Steven Fletcher – “After Wrexham I KNEW I had to Retire…”

This week on the Fozcast, the lads are still in New York – and we’re joined by the Scottish Viking Jesus himself, Steven Fletcher! ⚽️

Fletch has enjoyed an incredible career, playing 749 games and scoring 199 goals – a stat that still haunts him to this day 🤣

He opens up about taking a break from international football with Scotland and the reasons behind that decision, as well as his time at Sheffield Wednesday, where he even offered to take a 50% pay cut to stay. Fletch also shares how his move to Marseille came about and what life was really like in France…

We chat about his retirement, why Wrexham felt like the perfect club to finish his playing career at, and what’s next – including his brand new golf channel with Phil Jagielka ⛳️

A brilliant episode full of stories, laughs, and proper football insight 🙌🏼

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[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] This episode is presented by Shaw. We all know footy fans are a passionate bunch, but the fans in South America are on another level, so the pressure the players are under in major tournaments must be huge. Plus, I’ve played out there and it’s hot. It’s all about staying cool and calm, and I’d say Shaw’s non-stop protection range of antipersperants is a great place to start. It has 72-hour non-stop sweat and odor protection that will keep you fresh and dry on and off the pitch. Shop now at Boots. Sure, it won’t let you down. Fletch, welcome to the Foscast. Uh, you have won the award already as the most stylish guest we’ve ever had. Thank you very much. Agreed. What a lovely looking human being he is, isn’t he? He is. But before we get into it, you guys, we need to talk about you. Uh, you’ve been rolling back the years, you two, haven’t you? Dead. This is the worst 4D printed trophy I’ve ever seen in my life, by the way. So, when I first seen it, went to left, I thought, “Oh, it’s got to be better.” No, it’s not. It’s not. It’s literally It is pure 4G plastic, isn’t it? And it is the uh twinning trophy 2025. Um, because we won this the other day, didn’t we? We’re in New York right now, Fletch. Yeah. Um, how did we win it? What did we do? I think it was mining you a little link up to be honest with you. Fuzzy’s playing outfield at one. Foy’s playing at one point, right? I’ve played a ball to Fozy maybe that off the ground. He’s took an unbelievable touch, half volley in the back of net, turned round at me and done. What a bad pass that was. No, he didn’t. He passed me one into my knees cuz you know his his last his three goals before that were all the ball rolled across the floor. He was chipping them up in half volley. I think might as well just help him. So, a bit of context. We were out in New York. Uh we were playing football for Rexum for like a bit of a fire aside. It’s a bit of a charity um event. Jeppe Rossy was a captain of one of the teams, X-Man United player. Um but we ended up winning the trophy, didn’t we? Um it was it was competitive though. It was friendly till the final. It was friendly till the final. It was friendly till the first 5 minutes of the first game. Yeah, it was kicking off and I was like, “All right, is this how we’re going?” Yeah, let’s go then. Um how stiff were you for about 2 days afterwards? You can barely walk now. 20 minutes after we’d finished the last the final lifted the trophy. I limped around for the next 3 days. How many uh how many months ago did you retire? Four months ago. Four months. Last my last touch of a football was the last game of the last like the last season. You last kick in professional. I didn’t I didn’t I’ve not touched the ball since. I tell you what then. Let’s quickly talk about retirement. We’ve got the icebreaker coming up in a minute as well where we will ask you the three teammates who would have your back in a bar fight, but let’s talk about retirement. Okay. I want to know the exact moment, the exact time when you went, do you know what? That’ll do now. Do you know what? It wasn’t until I would say three weeks after Rex Sim had basically said that’s it. That’s it. You’re not getting a contract. And they didn’t tell me that until after the season finished. So I was already on the off season. I still wondering am I going back cuz I’d already had a little sniff that I was going to stay. So even like when I got the phone call to say that’s it, it was still like 3 weeks after I was still like I couldn’t took me a while to process it all. But I would I would say that halfway through last season I did say to myself, to the family, if I don’t get a new contract, that’s me. I’m not going anywhere else. I don’t want to go anywhere else. I want to finish on a high. this place has been amazing. I want to finish like that. Um but then you know when you get the we sniff of you could be like because we were discussing a new contract and it had been discussed. So that kind of gave me that little lift a wee bit. So that’s probably why I finished the season well because you’re thinking you got that little buzz. So then when obviously I got told I was getting released that was a kind of such a big come down. So it took me a while to process that. Was there a certain day? Was there one moment anywhere in particular where you went, “Nah, that’s it. That’s it. I’m not I’m not doing it.” Like after after I’ve been Probably Yeah. I think I just woke up one day and kind of like thought, do you know what? Probably looking back now. Probably the right decision from the club. Yeah. Just with the amount of players that we had and I was a bit Yeah. But no, it took me a while to like get over it. I was hungry for a good few weeks and I’m not really I’m quite a chill guy but I was Yeah, I blanked a few phone calls for a while. Did it come as a bit of a surprising when you did get that call from? It did. Yeah, it did. And obviously people from the club are trying to call you after they find out and I was I am not ready to talk to you. No. Yeah. So bury your head, play a bit for a bit. Yeah. Yeah. Obviously Rob and Ryan both called me after it. H but I did blank a few calls to start with and we’ve spoke about it now. You blank Ryan? I did. Yeah, it was it was more out of like I’m just not ready to talk cuz I knew they would have come on and I really I got on really well with the both of them. So it would have been I didn’t want them to probably get the kind of brunt of me right now. I wasn’t ready. I was like let me cool down you [ __ ] Exactly that. But I did then calm down. I think Rob then called me maybe he Rob text let me know when you want to speak because I think he they understood. They want that. They understood. So I spoke to Robin and then me and Ryan missed each other back and forward for a for a while. Like I was missing his and then he was missing me and then I’m thinking he’s thinking I’m blanking him. I think so. And then we we met each other met up in person, me and Ryan. And he was like, “Did you not want to speak to me?” I was like, “No, of course I did.” Good relationship though with the owners. Yeah, really good. Obviously Rob was great with me. We went and played golf quite a few times and he invited me over to his place to play golf. So it was great. Um Ryan’s just obviously if he liked golf as much as we did, I’m sure he would be involved as well. Um as his two years at Rexom been um an eye opener as to what a football club club can be. Oh yeah, massively. Massively. Just they done everything right. Whatever they had, they made the best of. So like I’d obviously played at some good clubs that have got unbelievable training grounds. When I came, you you probably seen it. When you came in, I was shocked at how good their gym was for what they had, if you know what I mean. Cuz it’s a small space, but they had all the best equipment there. Do you know what I mean? Team League Two team