Hail GFOP!

I type with fingers still quivering after a Merseyside Derby that felt more sexual than that Spanish Temptation Island. Football sweet, bloody football. I loved it. Hated it, then loved it all over again within the course of a frenetic 98 minutes.  We actually came over to shoot a film about the end of Goodison Park and it was incredible to spend a day in that Grand Old Home on the day before the game and just revel in the memories I have made there throughout my life. The game itself,  played under the floodlights one last time, was the perfect capper to add to and equal past memories. Simply put, Everton’s 2-2 win was the most pulsating Irish Wake I have ever been to.  

Before the game, the streets around the stadium were borderline medieval in the best of ways. The cold air was thick with the blue smoke of flares. Fireworks were crackling everywhere. The smell of spilled ale, chip butties, and Moyes-inspired hope was omnipresent. The Tark goal was one of the richest moments I have ever experienced live. The thunderous finish. The context. The extended VAR agony.  The ultimate sweep of relief. It almost exorcized all of that Divock Origi pain in one Tark Blast of Truth.  

It feels like the entire world has seen me smash my spectacles after being punched  in the face by the sweet, sweet Blue stranger behind me. It always amazes me that when something – anything – good happens to Everton FC, I hear from more people even than when my Dad died. I want to say, that to be punched in the face in a moment of joy, is an incredible feeling, one that makes the love flow. (Also: thanks more than ever to my wife Vanessa who always insists I travel with a spare pair of glasses.) 

I have also heard from hundreds of Liverpool fans – including my own brother Nige – mocking us Blues for our reaction to a draw, which left us in 15th place to boot. I want to take a moment and attempt to articulate what it was we were celebrating. So many things to be truthful: The 98th minute goal of wonder hit in once-in-a-lifetime fashion by a defender with the precision needed to fire a proton torpedo down the Death Star’s thermal exhaust port. The exhilaration of a bullet dodged by defeat against them again. The ineffable magic of communing one last time under the floodlights in the grandest old stadium we have ever known, that so many fans I had met had travelled hundreds and even thousands of miles to return to. And being able to celebrate together, knowing we had just forged a collective memory we will all remember forever – the latest one so many each of us carry - along with the ghosts of our family and friends who we shared them with in years past, who were not there on that night, but whom we carry in spirit. And if you honestly do not  understand that, then I feel sorry for you.  Because mixed up in there is so much of the best of football, and the best of life. 

Thanks to all you GFOPs who have taken the time to write so many thoughtful letters to [email protected] after the game. I am working my way through them. I loved this line from Zach Kelly who wrote, “I just had an epiphany: Somehow, Everton managed to do the non-winning, without actually losing, while making it feel like a massive win. Truly a remarkable achievement from your club.”  Amen. 

I was blessed to visit the team yesterday and film with the two goalscoring heroes, Beautiful, Beautiful Beto and Tark, and they were both still buzzing. I wish all of you, whatever club you support, have moments like this. No trophies attached for sure. But something more important, primal, and lasting because of it.

This Week at MiB HQ 📡

🌴 LOS ANGELES: WE LIVE SHOWING IT IN YOUR CITY. Next Friday — February 21st at 7:30pm PT — we'll be at the Galaxy Club at Dignity Health Sports Park, home of the LA Galaxy, for a special live show presented by MLS Season Pass on AppleTV. We'll unpack the singular sporting narrative that transformed the Galaxy from second to last in the Western Conference in 2023 to a record-breaking sixth championship in 2024. IMPORTANT: Tickets are going on sale today and we know so many of you are in the area. Make sure you follow our socials for the link when tickets drop, around 3pm ET. 🍺

ii.  Our Joe Mazzulla conversation is now live on our pod feed and YouTube. A special version launches on Peacock on Sunday. Joe has long intrigued me. The way he carries himself so confidently as such a young leader. The press conference life truths he dispenses at a rate of unfathomable knots. Above all, his love of soccer (he was a talented striker in his youth) and the profound friendship he has built with Pep Guardiola who has come on our show and gushed about Joe’s mind. To now have Mazzulla spent time telling his side of the story was an honor. I learned so much from the man and hope you will too. ☘️

