 Tis the season for festive football and the best way to watch it, down at your local Green King Sports pub of course, after all Christmas is the time to catch up with friends old and new, so get the team to your local for refreshing pints, delicious food and live action of every Christmas cracker. Every fixture from TNT, Sky, Amazon is live at Green King Sports. That means water ball action on our huge HD screens. Head to your local Green King and watch every winning goal, toppings, volley and dodgy VAR decision in an atmosphere worth sharing. Download the Green King Sports app and you'll get 10% off drinks every time the sports on telly. Hello, welcome to the 1878 FM podcast, me, Ped, Davidi and our special guest for today is Ned. You all wanted him and he's here. Yeah, I just feel like telling bars you can't come on today's podcast because you won't narrow it instead, it's slightly harsh but it has to be done. No, I think Ned would. I think that Christmas has come early for us as a community and a brotherhood across the world. It has and it kind of feels like Christmas has came early for me too because it is such an honour to be on this podcast I must say. Absolutely. Well, there you go. Bars has failed the fitness test. I mean, it's not like, you know, it's not like, I don't want to say it, but Bars has failed the fitness test. I don't, is this the first one he's ever missed? No, I think he's missed, I think he's missed another one, maybe only one in the whole time that we've been doing this, but I think that he might have missed one before. I think he's done well, he's done well very much the James Tarkowski of the podcast. Yeah, and this is like, I'm not taking this like, oh, I'm just, you know, I'm in the reserves, but I'm stepping in and there'll be a back up. Take your chance. I'm taking this, I'm like, he's gone for a week now, this is my chance to shine. Take your chance. And I'm going to be become the number one. Well, I think you've got every chance, Ned. He'll be working for me next week. I mean, yeah, I mean, you'll hear more about that in the coming days, I'm sure, but with all in good spirits, obviously we've all, we're coming off the back of a win, Dave, a nice away win at Nothing on Forest on a Saturday night when we all needed that little lift. I mean, tremendous victory, wasn't it, in the end? I thoroughly enjoyed it. I thought it was good. And as you say, it was exactly what we needed, not a place that you were guaranteed three points by any stretch. And actually, you know, for us to have been doing okay, difficult to break down. I thought to be fair, I thought they were quite poor on Saturday. I mean, we were good. They were below standard, but I thought we totally deserved it and we played some nice stuff. And, you know, McNeill's goal was great. He could have had another one as well before that was cleared off the line. Beto had that decent chance as well. So yeah, I think it was the right results and a much needed three points in our escape to victory clamber from the bottom. It was lovely to just go somewhere, wasn't it? And, you know, even if they're not at their best, it was lovely to just go somewhere and do the job and just have enough and not really, and I know we had a couple of hairy moments, not fully fledged, scary moments, but a couple of moments where you're like, what do you expect? Do you expect that you're playing away at a team that isn't used to getting beaten at home? Is it nice to just press home the advantage? And for the most part, it was as comfortable a 1-0 win, I would say you could have. I'd agree. And again, I think it was nice to see us not be in the situation that we found ourselves in so many times where, you know, again, I never used the word roue, as in, you know, I don't mean like the French street. I mean, as in, you know, you roue the chances, that's the only time you ever kind of use it. We do often roue the chances that we miss, and it was nice on this occasion to actually have played better than them and obviously won it, not only on points in a boxing term, but actually got all three points and won it fair and square. And yeah, well deserved. Ned, you didn't watch the game live, did you? Because of commitments? I watched the game until about the last 10 minutes. OK, so how did you feel coming off, you know, you come off stage, you've handed your guitar to one of your roadies, you've got your towel, you've got your bottle of water, and then you've looked at your phone. How did you feel when you realised you haven't won? Well, it's just, it's not surprise anymore. So it was job done, basically. Away games like these now, to me, you feel like when we used to go into home games like this under David Moyes and you just felt like it was a routine, a routine win. They had no real threat. Didn't really do much for me, which is getting through the first five minutes because they've had some good starts. I think their best threat was probably Anthony Alango against Ash Leung, but they didn't seem to use him. They didn't seem to get him into the game. And when he did, he didn't really have anyone on the end of his chances. Chris Wood was pretty poor, I think he dealt with him quite well, but we've got big centre backs, mobile centre backs were also pretty good on the ball as well. So I thought we controlled the game really well. Yeah, Alango, I mean, obviously, Dave, we've been with all a little bit worried about what Ash Leung will have been. But apart from that early one where Alango won a foul in the corner, I don't think Alango really troubled. There's that much in the thoughts, Ash Leung. Credit worker that you had a really good game against him and just a professional game where he kept them, he just kept them quiet. Yeah, no, I agree. I think Ash Leung did OK. I mean, Pickford obviously sort of came charging out as well with the other chance when Alango had the ball at his feet and, you know, proper known nonsense, you know, sorting out that situation. And just generally, I thought Tarkowski was immense. I mean, really just an absolute warrior performance. I thought he was fantastic. I mean, obviously, you know, some great performances all around and people have, you know, held it, you know, McNeil as well for what he's done. But I thought Tarkowski again is just, I mean, he's exactly for me the sort of player that you want in that side, in the situation that we're in. Yeah, you wouldn't swap him for anybody. I don't think at the moment and he's that important. And, you know, I mean, not dissimilar to Jagi Elka in his days, I've gone as with you. That sort of first name on the team sheet for me. And incidentally, actually, while we're here, congratulations to Phil Jagi Elka on a magnificent career. He