at the time just came from National League and they had all the best of the best equipment in a small area of what they could use. Do you know what I mean? So I was everything they’ done for me, I thought they done it right. It was all everything like travel. It was Premier League travel, Premier League hotels, food, everything. We were flying in League 2 everywhere and you’re just like what’s going I was speaking to a few lads maybe they had come to near the end of their career when we played in League 2 as well that I’d played with maybe and they were like that was some bus journey down here in he flew and they’re just like oh all right when uh when we was in national league we flew to Barnet away as well you know madness isn’t it mad away it’s bad it is from North Wales mate it is from North Wales that was the hardest thing getting from like anywhere from Rexom to a major motorway to get somewhere even like not that you probably would but even the train network and stuff. I was trying to get a train up to recre the club kind of realized if we’re going to do this properly we’re going to have to fly to most places and we did um give us your three players then come on your three players it kicks off in a bar and you got to pick three sickos. You imagine yesterday we had a couple of scoops, didn’t we? Yeah. Should we be honest? Should we be honest? We had more than a couple scoops. We’re all We’re all a bit tender. Very tender today. We just We’ve just been for some lunch as well. It’s the worst thing you can do before a podcast cuz energy levels are low. Now, I’ve got a cap on because I couldn’t be bothered to do my hair this morning. I just had a cap on. Fun was had. Fun was had. Fun was had. There was a few Hey, we’ve realized we all like the same genre of music and we sung our hearts out. Yeah, we did. And we all like drinking beer. And we like drinking beer. We We If anybody ever watches any of our football filling stuff, we do a quiz at the end of every show. And um one part of the quiz is called player career paths. Yeah. And obviously you know exactly what a career player cafe is cuz we we played it yesterday in the pub for hours hours. Hours. The topic was um American players that have played in the Premier League and we’re going through a whole list of them and it surprising from what I seen you were about half an hour to an hour deep into it before I arrived and I walked in and I started on a hide. Oh god, name him. Who did you get straight away? Demarcus Beasley. Bel it for a while as well apparently. Yeah, that one stumped us, didn’t he? He walked arms out basically. Demarcus. Demarcus Beasley. Right. Three players. Come on. Right. I’m I’m trying to go through like my career in hanging. So I would say Oh, going to go to my Wolves days. S E Banks Blake. Oh yeah. Was that united with him as a kid? Yes. So you know unit and I’m going to say I’ve seen him on a punch bag, put it that way. So, I wouldn’t like to take and I’m going to stick with the same club here because it was one of his mates as well. Big Care. Oh, big car could swing you a bit if he needed with Georgia Lacobe. I was Yeah, but Big Jaws was a softy, but he’s one of them looked gentle giant. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Wingspan. Yeah, I’m saying that. I’m saying he was a big softy. I still wouldn’t find out. And then I’m gonna go for someone who you played with actually. You probably back me up with this. Phil Barsley. Oh yeah, we’ve had now. Bardo and N2. I would say good Nick. I think if the bar fight kicked off and I had day three, I think I could probably just go back sit at the bar and just watch it. Cheers. We finished that. It’s good, mate. It’s a good three. It’s a very, very good three. Can we talk about um you’ve both got something in common? Um, you both took sabbaticals from playing for your country actually during your career and Ben’s is a really interesting story. Uh, and it’d be good to hear a bit bit about yours as well. Uh, yeah, mine’s I feel I’ve recently has been the biggest topic for me since I’ve been back up in Scotland retired. People have been asking about it. Uh, it was it was probably a bit of both, a manager and me being very stubborn. Who’s a manager at the time? It was Craig Leavine. Yeah. And I think we were just both being really stubborn at the time and it took for probably it took for Martin O’Neal actually to step in and be like you can’t be kind of doing what you’re doing right now at club level and not play for your country and I was like when he said it I was like yeah you’re probably right. That was when you were at Sunderland. That was when I was at Sunland but I did this that started when I was at Wolves. We needed don’t quote me on this because I think we needed some sort of result. I think we just couldn’t get beat. I’m not 100% sure if we could we just couldn’t lose the game and we could maybe make the playoff, you know, the second place. And uh so obviously Craig went with a goalkeeper and then a back four and a six in midfield and no strikers and at that time shutting up shop. Just shutting up shop. Yeah. And at that time I was playing week in week out in the Premier League scoring on a regular occasion. So I was like kind of felt like I could have made an impact in the game but I didn’t even get on the bench. Wow. I was in the stand. No, you were fly. So, that was the point you were talking about earlier on. That was the point in your career where you were like double digits goals in the Premier League. Well, for three I think you had three seasons, didn’t you? In a row. Yeah. The two seasons I was at Wolves, I got double figures both years in the Premier League, which was obviously a good thing. And yeah, I was so I always backed myself thinking I could be on there and make an impact. And yeah, I kind of spat a dummy out a little bit. And can that be do you know? So, so if a manager did do that and sometimes it’s annoying and blah, but can a man manager like negotiate that with you if they’ve got real good like people skills and personal ability? Do you know what I mean? It’s you’re able to do it, aren’t you? If they put an arm around you and explain it properly. 100%. Yeah. But you know, you know what international levels like the team goes up and that’s it. And and you don’t really there wasn’t much you can’t kick off. It’s not it’s different. So obviously you’re sitting there and you’re on your own and you’re like Yeah. And then I’m up in the stand having to sit in like a box somewhere and watch the game from up here and I’m like that’s that was the hardest part not even being on the bench and looking down. It’s it has just dawned on me it is completely different when you’re away with your national team to what it is back at home. If you like if that happens at your home, if that happens at Wolves, you can then straight away go to the manager or go to the assistant coaches and go like what’s going on? So why can’t you? I don’t know. It just it feels it’s weird when you’re not allowed to ruffle feathers with the international team. No. Yeah. So it was basically Yeah. And then it was just pure stubbornness from the both of us. It went on too long and you know when something goes on too long it’s almost you feel like it’s gone. Yeah. And then Yeah. I got a lot of stick for that. I’m not going to lie. But how long did you um I’m not miss out in total. I think it was like close to two years I think. I think. Yeah. Cuz I only got 33 caps. I made my debut when I I’m sure I was like 18 when I made my debut. So you should I was 18 or 19 maybe. But you should like Yeah. From the the longevity career I had and playing at that level for quite a long time, high level. I should have been a lot more. What is is the highlight of your career playing for your country? Oh, 100%. Yeah, 100%. I know obviously I had that little bit in the middle but realistically when I when I pulled