Weekend of Silverware Incoming 🏆

Hail GFOP!

I type with fingers filled with anticipation for a weekend filled with footballing silverware: FA Cups, Women’s Champions League Titles, and perhaps the most coveted of all, Sunday’s Championship playoff final between Leeds and Southampton. So much wonder. So many opportunities to make memories together. As we did in a Europa Cup Final last Wednesday which still has me buzzing. American-owned Atalanta shocked and dropped Bayer Leverkusen 3-0, handing the almost supernaturally alchemic Germans their first defeat of the season in their 52nd game. Of course, the fact that the hat-trick hero, Ademola Lookman, was an Everton reject meant that even the lovely things in football feel like a kick in the down belows to Blues fans, but this is not about me. It was scintillating to witness these two teams, each audacious and tactically ambitious in their own right – two normal non-super-leaguey teams – bask in their well deserved spotlight, and serve up 90 minutes of immensely rewarding football that will be long remembered. Godspeed especially to 66-year-old Gian Piero Gasperini, one of football’s truly good guys, who won his first trophy whilst blasé-ly wearing a pair of Dad Jeans. After a Champions League game against Valencia played on the cusp of the pandemic inadvertently turned the city of Bergamo into a Covid vector leading to 17,000 deaths in the region, Gasperini declared his team's mission was to “make the people of Bergamo smile again.” On this day, his bold, clinical, admirable football made collective memories that will last a lifetime. Gasp’s post game comment was an all timer: “Winning with Atalanta is one of those footballing fairytales that rarely crop up. It gives scope for meritocracy: there is still scope for ideas and doesn’t have to come down to cold, hard money."

b. Godspeed to Xabi Alonso and Leverkusen. Their historic 51-game undefeated run has defied statistics and data. They charge right on into this weekend’s German Cup DFB-Pokal final against second-tier Kaiserslautern (Saturday, 2 p.m. ET, ESPN+). Their season, if it amounts to a double, remains a wondrous achievement. All of it done on a budget, with players deemed off the radar or castoffs, fuelled by one epic comeback after another. It is footballing alchemy we have witnessed.

c. I am writing from Dallas, Texas, where I have spent a whirlwind 24 hours experiencing so much that this singularly vast DFW-area has to offer. I am fascinated by the collision between tradition and modernity in this proud city. The refashioning of identities that abound across this flatland – in places as diverse as FC Dallas’s youth development pipeline, which harnesses the collision between American competitive spirit and Mexican tactical ability that thrives across the region. The award-winning Ethiopian barbecue, SmokeN’Ash which fuses generational traditions forged in Waco with those of Addis Ababa to create something magical, which to me, is all that is good about America. And at the Bull Riding I experienced in Fort Worth last night, which would have blown my hair off, if I had any, and made no sense to me at all, before I had the traditions of “Cowboy Code” explained to me. The whole time I have been here, I keep thinking of the song “Dallas” by Silver Jews:

“O Dallas… How'd you turn a billion steers

Into buildings made of mirrors?

And why am I drawn to you tonight?”

2. To the Football

i. FA Cup Final 🏆 Manchester City vs. Manchester United (Saturday, 10 a.m. ET, ESPN + )

Erik Ten Hag’s last stand. United’s only hope of European qualification takes place a day after The Guardian dropped an exclusive report that Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his fellow Old Trafford C-Suiters will give ETH the sack regardless of the result of Saturday's Manc Derby Cup Final Rematch. Deadest Dutch Man Walking since LVG in 2016. This on the heels of reports that Man Utd have met with Ipswich Town’s flavor of the month manager, 38-year-old Kieran McKenna. Ten Hag has fast become a Dutch Ned Stark, hopelessly lost amidst the vicious court intrigue that swamped Kings Landing. He is far from the only bedraggled figure at Old Trafford. Can Marcus Rashford rebound from the trauma of failing to make England’s Euros squad, and redeem himself at Wembley?