obviously hung up his boots last week, but a great player for us, great player for many, many sides. And, yeah, good to see the best looking man coming back for preseason award every year. Went to Phil Jagi Elka. He looked good with a tan, didn't he? He always looked like he'd been on the golf course for a couple of months and just rolled into preseason looking immaculate and, yeah, what a guy, what a guy. But what is nice is, I mean, we can sit here and we can say how disappointing for us were or whatever. But I just thought we kept them at bay. We stopped them from really doing anything. And when you look at that table and obviously the predicament we find ourselves in, there are a lot of teams who are not dissimilar to Forrest where if you just, if you can just keep them, I mean, you know, just keep them quiet because they haven't got lots and lots of talent. There's a lot of points available, isn't there Dave? There's a lot of points out there which can get us up to the table. And when you look at what the table in an alternative world would have looked like, you know, 11th place that win would have put us without the 10 point deduction. It does prove that we are on the right track and there are still a lot of points to be won. I agree with you. And, you know, there's definitely points coming up. I mean, tough games, tough games tomorrow night. And we'll see a time of recording. This is Wednesday, the 6th, isn't it? It is the 6th tomorrow night, Newcastle, you know, and then we've got Chelsea and we've got Burnley away. But there's points there, you know? And listen, I'm confident that we'll be okay. You know, I'm not being overly confident. I'm not taking, you know, I'm not getting too, too ahead of ourselves based upon Saturday's performance and the set of these results, but I think we'll be okay. Ned, you were telling me before, you were a little bit worried, just in general, obviously coming into the Newcastle game, but you know, just in general, what are you, how are you feeling about where we are right now? Obviously, we're still in the bottom three as we record this. Luton have just been beaten, Burnley have just beaten. That was a good, I was watching that last night on the way home. That was a well timed, you know, sort of winning goal, wasn't it? Oh, I checked, I was checking. I wasn't watching, I just, I couldn't watch just because I just couldn't be bothered. I just looked, I seen it was full, I seen it was full time before I saw it, it was four, three. I was like, oh my God, they've got one. And then I just flicked on the app and just checked the winning goal, but how are you feeling, Ned? How are you feeling about the whole thing at the moment? No, I think we're definitely on an upward trajectory. Easy for you to say, Ned, would you? I just feel like we've got a consistent 11, we're seeing the consistent performances, even the games where my drop points were still the same level of performance. We just, you know, we missed chances, but that's been something that we've seen a few times in the season. It's just a shame that, you know, early on in the season, and we spoke for the past few seasons, how important is to get our transfer business done early and we've seen that, you know, the failure to do so. We've missed those opportunities to be teams like Wolves, Fulham, and these are the teams that without, if we get our points back, we will be, you know, competing with around mid-table. Because in those games, you know, it was similar to the Forrest game, we didn't really give them much. Fulham and Wolves had nothing the whole game, basically, apart from the goals they scored, obviously. And we had the same, had a lot of chances, got at them, but just couldn't take those chances. So if we took out, if we'd done our business early, we might have had even more points. Absolutely right. It's a curious mindset at the moment, Dave. See, I find myself in because I don't know where you are, do you expect us to get any points back, Dave? No, no. It's a quick and the honest answer. And I'm not basing that on any inside information or anything like that, you know, and actually that's just a gut feeling and a snapshot reaction. You may tell me that actually there are, no, no, I'm genuinely, you know, you may have heard stuff that would indicate that perhaps the chances are more likely than I'm saying. I just personally, I don't think we're getting anything back. That's my gut feel. And I'd rather be in that situation as well in so much as if anything were to happen, then it would be a bonus. But in my mind, those points are gone now for the rest of season. We have to survive with the 10 point deduction. No, that's honestly, that's probably the best way to look at it. And I certainly haven't heard anything. I'm just looking round sort of the evident world and just gauging different reactions and obviously politicians and media and stuff. And certainly I think, I mean, when I've gone back over all ground, certainly I do think there's definitely a case that we can win some of those points back just because when you look at the reasons why they were taken off as it just seems nonsense. But that just, just getting away from that. That just puts me in a very strange mindset at the moment where I'm looking at the teams that were that are around us at the moment. And of course we want to get away from them. But then I've got a half an eye on your boar myths, your fulums, your forests, palaces, wolves. And I'm like, some of these games, you look at them and think, if this result happens, it might be bad for us right now. But you know, if we get some points back, you think that would help us, that it's such a... But you're absolutely right. We should play the ball where it lies. We shouldn't... Absolutely. We shouldn't really be worrying about that. And that's where I think Sean Dyson, certainly he's just done his press conference now. And I think that's his mindset. Get out the bottom three. Get to a position of safety. And then if we do get our points back, then it is a bonus to take us up the lead. Go on then. Well, I think it still shows how well we're doing, because there's a massive difference in the past couple of seasons. You know, we've been looking at the teams, you know, blows most of the time, thinking, well, we'll get our striker back soon. And that was the wrong mentality. Whereas now, I think Dave's absolutely right. But we've still got that... You know, we've been in the bottom three for the past couple of weeks because of the 10 points. But we're still looking at the teams above us and still thinking we can catch these and there's no worries. And I think that's down to how well we've been playing certainly away from home. Yeah, I mean, I should