46:40

war movie Once I for slit of

46:42

course prefer a piece on air smell.

46:44

also hoping to catch a new of

46:46

the following over the festive period. Your.

46:49

Waterloo Master and Commander Zoo the longest

46:51

day, a bridge too far to fidget,

46:53

the Megan, the bridge on the River

46:55

Kwai, and even the bridges of Madison

46:57

County which I know as a warning

46:59

that he but commands respect for a

47:01

mixture of western unromantic zones are sort

47:03

of like out whereas gimme a point,

47:06

rich folks ambassador how I felt like

47:08

I was from I printed. Ah,

47:11

any and articles. On.

47:14

I know you've got a casus. Well oh yeah, he'll cough

47:16

is much worse than Michael. Scientists. That

47:18

the worst thing is he think renesys cough gonna

47:20

go on. Came into work now sustained morning I

47:22

said and amazon are you can see how it's

47:24

gonna cost us. As always said it was about.

47:26

Is. Rick Scott Richert got a real

47:28

Ah Anna three hundred seventy. Seven

47:30

hundred day costs money. So hundred

47:32

days out. It's made me feel

47:35

even worse about this actual cost.

47:37

I've got a least another under

47:39

that kind of ninety days to

47:41

go. On this call? Yeah fuck a law firm of

47:43

right? Oh yeah. I'd never heard of one hundred dyke off

47:45

until someone just came in a said artist or ask in

47:48

the mirror. About one hundred, I cough up, but you've got

47:50

that. At. Another time Feel better

47:52

than work? Thompson. on the that's

47:54

the christmas theme on which is kinda guy with

47:56

christmas lights i inside the have you ever tried

47:58

to d the when you're right because it is

48:00

impossible to get around the tree. Also heartbreaking

48:02

as well really, isn't it? It's just like, it's

48:05

so precious. But

48:07

also, can I just say as well, the perils of being an apple,

48:10

and I'm skipping over that one. I

48:12

have a lot of short friends, and I'm constantly

48:14

asked to help them put up the... Well, get the

48:16

fairy up there. Do you ever

48:19

just think to yourself, I'm gonna challenge myself and just throw it

48:21

on? Just lob it up there. Because

48:23

you should do, and if you're not, it's criminal.

48:25

It's a blackout Christmas for me, that's what I'm

48:27

saying. Bob. It's so hard for

48:29

the fairy to like, up on your own. Up

48:32

when you're sobbing into a place. Here in the iron. Alright,

48:36

sorry, Christmas, Pedden, alright?

48:38

Don't anyone question me on

48:40

this. Merry

48:43

Christmas, Happy New Year.

48:45

So don't start with Happy Christmas, because you've

48:47

got nowhere to go. Because

48:50

you cannot say, yeah, Happy Christmas, Merry

48:52

New Year. No, you've got it wrong,

48:54

you've started wrong, it's Happy Christmas. Not

48:57

Merry Christmas, leave it at that.

48:59

Hang on, did you just change your mind halfway through then? Which

49:01

is it? I think you did.

49:03

No, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, did that change my

49:05

mind? You did, you changed your mind. Okay,

49:09

we've got an issue, score-wise.

49:11

Ooh. We know that

49:14

Ellie has won on 36 points. Well,

49:16

in defending and defenseless, I think you

49:18

would. So far. So far,

49:20

so far. Okay, lots of points there, Ellie. So you're

49:23

down to 35. Dougie,

49:26

Tamsin and Bob all

49:28

have 34. So

49:30

I don't know what I'm doing now. I

49:33

guess I'm taking a point. Yeah, mate,

49:35

yeah, okay, fine. Ellie, who do you

49:37

want to go against in defending and

49:39

defenseless? Oh my word, I think I want

49:42

to. That is so difficult, isn't

49:44

it? I know. That is a real, okay, I'm

49:46

going to go for Dougie. Oh, God. Dougie.

49:48

Well, congratulations. Christmas was back on. A real

49:50

kick in the teeth for Bob, who's already

49:53

had to say enough. And

49:56

I'm lucky for Tamsin, but Ellie and Dougie

49:58

head to head into. defending defensible. Ridiculous

50:00

statement, you have to answer, doesn't matter how

50:02

much it hurts. If I say I, I

50:05

do mean you. Ellie,

50:08

you score the most points, so you go first.

50:10

You have 20 seconds on. I

50:13

will finally admit that I only pretended

50:15

like cricket because England's were good. Yeah,

50:18

it's the fact that England were good. Well, they were briefly

50:20

good. They were good during the Test matches. They've not been

50:23

very good in white ball

50:25

cricket since then. They all look very cute

50:27

as well, don't they? And they're white, so

50:29

they're like lovely coloured outfits. Lovely Stuart Broad,

50:31

he's retired now. It's very sad. But yeah,

50:33

it's basically, I mean I've just followed sports

50:35

for 30 years entirely because I fancy the

50:37

players. It doesn't matter what sport it is. Good

50:41

to have that admission finally from Ellie.

