Chris Sutton Interview: Cole Palmer is the best English player in the Premier League
In an exclusive interview with Spacesport Sweden, Celtic legend and Premier League winner Chris Sutton gives his opinion on the Premier League and Scottish League as the busy winter period gets underway.
Premier League observations and headlines
Are Arsenal in the title race?
Chris Sutton: ”I think Arsenal are definitely in the title race. I think it’s out of three now, and as usual with my predictions, I’m often proven wrong. I thought Manchester City, at the start of the season, would be the team to beat once again. But they do have a fragility about them. I think Arsenal are one of the three who can win it. The other two being Chelsea and Liverpool.
We can’t say that the Premier League is the best league in the world and then in early December say that Liverpool have wrapped up the title. It is really competitive, the Premier League.
You only have to look a bit further down to see how congested it is. All the way down to Newcastle in twelve on 20 points. Manchester City are fourth on 27 points. A couple of wins and you can move up the table really, really quickly.
Liverpool have still got a lot of work to do, and they’ve got the contractual situations of Salah, Van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold to try and sort out. I just hope for their sake that it doesn’t derail them in any way, shape or form.”
On the top four
Chris Sutton : ”We’re nearly halfway in, so what suggests Nottingham Forest won’t carry on this form or any of the others that are in and around them. Different teams, different styles.
Forest, I think that they like to counter-attack. They’re not one of these high-pressing teams, but they have a really good balance, and Chris Wood, I love the whole Chris Wood story, the woodchopper.
I think people over the years have looked at him and maybe viewed him as slightly unfashionable. He’s a really instinctive goal scorer, but he’s more than that. He leads the line really well and he’s been crucial for them, but they’ve got lots of flair in that team.
Defensively, Murillo and Milenkovic at the back have been really rock solid. They’ve got a nice balance, Nottingham Forest, to the way that they play. I used to support Nottingham Forest as a boy. I remember the old Brian Clough European Cup wins. I played under Martin O’Neill and John Robertson, two Nottingham Forest legends. So, I’m really delighted to see them doing well again.
Then you mention Brighton, you mention Bournemouth. Brighton are off to a flyer under Hurzeler. Bournemouth are a team who create so many opportunities. They’ve got goals in the team, and they lost Dominic Solanke, and had to sort of find a way of replacing those goals. Evanilson hasn’t been as prolific as Solanke but they’re getting goals from all areas of the team, and in many ways that’s a better thing.
When Andoni Iraola got the job at first, I wasn’t quite sure whether things would work out under him but, blimey, last season they had a slow start but got going. This season they’ve gone up another level, so you have to ask yourself why shouldn’t this continue, because they’ve performed consistently well over a very long spell now.”
If you had to single-out the best English player in the Premier League, who would it be and why?
Chris Sutton: ”That’s not difficult. Cole Palmer. He’s so, so natural. He seems to play a different game to most players in the Premier League. He’s like three yards sharper than everybody else, thinks ahead, handles the ball brilliantly. And we saw this Panenka penalty.
I scored a Panenka once up at Celtic when we were 4-0 up against Hibbs. But that’s quite another thing when you’re in a tight London derby game. I know they were ahead at that particular time.
There’s different ways to take penalties but to have that confidence in your execution, that courage, that tells you where he’s at at this moment in time. You have to hark back to Manchester City letting him actually leave. You look at City and you think, Pep didn’t make many mistakes, but that looks to be one where he must think, ‘That’s one that got away.’
Cole Palmer, he’s been brilliant. He’s the best English player in the Premier League, or certainly the English player that I enjoy watching the most.
Chelsea are really interesting, aren’t they? Because, I mean, Maresca said in recent times that Chelsea can’t win the Premier League this season, but the way they’re performing suggests that they’re well and truly in the mix.
You go back to the way that they’ve spent money and how much they’ve spent and the way that they’ve been criticized for their spending. Maybe there was a method in their madness and they’re bearing the fruits now, and you feel that they’re only going to keep getting better.”
Are Arsenal fluffing their best chance at a title?
Chris Sutton: ”All the top teams are having to cope with European football and the demands of that. There is that balance to be struck, and the games are coming thick and fast at the moment. I was at the Arsenal game against Fulham, and they totally dominated the game, but from open play did not create as many opportunities as you’d expect.
