The Football Is Back... Kind of ⚽️

Hail GFOP! 

I type with fingers that are just a little lost. We were told that the World Football calendar was in perilous danger of over-extended bloat. That footballers’ limbs were being ground down to a pulp by one infinite season blending into the next. So answer me this: Where is the football? Not to go all Old Rose on your asses, but…“It’s been 84 years… since the Club World Cup ended.” We are all left to break down Pedro Porro pushing Mikel Arteta in a meaningless game in Hong Kong. I don’t know who we even are any more. Premier League, you cannot come back soon enough. 

ii. Honest truth is, I have been walking around all week with a smile on my face laughing at the memories of our Everton live show—James Tarkowski’s wicked sense of humor, Ndiaye giggling through his interview, and Séamus Coleman recoiling in shock when seeing a photograph of him wearing the red shirt of Sligo. Above all—the passion of an audience packed with you GFOPs who had flown in from across the nation, and Scousers charging in from across the Atlantic. That was the true magic. Yes, I am attempting to repress the memory of St. David Moyes using the stage as the platform to start negotiating for 9-10 more footballers to play for Everton, which I am not gonna lie, made me feel a bit like chopped liver. I was sitting right there, ready to give my life to play alongside Beto and he just looked right through me. 🍻

iii. No time to ruminate on that slight though, we had just enough to to re-group before we filmed with Tom Brady. A gent who has discovered that mastering one form of football is not enough. In retirement, he has leaned into English football ownership with Birmingham City. He came on to talk to us about the lessons learned, the differences in culture between English football and the NFL, whether relegation would work in America, the Wayne Rooney experience, and if Bill Belichick’s coaching skills would translate to the Premier League. I found him to be extremely relaxed and learned a ton from listening to him. I particularly enjoyed listening to him talk about David Beckham explaining the intricacies of the term “sheep shaggers”. 🏈⚽️

📺 Tom Brady joins us to go deep on his life lessons learned from owning an English Football team. WATCH THE WHOLE SHOW HERE.

iii. Two other magical conversations that sustained me this week:

1. Fabrizio Romano joined me to barrel through all the transfer storylines impacting Liverpool, Newcastle, Chelsea, Arsenal and more. It is a really interesting conversation. Fab was on really reflective form—especially on Newcastle’s predicament and the Alexander Isak saga. And I love the noise he made when I made that stupid joke about how the biggest transfer move of the season has already gone down—mustache to Pep Guardiola’s upper lip. Watch the convo here.

2. Thomas Frank filmed with us to talk about the steep challenge ahead for him at Tottenham Hotspur. You can watch the interview here. I cannot lie. I love the man. He is always himself, and in this conversation, I found him to be incredibly honest about the odds of success. In a way he is the perfect bridge from Big Ange. An emotionally adept human being as a leader. Spurs fans will hope he can be more tactically flexible than his predecessor but it is some unique challenge to follow a man who was fired after delivering the first piece of silverware in a generation. Godspeed Thomas. 

PS. Spurs fans. Enjoy Pape Matar Sarr’s winner from way downtown in the faux North London Derby. 

Also: I found this stunning line from Mary Oliver and loved it so much, I wanted to share it with you:

“Instructions for living a life.

Pay attention.

Be astonished.

Tell about it.”

― Mary Oliver

🚨 COLUMBUS GFOPS! Save The Date: September 8th! We are coming to eat all that Schmidt’s Sausage… 

This Week at MIB HQ 📣

THE MEN IN BLAZERS DISCORD CHANNEL: FOOTBALL IS BETTER WITH FRIENDS 💙

In case you haven’t heard… we have launched the Men in Blazers Discord Channel, a place to celebrate the game we love with fellow football fans, watch matches with one another, and speak directly to me, Becky, Sam, and Rory 🤝. I AM IN THERE – with what I’ve read that morning, early updates on MiB live events, and communing with you GFOPs. I know Discord is not something everyone is familiar with, but please come and be with us, we will be announcing our live shows, our guests, and treat this how we used to treat Twitter in the old days. To join, JUST CLICK THIS LINK and join if you have a Discord account already, or create one and you’ll be added once complete.

