process isn't it because it's very difficult yeah like the the difficult to articulate as well but they're also they're they're also at two completely opposing ends of the scale on this aren't they jack because like like 900 million pounds or like as as the headline figure like just does not marry up with the club saying we have this irrefutable body of evidence like somebody has to be wrong here it's not a case of army in the middle it's like somebody's wrong

and Yeah, I mean, the really startling thing about the judgment that was released the other day was the figures that the sponsors are alleged to have sort of put in themselves.

I mean, the figures are so small.

That's weird, isn't it? I think that spoke to the...

to the idea and the sort of thought that I've had since last Friday was that it's far worse than anyone could have thought or feared as a City fan.

And when it's laid out in black and white like that, as it was on Tuesday, which is, you know, this is without knowing who the witnesses were or, you know, the sort of tranche of evidence that was poured upon and judged on.

Even without that, you're seeing these numbers and going, my God, like this is, This is huge and not what anyone would have expected.

Didn't call them a sham, interestingly, but come

What do you

reckon? I think they're a bit more dogged.

Like, if you watched them at United last weekend, there's an element of shithousery to them that you probably saw during the treble season.

I don't think we've seen much of it since.

So, like, Fernandes is...

I did a piece on it after the game.

Fernandes is 22 minutes after they scored to then him coming off.

because

So talk to me a little bit about that.

First of all, this is in a bigger sense as well.

This is also goes into agents need to be making the right decisions on what brokerage to work for that fit their needs, whether that's a mega brokerage that can give you certain training, like, daily, versus maybe some more, like, boutique, where it's more one-on-one.

Because you have to almost meet these agents where they are and where they are in their career.

Because the same conversations that I'm having with some agents who are seasoned and have weathered certain storms before, it's a different coaching model than maybe a person who got into the business a year ago or even, you know, in the past two years.

And so for those newer agents, A, it's their first time feeling what I would call, especially in Nashville, a compressed market, where they're having to figure out, "Well, where is my business going to come from?" And so some of it is teaching them things that you think it should be innately built into their brain be- because we all started so long ago, but it wasn't, because it was-- the grass was so green when they first started that they kind of got jaded by, "No matter what, I'll get a phone call and it's gonna happen." So a lot of it is, how do you, A, create a sphere out of nowhere? You know, a lot of agents have not been used to having to go out and farm their own business because they're so expectant on just receiving calls because they heard that you're an agent and that kind of stuff.

So a lot of it is getting into the details of the rejection fear, the understanding that a no now is an no forever, understanding how to make those warm touches, how to also realize that, you know, goal setting needs to be realistic and goal setting needs to be understanding what you are capable in the current climate of doing.

So as the president of Greater Nashville Realtors, you know, what role do you think, you know, the association or Realtors should have in that conversation?

Yeah

... and it was the end of a, a long season for everybody.

And I just go back to the Bodo/Glimt game in, in January, where he got really badly caught for the third goal.

Someone was just too quick for him, and then the two, then the two bookings in quick succession were just like transitions.

And it was, he'd just been beaten over the first four or five yards and picked up two stupid bookings and that, and then that was it.

And those are the sort of like, that's the kind of abiding memory of last season for me with Rodri.

Um, so he's st- he's intelligent enough to be able to manage that.

[laughs]

Mm.

Um, so from that perspective, it could be like, look, we don't know how it's gonna go, but it could be quite, could be quite an exciting first few months of the season where everyone is getting used to the way that Maresca wants to play, which is we keep hearing this phrase similar but different from the players to, to how they, to how it was under Pep.

Um- And I think by that they mean that the build-up will be fairly similar.

Like what you were saying with Donnarumma, like the centre halves are going to be close and it's going to be, they're just going to try and pick their way through like that rather than get him to play these expansive passes that someone like Trafford or Edison could play.

I think that build-up quite similar, but then just a different attitude when they're in sort of midway through the opposition half.

And then obviously there's a slight difference in the way that he wants to set up in midfield where he definitely wants the two.

Because as we saw over the last two years that when they play one, even when Rodri's the one, they get exposed on their transitions.

Is that enough?

And fair play, gri- grinding it out, aren't they? But it wasn't a spectacular performance, but a, a great result nonetheless.

Uh, well, it's better to be lucky than good, isn't it, is the, uh, is the main takeaway really.

Um, they've just, uh, they're, they're a team of moments.

Um, and when you've got players of the quality of Bellingham and, and Kane, you can, you can rely on those moments.