I know you get the tag of ‘set-piece Arsenal’, but it’s not a bad tag to have. But you want that balance where they score more from open play. I always thought with Odegaard coming back, their game goes up a level. He was a little quiet against Fulham, but you can see his impact in the previous four games, they scored 15 goals.
I think that players around him certainly benefit from him being in the team and raise their game as well. But if you’re an Arsenal fan at this moment in time, you’ll be disappointed because that was a case of two points dropped, really, and you think you can’t keep dropping points. I wouldn’t be chucking in the towel just yet.”
Has the impact of Fabian Hürzeler and Arne Slot put to bed any ideas that you need to have experience of the Premier League to be able to manage in it?
”You can’t not be impressed by Fabian Hürzeler. Brighton, they like left-field appointments.
I, probably like most people, thought they’ve taken a chance with this young, smart guy coming over from St. Pauli, who he had just got promoted from the Bundesliga 2 into the top flight in Germany. He’s been a breath of fresh air, really.
Brighton have their model. They have spent a lot of money in the summer, but because of the way that the club is run and the players which they’ve sold over the years, they accumulated money. Brighton are a club who are run with virtually the public model. And you want to see players develop and results on the pitch, and they’ve done that. I think Hurzeler has a bit of variation about the way he plays.
De Zerbi pretty much always played the same way. That’s not a criticism of De Zerbi. I loved watching him at Brighton, and the way that his team played, but they do have a bit of variation. I think they can win in different ways. They can play out from the back, but they can be a little bit more direct at times and it’s been a good start. I suppose if you look at the money they’ve spent this season, you’d say they should be doing well. But all the same, I think that if you’re a Brighton fan, you would have seen this left-field appointment and thought he would have to prove himself. I think he’s proven over his first few months at Brighton that he’s an extremely smart, astute guy.”
Mo Salah’s contract. Arne Slot said he was hopeful the Egyptian would stay, but what else can he say in public. What’s your feeling on his Liverpool future and that of Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold?
Chris Sutton: ”I don’t think they’ll all stay. We can’t be surprised that Liverpool have been trying to get something done behind-the-scenes because it’s what you expect. Letting the contract run down as they have done, with the quality of the players like Salah, Alexander-Arnold and van Dijk, should that have happened in the first place?
Certainly in terms of Mo Salah and van Dijk, there’s the age to consider. Clubs don’t want to give out long contracts to players above thirty, and I think we all understand that, but there has to be a balance.
I think they’ll get Salah and van Dijk over the line. Salah coming out publicly and saying they hadn’t got over the line, tells you he wants to stay. He can’t hold them to ransom, and I think there’s a balance he’s aware of. So will Van Dijk.
I think Alexander-Arnold will be the most likely to leave. I think from all three players’ perspective, they’ve been waiting to see how they started under Arne Slot. I think they’ll all want to be on his train, wouldn’t you?
So maybe there’s an element of that and I understand that from a player perspective.
You know, they loved Jurgen Klopp and performed brilliantly under him. A new manager comes in with new ideas, a new way of playing and sometimes certain players may not quite adapt in the same way or may not like it.
It all seems pretty harmonious. Which is pretty remarkable for Liverpool at this stage of the season. I don’t think anybody saw Liverpool’s start being so consistent.”
Premier League and SPFL ‘Naughty and Nice’ list
Which Premier League player, manager or club would be at the top of Santa’s good list for having an outstanding season so far?
Chris Sutton: ”So top of the top of the good list would be Chris Wood, the woodchopper. He would put that down – he deserves to be at the top of Santa’s good list.
He’s had a really good career, but at 33, he’s always been one of those players where his numbers have always been okay, but I think he’s always been viewed at the highest level as a nearly man.
I’m delighted for him that this season he’s shown his quality once again and he’s being appreciated more, so he would definitely be at the top of my tree and a good name for someone to top of the tree as well.”
Which Premier League player, manager or club would be at the top of Santa’s naughty list and must be better / improve in the New Year?
Chris Sutton: ”There’s loads. The West Ham manager, Julian Lopategi. They spent an absolute fortune in the summer, and I think they should be performing better. There was all the noise surrounding West Ham that the fans were disgruntled with David Moyes’ style of play, and you’d have to question whether that’s changed a lot. I know things take time and I do accept that, but I think that the expectation would have been for West Ham to perform better with the players they have at their disposal.”
