You're listening to the FootGlish podcast. Love
football, learn English. Tottenham Hotspur champions
of Europe. Are Spurs fans dreaming or is this
reality? Were Spurs the better team against United
or not? Would Tottenham fans take a 17th position
in the league and winning a major trophy? if
someone had offered this to them at the start
of the season. And what does nowhere near something
mean? Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another
episode of the Footgrish podcast. It's been a
while. I don't record a podcast every week as
I used to. Because, you know, why is that? I
don't know. I guess I have burnt out a bit. I
guess I'm not as into football as I was before.
It's been too much of football. So I think this
is a wonderful opportunity for the listeners
to... Catch up with us, with me and with my friend
David, aka Jenks. Which one do you prefer, Jenks
or David? Either is fine. Probably David for
your listeners is better. David. David from England.
A Tottenham fan. We are going to talk about Tottenham,
but before we do, this is the FootGlish podcast.
Everyone, it's a podcast where you can learn
English through football. And David, I have to
start like this. Tottenham Hotspur. The Spurs
with a trophy. And also, Champions of Europe.
Something which Arsenal can't sing. And that
will probably be sung at the first game against...
That will definitely be sung at the first game
next year against Arsenal. Champions of Europe,
you'll never sing that. Yeah, absolutely. You
are going to take the piss now because you've
done that for a long, long time. Yeah, because
I'm not surprised that you haven't been watching
football for a while because Arsenal since, obviously.
You got knocked out and the West Ham are having
a poor season. It's part of that, you're right.
If your team's not doing well... Yeah, yeah,
you're losing that interest. You're still sort
of supporting them, but you're losing that interest.
You might be right, to be honest with you. But
anyway, so how are you feeling? How are you feeling
about this? No, obviously very emotional, very...
It was, honestly, it was quite surreal. It didn't
sink in straight away. So the game was at 2am
here in Vietnam. Watched it in a pub with a friend
and then obviously there were other Spurs and
United supporters there. Great atmosphere, really
friendly between the supporters as well, which
was nice. A lot of people in the pub. It was
surreal seeing those images afterwards of Son,
Bissouma, Romero. It's like, because it's something
that hasn't happened. I mean, I was at university
when we won the Carling Cup. 2008 with Berbatov
and Keane. That was in 2008. Yeah, and I cried
then. I was super happy then because that was
the first real trophy for me. For you, David,
or for your team. That I remember for my team.
You also touched the trophy, not physically,
not like for you personally. Obviously, I'm a
football manager, I've won a lot more. You've
been the game football manager. The one before
that was 1999, but I'd have only been... 10 or
11. I don't really remember that, to be honest.
So, yeah, yesterday, I mean, we've had so many
great teams, especially that Pochettino team,
which is probably the best in England. You mean
when you got into the Champions League final?
Yeah, even a bit before that. The one a little
bit, probably the season before, because that
year we weren't great. But we were probably the
best team, statistically, for two years. And
Kane and Son, that amazing duo, when they were
scoring left, right and centre. Even before that,
like Deleague, Eriksen, Dembele, world -class
players in every position. There wasn't a position
where you could... Gareth Bale, yeah. Gareth
Bale was before that. But the Walker, Alderweireld,
Vertonghen, Rose, Dembele, Wanyama... Christian
Eriksen. Dembele. That team was... far better
than this team, but they just couldn't get over
the line. But this one did it without Harry Kane
as well. Yeah, which is ironic. I wonder what
he thinks. I know he's won his Bundesliga, but...
He had to leave for you to win something. I bet
he regrets it now. Do you think he regrets it?
Yeah, I do, because I think... I mean, he obviously
went to Bayern because he knew they'd win. Wait,
wait, wait. You think he didn't go to Bayern
because he thought he wouldn't win anything with
Tottenham? Yeah, he knew it was a risk staying
at Tottenham. Obviously, you're not guaranteed
to win, but you probably won't win at Tottenham.
But at Bayern, he picked a club that obviously
will win, probably with or without him. They
didn't win anything the first season, though.
Yeah, but that was ironic as well. That's because
he came. Yeah, but they won the previous eight.