Sam Mewis and The Women’s Game coming to NYC next week 🗽

Join Sam for The Women’s Game Live! presented by our great friends at Ally, a night celebrating rivalries ahead of Gotham FC vs. Washington Spirit, the East Coast rivalry that has become one of the most compelling in the NWSL. We’ll unpack the history, the stars, and the storylines with the intensity this clash deserves. AND...joining Sam LIVE ON STAGE: Rose Lavelle, Emily Sonnett, and the one and only Katie Nolan. Expect insight, laughs, and a celebration of women’s sports in New York. Come and be with us, bringing your good vibes along with you. LIMITED TICKETS REMAIN 🎟️

Up the Green! Vermont Green are all that is good about American Football 🍻💚🌲

Our friends at Vermont Green have lived an undefeated season and are in this weekend’s USL League Two title game. To watch the energy at their games—15,000 fans storming the field in the moment of victory—is to see an authentic connection between town, team, and the spirit of the game. It makes your heart soar to witness. We are lucky to have one of the gents who runs the club’s Green Mountain Bhoys supporters’ group, Tyler Littwin, work with us as a designer, so we are able to experience the club through his eyes—an experience of joy, local pride and wonder. All I can say is Godspeed to all on Saturday. Make great memories. 

🎧 I had the honor of doing a live show in the magnificent kingdom of Burlington with the founders of Vermont Green. It is worth a listen.

More Great Football From Around the World 🌎

Premier League Summer Series on Peacock 🦚 

Bournemouth vs. West Ham (Sunday, 2 p.m. E.T) & Manchester United vs. Everton (Sunday, 5 p.m. ET)

Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium hosts the final round of this Premier League midtable tournament of friendlies, which has so far encouraged Manchester United supporters to make the fatal error generations of football fans frequently fail to learn from: mistaking a successful pre-season for a Premier League forecast. Ruben Amorim’s side have won both their games convincingly and face a winless Everton as headliners for Sunday’s double-fix of football, which will be preceded by the Harry Redknapp derby, Bournemouth vs. West Ham.

EFL League One 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Luton vs. AFC Wimbledon (TODAY, 3 p.m. ET, Paramount+)

Football comes at you fast, huh? It almost feels surreal that Luton lived in the Premier League only two years ago, but back-to-back relegations lay bare the brutality of the English football pyramid. Matt Bloomfield’s side are tipped for promotion this season, while bookmakers have opening day opponents, newly promoted AFC Wimbledon-John Green FC, as one of the favorites to do a Grampa Simpson and return from whence they came. Their demise and resurgence as a football club is one of the game’s great tales, so to see them open League One in Kenilworth’s Friday night lights, is pure joy.

🚨 This is not a drill! Scottish Premier League football is back 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Motherwell vs. Rangers (Saturday, 12:30 p.m. ET, CBS Sports) 

Rangers’ season under new manager, Russell Martin, is already underway as his team are finding their rhythm in the preliminary stages of Champions League qualification, but at the top of his to-do list will be wrestling the SPL back from Glaswegian neighbors, Celtic. That mission begins away at Motherwell tomorrow, who after a middling showing last season also made changes at the top, recruiting Danish manager, Jens Berthel Askou, as their new main man. The ‘Gers will be patient but Martin will want to strike his first blow in the Old Firm title fight. 

Celtic vs. St Mirren (Sunday, 9 a.m. ET, CBS Sports)

Brendan Rodgers’ Celtic habitually steamroll their way through SPL seasons, and this time out they’re gunning for their fifth title on the bounce. Ahead of next year’s home soil World Cup, their American contingent, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Auston Trusty, are on weekly audition for Marucio Pochettino, after both were curiously omitted from his USMNT Gold Cup squad. At Celtic Park on Sunday against last season’s sixth-placed finishers: Stephen Robinson’s St. Mirren, the current Kings of Scotland will expect a winning start. 

The Women’s Game ⚽️

NWSL Returns!

After a 40-day break that saw England and Nigeria crowned champions of their respective continents, the NWSL returns with a Friday night triple header. In Kentucky, runaway leaders KC Current travel to a strong Louisville side who closed out the first half of the season with a comprehensive 2-0 win over last year’s champs Orlando (8 p.m. ET, Prime Video). Three hundred miles north in Chicago, Gotham FC will likely be without Euros Golden Boot winner Esther to face a returning Alyssa Naeher and her 13th placed Stars side (8 p.m. ET, NWSL +). And finally on the West Coast, only six points separate opponents Seattle Reign and Angel City as they both battle for one of the league’s eight playoff spots (10:30 p.m ET, Paramount +). 