50:43

Ducky, you have 20 seconds

50:46

on. Greg Norman should win

50:48

overseas sports personality of the year for

50:50

his services to golf. Greg

50:52

Norman used to be the gentleman of

50:54

the game of golf and now he's

50:57

just the supreme businessman because what he's

50:59

done, he's got people talking about golf

51:01

when there's no Ryder Cup on and

51:03

no Masters and no open championship. He's

51:05

got it back on the back pages.

51:08

God bless you and Merry Christmas

51:10

to you, Greg Norman. Not Happy

51:12

Christmas. I

51:17

think just right at the end Ducky

51:19

snatched it. He snatched the victory and

51:21

can I say Merry Christmas or Happy

51:24

Christmas whichever one it is that Bob

51:26

is thinking at the moment. Well

51:29

done, Ducky. Commiserations to Ellie.

51:32

I shot myself in the

51:34

foot there, didn't I? Yeah, you did, I'm afraid,

51:36

yeah. Sorry to deserve victory for Ducky. The rest

51:38

of you, never mind, go over and lick

51:40

your wounds. This has been a world-term production

51:42

for BBC Radio 5 Live next up. Everything

51:44

you need to get through your sporting day,

51:46

5 Live Sport coming up after the news.

51:50

Hello, you're listening to the podcast extra of

51:52

Fighting Talk. Tanzin, just for

51:54

reference, had you made the final, which

51:56

you could well have done, but

51:59

Ellie, cruel... chose Dougie over

52:01

you for for really no good. Brilliant, inadvisably.

52:03

And then, oh you think you would have

52:05

beaten Samson, do you? No, no, no. Oh,

52:08

I like it,

52:10

Ellen. I'm all for peace

52:12

on earth and goodwill to all men, but bear

52:15

in mind that Dougie was trailing plum last. Oh,

52:17

thank you. Nearly an opportunity to come.

52:19

I mean, and I also said

52:22

something that I would never say, which is

52:24

that I fancy the cricketers. I basically put

52:27

my reputation on the line. Tung

52:32

in cheek, to even say. Do you know what

52:34

though? Fuming. I knew that you were lying. There

52:36

was no part I've made it believe you, Ellen.

52:38

That's the problem. Whereas

52:42

I actually thought that Dougie made quite a compelling

52:44

argument. Dougie did very well. But Greg Norman doing

52:46

a great service to the golf. Thanks. Tamsi, had

52:48

you been selected by Ellie, weirdly, to be in

52:50

the final, your defending indefensible would have

52:52

been, Joey Barton would be a far better netball pundit

52:55

than me. Which I think would have

52:57

been a bit of fun, actually. I mean, we could have rolled

52:59

with that one, couldn't we? I think we could. So

53:02

just thinking Christmas trees, as

53:04

ever, who out of

53:06

us five is doing the best Christmas

53:08

tree decorations and who is doing the

53:10

worst? So I think from what you're

53:12

saying, Tamsi, yours is probably quite threadbare

53:15

because you got too upset doing it.

53:17

Yeah, mine's a little dull this season. Ellie,

53:20

you're wearing a lovely sequin top, which makes

53:22

me think maybe you're getting into the Christmas

53:24

spirit. But have you got quite a small

53:26

tree? Well, I've got a tree which is

53:28

about the same height as me. It's quite small,

53:30

but it's on a table. OK,

53:33

OK. And how's it looking? It's

53:35

looking very nice. It's got kind of lots of decorations

53:37

over, not quite going. I've

53:39

basically got rid of the decorations that

53:41

my kids made in reception, bearing in mind they're now 22

53:44

and 23. And the

53:46

22 year old was home and so she was able

53:48

to put the little angel on top of the tree.