What I mean is he didn't choose a club like Napoli,
which might win or might not win. Hang on, you're
speaking about Napoli that won the Serie A? They're
not guaranteed, are they? Even Liverpool, if
he went to Liverpool, they're not guaranteed
it. Man City are the favourites. He picked a
club that he knew he'd win. So if he stayed there
long enough, there's no way Bayern weren't going
to win like four years. That is true. It was
guaranteed. I think that's part of the joy of
last night. It was just kind of disbelief. How
many nights did you celebrate this, Jenks? You
don't even remember when you won. I took the
day off work the next day. Why? Did you? Did
you? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wait, wait, wait. What
did you tell? So David here is an English teacher
viewers. So what did you tell the headmaster
then? I'm sorry, boss. I can't come to work because
Tottenham had won the... Tottenham won the first
trophy since 2008. Obviously, I took it off a
week or two before. I said, Tottenham will play
that night. I'm going to watch it. And I won't
be in a state to be at work the next day. And
it was funny because I watched it with my colleague
who did have to go to work the next day because
he hadn't thought ahead. So, yeah. You were the
smarter one. You plan ahead with Tottenham. I'd
say I watch most games. Okay. Even now, there's
probably a league. Did you, like, scream? Like,
that pub you went to, it's like an Irish pub,
right? Here in Dunham. Did you, like, celebrate
properly? Like, were you shouting and screaming?
Everyone. There's very much Euros in the summer.
Or Spurs fans in the... In the pub? Probably
outnumbered. Man United are everywhere, so I
would say it was like 70 -30 % Man United fans.
So did you take the piss out of them? It's not
really my style to do that. No, that's not true.
When I went to watch the North London derby,
I remember what you did there. In real life,
I'm like that, but not in football. It's too
tense for me. I'm too nervous. I'm too tense.
I'm very, very tense with football, so I'm quite
well behaved. That's good, man. No, I thought
of you. Like, when you won it, I thought of two
people. Andrzej, who has been on this podcast,
my other friend, and you as well, because I don't
have that many Tottenham fans. And let me tell
you this. So I'm an Arsenal fan, so obviously
we never want to see you win anything at all.
And you will probably think the same about Arsenal.
But to be honest, like, I'm not that bothered
anymore because you guys have signed Antonin
Kinski. who is the Czech goalkeeper. And for
that reason, I'm not unhappy that this happened.
I'm a Czech fan. So for me, I'm more of a Czech
fan than I am an Arsenal fan, I would say. That's
why I also sort of lean towards supporting West
Ham while the Czech boys are there. I get it
as well. I think social media has made rivalry.
become a bit nasty and become not really what
it's about social media so like rubbing it in
your face like the whole mockery of the trophy
thing that wouldn't have happened before social
media so even like when West Ham I'm from Essex
so it's West Ham Tottenham kind of territory
more West Ham than Tottenham actually so when
my when West Ham won the conference league my
brother's a West Ham fan I wasn't like unhappy
because of him and he's he's the same now because
of this for me I think some people are just more
I also buy into the whole social media kind of
fandom. Yeah, they are exaggerating everything.
The channels. Perhaps if you live in the area,
it's different. If I live there and I had to
go to school with a bunch of West Ham fans, then
I'd be... But still, it's okay if it's a bit,
you know, it's part of that banter, part of that
culture of sort of you take piss off your mates
because, you know, it's just this. culture right
it's fine I think it's football like I used to
play football for 20 years everyone so I remember
I remember the rivalry and even if it's two villages
that are next to each other you know that's fine
but like I said for Antonin Kinski for the Czech
goalkeeper who is number two at the moment I
think at Tottenham I'm very happy for him in
the Premier League though well this is the bizarre
thing because apparently He got the medal. He
got the medal, which he wasn't supposed to because
he wasn't even part of the team, of the European
team. And some didn't get it. We got it later
because there were 50 that we got. But he didn't
get it for the presentation. Who made a mistake?
Was it Kinski being cheeky and trying to just
get the medal or something? I think probably...
No, I think you've got to... Because Son, of
all people, he's the captain. He's the heart
and soul of your team, right? Romero didn't get
it because he went up just before Son as well,
obviously. That makes things better. Probably
our best player. Yeah, it wasn't just Son. There
were three of them. Oh, really? Kinsey got one.
He's not registered. Sergio Reguilon got one.
He's not registered. So it was a bit random.
Yeah, but to finish my point, David, yeah. So
the reason I'm okay with this... I can't say
I'm happy, I'm sorry, but I'm okay with this.
