WDYM What Do You Mean?
WDYM What Do You Mean?
Ride the Rollercoaster of Premier League Passion (Episode 1 of the Red Toffees)
What does it mean to truly support a football club through thick and thin? We promise to give you a heartfelt exploration on this episode of the WDYM podcast, where the Red Toffee Show takes you into the heart of Premier League football. I'm Michael Gillespie, I trace the journey of the Premier League since 1992 and reflect on Manchester United's golden era under Alex Ferguson, discuss the club's struggle to find consistent leadership post-Ferguson, and analyze what a 3-0 loss to Liverpool signifies for their future. Together, we ponder the potential revival strategies and the critical role of youth development at Old Trafford.
Flip the script as we shift our focus to Everton Football Club, a team that embodies resilience in the face of adversity. I share my personal connection to Everton, revealing how American stars like Landon Donovan and Tim Howard fanned the flames of my passion for the club. We recount the highs and lows, from financial hurdles and point deductions to the heartbreak of recent losses, including a last-minute collapse against Bournemouth. Amidst the frustrations from the fan community and calls for managerial change, we argue for patience and persistence, underscoring the importance of sticking by the team through their ongoing battles with injuries. Join mw for an episode that captures the emotional rollercoaster of being an Everton fan and a Premier League enthusiast.
Be Apart of the Show!! Text and Talk!!
Get $10 off of Dr. Squatch soap right now!
Use the code WDYM
www.drsquatch.com/WDYM
Email me! Thewdympodcast@gmail.com
Intro by Kobeofei via Fiverr
Season 2 Artwork: Ishida1694 via Instagram
you're listening to the wdym and welcome to the Red Toffee Show. I'm your host. Michael Gillespie of the WDYM Just want to throw out this is still a WDYM podcast, but we're going to dedicate some time to one of my favorite activities. Sports to watch is the Premier League over in England Premier League football, or soccer as we call it over here in the States. There's no other person I would like to share this experience with is with my friend, sean.
Speaker 1:Sean is a huge Red Devil fan, or a Manchester United fan, and we met in culinary school and when I started talking about the show about last year with him about it, he was like, yeah, that sounds like a good idea, let's do it. So had to get the idea, the premises, the music and then the artworks coming too to do the Red Toffee show with him. And right now we're just trying to get times aligned, dates aligned so we can do this show and hopefully good now will be a good time because we are at the international break, we're three weeks into premier league and, uh, we have some things to talk about now, normally now again, um, he's a a Manchester United fan and I am a Everton Football Club fan. Both were in the Premier League and everything. So I thought the show would be something that we could have fun with, put it out there, discuss what happened this week and everything. So that's what the Red Toffee Show is about. Hope you guys will enjoy it, like it and always, always, text and talk the show Anytime you want. You click on the link in the show description, but let's talk about the Premier League and maybe give you some information about it that you may or may not know if you're not a English football fan.
Speaker 1:The Premier League has been around since 1992, and Manchester United is synonymous with the Premier League because they have been the standard for a majority of the time the Premier League has existed. They've had over 13 championships in its existence, with the last one coming in 2012 and 2013, that year and they've been dominant since the 90s and early 2000s. To say that they're struggling is, to me, is ridiculous. We'll get into that reason why later. We'll get into that reason why later. Manchester United has always been somewhere close to the championship of the Premier League for the longest time. They are one of the only six clubs that have never been relegated out of the Premier League and, speaking of that, that's one of the things that I like about the Premier League is relegation and promotion. You can't tank a season like in the NFL. You can't just sit back and say, hey, we're going to wait and draft this person that's coming out of college, so we're not even going to try this year. If you don't try, you get relegated, which means less money, less TV exposure and an embarrassment. If you are one of the top, if you are one of the six clubs that's never been relegated out of the Premier League. Those six teams are Arsenal, chelsea, everton, liverpool, manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur.
