Goodison’s Final Farewell 💙

Hail GFOP! 

I write with fingers filled with Domilise’s Po’Boys and beignets in New Orleans. Physically in Louisiana, spiritually this weekend, I will be at Goodison Park. That shabby, singular Grand Old Home which will host its last ever Everton men’s game after 133 years. I have talked a lot about Goodison this season, and was blessed to make this film at the magical last-ever Merseyside Derby 2-2 win. Everton announced this week that Goodison will become the home stadium for the Women’s team, but this weekend weighs so heavy as Everton’s men say farewell to a historic setting that was opened 10 years before the Wright Brothers first took flight.  

To describe what Goodison is, is as impossible a task as attempting to articulate pure emotion. The stadium is more than a place – it is a historic reconnection to the roots of English football. A more innocent, less commercial time, when locals came to commune, to worship, to feel alive. Now, with the peeling paint and wooden seats, Goodison is a symbol of Everton’s own fading greatness. The move to the new stadium akin to a chrysalis from which the club can emerge reborn, and live out a return to grandeur under the steady hand of new ownership.  

But above all, Goodison is a vessel of memory as much as a place. Every Blues fan who goes to the match is reconnected to their own personal journey of remembrances and experiences. Their favorite players who trundled around the field. Glories, of which there have been many. My childhood coincided with a time when Everton were on the verge of being one of the best teams in Europe. And also, the agonies, fears, and moments in which we collectively stared into the abyss and heard it howl back. Above all, the friends and family we have shared it all with, many of whom are no longer here to pay witness. That is what tears at the heart in this moment. The end of Goodison Park, like the loss of any home, is destabilizing. It feels like a hole in time is closing over.  

I expect the scenes at the game to be so incredibly moving: joy, and pride, mixed with a sense of mourning. I was at the Ipswich game two weeks ago. When the teams ran out, and the traditional sound of Z Cars rang around the stadium, the woman sitting by me, who had come on her own to experience the place one last time, started sobbing. The stranger to her left put a consoling arm around her and quipped, as only an Everton fan could, “Why you cryin’ gal? We haven’t even lost yet.” The scenes at the final whistle will be ones of chaos. There will be so many screw drivers entering that stadium, and thousands of souvenir seats ripped from their moorings around the 85th minute, before running out into the Liverpool night. To own a piece of the Lower Bullens is to own Charles Foster Kane’s Rosebud.

More: This is a beautiful photo essay on the magic of Goodison.

ii. The highlight of my week was filming with Kevin De Bruyne for the last time as a member of Manchester City. It was a real honor to have this time with a player who has given us 10 years of transcendent joy and humility in equal measure. We relived the journey, the teammates, the visionary passes, and the goals. It was really beautiful, and, I will be honest, a little sad. The conversation is rich, human, and a little emotional. The competitive fire still burns bright. I can definitely see him attempting to do a ‘Tom Brady at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ season. Look for that next weekend, it is very, very special. 

iii. I am in New Orleans, that spiritual city of wonder. I love it here so much and find it both exhausting and energizing in equal measure. Stealth football city, too. The fandom here is as prevalent as crawfish and it thrills me to meet so many of you out here in Louisiana. Having a pint at The Boot on a 95-degree afternoon is one of the purest joys in life. 

iv. Lastly, my life revolves around three things: family, football, and my Italian truffle dog, Martin Scorsese. There is nothing I love more than watching football with Marty and I know I’m not alone, as many wonderful people in our organization rely on their pets through football’s countless ups and downs each season. That’s why I’m so thrilled to announce that Men in Blazers is officially partnering with Purina on a series of initiatives designed to celebrate the bond between football fans everywhere and those who spend hours on the couch with them every week: their pets. This is just one more step in Purina's dedication to bringing pets and pet lovers together through sports, specifically within the soccer world. To Purina, and to more days of wondrous football spent with our cats and dogs by our sides. Courage.

P.S. If you think you are having a bad day, thank the lord you are not one of these two footballers. The way the third one just kind of shrugs and walks off… Also, a mid-90s Aston Villa squad talking about their favorite drinks is a reminder of how far football performance has come (“Later on… a Bacardi and Coke. Usually a double”).

