Sky Sports Premier League Podcast
The Football Show - Neville, Souness, Hasenhuttl & Hodgson
29 Apr 2020
Chapter 1: What can we expect from today's Football Show?
Good morning and welcome to the football show. What a morning we have in store for you today. It is Wednesday, if you're still keeping track. And if you do know what day it is, then you're probably doing something very important in keeping us all on track. So thank you very much for that.
With us this morning, definitely Gary Neville and possibly Graham Souness, Wi-Fi permitting, if we get a hold of him. We'll also hear from Roy Hodgson and we'll hear from Ralph Hasenhutl. We'll also be joined by the Leeds MD, Angus Kinnear. And we think you're going to love it.
We're still fighting for this title and he's got to go to Middlesbrough and get something. And I'll tell you, honestly, I will love it if we beat them. Love it.
We will return to that iconic Premier League moment a little bit later on in the programme. Graham Sooners has been busy with a Pritt stick and a paperclip and his internet is back up and working. So we'll be hearing from Graham very shortly as well. In the meantime, though, Matt Letissier and Patrick Davison sat down to speak to Ralph Hasenhutl earlier this week.
Thanks very much for joining us. I thought we might actually start with your playing career because it ran at exactly the same time as Matt, who's obviously with us. Just tell us firstly, what kind of a player were you?
Me? Not too much speaking about me as a player, I think. I was a typical striker, centre forward, wall player if you want. Less running, I think that is a little bit to compare with Matt.
Thanks very much. Would you have been familiar with Matt Letizia when you were playing? Because football was a bit more parochial then, wasn't it? There was English football, Austrian football, German football. It wasn't as global then. So every now and again, would you see highlights of a Letizia volley back home?
Yeah, I saw the goals. Fantastic technique and fantastic strikes. I was always a big fan of English football. I had two chances to come to England as a player, but I didn't make it. The signing period, I think it was called, I was training there for two weeks. But I didn't make it. I wasn't good enough, maybe. And I would always like to play in England as a player.
I enjoyed the football very much. And when you tell me to that time that I one time be a manager in this league, I would tell you that you have to change your medicine because I would never believe that this would happen. But I'm very, very happy that I get the chance to be here as a manager and enjoy every day to work here.
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Chapter 2: What insights does Ralph Hasenhüttl share about his playing career?
Are you thinking the players will see this, the owners will see this, the fans will see this? I've got to pick my words here. These are still important moments for me. Or is it just, I don't want to be here?
I think we have always very important moments when we step in front of the camera because the message we bring is always very, very impactful for everybody when we say something and that we have to know all the time. I can remember that... I received a SMS from Alex Ferguson. I didn't know him before and maybe if I've never lost 9-0, I would never have contact with him.
So it was a positive thing of this result I think. And it was really helping me and it was giving me a lift also because you as a manager you're also down and try to find something you can handle on. But in the end, I will have to live with this result my whole life. But when you have the re-game one-to-one, then the end of the story is a good one.
And finally, it can help you to become a more experienced manager anyway.
I just wanted to ask, because you just mentioned in your earlier answer about wanting football, the league to finish. What do you make of the various plans to finish football? Maybe like the...
isolation camps and also how close they seem to be getting in germany with a date almost set in stone now i think we are a little bit ahead here in germany because they really found a way to to minimize the risk with very clear rules how you can handle a session i know that they are training sometimes still four weeks now
since the shutdown so in the shutdown they were always training and had a few contacts with a few managers and asked them how they did it what they were focusing on and and they handled it very well and we all know that the most important thing is to stay healthy and to minimize the risk there's a lot about testing a lot about the organization around the sessions how you eat together how you shower together and everything
And they were always training in smaller groups. They now start to train in bigger groups.
up to the yeah 11 against 11 games that really prepare you for the league and in the end also the games are under strict rules and it would be interesting to see how they handle it but they have a clear plan and i always said when there's a clear plan that you can do it then we want to do our job yeah and that's what everybody wants to do you everybody when the shops are opening
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Chapter 3: How did Ralph Hasenhüttl manage the aftermath of a 9-0 defeat?