on the SC I was buzzing all the family everybody do you know what I mean and obviously I when I did come back I had a little bit of success when I came back I scored like the two hatchets and stuff for the country which was good but we never ever when I was in the like the the squad we never made it to a championship that’s what always like got me that we never the team we had should have made it to like a major tournament. Yeah. first player to score a hat-tick for Scotland in I think it was something like 50 years. I think it was since was it? Yeah, I did see it was something like 50 years or something like that and then I’ve done it like a month later just to make sure. Go back to your time at Wolves quick. I’ve got here we’ve we’ve been chatting for the last couple of days. Tom’s a wolf fan, you know. But every every couple of day, you know, every few hours, it’s something like, “Right, just say the word Kristoff Ber to me in the podcast or say the word this to me or red card here or or something like that.” We had a good we had we had a good change at Wolves and I remember I not I had an incident with Barra playing Hibs varts. So obviously it’s Derby game. Barra is like the kind of he was like the the Edinburgh boy coming through Hart’s like ended up captain whatever. I was at Hibs and I was kind of like the Glasgow boy at Hibs and everybody knew me. So we was like built up before the rivalry was getting built up. Yeah. And obviously you go out when you were younger and you’d see them in the night and you’re just no, you know what I mean? You’re not interacting with them. You know what I mean? They’re the hearts. We the hips boys. So it was it was all that. And then in a derby game me and Bev went in for a 50/50. He’s meant to be this big tough center back and he dived and rolled around like a Yeah. rolled around like South American as if he’s like just been been shot in the leg and I got a straight red off. Still pictureing the in the press the next day. His foot’s on top of mine. No, mine’s underneath his. So I got straight red. Didn’t see him until sign for Wolves. So you were fuming though. You were fuming at the time. Yeah, because it’s one of them. Signed for Wolves. Walked in change room. They put put me next to him. Bang. Bear is a great guy, but I’d never really had a good interaction with him before. Yeah. And then obviously you know what it’s like you sign for a team and you’ve always got perceptions of people before you meet them. So then you sign for them and then you ended up like yeah mates had good problems with him but at the time I was like bridgeing coming in here bearer he’s a big unit actually he was a big boy bearer used to stand on my feet every day in training like flab oh big size I don’t even know what he wore massive and he wore studs every day in training and big Mick was like center back’s not wearing m you know what I mean macarthy center back really but honestly Barry used to stand on my feet I used to go and he’d actually it got to the point where I think he started apologizing cuz it was that often it’s like big man game. The thing is with big center back they’re a little bit clumsy as well. Yeah. Heavy foot. You call them footballers and they are don’t get me wrong but like they’re they’re big like oaths as well. They are they’re big Os. I don’t know what kilograms but he was a big boy. So who would he who would he have been playing at the back with? Would it have been Jody Kraock time? Big Jord. Yeah. Big Jordi Kraock. Jordi was brilliant. Jordi was gone through his be painting at the time he done. Yeah. So yeah, a few of the boys were getting like self-portraits done I think. Yeah, I remember um that was the season Wolves where Mick McCarthy was the one where I was at West Brom and we beat you 5-1 at yours at Mullingu. Were you in goals? Me in goals. So I got a goal against you. He did score a goal. 5-1 51. He scored a He scored a goal actually. What where what was the score when you when the Was that one? He made it one hattick. Yeah. On a wingy hatrick. Yeah, cuz Mick McCarthy got sacked after the game. He did. But yeah, it was the 5-1, but he scored the equalizer to make it one all. Yeah. Did you celebrate? Yeah, he probably did. Yeah. Have you% by your That’s um I’ve got a striker question for you. Right. If your team is getting pumped, the most loaded question of all time. If your team’s getting pumped, why don’t you just see when it was what the score was, then asking the question. If your team is getting pumped, but you score like it’s 6 nil at the time, right? A striker. You know what I’m going to do? And you score. Are you still celebrating? I’m knees sliding. And what if it’s against like the, you know, big boys like like a Man City? Like like if you’re getting beat 5-0 at halftime off Man City and then they go six and then you go to make it 61. I am knees sliding. Did you kneel it? I celebrated. But obviously that year Bley I think I don’t know. I feel like we were like close to going down by then. You know what I mean? I think it was tough for us to go. So, we didn’t the fans didn’t really have a lot to it was that sarcastic cheer, you know what I mean? Where all the fans actually got off their seat as if, hey, we’ve scored. So, I thought I’ll take advantage of that. Do you remember what it was like 5-nil down at Halime? Yeah, it was. Is that a bad place to be? Yeah, it was that old one, was it? It was that old one. Uh, it’s that old one. When you go in, let’s not lose the second half. Still nil nil, Lance. Still nil nil. So we drew the second half one each. So it was a good it was a good result. Did Man City pull the handbrake up? Oh, massively. Yeah, massively. 51 up. 18 minutes. 5-0 18 minutes were same thing. I way at the Eti had 5-nil down after 18 minutes and they thankfully pulled the handbrake up after the 18th minute. They were relentless. Relentless. Is that like a professional courtesy that like would genuinely would like Pepco lads don’t absolutely abuse him in a really good question. I highly doubt someone like Pep’s ruthless. I’d say he’d be like insane. make another five 10 like but what was the what was the score when you lost seven nil um eight eight so like back then I’m guessing Vincent company would have been playing is there like ever an instance where a captain would go lads come on no I don’t really cuz if it was me and and not that I was in that role you’re wanting to get a hattick yeah but I’d have been like as a go as a striker I would have been I’d have been like come on I can get as many goals as I can here do you know what I mean so I’d have been that way. Maybe they haven’t said it out outwardly, but I think they might have subconsciously maybe just eased us a little bit just it’s probably just preservation time then where they’re thinking just don’t get injured. You know what it was like? It was like us in the final of the twinning cup when we were like we just started popping chest was up rolling shouting O. Yeah, it was I seen FY do a stud roll at one point. Student didn’t fall over. Hey, right. We were here’s one for you then. So we we spoke earlier on you played how many career games did you play? Um club I think it was 749. Am I right? 749. 74 going mate. Yeah. So if anyone wants to give me that one appearance for 750 and we were debating on the way cuz I I added down as 199 career goals. Fuzzy’s told me it’s 200. It’s 200. If you go through transfer market which for me is the trusted source to go to uh the too many pop-ups. Too many pop-ups. They really need to change and it’s naughty as well. Listen to this, Rich. What they do is now, right? Genuinely, you click onto it and this big pop-up will come and it’s got the close button in the top corner. Easy enough to press at least it is. No, but once you press it, it has an auto delay on it of about 8 seconds. So, you press close and you can see the thing loading, but it must be in like the terms and conditions that they’ve signed with this pop-up company that 8 seconds you’ll see of this advert. And I’m thinking, ah, that’s a little bit. Don’t like that. Where were we? 200 goals. 