say, both saying it, it's just a... It's part hope more than anything else. It's part hope that we do get some points back. I don't expect us to get obviously 10 points back, but, you know, you will know this, Dave, from obviously being working around the EFL. Teams do seem to get points back on appeal, don't they? And it wouldn't be the first time this has happened. So it's just seeing some of those teams. I think it's more looking at last week and seeing that we would have been in 11th place and thinking, how impressive is that a start that we've got 11 points early December? And sorry, 11th place, sorry, with 17 points. And obviously, that's not the reality of where we are, but, you know, it just shows you how good the job was. Even going into that forest game, having more points than forest, and we've won, sorry, we've won more points than forest. Even that kind of stuff, that's what we've got to wake up, I suppose, with our mentality. I think so. And as you say, you know, the chances of getting some of the points back is, yeah, it's a possibility and it may happen and it has happened before, but I think my thing with that is, I just, in the world of football bodies and the management structure of these bodies, in order for the points, or some of the points to be awarded back, it has to be a bit of a hands up sort of acknowledgement of they got it wrong in a way. And I just, I think that that's unlikely to happen. Whether it should happen or not is an entirely different matter and I think we all know where we stand on that, but I just can't see them putting their hands up and kind of going, you know what, yeah, actually we got that wrong, we were over harsh, et cetera, et cetera. I just don't see them losing face in that way. And I think that the egos and the arrogance and, you know, all of those other wonderful words that float around these institutions, I think will make that unlikely in my opinion, but it is only my opinion and I would very much like to be proven. No, I agree, I totally, I think we all, as Evertonians, we've all become very skeptical, obviously, of the whole procedure and even though it is a new commission. Yeah, you're probably right. In a fair world, I think there's a lot of data, a lot of order, the evidence being published by a lot of well-informed Evertonians or people who work in legal departments or whatever, who've already basically proved that the 10 points are nonsense and proved that there's so many different things, whether it be West Ham with Tevez situation, Tottenham in the 90s, there's all kinds of things that prove that the 10 points are nonsense, but they'll always have an argument for it won't be the Premier League. So I mean, again, that's for a few months away and I suppose you probably do have to park that. And we've got two games coming up now, Dave, two massive games this week, Newcastle, as you've already mentioned, and then Chelsea at home on Sunday. If Everton could get, say, four points out of this, out of these two games, that would be amazing, wouldn't it? Because obviously the home form hasn't been great in terms of results. Shaun Dye said today that he actually thinks we've played better at home, just that we haven't taken our chances. But if we could get four points out of these two games, that would put us in a great position to start to, certainly you would imagine, well, that would get us out the bottom three of the margin by the end of Sunday, be at the end of the weekend. That put us in a great place going, obviously, to Bayley next week as well. It would, you know, obviously, it would put us in a great place, literally, in terms of where that would see us on the table. But also, I just think the bonus and the effect on the squad and the mentality as a whole would be huge if they were to get four points in those two games. It's not going to be an easy ask at all. We know that. I actually rate tomorrow night against Newcastle as being tougher for me than Sunday against Chelsea. I think so, yeah. You know, and certainly wouldn't have said that 18 months ago, but that's my feeling. You know, I see the echo whipping up a load of shite as well about Anthony Gordon coming back as well, you know, and they're stirring it there. So, you know, we'll see. But yeah, you know, it will be tough. But yeah, if we can get something out of those four points, it'd be amazing. No, Newcastle will be very difficult. And obviously, Anthony Gordon will be coming back looking to prove a point because he's in great form. And I don't quite understand why anyone needs to whip up anything about Anthony Gordon. I think we sold them because we needed to sell them. I don't think anyone was really that bothered. Evertonings, when Newcastle have got a great player and that it might turn out to be a bargain, but ever needed the money. And it's as simple as that. And we all know the position we're in. But Ned, you're a bit nervous about this game, aren't you? You're a little bit worried. I just think it's because of what's been built up over the fixture in the past couple of years, like a false rivalry. And like I was saying before, I never used to fear these at all as a team, certainly coming to Goddison. But with the past couple of years and we had the 2-2, which was, you know, such a full straight result. That's got to be one of my worst ever nights in football. Do you remember that one, Dave? Two-0 up in injury time. And obviously last year with a 4-1, which was... Even the 1-0 year before was a really horrible 10th atmosphere. It was such a relief at the end when they got the winner. And last year, the atmosphere was so tense, it was nervous. We got off to a really good... I'd say we looked like we were going to get off to a really good start, but we couldn't get that goal and then we just fell to pieces. I don't think... I think the likelihood that that can happen with this Everton team now is obviously B-3 in the United, but I don't think that was... I don't think we collapsed like we did in the 4-1 against Newcastle last year. And it's certainly not a team that I massively fear, same with Chelsea. I think the two average teams, I think... I watch Newcastle at Bournemouth and with a few players out, they're flat to deceive. I still think with the injuries they've got, they keep up being out, bottoming being out, I think they can be easy to get at. They're a way record, isn't great, Dave, which obviously gives us hope. Obviously Nick Pope, don't want to see anyone get injured, obviously, but Nick Pope's out for four months now. They've got... I think they play spares on Sunday, and they've got Milan on Wednesday night, so they've got big games ahead. They might see this as an opportunity to maybe, if they can, maybe leave a