The final is a repeat of last year’s, the first time since 1885 that has happened. City won the previous encounter 2-1, courtesy of a pair of Gundogan goals. Again, they swagger in, as League Champions. Their fourth straight title giving a whiff of “The Guardiola Supremacy'' as the English media are left wondering how Manchester City became too good for their own good. In truth, there has been a very surreal reaction to the Fourpeat. Sky Sports revealed 61% of English viewers watched Klopp’s Liverpool farewell compared to just 23% who stuck around to witness City’s title celebrations. You can see that on social media, any post about City’s achievements becomes ensnared in people posting the number 115. This transcends sour grapes. It is a global audience of football fans shrugging about an achievement because the winner is facing charges for what allegedly amounts to Lance Armstrong-esque financial doping in a case for which neither process nor pathway to outcome is transparent and clear. By not having the hearings, and bogging down the case, City have created a vacuum which is being filled with a giant shrug. A de facto asterisk. This is a problem that impacts the entire Premier League as it undermines the competitive value of the enterprise, which is an agony for all.

ii. Championship Playoff Final. Not just the richest. Also, the Nerviest Game in Football 🏆

Leeds and Southampton collide Sunday at Wembley in English football’s most lucrative matchup: The Championship Playoff Final (10 a.m. ET, ESPN +). Not only will the winner join Ipswich and Leicester in the Premier League next season, but according to reports, will benefit from a revenue increase of at least $178m over the next three seasons. Two weeks ago the sides met in the league, with former Norwich player-turned-Southampton manager Russell Martin coming out on top against his former manager Daniel Farke’s Leeds side. My friend Larry Nance Jr. who is part of the Leeds United ownership group is one of many magical Americans who will be there. We wish both teams and their fans, Godspeed. 

iii. All Hail: Women's Champions League Final. Let’s Do It Live! 🇪🇸🇮🇹🏆

What a clash: Current champions Barcelona face up to eight-time winners Lyon in the Women’s Champions League Final Saturday in Bilbao (12 p.m. ET, DAZN). Barcelona will enter the San Mamés for their fourth straight final, unbeaten in league play. Their opponents, French Powerhouse Lyon, have American Lindsey Horan and Dutch warrior Danielle van De Donk (who joined Sam Mewis this week for a really fascinating and at times, hilarious, interview) are on imperious form, and are 5-0 in the head-to-head, including when the sides last met in the 2021/2022 final. 

🚨 Programming Alert: I will go LIVE with SAM MEWIS right after the final whistle on Saturday. Come and break the game down with us and discuss your questions together on the Women’s Game YouTube Page.

iv. Chelsea Chaos is the New Normal. Managerial Madness Reigns all over the Premier League and Beyond 💙😢

After the buzz of five games unbeaten to rally the season, Mauricio Pochettino leaving by mutual consent reverses any feeling of greenshoots and progress. The club is back once again to chaos and instability which has become their new DNA: Thomas Tuchel lasted seven games before being fired. Graham Potter suffered humanly at the club, and lasted less than seven months. Now Pochettino, who battled gamely to grasp the greasy wheel of managerial control, and proved, belatedly he could do it, is out after 10 months. Poch admitted he did not want to continue at a club he said “was not his Chelsea” – i.e. wanted experienced players, wanted to keep hold of Conor Gallagher… and not sell him because of FFP, did not want to manage a locker room filled only with young, raw, expensive talents who needed "Hello My Name Is…” badges. 

Poch will be fine. He is reportedly on the radar of Manchester United and mooted for the England job. Yet, who will take the Chelsea job now? The club has been managed by five different men over the last two seasons alone. Now, a sixth is incoming.  Here is the crazy thing: We are living in remarkable days when big clubs owned by American equity investors appear no longer interested in experienced managers who will tell them what to do, preferring younger, rawer bright young things whom they can control. Whoever that is – whether Ipswich’s Kieran McKenna, who would be taking a massive risk to his still raw, unblemished reputation, (see Graham Potter) or Leicester’s Enzo Maresca. Who will want to risk the chaos of being the face of a club who believe they are football’s greatest disruptors?