200 goals. 200 career goals. So that extra goal came from it was in the the one that I think was fooling you and the one you didn’t notice was uh sent Mirin um into Toto Cups. Hibs into Toto Cup. Sorry. Um and you scored one of them in that. I did. I did. Toto Cup by the way. Toto Cup. A few people watching this won’t even know what that is. No, I know. Yeah. Yeah. Mento, ain’t it? Yeah. Do you remember? Ah, this is way before I think even before you the um do you remember the AngloItalian? No, I don’t, mate. That was that I can just about remember that they used to have this one thing called the AngloItalian Cup as well. You played in it. I think it was England and Italy. English team. Yeah. I never ever heard of that. Yeah. Anglo Italian it was called. Yeah. So if if it’s if your sources are right and we’re 200 happy days. If we’re not, I want a game and a goal. And a game cuz I’m on 749 and 19. Last minute. Bring me on. Bring me on. Yeah. And I’m tick boxes. Favorite goal of your career? Uh, I’ve got a few I think like you obviously I’ve got like my early days for Hibs scored my first career hat trick there which was nice against Gretner. Oh wow. Showcase hatrick’s a hat. Hatrick’s a hattick. Um, obviously I’ve got cup finals with Hibs. We we beat Kmanuk 51 in the cup final. Actually another 5-1. I was on the right side of that. Scored a double in that. So that was obviously nice being at such a young age and winning a trophy. But probably my Scotland goal against Poland just everything about it. Call it break it down. Call it hriesque from the left hand side lefty. Basically I think it was Matt Richie won the ball back on the edge of the box and just you know what Matt’s like Matt likes a shot and I thought he’s going to shoot here. I’ve made this run for absolutely no reason whatsoever. I’ve just peeled off to the edge of the like the corner of the box and he slapped me in and first time left foot far away but Fabiansky was waving. Oh, I love that. Yeah, it was a nice it’s a nice finish. And what was the score in that one? Probably got beat to 2-1 or something. Great goal though. Great goal though. Don’t care. Strikers do not care. No, I don’t know if we I don’t know if we won two-1 or we got beat 2-1, but all I can remember is my goal. Got my goal. And I ran the whole length of the pitcher on it all the way up to the halfway line just absolutely buzzing. Well, do you know what? We haven’t actually had many strikers on here, which is why I think you throw so much shade at them. So, if Aussiey’s got this theory is the the ego gets bigger the further up the pitch. Is that you go? Is that fair, do you reckon? Yeah, I would. Yeah, I would probably I would probably Mine isn’t as bad, but I’ve played with a few. Yeah, exceptions. There’s always He’s the exception to the rule. Genuinely, he is. He’s an exception to the rule. What you said last night when you were steaming. I reckon I reckon if we were on the same team, you would be part of our little goalies union. Oh yeah. I reckon you’d be sat there with the goalies and we’d fully just you’d get a little wing around you. You would coming in. Right. Goalies then. Goalies. Who’s who’s the best cat that you’ve played with? We we we’ve chatted about this before. I’ve played with quite a few good goalkeepers, but me personally would go and I would say it was either a Mingul or Mandanda. Oh, good. I feel really harsh on Ming saying this because he ended up getting his move to Liverpool off the back of and he was amazing and he pulled some saves off even in training that I was like wow how do you get but big Steve Mandanda was something else man before before we move on to Steve Mando I want to hear all about him who on the podcast said Simon Mule is the best goalie they played with who was it Luke somebody said the same thing about Simon Mu said in training some of the saves you used to say was outrageous we we done a a set a training session over in Dubai like you know when you go away warm weather training and he pulled this save off which I still to this day can’t understand how he saved it. Do you know what I mean? One of the ones we like and he still obviously now I’m sitting here now I’m still thinking how did he save that? Someone sat him down like went to shoot and he’s he’s went and they’ve lifted it over him and he’s on the ground and he got up got and flipped and tipped it over the bar and I swear to God the whole train had just stopped like it was a moment of absolute I actually think Martin was like hey that’s it come on let’s go back on the bus back it was that good a save it was madness uh Steve Mandanda go for it this guy man do you know this guy on a Friday five a sides would play outfield field and his team would win every Friday cuz he was that good. That’s so This is Marles we’re talking about. This is Marseilles. This is unreal. So we had we had a good group of goalies at Marseilles. So Steve was the number one as he is big uncle. He was unbelievable. He was right. Our third choice goalie was Mendy that went to Chelsea. Edward Mendy. He was our third choice goalie and um I think it was the second choice was Pelle. He was a good good keeper as well. Just a good stroll keeper. We had like three good cats there. Do you know what I mean? What was Mandanda? What was was he just a spec presence man? And like he actually didn’t train that much. It was just in games. He never really trained that because when he trained he wanted to play out field and they let him. So he would he would see when the two goalies were doing the warm-up stuff. For instance, we do warm up, passing, possession, and then we’ll go into like maybe small games. Steve would do the passing the possession in the small games outfield. That’s unreal. He’ll do he’ll do the warm up that you he would do his warm up with us. Why? I don’t know. He’s just that good that he didn’t need to do his goal with training. That’s unreal. And he had the respect and like everybody like you know he ran the not in a bad way but he ran the club like if anyone needed anything to go Steve was his English good? I think he played on it sometimes. Yeah. Reckon we could get him on the podcast and we could I think it’ll be better now. Yeah. Because he came and played at Crystal Palace, didn’t he? Which it didn’t really work out. It didn’t. I I was pure like when he came over I might tell everybody what a keeper he is by the way and he pulled off a he actually had a few good performance pass but just never worked out fully for him but what a keeper man who’s the best player you played with in your career um I’m not going to say him now because he was for me what he’s done for his club in the past and what he’s still doing for it now somewhere but I’ve played with some like laser diaras didn’t get the ball in training, never in games. He never never seen him get the ball away ever. You just give him his own ball. But for me, honestly, we Barry Bannon. Oh, it’s No, I would like that show. He is even still today. What a player. He’s still doing it. He’s been there 10 years. Yeah, 10 years. And every year you could I don’t know if he has, but you could give him player of the year every year. Yeah, probably. And no one would bat an eye with him. He’s worth his weight in gold to any football team, is he? because of his quality, but his work rate and his willingness to want. He is one of the best human beings in the world. Really, honestly, one of the best human beings in the world. I love him. Absolutely loves a bear as well. Oh, he does. He does. He does. You know, had a few nights out with Bar How did a night out with Barry come out West Brom? He was at um he’d have been at Villa at the time. Yeah. Bar is one of them, right? Everyone just loves him. So, if you seen him out, you would just be like, “Come and then you would realize what a great guy you are.” So, he was just he was pals with everybody. