The Premier League's Grand Finale 📊

Hail GFOP! 

I type with fingers braced for the final weekend of the Premier League season, yet still soaring for Tottenham Hotspur fans after Wednesday night’s exorcism of a trophy lift. One of the callers to our quite emotional post-game show asked the question: does this Spurs season prove the journey is besides the point? Is it all about the destination? I think for Spurs, the fact that the journey has been excruciating does not undermine it. Indeed, the journey has been everything. A gauntlet of Trial of Job-sized agonized pain. The suffering. Disbelief. A modicum of self-loathing. But then to deliver victory off a mishit shot, summed up everything like a misplaced chef’s kiss. It made the ensuing relief, searing joy, and intense sense of Ange-tinged redemption and vindication all the more transcendent.  

I am happy for Spurs fans—as an Evertonian, who is also forced to exist in the shadow of a more successful rival, I have always empathized deeply with their dreams and their pain. Sonny’s joy is a human balm for our chaotic world. Ange Postecoglou’s achievement is one of the most agonizing yet magical I have witnessed in the modern game. I said on that post-final whistle show, that after declaring back in September, to derisory howls of media laughter, “I always win something in my second season, mate,” and then delivering on that promise, Ange was as akin to an Australian Babe Ruth, pointing to the bleachers, pounding himself in the testicles with his own baseball bat, yet still proceeding to hit a home run. The English writer Clive Barker once wrote, “Any fool can be happy. It takes a man with real heart to make beauty out of the stuff that makes us weep.” That is Big Ange, who has walked through fire to deliver glory. Watch him in a quiet moment, hugging his wife and kids, alone in the stadium and see a man who has suffered the Trials of Job, free at last. 

Two things can be true. Spurs fans’ joy can be off the charts. The game could still have been terrible. Spurs had three shots, an expected goals of 0.0 in the second half, just 27.7% possession total, and completed 115 passes, all the lowest figures Opta has on record by any team in a major European final (since 2009-10). Manchester United were woeful. It does not matter. For the time being, Spursiness has been rebranded as no longer beta. It connotes winning, and now every Spurs fan gets the cathartic release of bellowing from the high heavens, “We have won more than Arsenal over the last five years.”

More: Watch Big Ange’s early days in this video put out by his first club South Melbourne and realize just how far he has had to come to become not just the first Australian coach to win a European trophy, but the first coach from a place other than Europe or Argentina to lift a European trophy. To Ange Ball, we salute you.

ii. Kevin De Bruyne will say farewell to Manchester City this weekend away at Fulham. It was a pleasant surprise that we were given the opportunity last week to film KDB’s last outside interview as a City player. I had filmed one of his first long interviews back when he joined, and to spend time with him in his final weeks was to go full circle. The interview will drop at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday and is incredibly human. The KDB situation is unlike any other I have encountered. A club legend who still seems as blindsided as anyone that he is being let go. We talked in depth about his decade of dominance, and what it feels like to be able to flip a switch mid-game and take over a massive game in key moments. We will never see his like again.

iii. Lastly, Father's Day is coming up soon and if you're looking for something for the football-crazed dad in your life, may I suggest a gift created by two of those very people? Our book, "Men in Blazers Present Gods of Soccer," is on sale right now and is sure to lead to at least one "Huh, I had no idea" moment from your dad or your money back.

News from MiB World HQ 📡

i. Our Bournemouth film dropped yesterday on YouTube. I love it immensely. I have learned so much from spending time with Vegas Golden Knights owner Bill Foley. Watching him storm into the Premier League with a data-propelled sense of bravado has been a giddy delight. I adore Murakami-reading manager Andoni Iraola and of course, watching my friend Tyler Adams thrive. But the Cherries fanbase is what really thrills me. They have suffered, and put their own hands in their pockets when the club were nearly relegated from the fourth tier and teetering on bankruptcy 20 years ago. Their happiness is human wonder. Watch the film. A version will play as our MiB Television Show Season 11 Finale on Sunday. It will make your heart soar.