And Liverpool fans: Good look at Arne Slot’s in-tray for next season and the challenges that await.

Also: West Ham announce Julen Lopetegui is the man to replace David Moyes. ⚒️

v. And this mad one: Vincent Kompany to Bayern Munich 🇩🇪🤯

Make this make sense. Vinny won five games in the Premier League last relegation season and seemed naive, raw, and steep-learning curved. Now this? Can you imagine how Harry Kane is feeling? Gent took a risk by changing leagues in search of silverware, and finds himself being managed by the bloke who just got Burnley relegated 12 months later. 

🗓️ SAVE THE DATE. LA we coming for you! Los Angeles GFOPs — make sure you save June 19th on your calendar as we come to your beautiful city for a Copa America preview show with some very special guests. We're visiting more cities this summer, but Los Angeles will help us kick off this wonderful Summer of Soccer. 🏆

3. More Football, Did Ya Say?

i. Jesse Marsch on being Canada manager: “Will MLS owners dictate selection? Come on man!”

ii. Report card on every American owned team in Europe. So many clubs. So many different experiences. From Liverpool to Toulouse. 

iii. Arsenal know they need to make the leap from 89 points to mid-90s to win the league.

iv. Lucas Paqueta’s charges for breaking gambling rules is both ridiculous, surreal and, the more you think about it, frightening for the game.

iv. I loved this: How Jrue Holiday found his voice as a leader with help from his soccer star wife.

v. Here is the super cut you have always wanted. Big Ange says the word “mate” in a hundred different ways.

4. Emma Hayes Has Landed On Our Shores. Magnificent to Behold 🇺🇸🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

After grabbing her fifth straight WSL title last weekend, the former Chelsea manager has wasted no time, announcing her first USWNT Squad, and landing in New York to take the Today show sofa by storm as her charm offensive begins. "I was born in England but made in America, she said, making broadcasting appear as effortless as breaking down a high press. It is surreal to glimpse Emma in a tracksuit with the US crest for the first time. It must be similarly surreal for this Englishwoman from Camden to be over here, glitzing it up with Chris Pratt and dropping the word “soccer” as if she was born using it. Watch her rock Today. The Olympics are 62 days away. 

More: Excellent read. What USWNT fans can learn from Hayes' final season at Chelsea.

5. Serie B promotion: Let’s Get As Many Americans in Serie A as possible 🇮🇹🇺🇸

Serie US-A? The ever-stylish Venezia FC and its American duo Tanner Tessmann and Gianluca Busio take one step closer to Italy’s top flight this afternoon, as they meet Palermo in the second leg of Serie B’s Playoff Semi Finals (2.30 p.m. ET, Fox Soccer +). The winner will meet either Cremonese or Catanzaro over two final matches, the winner of which will join American-owned Parma, and American-fueled Como FC in Serie A next season. Buy your tickets now: Why Venezia And Como Joining Serie A Could Boost Italian Soccer Tourism.

More: Gianluca Busio joined my friend Herculez Gomez on this week’s episode of VAMOS! I loved listening to this so much. Godspeed Gianluca.

PRIZEPICKS. The Best PP since Pepperoni Pizza

Charlie Kipp Writes: Here we are, the Premier League has ended and we find ourselves in the midst of what I look at as the epilogue of the club football calendar. Champions League finals on the men’s and women’s side await, but for now - we turn our attention to the Richest Game in World Football^TM – the Championship Play-Off Final. Not an EFL Championship fan, you say? Then there is no better way to get into this game than by creating a PrizePicks entry - like, say, the MORE on Crysencio Summerville shots.