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Everybody just such a nice guy. Like no ego, no nothing. Love it. Player. Player. See that? I used to make this one run for Wednesday. Every time he got the ball and it got to the point where he didn’t even need to look up and I didn’t need to like check to see if it was coming. I just knew it was coming. I used to just do the people play a high line. Baz would get it off the center back turn. He would knock it on his left foot there. I would just spin without even looking. And can you imagine if I was quick? I’d have actually we’d have actually scored a lot more goals. The the only thing that killed it was my pace. Couldn’t really get there. Do you think Barry Bannon got sort of pigeonholed as that championship kind of workhorse and that’s it? Yeah, he did a bit. He did because remember he actually got a move to the Prem. He went to Palace and he just never he ended up I think went on loan. Did he go on loan to Wednesday first n or or he just went to Wednesday from them because he just wasn’t getting any game time in the Premier League which I think he would need to play in like a sounds silly because like well he never got a top top team he would have been really good because he could just you put him next to David Silva with they two would have kept the ball off everybody that would have been horrible wouldn’t horrible but there’s something about like the championship being a player like that it kind of has its own economy doesn’t it like he becomes more valuable valuable the fact he’s resigned for and we’ll talk about Shepherd Wednesday in a minute actually because it’s really interesting of what’s going on with the football club but him resigning at that football club apparently on not fantastic money. Well, Josh left, didn’t he? Josh Winds left. Yeah, because he had to basically they’ve had to leave because I think there’s a clause in the contract, isn’t there? If you don’t get paid for four months, you can terminate your contract. You can terminate your contract. And obviously Josh took advantage of that, but he had to because some people got families and things like things outside of football that you can’t really Well, I think ultimately as well, he’s working and you’re not getting paid. Exactly. It’s as simple as that. Yeah, exactly. But um yeah, Baz was what a player. What uh do you make of the old Sheffield West Wednesday situation? Cuz I think you would would Sheffield Wednesday be like one of your most favorite clubs? I I want I wanted to retire at Sheffer Wednesday. I my contract was coming up, but it co hit and I just got caught up in that contract thing with co where they couldn’t get anywhere near what I was on and I offered a 50% wage cut. Wow. And they wanted me to take a 75 and I was like no one in the right mind would do that. Do you know what I mean? It’s like in the same league everything everything. Yeah. They relegation. Oh, they offered me a 75% which I know it’s not all about like football’s not all about money. I says, but like 75 I offered a 50% and you’ve kind of kicked me when I’m down there a wee bit because I want they knew I wanted to stay. My family was settled there. My youngest was born there. We were really really like happy there and I loved the club. Loved the club. like um but yeah it just didn’t and obviously then Stoke come in and offered me a contract and I was like I can’t really um it’s so it’s been but it’s been good news the last um few weeks hasn’t it about the the ownership of the club it’s anymore the club have taken themselves back yeah exactly the club see the fan the fan base here is incredible incredible and they deserve success at that club like all the staff the the fans and the even just the the city what a place I didn’t even I’d never been to Sheffield before until I signed for them. Wow. If you just say to me point that out on the map, I don’t know. Yeah. But when I went there, it just something about it just like Yeah. I loved it. Yeah. Remember we did the podcast for Tony Pulis and he was talking about cuz obviously we went Sheffield Wednesday four games and he he was like said basically Chad series is just Yeah. a special breed. Yeah. How did you cuz when he went in he spent a lot of money, didn’t he? For a few years. Yeah. For for the first I would say three years they got they got um playoff final playoff semi-final year after. But then third year we kind of had that third year. You know what it’s like you’re having two highs two highs of massive lows because you’ve got there got there got there and then like oh and we done well to go again the next year and get to the semi-final the year after. Do you know what I mean? But then that third year, I think that’s when he was like, “This is never going to happen.” And he kind of pulled back a little bit. And I think if you’re owner of a club, you need to be all in. Yeah. All in. And that’s it. And he when he started pulling back and then when you pull back and then you’re not getting the results, you people are going to turn on you. And he did. Yeah. And I think sometimes in football, you’ve got to know when to cut your ties. And he just obviously for some reason way past that. Way past. There was a stubbornness to him. Yeah. 100%. I think Yeah. with probably how much him thinking how much I’ve spent I deserve to. It was almost like if I’m going the club’s coming with me kind of thing and you’re like that’s not how football works. No. No. So it’s it’s interesting though is it because you were telling me earlier on about the one of the managers that came in and about the promotion the relegation. Sorry. Yeah. Josh Lukai um he come in tried to kind of change the way we we went about the football and that I think he’d managed in Germany and and Holland I think I think he got a bit confused with the championship. Yeah, we’ve got playoffs at the top. I think he kind of thought there was playoffs at the bottom as well like no no no if you finish below that line you’re gone. We go down to the next league. You don’t get a second chance. No. So we had to kind of like nip that in the bud early dolls like no no no that doesn’t happen. We need to stay above that. Um, I’ve got notes in front of me that say Baar and Ultra’s airport. That’s Fuzzy’s notes. Is that your notes? Yeah, that’s Fuzzy’s notes. Fuzzy’s notes were shambles. That’s comprehensive. I think we were going through the the team I had at Mar. The team at Marseilles was we rhymed off I could rhyme off that many names that came to England. Yeah, probably. I don’t think Have any of them came and lit the place up? probably diara because even you you look at Frank Anguisa came to Fulham from Marseilles I wouldn’t say lit it up but their own at least do you know what it was every time they got relegated he went on loan to like Villa Royale and then yeah yeah did Balair and F would come back up cuz at that point they were just going up and down he was coming back to play the Prem for another year and then they were getting relegated then he was nipping away again to La Liga yeah so then he ended up going to Napoli what a career he’s had now though do you know what I mean And we had Bashay up front. Yeah. But Chelsea didn’t really take off. That man uh he he was he he was he was young. He liked all his little like cartoons and all that. From what I’ve seen, little action figures in his locker and that we had the locker next to him and he he’d lift his locker up and there was like action figures and all that. It was you know what I mean? One of them. Benjamin Mendy obviously done all right for City until obviously what happened off off the pitch stuff happened. Um, Lasara was absolutely different. Just this guy, man. Honestly, to