ii. We taped with Ryan Reynolds to close our This Week in Wrexham Series for our friends at SToK Cold Brew. The interview drops next Thursday. We do not take it for granted being able to capture this magical hero’s journey as it moves in real time from the annals of the National League to the precipice of the Premier League big time. Collective effervescence incarnate.

iii. 🗣️ NEWSLETTER NEWS ALERT: I am elated to announce my friend Rory Smith is starting a newsletter on the Men in Blazers Media Network. This is a proud moment for me. I first met Rory at a Dortmund-Real Madrid Champions League game in 2016. I had fallen in love with his writing long before that – the way he sees football as a big story trapped in a small story. The game as a mirror to the geopolitics, culture, history, and humanity that surrounds it. To have our network now be the platform he rides with and writes for is a profound moment in our journey. Rory’s newsletter will be sent out midweek via The Raven starting in the coming weeks, but in the meantime, you can enjoy a preview of it here.

iv. Over at The Women’s Game, Sam sat down IN PERSON with England and Arsenal forward Chloe Kelly, where they discussed her Euros-winning goal for the Lionesses in 2022, as well as just how much she is enjoying life and football in London. Then Sam was joined by Club América's Sarah Luebbert, who shared what it's like to live and play football in Mexico City. You can watch both of those conversations, and so much more great stuff, over on the TWG YouTube channel.

v. Speaking of TWG, Sam and The Women’s Game are coming to The Green Mountain State ahead of Vermont Green’s women’s week – which Sam is coaching! – for The Women’s Game Live! in Vermont! The evening will be one of storytelling, soccer, and celebrating what makes Vermont soccer so special and the creativity used to make Vermont soccer-mad. Hosted by Sam, who is proud to call Vermont home, the show will bring together some very special Vermont guests for a lively, heartfelt look at the state’s unique soccer culture and DIY spirit. This is part live podcast, part community gathering—with smiles, laughs, and a whole lot of heart. Whether you're a local or just passing through, come see why Vermont feels like home. Get your tickets here.

vi. In really lovely news: Today, we welcome a new partnership with our friends up North, as the Men in Blazers Media Network is announced as Canada Soccer’s Digital Content Storytelling Partner. The partnership will enable us to tell the story of both the men’s and the women’s teams as they sizzle towards their World Cups. Watching the transformation of Canada Soccer has been one of the most fascinating stories in our region's modern footballing history. It is going to be magical to be able to tell it from the inside with the players and managers who are making it happen. We can’t wait to see, as The Tragically Hip once sang, “The constellations reveal themselves, one star at a time.” 🇨🇦 

To the Football 🍻

👉 Here is what you need to know: Premier League Race for European Places. Who can win what, and how 10 can qualify for Europe. 

Nottingham Forest vs. Chelsea AKA Champions League Play-In Game (Sunday, 11 a.m. ET, USA)

Two of the five teams vying for the final three Champions League places collide. Chelsea must win a game that is light years more important than next Wednesday’s Conference League final against Real Betis in Wroclaw. The City Ground will be faintly audible from outer space. Seventh-place Forest need a win and Toon or Villa to drop points. Failure will see a one-man pitch invasion by owner, Evangelos Marinakis, that is somehow even more terrifying than the prospect of 10,000 flare-throwing fans storming the pitch. 

Rogstradamus 🔮: Forest by a Million.  

Liverpool vs. Crystal Palace (Sunday, 11 a.m. ET, NBC)

A game that will be drunker than a night out with Ernest Hemingway and Kate Moss. The reigning champions meet the FA Cup champions. A trailer for next season’s Community Shield. The fact that Liverpool are the first side to be crowned Premier League champions and then fail to win their next three games in the competition in the same season is both self-inflicted and hilarious. Jurgen Klopp will be in attendance. (Will he boo Trent?) The trophy presentation—the first before a live audience at Anfield in 35 long years—will be a Red Catharsis. 

Rogstradamus 🔮: Palace by a Million.  

Fulham vs. Manchester City (Sunday, 11 a.m. ET, Peacock)

Rodri may return, like a massive prize being pulled on stage at the end of a daytime quiz show, to taunt a losing contestant with the words, “Here’s what you could have won…” You cannot be hypothetical about history. Even in their dark Pep season reality, City still control their Champions League destiny.

