Rog's Travel Diary from Wrexham 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Hail GFOP!

I write from magnificent Wrexham with fingers that have touched Glory and somehow picked up the faint residue of Hugh Jackman’s cologne along the way. We have rolled into town to shoot the next episodes of our This Week in Wrexham powered by STōk series, and have spent the last two days storming round the stunning North of Wales, reveling in the history, culture, and language of the place, down to the very last castle ruin, mountain hike, award-winning pie, and pint at the Turf in the shadow of the STōK Cae Ras.  

I grew up 45 minutes from Wrexham, and have not been here in over 15 years. I have to say – I am blown away by the upswing and energy of the place, much of it emanating from the football club. There are greenshoots evident all over this town, from the student body buzzing in the bars at night, to the new pubs and restaurants being gussied up and opened across the city center. This is a rare region up North where energy and belief are humming. In that regard, the town is a reflection of the football club itself. I spent the afternoon with Wrexham’s creative lifeforce Elliot Lee who described the optimism that is surging in that locker room ahead of this weekend’s clash with Notts County, the Iceman to Wrexham’s Maverick. I can’t wait to watch this team, and experience this delirious fan base with Tomi Caws in person. If you are going to be at the game (or at Everton’s defeat on Monday) come and have a pint before the match. 

I also spent some time yesterday with the goal scoring phenomenon Rosie Hughes, the semi-pro striker who has propelled Wrexham Women’s team to new heights. After listening to the emotional beats of her story, and the journey that side of the club are on, I can only hope Wrexham Women get their own Welcome to Wrexham spin-off they so richly deserve. A quick thank you to the team at STōK who believed in us enough to partner with us and make all of this possible. They are an incredible crew who share the values we try to live by. Thank you, we don’t take a moment for granted. 

2. To the Football

i. Brentford vs. Liverpool (Saturday, 7.30 a.m. ET, USA)

Jurgen Klopp’s Last Dance enters a crucial week in which The Reds face a midweek clash with Luton, then Carabao it up with Cup Ammortizers Chelsea. A dance against Thomas Frank, the man who is +3200 to succeed him is first. Ivan Toney, AKA Him, has scored three goals in his four games since returning and will look to charge against a Liverpool backline absent of Trent Alexander-Arnold who will be out for “weeks” after aggravating his knee injury. Liverpool fans’ other team, Leverkusen, play Heidenheim tomorrow at 9.30 a.m. ET. 😉

ii. Burnley vs. Arsenal (Saturday, 10 a.m. ET, USA)

Mikel Arteta looks to continue his perfect 2024 by overseeing his free-scoring team’s fifth consecutive victory and picking up where he left off with last weekend’s Moyes-mauling. Arsenal have never lost a Premier League game at Turf Moor. Listing Burnley are winless in their last six games, yet created Fofana-chances in their brave but fruitless loss to Liverpool last weekend. Pray for goalkeeper James Trafford who has been a naive liability when claiming crosses this season. Arsenal have scored a league-high 16 goals from set pieces this campaign and will celebrate winning corners as if they are penalty kicks. 

iii. Manchester City vs. Chelsea (Saturday, 12.30 p.m. ET, NBC)

Manchester City are Citying, in the midst of their now traditional back-nine tear of 11 straight wins in all comps. The reverse fixture saw a 4-4 draw thanks to Cole Palmer’s chilly-celly-marked 95th minute penalty. All Chelsea eyes will be Carabao-focussed with next weekend’s final looming.

For More: For an in-depth preview of How Chelsea Can Stun City Away, make sure to listen to London is Blue’s prematch podcast. Want more Chelsea news in your life? You can also subscribe to their newsletter the London is Blue Dispatch to get updates straight to your inbox.

Also: Massive Chelsea-City clash of title-deciding caliber? The two teams meet in WSL action (TODAY, 2.15 p.m. ET, Paramount +). Future USWNT’s manager Emma Hayes’s Chelsea are unbeaten in all competitions since early December. She is in pursuit of a seventh WSL title to round off a trophy-laden 12-year tenure as manager of Chelsea.  

iv. Luton Town vs. Manchester United (Sunday, 11.30 a.m. ET, USA)

Luton’s Dreams O’Glory AKA miraculously avoiding relegation were dealt a shocking reality check by Sheffield United last weekend. They are just one point off the Moon Door of the Drop. Scott McTominay’s United are on a run of three straight Premier League wins and are oddly, almost joyfully confident as they swoop down to visit a ground they have not lost at since 1987. 

v. Everton vs. Crystal Palace (Monday, 3 p.m. ET, USA)

A game which takes place in the shadow of the awful news that 76-year-old Roy Hodgson has been rushed to hospital after taking sick amidst rumors of his own sacking. 49-year-old Austrian coach Oliver Glasner, who last won the Europa League with Eintracht Frankfurt, has been widely rumored to be Roy’s replacement. Hodgson is an old-school manager for whom respect is the ultimate value and he said recently this has been, “the toughest period of my career for one reason, and that is that the fans have turned so much against us.” His Palace, shorn of their injured Goose and Maverick, Olise and Eze, have been in freefall and are just five points above the relegation zone after three wins in the last 19 games. Roy is one of the true veteran wonders of the British game. We wish him well. At the same time - as an Everton fan – the words “New Manager bounce” frankly sicken me.  