this day, I still can’t remember him giving the ball away in training. Never mind games. Uh, Ma Weasler. Yeah. Was it QPR and that? I think it was Juventus as well if I’m right. Yeah, we we honestly the team was just full of like either players who had played in the Prem and came to there or were playing there about the Prem. So, you finished second that season with Marles? Not that year. No, no, I don’t think we did. I don’t think we had a cuz they they brought me if they’re bringing me in in January. There’s things wrong. You know, they’re not in a good place. They’re bringing me. Where does the move come from then to go to uh to Mar? How does that materialize honestly? Right. I was with my agent about two weeks ago just like a little catch up and even we look at it right now and like got a clue. So it was like honestly right I’m at Sunundo and I I started that season relatively well. Me and Jermaine were playing up front together. I got injured just before January and it was only a little niggle. It was only I only missed like two or three games. Big Sam was the the gaffer. When he came in I thought brilliant jackpot for me. Jackpot cracked it here which he did. Then he was playing his little and large. It was me and Jermaine. So it was great. Obviously Jermaine’s what a player. Do you know what I mean? It was great for me to play up front with him. um got injured just like maybe a month before January or whatever. And when I came back, he changed the he changed the formation. So it was only one up front because I was injured. They started winning a few games. I couldn’t get back in the team and I was like went and seen him a few times. He’s it’s working. So I was like, “Fair enough. You’re not going to like.” So I was like, “Right, right.” Got all the way to January and I still wasn’t playing. I was like, but I didn’t really think I’m going to leave. I was just like I was linked with like China and that I was linked with some random like so like every time I come in he would just laugh big Sam going China are we I was like sounds like it doesn’t it like that just having banter with him nothing nothing ever came and then literally Sunday night trying to win those shots on the Monday Sunday night I’m lying in bed I like an early bed I go to bed early it was a running joke in the recon thing that I was the granddad going to bed but I’ve done it most of my career so I’m lying in bed and the wife wakes me up and she’s your phone’s going like off. It’s not. You need to answer that. It’s your agent. And I was like, so I answered my hello. And he’s like, what are you doing? I was I’m sleeping. And he’s like, listen, I’ve just had a phone call. Mar want you to go on loan, but you need to go into training tomorrow and tell the gaff you want to go. So I’m like, [ __ ] sake. He’s like, would you go? And I was like, right, give me two minutes. Let me get my You just woke me up. Straight on my group chat. I’m like, should I go to Marseilles? Like you met my mate Nikki straight away. the right course you’re going to say we’re coming and all that. So I was like all right phon the back said yeah I’ll go. So he’s told them right. So they’ve said we’re going to send a plane for you tomorrow but like take a bag into training. So I’m obviously I’ve turned up to training. Normally I just turn up in like casuals to train. I’ve turned up to training basically similar to what I’m wearing. Shutting all that on you know like nice trousers looking a million. Yeah. Little like like you got somewhere to go. Little carry bag and that and the boys are like where you going? You know what I mean? Like what you doing after training? You know when boys used to come in dressed up you like where you going after training. So I’ve um I’ve went in I went I literally got changed into my gear and assistant magic I’m doing fletch gaffa weren’t you obly I know what it’s for and all the boys like oh so I went up big Sam sitting in his big chair behind the desk he’s like you don’t want to go there do you like of course I do like so he basically was like listen you’re going to need to like give me till after training I need to try and get replacement. I’m like what you need a replacement for? I’ve not played. But he was like, you know what big Sam’s like he’s wheeling and dealing. He’s on the phone the full train session. I’m sick. He’s like, “You don’t need to train. Just stay indoors today.” A that is proper. So that was good. Yeah. So, well, it was good, but it made me worse cuz I was just sitting at the window just watching Big Sam on the phone the whole time hoping he was going to. So, he done me a treat. He did. So, I’ve came in and he’s his assistants came out. Gaff, I want you. So, went in. I’ve sat down. He just done kind of let you go. I’m like, “Come.” My face is dropped. I’m like, “Come on, He’s like, “Fletcher, can you I can’t get a replacement in.” And I’m like, “Fuck sake, man.” So he’s like, “Sorry, son.” So I just got up, walked it, door shut two minutes. I’m not even down the stairs yet. Insisted, “Fletch Gaff, I watch you.” I’m like, I walk back up. He just does that. Tom is already done. Go and say bye to the lads, big man. You can go. So I’m go over to him, give him like hang. He’s like, “Oh, the best.” And that like cheers straight downstairs. His office is above the changing room. I’m down. And I might tell the boys, we’ve got loads of French lads at the time. So I’m like to the lads, I’m going to Marseilles. They just jumped on me and they’re all singing that Marc alle. They’re all bouncing shouting. I don’t even know what they’re singing. I’m singing with them. Gaff’s office right above us. Like I can’t be that excited. So then I’ve got changed straight to the private airport. There was a jet waiting for me. Madness, mate. Who did Anodise bring in to replace it? He I don’t He already had the guy in the building I think but he didn’t he was in the stand all the time. It was a boy from Trazanspo big number nine like I can’t remember his name but he ended up then just kind of but then Big Sam left after about three weeks when it took the England job didn’t he? Oh was it? Yeah it was that. So I think am I right in saying Moisy come in. Oh I think Moisy come in because someone says to me one time you’ve had Moises in the man you and I was like no. Yeah. Just left then. Yeah. But they were like, “Yeah, he did. He was You were at Sunund at the time.” And I was like, “Never.” And then I realized that he came in when I was at Marseilles. Sam Aldis. Legend. Yeah. Legend. Yeah. Do you know what? He surprised me with it. Like cuz he’s got that hanging of like, “Oh, big Sam. It’s just long ball and it’s this and it’s that and it’s get it up the pit.” He was mad on stats, you know. Was he like we had him on the podcast a few weeks ago. Amazing. Like I was actually, don’t get me wrong, he loved runners and that was not me. But I was like, I’m can be that number nine though. You can head up to get the runners off him. But he just like he always used to say I didn’t do enough high intensity running for him. Like he wanted over a thousand meters and I was like I’ve never done that in my life. Big man, not me. It’s amazing with Big Sam though, isn’t it? Because people do say that. And actually when we were doing a load of research and chatting to people and he said to us he went I don’t know if he said it on camera I can’t remember but he said um I put a cryo chamber into Newcastle in 2000 and he went and and I left and they ripped it out. One of the first ones in the I think he brought it to us as well. Really? Yeah I think he Yeah, he would have been cuz Jermaine was using it all the time. He was kind of similar. I think he was the one that brought it to us. He gets a bit of a bad rep but I think he’s a lot more forward thinking than what Listen, you’re not going to get the England job if you’re not. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. You’re never going to get he honestly like pleasantly surprised me at how good he was with his all his stats and all that. Yeah, we had podcast a few weeks ago. He’s unbelievable at waffling as well. What a talker. Really, really good guy. Oh, wasn’t he just unbelievable? Another one of my notes I said here a minute ago, Ultras airport. Oh yeah. So, these are the Marles Ultras. Maril Ultras. Yeah, we from what I was told and what I seen there was two sets of ultras. There could be more, but there was two main sets and they didn’t like each other. Oh no. So you’ve got that goal there, that goal there. They sit behind both goals and they sing to each other, but it’s the same. It’s like a as if they’ve got their verse and they’ve got their verse. So it’s brilliant because they sing and it does flies across the hang and then they stop and they sing back. But one day we were away. I don’t even know where we were away. some we had to fly everywhere because obviously we were down the bottom Marles. So coming back from a game it was like two we we used to play on a Sunday night at 9:00. Oh that’s the worst kick. That was your 9:00 on a Sunday. Pick a worst kick. I got to bed at half eight but half eight. Half eight. When I was playing I was in bed at half eight every night and I’ve got a kick off at 9:00. You can imagine what I was like caffeine my nut. So, we’ve got back to the Mara airport at like 2:00 in the morning, maybe, something like that. And obviously, I’ve not got a clue what they’re all saying, but I can hear them all waffling and they’re not they’re not happy, the the players. And like, what is it? One of the boys, the ultras are all outside. I was like, what do you mean? He’s like, there’s about 4,000 of them out there and they’re not letting us go out. There’s blue flares and obviously they’ve got the big me is it megaphone, whatever they got. Got that. And then uh we’ve got big sec. We had security. I think it was big Bobo Baldi’s brother. Big Bobo Bald’s brother. Made big M made big Bobo look like a wee boy. He’s just seen the size of this guy, man. But it was the best guy ever. He was one of security and he was huge, man. And he h was to me. I was like, “All right.” He’s like, “Stay with me.” I was like, “I’m with you, big man.” So, we went out. We had to stand like in a circle and the head of the ultras came into the middle of the circle and was just screaming at us like you’re like a like a teacher to his like you know what I mean and he but he was pure getting passionate and he he’s you know when you cry with anger he was crying with anger shouting I didn’t have a clue what he was saying but it sounded bad and it was like how’d you get out of that one then an hour and a half later. Oh, I want like just going on off one and then the next ultra head would come and their turn. A so they all just it was mental man. And my first game for Marci was PSG at our place. So I signed on that Monday. We had PSG Friday night. I’m sure it was a Friday night. We’re driving down on the coach. We didn’t have to get the coach to No, we did. We got it from the training ground. Sorry. We had a pre-match in the training ground and go to the stadium. We’re driving down and the bus is getting like fully nearly tipped over. I’m sitting there and the boys looked at I’m laughing. All the boys are laughing cuz they’re looking at me cuz they’re thinking he’s never been in this situation before and they done. That’s not PSG fans. That’s Marc fans. I was like, “No way.” I looked at me and they’ve all got the baby blue and they’re just pushing the bus buses just like the whole way down the street. Mental good, mate. It’s good. What do you reckon your best era of football was where you felt the best playing the best in your pump? Um, I always thought it was Sheffield Wednesday, but looking back at kind of probably stats and it was probably Wolves really. How old would you been at Wolves? I think I was like 23 22 23 when I signed. I think I I’m sure I came down 2009. So I was about 21 22 when I came down. 21 maybe. I was only at Burnley a year. Yeah. And then got signed for Wolves straight away. So, and I I was only there two years and then moved again. But I think I got double figures both years in a row at Wolves. I know we got relegated, but I thought like for me at a young age coming down from Scotland and been able to score double figures Premier League. What do you think it was about that age or that time of you playing that made you feel? No fear. No fear whatsoever. Didn’t didn’t think and didn’t care about anything else. As you get older, you start questioning stuff. question stuff and thinking about other people’s opinions more when you’re younger you didn’t care so I’ve went like Burnley Wolves Wolves and then even into my first year at Sunderland I think I still carried that no fear my first like six games for Sunday I got six and six I got player of the month Premier League player of the month beat Hazard that’s my claim to fame me and Ed me and Eden were up for it and I won it but like even just to have that in the house like Premier League player of the month I was just like the the Premier League the the Player of the month awards are like a big chunky version like the the man of the match awards were always nice but the like player of the month. This one it’s like the it’s the Barclays one. It’s the the half football with and it sits on like a long good but they’re like supercharged ones they thicker. I got that that’s going to set us to the twinning cup. Yeah. There you go. Uh we got a couple of other things to mention. I’ve got when you signed for Burnley Yeah. Yeah, you just said to me last night, Owen Coyle medical. I was like, come on then. Need to hear more about this. So, I’m I’m I’m at Hibs, right? Don’t get me wrong, my early days at Hibs, we had nothing. We didn’t have a training ground. We didn’t have like we we would come in and like not know where we were training that day. So, we could talk. So, then I’m obviously I’ve got my big Premier League move and I’m like now it’s like all professional. Do you know what I mean? We’re coming down. I’ve drove down with my agent got into Burnley into the stadium coilies obviously come and met me in the car park come up to my office. So I went up to his office and he’s like iron brew. So he so he gives me a can of Iron Brew. First thing I’ve the first drink I’ve got can I brew. So I’m like so I start drinking my brew. He’s waffling. Coley could talk. So he’s telling me about how good he was as a player. You know what I mean? Coley’s brilliant player. Oh brilliant. He told I would say he said three times a week. How many like appearances he had and how many goals he’ scored three times a week. Give it a rest. Yeah. Love it. And he would join in the train and he would chip the goalie three times a week as well by the way. So basically can I brew? So I’m starting and he’s like um got your boots with you. I was like no not got anything me I’ve got trainers I’ve got on and that’s it. He’s like uh what size you is that size eight? He’s like, “I’ll go and get a pair of like a kind of better trainers, not like runners basically.” I was like, “What we doing?” So, we’ll go up on the on the on the pitch. He says, “What we going to do?” He says, “Have a we head tennis tournament, won’t we? Shut up.” He says, “If you” He was basically like taking the piss, but he’s like, “If we lose, you’re not getting signed.” So, it was me coy, his assistant, and his coach playing head tennis for about honestly two hours. I had no change of clothes, sweating, didn’t even get a shower after. I had to put my shirt back on to sign. So I had iron brew and like refreshments were like iron brews at the side and I’m playing head tennis with coy and every now and again he would right wait and he would phone the like the chief is it oh agreed jet no all right all right sweet right we’ll