Rogstradamus 🔮: City by a Million.  

Manchester United vs. Aston Villa (Sunday, 11 a.m. ET, CNBC)

United’s worst ever Premier League season is sadder than an Elliott Smith record. Ruben Amorim seems to be goading his owners to sack him. "If the board and the fans feel I'm not the right guy then I will go tomorrow with no compensation. But I will not quit." Villa, who have eight wins in their last nine Premier League matches, need a win and others above them to drop points.

Rogstradamus 🔮: Villa by a Million.  

Newcastle vs. Everton (Sunday, 11 a.m. ET, Peacock)

Can Sunderland lad, Jordan Pickford, take revenge for the hundreds of tiny-handed inflatable dinosaurs Newcastle fans have bounced around stadia to goad him and dent the Toon’s Champions League hopes? In a word: No.

Rogstradamus 🔮: Newcastle by a Million.  

Tottenham vs. Brighton (Sunday, 11 a.m. ET, Peacock)

The prospect of witnessing Happy Spurs fans is akin to being given the opportunity to glimpse the very face of God. Long may that last. Brighton need a point to secure eighth place, which should gain European football for the Seagulls. I cannot wait to see Big Ange bask in the love, redemption, and wonder. It’s magic. Pure magic. 

Rogstradamus 🔮: Brighton by a Million. Ange out. 

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

USA Gold Cup Squad: No Pulisic, No Party 🇺🇸

The U.S. Gold Cup squad was announced yesterday. Christian Pulisic will be amongst the names not present, further weakening a unit that is already without Antonee Robinson, Yunus Musah, Gio Reyna, and Juventus teammates Weston McKennie and Tim Weah. The Pulisic situation is opaque. The player has not spoken. AC Milan have not discussed the situation. U.S. Soccer went as far as to put out a statement making it clear it was the player’s request after running up the most minutes of his career and that he needs rest. There are rumors of a chronic hip injury. It is rational to rest, but football is not rational. Our U.S. team has been floundering in excruciating, unfathomable fashion. We will hit the 365-day mark from World Cup kick-off with the team still desperately trying to find its chemistry. The players I have spoken to have made it clear the squad is still to mind-meld with Pochettino culturally and tactically. The Gold Cup is their last chance to play competitive football before the World Cup proper. To miss their best player—who has worn the armband under Poch—is an enormous loss tactically and in terms of optics. In Christian’s new Italian language, the U.S. team without him is akin to a porchetta sandwich in Ariccia, but with no butterflied pork shoulder. 

Above all, this team has fallen so far off the media spotlight. Alexi Lalas, who is Mr. Rose Tinted Glasses, wrote yesterday, “Following recent failures, confidence and interest in this team is at an all-time low. Many are asking, fair or not, "If they don't care, why should we?" It's on this group to make people care again.” This is the true darkness of the moment. Even inside our soccer bubble, inertia is kicking in.  

More: Pochettino asks players to leave golf clubs at home.

Tell me how you feel about this at [email protected] 🦅

Incredible Games to Watch Around the World 🌎

🇮🇹🏆 Serie A Title Decider: Como vs. Inter / Napoli vs. Cagliari (TODAY, 2:45 p.m. ET, Paramount+)   

The stakes are this: If Napoli lose and Inter draw, goal difference and head-to-head form evaporate to make way for a league play-off final, which was thankfully reintroduced by Serie A in 2022. Antonio Conte’s Naples side lead Simone Inzaghi’s Nerazzurri by a point and they have the luxury of home advantage in today’s game against 14th-place Cagliari. They also have Scott McTominay, a man thriving after escaping a toxic relationship with Manchester United, and a contender for Serie A Player of the Season. Inter travel 30 miles north to the league’s in-form team, 10th-place Como, managed by Arsenal, Chelsea, and Barcelona legend, Cesc Fàbregas, who’s been serenaded by his players and fans of late, while catching side-eyes from twitching directors of football and chairmen across Europe for what he’s accomplished at the newly-promoted club. 