OMG I JUST SAW THIS AND IT IS AMAZING. Possibly the most English thing that ever Englished. Stay with it.

News from MiB World HQ 📡

I spoke to Virgil van Dijk a week before the season began. It was magical to close the season by reconnecting and discussing all that has happened in between. Hanging out with me was pretty well Virg’s only two low points of the year. It was amazing to talk about pride, celebrating properly, and embracing history-making moments. He emits a rare calm and defiance that makes him not only a special footballer, but a human being who’s always worth listening to, and the fact that he took special care in mentioning the backroom staff and fans’ importance is a measure of the man-mountain. ♥️

ii. We have spent the last few months making a documentary film about Bournemouth, traveling with Producer JW to Britain’s sunniest microclimate to explore the shifting tectonic plates that have allowed a cuddly underdog to transform itself into a bonafide footballing force, unafraid to go mano a mano with the biggest clubs in Britain and (whispers) dream of Europe. We sat down with the key players, including Tyler Adams, alchemic Basque manager Andoni Iraola, and the man behind it all, Texas’ own Bill Foley, owner of the Las Vegas Golden Knights, a gent who has transformed the Cherries and promised European Football. Golden War Cherries: “Always Attack, Never Retreat” Premieres on our YouTube channel THIS THURSDAY. A story that we were honored to tell, and one that gives hope to fans of all clubs hoping to punch above their weight and deliver glory. 🍒🍒🍒

iii. On Wednesday, we will Do It Live on YouTube taking your questions and reveling in your company at the final whistle of the Europa League Final between Tottenham and Manchester United, which promises to be the saddest episode of “Couples Therapy” ever broadcast. 🏆

iv. Also next week, we are scheduled to sit down with the one and only CHAMPIONSHIP OWNER Ryan Reynolds to talk about mighty Wrexham’s rise into Britain's second-tier and when we could see them in the Premier League. Send your questions for him HERE. 🐉

v. The Women’s Game is moving faster than a camera on The Studio, so try and keep up with our own visionary director, Sam Mewis, and all the mini-movies she’s putting out into the world. She sat down with Chelsea’s undefeated defender, the inimitable Millie Bright, to talk about Sonia Bompastor’s excellence, this weekend’s FA Cup final, and the art of being a compulsive winner. Speaking of Sonia Bompastor, Sam’s also got the Chelsea manager on the podcast today, and of course there’s your usual weekly dose of Good Vibes FC with Becky Sauerbrunn, where she and Sam celebrated the NWSL’s cool and incredible mothers on Tuesday. You can find all three of those on TWG’s YouTube channel here. 🌞

vi. We also have some very exciting news on the newsletter front: the one and only Rory Smith will be contributing to the Friday Raven on an ongoing basis starting TODAY, where he'll look at the places, history, humanity, and flavors that make football that most interesting of obsessions. Below you’ll find his thoughts on the recent booing of Trent Alexander-Arnold at Anfield, why some transfers hurt more than others, and even a few restaurant recs for Trent once he makes it to Madrid. We are thrilled to have Rory writing for us and look forward to him sharing his thoughts with all of you each week. 📧

To the Football 🍻

FA Cup Final Manchester City vs. Crystal Palace (Saturday, 11:30 a.m. ET, ESPN+) 🏆

Has a single trophy ever meant less to one team, Manchester City, who have struggled through an annus horribilis, and more to another – Crystal Palace, who have never won a single major trophy in their 120 year history? You could make the case that it is a mark of City’s class that even amidst the darkness, they still have their day in the Wembley spotlight. Kevin De Bruyne told me he would most definitely like to go out on his burning Viking longboat with a moment of victory, yet the FA Cup is a tchotchke for Pep Guardiola – something he will use as a doorstop for an equipment room at the youth academy. I spoke to Oliver Glasner last week and he knew just how important this trophy was for the Palace fans, but also for a club, battling with the new Premier League middle class of Bournemouth, Brentford, and Brighton to shatter the mid-table ceiling and evolve into a sharp-toothed threat. 