couple of players out who were struggling, and there had been talk, actually, that Anthony Gordon was one of them, but I can't see him missing this game, but it will be a different mentality. And I think also that the two games we've played in previously, both on a Thursday night, they've both come in April time as well, the business end where everyone's feeling it, where I think even though we've had the 10-point deduction, I think as a fan base, we all feel a little bit more relaxed, and that might help with this fixture. Well, it does, because as we said before, now that those points have gone, as a squad and as a club, we've got nothing to lose. Do you know what I mean? By any of these games, and therefore it's just a situation of like, let's just go in. I mean, even when you look at the entire... The entire bigger picture is that if we were to get relegated, there's a worst case scenario, is that there would actually be no shame in that based upon the fact that it will have come as a result of a 10-point deduction. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, absolutely. And so, therefore, the only achievement this season is to stay up, and anything beyond that is a bonus. But if we stay up and we finish 17th and we stay up on goal difference or by a point or something like that, that will be a victory that will be, you know, a mountain climbed. Be a victory for football, Dave. Pardon? Be a victory for football. It will be a victory for football and for common sense and for the, you know, for good people in the world. Yeah, I think it'll be celebrated worldwide, very much like the end of the turn of the Jedi. Yeah. I think it will very much be... There'll just be a shot of all different nations, and there'll just be fireworks and e-woks. E-woks and all those. It'll be fantastic. Yeah. Yeah, Chelsea, obviously, is tough, but... But again, they're a bit all over the place. It's beautiful, though, isn't it? Yeah, definitely they're all over the place, aren't they? But where do you see... Where do you see, like, you know, because we're coming, obviously, to December... We're in December. We're going to get to the halfway point soon. How many points would you like to see us, or where do you think would be a good retain for the rest of the month to get us to that halfway point when you start looking at, like, obviously, first half points tallies and second half points tallies? Wait, how many more points do you think we need this month to look at it and go, actually, this hasn't been a bad start of the season? I'm just looking at the fissures now, to be honest with you, just in terms of where... Where stuff potentially will come from. We've got Burnley, we've got Spanley away, Spears away. Manchester City. I'm just telling them, I'm telling the audience, then. We've got Man City at home, as they retain from the World Club Championships, so they'll all be knackered and everything. And then I think we've got Wolves away, is it? Wolves on the 30th, yeah. And then, obviously, then we're into the third round of the Cup at Palace, 6th of Jan. So, working backwards, right? There's points at Wolves, for sure, right? We're not going to beat Man City at home on the 27th, so we can forget that. Spurs away is going to be tough as well before Christmas. So, with that in mind, OK, let's optimistically take your prediction or your hope of four points in the next two, right? We then beat Burnley away, right? Seven points. Nothing at Spurs, nothing against City. I'm being realistic. Yeah, yeah, there's still seven points. And then, let us be conservative and say, we'd like to win at Wolves, but we'd take a point, eight points between now and the turn of the year is what I'm saying. Yeah, yeah, I had, I had seven, seven points. OK, to be honest with you, seven is probably more realistic. I mean, because when and I think I think the way that I would look at that is I think we're going to be going some to to get points out of Thursday night and Sunday. I think there's realistically more like three points there. I think we lose one, I think we win one. To be honest, I didn't even, I'm not even looking at it from a point of view of how many points will we get? Oaks, can we get? I'm looking at as actually what's not a bad retain for the start of the season. And I think if we get seven more points, I think that, you know, I think what would that be 24 points in reality? I don't think that's a terrible start to the season. I mean, if you double that and we end up with like 48. And I actually think in the second half of the season, we'll pick up more points than we will in the first half for all the reasons of more of a settled side, centre forwards, team being a little, you know, team as team being more together, know what it needs to do. I think you always pick up more points in the second half of the season anyway, when you sort of struggle, when you struggle inside, you know, we don't always get off to a great start. So I think if we get seven more points this month, I don't think it's been a terrible start to the season, considering where we were in the summer and how we were coming into the season. So then I don't think that's a... I mean, I know it's not a great retain, 24 points, and I know you've got to take 10 off that. But I'm looking in reality, you can't, you can't, you can't like, we can't be angry because someone took 10 points off us and say, we haven't got 34 points, can we? All we can say is the team, what have the team give us? And I think if we could get seven, if we could get eight and get us to like 25 points in reality, rather than what's on the table, I don't think that's a terrible retain, considering what we had last season and where we are as a football club right now and everything going on. And of course, in reality, that wouldn't be in reality, but then I think we can pick up more points second half and still get to say 40 points. Go on then. I think if you get to a point where you're 24 points, mid-20s, I think, certainly a Christmas, that's probably, you know, a points tally, that two of the three teams at the bottom that go down this season might not even get to. So I think what that does, it takes a lot of the pressure off, which is something that we've had for a few years now. We've had so much pressure going to that second period of the season. Unfortunately, we have got the 10 points and I think that does change things. That Burnley game is going to be, going to be huge. And I think there will be some shot results because there always isn't December. There's a lot of injuries. It's cold. You know, people are coming in the back of Champions League. There's a lot of games. So there's always some shot results. But I think if we can get to