I will be at Goodison on Monday night and cannot wait to revel in the passion of the Everton fans in person – whatever the result of this Ralph Wiggum vs. Jerry Lundegaard Knife Fight. Relegation Zone-ensconced Everton still await a ruling on their initial 10-point deduction. Why it is taking so long to announce is the subject of much debate. It has started to feel as if the whole process is made up at this point.

More: Full Premier League Broadcast Schedule this Weekend.

3. I will be at Wrexham’s game in person this weekend and will be able to savor Paul Mullin’s play with mine own eyes 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 

Box fresh off of ending their four-match losing streak in a midweek win against Sutton United, Wrexham will need all the momentum they can muster Saturday against their old National League rivals Notts County (10 a.m. ET, iFollow). County also won midweek, a first victory for new manager Stuart Maynard that ended a string of winless matches going back to Dec. 29. If last season’s 3-2 title race thriller is anything to go off of, this one’s worth setting your alarm for. I cannot wait to savor this game in person.  

A win for Notts is a loss for British Telecom: Stuart Maynard: Notts County boss gives up job as BT engineer after Meadow Lane appointment.

4. European Wonderland for our America’s Teams 🇮🇹🇳🇱🤌

i. Just three days after a dominant Europa League victory over Rennes, AC Milan make the 11-mile trip north to Monza (Sunday, 2.45 p.m. ET, Paramount +) hoping to repeat their commanding 3-0 victory in December’s reverse fixture in this “Formerly owned by Silvio Berlusconi” Derby (the man with the longest “Controversies” section I’ve ever seen on Wikipedia. Subheading count: 16.) Milan’s USMNT stars Christian Pulisic and Yunus Musah are both expected to feature in Sunday’s match after strong performances Thursday. 

ii. PSV Eindhoven kick off this week’s Eredivisie fixtures this evening at home against Heracles (2 p.m. ET, ESPN+), where they will look to mark an incredible 22 league games unbeaten in the league. Ricardo Pepi is averaging an incredible goal every 50 minutes. 

For everything US men and women abroad, our American States United newsletter has you covered from PSV to AC Milan and everything in between. You can SUBSCRIBE HERE: it flies every Wednesday. 🇺🇸

5. This Week at Men in Blazers HQ

We’re on the road this week, but those little cinnamon airline cookies of which it’s impossible to eat just 23 have powered us to release a glut of content out into the universe. 

🪄 With the return of European football comes the 2024 Premiere of European Nights with the great Rory Smith. This week: Liverpool’s once and future King Xabi Alonso and his Bayer Leverkusen, a deep dive on Bayern Munich smiters Lazio, and the odd couple the club make with chain-smoking manager Maurizio Sarri. LISTEN HERE. And this week’s entire episode is available now on YouTube: WATCH HERE. 

💪 "There is a beauty in being a woman of color and being able to play this game." Gotham’s own Crystal Dunn sits down with Sam Mewis for another incredible episode of The Women’s Game. LISTEN HERE AND WATCH HERE. For all The Women’s Game news straight into your inbox every Monday, subscribe to The Women’s Game Newsletter. And if you know someone you think is interested, forward this email to them. Everything we do here at Men in Blazers is based on word of mouth and we are endlessly grateful for your support.

🇺🇸 Recently returned to American shores Zack Steffen joined VAMOS with Herc Gomez to talk about the decision to come back home, and the burning intensity of Pep Guardiola. Listen to the entire interview HERE. 

📺 Two we’re really proud of from our YouTube Page: a new episode of This Week in Wrexham with Welsh Correspondent Tomi “Cheese” Lewis in which he interviews a legend who is the living embodiment of the club’s spirit. WATCH HERE. And a piece on US Soccer Legend Jimmy Banks, one of the first two Black American players in a World Cup. WATCH HERE. 

Prize Picks? Best PP Since Peter Parker 🙌

More? Charlie Kipp writes: Using PrizePicks has been both a thrilling and truly additive way to enhance my football watching experience. By doing your research into the stats and making a handful of More-or-Less selections, you can turn a losing weekend for your team into a winning one for your well-being. 

For those of you who have been following along in our Raven picks - you’ll know we are 3-0 on PrizePicks selections. (Not boasting. No big deal.) Let’s keep the momentum going by skirting conventional wisdom - and potentially upsetting the Norse God of Goals - by taking Erling Haaland LESS than 1.5 Goals + Assists vs. Chelsea.

After two months out with a foot injury, the 23-year-old Norwegian made his return at the beginning of February and has yet to truly find his world-beating form that we saw last season. While the goals haven’t been pouring in, at least the 3rd member of the ‘Flow Kingz’ still can take solace in the fact he “smells of flowers”, as teammate and occasional discothèque aficionado Jack Grealish told Rog in an interview earlier this season.