Rogstradamus 🔮: Rarely will a team have been cheered by more global neutrals than Palace. They have lost two of their past 14 games and I believe they will score early and late here to win 2-1 to trigger scenes across South London. 🦅

Aston Villa vs. Tottenham (TODAY, 2:30 p.m. ET, USA)

A game moved up against Aston Villa’s will so Big Ange can brace his Spurs for their date with destiny and doom AKA the Europa League Cup final on Wednesday night. Will they win? I hope so. But I have also read the Book of Job and I know how that ends. Villa have secured European Football, they just need to know in which competition. Victory here could lift Unai’s boys into the top four pending later results before they charge to Old Trafford on the final day.

Rogstradamus 🔮: Best of times, worst of times for Ange. Twenty league losses already this season, 21st loading. Villa with ease 2-0.

Chelsea vs. Manchester United (TODAY, 3:15 p.m. ET, Peacock)

I am old enough to remember when this game felt like the biggest of the season. Here it feels like a quickly jammed-in fixture for two psychologically fraught aspirational clubs in perpetual chaos with their minds on other games. Chelsea are bracing themselves for Nottingham Forest away on the last day of the season before immediately flying to Poland for the Conference League final against Real Betis in Wrocław.

Rogstradamus 🔮: Cole Palmer reverts to the chippy-chips days of yore as Chelsea stroll 2-0.

Everton vs. Southampton (Sunday, 7 a.m. ET, USA)

Biggest game of the season for the players. Beto has talked of it as the Last Dance. There will be tears, memories, and the sound of a thousand Stanley toolkits doing their work loosening everything that can be loosened at full-time. Saints are one loss away from tying the record for most defeats in a single Premier League campaign.

Rogstradamus 🔮: What a way to go out, with relegated Southampton doing the double over us. Another memory that will be forever.

Leicester vs. Ipswich (Sunday, 10 a.m. ET, Peacock)

The joy of football is there can be human drama even amidst the shame of a relegation dead rubber. Jamie Vardy’s farewell will take place on home soil in his 500th appearance for the club over 13 years. The 38-year-old wrestling heel of a striker will captain his relegated team and bust a Red Bull-filled lung to score a 200th goal in a Leicester shirt.

Rogstradamus 🔮: Ipswich 1-0. Delap scores. Vardy misses a penalty. I don’t write the scripts, I just predict the future. 

Arsenal vs. Newcastle (Sunday, 11:30 a.m. ET, USA)

Arsenal’s final home game of a fifth-straight trophyless season. Champions League qualification could be won by either side. Arsenal are above Newcastle in the table, but the moods at the clubs could not feel more different. The Toon Army are surging, while Arsenal fans feel a sense of inertia and distress. 

Rogstradamus 🔮: Newcastle have three clean-sheet wins in all competitions against Arteta’s mob this season. They will become the first team ever to beat the Gunners four times in the same campaign courtesy of an agonizing Isak goal.

Brighton vs. Liverpool (Monday, 3 p.m. ET, USA)

God Bless Liverpool, whose players have been partying in Dubai while Arne Slot was in Ibizan clubs. Never has a club been more literally on the beach.

Rogstradamus 🔮: Brighton 9-0.

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

Rory Smith on Trent Being Booed, the Sting of Certain Transfers, and Where to Eat in Madrid 🗣️

Rory writes: In the circumstances, the sound could not have been more fitting. It was complex and ambivalent, open to any and all interpretations. With every rendition, it took on a new shape, a new tone, a slightly altered emphasis. It was the sound of internal tension, a wordless dialogue that, somehow, spoke volumes. It was perfect.

As Trent Alexander-Arnold stood on the Anfield touchline in the 67th minute of Liverpool’s draw with Arsenal, everyone could hear what they wanted to hear. There were boos, deep and sonorous, picked up by the pitch-side microphones and beamed across the planet, the raw material for ever-churning content factories: proof of the fury Liverpool fans feel at the 26-year-old’s betrayal.

But there was also applause, arrhythmic and sharp, a defiant response to the bubbling fury. They were quieter, certainly initially, but perhaps that was to be expected. “Claps are not as loud as boos,” as Arne Slot, Alexander-Arnold’s soon-to-be-former manager and amateur sound engineer, said. They grew louder every time the right-back touched the ball, a call and response of rage and appreciation. Stadiums generally speak with one voice. This was Anfield polarized, uncertain, engaged in a full and frank exchange of views.

