Football Cliches

An immaculate Etihad goalkeeping hierarchy, nearly picking Maicon by accident, an underwhelming Pep Guardiola raid of Bayern Munich, a capable midfield wardrobe, the one turn-of-the-2010s Englishman they didn’t sign, the Messi/Ronaldo dilemma, Hulk tearing up the Premier League from the right-hand side, an agonising choice for No 9, and one charming man to lead them all.

Adam Hurrey is joined by David Walker and James Maw to sift through dozens of names in a bid to pick apart Manchester City's various transfer strategies from 2008 to the present day - from the early post-takeover splurges to the relentless squad-refining of the Guardiola era - and select a lineup of players who somehow slipped through the Etihad net.

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Adam Hurrey is joined on the Adjudication Panel by Charlie Eccleshare and David Walker. On the agenda: one of the best phone-in callers of the Man City saga so far, Richard Keys vs Liam Gallagher, England’s nursery-rhyme back four, statistical proof that it's tinpot for a country’s football association to have an actual football in its logo, David Seaman barely contains himself yet again, analysing the full weekly lineup for The Overlap Daily, Sean Dyche's favourite line gets another airing, and the greatest pound-for-pound commentator's curse of all time.

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Adam Hurrey, Charlie Eccleshare and David Walker are joined by former Premier League referee Graham Scott, who answers some increasingly obscure questions from the pod and the listeners about life as a top-flight match official...

Is RefCam a positive development in our relationship with referees? What's the threshold for a referee becoming "card happy"? When would an official call a player by their nickname? Why have anti-referee chants failed to evolve over the years? Why is Jay Bothroyd now the nation's unofficial chief referee assessor? Why do referees whistle for full time in different ways? And how long would it take for a flawlessly talented 40-year-old referee to go from Sunday League to Premier League?

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Adam Hurrey is joined on the Adjudication Panel by Charlie Eccleshare and David Walker. On the agenda: the finer details of the fallout from the Premier League's verdict on Manchester City's charges, accidentally musical commentary from England vs Spain, a huge development for players who have their full names read out every time, Poland delivers the adverb that football never knew it always wanted, Andy Townsend on pub toilets, Dave unconsciously saying the names of Ballon d’Or winners, Jeremy Clarkson presenting Match of the Day, and Glenn Hoddle goes route-one in search of some international-break social media engagement.

Play our fantastic new Out of Control daily quiz at games.footballcliches.com

Sign up for Dreamland, the members-only Football Clichés experience, to access our exclusive show and much more: https://dreamland.footballcliches.com

Download SAILY in your app store and use code CLICHES at checkout to get an exclusive 15% off your first purchase! For more info, visit https://saily.com/cliches
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Adam Hurrey, Charlie Eccleshare and Nick Miller entertain this month's listener entries for Mesut Haaland Dicks, as the Clichés faithful nominate their niche footballing fascinations and irritations.

Among the selections are the three minutes it takes to identify the co-commentator by voice alone, the body language of an offside striker performatively not interfering with play, why a player can be "on a hat-trick" but not "on a red card" and the sheer dissatisfaction of a new signing not being immediately unleashed for their debut.

Play our fantastic new Out of Control daily quiz at games.footballcliches.com

Sign up for Dreamland, the new members-only Football Clichés experience, to access our exclusive show and much more: https://dreamland.footballcliches.com

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