53:50

Because you didn't have it as tight on. Didn't have Tamsin

53:52

to throw it on. And

53:54

she was absolutely determined about getting the

53:57

Christmas tree lights rotating

53:59

in the right way. Yeah, you know kind of

54:01

coiling them up over. I mean she scares me

54:03

sometimes great attention to detail. Yeah Dougie

54:06

I'm thinking you haven't got a tree Absolutely

54:09

correct Because

54:16

I'm gonna be Single

54:20

guys apparently love cheese just as much

54:22

as single ladies and another hello to

54:25

all of them listen I'm gonna

54:27

be spending Christmas in Edinburgh. So

54:29

I look forward to helping my

54:31

brother his children his wife I

54:35

think that she's already up so I can't be of

54:37

any help. I mean family was Christmas Yeah as

54:40

per Bob has a free-looking, you know

54:42

a much smaller we moved house We

54:44

downsized so we bought a nice little

54:46

cottage. So we've I wanted the same

54:48

thing though There's the tree on the table

54:51

And you know what? It's they look really good because you can

54:53

put them right in the middle bow of the window And

54:55

so they do look because people outside don't know that

54:58

that's the beginning of it. They think you might have

55:00

a lot Wow You haven't

55:02

got the mills are doing all right Because

55:05

you see you've got the height because you've been on the

55:07

table You haven't got the width of the branches at the

55:09

bottom Yeah, which kind of extend too far into the room

55:12

unless you start lopping this is my front of that and

55:14

then and I Feel

55:16

about this my wife is for the first

55:18

time ever because it's a smaller one She's

55:20

bought a potted one And

55:22

what that means is that I've now

55:25

gonna have it with me for probably the

55:27

well the rest of my life Certainly, yeah

55:29

I've a few months I'm

55:31

a pet really. Yes Like

55:34

a bit of the outfield at Lord's or you know the pitch

55:36

at Highbury. You don't want to let it die You've

55:38

got a plant it She sold it to me by

55:40

saying this is the last time we'll ever have to

55:42

buy one and I think fair enough Because

55:45

if I can save a pound, I'm a happy man I've

55:48

never had a spirit right there in

55:50

January dig a whole plant it and

55:52

then dig it up again I

55:55

think in a couple of years time you're gonna hate that tree

56:00

your life mate. It's going to

56:02

have an accident with petrol on

56:04

you. How did this

56:06

happen Bob? I genuinely don't know. Well

56:11

thanks everyone that was a bit of fun wasn't

56:13

it really? No it was. Just

56:16

me then, that's okay. It was

56:18

definitely encroaching on the plymature of

56:20

the fun. I don't think

56:22

anyone who lives in Mus Street listens

56:25

to this show. They're a different type

56:27

of people. On

56:30

Mus Street,

56:33

there are not one but two houses

56:36

that had incredible Christmas

56:38

decorations and internal as well as external

56:41

but mainly internal and the windows right

56:43

there and the lights there but

56:45

both of them have got the sign

56:47

outside. Christmas catered for

56:49

by and they sponsor

56:52

their using their house. No!

56:54

When you say you're living in a little cottage Bob?

56:57

It feels like a very big house in millionaires row.

56:59

No it's a little cottage.

57:02

We got it because it's the last of

57:04

the little cottages because all the little cottages

57:06

get... It's a servant's corset in the garden.

57:09

Yeah right. Your worst house on the best

57:11

side but we're working it. We've got a

57:13

copper bath, excuse me. Sorry Bob. Sorry

57:17

Bob. They're leaving me off that well-born

57:19

phrase. I like my Christmas decorations, I

57:21

like my problems both internal and external.

57:25

But yes, true houses with the little

57:27

sign and I keep saying little sign

57:29

they're not little signs. They're not as

57:31

big as my Lang scaffolding sign that

57:34

I've got hands on my hand. But

57:36

they're big enough that you can read

57:38

them from across the row because people

57:40

will both say oh they're nice up

57:42

there. Oh look, marshall and car. And

57:45

I'm thinking are they getting paid for

57:47

that do you think? Or do you just get

57:49

all your decorations off for free? They must. They

57:51

must be getting paid surely. Do they put up

57:53

lights? Yeah. I never

57:56

saw any of them struggling. And

58:01

they're dark butte, I mean they look magnificent,

58:03

they look like Kensington Palace, literally like a

58:06

Christmas tree. That's beautiful. There's

58:08

a bit of scaffolding on our roads at the

58:11

moment and the company is called V&A Scaffolding

58:13

and every time I see it I make the same joke

58:15

to myself which is, prefer the museums. But

58:18

it really tickles me. You

58:21

know we're the only country, certainly we're the

58:23

first country to decorate our cranes. Well

58:27

that's something to be proud of

58:29

isn't it? Yeah, the Macau plan

58:31

started doing it in the 1950s

58:33

because you have to put a light on

58:35

it anyway, the really big ones. So

58:37

they started spreading it and doing it. I don't know that

58:39

anywhere, I've never been anywhere else. Do we still do that

58:41

though? No we do. We do, we do. We

58:44

do. Come on Dougie. I can only

58:46

speak for England. Just look up for once in

58:48

your life mate. Look up, enjoy the cranes. Have

58:51

yourself a merry or happy Christmas. Bye

58:55

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