Which SPFL player, manager or club would be at the top of Santa’s good list for having an outstanding season so far?
Chris Sutton: ”Top of the good list, I would say – this is going to be really boring and I’m sorry – Callum McGregor. I followed his career really closely as a youngster up through the ranks at Celtic. He went away on loan to Notts County.
He’s the one player in the Celtic team that I think if you take him out, it makes such a huge difference. There are arguments, there are others, but he knits everything together brilliantly, and I know physically, he’s probably at that age where he might start creaking a little bit. The way that his brain works I think he’s underappreciated, because everybody knows how good he is but his importance to Celtic is absolutely enormous.”
Which SPFL player, manager or club would be at the top of Santa’s naughty list and must be better / improve in the New Year?
Chris Sutton: ”I would say that Hibs have been a massive disappointment, with David Gray, the manager. I actually think they’ll be all right, and I think that they will stay up.
I feel sorry for him a little bit because Hibs have been a club where the expectation from the fan base is for them to always be pushing well into the top half of the table. There’s been a situation at Hibbs where they’ve chopped and changed managers and not given managers enough time, in my opinion. David Gray has done a sweeping-up job numerous times as a caretaker.
Hibs are really underachieving. They are a big club. Of course they’re a big club, but they shouldn’t be bottom of the league. They actually gave Celtic a decent run for their money at the weekend and missed a fair few chances. Kasper Schmeichel played well, but it’ll be an absolute disaster if Hibs go down.”
Managerial movers and shakers
David Moyes is a free agent at the moment. He’s been linked with a return to his former clubs Everton and even West Ham – if a Premier League club pulls a trigger on a manager, do you expect Moyes to be top of the list of candidates to fulfil the role?
Chris Sutton: ”I think David Moyes will be on the radar anyway. Why wouldn’t somebody want to bring him in, I suppose? He couldn’t go back to West Ham for a third time, could he? I’ll maybe watch the game against Wolves, see if he’s in the stands (laughs)
We’re looking at situations where managers, if they’re on the end of a bad result, could be sacked. We are getting to a stage now where you look at the likes of Wolves and West Ham, people are talking about Southampton and Russell Martin as well. I do have sympathy for clubs who come up and who overachieve.
It looks like Crystal Palace are just about turning a corner there but that was another Palace dream: we want to have this expansive football played at Selhurst Park. They ended up losing Michael Olise in the summer who was a, you know, really important player for them.
The centre-half, Joachim Andersen going to Fulham was a big loss.”
Ruud van Nistelrooy has got off to a good start. Looking at this with a Crystal ball, do you think this is the type of opportunity Ruud would have targeted when he joined Manchester United in the summer because I think we all knew what was going to happen there in terms of him managing the club for a few games in the event Ten Hag was sacked.
Chris Sutton: ”I get what you’re saying. I mean, you know, only Rude Van Nistelrooy knows the answer.
Maybe he just wanted to help his former club out of a hole.
It is interesting, the Leicester appointment, though. Let’s get it right. Leicester are sort of making things up as they go along, aren’t they, in terms of that appointment? Because would Ruud van Nistelrooy have been appointed, or was he even in the mix for the Leicester job at the start of the season?
I don’t know. I doubt it. I think not. And then all of a sudden, he’s gone in there. He has had a little bit of experience as a manager in the Netherlands. He had a year at PSV, he won a cup as well. I wish him well. He’s actually had a really good start. I mean West Ham actually had the better of the game.
They had the better of the game, but Leicester found a way to win and then a point against Brighton was a really good point. I thought Leicester were one of those teams where they’ve come up, and maybe because of their pretty recent Premier League history felt that they should be higher in the table, hence sacking Steve Cooper.”
Arsenal
Have Arsenal become the cosmopolitan Stoke City with their set piece supremacy this season?
Chris Sutton: ”The journey which Arsenal have been on under Arteta, you can see real signs of improvement and pushing Manchester City. One bad half against Aston Villa last season and that did for the title, and then you see disappointment.
Then you see City fall away as they have done, but then Liverpool emerge and even Chelsea are emerging and surprising everybody. But Arsenal are still in there scrapping.
There’s a lot of positive things about Arsenal, but it’s the fine margins and the relentless nature of the Premier League. You have to find a way of somehow getting wins every week and that’s not easy.