iii. MiB grew this week with this thrilling partnership we have struck with USMNTOnly. I have long admired this platform and the way they have built the most passionate community around the joys and agony of being a U.S. men’s team fan. To be able to support that community and grow the platform in its own style, tone, and vision as we thunder towards World Cup 2026 is an absolute moment of magic. Follow USMNTOnly for more. 🇺🇸

iv. And this week, we unveiled a new series here at the Men in Blazers Media Network: Club Stories, Presented by Konami eFootball. Podcast and YouTube episodes in which we dive deep into the stories of how your favorite clubs became your favorite clubs. Our first episode: Barcelona. We trace the history of that Catalan Kings of Cool from 1899 to 2025, talking Cruyff, Pep, and Messi. And we ask the question: can "La Masia" save Barcelona again? 🇪🇸

Club Stories is presented by Konami eFootball. Enter the sweepstakes in the following link and you could WIN a signed Messi jersey and a trip to a match in the U.S. ENTER HERE.

v. Over on The Women’s Game channel, USWNT defender Sofia Huerta joined Sam Mewis on this week's episode of "Friendlies,” where she talked about playing for the U.S. after originally being called up by Mexico, life in France while playing for her club team, Lyon, and lots more. Also, check out this amazing story of an English couple who used part of their lottery winnings to buy a 25% ownership stake in Championship team Durham Women FC, with plans to build a new stadium as a top priority. We are living in a beautiful time for women’s football. To make sure you don't miss anything from The Women's Game, sign up for the TWG newsletter here. ⚽️

To the Football 🍻

Tottenham vs. Manchester United (Saturday, 10:00 a.m. ET, Peacock)

The Super Bowl of Sadness. Two of English football’s greatest under-performers collide for just the second time with both marooned in the bottom half of the table. Where does Spurs’ forever-agony end and Manchester United’s sagging pathos begin? The sole difference between these two clubs appears to be that Big Ange keeps chronically backing his players after feeble performances, while Amorim keeps distancing himself from any responsibility for United’s whatsoever. Which of these two teams can leave this trauma dome with a feel-bad win?

Rogstradamus 🔮: Mathys Tel’s breakout game. Spurs surge in the first half as Amorim gets his opening lineup all wrong. United attempt to come back in second half, but falls just short. 3-2. Slapstick Comedy Aficionados are the biggest winners.

Brighton vs. Chelsea (Today, 3:00 p.m. ET, USA)

The Seagulls welcome Enzo Maresca’s side for the second time in six days after dismantling them in the FA Cup 2-1 as a hair of the dog to their 7-0 humiliation against Nottingham Forest. Bad news for an increasingly impotent and nine-less Chelsea: Nicolas Jackson will be out with an injury until at least the end of March with a hamstring knack and Enzo Maresca continues to double down on comments undermining his own progress with this fourth-placed team, “'I grew up watching Chelsea winning games and competitions, but this Chelsea is not the same as that one.”

Rogstradamus 🔮: Different week same score. Seagulls still smarting at the memory of Ndiaye’s traumatic celebration win 2-1. Maresca’s rise and fall of a season continues to be so strange to experience.

Leicester vs. Arsenal (Saturday, 7:15 a.m. ET, USA)

And it gets worse for Arsenal in terms of striking options: Kai Havertz suffered a season-ending muscular injury during Arsenal’s warm weather training in Dubai, means football’s greatest donkey lover joins the medical room alongside Bukayo Saka (now out for a reported eight weeks longer,) Gabriel Martinelli, and Gabriel Jesus. Arteta has just three fit forwards for the weekend and may exhume Raheem Sterling, who has spent the season playing False Raz, as his False Nine.  The good news is Ben White is back with a fresh coat of fake tan for an Arsenal side who are unbeaten in 14 league games and they are facing a leaky-blunt Leicester who have lost eight of their last nine.

Rogstradamus 🔮: Leicester score early. Arsenal fans are traumatized. But Trossard starts a comeback and a late set-piece goal delivers a 2-1 win.