And I think we felt we could catch Newcastle because their defence was weak, weaker than their attack. We felt as though we could get at them from a point of view. We had to go up to St James' Park. And I think that teams that are conceding goals on a run-in, it's a really, really bad thing to do. And I think we felt we could...
claw back at Newcastle whereas there were other champions that obviously over the years got in front of you like I mentioned the Jose Mourinho team once they got in front of you you just never get them back because they were too solid too reliable good character so yeah we were confident with them.
Graham what were the sort of mind games that were played under the managers that you played for because I know they were very forthright in the dressing room did they try and play that out in the public arena by talking to the newspapers for example?
I can only ever once remember Bob Pacey doing anything remotely psychological. We were playing Aberdeen in the European Cup and he signalled out Gordon Strachan and said, you know, he's a fabulous player and it's not a matter of time before he plays and won the big clubs in England and stuff like that. And then, whether it was a month, two months later, he actually said,
to somebody who wasn't me personally, that he had said that, hoping that Gordon would try and win the game on his own, having too many touches. So he was obviously worried about him. He was trying to encourage him to win the game on his own. And that's the only time I can think that he was cute. Bob Paisley was extremely cute. And that's the only time I can think of anything remotely like that.
We were always just concerned with what we did. I think for Fergie, I think he got the response of Kevin that he wanted, you know, because obviously the Newcastle players would have looked at that. Yeah, great television, great headlines for the newspapers. And I think it showed a nervousness that maybe I've been around Newcastle at that time.
You know, Newcastle haven't won anything since 1968, the first cup. So, you know, they were so close though in touching distance to winning that trophy. And I just think, you know, players that have not been down that road before do get nervous. And I think that's exactly how it panned out.
You know, Fergie, with the team he had, vast experience of winning trophies, and they just kept their nerve better than Newcastle did. You know, Newcastle played a brand of football that was, you know, everyone was talking about, everyone wanted to watch. But if you're a seasoned pro, you know that always trying to go out with one thing in mind, you know, just outscore everyone we play against.
you've got to be extremely special to get away with that on a hard nine months of an English Premier League season. That will bite you somewhere along the line. You've got to be more pragmatic. You've got to be nicking games. It's because you've lost some of your best attacking players. You've got to have a plan B on occasion.
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Chapter 4: What are the challenges of managing a team in the Premier League?
He was still passionate about following Leeds United's fortunes, always had time for staff and players and wanted to help them with his advice and perspective. So I think the least we could do was name the stand after him. And he's in great company because the other stands are Don Revy and John Charles. So it shows the level of esteem everybody here at Leeds holds him in.
And people sitting in the Norman Hunter stand could potentially next season be watching top flight football again at Leeds United.
It's a difficult position to be in when you're in prime position at the top of the championship, trying to think about what's best for the good of the game, trying to think about the health of supporters and, of course, of your staff, including the playing staff at the club. So what's your position on how best
Well, I mean, our primary objective throughout this crisis has been the health and safety of our players and staff. So that's been at the forefront of our minds and of our actions. We then look to try and focus on the financial continuity of the business and keeping everybody in employment. You know, we have 200 full-time staff and 2,000 part-time staff. So that's been very important.
And then the third thing has really been about trying to focus on seeing whether we can find a safe way to return to play. The priority has to be that it's safe to do so. It has to be safe for the players. But we think it's the right thing to do in the long term, that when the time is right to return to football,
the first thing we do is we finish the business of last season, maintain the integrity of the league. And I think it's not just everyone will say we're a vested interest in saying that, but we actually think across the championship, the desire really is to finish what we started.
Angus, how difficult could that be practically if we go past that June 30th deadline, if it is September, as we're hearing from other European countries, and there are contracts the playing staff potentially. How difficult is it then to start thinking about completing this season rather than starting a new one?
I think the longer it goes on, the more challenging it gets from a contractual perspective. What I have been really encouraged by is the collegiate way that all of football is trying to work together to solve these issues. And we've already had discussions with players that we have on loan and their clubs.
And we've had discussions with the EFL and ultimately with UEFA because we have some international loans and some international contracts. situations that we need to resolve. And we think there's a collective intent to find solutions. And I don't think it's beyond the wit of man that if we work together, we can find those solutions and complete the season, even if it goes beyond June the 30th.
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