Some people may get a bit sniffy about it, but when you’re playing in a team that are so good at set pieces, who have scored more set pieces than any other team in Europe, what kind of confidence does that give to a team and also how scary is that for the opponent?
It doesn’t really matter what my thoughts are. As an Arsenal fan, did you ever imagine your club being compared to Stoke City? I suppose Arsenal fans can’t believe that.
I think Stoke’s all right. I’ve driven through it a few times. It’s all right. You know, I think it’s honestly, I said to you earlier, I think it’s a really positive thing that Arsenal have this incredible ability to score goals from set pieces.
Of course it’s a brilliant thing. Rice’s delivery and Saka’s delivery is on point most of the time. Saliba and Gabriel – who was missing against Fulham – are two players who are brilliant, love to attack the ball. But that’s a good thing.
It’s just, you know, having that balance where they do need to look at possibly being more creative from open play. But, you know, that’s absolutely not a bad thing in any way, shape or form. To have a set piece record which is head and shoulders above everybody else in the Premier League, that’s something to hang on to and be proud of.
I know you can win games that way. We’ll just find a way to win in different guises.
And I do think Arsenal are more than capable.”
Chelsea
Enzo Maresca is refusing to say that his team are in the title race publicly, do you think he’s saying the same thing to his players privately?
Chris Sutton: ”I don’t think that matters. I think from experience, I mean, when I was at Blackburn we won the Premier League there. I think Jack Walker, the owner of Blackburn, said on the day we won the Premier League, he’d plan to win it again next season.
I don’t think you make any hard and fast rules or statements in that respect. I think that if Maresca said we can win the Premier League, everybody would be piling in. they’d be all over him. Maybe that would put added pressure on the team, but at this moment in time, he’ll be thinking game to game. The players’ confidence seems to be growing.
They have two teams, don’t they Chelsea? They have the European team, and they have the Premier League team. I know there’s a little bit of a crossover, but they have a squad which is able to cope playing at the Conference League level. I think that has helped them, but regardless of being able to rotate and keep players fresh, they’ve shown enough that they are certainly title contenders.
I think they’ve surprised a few and I’m pleased for Maresca, because at the start of the season he had a lot to do and he had a lot to cope with. Remember when he left Sterling out, there was a big pile-on. He made the decision that brought Jadon Sancho into the club.
He’s a strong character and it can’t be an easy club to manage with all that comes with it. But you judge managers by the way that their teams play on the pitch and Chelsea have had a phenomenal start.
Nicolas Jackson, he’s thrived at Chelsea. In front of goal, he wasn’t consistent enough last season but he’s a player who’s really grown and come on. People should certainly take Chelsea seriously, and even Arsenal fans are taking Chelsea seriously.”
Tottenham
It feels like there are a few more dissenting voices, some of the fans are turning, but do they need a bit of a reminder or. Reality check that the club is on the right path with Ange in charge?
Chris Sutton: ”I always think you have to go back to the start of why Ange Postecoglou was appointed at Tottenham. Of course, we always hear it’s because Spurs want to win trophies, but that hasn’t happened very much over the last 50 years. But there’s that added element of Spurs fans being bored to tears watching Mourinho and Conte teams. Nuno Espirito Santo went in very briefly, so they wanted to be entertained. Robbie Williams was writing songs about Ange Postecoglou a season ago.
Everybody was into it when it was all going swimmingly well, and they have still had moments this season. A couple of weeks ago beating Manchester City 4-0 on their own patch. Their highs are so high. There’s been a fair few lows, and I don’t think he’s been helped by a couple of players at the weekend. Bissouma and Sarr were really reckless in their decision making.
I don’t know whether Daniel Levy will make a decision or not, but I really hope that he sticks with Ange Postecoglou, because I think he’s been brilliant, not just for Tottenham, but for the Premier League. What’s the alternative?
The other thing, I think he’s been slightly unfortunate with injuries. He’s lost Vicario, his two centre-halves. He got criticised for playing Romero and Van de Ven. Maybe he thought this was a really important game, and there’s that rivalry between Tottenham and Chelsea, and he thought that was worth taking a chance and taking the game really seriously.