Speaker 1:One of the things that has been happening lately for Manchester United is that they cannot get out of the ghost of Alex Ferguson. Alex Ferguson was their most famous coach. He coached from 1986 to 2013, winning championships and then coaching some of the best players of the world the Wayne Roonies, the David Beckhams, paul Scholes, I think his name is. There's been so many good players to come out of Manchester United. It's amazing how he was able to coach so many egos and stuff to put it all together to form Manchester United. It's amazing how he was able to coach so many egos and stuff to put it all together to form Manchester United. And then you got the stadium too. The stadium Old Trafford is notoriously famously known around the world.
Speaker 1:You could argue that Manchester United is one of the most popular brands of football ever, but they're struggling. They're struggling right now when it comes to success. Now, when I say success and the success that Manchester United has, their standards are ultra high, rightfully so. 13 championships says that they have the right to have a high standard of football. Since Alex Ferguson is retired, they've had six managers since Alex Ferguson and they struggle each and every time because their standards are so high. Their standards are so high that if they win 53%, that's not good enough for them. They lose 10 games. That's not good enough for them. They lose 10 games. That's not good enough for them. And they rightfully I guess rightfully so. When you are Manchester United, you have this standard of excellence and these new managers are not doing it Now.
Speaker 1:Granted, are they given the time that Alex Ferguson has? No Again. Alex Ferguson coached from 1986 to 2013. Let that sink in for a minute. He was the coach for that long. There's no patience in England football. So they're not giving the time that Alex Ferguson has, and maybe that's the problem at Manchester United Don't know and, honestly, I don't care. So, again, me being an Everton fan fan we don't have time for this now. This today, today's game, manchester united they lost three to nothing to liverpool. Now, as an everton fan, I do not like the color red and I have no idea what's going on at Manchester United. Again, this club is synonymous with success and finishing seventh is not. It's not in the books for any person in Manchester who is a Manchester United fan. They lost three to nothing and I don't know what they are doing as far as how are they going to rebuild that success that Alex Ferguson had?
Speaker 1:From what I'm seeing, they're trying to do a youth movement where they're trying to build their club from within, and I believe that is one of the things that made Manchester United successful. They had a good farm system where they could have these people, or they're able to pick and choose whoever they want to come to Manchester United, and I think that's no longer the case. They can't just pick and choose whoever they want, and I think their current manager, eric Tinhag, I think his idea is to build from within, and they do have the talent. I'm not going to lie, they are talented. They have enough talent to be successful in the Premier League where they don't have to worry about relegation. No, they want Champions League football. Enough talent to be successful in the premier league where they don't have to worry about relegation. No, they want champion champions league football. And that's a I believe that's a top four finish in the premier league. Yeah, top four automatically gets a spot in the champions league where they compete all over europe for it to be the champion of champions, so to speak, and that's another. That's another thing all within it. That's a whole other thing to tackle.
Speaker 1:Manchester United has not had the success nowhere remotely near they had with Alex Ferguson and then, on top of the 3-0 defeat, it begs the question what's going on with Manchester United? Now, again, some people will be like do we need to sack or fire the manager for Manchester United? And with three games into it, the answer is no. Nobody should be going anywhere close to sacking a manager three games into it. Yes, they've lost twice, but they have a win. One win. Yes, they've lost twice, but they have a win. One win, another additional win 14th to 7th. It's too early to panic for people. They shouldn't be anywhere near worried, even after losing Liverpool today. Right now Liverpool is on a whole different level than some of the other teams in the Premier League.
Speaker 1:So after the international break, manchester United does have a game against Southampton at Southampton and I believe that they will get back on a winning track. They will beat Southampton September 14th at 7.30 in the morning. That's going to be an interesting game to watch on September 14th. So that's my prediction for their game. Their next game they should beat southampton easily in my book. So that brings us over to my club, everton football club.