Because of Kinski, because of him having the
chance to play the Champions League. This is
a bizarre season for Spurs, right? You're currently
sitting in the 17th position, right? Which is
like the worst ever. Well, we got relegated in
82. Okay, well, apart from that, only because
there are three worst teams, all of them... We
were promoted last season, right? Leicester,
Ipswich and what was the last one? Southampton.
Southampton. So now it's you there and then obviously
Manchester United are 16th. So it was the strangest
thing that had ever happened in football in years.
And you managed to clinch. I think what I will
say about this is that you can consider your
season successful while United, for them it's
an absolute disaster. That's what it came down
to as well. It was such a game of nerves, I would
say. Yeah, it was an awful game. But for the
supporters, it was very gripping. I'd imagine
if you watched it as a neutral, it would be quite...
I watched the first half. I couldn't watch the
rest. I'll be honest with you. I just didn't
like it at all. If you're not 4 -1 on the team,
but if you're 4 -1 on the team, it was very,
very, very tense. I think our... I don't think
you can really compare United's season with Tottenham's
season because people always say, oh, there's
injuries, but... So they don't... They say there's
an excuse, but then they just discount it completely.
I think Tottenham's season... I think you can
make excuses for Tottenham's season. Sorry. I
think the first half is... So the first... Up
until the first third was OK. We were kind of
in and around Europa League, Champions League
positions. And then we got hit by awful injuries.
And I'm talking like Christian Romero, Mickey
Van Der Ven, out for three, four months. Other
fans don't understand how good those two are.
You had other teams that this happened to. It's
not just you. No, no, no. It was just us. Man
City had injuries, but nowhere near the extent
that Tottenham had these injuries. Man City are
an oil club who have the money to buy whoever
they want. As you can see in January, they just...
Spent 200 million or whatever on the best player
in Germany, best defender in France, and just
solved their problems like that. That's what
they did. They bought Kusunov and they bought
the Frankfurt Mammut guy. And also they bought
the Portuguese or Spanish midfielder too to replace
Rodri. So they just put money in it. That is
true. Whereas Tottenham, we know Tottenham don't
work like that. Romero is an unbelievable player.
Some fans realise this, some don't. Like his
passing out the back. so in terms of playing
Ange Ball you can't really replace that without
Romero Van de Ven also with his pace you can't
replace that so is this the reason is this the
main mitigating factor why the club stuck with
Ange Ball because this was the amount of pressure
he must have been so between November and February
it was injuries and that's why they stuck with
him because we were playing Not only our backup
team, but also like Mikey Moore, 17 -year -old,
young players were filling the bench. Not great
players as well, by the way. And also unbalanced.
We brought Archie Gray from Brentford. Not from
Brentwood, from Leeds. We got to play him centre
-back. He's a Championship midfielder, 18 -year
-old. We played him centre -back. That's unheard
of. Our centre -backs were a left -back, Ben
Davies and Archie Gray, for three months. I'm
sorry, but you can say that's an excuse, but
that is a valid reason why we were doing bad.
But then, okay. So then, up until February, that's
the reason. Then they came back. And then what
happened is we realised that we were too far
from... the Euro positions in the league anyway.
We weren't going to get there. And players were
coming back and they were getting injured straight
away again, like crazy. Even Kulosevsky and Maddison
came back out for the final. I mean, how mad
is that? Berg, Van, Maddison and Kulosevsky.
Because I think there was too much load on them.
I don't know what it was. Or luck. Bad luck.
Bad luck. So we've been awful. even recently,
but I think that's because he's been playing
the B team in the league. Because he started
focusing on the Europe. Because the sole focus
was Europa. And you did it. And this is Europa
League, so it's a sort of second tier. you could
say second European Cup because it's not the
Champions League but still like when West Ham
won the conference they were so happy the fans
were over the moon so now you did something similar
this is the old UEFA Cup it's actually a massive
but it's also a massive competition like I think
when it's called Europa League it doesn't sound
as like good but the old UEFA Cup was really
really was really celebrated respect man and
you get that Champions League spot as well oh
my god it's like such a The important bonus.
But I didn't care about that. Honestly, the only
thing I cared about was winning the trophy. Of
course. Because for Tottenham, we've been in
the Champions League. We've been in that a lot.
Okay. But it's nice as a bonus, isn't it? Yeah,
sure. Sure. Next season, Champions League. And,
let's be honest, you can attract better players
now. Maybe, but I think that's all hypothetical.
I don't think that's up to the business people
of Tottenham whether they change their transfer
targets and things like that. I don't see that.