Manchester City v. Newcastle (Saturday, 10:00 a.m. ET, Peacock)

The Nation State Derby played between two teams equal on points and goal difference, separated only by the tiebreaker of goals scored. City stumble in after their latest self-soiling humiliation, leaking twice after the 86th minute to turn victory into defeat in the first leg against Real Madrid in the Champions League. An implosion which means Pep’s defending champions have now lost nine out of their last 12 games. Their worst run of form in 18 years. A soft gut and fear-filled injury-stricken backline is handing out goals with error after error. The Spanish press called them, “A group of players who are too old, incapable of keeping up with the pace demanded in Europe.”

Some good news then: Newcastle have not scored at the Etihad in seven years and have lost their last 15 games there. 

Rogstradamus 🔮: Alexander Isak wins his duel with Erling Haaland who opens the scoring, but City cannot live with Toon’s flank play and are cut apart at will.  Toon 3-1 delirium. 

Liverpool v. Wolves (Sunday, 9:00 a.m. ET, USA)

Red Wobble or “Nothing to see here” Slot Blip? After the weakened squad loss at Plymouth, and the frittered away game in hand at feral Everton, Arne Slot needs to re-summon his team’s calm equilibrium as he enters a gauntlet of four distinct fast and furious challenges in 11 days against Wolves, Aston Villa, Manchester City, and Newcastle. Liverpool coaxed just six shots on goal in the Derby. Their lowest number in a Premier League game this season. Ryan Gravenberch was swarmed by Doucouré and beautiful Beto and Liverpool were reduced to knocking the ball long. Wolves may have lost nine of their last 10 at Anfield, but with January reinforcements have looked evermore like a Premier League football team, winning their last two games, propelled by the kinetic Matheus Cunha’s re-commitment. Tune-in Arsenal fans and other assorted rubberneckers. 

Rogstradamus 🔮: 1-1. I say that as a completely objective neutral 😉

Crystal Palace v. Everton (Saturday, 12:30 p.m. ET, USA)

Rarely have I expected less from an Everton team who I would imagine will still be shattered after the adrenalin of Wednesday night’s game finally burned off. Tark told me he could barely sleep after the game, and had watched his goal “300 times or more.” I told him I had watched it twice that amount, and I was not the one who actually scored it. Everton fans know how big a loss Iliman Ndiaye will be. Watching him float up the field has been the joy of the season. Palace will be bolstered by the return of Adam Wharton. Expect Eberechi Eze and Jean-Philippe Mateta to feast. Chris Richards have mercy on us. 

Rogstradamus 🔮: Everton are there in body, but their minds are still on that Elton John "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues" soundtracked post-game wonder in which Beto continues taking his glorious one-man lap of honor. Palace score early and late to cruise 2-0. 

📺 Full Premier League Broadcast Schedule here.

📧 Enjoying The Raven? Check out our other Men in Blazers newsletters.

More Football, Did Ya Say? ⚽︎

• Why so many American investors want to buy lower league teams. 

• Emma Hayes is encouraging young American players to play in Europe. Your move NWSL.

• Champions League games in New York City come one step closer to reality. 

PrizePicks: Best PP Since Pablo Picasso ✅

Charlie Kipp Writes: American Football is officially on-ice (until September), which means two things: 1. Sickos like me can actually go outside and live life during weekend afternoons, after the soccer has ended, and 2. It’s time to lock-in for the Premier League run in. There’s no better way to do that than with a PrizePicks entry and to start us off with a winner, we’re grabbing Enzo Fernandez MORE than two Tackles.

Fernandez, the 24 year-old Argentinian largely symbolizes the “buy high, buy young” model that has characterized the Boehly era at Chelsea, and his prospects, much like the team’s, have taken a drastically positive turn this season. Enzo has recorded 47 tackles across 23 Premier League matches, and I’m not a math major, but 47 is more than 23 x 2 - so later today, when Chelsea travel to face Brighton at 3pm ET on USA Network, join me in rooting on our imperious midfielder to ‘Get stuck in, baby!’  Enzo Fernandez MORE than two Tackles.

If you haven’t joined PrizePicks, CLICK HERE and play $5 and get $50 instantly when you use code MiB.