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏆 Championship Play-Off Final: Sheffield United vs. Sunderland (Saturday, 10:01 a.m. ET, Paramount+)    

Wembley will be a red-and-white masterpiece tomorrow when Sheffield United and Sunderland, two teams from industrial, working class, Northern cities meet in the richest game in football, now thought to be worth $270 million. Combine the Blades’ 6-0 two-legged victory over Bristol City in the play-off semis with their 14-point lead over Sunderland in the league, and Chris Wilder’s side look like clear favorites, but these matches, where jobs, futures, and local economies are at stake, could make Cool Hand Luke shake. The Black Cats needed their last whisker to creep into this final with an injury time in extra time Dan Ballard header against Frank Lampard’s Coventry, but Régis Le Bris’ boys led the league in the early months of the season, and a return to the Premier League for the first time in eight years feels long overdue. 

More: Birth of the Football League playoffs in the ‘80s changed football and gave us this strange, magical weekend ahead.

🇪🇺🏆 Women’s Champions League Final: Arsenal vs. Barcelona (Saturday, 12 p.m. ET, Paramount +)

Just one season on from their exit in the first round of qualifiers, Arsenal find themselves in the Women’s Champions League final for the first time since Avril Lavigne’s “Girlfriend” topped the charts back in 2007. Renée Slegers’ side travel to Lisbon to face defending champs Barcelona, who easily brushed aside WSL winner’s Chelsea 8-2 on aggregate in their semifinal. Victory for either team would mark the first under new management: Slegers took over for Jonas Eidevall in October of last year, while Pere Romeu replaced the outgoing Jonatan Giráldez at Barcelona after the latter left to coach the Washington Spirit.

More: Watch Sam Mewis and Becky Sauerbrunn break down the entire game immediately after the whistle at 2 p.m. ET on TWG Live! on The Women’s Game YouTube channel.

🇫🇷🏆 Coupe de France - PSG vs. Reims (Saturday, 3 p.m. ET, FOX Soccer Plus)

Luis Enrique’s PSG team have been more watchable than Tom Cruise eating popcorn this season, winning neutrals’ hearts in their Champions League run, which reaches its precipice against Inter Milan next Saturday. They’ve long won Ligue 1, 19 points ahead of second-place Marseille, so a victory in the Coupe de France against Reims, who find this final sandwiched between a two-legged relegation play-off, would mean only an Inter-shaped wall to hurdle to become the first ever team from France to win the treble. French poet Jean de La Fontaine said, "One often meets one's destiny on the road one takes to avoid it," but the Parisians under Enrique seem to have stripped their ego and be in control of their own fate. 

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏆 Scottish Cup Final - Aberdeen vs. Celtic (Saturday, 10 a.m. ET, Paramount+)

Where Brendan Rodgers’ Celtic are a high-functioning trophy-winning force on the prowl for a record ninth-treble, Aberdeen haven’t won silverware in 35 years. They were once managed by the man who Manchester United fans weep over every night, Sir Alex Ferguson, and like United, have dwindled since his exit, so this is a golden opportunity for the Highland-bordering team. USMNT boys Cameron Carter-Vickers and Auston Trusty have been rested by Mauricio Pochettino ahead of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, after featuring heavily in Celtic’s victory march, so this is your last chance to see them this season; there are no guarantees in this game, but expect them to be partying in green and white hoops again. 

🇺🇸 Chicago Stars vs. KC Current (Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET, ion)

The KC Current can pull further away from closest challengers San Diego Wave with a win in their “First vs. Worst” matchup with the Chicago Stars. Easier said than done after several key players suffered injuries last time out against Orlando. The club confirmed yesterday that defender Alana Cook will be out for the season with an ACL and MCL tear, she is joined by Brazilian star Debinha, and possibly reigning MVP Temwa Chawinga after both came off in the 1-0 win against the champs.

A spot of good news for the Current: NWSL standout Lo’eau LaBonta named to USWNT roster for friendlies. This makes me so happy. Lo has lived for this moment. I am in awe of her grind.