Read the full story here

Gigantic Football to Savor from Around the World 🌎

🇳🇱 Sparta Rotterdam vs. PSV Eindhoven / Ajax vs. FC Twente (Sunday, 8:30 a.m. ET, ESPN+) 

Rubberneckers assemble: Ajax are on the brink of one of the most epic collapses of all time. Jordan Henderson and his red-and-white army were champions in waiting, nine points ahead of nemesis PSV Eindhoven, who thanks to USMNT star, Malik Tillman, did all they could in beating Heracles 4-1 midweek. PSV fans huddled around sweaty phones in the Phillips Stadium to witness Ajax concede in the twilight of their own match against a 10-man Groningen, meaning a 2-2 draw now, suddenly somehow leaves them a point behind PSV, with the season finale for all top division Dutch teams taking place this Sunday at 8:30 a.m. ET. In Tillman, Sergiño Dest, Richy Ledezma, and Ricardo Pepi, we adore the American complexion of USA Eindhoven, who are on the precipice of one of the all-time great league title heists.  

🇮🇹 Inter Milan vs. Lazio / Parma vs. Napoli (Sunday, 2:45 p.m. ET, Paramount+) 

A sizzler of a title race between Champions League finalists, Inter Milan, and Scotland feeder-squad, Napoli. With two games to go and a single point between them, Inter host fifth-place Lazio on Sunday, but are double-screening, with one eye on Serie A and the other on PSG, as Antonio Conte’s Napoli, who lead the league, only have one focus, and that is beating 16th-place Parma away. Both matches start at 2:45 p.m. ET, and should Inter lose and the Mighty Mancunian Braveheart Scott McTominay’s Napoli win, the title is theirs. In 2022, Serie A brilliantly reintroduced a play-off if the top two teams finish level on points, which let’s be honest, would be a Gladiatorial spectacle at Marcus Aurelius-levels. Let them fight! Let them fight!

🇵🇹 Braga vs. Benfica / Sporting Lisbon vs. Vitoria SC (Saturday, 1:00 p.m. ET, Fubo)

Portuguese titans and cross-city rivals, Sporting Lisbon and Benfica, go punch-for-punch in the final game of the Primeira Liga title tomorrow. Mathematically, it’s straight forward, with the teams joint-top on 79 points, but emotionally, it is everything, because although only 1.7 miles separates their stadiums, this is a story of class and culture that stretches back 118 years. Benfica travel to fourth-place Braga and Sporting host fifth-place Vitoria in Lisbon. Expect both sets of fans to live out the live game in front of them, and their dreaded rivals’ progress on cell phones. Obrigado, parabens!

🇪🇸 Barcelona vs. Villarreal (Sunday, 1 p.m. ET, ESPN+)

There’s less stakes than a vampire’s wedding here, but if you want to see a festival of burgundy and blue in the old Olympic Stadium up in the hills of Barcelona, thousands of Catalonians drunk on life and Kalimotxo, as well as Cole Palmer’s favorite player, Lamine Yamal, lift his first La Liga title, then tune in for a party. 

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Women’s FA Cup Final (Sunday, 8.30 a.m. ET, ESPN/FA Cup Youtube)

Man United look to repeat their 2024 final win as Chelsea seek a domestic treble in Sunday’s final at Wembley. The Blues did the double over United this season, securing their WSL title last time the sides met. Sonia Bompastor will be without longtime absence Lauren James to take on United’s Golden Glove-winning Phallon Tullis-Joyce, but may be able (strong emphasis on “may”) to call on new mum Sam Kerr(!), who has reportedly been training with the side this week following her ACL injury back in January 2024—great news for Chelsea in the week they secured a $26m investment from Serena Williams’ husband (and Reddit co-founder) Alexis Ohanian.

The Best Goal We Saw Midweek 🤯

More Football, Did Ya Say? ⚽︎

• I loved this Harry Kane interview moments after he won the first title in his 11-year career, “I’m no different to what I was before I had won.”

• Messi and Inter Miami’s struggle eerily similar to Messi’s struggles at PSG.

• Even with Copa loss, Pulisic has had the best season ever by an American.