I don't see the 100 million we got for Kane.
I don't care about that. I just care about...
It's not your money. You don't get the money.
And I also think there's things like loans that
you can work your way around and take out a file.
And Tottenham are very good with the PSR at the
moment anyway. So, what helps is cash. Helps
with cash. But it was a trophy. So basically,
I have to ask you this, but I think I know the
answer already. So if someone had offered you,
before the start of the season, if someone had
offered you, hey, David, you will almost get
relegated this season, but you will win a trophy.
Would you have taken it? Yeah, of course. You
would have. Because our previous 16 years have
been either finishing anywhere from second to
fifth and no trophy. Hang on, there's part two
to this. Yeah. What if you had been relegated?
If we'd been relegated? If you'd been relegated,
because you are one spot away. With a trophy.
That's a more interesting question. And actually,
it would have been more interesting if one of
those clubs weren't there this year, and Man
U, West Ham and Tottenham were fighting for relegation.
Because then it would be like, do you play Europa?
You'd put your first team in the pen. What do
you prioritise? So for me personally, I would
have... I'd have been... I don't know, actually.
I'd probably still take the trophy. No, come
on. But the club would have definitely taken
the... It's so humiliating, though. Because you
know what? Next year we'd be in the Champions
League and we'd have been guaranteed to win the
championship. Yeah, but you wouldn't be guaranteed
to win the championship next season. You would.
You would. It's not Tottenham. It's Tottenham,
but it's hard. It's a hard competition with 20
teams. But if you kept the players, you would...
I think Tottenham's squad is... Would you keep
the players after that? I still think Tottenham's
squad... Yeah, because you'd been in the Champions
League. So you probably would have done. I actually
think Tottenham squad is probably the fifth best
squad in the league, fifth or sixth probably.
I still think of you as the top six team. But
look at the back four of Poro, Romero, Van de
Ven. You don't get that much better in the Prem
than that. Then you've got Maddison, Coliseu.
There's quality throughout the team. It's not
a 17th -based team. Fair enough. But in this
game, you have to say in the final, you were
not the better team. I was looking at the stats.
You only had one shot in total. But the game
was played in our terms. But you only had one
shot. Can you imagine? 12 shots. And had a game
plan. But I watched the stats. I didn't see the
second half. You've got to see the second half.
I have to say this, viewers. Tottenham had only
one shot on goal. No shots. No shots off goal.
No shots off the target. And Manchester United,
six shots on goal and six shots on the target.
But if you watch the game... Hang on. But the
XG was similar. It was like 1 .0. Yeah, exactly.
So I think it was a game, whoever got the first
goal was going to be massive favourites to win.
It's like an old cliche, you score first. Because
neither team were good at breaking a team down.
For us, it's because we don't have Maddison and
Kulisowski. For them, it's just because they're
a shit team. So when Johnson scored that goal...
And said, right, we're sitting back. We back
ourselves to win 1 -0. Right. And it was a scrappy,
scrappy goal as well. Yeah. But actually, the
build -up did it. It was Bruno Fernandes who
played in the sixth. Sarra intercepted the ball.
And there was a few patterns there that led to
the goal, although the ending was scrappy like
a handball. But it was a worked move. But then
we just said, OK, cross it into the box. We bought
Danzo on. We went three at the back. So I think
we were the better team because we played it
on our terms. I don't think so. And Ondra doesn't
think so either. My friend, he said we were not
the better team. Definitely the better team.
Okay, you are right. No, you're right that when
you say it was played on your terms, I think
that's fair because you were winning. And I think
at that point... The whole season rested on that,
on that, like, let's park the bus. It makes sense
because it's really about, it was all about the
result. Yeah, but what did Hammerham do? Hammerham
was awful in that game. He kept, there's a clip
in the 88th minute of him still being three at
the back and then three and one up front. And
you know who the one was? Harry Maguire. All
right, let's leave it there because I think you
have some guests coming. Your dog is barking.
It's been fantastic to have you on the show.
Enjoy. Wonderful win. And you said you're going
to put on a Tottenham shirt if you want. No,
I'm not putting any Tottenham shirt. Hi, guys.
Welcome back to the Language Corner. And as always,
in this part of the show, I'm going to be teaching
you something because I'm an English teacher.
That's right. That is my job. And I might as
well clarify some vocabulary from this episode.