Prize Picks: Best PP Since Peppermint Patty ✅

Charlie Kipp writes: Pat yourselves on the back, we did it. 380 matches of Premier League football are nearly behind us. Champions crowned in first and 17th place, as it always has been. With 10 concurrent matches this Sunday, there is simply no way to watch all of them at once, but there IS a way to get in on the action across every game: PrizePicks. One final chance this season to turn your knowledge into winners and ride into the offseason on a high note, even if you support Arsenal. My pick this week: Cole Palmer MORE in the Shots Attempted department.

A true play-off for Champions League football (in all likelihood) will go down this Sunday on the banks of the River Trent. Nottingham Forest looking to turn a dream season into European reality, that doesn’t involve trips to Moldova, face a Chelsea team seeking to return to where they are convinced they belong. The key to this match will be last season’s MVP, Cole Palmer, who has gone chillier than his signature celebration since the turn of the new year, but the 23-year-old will be motivated - and very much part of the action. Let’s capitalize on that. Cole Palmer MORE in the Shots Attempted department.

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:

“____ will win the Champions League Final 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 GFOP Phillip Singer takes the spoils with:

“If Tottenham’s season was a movie, David Harbour would play Ange Postecoglou because they both have been stuck in the Upside Down.”

Harbour’s Ange has early Oscar talk written all over it. Chalamet’s Archie Gray will no doubt steal the actual award though.

Not Football and All the Better for It 📖

• Horse stories in the morning, erotica in the afternoon: How to Make a Living as a Writer.

• What It’s Like to Be a Professional Card Counter. A lot more video editing than one would imagine. 

• Thrilling: My Father Prosecuted History’s Crimes. Then He Died in One.

• A wild-goose chase (pun intended) into the "wrongest bird in the history of cinema": The Curious Case of the Pygmy Nuthatch.

• A Search for the Last Original Cans of the 2000s’ Most Loved and Loathed Forbidden Alcohol. Four Loko, the most Jamie Vardy of canned booze.

• A+ headline work here with the Foer callback: Extremely loud and incredibly scouse: how Jamie Carragher conquered football punditry.

• This Song Helped Me Through the Week: “Elderberry Wine” by Wednesday. I love her so much. Every song is a great novel.

Dear Rog... GFOPs Write ✍️

Raymond Infussi was one of many Spurs fans who wrote to us this week. I love all your letters, but this stood out:

Raymond wrote: “Sport brings about the best and worst of us. I have known no earthly joy like the one that Tottenham brought me tonight. Glory glory, Tottenham Hotspur. A truly human epic of triumph. I am biased, but if Tottenham had not won tonight, I would have given up on the poetry of humanity. Rog, I have counted you as a kindred spirit as an Everton fan. I started listening to the pod as a 13-year-old naive Spurs fan in 2016, thinking the impossible was possible when Leicester climbed the Everest of Everest’s. 

Oh how little did I understand the tragedy of English’ness. For the longest time since then, I figured I might’ve been better off not knowing what it was like to succeed. But tonight, my Spurs are victorious, and I am forever in debt to you Roger, for hooking me on this lifelong run of schadenfreude. You taught me the German term, and my life has forever been changed, for better or worse. 

I have won tonight, and I can only hope to will your Toffees to similar success. I can’t help but draw similarities between my club and yours at this time. Leaving a historic stadium, exceeding recent expectations (for you, expectations of relegation) and reaching for greater heights in our new stadia. You are more experienced than me in this roller coaster of English top flight football, but I leave you with this: how lucky are we to be stuck with a club that burdens us with such uncertainty. I count myself among the lucky ones of America to be stuck in the middle of suffering and joy with my football club. From what I understand of you as a man, you count yourself in my ranks as an American, forever in desperation.

Courage,

Raymond

Brother in Suffering

Rog writes: Raymond. I love that sign off, “Brother in Suffering”. We should get matching necklaces that say the same thing on different sides of a broken heart. I love your ability to articulate emotion in this profound moment. You capture the joy I feel for so many of my Spurs-supporting friends. My MD, Scott Debson, a North Londoner, went to Bilbao with his dad and his son. They will be bonded by the memories they have made this week for the rest of their lives. May you all savor such joy. I hope it is there for you all to draw strength from in the weeks and years to come. Our chaotic world demands it.

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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