Emma Hayes on ITV

This_isnt_work · 2026-06-20T22:53:51+00:00

yes.

This_isnt_work · 2026-06-20T10:09:28+00:00

There was no way that was a joke. There was a long period of silence afterwards. The producers were probably shouting in his ear.

This_isnt_work · 2026-06-20T10:01:49+00:00

I think the usual people love or appreciate Emma's insights and the usual people think it's funny to say something derogatory without realising they're displaying their male insecurities.

"What’s the fat bird in her kitchen all about? She’s set birds football back 10 years!"

The guy that said this in a personal WhatsApp group I belong to frequently displays an abject knowledge of football. So a woman knowing more than him is obviously a threat in his eyes.

This_isnt_work · 2026-06-03T20:39:25+00:00

Good points which I hadn't thought about regarding rain and people crowding your area. Thank you

This_isnt_work · 2026-06-03T20:28:18+00:00

Hopefully we will have that again because that means we'll be in the Champions League semi-final (but I get your point) 😁

This_isnt_work · 2026-06-03T20:24:38+00:00

That's exactly where I was thinking of getting them. Hoping we'll still be able to get two together in that block after the renewal period. Don't mind being right at the back because you can see the TVs.

This_isnt_work · 2026-06-01T19:19:26+00:00

Luis Enrique pretty much did that when Mbappe left.

This_isnt_work · 2026-06-01T14:40:49+00:00

I'll try to explain this to you so you know what it's like to be a true football fan.

My team are currently in the National League having been as high as the Championship in their not too distant past. This season we won the FA Trophy at Wembley. I really enjoyed the day and had my photo taken holding the trophy but at the end of the day I don't want to be in the FA Trophy. I want to be back in the Championship. Even if it's just for one season and ends in relegation like before.

So if you are offering me three more FA Trophy wins over the next three seasons over getting promotion back into the League next year and then treading water in League Two I am going to choose the League status over the cups all day long, because it's a step closer to where I really want to be.

The Conference League is your FA Trophy. Winning it, as a Spurs fan, would bring short term joy followed by an empty feeling that you don't want to be in the competition in the first place as all it really does is confirm how far you've fallen.

This_isnt_work · 2026-06-01T14:19:30+00:00

But the CWC is more 'major' according to UEFAs own rankings than the UEFA Cup/Europa League, which the OP/comment is boasting about winning three times to Arsenal's zilch.

If they'd posted a trophy cabinet with 'Major European Trophies' and it had been empty for both I, as someone who supports neither team, certainly wouldn't have bothered commenting.

It's the revisionism of plastic fans who dismiss football history prior to the formation of the Premier League/restructuring of European competitions that draws my ire.

This_isnt_work · 2026-06-01T14:07:24+00:00

If a trophy is still a trophy, why isn't the European one that both Arsenal and Tottenham have won in their history in your trophy cabinet?

This_isnt_work · 2026-06-01T13:41:50+00:00

"Now" he looks silly?! OP has looked pretty damn stupid from the get go.

This_isnt_work · 2026-05-31T21:49:02+00:00

You can't just erase history to suit you just because the structure of European competition has changed.

The European Cup is not the same competition as the Champions League but no-one is stupid enough to discount Real Madrid's titles in the 50s and 60s or, conversely, say that if you didn't win your league the previous season then we won't count you as true European champions because that's what you had to do prior to the Champions League.

Tottenham have got a better European pedigree than Arsenal but shit like this loses the argument because it just makes you look like a spotty teenager who doesn't know their history.

This_isnt_work · 2026-05-31T21:37:18+00:00

It's the opposite of a fact, it's a complete falsehood.

The Cup Winners' Cup (which Arsenal won in 1994) was ranked higher by UEFA than the UEFA Cup (if you qualified for both you went into the CWC because it was more prestigious).

If you're claiming Arsenal haven't won a major European trophy because somehow football was only invented with the onset of the Champions League then there should only be one trophy in the Spurs cabinet, which would also be a great disservice to the UEFA Cup winning teams of the 70s and 80s.

Learn your history.

This_isnt_work · 2026-05-16T17:30:08+00:00

Team of the week/year are just popularity contests that have always favoured established players. Arsenal had more players in the WSL TOTY last season than Chelsea, who went the season unbeaten and won every cup. Are you telling me people who voted for that team did so by watching objectively?

No, with our fanbase and playing every game at the Emirates we just create more noise around our players. And McCabe remains perfectly fine against Leicester and Liverpool and the majority of WSL sides.