They've scored the, obviously scored the, the, the bulk of the goals.

They're dragging them through games.

Um, I thought the, I thought the good thing about yesterday was that similar to Mexico is that they, they just, they stayed in it.

Um, what was, what was your view of, of his performance last night? What happened?

Just try and give us a flavor of what it was actually like to be there.

It was just the incessant noise from...

I think we, I think we went up to our seats about 4:00, so two hours before kickoff.

Um, and then obviously it was delayed by an hour after that.

And it just...

The, the home fans just never stopped singing, whistling, jeering.

I mean, when, when they played Oasis about, I don't know, an hour and a half before kickoff, I've never heard anything boo like it.

Yeah, a lot of that

So with, with that in mind, Jack, do, do you think the, the England starting line-up is pretty clear? Do you think you know how it's gonna look to cope with that, but also, you know, to set up for, for Croatia?

Yeah, I think at this point it almost 85, 90% of it picks itself.

Um, I think you- the main one is, well, the main two are Bellingham or Rogers, and then either Rashford or, or Gordon.

But Craig's info the other day was that Gordon was probably gonna be in line to, to take that on the left-hand side, and then you would expect it to be Bellingham.

Um, and then the other thing is Saka is obviously not fit enough to play 90 minutes.

He's carrying an Achilles injury.

Uh, he's, he told us yesterday that he's, he's basically willing to continue gambling on his fitness, which is what he's been doing for Arsenal in the last couple of months.

So, you know, how do you think this England's, this England team, this starting team will handle the nerves, and how do you think Tuchel will change and cope with it when it becomes competitive?

And what about the last piece today? What's in there? What can readers see as they, I don't know, join, jump on the tram to get here to the s- to the stadium for the final farewell?

Yeah, well, I think the, the most interesting thing I, I found out about for, for the stuff today was his perfect cross.

So you would normally sort of think that maybe, well, like, to drill a cross, um, across the six-yard box like we've seen that famous City goal so many times from years ago that Sterling's waiting at the back post just to tap it in.

Um, but someone, someone said to me the other week is that actually his perfect clo- cross is a, just a, a floated one to the back post that is really easy to sort of, or looks really easy to defend.

But actually, the j- trajectory of it means that you can't get as much purchase as a defender.

And the reason he wants that is so his players win the second balls.

And I think that's just a, quite illuminating in what he's like as a coach 'cause you wouldn't think Pep Guardiola would be thinking about second balls and basics of English football, really.

We're never gonna see this again, are we, up here?

Oh my God, like that has literally just changed, blown my mind because all those games where they're floating it into the box, I'm thinking, look, we're not going to score from that.

Yeah.

Like look at the, I mean like the, it's in Thursday's piece about the treble, the build up to the United game in the FA Cup final.

It was like, right, we want second balls off Erling.

And it was like, get it to Ortega and then go straight to Erling and then get around him.

And obviously within 12 seconds, they've done exactly that and scored.

And these sort of things, like when you talk to these people that have worked with him, they're the kind of details that you would associate with some of his pals, i.e. Pulis, Warnock, Paradise, rather than this like genius of kind of fluid passing football.

Jack, is it going to be weird without him?

Yeah.

And he was...

So I was like, "Go on, what, what's he like?" Which is a quite rudimentary question, but you, you do get different answers from different people when you ask basic questions.

Um, and he was like, he's like leaned over.

We're having a coffee at Holt's Cafe, and he like leaned over and went, "I've been thinking about this a lot." It's like, it- it's like a parent.

It's like being with a parent and wanting, um, not a parent's love, but wanting his approval constantly.

And I was like, "Wow, that's such like a interesting way of looking at it." And he went on to say, and I, and things that I would agree with in my own experience, is that the sort of like the aura of it, of him is something that sort of is all, all-encompassing really.

Yeah.

But the ref stuff and the, the kind of the not giving a shit stuff, that kind of feels new for this season.

Um, yeah.

But the, this is all, this is all stuff he's said behind closed doors to the players as motivational tools for ever since he came, ever since he came to England.

Um, yeah, I don't, I don't know.

There's a, the...

Obviously, there's a theory that he, he's gonna go, so therefore he's getting in his, his jibes and whatever, um, which I think probably has merit, um, as a sort of, I don't know, psychological study into, like, a genius and everything that comes with being a genius in a sort of, um, kind of mental sense, I guess.

Uh, it's, yeah, it's been...

Mm.