Speaker 1:Now, being a everton fan is probably one of the most difficult times in recent history. Like I said before, everton has never been relegated from the Premier League and the last three years we have been challenging that notion of relegation, of relegation it's, it's if you've been, if you've been doing something for since 1992, being in the top status of the league, just staying in the best league, arguably around the world, and to fight relegation is crazy to me. Talk to I. I have a friend of mine who is a older man, who is a huge everton fan, and last season, last season, I was like hey, how do you think we want to do? He's a I. He's from. He's from liverpool. He's like we're gonna get relegated this season. I said what I said no, no way. So he thought we were getting relegated last season.
Speaker 1:And then we have something called financial fair play, where we make sure our books are in line and everything, so we don't get in trouble with the FA. And we got deducted 10 points. So again, let me backtrack a little bit. Every time you win, you get three points. So we were deducted 10 points last season and we still didn't get relegated.
Speaker 1:So this team likes to fight, and what I mean by that is that we're scrappy. We don't have the talent as manchester united, and that's why I love everton football club. I love everton football club because of that reason. We're not like the most shiniest star in the premier league, but you, you can't come to our home grounds and expect to win. You can't. You know, when you play everton football club, you're expecting a battle, right, you're expecting a fight when you come to goodison park and on top of that, two american stars, landon Donovan and Tim Howard, were stars on the team, and that's why, when, after the World Cup came around, I was like, well, they play for Everton. And then, you know, premier League football was on, I think, on ESPN, and joined to NBC now, and that's why I follow Everton.
Speaker 1:I love Everton Football Club. It's just, that's my, that's my team. Okay, we fight and we have a catchy song, okay. So that's why I love everton. You know, blue jerseys, anthems. We got the fighting. We not I keep saying fighting how scrappy we are, it's just everything.
Speaker 1:The stadium, the way goodison park is, it just does something to me. I love it. Okay, I love everything football club and the fight we have these past three years is exhausting. It is exhausting because we're fighting for our lives. You know, we're trying to stay in the top league of england football when manchester united doesn't have to worry about that. They don't have to worry about that. They don't have to worry about that at all. All they got to do is just play and they'll finish seventh or eighth. I would love to take a seventh or eighth spot for Everton, but no, we're not doing that. We're fighting at the bottom of the league and we're in week three and we have three losses already and it's rough. It's rough to see.
Speaker 1:I watch every game and we have lost some bad games. Now, what was the expectation? Was the expectation to win every game. No, it was not Okay. Let's just be honest before we start. I was not expecting to beat Brighton they beat us 3-0. I was not expecting to beat Tottenon they beat us 3-0. I was not expecting to beat Tottenham they beat us 4-0. The only problem I have is how many goals scored they scored in two games. We're down seven Now.
Speaker 1:As the league progresses and as the season goes, that matters, because goals for, goals against, counts. If we are tied with the record, if we both have, if us and let's just keep using another team, southampton have the same identical record, but their scores are 1-2-1, 2-0, and we're getting blown out 3-0, 4-0, that counts, that counts. So was I expecting us to beat Brighton? No, was I expecting us to beat Tottenham? No. Was I expecting us to beat Bournemouth? Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 1:And watching the game and everything and feeling high on everything, we were up two to nothing in 86 minutes. So we have 86 minutes plus. So we have four minutes left, plus any injury time or time left over, and we had six minutes of extra time. How did we lose an extra time? We lost again. We were up two to nothing. We made substitutions because 86, you know, around that time we should be which 80. It's the 86 minute. We we're up to nothing. There's no way a club's going to score three goals in four minutes, plus six minutes, plus 10 minutes of extra time. No Board of Minutes does the unthinkable and scores three goals All in extra time. We lose 3-2.
Speaker 1:I have never been in disbelief ever before like that. It was so bad that again, I was in shock. I sat there on the couch like what just happened, because Everton football looked like Everton football of the past. That was not Everton of the past two, three years. We had shots, we had shots, we had shots on goal, we had someone dribbling, we had someone that was making making it a threat to score each and every time we touched the ball. We haven't had that in the past two to three years and only to lose in that extra time. I was in shock because that's that. That doesn't happen. I sat there on the couch like no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Unbelievable.