mid-teens, you know, not to worry about the 10 points for now, we'll just get as many points on top of the bottom of three as we can because we're still in at the moment. I think there's an idea as well, Dave, that people shouldn't get shocked when if Luton pick up points, if Burnley pick up points, if Sheffield. Because teams will always improve during the season. It's very, you know, it's not... We've had, obviously, we had like the Derby's when they got like whatever it was and we've had Norwich a couple of seasons ago. But teams will improve. Luton are improving week in and week out. You can't be shocked that they're going to pick up points because they will, I think, you know, the bottom three will all get around 30 points because they just will, they'll get to that stage. It's a case for us to get, obviously, more than that. Yeah, you know, when Chris Wilder will make Sheffield United better, I suspect certainly in the short term. No, you're right. And I'm not concerned about, you know, yes, I was, I was, I was... I mean, if it weren't for this situation, ordinarily, you know, it'd be great to see Luton get something against Arsenal, but not in this situation when, you know, directly affects us. So I was delighted when, you know, that fourth goal went in. But yeah, they will pick up points, of course they will. You know, they can't lose every week. But you'd like them to, but they won't. They won't lose every week. So yeah, we'll see what happens. Yeah, absolutely. I think, I think, I think we're OK. No, absolutely. And I said, going back to, going back to the forest game, I think you could see there's a structure there. There's two centre-backs know what they're doing. Yeah. Michael Encoe's starting to look a real good player. You've got options at right back as well. And of course, we do have the little thing hanging over as of the Coray's on four yellow cards, Brandt's on four yellow cards, Ashley Young's on four, but that's not as much of an issue because we do have two right-backs on the bench. I think a lot of teams are going to have them in... Of course they are, yeah. You're always looking at yourself, don't you? Not always looking at... But they are big players for us, aren't they? Yeah, yeah. They aren't necessarily... I don't know, Michael Keane will come back into the side and bless the fella, I don't want to see that. And the Coray's an odd one because I honestly don't know who's replaced the Coray. I don't know what they do. O'Nan is maybe Sunday he'll return and obviously it sounds like Dom's going to be back for tomorrow as well. So we're doing all right. We're all right where we are and things are not looking as bad as they probably were a week ago and I think that's the world sort of shown Dice lives in, isn't it? It is where he doesn't have those emotions like we do as football fans. He has that very level headed position of don't look at the table, I know what we want to do. Man United game wasn't as bad as everyone thought it was. It wasn't as bad as the score line suggested either. No, no, it wasn't. It wasn't. So yeah, we are where we are and hopefully we get some points for this week. Right, let's move into I think everyone's favourite bit and I'm looking forward to here. This is where Ned's going to shine, Dave. OK, I mean, to be honest with you, I think he's shined, shined already. Yeah, he has shined already. Christmas. You are, you could be, you could be mistaken for an angel. I wouldn't say so. OK. I played a farmer in the Nativity. You played the farmer in the Nativity. Yeah, that's interesting actually. I had one, and do you know what? I got a distinction star at theatre, at A level. I was amazing. I played Mickey, the lead of Blood Brothers. Oh yeah? Yeah, in primary they made me a farmer. I had like one line, it was like that way. Yeah, but surely that was primary, it was your early days. That's where you started. I was still probably the best actor there. The best farmer. But you know, they just had something to get me. Are any of these on your IMDB? No, Tovi TV and Blood Brothers. Daddy, yeah, it's my... So have you never thought of like taking... Because I reckon Dave's got connections. I reckon he could hook you up. No, I'd love to be, you know, I went to Lipper to do acting. Yeah. I've definitely got that sign. When did you go to Lipper to do acting? No, this is true. This has never been... No, I did an acting course. This has never been brought up. How have we not covered this? Yeah, 15 to 16, I was doing acting. And some of those acts, some of those people that were on there are in like soaps and stuff now, apparently. Name one. I don't know, I couldn't name someone from a soap. Ken Barlow. Ken Barlow is in your Lipper class. Ken Barlow. He wasn't at Lipper at the same time. He's just someone who... He's just someone who isn't in a soap. Oh, I see. I would suggest that Ken Barlow is older than you are. Yeah. So we're just randomly naming people who are in soaps now? Yeah, what I'm saying, the fact that I went to Lipper and people who are in soaps and he's in a soap, meaning Ken Barlow... Kali Manoak. Yeah, we're sort of like connected. So you're connected? Through Hollywood. Well, it's the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, isn't it? Well, that's... I've always thought, like, if there's any career I could go into, apart from this, it probably... And it's why, you know, the adverts have been... Yeah, I mean, the adverts are amazing. ...of flying. It would be acting, because I'm so versatile. Can you think of... Dave, have you... Sorry, I like that, because you're so versatile. He is so versatile. Dave, have you got any interest in, like, Seven Degrees of Kevin or Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon? You know, is there any one you are friends with and it leads you back to Hollywood? That's a tough question, Edward, to be honest with you, you know? And I honestly don't know off the top of my head. I don't think that I have got any Hollywood connections. Yeah. Or I could probably make some up, you know, or find some for next week. That's it. Do you know what? It's funny doing this. This is why I was asking you, because I'm sure you have got some and you just need to think, but we've had a few people in here who we now class as, you know, friends, show business friends. Andrew Galle, who's an actor, who has worked with Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevingne quite recently. He's worked with... He worked with Jared Harris, who is the son of Richard Harris, the first Dumbledore. Right, yeah. And when I was talking to them and when I was talking to him, I was just like... He was like, yeah, I've worked with this person and I've worked with that person and they're really