play again we’re just playing a head tennis m how much were they buying you for at that point of time it was they signed me for three and a half million I think from hibs is it done yet is it done yet no it’s not done yet all right sweet we carry on playing the cannab we’ve then we’ve then obviously like big deal for I’m leaving home, coming away from Scotland, come to England. I come down, me and my agent, got everything agreed, what I wanted, signed my contract, and went straight to the Bley McDonald’s and got myself a McDonald’s after just signing the Premier League. I was buzzing, driving back up in my McDonald’s, text all my mates, telling them that I’ve just seen a big deal in the Premier League. We made it. We made it. We cracked it. We’re done. Nice. We’re going back to Benador. Simple things. You don’t need much, do you? No, that’s it. Right. I’ve got one one more one more kind of prompt for you, but before that, you do possess what I think is the greatest nickname in football, which is given to you by the Rexenom fans. Yes. Which is, is it the Scottish Jesus? Scottish Viking Jesus. Viking Jesus. Scottish Viking. It was, do you know why where that came from? Because now you can stick anything in AI and make Yeah. So I started every time I scored a goal I started getting tagged in Instagram of like Jesus standing like that and it’s with long and it’s just my face and then it was like Braveheart people pulling out a sword face paint but it was my face with a blue you know what I mean all stuff like that and then yeah it just grew arms and legs and people had then it was a competition who could get the best make the best that’s all they do make it even better make him make him more Viking. I was actually getting tagged and things literally like for for weeks like after I’d scored a goal. I was like even like we do the Rexen podcast as well, don’t we? And um even in comments people are just going SVJ SDJ legend SVJ and it’s like what? Um you don’t know the Sir Alex Ferguson story, do you? I I’m really interested in it because I was going to ask about it earlier but then it’s good. I haven’t got a clue what it’s about. Let’s finish up with that. Such a weird one. So it’s about it was two weeks ago. the last international break. Was that three three weeks ago? Maybe the last one. Yeah. Yeah. Month or so. Yeah. Yeah. Um in the middle of Glasgow, stuck in traffic and Yeah. I’m stuck in standstill traffic in Glasgow, which is standard. So, I’ve just been playing golf. I was on my way back from Loman’s lovely course. Lovely. Right. I’m stuck in traffic. I’m on the phone to my mate just chatting away. You know, when you can just feel a car kind of like they can move a bit before, but they don’t. They just stay right next to you. And I’m like, they’re looking at me. Yeah. I’m like, “Oh, no. I’m in Glasgow and I just I’m just like I kind of people recognize you quite a lot. So I’m like oh no not not today. I’m knackered. So I’m look and I hang and next as I look there you know you I catch the window going down and I’m like oh no that’s my mate two seconds m so I don’t know who’s next to me here. So I do look I’m like oh my god window done my mate’s on the phone two sir Alex are you okay? No chance he’s done how you doing son how you doing? I’m like I’m obviously I am starting to sweat in my own car. I have never felt like this in my life. So I’ve never had a personal interaction with Mr. Alex. It’s always been football on the like maybe after the game shake his hand and that but not actually a personal I’ve never felt so flustered and like I didn’t know what to say. So I’m like he’s like how you doing son? I was like I’m good son Alex how are you? Kept just ke son Alex. He must have been like son you don’t need to keep call. So I’m I said, “Oh, you’re going to the game.” Cuz it was Scotland game. That’s why it was so busy. So you’re going to the game again. All right, son. You’re not coming. And I was like, “Oh, no. He’s telling me off. He’s telling me off. Why aren’t you coming?” So I’m like, “No, I’m going to the one on Sunday.” Cuz I was I was going to the next game. This was like the maybe the Friday night one and there was a game. It was the second one. I was like, “No, I’m going to the second one.” He’s like, “All right, what you been doing?” He’s questioning me. I been playing golf. Didn’t know what to do. So my mate’s on the phone. He’s pure staying quiet as anything. And I’m like, so I was like, “Enjoy the game.” He’s like, “Enjoy, son. Keep well or something like that. Thank you.” Put the window in. And my mates just bust out laughing. He’s like, “I have never seen you crumble so much in your life.” I was like, “Yeah, it was bad, man. That is that’s an unreal story about this.” Wait, honestly, I must have phoned about six to my mate who was on the phone. Right. I’m going to go mate. I’ll call you back in a minute. Started phoning everyone to get on this. He’s just every like stories about him, don’t you? He’s got that presence in he scary, isn’t it? Honestly, what you doing, son? Come on. Nothing. Nothing to move home. Brilliant. What a guy, man. But so apparently he’s moved back home. Oh, is he? Yeah. Apparently he’s move back home. So quite a few people have told me or I’ve seen him in the West End like where we are from and that and I was like, “Oh, that’s good.” So I just thought maybe bumping him in the coffee shop or something. Not in traffic, man. Telling me off. That’s an awesome story. But man, what a guy. You know what? I was buzzing off the fact that he recognized me. Yeah, he knew who you were and he knew and he and he wanted he could have just been like oh that’s that boy there’s that daft there turned his back on Scotland for a couple years but the fact that he actually Yeah I was buzzing mate that’s brilliant. Um before we go um can we talk a little bit of golf quickly because you’re obsessed with golfing right I am. So you started a new YouTube channel Flags Golf. Yeah you and mate Phil Jelka guy big Phil. What a guy man. What a guy. He can talk near No, I think more than you. He can talk more than you. You can you can imagine on camera Phil does all the intros and all he loves it and then he pretends. Do you want to do it? Knowing that me knowing that he wants to really do it. He’s great. You’re the best. He’s great going there. It’s going well. We’re only a month in now and um got a few videos out. We got a lot more coming, but we need to get you on 100%. It’ll be a good crack. Um but yeah, no, it’s going well. Just you know what it’s like. It’s just constant filming isn’t it? Yeah, I know. One thing I have realized though is um you don’t actually end up playing full golf anymore. Yeah. You know, 18 holes doesn’t exist anymore. You know what I mean? And it takes it forever. But um I’m getting compliments on my club and not my golf, which is good. You’re looking even on everyone’s just like you always got. So now I’ve got to keep it up. Decent Melbourne gear. Melbourne stuff. Yeah. Even Melbourne casual gear and everything. Do you know what I mean? We’re not like just dropping names out there for sponsorships or anything though. We are looking forward to but we did just go to the shop, didn’t we? We did just go to the shop. Beautiful. Got a few freebies, didn’t we? We got looked after. I know. Lucky boy. Yeah, lucky boy. Um, brilliant mate. Really appreciate. Thank you for having me. Thank you for getting through it. And well done for you to get through it as well. Me. Hey, you’re in bed at half six. Hey, where you going? Where you going? Where you coming from? Right. See you soon. Uncast. Well done. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Am I sweating? No, it’s not. No, it’s all right, isn’t it? Up the Fast. Up the Fast. Just want to let you know that if you are watching this clip on YouTube, you can watch the full episode on Spotify and our Foscast YouTube channel. [Music]