It’s interesting, he’s got Rangers on Thursday in the Europa and that’s certainly going to be a huge game. They’ve then got Southampton and Liverpool. The other thing, he’s still in three cups. there’s loads of ways to look at it. When Tottenham went 2-0 up though, was it a great surprise that Chelsea came back and won the game? I don’t think anybody would have been totally, totally shocked by that and that’s sort where Tottenham are at.
Could he be more pragmatic? Well, maybe, but he sees it his way. Most people think, well, there needs to be a bit of balance, and I totally understand that. He’s stubborn, he’s had 25-27 years in management and coaching and he has been a huge success. He’s won cups and titles wherever he’s been, and he sees it as the best way for Tottenham.
There’s so much short-termism in the game now, isn’t there? You have a bad run of games, you’ve pointed out the league table where Tottenham are, but two wins and they’re flying up to fifth.
But I do think that he said himself that if he’s mid-table around Christmas, then pressure will build. He’s not daft. I like watching his team fly. I think he’s been brilliant for the league.”
Manchester United
Dan Ashworth’s departure doesn’t paint a picture of serenity at Manchester United. We’re you surprised by that announcement given the lengths that United went to get their man?
Chris Sutton: ”It may never come out, but there needs to be a bit more clarity. It seems to me; they weren’t all thinking on the same page. That was a real surprise. I think this has caught everybody on the hop.
We thought Manchester United had made the appointment of Amorim and they were taking the next step. But Sir Jim Radcliffe, I think he called the club mediocre, didn’t he?
Things like putting up the ticket price, it’s a big thing. The ticket price hike for youngsters from £25 to £66. Stuff like that, it’s not going to make him overly popular.
I think with regards to Manchester United, there needs to be, with a new manager, there needs to be patience, but it’s a worry because Dan Ashworth came with such a big reputation of being an expert in his particular field. Why has it come to a head so quickly?
Clearly there’ll be a fallout from somewhere and they’re not thinking on the same page.
But until we get clarity, if we ever get clarity, people will speculate like we’re doing now.
In the short term, they made a massive play for him. This was going to take them to the next level. So that’s certainly been a big surprise over the weekend.
Change takes time, doesn’t it? Jim Ratcliffe’s like any owner, he’s judged on his actions and the fact that they made such a big play for Dan Ashworth and the whole gardening leave situation. Then all of a sudden, he’s in for five months, less than five months. That’s a huge surprise. There’s a lot of people in the hierarchy, isn’t there? A lot of decision-makers and it clearly looks like they’re not joined-up in their thinking.
They’re not all on the same page, hence why he’s gone. That’s the way it looks from the outside, looking at it anyway.”
It feels like every player at Manchester United is being auditioned for their club future. If you had to name three players who’s futures look assured under the new manager, who would you pick?
Chris Sutton: ”You’re glass half empty, there aren’t three names. The 3-4-3, to implement that, they’re playing three games a week at this moment in time. It’s really difficult for them.
It’s not surprised me, I don’t know whether it surprised you, the fact that the first real test they came up against, set-piece Arsenal. And then at the weekend, Forest, who have had an excellent season. They’ve found it difficult and so I don’t think anything has greatly changed. There’s a guy who’s coming and he just needs patience and he’s trying to find the right formula.
So, you know, there is that aspect and that’s not easy. This isn’t his mess. It’s just a mess he’s inherited and he’s trying to clear up.
I think Bruno Fernandes he’ll find a role for him somewhere. I always think Lisandro Martinez has a bit about him, and Kobbie Mainoo has to be one. I do worry about Eriksen and Casemiro long term if you’re playing the system which he plays, every team needs legs. Mainoo offers more than just legs, but you need that athleticism.
I think the jury’s out on a lot of players. I’m glad you didn’t say five names.”
Newcastle
You mentioned in the summer that things didn’t seem right with Eddie at Newcastle. Are we seeing that play out on the pitch so far this season?
Chris Sutton: ”You look at the table and a couple of wins and they’ll be back in the mix. They haven’t had European football this year. They don’t have that excuse as such. I don’t think they’re far away. I do think that there’s been a bit of a hangover for Eddie Howe this season. I don’t think there needs to be anything too knee-jerk about Newcastle. They have an identity; they have their way of playing.
It hasn’t quite clicked this season. I think that there is no doubting Eddie Howe was frustrated in the summer, there’s no doubt about that, I think that it seems to me that maybe he’s come through that, but then the results haven’t quite been there for them.