famous people. Because he's been in a lot of... He's been in Black Midden as well, he's been one of the Black Midden. And I was like... So you know so-and-so, and they clearly... Like Cara Delevingne, obviously, is massively famous. Yeah. But she was in Grand Theft Auto 5. Yeah, radio presenters. She was one of the radio presenters. Didn't know that. So like, we are basically... Hollywood actors. Hollywood... Well, you are. Well, I actually got asked to support Andrew Gower's band. You did? I mean, I said sorry, mate. You said no? I'm playing and wigging or something. Maybe that was an opportunity to take, because there would have been PR men up there, obviously. They'd just been signed. Well, Andrew was in quite recently and he's got... He's in... Actually, I'm not allowed... I don't know if I'm allowed to say, but he's in it. He's in it. He's in the second series of a show that was on Not So Long with David Morrissey, which was set in Nottingham. It's not very much, yeah. And he was, you know... Glad you didn't give that away. No, no, no. I don't think... No, it's important to obviously keep that information under wraps, because, you know, had you effectively said what that secret project was, you know, to many, many millions of viewers around the world, then that could have been, you know, an unprofessional slip. Yeah, I did. I might have lost my opportunity to be in that series. But he was in his band. He's had a band and they were in Liverpool. And he has asked Ned a couple of times. Where did he play the first time? Was it the Jacaranda? The Jacaranda, yeah. He was in the Jacaranda. He asked Ned to play and Ned just basically went, No, I'm playing it wigging. Something like that. I think it was an Ashton or something like that. Ashton! You know. I mean, when you play Ashton, you dream of playing wigging. Yeah, that's it, yeah. I don't wigging in my early days and I'm flat as to disease. Did you act in wigging or just... No, I sang in wigging. Okay. But I acted quickly to get out of there. Oh! I can tell you what. Some dodgy gigs in wigging. It's all coming out. Anyway, let's... Oh, sorry. We'll leave that one with you, Dave. I reckon you've got loads. I mean, you mentioned Orlando Bloom before. And I mean, I can do you a fast track there because I've actually interviewed Orlando Bloom. I remember this. He came in when me and Chappers were doing a Saturday show, I think. We were covering for somebody and Orlando Bloom came in and it was in his fairly early days when he wasn't such a big mega deal as he is now. Chappers or Orlando Bloom? Both, arguably. You know, yeah, yeah. So, yeah, he came in to be interviewed by the likes of us. Hasn't Orlando Bloom always been a big deal though? Literally like the first thing I ever seen him in was Lord of the Rings. Well, I mean, he's always... I mean, he's got the sort of name that would imply that he was destined for great things. I mean, it's difficult to imagine Orlando Bloom not being a mega big deal. But it's not like he had a sword. He was just an arrow guy. He was barely a big role. He was just an arrow guy. He was just the arrow guy. Wasn't he? He was the cool elf. No. What do you even know? He had a nice... He had cool hair and an arrow. He was an elf. What's that arrow doing? It's killing things. No. It's killing. Just on that day, just while we're on that for a moment, I've seen you had gone for a cheeky pint with the Chappers recently. How was he? Good form? Yeah, he was on good form. Thank you. He was down in London briefly for a meeting about something. And he said that he was around. I mean, we talk... It's nice that he's not forgotten, yeah. Well, do you know what? We've genuinely... We've been good mates for the last 25 years. Yeah. So, yeah, we catch up regularly, and it's always the case of, right, next time you're down, you've got time for a pint, give me a shout, or next time I'm up north, I'll come and stay and see you and the kids. Yeah. So anyway, he was down. We had a quick catch up, and then he was on his way. He's the working man's David Guerrero, I always think. Yeah, I mean... Yeah, I mean, he... In fact, I'm not going to say what I was going to say. Yeah. All I'm going to say is that he would find... He would find that flattery. Both of them, of course, were radio one sports presenters back in the day. That's the link. There's nothing... There was a lot of time ago. There's no weird undertone. I mean, because basically, if you go and look at anyone who presented the news or sport on your breakfast show, Dave, you'll just see them everywhere, won't you now? They're on the news, they're on present match of the day. Yeah. They've all done very well for themselves, fair play to them. Absolutely. It's been a successful alumni, and that's not a word that I use often, but they are. Do you? Yeah. Very much like a very productive academy. Like Man City. Like a good vintage year, yeah. Very good. You also were in Liverpool last week. You didn't tell us, but you were there. But you got to go and see the ground in all its glory. I did. What were your... Have you seen it? Have you been down there before? And what were your feelings towards it? Well, first of all, and I thought that this may come up, they just say that unfortunately, I never had a chance to pop in and see you in person because it was very much a flying visit. Arrived on Thursday. Tea time was out Thursday night in town. Fair play. And then in the morning and then back on the road. However, I did, as you rightly say, managed to squeeze in a chance to go and have a look at the new ground for the first time. I have been down... I've been around there before. I've driven down there many, many years ago, but I've not been there since any of the construction had taken place. I'd obviously been updated with stuff that we've seen, various drone shots and various different stages of development. But it was a beautiful sunny blue sky day as well in Liverpool last Friday morning. It was perfect. So I went to go have a look and I parked up and I went for a little nosy. And even though it did say in big letters on a big sign, don't take any pictures. Don't put them on social media. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I thought I'd take my chance, obviously. Because I thought, well, I'm not just any civilian. I'm here on behalf... This is a business trip. I'm here on behalf of Toffee TV. So therefore, I took that as my visa, if you like, to cross the threshold into an area which I was not permitted to be in ordinarily. And I took a couple of pictures and then I took another one, like a panoramic shot from outside the Bramley Mall pub as well on the main road before sort of quickly getting out of the way of a cement mixer. There's a lot of them around there. You know, they are a major hazard in that part of the world. But I managed to avoid that successfully and got back in my car with a couple of snaps of the stadium. And I'll just say it was very, very exciting. Oh, yes, it is. I just think it's going to be an incredible thing. And actually to see it in the flesh was, yeah, it was really quite stirring, if that's the word. No, it is. It's fantastic. I did notice you were out with Mr. Mark Rowan as well. I was out with Mr. Mark Rowan. Good guy. Ex-Everton, of course. Waits for the AFL now, doesn't he? I was all right. I'll be honest, Dave. I was in the company of on Wednesday, Tom Hanks. And then on Thursday, I was in the company of Ralph Fiennes. So I was... You weren't asked that we were in town anyway. I wasn't too bad. Ralph Fiennes is doing Macbeth in Liverpool. And it was amazing. They didn't know that. They were in the company of you, though. So you can't just say... You say that. That's like me just looking at Mac. You say that. I'm all on going, look. I'm making my Mac. You say I was 10 foot away from Tom Hanks one night and 10 foot away from Ralph Fiennes the next night. I was living the life. Dave could probably get you on the phone with Tom Hanks. I mean, no. Maybe. He's got those connections. I mean, he was on the one show the other night with Tom Hanks, along with George Cludy. There was a line up. Did you see that? I didn't, but I saw Graham Norton a tremendous line up of... Wasn't it just? I mean, presumably, was that the first show back of a new series? Because I've not seen it for a while, but I saw that over the weekend and I thought to have Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, who else was on there? Oh, Cher. She was on there. And she doesn't look 77, does she? No. And somebody else... Yeah, the little Wonka lad. Oh, the little... Yeah, yeah, yeah. The little Wonka lad. The good doctor. Yeah. I'm not the good doctor. What are you talking about? No, no, no. The guy, the new lead in the new Wonka film. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I know his name. I just can't remember it right now. No. Yeah, I did. All those Tom Hanks stories, anyway, on Wednesday, basically. Well, because exactly, because you were there. Meanwhile, and again, as things sort of, you know... Timothy Shalamath. That's his name. There you go. Whereas I was actually... I walked past, you know, the aforementioned Jack O'Randa as well. On Thursday. See? Oh, full circle. There you go. There you go. Let's get into some of your questions. Stuart says, if Evan could overtake the 10-point penalty on the condition, they'd have to play in red all season and run out so you'll never walk alone. Would you agree to it? We might get a few penalties here and there, but I'm going to have to say no. No, Dave, that would definitely... No. No, I'm not having that. I mean, you know, listen, we... You know, they can take away our points, but they can't take away our pride. No, they've already taken that. They've already taken that. And our dignity. They've taken that. And our genuine knowledge of right and wrong. Absolutely. And for that, you know, we will stick to our morals. Absolutely. No principles. Carla says, what food or drink do you not understand how people can like? Baz obviously clearly doesn't like orange clubs. No, because I'm not like Baz. And if people like the foods, everyone's got different taste buds and different opinions. I wouldn't just... You know, when Baz said that he would abolish pork pies, I took that personally. And that made me really angry. So I'm gonna not be like Baz. Don't be like Baz. Because that's Tory behaviour. I'm gonna let people... Don't think you can say that. I'm gonna... All I just said that, because this is my show now. I'm gonna let people... What about you, Dave? I'm gonna let people enjoy their own foods. I mean, yeah, you're the mayor of this town now, Ned. I was surprised by the venom that Baz fired towards orange clubs. I actually am quite partial to an orange club. In fact, if I had a selection of club biscuits in front of me, and I can only think of the minty ones and the orange ones, I can't think of any other plain, presumably, as another one. There was a one as well, wasn't there? Okay, yeah. Well, if I had a selection in front of me, I would probably go for the orange one first. How about that for a statement? So there's not many things I struggle with to be honest. There's things I don't like. I don't really see the point of celery on the point of, you know, I don't particularly like the taste. I don't like fresh coriander, but that's been discussed on this show before. Many, many times. Many times. Coriander always comes up. Yeah. What else don't I like? I'm not keen on mushrooms, but that's more of a texture thing. Yeah. See, what I don't get is, just on Baz's, he will eat other orange chocolate. He just won't eat orange chocolate. Well, that's weird, then, isn't it? Because I can understand that people who don't like the fruit and chocolate kind of combo and the certain people who, you know, wouldn't go near a Terry's chocolate orange, for example. Whereas I can happily eat the whole thing in one bite. See, I can't be, I don't understand, though people can still be eating food that you got with a ration book in the Second World War. I can't be. I can't be. I love can't be. I just don't understand. It's not for me. Now, in this day and age, with all the options, I just don't understand how people are still eating that food. It's nice to have different things, though, isn't it? That's disgusting. And sometimes I want to, like, just eat corned beef. Fair enough. Fair enough. Thed says, have any of you ever had an awkward Christmas receiving or giving experience whereby your reaction or the recipient's reaction was negative, angry or awkward, horrible position to be in, whether giving or receiving. PS, 57 continuous seconds is my P record. I'm not sure why. Oh, and I know why because, in fact, we never resolved this. And I'm glad that we brought this up, or this was brought up by Fed. And obviously, Fed hasn't said, whether this is a question to, to, to Ped or Ned, has he? No, Fed's just keeping the Peds and Ned together. But what he's referring to is the fact that we were talking about somebody timing their P the other week. We said that we were going to, to each... In fact, we did all put a time down. Dave said 27 seconds. There you go. And we never actually resolved who the winner was. But I feel like we can't really do that now because it has to be a bad thing when it comes back. We'll save that. Yeah, can we save that, Ned? What about the first one then? What about giving or taking as it, as it was of Christmas presents