This season’s Championship season concludes this Sunday, 10 a.m. ET on ESPN+ when Leeds United meet Southampton with a spot in the 2024-25 Premier League on the line. Two clubs that are widely recognized to be in England’s twenty “biggest” hope to stave off the financial burden that comes with a multi-season stint in the country’s second-tier. In this match, I look for Leeds to rally behind their Dutch starlet - 22-year-old Crysencio Summerville. 31 goal contributions in all competitions for Leeds this season means he will play a vital role Sunday - arguably playing for his fate as a Leeds player - simply put: he will not be playing second-tier football ANYWHERE next season. Will he score? Who cares - I’ll be acting like a Hockey fan while my team is on the power-play, yelling “SHOOT!!” MORE on Crysencio Summerville shots, you heard it here first.

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

6. This Week at Men in Blazers World Headquarters

Everybody’s Working for the Weekend… 

🚨ROG AND SAM MEWIS ARE SET TO GO LIVE AT 2 P.M. ET TOMORROW AFTER THE UWCL FINAL ON THE WOMEN’S GAME YOUTUBE PAGE. And for a preview of that Pod, check out Sam’s Pod with Daniëlle van de Donk on this week’s episode of “Friendlies”. LISTEN HERE | WATCH HERE 

✨ Talking of European football, we had plenty of it this week, including Rog breaking down the broken heart of Bayer Leverkusen, the German fairytale story that was handed their first loss of the season Wednesday with a loss to Atalanta in the Europa League Final. POD HERE | WATCH HERE 

🙃 Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because Everton didn’t get relegated. We already miss the Premier League. But you can relive a final day of wonder and Klopp-sized goodbyes with Rog and Rory Smith’s final Premier League Podcast of the season with Rory taking it all in live from Anfield. LISTEN HERE | WATCH HERE

🤌 This week on VAMOS, Presented by ULTRA, Herc Gomez sits down with Gianluca Busio as he tries to lift his Venezia into Serie A. The second leg of their Serie B semi-final playoff is today against Palermo. LISTEN HERE

7. Not Football, and All the Better for It

i. How did Denmark remain such a trusting society in a world of chaos? Read this. And think about where the rest of us went so very wrong

ii. My friend John Green has a new movie out. READ THIS: John Green on OCD, death and the importance of telling hopeful stories. THEN WATCH. 

iii. France issues scratch-and-sniff baguette postage stamps. For when Mbappe gets homesick presumably. 

iv. Welcome to Cold Salad Plate Summer. Didn't know this was happening. Not mad about it. 

v. Nominative Determinism DEBUNKED: The Prophet Who Failed.

vi. "Clunk, clunk, clunk. And then one goes ding." What I’ve Learned: Stephen King.

vii. Would not advise reading this close to a meal break: The Poop Broker.

viii. I have never met Josh Gondelman, but I like him very, very much. Why do so many weddings have a ‘no photos’ rule?

ix. Actual Intelligence: How to get rid of the dumb AI bloat Google has added to searches. 

x. Was hoping this was about the INEVITABLE resurgence of child actress Abigail Breslin, but alas...The Breslin Era. 

xi. The follow up we've all been waiting for: The true story behind the kid who went 1940s viral for his week at the cinemas in San Francisco.

xii. This Song Helped Me Through the Week: A Thousand Guesses by Sean Finn and the Late Bloomers.

Let’s finish with a lovely Raven I received via [email protected] which wraps the Everton season up beautifully from Greg Wolfe from Little Rock, Arkansas who wrote:

“Rog, Blast you—I had never heard of Everton until I started listening to your podcast in 2024. Now I cry when they win! (And am very quiet when they do the non-winning thing.)

Obsessed as I now am, after Everton’s one-nil win over Sheffield United, I was watching a YouTube interview with the great Sean Dyche. I noticed on his shirt a Latin phrase associated which I now know is the motto for Everton FC: Nil satis nisi optimum. When I read the translation: “Nothing but the best is good enough" I thought…perhaps Everton should consider a slightly different motto: Non optimum sed bonus satis. Which would be translated: “Not the best but good enough.” 

Bite your arm off for “good enough” Greg 

To watching football together and not taking a second of it for granted.

To making memories together.

Big Love

Courage.

ROG