• There is a CIVIL WAR brewing over FIFA. Football reflecting the buckling geopolitics of the world as we charge towards a World Cup on home turf. There is darkness where there should be light. 

Prize Picks: Best PP Since Pied Piper ✅

Charlie Kipp writes: The FA Cup final is upon is, signifying that the Premier League season is officially over and we’re about to turn our attention to the summer… right? Nope. For the first time in the recent history of the storied knockout competition, the FA Cup final is going to be played before the league season ends. For most, it’s an indication that the declining popularity of the FA Cup is being explicitly acknowledged - but for me, it’s just another chance to fire up PrizePicks and explore the nearly endless selections on offer for (what was once) English football’s biggest occasion. Ah, like this one: Chris Richards MORE than 0.5 Shots

Not only is it a special day for the proud Crystal Palace fanbase this Saturday, but it’s particularly special for American fans who get to cheer on one of their own in an FA Cup final. 25-year-old Chris Richards from Birmingham, Ala. will almost certainly be starting in defense for Oliver Glasner’s Eagles when they face Manchester City. Richards is the kind of player who will not shutter at the challenge, but rise to it. Why not back him to be in and around the offensive mix? City are playing to salvage a season, Palace are playing for history, and I am playing Chris Richards MORE than 0.5 Shots.

If you haven’t joined PrizePicks, CLICK HERE and use code MiB for a first deposit match up to $100.

MiB Mad Libs 📝

This week’s phrase is:

“If Tottenham’s season was a movie, ____ would play Ange Postecoglou because ____”

Email me your submissions to be in contention to win a coveted MiB patch.

A LOT of you submitted some brilliant entries for last week’s MiB Mad Lib, but Bill May takes the spoils with an evil response:

“Liverpool should sign Phil Jones to replace Trent Alexander-Arnold and the world would be a better place.” 

Bill, I love where you are coming from. I also love the Blues who suggested Michael Keane. It gave me a surge of joy I needed.

Not Football and All the Better for It 📖

• Hopecore: Where to witness the world’s most successful rewilding projects.

• "The name of the book is a ruse." The Hobo Handbook. 

• Why the toupee is making a comeback with Millennial men. This may explain what's going on with Cole Palmer.

• Screen Names, BBM, and MP3s: The Oral History of Millennial Tech by people like JoeCool424 and bigsy725.

• This song has helped me through the week: “Metal“ by The Beths. The sound of optimism tempered by the lyrics of human truth.

Dear Rog... GFOPs Write ✍️

Lukas Stevens writes: “I am a lifelong fan of two-time Florida Cup runner-up Bayer Leverkusen. I've been in a reflective mood the past few weeks, not only because Xabi Alonso is leaving the club at the end of the season but also because April marked the 10th anniversary of my dad's passing. There were many moments over the past two seasons when I wished he and I could have experienced the good times for our beloved club together. I miss him dearly. 

My fandom started the classic way: my dad took me to my first game, which, in my case, was on my fifth birthday in 1994. This brings me to the actual subject of this email. Feeling sentimental, I looked up the stats from that game and was shocked to see Rudi Völler in the starting line-up. This stirred many questions: Was my father the first Canadian Bayer Leverkusen season ticket holder ever? Can I still be considered a decently young man if I'm old enough to have seen Rudi Völler play a professional game of football? But most importantly, why has the current mullet boom - a haircut once so synonymous with football that it's called “Bundesligahår” in Danish - mostly bypassed football? Everyone from Benson Boone to Paul Mescal has been rocking one (not to forget all of Berlin and East London), often in combination with voluptuous mustaches. So why hasn't Jack Grealish? Please, I need answers. Cheers, Lukas.” 

Rog writes: Lukas, I am so sorry for your loss, and feel the profound absence of my own dad this weekend as Goodison Park closes. Those football memories you shared are ones I treasure too, and work hard to inculcate for my own kids. But on to more important topics: mullets. Your question is in some ways, Milos Kerkez erasure. But you are right, the mullet is everywhere, apart from football. The reason for that is simple: There are only seven styles of haircut that footballers are legally allowed, and David Beckham invented all of them. So now you know.

Keep sending your stories and questions to [email protected].

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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