More Football, Glorious Global Football to Revel in 🌍

Northampton Town vs. Wrexham (Saturday, 7:30 a.m. ET, Paramount+) 

In the week Phil Parkinson’s men took one step closer to a Football League final at Wembley beating Bolton 1-0 in their EFL Quarter-final, Wrexham return from their FA Cup-imposed league break to travel to the Midlands. Opponents Northampton Town currently sit 17th in League One, but the side managed by former West Ham captain (and David Moyes assistant) Kevin Nolan is on the up, having won both of their games this month against Mansfield Town and Huddersfield. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

AC Milan vs. Verona (Saturday, 2:45 p.m. ET, Paramount+)

Despite having his preferred attack of Joao Felix, Santiago Gimenez, Rafael Leao, and Christian Pulisic all finally fit for purpose, Sérgio Conceição’s side fell flat in the first leg of their Champions League playoff match Wednesday, losing 1-0 to Dutch side Feyenoord. With little turnaround, the Rossoneri host mid-table Verona Saturday night hoping to close the gap to the European Serie A places to a single point. 🇮🇹

“El Blazerico Femenino” (Sunday, 9:00 a.m. ET, ESPN+/WSL Youtube)

One week out from Chelsea’s 4-1 thrashing of Everton in the FA Cup, both teams are back at Kingsmeadow for a replay in the league. A win for Everton (unlikely but this week’s as good as any!) could take them above Liverpool into seventh place. Frustrating news for those still on Girma-watch, as Sonia Bompastor confirmed yesterday she won’t be appearing for Chelsea until after this month’s international break. 🏆

MiB Mad Libs 📝

This week’s phrase is: “I feel like a ______ would enable Pep Guardiola to get his groove back.”

Email me your entries. Winner gets a coveted MiB Patch. 

Last Week’s Winner: Matt Horsey.  

The one thing that will prevent Liverpool from winning the Quadruple is karma from Mo Salah’s bald denying.” Well Matt, we certainly spoke that into existence this week didn’t we?

Not Football, and All the Better for It 📖

• Philly Magazine: Why Are Eagles Fans So Crazy? Fails to explain the fascination with climbing up telephone poles....

• An airport piano was filthy and out of tune. He fixed it during a layover. The most I've done on a layover is eat an overpriced sandwich and consider why I didn't just spend the extra $50 to go nonstop.  

• Ozempic Could Crush the Junk Food Industry. But It Is Fighting Back. Junk Food being the Messi to Ronaldo's Ozempic if you will.

• We’re Already at Risk of Ceding Our Humanity to AI. Over my dead body, Allen Iverson!

• Bluetooth speakers are ruining music. They just don't give my Smashmouth records the fidelity they deserve. 

• "I made the worst RPG of all time, and loved every minute of it." Can't be worse than the Michael Oliver handshake simulator.

• "SNL is bad, actually." SAY THAT TO ANDREW DISMUKES’ SWEET, SMOOTH FACE, YOU COWARD!

• I love this song and it helped me through the week: Denison Witmer and Sufjan Stevens: “Shade I’ll Never See”

Dear Rog... GFOPs Write ✍️

This story from Californian GFOP Julio Chavez simply blew me away. The vision, passion, and handiwork! If you have done similarly SUPERFAN moves, let me know at [email protected]. 

Julio writes: “I started watching the Premier League religiously back in 2010, but I couldn’t see myself supporting any of the top six teams. Out here in SoCal, I was used to supporting local teams, and I couldn’t do that with the Premier League. Then Everton caught my eye, and when I heard the club referred to as the “People’s Club,” I was all in. I learned about the history and have been a Blue ever since. I live in the High Desert, about an hour and a half inland from Los Angeles. I got tired of driving at 5 a.m. to a proper pub in LA just to watch games. So when I moved into this house, we had an unused space in the garage. My first thought was “The People’s Pub”… and my uncle and I just went and built it. 

Since then, I’ve recruited some locals from my area. I’ve got a solid group of five Toffees in my hometown. They hate me for it. 😂  Two years ago, I got to visit Goodison for the first time. I took my whole family with me. I don’t regret my decision one bit…it’s a grand old team.”

Rog writes: Julio. New life goal: to have the chance to raise a pint with you and your Blues mates in the Everton pub you have built in the High Desert. I admire what you have done – the lengths you have gone to, and detail in your work – so very much. 

To Better Days Ahead for All.

Let’s not take a moment watching football together for granted and make great memories,

Big Love,

Courage.

ROG 

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