any bad reactions? Oh, yeah. But my ex was a nightmare for that. Really? She would, she would, she'd write me a list. I'd get everything on list and she'd be, and then she'd kick off bad. Okay. Like bad. My, I had a, I had an unfortunate secret Santa incident a few years ago when I was working for another production company. And we obviously, you know how secret Santa works. You know that you have to buy a present for somebody in there and they know not who it's from. And I happened to get the boss as my one, which is always a risk. So I decided to buy him a book. You know those books where they're like so and so for dummies, you know, like Aldring for dummies or, you know, whatever martial arts for dummies with the sort of the yellow print. Well, this was kind of like, this was like management for dummies. Oh God. So I thought it would be funny to get in this book. But the problem was is that the way that the table arrangement were as, and this was just unlucky on the night of the night of the Christmas dinner is that there was him, then there was me and then there was another mate of mine. Right. And so the guy who got the management for dummies was a bit, was miffed kind of going, who do you think's got me that? And I think he was really worried that it was some kind of sort of personal attack or a sort of slight on his skills. And I'm sitting there thinking, well, it's just a bit of a laugh. And anyway, he, he, he, once he knew it was from me, he felt better about the situation. But for a good hour and a half, I'd say he wasn't very happy with it at all. And he thought it was maybe the sign of some kind of like uprising or perhaps even a revolution from among the ranks. The French were coming. Yeah. It's almost as if there was some kind of, you know, attempted coup going on down the bottom of the table. This is from all of us. The French there. Mine would be, I think my sister bought me a scouting for girls album once. It was lashed back at her. That's awful. That was literally just lashed. And then, and then a few years later, I think she brought me, she bought me the Bradley Walsh had an album out. And it was actually number one. And she actually. Classics. She bought me it. And again, I, it, I, my reaction was a little bit more restrained, but I think it was one of them where I, it just conveniently stayed in my mum and dads. It was one of them. Oh, I forgot. I'll get that next time. But I think she was taking the piss on that one because she knew how much I ate at the scouting for girls one. I literally threw it back at her. I just went, don't ever, ever, ever, ever buy me scouting for girls. I got you a Cobra Kai top. You did? And you went from Tesco. Yeah, I did say that. Yeah. But that's fair enough. Right. I'll do one more because I know Dave's a very busy man. He only have lots, he'll have lots to do. Right. Exactly. So this is going to be the last one. This is from not so paper like he said, would you rather find out that the universe was created a couple of days ago and all your memories and knowledge are fake, or find out you're in a coma right now. And this message is from your doctor using advanced technology to try and wake you up. Oh, because I sometimes think that I was like, what if this isn't real? Yeah. But you're in the matrix. Both are bad, aren't they? What about you, Dave? I've never really thought about being in a coma before. No, I haven't. Honestly, I mean, maybe people have done, but I've never really thought about being in a coma. So if you hear that drilling, by the way, that's the roof. No, I can't hear it. I can't hear. Yeah, it's weird. I don't think there's any issue saying it. My sister was in a coma for a very long time. Yeah. And I don't think she has any, I don't think she has any, she doesn't remember anything. I don't think, because people often, I think people, we often think it's like a sleep or whatever, but I don't think she's got any, any knowledge of what went on while she was in that coma at all. So it's not like you're plodding around, like you're in the matrix or something and you're living another life. She swears she hasn't got any idea what happened while she was in there. I choose the first one because I've had a few embarrassing moments. Someone shouted, see, let's see, Matty. And I turned around in the car park and said, see, it's the wrong person. I didn't know they were that way. I just went, what? It's just lovely. Is that way? Is that seriously where all of your existence being fake? Yeah, because there's a few of those memories, like I jumped the queue by accident once and then someone went, I'm just in front of you. And I went, well, I'm here now. I'm going to go coma because I'm thinking if I wake up, we haven't had the 10 point deduction. It's all a figment. Do you know what I mean? But for a good week or so, I genuinely would sort of wake up thinking that maybe I dreamt it. Yeah. But, you know, I do that a lot working with Ned. Yeah, just maybe today was just a dream. Maybe working with me is a dream. This is what I was going to say. There's a literal element to this, Ned. It is a dream. And now that you are the mayor of this town. Mayor of that. Yeah. I think it's even more dreamy and it's our privilege. And as is the one that's missing out by not being able to be one of your subjects. I just can't believe he revealed I've known this young man for what? The best part of four years. This is the first time I've ever heard that he went to Lippa. No, I didn't know that either. I mean, it's, you know, I think in a way it makes us love you even more, Ned. And having been to Lippa and on this podcast now three times, I'm now more famous than anyone in the jungle. My only issue with you being in Lippa is now I'm starting to think that it is all just a big act. No, I'm a good actor. And this is part of a project that after... I see, you know, yeah, reality is morphing. Yeah. This is my chosen personality. You're going for some kind of... I don't know if you can do a doctorate in acting, but this is all part of your PhD. It's not, but like this... See, like, I could be a different person when, like, before I switched on angry. This electric better be on by one o'clock, lad. I'm one of them. The acting... Got the leaky back on. Got the leaky back on. Fair play. Yeah, fair play. Right, I think on that, on that, we're going to have to end it right there, because that's a perfect place to leave it. Ned is, we've just discovered, Lawrence Olivier contention for next year, I think, I think so. Thanks everybody. The crowd says it all. We hope them for two victories over the next two games, and we'll be back next week. Thank you all for watching. Thank you to Dave, as ever, for joining us. See yous all later.