Copa America Feminina Final Brazil v. Colombia (Saturday, 5 p.m. ET, Fox Sports) 🇧🇷🇨🇴

Quito, Ecuador plays host to a rematch of the 2022 final as Brazil attempt to defend their title against a Colombia side looking to join Argentina as the only other team to wrestle the title from the eight-time winners.

Introducing Pet FC’s Newest Manager 🐶

We have partnered with the two-legged people at Purina to create Pet FC, a new initiative where we will be featuring YOUR four-legged friends that show a true love of football on par with their human counterparts. Got a furry companion we should know about? Tell us about them here.

This Orange Tabby is Pet FC’s first feline and her name is Carra. Her name is a combination of her Mom and Dad’s names but she’s also a massive Liverpool fan. Carra loves nothing more than watching football directly in front of the TV in Pittsburgh, Penn; she is proper Liverpool – just like Jamie Carragher, of course – even if her humans support Arsenal. Her favorite game ever was, understandably, Arsenal vs. Manchester City ("Stay humble, eh"), where like in this picture, she got so close to the TV that when the full time whistle went, she scared herself off the stand! She got back up to watch the celebrations though. Back stronger. 😉

Wecome, Carra, to Pet FC, presented by Purina ❤️

Do you have a great football story involving the dog or cat in your life? Click the link below to submit your pets and pet stories, and we will be regularly featuring the best of the best here in the Raven and on our social channels. What's more, we have Purina prize packs for every pet featured.

Submit your Pet FC stories here 🐾

MiB Mad Libs 📝

This week’s phrase is:

“I miss the Premier League like __ misses __”

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

A LOT of you submitted brilliant entries this week, but there can only be one winner:

Spencer Salmon: “My club Arsenal should re-sign Olivier Giroud and glory will be ours next season, because forehead.”

I love any sentence that ends…because forehead.

More Football, Did Ya Say? ⚽️

Amazing read: Why so many British teams are increasingly turning to Asia to sign players.

Manchester City 115 Charges Verdict could be “months away”—so crazy. Miguel Delaney documents it all here.

Erling Haaland on the front cover of Time. Story is great despite my quote. Man of the Year award surely loading… 

Not Football and All the Better for It 📖

• Wordsearch final boss: What if you could search every visible word on New York City’s streets? 

• Eva Victor is a genius: “Sorry, Baby” is why we go to the movies.

• The urban design of Sesame Street. Even Oscar's trash can isn't safe from gentrification. 

• Winona Forever: Winona Ryder: 'I Started My Career As The Youngest And I Always Wanted To Be Older'

• The make-believe festival boasting Glastonbury headliners planned by a convicted fraudster. How do you say 'Fyre Festival' in Welsh?

• There are sentences being sentenced that have never sentenced before: I Saved a PNG Image To A Bird.

• This Song Helped Me Through the Week: Mother, Pray for Me by the Beths. Lord, I love The Beths. They overflow with empathy.

• I did not finish a book this week. Mostly because I am reading a big thick one which breaks my normal rule of never reading a book over 350 pages. But it is a great one so it is worth it. However, It was Primo Levi’s birthday yesterday. My favorite writer would have been 106. If you have not read the Grey Zone, it is probably my favorite piece of writing ever. 

A GFOP Writes ✍️

The mighty Chris Hammond asked me a big one: 

“Dear Rog, 

I am going to be in London through 10 August and I was wondering, what is your favorite pie shop? Where is your favorite place for fish and chips? Unfortunately this is the time that I have to go. I wish I could've waited a couple of weeks so I could've gone to some matches. But anyway, thanks so much in advance for your recommendations!

Big love and courage!

Chris”

Rog writes: King Chris. I love, love, love the pies at Goddard’s in Greenwich where they talk about “pie and mash punters.” The eel is a once in a lifetime. You can watch it here. Makes me ache for some crumble and custard. Fish and Chips is a personal taste. I have had some heavenly sessions in London and would recommend The Fryer's Delight in Bloomsbury or Toff’s in Muswell Hill. I am always open to better suggestions. Send them to us at [email protected] and Chris, send photos!

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