This is the most... common thing to do for me
in these episodes, right? I used to do some grammar
and pronunciation occasionally, but let's be
honest, this is the one that a lot of people
need, right? A lot of people need to expand their
vocabulary, so let's go. This one comes from
the context of Jenks and I talking about Tottenham's
injuries. I think David used this as an excuse
of why Tottenham's season hasn't been really
good. He blamed the failure of the season on
the injuries. Specifically, I was suggesting
that potentially it wasn't just... Tottenham,
right? That struggled with injuries. There were
other teams like Man City. They didn't have Rodri
and so on. But to that, to that, Jenks said the
following. He said, Man City had injuries, but
nowhere near the extent of Tottenham. And this
is the phrase I would like to look at. Nowhere
near something. If something in English is nowhere
near. Often it's followed by as as well if it's
then followed by an adjective. Nowhere near as
good as something. Nowhere near the extent of
Tottenham. It means it's far from that. It's
not at all near. It's really, really far. So
yes, Man City had injuries, but you cannot compare
it. to how many injuries Tottenham had. They
had way more injuries than Man City, right? Nowhere
near the extent of Tottenham. You could also
say this part of the show, this language corner,
is definitely interesting, but it's nowhere near
as interesting as the interview part of the show,
which means the interview part of the show, the
main bit, of every episode is probably more interesting,
or is much more interesting in this case, if
I say nowhere near, much more interesting than
the language corner, which could be a bit boring
because it's a bit nerdy, right? It's not for
everyone. I understand everybody has a different
taste, but let's be honest, I think... the main
reason you guys listen to this episode or watch
it on the youtube channel is that uh well it's
a discussion about football you just wanna maybe
hear two two people talking about football okay
so hopefully this is clear and you enjoy learning
about this phrase which i believe is pretty common
in english now One thing I need to say is that
it's coming to an end of this season, right?
We literally, we are finishing this. There's
like the Champions League final and then there
will be the Euros under -21s perhaps, but that's
it for this season. Most of the leagues have
already finished. And what does it mean for this
podcast? Well, what it means for this podcast
is that I will still keep going, but probably
not as often as... as in the past. And to be
honest, you probably noticed that I don't publish
episode every week as I used to. There were times
I even published two episodes every week. Listen,
you have to understand I'm a busy person and
I've got other podcasts too. And there's been
a lot going on in my life lately. And yeah, I
would like to keep this up. But to be honest.
I'm a bit disappointed about the level of interaction
with the listeners of this podcast. It's not
enough. Even on the YouTube channel, I was expecting
you guys would talk to me a bit more. You would
leave comments, tell me what you think about
the episodes. Most of you just listen and that's
it. And that's why I don't really have much feedback.
I don't know if what I'm doing makes sense, if
it's interesting enough for you. I'm kind of
losing motivation. And I'll be brutally honest
with you. I'm thinking of starting something
different at this point. Saying that, I don't
think I'm ready yet to let this podcast go. I
think I'll give it a bit longer before I make
the decision. However, it could mean that these
podcasts will be less frequent, perhaps once
a month or something like that. I quite like
talking to my friends like David about football.
I just think it's a wonderful opportunity to
catch up with football fans of different football
teams. And that's also one of the reasons I do
this, right? I don't just do it to help you guys.
I do it for myself too, just to have fun. But
when you do a podcast, you need some sort of
audience that will support you as well. And I
think there's not... Enough of that here. Because
I don't see any comments. I barely see any likes.
So, yeah. Please don't understand it as me having
a go at you. It's just I'm describing the reality
of it. I know there are a lot of people doing
similar podcasts. And there's a lot of competition
as well. So, obviously, perhaps I'm not good
at promoting myself. Or, I don't know, maybe...
Maybe I need more prominent guests, like influencers
on the podcast. I've had a few well -known guests,
but it wasn't enough. So basically, the future
of this podcast is in doubt at the moment. We
will see what happens. All in all, thank you
very much for listening to this episode. And
if you want to support this podcast, and if you
want to... help me, if you want to revert this
sort of decision that I am considering of letting
this podcast go, then it's really you that can
change it. It's no one else, right? It's me,
I guess, too. But you guys have a huge power.
If you support this podcast, if you give it likes,
comment, and if you are interactive, then you
have a huge power. You can change things around
like Tottenham did in their season. So let's
see what happens. Thank you very much for listening.
And I'll speak to you soon. Take care, everyone.