Speaker 1:So, yes, the first three games, everything's played. We've lost all three games and again, being part of the Facebook club, the Facebook groups and everything, people are asking for the coach to be sacked, to be fired from his job, and it's too early for that. It is too early for that. We are three games in. Yes, we have some injuries. Yes, we didn't look good in two of our three games.
Speaker 1:But to sack somebody three games in when he's finally getting the personnel that he wants right and the personnel he's getting are good, they're decent, they're not bad players, it was just a bad situation that happened. I mean, let's just be honest, that was that was it, that was the. That was just a weird situation that happened. Who again scoring three goals in extra time is crazy to me. But we have injuries, but we have the people to make to fix this. But to say the sack the manager three games in is ridiculous. Again, yes, we are in last place right now with no points and sitting at the bottom of the table. It just looks bad. But one win moves us to 13. That's where we're at in the Premier League. It's too early to panic. Tell the rest of the Toffees to calm down. We're going to be fine. Okay, just right now we're in a bad spot, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Speaker 1:I believe we have not struggled this much for this long to just sack a coach and start all over again. We've done that way too many times in the past and that's why we're in the situation we in. We need to stick it. We need to stick together, toffees, I'm talking to you guys. We need to stick together and ride this out. It's just three games in august and they said in the broadcast we haven't won a game in august since 2021. That's another year. Come on, let's get it together. Let's focus on our team. This is our last year at Goodison Park before we move to the new stadium. It's going to be a journey. Just remember this. When, the year when the books, when history books hit and they're like, well, what happened to our last year at Goodison? You know how much of a story is going to be when they say they lost their first three games and all that stuff.
Speaker 1:What I would hope for in the future is that they give the substitution His name is Beto B-E-T-O Beto a big opportunity. Our current striker, dominic Calvin Lewin, is how do I put it? Nicely, he's emotional. He's an emotional striker. I've never seen before Like he'll go streaky. He'll go like he's an emotional striker. I've never seen before He'll go streaky. He'll go 10, 12, 15 games without a goal and you're supposed to be the main man with a goal, and then we put Beto in with 20 minutes left in the game. What kind of strategy is that? I do question Sam Dice's strategies, but at the end of the day I trust the coach because you know that's what we're supposed to do. He sees them at practice and everything. I just wish Beto would get an opportunity he rightfully deserves. Why we sign somebody and don't use them. I don't understand that. So our next game is against Aston Villa. I believe, and let's be honest, that's probably going to be another L and we can't afford that many L's. But I believe, and let's be honest, that's probably going to be another L and we can't afford that many L's. But yeah, that's going to be a rough one.
Speaker 1:September 14th 1230. Everton plays Aston Villa, who is playing real good ball right now. So if we look at the standings real quick, there's nothing changing at the top. We got Manchester City at first. Liverpool's right behind them. Brighton Albion is three. Arsenal is four. That's right now. They're the hottest teams in the Premier League right now. The way man City's playing right now they're playing lights out killing everybody. Liverpool's playing good, arsenal's playing good, aston Villa's playing good. Arsenal's playing good, aston Villa's playing good. So we could be in trouble for uh, next um on the 14th.
Speaker 1:But I'm a toffee through and through and we're gonna play. We're gonna play them hard and I'm hoping for a tie. I'm hoping to get some points on the board. We'll love a win. We'll settle for a tie. That's it, man. That is all from the first show of the Red Toffees. I hope you guys enjoyed it. Hopefully we'll get Sean on the show here pretty soon, but that's it. That's the end of the first show of the Red Toffee Show. Hope you guys enjoyed it. That's the end of the first show. We'll see you hopefully next week with with Sean and myself. Thank you for listening to the Red Toffee Show as the reds throw a party. Oh, oh.