It seems like they’re not far away, but then they go and perform like they did against Brentford at the weekend. Having said that, Brentford, they’re a brilliantly strange team. Top of the Premier League on the home league table, aren’t they? And I think they’re 19th on the away form table. So how do you work that out?”
Champions League
We’re approaching match week six, what do you think of the new big-league format?
Chris Sutton: ”I quite like the new format, because Celtic are in a good position. Now, I think that there are your traditionalists who preferred it the other way, the home and away aspect, but there are more games. We know why there are more games, we don’t have to dance around that. It’s about the financial aspect, but I quite enjoy it.
The fact that all teams are playing different teams. I think as a football fan, I think you’d quite like that. I always think it’s interesting. I work in the media, with the commentators I’m working with on the nights, working at Liverpool and the Madrid game.
There’s a goal that goes in and then they have to look at the table, where a particular team are, and whether they’re in the top eight. The Monaco game, that kept changing the other week. Their scores, they were second and fifth and I mean it was mad to commentators. I think they hate the fact that the table is so big but no, I’ve quite enjoyed the format.”
One more victory would probably be enough for Villa to guarantee a play-off place, but should they be aiming for a spot in the top eight?
Chris Sutton: ”I’ve not got the table in front of me, but yes, I think they’ll want to make life as easy as possible and do that by qualifying for the automatic promotion by finishing in the top eight.
I was at Villa Park, my old team, although the Villa fans wouldn’t remember me. I was at Villa Park when they beat Bayern Munich and that was an incredible evening, and Jhon Duran’s goal.
I think that they’ve been stretched a lot, their squad, and they had a bit of a dip. I think they bounced back, had a couple of wins now but no, they’re really well placed in terms of the Champions League, and should be striving for that top group.”
Celtic in the Champions League
How would you assess Celtic’s Champions League campaign?
Chris Sutton: ”I think it’s gone better, honestly, than I would have thought. They had a brilliant start to the season, Celtic. The pre-season went well and then the Dortmund game came along and everybody thought the wheels are off. Celtic were outclassed.
But Dortmund are a bit like Atalanta, they can wallop anybody. And then Celtic actually went away to Atalanta, and got a draw, which was a huge result. And then Leipzig, I know they’re not going well in the Champions League but I think they were second in the Bundesliga when Celtic played them, and that was the most control I’ve seen a Celtic team have in a Champions League game. That was a really big night, an important night for Brendan and his team.
And then Club Bruges. There’s an expectation because Club Bruges from Belgium, I think Celtic fans would have looked at them and thought this is a real opportunity at home. But Club Bruges are further in their recent Champions League development. Celtic ended up getting level in that game. That could prove to be a really important point.
They go to Zagreb on Tuesday, and then Young Boys at home is the one. I think they had a dodgy start, but Zagreb are actually competitive. Young Boys is the one at home where Celtic fans are thinking that’s the opportunity, and if they don’t take that opportunity they’ll just have to go down and thrash Aston Villa on their own patch. That will be a brilliant game anyway.”
Scottish League Cup Final
Celtic go into this game as the clear favourites, but it’s Rangers cup to defend. What kind of a game are you expecting and could the weather have an impact on it?
Chris Sutton: ”They’ll name some other storm, won’t they soon? What are we up to, We’ve had Storm Darragh. I think it’s interesting because Rangers’ recent form has been okay. It’s interesting because Celtic have got the game in Zagreb. Rangers play Tottenham on Thursday, and then the game on Sunday.
I think it’s a huge week for them. I think if Philip Clement loses against Tottenham and then gets beaten by Celtic, there are a lot of Rangers fans out there who have huge doubts about him as manager. I don’t think Philip Clement has ever beaten Brendan Rodgers. He certainly hasn’t as Rangers manager. Eventually that is something which has to be addressed. Rangers fans, just with the nature of Glasgow, he has to eventually beat Brendan Rodgers. They’ve got the derby game on January 2nd as well, at Ibrox.
So this is massive for Philip Clement.
If Celtic end up winning the cup final most Rangers fans will tell you that’s the result they expect and that says where they are right now. The pressure will build on Philippe Clement but if they beat Celtic then that will sort of give him a foothold again.
There have been so many issues at the club, and the CEO comes the day after the cup final. It makes your mind wander. He’s probably got his fingers and everything else crossed that Rangers get over the line. ”