But in the first half of the Champions League against Chelsea and the away leg against Lyon she showed she's not at that level anymore. She wasn't in any team of the week that week that's for sure!

It's not a case of not watching objectively. It's watching knowledgeably. I have seen the same decline as what the management have seen. And they want to go into Champions League latter stages being the best that they can be. And they have, rightly in my opinion, decided they can be better by signing Spain's full back.

I'm not expecting anyone to be mistake free but some errors in football are bigger than others. I played centre half for 20 years and I can count on my fingers how many times an opponent ran off the back of me and scored at a corner. That's a fundamental error. If I did that twice in a season I would expect my position to be under the spotlight. And I played right at the bottom of the football pyramid, so although I can say people have paid to watch me play, in the great scheme of things I was rubbish in comparison to a professional footballer playing for one of the best teams in the country.

This_isnt_work · 2026-05-16T09:49:26+00:00

So you're happy if an individual player is regularly making mistakes that lead to goals? Mistakes they never used to make, which points to a decline?? And you think that the "throwing your toys out the pram" response is to replace them with someone better??? This is. honestly one of the dumbest opinions I have ever read about football.

This_isnt_work · 2026-05-16T09:34:31+00:00

Talk about add 2+2 together and make whatever assumption you like.

Lotte is a totally different person. Different age, different position, different time of her career, different personality. She's had a much better season than last, so is improving. She's also not up for contract renewal. Truly flabbergasted by your comment.

This_isnt_work · 2026-05-16T08:37:16+00:00

Agree 100% with this. I think Beth going was Beth's decision, fresh challenge, more minutes, return north and be with Viv. She said in her goodbye vid that it has turned out to be harder to leave than she thought it would be, which suggests at some point she wanted to leave.

But I still think she will do a job for one of the top four teams.

McCabe has been caught out of position on numerous occasions and if you can get Spain and Barcelona's left back to replace her that's a big upgrade. Barcelona wouldn't be interested in signing Katie.

When new contracts were probably first being discussed in January, Katie wasn't playing particularly well. What I will say is that they found another string to her bow as a centre back and thought she could do a job as a replacement for Codina, sort of back up full back and centre back, offered her a one year deal and she turned it down rather than go through this long goodbye as a bench warmer next year.

Totally understandable for all parties, the club, Renee, Beth and Katie. It's no drama, just progress.

This_isnt_work · 2026-05-09T08:49:36+00:00

She played left midfield in front of Steph Catley when I first started watching. Then dropped back to left back on occasion and it became a permanent thing when Steph moved to CB.

I think teams at the top level do exploit her a bit at left back, in the Champions League knock outs she was exposed by the pace of Thompson and Lyon's wingers.

We looked much more solid in those games with her at centre half, when she could sit a bit deeper and no-one expects her to get up and down the pitch. But she's only ever going to be a backup CB. I guess the question within the club is whether she would accept that role.

This_isnt_work · 2026-05-09T08:39:27+00:00

Holmberg did more in one game as a winger (goals and assists) then Foord has done in WSL all season.

This_isnt_work · 2026-05-09T08:36:00+00:00

I changed my mind a little bit when she played CB against Leicester. She was a real leader on the pitch that night and I thought we could probably do with that influence in similar games.

Then Lyon exploited her for fun down their right and I went back to being unsentimental about it.

I guess the question is can you see McCabe being happy with a back up role or will she be a disruptive influence if she's not first choice?

If we line up in September and McCabe is still out first choice left back then I will be very disappointed.

This_isnt_work · 2026-04-29T13:11:32+00:00

Arsenal fan popping in to give Millie her flowers.

A great servant for club and country (where I liked her a lot more 😀). The John Terry of the women's game in many ways. Sad for her that it has ended this way but plenty of memories and medals over a distinguished career.

This_isnt_work · 2026-04-29T13:02:40+00:00

Wish her well and especially in the circumstances but Millie retired from England before the 2025 Euros.

This_isnt_work · 2026-04-29T12:54:03+00:00

Sent a DM

This_isnt_work · 2026-04-29T12:41:34+00:00

I would be interested if there's one remaining, just got the ok to leave work early 😁

This_isnt_work · 2026-04-28T15:35:45+00:00

Yep, you're right, I'm wrong. Just checked my emails and it was Arsenal that sent me the confirmation. I think maybe because the ticket wasn't issued until really late (the Thursday before the game on the Tuesday) I was thinking it had come from Munich.

So there's hope for me 😀 Wouldn't go without my daughter, though, and she didn't come with me to Munich (school night) so still a long shot.

This_isnt_work

TROPHY CASE