I like this selection because we are still hedging against a possible Haaland goal or assist. Before last week (and remember, it was only Everton) Haaland has only had two such “multi goal contribution” games going back to early September (13 matches). Furthermore, he hasn’t repeated the feat in back to back matches all season… and it won’t start here: Erling Haaland LESS than 1.5 Goals + Assists. 

If you haven’t joined PrizePicks, go to prizepicks.com/MIB and use code MiB for a first deposit match up to $100.

6. More Football, Did Ya Say?

i. UEFA President’s flip-flop on term limits underscores chaos at the organization.

ii. Ten young stars set to shine at Euro 2024. Quite a List.

iii. Miguel Delaney: No club with a revenue of less than $500m has won the Champions League since 2013, and there aren’t many who have more.  That’s a shocking stat, and shows something has gone badly wrong in European football.

iv. Fascinating interview with Kieran Tierney about what went wrong for him at Arsenal and what he has learned at Real Sociedad.

V. South Korea sack Jurgen Klinsmann after 12 months in charge. 🇰🇷😢

7. Not Football, and All the Better for It

i.An interview with Martin Scorsese. The filmmaker, not my Dog. And it is amazing.

ii. Via Chicago Magazine: The Ramen Lord. Who's real name is Mike, which is slightly disappointing. 

iii. 200 cats, 200 dogs, one lab: the secrets of the pet food industry. As animal jobs go, food tester seems like a much better gig than drug sniffer or guide dog.  

iv. Absolutely heartbreaking: They Came Here for a New Life. Now They’re Trapped in O’Hare. 

v. The Singers On ‘We Are The World,’ Ranked. 38 years on, no one is safe from the listicle! Harsh on Paul Simon TBF. 

vi. His Best Friend Was a 250-Pound Warthog. One Day, It Decided to Kill Him. Need I say more?

vii. "Rather than creating something permanent and inviolable, we’ve made our memories more contingent than ever upon a fantasy of technological stability that, given the constant churn of history, seems inevitably fleeting". From The Dial: Memory Machines.

viii. Nothing Says Status Like a Hotel Bathrobe, And nothing says "financial genius" like having a whole drawer of stolen(?) Marriott shampoos and body wash.

ix. The Day I Put $50,000 in a Shoe Box and Handed It to a Stranger. I never thought I was the kind of person to fall for a scam. Incredible read, also bold move as a Financial Advice Columnist(!) to write this.

x. Gird your curds! Say a prayer for Camembert! Beware: A cheese crisis looms. Just when you thought the world could not get any darker. THIS. 

xi. One of the only good things to come out of the Argylle press BARRAGE: Which Movies Have the Greatest Casts in Film History? A Statistical Analysis.

xii. Why surgery and barbering were one occupation in the Middle Ages. It's knives right? It's got to be knives. 

xiii. I read this book: I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning by Keiran Goddard. A dark, taught meditation on friendship, dreams, shattered friendship, and shattered dreams, as lived and told by five different lifelong friends on a housing estate in England.  Beautiful and affecting in the finest of ways.  

xiv. This song has helped me through this week: All in My Head by Middle Kids and Dave Le’aupepe.

I want to end with a lovely letter (write to me at [email protected]) that moved me this week: In Monday’s pod, I joked about how I watched Everton lose to Manchester City with all the relish of someone who has experienced their own execution. GFOP Jay Scrivner wrote me a fantastic letter, in response to my request from anyone who actually had survived an execution to tell me how it felt. Jay wrote. “ I wanted to tell you about the memory that suddenly flooded me upon hearing you talk about the experience of barely surviving your own execution. In college I was studying Italian. The teacher had to go back to Bergamo to tend to a family matter. A friend of hers filled in. I don't remember his name. Maybe he didn't tell us. What I do remember is the opening of class that first day. A six-foot plus man in a dark blue pinstripe suit strode down the aisle like a Wendigo with burning feet of fire and placed with a thump on the desk a bouquet of flowers. He actually looked somewhat like Bryan Ferry does now. I quivered for a moment, wondering if he were going to steal our souls. Instead, he said, “I am bringing my wife flowers. If my wife wants a dress, I buy her a dress. Do you know why?” No one said anything. He then told us about facing and surviving a firing squad in Czechoslovakia. “I started speaking every language I knew and some I didn't know,” he said. “I was making up words and singing different songs. Others around me had resigned themselves to death. But my executioners spared me. They thought I might be of use. That's why I have bought my wife flowers and why, if she wants a dress, I buy her a dress.” To life and savoring every moment together.  

Talking of life. Massive love to OG GFOP Don Steele who just finished 25 straight days of chemo. THIS IS COURAGE PERSONIFIED. We send you and your family only love, sweet love.

To more.

Better Days Ahead.

Let’s not take a second of watching football together and making memories for granted.

Courage.
ROG